Ingredients:

• Mint leaves – 1/2 bunch or 1 cup full
• Oil – 2 tbsp
• Urid dal – 3 tbsp
• Chana dal – 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Asafoetida – 1 tsp
• Fenugreek seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Tamarind paste – 1/4 tsp (if using the dry tamarind then use a small piece or about marble sized ball)
• Salt to taste
• Dry red chillies – 4 to 5 (according to the spice level of the  chillies)
• Curry leaves – 4 to 5 leaves
• Jaggery – 4 tbsp
• Water to adjust consistency

Procedure:

• Clean and wash the mint leaves and keep them aside.
• Take a wok or kadai and heat it to medium high, to that add oil.
• To the hot oil add mustard seeds and cumin seeds and let them splatter.
• Now add urid dal, chana dal, fenugreek seeds and dry red chillies and let the brown a little until the leave aroma.
• Now, add asafoetida and let it cook for a few seconds.
• To the above add curry leaves and tamarind dry whole(if you do not prefer tamarind paste) wait till it splutters.
• Now add washed and drained mint leaves and cook them for a few seconds, and remove the wok from flame/heat.
• Let the whole mixture cool down.
• Once , the mixture is cool to grind transfer it into a grinding jar and grind till fine powder
• To the above powder add jaggery, salt, tamarind paste (if you have not added dry whole tamarind in the above step) and a little water to bring the consistency to a paste.
• Serve to Perumal with hot rice or dosa or idli and enjoy His prasadam.

How to prepare Apple cake ?

Ingredients:

• Apples – 3 sliced
• Juice of a lemon
• Self raising flour – 1 1/2 cups
• Baking powder – 2 tsp
• Ground cinnamon – 1 tsp
• Soft demerara sugar – 3/4 cup
• Milk /plant based milk – 1/4 cup
• Flavourless oil (rapeseed oil /sunflower seed oil) – 1/3 cup
• Apples – 2 chopped
• Cinnamon sugar – 1 tsp refined sugar mixed with 1/2 tsp of
  ground cinnamon

Procedure:

• Preheat the oven to 180 C /350 F/ gas mark 4
• In a small mixing bowl, toss the sliced apple with lemon juice and keep aside.
• In a larger mixing bowl, sift the flour , cinnamon powder and baking powder. Now, add sugar and mix well.
• To the above add milk and oil gradually and mix well.
• Stir the chopped apples to the above cake mixture.
• Pour or spoon the mixture into a greased and floured rectangular/square cake tin.
• Place the apple slices on top and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake the cake for 25- 30 minutes.
• Let it cool in the tin and cut into squares.
• Serve Perumal with whipped cream or with hot fruit tea and
  enjoy His prasadam.

Makes about 10 – 12 scones

Ingredients:

• Plain flour – 1 1/2 cups
• Baking powder – 2 tsp
• Caster sugar – 1/4 cup
• Salt – 1/2 tsp
• Cold butter(can use plant based butter like peanut or almond butter) – 2 tbsp
• Yogurt /curd (can use plant based yogurt)- 2/3 cup
• Milk/plant based milk – 2 tbsp (for brushing)

Procedure:

• Preheat the oven to 190C /375 F / gas mark 5
• In a mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt. To this add sugar
• Rub the butter into the flour with you finger tips until the mixture resembles bread crumbs
• Add the yogurt and mix with your finger until the mixture comes together. Gently form the pastry into a shape about 2 cm thick and cut into 4cm circles using a cookie cutter
• Place these circles onto the baking tray lined with parchment paper
• Brush top of the circles with milk and place them in the preheated oven and bake them for 12 to 15 minutes
• Allow to cool for a few minutes before cutting open
• Serve warm with clotted cream or butter and jam or fresh strawberries to Perumal and enjoy His prasadam

Ingredients

• Ghee – 1 cup
• Caster Suger – 1 cup
• Maida – 1/2 cup
• Whole Wheat Flour – 1/2 cup
• Semolina – 1/4 cup
• Chickpea Flour – 1/4 cup
• Baking Powder – 1⁄2 tsp
• Baking Soda – 1⁄4 tsp
• Cardamom Powder – 1⁄4 tsp
• A pinch of Salt

Procedure

• In a bowl beat ghee and caster sugar until light and fluffy and pale in colour.
• In a bowl mix all the dry ingredients together.
• Now mix the wet and dry ingredients together and form a smooth dough.
• Refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes.
• Roll the dough into ball-like shapes and place them on lightly greased cookie sheet and press in lightly to flatten a little.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for around 15-17 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and set it outside for a few minutes to cool
• Serve the nankatai biscuits to Perumal and enjoy His prasadam.

Ingredients

• Strawberries – 250 gms
• Lemon juice – 1/2 lemon
• Caster or any unrefined sugar – 200 gms

Procedure

• If the strawberries are large, cut them in halves or quarters. Put the strawberries and lemon juice into a large pan.
• Heat for a few minutes to soften, add the sugar and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.
• Once, the sugar has dissolved and the liquid is clear, boil steadily for about 6 minutes, or until at setting point. (To test if the jam is at setting point, spoon a little onto a cold plate, leave for a minute and then push the jam with your finger. If the jam crinkles and separates without flooding back, setting point has been reached)
• Set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Spoon into sterilised jars, label and seal with wax paper and a lid.
• Serve this to Perumal and enjoy His prasadam.

Ingredients:

For Pakoras:

• Channa dal –  1/2 cup
• Dry red chillies – 2 
• Salt to taste 
• Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp 
• Oil for deep fry

For Kadi:

• Besan / gram flour – 1 to 2 tbsp 
• Curd /yogurt (sour) – 1 cup 
• Water – 3 cups 
• Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp 
• Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp 
• Fenugreek seeds – 1/8 tsp 
• Ghee – 2 tsp 
• Asafoetida – a pinch 
• Aalt to taste 
• Turmeric – 1/4 tsp 
• Fresh green chilies – 1 (slit into half)
• Fresh ginger- a half inch piece (chopped finely)
• Curry leaves – a sprig of leaves 
• Fresh coriander – a handful (chopped)

Procedure:

For making Pakora:

• Soak the chana dal overnight or at least for four hour. Wash the soaked dal and grind it to smooth paste along with dry red chillies, cumin seeds, and salt with the help of enough quantity of water.
• Now, take a deep fry pan and heat the oil for frying the pakoras on medium  heat. Once, the oil is hot add spoons of chana dal batter into the hot oil and fry till golden and crispy.
• Remove the crispy pakoras out from oil into a paper towel and keep aside

For making Kadi:

• Mix the besan and curd into a smooth paste without any lumps and keep aside. 
• In a sauce pan, heat the ghee on a medium heat to make the tempering/ seasoning for the kadhi.
• When the ghee is hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and asafoetida and let the mustard seeds crackle. 
• To the above, add curry leaves, split green chillies and chopped ginger and let them fry for a few seconds.
• Now add the curd /yogurt mixture to the sauce pot and water. Mix them well to avoid lumps.
• Add turmeric powder, salt and let it boil for five minutes. The kadhi thickens as it boils. Adjust the thickness of the kadhi with excess water to pourable consistency and let it boil for another minute. Remove from heat and set aside.
• Just before serving add the pakoras to the kadhi.
• Garnish with coriander.
• Serve hot with rice or roti to Perumal and enjoy His prasadam.

Paatra leaves/ colocasia leaves are popularly used in gujarati and konkan cuisine. These leaves are used as main ingredient in number of dishes like dal and curry and others but paatra is one among the famous ways of eating this. This is served as a part of a lunch or dinner as an appetiser or a snack. This recipe is for two people

Ingredients:

Packet of patra leaves / about 10 -12 leaves 

For seasoning

• Ghee- 1 tsp 
• Mustards seeds – 1/2 tsp 
• Sesame seeds – 1 tsp 

For filling

• Chickpea flour/ besan – 1 cup 
• Salt to taste 
• Grated ginger – 1/2 tbsp 
• Chilli powder – 1/2 tsp 
• Jaggery – 1 tbsp 
• Oil – 1 tbsp 
• Lemon juice – 2 tbsp
• Hot water – 1/2 cup (approx)
• Sesame seeds – 1 tbsp 

Procedure:

• Wash the leaves first and with a knife cut and remove the Y shaped stem which holds the leaves together. By removing this stem rolling becomes easy.
• In a mixing bowl,  make a paste of chickpea flour/ besan, salt, grated ginger, chilli powder, grated jaggery, oil, lemon juice sesame seeds and hot water. Mix to give a thick paste. Adjust water accordingly. 
• Turn the leaves over and spread the thick paste on the dull side with a spatula and place one leaf on top of other in the opposite directions. (taking the pointy tip and the stemmed base as reference)
• Fold each pair similar to closing an envelope. Turn them over and add more paste to seal the leaves tightly. Roll one end up and continue rolling to make a shape similar to Swiss rolls.
• Now continue this process till all the leaves are rolled like Swiss rolls.
• Prepare a steaming pot/ steamer. Place all the rolled paatra leaves into the steamer and steam them for about 15 minutes (just like idlis).
• Turn the heat off and let the steamer cool.
• Remove the steamed Patras carefully from the steamer and cut each rolled paatra on a cutting board into as many slices of 1 to 1.5 cm.
• Place the slices on a flat plate and garnish with a seasoning of tempered mustard seeds and sesame seeds in ghee. 
• Serve with tamarind chutney to Perumal and enjoy His prasadam.

Ingredients:

• 1 Medium sized brinjal / eggplant
• 2 Chillies
• Half inch Ginger – half inch (roughly chopped)
• Handful of coriander (chopped)
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• A pinch of asafoetida (optional)
• Oil / ghee – enough to oil the brinjal
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• Salt to taste

Procedure:

• Wash and dry the brinjal/ eggplant.
• Oil the brinjal with a little bit of any oil or ghee.
• Make a few pricks around the brinjal with a fork or a sharp knife.
• Now on high flame place the oiled brinjal and char it from all sides. It should burn and char completely so that the skin of the brinjal falls out easy.
• Let the brinjal cool down
• Remove the charred skin and keep the cooked brinjal aside.
• Now take a grinder/mixer jar and place chillies , ginger, salt, cumin seeds and asafoetida and grind them to a paste.
• To the above paste add brinjal and lemon juice and give it very quick pulse until everything mixes well.
• Now remove the chutney into a bowl and garnish it with chopped coriander.
• Serve the chutney to Perumal with hot rice or roti and enjoy His prasadam.

Note: Make sure that the brinjal you pick doesn’t have any holes or any scars which ensures that there are no insects inside the brinjal)

Ingredients

• Amaranthus leaves / Thathakura/ Arakerrai / – 2 cups chopped
• Moong dal (or toor dal)- 1/4 cup
• Sambar powder – 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Tamarind – a small lemon sized ball (soaked in water)
• Turmeric – 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
• Urid dal- 1 tsp
• Dry red chillies – 2
• Fresh green chillies – 1 to 2 (according to spice preference)
• curry leaves – a few leaves
• Asafoetida – a generous pinch
• Fenugreek seeds – 1/4 tsp
• Oil / ghee – 1 tbsp
• Jaggery – 1 to 2 tbsp (according to taste)
• Coriander – for garnish

Procedure

• Clean, wash and chop the amaranthus leaves and tender stalks
• Wash the dal (either moong or toor dal) and boil it with chopped
  amaranth in a pressure cooker for about 12 minutes (or four
  whistle sounds)
• Let the cooker cool to open
• Soak the tamarind in a little warm water and extract the
  tamarind juice and keep aside
• In a sauce pan, take the oil/ ghee (preferably ghee) and heat it
  on medium heat, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, dry red
  chillies, urid dal, turmeric powder and asafoetida. Once the
  mustard seeds start splattering add curry leaves and fresh
  green chillies
• Fry the above for a minute and the add the tamarind extract and
  let it boil for about 2 minutes
• Add the sambar powder and the boiled dal and amaranthus. Mix
  well so that the dal and sambar powder don’t leave any lumps
• Let the above boil for a couple minutes until fenugreek and tamarind get absorbed into the stew
• Finally add the jaggery and mix well
• Finish off with coriander for garnish

Serve to Perumal with hot rice and enjoy His Prasadam.

Ingredients for chutney

• Peanuts – 1 cup
• Dry red chillies – 2
• Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Tamarind paste- 1/2 tsp (optional)

Ingredients for seasoning

• Curry leaves – 10 leaves
• Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
• Oil – 2 tsp
• Asafoetida – a pinch

Procedure for chutney

• Roast the peanuts on medium heat.
• Also roast cumin and dry red chillies separately.
• Blend the roasted peanuts, cumin and chillies to a powder.
• Add salt, enough water to get the chutney consistency and
  tamarind paste (optional)
• Blend it again until smooth paste is obtained.

Procedure for seasoning

•  In a small pan, heat the oil and add mustard seeds, fry till
  they splutter
• Add asafoetida and curry leaves
• Sauté for a few seconds
• Add the above seasoning to the peanut chutney and serve with
  idli, dosa or upma

Serve to Perumal and enjoy His prasadam.
.