Ingredients:

• Basmathi Rice – 1 cup
• Green peas – 1/2 cup
• Green chilli – 5 count
• Milk – 1 cup
• Water – 1 cup
• Butter – 2 tbsp
• Salt – as needed

Spices for seasoning:

• Bay leaves – 2
• Cloves – 2
• Cinnamon – 1/2 inch stick
• Cardomom – 2
• Star anise – 1

Procedure:

• Wash and soak the rice in water for 30 mins.
• In a pan, heat 1 tbsp butter and add the spices and slit green chillies. Add Green peas and saute for 2 mins.
• Drain the water from the rice and cook the rice, water, milk, sauted peas, remaining butter in a rice cooker. Adding milk to the rice will improve the white color of the pulao.

Pulao Ready to cook

• Once the rice is half cooked add salt and stir. Close the lid and cook the fully. Adding the salt in the halfway to avoid curdling of milk.
• Once the rice is fully cooked, fluff it with a fork and serve with your choice of curry.

  

  Peas Pulao served with Spicy Potato Curry

You can even try other vegetables(mushroom/soyabites/Butter beans) of your choice in this recipe…  

This is another intresting recipe from my kitchen. Last week I found fresh okras in the Indian grocery stores. So I wanted to try something new with it, rather than the regular curry. Try this one and post your comments.

Ingredients:

• Vendaikai/Okra/Ladies finger/Bhindi – 20 counts
• Chilli powder & salt - 1/4 spoon (mix them in a dry bowl)
• Oil – To fry

For Batter:

• Besan flour – 1cup
• Rice flour – 1 table spoon (to get crispy bajji)
• Chilli powder, Salt – as per taste
• Asafoetica – 1 pinch
• Water

or you can use ready made bajji-bonda mix available in stores.

Procedure:

• Wash and dry the okras.
• Cut both the ends and slit open the okra. Rub the chilli powder and salt as shown in the picture and keep aside.

Okra rubbed with salt & chilli powder

• Mix the batter ingredients with little water into smooth and thick paste. Do not make it too watery, it will not stick to the okra. When you dip the okra, a thin layer of batter should stick to it, that is the right consistency.
• Now heat oil in a kadai and dip the seasoned okras in batter and fry them until it is golden color.
• Serve hot with your choice of chutney/ketchup.

  

  Vendaikai Bajji/Battered Okra Fry

  Note: Bajji in the above picture is little dark in color, as I added 2 tsp of Ragi flour to make it healthy.

Here is another easy recipe from my kitchen… This is an easy and healthy, yet yummy dessert. Main ingredients are carrots and milk; both are packed with nutrients that are essential for everyday. Even kids will like this drink for its attractive color and taste. It is one easy way to add 1 serving of vegetable to my kids menu. Try it at your home and I bet you will like it too.

Carrot Kheer topped with roasted cashews and raisins.

Ingredients:

• Carrot – 1 lb or 500 gms
• Milk(Whole/2%/1%/Skim) – 1 liter
• Sugar – 1 cup
• Cardamom – 2
• Cashews & Raisins or other nuts  - To garnish

Procedure:

1. Wash and cut the carrots into bite size cubes and pressure cook them with ½ liter milk for 1-3 whistles.
2. Let it cool. Then grind it to make puree.
3. Now boil the remaining milk & sugar in a pan and add the carrot puree to it. Add crushed cardamoms for flavor and boil it for 5 mins.
4. Garnish with your favorite toppings and serve hot or cold.

Note:

• Iwould prefer to garnish with roasted cashews to give it a nutty, crunchy flavor.
• Also the Kheer tastes better, when served cold.
• You can adjust the sugar level according to your taste. If you are diet conscious, you can substitute 0 calorie sweetener instead of sugar.
• If the kheer is too thick, add more milk.

Paniyaram is my favorite tiffin… Many of my friends don’t know what is paniyaram.. So I thought of posting this recipe… You need a paniyarakal to make this… Paniyaram looks like small ball in shape and yummy to taste… It is good alternative to those who don’t like idli… Even my 2 year old hates idli and loves paniyaram …

Kuzhi Paniyaram served with Coconut Chutney

Ingredients:

• Idly/Dosa batter(Mavu): 2 cups
• Chopped Onion Shallots/Big Onion: 1/2 cup
• Green chilli – 2 (finely chopped)
• Chopped Curry leaves, Cilantro – 1 spoon each
• Mustard, Channa dal, Urad dal – To season
• Oil

Procedure:

• Heat oil in a pan and splutter Mustard, Channa dal, Urad dal and add Curry leaves, Onions and Chilli. Saute them until the onions are translucent.
• Now add this to the Idly/dosa batter and mix well. Add the cilantro & salt also to the batter.
• Heat the Paniyarakal and put few spoons of oil in each hole… Scoop in the batter in each hole and wait until the outer layer is golden brown. Put another spoon of oil and roll the paniyaram to other side using a knife or stick.  Once the other side is also golden brown, take them out…
• Serve hot with Sambar/Chutney…

Hello foodies,

This is a simple, yet tasty evening snack for kids. I came acrossthis recipe  from the kids show “Tasty time with ZeFronk”(Tasty Time with ZeFronk is an animated series of five-minute long shorts produced for and airs on Disney Junior and previously on Playhouse Disney). I have added cilantro and chilli to the original recipe to make it spicy and colorful…

Potato Pancakes served with Tomato Ketchup

Ingredients:

• Potato – 1 big (or) 2 small. Peeled and shredded
• Eggs – 2
• Onion – 2 spoons finely chopped
• Green chilli – 1. finely chopped (Optional)
• Cilantro – 1 spoon finely chopped
• Salt & pepper – to taste

Procedure:

1. In a big bowl, put all the ingredients and mix well until everything blends with each other.
2. In a heated griddle, pour 1 laddle mix and leave for a minute. Flip the pancakes and let it cook for another minute. If you want, you can use little oil while cooking.
3. Now serve the tasty potato pancakes with your choice of tomato ketchup or mint chutney.

 So simple right!!!… Try it and enjoy!!!…

Ingredients:

For Appam:

Basmathi rice/Raw rice(pacharisi) – 2 cups (I always mix both in 1:1 ratio)

Cooked rice(Sadham) – 1 cup

Grated coconut – ½ cup (You can use coconut milk also)

Urad dhall – 2 spoons

Baking powder – ½ spoon

Salt – as desired

For Thengai Pal:

Grated coconut – 1 cup

Cardamom – 1 pod

Sugar & Water

Procedure:

• Wash and Soak rice & urad dhal in water for 2 hours. Then grind them with coconut and cooked rice to a dosa batter consistency. Add salt and baking powder.
• Allow the batter to ferment for atleast 3-4 hours. Normally I leave the batter overnight for fermentation.
• If you have Appa chatti, pour 2 laddle full batter in the appachatti and twirl the pan clockwise, so that the batter will spread in the pan. Now close the pan with lid and wait for 1 min. Now the fluffy appam is ready.
• If you don’t have appachatti, you can make appam in dosa thawa itself. Heat dosa thawa and pour 2 laddle full batter and just flatten the outer circle alone, leaving the center of the appam thicker. Now close the thawa with a lid and wait for 1 min. Now the fluffy appam is ready.
• For Coconut milk, grind the coconut with warm water (to get more milk) and filter it. Add sugar and cardamom powder for taste.
• You can serve Appam with Coconut Milk or any curry…

Butter Biscuits

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour/Maida – 2  cups
2. Butter – 1 ½  cup
3. Sugar – ½ cup
4. Cardamom – 1 or 2 pods
5. Cashews/almonds/chocolate chips
6. Baking soda – ¼ spoon (if you are using self-rising flour, then baking soda is not needed)

Procedure:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Powder the sugar and cardamom.
• Kneed the butter, powdered sugar, flour & baking soda gently without lumps until dough is soft.
• Dust little flour in a greased cookie sheet and press small ball size dough gently with fingers. Leave 2 inch space between biscuits.
• Docorate with cashews/almonds/chocolate chips. You can also sprinkle sugar on top.

Butter Biscuits

• Bake for 12-15 mins. Bake time varies for ovens. So check after 10 mins and turn off if the biscuits are light brown color.
• Cool the biscuits for 20 mins and store them in an airtight container.

Butter Biscuits

Happy cooking!!!…

Birds nest(Fish covered eggs)

Ingredients:

Egg – 3

Fish(boneless) – 200 gms (I used tilapia fillets)

Corn flour – 5 tablespoons

Onion – 1 (small), finely chopped

Green chilli – 2 , finely chopped

Curry leaves & Coriander leaves – finely chopped

Ginger, garlic paste – 1/2 spoon

Aniseed(Sombu) – 1/4 spoon

Chilli powder – 1/2 spoon

Turmeric powder – 1/4 spoon

Salt – as required

Bread crump

Oil – To fry

Procedure:

1)      Boil the eggs for 20 mins. Remove the shell and keep aside.

2)      Cook the fish in 1 cup of water with little salt and turmeric powder until the fish is tender or you can rub salt and turmeric and steam cook the fish until it is tender

3)      In a bowl, Shred the cooked fish and add the corn flour, finely chopped onions, green chilli, curry leaves and coriander leaves, ginger garlic paste, aniseed, chilli powder, salt and kneed them to mix well…

4)      Heat oil in a pan. Gently cover the egg with a thick layer of fish mix like a ball and roll the ball in bread crumps and deep fry in the oil until brown…

5)      Serve with tomato ketchup or mint chutney of your choice…

Tips:

To make it more attractive to the kids, you can serve it with potato fries like a birds nest… Hence I named it so…

If you are a eggiterian, you can use Yam instead of fish…

Happy cooking!!!…

• Rice flour: 1 cup
• Water – 1 cup
• Milk – 1 liter
• Sugar – 1 ½
• Cashew
• Ghee
• Cardamom

Procedure:

• In a pan(Preferably non-stick) boil 1 cup of water and ½ cup of milk. Add the rice flour, 1 spoon ghee, pinch of salt and stir well so that there are no lumps.
• Once the flour is cool, kneed it once again. Make small balls(or you can roll into small tubes) and steam them in a greased idly plate for 7 – 10 mins.
• In another pan, boil the milk and sugar. Now add steamed rice balls and cardamom and cook for 10 mins or until the milk is thickened.
• Finally garnish with fried cashews and Serve hot.

Mutton Varutha Kari

Ingredients:

Mutton – 1 lb/500 gms
Onion shallots – 5 (finely chopped)
Turmeric powder – ¼ spoon
Bay leaf – Small piece
Mustard & Curry leaves
Oil
Salt

To grind:
Red chilli – 4
Green chilli – 4
Whole pepper – ½ spoons
Coriander seeds – ¼ spoon
Cinnoman – 1 small piece
Cloves – 2
Cardamon – 1

Procedure:

• Dry roast the spices and grind it to paste along with Red chilli and green chilli. Keep it aside.
• Clean and chop the mutton into small cubes and keep aside.
• In a non-stick pan, heat oil. Put mustard and allow it to splutter. Add curry leaves, Bay leaf and chopped onions. Fry until onion is translucent.
• Now add the meat, ground spices, Turmeric and salt. Stir it until the spices mix well with meat.
• Now sprinkle little water and cook it covered for 20 mins in slow flame. Stir frequently.
• Once the meat is cooked well, you can turn off the flame and garnish with cilantro.

Note: You can squeeze some lemon juice while serving.