Indian Cooking

Healthy Cookies

2013-04-16T09:47:00.001-04:00

This is a recipe from a friend of mine. Thank you Deepali for sharing the recipe. This is easy to make cookies and healthy too. So you try it and let me know how it is. :). Just make sure that the time you put the cookies in oven is not too much otherwise they turn out too crispy.

Ingredients

1 cup soft butter
1 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup powdered milk
1teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs ( you can use 1 cup buttermilk or egg replacer also, I used )
1 1/3 cup rolled oats
2 1/3 cup wheat flour ( I use chappati flour)
1/2 cup chocolate chips / raisins

Method of preparation
Mix all the ingredients till vanilla extract. Mix them together till they blend in and then add the rest of the ingredients and mix to make the dough. Bake at 350 degree f until slightly brown. It often takes 10-15 mins but depends a lot on size of cookie. Turn them over after 10 mins and let them cook for another 5 mins.

Try it and enjoy the cookies !!!!

Tomato Thokku/Pachadi (long term)

2013-01-24T22:07:00.001-05:00

To all my dear readers, this tomato thokku or pachadi can stay for long period like more than a one month or so. So we can make it once and keep enjoying it for close to one month or more. I learned this recipe from my mother in law when she was visiting us last month. try it and do leave your comments as usual :) Thank you all.

Ingredients
Tomato (Get good red ones) - 8
Red chilli powder - 1 cup (or 1 big sambar spoon ish)
Tamarind - little more than lemon size
Salt - 1 cup and little more
Mustard seeds powder - 1 table spoon
Methi powder - 1 and 1/2 table spoon
Oil - 8 table spoons
Mustard seeds - 1/2 table spoon
Asafoetida (Hing) - 1/2 table spoon

Method of preparation
1) Take a kadai or pan (take wider one) and add couple of spoons of oil. Cut the tomato's into medium sized pieces. Once the oil is heated, add the tomato's to it.
2) Remove the seeds from the tamarind. Now spread the tamarind on the chopped tomatos. Add salt to it.
3) Do not mix it. Once the tomato's are cooked, turn off the heat. Now add the red chilli powder and other powders to it.Mix everything and leave it for couple of minutes.
4) Blend the above mixture. not too pasty but just for couple of seconds.
5) Do the tadka/popu/poNi by taking oil in a small pan, heat it and then add mustard seeds. Once mustard seeds starts spluttering, add the hing to it and turn off heat. Add the tadka and mix well. (Oil should be oozing out a little. )

Note: If you feel that oil is more, then do not worry. Oil, salt and red chilli will be more in the items which needs to last for long time.
This Thokku/pachadi is eaten with white rice or with any other thing.
It can be eaten the instant it is made too. So enjoy it the way you like it.

(Will post some pictures soon).

Cake pops (with maker)

2013-01-06T17:35:00.000-05:00

Before the holidays I wanted to badly try this cake pops with the maker at home. So I finally managed to get one cake pop maker to home and try it out at a holiday party. First time of try, they tasted good and came out very nice, however I was very naive in doing the decorating part. After a little bit of experimenting and getting ideas from other places, we were able to successfully decorate the cake pops. I used my eggless vanilla cake recipe from the following link to make the batter and used the same for making pops. Sharing some pics from the making. I am planning to make more for my kids birthday's, so more photos will be added later.

Pesaru pappu pachadi/Moong dal ki Chutney

2013-01-06T17:30:00.000-05:00

This is one of the quick and easiest pachadi's to make. Probably more authentic one too. I learned this from my attagaru when they were visiting us last month. here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

Moong dal - Soaked in water for atleast for two hours

Hing (Asafoetida)

Red chilli powder

Turmeric

Salt

For tadka:

Oil

Mustard seeds

Jeera

Hing (Asafoetida)

Curry leaves (optional)

Method of preparation:

Add the salt, red chilli powder, turmeric to the soaked and drained moong dal. Grind it coarsely in a blender. Do the tadka with heated oil in a small bowl. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add jeera, hing and curry leaves. Add tadka to the chutney. Your chutney is ready to serve. This is generally goes good with white rice and ghee (or oil).

Peanut sesame powder

2012-11-30T16:55:00.002-05:00

I tried it at one of the community friends home and loved it. I got some from my relative the same and my kids loved to eat it with sambar rice or yogurt rice. So I tried it at home and still enjoying it. Hope you like it too. This can be accompanied with several options like with plain white rice or a side dish for yogurt rice, idli or upma etc. So try it with whatever you like ..... explore your options and here goes the recipe..

Ingredients
Peanut powder - 1 cup (roasted and grinded coarsely without the skin)
Sesame powder - 1 cup (roasted and grinded coarsely)
Coconut powder (preferably dry but I used the frozen grated one)
Amchur powder - 2-3 spoons
Red chilli powder - (according to your taste and spicyness of powder)
Salt - according to your taste
Dhania powder - 1/4 cup ( Roasted and grinded)
Jeera powder - 1/4 cup (Roasted and grinded)
Cilantro - wash, dry and cut into small pieces

Method of preparation
Mix all the ingredients nicely with hand. Make sure the powders and mixed properly and the taste is spread out even. Taste it to adjust salt and red chilli powder. Your powder is ready to go...Enjoy.

Beans Cauliflower Curry

2012-11-27T11:09:00.000-05:00

One of the simple curries which can be made regularly can home without any hiccups is this. I love both the veggies and here is the simple recipe for it. Go ahead and try it for simple dinner.

Ingredients
Beans - chopped
Cauliflower florest
Tomatos
Oil
Mustard seeds
Jeera
Red chilli powder
Turmeric
Salt
Coriander to garnish

Method of preparation
Add oil in a pan(kadai), and let it heat. Add mustard seeds after oil is heated. Let them splutter. Add jeera and then add the veggies (beans and cauliflower). Add red chilli powder, turmeric to it. Mix it and cover and cook for some time until veggies are almost cooked. Once they are cooked, add salt and tomatos. Cook until tomatos are done and serve after garnishing with the coriander leaves. Enjoy !!!

Gongura pulihora

2012-11-26T16:24:00.000-05:00

We tasted it at my friend's place and I liked it. I requested my mom to do it for a potluck and they all liked it. So here goes the recipe for it.

Ingredients:
Gongura (Sour greens)
Peanuts
Chana Dal
Mustard seeds
Red chillies
Green chillies
Coriander

Method of preparation:
1) Cook rice as usual. Make sure the rice grains are seperate after they are cooked. Mostly we use Sona masoori rice or basmati for this type of rice.
2) Take a kadai (pan) and add 2-3 spoons of oil in it. After oil is heated add the chopped Gongura leaves to it. The leaves will be cooked in very less time. Add salt to it and turmeric. Mix thoroughly and put it aside.
3) Next is preparation of the tadka (popu/poni) for the pulihora. Take a small kadai and add sufficiant oil to it. After oil is heated properly, add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add red chillies, asafoetida (Hing/inguva), peanuts, chana dal and little urad dal to it. Cook till all the dals turn color and the peanuts and well fried.
4) Spread the rice in big bowl easy to mix. Add the fried gongura mixture as well as the tadka to it. Mix all of them thoroughly till each grain of rice color is changed. Do not mash or use much pressure while mixing (otherwise the rice will become sticky or mushy, Rice should be seperated to get the exact taste). Garnish with coriander and serve.

Banana Bread (Eggless)

2012-06-02T16:16:00.000-04:00

This is a recipe which my cousin Hema gave me long time back. As I am not a banana lover nor banana bread, I never attempted it. This time I really wanted to do something with those riped banana's and there goes my experiment. It turned to be good. Simple easy recipe from her.... here it goes:

Ingredients

1/2 cup oil or use 1/3rd cup applesauce ( I used oil)

1 cup white sugar

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3 very ripe mashed bananas

1-2 teaspoons pure vanilla

1/4th cup walnuts roasted

Method of preparation

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease a loaf pan.In a large bowl, cream the oil and sugar and add vanilla. Sift in the flour, baking soda and salt. Blend in the mashed bananas. Stir in the nuts and pour batter into prepared pan.(dust with butter and flour ). Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until it tests done with a toothpick.

Bhendi Tomato fry curry

2012-05-25T23:55:00.001-04:00

Ingredients
Bhendi - I used one frozen packet
Tomato - 1 chopped finely
Red chilli powder
Salt to taste (I used 1 spoon)
Oil - 5 spoons
Mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
Jeera - 1/4 teaspoon

Method of preparation
This is a simple curry. Can be done by even bachelors also. Add oil to kadai and after the oil is heated then add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add jeera to it. Add bhendi and let it fry nicely. Add salt to it (around 1 tea spoon). Once the tangleness of bhendi goes, add the tomato and then red chilli powder also. Your curry is ready.

Note: Add some yogurt like 1 or 2 spoons to make the bhendi detangle fast.

Chinthakaya Pachadi

2012-05-02T13:36:00.001-04:00

(Took lot of break for posting this ... but finally did)
I loved when one of my colleague actually got this for lunch. I loved it so much, that I had to ask for recipe and share with you all. Her version ( I do not know the name), was much spicy and yummy tooo but since I use less green chillies the taste came out to be a little different. Here goes the yummy pachadi recipe:

Ingredients
Chintakaya paste - 3-4 spoons (generally we get it from india - green chintakaya paste)
Garlic (few pods)
Red chillies
Green chillies
Peanuts
Sesame seeds
Salt to taste
Mustard seeds
Jeera(Cumin seeds)
Dhaniya powder/seeds
Asafoetida
Curd
Tamarind - little bit (soaked and get thick water of it)
Curry leaves

Method of preparation
Dry roast the peanuts, sesame seeds and red chillies.
Grind green chillies, garlic, sesame seeds, peanuts and red chillies.
Add the Chintakaya paste, curd, tamarind liquid and grind together. Add salt as needed and very little water for it to grind and mix thoroughly.

In a pan, add some oil. Add dhaniya, mustard seeds (let them splutter), jeera, and curry leaves. Take a small bowl with little water and add asafoetida to it. Mix it and then add it to the above and close the lid. After couple of minutes add the grinded paste from above. Cook for about 5 - 10 minutes until the oil leaves the sides of hte pan or floats on top. Enjoy it !!!!

Aloo Bajji's/ Potato Fritters

2012-04-03T14:14:00.002-04:00

I am sure every kid will love it..... even lot of elders too, except when they are watching their weight or trying to look for healthy stuff. I can be sure that once in a while it is ok to have some fun stuff. Especially food like bajjis. I remember that one of my husband's uncle make awesome potato bajji's. Although these are not that range.. but are definitely worth and try and easy and simple to use. When there's a party or somebody coming over for chai.... these are best company. So no more talking only reciping...... haha

Ingredients

Potato - Peeled and chopped into thin slices ( you can use a mandolin to do that, but I find it easier and thinner when done with hand and knife :) )

Besan (Chick pea flour)

Red chilli powder

Salt to taste

Ajwain/Jeera - little bit

Water - to mix the batter

Oil to deep fry

Sooji (Semolina ) - 1-2 spoons (this brings the crispy nature of fritters)

Method of preparation

Mix besan, red chilli powder, salt and little jeera (I used jeera powder). Add water to it and mix it like a paste (the consistency should be little thin than the paste so that it sticks to the potato pieces when dipped but not too thick that it coats like a thick layer).

Dip the potato pieces in the besan mixture made above. make sure there is batter on both sides of the potato and put it in the hot oil.

Deep fry till it is lightly golden and drain it on a paper tissue. Serve hot with any sauce or ketchup. Enjoy !!!

Pine-Berries Smoothie

2012-03-29T21:25:00.001-04:00

This was not my idea of making juice..... but once I tasted a lady doing at Whole foods... and yummy without sugar in it (fresh juice), I was amazed. Since it was healthy and yummy I had to do it at home and make my kids get used to it slowly. So that they get all good things from fruits. The recipe is simple and nothing much to do with it. Here goes my recipe for making this Pine Berries juice.

Ingredients

Ice

Strawberries - 1 cup

Blueberries - 1 and 1/2 cup

Pineapple - 1 cup (if ripe then it is very good)

Orange juice - 1/2 cup (I had orange carrot juice so I used it, its good it you have no pulp). This is to just give it little liquid instead of adding water or milk and a good taste too.

Yummy Yummy ingredients picture in blender with ice.

Method of preparation
Add cubes to the blender first and use the ice button to crush it. Now after the ice is little crushed, add all the fresh cleaned fruits from above and blend it. Your juice is ready once they are crushed and ready like juice/smoothie. I wanted to use the blackberries also, but could not find them at the aisles where I went for shopping. So next time may be I will use them also. But this smoothie is full of anti-oxidents and healthy stuff. Try it and let me know...... oh .... make sure your pine apple do not have any of the thorns of sharp stuff on them because we do not need to filter it also. Enjoy !!!!.....

Our breakfast juice ready for today.... one for me and one for my husband along with two small cups for my kids. for you.... a visual feast :).

Poori with Aloo kurma

2012-03-08T14:08:00.000-05:00

The moment you hear the combination, it at least reminds me of the back home breakfast. When you are outside, especially in a hill station or somewhere ..... having poori and aloo kura at outside hotel ... hmmmm very yummy. Yesterday, my husband asked me to do it in general way and not my way. So I started looking for recipes of the Aloo kurma just to see... what else I see different. Since I have to do it Nut Free (to give it as lunch to my preschooler son- his preschool is nut free facility), I was checking multiple recipes. Found out that the base ingredients that reminds me or anybody else when you say Kurma is Poppy seeds and coconut (gasagasalu & kobbari). So sorry my dear husband, he has to go in my way only except I added yogurt and tomato for a little sour flavor of it. Tasted good and was finished too. Am happy about that, and my kids loved it too. Nothing is more satisfying than... to realize that you made something and it got finished after everybody ate it. So no more gossip and here goes my recipe for Poori and aloo kurma.
oh ... btw I am going to add a new tag as Nut free recipes, so that people who are allergic to nuts can use it to make it. shh..... go and read more on the recipe now.

Poori

Ingredients
Roti floor(Wheat floor)
Water
Oil for deep frying

Method of preparation
This is the picture of poori presser I used. you can use the poori presser or do the regular one with belan.

Press the poori's just as you would do for a roti but do it with a little oil and very smaller round. Once they are done, deep fy them by putting them in hot oil and lightly pressing them until they are like a blow into round globe.Turn the poori gently on the other side and after couple of seconds remove it and drain it on a paper towel. You poori is ready to serve.

Aloo kurma

Ingredients
Potato's - 5
Onions - 1 big - chopped finely
Oil - 4 spoons (my table spoons are the regular spoons with which we eat)
Tomato - 1 big - chopped finely (Optional)
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tablespoon
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tea spoon
Yogurt - 1/4 cup or 3 spoons (modify according to your taste)
Red chilli powder - 1 tea spoon
Garam masala - 1 tea spoon
Coriander powder - 1 tea spoon
(Adjust the masala's according to your taste)
Grind to paste
Gasagasalu (Poppy seeds) - 1/2 tea spoon
Coconut (grated - I used frozen version) - 1/2 cup
Water (enough to make paste)
Add very little water initially so that the poppy seeds give out a foamy flavor of water, then add more if required and run the blender again.

Method of preparation
Add oil to a kadai and after it is hot enough add the cumin seeds, then immediately onions. Now add the ginger garlic paste and let the raw smell of all go away. Add the potatos, pinch of turmeric and tomatos too. Let them get cooked. Now add the poppy seeds and coconut paste. If needed add a little water and rest of the ingredients including salt. Let me cook covered for couple of minutes and your curry is ready to go with the Poori. Garnish with fresh Coriander for nice look and taste. Enjoy !!!

Kalakand

2012-02-13T12:54:00.001-05:00

This is another recipe from Hema (Cousin). I tried it yesterday at lalitha puja at my co-sister home and it came out well. Except for the quantity was small... I am happy that it all got finished. So here goes the recipe I did and mostly from Hema.

Ingredients
Milk - 1/2 gallon (for making Channa/Paneer)
Milk - 1/2 gallon [I used half and half for making my life easy. Use less milk if you are using half and half or thick milk(from my experience). If you are using regular milk, then use 1/2 gallon].
Sugar - Equal amount as paneer made from step 1.
Cardamom powder - 1/2 spoon or depends on your choice

Method of preparation
1) First step is to prepare channa or paneer. To do that, take a deep vessel and bring the milk to boil. Add little lemon/vinegar for milk to break. Do not turn off heat, but keep stirring for few more seconds. This will make the fat content of milk and water to seperate out. Drain the water and squeeze the extra water. I strained it using a thin strainer and made it stay for few more minutes and that let the excess water also out.

2) Now take the milk (or half and half) and put it on the stove, let the milk become half in quantity. Keep stirring at very regular intervals because you do not want to have the milk stick to bottom.

3) Once the milk is thick enough or reduced to half, add the paneer made in step 1 to it. Now keep mixing and stirring until it is kind of solid or thick enough for making it as a pieces. Make sure you have the stove on high heat and stir rigorously to avoid the lumps falling on you.

4) Once the milk is almost ready , now add the sugar to it and mix it. This will be again a couple more minutes of mixing and once it is closely ready, turn off heat, add little rose water (optional) and cardamom powder to it. spread it in a dish and after few minutes, cut it into shapes you like. You can also make it into round shapes as laddoo and serve them in cup cake wrapper (Suggested by Hema).

Hope you try the recipe and enjoy the delicious taste....

(will post pics when I make next time, as I could not take some this time)

Happy Sankranthi

2012-01-16T09:22:00.001-05:00

Happy Sankrathi to all the viewers of this Blog....

My first ever Bommala koluvu at my home.

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-03T11:19:00.000-05:00

Many more wishes for a new, joyous and happy new year. This is the first time I made the cake with frosting/decoration. Decoration was simple and light from my side. I have added whipped cream and had melted little chocolate to write "Happy New Year: and the lines in between. Cherries and chocolate chips made the rest of the decoration. Hope you all have a wonderful new year.

Mysore Pak

2011-12-14T11:33:00.002-05:00

My husband loves the Mysore Pak which my MIL does. He used to always praise it a lot. Frankly the first time I tried out of frustration, it turned out hard like rock. But eventually I tried to learn from her on how to do them and the second attempt it was much much better and it even tasted like the Mysore pak which she does (better than the sweet shop version). She told me some tricks and tips which might help do it. Thank you to my MIL for this great recipe. I took pictures while she was making it and I tried to follow them when I forgot.

Ingredients

Besan - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 and 1/2 cup

Ghee - 2 cups (you might not use it that much, but better to get extra)

Method of preparation

Take besan and add a little ghee to it (around 1-2 spoons). Mix it up with hand as much as you can.

Take a bowl with high edges and add sugar to it. Add very little water (2-3 spoons,may be little more). Mix it with spatula (in between) until the sugar dissolves. ( This will take approximately 1 minute)

Once the sugar dissolves and is ready, you will see bubbles forming in the sugar syrup.

This is the stage you should add the Besan to it. If they form small rounds also, please do not worry about it. Just keep stirring and the besan and sugar syrup will mix like a paste. (This should take less than a minute)

At this point, add hot ghee to it. Little by little and keep stirring.

The mixture will rise up in the heating bowl. Add Ghee slowly little by little and keep stirring.

keep stirring continuously. Once the mixture starts leaving the ghee.Stop adding ghee and transfer everything into a greased plate or cake pan.

After a minute or two, make the markings for the shapes with knife(or butter knife).

After the mysore pak is cooled down, remove the pieces and store them in a air tight container. You can also serve them immediately while they are warm too. The warm pieces melt in mouth like butter/cream. Enjoy !!

Note:A visual picture will help out make a good mysore pak.

(1) Make sure the besan is of good quality, otherwise mysore pak taste will not be good. I am not sure of how to test the besan quality but will post any help which I know soon.

(2) You can also add vegetable oil instead of Ghee in this. Taste might differ a little.

(3) Ghee should be warm/hot in the whole prcess. So you will be having two stoves on, one for ghee and other for the sugar syrup.

(4) Stirring continuously is the trick to make a good mysore pak. Also you need to know the exact timing on when to add the ingredients.

Coming up: Rava laddoo recipe from my counsin's aunt. This recipe will have the sugar syrup usage and consistency of sugar syrup and its testing on the level of it. The sugar syrup consistency made is really useful to make any kind of laddoo.

Spring onion Cheese Dosa

2011-12-12T16:10:00.000-05:00

Bored of doing same old regular dosas or masala dosa, I tried this new one for my kids. For my surprise they loved it so much that they ate for two days as their lunch in the weekend.

All you need to have for making this dosa is, dosa batter, shredded cheese, spring onions chopped. Make the dosa as usual and then add cheese and spring onions to it. Once you have one side cooked, it is upto you to turn the dosa to other side and cook it. If you want the color and taste of cheese like below (brown), then I would suggest turn it other side too. It tastes good, even if you did just like regular dosa.

Try this out and let me know if you like it......

Tricolor Capsicum Rice

2011-12-12T16:03:00.000-05:00

Ingredients
Capsicum (Green, Orange/yellow, Red) - 1 of green color, and 1/2 of other colors.
Red onions - 1 chopped lengthwise
Biryani masala - 1 spoon
Cashews - fried , a fistful (Optional)
Rice - Uncooked 2 cups
Bay leaves - 2 no.
Cinnamon sticks - 2 small
Oil - 3-4 spoons

Method of preparation
1) Take a kadai and add oil to it. Fry the cashews and keep aside.
2) Add bay leaves and Cinnamon sticks. Now add the red onions and fry. Add capsicum to the above also.
3) Add biryani masala and salt to it.Stir up the ingredients.
4) Add rice to it. If you are adding cooked rice, then let the capsicum cook completely before adding rice. If you are planning to add raw rice, then transfer the mixture to the rice cooker and add enough water, until rice is cooked. You can enjoy either way. Your yummy tri-capsicum rice is reay.

Carrot Moong dal

2011-11-18T12:57:00.000-05:00

Ingredients
Carrot - 2 no. grated
Red onion - 1/2 finely chopped
Tomato - 1/2 finely chopped
Moong dal - 1/2 cup
Water - sufficiant to cook moong dal (I use almost 2 cups)
Green chillies
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 spoons
Mustard seeds - 1/4 spoon
Cumin seeds - 1/4 spoon
Coriander powder (optional) - 1/2 spoon
Turmeric - 1/4 spoon

Method of preparation
Soak moong dal before. If you do not have that much time, then soak moong dal in water and microwave it for a minute or two. Take a kadai and add oil to it. Add mustard seeds and after they splutter add jeera(cumin seeds to it). Now add green chillies, asafoetida ( a pinch), curry leaves (optional) and then red onions. Once onions are slightly done add the grated carrot and then moong dal and add sufficiant water. Cover and cook for couple of minutes only. Remove the cover and let the moong dal cook completely. Add turmeric, salt and coriander powder to it and mix. Add coriander leaves and your dish is ready to serve.

Green Vankaya Curry (Green Eggplant)

2011-11-13T14:11:00.000-05:00

Ingredients
Green eggplant - chopped lengthwise into 2 inch pieces
Red onions - 1 chopped lengthwise
Tomato (Optional) - 1/2 chopped into big pieces
Oil - 2 spoons
Salt to taste
Red chilli powder
Jeera - 1/2 spoon

Method of preparation:
Take a kadai and add oil to it. Once it is hot add jeera to it. As I used red onions, I added both onions and eggplant at the same time to the oil and cook it for 2 minutes. Add salt, turmeric, red chilli powder to it. Once everything is cooked, turn off stove and serve it hot with rice or roti.

Note:

Green eggplants cook very fast. so be careful and not let it cook too much.

Dondakaya Kandipodi kura/Tindora Chutney powder Curry

2011-11-13T13:45:00.003-05:00

Ingredients
Tindora - 1 packet from frozen or lengthwise cut fresh tindora's
Red chilli powder - 1/2 spoon or depending upon your chilli powder and your spice levels
Salt to taste
Oil - 4 spoons
Mustard seeds - 1/2 spoon
Jeera - 1/2 spoon
Chutney powder - enough to cover all the tindora's or 4 spoons

Method of preparation
Add oil in kadai. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add jeera and then tindora. Add turmeric and salt to it and let it cook. Once it is almost cooked add red chilli powder to it. When it is almost time to turn off the stove, add the chutney powder and mix it thoroughly so that the tindora's are covered with chutney powder. Remove from stove and transfer to a serving bowl.

Spinach Carrot Rice

2011-11-13T09:31:00.001-05:00

I got this idea from my co-sister Gayatri. I loved it so much that I tried it in my own way and I make it almost whenever I can. This rice is healthy, yummy and fast to make. So here goes my recipe

Ingredients
Spinach - 1 bunch
Carrot - 2 peeled and grated
Red onions - 1 big Chopped finely
Biryani pulao masala - 1 spoon
Cinnamon Sticks - 2 no.s
Bay leaves - 3 no.s
Cooked rice - 2 cups
Oil - 2/3 spoons
Salt to taste
Method of preparation
Add oil to kadai and let it heat. Once it is hot, add cinnamon sticks and bay leaves. Add onions to it until they turn translucent. Since I used red onions, I added grated carrot and spinach also at the same time. Once everything is cooked (it would not take much time, probably 2 minutes), add salt and biryani masala. Mix it thoroughly. Now add the rice to it and serve hot. You can add the fried onions on top as serving suggestion.
Enjoy ....

Aloo broccoli curry

2011-10-13T17:53:00.000-04:00

Ingredients
Potatos - 3 potatos
Broccoli - 2 cup
Tomato - 1/2 chopped
Oil - 2 spoons (Use olive oil for healthy reasons)
Mustard seeds - 1 spoon
Jeera /Cumin seeds - 1 spoon
Chana dal - 2 spoons
Turmeric - 1/4 spoon
Red chilli powder - 1 and 1/2 spoon (depending on the spice level of yours and your powder)
Salt - 1 spoon

Method of preparation
Take a kadai and add oil to it. Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add jeera and chana dal after it. Add the chopped potato and broccoli to it. cover and cook for 5 minutes. Broccoli and potatos both cook fast so check in between so that they do not stick to the pan. When the potatos and broccoli are almost done add rest of the ingredients. Add dhania powder also (optional). Your simple curry is ready to serve.

Semiya Payasam/Kheer

2011-10-08T23:13:00.000-04:00

I have the photos and recipe ready since many days but because of my laziness I kept postponing adding it to the blog. But here it goes: I hope lot of people knows the recipe already.

Ingredients
Semiya/Vermicelli - 1/4 cup or a fistful
Milk - 2 cups
Ghee - 2-3 spoons
Sugar - 5 spoons (adjust sugar quantity depending on your sweet levels)
Dry fruits (Cashew/Raisins/Badam/charoli,chaarapappu) - a fistful or according to your taste.
Badam powder/Cashew powder - one spoon each (optional)
Elaichi powder - 1/4 spoon

Method of preparation:
Take ghee in a kadai. Roast the dry fruits and keep it aside.

Now add semiya to rest of the ghee. Roast the semiya (this will make it cook faster and taste nicer). Add milk after the semiya is roasted.

Keep stirring in between until the semiya is cooked. Now add sugar. If the milk is at a stage of boiling, add dry fruits, dry fruits powder and elaichi powder to the payasam. Your payasam is ready to serve. You can serve it hot or cold according to your taste and timing.

Note:
1)You can get roasted semiya from store. In that case, you do not need to wait until the semiya turns brown or roasted. You can add milk after few seconds of adding the semiya.
2) Do not worry about the semiya quantity being added. After payasam is done, the mixture will solidify and you will feel like you have added more semiya.