My Receipes

Beetroot Rice

2012-01-21T12:17:00.000-08:00

This post has been lying in the draft for a very long time. Thought of finishing it today. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Basmati Rice - 1 1/2 cups
Beetroot - 1 cup (shredded)
Onion - 1 medium sized
Garlic - 1 (chopped)
Green Chillies - 3 (acc to taste)
ginger - a small piece (finely chopped)
Red chillies powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder v- 1/2 tsp (optional)
Oil/butter - 1 1/2 tbsp
cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp

Wash & soak basmati rice in water for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes drain it fully and pressure cook it. ( I added 1:1 1/4 cup water to cook.) In the mean time, heat the oil/butter in a pan, splutter cumin seeds. Add green chillies, ginger, garlic & saute for few minutes. Now add the chopped onion to it and saute for another 3 minutes or till it becomes transparent. Now add the shredded beetroot to it, add turmeric powder, red chillies powder & salt (for both rice & vegetable) and let cook for 5 to 7 minutes. Sprinkle water accordingly. Since the beetroot is shredded, it will take less time to cook. When the rice is cooked, spread it in a big plate and let it cool. When the beetroot mix is ready, mix it with the rice nicely. Do not break the rice grains while mixing. Enjoy it hot with onion/cucumber raita and chips. This rice is very easy to make with less spices and I am sure kids will definitely love it. My girls really liked the color of the rice cos it turned kinda pink when I mixed the beetroot masala with rice.

Vella Payaru / Payaru Sweet Sundal

2012-01-03T21:41:00.000-08:00

This post has been lying in the draft for more than two months. I made this sundal for navarathri. I followed my patti's traditional way of doing this sundal. Here goes the recipe.
Ingredients:-

Red Karamani - 1 cup (soak it overnight)
Jaggery - 1 cup (plus or minus acc to taste)
cardamom - 3 (powder it)
Ghee - 2 tsp

Pressure cook Karamani till its done (it took 5 whistles for me). In the mean time, take a heavy bottomed pan add the jaggery with required amount of water (little less than1 cup preferably) and let it melt. Remove impurities from it by filtering it in a thin cloth. Again pour the jaggery water in the same pan and let it boil. When it starts boiling really well, add the cooked karamani, powdered cardamom to it and let everything mix and cook for 5 to 7 minutes. When karamani mixes really well, turn off the stove and the add the ghee now and mix everything well. This can be eaten as evening snack too.

cake pops

2011-12-23T19:54:00.000-08:00

I love the cake pops we get in Starbucks. I wanted to make some when my girls have winter break. I made these last week and it came out pretty good. I would not say that it looked professional but the taste was good. I used the pre-packed Betty Crocker chocolate cake mix for basic cake and betty crocker chocolate frosting for mixing the cake.

I followed the recipe from the site Love from the Oven. Check out this site and its an awesome site with lots of cookie recipes.

Sundal Sandwich

2011-12-18T17:31:00.000-08:00

This is a easy breezy sandwich and a nice way to use the leftover sundal. I made sundal for weekend evening snack and as usual one of my twin didn't eat properly. I had half cup of sundal and i didn't want to waste it. I used it for my breakfast sandwich, the next day.

Ingredients:-

Bread slices - 2
Garbanzo sundal - 1/2 cup
Butter - to spread
Cheese slices - 1

Take a pan, toast the bread slightly. Spread the butter, sundal and place the cheese slice on top of the sundal and cover it with the other bread slice. Now toast it again in the pan, it till becomes golden brown. It was really filling and a nice way to start your day with this protein rich breakfast.

Bell Pepper Rice

2011-12-07T18:21:00.000-08:00

My MIL made this rice last week. I make bell pepper / capsicum rice too but in a regular fried rice way. But this is something new which she made. She used a masala powder (homemade) to finish this rice. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Basmati Rice - 2 cups
Bell Pepper/Capsicum - 1 1/2 cups (chopped)
Onion - 1 medium sized (chopped)
Green Peas - 1/2 cup ( she used frozen)
Butter/Oil - 2 tbsp
coconut oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
urad dhall - 2 tsp
channa dhall - 1 tsp
fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 2
Turmeric powder - 3/4 tsp
Salt to taste
coriander leaves - for garnishing

Masala:-

Coriander - 3 tbsp
channa dhall -2 tbsp
Urad dhall - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
White sesame seeds - 1 tsp
Cardamom - 1
Clove -3
Cinnamon stick - 3 small pieces
Red chillies - 3 (acc to taste)
peanuts - 3 tbsp (optional - toasted)

Soak Basmati rice in water for half an hour. Take a pan, sprinkle a drop of oil/butter and fry the ingredients one by one to golden brown, given for masala and let it cool and grind it into coarse powder. Keep it aside. Meanwhile, in the same pan, add one table spoon oil or butter. Add mustard seeds. When it crackles, add the urad dhall, channa dhall, fenugreek seeds &green chillies. Fry it till it becomes golden brown. Add the chopped onion to it and fry it for few seconds. Add the chopped bell pepper, green peas to it and fry it for couple of minutes adding turmeric powder and required amount of salt (for both rice & masala) in medium flame. Drain the basmati rice fully and add it to the ingredients and fry it for a minute. Transfer everything to a pressure cooker and add required amount of water and let it cook upto 2 whistles. ++ . When the pressure is released, open the cooker, add the grounded coarse powder to it, remaining oil or butter, coconut oil and mix it with the rice. Make sure you don't break the grains. Enjoy the rice with onion raita & potato chips.

++ - In this stage, my MIL added required amount of water (1:1 1/4) directly in the pan and cooked the rice directly in the pan. I am not good in doing that process, so I have mentioned my way of cooking the rice. If you are confident enough to cook the rice in the pan, you can do so.

Mattar paneer 2

2011-11-28T10:19:00.000-08:00

I made this side dish couple of weeks back. My girls hate eating paneer, but luckily they liked this side dish. I made this as a very rich and creamy side dish. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Paneer pieces - 1 cup (cut it into small cubes)
Green peas - 1/4 cup (I used frozen)
Tomato - 1 medium sized
Onion - 1/2 (if its big)
Cashews - 5 or 6
Coriander seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cardamom - 1
Clove - 1
Green chillies - 2 (acc to taste)
Salt to taste
Shredded coconut - 2 tsp
Fat free yogurt - 1 tbsp
Whole milk - 1/4 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Ghee - 1 1/2 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
coriander leaves - 2 tsp (chopped)

Thaw the green peas. Chop tomato and onion. Now take the chopped tomato, onion, cashew, green chillies, coconut, clove, cardamom, coriander seeds and grind it into fine paste. Pre heat a teaspoon on ghee in a pan, fry paneer pieces to golden brown and keep it aside. In the same pan, preheat remaining ghee, splutter cumin seeds to golden brown, add the grounded masala paste to it. Add 1/4 cup of water, turmeric powder, salt and red chillies powder and let it boil. When the raw smell goes, add the fried paneer pieces along with the green peas and let it cook for another 3 minutes. Now add the whole milk and yogurt and let it bil for 5 to 7 minutes. Adjust water according to the required consistency. Add the finely chopped coriander leaves and enjoy it with hot chapathi/poori.

Bread Cutlet

2011-11-07T09:54:00.000-08:00

I made this bread cutlet last week. I got the recipe my Nithya's fourth Sense Cooking... Recipe is exactly the same and I also followed the tip she has mentioned. I used bread crumbs and shallow fried the cutlets...

paneer parathas

2011-10-30T15:33:00.000-07:00

This is something I made for my little one's lunch box. She likes to take it twice a week. Pediatrician wanted my girls to take more dairy. They hate milk and paneer. They like to take yogurt. But that was not enough. So i thought of adding panneer in their diet. Below given quantity is for two parathas

Ingredients:-

Wheat dough - 2 medium ball sized
Shredded panneer - 4 tbsp
Salt - a pinch
Ajwain - 2 pinches

First take the shredded paneer, ajwain and salt and mix it together and make it two small balls. Now take the chapathi dough, flatten it into a small circle. Now keep the paneer ball in it and cover it just like kozhakkatai. Again spread the dough into circles. I prefer to make smaller ones. Heat a tawa and cook the parathas in medium flame. Flip it when one side is half cooked. Spread a teaspoon of ghee (optional) on top of it and enjoy it with a good bhaji. My girlie likes to have it with a dallop of butter.

Strawberry Muffin

2011-10-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

I got this Strawberry Muffin recipe from AllRecipes.com. I followed the same recipe and the outcome was awesome as you can see in the picture. The taste was also wonderful..

Tomato Pachadi - Tribute to Jayasree Satish

2011-10-18T19:44:00.000-07:00

This is another way of making tomato pachadi. This is a tribute to our blogger friend who passed away last week. We will definitely miss you Jayasree :(

Vendaya Kozhambu

2011-10-17T14:16:00.000-07:00

I made this vendhaya kozhambu and it came out very yummy. I got the recipe from my MIL. I haven't tried this before. So thought of giving it a try. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Tamarind - 1 medium lemon sized
Sesame oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
Channa dhall - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Red chillies - 1
Jaggery - a small piece
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

To grind:-

Fenugreek seeds/Vendhayam - 3/4th - 1 tsp (acc to taste)
coriander seeds - 3/4 tbsp
Red chillies - 3 (acc to taste)
Channa dhall - 1 tsp
urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
Shredded coconut - 2 tsp (optional)

Soak tamarind ball in water for half an hour (or Microwave it for 30 seconds). Squeeze water from it and keep it aside. In the mean time, dry roast the ingredients given for grinding and let it cool. Take a wide pan, heat the sesame oil, splutter mustard seeds, add the channa dhall, urad dhall and red chillies and let it fry till it becomes golden brown. Now add the tamarind water (approximately 1 1/2 cups), turmeric powder, required amount of salt and let it boil for 5 minutes. Add the grounded powder immedately after it starts boiling. Reduce the flame to medium and let it cook for 7 to 10 minutes. Stir it in between. Now add the jaggery and let it cook for another 5 minutes. Oil will start spreading out. Turn off the stove when you get the required consistency. Mine was little bit thick. It goes very well with rice and also as a side for curd rice.

Tomato Chapathi

2011-10-12T12:04:00.000-07:00

My chitti makes tomato poori. She infact advised me to make these kind of pooris for my girls. I tried this tomato Chapathi very long back and managed to find time to post this recipe. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

wheat flour - 3 cups
salt to taste
sesame oil - 2tsp
Tomato - 2 Medium sized
Green chillies - 2 (acc to taste)
omam/ajwain - a pinch

First boil the 1/2 cup water. Put the two tomatoes in it and let it boil for few minutes. Let it cool and peel the skin. Now take those tomatoes, green chillies and salt and grind it into a fine paste without adding water. The paste will be watery by itself. Now take the wheat flour in a wide bowl, add the tomato paste, omam and mix everything well and knead it into a fine dough. Sprinkle water if necessary. Make lemon sized balls and spread it into 8 or 9" diameter circle. Cook it in a hot tawa. Enjoy it with a dallop of yogurt or any of your favorite side dish.

coconut Burfi/Thenga burfi

2011-09-07T15:55:00.000-07:00

I made these burfi couple of week back. Just after the varalakshmi Vratam, I had so much coconut (we buy atleast two -one for kalasam & one for naivedhyam). My husband and my girls never take coconut. I was literally wasting two coconuts and I don't use coconut in my cooking. Thought of making this burfi and called my chitti for the recipe. Here foes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Coconut - 1 cup (shredded)
Sugar - 1 I/2 cup (acc to taste)
Cardamom - 1
Edible Camphor / Pachakarpooram - a pinch
Milk - 2 tsp
Ghee 2 tsp

Take a heavy bottomed pan, add the sugar and required amount of water (i took 3/4 cup of water for 1 1/2 cups of sugar) and let it boil. Milk is used to remove dirt from sugar syrup. When it starts boiling, just add it. White foamy stuff will form. Thats dirt. Remove it. Add the cardamom seeds and pacha karpooram to it. Look for one string consistency. If you touch the sugar syrup(be careful it will be super hot), it should form a single line. Now add the shredded coconut to it and mix it well and make sure no lumps are formed. Add ghee to it and spread it in a flat plate and cut it when it is warm. Enjoy. I added 1 1/2 cups of sugar to it. If necessary we can always reduce the quantity of sugar. I made this sweet especially for myself ! So I didn't bother to reduce the quantity of sugar :)

Reposting for Vrat ka Khaana Event.

2011-09-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

I am reposting my Adai Kozhakattai recipe for the Vrat ka Khanna Event by Mom Chef.

karamani Mezhukkuvaratti

2011-09-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

Mezhukkuvaratti is a common side dish people make in most of the Palghat Iyer family. This is nothing but just a stir fry and requires very less amount of seasoning and very less amount of ingredients. I made Karamani mezhukkuvaratti last week. Here is how I made.

Ingredients:-

Karamani/Long Beans - 2 cups (cut it one inch sized)
Red chillies - 1 or 2
Coconut Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Pre heat oil in a wide pan, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall and red chilli till golden brown. Now add the long beans, required amount of water, salt and turmeric powder and let it cook. Keep the flame low and fry it for 5 to 7 minutes. Do not burn the veggie. It tastes very good with sambar/vathakozhambu. My patti used to eat it along with just ghee rice. We can also make mezhukkuvaratti with chenakezhangu.

Icecream Cone Chaat

2011-08-24T13:58:00.000-07:00

My girls wanted me to buy them Kurkure from Indian stores. I was very sure that they will not finish it cos they have tried it many times and wasted the whole packet. Again this time, they promised me that they will finish it. I am quite sure that they will not. But I did not want to disappoint them so bought one packet and asked them to share. As usual, they wasted it after trying once. While reading the packet, I came across this recipe. I changed it to our taste. It was pretty good. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Tomato - 1 (finely chopped)
Onion - 1 (medium sized-finely chopped)
Green Onion - 2 tsp (chopped)
coriander leaves - 2 tsp (finely chopped
Kurkure - two table spoons (chop it)
Walnuts - finely chopped - 1 tbsp
Lemon Juice - 1 tsp
Garam Masala Powder - a pinch
Wafer Ice cream cones - 3

Add all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Serve it in the ice cream cones. The above given ingredients is sufficient for 3 medium sized Ice cream cones.

Pumpkin Peanut Vatha Kozhambu

2011-08-23T16:20:00.000-07:00

I make vatha kozhambu with pumpkin most of the times and also with some vathals. After seeing Prema's Verkadalai Kozhambu, I wanted to try this too. Wasn't sure whether it will be good without any vegetable. She has also used eggplant & onion in her version. I added pumpkin and onion and almost followed the same recipe. Except, I fried handfull of peanuts in oil and added it to the kozhambu finally for extra crunchy taste.

I am sending this to Bookmarked Recipes event, by Priya Of Mharo Rajasthan's Recipe.

Blueberry Milkshake

2011-08-15T19:32:00.000-07:00

I am not a very big fan of blueberries. I eat with when they are in muffins. But one of my twin loves BlueBerry. After watching an episode in Dora, she started eating blue berries cos dora loves blue berries :). As you know blueberries have less life. She managed to finish most of'em except 1/2 cup. She didn't want to eat those anymore. My other twin hardly eats any fruits. she likes to eat only bananas. So i wanted to finish the blueberries by making a milkshake. Here is how I made .....

Ingredients:-

Blueberries - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1 1/2 cup (1% Milk fat)
Sugar - required amount or according to taste
Ice cubes - few (optional)

Put everything in a blender and blend it smooth. You will get purple color fluffy milkshake. Enjoy!!

Cheese Parathas

2011-08-10T16:01:00.000-07:00

I made this cheese Parathas last week for my girls. Well for one of my twin. She actually liked it a lot with a cup of yogurt and sugar as side.
Here is how I made this Paratha.

Ingredients for making one Paratha:-

Chapathi dough- a medium lemon sized
Cheese Singles - 1
ghee - for cooking.

Just flatten the dough to poori sized circle. Cut the cheese singles in to pieces and put it on top of the circle. Cover it and roll it for about 9" diameter. Heat a skillet and cook it in medium flame. Make sure the cheese don't ooze out. Spread the ghee on top of the paratha. This can be a healthy lunch for kiddos. Even we can pack it to school for lunch.

Raddish Poricha Kozhambu

2011-08-07T20:10:00.000-07:00

Ther are two ways of making porchia kozhambu. One is Thanjavur style and the other one is Kerala style Poricha Kozhambu. This is Kerala Style Poricha Kozhambu. I wanted to make eggplant poricha kozhambu, but after finishing the preparations, I realized that there is no eggplant in my fridge. Then wanted to try it with raddish. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Raddish - 1 cup (chopped)
Red Karamani (Red Cowpea Beans) - 3/4 cup
Tamarind - medium lemon sized (2 cups approx)
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Sambar powder - 1 1/4 tsp (acc to taste)
Jaggery - 2 tsp (optional)

To Grind:-

Coriander Seeds - 1 1/2 tsp
Channa Dhall - 1 tsp
Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
Red chillies - 1 or 2 (acc to taste)
Shredded Coconut - 1 tbsp

For Seasoning:-

Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Hing - few pinches
Curry leaves - for garnishing

Pressure cook karamani till its done and keep it aside. In the mean time, squeeze tamarind juice and keep it aside. Take a wide bottomed pan, put the raddish pieces, tamarind water, turmeric powder, sambar powder and required amount of salt and let it boil or 7 to 10 minutes or till the raddish is 3/4th cooked. Mean time, fry the ingredients given "To Grind" to golden brown and grind it into a fine paste. Keep it aside. When the vegetable is 3/4th done, add the grounded paste to it along with required amount of water and let it boil for another 5 minutes. Now add the cooked karamani to it along with the powdered jaggery (optional) and let it cook for another 5 minutes. Now Poricha Kozhambu is ready to serve. It goes really well with white rice. Also with Verum arisi adai.

Pumpkin Kheer

2011-08-03T20:12:00.000-07:00

This is something I made when we were in Delhi last year. I finally managed to find time to write this post. I was actually searching for the picture in my folders. I made this in microwave and it came out pretty good. My girls were not so excited about this payasam ( they like pal payasam ). Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Pumpkin Pieces - 1 1/2 cups (chop it into small cubes)
almonds - 10 seeds
Milk - 2 cups ( I used the regular mother dairy milk we get in Delhi)
Sugar - 1 cup (acc to taste)
Edible Camphor - a pinch
Cardamom - 1 or 2
food color - Orange color a pinch

Take a microwave safe bowl, put the pumpkin pieces and almond seeds adding required amount of water. Cover it with a lid and MW for 5 to 7 minutes, checking / stirring in between, or till it is done. When the pumpkin pieces are cooked, take the bowl out very carefully and let it cool. Grind it into a fine paste. Again put the pumpkin paste in the bowl, along with one and half cups of milk& food color and let it cook or 3 to 5 minutes. Check it often cos the milk may spill. Now add the edible camphor and cardamom seeds and the remaining milk & sugar and let it boil for another 3 to 5 minutes. Take it out. Let it cool, refrigerate and enjoy. Be careful before taking it out from the MW.

I am sending this to Srivalli's MEC Potluck Party.

Bottlegourd Molagootal

2011-07-31T19:50:00.000-07:00

Molagootal is a very common dish in a Kerala Iyer family. In my mom's house, people prefer molagootal than Sambar or rasam. Even now my mami makes this twice or thrice a week. I like molagootal with some thogayal. This is bottle gourd molagootal I made couple of days before. I started using bottle gourd when we were in Delhi last year. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Bottle Gourd - 1 1/2 cups (chopped into small cubes)
Toor dhall - 1 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/2 + 1/4 tsp
salt to taste

To Grind:-

coconut - 1/4 cup
Green Chillies - 4 or 5 (acc to taste
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp

To Temper:-

Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
Hing - few pinches
Red Chillies - 1 (optional

Pressure cook toor dhall with 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder and keep it aside. In the mean time, take a pan, put the bottle gourd pieces and required amount of water, salt & turmeric powder and let it cook for 5 to 7 minutes. Bottle Gourd usually takes less time to cook. Grind the ingredients given "To Grind" to a fine paste and keep it aside. When vegetable is half done, add the grounded paste to it and let it boil for 5 more minutes or till the raw smell of green chillies go away. Now add the cooked toor dhall to the ingredients and add required amount of water to adjust the consistency. Now the molagootal/bottle gourd dhall is ready to serve. Take a small pan, pre heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall curry leaves, red chillie & hing to golden brown and pour it on top of the molagootal. Serve it hot. It goes well with steamy rice or even with rotis/chapathis.

Thamarakezhangu Vathal kozhambu

2011-07-28T12:19:00.000-07:00

Thamara kezhangu / Kamal kakdi / Lotus Stem is something i really love. I remember my patti used to make this vathal at home. When we were in Delhi, sabjiwala used to bring the fresh Kamal Kakdi. Even our landlady asked me to try out some sabji she made with kamal kakdi. It tasted pretty good but we were not excited about that. But I know more about this thamara kezhangu vathal. My husband is not aware of this. But he tried it and liked it too. Since we make vatha kozhambu with manathakali, sundakka, pagakka vathal, I wanted to try with this thamarakezhangu too. I got the thamarakezhangu vathal from Ambika appalam, Chennai. It came out pretty good. We both really liked it.

Ingredients:-

Thamara kezhangu vathal - 1 cup (divide it to 3/4th & 1/4th)
Tamarind - Medium lemon sized ball
Sesame oil - 3 tbsp
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Sambar powder - 1 1/2 tsp (acc to taste)
Salt to taste
Jaggery - 2 tsp (optional)
mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
Red chillie - 1 or 2 (acc to taste)
Oil - To deep fry
Hing - few pinches
curry leaves - for garnishing.

Soak tamarind in 1 1/2 cups of water. In the mean time, heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall, red chillies along with a pinch of hing to golden brown. Now Add 3/4th portion of thamarakezhangu vathal and fry it till it becomes crispy. Do not burn it. In the mean time, squeeze out juice from tamarind and keep it aside. Now add the tamarind water to the fried ingredients adding required amount of salt, turmeric powder & sambar powder and let it boil for 7 to 10 minutes. When the raw smell of tamarind, sambar powder goes, add the crushed jaggery to it and let it boil. Adjust water according to the required consistency. Turn off the stove. Now in another pan, heat oil given for frying. Deep fry the 1/4th portion of vathal to golden brown and add it to the kozhambu. Garnish it with curry leaves. Serve it hot with warm rice and teaspoon of seasame oil.

Oats Pongal

2011-07-25T13:08:00.000-07:00

Original Recipe is from Raks Kitchen. I wanted mine squishy mushy. So I added more water than what she mentioned in the original recipe. It was really yummy. thanks Raks for sharing the recipe

Boca Patty Burger

2011-07-19T16:45:00.000-07:00

This is a all time favorite burger of our family. All four us like this burger. We usually buy frozen boca patties from costco and use it. When I first came to US, I really have no idea about sandwiches or burgers. My husband used to make these burgers before and happily agreed to teach me when I got interest in learning one. Here is how we make this burger.

Ingredients:-

Burger Bun - 1
Butter - to spread
Fat Free Mayo - 1 tsp (just enough to spread)
Tomato Ketchup - enough to spread
Yellow Mustard - 1/2 tsp (my kids dont like this taste)
Cheese singles -1
Boca patty - 1
Tomato - couple of sliced pieces
Onion - thinly sliced couple of pieces
Lettuce - 3 leaves (optional)
Pickle pepper - 1 or 2 (optional)

Thaw the frozen patty for few minutes before you cook them. Take a non-stick skillet and cook the patty, both sides in low flame. in the mean time, half toast the bun (optional), spread butter, mayo, ketchup and mustard, one by one and spread it evenly on both the buns. Arrange the vegetables, lettuce & pickle pepper (if you have one), cheese slice and wait for the patty to be done. when the patty is fully cooked, place it on one side and cover it with other half of the bun. Leave it for few seconds so that the cheese gets melted. Now boca patty burger is ready to serve.

This is my last entry for Srivalli's Sandwich Mela.

Gobi Parathas

2011-07-18T18:59:00.000-07:00

I made this Gobi Parathas using the leftover cauliflower masala curry I made for yesterday's dinner. It came out pretty good. Here goes the recipe.

For dough:-

Whole grain wheat flour - 2 cups
salt to taste
Water - Just enough to knead the dough
Oil - 1/2 tsp

For Filling :-

Cauliflower Masala Curry - 1 tbsp (for 1 paratha).

Prepare the dough first and keep it aside. Add required amount of salt and water and knead the dough. Spread oil on top and cover it with a lid or a cloth. Keep it aside. Make a small ball with the cauliflower curry (Scramble it if necessary). Now make a small poori sized roti, keep the cauliflower curry balls and cover it just like how we do for making kozhakattai. Keep it till you roll all the curry balls (the recipe asks for keeping it some time). Now start rolling the stuffed rolls in to paranthas of 6 to 7 inches sized. Cook it in a hot tawa (iron skilled preferably). Coat it with some oil/ghee of your choice (I skipped it).

CauliflowerMasala Curry

2011-07-16T19:01:00.000-07:00

I made this curry last week along with drumstick sambar. It came out pretty good. My girls felt it was little bit spicy. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Cauliflower Florets - 2 cups
Onion - 1 medium sized chopped
Tomato - 1 medium sized chopped
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Rasam Powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil - 1 tbsp
mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
curry leaves - for garnishing
Hing - few pinches

Take the cauliflower florets in a microwave safe bowl, add required amount of salt & turmeric powder and microwave it adding required amount of water, for about 5 to 7 minutes. In the mean time, pre heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall to golden brown. Add chopped onion along with curry leaves and saute till it becomes transparent. Now add the chopped tomato to it. Add required amount of salt it along with turmeric powder to it and saute for couple of minutes. Now add the cooked cauliflower to it along with rasam powder, red chilli powder to it and let it cook till the excess water evaporates. Cauliflower curry is ready to serve with hot steaming rice.

Lemon Sevai

2011-07-15T13:57:00.000-07:00

This was our yesterday's evening tiffin. My girls used to give trouble for eating this sevai. But this time, they liked it. This is one of my favorite tiffin too. Here is the recipe for making lemon sevai.

Ingredients:-

Rice sevai - 1 cup
Turmeric powder - 3/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Lemon - 1
Green chillies - 1 or 2 (acc to taste)
Ginger - a small piece
Cahsews - few
Curry leaves - few
mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
Channa dhall - 1/2 tsp
Sesame Oil - 2 tbsp
Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp

Take a wide vessel, put the sevai in it. Add the required amount of salt and pour required amount of hot boiling water on top it (just required amount to cover the noodles). Cover it with a lid and keep it aside. Drain it after 10 to 15 mts. Keep it aside. In the mean time, squeeze the juice from lemon and keep it aside.

Take a pan, pre heat oil, add mustard seeds, urad dhall, channa dhall, curry leaves, cashew nuts, green chillies, ginger, turmeric powder and fry it till it becomes golden brown. Now add the drained noodles to it and mix it well. Turn off the stove. Remove the pan from the stove top. Add the lemon juice to it and mix it well. Just add required amount of lemon juice. Taste it before adding extra juice. Mix it well and garnish it with coriander leaves. Serve it hot with coconut chutney.

Paruppu Usli Sandwich :)

2011-07-12T11:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I made Vaazhapoo Paruppu Usli & Sepagezhangu More kozhambu for dinner. My girls generally like to take beans paruppu usli. Whenever I feed them, I make sure they take vaazhapoo usli too. But now a days they have started eating by themselves. So yesterday, no luck with vaazhapoo paruppu Usli :(. Now I have two full cups of this usi in my fridge. Wanted to make use of it in a good way. So I had it as sandwich spreading it in between two bread slices. It may be sound wierd but it was really yummy surprisingly!! Here goes the recipe..

Ingredients:-

Wheat Bread slices - 2
Paruppu Usli - 2 tbsp
More kozhambu - 1 tsp
Butter - to spread

Toast the bread, spread the butter on both the bread slices and spread the usli on one of the bread slices and spread the more kozhambu on the other one. Cover it on top of the other slice and cut it into two halves. It tastes really good by itself with out anything to dip.

This sandwich also goes to Srivalli's Sandwich Mela.

Aloo Bindi

2011-07-09T19:38:00.000-07:00

I made this yesterday as a side dish for our dinner. It was really good and my girls loved. I had to combine potatoes with okra because the available quantity of okra in my fridge was not enough for four of us..It was so simple to make. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Potato - 1 cup (chopped into cubes)
Okra - 1 cup (chopped into 1" sized)
Onion - 1 medium sized chopped
tomato - 1 chopped
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tso
Chilli powder - 3/4 tsp (acc to taste)
salt to taste
Oil - 1 tsp
Ajwain - few pinches
Coriander leaves & curry leaves - to garnish

Microwave potato cubes adding required amount of water,salt(enough for potato) & turmeric powder, in a microwave safe bowl, for 3 to 5 minutes or till its done. In the mean time, preheat oil in a pan, splutter ajwain seeds, add chopped onion, saute for a minute. Add chopped tomato and mix it and let it cook in low flame for couple of minutes. Now add the chopped Okra/vendakkai/bindi pieces to the ingredients along with turmeric powder, chilli powder and required amount of salt and sprinkle a hand full of water and let it cook for 3 to 5 minutes. When the Okra is 3/4th done, add the cooked potato to it and mix it well and sprinkle few spoons of water and let everything cook well for couple of more minutes or till its fully done. Garnish it with coriander leaves.

We can always add garam masala powder to it if we need to.

Strawberry Sandwich

2011-07-05T19:46:00.000-07:00

If you love to eat strawberry, then you should be loving this sandwich. I came across this sandwich recipe while reading a magazine. Forgot the name of the author. But its from family circle magazine couple of years old edition.. One of my twin loves to eat strawberries in any form. After seeing that recipe, I wanted to try it with my girlie. She really liked it too. Its one of the easiest recipe I have ever made and the taste was awesome...Here goes the recipe...

Ingredients:-

Whole wheat Bread Slices - 2
Butter - to Spread
Strawberries - 2 or 3 (depending upon the size)

Toast the bread to light brown. Cut the strawberries to small pieces. Spread the butter on the both the breads. Keep the strawberry pieces on top of one and cover it with other bread.

I am sending this to Srivalli 's Sandwich Mela.

Zuchini Mixed Vegetables Kootu

2011-07-03T23:58:00.000-07:00

I made this kootu last week. It came out pretty good and it went well with rice an also with Roti. Here goes the recipe.

Ingreients:-

Zuchini - 1 cup (chopped)
tomato - 1 (chopped into cubes)
Mixed Vegetables - 1 cup (frozen)
Moong dhall - 1/2 cup
Toor Dhall - 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil -1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
Hing - a pinch
curry leaves - for garnishing

To grind :-

Coriander seeds - 3/4 tsp
channa dhall - 1/2 tsp
red chillies - 2 or 3 (acc to taste)
Coconut - 2 tsp (shredded) **
fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp

Pressure cook moong dhall & toor dhall adding required amount of turmeric powder. Keep it aside. Thaw the frozen vegetables and keep it aside. In the mean time, fry the ingredients given for grinding, to golden brown and let it cool. Grind it into a fine paste and keep it aside. In a wide pan, put the zuchini pieces and chopped tomato pieces, add required amount of water & turmeric powder and let it cook for about 5 to 7 minutes. If both the veggies are 3/4th cooked, add the thawed frozen veggies & salt to it and let it boil for another 3 to 5 minutes. Now add the coconut paste to it and boil it for another 3 minutes. Add the cooked dhall to it. Let it boil for another 3 to 5 minutes. Now kootu is ready. In a small pan, pre heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall to golden brown, add hing and pour it on top of the kootu. Garnish it with curry leaves.

** - If you are allergic to coconut, then try using almonds in the place of coconut. For 2 tsp of shredded coconut, you can use 4 almonds.

vaazhakka podimas

2011-07-02T23:35:00.000-07:00

The original recipe is from Lataji's Flavours & Tastes. Instead of shredding the vazhakkai, I just scrambled it. It tastes super good.

Lemon Pickle

2011-06-22T19:19:00.000-07:00

I made this pickle with the lemons I got from our backyard. I made lemon rice using one last week and the I used 4 lemons for making this pickle. Felt so good. This is basically my patti's recipe. But most of us use the same recipe to make pickle. Here goes the recipe:-

Ingredients:-

Lemon - 4 Nos (Medium sized - US lemons)
Salt to taste
Red chillies powder - 2 tsp (acc to taste)
Sesame oil - 3 tbsp
turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Fenugreek - 2tsp
Mustard - 1/4 tsp +1/2 tsp
Asafoetida powder - few pinches.

First cut the lemon into small cube sized. Sprinkle the required amount of salt on it and keep it aside in an airtight container for 3 to 4 days depending upon how well the lemon is soaked. Mine took 3 days to soak fully in salt. When you are ready to make pickle, first dry roast fenugreek and mustard (1/4 tsp) and grind it into fine powder.Preheat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, add turmeric powder and red chilli powder and let it fry for couple of minutes. Do not burn it. Add the ingredients to the soaked lemon and mix it well. Now add the ground fenugreek & Mustard powder to it and mix it well. Let it soak for couple of hours before we start using it. Store it in a air tight container and can be used for one week to 10 days.

Appalam Vathakozhambu

2011-06-16T20:34:00.000-07:00

This is another kozhambu I tried when we were in Chennai. I got the recipe from a aunt who visits our place very often and she is a very good cook too. I just followed the same recipe.

Ingredients:-

Tamarind -a medium lemon sized
ulundhu Papad/appalam - 3 or 4 acc to the required quantity
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Sambar powder - 3/4 tsp (acc to taste)
Salt to taste
Hing - a pinch
Sesame Oil - 3 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies - 1
curry Leaves - few for garnishing

Ingredients required for roast and Grind:-

Coriander seeds - 2 tsp
Channa dhall - 1 tsp
Uradh dhall - 1 tsp
Pepper - 1 tsp (acc to taste)
Red chillies - 2 or 3 (acc to taste)
Fenugreek seeds - 1 1/2 tsp

Soak tamarind in water for half hour. In the mean time, dry roast the ingredients given for roasting and let it cool. Squeeze out water from the tamarind and keep it aside. Grind the roasted ingredients and keep it aside. Now take a heavy bottomed pan, . preheat oil, splutter mustard seeds, add urad dhall & red chillies and fry it till it becomes red. Now add appalam pieces to it and fry it for few seconds. Now add the tamarind water, turmeric powder, sambar powder, salt and let it boil for five minutes. Now the ground powder to the boiling kozhambu and let it boil for another 7 to 10 minutes. A nice aroma will come after few minutes. Once you get the required consistency, switch off the stove. Serve it hot with hot rice.

Excess roasted powder can be stored in an air tight container and can be used in future.

Snake Gourd Usli - Podalanga Paruppu Usli

2011-06-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

Podalanga Usli

I finally managed to find time to write a blog post after almost 6 months. This is something I made when we were in Chennai. Till then I never knew that we can make paruppu usli with podalanga. My MIL said, its a common dish in Thanjavur iyer families. I was not very sure whether I should try making this one. But that particular day I had no choice. So I tried this one and it came out pretty good. This is how it goes..

Ingredients:-

Snake Gourd - 2 medium sized (cut it into tiny cubes)
Toor dhall - 1 cup
channa dhall - 1/2 cup
urad dhall - 1 tbsp
Rice - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
curry leaves - few
Red chillies -2
Green chillies - 1
Asafoetida powder - apinch
Salt to Taste

First soak toor dhall, urad dhall, channa dhall, and rice in water for atleast an hour or two. In the mean time, wash the snake gourd. Cut it into small pieces and cook it. When it is fully cooked, keep it aside. Now grind the soaked dhall and rice mixture adding salt, green chillies and red chillies to it.

Grind the dhall + rice + turmeric powder + chillies + salt in to a fine paste. Steam cook it in a idly pan, for 15 mts. Allow it cool and scramble them. Keep it aside. Take a pan, pre heat oil, add mustard seeds when it splutters add curry leaves and asafoetida powder and fry it till golden brown. Now add the steam cooked dhall to it. Fry it till the dall becomes softer. Now add the cooked snake gourd to it and mix everything well. Turn off the stove. This is the traditional way of making paruppu usili.

Baingan Barta

2010-12-07T01:04:00.000-08:00

This is my husband's favorite dish. This is a dish which we eat whenever we go to Royal Taj, a north Indian restaurant, in San Jose. I was very hesitant to try this recipe because I didn't want to spoil his taste buds. But after seeing these Barta Baingans available in the markets here, I was so curious to try this today. Followed the recipe from Manjula's Kitchen. I made couple of changes to the original recipe.

Ingredients:-

Eggplant/Barta Baingan - 1 (big)
Onion - 1 medium sized (finely chopped)
Tomato - 2 (medium sized finely chopped)
Green Bell Pepper - 1 (medium sized) (finely chopped)
Garlic - 5 pods (chopped finely)
Ginger - a small piece (finely chopped)
Oil - 2 tsp
cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 1
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
red chillies powder - 1 tsp (acc to taste)
salt to taste
Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)
coriander leaves - for garnishing
Milk - 2 tbsp

Apply oil on top of egg plant. Take a microwave safe bowl and microwave the oil applied egg plant for 9 minutes in high (mine is 900W). Let it cool. In the mean time, pre heat oil, splutter cumin seeds, add finely chopped ginger & garlic, green chillies and saute for a minute. Now add finely chopped onions & green bell pepper to it. Cook it for 3 to 4 minutes or till it becomes half cooked. Now add finely chopped (or grind it into a paste) tomato to it. Let everything cook. Meanwhile, peel the skin off from the eggplant and mash it with a fork. When the ingredients starts boiling, add the mashed eggplant, turmeric powder, red chillies powder, salt & garam masala powder and mix it well. Sprinkle a hand full of water and let everything cook for 5 minutes. Now add the milk and mix it well. Garnish it with coriander leaves. This goes really well with rotis, chapatis or with rice(I had it with rice as side dish).

Reposting for Only Greens Event

2010-12-03T00:25:00.000-08:00

I am reposting my Palak Pulav for Only - 'Greens' event hosting by Saraswathi, an event by Pari

Reposting for CMT-Dhall/Kadi/Sambar/Rasam

2010-12-01T21:39:00.000-08:00

I am reposting the following recipe for Complete My Thali - Dhall/Kadi/Sambar/Rasam, this time Priya of Enveetu Kitchen is hosting, an event by Jagruti of Joy of Cooking.

Spinach Potato Dhall

Kadamba Sambar

Drumstick Dhall

Drumstick Molagootal

Cumin Rasam

Lemon Rasam

Garbanzo Oats Vadai..

2010-11-30T07:29:00.000-08:00

I got the idea of making these vadai after seeing Priya's post, Chickpea bread masal Vadai. It came out pretty good. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Garbanzo Beans - 1 cup
Instant oats - 1/4 cup
Green chillies - 3 (acc to taste)
Onion - 1 Medium sized (finely chopped)
Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp (chopped)
Salt to taste
Ajwain - a pinch
Fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp
Corn flour - 2 tsp
Oil - to deep fry

Soak garbanzo beans for four hours. Pressure cook it. Let it cool. Grind it coarsely. Now add instant oats, salt, chopped onion, chillies, coriander leaves, corn flour, ajwain & fennel seeds and make it a soft dought. Sprinkle water if necessary. Pre heat oil. Take required amount of dough to make one vada, flatten it and deep fry it till it becomes golden brown.

Vadais didn't come out well first. Then I added two teaspoons corn flour to the batter and it came out pretty good..

This recipe goes to T&T hosting by PJ, an event by Lakshmi

I replaced bread with oats and skipped garlic pods cos my kiddos are not excited about garlic.

Reposting Microwave Rava Kesari for Priya's MEC event..

2010-11-29T07:28:00.000-08:00

I am reposting my Microwave Rava Kesari recipe for Priya's MEC-Sweet tooth event, originally created by Srivalli.

Kichadi 2

2010-11-28T03:57:00.000-08:00

This kichadi is my favorite. I make this for myself whenever my husband goes out of town. Since I add moong dhall in this kichadi, it will be very filling along with vegetables. Here goes the recipe

Ingredients:-

Coarse Sooji/rava - 1 cup
Roasted Vermicelli - 2 tbsp
Moong dhall - 4 tbsp
Salt to taste
Green chillies - 2 (acc to taste)
Ginger - a small piece
Mixed vegetables - 1/4 cup (chopped green peas, chopped carrots, potato)
Onion - 1 (thinly sliced)
Tomato - 1 (chopped)
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp
ghee - 1 tsp (optional)
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
Cashews - 1 tsp
Coriander/curry leaves - for garnishing

Pressure cook moong dhall and keep it aside. In the mean time, dry roast rava and vermicelli and keep it aside. Now take a think bottomed tawa, heat oil and ghee, splutter mustard seeds, urad dhall, cashews to golden brown. Add curry leaves, ginger and green chillies to it and saute. Now add thinly sliced onion and saute till it becomes brown. Now add the chopped mixed vegetables and tomato and saute for 3 to 5 mintues or till it becomes tender. Now add required amount of water to it (i added 2 3/4 cups of water for 1 cup rava + 2 tbsp vermicelli ; water quantity can vary according to the quality of rava). When the water starts to boil, add the cooked moong dhall, turmeric powder and required amount of salt and let it boil for a minute. Now add the roasted rava and vermicelli to it and mix everything well. Add coriander leaves. Reduce the flame and cover the kichadi with a lid and let it for a minute. Enjoy it with coconut chutney.

Amla Rice

2010-11-28T03:23:00.000-08:00

This amla rice is a very very simple rice variety and it will just take less than 10 minutes to make this, if we have cooked rice. I tried this rice last week. It came out pretty good.

Ingredients:-

Amla/Nellikka/Gooseberry - 2 (medium sized)
Green chillies - 2 (acc to taste)
Ginger - a small piece
onion - 1 (thinly sliced)
Cooked rice - 1 1/2 cups
Salt to taste
Sesame oil - 2 tsp
mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dhall - 1 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves - for garnishing
Asafoetida - a pinch

Microwave amla for three minutes or till it becomes soft. Let it cool for few minutes. Remove the seed from it. Grind it along with green chillies and ginger into a fine paste adding required amount of water. In the mean time, heat sesame oil, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall, asafoetida and thinly sliced onion to golden brown. Now add the grounded amla paste, turmeric powder and saute till the raw smells goes. Now add the cooked rice, required amount of salt and mix it well. Garnish it with coriander leaves. This rice goes well with some chips or papad.

T&T from Priya's EasynTasty Recipes

2010-11-25T08:19:00.000-08:00

I love to try recipes from Priya's blog. There are few I tried from her space. Here I am posting her Garlic Potatoes recipe which I tried from her place. I am sending this recipe to T&T hosted by PJ, an event by Lakshmi.

Garlic Potatoes

Reposting for Only-Chaat Event

2010-11-25T05:54:00.000-08:00

I am reposting my Pav Bhaji recipe for Pari's 'Only' - Chaat Event.


Pav Bhaji

Microwave Black Forest cake

2010-11-23T07:12:00.000-08:00

Well most of my blogging friends know that this recipe is from Madhuri's Cook - Curry Nook. I followed almost the same recipe except for few changes.. Here goes my recipe.

Ingredients:-

All Purpose Flour - 3/4 cup
Cocoa Powder - 1/4 cup
Oil - 1/4 cup
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
Salt a pinch
Honey - 1/4 cup
Dates syrup - 1/4 cup ( I used Lion Dates syrup)
Flax Seed Powder - 2 tsp (Mix it with 1/2 cup warm water & keep it aside)
Warm water - little less than 1/4 cup
Chopped walnuts - 2 tsp (optional)

Mix all the dry ingredients APF, Cocoa, Baking powder, Baking soda, salt together. Add flax seed powder mix, honey, dates syrup and mix it well. If necessary add little bit of water. The original recipe is for cupcakes, Since i dont have microwaveable cups, I just used the pie tray and made cake. Pour the ingredients and microwave at high 900 W for 3 minutes. Cooking time differs from MW to MW. Original recipe finishes by one minute. But mine took 3 minutes to cook. Let it cool for few minutes & Enjoy!!

I replaced brown sugar with honey & dates syrup. So I had to use little bit of warm water than the original recipe. Also i did not add vanilla essence. Adding chopped walnuts is not there in the original recipe.

Paruppu Usli Bonda

2010-11-19T05:42:00.001-08:00

My MIL made this usli bonda when she was here. She used the left over paruppu usli we made for lunch and made this bonda. Here goes the recipe:-

Ingredients:-

Urad dhall - 1 cup
Raw rice - 2 tsp
Green chillies - 2
Red chillies - 2
Salt to taste
Paruppu Usli ( we used beans paruppu usli)
Oil - to fry

Soak urad dhall & rice for couple of hours and grind it really nice adding the chillies and required amount of salt. The batter consistency should be like bajji consistency. Now make balls out of paruppu usli. Preheat oil in a pan. Dip the usli urundai in urad dhall batter and deep fry it till it becomes golden brown. This tasted so fantastic and kids also liked it very much.

Here you can get recipes for Beans Paruppu Usli, Spinach Paruppu Usli, Banana Blossom Paruppu Usli

Cucumber cups

2010-11-19T04:44:00.000-08:00

When you are asked to make evening tiffin without using oil, flour, wheat, idly/dosa batter, sugar etc., you will have no other choice other than vegetables. Thats how I landed in this recipe. I was doing bhel pori before, but turns out pori(puffed rice) is rich in carbs i guess. I saw a programme in a local channel where the chef was making tomato cups for dessert. He was using caramalized pineapple and heavy cream topping and all. But after watching that programme, I got the idea of making this cucumber cups.

Ingredients:-

cucumber - 1 (Bigger one preferably)*
tomato - 1 (finely chopped)
onion - 1 (finely chopped)
Pineapple pieces - 1 tsp (finely chopped)
Coriander leaves - couple of teaspoons (finely chopped)
Salt to taste

Cut cucumber into 3 cms thick. Take out the seeds from inside and sprinkle some salt in it and keep it aside for few minutes. In the mean time, chop tomato, onion, pineapple and coriander leaves and mix everything together adding required amount of salt. Fill the cucumber cups with the vegetable mix and serve it. We can serve it just like that or with a teaspoon of fat free yogurt on top. I made this for my husband without anything. For myself, i just sprinle couple of kurkure on top of it and it tasted really good. I stuffed the remaining vegetables in tomato also. It also tasted good. If any one of you have any ideas for some healthy evening snack, please let me know.

Oatmeal chocolate chip Muffins

2010-11-18T00:53:00.000-08:00

These muffins I made last week. Kids really loved it. I followed the recipe from my all time favorite allrecipes.com. I exactly followed the same recipe except the addition of sugar. I reduced the quantity of sugar.

Ingredients:-

1 1/4 cups quick cooking oats
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 /2cup sugar (the recipe asked for 3/4 cup brown sugar)
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Combine oats and milk and allow to stand for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease the muffin tray/cups. Stir egg, oil, 1/2 cup of the sugar, chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of the walnuts into the oat and milk mixture. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add oat mixture to flour mixture, stirring until just moist. Fill each muffin cups 2/3 full. Sprinkle tops with the remaining walnuts. Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes. According to the original recipe, you will get 12 muffins from the above ingredients. I used three different sizes of muffin cups (thanks to Delhi markets) and I managed to get 20 muffins.

Aloo Parantha

2010-11-16T03:23:00.000-08:00

One of twin has started loving this aloo parantha (Potato filled Rotis) all of sudden. She is taking these aloo paranthas even for her lunch box once a week. Thanks to kids in her school:) I made these paranthas for our dinner last week and refrigerated some stuffing for the next day's lunch box. I blindly followed Manjula's Kitchen Video for making these. It came out very well. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

For dough:-

Whole grain wheat flour - 2 cups
salt to taste
Water - Just enough to knead the dough
Oil - 1/2 tsp

For Filling:-

Potato - 3 (I used 1 big & 2 medium)
Salt to taste
Cumin/jeera - 1/2 tsp
ajwain/omam - 1/2 tsp (not there in the original recipe)
Green chillies - 3 (finely chopped) (acc to taste)
Coriander leaves - 2 tsp (finely chopped)
Ginger - 1 tsp (finely chopped - Its not there in the original recipe)

Prepare the dough first and keep it aside. Add required amount of salt and water and knead the dough. Spread oil on top and cover it with a lid or a cloth. Keep it aside. Boil the potatoes, remove the skin and take it in a vessel. To that add finely chopped green chillies, coriander leaves, salt and ginger and mash it with a fork. Scramble it really nice so that all the ingredients mix together with potato. Make small balls out of it. Also make same number of balls with dough. Potato balls should be little bit bigger than the dough balls. Now make a small poori sized roti, keep the potato balls and cover it just like how we do for making kozhakattai. Keep it till you roll all the potato balls (the recipe asks for keeping it some time). Now start rolling the stuffed rolls in to paranthas of 6 to 7 inches sized. Cook it in a hot tawa (iron skilled preferably). Coat it with some oil/ghee of your choice (I skipped it). Enjoy it with some pickle & Yogurt.

Pidi Kozhakattai

2010-11-08T07:47:00.000-08:00

Pidi Kozhakattai is one of famous evening tiffin in our family. When my MIL was here, she made these kozhakattai. Method for making pidi kozhakattai is pretty easy, if we know how to make Arisi Upma. All we need to do is, first make arisi upma and then make balls out of arisi upma and steam cook it for 7 to 10 mts. You can get the recipe for Arisi Upma here.

Dhall with Mixed sprouts

2010-10-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

Long long ago, so long ago, I myself have no clue how long ago, I made this dhall. It was lying there in the drafts for so long time. Finally I managed to write this today. I made this dhall when my husband was out of town. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Moong dhall - 1/4 cup
Toor dhall - 1/4 cup
Channa dhall - 2 tsp
Mixed sprouts - 1/2 cup
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Sambar powder - 1 tsp (acc to taste)
Tomato - 1 (chopped)
Salt to taste
Asafoetida - a pinch
oil- 1 tsp
mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp
Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
red chillies - 2
Coriander leaves - for garnishing.

Wash both moong, channa & toor dhall nicely. Take a pressure cooker, put the dhall, sprouts, chopped tomato, add required amount of water, add turmeric powder, sambar powder and let it cook for 2 whistles. When the pressure is released, add required amount of salt and let it cook for another 3 minutes. Turn off the stove when u get the required consistency. In a small pan, pre heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall and red chillies to golden brown and pour it on top of the dhall. Add a pinch of asafoetida and garnish it with coriander leaves. This goes well with hot steaming rice & ghee, rotis & pooris..

Boondhi Laddoo

2010-10-15T06:31:00.000-07:00

Since we don't have any festivals this year, we didn't make any sweets for navarathri. But my kids really love laddoo. Since my MIL is here with us and she make really good laddoos, thought of learning laddoos from her.

Ingredients:-

Besan Flour/Kadala maavu - 1 cup
Rice flour - 3 tsp
Sugar - 1 1/2 cups
Cardamom - 1
Edible Camphor - a pinch
food color - two pinches
Oil - to deep fry
Cashew & Raisins - to garnish

Mix besan flour and rice flour along with food color and make it like a batter. Consistency should be like dosa batter. Take a heavy bottomed pan, dissolve sugar with just required amount of water and let it boil. Syrup should come like a sticky syrup. If you touch it, your hands should be sticky. When the paagu is ready, heat the oil, pour the batter in a sieve with round holes. Tap it with a small spoon so that small balls fall in the hot oil. When its fully cooked, add it immediately to the sugar syrup. In the mean time, fry cashew & raisins to golden brown and add it in the syrup. When the mix is warm, make small balls and let it cool. Now Boondhi laddoo is ready.

I am sending this to Pari's 'Only' even, this time 'Only-Festive food Event hosting by Preethi.

Green Moong Dhall Rice

2010-09-21T02:21:00.000-07:00

I have never tried anything with green moong dal before. I had to buy this dhall cos my kids had some activity in their art class with those. Since I had more than half a packet, I thought of trying something with green moong dhall. Itried this rice with it and it came out pretty good.

Ingredients:-

Basmati Rice - 1 cup
Green Moong dhall - 3/4 cup
Tomato - 2
Onion - 1 big
Garlic - 3 pods
Ginger - a small piece
Green chillies -5 (acc to taste)
Carrot,peas,potato,Green Bell Pepper - 1 cup (thinly sliced)
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Cardamom - 1
Cloves - 1
cashews - few for garnishing
Coriander leaves for garnishing
Oil - 1 tsp
Ghee - 1 tsp
Ajwain seeds - a pinch
Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp

Soak Green Moong Dhal** for 3 to 5 hours. Wash and soak basmati rice for 10 minutes. In the mean time, boil tomato and peel off the skin and grind it into a fine paste. keep it aside. Also grind onion, garlic, green chillies and ginger into a fine paste. Keep it aside. Now pre heat oil & ghee in a pan, splutter cumin & ajwain seeds, cashew cinnamon & clove, saute onion paste to golden brown. Add the thinly chopped vegetables now and saute for couple of minutes. Now add the tomato paste, turmeric powder, soaked moong dhall and required amount of salt. Let everything mix well. It will be in semi solid consistency. Now add the basmati rice, required amount of water *** and cook it till its done. Garnish it with coriander leaves. Enjoy with some raita.

** - I soaked green moong dhall for 1 1/2 hours which was not enough. So microwaved it for 3 minutes before adding it to the masala mix.
*** - My tomato-onion masala mix was little bit watery. So I just added 3/4 cup of water along with rice and masala mix for cooking.

Dahi Wali Bindi

2010-09-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

When we were staying in hotel for a month, we used to eat this dahi wali bindi very often. Some how I couldn't get that taste anywhere after that. Thought of trying it by myself. I got the recipe for Dahi Wali Bindi from Pari's Blog. Wanted to give it a try. I almost followed the same except I added tomato and onion before cooking Okra. Here is my Dahi Wali Bindi Picture.

Wheat-Walnut-Raisin Muffin

2010-09-17T07:21:00.000-07:00

After moving back from US, I didn't do any baking. We bought a convention oven here but I am kinda scared to try baking in convention oven. But then kids started asking me for cookies. We were buying cookies from shops. They started getting their stomach flu very often. We were not sure whether its because of cookies. Not to blame anybody, instead of buying those biscuits and cookies, I thought of start baking them again. This muffins I baked today and it came out pretty good.

Ingredients:-

Wheat Flour - 1 cup (I used Pillsbury multi-grain atta)
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Egg - 1
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Milk - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Butter - 1/4 cup
Cinnamon - 1/2 tsp
Raisins - 1 tbsp
Walnut - 1 tbsp (chopped)

Mix the dry ingredients well. Incorporate the wet ingredients (Milk, egg, Melted buter) one by one and mix everything well. Add raisins & walnuts to it. Mix it well. In the mean time, pre heat ovento 220 degrees.. Now pour the batter in muffin cups and bake it upto 25 minutes or till a toothpick comes out clean. I baked it for 24 minutes. I got 8 muffins from the above said quantity.

I am sending this muffins to Srilekha's EFM- Cakes & Bakes along with my

Blueberry Muffins,

Banana-Mango Muffin

& Eggless Apple Muffin

Adai Kozhakattai

2010-09-15T22:50:00.000-07:00

Adai Kozhakattai is a famous evening tiffin in Kerala Iyer families. And as always my patti used to make yummy kozhakattais. Day before yesterday, I made these adai kozhakattais for our dinner. While making it, I was literally thinking about my patti because, she used to grind the batter in the old fashioned stone grinder (Kall ural) and steam a whole lot of kozhakattais for 12 of us. I wanted to eat this kozhakattai's during my masakkai time(6 years back), called my patti and asked for recipe. She gave the recipe and asked me not to strain myself because, we have to do lot of stirring (She had no idea about microwave and all). I soaked the ingredients and started grinding it. But that time, smell of the urad dhall made me throw up so badly and gave up the idea of making this kozhakattais and never had it after that. So wanted to give it a try this time. Since my patti is no more (and I already forgot the recipe), I called my chitti for the recipe and got it from her.

Ingredients:-

Boiled rice - 1 cup
Black Urad dhall - 1 cup
Channa dhall - 2 tsp
Red & Green chillies - 5 or 6 (acc to taste)
Salt to taste
Curry leaves - few
Oil - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dhall - 1 tsp
Red chillies - 1
Asafoetida powder - a pinch
coconut oil - 1 tsp

Soak boiled rice, urad dhall, channa dhall and chillies for 4 to 5 hours. Grind it nicely adding curryleaves and required amount of salt. The batter should be like dosa batter. Take a pan, pre heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall, red chillies and asafoetida powder and pour the adai batter in it. Stir it continuously till it becomes like a dough. I microwaved the batter for 10 minutes, stirring in between to get that consistency. If you touch the dough, it should not stick. Now make balls according to your wish and steam cook it for 10 to 12 minutes or till it becomes shiny, in idly moulds. Now adai kozhakattai is ready to eat. Coconut chutney goes well with it. When you are ready to eat, Just take couple of kozhakattais, scramble it, sprinkle a teaspoon of coconut oil and enjoy with chutney.

I am sending this to Pari's Only Series, this time Only Low oil or Low Calorie hosting by Priya of Mharo Rajasthan Recipes.

Reposting for BSI Paneer - Week 95

2010-09-13T23:13:00.000-07:00

I am sending these three recipes to BSI event

Palak Paneer

Aloo Paneer and

Mixed Vegetable Dry curry with Paneer

this week hosting by Ruchika - BSI Paneer - Week 95.

Masala Okra dry curry

2010-09-12T21:49:00.000-07:00

I made this curry last week. It was so boring to make the regular okra curry every time. So thought of giving it some change and tried this dry curry using some masala ingredients.

Ingredients:-

Okra - 2 cups (chopped in an inch size)
Onion - medium sized 2
Tomato - Medium sized 2
salt to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 3 to 4 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds -1/2 tsp

To Roast & Grind:-

Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
Channa dhall - 2 tsp
Urad dhall - 1 tsp
Red chillies - 3 nos (acc to taste)
Coconut - 1 tsp
White Sesame seeds - 1 tsp
Ajwain seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds = 1/2 tsp
Peanuts - 2tbsp

Pre heat a pan with a teaspoon of oil, splutter mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fry onion till it becomes transparent. Add chopped tomato and saute for few minutes. Now add the chopped okra to it, sprinkle required amount of water, add turmeric powder, mix well and let it cook for 5 to 7 minutes. In the mean time, take a pan, pre heat a drop of oil, fry the given ingredients in "To Roast & Grind" and grind it into a fine powder. Keep it aside. When the vegetables are nicely cooked, add the required amount of masala powder and required amount of salt. Mix it well and let it cook for another 5 minutes. Add the remaining oil in between. It tastes really good with rice and I am sure it will taste good with rotis too.

Choco Dates Nuts Balls

2010-09-10T22:08:00.000-07:00

I wanted to try this dates balls after seeing Priya's Dates Peda. I wanted to try this sometime this week. Yesterday my kids wanted to eat laddoo all of a sudden. I am not good in making laddoo so I tried convincing them that I will make something else. So started making this peda and instead of making it as peda I just rolled it and made it laddoo. They were not happy to see brown color laddoo (thats what they said), but they liked the taste. I added couple of more ingredients to her recipe and made it choco balls.

Ingredients:-

2 tbsp Crumbled Paneer.
1/4 cup dates (which came around 7 seedless dates)
Milk - little more than 1/4 cup ( I used the regular milk)
Cinnamon - a pinch
Ghee - 2 tsp
choco syrup - 1 tsp
Almonds & Walnuts (mixed) - 1 tbsp

Soak dates in milk for an hour. Then grind the milk-dates mix along with paneer and make it a paste. I also followed Priya's method. Just microwaved it for 6 mts. Stir it in between. Add cinnamon and chocolate syrup in between while stirring. When the paste comes like a ball, add melted ghee and make it small balls. In the mean time, grind the nuts into fine powder and roll the choco balls in it and serve it hot. It tastes really good. I just made 6 balls cos I was not sure whether my girls will like it or not. After finishing them, they quietly told me that it tasted like dates and not like chocolate balls :). I am sending this to Srivalli's kid's delight - Finger Food. Also this goes to Nivedita's MEC- Fruits event, started by Srivalli.

Reposting for Healing Food - Beetroot Event

2010-09-08T21:12:00.000-07:00

Instead of updating the archived post I thought of resposting it and it works out easy for everyone to check out the recipe.

I am sending my simple Beetroot - Onion Curry & Beetroot Vadai
to Siri's Healing Food event, hosting by Priya.

Beetroot curry

Beetroot Vadai

Kadalaparuppu Payasam - 1

2010-09-06T00:50:00.000-07:00

I am not a very big fan of any paruppu payasam. But my mom used to make paruppu payasam very often and she used to tell that jaggery is good for health than sugar. I made this payasam last month for my FIL's ceremony and it came out pretty good and the surprisingly kids really liked it.

Ingredients:-

Channa dhall/Kadalaparuppu - 1 cup
Jaggery - 3/4 cup (can be increased acc to taste
Cardamom - 1
Edible Camphor - a pinch
Ghee - 1 tsp
Cashew - 1 tsp (chopped)
Coconut - 1 tsp (chop it into small cubes)

First pressure cook channa dhall upto 3/4th done. In the mean time, dissolve jaggery with required amount of water and removed sand from it, if any. Again in the same pan, boil the jaggery water adding cardamom and edible camphor. When it starts to boil, add the 3/4th cooked dhall to it and let it boil for5 to 7 mts or till the dhall is fully cooked. Mash the dhall if you wish to. Fry cashew and coconut in ghee, to golden brown and pour it top of payasam. This is how my mom used to make this payasam. My MIL used to follow another method to make this. Will post that recipe soon..

Aloo Paneer Sabji

2010-09-04T01:54:00.000-07:00

My girls like to eat chapathis for dinner.This aloo paneer sabji I made last week along with chapathis. It took just 15 mts to finish this and my girls loved it cos i always use less amount of chillies. I just made this for me and the girls cos my husband was out of town that day. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Potato - 2 Medium sized (chopped into cubes)
Paneer - 1/4 cup (cubed)
Tomato - 1 medium sized
Onion - 1 medium sized
garlic - 1 pod
cashew - 4
poppy seeds - 1/2 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Green chillies - 1 (acc to taste)
red chillies powder - 1/2 tsp
coriander seeds - 1 tsp
cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
salt to taste
Ghee - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
Ajwain - 1/4 tsp

Microwave cubed potato in microwave using a microwave safe bowl for 4 to 6 mts or until its 3/4th done. In the mean time, fry paneer pieces adding a drop of oil to golden brown and keep it aside. Also grind onion, tomato, garlic, cashew, poppy seeds, green chillies, coriander seeds and 1/2 tsp cumin seeds to a fine paste. Now take a pan, pre heat ghee, splutter 1/4 tsp cumin and ajwain to golden brown. Add the grounded onion tomato paste, turmeric powder, red chillies powder, salt and required amount of water. Let it boil for 3 minutes. Now add the cooked potato and fried paneer pieces to the mixture and let everything cook for another 5 minutes. Adjust water according to the required consistency. Garnish it with coriander leaves and serve it hot.

I am sending this entry also along with mixed vegetables dry curry to Letz Relishh - Paneer Event.

and to BSI weekly event hosting by Ruchika and this time its BSI - week 95 - Paneer.

Mixed Vegetable dry curry with paneer

2010-09-03T00:57:00.000-07:00

Even though we have some disadvantages from our relocation, there are few notable advantages I can see in my girls. First thing is they have started saying Prayer every day which they never used to do when we were in US. Another one is eating vegetables. Since we live in Delhi right now, kids here bring some dry vegetable curry as side dish I believe (I am assuming they eat it also).So one fine day, my girls asked me to make side dish for their Chapathi which they used to take for lunch. Before I used to make Vegetable chapathis for lunch. But now a days I have started preparing side dishes instead of veggie chapathis. This is one kind of dry curry I made day before yesterday for their lunch.

Ingredients:-

potato - 1 meduim sized (choped it finely)
carrot - 1 medium sized (chopped)
Onion - 1 medium sized (chopped
Peas - 1/4 cup ( I used fresh peas)
Paneer - 1/4 cup (finely chopped)
ghee - 1 tsp
Ajwain - a pinch
salt to taste
Green chillies - 1
Turmeric powder - a pinch
coriander leaves - for garnishing

Microwave chopped potato, carrot and peas in a safe bowl for 6 mts or till its done. In a pan, pre heat a drop ofghee, and fry the paneer pieces to golden brown. Keep it aside. Now add the remaining ghee, splutter ajwain and fry green chillies (I removed the green chillies after the curry is done cooking). Fry the chopped onion till it becomes transparent. Now add the cooked vegetables along with required amount of water. Add turmeric powder and salt and let it cook for another 3 to 5 minutes. Add the fried paneer pieces when the water is almost dry and mix it along with other vegetables. Garnish it with coriander leaves.

I am sending this recipe to Jay's Letz Relishh - Paneer Event.

This goes also to BSI - this week hosting by Ruchika - BSI - Week 95 - Paneer

Reposting for 'Only' Kids Delight

2010-08-30T01:30:00.000-07:00

I am reposting my Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe for Pari's 'Only' Kids Delight Event.

Jhangri - My first attempt

2010-08-29T23:11:00.000-07:00

Jhangri is a sweet I can eat all day long. When my MIL was in June, she made Jhangri and showed me how to do it and asked me to try putting with less quantity. I wanted to try it for a long time but because of some personal reasons, didn't get time to try it. But last week I was going through Rak's Jhangiri Recipe and got tempted so much. Yesterday I made up my mind to try and luckily it came out really good. First three pieces were not so good cos I soaked it in the sugar syrup for a long time. It became soggy. But then I managed to find out the reason and finished the project!

Ingredients:-

Urad dhall - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Food color (orange) - 2 pinches
Raw rice - 2 tsp
Salt a pinch
Edible Camphor - a pinch
Oil - to deep fry

Soak urad dhall & rice for few hours and grind it into a fine batter adding a pinch of salt and a pinch of food color. In the mean time, take a heavy bottomed pan, add sugar with required amount of water (I added just 1 cup to immerse), a pinch of food color, a pinch of edible camphor and bring it to boil. Let it boil for 3 to 5 minutes. Sugar syrup should be in Sticky consistency. If you touch the syrup, it should stick on your fingers. Now turn off the stove.

In the mean time, take a empty milk (aavin) cover or a ziplock cover and put a tiny hole at the edge. Fill the urad dhall batter. When the oil is ready to fry, start drawing jhangri shapes. If you are not comfortable in doing it directly, then practice doing it in a small or a flat spatula. Deep fry and drain the excess oil. Soak the jhangri in the sugar syrup for few seconds and arrange it in a plate. When you are done making jhangri and left with some sugar syrup, then pour the excess on top of the jhangri. Let it cool for some time and enjoy.

I am sending this Jhangri recipe to Priti's Festive Food - Rakhi 2010 Event

Neiappam

2010-08-25T19:50:00.000-07:00

I made these neiappams for today's evening tiffin. My patti used to be an expert in making neiappams. She had her iron appakaaral. I used non-stick appakaaral for making this neiappam. This time I followed Aparna's Neiyappam recipe, instead of my patti's. Both were almost same except for the fact that my patti usually add couple of teaspoons of ghee to the appam batter. Aparna's My Diverse Kitchen blog has been chosen for this month's T&T event by Srivalli, initally started by Zlamushka, currently taken over by Lakshmi.

Pumpkin - Papaya Dry Curry (thoran)

2010-08-24T08:43:00.000-07:00

I make Mathan Thoran (Pumpkin Dry curry) very often. I got a small raw papaya yesterday and my vegetablewala told me that it will be really good if we make sabji with it. I was not very sure about it but then wanted to give it a try. So I jused half of raw papaya with pumpkin this time and made this curry. While making the masala, I used fennel seeds instead of Cumin. It came out really good and the aroma was so good.

Ingredients:-

Pumpkin & Raw papaya - 2 cups (cubed)
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
coconut - 3 tbsp
Green chillies - 2 (acc to taste)
Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp
salt to taste
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves - few for garnishing.

Take a pan, pre heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall and curry leaves to golden brown. Add the cubed pumpkin & papaya pieces, required amount of water, turmeric powder, required amount of salt and let it cook for 5 to 7 mts. In the mean time, grind coconut, fennel seeds and green chillies to fine paste. When the veggies are 3/4th cooked, add the coconut masala paste to it and let it cook for another 5 minutes or till the veggies are cooked. Turn off the stove when the excess water is absorbed. Serve it with some rice. It tastes very good.

I am sending this papaya & Pumpkin curry to Priya's Cooking with seeds - Fennel Seeds.

Brinjal Poricha Kozhambu with Garbanzo Beans

2010-08-18T06:23:00.000-07:00

I made this poricha kozhambu yesterday with light green color Brinjal & garbanzo beans. I never knew that we can use garbanzo beans for making Poricha Kozhambu. When my MIL was here with us coupld of months back, she told me that she makes poricha kozhambu with garbanzo beans also.. This is how I make poricha kozhambu always. This is something,but I liked it very much than the previous one.

Ingredients:-

Brinjal - 1 cup (small cube sized)
Tamarind - a small lemon sized
Garbanzo beans - 1/4 cup **
Toor dhall - 1/2 cup ( I used little less than 1/2 cup)
Turmeric powder - 1/2 + 1/2 tsp
Sambar powder - 1 tsp
salt to taste

To Grind:-

Coriander seeds -3/4 tbsp
Channa dhall - 1 tsp
urad dhall - 1/4 tsp
Red chillies - 1 (Acc to taste)
Fresh coconut - 2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida -a pinch

For tempering:-

Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida powder- a pinch
fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - few

Soak garbanzo beans in water overnight. Soak tamarind in required amount of water for half an hour. Squeeze the juice from it and keep it aside. In the mean time, pressure cook the toor dhall adding 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and keep it aside. Take a pan, pre heat a drop of oil and fry the ingredients given to grind. Fry it till everything becomes golden brown. Let it cool and grind it into a fine paste. Keep it aside. Take the same pan, pre heat the remaining oil, fry the ingredients given for tempering, to golden brown. Add the chopped brinjal pieces and saute for a minute. Now add the squeezed tamarind juice, soaked garbanzo beans, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, sambar powder, required amount of salt and let it boil for 7 to 10 minute. When the garbanzo beans & brinjal is 3/4th cooked add the grounded coconut paste and let it boil for another 3 minutes. Now add the cooked toor dhall and let everyting cook for 5 more minutes. Adjust water according to the required consistency.

** - I added the garbanzo beans directly to tamarind water without pressure cooking it. Lucky for me, it was fully cooked by the time, kozhambu was ready. When I was telling this to my MIL, she said its always better to pressure cook garbanzo beans (atleast couple of whistles) cos most of the garbanzo beans won't cook properly.

I am sending this to Jayanthi's "Jay Ho" Event.

Mango Nuts Payasam for MEC Potluck Party

2010-08-16T02:50:00.000-07:00

I made this payasam for my father-in-law's 27th day ceremony. Since Srivalli's MEC Potluck Party is going on, thought of making it in microwave. This is the first time, I am making a payasam in microwave. There are few reasons I pick stove top instead of microwave for making payasam. One is laziness, you have to be very cautious when u r planning to cook (especially with milk) in microwave and other is I have the habit of forgetting. I always prepare my tea in microwave and forget to take it out. Today I was literally sitting in the kitchen to finish this payasam and since the quantity was less, it took just 10 mts to finish it. I have used the microwave safe Pyrex vessel for making this payasam. Please make sure you use a microwave safe vessel for cooking in the Microwave....

Ingredients:-

Ripe Mango - 3/4th cup (chopped)
Almonds -5
Cashews -5
Milk - 2 1/2 cup
Sugar - 3 tbsp
Edible Camphor - a pinch

nuts

half cooked mango in milk

Mango & Nuts Mix with Milk

Mango Nuts Payasam

First cook the almonds and cashews with 1/4 cup of water for 2 minutes. Let it cool. Peel the skin off from the almonds and grind both into a fine paste. Keep the paste in the same mixie jar. In the mean time, put the mango 1/4 cup of milk in a vessel and microwave it for one minute. Let it cool. Now put the mango chunks along with the grounded nuts and grind it. Now transfer it to the same vessel where the milk is. Microwave it for one minute. Stir it in between. Now add 2 cups of milk and microwave it for another 2 minutes (since the qty was less, it just took 2 mts for the raw smell of mango and nuts to go). Take it out and stir it nicely. Add the sugar, edible camphor and the remaining milk and microwave it for another one minute. Your payasam is ready to serve hot. Since i have used nuts in it, I did not garnish it at the end and no ghee is used. As I said earlier, this payasam goes to Srivalli's MEC Potluck Party event

Bell pepper thogayal

2010-08-13T06:10:00.000-07:00

Here is another thogayal I made last week. I buy green, red and bell peppers for my husband's breakfast omlete and for his salad. After coming back from Chennai, I saw few pieces of these three bell peppers were lying in the fridge (thanks to Nimeesha who kept it in the freezer). Thought of trying thogayal with the those peppers and it came out pretty good.

Ingredients:-

Bell pepper - 1 cup ( chopped - I used all the three color bell peppers)
Onion - 1 (medium sized chopped)
Tomato - 1
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urad dhall - 1 1/2 tbsp
Red chillies - 2 or 3 (acc to taste)
salt to taste
oil - 1/2 tsp

Pre heat a pan with oil, splutter mustard seeds and fry Urad dhall and red chillies to golden brown. In the same pan, saute onion, tomato and bell pepper for 5 to 6 minutes till the raw smell of peppers go. Let everything cool and grind it nicely adding required amount of salt. I did not add coconut while grinding. If you prefer, you can add couple of teaspoons of shredded coconut before grinding. Also tomato can be replaced by adding a tiny ball sized tamarind.

vegetable Poha / vegetable aval upma

2010-08-03T22:01:00.000-07:00

I make aval upma very often. But this vegetable poha was something which I learned from srivalli. Its very easy to make and it took just 10 mts altogether to finish the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Thick Poha (getti aval) - 1 cup
Onion - 1 (finely chopped)
Carrot - 1 or 1/2 depending upon the req. quantity (finely chopped)
Peas - 3 tbsp
salt to taste
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dhall - 1 tsp
channa dhall - 1tsp
Green chillies - 1 (optional)
asafoetida - a pinch
curry leaves & coriander leaves - for garnishing.
Roasted Almond Powder - 2 tsp

Wash poha nicely and soak it in water for 5 minutes. Drain it after it becomes soft and keep it aside. In the mean time, preheat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall, channa dhall, green chillies & asafoetida for a minute. Add onion and saute for couple of minutes. Now add the other vegetables one by one and let it cook few 3 to 5 minutes. When the vegetable becomes tender, add the drained poha, add required amount of salt and roasted almond powder ** and mix everything well. Garnish it with curry leaves & coriander leaves.

** Srivalli has used roasted peanut powder instead of almond powder.

Cabbage Thogayal

2010-07-15T05:23:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Arundati from whom I got inspiration for making this cabbage thogayal. I made this thogayal along with bottle gourd kootu and tomato rasam. This was a real hit and my husband couldn't find what thogayal it is. The taste was really awesome and I think I will do this more often from now on. Here goes the recipe..

Ingredients:-

Cabbage - 1 cup (chopped)
Onion - 1 (medium sized; chopped)
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dhall - 2 tbsp
Red chillies - 3 (acc to taste)
salt to taste
Coconut - 1 tsp (grated)
Oil - 1 tsp

Pre heat oil in a pan, fry mustard seeds, urad dhall & red chillies to golden brown and keep it aside. In the same pan, saute onion for few minutes and add cabbage and saute for few minutes adding a hand full of water and let both the vegetable cook. When the raw smell goes away, let it cool and grind it along with the mustard and urad dhall, coconut and required amount of water (add water accordingly). It tastes really good with hot rice, roti and idly and I am sure it will go well with bread also....

Pav Bhaji

2010-06-07T10:21:00.000-07:00

This was our evening tiffin last wednesday. My MIL is here with us in Delhi and she really loves to cook different kind of dishes for us. I have a wholesome of side dish recipes to post since her visit to Delhi. Here goes the recipe for the bhaji she made for the Pav.

Ingredients:-

Potato - 1 (boiled and mashed)
Carrot - 2 (finely chopped or Shredded)
Bell pepper - 1 (finely chopped)
Onion - 2 (finely chopped)
Tomato - 3 (finely chopped)
Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies powder - 1 1/4 tsp (acc to taste)
Oil - 3 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
Chat powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves - for garnishing.

Pre heat a pan with 2 tsp of oil. Fry the cumin seeds, when it splutters add the ginger garlic paste and saute' for a minute. Now add the finely chopped onion. Fry it till it becomes transparent. Now add the chopped vegetables one by one except potato. Saute all the vegetables for 3 to 5 minutes. Now add the mashed potato to it. Add turmeric powder, red chillies powder and required amount of salt to it. Add required amount of water and let everything to cook for 6 to 8 minutes. When the vegetables are fully cooked, add the chat powder and garam masala powder and mix it with the vegetables. Mash the vegetables with a masher or with the spatula itself.(this step is absolutely optional). Adjust water according to the required consistency. Now put the remaining 1/4 tsp red chillies powder on top of the bhaji, heat the remaining 1 tsp oil and pour it on top of the chillie powder. Garnish it with coriander leaves. (Since I ran out of the pav bhaji masala, she used the garam masala and chat powder. If you have pav bhaji masala powder, u can replace it with the above said masala powder.)

Heat the pan, and heat the pav bun, adding required amount of ghee or butter or Pam spray. I used PAM spray.

Tomato Soup

2010-05-27T03:05:00.000-07:00

I finally managed to get some time to write a blog post. May was so hectic for me. This is a soup recipe which is lying in the draft for one year. My MIL made this simple soup during last year Chennai trip. I took the picture and learned the recipe from her. But somehow or the other, I was so lazy to write it. Today I thought I will finish this one first.

Ingredients:-

Tomato - 5 (big)
Black pepper (whole) - 3 tsp (acc to taste)
Salt to taste
Corn Flakes - 1 cup (optional)
Butter - 1 tsp
Corn Flour/Rice Flour- 2 tsp

Soak the black pepper in water for half an hour. In the mean time, boil the tomatoes and remove the skin. Let it cool for few minutes. Grind it into a smooth paste along with the soaked pepper. In a wide pan, pre heat butter, pour the grounded tomato paste along with one and half cup of water. Add required amount of salt and let it boil for few minutes. In order to get a thick consistency, mix the corn flour/rice flour with two tablespoon water and pour it on top of the tomato. Let everything mix and boil for another 5 minutes. When you are ready to serve, take required amount of soup in a bowl, garnish it with a handful of cornflakes and enjoy. Since my girls dont eat spicy food, she used little amount of pepper. We had to add couple of more teaspoon of grounded pepper powder in it in order to get some spiciness.

Sweet Lassi

2010-04-21T05:55:00.000-07:00

This is my all time favorite. I still remember I had this sweet lassi in Dhaba (in cenatoph road, chennai - if I am right), when I was in college.Now recently while staying in Intercontinental, Delhi, I got a chance to drink this sweet Lassi and I should admit the fact that Lassi in Delhi is the best. I got this recipe from my landlord here in Delhi.

Ingredients:-

Yogurt - 1 cup
Thick Butter - 2 tsp ( I used unsalted)
Salt - a pinch (optional)
Sugar - required amount (I used 6 tbsp)
Rose Water - 1 tsp

Blend all the ingredients , till it becomes frothy. Pour it in a glass. . Chill it and enjoy. I somehow don't feel like adding ice cubes in it. If you prefer to add one. I did not know that we can add butter in lassi. It was so yummy. Since I wanted it thick, I didn't add water to yogurt. We can also garnish it with pistachios too. I didn't have them.

I am sending this Sweet Lassi along with my Mango Lassi & Strawberry Smoothie to Srivalli's Thanda Mela

Salad 2

2010-04-07T01:25:00.000-07:00

This is another version of Salad I make very often. This is something in which there i no nuts or fruits. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Lettuce - 1
Cucumber - 1
Green, Red & Yellow Capsicum/Bell Pepper - 1/2 each (depending upon the size)
Coriander leaves - 3 tbsp
Carrot - 1
Broccoli - 1 cup Florets
Olive Oil - 1 tbsp
Lemon Juice - 2 tsp (as per taste)
Salt to taste

Chop all the vegetables finely. Mix everything in a bowl adding required amount of salt. Add lemon juice & olive Oil and mix everything well.

I am sending this Salad Recipe along with Salad with Beetroot for Madhuri's Serve Me Some Salad Event.

I am also sending these Salad Entries for Usha's Healthy Inspirations Event - Salads.

Tomato thokku

2010-04-04T21:23:00.000-07:00

This thokku is something I made last week before leaving to Chennai. Of course my hubby totally forgot the fact that the thokku is inside the fridge and didn't even bother to take a look. But after coming back from Chennai after a tiring trip, I really liked it with plain rice. It took less than 10 minutes for me to finish this thokku.

Ingredients:-

Tomato -2 (chop it finely)
Onion - 1 (chop it finely)
Garlic - 3 cloves (chop it finely)
Mint leaves - 5 or 6 leaves (chopped)
Sesame Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies powder - 1/2 tsp
Green chillies - 2 (acc to taste)
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Ajwain seeds - 1/4 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
Hing - a pinch
Coriander leaves - few

Pre heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds and ajwain seeds. Add fenugreek seeds and hing and fry it for a minute. Add chopped green chillies and Garlic and fry it till it becomes golden color. Add the chopped onion and mint. Saute' for few seconds. Now add the juicy chopped tomatoes to it. Add turmeric powder, red chillies powder and salt and sprinkle a hand full of water. Mix it well and let it cook for 5 to 7 minutes. Adjust water according to your preference. Garnish it with coriander leaves. It goes really well with chapathi and with plain rice with teaspoon of ghee.

Spinach - Potato Dhall

2010-03-29T02:34:00.000-07:00

This is a simple dhall recipe I learned from my MIL. I went to Chennai on Friday night and came back on sunday morning. She made this dhall for saturday lunch along with regular sambar-rasam samayal. It was so good and if we plan to make this, there is no need for us to make sambar at all. For lazy people like me, it serves the purpose of a full meal. I am sending this recipe to Healing food - Spinach guest hosted by Divya, event by Siri.

Ingredients:-

Spinach ( any kind, I used Palak) - 2 cups
Potato - 1 (if its big)
Moong dhall - 1 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

To grind:-

Coriander seeds - 1tsp
Channa dhall - 1/2 tsp
Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies - 1 or 2 (acc to taste)
Coconut - 2 tsp

For Seasoning:-

Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Coriander leaves - 1 tsp

Pressure cook moong dhall & potato separately with required amount of turmeric powder and keep it aside. Cut the potato when it is cooked, into cubes and keep it aside. Drain the excess water from dhall and keep it aside. In a pan, cook the spinach leaves adding required amount of turmeric powder and salt. In the mean time, dry roast the items given above to grind and grind it into a paste. When the spinach is 3/4th done, add the grounded paste along with cooked potato and let it boil adding required amount of water, for 3 to 5 minutes. Turn off the stove when a nice aroma comes. Transfer it to another container. Now add the cooked moong dhall to it and mix it. Dhall should be added after taking out the spinach from the stove. Otherwise it will become mushy. Now preheat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds and add asafoetida powder and fry it.. Pour it on top of the dhall. Garnish it with coriander leaves.

This Spinach Dhall goes to CMT-Dhall/Kadhi/Sambar/Rasam event hosting by Priya, event by Jagruti

Reposting Kheer for Shama's Kheer Festival

2010-03-25T02:37:00.000-07:00

Pal Payasam / Rice Pudding / Rice Kheer

Carrot Payasam / Carrot Kheer

Badam Payasam / Badam Kheer

Semiya Payasam

Chakkapradhaman / Jackfruit payasam / Jackfruit Kheer

All of these goes to Shama's Kheer Festival Event

Idly Upma

2010-03-11T05:13:00.000-08:00

I finally got time to write a post in my blog:) Its been a long time since I opened my blogger account. I feel so guilty whenever I visit buddy bloggers blog and read recipes. I have three more recipes which needs to be completed and published. Hopefully I will do it this month atleast. This idly upma is a recipe I learned from one of our family friend, when I was staying with my in-laws, last month. We went to Kanchipuram last month (before coming to Delhi of course). Our family friend was staying with us couple of days that time. Since my girls were also with us during our trip, my MIL said, its better to make some idllies and thayir saadam with us, in order to avoid eating outside as the kids get sick if we eat outside a lot. We made idly and thayir saadam for our trip and my girls had just the thachi mammu and not idly. Well my MIL will not eat leftover stuff next day, so it was me and Padma akka who had to finish those idllies. For me eating hot and steamy idly itself is a punishment. So now eating a dry and cold idly for breakfast (our servant maid said she also will not take leftover food especially idly) is really a big punishment for me. Padma akka gave me the idea of making Idly upma to make it more glamourous and she also offered that she will make one. So she started scrambling the idllies and asked me to cut the onions and also taught me how to make this upma. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Idly - 6 pieces
Onion - 1 medium sized (chop it)
Sesame OIl - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
Channa dhall - 1/2 tsp
Hing - a pinch
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp (acc to required color)
Idly Molagapodi - 1/2 tsp (acc to taste)
Salt - only for onion and other ingredients as idly will have salt in it.

Scramble the idllies and keep it aside. Pre heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad, channa dhall and hing till it becomes golden brown. Now add chopped onion and saute for a minute. Add turmeric powder, Molagapodi and salt to it and fry it for couple of minutes. Now add the scrambled idly pieces to it and mix it well along with other ingredients. Add a teaspoon of sesame oil on top of it, if necessary. idly upma is ready to enjoy(!) It took just 5 minutes for her to finish this since the idly was a leftover one.....

Thavala Dosai

2010-01-28T07:15:00.000-08:00

This is a dish from North Arcot District. My MIL is from North Arcot district. She made this thavala dosai day before yesterday for evening tiffin. This was the first time I had this evening tiffin and it was really tasty and crispy. I got the recipe from her. The recipe is similar to the adai recipe with some variation. Here goes the recipe

Ingredients:-

Boiled rice - 2 cups
Channa dhall - 3/4 cup
Toor dhall - 3/4 cup
Urad dhall - 4 tsp
Salt to taste

For Tempering:-

Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dhall - 1 1/2 tsp
Channa dhall - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 5 (acc to taste)
Ginger - a small piece
Red chillies - 5 (acc to taste)
Asafoetida powder - a pinch
Curry leaves - few
coconut - 2 tsp (for one dosai)

Soak rice separately and the lentils (channa dhall, urad dhall and toor dhall) separately for 3 to 4 hours. Drain it after 4 hours and grind it separately. Grind rice finely and the lentil coarsely. Mix both together with your hand along with the required amount of salt and keep it aside. If you want to make dosai in the evening, you need to prepare the batter in the morning itself. When you are ready to make dosai, preheat the oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds and fry urad dhall, channa dhall, green chillies, red chillies and ginger and fry it till it becomes golden brown. Now add a pinch of hing to it and pour it on top of the batter. Mix it well and add the curry leaves now. Heat the dosa pan and pour a laddle full of batter and sprinkle the coconut on top of it. Pour oil in the sides and let it cook in low flame. Flip it and let the other side cook. Serve it hot with some chutney or with a dallop of curd. It goes well with chutney and molagapodi...

Yellow Pumpkin Sabji

2010-01-19T00:28:00.000-08:00

After a very long gap, I finally managed to get some time to write this post. This pumpkin masala sidedish is made by my MIL yesterday for Chapathi. we had few leftover pumpkin pieces from the previous day's avial. She wanted to make vatha kozhambu with that which she did. Still we had few pieces left and we were bored seeing the pumpkin again. My MIL wanted to try some side dish for chapathi and wanted to try with the left over pumpkin pieces. Its pretty much similar to the masala side dish we make for chapathi.

Ingredients:-

Pumpkin - 1 cup (cut into cubes we had approx. 12 cubes)
onion -1 (chop it)
Tomato - 1 (chop it)
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
Coriander seeds - 1 1/2 tsp
Ginger - a small piece
Garlic - 1 clove
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies powder - 3/4 tsp (acc to taste)
Salt to taste
Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Coconut - 2 tsp

Take a pan and cook the pumpkin pieces adding required amount of water. In the mean time, grind coriander seeds, garlic, ginger, coconut, half of chopped onion and tomato, into a fine paste and keep it aside. When the pumpkin is 3/4th done, drain it and keep it aside. Pre heat the same pan with oil, splutter mustard and cumin seeds, saute the remaining onion to golden brown and add the remaining tomato pieces and fry it for few minutes. Now add the grounded paste along with turmeric powder, chilli powder and garam masala powder, required amount of water and let it boil for couple of minutes. Now add the pumpkin pieces along with required amount of salt and let everything cook for another 5 minutes. Adjust water according to the required consistency. Garnish it with coriander leaves. This goes well with Chapathi and poori. My FIL had this as a side dish for pesarattu dosai. He said it goes well with that too.

Will upload the picture pretty soon.

Aloo Methi

2009-12-23T10:41:00.000-08:00

This is another side dish I tried and got the recipe from Rak's Kitchen. I tried to follow the same recipe of hers except few changes I made to suit our taste. Here goes the recipe...

Ingredients:-

Potato - 2 cups (chopped into cubes)
Onion - 1
Methi Leaves - 1 cup (wash it & finely chopped)
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
salt to taste
Curry powder - 1 tsp (acc to taste)
Oil - 2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Green onion - 2 tsp (chopped for garnishing)

Put the chopped potato in a microwave safe bowl, add required amount of water and microwave it till its 3/4th done. In the mean time, preheat oil in a pan, splutter mustard and cumin seeds, add chopped onion and saute for few minutes till it becomes transparent. Now add the washed/chopped methi leaves and saute till it is fully cooked. Add turmeric powder, curry powder and salt at this time. Add the 3/4th cooked potato pieces, sprinkle 1/4 cup (or required amount) of water and cook till potato turns golden brown. Garnish it with chopped green onion and serve it with roti/chapathi or with rice.

Reposting for WYF Tea time snack

2009-12-18T18:10:00.000-08:00

I am sending these three entries to EC's Tea time snack event.

Channa Saag

2009-12-15T20:09:00.000-08:00

Alright this is another dish my twins love to eat(lick literally) if its from Royal Taj. I have tried making this dish few times and nothing came closer to theirs and my daughters immediately leave a statement "Amma this spinach is not good as Royal Taj's spinach". But this time, it came out well and it was almost close to their recipe and my daughters couldn't find any difference. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

spinach - 1 box ( I used frozen box- can also use fresh Palak)
Garbanzo beans - 1/4 cup ( I used canned beans)
cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Co0riander powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies powder - 1 tsp (acc to taste)
Onion - 1 (finely chopped)
ginger - a small piece (chopped finely)
Garlic - a small piece (finely chopped)
Salt to taste
Oil or Butter - 2 tsp
Cream - 1/4 cup **
Green Onion - 1 tsp (To garnish)
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

First thaw the frozen spinach and cook it in the microwave for 6 to 8 mts or until it is cooked. In the mean time, pre heat oil (or butter) in a pan, splutter cumin and fennel seeds. Add chopped ginger and garlic and saute until garlic turns pink. Now add chopped onion and saute until it becomes transparent and fully cooked. Now add the cooked spinach, add cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chillies powder and a cup of water and let it cook for couple of minutes. Mash the spinach with spatula nicely(or can even grind it). Now add the cooked garbanzo beans along with required amount of salt. Mix it together and let it boil. Add the heavy cream at this stage and adjust water according to the required consistency. Let everything mix together and cook until excess water is evaporated. Garnish it with green onion and enjoy it with chapathis/rotis or pooris.

** - Since I ran out of heavy cream, I just used 1% milk (which was a mistake). If you need creamy texture, please use heavy cream.

Dhall Soup

2009-12-11T08:10:00.000-08:00

This dhall soup is something which me and my husband love it very much. There is a North Indian Restaurant (Royal Taj) near our house and we go there every weekend and order this soup. My husband always asks me to try this recipe at home but I am kinda scared cos my twins like to try this soup atleast few teaspoons in that restaurant. If I make a mistake in the recipe, then I am pretty sure, they will not taste it anymore:) Was just waiting for good time to try and as I said earlier, I like to explore new stuff when my husband is not around. I tried this soup three times during this week and came out with the exact one (which we taste in Royal Taj)only day before yesterday. (Of course I had to waste couple of cups of dhall which is not really good). Well here comes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Channa dhall - 3/4 cup
Toor dhall - 1/4 cup
Moong dhall - a little less than 1/4 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Green chillies - 1
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp ( acc to taste)
Whole pepper - 1/2 tsp (acc to taste
Ginger - a small piece
Garlic - 1 clove (as per taste - I amnot a big fan of garlic)
Onion - 1 (if it is medium size or 3/4 if its big)
Tomato - 1
Sour cream - 1 dollop
Green onion - to Garnish
Green peas - 2 tsp ( I used frozen and using peas is optional)
Oil - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Lemon Juice - 2 tsp (acc to taste

First Soak all the three dhalls in hot water for half an hour. After half an hour, pressure cook it along with turmeric powder. In the mean time, pre heat oil in a pan, splutter cumin seeds and fry whole pepper along with asafoetida powder. Add chopped ginger, garlic and green chillies and fry it till garlic becomes pink in color. Now add chopped onions to it. Saute for few minutes. Add chopped tomato along with required amount of red chillies powder and salt and mix everything well and let it cook till tomato becomes mushy. In the mean time, when the pressure is released, take the dhall out and beat it with a spatula nicely. Now add the cooked dhall to the ingredients and add required amount of water (3 to 4 cups depending upon the required consistency) and let it boil for 3 to 5 minutes. If it becomes too thick, then add one more cup of water. Stir it well and turn off the stove. Let it cool. Mix the lemon juice and grind it into a smooth paste. Again, if the consistency is so thick, can add water while grinding. I kinda liked the smooth soup. Now add the thawed & cooked (cook it in microwave for few minutes) green peas and enjoy it with a dollop of sour cream and a teaspoon of chopped green onions.

This dhall soup recipe goes to Susan's MLLA event, 18th edition is being hosted by Srivalli

simple potato curry

2009-12-09T09:46:00.000-08:00

When my husband leaves out of town on a business trip, I prefer eating some kind of tiffin for dinner and this is the time, I can explore some new side dishes. This is something my MIL used to make when nothing is available in fridge. Some how it takes just 10 mts to finish this side dish. I made this day before yesterday for dinner. My girls said, its little bit spicy but for me it was good. (:P) Here goes the recipe. Given quantity may be enough for one person (adult) and two kids :)

Ingredients:-

Potato - 2 (thinly sliced)
Carrot - 3/4 (slice it accordingly)
Onion - 1/2 (slice it accordingly)
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1/4 tsp (optional)
Salt to taste
Red chillies - 1/2 tsp (acc to taste)
cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp (optional)
Coriander leaves - for garnishing
Oil - 1 1/2 tsp

Pre heat oil in a pan, splutter cumin and fennel seeds, add sliced onion and saute for few minutes. Add potato and Carrots to it, add turmeric, garam masala and red chillies powder along with salt and sprinkle a hand full of water. Mix everything and let it be there for few mts till all the veggies are cooked. Garnish it with coriander leaves. Enjoy it with roti or with rice.

Pumpkin Dry Curry

2009-12-03T19:27:00.000-08:00

This curry is something I tried from Raks Kitchen. It is similar to mathan thoran we make in my mom's place except for the fact that we have to add onion in this recipe. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Pumpkin - 1 1/2 cups (chopped into cubes)
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
coconut - 1 1/2 tbsp
Red chillies - 3 (acc to taste)
Green chillies - 1 (acc to taste)
Cumin - 1 tsp
Pearl Onion - 5 or 6
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Red chillies - 1
asafoetida powder - a pinch
Curry leaves - to garnish

Pre heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds and fry red chillies and asafoetida powder and add the pumpkin and saute for few minutes. In the mean time, grind, red chillies, pearl onion, coconut and cumin into a fine paste. Now add the ground paste to the pumpkin, add salt, turmeric powder and sprinkle water little bit and cover the pan with a lid. Let it cook for few minutes. When everything is mixed with pumpkin and the pumpkin is fully cooked, turn off the stove. By this time, the water should be evaporated fully and it should have become a dry curry. Garnish it with curry leaves

Kadamba Sambar

2009-11-26T14:44:00.000-08:00

Kadamba sambar is something which my patti used to make during any special occasion in our house like somebody's birthday, or wedding day or some family get together. I have never seen my MIL make this sambar. She used to combine two or three vegetables and make sambar, but not with more than 6 or 7 vegetables. I made this kadamba sambar for our wedding day couple of days back. Here goes the recipe..

Ingredients:-

Potato - 1( chop it into cubes)
Drumstick - 6 (acc to taste)
Tomato - 1 ( chop it into cubes)
Eggplant - 1( chop it into cubes)
Pumpkin - a small piece (5 cubes)
Chow chow - a small piece (5 cubes)
Onion - 1( chop it into cubes)
Okra - 2 (chop it accordingly)
Tamarind - a small lemon sized (soak it)
toor dhall - 1 1/2cups
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Sambar powder - 1 1/2 tsp (acc to taste)
Salt to taste

To Grind:-

Coriander seeds - 1 1/4 tsp
Channa dhall - 3/4 tsp
Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
REd chillies - 3 or 4 (acc to taste)
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
Coconut - 3 tsp
Asafoetida powder - a pinch

For seasoning:-

Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
Red chillies - 1
Asafoetida powder - a pinch
Curry leaves - for garnishing

First pressure cook toor dhall with required amount of turmeric powder and keep it aside. Take a pan, fry the ingredients given to grind, to golden brown and grind it into a fine paste. Keep it aside. Squeeze juice from tamarind for about one and half cups and keep it aside. In a flat bottomed pan, pre heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, red chillies and asafoetida powder and fry it till golden brown. Now add the above given vegetables one by one and saute for a minute. Now add the squeezed tamarind juice to the vegetables, required amount of salt, turmeric powder and sambar powder to it and cook it for atleast 7 to 10 minutes ( or till the vegetables are 3/4th cooked). Now add the grounded coconut paste to the vegetables and let everything cook together for another 3 minutes. Now add the cooked toor dhall to it and boil it for another 5 minutes. Garnish it with curry leaves. Serve it hot with rice.

This recipe goes to CMT - Dhal/Kadi/Sambar/Rasam, hosting by Priya , an event by Jagruti.

Rasvali - Mixed Vegetable Gravy & Entries for Rice Event

2009-11-20T10:06:00.000-08:00

This is absolutely new recipe for me which I got from one of my good friend Rani. I hope I spelled it right. She emailed me this recipe and asked me to try it out. I tried this yesterday and as she said, it tastes really good and goes really well with rice and can be used as side dish for roti, dosa etc. Here is the recipe..

Ingredients:-

Potato - 4 (medium sized) (chop it into cubes)
Carrot - 2 (chop it into cubes)
Peas - 1/4 cup ( i used frozen)
Onion - 1 (if its medium or 1/2 if its big)
Tomato - 1 (chop it)
Coriander powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies powder - 1/2 tsp (acc to taste)
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Jaggery - 1 1/2 tsp
Peanut powder - 3 tsp (acc to taste)
White Sesame seeds - 1/4 tsp **
Tamarind paste - 1/4 tsp **
oil - 2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves - for garnishing.

First dry roast peanuts and white sesame seeds to golden brown and grind it into a fine powder. Keep it aside. In the mean time, take a pan, add potato, carrots & peas, add required amount of water and let it cook. Drain it when it is done and keep it aside. Pre heat oil in a pan, splutter cumin and fennel seeds, add onion and saute for few minutes. Now add tomato and saute for few seconds and add the cooked vegetables, required amount of water (say about half a cup), turmeric powder, salt, tamarind paste, cumin powder, chilli powder and coriander powder and let everything cook together really well. Add water if necessary. Add the grounded peanut+sesame seeds now along with jaggery and let them cook for another couple of minutes. Consistency will be like sabji. Add water to adjust the required consistency. Garnish it with coriander leaves. It really goes well with rice which we tried yesterday. I just followed the same recipe she emailed me. But I added couple of more ingredients. They are...

** - In the original recipe, there was no tamarind or white sesame seeds. But I added those two which I think was a good idea cos my hubby could not figure out whether it is a sambar or not (LOL)

I am reposting couple of my variety rice recipes for Srilekha's EFM - Variety Rice Series

My First Entry is Bell Pepper Rice

Second Entry is Tomato Rice

Thir one is Orange Rice
Fourth one is Palak Pulav

Fifth one is curd rice

Drumstick Curry

2009-11-12T08:15:00.000-08:00

All these years i have only tried drumstick dhall, drumstick kootu, drumstick vathakozhambu or drumstick sambar. One of my twin is a very big fan of drumstick. She can eat drumstick in any form. But I was kinda bored to make the same stuff with drumstick. So I wanted to try this drumstick curry which one of my friend used to bring for lunch when we were in college. It came out pretty good and as always my little one had fun eating drumstick along with tomato and onion...Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Drumstick - 1 cup (chop it into 2 inch long)
Tomato - 1 (chop it)
Onion - 1 (chop it)
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 3/4 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp (acc to taste)
salt to taste
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 ts
cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
coriander leaves - to garnish
Asafoetida/hing - a pinch

Preheat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, cumin seeds and asafoetida powder, till it becomes golden brown. Now add the chopped onion and saute till it becomes transparent. Now add the chopped tomato along with chopped drumstick. Saute for couple of minutes. Add required amount of water, add turmeric powder and salt and let it cook for 5 to 7 mts till the drumstick is almost done. Now add the coriander and chilli powder to the mixture and saute for few more minutes. Sprinkle a handful of water if necessary. Turn off the stove when you get the required consistency. I wanted a little bit watery consistency curry. So I added little bit extra water. Adjust water according to the required consistency. Garnish it with coriander leaves.

Spicy Plantain Curry/Vaazhakkai kara curry

2009-11-04T08:41:00.000-08:00

Plantain/Vaazhakkai is one of my favorite vegetable. I usually make vaazhakka curry or vaazhakka podimas in a simple way. But this time, I wanted to try the spicy curry which my chitti used to make. Actually she will make this curry using Taro root/chepangezhangu. But I wanted to try the same method with vaazhakkai and it came out really well..

Ingredients:-

Plantain - 3
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies powder - 1/2 tsp (acc to taste)
Salt to taste
Rice flour - 3 tsp (required amount acc to the quantity of plantain)
Oil - 4 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - apinch

There are two ways of cooking plantain. Just cut them into small cubes and cook it on stove top with required amount of turmeric and salt and drain it once its done or Pressure cook it along with the skin and peel the skin once it is done. I used the second method. Once it is cooked, peel the skin and cut it into cubes. Keep it aside for 10 minutes. In the mean time, mix rice flour, turmeric powder(if you have not added it before), chillies powder and salt together and rub those plantain cubes in it. Now take a pan, preheat oil, splutter mustard seeds and fry urad dhall & asafoetida powder to golden brown. Now add the plantain pieces to it and fry it in low flame. Cook it until all becomes golden brown. Enjoy it with Sambar rice or curd rice...

Simple Cabbage Garbanzo Curry

2009-11-01T12:58:00.000-08:00

This is another recipe I learned from my cousin Rashmi. During our last visit to her place for get together, she made this curry. I really loved the combination of cabbage and Garbanzo beans. I usually add green peas with cabbage. But this is something new to me. So thought of trying it today.

Ingredients:-

Cabbage - 3 cups ( chopped)
Garbanzo beans - 1 cup ( I used canned beans cos its already cooked)
Salt to taste
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies - 1 or 2 (acc to taste
Shredded coconut - 1 tsp (optional)
curry leaves - for garnishing

First drain the required amount of garbanzo beans from the can and keep it aside. Add the chopped cabbage in a pan, add required amount of water and salt(just enough for cabbage cos beans will have salt), cook it nicely. Make sure its not mushy. Drain the extra water from cabbage and keep it aside. Pre heat oil in the same pan, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall & red chillies to golden brown, add cooked cabbage and garbanzo beans and mix everything together. Also add the coconut and mix well. Turn off the stove. Garnish it with curry leaves. It just took me 7 minutes to finish this curry.

Quick Carrot Rice

2009-10-27T15:47:00.000-07:00

Somedays you don't feel like cooking anything but you have people around and have no other choice, this rice comes handy. I learned this recipe from one of my friend's mom. Frankly speaking, it is easy to make and luckily my girls really liked that rice. I usually make carrot rice in this way. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Carrot - 1 (shredded)
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Tomato - 1 finely chopped
Garlic - 1 clove
Ginger - a small piece (chop it)
Green chillies - 1 (acc to taste)
oil - 2 tsp
mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
Rice - 1 cup ( I used sonamasoori rice)
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves - for garnishing

Preheat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds and cumin seeds and fry green chillies to golden brown. Add chopped onion, ginger & garlic and saute' for a minute. Now add the chopped tomato and shredded carrots to it. Add turmeric powder and let it cook for couple of minutes. In the mean time, wash the rice, drain it and keep it aside. When the veggies are half cooked, transfer it to the pressure cooker, add the drained rice, add required amount of water ( I usually add 3 cups of water for 1 cup of rice, but this time, I just used 1 1/2 cups of water along with half cooked vegetables and rice). Pressure cook it upto 2 whistles. Open the cooker when the pressure is released and garnish it with coriander leaves.

Deepavali Goodies....

2009-10-19T13:04:00.000-07:00

HAPPY DEEPAVALI TO ALL MY FRIENDS HERE...

Diwali is one of our favorite festival we celebrate everyyear. I bet you guys must have celebrated it in a grand manner this year too. WE went to a potluck party this year and had fun there. I was planning to make lots of goodies this year, but ended up making only two because of some unavoidable reasons and the news from India that my patti (who is my first inspiration in cooking)is sick and she is in the hospital. I just made Atta laddoo and omapodi this year for diwali. Thanks to Rashmi who shared this recipe with me. Here is the recipe for Atta laddoo. This recipe is similar to rava laddoo we make. Instead of rava, I used wheat flour.

Ingredients:

Atta/wheat flour - 1 1/2 cups
Sugar - 2 cups
Ghee - 1/4 cup (I used little less than that)
Warm Milk - if necessary (to make balls)
Cashew & Raisins - a tbsp each

Take a thick bottomed pan, pre heat couple of teaspoons of ghee and fry the cashew and raisins to golden brown and keep it aside. In the same pan, fry the atta till a nice aroma comes from it. Keep the stove in a low flame while frying atta. In the mean time, also melt the ghee in a separate pan and keep it aside. When the atta is done frying, transfer it to another vessel, add the fried nuts and raisins and pour the warm melted ghee slowly and make small balls. If you feel the mixture is too dry, then warm 1/4 cup of milk and keep it aside. Sprinkle little by little and then start making laddoos.

I followed my patti's recipe for making oma podi too..

Ingredients:-

Omam/ajwain - 1 tsp
Rice flour - 2 cup
Besan flour - 1 cup ( Most people use this more than rice flour)
Salt to taste
Unsalted butter - 2 tsp
Hing/asafoetida -a pinch
Oil-to deep fry.

Soak omam previous night in water. When you are ready to make this, filter omam and just take the water(my MIL used to grind this and then filter the omam, but patti just use the water). I personally felt my MIl's method is better than this one. Add all the dry ingredients, add butter and start kneading the dough adding omam water. Add water if necessary. Pre heat oil in a pan, Take required amount of dough and put it in the Omapodi press and press it in the hot oil(careful while doing this). Fry it till it becomes golden brown...

Dhaniya Podi (coriander seeds Podi)

2009-10-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

I am reposting this Corianderseeds Podi (Dhaniya podi) for Priya's Think Spice-Think Coriander Event. This is my husband's favorite. Ingredients for making this podi are as follows:

Ingredients:-

Channa dhall - 1 Cup
Toor dhall - 1 cup
Urad dhall - 2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Coriander seeds - 3 cups
Red chillies - 4 (acc to taste)
Black pepper - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Asafoetida powder.

Fry all the ingredients one by one to golden brown (including salt). Let it cool and grind it into a fine powder. This goes well with white rice and a teaspoon of sesame oil. This podi recipe goes to Priya's Event

I am linking this coriander logo to Sunita's blog.

Oats chapathi & Mint chapathi

2009-10-02T14:57:00.000-07:00

I have never tried roti/chapathi with oats. One of my friend from the kids' school told me about this oats chapathi and I wanted to try this today. She wanted me to try this adding more oats than wheat. Since I wasn't sure whether it will wor, i just tried with more wheat and a part of oats....Here is the recipe I followed..

Ingredients:-

Wheat flour - 1 cup
oats powder - 4 tbsp (grind quaker oats into a fine powder)
salt to taste
Water to knead
Sesame oil - 1 tsp

Mix wheat and oats flour, add salt and knead the flour into a nice dough. Spread the sesame oil and leave the dough for atleast half an hour. When you are ready to make roti, take required amount of dough to make one roti and spread it into a circle shaped roti of 7" diameter. Cook it on both sides and enjoy. Surprisingly, it was really good. This is the first time, I am trying roti with oats. Since my husband stopped eating oats, I have a whole bunch of oats in my pantry, and now I can use them for making rotis...

I also made one more flavor roti. I first made two small rotis for my girls using the dough and I used some leftover Mint thogayal to the remaining dough. I used two teaspoons of thogayal with the remaining dough and made chapathis with that. It tastes new to me cos this is the first time I am trying chapathi with mint leaves.

Saraswathi Pooja Celebrations & goodies

2009-09-29T13:41:00.000-07:00

Saraswathi Pooja is my most favorite celebration when I was a girl. Cos thats when we don't have to do any homework nor do we study on that day(lol). Since its the last day of navrathri, in my mom's place, we make lots of goodies on that day. This year, I wanted to do the same way so that my girls could also learn our tradition and culture. This year I made aama vadai, pal payasam, kondakadala(black channa dhall) sundal and the regular south Indian traditional samayal. It was really fun that day and we successfully enrolled our girls for swimming lessons. Since I have posted recipe for pal payasam already, I am just posting recipes for aama vadai and kondakadalai sundal here along with few more pictures of that day...

Kondakadalai sundal:-
Ingredients:-

Kondakadalai/Black Channa dhall - 1 cup
coconut - 1 tsp
salt to taste
oil - 1/2 tsp
mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
red chillies - 1
curry leaves- few
asafoetida powder - a pinch

Soak black channa dhall over night. Pressure cook it when you are ready to make sundal. Drain it fully when the pressure is released. Take a pan, pre heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall and red chillies to golden brown. Now add the cooked sundal to it. Add salt and mix it well. Turn off the stove. Now sprinkle the coconut and asafoetida powder and mix it well. Garnish it with curry leaves.
Well I guess I need to post the recipe for aama in my next post cos my girls want me to read a book now.

Happy Navrathri!!!

2009-09-23T09:50:00.001-07:00

HAPPY NAVRATHRI TO ALL MY BUDDY BLOGGERS!!!

Hope you guys are having fun with all those wonderul dolls. Kolu is one of my favorite Indian festival where we get to see lots and lots of beautiful dolls. This year I got some help from my girls cleaning up the dolls, setting kolu padi, giving manjal kumkumam to friends etc. Since I had to go get thamboolam from my friend's place, I am doing sundal & sweet on every other day and the remaining days, I just use white rice for neivedhyam. Yesterday I made Kadala paruppu sundal & Rava Kesari for neivedhyam. On sunday I made Garbanzo sundal and aval Payasam. I am sharing the recipes of kadala paruppu sundal and rice flakes payasam here cos I have already posted the recipe for rava kesari and Channa sundal.

Kadala Paruppu Sundal:-

Ingredients:-

Channa dhall/Kadala Paruppu - 1 cup
Red chillies - 1 or 2 (acc to taste)
Salt to taste
Shredded coconut - 1 tbsp
Asafoetida powder - a pinch
oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dhall - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves -few

Soak dhall for an hour. Pressure cook it upto one whistle. Dhall should not be over cooked. Other wise it will be mushy. Once the pressure is released, drain the dhall and keep it aside. Take a pan, pre heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, fry urad dhall and red chillies to golden brown. Now add the cooked dhall to it and mix it well.Add salt and asafoetida powder and mix it. Turn off the stove and sprinkle the coconut and garnish it with curry leaves.

Aval Rice Flakes Payasam:-

This is the first time I am trying this payasam and I found it very easy and handy. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:-

Rice flakes - 1 cup
Milk - 2 cups
Sugar - 1 cup(acc to taste)
Cardamom - 1 or 2 ( powder it)
Edible camphor/pachakarpooram - a pinch
Food color - a pinch (this is optional/I used orange color)
Cashew - few for garnishing
ghee - 1/2 tsp

Soak rice flakes in water for half an hour. Drain it fully and keep it aside. Now take a thick bottomed pan and pour a cup of milk and bring it to boil. When the milk starts boiling, add the aval to it and let it boil for 3 minutes. Now add the remaining mil, cardamom, food color and pachakarpooram and let it boil for another 5 minutes. When the quantity becomes 3/4th turn off the stove and add the sugar at the end and mix it well. Fry cashew to golden brown in ghee and pour it on top of payasam. It just took 10 minutes to finish this payasam.