Diwali thali recipes for Sapadu ready event and Priti's Festive Food Event at Indian Khana!

For the Sapadu Ready Event, I am reposting the Diwali menu with recipes for each on the thali.

1. PLAIN RICE

2. PARAPPU OR PLAIN DHAL:

Cook 1 cup Red gram dhal (Thuar dhal/Thogari bele) in a pressure cooker. Mash it slightly. Take a small kadai or pan, Add oil, mustard, 2-3 green chillies(split), coconut, hing(a pinch), and coriander leaves all about 1 tspn. Add salt to taste and mix it. Thats done!

3. RED AMARANTH LEAVES CURRY (Kempu Dantusoppina palya):

Chop a bunch of amaranth leaves and cook in pressure cooker for only one wistle with little water. In a deep bottomed pan or Kadai, Take 1 tblspn Oil, 1 tspn mustard seeds, a pinch of Hing, 1 tspn bengal gram, 1tspn black gram, curry leaves (1 strand), 2-3 green or red chilles, and finally add the leaves without the water. You can use the water for making rasam or soup. fry for a few minutes in oil. Finally add 1 tbl spn coconut. Mix well and serve with chapathi or rice and rasam combination!

4. TOMATO RASAM:

Main ingredient is the Rasam powder. When you have this ready follow the procedure given below.

Pressure cook ½ cup Red gram dhal. In a vessel boil 1 Cup of water with fine chopped tomatoes (2 tomatoes). Add 1 tbl spn rasam powder, 1 tspn jaggery, allow it to boil for 5 minutes. Add 1 strand of curry leaves, coriander leaves (1tbl spn) after 5 mins of boiling. Add the dhal and boil for 3-4 minutes. Add the juice of soaked tamarind (about 1 tbl spn) and salt. Temper it with little Oil or ghee with mustard seeds and jeera and hing!

5. WHOLE MOONG DHAL (GREEN GRAM) SAMBHAR:

Use the same method for sambhar like rasam. Additions are to cook the green gram with the red gram dhal and add sambhar powder while boiling. recipe for sambhar powder coming up soon!

6. SOUTHEKAYI KOSAMBARI (CUCUMBER SALAD)

Fine chop 1 Cucumber in to small pieces. Add coconut (1tbl spn), green chilli (2 chopped), coriander leaves (1 tbl spn), temper it using oil, mustard seeds and hing. Add salt when you are just about to serve it.

7. SHAVIGE PAYASA (SEVAI KHEER)
Boiled Milk - 1 litre

1 Cup Sevai - Roast it in a deep bottomed pan with little ghee until it turns golden brown.

1½ Cups -Sugar

Cardamom powder - 1 tspn

Saffron - few strands

Raisins - 10

Cashewnuts - fried in little ghee (6-7)

Preparation:

a. Add roasted sevai in boiling milk. Keep stirring on a low flame.

b. Once the sevai is cooked, add sugar to the milk. Allow it to dissolve.

c. After a couple of minutes, add saffron strands, cardamom powder, Cashews and raisins.

d. Switch off the flame. Allow it to cool. Best served when chilled.

8. SAPSEEGE SOPPU AMBODE (Fried flattened balls made from a mixture of Dill leaves and soaked bengal gram)

INGREDIENTS:

To grind coarsely without adding much water:

Bengal gram - 1 cup (soaked) save 1 tbl spn for mixing with the batter

Green chillies - 2

Red chillies - 1

Hing - ½ tspn

Coconut - 2 tbl spns

Salt to taste

Once the batter is ready add Dill leaves - half a bunch (chopped) and soaked bengal gram (1tbl spn that you had saved earlier).

Heat Oil in a deep bottomed pan and take a lemon sized batter flatten it and add one by one when the oil is hot. Reduce the heat and allow it fry on both the sides till its golden brown.

Another addition to the batter is fine chopped onion. But since it takes up more oil I omitted it. You can defintely give it a try because with onions its even more tastier.

So there you go, I have posted the recipes for all the food that was on the thali for diwali at my home. Do try this at your home and let me know of your experiences!

This is heading straight to Aartee of Nalabagham for her SAPADU READY event!
I am also sending this Thali to Priti's Festive food Event at Indian Khana

Hope she likes it!

MINT LAYERED ( LACHHA ) PARATHAS

OK. Let me honest here. I have been having so many of these recipes prepared , clicked and nicely tucked away in many folders on my computer. I thought it was high time I sent in all these recipes when I read about Srivalli's Roti mela. Parathas have always been my fav breakfast ever since my very good punjabi friend Vaishali introduced me to them. Not that I never ate one all my life:-) but just that I was used to different kinds like the ones made in south india. This is the way she makes them every day at home and I am so thankful to her for showing me how to prepare these plain lachha parathas (layered parathas). I use the same method for all parathas except for the stuffed ones. Vaishali, this is to you my dear friend!

Ingredients:

Wheat flour - 2 cups

To fry and grind:

Mint (Pudina) leaves - 1 bunch

Green chillies - 3 to 4

Garlic - 2 cloves

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Jeera (cumin seeds) - 1 tspn

Salt to taste

Oil - 2 tspns

Preparation:

1. Fry all the ingredients mentioned above with oil starting from cumin seeds, ginger, garlic, green chillies and finally mint leaves. Fry till the leaves shrink and then add salt and allow it cool. Grind this fried mixture.

2. Prepare the dough by mixing wheat flour, salt, 1 tspn Oil and the ground mixture. Mix the dough first without any water and then keep adding little as and when required. Take care not to make it too soft.

3. Once the dough is ready. Divide the dough in to equal portions of round balls. Take the first one and flatten it to a small circle using a rolling pin. Add ½ tspn oil in the middle of the dough and spread it.

4. Using a knife, make a small cut from the centre as shown in the picture.

5. Fold the dough in the form of a cone from the cut end.

6. Once you fold, you will end up with a cone. Flatten as shown in the picture and stick the cut ends.

7. Now roll it again. This will give you the desired layers.

8. Heat a flat non- stick pan, fry on both the sides with ghee till they turn slightly brown on both the sides. Serve hot with chutney, yoghurt, dhal or pickles.

The smell of mint leaves oozing out of the parathas is just heavenly!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is one of my 3 entries to SRIVALL'S ROTI MELA!!!!!

BEET ROOT PARATHA

This one's my daughter parnika's favourite paratha. It's one of the easiest breakfast, lunch or dinner recipe one can think of. Serve it along with pickle, yoghurt (curd), dhal just about anything, it really is awesome.

Ingredients:

Wheat flour - 2 cups

Beetroot - 2-3 (grated)

Fresh ginger - garlic paste - 1 tspn of each

Green chillies - 3-4 (finely chopped)

Red chilli powder - 1 tspn

Dhania powder- 1 tspn

Jeera powder - 1 tspn

Jeera- 1 tspn

Turmeric powder- 1 tspn

Garam masala powder- 1 tspn

Salt to taste

Coriander leaves - 1 tbl spn (finely chopped)

Oil - 2 tspns

Preparation:

1. Take Oil in a non - stick pan, add jeera , allow it to splutter.

2. Add ginger - garlic paste, green chillies, turmeric powder, fry well.

3. Now add the grates beet roots and fry well. Add jeera powder, dhania and red chilli powders. fry well.

4. Add just about ½ cup of water, add salt and cook well by covering with a lid for 8-10 mins.

5. When all the water is absorbed, add garam masala powder, coriander leaves and mix well.

6. Turn off the stove and allow it cool down.

7. Prepare the dough by mixing wheat flour, Oil (1 tbl spn)with the cooled beet root mixture, add little more salt because when you mix flour to the beet root mixture, it might just not be enough.

8. Roll the dough using a rolling pin (method: refer pudina paratha). Heat a flat non - stick pan on medium flame, fry the paratha on one side first.

9. Flip to the other side after 2 mins. Flip one or two times more on either sides. Serve hot by spreading ghee (clarified butter) on both the sides.

This is again an entry to SRIVALLI'S ROTI MELA!!!!!

KOLKATTAI

My Paati was always acknowledged for her remarkable cooking and stringent disciplinary guidelines. Her Guests, relatives, friends and even her neighbours never went home hungry or even empty handed. Such was her generosity. She hated wasting food and always ensured untold ways to cook vegetables and ended up making delicacies. While most of us discard the peel of a veggie even now not knowing its nutrition facts, there was my paati who was so resourceful and innovative in utilizing the same and making the food healthier and tastier. She was very enterprising and cooked a meal of variety for around 30 people in a jiffy. One of her trademark dish is the “yummy and healthy Kolakattai”. This can be made spicy as well as sweet too. Today I am bringing to you the “Spicy kolakattai".

Ingredients:

Black gram (uddin bele/urad dhal) – 1 cup (soak for 4 hrs)
Rice – 3/4th cup (soak for 4-5 hrs)
Crushed pepper - 2 tspns
Coriander leaves - 1 tblspn (chopped)
Ginger - grated ½ inch piece
Bengal gram – 1 tbl spn (soaked for 1 hr)
One big plantain leaf

Preparation:

1. Grind black gram and rice separately and mix them with salt. Add rest of the ingredients only when you are ready to make the kolkattai.

2. Take a rectangle plantain leaf. Spread a few drops of oil and pour 1 laddle of the batter.

Plaintain Tree Photo courtesy: Arjun, My brother-in-law clicked this when we went to Fruit garden in Malaysia.

3. Make many more such rectangle strips of the leaf and arrange them all in the cooker vessel smeared with little oil.

4. Place them in cooker and steam it for 15 mins.

5. Check if it’s done by inserting a knife. Serve hot with Roasted coconut chutney (Hurdhidha kayi chutney)

NOTE: Dont be disappointed if you feel that you might not get these leaves outside India. For people in europe, most of the chinese stores have these leaves. You have to search them in the greens section. They use it to steam fish in them. For people in USA, my sister who lives told me its available in most indian stores. So go ahead try this recipe!