Aratikaya Ava Pettina Kura

Ingredients :

Raw plantains - 4
Shredded coconut - 2 tbsp (frozen is fine)
Salt to taste

Popu ingredients :
Oil - 2 tbsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Urad Dal - 1 tsp
Chana Dal - 1 tsp
Heeng - 1 pinch

Ava podi :
Mustard 4 tbsp

Preparation:
1. To make ava podi, dry roast mustard and grind to fine powder - the powder should be a mix of yellow + brown-black. This can also be in bulk and stored for about an year or so.
2. Wash the plantains, Peel the skin SLIGHTLY to get the dirt off the skin, but make sure most of the skin is retained, and cut each plantain into 2 pieces breadth-wise so it fits in the pressure cooker.
3. Pressure cook the plantains - I pressure cook it till it is extremely soft, if you like the plantains to be chunks then make sure you let it stay on the stove for a shorter time.
4. Remove the skin off the plantains once the cooker is taken off the stove and cut them into 1 inch cubes / mash them depending on your preference.
5. In a small cup mix Ava podi, Shredded coconut , 2 tbsp water and 1 tsp oil thorougly. You should get a pungent odor characteristic of mustard at this point.
6. Heat a pan, and add popu ingredients.
7. Once the jeera seeds begin sputtering, add the cut/mashed plantains and saute for 5 minutes on medium heat.
8. Add salt and the Ava paste, and saute for a further 3 minutes on low heat.
9. Enjoy with plain rice and pappu charu!

Mounds Bar

Ingredients

* 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
* 1/2 brown sugar, firmly packed
* 1/2 cup butter at room temperature
* 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
* 2 cups flaked coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
* 1 (12 ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips, melted
* 1 tsp baking soda

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F .
2. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter. Mix and pat into the bottom of one 9x13 inch baking pan. Bake at 325 degrees F for 15 minutes. (Bake at 350 F if you want a hard graham crust. I prefer baking to 325 F). Remove from the oven
3. Wait for 20 minutes until the graham crust is less hot, sprinkle flaked coconut and then pour condensed milk evenly over the graham cracker crust + flaked coconut.
4. Bake 15 minutes @ 325 F. Remove from the oven and let cool.
5. In a double boiler, melt chocolate chips. Semisweet chocolate chips is preferable since it evens out the sweetness of the graham crust and the condensed milk. (Use milk chocolate otherwise).
6. Spread the melted chocolate chips over the top. Let cool and cut into squares once the crust + condensed milk + chocolate achieves a harder consistency.

Senaga pappu payasam

Ingredients:

* 1 cup senaga pappu (bengal gram)
* 1 cup pesara pappu (moong dal)
* 1 cup jaggery
* 2 cups milk
* 1 tsp ghee (optional)
* 2 tbsp grated coconut (preferably fresh, if not frozen will do)
* 4/5 cardamom pods
* 1 tbsp cashew nuts (for garnish)

Preparation.
1. Pressure cook senaga pappu and pesara pappu together until soft (but not mushy).
2. In a pan, heat jaggery with a little water until the jaggery has melted.
3. Now add the boiled pappu to the jaggery and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Crush the cardamom pods and add.
5. Add grated coconut into the mix and simmer for 5 minutes more.
6. Now add milk (NOTE: the milk should've been boiled and should be hot when adding to the jaggery-senagapappu combo. Cold milk might cause it to split). Mix well.
7. Roast cashews in ghee (optional) and add to the payasam.
8. Serve hot.

Chole Biryani

For biryani:
2 cups basmati rice
1 tb sp oil
salt sufficient for rice
6/7 bay leaves
6/7 cloves
3 star anise
6/7 cardamom pods, skinned
biryani phool, if available

For Chole:

2 cups garbanzo beans, soaked overnight and boiled. (I've never tried the ready to eat ones you get in cans, not sure if that gives the same flavor as the soaked and boiled ones).
1 big onion, finely chopped
4 medium/small tomatoes, finely chopped
4 pods garlic, minced
1 small slice ginger, minced
2 tsp oil for tadka
1 tsp garam masala (optional)
salt to taste
cilantro for garnishing

For masala:
2 tb spoon dhania (corriander seeds)
1 tb spoon jeera (cumin)
1 teaspoon shahjeera
1 star anise
2 tsp poppy seeds
4 cloves
1 cinnamon piece
5 cardamom pods, skinned

1. Roast all masala ingredients, grind after the spices cool down.
2. heat a pan and add oil. Once oil reaches smoking point, add ginger garlic paste and saute.
3. Next, add onions and saute till onions turn brown.
4. Add tomatoes and saute for 5 min.
5. Now add masala powder and cook everything together in medium, stirring once in a while. Cook till oil separates.
6. Add salt sufficient for chole, and then add the boiled garbanzo beans and cook for 5 more min.

In parallel:
1. Take a pan, add 4 cups water, and once it starts boiling, add oil and spices and simmer for 15 min.
2. Remove extra spices from the water (the aroma should've seeped into the water by now, anything extra will only decrease the taste). You can save it to reuse it for some other dish.
3. Wash rice well and add to the boiling water and keep stirring.
4. When rice is 90 % cooked, remove rice from stove top and run cold water through the rice in the pot.
5. Drain water from the pot, leaving a little for the rice to get completely cooked. Each rice grain should be separate by now.

Combining chole and rice:
1. Preheat oven to 300 F.
2. In an oven resistant container, place a layer or rice. Can be about 1.5 to 2 inches thick.
3. Add a layer of chole on top of the rice layer.
4. Continue this till you get atleast 2 sets of rice + chole layer.
5. Cover with foil (to make sure rice cooks well. leaving it open will dry the rice on the topmost layer) and bake for 30 min.
6. Serve with raita and mirch ka salan (recipe coming soon).

Alternates : Milk combined with saffron can be added to the rice + chole mix before baking in the oven to get a richer taste. Make sure that water is COMPLETELY drained from the semi cooked rice though, else it'll get really soggy.

Pudina Rice

(source : http://www.nandyala.org/mahanandi/archives/2005/06/21/pudina-pulao-mint-fried-rice/)

Ingredients
* 1 bunch of mint- Rinsed and leaves and tender stems plucked
* 2 cups of Basmati rice, washed and soaked in 4 cups of water
* 3 green chillies and one onion - sliced thinly, lengthwise
* ¼ cup of fresh coconut - chopped
* 1 inch piece ginger and 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
* 4 each - cloves, cardamom, small cinnamon pieces, bay leaves & 1 star anise
* ¼ cup - roasted cashews
* 1 tablespoon - ghee
* 1 teaspoon - salt, or to taste

Preparation
1. Take mint leaves, coconut, green chillies, ginger and garlic in a mixer. Add a pinch of salt and blend to fine consistency without adding any water.
2. Put the Rice cooker pot on stovetop on medium flame. (To make it a one-pot meal, usually what I do is - I would saute the masala for pulao in rice cooker pot first, then I would add the soaked basmati rice along with water to the same pot and cook.)
3.Heat ghee on medium heat in rice cooker pot. When it is hot, add the spices (cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves and star anise), saute them first. Then the onions, saute until onions start to brown.
4. Now, add the pureed mint-green chilli-coconut paste. Fry until the mint paste changes color from bright green to light-green color. Take care not to burn/brown the masala paste.
5. Into this sauteed masala, empty the Basmati rice and the water it soaked in. Add salt; stir the whole thing, so that all the ingredients would mix together. Now remove the pot from stovetop, put it back in rice cooker and switch on the plug to cook. Once the rice cooks to tender, remove the lid and add cashews.
6.Mix it once. Put the lid back and let it stand for another five minutes. Then turn off the plug.

Louki ka Halwa/ Payasam

Ingredients :
* 4 Cups grated Louki/ Milk gourd.
* 1 Cup Khoya
* 1 can condensed milk (about 250 gms)
* 1 Tsp sugar
* 5/6 cardamom pods.
* 3 Tbsp ghee

(For payasam - optional)
* 400 ml milk

Preparation:
1. Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed pan.
2. Once the ghee melts, add the grated louki and saute until the louki turns transparent.
3. Add khoya to the sauteed louki and mix well. The khoya tends to form small chunks which ought to be broken apart and blended into the louki khoya mix. Heat the mixture in medium flame for about 5 minutes.
4. Now slowly add the condensed milk while mixing it thoroughly. The louki-khoya-condensed milk will now form a semi-solid mix.
5. Powder the cardamom seeds with a tsp of sugar and add it to the mix and keep stirring until it thickens.

For Halwa :
6. Pour the solidified mix into a dish and cut into square cubes and serve chilled.

For Payasam:
6. Add some milk once the mix has thickened (and not before it, because the louki will not get the milk flavour if diluted too early).
7. Chill the payasam and serve.

Aloo Gobhi

Ingredients :


Cauliflower 1 No.
Potatoes 4 Nos.
Salt Acc to taste.
Tumeric 1/2 Tsp.
Cumin Powder 2 Tsp.
Coriander Powder 2 Tsp.
Red Chilli Powder 2 tsp.
Catch Kitchen King Masala 1 Tsp.
Cilantro Few sprigs for Garnishing.
Oil 1 Tbsp.


Method :
Seperate the florets from Cauliflower. Wash & drain.
Cut Potatoes into Chunks. (either boil them before or cook them for a longer time).

Heat Oil in a Pan , add Onions & fry till translucent.
Add ginger, garlic Paste, stir, Mix in Potatoes , cover to cook.

When the Potatoes are half done , add the flowrets,
tumeric & salt. Cover to Cook. Open afer a few minutes,
add all the dry powders & mix. Garnish with Cilantro leaves
& Serve hot with Breads, Rice, Rotis or as a side dish.