Chitranna

Chitranna is what we call Lemon rice in Kannada.It is a quick rice that is part of feasts.On festive occasions like Ugadi,it is this  flavoured rice, that is part of the spread.

I love it as it is quite easy to make & is quick too.Moreover,the lemon juice brings it a freshness which is so invigorating.

Ingredients : 3/4 cup rice,1 tbsp oil, 1/ 2 a lemon 1 tbsp peanuts,1/4 tsp mustard seeds, 1/4 tsp urad dal, 1-2 chopped green chillies ,1 red byadgi mirchi broken into pieces, a sprig of curry leaves,14 tsp haldi,1/4 tsp hing, salt to taste.

Method : Pressure cook rice for 3 whistles.Take care to prepare rice by using lesser quantity of water than otherwise as the rice grains must be all separate for this dish.

I cook for 3 whistles. Then I put off gas.After the pressure is off,I remove the rice & spread it on to a plate so that rice grains are not sticking to each other,Keep it aside.

In a kadhai take oil. Put on the gas.Add mustard seeds,When they splutter,peanuts,Let the peanuts brown alittle.Add urad dal ,byadgi mirchi,chopped green chillies, curry leaves.After 1 minute.put off gas.Add haldi & hing to kadhai & mix.The oil ,peanuts,urad dal ,chillies,kadi patta mixture is all yellow .Keep it aside.

Take the spread out rice.Squeeze half alemon on the rice & mix nicely.Pour the yellow oily vagar prepared by using peanuts,urad dal etal over the rice. Add salt to rice & mix all the things with a spoon.The chitranna is ready.

Chitranna can be garnished with fresh finely chopped dhania & fresh grated coconut. I am too lazy to do all this .Moreover ,the aroma of lemon rice keeps beckoning me to savour it & I simply comply.

If the tanginess is found wanting ,more lemon juice can be added.Some even add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp sugar while mixing vagar with lemon juice.

Croutons

I love soups.They are light on the stomach & taste great ! My kid will eat a tomato soup in a restaurant as it has croutons.I decided to make croutons as there was some bread at home.I wanted to tempt my kid to drink soup with the croutons thrown in it.

I googled & got the recipe@http://www.food.com/recipe/microwave-croutons-110930

Ingredients : 2-3 slices of brown bread,2-3 tsps butter.

Method : Take 1 tsp of butter in a small microwaveable bowl .Microwave butter for 25-30 seconds or till it melts.Put off microwave.

Cut the bread slice into sixteen square pieces .The pieces may look small & yet when they are soaked in soup ,they appear quite big.


Now toss the bread pieces into the bowl with the melted butter.Place bowl with buttered bread pieces in microwave.Microwave on high for 30 seconds. Put off microwave.Remove it from microwave.Toss the bread pieces again in bowl.Microwave again for 30 seconds.Repeat two -three times by microwaving the pieces again & again.When they are crisp,they are ready.Always microwave just for 30 seconds.Not more.Total time of microwave will be less than 4-5 minutes.
Just dunk the bread pieces or croutons into the tomato soup made & serve.

My kid did end up drinking one bowl of tomato carrot soup.With one bowlful of croutons !

One can remove the sides of the bread slices while cutting the bread slices.Otherwise ,the sides can remain.I tried both & my kid was unable to point this out.

I used brown bread.White or multigrain bread can be used instead.I used Amul butter,which is a salted butter.

Surti Locha

I had been posted in Surat for quite some time & therein I ate dhoklas,khaman,locha etc.Locha is crumbled dhokla garnished with chopped raw onions,thin sev ,chutni etal It is like dhokla bhel .

I love dhoklas.I have made dhoklas before ( recipe @ http://vasusanchayah.blogspot.in/2011/08/dhoklas.html).Today ,I made them & they did not rise.They were just like solid steamed batter cakes.So I decided to make them into locha.

Ingredients : 2 plates of dhoklas( which have not risen & hence are not fluffy ) ,1tbsp oil,1/2 tsp mustard seeds,1 green chilli -finely chopped,,a few curry leaves-chopped,1/4 tsp hing ,1/4 tsp haldi.

Garnish : Finely chopped onions,thin sev.

Method : I found that my dhoklas were not breaking with my hands- they were soft -so I broke them into 1inch chunks & put them in the mixie.I powdered the chunks.

Take oil in kadhai.Put on the gas.Put mustard seeds in the oil.After they have spluttered ,add the chopped curry leaves & the green chilli.Add hing & haldi.Now put the powdered dhoklas into the kadhai & fry for some time so that the mustard,curryleaves & green chillies are all nicely mixed with the dhoklas.Put off the gas.

Serve the locha with raw chopped onions & sev.My friend says even chutni -green or sweet can be added.

After you taste the locha,you will pray for the dhoklas to get spolit now & again .Locha tastes better than dhoklas !After all ,as one of my ex-colleague used to remark -nothing can beat the partnership of oil & besan !

Basket puri -a recipe.

I prepared this today-got basket puris from a local grocery store.One packet has as many as 40-50 basket puris.

For 10 basket puris ingredients needed are- one small bowl chana,one medium sized onion,100gm sev ( from your local bhel wala or any namkeen sev).

For imli chutni-a small  cherry sized  ball of tamarind,two dates soaked in water,red chilli powder(this is optional-it can be avoided) quarter tea spoon & salt to taste.

 I pressure cooked  some brown chana .Got bhujia sev ( Haldi ram's),cut onions finely.

I also boiled some imli ( tamarind) in cooker.Then squeezed the imli pulp & strained it.I added date jam ( dates can be soaked in water & then added as well ).Then ,I added salt as also red chilli powder.Then I boiled this mixture to get a sweet sour chutni.The consistency of the chutni must be like that of a paste. This is as per Tarla Dalal recipe for chaat chutni.Another option is to boil dates,imli & add a small piece of  crushed sunt (   dried ginger ) with salt added to get chutni.You can use jaggery also if you so desire instead of dates.If you don't want a spicy chaat chutni you need not add red chilli powder.

Now,I arranged some boiled chana in the basket puri,then the bhujia sev followed by onions,followed by the chaat chutni.I found that my chutni had become too spicy as I seemed to have added more of red chilli powder.So I added little curd on top of all this to neutralise the spiciness.

Chana is the protein source ,curd provides calcium,onion gives minerals &  sev is again besan -so protein.Dates & imli give you iron.So quite a healthy &  tasty snack.