Quick Mushroom Fried Rice

It is not often that you would find recipes with mushroom in the RedChillies household. The reason being that the Chief Chef of the house (a.k.a me) is not a big fan of them. If I had my way then the mushrooms would not have seen the light of the day in our kitchen. J But it is not meant to be as the kiddo loves mushrooms and with all the motherly instincts/love intact I have no option but to cook with them and also get accustomed to the taste. I have prepared a mushroom curry before and this time…

Spicy Broken Wheat Pongal/ Dalia Khichidi

Pongal is a famous tiffin item in South India. It is usually made of rice and moong daal in a pressure cooker with appropriate seasonings. I mostly make it with rice the traditional way, on occasions I make it with rava (Rava Pongal) but this time I made this Spicy Pongal using broken wheat/dalia.  I had a packet of broken wheat lying in the pantry for a long time and was looking for ways of using it. I have tried some kheer with it before, but have not used it much in regular cooking. After looking around on the web,…

Bhel Puri Recipe

Bhel Puri is a combination of puffed rice along with vegetables and spicy, tangy chutney/auce. This is the most commonly sold chaat/fast food in many places in India. It is a snack with an iconic status in Western India. Bhelpuri is low-fat, delicious and eay to make!  After a long day at work, or on days when I have no mood to cook, we have Bhel Puri for dinner. I store all the dry ingredients in the pantry, the chutney in the fridge and we just combine all these to whip up a delectable “khatta-meetha-theeka” light dinner. On the last…

Konkani Undi/ Steamed Rice dumpling

Blame it on the winter season, but lately I have been on the lookout for ‘chatpata’ steamed food that can be made ‘zhatpat’. One some really cold days, I don’t care for heavy meals, but feel like nibbling on some warm finger food along with hearty soup. So while on quest for such recipes on the net I landed on Lakshmi Canteen a wonderful blog which is a store house of tradition Konkani recipes.  When I looked at her “Undi recipe, I froze as I had completely forgotten about it. It is a well loved breakfast/snack dish our favorite and…

Quick Bisi Bele Bhath

As I looked through my old recipes on this blog, I was surprised to find that I have not posted the recipe for Bisi Bele Bhat yet. It is a famous and a classic dish of Karnataka, Bisi-bele-bhaath literally translates to hot-lentil-rice in Kannada. Having grown up in Bangalore this dish was common in the restaurants, homes, functions, festivals, temples tec. It is a warm comforting food and the one that is very close to our hearts.   It is also known as Bisi bele huliyanna.It is a wholesome dish laden with lentils (proteins), rice (carbs), vegetables along with plethora of…

Spinach Pithla

Pithla is a delicious, spiced gravy made with Besan (chickpea flour). It’s a quick and handy recipe, perfect for those times when you’re out of vegetables or need to whip up something simple yet satisfying. The iconic combination of Pithla Bhakri or Jhunka Bhakri holds a special place in North Karnataka and parts of Maharashtra. The dry version of Pithla is often called Jhunka or Zunka. Growing up, my mom would often prepare this for breakfast, pairing it with Jowar Bhakri and a flavorful garlic (lassuni) chutney. I wasn’t a big fan of Pithla back then—especially with rice—and would come…

Vada Pav Recipe

Remember the recipe for Batata Vada I posted last time? The popular sinfully good spiced potato patty which is deep fried and the one we relished?  Well as if that indulgence was not good enough, we took it to the next level and enjoyed even more. We re-created the street food magic at home and ate them as as Vada Paav.  Vada Paav is a popular street food in Mumbai. It is an Indianised version of vegetarian burgers. The vada called as Batata Vada (burger) is a spicy potato filling, dipped in gram flour batter and then deep fried. This…