Rava Upma

This is a simple recipe to make rava upma. It can be made with or without turmeric powder. I will be adding photos soon.


Ingredients:
Roasted Rava - 2 cups
Onion - 1 medium
Tomatoes  - 2 small or 1 medium
Green Chillies - 3 medium (chopped)
Oil -2 tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2tsp
Curry Leaves - 4 to 5
Salt to taste
Turmeric Powder - 1tsp (optional)

For Garnishing:
Grated Coconut
Few Coriander Leaves
Lemon Juice - 1tsp 

Serves: 3

Procedure:

Heat oil in a kadhai. After half a minute put mustard seeds and fry till they start tempering. Add curry leaves and green chillies to it and fry for a minute.
Now add the cut onion to it and let it fry till it turns golden brown.
Add the turmeric powder now to it. I would recommend making the upma without turmeric powder for a comparatively better taste.
Add the salt and tomatoes and let it fry for 2 minutes.
Now add the roasted rava in the kadhai and mix well.
Add 1 cup (300ml as per consistency) of water in the kadhai, mix well and steam for 2-3 minutes.
Rava Upma is ready.
Garnish with lemon juice, coriander leaves and grated coconut.

Tip: Instead of using green chillies, one can use red dried chillies for a comparatively better taste.

Cabbage fry/ Cabbage bhaji

Hii..I have an awesome recipe of cabbage to share with you. My husband hated cabbage but had a hard time resisting this one!!

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Cabbage - 1pc (shredded)
Bengal Gram/ Chana Dal - 2tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2tsp
Coriander Powder - little less than 1tsp
Garam Masala Powder - 1tsp
Jeera & Saunf Powder (mix of cumin seed powder & fennel seeds/aniseed powder) - 1tsp
Green Chillies - 2pcs
Curry Leaves - 5-6pcs
Asafoetida - little less than 1tsp
Haldi (Turmeric Powder) - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

For Jeera and Saunf Powder, grind some jeera and saunf in mixer.

Procedure:

Heat 4tbsp of oil in a kadhai/container and put mustard seeds and let them splutter.
Put curry leaves, green chillies (cut into small pieces) and asafoetida and let them splutter.

Add chana dal (bengal gram) and let it roast for 1minute.
Add haldi, jeera & saunf powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder and salt to the mixture and let heat it for 1 minute.

Now add the shredded cabbage and mix thoroughly.
Sprinkle 1tbsp of water and let it cook for 4-5 minutes.
Serve hot.

Tip: Dont add too much water or the taste will get diluted.

Sheera/ Kesari Bhaath/ Sooji Halwa

This is a sweet dish and could be a disaster if not made with the proper mix of ingredients. I have messed up with this dish quite a few number of times until i got a hold of it.

Serves:3

Ingredients:
Rava/Sooji - 2 cups (250gm)
Ghee - 3/4th cup or 1 cup
Sugar - 3/4th cup
Water - 1 cup
Cashewnuts - 1tsp
Raisin - 1tsp
Elaichi - 1-2pcs

Tip: Use roasted rava/sooji to get a good flavour. If rava is not roasted, roast it for 5-7 minutes in an empty kadhai/container till it turns golden brown.
The ratio of rava/ghee/water should always be 2:1:1 for a perfect result which means for 2 parts/cups of rava, use 1part/cup of ghee and water.
If you want to make the sooji halwa same as the one served during satyanarayan pooja as prasad, increase the quantity of ghee to 1and 1/2 cup.

Procedure:

Put the ghee in empty kadhai and turn on the gas flame. Let the ghee become hot. Do not let the ghee come to a boil.
Now put the raisins, halved cashewnuts and elaichi seeds in the oil for less than a minute. After this put the rava into the ghee and mix properly so that it becomes an even mixture.
Let it roast for 3-4 minutes.

Add the sugar as per taste. 3/4th cup is adequate for a normal sweet flavouring. If you want to make it very sweet then make it 1cup. This recipe can be consumed by people having high sugar if you reduce the sugar quantity to 1/2 cup. This makes it just sweet enough.

Now heat 1cup of water in a microwave for 90 seconds or in a container for 3 minutes if using gas.
Be careful that the water should not boil. The water temperature should be between lukewarm to hot.
After the sugar has melted i.e. within 2 minutes of adding it, add the hot water to the mixture.
Adding hot water will make a noise in the kadhai same as when you put a hot container in cold water.
Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and cover it with a lid and let it cook for 1-2 minutes.
Serve hot.

Tip: If you add water which is at room temperature for making this dish, it will turn out to be a bad one. The key ingredient for this recipe is hot water.