Pearl Millet Laddoo / கம்பு உருண்டை

Ingredients: 

1. Pearl millet                                                 - 1 cup
2. Jaggery (karuppattti /vellam)                     - 200gms
3. Cardamom                                                  - 2 pieces
4. Channa dal(roasted gram/porikadalai)       - optional

How to prepare Pearl Millet Laddoo:

1. Fry the pearl millet in a kadai with no oil . When a nice aroma comes out, stop frying.
2. Keep it aside and let it cool down.
3. Prepare jaggery syrup by adding little water in jaggery and boiling it. Once the jaggery melts down and a thick syrup like consistency is obtained, put off the flame.
4.  Grind well the pearl millet which is brought to room temperature along with cardamom.
5. Add the jaggery syrup to it.
6. Make laddoos and a yummy,healthy snack is ready to serve!!!

Note:

      If jaggery syrup is added more and unable to make laddoos, some roasted gram can be powdered and added to it. 

Citrus Mint Punch!

Hot summer is coming up and get ready with thirst quenching recipes!!

Here I have a citrus mint punch to beat the heat.

Enjoy!! 

Ingredients:

1. Mint     - a handful
2. Lemon  - half
3. Sugar    - 2 tbsp.
4. Water    - 1 glass

How to Prepare:

1. Grind mint in one glass of water in a mixie jar and filter it.
2. Squeeze the lemon into it and add 2 tbsp. of sugar and mix well.
3. Ice cubes are optional.
4. Cool!!! Citrus mint punch is ready in seconds.

கேழ்வரகு/Raagi/Finger millet Dosa!!

A healthy diet keeps the doctor away!!

Let us know how to make Raagi dosa here.

Kids love this dosa while taken with coconut chutney or tomato chutney.

Ingredients used:

1. Raagi flour - 4 cups
2. Urad dhal  - 1 cup
3. Boiled rice - 1/2 cup (optional)
4. Salt to taste
5. Oil             - a few drops

How to prepare Raagi dosa:

•  Soak urad dhal for half an hour and grind it smoothly.
• If boiled rice is used, soak it for an hour and grind that too.
• Mix the raagi flour to the ground urad dhal and boiled rice.
• Add salt to taste.
• Ferment it overnight and Raagi dosa flour is ready the next day morning!!
• Heat a pan and spread the dosa flour on it.
• Add a few drops of oil on it.
• Once it is cooked well, turn to the other side.
• When other side too is done, raagi dosa is ready to serve.
• It tastes yummy with coconut chutney or tomato chutney.

கம்பு / Bajra Chappathi

We are a wheat loving family :) !!

And I used to try out recipes by mixing and matching wheat with other ingredients.

Thus came the கம்பு / Bajra Chappathi!!
Kids love it very much rather than bajra taken in porridge form...

Ingredients used :

•   Wheat flour -1 cup
•    Bajra flour - 1 cup
•    Salt to taste
•    Butter/Ghee/Oil - 1 tsp.

How to prepare Bajra chappathi:

1.    Mix wheat flour, bajra flour and salt with required amount of water and make dough as you prepare for regular wheat dough.
2. Knead the dough and leave it aside for 10 - 15 minutes.
3. Make small balls of it, dip them in dry wheat flour and roll the dough with a rolling pin.
4. Heat a pan and cook the chappathis by applying butter/ghee/oil on both sides.
5. Now the nutritious bajra chappathis are ready to serve.
6. It tastes better with coconut chutney!

Happy cooking!! :)

Vegetable Cutlet!

 

Ingredients:

1. Carrot       - 2
2. Beetroot     - 1/2
3. Peas         - a handful
4. Potato       - 3 (medium sized)
5. French beans - 2 (large)
6. Onion        - 1 (large)
7. Ginger       - a little
8. Garlic       - a little
9. Green chilly - 1
10. Cashew nuts   - a few
11. Breadcrumbs  - a bowl
12. Maida        - 2 tsp.
13. Corn flour   - 2 tsp.
14. Salt         - to taste
15. Garam masala - 3/4 tsp.
16. Chilly powder- 3/4 tsp.
17. Oil          - a little

How to prepare the vegetable cutlet:

 

1. Bake the potatoes, mash them well and keep it aside.
2. Cut carrot, beetroot, french beans into small pieces and steam them with peas.
    Cook well and keep them aside.
3. Cut onion, ginger, garlic and green chilly into small pieces.
4. In a frying pan, add two tsp. of oil and fry ginger, garlic, green chilly and onion.
5. Add the steam cooked vegetables and fry the mixture well.
6. Add garam masala, chilly powder and salt to taste and fry well.
7. At last add the mashed potatoes and cashew nuts into it and mix well. Keep it aside until it comes to room temperature.
8. In another bowl, add maida and corn flour and make a thin paste by adding water.
9. Have breadcrumbs ready in a plate.
10.Make the vegetable stuff into small balls and flatten them.
11.Dip them into the maida -cornflour paste and then to the breadcrumbs and keep aside.
12.In a tawa/dosa pan, add a little oil and place the cutlet on it once oil gets heated.
13.Let the cutlet fry on both sides.
14.Get ready to taste the hot, delicious cutlet made in a few minutes.
15.Cutlets are best served with tomato sauce.

Dhoodh Peda / பால் கோவா

I was thinking for a long time to prepare a milk-sweet recipe and here I go with 

one of my favourite Dhoodh peda/ Paal kova !!

Ingredients :

1. Milk   - 1/2 litre
2. Sugar - 12 tsp.

Cooking time : 1 hour and 20 minutes
        

How to do Dhoodh peda/ Paal kova:

1. Boil the milk in a vessel.
2. Simmer the flame once the milk gets boiled and then keep stirring for an hour time.
3. The milk turns yellowish color and gets thickened.
4. Now add sugar to it and stir well.
5. Keep stirring till the milk gets thickened as seen in the picture.

I heard this simple to do delicious recipe from one of my friends..
Try this out and enjoy the recipe!

Beet root Halwa !

A sweet to delight :)

Ingredients:

1. Beet root -3 medium sized
   
2. Sugar      - 1 cup
3. Ghee       - 2 tsp.
4. Milk        - 1 cup
5. Cashew nuts - a few
6. Badam          - a few
7. Besan flour  - 2 tsp.
   

How to prepare beet root halwa:

1. Cut beet root into small pieces and boil in milk. 
2. Grind the ingredients into paste and pour it in a kadai.
3. Add sugar, ghee and stir well for 20 - 25 minutes till the beet root is cooked well. 
4. Add besan flour to it and stir for another 5 mins.
   
5. Finally, roast cashew nuts and badam in ghee and add to halwa.
6. The halwa is served hot or cold.
   

Curd Rice!

Wishing you all a Happy New Year :)

I am starting this new year with a simple, delicious dish... Curd Rice...

Ingredients:

1. Mustard - 3/4 tsp.
2. Urad dal - 1 tsp.
3. Curry leaves - a few
4. Grated carrot - 1
5. Cucumber - 1/2 diced 
6. Ginger - a little grated
7. Green chillies - 2
8. Chopped corainder leaves - a few
   
9. Curd - 3/4 glass
10. Milk - 1 glass
    
11. Oil - 3 tsp.
12. Salt to taste
13. Cooked rice - 3 cups

How to do the Curd Rice:

1. In a kadai, add oil and heat. When oil gets heated, add mustard, urad dal and curry leaves. 
2. Once mustard starts bursting, add ginger, green chillies, carrot and fry well. 
3. Add salt to taste. Keep it aside.
   
4. To the cooked rice, add curd, milk and the fried ingredients immediately before the hot steam from rice disappears and mix well. Add sufficient milk till the rice gets mixed well.
   
5. Coriander leaves are added finally.
6. Serve hot with avakai pickle and enjoy the yummy food and pictures! :)
   

விநாயகர் சதுர்த்தி/Vinayagar chadhurthi special kolukattai!

It is a custom that we offer Modagam/Kolukattai to Lord Vinayaga on His birthday, "Vinayagar chadhurthi"(விநாயகர் சதுர்த்தி) . Let us see an easy to do, delicious kolukattai here.

Ingredients:

1. Readymade Idiyappam flour - 2 cups
2. Salt to taste
3. Hot water

For Pooranam:

1. Chana dal - a little (soaked in water for three hours and then boiled)
2. Karuppatti/Jaggery/Sugar
3. Coconut grated - 1/2 cup

How to prepare:

1. Add a little salt to Idiyappam flour and then mix it well with hot water to dough.
2. Chana dal, karuppatti and coconut are all mixed together to get what we call it the pooranam.
3. A lemon sized Idiyappam flour is taken and cup shape is given. A little of the pooranam is placed at the centre and then is covered fully with the idiyappam flour.
4. The shape should look like a bulb of garlic.
5. Steam the kolukattai as we do for idli and your delicious kolukattai is ready in a few minutes.
   

May Lord Ganapathi give you success in all that you do! Happy Vinayagar Chadhurthi !

Methi / Fenugreek leaves (வெந்தய கீரை) Chappati!

A slight variation in preparing methi leaves chappati compared to methi leaves dosa.

Ingredients:

1. Wheat flour - 1 cup
2. Methi leaves - a handful amount
3. Red chillie powder - 1tsp.
4. Cumin seed powder - 1tsp.
5. Ginger garlic paste - 1tsp.
6. Salt to Taste

How to Prepare:

1. Mix all the ingredients by adding water and knead the dough for a few minutes.
2. Leave it for an hour.
3. Make small balls, smear them with dry flour and roll them out on a rolling board.
4. Put the chappati on the heated pan and turn both the sides every one minute till it gets roasted well.
5. Enjoy the hot, delicious chappati with pudina chutney or any other gravy that goes fine with chappati.
   

Methi / Fenugreek leaves (வெந்தய கீரை) Dosa!

Fenugreek leaves are enriched with minerals like potassium, calcium, and iron. Fresh leaves comprises 3 to 5 % of protein. The Vitamin K from fenugreek greens are comparable to spinach. Though these leaves taste bitter, they boost cooking flavour. Here let us enjoy our dosa prepared with methi leaves.

Ingredients:

1. Dosa flour - 1 cup
2. Methi leaves - a handful amount
3. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
4. Red chillie powder - 1 tsp
5. Turmeric powder - a pinch
6. Cumin seeds powder - 1/2 tsp.
7. Salt to taste
8. Chopped tomato and capsicum to garnish (optional)

How to Prepare:

1. Mix the chopped methi leaves with the dosa flour.
2. Add asafoetida, red chillie powder, turmeric powder, cumin seeds powder and salt to taste and mix well.
3. Pour it on dosa pan and spread it out to a dosa.
4. Tomato and capsicum can be used to garnish finally.
5. Tasty, healthy dosa is ready in a few minutes.
6. Serve hot with coconut or pudina(mint leaves) chutney.

Note: Methi leaves and their seeds act as a good appetizer and hair tonic.

Palak(spinach) Gosht!

Remember Popeye eating spinach and gaining super energy? Yes, because Palak (Spinach) is an excellent source of many vitamins like K, A, B, E and C, manganese, folate, magnesium, iron, calcium and potassium. Also, it is a very good source of dietary fiber, copper, protein, phosphorus and zinc. Additionally it is known to be a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, niacin and selenium. And mutton is a great source of protein, niacin, vitamin B, and iron. Shall we get ready to prepare a mouth watering dish - Palak Gosht with these nutritious resources?

Ingredients:

1/4 kg of mutton
6 bunches of spinach(palak)
2 tomatoes
2 onions
Ginger (grated)
Fresh coriander leaves
2 black peppercorns
1 tsp. of coriander powder
1 tsp. of red chilli powder
1 1/2 tsp. ginger paste
1 1/2 tsp. garlic paste
4 tsp. cooking oil
salt to taste

How to prepare:

1. Add 2 - 3 tsp. of oil in a pressure pan and heat. Add the grated ginger, black peppercorns and a small part of chopped onions to the oil and fry the onions for a few seconds.
2. Add the meat, a little salt and enough water. Close the pressure pan and allow the meat to cook until soft.
3. Once meat is cooked, drain out the water and keep aside as stock.
4. In another pan, heat the remaining oil. Add the remaining chopped onions and fry till light brown.
5. Add salt, coriander powder, red chilli powder, ginger paste, garlic paste and chopped coriander. Fry this mix thoroughly till oil leaves the sides of the pan.
6. Add tomatoes and spinach and a little of the meat-stock that you had kept aside. Cook until the tomatoes and spinach is done and the water has dried up. If necessary, add more of the stock to get a gravy.
7. Add the cooked meat to this mixture and stir fry till oil leaves the sides of the pan. Simmer for a while and garnish with chopped coriander.

Hmm....yummy! you will hear when it is served hot with chapati or rice. I tried this and had a great lunch!

Poha!

Poha is famous in Maharashtra a bit similar to our TamilNadu special Idli upma. Low in fats and carbohydrate, and high in fiber and vitamins, this is a perfectly nutritious snack to savour with tea any time of the day.

Ingredients:

1. Poha (puffed rice flakes) - 2 cups
2. Onion - 1
3. Ginger
4. Green chilly - 1
5. Lemon - half
6. Peanuts - 10 nos.
7. Curry leaves
8. Coriander leaves
9. Turmeric powder
10. Salt to taste

How to prepare:

1. Soak the poha in water for 15 seconds and drain it.
2. Take 2 tsp. of oil in a pan and add ginger, green chilly, peanuts, curry leaves, onion and fry well.
3. After the onion turns to golden brown, add turmeric powder and salt to taste.
4. Squeeze the lemon and mix.
5. At last add the poha and coriander leaves, mix well and serve hot.

Lemon Coriander Chicken

I tried this wonderful dish by viewing one of the television programs and it came out well!!

Ingredients:

1. Boneless Chicken (20 small pieces)
2. Cornflour - 1 tsp.
3. Maida - 1 tsp.
4. Egg - 1
5. White pepper
6. Onion - 1( chopped)
7. Garlic - 3
8. Green chillies - 2
9. Turmeric powder
10. Lemon juice - 2 tsp.
11. Coriander leaves - 1 cup
12. Spring onion (green portion)
13. Ajno motto and salt to taste

How to prepare:

1. Heat oil in pan.
2. To the chicken pieces taken in a vessel, add egg, cornflour, maida, white pepper, salt, ajnomotto and mix well.
3. Deep fry the chicken in oil till it turns golden brown.
4. Cut the chicken pieces again into two.
5. In another pan, add 2 tsp of oil, onion, garlic, green chillies and fry.
6. Then add a little turmeric powder, lemon juice, salt, white pepper, ajnomotto,coriander leaves and fry well.
7. At last the cut chicken pieces and spring onions are added and mixed well.
8. Serve hot in a plate.