Today it ended up being a bachelor's night. Wife had summons that she could not ignore! So I was all to myself and I initially thought of all the healthy things I could make? Then decided to do just the opposite and cooked my favorite - potatoes in a new way :) So this dish is from the Chettinad areas of Tamil Nadu and is perfectly yummy on a cool autumn evening (thanks to the plethora of spices that go into this dish). So to compensate for the spicy Urulai Chettinad, I made a Jeera Rice (Cumin Rice) that brings out the spices in the Urulai Chettinad just perfectly. I will update the recipe shortly, but if only wifey was here, it would have gone just nice with a glass of Pinotage :)

But then, I would have never got the opportunity, right...

Quick Rava Pongal

This weekend morning, the weather outside was crisp and cool. I was in the mood to make something a South Indian breakfast yet I did not want to miss much of this wonderful morning. So here's a quick recipe to make yummy Rava Pongal (Semolina Pongal).

Ingredients:
Rava - 1 cup
Moong dal (pasi paruppu) - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1/2 cup
Cashew nuts - 10
Pepper corns -1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
Ginger - 1 inch (minced)
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Curry leaves - a few

Procedure:

Pressure cook the dal, strain and save the stock and set aside the dal.
Roast the rava in a tsp of ghee and set aside.
In the same pan, add the remaining ghee and oil and season with pepper corns and cumin seeds.
Then add the cashews, ginger and curry leaves and fry until cashews turn golden brown.
Add two and half cups of the following mixture - water, milk, the strained water from dal.
Add salt and let the mixture boil. Then add the roasted rava and stir in medium heat until the rava is well cooked and reaches a semi solid consistency.
Now add the cooked dal, mix and cover in low heat for 5 mins.
Add some ghee on the top and mix well.
Serve hot with coconut chutney, sambar.

We also made some nice coffee to go along with it. Enjoy!