Palak Salad

1 cup palak chopped fine
½ cup freshly grated coconut
1 small onion chopped fine
1 green chilli slit
3-4 cloves of garlic
Salt to taste

Mix all the ingredients and serve.

Egg Biryani

The other day I had to satisfy different tastes and requests. My 14 year old wanted anything different and tasty not the usual dal rice stuff. My hubby dear was okay with anything.

I also had rice cooked for lunch to contend with. Since I was unwilling to stick it in the fridge for tomorrow I decided to make biryani. The cooking of this biryani was up the right up the Mad Scientist’s Kitchen street, but very tasty.

For 3 cups of cooked rice

3 med. Onions

4 cloves garlic

½ in. Ginger

1 green chilli

A handful of coriander

2 med. Tomatoes pureed

2 cups vegetable like cauliflower, carrots, and peas cubed

4 Boiled eggs, cut into halves or quarters

5 corns pepper

1 in. Stick of cinnamon

3-4 cloves

1 tsp jeera

1 tblspn oil

2 tblspn curds

½ tsp haldi

Salt to taste

1. To put the whole thing together grind onion, garlic, ginger, green chilli and coriander to a fine paste in the chutney pot of your mixer.
2. Heat oil add the jeera when it becomes blackish add pepper, cinnamon, cloves. Be careful as the whole thing is going to splutter quite viciously.
3. Add the ground onion paste and fry on low flame till it well done.
4. Add the tomato puree, haldi and fry till the oil come out. (This happens when the mixture dries up and you will see small droplets of oil bubbling around). Beat the curds and add to the tomato onion gravy.
5. Add the vegetables, a little salt and mix well.
6. When the vegetable change colour add rice with the salt mixed into it. Stir well. It’s a good idea to use a fork to stir at this point as the rice grain do not break.
7. Add the boiled eggs and stir lightly.
8. Cover and switch off the gas.
9. Let it rest with the lid on for 5-10 minutes.
10. Serve with dahi boondi or raita.

Instant Pickle

My friend Shanta, makes a lovely pickle tastes great every time and has me drooling for more. I tried it once and all of us like it. The beauty of the whole recipe it is very easy and ready in a jiffy. The whole masala can be ground in a large quantity and used in as needed. Use any vegetable like grated carrots, cauliflower chopped fine, cabbage chopped individually or as a mixture of all the above. I have used cauliflower here.
Here is what you will need
1 tblspn methi
1 tblspn pepper
Rock Hing about the same size as the methi. If you are using powdered hing use 1 tblspn.
1 cup of cauliflower
Salt
1/2 tsp lime (adjust as per taste)
1 tsp red chilli powder (adjust as per taste)
1+1 tblspn oil
1/2 tsp mustard
1/4 tsp haldi
In a little oil roast hing, when you get the aroma of fried hing remove it. Fry next the pepper, remove . Switch off the gas and add methi. You will have to remove the methi almost immediately , as if methi becomes black it will taste bitter.
Cool the masalas and grind them fine.
Take 1 cup of cauliflower and add about 1 tblspn of the masala, salt, lime juice, red chilli powder. Mix.
Heat the oil add mustard, haldi. when the mustard splutters add to the cauliflower mixture. mix.

BUTTER IDLIS

This was my MIL’s recipe I have tried it once. The idli tastes yummmmmmm!

Ingredients:

4 cups rice
2 cups poha
1½ cups butter

Method:
Soak rice in sufficient water for minimum 12 hours
For 10-15 minutes soak poha.
Grind to a fine paste.
Add butter and mix well.
Ferment for at least 1 day (it is all bubbly), like a mild soda.
I ground my batter at around 10 am and it was all done by about 5.30pm, for its hot now. In winter it will need some more time.
Add salt & stir
now grease an idli mould and fill with batter about a ladle is enough, but you could also use a vessel like I have used, in this case pour about ¼ ‘ height or a little about the width of your finger.

Put in a pressure cooker and steam for 15-20 minutes. During steaming do not use the weight.