Nadia chakuli/ Coconut dosa

Before marriage I used to think dosa is mainly south indian breakfast. But different versions of dosas are available across  India, like Maharashtrian Dhirade or Oriya style peetha/chakuli. This dosa is prepared with coconut and rice. So don't keep batter for too long. The ingredients are very simple. Soak 2 cup rice for 5-6 hours. Separately soak 1/4 cup urad daal for same time. Grind rice and urad dal separately into smooth paste. Mix both tastes together. then add 1-1.5 cups of grated coconut and grind for couple of minutes. Keep it in fridge for later use or you can use it immediately. We generally have this dosa with potato fry. But sambhar or any chutney will also work as side dish.

Dal puri

This is one of my husband's favourite breakfast receipes. I tasted it first time after marriage. And when I prepared it for my mother and sister they loved it. The receipe itself is not that complicated. And you can always prepare the stuffing before hand. 

Ingredients for stuffing

1 cup chana daal

1 tsp turmeric powder

4 tbsp Dhane

4 tbsp Saunf

2-3 green chillies finely chopped 

1/2 tsp hing

1/2 tsp grated ginger

2 tbsp oil

salt to taste

• Start with boiling daal till it is very tender. When I boil daal, I use double water. I add turmeric and salt to daal when its boiling.
• Once daal is cooked properly, remove excess water if any.
• Grind daal with green chillies, ginger into smooth paste.
• In kadhai dry roast dhane and saunf. Grind into smooth powder.
• Next add oil in the kadhai. When oil heats up, add the daal mixture and fry for 5 min.
• Next add dhane-saunf powder and mix with daal mixture.
• Dry the mixture properly so that it is ready for stuffing.

When the stuffing is cooled, you can start with puri preparation.

These puris can be served with simple tomato ketchup. Some times my MIL prepares potato rassa/gravey as side dish. Will blog receipe for this sometime later. Till that time enjoy puris with tomato ketchup.

P.s. If you don't like deep fried puris, you can make parathas with this daal stuffing.

Date- Tamarind chutney

Eating bhelpuri is my weakpoint. And I don't get chance to indulge in eating bhelpuri in Bangalore because its not so good here. That is when I miss Mumbai so much. When my mother had come down to Bangalore once, she had kept stock of dat-tamarind sweet and sour chutney and mint-corriander-chilli hot chutney. So everyday we could eat homemade bhel.
This chutney is simple to make, its delicious and healthy too. All you need to do is take 2 parts of dates (without seeds, chopped), 1 part tamarind pulp (thick), some jaggery if you want sweetner chutney. Grind these ingredients with roasted jeera+ red chilli powder and salt per taste and you have a tasty chutney ready to use. This chutney easily stays for 2 weeks in fridge. 

Ghuguni/ White chana in gravey

If you go on Bhubaneshwar- Puri highway, you have to try the small eatery places which serves typical Oriya food. One such dish we tried there was Ghuguni with puri for breakfast. Ghuguni is a delightful curry which yiu can eat with puri, paratha, idli, dosa; basically everything.

Today we had it for breakfast with paratha. So immediately I planned on sharing the receipe

• Boil one cup of white chana/peas with 1 tsp turmeric powder and salt to taste. If you like potato, then you can boil 1 big size potato with chana. You need to cook for atleast 3-4 whistles if using pressure cooker.
• Heat 2-3 tbsp of mustard oil. You can use any regular cooking oil if you don't have mustard oil.
• Add 1tsp sugar in the oil. Let it caramalize a bit.
• Next add 1/2 medium size chopped onion and fry till they turn golden brown.
• Add 1 tsp of red chilli powder, 1 tsp of ginger garlic paste and cook for couple of minutes.
• Chop up 1/2 medium size tomoto and add to the masala and cook for 2 more minutes.
• Next add the cooked chana and potato (cut in cubes).
• Add water and cook for 10 min on sim.
• When serving, add some chana curry in a bowl. Add some raw chopped onion, chopped green chillies, date-tamarind chutney and some sev.

Back to Basics: Peanut butter

During my onsite stint in USA I tasted PBJ sandwiches for the first time and loved them. I am in love with peanuts in any form since childhood. My maternal grandfather used to harvest peanuts, so during our summer vacations we used to have heaps of peanuts to eat while we played. So when I tasted peanut butter it was love at first bite. After coming back to India, I saw peanut butter jars from same US brands I was happy till I saw the price tag. Thats when I decided to prepare peanut butter at home. With help of youtube I successfully prepared the butter.  All you need to do is nicely roast the peanuts. Remove the skin and then grind in mixie till you get a very smooth powder. If you like butter slightly sweet, add couple of tsp of powdered sugar or honey.Add salt to taste. To get a smooth paste of peanut butter, add oil (preferably peanut oil or any other vegetable oil) and grind till you get smooth peanut butter. If you like it chunky add some roughly grounded peanuts. You make make any variations of peanut butter like red chilli flavour, chocolate flavour etc.