Karuveppilai Podi / Curry leaves Spice Powder | Side Dish for Idli Dosa

What is more fascinating than using fresh herbs straight from your garden? Well, nothing else in cooking I would say. Pick, wash, use. How easy and intriguing is that. Speaking of fresh herbs, curry leaves always plays a vital part in Indian cooking. 
Curry leaves is well known as Karuveppilai in Tamil and KariBevu in Kannada. Karu - Black/darkened; Veppilai - Neem leaves. Widely used as a flavor enhancer for food while seasoning, it also has its unique place in ayurvedic medicine. It has anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and anti-oxidant properties and also rich in Iron. Did you know that it is good for the strength of your hair, taken both internally and applied as infused oil. Grandma used to prepare hair oil for us using pure coconut oil (organic and made at home by grinding dry coconuts aka copra), curry leaves and hibiscus leaves. And now we are talking about being "organic" as something rare and rich.

Ingredients:
Curry leaves - 2 cups - cleaned and tightly packed
Chana dhal - 3 tbsp
Coriander seeds - 2 tbsp
Urad dhal - 1 tbsp
Moong dhal - 1 tbsp
Pepper corns - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida / Hing - 1/4 tsp
Red chillies - 7 or 8
Tamarind - a blueberry/gooseberry size (skip if you do not have)
Salt - to taste

Method:
Dry roast chana dhal, coriander seeds, urad dhal, moong dhal, pepper corns and asafoetida one by one. Let it cool in a plate. Add half a tsp of oil in the same skillet and roast the tamarind and add it to the cooling dhals. Add the curry leaves in batches to the same skillet and roast them until it becomes lightly toasted and becomes light in weight. Cool and grind everything together in a mixer grinder / blender with salt until fine. Serve with steamed rice with ghee or gingelly oil. Excellent pair for idlis and dosas or with some hot steamed rice and ghee.
Note: The curry leaves may get stuck in the mixer blades while grinding. If it happens, filter the spice powder with a sieve, add the curry leaf fiber again and rerun the mixer.

Sending this healthy, flavorful and aromatic powder to B2B - Dry podis event by Jaya, Flavors of South India event by Nayna and to Srivalli's Condiment Mela.


Also sending this to Akila's Dish Name Starts with K

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Black and White Wednesday - Curried Curry Leaves

Washed and air dried curry leaves, ready to be pounded to make spice powder..

Sending this to Susan's Black and White Wednesdays!

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Wheat Halwa / Tirunelveli Halwa for Indian Cooking Challenge (ICC) / Godhuma Halwa step by step | Diwali Sweets Recipes

The chosen dish for this month's Indian Cooking Challenge is Wheat Halwa/Tirunelveli Halwa. This is my first month of participation and I am truly excited about the challenge. ICC is all about traditional cooking and trying out Indian cultural recipes. In this fast moving world, we all have traditional cooking mostly only in our memories. Every month a traditional recipe from different regions of India is chosen and we, the ICC participants try to recreate the recipe. I joined ICC with an interest of learning the traditional recipes. This month's recipe is Wheat Halwa / Godhumai Halwa / Tirunelveli Halwa. I have watched grandma make this tasty halwa at home but never really cared to learn the proportions, except of course help her stirring. When Srivalli announced the challenge, she gave a option of 3 recipes to choose from for wheat halwa. I chose Lathaji's recipe. I was really happy to start the ICC journey with a favorite sweet and tried to get step-by-step pictures. And, oh was I overly enjoyed and in high spirits when I made this halwa and we purely enjoyed it.
I had a tough time hunting for whole wheat berries in Indian stores and local groceries but managed to find it in Whole Foods Market.

Ingredients:
Using standard US measurement cups
Soaking time: 8 hrs; 
Pre-preparation (grinding): 45 mins;
Milk setting time: 2 hrs;
Stirring time: 1 hr;
Setting and cooling time: 30 mins;
Wheat berries - 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp
Sugar - 2 cups
Ghee - 1 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Orange Food Color - a pinch
Cashewnuts - broken - 1 tbsp - if using
You also need:
A heavy bottomed vessel
A ladle with a rounded handle, easy to hold and stir
A lot of patience and perseverance.. :)

Method:
Extracting the Wheat milk:
Soak the wheat berries in water for 8 to 10 hours. I soaked it overnight. Grind the berries in a wet grinder or a mixie with 1 cup of water. After 10 mins, take the ground wheat and filter the milk using a sieve. This is first milk. Keep aside undisturbed. Return the fibrous wheat to the grinder and add 1/2 cup of water. After 10 mins, repeat the filtering process and keep this second milk in a separate bowl. Repeat the process again for third milk and then discard the wheat fiber. 

Set this 3 bowls with milk undisturbed, covered in a draft free place. After 2 hours, the thick milk would have settled in the bottom. Carefully scoop out all the water on the top of the three bowls (second image below) and discard the water. Mix milk in all the three bowls.

Getting prepared for the Halwa stirring:
Before you start with the stirring process make sure that you have the ingredients handy and set on easy reach. I made sure I have laid out the food color, cardamom and greased the plate with ghee (for setting and making pieces). A backup person to help stirring is appreciated. DH was of great help in stirring and taking step-wise pictures.
Shall we start:
In a heavy bottomed vessel (I used a pressure cooker), mix sugar with water and heat on med-high flame until it boils. Now add food color and reduce the heat to medium. Keep stirring and check every minute for the consistency of the syrup. Touch the syrup with your index finger (Caution it would be hot) and press with thumb. It should be sticky and when released, there should be a thick string between the fingers. Achieving the string consistency of the sugar syrup would take about 10 - 15 mins from start to finish.

When this consistency is reached, reduce heat to medium-low, add the wheat milk and keep stirring continuously. Do not dare to stop stirring as the milk will tend to settle at the bottom. Stir continuously until it thickens slightly. Add the cardamom powder and 1 tbsp of ghee. Keep stirring continuously with the long spoon adding ghee in tbsp measurements in equal intervals of time. I used up about little less than a cup of ghee. After stirring for about 20 - 30 minutes, you would see that the halwa becomes glossy, comes together and it no longer sticks to the bottom. This indicates that it is done (as in the fourth pic below).

Set and Cut:
Transfer the halwa to the greased plate and allow it to cool and set for about 30 minutes to an hour. Cut into desired shapes and serve garnished with your favorite nuts. This recipe yielded me 14 pieces of 2" squares.

Enjoy your favorite sweet - homemade - just like grandma's preparation!!

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Carrot Basil Bruschetta | Italian Appetizers

Bruschetta (pronounced Brooskethaa) is an appetizer from central Italy. It is typically bread roasted with olive oil topped with vegetables, meat and/or cheese. The most common topping being fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella cheese. Here is my version with grated carrots, fresh basil and lemon juice. It is so easy to put together and can be done is minutes. The option of toppings are practically endless, ranging from carrots and zucchini to beans and eggs.

Ingredients:
Yields - about 15-16 slices
French Baguette bread - 1/2 a loaf - sliced to 1/2" rounds
Carrots - 4 medium sized - grated coarsely or sliced thinly
Garlic clove - 1 
Fresh Basil - leaves from 4 twigs
Lemon juice - 2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Pepper - to taste
Extra Virgin Olive oil - as needed

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 F / 175 C. Apply olive oil on both the sides of the baguette slices. Bake for about 8 to 10 mins. Meanwhile heat one tbsp of olive oil and saute the grated carrots until it turns light brown. Turn off the heat and season with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Add the torn basil leaves to the carrots and give a toss. When the bread is done, rub garlic on the top when it is still hot. Place one tsp of the carrot-basil mixture. Serve immediately. Great for a quick snack or a party!

Sending this healthy and tasty Carrot Basil Bruschetta to Herbs & Flowers - Basil event by PJ; Kid's Delight - Crunchy Snacks event by Srivalli; Fast Food not Fat Food event by Priya; CC-Appetizers event by Sravs; HLI - Carrots event by Kalyani.





I am also sending 3 more entries to Srav's CC- Appetizers event.
Gobi Manchurian, Fiery Chilli Baby Corn and Paneer Spinach Pinwheels.

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Black and White Wednesday - Grab a bite

Sending this to Susan's Black and White Wednesday.

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Tomato Basil Soup | Soup Recipes

Basil is one of the aromatic and flavorful herbs. Often termed as the "king of herbs" by many cookery authors, it has is origin from Asia. Basil has a mild to sweet flavor depending on the type. Tomato Basil soup is one of my favorites soups in Italian Cuisine. The first time I tasted it was in Noodles & Company in the name of Tomato Basil Bisque. It has a warm flavor from the basil, tangy sweetness from the tomatoes, richness from the cream with a mild spicy undertone from the red pepper. This recipe here although does not have cream (not bisque) but still has the same great taste.

Ingredients:
Adapted from Giada's recipe here
Crushed Tomatoes - 1 - 28 oz can
Vegetable Stock - 3 cups (I used 3 vegetable bouillon cubes with 3 cups of water)
Fresh Basil Leaves - leaves from 3 twigs
Onion - chopped - 1 cup
Garlic cloves - 3
Carrots - 2 medium sized - diced
Bay leaf - 1
Red chilli flakes - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Ground Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Butter - 2 tbsp

Method:

Heat butter in a big pot and add the chopped onion, carrots and garlic. Saute in med-high heat for about 4 to 5 mins until the onions soften. Add the bay leaf, red chilli flakes and mix. Now add the crushed tomatoes and the vegetable stock with chopped basil leaves. Add salt and pepper to taste and bring to boil. When it boils reduce the heat to low and cover with a lid and let it simmer for 30 mins. Transfer the contents to a food processor and pulse until pureed. Take precaution that the contents would be hot. A hand blender works like a charm. Keep warm until you serve. Serve with any bread of your choice. I enjoyed this as a wholesome lunch with french baguette bread.

Sending this tasty and colorful Tomato Basil Soup to Reva's Herbs & Flowers - Basil event by PJ and Dish It Out - Tomato and Chilli event by Vardhini.

Sending this to Srivalli's Soups and Salads Mela

Also sending the Thai Green Curry and Pasta with Spinach Basil Pesto to Herbs & Flowers - Basil event.

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Roundup of 'Serve It - Grilled'

When we asked our friends to grill all the way this summer, they did. Here I am with an awesome and colorful roundup of Serve It - Grilled event. We have 29 fabulous grilled entries from sandwiches and pizzas to chicken and shrimp. I have grouped Vegetarian and Non-vegetarian entries separately for ease of viewing.


Vegetarian entries
1. Jyoti from Pages sent Paneer Tikka with minty yoghurt dip and green chutney
2. Devshree of Window to a Woman's soul sent Tandoori Pizza
3. Reva of Kaarasaaram sent Squash Sandwich with Brown rice and Soya Mince
4. Archana of The Mad scientist Kitchen sent Grilled Paneer and baby corn

5. Anu of Anu's Healthy Kitchen sent Black Bean Burger with Tomato Mayonnaise
6. Anu of Anu's Healthy Kitchen also sent Grilled Tofu with Asparagus, snow peas and Edamame Stir Fry
7. Harini of Sugar N Spice sent Oven Baked Naan
8. Harini of Sugar N Spice also sent Mixed Vegetable Sandwich

9. Kalyani of What's Cooking sent Feta - Carrot Grilled Sandwich with Mango Pepper Salad
10. Rajani of My Kitchen Trials sent Potato Sandwich
11. Vardhini of Zesty Palette sent Fajitas with Grilled Vegetables
12. Anu of Anu's Healthy Kitchen also sent Grilled Corn Wheels and Veggies with Dill Butter

13. Khushi of A Girl's Diary sent Grilled Paneer Corn Pizza
14. Kalyani of What's Cooking also sent Tofu Capsicum Sandwich

Non-Vegetarian entries
1. Chandrani of Cuisine Delights sent Chicken wings in KFC Style
2. Anu of Anu's Healthy Kitchen sent Chicken Kabob
3. Anu of Anu's Healthy Kitchen also sent Roasted Vegetables and Spicy Catfish Bake
4. Shobha of Food Mazaa Sent Blackened Chicken

5. Saras of Saras' Kitchen sent Tandoori Chicken
6. Ramya of Ramya's Recipe sent Chicken Tikka
7. Nash of Plateful sent Summer salad with lean chicken breast and avocado
8. Rinku Naveen of Kitchen Treats sent Chicken Seekh kebab

9. Sukanya of Saffron Streaks sent Grilled Shrimp
10. Madhusmita of Redspice sent Tandoori Chicken
11. Soujanya of Souju's Home sent Grilled Whole Fish
12. Soujanya of Souju's Home also sent Roasted Chicken Homestyle

Host entries

Finally the entries from Denny of Oh Taste N See, my co-host of Serve-It series. Denny has sent Grilled Corn n Carrot Salad in Chipotle Lime dressing and Grilled Paneer and Veg Tikka

And finally from me Kebab Vegetables with Paneer.

Thanks to all the participants for the awesome contributions. Please accept my token of appreciation.

And a special award to Anu of Anu's Healthy Kitchen for sending the maximum number of entries. She has sent 5 entries, each of which is unique and interesting. Thanks for the overwhelming effort and enthusiasm Anu! Do accept the "Master Griller" award.

Do check out this month's theme, Serve It - Fried, this time with a linky. We have received 11 entries already and expecting more!!

P.S. I believe I have covered all entries. Leave a comment if I have missed any.

For more grilled and kebab entries check out Yummy Food Khushi.

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