My experiments with food

My Veranda Gardening ~ Jasminum Sambac - Grand Duke

2011-07-09T07:19:00.000-07:00

Jasmine Flower from my patio garden

Garlicky Chickpea Butternut squash

2011-03-15T09:16:00.000-07:00

Butternut Squash-Chickpea curry

This winter I tried all available squash varieties and finally my vote goes to the lovely orange colored butternut squash. To me this resembles my favorite sweet potato with it's mild sweetness. I tried it in soups, muffins and curries and this recipe stood as the winner.

Butternut squash Chickpea Curry with Garlic

Ingredients:2 cups chopped butternut squash
1 cup chickpeas soaked for atleast 8 hours
1 onion chopped fine
4 green chillies
4 large/8 small garlic cloves peeled
Oil, mustard, cumin for tadka/popu
1/2 tsp chole masala (you can also use roasted cumin powder instead),salt to taste
Preparation:Drain water and cook chickpeas with little salt and enough water, drain and set aside.
Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel and do the tadka/popu.
Then add garlic fry for 1 or 2 minutes on medium flame until they become light brown on the outside.
Add onion and chillies fry well, add butternut squash, cook covered on medium flame for 10 minutes or until soft to touch. Add cooked chickpeas and your choice of masala, salt, mix well, cook for 5 more minutes. Switch off flame and serve with chapathi.

Note: If you want this as a gravy, save drained water from cooked chickpeas and add along with chickpeas to the curry. Mash some of the chickpeas lightly with a wooden spoon. This makes excellent gravy for chapathi/rice.

Spiced-Banana Bread

2011-02-22T09:02:00.000-08:00

Banana Bread ~ for blog's first anniversary

Hello Friends/reades I'm back. Life's been hectic with work. Today my blog's first anniversary and I don't want to miss posting on this special day. I hope I will be regular from now on.
To celebrate this, I made banana bread. This is low in fat with addition of orange juice and honey instead of loads of butter or oil. I adapted this recipe from a low fat cookbook.

Recipe:1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp mixture of cardamom and cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup brown sugar
Sift the flour with spices and baking soda. Add brown sugar and keep aside
To the above add:3 tbsp orange juice
1 1/2 tbsp oil
1 egg
1 1/2 banana mashed well
2 tbsp clear honey
Mix everything well. Pre heat oven to 350 F, grease 8x4 baking tin. Pour the mixture and bake for about 35 to 40 minutes until it bounces back when you press lightly.

My Ganesha

2010-09-10T16:42:00.000-07:00

My Ganesha with clay

I made Ganesha with clay to celebrate Vinayaka Chaviti tomorrow. Bojja Ganapayya is basking in afternoon sunshine on patio and dreaming about his share of kudumulu and pala taalikala payasam tomorrow he is going to enjoy. Happy Vinayaka Chaviti to all my friends and readers.

Happy Varalakshmi Puja

2010-08-20T12:04:00.000-07:00

~Naivedyam to Amma

Happy Varalakshmi Vratam to all my readers.

My Veranda Gardening ~ Pink Chrysanthemum

2010-07-21T16:06:00.000-07:00

Flower arrangement with home grown flowers

Couscous Pulao (err) Upma

2010-06-28T12:05:00.000-07:00

I started making upma with couscous, but ended up adding few more ingredients which I usually add in pulao recipe (like soya chunks and mixed vegetables), hence the title. This is very quick and easy to prepare and can be substituted for rice.
Ingredients:
1/3 cup dry whole wheat couscous
1 cup chopped vegetables (roughly) like carrot, beans, radish and corn
fistful of soya chunks, keep them in hot water for 5 minutes
3 green chillies chopped
1/2 onion chopped
1" ginger chop fine
few curry leaves
1/4 cup peanuts(optional)
1/8 cup bengal gram (optional)
2 tsp oil
salt to taste
mustard and cumin for tadka

Preparation:
Heat oil in kadai. Add mustard and cumin, when they pop add peanuts and bengal gram, fry for few minutes.
Add onion, green chillies, ginger and curry leaves, fry until onion turns to translucent.
Then add chopped vegetables and soya chunks fry for some time, add 11/2 cups of water and close with a lid.
When the water starts boil add salt and couscous stir well, cover and cook until done. Serve with any chutney.

Oats~Strawberry Halwa

2010-06-24T15:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was browsing some blogs and seeing all the drool worthy pics, I wanted to have something sweet immediately. So decided to make halwa with oats and pretty satisfied with the result. I have coarsely powdered steel cut oats and used, if you are using rolled oats you can directly use them.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup steel cut oats (powdered coarsely)
3 large strawberries (chop fine into small pieces yields 1/2 cup)
1/2 to 1 tbsp ghee
1/3 to1/2 cup sugar (depends on your preferred sweetness)
Cardamom powder a pinch (optional)
3/4 cup water or as per requirement
Preparation:
In a heavy bottomed kadai/vessel heat ghee, add oats and fry on low flame. Then add chopped strawberries and fry, stirring frequently and mashing the berries with back of a spoon.
Add water and cook the oats until done. Add sugar and cook on medium flame taking care not to burn until the texture becomes like a thick mass.
Sprinkle cardamom powder and serve. Tasted great while warm.
Sending this to Nivedita's Celebrate Sweets: Halwa event.

Pani Puri/Gol Gappa~ICC May

2010-06-15T16:47:00.000-07:00

This month's ICC challenge given by Srivalli is Pani Puri. This is one of my favorite chat, making it on my own gave me so much pleasure. Here is the recipe for this most famous Indian street food.

For Puri:

1/2 cup semolina/suji

2 tbsp maida (Srivalli mentioned in tsp, but I couldn't make dough with that quantity so added little by little until I get a dough consistency)

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp baking powder (recipe calls for soda, but after reading some of feedbacks I opted baking powder)

salt to taste

Oil to deep fry

Add all the above ingredients and make a stiff dough. Keep covered with wet muslin cloth for half an hour. Take small pinch of dough and roll into small puris or you can make into large circle and then cut into small circles. Keep the puris under the muslin cloth until you finish all the dough. Heat oil in a kadai and drop the puris and fry until they puff and turn into golden brown, remove to a plate layered with tissue paper. Cool completely and store them in air tight container until you serve them.

For Filling (Lentil)

1 cup channa dal (soaked overnight and cooked with enough water)

1 tsp red chilli powder

1/4 tsp garam masala powder

salt

In a vessel add all the above ingredients and cook until you get nice aroma

For spicy water:

1 cup mint leaves chop fine

2 tbsp coriander leaves chop fine

small lemon size tamarind extract pulp

3 or 4 green chillies

1" ginger

1 tsp ground roasted cumin seeds

1 tsp black salt

salt to taste

Blend everything into a smooth paste adding little water. Keep in the refrigerator to chill. Add required water while serving.

For sweet red tamarind chutney

1 cup tamarind pulp

1/2 cup jaggery

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp roasted cumin

2 cloves roasted dry

1/4 tsp pepper powder

1 cup warm water

In a mortar make powder of cumin and cloves.

In a vessel, add tamarind, jaggery, sugar, chillie powder, cumin and cloves powder, pepper powder and boil on medium heat for 5 minutes. Switch off cool completely.

If it thickens add warm water.

Assembling:

With finger, poke a hole in the center of puri, add the lentil filling, some chopped onions, tamarind chutney, pour the spicy water (pani) and gulp it down and enjoy.

Spring Onion Mushroom Curry

2010-06-10T11:24:00.000-07:00

I like mushrooms and love to include them in different recipes. Today's recipe is with spring onions and added tomato to get nice color and flavor.

Ingredients: (1 serving)
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 tomato, chopped fine
2 or 3 spring onions chop fine
3 green chillies slit length wise
1 clove garlic
1 " ginger
1 tsp mustard and cumin seeds
pinch of turmeric powder
salt to taste

Preparation:
Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard and cumin seeds, when they splutter add green chillies, ginger and garlic.
Add spring onions fry for 2 minutes.
Add chopped tomato and fry until they turn mushy.
Add mushrooms, turmeric powder, mix well and fry on medium flame until they cook well.
Season with salt and serve hot with chapathi/rice.

TCM May 20-31 and Final Result

2010-06-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

May 20:
Breakfast: Sajja dosa 2 no with Allam chutney
Lunch: brown rice with dal
Dinner: 1/2 cup ravva upma
Snacks: Fruits (apple)

May 21:
Breakfast: Apple
Lunch: 1/2 cup pulihora
Snacks: Had small bowl of poha upma
Night: brown rice with palakura curry
Work out: 1 hour cardio and strength

May 22:
Breakfast: Brown rice dosa with allam chutney
Lunch: Brown rice with sambar
Dinner: Puri with beans fry and dal
workout: 1 hour yoga

May 23:
Breakfast: brown rice dosa with allam chutney and small bowl of sambar
Lunch: Rice with mushroom-pes fry and sambar
Snacks: small bowl of chow mein
Night: Had dinner at party
Workout: 75 minutes yoga.

May 24:
Brunch: Long grain rice with sambar
Snacks: 1/2 piece strawberry cake and tea
Night: Long grain rice with dal

May 25:
Breakfast: steel cut oats with berry compote
Lunch: Mixed vegetable rice with curd
Night: 1 naan and paneer kurma
Workout: 1 hour cardio with strength training

May 26:
Breakfast: oats with berries
Lunch: Mixed vegetable couscous
Snacks: Small bowl of mixed berries and cup of tea
Night: brown rice with rasam and beans fry
workout: 1 hour Zumba class

May 27:
Breakfast: Sprouts + 1 strawberry + 2 cherries, 1 cup tea
Snacks: small glass of strawberry smoothie
Lunch: Vegetable noodles
Night: Had small cup of rice
Workout: 1 hour strength training and 10 minutes cross ramp

May 28&29: Ususal brown rice with veggies. But had one serving of payasam made for prasadam.
Workout: Yoga and aerobics and lot of shopping walk.
May 30&31: Childhood friend with family came for a visit and no diet at all. Had good time with them. Thanks V,S and little S for coming.

Result:
I am so happy with this workout/Vratam. I lost some weight, more than that gained lot of positive strength both physically and emotionally. Gained control over food temptations. Made habit of eating healthy. Overall good workout. Thanks Kay and Indira for this lovely workout.

Protein Packed Breakfast

2010-05-27T12:40:00.000-07:00

I like sprouts a lot. If you follow my blog, you can notice that I used them with rice, in soup and with vegetables too. Being a vegetarian, it is very difficult for me to get recommended protein intake in my daily diet. Pulses/Legumes are my main source of protein and, I'd like to include sprouts often for nutritional balance. Here is a recipe I prepared for today's breakfast with mung sprouts.

Ingredients:
1/2 or 3/4 cup mung sprouts
1 small tomato chop fine
1/2 piece onion chop fine
2 green chillies slit length wise
pinch of dhaniya powder and garam masala powder
1 tsp oil
mustard and jeera for tadka/popu
salt and lemon juice to taste
Preparation:
In a skillet or vessel, heat oil and do the popu/tadka.
Add onion and chillies fry for 2 minutes.
Add tomato and fry for another 2 or 3 minutes.
Meanwhile in a microwave bowl take sprouts and add little over 1/4 cup of water and boil for 2 minutes. You can do this on stove top too. Make sure they do not turn into too soft to touch.
Add boiled sprouts, mix well, simmer for 2 more minutes. Season with powders, salt and lemon juice. Serve hot. You can add any fruits to the side for a healthy breakfast/snack.
Sending this to Twenty 20 event hosted by Niloufer.

TCM 11-19

2010-05-20T08:59:00.000-07:00

May 11th:
Breakfast: steel cut oats with mixed fruits
Lunch: Brown rice kitchidi
Snacks: 2 good day biscuits (was very hungry and good day packet tempted me) and apple
Night: small cup of veggie noodles

May 12th:
Breakfast: oats with berries and grapes
Lunch: bowl of Harvest grain mix upma with vegetables
Snack: 1 orange, 1/2 cup tea, 1 piece chikki
Night: 1 cup rice with beans fry
Work out: 1 hour Zumba at gym

May 13th:
Breakfast: oats with 1 cup mixed fruits (apple, berries, grapes)
Lunch: 1 cup brown rice kitchidi with charu and curd
Snack: 1 apple, 2 biscuits :(, 1/2 cup tea
Night: Moong dal dosa
Workout: 1 hour step aerobics in the morning, 20 minutes walk in the evening

May 14th:
Breakfast: Half apple+handful grapes
Lunch: 2 brown rice idli, 1/2 cup brown rice with sambar
Snack: was very hungry by evening, had 1/2 cup brown rice with sambar and 1 rasmalai (made for ICC-April), 1/2 cup tea
Night: 2 brown rice idli, 1/4 cup brown rice with sambar and 2 tbsp curd
Workout: 75 minutes yoga

May 15th:
Breakfast: Veggie atta noodles small bowl
Lunch: Was busy with some stuff, so had lunch at Souplantation. Whenever I want to eat out as well as healthy food (hmm rare combo) I prefer this place. I had a big bowl of salad with low fat dressing, tomato soup and, fruits. But at the end had one chocolate brownie :(
Night: 1/2 cup pulihora
Workout: 1 hour yoga session at gym.

May 16th to My 18th: No diet as I was busy with important stuff but was successful with portion control.

May 19th: Fruits throughout the day. Chickpea salad at night.
Workout: 1 hour zumba class and 20 minutes cross-ramp at gym.

Rasmalai-ICC April

2010-05-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

This month Srivalli has given Rasmalai for Indian Cooking Challenge. Though the process looks so complicated and long, once I started the preparation I thoroughly enjoyed it. With all the instructions, the process became very easy. Because of time constraint, I made some changes to the preparation with ideas I got from other sources.
Srivalli's recipe:
3 liter milk (2 for paneer and 1 for rabdi or milk syrup)
vinegar 3 tbsp
Water 5 cups
sugar 16 tbsps, maida 1 tsp
Cardamom 2 and pistachios for garnishing (10), saffron 8 pieces

For small quantity, Srivalli suggested1 lt milk+3 cups milk, so I reduced all ingredients to half.
Here goes my quantity,
1 lt milk (for paneer) + 3 cups milk for rabdi
4 tbsp sugar (for sugar syrup) + 5 tbsp sugar (for rabdi)
2 tsp cardamom powder
juice of 4 key limes (approximately 1 to 2 tbsp juice)
some ice cubes

Preparation:
Rabdi/ras preparation:
Boil 3 cups of milk in a heavy bottomed vessel until it reduces to half, stirring frequently, take care not to burn.
Add sugar and 1 tsp cardamom powder and keep aside.
Paneer preparation:
In another vessel, boil 1 lt milk. When it is boiling add diluted lime juice.
When it curdles add ice cubes immediately inorder to stop the curdling process. This ensures soft paneer.
Filter the whey water using muslin cloth and hang it for 1 hour.
After 1 hour, press the muslin cloth to remove all the water. take the paneer into a bowl, mix with hand as you prepare chapati dough at least for 5 minutes. This step is very important, it will help the paneer not to crack while boiling in sugar syrup. The paneer should be soft and moisture free.
Make small balls in equal size, I got 7 balls.
Sugar syrup:
In a big vessel, take 11/2 to 2 cups water and add sugar and 1 tsp cardamom powder and bring it to boil. You can also use pressure cooker for this. Use big sized vessel as the paneer balls will be double in size upon boiling.
Add the paneer balls, cover and cook for 10 minutes. If using pressure cooker cook on slow flame for 2 whistles.
Remove the balls from syrup, press lightly to squeeze the excess water and drop into the prepared rabdi.
Chill in the refrigerator. Garnish with chopped pistachios while serving.
Notes: The amount of sugar can be increased if you prefer. Though I put the muslin cloth under tap water after filtering the whey water, the lemon flavor was there, it might be because I added little bit extra vinegar while making paneer. So next time I'll be careful with this. Now I'm confident enough to make this in large quantity next time. Thanks Srivalli for this recipe.
. . .

Brown rice Kitchidi

2010-05-13T16:31:00.000-07:00

Kitchidi is our family's favorite dish. Whenever I'm out of ides or feeling lazy to enter the kitchen I just prepare this. Kitchidi with brown rice tastes as excellent as with white rice.

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked brown basmati rice
1/2 cup split moong dal
2 medium size carrots, peeled and cubed
1/2 cup green peas (fresh/frozen)
3 green chillies
1" ginger, cut into small pieces
3 cardamom
1 bay leaf
1" cinnamon stick
2 tsp oil
3 cups water
salt to taste

Preparation:
Wash rice and dal.
Heat oil in heavy bottomed pan. Add cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaf and fry for few seconds. Add green chillies and ginger fry for 1 minute.
Add carrots and peas and fry for 2 more minutes.
In a pressure cooker/rice cooker, mix rice and dal. Add the carrots and peas mixture. Add water and salt. Close the lid and cook for 3 whistles/until done.
Serve with pachi pulusu and curd.

TCM/Jihva WV 6 to 10

2010-05-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

May 6th:
Breakfast: I did some kitchen cleaning, so had small bowl of Kashi cereal to finish it up.
Lunch: Bowl of Chickpeas with 1/4 cup of brown rice and 2 tbsp of home made curd
Snacks: Fistful of hazelnuts and 2 mango pieces, 1/2 cup tea sweetened with honey.
Night: Bowl of upma with harvest grains mix with 1 tbsp curd. I got to know this blend from Sreelu's blog.
Workout: Did lot of cleaning.

May 7th:
Breakfast: Oatmeal and berries
Lunch: 1/2 cup brown rice with sambar
Snacks: Was very hungry, so had a bowl of fruit pieces, apple+berries+grapes
Night: 1/2 cup rice with sambar
Workout: Did cleaning again

May 8th and 9th: No diet at all. Had friends over week end, was busy from Friday to Sunday. So no proper diet and sleep. Had a blast with friends.

May 10th: Fruits for breakfast, rice with dal and sambar for lunch and dinner. Was busy with friend's send off. Felt very tired and hit the bed by 9'o clock.

Spinach+Cabbage Chickpea

2010-05-06T13:12:00.000-07:00

Chickpea salad recipe is based on this recipe. Taste was excellent and when serve with curd, you can make a meal out of it.

Ingredients: (For 1 serving)
1/2 cup chickpeas soak overnight
1 cup packed spinach
1/2 cup shredded cabbage
1/2 onion
3 green chillies
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
salt and lime juice to taste
Preparation:
Cook the soaked chickpeas in a pressure cooker with enough water for 3 whistles. Wait until pressure is released and drain. Chop spinach, onion, and chillies.
In a cooking vessel, heat oil, add mustard and cumin. When they crack add onion and chillies fry for 2 or 3 minutes.
Add cabbage and fry for 2 more minutes.
Then add spinach and fry until they withered.
Add cooked chickpeas, mix well. Season with salt and lime juice and switch off.

Oatmeal with berry compote and TCM/JWV 3,4 and 5

2010-05-05T14:17:00.000-07:00

May 3rd:
Early morning: 1/2 lt hot water
Breakfast:1/2 glass acai berry juice and 3 strawberries
Small glass of Custard apple-Strawberry smoothie for mid morning snack
Lunch:1 cup brown rice with palakura pappu and cabbage fry with sprouts
Snack:1 guava and 1/2 cup tea sweetened with honey
Night: 2 small dosa with idli batter and 1 apple
( To finish up the idli batter, made dosa like small pancake).
Workout:
1 hour yoga class at gym

May 4th:
Early morning: 1/2 lt hot water
Breakfast: 1/2 glass acai berry juice and 1 guava
Lunch: 1 cup brown rice with watercress dal and beetroot fry
Snacks: Fistful of almonds and hazelnuts, 1/2 cup tea sweetened with honey
Night: 2 tbsp brown rice with lot of dal and beetroot fry
Workout: No

May 5th:
Early morning: 1/2 lt hot water and 1/2 of small glass of acai berry juice before going to gym
Breakfast: oatmeal with berry compote
Lunch: 1 bowl of oats bisibelabath with one appadam on side
Snack: 1 guava and tea sweetened with honey
Night: 1 bowl of chickpea with spinach and cabbage
Workout: 1 hour Zumba class

Oatmeal with berry compote: (adapted from Low GI Vegetarian Cookbook by Dr. Jennie)
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/8 cup steel cut oats
1/2 tsp flax seeds
1 tbsp chopped hazelnuts
handful of mixed berries fresh/frozen
yogurt to serve
Place oats in a sauce pan, add 2 cups of water and bring to boil. Simmer and cook for 20 minutes or until you get the desired consistency. Switch off and mix in flax seeds and hazelnuts. In a small pan heat the berries for 3 to 4 minutes on slow flame. Place the oatmeal in a bowl and top it with berries. Serve with yogurt.

Custard Apple-Strawberry-Mango Smoothie and Taking Charge in May (TCM)/Jihva WV

2010-05-03T15:47:00.000-07:00

This month I decided to participate in Kay's Taking charge of your health in May. You can also find details at Indira's Jihva Workout Vratham. I want to log the details as much as possible to keep myself on the track. I will post any interesting recipes I prepare/come across in this TCM journey.

Organic produce and wildflower honey

from Farmers market - for TCM

Here is a simple smoothie recipe I prepared for today's mid morning snack.

3 strawberries

1 custard apple

2 slices of mango and 1 tsp home made curd

Blend everything well in a blender and enjoy.

May 1st:

1 bowl of grapes and berries for breakfast. 3 small jonna roti with mango dal for lunch. 2 medium idli for dinner with small bowl of sambar. I think idli will not come under anti-inflammatory food category, will avoid next time.

May 2nd:

No breakfast as I woke up late, had brown rice pulao for lunch with 2 tbsp curd. 1/2 mango and 2 strawberries for dinner. The mangoes I bought at farmers market are so sweet that I couldn't resist myself. I'll definitely limit this from now.

Coming to the exercise, took break for 2 days as I had severe muscle pain because of intense cardio class on Friday.

Cardamom Flavored Capsicum Kurma

2010-04-27T13:36:00.000-07:00

Usually I prepare this with potatoes, this time tried with capsicum and it tasted excellent. I have added cardamom to the original masala paste recipe, which I got from my MIL, the aroma has well blended into the gravy.

Ingredients:
1 capsicum cut into 1" pieces
1 tomato chop fine
1 onion chop fine
3 or 4 green chillies slit lengthwise
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 bay leaf
3 cloves
1" cinnamon stick
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp chilli powder (optional/depends on how spicy you want)
salt to taste
coriander for garnishing

For the Masala Paste:
1/2 cup peanuts
2 tbsp dhaniya/coriander seeds
3/4 th of 1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup fresh coconut pieces
1 tbsp khus khus/poppy seeds
5 green cardamom
Except cardamom, dry roast all the ingredients. Cool and grind roasted ingredients and cardamom into paste with 1 cup of water.

Preparation:
Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel. Add bay leaf, cinnamon and cloves fry for one minute.
Add onions and fry till they become glossy. Add ginger-garlic paste, green chillies and fry for one minute.
Add tomato and fry until they become mushy.
Add capsicum and cook for 10 minutes.
Add ground paste, salt, chilli powder mix everything then add 1 1/2 to 2 cups of water (depends on preferred consistency) and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes on medium flame. Garnish and serve with rice or chapathi.
Sending this to Priay's Cooking With Seeds-Cardamom Seeds.

Refreshing~Orange and Berries

2010-04-20T16:44:00.000-07:00

Sometimes dishes/drinks prepared in minutes will make you fall in *Love* with your skills. This drink I made this afternoon to quench the thirst belongs to such category. Freshly squeezed orange juice mixed with handful of berries, infused lemon flavor, chilled for one hour, hmm, it's heaven sipping this juice on sunny afternoon.

Ingredients: (For one serving)
Freshly squeezed juice from two oranges
Handful of mixed blueberries and blackberries
2 or 3 lemon slices (half moon shape)
Preparation:
Mix berries and lemon slices into orange juice. Mix gently and chill for one hour. Pour into tall glass, enjoy.

Sagu Biyyam Murukku / Sago Murukku / Saggu Biyyam Murukulu~Indian cooking Challenge March

2010-04-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

This is the first time I'm participating in Indian Cooking Challenge by Srivalli. Her blog or her event don't need any introduction from me. When I requested her to accept my blog for ICC event, she kindly sent me an invitation to join. When I saw the ICC March challenge, saggu biyyam murukulu, I knew it would be different from what I usually prepare and murukulu turned out to be tasty and crunchy.

Recipe given by Srivalli:
2 cups rice flour
1/2 cup besan
1/2 cup fried gram dal flour
1/2 cup sago/saggubiyyam
1/2 tsp chilli powder
50 gms of oil to make dough
salt to taste

To soak the sago:
1/4 cup or 50 gms curd

Oil for frying

Utensil:
Murukula achu/pavu

Preparation:
Soak sago in the buttermilk for atleast 3 hours, I soaked them for 9 hours just to make sure they are soft. Be careful with sago. Make sure it is extremely soft after soaking. I don't have any first hand experience, but from what Srivalli has mentioned, I think sago/saguubiyyam will burst once dropped in hot oil without proper soaking. For fried gram dal powder, you can buy the whole dal and make fine powder using blender or mixer.
Combine all flours in a large bowl, add salt and chilli powder, make a well in the center. Heat 50 gms or 3 or 4 tbsp of oil and add to the flour. Add soaked sago to the flour and mix well. Using little water and buttermilk made into a soft dough.

Heat oil in a kadai, and drop murukulu using murukula achu into the hot oil carefully. Fry on medium heat to ensure even frying. When they turn to brown color and crisp transfer to a tissue paper. Enjoy. Thanks Srivalli for this great recipe. Here is my first successful attempt with ICC event.

Guiltless Whole Wheat-Egg less-Strawberry Cake

2010-04-13T08:35:00.000-07:00

Baking at home with whole wheat flour was a disaster twice, once a batch of muffins and second time a cake. But, yesterday decided to bake one more time, and this time got fluffy and tasty cake.
To make this cake, low in GI, I used only whole wheat flour and replaced egg with vinegar. I've just started baking with this flour and wanted to blog about my attempts, success and failures, and I'm looking for new ways to satisfy my sweet hunger with less guilt at the end.

Ingredients:
Dry:
11/2 cup whole wheat flour (I used king arthur white whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt
Wet:
1/2 cup strawberry puree
1/2 cup oil
3 tbsp distilled vinegar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

4 tbsp dry sweetened cranberries

Preparation:
Pre-heat oven to 350F, grease the pan.
In a large bowl sift flour, add all other dry ingredients and mix well.
In a separate bowl, whisk oil and vinegar. Add to the flour, mix gently. Add strawberry puree, vanilla extract, and milk, mix with a spatula.
Pour the batter into the pan, level it with spatula. Sprinkle dried cranberries on top (you can also fold them into the batter). Bake for 30 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean.

Sending this to Champa's Bake-Off Event.

Sending this Divya's Show Me Your Whole Grains Event

Mukkala Pappu - Mixed Vegetable Dal

2010-04-09T13:45:00.000-07:00

Mixed vegetable dal (Mukkala Pappu) can be prepared with any combination of vegetables and I like to experiment with different vegetables and dals every time I prepare this. Usually potatoes, tomato, mango, brinjal, ridge gourd etc are preferable, but the list has no boundaries. You can use different dals and pack this dish with full of proteins.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup toor dal (kandi pappu)
1/4 cup baby lima beans (optional) (you can use any of your choice)
1/8 cup masoor dal
2 cups mixed vegetables
(I used 1/2 mango, 1 tomato, 4 small red radish, 4 broccoli florets, 1 medium size purple brinjal cut into 1'' cubes).
3 or 4 green chillies
3/4 tbsp tamarind paste
1 tsp dhaniya/coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder

For talimpu/tadka
2 tsp oil and 1 or 2 tsp ghee
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp urad dal (minapa pappu)
3 or 4 red chillies
1 or 2 garlic cloves
curry leaves few
salt to taste

Preparation:
Wash and soak dals for 15 minutes (I did because I used lima beans, if you are not using no need to soak).
In a pressure cooker, place all dals, vegetables, green chillies, turmeric powder and add 2- 21/2 cups of water and cook for 3 whistles. Keep aside and cool completely.
Open and mash with back of a spoon. Add tamarind paste, dhaniya powder, cook for 5 minutes until the tamarind mix well.
In a small kadai, heat oil+ghee, do the popu/tadka, add to the dal, stir in salt and switch off. Serve with hot rice.
Sending this Suma's Delicious Dals from India.

Inspired: Pizza

2010-04-08T08:01:00.000-07:00

After going through Lavi's Indian Flavored Pizzas round-up, I wanted to make home made pizza for dinner. It took some time for me to select one and finally decided to make Rajeswari's home made pizza. She explained each and every step with photos which made the preparation very easy. I followed same measurements and procedure for the base but made my own pizza sauce. The pizza base recipe here

For pizza sauce:
2 medium size tomatoes
2 to 3 tbsp chopped onions
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp chilli sauce
1 tbsp chopped mint or any herbs of choice
1 tsp olive oil
Method: Heat oil, add chopped garlic and onions fry for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes fry until mushy, then add ketchup, sauce and herbs fry for 10 more minutes on low flame. Cool and blend to a paste.

Baking: As I don't have pizza pan, I baked on aluminium foil. Grease foil/pan, spread the dough into circle with rolling pin or by using hand and fold the ends. Spread prepared pizza sauce, sprinkle some cheese (I used mozzarella) then top it with your choice of toppings. Spread the cheese to cover the entire toppings bake at 450 F for 20 to 25 minutes until the cheese melts and base turns to golden brown color.
For toppings, I used tomato, onion, corn and bell pepper.

P.S: I had some extra sauce after spreading, next time I'll reduce tomatoes to 1+1/2.

Brussels/Mung (Sprouts) Soup

2010-04-05T09:53:00.000-07:00

It's drizzling here since morning and it's very cold outside. I wanted to have something hot, so prepared this mung sprouts soup. It's very simple, easy and healthy.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup mung sprouts
4 brussels sprouts
1 carrot
1/2 onion
2 medium tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste

Tempering:
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp jeera
1 whole red chilli or 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
coriander for garnish

Preparation:
Wash brussels sprouts and carrot and chop fine. Chop onion. Place mung sprouts, brussels sprouts, carrot and onion in a big sauce pan add enough water and boil. Once boil, simmer for 15 minutes. Cool it completely.
In a blender or food processor puree tomatoes, add the above boiled mixture, blend thoroughly into smooth paste. Transfer the mixture into saucepan add 11/2 to 2 cups water according to your preferred consistency and boil. Mix in salt and pepper
In a small kadi, heat oil and temper in the given order, add to the boiled soup, garnish with coriander leaves. serve hot.

Brinjal-Fresh Green Chickpea Curry (Vankaya-Pachi Sanagala Kura)

2010-04-02T14:13:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:
5 medium size purple brinjals
1 tomato
1/2 onion finely chopped
4 green chillies slit length wise
1/2 cup shelled green garbanzo/chickpea (fresh)
fistful of mung sprouts (optional)
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp dhaniya/coriander powder
1 tsp sesame powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
salt to taste
For tadka:
1 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp cumin
few curry leaves

Preparation:
Wash and cut brinjals into thin pieces. Chop tomato, onion fine. Slit the green chillies length wise.
Heat oil, do the popu/tadka. Fry onions till glossy. Add green chillies, ginger-garlic paste and fry for 2 minutes.
Add tomato fry until it becomes mushy. Add brinjal, mix well, cover and cook.
When the brinjal cooked half, add green chickpeas and sprouts (if using) mix gently. Cover with lid and cook until done.
Add coriander, sesame, chilli and turmeric powders mix well. Simmer for 1 or 2 minutes until the flavors blend well, stir in salt, switch off. Goes well with chapathi/rice.

Jewelled-Sprouts Pulao

2010-04-01T12:31:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:
1 cup basmati rice
1 cup mung sprouts
1 carrot
1/4 cup chopped beans
1/4 cup peas (fresh/frozen)
1/4 cup corn kernels (I used frozen)
6 green chillies (reduce if you want less spice)
4 cloves
4 cardamom
1" cinnamon
1/2 tsp shahjeera
1 tsp oil
1 tsp ghee
4 or 5 raisins for garnishing (optional)
salt to taste

Preparation:
Wash and soak rice for 15 minutes.
Wash and cut the vegetables into 1" pieces.
Heat oil+ghee in a heavy bottomed vessel. Add shahjeera, fry for half minute. Add cloves, cinnamon and cardamom, fry for one minute. Add chopped chillies, vegetables and sprouts, fry for 2 to 3 minutes. Drain and add rice, fry until rice becomes stiff. Add 11/2 cups of hot water, salt and bring it to boil. Simmer, cover and cook until done. Garnish and serve hot with any raita.

Vintage Breakfast-Yogurt Rice with Pickle

2010-03-31T18:25:00.000-07:00

Yogurt Rice with Orange Pickle

Food habits back to 40 or 50 years, were according to the nature and based on the season's fresh produce. At my grandparents home, the breakfast in the summer holidays was usually, yogurt rice with aavakaaya or thick curd rice with mango pieces. In our childhood, my mother used to give us this curd rice for breakfast in the summer, it was very effective in protecting from sunstroke and dehydration even though we played in the sun for hours.
It is very simple and easy to prepare. The rice cooked in the night will be made into curd rice with milk and small amount of curd culture. So here is the recipe for the breakfast, which our younger generation is not familiar with,
Ingredients:
1/2 cup cooked rice
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp curd for the culture
salt to taste
pepper powder a pinch (optional)

Preparation:
In the night, cool the cooked rice. You can use left over rice too. Warm the milk add to the rice. Add yogurt/curd to the rice, cover and keep in warm and dark place. By next morning, thick curd rice will be ready. Stir in salt and pepper powder. Serve with any pickle and onion pieces on the side for breakfast.
Variation: You can do simple tadka/popu with little oil, mustard and red chillies for nice flavor and taste.
Sending this to JFI-Breakfast Event hosted by Suma, started by Indira of Mahanandi

Cabbage Vada

2010-03-29T17:21:00.000-07:00

Cabbage gives crunchy effect to the vada and you don't even realize you are eating cabbage until the cook tells you.

Ingredients: (makes around 8)
1/2 cup urad daal (minapa pappu)
1/2 cup finely shredded cabbage
3 or 4 red/green chillies
2 tbsp chopped mint
2 tbsp chopped coriander
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 tbsp peas (optional)
salt to taste
oil for frying

Preparation:
Wash and soak urad daal for 1 hour. If you are using red chillies soak them with daal. Drain and keep aside for 1 hour (This helps in getting crunchy vada). Grind daal and chillies with salt adding water with a tea spoon.
To the batter add all other ingredients (except oil), mix well.

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan/kadai. Take small amount of batter, press on an oiled sheet into small circle, make a hole at the center (for the even frying). Drop them one by one into the oil carefully. Do at a time not more than 4 (depends on kadai size). Fry until they turn into golden color, remove to a tissue paper. Serve hot with any ketchup. It makes a perfect tea time snack.

Pineapple Rasam

2010-03-26T16:37:00.000-07:00

Pineapple sweetness, sourness from tomato, tang from tamarind, spice from masala makes this rasam a very pleasant experience to the taste buds. I adopted this recipe from this cookbook, but changed some of the ingredients to suit my palate.

Ingredients:
3 long or 5 medium whole red chillies
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp peppercorn
Make the above into powder in a mixer or spice grinder.

2 cups pineapple cubes
1 tbsp tamarind pulp squeeze freshly form small piece of tamarind
2 to 3 cups water
5 small green chillies slit lengthwise
1 tomato blanched and skin peeled
To blanch the tomato, make a slit at bottom of the tomato. In a bowl take water enough to immerse the tomato and boil. Now place tomato in boiling water for 2 minutes. Remove and keep in cold water to stop the cooking process. You can easily peel the skin now.

For temper:
1 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard
5 curry leaves (optional)
Pineapple pieces to garnish (optional)

Preparation:
Puree pineapple, blanched tomato separately. In a saucepan (I prefer raati vendi (don't know other names) vessel for rasam preparation to get best taste) take pineapple, tomato puree, tamarind pulp, water, green chillies and salt bring to boil. Simmer for 10 minutes.
Temper in a small kadai in the given order, add to the rasam, switch off. Serve hot with rice.

Sending this to Nithu's Think Beyond the Usual-Fruits event

Strawberry-Celery-Banana Smoothie

2010-03-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

Smoothies are great for breakfast with all the nutrients packed in one glass. Here is one recipe which contains vegetable along with fruits. Strawberries are rich in antioxidants, find health benefits of celery here. To make it rich in protein you can add whey protein powder to the smoothie.

Ingredients:
4 large or 6 medium strawberries
1/2 banana
2 stalks celery
1 cup skim milk
1/4 cup crushed ice
1 tsp whey powder (optional)
Preparation:
Wash and quarter strawberries. Peel and slice banana. Wash celery and cut into small pieces. Blend all the three with milk, whey powder (if using) and ice in a blender. Pour in a glass, serve immediately.

Sending this to Serve me some event by Madhuri of Cook-curry Noo k

My First Award(s)

2010-03-24T15:22:00.000-07:00

Happy Sri Rama Navami to all.
I am so overwhelmed to receive my first blog award(s). Krishnaveni from Krishnaveni's Kitchen shared this beautiful award with me. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw her message. Thank you Krishnaveni for sharing your award with me. Thank you all lovely bloggers out there for the encouragement you are giving through your comments. Ammu form Nature Kitchen also shared it with me. thank you Ammu.

Nithu from Nithu's Kitchen, shared bunch of awards with me. Thank you Nithu for keeping my blog in your thoughts while sharing your awards. Really I feel proud to make these many friends in the very first month of my blogging.

I am really jumping with joy for this recognition. I didn't expect these awards. You guys really surprised me.

It's my time to share these awards with other bloggers. I would like to share these awards with, Cool Lassi(e),
Jagruti, HariChandana, Swathi, Tina, Meena, Divya, Silence Sings, Akal, Aruna, Mahima, Neetz, Gulmohar, Sahana, Aruna. Though you all have so many awards from other friends, please accept my share.

The winner, please

Put the logo in your post or blog

Pass on to atleast 12 bloggers

Link the blogger in your post

Let them know they have received this award

Share the love and link to the person from whom you have received the award

Sorakaya Payasam/Bottle Gourd Kheer/Lauki Kheer

2010-03-23T10:00:00.000-07:00

Hurray! My blog completed one month. In this one month, I came across so many lovely bloggers, who encouraged me with their comments. Thank you all for your great support. Though I'm bit late in this blogging world I'm picking up day by day. Here is my sweet thanks to all of you.

One-month celebration~Sorakaya Payasam/Lauki Kheer

Ingredients:

1 cup grated bottle gourd

11/2 cups milk

1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk

3 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp raw cashews and raisins

1 tsp cardamom powder

1 tbsp ghee

pistachios for garnishing

Preparation:

In a heavy bottomed vessel heat ghee, fry cashews and raisins,remove to a plate. Peel and grate the bottle gourd.

To the same vessel, add grated bottle gourd fry for 5 minutes stirring frequently.

Add milk and boil. Now add condensed milk, mix well. Cook until done (approximately 15-25 minutes). Add sugar, mix well, cook for 5 more minutes on low flame. When everything done add cardamom powder. Sprinkle nuts and serve. You can serve chilled too.

Pesarattu-Allam Chutney

2010-03-21T14:40:00.000-07:00

Pesarattu (moong dal dosa) is popular delicacy of Andhra. The batter doesn't need to be ferment, makes the preparation easy even in cold weather. It can be served with upma (upma pesarattu) or just pesarattu and ginger or peanut chutney.

Ingredients: (Makes 8 pesarattlu)
1 cup whole moong dal
1/2 cup raw rice
3 red chillies
salt to taste
Soak everything in plenty of water for 8 to 10 hours.Drain water, grind into batter adding small piece of ginger and salt.

Making:
Heat cast iron tawa, spread 1 tsp of oil. Pour batter at the center with a ladle and spread into a thin circle. Pour 1/2 tsp of oil around the edges. Once edges turn into golden brown, flip to the other side and cook until it turn into golden brown. Remove, spread some oil and repeat the process.

Allam chutney:
Ingredients:
150 grams ginger
50 grams jaggery
3 tbsp tamarind pulp
1 tbsp dhaniya/coriander
1 tbsp chana dal/sanga pappu
1 tbsp urad dal/minapa pappu
3 red chillies
1 tbsp oil
salt to taste

For tempering:
1 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 or 3 curry leaves (optional)

Preparation:
Wash ginger, pat dry, cut into 1/2 inch pieces.
In a skillet, heat oil. Fry chana dal, urad dal, dhaniya for 3 to 4 minutes, remove from oil and keep aside.
In the same oil, fry ginger until they turn to pink to golden color, it takes around 15 minutes. Grind dals, ginger, jaggery, tamarind pulp, red chillies, salt into a paste.
To temper, heat oil in small skillet, add the mustard seeds. When they fry add to the ground mixture.

Sending this to JFI-Breakfast event hosted by Suma, started by Indira of Mahanandi.

Zucchini with Moong Sprouts

2010-03-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

Whenever I see vegetables which I'm not familiar with, I like to experiment new recipes using known spices. This is one such a recipe and it was a hit at my home. Zucchini resembles ridge gourd in taste and very low in calories.

Ingredients:
2 zucchini
1 tomato
1 cup moong sprouts
1 onion
3 green chillies
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp dhaniya powder
1 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
salt and lime juice to taste

Preparation:
Wash and cut zucchini into small pieces. Chop onion and tomato fine. Slit green chillies length wise.
In 1/4 cup of water cook the sprouts for not more than 5 minutes and drain.
In a kadai, heat oil, add mustard seeds fry for one minute add onion and green chillies, fry until onion cooks well. Add ginger-garlic paste fry for 2 more minutes.
Add chopped tomato, cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Add zucchini pieces, cover and cook until the vegetable becomes soft. Then add cooked sprouts, dhaniya powder and salt. Add some lime juice, check the seasoning and switch off. serve warm with chapati. You can eat this as chat too.

Check out Cool Lassi(e)'s giveaway post here

Cracked Wheat-Strawberry Salad/cereal

2010-03-17T23:38:00.000-07:00

Cracked wheat is very good for health and I'm looking for new recipes to have this at least twice a week instead of rice/chapathi. It keeps my stomach full for longer time. Usually I preapre upma, but today made this salad with fresh strawberries and dry fruits.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup cracked wheat
2 cups water
1 cup strawberry pieces
1/4 cup dry sweetened cranberries
salt and lemon juice (optional) to taste

Preparation:
Wash cracked wheat under running water and drain. In a bowl boil water with salt. Add cracked wheat, stir immediately to avoid lumps. Lower the heat, cover and cook until done.
Wash strawberries and cut into pieces. Once the cracked wheat is done, stir in strawberries and cranberries. If you prefer add 1/2 tsp lemon juice.

Ugadi Shubhakankshalu

2010-03-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Ugadi

Dear friends and family, Ugadi Shubhakankshalu and Happy New Year to all of you. Wishing that your new year is filled with all the flavors of life! Happy Ugadi !

Cherimoya (Custard apple/Sita Phalam) kheer

2010-03-13T13:53:00.000-08:00

Last week for the first time I saw sita phalam/custard apples here at farmers market. Back home we have two trees in our backyard and during the season, I used to have this fruit first thing in the morning even before having milk/tea. I love this fruit so much, it's so sweet with white flesh and it's smell itself makes me hungry. Enough of rambling, the difference between sita phalam/custard apple and cherimoya is, outer skin for the later is very soft than custard apple. After enjoying one fruit, I prepared kheer with another one.

Ingredients:
1 cherimoya
11/2 to 2 cups of milk
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 pods cardamom, make powder
chopped nuts of your choice for garnishing

Preparation:
Open the fruit and scoop out the pulp into a bowl. Remove the seeds and beat with a fork or spoon and make into a smooth pulp.
Boil milk in a heavy bottom pan. Add condensed milk, lower the flame. Boil some more time stirring frequently,taking care not to burn. Add the fruit pulp, on low flame heat for 5 to 6 minutes. Switch off and chill in the refrigerator. Sprinkle cardamom powder and nuts before serving. I didn't add any sugar, the fruit is very sweet and addition of any sugar makes the dish too sweet.

Tip: If the fruit is unripe, keep it in rice container, it will be ready in two or three days.

Tomato Nuvvula Pachadi (Tomato Sesame Seeds Chutney)

2010-03-11T14:28:00.000-08:00

Tomato chutney comes handy whenever you want to prepare something in jiffy. You can serve this chutney as an accompaniment to dosa, idli, upma, oothappam and the list is endless. It tastes excellent with rice too. Tomato's sourness combined with sesame seeds flavor satisfies your taste buds, trust me.

Ingredients:
3 tomatoes, medium sized, chop fine
6-7 small Thai chillies
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/8 cup peanuts (optional)
2 tbsp tamarind pulp (extract)
1/2 tsp jeera
1 tbsp dhaniya (coriander seeds)
1 tsp oil
salt to taste

For tadka/popu:
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seed
1/2 tsp jeera
pinch of haldi
few curry leaves

Preparation:
In a skillet, dry roast sesame seeds, peanuts, dhaniya and jeera one after the other.
In a kadai, heat oil. Add chopped tomato and cook until everything becomes mushy. Cool everything.
Put everything in a blender or mixie, add tamarind pulp and salt. Grind to a fine paste.
For tadka, heat oil in a skillet, do the popu in the given order, immediately add to the ground mixture. Serve warm with rice/dosa/idly.

Capsicum-Radish Pulao

2010-03-10T13:57:00.000-08:00

Today I wanted to prepare something with one leftover capsicum, but it's not sufficient for curry so decided to make capsicum rice, and thought to use small bunch of radishes for nice color. So prepared Capsicum-Radish rice and served with Sprouts-Apple raita for a heart full meal.

Ingredients for rice:
1 cup basmati rice
1 capsicum (roughly 1 cup pieces)
1 cup radish pieces (cut each radish into 4)
1/2 cup frozen kidney beans (optional)
1 onion chop fine
4 cardamom
4 cloves
2 bay leaf
1 inch cinnamon
6 small green chillies
1 inch ginger
2 tsp oil
salt to taste, 1 tsp dhaniya (coriander) powder (optional).

Preparation:
Soak rice for 15 minutes, and cook grainy with 11/2 cup water.
Make green chilli and ginger into paste. Thaw the beans and boil kidney beans until tender.
In a kadai, heat oil. Fry bay leaf, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon for 1 minute. Add onion and fry until they turn transparent. Add chilli ginger paste, fry for 1 minute.
Add radish pieces, fry for 3 or 4 minutes. Then add capsicum, cover and cook until vegetables becomes soft.
Add kidney beans, salt, coriander powder and mix well. Cook for another 5 minutes on slow flame.
Mix in cooked rice, cover and cook for 2 minutes. Check the salt and switch off.

For raita:
1 cup curd
1/2 cup moong sprouts
1/4 cup chopped apple (chop fine)
pinch of crushed pepper, salt to taste

Beat curd well. Add chopped apple.
Cook sprouts with less than 1/4 cup water for 5 minutes on low flame. Drain and add to curd.
Mix in pepper and salt.

Sending this to Foodelicious's The Combo Event by Pari.

Rava Kesari

2010-03-09T12:10:00.000-08:00

Kesari is traditionally offered as neivedyam when we perform puja/vratam at home. I started my cooking experiments with this sweet when I was in high school. Yes it is very easy and quick to make, all you need rava, water, ghee and sugar. Who are new to cooking can prepare this with ease. Here is the procedure.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup bombay rava/sooji (Upma rava)
1 tbsp ghee
1/2 cup to 1 cup sugar (depends on how sweet you want)
11/2 cups water
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
6 or 7 cashew nuts and raisins each, chop fine

Preparation:
Heat ghee in a vessel, fry cashew nuts and raisins till golden brown, remove from ghee.
In the same vessel roast the rava on slow flame till nice aroma comes, taking care not to burn.
Meanwhile in another vessel boil water. When the rava roasted finely, add sugar to the boiling water, stir to dissolve completely.
Add the water to the rava stirring continuously to prevent lumps. Cover and cook on slow flame for 5 minutes. Stir in cardamom powder and cook. When it comes to thick mass on stirring, switch off the stove and decorate with fried cashew and raisins.

Sending this to Cooking Basics event hosted by indianvegetariankitchen

Beans with Red Chilli Powder-Garlic paste

2010-03-08T13:58:00.000-08:00

Beans mixed with red chilli powder and garlic paste is our favorite, especially in winter when served with hot rasam and rice.

Ingredients:
1/4 kg beans
1 onion medium sized, chop fine
Boil beans in enough water with little salt until 3/4th done, drain and keep aside..

For the paste:
6 or 7 large garlic cloves
1-2 tsp red chilli powder (depends on spice level)
In a pestle or blender make paste of both the above ingredients and keep aside.

For popu/tadka:
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp jeera
1/2 tsp mustard
haldi, salt to taste

Cooking:
Heat oil in a vessel, do the tadka. When mustard splutter add chopped onions and fry until they turn transparent. Add chilli powder garlic paste, fry until the raw smell goes away. Add boiled beans, haldi and salt. Mix well add 1/4 cup of water to blend everything well. Cover and cook on slow flame for 10 minutes or until the beans absorb garlic paste. Check the salt and switch off. Serve hot with rice. With hot rasam, it makes a great combination.

Watercress with Aloo

2010-03-07T01:19:00.000-08:00

Watercress is a good source of Iron, Calcium, Magnesium in addition to vitamin C, B1 and A. It is natural antioxidant and a great digestive aid. Apart from preparing daal with watercress, I tried it with potato and peas and the taste was excellent.

Ingredients:
1 bunch watercress
2 potatoes medium size
1/2 cup peas
1 tomato chop fine
1 onion chop fine
4 small green chillies chop fine
1 bay leaf
2 cardamom
2 cloves
1/2 inch cinnamon
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp oil
1 cup coconut milk* or 1/4 to 1/2 cup cream (for gravy)
Haldi (turmeric) and salt
cilantro to garnish

Preparation
Boil and peel potato, cut into 1 inch cubes. Wash watercress and cut into 1 inch strings.
Boil peas until soft and keep aside.
* For coconut milk add 1 cup of hot water to1/2 cup freshly grated coconut and filter. You can omit adding this if you want to reduce the calorie content, then increase tomato by one and add water for the gravy at the end. Otherwise you can make dry curry too .
Heat oil in a vessel. Add bay leaf, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves.
When they turn brown add onion and green chilli.
When onion becomes transparent add ginger garlic paste and fry for one minute.
Add chopped tomato, fry until it becomes mushy.
Add watercress, fry until it is withered, then add boiled and cubed potatoes. Mix everything well and cook for 5 minutes.
Add boiled peas, haldi and salt mix well.
Finally add coconut milk/cream/water, simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. If need add some more and cook until you get the desired consistency. Check the salt, switch off and garnish with cilantro. Goes well with chapati or rice/pulao.
Sending this to Yasmeen's Bitter Better Health event.

Kumquat-Oats Cookies

2010-03-03T21:15:00.000-08:00

For the first time, I bought one pound of these tiny kumquats. They tasted both sweet and tart. The skin of this fruit is also edible. I searched for Jam recipes but found some other interesting recipes too. Based on this recipe, I made cookies with kumquats and oats.

Ingredients:

1 cup All-purpose flour

1/4 cup oats

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 tbsp butter

1 egg

1/2 cup pureed kumquats (with skin)

Preparation:

Heat oven to 375 F. Grease the baking tray and keep ready.

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, oats and salt in a bowl.

In a food processor or using hand blender, cream sugar and butter. Add egg and mix well and add to the flour mixture. Finally add kumquat's puree. Mix everything well.

Take 2 or 3 tsps batter and spread on to the pan in circle. Bake for 15 minutes or until the top turns into brown.

About

2010-03-02T18:02:00.000-08:00

This is N. I like to experiment new recipes. Here I blog about my attempts in making healthy and nutritious food.

Recipes List

2010-03-02T13:12:00.000-08:00

Breakfast:

Pesarattu-Allam Chutney
Vintage Breakfast-Yogurt Rice with Pickle
Oatmeal with Berry Compote
Protein Packed Breakfast
Couscous upma

Snacks:

Cabbage Vada
Inspired: Pizza
Saggubiyyam Murukulu

Drinks:

Masala Tea
Strawberry-Celery-Banana smoothie
Refreshing - Orange and Berries
Custard Apple-Strawberry-Mango-Smoothie

Salads and Soups:

Mixed Fruit Salad
Cracked Wheat-Strawberry Salad
Brussels/Mung Sprouts Soup
Spinach+cabbage chickpea

Chapati/Bread/Roti:

Wheat, Ragi and Bran

Chutney:

Tomato Nuvvula Pachadi (Tomato Sesame Seeds Chutney)

Cookies& Cakes:

Kumquat-Oats Cookies
Guiltless Whole Wheat-Eggless-Strawberry Cake

Gardening:

Pink Chrysanthemum

Rasam:

Pineapple Rasam

Rice:

Capsicum-Radish Pulao
Jewelled-Sprouts Pulao
Brown rice Vegetable Kitchidi

Sweets/deserts:

Cherimoya/Custard Apple Kheer
Rava Kesari
Sorakaya Payasam/Bottle Gourd Kheer
Rasmalai
Oats-Strawberry halwa

Vegetables:

Beans with Chilli Powder-Garlic Paste
Watercress with Aloo
Zucchini with Moong Sprouts
Brinjal-Fresh Green Chickpea Ccurry
Mukkala Pappu (Mixed Vegetable dal)
Cardamom flavored Capsicum Kurma
Spring Onion Mushroom curry

Chapati with Ragi Flour + Wheat Bran

2010-03-01T19:57:00.000-08:00

These days I'm including lot of whole grains in my food and experimenting with whatever grains I can get. This recipe resulted from one of such experiment. While making chapati dough I added some ragi flour and wheat bran and the result was chewy, tasty and nutritious chapati.

Ragi flour is rich in iron and good for diabetics. Wheat bran is the outer layer of the grain and highly rich in dietary fibre.

Ingredients:

1 cup wheat flour (Chapati flour)
1/2 cup ragi flour
2 - 21/2 tbsp wheat bran ( I used Bob's Red Mill wheat bran)
Pinch of salt
Water to knead

Dough preparation
In a bowl, take two flours and wheat bran add salt and mix well. By adding water little by little make soft dough. Rest it for 15 to 30 minutes.

Chapati preparation
Dust the counter top with wheat flour. Take a lemon size piece of dough shape into a ball, roll on the dusted floor into 6 inch circle with a rolling pin. Prepare the entire dough in the same way.
Heat tawa (pan). Place the chapati cook until the side turns into golden brown. Flip to the other side and cook evenly. Remove and keep in airtight container until serve to keep them soft. Cook one chapati at a time. Serve with any gravy/dal and curd.

Fruit Salad with Herbs

2010-02-28T22:37:00.000-08:00

Salads are healthy and tasty. I like experimenting salad preparation with variety of sprouts, vegetables, greens and fruits. This fruit salad is rich in color and taste. The addition of herbs like basil and cilantro adds a nice aroma to the salad. The honey and lemon dressing satisfies my sweet hunger after a heavy meal.

Fruits:
Apple 1 medium
Banana 1
Blood Orange 1
Kiwi 1
Pineapple pieces 1/2 cup
Plum 1
Tangerine 1
Water Melon pieces 1/2 cup

For dressing:
Honey and Lemon juice to taste
Cilantro and basil chopped 1 tsp each

Preparation:
Cut all fruits into bite size pieces. Mix lemon juice and honey in a bowl. Mix fruits, cilantro and basil. Toss in honey and lemon mixture. Decorate with basil (optional).
Sending this to Divya's Show Me Your Salad event.

Masala Chai...

2010-02-24T01:40:00.000-08:00

I am starting my blog with a drink without which I can not start my day. Yes it is Chai or tea or teneeru. To experience the real taste of chai, one should at least drink Irani chai once, I think.

Here is how I prepare my masala chai..

Ingredients: For 1 cup of tea

Milk 1 cup

Tea powder 1 tsp

Sugar 1 tsp (add more if you like it sweet)

Cardamom 2 pods

Cloves 2

Pepper corns 3 or 4

Saunf (fennel) 1 tsp

Ginger 1 inch

Cinnamon 1 inch

Put everything in a container and bring it to boil. Simmer until it turns to a brown color and nice aroma emanates. Filter using a strainer, your cup of tea is ready.

Welcome to my blog....

2010-02-22T14:18:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my blog. Here I will blog about my experiments with food using healthy ingredients seasoned with lots of love.