Tomato Onion Chutney

1 onion, diced
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 red chili
2 tsp chopped garlic
2 tsp tamarind paste
2 Tb. pottu kadalai
salt

Dry roast the pottu kadalai and set aside.

In a pan, heat 1 Tb. sesame oil.  When hot, add the red chili and onion. Sauté for a few minutes.  Add the garlic and tamarind paste and cook until the onion is soft. Add in tomato and cook until tomato is soft. Salt to taste. Put tomato mixture and pottu kadalai in the food processor and grind until smooth.

Optional: splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves and garnish before serving.

Easy Tres Leches Cake

My son and husband request Tres Leches Cake for their birthdays every year!  Most tres leches cakes are made from a homemade sponge cake. Way too much work for a busy mom!  This is my cheater's recipe, and luckily everyone in my family loves it! My recipe has 3 parts: cake, tres leches (three milks), and homemade whip cream.

Cake:
1 box yellow cake mix
eggs, water, oil (per instructions on cake mix box)

Tres Leches:
1/4c.  heavy cream
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk

Whip Cream Icing:
2c. heavy cream
3 Tb. granulated sugar
splash of vanilla extract

Instructions-

Cake: Bake the cake in a 13x9 pan according to the instructions on the box cake mix.  Allow to cool for at least half an hour. Use a fork or toothpick to poke holes all over the top of the cake.

Tres Leches: In a medium size bowl, combine the cream, sweetened condensed milk, and evaporated milk.  Stir together until well mixed.  Reserve 1 cup of mixture and discard (or find another use). Slowly pour the rest over the cake.  The holes in the cake will allow the liquid to seep into it.  It's ok if the top of the cake looks like a lake of milk at first- it will soak in.  Cover and refrigerate, ideally for a few hours.

Whip Cream: (can be made up to a day in advance) Chill a large mixing bowl and mixer beaters in the freezer for 10 mins. In the chilled bowl, combine cream, sugar and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until the mixture becomes fluffy and the texture of whip cream.  Spread the whip cream on top of the cake just before serving.  Top with fresh fruit like strawberries, mango slices, or a maraschino cherry!

Tips- I used Betty Crocker Yellow Cake mix. I also frost each individual piece of cake with whip cream when I serve it.  I've tried icing the whole cake at once, but with any leftover cake, the whip cream becomes runny in a few hours.

Tortilla Soup

https://peasandcrayons.com/2017/02/vegetarian-lentil-tortilla-soup.html

Popular with the whole family!  I omitted chili powder/cayenne, and I also omitted the tomato paste.

Instant Pot Idli Settings

Cook idli for Manual 0 mins, NPR. Vent should be sealed.

Orange Cinnamon Rolls

I wanted to find a recipe that was as good or better than the Pillsbury orange rolls we make on Christmas morning every year. This recipe from Averie Cooks is scrumptious!  The original recipe can be found here, Best Orange Glazed Sweet Rolls. I made a few adaptations to the recipe, and I will definitely be making them again. Yum!

The first time I made the dough, it took a long time for the dough to rise (4 hours). I ended up tossing the dough when I realized that this dough contains raw egg. Yes, baking it probably would have killed all the bacteria, but since I was feeding it to my kids, I played it safe by tossing out the dough and starting fresh.  A few tips: don't leave dough to rise for more than 2 hours.  Make sure the rolls are fully baked, too (turning golden on top).

I microwaved 1 stick of butter for 1 min, then added the buttermilk and microwaved another 50 seconds, which was just right.

I also set the oven temp to 400 and left it on for 2-3 mins until the oven felt nice and warm, almost hot. The second batch of dough rose nicely in less than 2 hours, so these warmer temps were key!

Lastly, I ended up using cinnamon and sugar for the filling since I didn't have marmalade on hand. 1/3c. packed brown sugar, 1/3c. white sugar, and 1 Tbsp cinnamon.

These rolls tasted better than any homemade cinnamon roll I've ever had!  I think the buttermilk in the dough made them very tender and deeelish!

The orange glaze frosting was fine, but we still prefer the Pillsbury orange roll frosting which tastes a bit richer.  Next time I might experiment with a cream cheese based orange frosting.

Rachel's Rajma

2c. dried red kidney beans, soaked overnight
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 Tb. minced ginger
1 Tb. minced garlic
2 tomatoes, quartered
6 c. water
1-2 serrano chilies, chopped
1 Tb. coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 and 1/2 tsp salt
chopped cilantro for garnish

Blend onions, ginger, garlic and tomatoes in food processor.  Add water, chilies, spices and salt to slow cooker.  Add kidney beans and cook on low for 8 hours.

Sambar- Restaurant style with Grand Snacks sambar powder

This recipe has 3 parts (dal, sambar and tempering) and is the closest we've come to imitating the best restaurant style sambar we've eaten.  This sambar is thick and perfectly spicy (medium).

1 c. toor dal
2 and 1/2 c. water
pinch salt

Dal: Cook dal in the instant pot for 8 mins.

1 Tb. sesame or other oil
pinch of mustard seeds
pinch of fenugreek seeds
2 Tb. sambar powder (Grand Snack and Sweets brand)
1 and 1/2  tsp turmeric
2c. raw or frozen veggies (I used pearl onions and drumstick)
1 tomato, chopped
2 tsp tamarind paste
1/2 tsp salt (add more if needed)

Sambar: Heat oil in a saucepan. Add mustard seeds.  When they splutter, add fenugreek seeds, sambar powder and turmeric.  Allow it to fry for a few seconds, then add the veggies, tomato, tamarind paste and 1.5c water. Boil for about 10 mins, long enough to cook the veggies. Make sure the dal is well mashed, and add it in to the sambar.  Bring it to a boil, add salt, and simmer for another 5-10 mins.

Tempering: In a separate small frying pan, heat oil.  Add 1 red chili, a pinch of mustard seeds, and a sprig of curry leaves.  Turn heat off immediately.