These are the dishes made for Ekadasi this time.. Though we don't follow strict fasting, we do fast for the day with very little food. The fasting always ends with ekadasi prasadam (no onion- no garlic dish. Rice, beans, grains and certain spices are not included).
For my other posts related to ekadasi - visit here and here.

Milagu Aval

Ingredients:

How to make it:

Soak poha in water for about 10 minutes. Squeeze the poha to drain out water. Heat ghee in a pan, add mustard seeds and when it splutters, add urad dal and fry until it turns light brown. Add cashews, cumin, pepper powder and curry leaves. Add poha and salt. Mix well.



Rava Kesari

Ingredients:

How to make it:

Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a pan and fry Rava until it looks crisp. Be careful not to turn it brown. Add the water and cook rava. Add sugar and food colour (dissolved in little water, to spread easily). Cook on medium heat, mixing well and adding ghee little by little. Add cardamom powder and cashews and raisins fried in ghee. Add a pinch of camphor. Mix well until done. The amount of sugar mentioned above is optimal. Add 1/4 cup more sugar if required.

Whenever i make ven pongal at home, it is always a must to make some vadas to make it a satisfying meal. Also, it is one of the best and lovely combo, i can say!

Ven pongal

Ingredients:

How to make it:

Dry roast moong dal slightly. Pressure cook together with rice, turmeric powder and enough water. Heat ghee in a deep bottom pan, add the cashews, curry leaves, ginger, pepper and cumin and fry for a while. ( Use whole black pepper and cumin directly or make a coarse powder before adding ). Add the cooked rice dal mixture and salt and mix well on a low flame. Serve hot with a dollop of ghee on top.

Coconut chutney

Ingredients:

How to make it:

Grind coconut, roasted gram, green chillies and tamarind with salt and water into a thick paste. Do the seasoning with the remaining ingredients and pour over the chutney.

Onion vada

I have already posted the recipe for medhu vada here.

Onion vada - To the medhu vada batter, add some finely chopped onions and cilanto leaves and make vadas.
Cabbage vada - To the medhu vada batter, add finely chopped cabbage and make vadas.

I am sending this wonderful combo to "The Combo Event" going on at Foodelicious.
I am also sending my Adai Avial combo for this event.

This is a mild to medium spicy curry and yet very tasty! Good as a side dish for rice and rotis.

Ingredients:

How to make it:

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and when it splutters, add cumin, fennel seeds, cashews, green chillies, curry leaves, and onions and fry until onion becomes translucent. Add garlic paste, red chilli flakes, turmeric powder, dhania-jeera powder and fry for a while. Add tomatoes and cook until it becomes soft. Add potato, salt and cook until nice golden brown. Add a tsp of corn flour, if you need a crispy finish.

I would always call this a Royal dish.. because of the aromatic flavours of spices blended nicely in a rich and creamy gravy. This goes good with any kind of bread or Rice.

Ingredients:

How to make it:

Heat little butter in a pan, add the cashews, almonds and onions and fry until onion becomes translucent. Let it cool and then grind into a paste. Fry paneer in oil until golden brown. Set aside. Heat oil and butter in a pan, add bay leaf, cardamom, cloves, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, cinnamon and ginger. Add the garam masala and corriander powder and fry for a while. Add the onion paste and fry until oil separates. Add the red chilli powder, turmeric powder, 1/2 cup water and salt. Add the tomato puree and cook until the oil separates and the gravy is thick. Add the fried paneer and cook not more than a minute. Garnish with cilantro. Serve hot with your choice of bread or rice.
I had about half a cup of left over cooked peas that i did not want to waste. So tossed them into the gravy while cooking. Also, see here for how to make paneer at home.