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Friday, February 26, 2016

Samai-arisi-kanji-dosai

#SamaiArisiKanjiDosai #LittleMilletKanjiDosai : The method of preparing Neer Dosai, Keralastyle Appam and Kanji dosai  seems to be more or less the same. But the slight variations or twist in the preparation of batter and also in the way of making dosai either on tawa or appa chatty [ shallow kadai ] gives a different taste & texture to the dosai.
#SamaiArisi or shortly #Samai belongs to millet family. They are small grained plants which grows well even on not so fertile soil as rain fed crop. #Millet are generally non acid forming food and also gluten free. They are rich in iron and other minerals. The percentage of these minerals are higher in millet compared to popular cereals like rice & wheat. So we should try to include millet in our daily diet replacing rice or wheat to get all the nutrients.
Here comes the recipe to make a tasty dosai using #LittleMillet.
Nearly 15 kanji dosai can be prepared with the given ingredients.

Samai arisi kanji dosai

Ingredients :
2 cupSamai arisi [ Little millet ]
1/2 cupCoconut scraping
2 TspSalt
1 TspSugar [ optional ]
Oil to make dosai.
[ I used gingelly oil { til/sesame oil} which gives a nice aroma and taste to the dosai. ]

Method :
Wash samai arisi thoroughly 2 to 3 times.
Then soak for 2 hours adding enough water.

After  2  hours grind soaked rice and coconut into a very very smooth batter.
Transfer into a vessel. Set aside.

Wash the grinder with 1/2 cup of water to take out the batter sticking to the surface of the grinder.
Transfer this washed water into a separate vessel and add 1 Tbsp of ground batter also.
Add some more water and mix well.

Now keep this vessel containing washed water on a stove over slow flame.
Keep stirring with a ladle.
Slowly it turns into porridge [ kanji ] and becomes shiny.
Switch off the stove.

Allow it to come to room temperature.
Pour into the vessel containing batter.
Mix this porridge [ kanji ] with the batter well.
Add salt, sugar and mix well.
The batter should be watery. Ferment for 6 hours.

Heat a tawa on a stove over medium flame.
Spread oil over the tawa.
When tawa becomes hot make dosai by pouring batter from rim of the tawa to its center.

Sprinkle oil over the dosai.
Otherwise the dosai would become dry and develop cracks.

Allow it to cook until the rim becomes slightly golden color.
No need to flip the dosai and cook the top side.

Dosai can also be made using appa chatty.
Grease appa chatty with oil.
After spreading batter cover appa chatty with a lid for half a minute and then take out the dosai once its rim becomes slightly golden color.

The dosai prepared over dosai tawa used to be soft.
But the one made over appa chatty likely to be crispy.

Transfer on to a serving plate.
In the same way make dosai one by one either over dosai tawa or appa chatty.

Serve hot with tomato sambar or tomato chutney or garlic chutney.

samai arisi kanji dosai samai arisi kanji dosai

samai arisi kanji dosai


Note : The batter can also be prepared without coconut scraping also.
The dosai can also be prepared immediately after grinding the soaked samai without fermenting the batter.



You might also like to try

Varagarisi Neer dosai
Varagarisi Neer dosai
Samai methi pancake
Samai methi pancake
Samai spicy masala bread
Samai spicy masala bread
Cholam dosai [ sorghum dosai ]
Cholam dosai
Masaal dosai
Masaal dosai
Thinai Maavu dosai
Thinai maavu dosai

For other Samai Recipes

Samai [ Little Millet ] Recipes

For spicy accompaniments

Chutney Recipes

Ideas for breakfast and dinner

Tiffin Recipes


Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Venthayakeerai-dhal

#VenthayakeeraiDhal  #FenugreekLeafLentil : Now plenty of  hardly 6 or 7 cm long tender fenugreek saplings  are available in the market.  They are rich in aroma but slightly bitter in taste. North Karnataka people used to take fresh raw fenugreek  leaves along with Joladha roti [ Jowar roti ]. Once I had a chance to relish fresh tender fenugreek leaves in a famous north Karnataka restaurant. From then on wards I have started using fenugreek leaves to garnish dishes just like the way we use fresh coriander leaves. Not only tender leaves, also leaves of fully grown fenugreek plant can be consumed raw.
The leaves of the fenugreek are washed and dried in the shadow to get Kasthuri methi. These dried fenugreek leaves are commonly added in North Indian dishes to get its aroma and flavor.
Here I have used tender saplings of fenugreek to make a tasty lentil [ dhal ] which goes well with hot white rice

Jeera rice and chappathy.
Sliced onion, green chilly, curry leaves, asafoetida, turmeric powder and tomato are sauteed till they give out nice aroma. Then cooked dhal and salt are added. It is allowed to simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.
Finally washed and gently chopped fenugreek leaves are added and kept on fire for two minutes.
The prepare dhal is transferred into a serving bowl and served after tempering mustard and split black gram.
Tasty spicy dhal is ready.

venthayakeerai dhal


Ingredients :
1 cupVenthaya keerai tender
1/2 cupGreen gram dhal cooked
1Tomato, chop nicely
1Onion, chop nicely
1 or 2Green chilly [ adjust ]
5 - 6Curry leaves
1/8 TspAsafoetida powder
1/2 TspCumin powder
3/4 Tspsalt
1 pinchTurmeric powder
1/2 TspLemon juice [ optional ]
1 TspGingelly oil [ sesame/til oil ]
To Temper :
1/2 TspMustard seeds
1/2 TspBlack gram split
1/2 TspGingelly oil [ sesame/til oil ]

1 Tsp of chopped coriander leaves to garnish

Method :
Heat a kadai with oil on a stove over medium heat.
After it becomes hot saute green chilly, curry leaves for half a minute.
Then add asafoetida powder and chopped onion.
Saute adding a pinch of salt till it becomes translucent.
Next saute tomato adding turmeric powder, little salt and cumin powder till it becomes soft.
At this stage add cooked dhal, 1/4 cup water and salt.
Mix well and let it simmer for 3 minutes.
Finally chop fenugreek leaves gently and add into simmering dhal.
Let it be on slow fire until the leaves become soft.
Adjust salt and add lemon juice after turning off the stove.

Transfer into a serving bowl.
Temper mustard seeds and split black gram and pour over the dhal.
Garnish with coriander leaves.
Tasty healthy dhal with nice aroma of venthaya keerai dhal is ready.
Mix with hot white rice and relish with any spicy curry.

It also goes well with chappathy and Jeera rice.

venthayakeerai dhal

Note : If country tomato is used then don't have to use lemon juice in the preparation.




Other recipes you might like to try

venthayakeerai paruppu venthayakeerai thakkali koottu venthayakeerai lentil amaranth venthayakeerai kuzhipaniyaram venthayakeerai chappathy

For other tasty dishes

Recipe Index

Ideas for breakfast and dinner

Tiffin Varieties

For Lunch Dishes

Lunch Recipes Index

Monday, February 15, 2016

Araikeerai-Masiyal

#AraikeeraiMasiyal ( #AraikeeraiMashed ), the most simple & tastiest recipe using green leafy vegetable. It is one of  the best ways to get all the goodness of green leafy vegetable since it is not being cooked over fire for a long time thereby destroying its vital nutrients.
Keerai Masiyal is a Tamil word and it means mashed greens. 
All are not suitable for making keerai masiyal. The taste of keerai masiyal will be very good only when its been done with some greens like mulai keerai, palak, tender thandu keerai, red mulai keerai and arai keerai. 
 The green leafy vegetable is washed in water two or three times to remove all the impurities . It is then cooked in a vessel or pressure cooker with little water. I usually pressure cook greens on high flame for one whistle and then take out cooked greens after immediately releasing steam by keeping the pressure cooker under running water or by carefully lifting the weight from the nozzle.
Allow cooked greens to come to room temperature and then mashed along with crushed garlic and salt.
Commonly the cooked greens are mashed using a churn dash in a wide mouthed mud pot. But I used to mash them using a blender.

araikeerai masiyal

Preparing keerai masiyal seems to be very easy but it should be done with utmost care. If it has been overcooked, greens might loose its green color and also its distinct taste. If its not cooked well it might not be palatable.
Now over to the recipe

Ingredients :
a hand fullaraikeerai
2 or 3garlic cloves
1/4 Tspsalt [ adjust ]

Method :

Wash arai keerai thoroughly 2 or 3 times with water in a wide mouthed vessel.
Take 1/2 cup of water in a pressure cooker.
Put arai keerai in the cooker.
Close the lid with weight on.
Cook for 1 whistle on high flame.
Turn off the stove.

Release steam immediately by keeping the cooker under running water or simply removing weight.

Transfer into a bowl. Let the cooked arai keerai to come down to room temperature.
Do not throw away the water used for cooking.
It can be added to rasam or sambar.


Now in a mixie jar take garlic cloves ( remove skin ) and run for a second.

Then add the palak & salt and grind only for few seconds to get coarsely blended arai keerai masiyal.

Tasty tasty keerai masiyal with intense flavor of garlic is ready!!

It has to be consumed as soon as it has been prepared to enjoy its true taste.

araikeerai masiyal

Take hot hot white rice in a plate. Add 2 table spoon full of prepared keerai masiyal.
Mix well after adding a dash of gingelly oil [ sesame / till oil ].
Relish with sambar and vathakuzhambu.
AAh!! wow!! wow!! what a taste!! enjoy!!...

Note : The scientific name of Arai keerai is Amaranthus dubius.




Other recipes you might like to try

  • Hover cursor over the picture to know the name of the recipe
  • Click once to go to the post

Red Greens Masiyal - Mashed Red Amaranth greens Palak Masiyal Red Greens Dhal Masiyal Red Greens Lentil manathakkali keerai paal saru [ kazhani saru ]


Friday, February 12, 2016

Karuveppilai-poondu-milagai-podi - wet

#KaruveppilaiPoonduMilagaiPodiWet  #CurryLeafGarlicSauce : We have already seen a recipe to prepare spicy poondu milagai podi wet. Even a slight variation in the method of preparation will give a chutney/sauce a different taste.
In this recipe the red chilly has been soaked in hot water for 20 minutes. Then ground into a sauce along with red chilly powder, garlic and curry leaves.
The taste will be very sharp and spicy when eaten fresh and mellows down little bit after a day or two.
Now over to the method of preparation.

karuveppilai poondu milagai podi wet [ curry leaf garlic sauce ]


Ingredients :
4 - 6Red Chilly
1 TspRed Chilly powder
8 - 10 cloves;Garlic
hand fullCurry leaves
3/4 TspSalt [ adjust ]

Method :
Soak red chilly in hot water for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes take all ingredients along with soaked red chilly in a blender jar.
Run without water for a minute.
Then grind into a smooth paste adding two table spoon of water.
If necessary add some more water to grind into a smooth paste.
Transfer into a serving bowl.
It can be stored in fridge for a week.

This spicy poondu milagai podi wet goes very well with appam

neer dosai, dosai and kanji dosai.

It also tastes good with Idli.
Serve one tsp of karuveppilai poondu milagai podi on a plate. Make a small pit at the center. Pour a tsp full of gingelly oil [ sesame/till oil ] and have it with idly, dosai, ......
It can also added while preparing dry curry to get the flavor of garlic and also to make it spicy.

karuveppilai poondu milagai podi wet [ curry leaf garlic sauce ]

Note : Increase or decrease the number of red chilly according to your taste and its spiciness.






Some spicy chutney recipes you might like to try


  • hover cursor over the picture to know the name of the recipe
  • click once over the picture to go to the post


poondu milagai podi - wet poondu thakkali chutney [ garlic tomato chutney ] pachamilagai chutney [ green chilly chutney ] kothamalli vidhai chutney [ green coriander seed chutney ] vengaya sigappu chutney [ onion red chutney ]


For tasty accompaniments

Chutney Recipes

Ideas for tiffins and other dishes

Recipe Index