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Dalma is an important part of oriya cuisine with vegetables and lentils. It is a part of our day to day cooking. It is prepared in temples as prasad. It is prepared during pooja feasts. There are different types of dalmas prepared in our family. Tanmaya's favorite is on with Mung Dal.  Ingredients:  Mung Dal: 1 cup Potato: 1 large cut into chunks Pumpkin: 1 cup cut into chunks Radish: 1 medium cut into chunks EggPlant: 1 medium cut in chunks Ghee: 2 tsp Zeera: 1 tbsp Dry red chili: 2 Water: 2 cups Ginger: 1 inch grated Turmeric : 1 tsp Sugar: 1tbsp Salt to taste Roasted Zeera Red Chili Powder: 2 tsp. Procedure: In a deep bottom pot dry roast the Mung Dal for 2-3 mins till beautiful aroma comes out. Remove from heat and let it cool down. In the mean while in the same pot heat ghee, add zeera and dry red chili. Once the Zeera stops spluttering add the grated ginger and fry for a minute or so and add the potato, radish and pumpkin chunks and fry fo

There are so many recipes that uses paneer (cottage cheese). Some take a lot of prep work , some are quick and easy. Some take a lot of spices, some go down with simplest of spices. Matter Paneer is a very simple easy to make paneer recipe that goes great with naan, root, paratha as well as rice. Ingredients: Paner: 1 packet defrosted and cut into cubes. Green Peas: 1/2 cup  Potato: 1 medium cut into cubes Onion: 1 mdium finely chopped Tomato: 1 medim finely chopped green chili: 2 finely chopped Mutton/Chicken Curry Powder: 1tsp Red chili powder: 1 tsp Turmeric powder : 1 tsp Oil: 2 tsp salt : as per taste Coriander Leaves: for Garnish Procedure:  Heat 1/2 tsp of oil in pan and fry the paneer cubes from 1-2 minutes. In a pan heat  rest of the oil add the chopped onion, tomato and green chill together. Sprinkle a pinch of salt, cover and cook the mix cook till tomato is all cooked up and mushy. Add chili powder, turmeric, Mutton/Chicken curry powde

Manda pitha also known as Modak in some parts of India, is a steamed pitha which is prepared all over orissa during festivals. Pitha is a type of cake or bread prepared in most parts of India and Bangladesh, especially eastern states of Orissa, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar and northeastern states. As Manda Pitha is steamed so it is very healthy and yummy. You can eat it steaming hot or cold. Enjoy it as it is or with dalma. Ingredients: Crushed Rice(chaula chuna): 2 cup Water: 3 cup Grated Coconut: 1 cup Jaggery: 3/4 cup Cardamom: 5-6 crushed Oil: 1tbsp Black Pepper: 2-4 freshly crushed Ginger: 1/2 inch grated Sugar: 1tbsp Salt: 1/2tbsp Procedure: For the stuffing, heat shredded coconut and jaggery in a pan. As the japery starts to melt a little add the crushed cardamom, black pepper, and grated ginger. cook for few minute and mix well. Divide it into 10 parts For the dough heat the water in a pan and bring it to a nice boil. Add salt and sugar to t

It is a very popular dal dish in Orissa. It is generally prepared when there are guests coming over and it has to be vegetarian food. It goes great with poori. It is nutritious as well as tasty. It has goodness of lentils and taste of pumpkin. Ingredients: Channa Dal: 1 cup Pumpkin: 1 cup cut into chunks with skin Potato: 1/2 cup cut into chunks Ginger: 1/2 inch grated Onion: 1 small chopped Tomato: 1 chopped Turmeric powder: 1 tbsp Panch Phutona: 1 tbsp Dry red chili: 2 broken Tej Pata: 1 sugar: 1/2 tsp Whole cinnamon: 1/2 inch red Chili powder: 1 tbsp Ghee: 2 tbsp Salt as per taste Rosted Jeera and Dry Red chill powder Procedure: Soak the dal for 30 mins In a pressure cooker heat ghee, add panch phutona and red chili to it. As the spices stop cracking add Tej pata, cinnamon and let it cook for few seconds before adding onions. Cook the onions till they turn golden brown Add the red chili powder and cook for 1-2 mins. Add grated ginger and vegetables. Fr

As the sacred month of Kartik is going on, I have gone full time vegetarian.  Being vegetarian for a full month with a food lover like Tanmaya is tough. He cannot eat the same dish twice the same week. So I have to always cook something different. Even though I have to use the same vegetables I have to add some different spices for a new flavor. So here goes a variation with mushroom. Ingredients: Mushroom: 2 cups cut into half potato: 1 medium cut into cubes Tomato : 1 medium chopped Green Chili: 2 sliced Garlic 4 cloves Cumin: 1tsp Dry Red Chili: 2  Kastoori Methi: 2 tsp Salt: as per taste Turmeric Powder: 1 tsp Chili Powder: 1 tsp Coriander Powder: 1 tsp oil: 4 tsp Procedure: in a pan heat 1 tsp of oil and fry the mushroom till the water dries up. Remove it from the pan. Heat another tbsp of oil and fry the potatoes. Remove the potatoes from the heat. Crush the garlic, cumin and red chili together. Heat rest of the oil in a pan, add the cr

Raita is generally is a curd based side dish. There are a lot of varieties of raita prepared all over the country like cucumber raita, boondi raita, tomato raita . These goes great with biryani, pulao and lots of flavored rice. Dahi baingan is another member of this family. It goes great with zeera rice, veg pulo, Kanika  and a lot of more vegetarian meals. Ingredients:  eggplant  : 1 large cut into long 1/3 inch slice Curd: 1 cup Green Chili: 2-3 sliced Curry Leaves: 5-6 Garlic: 2 cloves crushed Mustard Seeds: 1 tsp cooking oil: 2 tbsp Salt: as per taste Sugar: 1 tsp Water: 1/2 cup oil for deep frying Procedure: Mix the eggplant slices with 1tsp of salt and let it marinate for 5 mins. Fry the eggplant till golden and little crispy. Drain and pat it using a kitchen towel. In a bowl bite the curd into till its smooth and water, salt as per taste(keep in mind eggplant has salt in it which will infuse into curd after some time) and sugar and mix it.

Egg Puff!!!! who doesn't  love these. Be it in college canteen or at street stalls outside office, I have always loved these. These are easy to make and yummy to eat. When I was in Bangalore, coming back from office I would always pick some snack for me and my dear roommates and we would enjoy it together. Sometimes it would be samosas, bhaji and sometimes it would be puffs. Depending on the day of the week it would be either egg or vegetarian.  Today I would be sharing the easy recipe of egg puffs. Ingredients: Egg: 2 boiled Puff Sheets: 4 Onion: 1 small cut into thin slices Green Chili:: 1 finely chopped Salt to taste Chat masala: 1 tbsp Chicken/Mutton Curry powder: 1 tbsp oil: 1tsp Procedure: In a pan heat the oil. Add the chopped green chili and sliced onion. Add a pinch of salt and as the onion gets translucent add chicken/mutton curry powder. Cook this mix till all the masala is nicely cooked. It would hardly take 2 mins. Be careful, as

This is a sweet pulao, which one of the 56 dishes that are cooked as prasad everyday for Lord Jaganath, Puri. This one of those dishes that reminds me of my childhood days when all our dear friends and family would gather for festivals like Karthik Poornima and mom would prepare this awesome dish along with many more lovely dishes. Ingredients: Basmati Rice: 1 cup Water: 2 cup Jeera: 1tbsp Tej Pata: 1 Turmeric Powder: 1tsp Salt: 1 pinch Sugar: 1 cup Dry Red Chili: 1 Ginger: 1 inch grated Ghee: 2 tbsp Procedure: Soak the rice in water for 30 mins Heat Ghee in a pressure cooker and add jeer , Tej pata and dried red chili to it.  Add the grated ginger.  Drain and add the rice to the ghee. Fry till the raw smell is gone. Add 2 cups of warm water to the rice. Add the turmeric, salt and sugar. Cover and cook till 1 whistle and the rice is done. If you have a electric rice cooker you can fry all the ingredients in a  pan and then move it to the rice

Tomato Khatta is one of many oriya dishes that are prepared during auspicious occasions and at temples as prasad. This dish has a nice blend of sweet and sour flavors. This is my brothers favorite dish and believe it or not he can eat only this any time of the day. Ingredients: Tomato: 4 large cut into small pieces Seeedless Dates: 12 Sugar: 1 cup Salt: 1 pinch Green Chilli: 4 slit in the middle Curry Leaves: 4-5 Ginger : 1 inch grated Roasted jeera and red chili powder: 1 tsp Pancha Phutan: 1 tbsp Oil: 2tbsp Procedure: Heat oil in a pan and add pancha phutan. As the pancha phutan stops spluttering add the green chilli, curry leaves and ginger. Add the chopped tomato, dates and salt and sauté for few minutes. Cover and cook till the tomato is soft. Add the sugar and cook till the tomato and dates are cooked through and all the sugar is melted and the consistency thickens. To end it add a tsp of roasted jeer and res chili powder and mix. You can also add g

Upma is a very common and easy to make South Indian breakfast. Even though its a South Indian dish it is very popular all over India. There are many variations to this dish.  This is a easy and delicious way to incorporate some really healthy vegetables in your breakfast. Ingredients: Suji: 1cup Hot Water: 2 cup Onion: 1 medium thinly sliced Green Chilli: 2 finely chopped Carrot: 1 medium cut into small pieces Potato: 1 medium cut into small pieces Green Peas: 1/4 cup Cauliflower: few florets cut into smaller pieces Salt to taste Mustard Seed: 1tbsp Curry Leaves : 4-5 Oil: 2 tbsp Peanut: 1/4 cup Sugar: 1/2 tsp Procedure: Roast the suji with 1/2 tbsp of oil till pink in color. Remove from heat and fry the peanuts with few drops of oil for few minutes. Remove from heat. In the same pan heat rest of the oil. Add the mustard seed to it. Once the mustard seeds have cracked add the curry leaves and green chillies. Add the chopped onions and fry till till tr

As I have mentioned in my earlier post, there are so many different variations of lassi. So today I am sharing the recipe for mango lassi. You can either use fresh mango pulp or even canned ones. I used canned mango pulp. Ingredient: Curd: 2 cup Mango Pulp: 1 cup canned/fresh mango pulp Milk: 1 cup Ice cubes: 1 cup Sugar : as per taste. Procedure: Blend all the ingredients in a blender till its smooth. I did not add any sugar because my mango pulp was sweet enough. Please feel free to add 4-5 tablespoon or more of sugar if using little sour mango.  Pour into chilled glass and serve. I know the summer is over and fall is in, take this as an farewell to summer till next year. Till then happy blogging. Rakhee