More Kulambhu

Ingredients :
Pumpkin : 2 cups
turmeric powder : 1/2 tsp
Curd : 1.5 cup
Water : 1.5 cup
Coriander seeds : 1.5 tsp
Channa dal : 1.5 tsp
Toor dal : 2 tbsp
Red chillies : 4
Coconut : 2 tbsp
Methi : 1 tsp
oil
mustard seeds
curry leaves


Method :
1. Soak the toor dal in water for 20 min.
2. Pressure cook the pumpkin with turmeric powder and a bit of hing.
3. Dry roast, coriander seeds, channa dal, coconut, red chillies, methi and toor dal. Add a bit of curd and grind them into a paste.
4. Add the paste to rest of curd and pumpkin. Cook for 10 min.
5. Garnish with mustard, curry leaves and red chillies fried in oil. 

Paneer Bajji

Ingredients  

Rice flour : 1/4 cup
Gram flour : 1 cup
chilli powder : 1 tsp
Salt
Paneer : 100 grams
Oil

Method

1. Cut the paneer into very thin slices.
2. Mix the rest of the ingredients together with water. Make it a bit watery.
3. Put the paneer slices into the flour mix and deep fry in oil.

Jeera rice

Ingredients 

Rice : 1.5 cup
Butter : 1 tbsp
Jeera : 2 tsp
Coriander : a handful
Green chillies : 2
Salt
Water : 3 cups
Onion :1

Method

1.  Heat butter. Add jeera, chillies and corriander. Add water.
2. When the water starts boiling, add salt and rice.
3. Slice the onions and fry them in oil separately.
4. When the rice cooks to about 75%, add the onions.
5. Wait till the rice is cooked and becomes fluffy.

5 minute cake

One of the most simplest recipe that I have come across. Takes around 5 min to prepare the mix and 3 1/2 min in the oven. The cake comes out very spongy and delicious to eat.

Ingredients 

Flour : 4 tbsp
Sugar : 4 tbsp
Cocoa : 2 tbsp
Egg : 1
Milk : 3 tbsp
Oil : 3 tbsp
vanilla extract : 1 tsp
baking powder : 1/2 tsp

Method :
Mix the flour, cocoa and sugar. Add egg, milk, oil, baking powder and vanilla extract. Mix well. Put in the microwave for 3 min. That's it!

Rava Dosa

Ingredients :

Rice Flour : 1 cup
Rava : 1/2 cup
Maida : 1/4 cup
Onion : 1
curry leaves
salt
pepper balls : 1 tsp
coriander leaves
chillies : 2
Cummin seeds : 1 tsp

Method:

1. Cut the chillies, onion, curry leaves into small pieces
2. Add all the ingredients together.
3. Add water and mix. The mixture should be thinner than the idli batter mixture.
4. When pouring the batter on the pan, make sure that the pan is very hot. And pour the batter from outside in.
5. Add ghee and serve with coconut chutney.

Coriander chutney

A good recipe that can be prepared over the weekend. It will last the whole week if refrigerated.

Ingredients

Corriander leaves : 1 bunch
Curry leaves : 1 bunch
Mint leaves : 1 bunch
Fenugreek seeds : 1 tsp
Red chillies : 5
Tamarind : size of half gooseberry
garlic : 6 pods
Urad dal : 1/2 cup

Method :

1. Dry roast urad dal, fenugreek seeds and red chillies. Grind them without any water.
2. Roast all the leaves, garlic and tamarind. Add very little water if necessary.
3. Grind them all together. Add salt as necessary.

This chutney has a long shelf life as it is prepared without any coconut.

A cup of calcium : Custard apple milkshake

Custard apple milkshake contains a good deal of calcium. It is also high in calories. So calorie conscious people could stay away. 

Ingredients :

1 custard apple

1 cup milk

1 tbsp sugar

1 scoop of vanilla icecream(optional)

Method:

1. Deseed the custard apple. Add it to milk and blend.

2. Add sugar and icecream.

Granola bar

A healthy and easy to carry snack.

Ingredients

Oats : 2 cups
Dry grapes : 1/2 cup
Walnut : 1/2 cup
Almonds : 1/2 cup
Cardamon :  8-9  (powdered)
Sugar : 1 tbsp
butter : 2 tbsp
Honey : 1/2 cup

Method :
1. Break the walnut and almonds into small pieces
2. Mix oats, dry grapes, walnut, almonds and cardamon powder together.
3. In a pan, heat the butter. Add sugar and honey and make a good mix. Add to the other ingredients.
4. In a silver foil, put the entire mix and make a cuboid. Or any shape that you want.
5. Pop it into the refrigerator.
6. Wait for 2-3 hours and your granola bar is ready to be served.

Garlic chutney

An easy and healthy recipe. Another recipe which can be prepared over the weekend and used for the whole week.

Nutritional value :
It contains red chillies and garlic. Both the ingredients are very helpful for people suffering from hay fever or wheezing.

Ingredients :

Red chillies : 15 nos
Garlic pods : 15 nos
Salt

Method :

1. Dry roast the red chillies.
2. Grind the red chillies with garlic. Add a bit of water if necessary.
3. Mix salt.

Pav Bhaji

This works either as a snack or dinner. It has a good mix of vegetables and is perfect for kids. One thing to keep in mind about this dish is that it tastes better the longer it cooks.

Ingredients 

2 big onions(finely chopped)
2 potatoes
3 tomatoes (finely chopped)
2 carrots, chopped
1 cup cauliflower, chopped
1 cup chopped cabbage
1/2 cup peas
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
3 tbsp pav bhaji powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
3 tbsp butter
1 1/4 tsp salt
coriander

Method :
1. Boil and smash the potatoes
2. In a microwave bowl, add carrots, peas, cauliflower and cabbage. Add 1/2 cup water and microwave for 8 min. Blend the mix a bit. Take care not to make it into a paste.
3. In another bowl, add oil, onions, ginger garlic paste, 2 tbsp pa bhaji masala and turmeric powder. Microwave for 6 min.
4. Add tomatoes, mashed vegetables, mashed potatoes, butter and salt to the above mixture. Add one cup of water. Microwave for 5 min.
5. Add 1 tsp pav  bhaji masala and 1 tbsp butter and mix well. Garnish with chopped coriander and chopped onions.

Nellikai uruga (Gooseberry pickle)

I love this recipe! Not only does it taste very good but this is the only way I can ever eat gooseberry. My husband never had a problem eating it raw.  He has been doing it from his childhood and I guess that's the reason. I read about the high vitamin content in gooseberry everywhere and end up feeling guilty because I can never get past the first bite of raw gooseberry. My teeth tingles with every bite.

Anyway, here is the wonderful recipe -

Ingredients :

Gooseberry : 5
chilli powder : 1tbsp
salt : 1tbsp
lemon : 1
fenugreek seeds : 1/2 tsp
cumin seeds : 1/2 tsp
Oil : 1 tsp
mustard seeds : 1/2 tsp

Method :

1. Remove the seeds of the gooseberry. Cut the flesh into small pieces.
2. Add chilli powder, turmeric, salt and lemon juice.
3. Pop the mustard seeds in oil. Cool it completely.
4. Dry roast the fenugreek seeds and cumin seeds. Powder them finely.
5. Add the oil and the powder. Stir well.

That's it. As simple as that and it taste amazing.

Adding brown rice to your diet

The normal white rice we eat is brown rice minus the nutritional value. In the name of milling and polishing, we remove  67% of vitamin B3, 80% of vitamin B1, 90% of vitamin B6, half and phosphorus, manganese and iron. 

The need to add brown rice to our diet is universally known. The thing we dont know is how to add it to our diet. Only a very few people can actually cook and digest it directly. Most of the people are like me. Frankly, they just cant eat it! 

So what I do, is add it to idli rice in the ratio of 3(brown rice):7(white rice). We get to eat brown rice and we dont even have a slight change in our diet. None of my family has ever been able to find the difference between the normal idli and the idli made with addition of brown rice. 

You have to try it to believe it!

Aloo and Drumstick curry

A tasty and a healthy curry.

Ingredients:


Drumstick : 2 cups
Potatoes : 2
Onion : 1
Tomato : 1 (pureed)
Garam masala : 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder : 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder : 1 tsp
Ginger garlic : 1 tsp
Mutter : 1/2 cup
Coconut(grated) : 1/2 cup
Curry leaves : around 10
Coriander leaves : a handful


Method :

1. Clean and scrap the drumsticks.
2. Cut them into 2 inch pieces
3. Cut the potatoes
4.  Make a paste of coconut, onion, coriander powder, coriander leaves, garam masala and ginger garlic paste.
5. Boil the drumstick and potatoes till they are cooked.
6. In oil, add mustard seeds, curry leaves and the paste of step 4. Fry for 5 min.
7. Add the drumstick and potatoes and fry for 5 more min.
8. Add tomato puree and salt. Keep the heat on sim for 5 more min.

Tomato pasta

I found this recipe at the back of a Bambino macaroni and could not resist trying it. The outcome was fantastic. Fell in love with it. Here is the recipe -

Ingredients :

Shell pasta - 3 cups
Tomatoes - 6
Onions - 3
ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
garam masala - 1.5 tsp
turmeric powder - 1 tsp
chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Water : 4.5 cups
Salt

Method :

1. Puree the tomatoes
2. Grind the onions into a fine paste. You can substitute big onions with small onions too.
3. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a cooker. Add garam masale and turmeric. Add the tomatoes and fry for a couple of minutes.
4. Add the onion paste and ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell is not present.
5. Add the shell pasta, water and close the cooker without the weight. Wait till steam starts coming out.
6. Them reduce the flame to sim. Switch off after 5 min.
7. Garnish with coriander leaves and grated cheese.

Radish Paratha

Easily the best of all paratha's. Easy to make and absolutely yummy. Even my one and a half year old loves it. My son is fast becoming the yard stick to measure the standard of my cooking. He eats only if the dish is absolutely yummy. Else, he just sticks to drinking milk.

Ingredients :


Radish : 4
Wheat flour : 2 cups
Ginger : 1 inch
Garic : 1 pod
chilly : 2
coriander : a handful
garam masala : 1/2 tsp
mirchi powder : 1/2 tsp
Salt : 1/2 tsp or as required
curry leaves

Method :

1. Grate all the radish.
2. Mix with salt, garam masala and mirchi powder and leave for 1/2 hour.
3. The radish will expel its water as it is mixed with salt.
4. Remove the water and keep separately.
5. Mix the radish with the wheat flour and add salt as required. You can use the radish water to kneed the flour. If you dont want to waste the left over water, just add it to the curry that you are preparing.
6. Take the ginger, garlic, chillies and curry leaves and dice it finely. I generally use the food processor for this.
7. Add this mixture along with coriander leaves to the wheat flour mixture.
8. Now make small balls and use the rolling pin to roll it into circles.
9. Fry both sides on the frying pan.
10. Use ghee on both sides.

Tastes great with raita.

Health pointer : You can add a spoon of flax seeds to the wheat mixture. Flax seeds are one of the top twenty food that are good for the body. So, I try to add them as much as possible to my cooking.

Idli Kaara Podi

A dish which every idli/dosa eating South Indian likes. This recipe has a mix of different spices which tingles different taste buds at the same time.

Ingredients :

Channa dal : 1/2 cup
Urad dal : 1/2 cup
Mustard seeds : 1 tsp
Jeera : 1 tsp
Pepperballs : 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek : 1/4 tsp
Dhania seeds : 1 tsp
Tamarind - a small amount
Curry leaves
salt
Red chillies : 10
Asafoetida

Method :

1. In a bit of oil, fry the red chillies
2. Add channa dal and fry it. Add mustard seeds.
3. Add pepperballs, jeera, fenugreek and dhania seeds.
4. When the channa dal has become a bit brown, add the urad dal and tamarind.
5. After the urad dal becomes a bit brown, add curry leaves, salt and asafoetida.
6. Fry till the curry leaves become very crispy.
7. Cool everything and grind.

Could also be had with rice and ghee.

Dal Palak

A tasty and healthy side dish.

Ingredients :
Palak - 2 bunches
Moong dal - 1 cup
corriander powder : 1/2 tsp
mirchi powder - 1/2 tsp
garam masala - 1/2 tsp
one big onion
one tomato
jeera - 1 tsp
asafoetida


Method:
1. Cook the moong dal in a pressure cooker.
2. Clean the palak and cut them into small pieces. Palak is loaded with nutrients and equally loaded with dust. So be careful to clean them proper.
3. In a bit of oil, fry the jeera. Add finely chopped onions and fry them till they are light brown.
4. Add the finely chopped tomatoes and fry them too.
5. Add the cooked dal and fry for a minute.
6. Add all the masalas and salt. Add a bit of water. Cook till all the masalas blend properly.
7. Add the palak and cook till the palak is done. Salt will bring out the water in the palak. So there is no need to add any extra water.
8. Also, keep checking if the palak is done. Overcooking the palak will destroy the nutrients.

I garnish it will a spoon on ghee and lemon juice. The lemon provides the necessary vitamin C to help absorb the iron in the palak. Generally the iron we eat is not fully absorbed by the body. You need to take additional vitamin c source to aid the absorbtion.

Ridge gourd chutney

A healthy option to have with your idlis/dosas.  

Nutritional value :
Ridge gourds are high in dietary fibre, vitamin C, riboflavin and a host of other vitamins. The asafoetida helps in digestion. 


Health benefits :
Helps in Weight loss 






Ingredients :
Ridge gourd(cut into small pieces) - 2 cups
Coconut : 1/2 cup
jaggery - a small piece (optional)
tamarind : a pea size
Mustard
chillies : 1 or 2
asafoetida


Method :
1. Fry the ridge gourd in oil till it is tender
2. Mix will coconut, chillies, salt, tamarind and jaggery and make into fine paste.
3. Season with asafoetide and mustard fried in oil.

Horsegram chutney

Horsegram chutney is a Coorg specialty.  We tried it first at the Coorg homestay where we were staying. It tasted amazing and we have since made it a part of our regular cuisine.

Nutrient value :

High in iron.
Has a good amount of phosphorus.

Health benifits : 
Helps in weight reduction

Ingredients :
Horsegram  - 1 cup
Garlic - 2 pods
Red chillies - 2
Corriander seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
A small piece of tamarind
Salt

Recipe :
1. Soak the horsegram in water overnight.
2. Pressure cook the horsegram. About three whistles would do.
3. In a bit of oil, fry the rest of the ingredients.
4. Allow it to cool and grind them together with the horsegram and tamarind.
5. Add salt and a bit of water.

Just before you have it, you can add some hot ghee. Tastes amazing with rice. You can also have it with idli or chutney. I just make the chutney a bit more watery in that case.

For a variation, you can add a bit of jaggery.

Oats Idli / Oats Dosa

Oats have suddenly become the order of the day. It seems that this grain suddenly crops up from nowhere and demands our attention. Well, given its nutrition values, it has good reason to. But, it might be a bit hard to embrace this new grain which did not play a part in our childhood eating habits. Which is why oats idli/dosa/upma might be a good way to break the ice. 

Nutrient value : 

Some important nutrient value of this wholegrain

1. Oats have more soluble fiber than any other grain. Which means you stay full longer. 

2. They are a good source of nutrients and antioxidants.

3. They have anti-inflammatory properties. 

4. And they have the best amino acid balance of all the cereals.  

Health benefits :

1. Lowers cholesterol

2. Stabilizes blood sugar.

3. Softens your skin.

Ingredients :
Oats - 1 1/2 cup
Rava - 1 cup
Ginger - 1 inch
Pepperballs - 2 tsp
Jeera - 1 tsp
Curry leaves
Curd - 1 cup
Baking powder - 1/2 tbsp
Salt

Recipe :
1. Powder the oats finely.
2. Add them to roasted rava.
3. Grind ginger, pepperballs, jeera and curryleaves together and fry the mix in a little bit of oil.
4. Add this mix to the oats/rava mixture.
5. Add curd.  We need to achieve the consistency of the regular idli batter. Add a bit of water to the mixture till that consistency is achieved.
6. Let the mixture stand for 1/2 hour.
7. Add baking powder and make idlis.

Oats dosa has the exact recipe except that I dont add baking powder.

My one and a half year old son loves them more than the regular idli/dosa. I make a separate batch for him with very little pepperballs and ginger. If you have one of these fussy eaters at home, you can try this variation too.