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Showing posts with label South Indian style. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South Indian style. Show all posts

Tuesday, 1 July 2014

Vermicelli upma/Vegetable Semiya


I am an egg lover and try to have them daily in my breakfast menu but we eat total veg on Mondays & Tuesdays, hence try to prepare some special breakfast for these days, so that it can compensate those missing eggs. Vermicelli upma or Namkeen semaiya is always a yes in my home. It is a very traditional South Indian breakfast too and made with lots many varieties.  It requires very little effort and tastes delicious. And best of all, my family loves it. I love its texture and have it with lots of veggies and lime juice. Sometimes with coconut or tomato chutney. I still remember those lazy weekends at my mom's place, when everyone used to sit together and had this in breakfast. So lets see the ingredients following the method.

Ingredients :
  • Vermicelli/Semiya : 2 cups (I used Bombino)
  • Onions : 1 large (finely sliced)
  • Green Chillies : 1-2 slit (or as per the taste)
  • Carrots : 1/2 cup (finely chopped)
  • Peas : 1/2 cup (Frozen/fresh)
  • Potato : 1 medium (Finely chopped)
  • Tomatoes : 2 medium (optional)
  • Chili powder : 1 tsp (optional)
  • Mustard seeds : 1 tsp
  • A Sprig of curry leaves
  • Peanuts : 1/4 cup
  • Oil : 2 tbsps
  • Salt : As per the taste 
  • Lime juice : 2 tbsps (or as per the taste)

Method :
  • Dry roast the vermicelli in a pan on low flame. Stir continuously till you get the aroma and a very light golden color. If you are using already roasted ones, then you can skip this step. 
  • If adding peanuts, roast them and keep aside. I usually dry roast my peanuts in microwave for 4-5 minutes (depends on the quantity). You can also fry them in oil.
  • Heat 8 cups of water in a big pan, add some salt. As soon as the boil comes add roasted vermicelli to it and switch off the gas. Keep an eye, as soon they are done (you can check by braking them with fingers) strain them in a sieve.
  • Simultaneously, heat oil and add mustard seeds, let them splatter, then add curry leaves and green chillies.
    Now add onions and saute a bit, then add carrots & potato, saute, cover it with a lid and let it cook. If you are using fresh peas add with carrots only as frozen ones can be added later with tomatoes.
  • Add finely chopped tomatoes, chili powder, salt and cook. Once tomatoes are little soften, add strained vermicelli and mix. Add lime juice, peanuts and serve hot.

Notes:
  • Try to boil the vermicelli and fry the veggies simultaneously, as after boiling and keeping the vermicelli for long makes them a bit sticky. If there is a situation where you need to keep them for long, then spread them on a tray and apply some oil gently. 
  • Adding tomatoes and red chili powder is optional, but I like the taste hence add them.
  • You can add as many veggies you like and also adjust their quantities as per you likings.
Please do share your experiences and feedback with me in the below section of comments or on my Facebook page. I too have a You Tube channel please do visit for all the video recipes. All the links mentioned below :) 
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/cookwithpriyanka

Thanks & Happy cooking
Priyanka :)






Wednesday, 11 June 2014

Homemade Sambhar Powder/Sambhar Podi


Hello everyone, today I got you all a recipe which is common in every household, specially in South Indian houses. There are various ways to prepare podi, I am sharing my mother's recipe which she got it from her mother, so kind of a generation pass on :). 


For those who are new to sambhar, I would like to tell them that Sambhar is a popular South Indian gravy, made with lentil and veggies. Few spices are blended together and used as sambhar powder. This Sambhar powder is use to make Sambhar. Usually we get sambhar powder very easily in markets, but they are not very fresh, neither they have that taste.

I always make podi in small batches and store them in either ziplock bags or air-tight containers. Making them in small batches retain their freshness and once finished you can make your second batch in no time. You can use it for many other variants like sambhar rice, sambhar chicken and the variants go on.......
So lets quickly run through the ingredients following the method :)


Ingredients :
  • Urad dal - 2 tbsps
  • Chana dal - 2 tbsps
  • Tuar dal - 2 tbsps
  • Coriander Seeds - 6 tbsps
  • Whole Red chillies - 10-15 nos
  • Fenugreek Seeds - 1/2 tbsps
  • Pepper corns - 1 tbsp
  • Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
  • Mustard seeds - 1/2 tbsp
  • Dried curry leaves - 15-20
  • Asafoetida/Hing - 1/8 tsp
Method :
Dry roast all the ingredients except Hing, in a pan (on medium to low flame) with continuous stirring. Once you start getting a nice aroma of all the spices, switch of the flame and let it cool. Once cooled grind them + Hing to make a fine powder. Store in air-tight containers.

Note :
You can adjust the chillies as per the taste buds.
Sometimes when my chillies don't gives a nice reddish colour then I add kasmiri lal mirch too for the colour.
If you like you can dry roast the dals and spices seperately, but I do it all together to save time :)

Enjoy your fresh sambhar and idlis or dosai :)

Please do share your experiences and feedback with me in the below section of comments or on my Facebook page. I too have a You Tube channel please do visit for all the video recipes. All the links mentioned below :) 
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/cookwithpriyanka

Thanks & Happy Cooking 
Priyanka :)