Aval Upma / Poha

Poha, a very common breakfast in North India. Mostly in Maharashtra, Gujarat etc, you mostly get only Pohas for breakfast in most of the hotels. Poha is Beaten Rice in English. Its very easy and very simple and mostly liked by many. Many a times I make it for night dinner also.

Here is a Wikipedia explanation for Poha alias Aval in Tamil.

Flattened rice (also called beaten rice) is a dehusked rice which is flattened into flat light dry flakes. These flakes of rice swell when added to liquid, whether hot or cold, as they absorb water, milk or any other liquids. The thicknesses of these flakes vary between almost translucently thin (the more expensive varieties) to nearly four times thicker than a normal rice grain.

This easily digestible form of raw rice is very popular across Nepal, North East India and Bangladesh, and is normally used to prepare snacks or light and easy fast food in a variety of Indian cuisine styles, some even for long-term consumption of a week or more. It is known by a variety of names: Poha or Pauwa in Hindi, Baji in Newari, Pohe in Marathi, Aval in Tamil,Chindé in Bengali, Chira in Assamese, Phovu in Konkani, Chudaa in Oriya, Avalakki in Kannada, Atukula Poni in Telugu, Pauaa/Paunva(પૌંઆ) in Gujarati, and Chiura (चिउरा) in Nepali, Bhojpuri and Chhattisgarhi.

It is a very versatile dish, add or remove the ingredients according to your tastebuds.

Ingredients

Poha - 3 cups (Choose a little thick Poha and not the very thin ones)

Onion - 1 small

Halved Green Chillies - 2 to 3 

Tomato - 1 big

Grated Carrot - 1/4 cup

Grated Potato - 1/4 cup (wash it in water after grating it)

Turmeric Powder - 1/4 t.sp

Mustard - 1//4 t.sp

Urad dal - 1/2 t.sp

Channa dal - 1/2 t.sp

Peanuts - about 1/2 a handful 

Curry Leaves - 4 to 5 leaves

Oil

Salt to taste

Coriander Leaves for Garnishing

Lemon Juice - from 1 lemon

Sugar - 1 t.sp

Method

Cut all the veggies as required.  Keep all the things ready. 

Wash lightly the Poha in a colander by showing it under running water for a few seconds only.  Don't  over do it. Keep it aside, let the excess water drain off. 

Heat oil in a kadai, add in the mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, Peanuts, turmeric powder. Fry for about 1/2 a minute. 

Toss in the onion and green chillies. 

Once the onion becomes translucent toss in tomatoes. Stir a little and add some salt. Cook in medium flame. 

After the tomato has let out its juice and is fully cooked add in the veggies. Keep stirring till the veggies are almost cooked. 

Adjust the salt, according to your taste. 

Add the sugar and stir for a minute. 

Separate the washed and drained Poha with your hands and add them to the kadai. Mix well in slow flame. 

Add the lemon juice and mix well. 

Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with coriander leaves.

You can also use veggies like Peas, Cauliflower, but cook them in salt water before using them. In the end if you like you can also add fresh grated coconut for garnishing.

Veg Fried Rice

Veg Fried Rice is very common in our house. Simple and Fast. All you need to have in hands are some veggies like Carrot, Beans, Peas, Corn, Cabbage etc. And it is ready in a jiffy. Many a times I prepare this for my children's and hubby's lunch box.

Ingredients

Rice - 1 cup 

Onion - 1 medium size (chopped)

Veggies of your choice - 1/2 cup ( Grated Carrot, Finely chooped beans, boiled peas and corn, shredded cabbage, small cauliflower florets etc)

Green Chillies - 2 to 3 (slit into half)

Salt to taste

White Pepper Powder - 1/2 t.sp (optional)

Spring Onion Greens - a handful

Oil

Method

Wash and cook the rice till it is 90 percent done. Add about 1 tb.sp of oil and some salt to the rice while cooking. Transfer it to another vessel and allow it to cool. Heat a fry pan, pour some oil in it. When the oil is hot toss in the onions and green chillies. When the onion becomes translucent add in the veggies and saute it till the veggies are almost done. Add salt while sauting. When the veggies are almost done add the white pepper powder and mix well. Then add the cooked rice and mix well. Cover and cook on low flame, stirring in between for about 2 to 3 minutes. In the end add the spring onion greens and mix well. Serve hot with Papad and  Raitas.

Microwave Easy Cooking (MEC) Event - Calcium Rich Food Announcement

MEC Event was a long awaited event by me to host it at Kitchen Chronicles here. At last have it here for this month. Thanks a lot to dear Srivalli for this opportunity, who had started this great event. I have chosen the theme Calcium Rich Foods.

 

Image Source - IOF

We all know to some extent that Calcium is very important in our day to day food. But how much is it important is the question. It is very important for growing children and also equally important for all the adults, men and women. So we give a lot importance for calcium in our foods. But for this calcium to be absorbed in our body we need an essential Vitamin i.e. Vitamin D.  So we have to give importance to both Calcium and Vitamin D. You can find some information on Calcium here. Please go through it since it gives a lot of vital information.

Since this event is specially for Microwave Cooked Foods, cook up some special Calcium Rich Food or Vitamin D Rich foods in your Microwave. Post the recipe and the instructions in your blog.Then send it to me @kitchenchronicles1(at)gmail(dot)com along with a picture attachment (essential).

Now here are some points to be remembered. 

1. The dish should be completely cooked using Microwave only, no cooking or preparation should be done on stove top.
2. The entries should compulsorily be linked my announcement page i.e. here and to Srivalli's MEC post. (http://cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com/2007/08/announcing-microwave-easy-cooking-event.html).
3.  Multiple recipes are permitted.
4.  Recipes submitted to other events are also permitted.
5.  Recipes from archives are accepted ONLY if updated as current posts.
6. Use of logo is very much appreciated. 

Non-bloggers, please send your entries with your recipe to me kitchenchronicles1atgmaildotcom.

Last but not least the last date to receive entries is 31st May, 2011. 

Here is a link to help you all to cook some mouth-watering Calcium Rich Dishes. Please note that the dish should be cooked 100% using Microwave only. So please all of you cook up some, easy and fast Microwave Calcium Rich recipes and send them to me before 31st May.

Palada Payasam

Happy New Year to all the Tamilians and Keralites. I am writing a post almost 4 months after the English New Year. I made Palada Payasam for this new year.

Please check @Classic Chettinadu Kitchen for the Recipe.

Thattai - Crispy Rice-Lentil Wafers

Thattai is a traditional South Indian snack. It is an all time favourite one. It is always welcomed and relished by people of all ages. Available in the sweet and snack shops round the year. But still always home-made ones get a thumps up compared to the shop brought ones. It is very difficult to resist our temptation from Thattais.

This recipe is from a blogger friend. When I was searching for a Thattai recipe some years back I came across this recipe. Didn't keep a track of the bloggers name and web address. This recipe is very wonderful and a never let down recipe. The Thattais always come out crisp.It is very simple and easy to make. Doesn't involve any strenuous process.

Thattai

Ingredients

Raw Rice - 3 cups
Black gram - 1/2 cup
Roasted Bengal Gram dal - 1/2 cup
Bengal gram - a handful
Dry Red Chillies - 15
Shredded Coconut - 2 cups (optional)
Asafoetida Powder - 1 tsp

White Sesame Seeds - 2 tbsp

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Method

1.  Soak the rice for 1 hour, drain the water and grind the rice in a mixie to a fine powder. Sieve it twice.
2.  Soak Bengal gram in enough water for about 2 hours.
3.  Roast the black gram in a dry pan to a golden brown colour. When cooled, grind it to a fine powder and sieve it once.
4. Grind the Roasted Bengal Gram with the red chillies, asafoetida & coconut to a fine paste.
5. Add the ground paste, powder, ghee, curry leaves and the soaked dal to the rice flour with enough salt & knead to a soft dough.
6. Take a clean plastic sheet. Grease it with oil. Take a small ball of the dough and place it in the center of the plastic sheet. Place another greased clean plastic sheet.
7. Flatten the ball placed between the plastic sheets with a rolling pin. Flatten it as thin as possible.
8. Cut it with a round cookie cutter. 
9. Make a small batch of it and fry it in the oil. Remove it and place it on a tissue paper.
10. Allow it to cool for some time. Preserve them in an air-tight box. 

Hosts Line-up for T&T

I am really very happy to have taken over the event "Tried and Tasted " from Zlamushka. Here I am putting down the list of future Hosts and hosts who have already hosted T&T in their blogs. Future hosts interested in hosting T&T can leave me a message here.

2010

 April 2010 - Lakshmi Venkatesh of Kitchen Chronicles- Sailu's Food - Round up

 May 2010 - Lakshmi Venkatesh of Kitchen Chronicles-Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen - Round up

June 2010 - Champa of Versatile Kitchen - Divya Vikram's Dil Se - Round up

July 2010 - Janet of the taste space - steam, bake, boil, shake - Usha's Veg Inspiration - Round up

August 2010 - Srivalli of Cooking 4 All Seasons - Aparna's My Diverse Kitchen - Round up

September 2010 - Ria Mathew of Ria's Collection - Alka of Sindhi Rasoi - Round up

October - Priya Of Priya's Easy n Tasty Recipes - DK's Chef In You

November - PJ Of Seduce Your Tastebuds - Priya's Easy n Tasty Recipes

December - Sudeshna Banerjee of Cook Like a Bong - Mallika's Quick Indian Cooking

January - Denise of Oh Taste n See

February - 

March - Sushma Of Savi-Ruchi

April - Jeyashri of Samayal Arai

Happy Diwali - 2010

Happy to show off my Diwali Dishes this year. Each and every dish came out excellent. Recipes for some of them are from my relatives and some from my blogger friends.

The recipes will follow soon. 
Lakshmi Venkatesh