Cooking in hotelroom- Quick travel recipes

[dev]

TVS aunty, give these poha mixes a try and let us know how u liked it. Also, if u happen to do any any improvisations do let us know...

[dev]

How to clean a kettle after using it to cook noodles/upma/porridge etc:

Once u transfer the contents to another bowl, let the kettle come to room temperature or become warm.
Add water and stir well and switch it on.once warm/boils, switch off and let sit for 5 minutes.
By now, any stuffs sticking on hard to the kettle would have loosened up. scrape it off gently using a spatula and pour out the water.
gently scrub using a scrubber(and mild dishwasher) and wash off.
Done.

Never immerse the kettle or the base in water. use water only to wash the interiors.

[dev]

Yellow moong paruppu mix/kootu mix:

Dry roast, on low flame,split yellow moong dhal until flavourful and starts to change color(approx 5 mins). Take off flame and let cool.
Grind it to a coarse powder adding salt and turmeric powder along with it.

Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds, jeera, dry red chillies broken. Take off flame and stir in the dhal mix.
The end mix should be a crumbly mixture.

Note:
U can pack the dhal without grinding if u have access to MW oven as this dhal cooks really fast.

How to use:

Dhal:

To 150ml of water, add 2 pearl onions sliced, few curry leaves sliced, tomato chopped,req qty of kongu masala powder(or sambar/chilly pwd) and let it boil for a minute.Add 2 tbsp of the dhal mix mixed with warm water and let boil for about 2 minutes or until desired consistency is reached.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with steamed rice.

Kootu:

To 150ml of water, add1 garlic crushed, add 2 pearl onions sliced, green chilly or chilly pwd if req but purely optional, few curry leaves, any one veg(ash gourd/snake gourd/ chow chow) chopped and let it cook till done.
Add 2 tbsp of the dhal mix mixed with warm water and let boil for about 2 minutes or until desired consistency is reached.
Take off flame and add in a tsp of coconut oil and serve hot with steamed rice.

[dev]

Instant sakkarai pongal mix:

Dry roast, on low flame,1 cup split yellow moong dhal until flavourful and starts to change color(approx 5 mins). Take off flame.
To this add 2 cups raw rice, mix and let cool.

Note:
You can grind this mixture very coarsely(like broken wheat).

Heat ghee in a pan.
Add cashews, dried grapes and saute till golden.
To this add the rice-dhal mixture and mix well.
Add required qty of cardamom powder and mix well.
Let cool.

How to use:

To 4 cups of boiling water, add 1 cup of the mix and cook on low flame till done.Keep stirring in between.
Once the rice-dhal is cooked real soft, add 1 cup(more or less to taste) of brown cane sugar(karumbu sakkarai) and keep mixing till it melts completely . It is preferable to make a sugar syrup from the cane sugar and then add to teh rice mix.Tastes better.
Serve hot with some more ghee on top.

[dev]

Instant rava Pongal mix:

Dry roast, on low flame,1 cup split yellow moong dhal until flavourful and starts to change color(approx 5 mins). Take off flame and let cool. Grind to a coarse mixture(rava like)

Heat ghee in a pan.
Add roughly crushed jeera, peppercorns, finely chopped ginger, curry leaves and green chillies. Let it all turn crisp. You can also omit ginger, curry leaves and green chillies in this step and add those while cooking.
Add cashews and saute till golden.
To this add 2 cups rava and mix and saute on low flame until flavourful.
Add required salt.
Let cool.

How to use:

To 2 1/2 cups of boiling water, add 1 cup of the mix and cook on low flame till done.Keep stirring in between.
Serve hot with some more ghee on top.

[chevy]

Instant rava Pongal mix:

Dry roast, on low flame,1 cup split yellow moong dhal until flavourful and starts to change color(approx 5 mins). Take off flame and let cool. Grind to a coarse mixture(rava like)

Heat ghee in a pan.
Add roughly crushed jeera, peppercorns, finely chopped ginger, curry leaves and green chillies. Let it all turn crisp. You can also omit ginger, curry leaves and green chillies in this step and add those while cooking.
Add cashews and saute till golden.
To this add 2 cups rava and mix and saute on low flame until flavourful.
Add required salt.
Let cool.

How to use:

To 2 1/2 cups of boiling water, add 1 cup of the mix and cook on low flame till done.Keep stirring in between.
Serve hot with some more ghee on top.

This is brilliant. This thread should be more active.

I used to do something similar to this for work. Came up with the idea when my office 's CCD express had an instant upma/poha box.

I used to make a mix of dry roasted rava and dry roasted garnishings (curry leaves, dal , mustard, red chilli) for upma with some salt turmeric and pack it into mini microwave boxes and keep it in my office desk.

I'd just add water and microwave it for 5 mins or till cooked and have it hot.

This is a good variant. Will try it sometime.