How to make Paneer in home ?

Paneer, Cottage cheese  is widely used in Indian Cooking. Low fat milk or whole milk can be used for making paneer. For creamier and firmer paneer, use whole milk. Only two ingredients are required for preparing paneer. Whole milk and lemon juice. Lemon juice can be replaced with Vinegar. I always prefer fresh home-made paneer when compared to store bought one. Please check below for step by step instructions and pictures for preparing Paneer in home.

How to sprout moong dal | Whole green gram at home

Sprouts are the cheapest and easiest way to get complete nutrition. My grandma starts her day by eating the moong sprouts. Sprouts provides essential minerals an vitamins. They have more nutrients when compared to unsprouted beans. Calories and carbohydrates are compartively less in sprouted beans than unsprouted beans. Preparing sprouts is an easy task and once sprouted store it in refrigerator. Please check below for step by step instructions and pictures for preparing moong dal sprouts in home

How to serve South Indian Lunch in Banana Leaf ?

Lunch meal in South India for guests is served in Banana Leaf. It is believed that eating in banana leaf will helps in easy digestion. The bigger side of the leaf should be on your right hand side.  The leaf is washed with water before serving food to remove the dirt. 
        Dishes are served in an specific order and a specific spot is allotted on leaf for each dish. Top half of the leaf is reserved from left to right for salt, pickle, 2 vegetable dry curries(poriyal) , Kootu, Varuval, Vadai and  sweet .The order for vegetable curries, vadai and varuval can be interchanged. Bottom half of the leaf is served with  banana, appalam and rice.

How to clean Banana Flower ?

Banana Tree is so amazing .. Each and every part is useful. Banana flower, Banana stem, Raw banana are used in cooking. Banana is a favourite fruit for many people. Banana leaf is used for serving food in India. Banana Flower is a rich source of Vitamin A and Vitamin C. It is called as Arati Puvvu in telugu and Vazhaipoo in tamil. My mom prepares Vazhaipoo Vada and Vazhaipoo poriyal often. Cleaning the banana flowers is time consuming and requires lots of patience. It took nearly one hour for me to clean the whole banana flower. My mom usually cleans banana flower during evening and stores these cleaned banana flowers in fridge. She utilizes it for next day lunch. Please check below for step by step instructions and pictures for cleaning banana flower.

How to make Ghee from Butter ?

Ghee is Indian clarified butter. Ghee is aromatic and considered sacred. Ghee plays an indispensable role in Indian Cooking. I use ghee for preparing sweets, biryani, ghee dosa. I fed my kids ghee along with dal or rasam or podi. My mom prepares ghee from home-made butter. Here I make ghee from store bought butter. Below are the detailed steps for making Ghee from unsalted butter.

7 types of Coconut Chutney

Coconut Chutney or thengai chutney is a South Indian dip prepared as a side dish for Idli, Dosa, Pongal and Rice. It is also served as a side dish to fritters and some south Indian snacks. Coconut chutney can be prepared in many ways. I have explained below 7 different types of coconut chutney prepared in South India. Coconut chutney can be prepared within 10 mins. Check below for all the variations of  Coconut Chutney | Thengai Chutney.

How to make Soft Idli ?

Idli is a healthy, oil-free, traditional South Indian breakfast. Rice is staple grain of South India. Idli is prepared with Rice and Urad dal. Idli is also called as Rice Cake. The secret behind soft Idli lies in making of  Idli batter. Idli batter prepared with right ingredients, grinded to soft texture with enough water and proper fermentation plays a key role in making soft Idli. Please check below for step by step instructions and pictures for preparing South Indian traditional breakfast Idli.

Madras Filter Coffee

How many of you enjoy the morning breeze with a cup of hot coffee in garden ?  I Love to do it. Back in India, we can select the coffee beans and grind it. After coming to US, I started buying the coffee powder available in Indian groceries. Coffee filter is used for preparing decoction. Stainless coffee filters are easily available in many Indian groceries.Please check below for step by step instructions and pictures for preparing Madras Filter Coffee

How to make Idli | Dosa Batter from scratch ?

Idli Dosa Batter Multipurpose batter preparation for Idli, dosa and paniyaram. Recipe Category: Breakfast Recipe Cuisine: South Indian Author: Nithya Ingredients: Table 1: Idli Rice : 5.5 Cups Urad dal | Ulutham paruppu : 1 Cup Fenugreek seeds | Vendhayam  : 2 tsp Salt  : 2 tsp Water : As needed Table 2: For Mysore masala dosa and open butter masala dosa Sona masoori rice : 1.5 cups Idli Rice : 1.5 Cups Urad dal | Ulutham paruppu : 0.5 Cup Chana dal : 1 tbsp Fenugreek seeds | Vendhayam  : 2 tsp Salt  : 2 tsp Water : As needed Instructions: Wash and soak Idli rice in water for 1.5 hour in a big bowl. Wash urad dal 4 to 5 times. soak fenugreek seeds and Urad dal for 1.5 hour. Urad dal will swell to almost double the size and rice will look pleasantly white. Drain Urad dal and rice. First grind urad dal and Fenugreek seeds .Start with 1 cup of water, then frequently check and add water whenever necessary.  The time taken for grinding 2 cups of Urad dal in my grinder is  20 minutes and it consumed 2.5 cups of water. water consumption varies depending on quality of urad dal. Stop grinding, when the batter is soft and fluffy. Transfer it to a big container.   No need to clean the grinder before grinding rice. Add 5.5 cups of rice and half cup of water to the grinder.Check frequently and add water if necessary. Rice wont consume water like urad dal. It took 25 minutes to grind 5.5 cups of rice and it consumed 1 cup of water. when the rice is fully ground ( the batter should be soft) transfer it to the same urad dal batter container. Add 2 tsp of Salt and mix well. Mixing well is an important step. Use a big ladle or hand to mix it.  Allow the batter to ferment. It took 12 hours for the batter to ferment. In hot places it will take 8-10 hours to ferment. The batter is ready when it has expanded and some bubbles and cracks appear on the surface. The batter should be thick but light and airy as mousse. It will have a fermented slightly sour smell. Once fermented, stir the raised batter for 2 to 3 mins in one direction and refrigerate. Tips: Don't use basmati rice for making the batter. The colour of batter won't be white, if more fenugreek seeds are added. Do not add more water than suggested. The pureeing capabilities of the grinder or mixie are much reduced when there is too much water. Use a big container for fermenting as rice and dal expands while fermenting Do not stir the batter while it is fermenting. When the batter is ready, the texture will be light, almost like a mousse. First day after batter is fermented, use it for making soft Idly / Idlies. From second day, prepare dosas by adding little water to batter. If the batter is more than 4 days old,  then make Kuzhi Paniyaram - Kara Paniyaram or Thalicha Dosai - Seasoned Crepe . During winter seasons in cold region, keep the batter inside oven leaving oven light on for quick fermentation. My mom uses big wet grinder. She used to grind rice first then urad dal . when I got my table top grinder, I checked the manual. It is mentioned to grind urad dal first in table top grinder. I prefer to grind urad dal first as cleaning grinder will be easy. The amount of batter we get depends on the quality of urad dal. The quantity of batter if we grind in mixie will be comparatively less and also we won't get soft Idli compared to batter ground in grinder. Before getting table top grinder in US, I used to grind only urad dal in blender and mix it with Store bought Rice Flour. The disadvantage is the batter quantity will be less and also the idli will be very hard. I usually use it for making dosa and paniyaram. Recipes with Idli-Dosa batter: Soft Idli Kaima Idli - Recipe with Leftover Idli Idli Upma - Recipe with Leftover Idli Cauliflower Dosa Crispy Dosa Masala Dosa Mixed Vegetable Uthappam Mysore Masala Dosa Open Butter Masala Dosa Thalicha Dosai - Seasoned Crepe Vegetable Dosa Kuzhi Paniyaram - Kara Paniyaram Egg Paniyaram

How to make crispy Dosa

Crispy Dosas served with coconut chutney and Sambar are my favourite food. My mom is an expert in making crispy dosas and Sambar.

 Steps for preparing crispy Dosa:

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