Flax seed / Agasi chutney powder

We all know flax seeds are very good for health and they are easily available. Flax seeds are good source of omega 3 fatty acids, antioxidants, Vitamin E, B-complex groups of vitamins and minerals. For more information see http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/flax-seed.html.

You can prepare chutney powder from these wonderful seeds. Preparation time is around 20 mins.

Ingredients:

250 gms of flax seed
Peeled cloves of 3 medium sized garlic bulbs
1 tamarind
1 dry coconut grated
Salt
Chilli powder

Preparation

Roast the flax seeds till they pop. You know its done when the popping sound reduces. Keep this aside.
Roast the garlic and tamarind till the garlic is light brown. Add grated dry coconut to this and roast it till is is golden brown. Let the ingredients cool. Add salt and chilli powder to suit your taste. Grind all ingredients to a course powder. That's it!

You can use this with bread, idli , dosa and even mix with rice and ghee.

Kofta curry

Here is one more yummy recipe with the boring sorekai/ bottle gourd.

Ingredients
1. Sorekai
2. gram flour and rice flour
3. onion
4. Tomato
5. Coriander
6. Coriander powder, tumeric powder, garam masala
7. Ginger & garlic paste

Method:
For the koftas: Grate the sorekai. Around 2 cups of grated sorekai will give around 10 koftas. Squeeze out all the water from the grated sorekai and save it for later use. Add salt, a little bit of tumeric, coriander powder and chilli powder. Add gram flour and little rice flour to the sorekai and mix it so that you can make small balls of this mixture. Fry these Sorekai balls in hot oil till they turn golden brown. Keep them aside.

Now for the gravy:
Grind 3 onions and two tomatoes in mixer separately. Let the oinion paste be a little coarse. Heat some oil and add the onion and ginger & garlic paste. Fry till onion turns pink/light brown.Add a little coriander powder and some garam masala. Now add the tomato paste. Fry for another 2 mins. Add the sorekai water into this. This is very important! Add salt as required. Add finely chopped coriander. When the curry starts to boil, add the koftas and boil for 5 mins. Its ready to server with chapatis, rotis, nans.

Thanks to my sis and mom for this recipe.

Onion chutney

Here is my first post on different chutneys. This one is simple and family loves it.

Ingredients:
3 big onions
1 medium sized tomato
chilli powder/2 small dry red chilli
Coriander leaves
Oil and salt

Method: Chop the onions and tomato into long strips. Heat 2 teaspoon oil in a kadai/pan. Once heated, add dry chilli. If you are using chilli powder, this is not required. Add chopped onions. fry them till they start turning brown. Now add chopped tomato and then chopped coriander leaves. Stir fry for another 5 mins. Now add chilli powder if you have not added dry red chillies. Let it cool. Add salt and grind this in a mixer. Chutney is ready! This chutney goes along with Idli, any kind of dosa and even chapati.

So don't worry if you are out of coconut for chutney. Onions are always at home so you can prepare this chutney anytime.

Sorekai / bottle gourd dosa

What do you do with sorekai/bottle gourds?? Turn it into wonderful dosas!
Here is how you go about it.

Ingredients :
2 cups idli rice
3 cups of cut sorekai
2 green chilli
coriander
pepper
salt

Soak rice in water for about 3 hours. Grind it using grinder/mixer. Grind the pieces of sorekai with 2 green chilli, coriander, pepper in mixer and add it to the rice batter. Add salt. The batter should be of normal dosa batter consistency. Leave the batter for an hour. Pour dosas like you normally do, but make sure you bake it on the other side too. Serve with coconut chutney.

Dosa or Idli

You can prepare Dosas or Idlis with the same batter.

 Ingredients: 

1. 1 cup full urad dhal (Kannada: udin bele, Tamil - Ulundu)
2.  4 cups of rice 
3. 1.5 tea spoons of methay seeds/Fenugreek(optional for idli) 
4. Handful of thick avalakki (optional)

 Soak the Urad dhal & Rice in water for around 3 hrs or overnight. Soak the Fenugreek seeds (& Avalakki) with the rice. Grind it all together in a grinder. Leave the batter closed for around 4-6 hrs for fermentation. This really depends on the temperature. You see the batter rise to nearly double its qauntity.You do not require any baking soda for the fermentation. Now you can add salt and add little water if the batter is thick. You can either make idlis or make crispy dosas from this batter.

Strawberry Cream

This is really a very simple & tasty dish.

Time:10 mins

Ingredients: Fresh Strawberries (15-20 nos), Fresh cream (200ml), Sugar

Wash the Strawberries. Chop them finely or use the food proceesor to chop them into fine pieces. Ensure not to turn the Strawberries into a paste. While eating, the Strawberry pieces taste amazing. Now add the cream. If you are using home made cream, beat it until there are no lumps. Add sugar for taste (around 5 teaspoons). Mix it well & refrigerate. It's ready to be served!