Tomato Sweet Corn Olive Rice

Ingredients:
Red tomatoes - 4-5
Cauliflower - 3 florets
Green Olives - 3tbs
Sweet corn - 200gms
Green Peas - 50gms
Green coriander leaves for garnishing
Olive oil - 2tbs
Basmati rice - 1 cup
Water - 1 1/2cup
Amchur powder/Dry Mango powder - 1tps
Cloves/ Loong/Kramb - 2
Elaichi/Elakai/Cardamom - 1
Bay leaf/Brinji elai/Tej patha - 1
Dalchini/Pattai/Cinnamon - 1cm
Sauf - 1tbs
Garam Masala - 1/2tbs
Sugar - 1/2tbs
Honey - 1tbs
Salt as per taste

Method/Vidhiee:
1. Grind the tomatoes into puree.
2. Heat oil in a heavy bottom vessel or pressure cooker and add elaichi,dalchini,loong,tej patha,saunf.
3. Add the tomato puree and stir well.
4. Add cauliflower,green peas and corn kernels.
5. Now add sugar, amchur, garam masala,salt and stir well.
6. Add the rice and stir well.
7. At end add green olives.
8. Add water and stir well.
9. If in pressure cooker give 2 whistles, if in heavy bottom pan close it and cook do not stir often as the rice may break.
Serve hot by garnishing with green olives, honey and coriander leaves... have fun eating low cal rice.

Vegetable Poha/Aval/Flat rice flakes

Ingredients:
Poha/Aval/Flatten Rice flakes - 2 cups
Water -3cup
Carrot -1
Potato -1
Tomato -2
Onion - 3
French Beans - 4-5
Boiled Green Peas - 1/2cup
Boiled Peanuts - 1/4cup
Green chillies -2
Ginger - 1/2inch
Curry Leaves - 2arc
Green Coriander leaves - to garnish
Oil - 2tbs
Mustard/Kadugu/Sarsoon - 1tbs
Asafatida/Hing/Perunkayam - 1/2tps
Salt - 1tbs

Method/Vidhiee:
1. Chop the vegetables except the green peas into small dices.
2. Meanwhile in a vessel soak the Aval/Poha for 5mins.
3. After 5min squeeze them and drain out the water.
4. Be careful that you do not mash them to a paste.
5. In a pan add oil once it heats up add the mustard seeds, curry leaves. asafatida and splutter them.
6. Now add onions, chilly and ginger and saute them till the onions turn pink.
7. Once they turn pink add the rest of vegetables except green peas and tomatoes.
8.Saute them for a while till they turn soft. Now add tomatoes and boiled green peas.
9. Saute them well and add turmeric powder and salt.
10. Add the boiled peanut and again saute them.
11. Now add the poha/aval to it and gently mix them well.
Garnish with green coriander leaves and serve hot.
You can also add dry coconut bits/grated.

Kothamalli Podi/Kothambari Powder/Coriander Sticky Powder

Ingredients:
Bunch of coriander - 1
Tamarind/Puli/Imli - 1 lemon size ball
Channa Dal/Kadala Parupu - 50gms
Dry red chilly/Suka lal mirch/Kanja sehapu melagai - 3-4
Asafatida/Perunkayam/Hing - 1/2tps
Salt to taste - approx 1/2tbs
Oil - 1tbs

Method/Vidhiee:
1. Wash and clean the coriander bunch along with stem and chop them well.
2. Drain them and dry them for a while.
3. In a pan heat oil and roast the channa dal, dry red chillies,tamarind till dal turn golden brown.
4. Once they are done transfer to a dry plate.

5. Again on the same pan keepping the heat on add the coriander leaves and stems that were chopped.
6. Saute them well till it starts leaving water and then the same water evaporates.
7. Saute with the coriander.

8. Cool them. Now grind the channadal,chilly mixture along with salt to a powdered consistency in a blender.
9. Once they are done add the coriander them again.
10.Keep a note of not adding water.
11. Take a small spoon and after each 20secs of running of blender mix the powder so that the moisture doesnt stick the powder to walls of the blender.
12. Note that this powder is a sticky powder and it would not come as a consistency of a free flowing mud instead it would as wet clay mud.
13. Once they are done take on to a dry plate and spread them for half hour then store them in a dry container.
Keeping them outside it would stay for a week. In a fridge it would stay from 15-30days.
Mix with hot til oil/ghee rice and relish the tangy taste.

Paruppu Thengai Poli

This sweet dish is made on BHOGI festival the day before PONGAL in south of India.
Bhogi is celebrated by burning the old things which are no more in use and the next day is the harvest festival Pongal when new things are bought for the home. But, considering the current global warming it is clever not to burn but to bow and give to the needy people around.
POLI is also called as BOLI in some areas. It is made up of only Parupu Poli (Channa dal poli), Thengai Poli (Coconut poli), Masala Poli (carrots, beans, potato salty Poli).
Today i have made a combination of Thengai and Parupu Poli.

Ingredients:
Maida - 2cups
Salt -1/2tps
Water - 1 1/2cup
Refined Oil - 2cup
Ghee/Clarified Butter - 1cup
Elaichi/Elakai/Cardamom - 3-4
Thengai/Coconut - 1/4cup scrapped freshly
Kadalai paruppu/Channa Dal - 1/4cup
Vellam/Jaggery/Gudd - 1/4 cup
Plastic thin sheets - 2
Yellow food colour - a pinch

Method/Vidhiee:
1. Knead the maida by adding salt to it with water. Add Yellow food colour.
2. Make into a dough and add refined oil 1/2cup and knead well.
3. Cover it with a plastic sheet tightly.
4. In a mixer jar add coconut,jaggery,cardamom (pods broken and the flavour inside need to be added)
5. Meanwhile boil the channa dal to 3/4 consistency where you can mash them by a spoon.
6. Once the channa dal is done strain them and add to the mixie jar.
7. Grind them so that all the particles get broken down but, donot make them into paste.
8. Grind them corasely but not any pc that would hamper the process.
9. Now remove the sheet from the kneaded dough and mix the jaggery coconut mixture with it well.
10. Traditionaly the jaggery mixer is stuffed inside the dough by flattening them into a chappati, rolling them and again flattening them.
11. Here, i have used the method of mixing both the jaggery mixture and dough.
12. Now heat a tawa in a low flame.
13. Take one of the plastic sheet and grease them with oil.
14. Take a medium size ball of the mixed dough and flatten them with your hands or fingers on the sheet.
15. Starting from thinning the ends and then again flattening the centre to the end.
16. Be sure that the edges are thin as when you cook them they tend to turn thick.
17. Now gently take the flatten dough and put on to the pan.
18. Cook on both sides till light brown spots are seen.
19. Now add 1tps of ghee and cook on one side and another 1tps on other side.
20. Traditionaly the POLI floats in ghee when on tawa which is now immposible as the ghee prices are high and so to our health :)))
21. Hence, add ghee as per your wish.

Serve hot with adding 1/2tps of ghee or white butter on top.