Whole Wheat, nuts Dessert/ Whole wheat laddoo

Tags

chickpea flour, Desserts, healthy desserts, Indian Desserts, Laddoo, nuts, Nuts Laddoo, Poppy seeds, Wheat Laddoo, Whole Wheat Flour, Whole wheat Laddoo

Indians are just fond of laddoo’s to a great extent. I am no exception to it. Laddoo is a sweet dish which is usually round in shape, made in different varieties/flour. I have a dear friend who does laddoo’s in a very healthy fashion. I had asked for the recipe from him, soon will post that variety also. Usually in south India I have seen more of chickpea flour laddoo’s. I wanted to try something different. Found so many recipes over the internet. Finally I mixed up and made this laddoo out of whole wheat flour and YAY! it came out well……I hope dear friends you will like it as well:)

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Flour : 1 cup

Cashews, walnut, almonds: all together 3/4 cup ( you can add any sort of nuts you want or skip this as well)

Poppy seeds/ khas khas : 1/4 cup

Jaggery/Gur : 3/4 cups ( You can optional use sugar, but I have tried a healthier version)

Cardamom powder : 1 teaspoon

Clarified Butter/Ghee : 2 tablespoons

Method:

First dry roast the whole wheat flour in a large pan for almost 5 to 8 mins, till you get a good aroma. Make sure to stir continuously, so that the lower layer doesn’t get burned. Keep stirring for an even roast. The color of the flour would change slowly to a darker shade. Stop cooking and let it cool down.

Mean time, chop all the nuts to small pieces. Grate the Jaggery. If you have powdered jaggery well and good. Put all of them in a blender along with Poppy seeds, cardamom powder. Grind it well to a fine paste. If needed add very little water and grind it.

I added Poppy seeds to get the crunchy texture, you can skip it if you don’t want. This mixture smell was heavenly 😀

Next in another pan, heat up clarified butter.

When it is heated up nicely, pour it in the dry roasted wheat flour. Pour the ground mixture as well. Mix up everything together.

Make it into small balls, with your fist. If it tends to break while making the balls, apply very little clarified butter/Ghee in your palm and make the balls.

Now the wheat laddoos are ready 🙂

 

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Mung Sprout Salad with Avocado

Tags

Avocado, Green gram salad, Moong Salad, Mung Sprout, Mung Sprout salad with Avocado, salad, Sprouts salad

Mung/Moong Bean sprout contain beneficial carbohydrates and protein, which supports a healthy lifestyle. These sprouts are low in calories, have fiber and B vitamins, and deliver a boost of vitamins C and K.The fiber in the legumes have the capacity to combine with bile acids.The decrease in bile available for digestion may stimulate the body’s conversion of blood cholesterol into bile resulting in lower levels of blood cholesterol.

But they have some disadvantages as well. If you don’t eat it properly it causes heavy gastric problems.

I have always loved mung bean sprouts. I used to eat them almost everyday few years back as my breakfast. As I had to run to office, I would eat them in a hurry without chewing properly and got this gastric problem. So in between I had stopped it.

Suddenly I had a feeling that I am eating all junk food for the past few days, so I had sprouted the mung bean 🙂 and prepared the salad. I just loved it. Today changed my fruit Thursday routine to Salad Thursday for a change 🙂 here it is…..

Ingredients:

Sprouted Mung bean

Lemon Juice

Yellow onion

Tomato

Black Pepper powder

Salt

Avocado

Cilantro leaves

Method:

I had sprouted the mung beans yesterday, wash it thoroughly. Chop onions, tomatoes, some avocado pieces. Mash them all together. Add lemon juice, pepper, salt and the mung beans.

The creamy avocado gave the salad a great taste.

I haven’t given any measurements, as you can adjust and vary according to your taste 🙂

You can add Dill leaves to it, so that you can reduce the gastric problem.

Finally chew it well and eat 🙂

 

Liebster Award

Tags

Awards, Kalki Krishnamurthy, Liebster, Liebster Award

Aiswarya from Mykitchenmoments has nominated me for Liebster award. Its a great pleasure for me. Thank you very much Aiswarya 🙂 She has got a beautiful list of Indian recipes and all her photographs looks amazing, I am trying to learn from her. Once again Thank you very much Aiswarya.

About Liebster Award, “Liebster Award” is… Generated in Germany, this award is a beautiful way of recognizing lesser known blogs. And “Liebster” means, “dearest, beloved, sweetest, nicest, valued” etc.

The rules ask you to,

• Thank and link back the person who presented the award to you.
• Have the award on your post.
• Answer the questions that has been asked.
• Award the same to up to ten other upcoming blogs.

So, here I go..

Show us something you like around you or outside your place. Maybe you already know I like flower photos. But it’s your choice.

Yes I love flowers, Where ever I go out, I try to get some good pictures of flowers. Some of them which I have photographed recently are below

Tell us something about your favorite book(s) or authors. And I’d be very pleased if you talk about your favorite fantasy if you have that taste.

I used to read a lot of novels. Sidney Sheldon, Dan Brown are my favorites in English. Since my mother tongue is Tamil, I read some Tamil novels also. I am crazy about the author named Kalki Krishnamurthy, who has written Tamil novels during 1960 – 1970’s. I used to read his books without break. Any Tamilian would know about this novel called Ponniyin selvan written by Kalki which is a historic novel. Its totally a 5 book series. I wish Kalki could have written more books 🙂

I also like creative people. Show us how you are creative!

I do some paper crafting, pencil sketching, embroidery works. Some of them which I have done

My Nominations:

vegetariansimplicity
Pattyspilgrimage
Katinks
Emily
backwhenwewereyoung
bodyisyourtemple
Taylor
grownuplivingblog
throughthemagicdoor 
kahiaupaper

Chayote Recipe

Tags

Chayote, Chayote recipe, Chayote Side Dish

Chayote is one thing I never used to like in my childhood. We used to call them as chow chow. It is either prepared as sambar or kootu in south Indian cuisines. I tried a side dish with it with a little different kind, it turned out well and sweet. Now I definitely like it 🙂 Hope you like it guys.

Ingredients:

Chayote : 1

Red Onion : 1/4 of a large chopped

Tomato : 1 chopped

Green Chili : 1 chopped

Ginger Garlic paste : 1/2 teaspoon

Milk : 200 ml

Garam Masala : 1/4 teaspoon or curry powder : 1/2 teaspoon

Turmeric Powder : 1/4 teaspoon

Salt: 1/2 tablespoon

Cilantro Leaves : Few chopped to garnish

To Season:

Oil : 1 tablespoon

Cumin Seeds : 1/2 teaspoon

mustard seeds : 1/2 teaspoon

urad dal : 1/2 teaspoon

Channa dal : 1/2 teaspoon

Curry Leaves : few

Method:

First peel the skin of the chayote. Cut it in to 2 pieces, remove the seed in between as well as the the white colored portion. Then cut the remaining into cubes.

Heat oil in a pan. Add the items in to season. Next add onions and ginger garlic paste. Let it turn translucent. Next add the cubed chayote.

Let it get cooked for 5 mins. Add the tomatoes and turmeric powder.  Once the tomatoes are 50% cooked, add the garam masala or curry powder.Mix well.

Now add milk and cover the pan with lid. After 5 mins add salt.

After 5 mins , now the milk would have got evaporated and cooked with the chayote. You can check if it has got cooked well by picking out one cube of chayote and pressing it. If it is yet to get cooked add water and cook more.

Once it is cooked , stop cooking and add the chopped cilantro leaves and serve 🙂

Coconut Dessert

Tags

Coconut, Coconut Dessert, Coconut jaggery dessert, healthy desserts, Jaggery, Jaggery health benefits

I am a big time sweet tooth 😀 , but my hubby isn’t. I prefer sweet rather than salt and he is total opposite to me. These days there is a lot of awareness created about the disadvantages of sugar. My hubby is quite a health conscious person than me, he wouldn’t want me to use white sugar in particular, in any of the food.

In ancient India we did not have sugar instead we had Jaggery. Indians use jaggery or gur which is a complex form of sugar. Jaggery has innumerable health benefits. Jaggery is usually made with sugarcane or date juice. It has rough texture and does not dissolve easily. But the healthy benefits of jaggery are undeniable. In a comparison of sugar versus jaggery, the later wins hands down. Most of the desserts prepared by Indians would have jaggery in it.

Clicked a pic of Jaggery I had at home, this is how it looks.

Some benefits of Jaggery :

• Less calories
• Rich in Iron
• Cools stomach
• Cures pain
• Post natal food
• Delays Ageing

This is a very, very simple dessert. No heating , just mixing both coconut and jaggery thats it.

Grated coconut (finely grated)

scrape the jaggery and mix with very little water. make it to a paste. Since Jaggery is hard, we do this.

Mix this paste with coconut. I am not giving the amount of both, you can play around.

Once you mix it with coconut, jaggery would start leaving out water. Mix well, if need add some more grated coconut.

You can eat it directly. I made it to balls and refrigerated it for 4 to 5 hrs . It just so yummy.

Both coconut and jaggery is very healthy. For sweet tooth’s like me this is a good option 🙂

Lentil Meat Balls (Vegan)/ Kola urundai kulambu/ paruppu urundai kulambu

Tags

Chettinad Foods, chettinad recipe, kola urundai kulambu, Lentil Meat balls, paruppu urundai kulambu

Kola urundai kulambu, this is a very famous recipe in chettinad families. Made out of lentils is a great source of protein. This was one of the dishes in my wedding lunch 😀 , I grew up with grand parents and my parents were living in a different place. My grandma is an expert in this recipe. Just watching her cook is amazing. When my uncles used to visit us, this is for sure in the days menu. All of us love this to a great extent.

I was always a bookworm, just studies and never used to think of cooking, anything else when I was young. Only after I started cooking I know how joyful it is. Miles away from my family, now I feel how blessed I am to have had a chance to eat food which was cooked and served with so much of love. Few days back I got this recipe from my grandma and tried it, though I couldn’t get it so lovely as her, it turned out better 🙂

Lentil is called as paruppu in tamil language

Ingredients:

For the balls:

Pigeon split pea lentil/ Toor dal : 1 cup

Red Chili : 3

Fennel Seeds : 1/2 teaspoon

salt : 1/2 teaspoon

Onion: 1/2 of a large

Cilantro : Few Finely chopped

Curry leaves : few

Grated coconut : 2 table spoon

Asafoetida : 1/4 teaspoon

For gravy:

Tamarind : 1 small lemon size

Red chili powder : 1/2 tablespoon

Coriander powder : 2 tablespoon

Turmeric powder : 1/4 teaspoon

Onion : 1/2 of a large chopped

Garlic : 8 to 10 pods

salt : 1/2 teaspoon

To season:

Mustard seeds: 1/2 teaspoon

Urad dal : 1/2 teaspoon

Fennel seeds : 1/2 teaspoon

Curry leaves : few

Oil : 2 tablespoons.

Method:

Soak tamarind in water.

Soak the lentil/paruppu for 30 to 45 mins. Along with red chili, fennel seeds, asafoetida and salt grind it with minimal water. It should be a coarse paste. Do not make it smooth. Now heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan. When it is hot, put onions, let it turn translucent. Next add the ground mix of lentil and mix well in the pan. Have the heat in low. Otherwise it might start sticking to the pan. Keep stirring for 5 mins. Stop the heat. Then add the curry leaves, cilantro leaves, and grated coconut and mix well. Now we can make balls out of it.

Make the balls and keep it aside.

Pour extra water in the tamarind and make it as a juicy water. Add Red chili powder, corriander powder, salt with it. Keep it aside.

In a pan heat oil and add items in to season. Now add onions and garlic. Let it turn translucent.

Next add the juice we made out of tamarind to this. Let it heat well for around 6 to 7 mins. You can find the water in it boiling at this moment we are ready to add the balls.

Add 3 balls at one time. Leave it for 2 mins. Next add another 3 balls. leave it for 2 mins, then add the similar way until the balls are all put in the gravy. This is to avoid the balls get stuck with each other.

This has to cook around 15 mins, so that the gravy gets into  the ball. At the end add some chopped cilantro leaves.

This is a great choice with plain cooked rice. I hope you enjoy this dear friends 🙂

Scrambled Eggs

Tags

Egg, Scrambled Egg

I am never a fan of egg because of its smell. Since eggs are great source of proteins, we both prefer eggs. I had always had egg omelet, hard boiled eggs or egg curry. Only when I had gone for a continental breakfast in a hotel, I had these scrambled eggs. Wow such a great taste. I wanted to try it at home, yes I could get good one’s.  I know many of you would think, whats the big deal in scrambled eggs. But this is a new dish for me. Probably you guys can send me more suggestions to do it better.

Ingredients:

Eggs: 2

Salt : 1 pinch

Ground Pepper: 1/4 teaspoon

Butter: a bit

Water: 1 tablespoon

Method:

Break the egg in a container, add salt, pepper and water. With a whisker beat it for around 600 to 700 strokes. More whisking the fluffier these eggs are.

 

Heat butter in a pan. Always have it in low heat. When you feel it is hot enough, just sprinkle little water and check for the hissing sound to ensure it is hot. Now pour the eggs in the pan.

Wait until the outer layer of the egg forms. Using a spatula, just mix the eggs by pulling in all the sides and keep stirring. All the time heat should be low.

Make sure egg gets cooked. If you leave it for more time, it might change to a rubber state. So be careful and take out the eggs when they are just mixed well and get the soft texture.

Serve hot 🙂 I have never prepared it for my hubby 😛

 

 

 

Vegetable Rice with Coconut Milk

Tags

coconut milk health benefits, Vegetable pulao, vegetable pulao with coconut milk, Vegetable Rice, Vegetable Rice with coconut milk

Last week I had purchased too many veggies 🙂 I had to finish off them at the earliest. I thought of preparing chappathi and vegetable kuruma ( Indian style dish), but my hubby was reluctant to that idea as it is extremely hot, he didn’t want to eat food which is a bit dry. Then I got the idea to prepare vegetable pulao.

On Sunday as we wake up very late and it would usually be a brunch. So I wanted to prepare food within half an hour to 45 minutes. Vegetable rice was an ideal choice for me. When I took out all veggies out of the refrigerator, I found some coconut as well left. My grandma used to prepare tomato rice with coconut milk. I thought why not, let me try it with mixed vegetables. It came out very tasty. And usually when I prepare vegetable pulao/rice it would get the color mixed with the vegetables. This coconut milk gave a very whitish cream color, which looked fantastic.

Also coconut milk soothes the tummy. It is a such a relief when you have coconut milk when you have stomach ulcer/ peptic ulcer. I make it fresh as well, so no preservatives 🙂 Mixing it with vegetable makes it much healthier…..

Ingredients:

Basmathi Rice : 2 cups

Red Onion : 1/4 thinly sliced (of a large)

Thai Green Chili : 2 slit

Carrot : 1/2 cup

Cauliflower : 1/2 cup

Beans :1/2 cup

Peas : 1/2 cup

Cumin seeds: 1/2 teaspoon

Cinnamon stick : 1

Star anise : 1

Cloves : 4

Coconut : 1/2 grated or coconut milk : 1 to 2 cups

Oil : 1 tablespoon

salt : 1 teaspoon

Ginger Garlic paste : 1/2 teaspoon

Cilantro leaves to garnish.

Method:

To prepare coconut milk, in a blender add the grated coconut and warm water, grind well. Put it in a filter and remove the milk. Add some hot water to the remaining coconut in the filter and get some more milk. Measure how much of coconut milk you have.

Clean Basmathi rice, drain water and keep aside. Clean all the vegetables and cut into pieces.

In a wide pan, heat oil. Add the cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon stick and star anise. Let it crackle.

Add the onions and ginger garlic paste. Let the onion turn translucent.

Now add all the vegetables. Cook them for around 5 mins.

Add the water drained basmathi rice and mix it with the vegetables. Let it cook for 2 mins. By this way rice gets a fabulous flavor.

Next add the coconut milk. Usually I cook basmathi rice with 1:2 of rice: water ratio. So now I had 1 and a half cup coconut milk. So I added 3 more cups of water.

It would total to 4 and a half cups, where I have 2 cups of rice, the extra half cup is for the vegetables.

Add salt and cook the rice for around 12 to 15 mins. In between You can stir the rice and check.

Once done add chopped cilantro leaves and serve hot 🙂

 

Flattened Rice Breakfast/ Aval upma/ Poha recipe

Tags

Aval upma, Flattened Rice, Indian breakfast, Poha recipe, Recipe

Flattened Rice also know as beaten rice  is a de-husked rice which is flattened into flat light dry flakes. It is nothing but rice that has been parboiled, rolled, flattened and then dried to produce flakes. The flakes come in different thicknesses depending on the pressure used in the flattening process. Rice flakes are small, very light, about 2mm long, flat and greyish white in colour. They have uneven edges and a rough texture. Rice flakes have no particular aroma and a bland gentle taste.

This is one simple recipe which was a regular breakfast in my Paying guest accommodation when I used to stay in Bangalore. As it is an easy recipe and fast to prepare, they are regular in the menu. Also this is one of my dish which my grandma likes. She doesn’t prepare this. When she came to visit me few years back, I prepared it for her, she was so excited to see her little girl doing something that she has never prepared 🙂 Although its a simple one, for parents kids are always kids how much ever we grow 😀

Ingredients:

Flattened Rice : 1 cup

Red Onion : 1/2 sliced

Thai chilies : 2 chopped

Oil: 1 teaspoon

Mustard seeds : 1/2 teaspoon

Urad Dal : 1/2teaspoon

Cumin seeds : 1/2 teaspoon

Curry leaves : few

Cilantro : few chopped

Turmeric powder: 1/2 teaspoon

Salt: 1 teaspoon

Lime Juice : 1/2 tablespoon

Peanuts: few(optional)

Grated coconut: few(optional)

Grated Carrot : few(optional)

Method:

First step is to soak the Poha in water. Time for soaking depends on the size of poha. If it is a thin one just 3 to 4 mins is more than enough. If it is a thick one around 8 mins. Drain the water and mix 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt with poha and mix well. Keep it aside.

Next In a pan, heat oil. Add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal. Let it crackle. Add the curry leaves. Next add onions. You can add ginger garlic paste which is optional. Let it turn translucent. Add green chili.

Next add the grated carrot if you are using. Now put 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric powder with the onions and carrot. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt as well. Add the lime juice. Mix well. Let it cook for 2 to 3 mins. Now add the poha which is mixed with turmeric powder and salt to the pan. Mix well. As it cooks fast, it would take only 3 to 4 mins. Now you can add the cilantro leaves, peanuts, grated coconut. Serve it hot 🙂 . This is one of the ideal breakfast in India. Very quick to prepare.

I did not add carrot, peanut and coconut ,as I didn’t have any of them 😛 when I prepared it the other day. So excuse me friends 🙂

 

Turmeric

Tags

Indian spices, spices, Turmeric, Turmeric Powder

Turmeric is a spice used in cooking, as well as for medicine and as a dye for food and fabric. It imparts a subtle flavor and brilliant yellow color. Therapeutically, turmeric is known as a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, helpful in the treatment of skin diseases, digestive problems, bacterial and viral infections, wounds, and many other uses. In India it is the king of all spices. It is widely found in south Asian cuisine.

What does it look like? Fresh turmeric roots are small, knobby roots about the size of your finger with brownish skin and pale to deep-orange flesh. When boiled, dried, and ground, the powder turns a deep yellow.

What does it taste like? Turmeric adds a slightly bittersweet, astringent flavor to foods. The active ingredient is curcumin, which is unrelated to cumin seed.

What’s the best way to store it? Place ground turmeric in an airtight container and store in a cool, dark, dry place. Store fresh turmeric root in the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic or sealed in a glass jar up to several days; freeze for longer storage.

How is it used in food? Turmeric powder is widely used to color and flavor mustard, relish, chutney, and pickles. It is a component of curry spice mixtures and commonly used in Indian and Indonesian cooking, where it originated. Turmeric enhances the flavor of many foods, including meats, poultry, seafood, eggs, potatoes, rice, lentils, and vegetables.

What are some substitutes for it? For yellow color, you can substitute annatto seeds, marigold blossoms, saffron (which is much more expensive), curry powder, or mustard powder. However, there is no substitute for the flavor of turmeric and each of these substitutes carry their own distinct flavor.

Turmeric has a lot of medicinal benefits. You can find them in this link http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/20-health-benefits-of-turmeric.html