CAPSICUM CHUTNEY

I carry lunch to work and we friends share what we carry. My friend Trupti had brought CAPSICUM CHUTNEY we all agreed that it was a nice change from the regular coconut chutney and of course we shared the recipe.

Here are the

INGREDIENTS:

1 tsp urid daal

¼ tsp methi/fenugreek seeds

1 tsp jeera/ cumin seeds

½ tsp mustard seeds

½ tsp hing/asafoetida powder (I prefer the rock hing/asafoetida and that I use a small rock)

1 capsicum

2-3 green chillies (adjust as per taste)

I tsp oil

8-10 cashew nuts I also used roasted ground nuts 20 in number

1 tsp Coconut

A small 1 inch piece of Tamarind

Small marble sized ball of jaggery

Salt (adjust as per taste)

METHOD:

1. Dry roast urid daal till it becomes reddish. Remove in the chutney pot of the mixer.
2. Dry roast mustard, hing/asafoetida (Shankar chaap), jeera/ cumin seeds till the mustard starts splattering. Switch off the gas and add the methi/fenugreek seeds. Stir till the methi/fenugreek seeds become reddish. Remove in the chutney pot.
3. Now heat the oil and fry well the   capsicum & green chillies.

1.  Cool.
2. Grind all the ingredients and serve with idli, butter idli.

Amla- some accompaniments

Amla/Avala/ Awala/Nelli kai or the Indian gooseberry is a fruit that is round shaped with vertical stripes. It is greenish yellow in colour and tastes sour. It is fibrous and has a big green pit that is to be discarded.

 It has an intense sour and tangy in the beginning and gradually toward the end turns sweetish in taste. It is used in lot of ayurvedic medicines.

The taste has different name in Kannada"vagar" for sour in Kannada is "huli".

As kids we used to eat a lot of these fruits and drink water. The water tasted sweet.

Hubby dear does not like sour things so I was surprised when he came from the market with them. The first time he brought them I cut them up and made pickle. The second lot was just lying in the fridge. So I decided to end their misery and make something out of them.

After washing and drying them I first started grating them.

The first thing I tried was Nellikai Adki/Avala Supari.

Ingredients:

 1 cup Alma grating

1 tsp of hing/asafoetida,

½ tsp salt

½ inch ginger grated (optional)

Method:

Mix all the ingredients well and dry in the sun.

This takes at least 1-2 days depending on the sun's intensity. Since it was raining I put all these in a thick bottomed fry pan on sim gas. Stir occasionally till the grating is all shrivelled up and dry.

Amla Pickle

This I had made the first time when I had chopped the Amla to pieces you could use the grated also to the same effect only go easy with the salt.

Ingredients:

1 cup pieces Amla

1 tsp salt

2 tblsp pickle masala

1 tblsp Shanta's pickle masala

¼ cup oil heated to smoking point and cooled.

Method:

1.    Mix all the ingredients in a bowl except the oil and stand for 30 minutes.

2.    When the oil is cold add to the mixture and store in a bottle.

P.S. I stored mine in the fridge.

Moravala/ Awala Preserve

Ingredients:

1 cup Awla grating

A little less than ½ cup sugar

½ tsp green cardamom /Elichi powder.

Method:

Mix the sugar and the Amla and heat on low flame in a wide thick  kadhai/fry pan  . All the sugar melts and the mixture becomes quite watery. Continue heating the water evaporates and thickens. Now add the green cardamom powder and mix well. Let it remain in the kadhai/ fry pan till the mixture cools then transfer the Morawala/preserve in a clean dry bottle.

Tastes good with chapatti, bread.

A variation of this is sweet preserve is as below

Sweet-sour and pungent Amla Preserve

1 cup Alma grating

¼ cup jaggery

1 tsp chilli powder (heaped)

½ tsp hing/asafoetida

  Salt to taste.

Method:

1.    In a thick bottomed kadhai/ fry pan put the jaggery, hing/asafoetida, chilli powder and salt.

2.    Heat on low flame till the jaggery melts, thicken a bit.

3.     Perform the plate test. When the jaggery forms a soft ball add the Alma and mix.

4.    The whole mixture becomes watery. Just continue to heat it till the mixture thickens.

5.    When the same cools transfer to a clean dry jars.

Biscuit Cake(Eggless)

My SIL makes this cake very often. It's very simple, tasty, and can be made out of ingredients available at home. Her instructions are also simple but I have tried to put some standard measures.

Ingredients:

1 packet of glucose biscuits the one that costs Rs.10/- only (190 grams).

3 dav sugar (dav is a serving spoon for daal substitute with  190 grams)

2 tblspns Drinking chocolate

2 tblspns  cocoa

220 ml milk

1 sachet of Eno's fruit salt (5 grams)

Method:

1.  Grease a bowl/ tray about 6x3 inches.
2. Grind the biscuits, sugar cocoa and drinking chocolate to a fine powder.
3. Transfer to mixing bowl.
4. Add 200 ml milk and make a batter. Mix well.
5. In the remaining milk add the fruit salt and mix immediately in the batter.
6. Mix well. Transfer in the greased bowl/tray.
7. Microwave for 10 minutes or, till the cake leaves the sides of the bowl or till a knife inserted in the cake comes out dry.

P.S. the beauty of the cake is you can add 10-12 almonds, cashewnuts . I generally add it in the mixer to avoid the complaints galore.

You can use any biscuit only the sugar and flavouring will have to be changed accordingly.

Bake it as a regular cake in the oven also its divine.

Date Cake(Eggless)

I have made the date cake from the site "Aayi's Recipes" many times.
It is just fantastic!!
Last week I tried the recipe twice, only the second time I had no
cashew nuts!! And so I substituted with almonds and 2 lonesome dried
figs.
I did not expect my kids to like it so I was quite surprised when the
younger one ate it.

Ingredients:

10 dates(Khajoor)
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup atta
1/2 cup oil
11/4 tea spn baking soda
20 almonds and 2 figs

Method:

1. Soak the dates in warm milk overnight.
2. Remove the seeds.
3. Preheat the oven to 180°C /350°F.
4. Grease a tray mine is a bowl which is 6"x3".
5. Add sugar and grind them to a smooth paste along with the milk in
which it is soaked in.
6. Add the nuts and figs and grind to the desired consistency. I
generally grind it fine as my kids do not like nuts in their cake.
7. Add oil and mix.
8. Sieve together flour and baking soda. Add the flour one table
spoon at a time and mix slowly.
9. If you are adding whole nuts add the nuts now and mix.
10. Bake for 35 minutes, till the cake leaves the sides of the bowl or
till a knife inserted in the cake comes out dry.