Hung Yogurt Dip and Home Made Crackers

Hung yogurt recipe is an excellent dip which can be made in a jiffy. It is not just tasty but low fat too.  This dip can be served with vegetables as an appetizer.  You can serve this dip with ready made crackers from the market or you can bake your own crackers.  One can ask why bake crackers in this age and time when there is no end to the variety of crackers available in the market.  Well freshly baked crackers just melt in the mouth.  Either way this dip and chip combo will impress your family and guests.

HUNG YOGURT DIP

Ingredients:

2 cups of hung yogurt

1 medium onion

2 cloves of garlic

¾ tsp of salt

½ tsp of black pepper

½ tsp of dry basil

juice of half a lemon

1/2 tsp olive oil

Method:

If you have about 4 cups of sour yogurt, put it through muslin or cheese cloth.  In 5 to 6 hours all the water will drain and you will be left with creamy yogurt like Greek yogurt.

Put this yogurt in a bowl, add finely chopped onion, crushed garlic, salt, pepper,lemon juice, olive oil and basil and mix very well.  Your dip is ready.  Refrigerate it before serving with crackers.

HOME MADE CRACKERS

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup samolina (rava)

 ½ cup wheat flour

1 cup white flour (maida)

1 tsp salt

½ tsp caraway seeds(ajwain)

1/3 cup canola oil

1 cup warm water

1 tsp of lemon pepper and chives (optional)

Method:

Mix all the flours, salt, oil in a big bowl.

Add warm water and start kneading the dough.  Make sure that dough is not too tight.  Neither it should be sticky nor too dry.  In case you need to add more water to make it  more pliable, please do so.

Divide dough into eight equal parts and shape them into balls.  Gently rub a bit of oil on every ball and place them in a plate.  Cover with a plastic wrap or dishtowel and let it stay on the room temperature for one hour.

Preheat oven to 450 degree F or 220 degree C.

Flatten one dough ball.  Using rolling pin shape into a flat chapatti.  Cut the dough into any shape.  Poke each cracker with a fork to prevent puffing.

Sprinkle lemon pepper and chives on each cracker(optional).  Place them in a baking tray.

Bake till golden brown which roughly takes 10 minutes or so.

When cool serve with a dip.

Mrs Wilson's Yummy Sambar

Sambar is like vegetable soup taken with idli, dosa, vada and other South Indian dishes.This recipe is very special to me as it was given by my friend’s Mom who passed away a few years ago.   When  I lived in Chicago and craved for the taste of authentic Indian Sambar, Mrs.Wilson’s recipe often came to my rescue. Once after the lunch  at my friend’s home I asked her Mom how she made such yummy sambar, she went to the kitchen and in five minutes came out with the recipe.  Last week, my friend, who was missing her Mom’s Sambar, asked me if I still had her recipe.  I told her I would be honored if she would let me put this on my blog and share it with the world.

Ingredients:

1 cup yellow split lentil(dal), 1 big onion chopped (for cooking with dal), 1 medium egg plant(bringal), ½ lb. green beans,  4 sticks of celery, 4 green chilies, 2 tsp of fresh lemon juice, 1 medium onion chopped finely, 1 big tomato chopped, ½ tsp of mustard seeds(rai). 2 tsp of cooking oil.

Ingredients for spices:

2 tsp coriander seeds, 6 red peppers, ½ tsp cumin seeds, 10 black pepper corns, ½ tsp mustard seeds(methi),  5 tsp grated coconut, ½  tsp turmeric powder.

Method:

Roast spices except turmeric powder.  First put grated coconut in a frying pan and keep stirring it constantly till it becomes light brown.  Now add all other spices, except turmeric, and roast them.  Then put all the roasted spices in a blender and add turmeric powder as well.  Add 1 cup of water to it and grind it into a paste.  Keep this spices blend separately

 Boil 8 cups of water in a pan and  add yellow split lentil(dal) and chopped onion.  Cook till very soft.  Now add beans, celery, green chilies till they turn very tender.  At this point add chopped egg plant and blend of spices and let it simmer for sometime.  Add  lemon juice and salt to taste.

Heat cooking oil in a pan, add mustard seeds.  When they stop spluttering, add medium chopped onion.  As they turn light brown add chopped tomato and fry them well.  Now add this to already cooked sambar.

Sambar is ready to be eaten with idli or dosa or feel free to have it as a soup.

Samolina(Rava) spicy Idli with coconut chutney

IDLI and that too Rava (Samolina) Idli is a very light but wholesome meal.  In South India it is generally served as breakfast but in North India folks are very happy to have it as lunch or even as evening snack.  One can have Idli with coconut chutney or with sambar or with both.  I have a niece who prefers eating Idli with pure ghee or purified butter and red chilli powder mix.  So it is a question of individual choice how you eat idli.

Ingredients for Idli:
Rava 1 cup, yogurt 1 cup, ginger paste 1/4 tsp, cumin seeds 1/2 tsp(slightly roasted), red pepper 1/2 tsp, cashews 10, 1/2 cup water approximately, 3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp eno fruit salt, 1 tsp oil for greasing the idli moulds.

Method for Idli:
Take rava, yogurt, water, ginger paste, cumin seeds, red pepper, salt  in a bowl and mix well.
 In the meanwhile prepare idli moulds by greasing them.  Now add eno fruit salt to the mix and pour immediately a spoon full in each idli mould.  Cut cashews in half and put a piece on the top of idli mixture very gently so that it does not sink down..On the gas stove put a heavy bottom pan or pressure cooker with half a cup water in it.  In this pan or cooker put your prepared idli mould. Cover it well with a lid but in case of pressure cooker don't put the weight on it so that there is room for steam to pass.  Cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. Take it out of the pan and serve them hot with coconut chutney.


COCONUT CHUTNEY


Ingredients:
Coconut 1/2 (grated), half a lemon, 2 tblsp yogurt,  red  dry chillies 2, green fresh chillies 2, washed and dryed channa dal(lentil) 1 tblsp, cumin seeds 1 tsp, mustard seeds 1 tsp, asafoetida 1/4 tsp, cooking oil 1 1/2 tblsp, sugar 1 tsp, salt  to taste.

Method:
Roast channa dal and keep it aside.  Grind coconut, lemon juice, yogurt, green chillies, roasted channa dal, sugar and salt in a blender. Take it out in a bowl.
Heat oil in a pan, add asafoetida, cumin seeds and mustard seeds.  When they stop spluttering, add red chillies.  Be careful as red chillies tend to jump in the oil.  After about 30 seconds add this to the already ground coconut mixture.   Now enjoy with warm idli.

Mustard Green or Sarson ka Saag

Mustard green or Sarson ka saag is the most famous food of Punjab.  I remember when I was a little girl, my mother used to cook this saag on slow fire for full day. By dinner time, mouth was beginning to water as the fragrance of cooked saag reached the nostrils.  I cook the sarson ka saag pretty good but taste of my mother's saag was of no comparison.  Many in my family enjoyed the mustard saag with Makka ki roti(corn bread or chapatti) but I always relished the wheat flour parantha with it.  In India brocolli is not used but another kind of leaves called "Bathua"are used instead.  Bathua is very rich in iron and calcium. I am sure  Bathua is  not available in USA or Europe so feel free to use brocolli there.

 Ingredients:

2 frozen bags of mustard green (10 oz each) or two big bunches of fresh mustard leaves

1 frozen bag of spinach or one bunch of fresh leaves of spinach

1 small floret of brocolli or one bunch of bathua leaves

1/4 cup of ghee or any cooking oil of your choice
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 inch long ginger pc finely chopped or grated
5 cloves of garlic minced
1 medium tomato finely chopped
1 green pepper (hari mirchi)
salt to taste or 1 1/2 tsp
Cream cheese one tsp (optional)
Corn meal or corn flour (Makka ka atta) 2 tblsp (tablespoon)
Water one cup and need basis
Coriander powder 1 tsp
Garam Massala   1 tsp
Asafoetida  a pinch
Cumin seeds or Zeera 1 tsp.

Method:

Wash the mustard, spinach and bathua leaves at least three to four times before chopping them.
Pressure cook mustard green, spinach leaves and small pcs of brocolli by adding one cup of water for 5-7 minutes (until two or three whistles of the pressure cooker)
When it cools blend it in the blender for 10 seconds ( make sure it is thick consistency and not puree kind)
Cook this on slow heat for an hour or hour and a half   OR put this mixture in the slow cooker(electric kind) on low leat for two to three hrs.  If you think water is needed add a 1/4  to 1/2 cup gradually as saag should not be too dry.
Add corn meal to well cooked saag and let it cook for another one hour or so.  We have to make sure that corn meal is cooked and does not taste bitter.
Add salt, coriander powder to the mixture.
In a pan heat ghee or oil, add a pinch of asafoetida(hing), after five seconds add zeera seeds.
When zeera stops spluttering, add ginger and garlic.  After 15 seconds add onion.
When this mixture turns medium brown, add chopped green pepper and tomato.
Add garam massala to this mixture.
Now pour this mixture into the saag and if you want add one tsp of cream cheese or yogurt at this point.
Let saag cook for another 15-20 minutes.

Now enjoy with parantha or makka ki roti.

Granola Cereal

Granola cereal is made out of rolled oats which is one of the healthiest breakfast.  Oatmeal and rolled oats do not go through any kind of refining process so they preserve their nutritious value.  Oats provide soluble fibre, known as beta glucan, which acts like a sponge during digestion thus removing the bad cholesterol from the body.   Oats reduce the absorption of carbohydates into the blood stream thus stabilising the blood sugar levels.  Oats have essential fatty acids and antioxidants which reduce the risk of cancer.  If you are the one who do not relish oats much, you can make very yummy breakfast with oats by turning them into granola cereal.

Ingredients for home made Granola:
3 cups old fashioned oats(not instant), 3/4 cup sliced almonds, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, 1/2 cup sunflower seeds or melon seeds(peeled), 1/2 tblsp cinnamon powder, 1/4 tsp salt, 2tblsp canola oil, 1/2 cup pure maple syrup, 1 cup dried fruits like pineapple, apricots, cherries, dates, figs and raisins(chopped into small pcs.).

Method for baking into Granola:
Preheat oven to 325 degree F or 165 degree C. 
In a large bowl combine the oats,nuts, seeds cinnamon and salt.
In a small bowl, stir together the oil and maple syrup.  Pour the mixture over the dry ingredients and toss together, making sure all the dry ingredients are coated with the liquid.
Spread onto the baking tray and bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally so it browns evenly.
Take it out of oven and cool it.  Granola may be sticky when hot but it will turn crisp and dry when  it cools.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.