Corny Delight

This is one of my favorite salad. J loves this too, perhaps the only salad he likes!

Its a very easy quick salad & trust me the reactions will be overwhelming.

Ingredients

• American sweet corn - 2 
• Mayonnaise              - 3 tbsp
• Tomato Ketchup      - 4-5 tbsp
  

Method

• Boil the corns so that they become tender. I used a pressure cooker & kept it for 2 whistles. You will know when it is done. The aroma is overpowering.
• Peel the corns and keep it in a bowl. Peeling could be easily done with a knife for lazy people like me!
• Now just add the Mayonnaise & ketchup and mix them.
• You will get wonderful color to the recipe.
• Adjust the ketchup or mayonnaise as per your taste and enjoy the delightful corn!

Channa masala/Chole masala/chickpea masala

Chola Batura will be my first choice if I'm in the mood for a heavy dish in a North Indian restaraunt. Wow the delicious aroma from the chole and the soft batura makes my mouth watery !

I have tried channa masala many times but with a little research this time it turned out to be a splendid one with lots of appreciation from J,my husband !

Ingredients

• Channa/chick pea - 1 cup( I used fresh ones from the stores )
• Onion - 1 cup , finely chopped
• Tomato - 1 cup,finely chopped
• Garlic - 2-3 cloves,finely cut
• Ginger - 2 tsp
• Fresh coriander-2 tsp,chopped
• Whole spices- Bay leaf,cardamon,cloves
• Turmeric - 1/2tsp
• Chilli powder- per taste
• Salt - as required
• Channa masala powder- 2-3 tsp OR Substitute with

            Pepper corns - 1tsp
            Cumin seeds - 1tsp
            Ani seeds - 1 tsp
            Lemon juice - 1/4 tsp
            Garam masala- 2 tsp

Method

Preparing the channa :

• Soak the channa for 6-7 hours.
• Pressure cook them for nearly 4 whistles. A good consistency of channa is very essential because over boiled channa will be messy and under boiled ones will not blend.
• The right consistency is reached when you are able to smash the channa easily with your finger tips.
• Drain the channa and keep the water for cooking.
• Channa or chickpea is ready to rock !

• If you have channa masala powder you can skip this step, else grind all the ingredients mentioned in the substitute section except lemon and garam masala , ofcourse.
• Take 3/4th cup of the boiled channa and grind it to a fine paste using some water.
• In a kadai,pour some oil or butter or ghee(according to your diet plan :-) ) and put in the whole spices.
• saute for a few minutes and add the onions. Saute till it turns brownish.
• Add the ginger,garlic and turmeric and saute till fully absorbed.
• Add in chilli powder and salt and cook for few minutes.
• Add the chopped tomatoes at this moment and saute nicely until the mixture turns all juicy .You can add little water if there is no moisture.
• Once the mixture blends well, taste for the spices and adjust if you have to.
• Add the garam masala / channa masala at this stage.
  
• Now pour in the channa mixture, along with some water and mix well.
• Finally add the remaining channa and blend well. Keep for 5 minutes and switch off the stove.
• Add the lemon juice and coriander and stir once.

We are ready to be served! This goes well with puri or batura.

Rava Dosa/Sooji dosa

Rava dosa is one of my favorite dishes whenever I go to any restaurant. The Yumm crispy Dosa is a treat with all its richness. But beware weight watchers , its the exact opposite of a Diet Dish. But once in a while pampering for the stomach is a must isnt it?

Lets see how to make this tasty rava dosa.

Ingredients

• Rava/Sooji - 1 cup
• Rice flour   - 1/2-1 cup
• Maida/wheat flour - 1/4 cup
• Curd/Yogurt - 1 cup
  
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Pepper corns - 1tsp
• Grated ginger - 1 tsp
• Ghee/oil         - atleast 1/4 cup
• salt 

Optional

• Onions - 1 cup, finely chopped
• Coconut - cut into very small pieces
  
• Cashews-1/4 cup

Method

• Soak the rava,rice & wheat flour in the curd. Add water as required so that the mixture is completely soaked.
• The soaking helps the rava to absorb mositure and become soft.Keep  this for atleast an hour. The more it soaks, more the crispiness.
• After is becomes soft and mixture is fully absorbed, add the cumin seeds, pepper , ginger and salt.
• If needed also add the additional ingredients mentioned like onions, cashews and coconut. Adding onions adds a nice flavor to the already crispy dosa.
• Now the most important part is to prepare the batter. Add water to batter & mix well. You will need twice the water as that for a dosa batter. The consistency should be that of a butter milk as shown below :

• Add a few drops of ghee to it.Now your rava dosa batter is ready to be used.
• Take a dosa pan/non stick tava and keep it in high flame. 
• Since the batter is very watery it is not possible to make this dosa like the traditional one, little bit tweaking is needed. 
• Take a small cup( I used a rice cooker measuring cup) and dip in the batter and fill it to 3/4th 

• Now using this cup pour on top of the pan to take a shape. Do not pour the batter on top of already poured batter & make it thick.
• As soon as you pour you will see small holes all over indicating that your batter is right.
• Pour ghee or oil all over and spread it evenly. Keep in high flame & relax, the dosa needs to be crisp and so needs time.
• Once you see that the dosa is crisp flip it and turn is around and reduce to medium heat.
• Take out once the dosa is nicely cooked.

Serve hot with coconut chutney and sambar. It makes a good combo.

Aapam with coconut milk

I am really surprised that I'm writing my first post on my food blog. I had once been a girl who didnt know how to pour dosa batter in a tawa :) . Gone are those days.

Now I have all the time on earth to try different recipes and thus spicy lounge was born !

Aapam gets the credit to be my first recipe.

Aapam

Ingredients

• 1 cup of boiled rice
• 1 cup of raw rice
• 1 cup of grated coconut(Can be replaced by shredded coconut)
  
• 1tsp of urad dal
• 1tsp of fenugreek seeds(vendhayam)
• Crystal Salt
• Baking soda(Soda uppu)
  

Method

• Soak all the ingredients with the grated coconut for nearly 4-5 hours. The more you soak the easier it is to grind.
• Grind the mixture to a nearly smooth batter,little bit coarse is fine.The batter should be thick. The consistency should be between idli & dosa batter.
  
• Add the salt and keep it for fermentation.If you are in the US you could keep the batter in the conventional oven set in the OFF mode.Do not forget to close the vessel else it will get dried up in the heat. Also use a light weighted vessel, preferably plastic.
• After the batter is fermented , this could take overnight, add the baking soda and mix thoroughly.
• Take the appam pan , grease it with oil using a paper towel or cloth and pour the batter.
• Spread it such that it is thin in the edges and thicker in the middle.
• Keep in medium flame & cover the lid.
• After a few minutes open it once and check if the sides are roasted.
• Once the sides are roasted and in the center portion is cooked your aapam is ready !

Coconut milk

Ingredients

• 1/2 coconut
• jaggery or sugar to taste
• Cardamon
  

Method

• Grate the coconut and add it to the blender/mixie with little water.
  
• Mash it well,take out and extract the juice.
• Put in the smashed coconut again into the blender with water and extract the juice again.
• Repeat this process 2-3  times to get the coconut milk.
• Do not add too much water that will spoil the taste.
• Take the required amount of jaggery and smash it into fine powder. Add this to the coconut milk and mix well until all lumps are gone. 
• If you are using sugar you can add just like adding sugar to any milk.
  
• Finally peel cardamon and add it to the mixture.
• Your coconut milk is ready to serve.