Brinjal Masala

Brinjal masala

Ingredients:

• 2 big eggplant
• 1 red onion
• 1 tomato
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 4-5 curry leaves
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 green chillies
• 4 tbsp coconut milk
• 1 tbsp sour cream
• little amount of mustard,cumin seeds
• salt as per taste
• 1 1/2 cup of water
• Oil

Method:

• Finely chop brinjal add little amount of salt and tsp of ginger garlic paste n marinate for about 1/2 an hour,thn squeeze the water from brinjal and keep aside.
• Take a pan add tbsp of oil(i used olive oil) and shallow fry the eggplant till it gets crispy,u have to fry this for abt 15min in medium heat and keep aside.
• Add oil in frying pan when it is hot add mustard,cumin seeds,curry leaves,green chillies fry for a min,Add onion and fry it till it turns golden color now add tomatoes.
• (tomatoes have to be chopped finely)when it gets nicely mashed off add chili ,cumin,coriander powder add water cover it off.
• Now add the fried eggplant ,sour cream and coconut milk and little water,let it boil for 2min finally add salt to it.
• When it comes to semi gravy turn of the heat.
• Serve it hot with chapati, roti.

Sweet appam(Unni Appam)

UNNI APPAM

Ingredients:

• Rava (suji or semolina) – 1 cup
• Maida (refined flour) – 1 cup
• Banana – 1
• Jaggery – 3/4 cup
• Cardamom powder – 1/2 tsp
• Oil for frying.(can use ghee instead)
• water (as required for mixing)
• Coconut sliced into small pieces -1/2 cup

Method:

1. Prepare jaggery syrup by adding 1/2 cup water to the jaggery and

extract the juice by heating.

2. Now take a bowl, add rava, maida, mashed banana and cardamom

,coconut pieces and mix well.

3. Now add the jaggery syrup and prepare the batter.

4. The batter should neither be too watery or too hard.

5. Leave it for 10 mins and prepare the appam.

6. Appam can be prepared either by using the appam pan or directly in

heated oil with small spoon.

7. Grease the pan with oil and pour the batter and heat it. Allow the

appam to turn golden brown on either sides.

Cauliflower dosa

Ingredients

• Cauliflower (cut florets in to small chunks) – 2 cups
• Onion (finely chopped) – 1/8 cup
• Tomato (finely chopped) – 1/4 cup
• Ginger Garlic Paste – 1/2 tsp
• Coriander Powder – 3/4 tsp
• Chili Powder – 3/4 tsp (1/2 for mild spice)
• Turmeric Powder – 1/8 tsp
• Asafetida/Hing – pinch
• Garam Masala – pinch
• Coriander leaves – few
• Water – to cook cauliflower
• Oil – 1 tsp + more for making dosa
• Cumin Seeds/Jeera – pinch
• Salt to taste
• Dosa Batter – 1 cup

Method

• In a sauce pan, boil 6-8  cups of water with 1/2 tsp salt.
• Wash Cauliflower in running water. Cut them into tiny florets.
• When the water starts boiling add cauliflower florets and remove from flame. Let it soak for 3-4 minutes (5-6 minutes for soft florets).  Strain water using a colander or a strainer.
• Place a skillet/pan and let it heat up a bit. Add oil, when it is hot add cumin seeds and let is splutter.
• On a medium flame, add finely chopped onion and saute until it becomes translucent and turns light golden brown. Add quarter teaspoon salt for faster browning.
• Add finely chopped tomatoes and saute for 3-4 minutes or until it becomes mushy and blends with the onion. If it sticks to the pan don’t worry.
• Add cauliflower florets and saute for a minute. Add some salt to it and saute for few more minutes. You will see that those florets starts leaving out water/moisture. That is a pretty good sign If it does not shed water and sticks to the pan add few tbsp of water to keep it moist.
• Now add ginger garlic paste and saute for a minute.
• Add coriander powder, chili powder and mix well. Adjust salt/chili powder as per your taste.
• Simmer and saute for few more minutes until the raw smell of masala disappears and water evaporates. The final masala should be dry.
• Remove it from flame, add chopped coriander leaves, stir and close it with a lid to allow the flavors mingle with each other.
• After 15-30 minutes, when you can’t wait anymore to have this delectable dosas place a tawa/griddle let it become hot. Add few drop of water and you will see that it sizzles or dance on the tawa. Let it evaporate.
• On a medium flame, pour a laddle full of dosa batter and spread it in a circular motion. Do not make it thin rather spread it to uthappam’s thickness or little lesser than that.
• Using a spatula or your hands spread the dry cauliflower masala on top of the dosa (when the batter on top of dosa is still wet). Gently press it with a spatula and add few drops or quarter tsp of oil around dosa and on top of it. Ensure that you do this quickly or dosa might get cooked and the masala won’t stick to it.
• When the bottom side is cooked, gently flip it and let it cook on the other side. This helps the spiced florets to get little charred and it tastes great.
• Slide it to a plate and serve it hot with chutney or sambhar.

Notes
If you are not comfortable flipping dosa with masala on top, close the dosa with a lid and let it cook little longer (Appam style). Carefully slide it to a plate. With little practice and patience you can improve your dosa making skills just like I did.
While serving it to kids or to enhance the flaovor you can use ghee while making dosas.