Moong Dal Sambar

Nutritious side dish for idlis/dosas. Rich in proteins.

Ingredients:
Moong dal - 100g
Onion - 1 (medium size - finely chopped)
Tomato - 1 (medium size - finely chopped)
Green chillies - 3
Sambar pwd - 1 tsp
Turmeric pwd - 1/4 tsp
Tamarind pulp - 2 tablespoon
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp
Coriander leaves - a little
Salt

Method:
1. Pressure cook moong dal with turmeric powder, sambar powder and salt for up to 4 to 5 whistles. Mash the cooked dal with a spoon.
2. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seed. Let it splutter.
3. Add the green chillies, chopped onions and fry till golden brown.
4. Add the chopped tomato and fry till it is done.
5. Now add the cooked moong dal and mix well.
6. Cook for a few minutes, when the gravy boils, add coriander leaves.
7. Healthy moong dal sambar is ready to be served with Idlis/Dosas/Rice.

P.S: You can add your fav veggies to this sambar.Adding a little ghee enhances the taste.

Egg Fry

Ingredients:
Boiled Eggs – 3
Onion – 1 (medium size – finely chopped)
Chilli pwd – 1 tsp
Turmeric pwd – ½ tsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Urud dal – 1 tsp
Coriander leaves – finely chopped (a little)
Oil – 2 tsp
Salt

Method:
1. Cut the boiled egg in to small pieces as shown in the picture.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and urud dal.
3. Add chopped onion and fry till golden brown.
4. Now add the chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and mix well. Fry for a minute.
5. Add the egg pieces and mix gently. (Yellow yolk should not become mashy). Fry for a minute.
6. Finally add the chopped coriander leaves and mix gently.
7. Egg fry is ready for serving.

Fruits

To ripen the fruits(Sapota, Gauva), cover them with a plastic bag and place it in a hot bag. It gets ripened the very next day.

Microwave Toor Dal

To cook toor dal in microwave quickly, soak toor dal in water for 3o mins and then cook in a microwave.

French Beans Fry

Ingredients:
French Beans - 250g (finely chopped)
Onion - 1 no (medium- finely choppped)
Curry leaves - 6 nos
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Green chillies - 2 no (cut length wise)
Turmeric pwd - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli pwd - 1/4 tsp (optional)
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urud dal - 1 tsp
Salt
Oil

Method:
1. Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, urud dal and cumin seeds. Let it splutter.
2. Add chopped onion and green chillies and fry until brown.
3. Add the chopped beans, turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt.
4. Sprinkle a little water on the top and fry until the beans are cooked.
5. Goes well with rice.

Tomato/Thakkali Thokku

Ingredients:
Tomato - 5 nos(large size)
Garlic - 10 cloves
Fenugreek - 1 tsp
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Chilli pwd - 3 to 4 tsp (as per taste)
Turmeric pwd - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
Sesame oil - 4 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Salt

Method:
1. Grind all the tomatoes without adding water.
2. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, let is splutter.
3. Add fenugreek, asafoetida and fry for 30 secs.
4. Add ginger and garlic cloves, fry for a min.
5. Now add the ground tomatoes to the frying pan and fry for 3 mins.
6. Add the chilli powder and turmeric powder. Mix well.
7. Fry till the tomato thickens and oil floats on the top.
8. Cool it. Transfer it into an airtight container. Add a teaspoon of sesame oil. This tomato thokku lasts for about 10 days.
9. This can be served with Idlis/Dosa/Chapathi/Rice.

Chow chow chutney

Ingredients:

Chowchow(grated) - 1 no

Dry red chillies - 3 to 4 nos (as per your taste)

Roasted gram - 1 tbsp

Urud dal - 1 tbsp

Lemon juice - 2 tsp

Salt

Oil

Method:

1. Heat oil in a frying pan. Fry urud dal and roasted gram till they turn brown.

2. Add dry red chillies and chowchow. Fry till it is done.

3. Grind all the fried ingredients with salt and lemon juice.

4. Chowchow chutney is ready. Goes well with Idly and Dosai.

Spinach and Dal (Paruppu Keerai Kootu)

A healthy nutritious dish rich in proteins and vitamins.

Ingredients:
Spinach - 1 bunch
Toor Dal - 1/2 cup
Dry Red Chillies - 6 nos (Can be reduced if you dont want it hot and spicy)
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Rice - 1 tsp
Turmeric pwd - 1/4 tsp
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Salt

Method:
1. Fry cumin seeds, dry red chillies and rice without oil.
2. Cool the above fried ingredients and grind them to a fine powder.
3. Boil Toor Dal and Spinach seperatly. No need to mash the toor dal.
4. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. Let it splutter.
5. Add ginger garlic paste and fry for 30 seconds.
6. Add the cooked spinach and dal along with the ground powder, turmeric and salt. Cook for 3 - 4 minutes.
7. Dal Spinach curry is ready. Goes well with steamed rice/rotis.

Note: Instead of making the powder, you can add cumin seeds, dry red chillies just before adding ginger garlic paste.

Onions

To avoid tears when chopping onions, soak them in cold water for a minute before chopping.

Tomato and Garlic Rasam

This Rasam can be had as such to get rid of cold.

Ingredients:
Tomato - 2 nos
Garlic - 4 cloves
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Peppercorns - 1 tsp
Rasam powder - 1/2 tsp (Optional)
Dry Red chillies - 2 nos
Tamarind pulp - 2 cups
Asafoetida - a pinch
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urud Dal - 1 tsp
Coriander leaves
Oil
Salt

Method:
1. Grind the tomatoes, garlic, cumin seeds and pepercorns(Just one whip in the mixie/blender - No need to grind it to a fine paste).
2. Heat oil in a deep pan, add mustard seeds and urud dal.
3. Once the mustard splutters, fry the ground paste with a little rasam powder for 2 minutes.
4. Add the tamarind pulp, asafoetida, turmeric powder and boil the mixture.
5. Switch off the stove once it starts boiling.
6. Add salt now. Rasam is ready to be served with rice.

Karuvaepillai/Curry Leaves Powder

If you have bunches of curry leaves at home, you can try this simple recipe
Ingredients:
Curry leaves - 20 Steaks
Urud Dal - 1 tbspoon
Channa Dal - 1 tbspoon
Dry Red Chillies - 4 (as per your taste)
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Coriander seeds - 1 tsp
Tamarind - a tiny piece
Salt

Method:
1. Fry curry leaves without oil until it becomes crisp. keep it aside.
2. Fry urud dal, channa dal, dry red chillies, cumin seeds, coriander seeds without out oil.
3. Cool and grind all the fried ingredients with tamarind and salt.
4. Curry leaves powder is ready. Goes well with white rice and ghee combination.

Berries

Berries are good sources of vitamin A & C, fibre and folate. Include this in your daily food by adding mixed frozen/fresh berries to your oatmeal or morning breakfast cereal .

Cauliflower

Always wash cauliflower in salted warm water to get rid of the small insects deep inside the florets which are not visible to our eyes.

Bread crumbs and croutons

To make bread crumbs and croutons at home,
1. Remove the side crusts
2. Microwave 2 breads for 2 1/2 minutes. It becomes hard.
3. Cut them with a tough knife in to croutons.
4. Grind the same in to coarse powder for bread crumbs.

Moong Dal Sambar

Nutritious side dish for idlis/dosas. Rich in proteins.

Ingredients:
Moong dal - 100g
Onion - 1 (medium size - finely chopped)
Tomato - 1 (medium size - finely chopped)
Green chillies - 3Sambar pwd - 1 tsp
Turmeric pwd - 1/4 tsp
Tamarind pulp - 2 tablespoon
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp
Coriander leaves - a little
Salt

Method:
1. Pressure cook moong dal with turmeric powder, sambar powder and salt for up to 4 to 5 whistles. Mash the cooked dal with a spoon.
2. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seed. Let it splutter.
3. Add the green chillies, chopped onions and fry till golden brown.
4. Add the chopped tomato and fry till it is done.
5. Now add the cooked moong dal and mix well.
6. Cook for a few minutes, when the gravy boils, add coriander leaves.
7. Healthy moong dal sambar is ready to be served with Idlis/Dosas/Rice.

P.S: You can add your fav veggies to this sambar.Adding a little ghee enhances the taste.

Coriander leaves/Cilantro

Hi,

Do you stock bunches of coriander leaves in your fridge?

Here is the best way to store them efficiently without any wastage.Chop the coriander leaves finely without washing. Store them in a plastic container (without the roots) . It remains fresh for weeks.Wash them just before you use.

Lemon Rice

Ingredients:
Basmati Rice - 1 cup
Onion - 1 no (finely chopped)
Lemon - 1/2 (can be increased/reduced as per ur taste)
Dry Red Chillies - 3 (again as per ur taste)
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Channa dal - 1 tbsp
Cashews/groundnuts - 10 nos
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Salt

Method:
1. Pressure cook Basmati rice with 2 cups of water. Cool it at room temperature.
2. Heat oil in a pan, fry mustard seeds, dry red chillies, channa dal, cashews for a minute.
3. Add the chopped onions fry till golden brown. Cool the fried ingredients.
4. Mix the rice with the above fried ingredients, salt and turmeric powder.
5. Squeeze the lemon juice and mix well.
6. Lemon rice is ready. Goes well with potato fry.

Note: Onion is only optional.

Aloo Mutter

Ingredients:
Potatoes - 5 (medium sized)
Peas - 1 cup
Onion - 3 (chopped lenghtwise)
Tomato - 3 (chopped lengthwise)
Coriander(dhania) seeds - 1 tbsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Chilli powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala powser - 1/2 tsp
Garlic - 3 cloves
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Ghee - 2 tsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Coriander leaves
Salt

Method:
1. Pressure cook potatoes and peas. No need to mash the potatoes. (You can cut them in to bite size pieces).
2. Fry cumin seeds and coriander seeds without oil for a minute and keep it aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan, fry ginger, garlic followed by 3/4 of the chopped onion till the onion is tender. 4. Cool the above fried ingredients and grind it along with the fried cumin seeds, coriander seeds and 3/4 of the chopped tomatoes in to a fine paste.
5. Heat ghee in a pan, add the remaining onion fry till golden brown.
6. Add the chopped tomatoes fry till the tomatoes are cooked.
7. Add the ground paste, turmeric powder, chilli powder, garam masala, salt and fry for 5 minutes.
8. Now add the boiled potatoes and peas and cook for another 5 mins.
9. Garnish with coriander leaves. Yummy Aloo mutter is ready to be served with rotis/rice.

Note: You can also fry the cumin seeds and coriander seeds with the onions rather than frying them seperately.

Spinach Roti

Ingredients:
Wheat flour - 4 cups
Spinach - 2 cups (finely chopped)
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp
Salt

Method:
1. Mix all the ingredients. Knead lightly. Add water and knead well till becomes soft. Water should be added gradually. Keep aside covered for about 20 minutes.
2. Make a small lemon size ball and roll it into a roti.
3. Heat a flat pan and cook the rotis without oil.

Quick Fish Fry

Ingredients:

Fish - 250g

Chilli powder - 1 tsp (as per ur taste)

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt

Method:1

. Marinate the fish with chilli powder, turmeric and salt for 15 minutes.

2. Shallow fry the marinated fish in oil.

3. Yummy fish fry is ready for serving.

Note: You can also grind pepper, fennel seeds, ginger and garlic and use the paste for marination.

Quick Corn Snack

Healthy snack for kids n grown ups.

Ingredients:
Sweet Corn - 1
Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp (can be reduced as per your taste)
lemon juice (without water)
Salt

Method:
1. Cut the corn in to two pieces.
2. Microwave the cut pieces for 6 minutes.
3. Brush the corn with little lemon juice, chilli powder and Salt.
4. Yummy sweet corn snack is ready

Note: Chilli pwd can be avoided for kids.

Puliyodharai - Tamarind Rice

Ingredients:
Basmati Rice - 1 cup
Onion - 1 (medium size - finely chopped)
Dry red chillies - 5 (as per taste)
Turmeric pwd - 1/2 tsp
Channa dal - 2 tsp
Thick tamarind juice - 1 cup
Sesame oil - 3 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves
Salt

Method:
1. Cook the rice in 2 cups of water and keep it aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan, saute mustard seeds, channa dal, curry leaves and dry red chillies.
3. Add onion, fry till it is done.
4. Add the tamarind juice, turmeric powder and salt. Cook until it becomes a fine paste. Cool it.
5. Now add the cooked rice to this paste and mix well.
6. Puliyodharai is ready to be served with Pappads.

Note: Peanuts, Cashew nuts can be added along with dry red chillies.

Prawn Masala

Ingredients:
Prawn - 1/4 Kg
Onion - 2 (large - Finely chopped)
Tomato - 2 (medium size - Finely chopped)
Urud dal - 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Chilli Pwd - 1 tsp
Coriander Pwd - 1 tsp
Turmeric Pwd - 1/2 tsp
Ginger Garlic paste 1 tsp
Curry leaves
Oil - 2 tsp
Salt

Method:
1. Clean the Prawns and marinate with chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric and salt for 1 hr.
2. Heat oil in a pan and saute urud dal, cumin seeds and curry leaves.
3. Add finely chopped onion, ginger garlic paste and fry till golden brown, add chopped tomatoes fry untill onion and tomato form a fine paste.
4. Now add the Prawns, mix well and cook until the prawns are done.
5. Do not add water.

Veg Fried Rice

Ingredients:
Basmati rice - 1 cup
White/Brown onion - 1/2 (medium sized - cut lengthwise)
Cabbage, and other assorted veggies (of ur choice) - 2 cups (finely chopped)
Green chillies - 3 (cut lengthwise)
Ajinomoto - a pinch
White pepper - 1 tsp (Optional)
Ghee - 3 tsp
Salt

Method:
1. Heat a tsp of Ghee in a pan and fry the Basmati rice for 30 secs.
2. Cook the rice with 2 cups of water and keep aside.
3. Cook the veggies in sufficient amount of water. Drain the water once they are done.
4. Heat 2 tsps of Ghee in a pan, saute onion and green chillies for 2 minutes.
5. Now add the cooked veggies and saute for a minute. 6. Add the ajinomoto, white pepper, salt and saute for 2 minutes.
7. Add the cooked rice and mix well with the veggies.
8. Serve hot with any side dish.

Note: For Egg fried rice, scramble eggs when you are done with the onion.

Carrot Kheer

A very healthy dessert...

Ingredients:
Milk - 1litre
Carrot - 6 nos
Almonds - 30 nos
Cardamom Powder - 1 tsp (as per taste)
Sugar - 2 cups (can be reduced or added more as per taste)

Method:
1. Soak Almonds in warm water for 30 minutes.
2. Chop the carrots and cook them with 2 cups of milk in a pressure cooker for upto 3 whistles.
3. Cool the cooked carrots/milk mixture. Grind them in a blender.
4. Grind the soaked almonds(with the skin) in to a fine paste.
5. Boil the remaining milk and the blended carrot in a thick bottom pan for 10 mins. Keep stirring continuosly.
6. Add the sugar followed by Almond paste.
7. Boil until it becomes thick.
8. Add the cardamom powder and take off from the stove.
9. Refrigerate it and serve

Note: Can be served hot also.

Garlic Chutney

Ingredients:
Tomato - 3 (medium size finely chopped)
Garlic - 6 cloves
Dry Red Chillies - 4 nos
Urud Dal - 1 tsp
Bengal Gram - 1 tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Oil - 1 tsp
Salt

Method:
1. Heat oil in a pan, fry urud dal, bengal gram,asofoetida and dry red chillies.
2. Add garlic cloves and fry for a minute.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes and fry till the tomatoes are cooked well.
4. Grind the fried ingredients with/without water. (as per your taste).
5. Yummy Garlic chutney is ready to be served with Idlis/Dosa/Rotis.

Coriander Rice

Ingredients:
Basmati Rice - 1 cup
Onion - 1 (large - finely chopped)
Coriander leaves - 1 bunch (finely chopped)
Dry Red Chillies - 4
Urud Dal - 2 tsp
Channa Dal - 2 tsp
Tamarind - small piece
Asafoetida - a pinch
Oil - 2 tsp
Salt

Method:
1. Cook Basmati Rice with 2 cups of water and keep aside.
2. Add 1 tsp of oil and saute urud dal, channa dal, red chillies, tamarind and asafoetida in a frying pan.
3. Grind the fried ingredients and the chopped coriander leaves together to a smooth paste.
4. Now add 1 tsp of oil to the frying pan and add onions, fry till golden brown.
5. Add the coriander paste, salt and fry until the raw smell goes off.
6. Now add the cooked rice and mix well.
7. Serve this with Papad/Vadam

Bisi bela bath

Ingredients:
Rice - 1 cup
Toor dal - 1/2 cup
Assorted veggies - 1 cup
Ghee 3 spoons
Tamarind paste 1 1/2 spoons (Tamarind pulp can be used)
Onion - 1 (large sized)
Coriander leaves - for garnishing

Masala to Grind:
Dry red chillies - 8
Dhania - 1 1/2 spoons
Fenugreek - 1/4 spoon
Urad dal - 1/2 spoon
bengal gram - 1 spoon
Cinnamon - 1 inch stick

Method:
Fry the above masalas in a dry pan and powder them.
Mix Rice and Dal and cook in cooker.
Heat oil in a pan, fry onions till brown, add all the veggies.
Add tamarind paste and 1/2 cup water and salt and the ground masala powder.
Let it boil.
Now add cooked rice/dal and mix well. Remove from flame.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
Serve hot with Onion Raita and Pappads.