French Beans Curry/ Beans Poriyal

It has been a very very long time since I have posted something here. I have been so very busy the past few days. I just celebrated my Second Wedding Anniversary yesterday and the day was just so good. I had some surprise friends over and so many wishes. With the remaining energy that got passed on from yesterday I am sitting down now to finish up some of my very pending posts on my blog.

It is a South Indian meal calling now. So here I am with my French Beans Curry/ Beans Poriyal.

Ingredients:

French Beans - Chopped - 2 Cups
Oil - 2 Tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 Tsp
Urad Dal - 1 Tsp
Chana Dal - 1 Tsp
Dry Red Chillies - 2-3
Coconut - Freshly grated - 1/2 cup
Salt - To Taste

Method:

• Wash the French beans and chop it and keep it aside.

• In a pan heat the 2 Tbsp of Oil.

• Once the Oil is hot add the mustard seeds. 

• Allow the mustard seeds to pop up.

• Then add the Urad Dal, Chana Dal and the dry red chillies.

• Then add the chopped French Beans and mix it will.

• Now add salt according to taste and mix it all well.

• Cover and cook for about 8-10 minutes on medium heat.

• Keep stirring in-between once or twice so that it does not burn at the bottom.

• If the curry gets too dry, then sprinkle a few drops of water and cover and cook again.

• Once the French Beans are cooked, add the freshly grated Coconut.

• Mix it well and cover and cook for 3-5 minutes.

• Turn off the heat and French Beans Curry/ Beans Poriyal is ready to be served.

• You can serve this hot with Sambar Rice, Rasam Rice or Rotis.

Notes:

• Red Chillies are added instead of green chillies so that they can be differentiated well amidst the Green Beans.
• You can also use dry dessicated coconut in case the freshly grated ones are not available.

Thattai / Crispy Rice Savory

I wanted to make Thattai's during Diwali. But I just did not have the time to make it. I just could not stop thinking of Thattai's for the past few days and finally decided to make them. They are perfect for eating as a snack with tea, or with Rice or just like that when you get bored!!
How I made them?????

Ingredients:

Rice Flour - 1 Cup
Urad Flour - 3 Tbsp
Sesame seeds - 1 Tbsp
Chana Dal - 2 Tbsp
Asafoetida - 1/2 Tsp
Crisco or Dalda - 1 Tbsp
Ghee - Clarified Butter - 1 Tbsp
Curry leaves - A Few
Salt - According to taste
Water - A few tablespoons
Oil - For Frying

Method:

• Soak the Chana dal in water for about 2 hours and drain the water and keep aside.
• Take a bowl and add the rice flour, urad flour, sesame seeds, soaked chana dal, asafoetida, crisco/dalda, ghee and the curry leaves.

• Mix all the ingredients well without adding water.

• After mixing the ingredients well, we have to be able to hold the dough together between our fingers and our palm.

• Add water slowly using a spoon and make a very stiff dough.

• The dough should be like as shown below.

• Take an aluminum foil or a zip-lock cover for making the Thattai's.
• Take a little bit of ghee for greasing the hands so that flattening the Thattai's will be easy.

• Make small balls out of the dough and place it on the foil and flatten it out.

• Do not make it very thin otherwise they will break while removing.

• Make enough Thattai's and keep so that it gets easier and it saves you a lot of time.

• Prick the Thattai's with a fork so that they don't puff up while frying.

• In a pan heat oil and once the oil is hot enough, drop in a few Thattai's and allow them to fry for some time.

• Once they fry on one side, turn them so that they fry equally on the other side.

• Once they turn golden brown,you can remove them from oil.

• Drain out the excess oil and place them on a paper towel.

• Allow the Thattai's to cool down completely before relishing them.

• Store the Thattai's in a air-tight container and it stays fresh for about a week.

Notes:

• You can dry roast the curry leaves and add them or add dried curry leaves too.
• Crisco or Dalda is added so that the Thattai's get more crispy.

Vazhakkai Podimas / Raw Banana Curry

I had a nice plump raw banana at home and was very tempted to make Podimas out of it, just the way it was made during our wedding. I had a very vague idea as to how to make it. But I needed the exact method to make it. I looked it up into Shanthi's Cookbook. She had this delicious tasting Vazhakkai Podimas. I tried the recipe and it came out really very yum. I have altered the measurement of the ingredients as per my taste. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Raw Banana - 1
Oil  - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad Dal - 1 tsp
Chana Dal - 1 tsp
Ginger - Chopped - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves - A few
Dry red chillies - 4
Salt - To taste
Coriander leaves - A few (Chopped)
Lime Juice - 2 tsp (I used concentrate)

Method:

• Cut the Raw Banana into big pieces and boil them in water for about 15 minutes.

• Once the bananas have cooled, peel them and grate them coarsely.

• In a pan, heat the oil. Once the oil is hot add the mustard seeds, Urad dal and Chana dal.

• Then add the dry red chillies, curry leaves and chopped ginger.

• Then add the grated raw banana and add salt.

• Add about 3 tbsp of water and cover and cook for about 5-7 minutes.

• Turn off the flame and add the chopped coriander leaves and drizzle the lime juice over the curry.

• Serve hot with Rice. 

• Enjoy the Vazhakkai Podimas!!