Typical South Indian Spreads for Shankranthi & Bhogi 2007

1) Salt 2) Uddina BeLa Kosambri 3) Kadle BeLe Kosambri 4) Beans Palya 5) KumbLekai Raitha 6) Aloo Gadde Palya 7) Uddin Hapla (pApad) 8) Sweet Pongal 9) Anna 10) Dodda Menasinakai Chitranna 11) Towe





1) Salt 2) Uddina BeLa Kosambri 3) Kadle BeLe Kosambri 4) Bonda 5) Beans Palya 6) Kumblekai Palya 7) Mosaru Amboda 8) Anna with Thuppa 9) Panchambrutha 10) Towe 11) Sweet Pongal

Jammy Besan Laddu

Ingredients (makes 4 laddus)

1) Ghee – 2 tablespoons
2) Dry fruits - Resins, Cashews and Badams – a few
3) Besan – 1 cup
4) Kisan Jam (MIXED fruit) – 2 tablespoons

Method of preparation

1) Take 1 tablespoon of ghee and heat it a pan
2) Fry the dry fruits and keep them aside.
3) Clean the pan and heat it along with the other tablespoon of ghee.
4) To this hot ghee add Besan and sauté.
5) Heat and mix well until a pleasant fragrance emanates.
6) To this mixture add fried dry fruits.
7) Mix well and add 2 tablespoons of Kisan Jam and mix well.
8) After cooling, make this mixture into 1inch Laddus.

NOTE: This is my recent creation and needs improvement, but nevertheless has a great taste - so go ahead and enjoy. Note that the brown color is from the jam.

Simple Batani (Peas) Chitranna

Ingredients
1) Cooked Rice
2) Fresh Peas - 1 cup
3) Lemon - 1
4) Chilly - 1-2
5) Chopped Coriander - 1 tablespoon
6) Peanuts - 1 handful
7) Asafoetida (Hing) - 1 pinch
8) Mustard Seeds - 1 teaspoon
9) Channa Dal - 1 teaspoon
10) Salt to taste
11) Curry leaves - a few
12) Oil – 1 teaspoon

Method of preparation
1) Cook normal white rice and keep it aside.
2) Boil the peas with a little salt until they become tender. You could also boil the peas along with the rice in the cooker (separately).
3) Heat oil in a pan
4) Add Mustard Seeds and Hing
5) To this mixture add Peanuts and Channa Dal and fry until they become brownish.
6) Add Curry leaves and cut Chilies.
7) Drain the stock from the peas (note that this stock is very tasty and can be consumed with salt and pepper and makes a wonderful appetizer)
8) Add the peas and squeeze and entire lemon into the pan and mix well.
9) To this mixture add boiled rice and dress it up with coriander leaves.
10) Your chitranna is now ready!

Simple Carrot Halwa

Ingredients
1) Carrots – ½ Kg
2) Milk – ½ Liter
3) Sugar – 300 grams
4) Cashew – 10-15 cut pieces
5) Raisins – 10 - 15
6) Badam – 5 – 10 pieces
7) Pista – 5 – 10 pieces
8) Ghee – 1 tablespoon

Method of Preparation (takes about 40 minutes)

1) Grate Carrots and keep it aside
2) Head some Ghee in a pan and put in all the dry fruits.
3) Mildly fry until Raisins blow up and the other dry fruits get a hint of brownish color.
4) Remove the dry fruits from the pan and transfer it to another vessel.
5) Now add some Ghee into the pan until it melts.
6) Immediately add Milk and boil on low flame.
7) Once the milk comes to a boil, transfer the grated Carrots and continue boiling.
8) When the boiling mixture reaches a medium consitency, add all the sugar followed by dry fruits.
9) Continue boiling until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture attains a thick consistency.
10) Your Carrot Halwa is ready!

Simple Aloo Fry (Vaddakal)

Ingredients (4 servings)
Aloo (Potatoes) – ½ Kg
Karibevu (Curry Leaves) – 10-12
Mustard Seeds – ½ teaspoon
Mirchi Power – ¼ teaspoon (per taste)
Refined Oil – 1 tablespoon
A pinch of Hing (Asafoetida)
A pinch of Arishina power (Haldi/Turmeric)
Salt to taste


Method of preparation (takes 20 minutes)
1) Skin and cut the potatoes into small 1cm cubes (see picture)
2) Heat oil in a pan
3) Add Hing & Mustard Seeds until they burst
4) Add Karibevu and Haldi
5) Immediately add the Aloo cubes
6) Allow the Aloo to fry and become crispy from outside.
7) Remove from heat and add salt and Mirchi power and sauté again.

Your mouth watering Aloo Fry (Vaddakal) is ready! It is best eaten with rice & ghee !!

Capsicum-Coriander Cheese Sandwich

Ingredients (Makes 2 healthy green sandwiches)
Capsicum (bell pepper) – 1 nos (medium size as in the pic attached)
Fresh Ginger – Small slice
Green Chilly – 1 to ½ chilly
Coriander – 2 bunches (freshly cut)
Jeera – 1 teaspoon
Soft Cheese – 1 teaspoon/1 tablespoon
Salt to taste
Toasts (I recommend cereal or plain wheat bread to Maida based breads )

Method of preparation (takes about 10 minutes)
1) Heat some Ghee/oil in a pan
2) Add Jeera + Ginger and sauté
3) Add finely chopped green chilies and briefly sauté again.
4) Now add chopped Capsicum, heat and toss the contents after 3 minutes.
5) Remove from heat (ensure that the capsicum pieces are still crunchy)
6) Sprinkle salt and toss.
7) Add a tablespoon of cheese and allow it to settle for 2 minutes.
8) Add finely chopped coriander (cilantro) and mix well.
9) Your Capsicum-Coriander Cheese dressing is now ready!