Monday, May 23, 2016
Dr. Mantena's Special - Ragi Dosa
Dear Friends! I am back with yet another South Indian
delicacy as today's 'Dr. Mantena's Special - Ragi Dosa.' It is very popular in
Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and southern parts of Andhra Pradesh. The unique feature
of Ragi Dosa is its nutrition quotient and the crispy-crunchy taste of Dosa.
Finger millet or Ragi is a rich source of Calcium, Iron, Fiber and other
nutrients. It is usually a heavy food and takes long time to digest. One or two
Dosas provide you the energy for the whole day.
I had been to Bellur Village of Karnataka and happened
to eat a crispy Ragi Dosa at Kamat Restaurant. The dosa was so delicious that I
always visit Kamat for Ragi Dosa every time I go to Bellur.
I published few varieties of dosas in my previous blogs
and were very popular among health aspiring readers and followers of Dr.
Mantena Satyanarayana Raju. The major reason for success of Dr. Mantena's
kitchen is it's unique way of cooking healthy food on the guidelines of Dr.
Raju's cooking style. Usually dosas are made adding plenty of oil and masalas. Ragi
dosa is normally made with lot of oil. I took every possible step to make this
dosa healthy without losing its authentic taste. We enjoyed it very much and I
hope you will also try it out and do send your feedback. So without making any
delay let's go into the details of ingredients and making of Dosa.
Ingredients:
Ragi / Finger
Millet Flour - 2 Cups
Brown Rice Flour - 1 Cup
Black gram - 1/2 Cup
Yoghurt - 1 Cup
Water - 3 to 4 Cups
Procedure:
1. Soak half cup of black grams for 3 to 4 hours and
grind into fine paste as shown in the picture below. The quantity multiplies to one cup after soaking.
2. Take two cups of ragi flour in a bowl, add a cup of
rice flour, grounded black grams, yoghurt in it. Stir well and mix all these
flours adding 3 to 4 cups of water. Cover the lid and let it ferment for 6 to 8
hours. Soak overnight if planned to make a breakfast. Some people make instant
dosas without fermenting but I prefer to ferment as the batter becomes sour
enhancing the taste of dosa. Adding yoghurt to the batter adds extra tinge to
the taste.
3. Once the batter is fermented, put on the stove and
let the non-stick pan to heat for a while. Pour the batter in the middle of the
pan with a ladle and rotate in a circular motion as shown in the picture below.
4. Now cover the lid and let it cook for some time. As
we are not going to cook on the flip side, covering the lid will help in
cooking dosa on both sides.
5. Here comes the crunchy, crispy, delicious and
healthy ragi dosa ready to be served with chutney. Try this at home and do send
me your comments. Keep watching the space for more updates.
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Dr. Mantena's Special - Palak Minupa Vadiyala Kura
Hello Friends! I am back with yet another Dr. Mantena's
special recipe ' Palak Minupa Vadiyala Kura.' This is a very simple recipe that
takes less cooking time and easy preparation. Palak or Spinach is good source
of iron, vitamins and other minerals and so is minumulu (black grams).
When I published the post on preparing Minupa vadiyalu
I mentioned how this recipe comes handy when the vegetable prices go up. The
prices of vegetables are at peak in twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad
and people are cursing the Government for failing to curb the rising prices of
vegetables. Had you prepared and stored the vadiyalu, instead of cursing the
Government you would have cooked recipes smartly like we did during this phase.
When you are cooking salt free recipes there is no
better vegetable than spinach. Spinach is rich in sodium and therefore the
tongue doesn't complain about missing the salt. Minupa vadiyalu gives great crunchy
taste and good flavour to the food. So without wasting any time further lets go into the ingredients and making procedure.
Ingredients:
Spinach - 4 bundles
Minupa Vadiyalu - 1/4 Cup
Green Chilies - 3 to 4 nos.
Black grams - 1 tea spoon
Curry Leaves - 5 to 6 leaves
Cook Time: 15 to 20 minutes
Serving: 1
Procedure:
1. Take 4 bundles of fresh spinach rinse thoroughly in
water and chop into small pieces as shown in the picture below.
2. Put on the stove and roast black grams in a non-stick
pan till brown adding chopped green chillies and curry leaves.
3. Add spinach and let it cook for 15 minutes on a low
flame with lid on. Open the lid and sauté it in between.
4. Dry roast the Minupa Vadiyalu in another pan and add
it to spinach and cook for another five to six minutes on a low flame.
5. Now the Palak Minupa Vadiyala Kura is ready. Serve
hot with phulkas and enjoy.
Keep watching the space for more updates.
Friday, May 13, 2016
Dr. Mantena's Summer Special - Butter Milk
Hello Friends! I am back with yet another summer
special - a Tangy Butter Milk. Butter Milk in India is known by different
names. Chaas in Hindi, Majjiga in Telugu, Majjige in Kannada, Mor in Tamil,
Ghola in Bengali and Taak in Marathi etc. Unlike the names, the process of
making this drink is common in every state. It is a very simple drink with less
ingredients consuming less time. It only needs some yoghurt, water and salt. Adding
sugar instead of salt makes it a Lassi, which is popular in Punjab.
It is one of the major drinks served in every part of
India during summer. It is a regular drink in rural India.
I recently been to Sinhgarh fort, 30 kilometers away
from Pune, Maharashtra with some of my friends. Apart from exploring the view
of nature and the glory of Sivaji Maharaj we cherished the 'masala taak - a
tangy butter milk' sold by the local villagers. It was spicy and tangy butter
milk sold in earthen pots. They have added green chilies, mint, coriander
leaves, black salt and cumin seeds to it. Apart from spices the yoghurt stored
in earthen pot with pure creamy buffalo milk was giving great taste to the
butter milk.
So today's special in Dr. Mantena's Kitchen is " a
masala taak - a tangy butter milk" with Dr. Mantena's twist. So get ready
to note the ingredients.
Ingredients:
1. Yoghurt - 500 gms
2. Mint Leaves - 10 nos.
3. Coriander leaves - small bunch
4. Cumin seeds - 1 tea spoon.
Serving: 5 glasses
Procedure:
1. Take a blender or mixer grinder and pour the yoghurt
in it.
2. Roast the cumin seeds and crush into fine paste
using a mortar pestle.
3. Add this crushed cumin seeds and mint leaves into
the jar and blend it for some time.
4. Now pour the blended yoghurt in a big vessel and add
1 litre chilled water from a earthen pot and your tangy butter milk is ready.
Some people strain the butter milk as the small pieces of coriander and mint
leaves come in the way to your throat. It is completely optional to strain as I
personally prefer not to strain.
A sour yoghurt is ideal for making this drink as we are
not using any kind of salt. Buttermilk with salt increases the thirst instead
of decreasing it. If it is too sour adjust the taste by adding some more water.
So, enjoy your summer by drinking this kind of drinks to beat the heat.
This is an ideal drink after having a meal of wheat
phulkas, rotis made of jowar and ragi as the water contents in these foods is
less compared to rice meals as we use dal, sambar, rasam etc.
Before concluding let me make it clear that only water can quench the thirst and there is no match for water in this regards. During summer, we normally drink more water but not enough. Since the body easily gets dehydrated we need to replenish the level of water in the body. These juices and drinks are just to deceive the cunning mind and send water into the body. These are very useful tricks to hydrate children and adults even.
This is it for now. Keep watching the space for more
updates.
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Dr. Mantena's Summer Special - Cucumber Lemonade
Dear Friends, I have been
uploading a special drink every summer if you remember. We throng to
juice centres to enjoy special drinks and juices to beat
the heat. In this fast paced world making a juice at home is a
hectic thing. But if you have little patience we can make wonderful summer
drinks at home that serves taste as well as health. If you observe the juice
stalls you find unhygienic atmosphere around with flies all over. You can make
and serve some healthy and hygienic drinks at home for the entire family. There
is no better drink than water to quench the thirst and no better fluid
supplement than water for your body. But the cunning mind ask for something
cool and sweet when exposed to sun and heat during summer. Children don't drink
water unless they are too thirsty. These juices are just to cheat the cunning
mind and take water in the form of juices.
Today I have come up with a
easy and quick to make kind of juice popularly known as 'Cucumber Lemonade'. It
hardly takes ten minutes to make and is really healthy and tasty as well. So,
Let's go into the ingredients and making without wasting any time.
Ingredients:
Cucumber
- 2
nos.
Lemon - 2
nos.
Honey
- 1 Cup
Making Time
- 5 minutes.
Servings - 2
people
Preparation:
1. Take two tender
cucumbers, peel off the skin, chop them into pieces and put them in the blender
of mixer grinder as shown in the picture below. Cut the side edges of the
cucumber and throw them away as they may taste bitter.
2. Squeeze two lemons into
the mixer grinder.
3. Now finely grind the
cucumber in a blender or grinder and take it in bowl/vessel as shown in the
picture below. If the cucumber is tender it contains more water and less pulp.
4. Now add a cup of honey
and stir well.
5. Add a glass of cool mud
pot water into the pulp and stir well. Your delicious and healthy cucumber
lemonade is ready. Enjoy!
Keep watching the space for
more updates.
Monday, May 2, 2016
Dr. Mantena's Special - Chamagadda Minupa Vadiyala Koora
Friends! I
published the process of making minupa vadiyalu in the previous update. Some of
my readers requested to publish the way to cook those vadiyams. Hence, I have
come up with a popular North Indian recipe as Dr. Mantena's special - 'Chamagadda
Minupa Vadiyala Kura.' It tastes good both with rice and phulkas. So, without
wasting any time further let's see the ingredients required for the dish.
Ingredients:
Chamagadda (Taro
Root) - 6 (medium size)
Minupa Vadiyalu - 1 cup
Tomatoes - 2 (medium size)
Green chilies - 2-3
Curry leaves - 1 leaf
Coriander leaves - 1 bunch (small size)
Lemon - 2 medium size
black gram - 1 tea spoon
chickpea gram - 1 tea spoon
Making Time: 30 to 40 mins.
Serving: 2 people.
Preparation:
This recipe is quite
easy to cook as you don't have many things to do. Many curries take lot of pre-cooking
time in cutting and rinsing but this doesn't take much time in pre-cooking but
have to cook the taro roots (chamagadda) bit longer as it takes time to get
soft. Let's go in to preparation now.
1. Take 6 medium
sized taro roots and cut in 8 pieces each as shown in the picture below. Peel
off the skin of Taro roots with a knife or scraper and keep it a side in a
bowl.
2. Chop tomatoes
into small pieces and keep it aside.
3. Now put up the flame and keep a non-stick pan
on the stove. Dry roast a cup of minupa vadiyalu on a medium flame till brown
and keep it a side. Once they get roasted you sense some aroma of those
vadiyalu.
4. Add 1 tea spoon
of blackgram, chickpea gram, curry leaves
and green chilies for tampering.
5. As the tampering
gets ready add chopped taro roots into it and fry for 5 minutes stirring
occasionally on a low flame.
6. 5 minutes later
add chopped tomatoes, a glass of water and cover the lid to cook for 20 to 25
minutes. If you want to eat this with rice add another glass of water. One
glass of water is enough if you want to have it with rotis or phulkas.
7. Check whether
the taro roots become soft by pressing with a spoon or knife after 25 minutes.
8. Now add the
roasted minupa vadiyala into the pan and let it cook for another 5 to 8 minutes.
Add chopped coriander leaves and let it cook for 2 minutes.
9. Now put off the
flame and add juice of two medium sized lemons into the dish and serve hot. It
tastes great if you serve hot with rice or phulkas. The secret of eating
saltless, oil less, masala less food is to serve hot.
Do try and let me
know. Keep watching the space for more updates.
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