♦Pol Rotti♦

(A thick flat bread made with coconut and flour. Usually prepared for

 breakfast)

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1 cup shredded coconut (or 3/4 cups desiccated coconut soaked in 1/4 cup of

 water)

Salt to taste




Method:

Mix the all the ingredients in a bowl. Next add cold water little by little so 

that all the ingredients come together to form a dough. Take care not to get it 

too wet. 

If the dough is too wet add a little bit of flour.

Knead the dough and break into balls of about 2" diameter.

Flatten on a floured board or plate using your palms. If more crispy crust is

 desired, roll using rolling pin.

Cook on a heated heavy bottom pan till golden brown on both sides under

 medium heat. 

Serve hot, with Pol sambol or katta sambol.

Some even prefer to have it with Butter and Jam!

~Tamarind Pulao~

Ingredients:Boiled Rice - 2 cups
Tamarind Water(Juice) - 1/2 cup (or as desired)
Salt - as desired
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves
Dry red chillies - 2
Chopped onion - 1
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp


Method:Heat oil in a cooking pan. Add mustard seeds, onions, curry leaves, dry red chillies, and fry to a golden brown colour. Add the tamarind juice to this. Then add turmeric powder, salt and chilli powder  mix and bring to a boil. Now, add the rice, mix well and keep on low flame until the water gets absorbed. Transfer to a plate and serve. Fried Fish is a great side dish for tamarind rice.

~Roasted Gram Chutney~

Ingredients:Roasted/Chutney Gram - 1/2 cup
Scraped Coconut - 1/4 cup
Red Chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Garlic - 2 Cloves
Tamarind Juice - 2 tsp or as desired
Salt - as desired

Method:Blend the above ingredients in a blender till you get a smooth mixture. Transfer to dish and serve with Idli, dosa, rice, vada, etc.

~Sri Lankan Dal Curry~ 

( A very famous Sri Lankan dish)

Ingredients:Mysore Dal- 500g
1 Onion(chopped) 
1/2 Tomato(chopped)
Curry leaves
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
salt
mustard seeds
Green chiilies- 2
Garlic - 4
Coconut milk powder- 2 tsp


Method:Add dal to a dish of water. Add half of the chopped onions, garlic flakes, curry leaves, tomatos and 1 green chilli( cut in half). Add chilli powder, salt and turmeric podwer. Let it boil until the dal is cooked. Add coconut milk powder and mix well and keep aside.

In a saute pan, heat oil, add mustard seeds, the remaining onions, curry leaves, green chillies and saute well. Add this to cooked dal and mix well. Serve with bread, rottis or string hoppers.

Gulab Jamun

A personal favourite and yummy dish loved by many :)

For the Sugar Syrup:

INGREDIENTS
2 cups sugar2 cup waterfew drops of vanilla essence¼ tsp. powdered cardamon

INSTRUCTIONS
Heat all the ingredients together until the sugar dissolves, then give it a boil on low heat for about 3-5 minutes so it thickens slightly. Add a few drops of vanilla essence. Let it cool. 


For the Gulab Jamuns:

INGREDIENTS
1 cup ANCHOR or any good quality powdered milk1 egg, beaten lightly1 tsp. semolina2 tbsp. white/plain/all-purpose flour1 level tsp. baking powderoil as needed

INSTRUCTIONS
Combine the milk powder, baking powder, semolina and flour together.
Add in the egg, then mix it gently to make a soft dough. Now make small balls out of the dough. This should make about 16 balls. If the dough feels sticky, touch a bit of oil with your fingertips and then form the balls. If the dough is too hard, add a few drops of milk and knead it in until you can form smooth balls.

Heat oil on medium, add the gulab jamuns one at a time. keep the oil really low whilst they fry, gently stirring the oil AROUND them so they turn around and get evenly colored. When they have doubled in size and are evenly browned all over, remove with a slotted spoon and put them directly into the sugar syrup. Remember, the syrup should not be boiling hot, it should be kept on very low heat so that it’s JUST slightly warm. They will expand a bit more as they soak up the syrup.

Enjoy!! :)

Dal Rice

Ingredients:

Rice - 1/2 cup
Mysore Dal - 1/2 cup
1 Carrot  - Chopped
1/2 Potato - Chopped
1 onion - Chopped
1 Tomato - chopped
1 green chilli - chopped
Curry leaves
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
salt - as desired
Chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Oil



Method:

Wash rice and dal together and keep aside.

Heat Oil in a pressure cooker. Add onions, curry leaves, green chillies and fry for a while. Add tomatoes and fry. Then add in the chopped carrots and potato and stir fry for a while. Then add chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and mix well. Add 2 cups of water, and then the dal and rice. Mix well.

 Cover the pressure cooker with the lid and cook for 10 mins. Turn off the burner. Uncover the cooker and mix well. Serve hot.

Creativity with Dal Rice :)