Cranberry Hootycreeks

 cranberry hootycreeks -- from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter 1/3 cup packed brown sugar 1/3 cup minus 1 Tablespoon white sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1/2 cup rolled oats 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 cup dried cranberries 1/2 cup white chocolate chips 1/2 cup chopped pecans DIRECTIONS:  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).   2. Grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper.  3. In a medium bowl, beat together 1/2 cup softened butter, the white sugar, and the brown sugar until fluffy.  4. Beat in egg and vanilla.  5. Add the rest of the ingredients, and mix together by hand until well blended.  6. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets.  7. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until edges start to brown. Cool on baking sheets, or remove to cool on wire racks. If you refrigerate the dough overnight before baking the cookies taste even better!

Rava dosa

This is the dosa I like the most when we go to eat at Saravanaa Bhavan, this is Mahesh's mother's recipe, I like it because it does not require any grinding or fermenting so you can make this dosa immediately.

RAVA DOSA

INGREDIENTS

-- 1 measure (maybe 1/2 cup) rice flour
-- 1 measure wheat flour
-- 1 1/2 measures rava flour

-- whole jeera (cumin) seed
-- 1/2 inch cube of ginger, minced finely
-- curry leaves (optional) minced finely
-- 1/2 tsp. crushed black pepper
-- 1 fresh indian green chili, minced

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Mix all ingredients together with water until it resembles crepe batter.

2. Cook like a crepe or dosa -- the bubbles will produce that trademark "rava dosa" look that resembles giraffe skin.

3. eat!

If dosa is too chewy, add a little wheat flour

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made some cookies for Mahesh's parents while they were here visiting. In Mahesh's part of India a few people are only now just getting ovens so anything baked is still pretty new. This was a big hit, I replaced the egg with a "flax egg" made of 1 tablespoon ground flax and 3 tablespoons of water.

BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

adapted from allrecipes

• 1 cup of butter, softened
• 3/4 cup white sugar
  
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
  
• 2 eggs (or substitute, above)
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons hot water
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
3. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

eggplant chutney -- tohial

This is another chutney Mahesh's mom made that was tasty, we mixed it with rice and ate it with the buttermilk curry.

INGREDIENTS

-- 3 medium-sized baby eggplants, each one approx. 5 inches long by 3 inches wide. Or similar amount of other eggplants.
-- 1 tablespoon oil
-- 4 dried red indian chilis
-- 1/4 teaspoon asofetida powder, or a small chunk of asofetida
-- 2 tablespoons black gram dal or urdu dal

-- salt to taste
-- 1/2 teaspoon tamarind paste

-- 1 handful cilantro

1. cut off the top of the eggplant and pierce the body of each eggplant. Cook over a gas flame or in a hot oven, constantly turning until the eggplant is black all over.

2. Put the eggplant in water just to cover, and peel the black skin off the eggplant and discard the black skin.

3. In a small pan on the stove, add oil, chilis, asofetida, and dal. Fry until it becomes a light brown color. Switch off the heat.

4. Cool the dal mixture, add to grinder, along with salt and tamarind paste, grind coarsley. Add cilantro and grind again. Then add the eggplant and grind again.

DONE!!

More Korrumba Kozambu -- buttermilk curry

This is a strange but delicious sauce that is poured on rice and eaten, usually with a chutney like lentil chutney or eggplant chutney

INGREDIENTS

1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds (for easier version, can use 1 tsp. coriander powder instead)
1 teaspoon chana dal (different from chana) (can use 2 Tablespoon fried chana dal instead)
1/2 teaspoon cumin (jeera) seeds (for easier version, can use 1 tsp. cumin powder instead)
1 fresh medium indian green chili
approx 1/2 inch cube of fresh ginger, skin removed

2 tablespoons dried coconut powder (can use fresh coconut instead)
1/2 tsp salt

2 cups of yogurt
1 tablespoon rice flour

1/2 teaspoon whole mustard seeds
4 or 5 dried or fresh curry leaves

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Soak first five ingredients in hot water for 15 minutes.

2. Add coconut and salt and grind finely in mixee. (as an easier version, can use powdered cumin and coriander instead, and fried chana dal instead of dried -- then you just have to grind the coconut and dal, which is much easier)

3. In a small pan on the stove, add rice flour to yogurt and mix well. Add ground mixture to yogurt, mix well.

4. Heat the yogurt mixture slightly, do not boil, until it foams, then switch the heat off.

5. Cook mustard seeds in a little oil until they pop, add to yogurt mixture along with curry leaves.

ALL DONE

parpu togial -- lentil chutney

Mahesh's mom made this today and it was good!

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon oil
1/3 cup split toor dal
3 whole dried red indian chilis
1/4 teaspoon asofetida
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 tablespoon dried shredded coconut

INSTRUCTIONS

1. put oil in a pan on a low fire, add toor dal, chilis, and asofetida. Fry on low fire until until it's a light brown color -- you will get a fried smell.

2. Remove the chilis from the pan and reserve, add just enough water to cover fried toor dal and soak for 30 minutes.

3. Grind chilis and salt in the mixee, then add the toor dal and grind it all together to make a paste. Add coconut and grind again.

You mix this with rice and eat it with more kurumba. Kozambu?