Thinai Thayir saadam / Millet Curd Rice | Healthy recipes

I try to include something healthy in our diet atleast once a week. It might be in the form of adding wheat or oat bran to our daily bread or using whole grains to make pongal or some snack like kozhukattai. Last month when we went to Chicago to visit a few friends I visited the Whole Foods market with an interest to buy some whole grains. My first buy was a big bag of millet and I have been replacing most of our rice with millet these days. I made sweet pongal with it and it was a hit with the boys. My latest experiment is this thinai thayir saadam - a healthy and filling alternative to your regular rice.

~*What U Need*~ Millet - 1/2 cup Yogurt - 1/2 cup Milk - 1/4 cup Carrot - 2 tbsp, grated (optional) Ginger - 1/2 tsp, finely chopped Coriander - 2 tbsp, finely chopped Salt Oil - 2 tsp Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp Urad dal - 1 tsp Hing - a pinch Curry leaves - few How I Made it: Wash millet in running water using strainer. Take this in a pressure cooker, add 2 cups of water and pressure cook for 3-4 whistles or till done. Let it cool for sometime. In a pan, heat oil, add mustard seeds and allow to splutter, add urad dal fry till golden brown and then add curry leaves, hing. Add this to the millet, add carrot, finely chopped ginger and cilantro and mix well. Add the yogurt, milk and bring to the desired consistency. Season with salt.

Serve with potato for a winning combo!!!

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!

Interested!!! Click to read more...

Brown rice Adai

I am sorry that I have been MIA for some time. It was nothing big this time. Only that I was lazy, so lazy to phrase and publish a post. Well, I don't blame me, the weather is so depressing. Its gloomy all day and the suns sets as early as 4.00 pm and then it is dark. Finally I am out of the slumber and here I am with a heart healthy adai recipe. I have replaced the regular white rice with brown rice making this more healthy when compared to the regular ones.

~*What U Need*~ Brown Rice - 3/4 cup Idli rice - 1/4 cup Thoor Dal - 1/3 cup Channa dhal - 1/4 cup Urad dhal - 2 tbsp Moong dhal - 1/4 cup Dried red chilli - 1 or 2 Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp Garlic - 1 fat clove Salt - to taste To mix: Onion - 1 medium, finely chopped Cilantro - 1/4 cup, finely chopped Hing - a pinch Oil How I Made it: Wash all the dals and rice well. Soak the dal and rice separately for 3-4 hours. In a blender, grind the rice first for 3-4 mins, then add the rest of the ingredients and blend it to a little coarse batter using enough water. The batter consistency should be thick like idli batter. Transfer the ground batter to the bowl, add the mix-ins. Either use it right away or allow to sit for 1-2 hrs. Heat a tawa, smear it with little oil pour a ladle full of batter. Spread like dosa but thick. Drizzle oil and cook it in medium heat for 2-3 mins. After brown, flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Serve adai with desired chutney or avial.

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!

Interested!!! Click to read more...

Ragi Ammini Kozhukattai

At times I become a health freak like roasting cauliflower in the oven for tea time or baking sweet potato fries for that hunger pangs or steaming some dumplings for snack. Ragi is not my favorite cereal but I know that its healthy and I need to include it in my diet atleast once a week. And I do that consciously. Mostly in the form of ragi puttu or ragi malt but at times I like to experiment like adding a cup of ragi flour when making chapathis or adai and sometimes something that is totally different like this. These are healthy, tastes yum and kids will totally love popping 'em into their mouth.

~*What U Need*~ For Dough (makes 20-22 small balls): Sprouted ragi flour - 3/4 cup Water - to knead Salt - to taste Gingely oil - 1 tsp For Tempering: Urad dhal - 1 tbsp Channa dal - 1 tbsp Grated coconut - 2 tbsp Red chilli - 1 Asofoetida - a pinch Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Curry leaves - 1 sprig How I Made it: Take ragi flour in a wide bowl. Boil water, salt and oil in a pan, start with 1/4 cup. Add it to ragi flour and mix with the help of a wooden spoon. Make sure there are no lumps. Close and set aside for 5 mins. Grease your hands with oil and make small balls. Steam cook for 10 mins on medium flame. Remove and set aside. Heat 2 tsp oil in a kadai and temper mustard seeds. Add urad dal, channa dal, broken red chilies and curry leaves. Saute for 2 mins, add grated coconut. Add asofoetida, cooked kozhukattai and salt to taste.

Serve hot.

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!

Interested!!! Click to read more...

Kale Thoran

I never make thorans at home because of the amount of coconut that goes into the making. But this kale thoran is an exceptional... The coconut goes so well with the kale that they seem like a match made... Whenever I go grocery shopping I always grab everything and anything that is fresh... Like this kale bunch that I bought a week back. It was screaming freshness and I had to pick it up... And the thoran happened again...

~*What U Need*~ Kale - 1 bunch Oil - 2 tsp Urad dhal - 2 tsp Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Dried red chilli - 1 Garlic pods - 5, chopped Curry leaves - 1 sprig Small/pearl onions - 10-12 Grated coconut - 1/2 cup How I Made it: In a non stick pan, heat oil and add the mustard seeds and allow to crackle. Add the curry leaves and urad dhal. When the urad dhal is browned, add the red chilli. Next goes in the garlic and saute till lightly browned. Add the sliced onions and saute. Add the chopped kale and some turmeric powder. Cover with lid and cook for 7-9 mins. Once done, add the grated coconut, mix well and cook for another 2-3 mins. Season with salt and remove from flame.

Serve warm!!!

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!

Interested!!! Click to read more...

Chicken Haleem

One thing that the huss enjoys to the core is anything and everything with chicken in it. Well, I am no less. We love our share of chicken anytime.

I was totally new to the word haleem then. While I was born and brought up in the Gulf, I was there only till my IInd standard. So its just a few memories that I carry around like how I always wore sockings when I was little or the little forest that I saw from our back window or the few words of Arabic that I learnt from my Arabic class or how I was the favorite of everyone in our apartment and finally George chetta from next door. Haleem and nombu kanji were often mentioned by appa and amma when we talked about life in Gulf. That was that.

After marriage, the huss used to mention this delicacy whenever the holy month of Eid sets in. And thats when I started browsing about haleem. Appa also explained the process to me on how the chicken is slow cook with wheat, barley and other dhal varieties. The huss was so adamant on getting his hands on haleem that he ordered himself a pack of haleem from Hyderabad which came by courier. He tasted it and he loved it. This was the story two years back. Fast forward now, far away from home country, he didn't have the option to online order and I knew that he was craving for the dish for sometime. Finally I gave in and started browsing for recipes and found a promising one at vahrehvah's site. I adapted the recipe to what I had in hand and it was a total hit. The huss loved it to the core.

~*What U Need*~ To Grind : Wheat rava - 1/2 cup Masoor dal - 1 tbsp Toor dhal - 1 tbsp Barley - 1/4 cup Urad dhal - 1 tbsp Channa dhal - 1 tbsp Peppercorns - 1 tsp Jeera - 1 tsp Cloves - 4 Cinnamon stick - 1 inch Green cardamom - 2 Almonds - 5 Sesame seeds - 1 tsp For porridge: Chicken - 1 lb, with bone Chicken stock - 6 cup Onions - 2, finely sliced Green chillies - 2, finely chopped Mint leaves - 1/2 cup Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp Curd - 2 tbsp Ghee - 2 tbsp Oil - 1/4 cup Juice of 1 lemon How I made it: Heat oil in a pan and fry sliced onions till it turns golden brown and crispy. Remove from the heat and split fried onions into two parts. Reserve one half for garnishing. Grind everything under “To Grind” to a coarse powder. Heat the same oil in a pressure cooker. Add ghee to it and once it melts, add ginger-garlic paste. Saute for 2 mins. Add chicken and fry till seared. Add chicken stock and mix well. Add fried onion, curd, green chilies, mint leaves and coriander leaves. Mix everything and cook for a min. Add ground mixture and stir frequently to avoid lumps. Season with salt and pressure cook at high flame for 2 whistles. Switch to low flame and pressure cook it for 40 mins. Once the pressure goes, open the lid and mash everything. Sprinkle lemon juice.

Serve warm!!!

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!

Interested!!! Click to read more...

Beans Paruppu Usili

Usili is a simple stir fry that is made using any beans variety, or banana flower or banana stem, the most common being french beans. But the yardlong beans and broad beans make good candidates too. It is best served with sambar, white rice and a dollop of ghee. It is a typical TAMBRAHM dish and their kalyaana saapadu is never complete without serving this. Loads of crunchy yet soft channa dhal with the nearly cooked veggie makes it a perfect winner.

Amma usually makes usili with broad beans and thats how I know the dish. But the other day when I was talking to her, topics changed and somehow we landed up discussing "usili". That is when she told me that usili is traditionally made with french beans... And then I wanted to have a taste of it. This goes well with sambar saadam or dhal rice but you could serve it with tomato rice too just like I did.

~*What U Need*~ Beans - 1/4 kg Medium sized Onion - 1 Channa dhal - 1/2 cup Curry leaves - 1 sprig Urad dhal -1 tsp Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp Oil -2 tablespoons Salt - to taste

How I Made it:
Soak the channa dhal in water overnight. Blend this into a coarse mixture say 1 or 2 pulses. Set aside. hop the onions and beans. Heat oil and add the mustard seeds and allow to splutter. Next add the curry leaves and then urad dhal. When the urad dhal has turned brown, add the onions and sauté till glassy.

Add the pulsed channa dhal and fry till it turns light brown. Add the beans, sprinkle some water and cook till soft. Add chilli powder and salt and mix well. Remove from flame.

Serve with rice!!!

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!

Interested!!! Click to read more...

Mysore Bonda

I had never heard of Mysore bondas a.k.a bajjis till my 8th grade. It has always been vada for us, sambar and thayir vada being a family favorite. And then during my vacation I visited Madurai with my close friend's family.It was a road trip all the way from my native to Madurai. And just like any other road trips it was filled with eating at highway stalls. And that is where I got to taste this.

In fact it was the name that got me to give it a try. One bite and I knew that am gonna order another plate, it was soft, fluffy and too good. Dunk them in coconut chutney and then in sambar, take a big bite, you are definitely gonna love this. It is different from the regular medhu vadas with its own difference. And then every highway stall that we visited saw me having a plate of these soft bondas.

Now that I am a food blogger, I am game for rekindling my memories, visiting them for lost recipes and cooking 'em in my kitchen. And this recipe definitely falls under dat category. There were no takers at home except for appa... okay he tries everything and anything that his little gal cooks up but the others said they preferred the regular vadas... Now thats good for me, isn't it...

~*What U Need*~ Urad dal(whole)/ Muzhu ulundu - 1/2 cup Fresh coconut pieces - 2 tbsp Peppercorns - 1/2 tbsp Hing - a pinch Salt - to season Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp, chopped Curry leaves - 1 tbsp, chopped Green chillies, ginger - to taste Oil - to deep fry

How I made it:
Soak urad dal for 2-3 hours and grind with less water until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Beat with a fork till fluffy. Heat oil in kadai, keep a small bowl of water to grease your hand, grease your hand with water and make small-sized balls. Deep fry in oil till until golden. Drain excess oil in paper towel.

Serve hot with coconut chutney and sambar!!!

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!

Interested!!! Click to read more...

Dhal Curry | Dhal Tadka | Ketti Paruppu

Dhal, sambhar, rasam ~ name any traditional South Indian recipe, it is comfort food. Simple, pure comfort food at its best. That might be the reason why I never bothered to click step by step recipes for the same... Every south Indian knows how to make the perfect sambar, the perfect rasam or the perfect paruppu. In fact the recipe is etched in their minds and they need no reference. Every family has their very own recipe, passing it over to the next generation and every girl follows her amma's recipe to the 'T' when she first enters the kitchen. I am no exception... My 32-page hand written amma's cookbook is my handy note when it comes to traditional south Indian recipes. This recipe is from that prized cookbook, my amma's recipe ~ one which everyone in the family loves.

Posting such easy South Indian curries never struck a cord in me until I got a request from a bachelor reader for basic recipes. Browsing through my recipe index, there was no hint of such basics and so I have decided to fill the gap. Also my huss has been asking me to post a step by step post for his favorite ketti paruppu and that added to the reason. On that note, believe me, let a man on his own for some months and he becomes a good cook, atleast he tries to. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that my better other half would take to cooking, let alone ask recipes from me.

~*What U Need*~ Toor dhal/Thuvaram paruppu - 1 cup Garlic cloves - 3 to 4 Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp Hing powder - a pinch Salt For the tempering: Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Urad dhal - 1 tsp Red chilli - 2 Curry leaves - 1 sprig Oil Onion - 1/2, finely chopped Tomato - 1/2, finely chopped Turmeric powder - a pinch Water - as desired

How I Made it:
Clean the toor dhal and pressure cook with garlic cloves, turmeric, hing, salt and water for 3 whistles. Allow the pressure to release and mash it (there should be some whole paruppu).

Heat oil in a kadai, add the mustard seeds, when spluttered, add urad dhal, split red chilli, curry leaves and fry till the dhal turns brown. Add the onions and saute. When done, add the tomatoes and fry well. Add a pinch of turmeric powder.

Add the mashed paruppu, add water to bring to desired consistency. Mix well and allow to boil. Season with salt and remove from flame.

Serve warm with white rice with a dollop of ghee (fresh ghee is the best).

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!

Interested!!! Click to read more...

Pulikachal | Puliyodarai /Puliyogare /Tamarind Rice Mix | How to make Tamarind Rice or Pulisaadham

Fond memories are associated with Puliyodarai for me. Picnics with cousins, school tour to amusement parks, ngo outings to tribal villages and so on... Whenever I tell amma that I will be going out for a day long outing, she generally makes me some puliyodarai or thayir saadam with a simple potato roast to take along. And after all that fun, laughter and some body pain, sitting together for a hearty lunch with your favorite food duo peeking out of your tiffin box ~ ah how I want to re-visit my childhood days.

I still remember the days when I traveled to my native village for our school holidays. My aunt makes puliyodarai, wrap it up in individual parcels in banana leaves {if not, its finally ends up in sibling war} and then uncle takes us with him to tend the goats in the greenlands. We play all day long while he takes care of the goats and when its time for lunch, we run to the good ol' neem tree's shade, sweating like anything and even that simple tamarind rice seemed like biryani for us...

Its been a long time since I made, rather say had tamarind rice and in fact I had no intention of making this. During my pregnancy I was advised to take as little amount of tamarind that I could and thats been continuing till date. This infact was made by my MIL for my sister-in-law. She's in her second trimster and still doesn't step into the kitchen and so MIL made some homemade thokkus for her. Again doctor's advise and so she left the pack of tamarind preserve and I grabbed it. It comes so much in handy on lazy days and am so asking her to make another batch.

~*What U Need*~ Tamarind/Puli - 1 lemon sized ball Turmeric - 1/4 tsp Hing or Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp Jaggery - 1 small marble sized piece Curry leaves - 1 sprig Peanuts - 1 handful To Temper: Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp Red chillies - 5-6 Urad dhal - 4 tbsp Channa Dhal - 3 tbsp Hing or Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp Curry leaves - 2 sprig Sesame oil - 5 tbsp To Roast and grind: Channa dhal - 2 tbsp Red chillies - 4 Fenugreek seeds/vendhayam - 3/4 tsp Urad dal - 1 tsp Peppercorns - 1 tsp

How I Made it:
Soak tamarind in half cup warm water for half an hour and extract juice. Set aside. Roast all ingredients give under 'to roast' to golden brown and powder it, set aside. In a kadai, heat oil and temper with the given ingredients. Then add tamarind extract, turmeric, salt, curry leaves and hing. Add enough water, the mixture be of rasam consistency. Boil for 15-20 mins, till it reduces to half. Add the jaggery and the ground masala powder. Boil till you get a thick paste and the oil separates. Roast the peanuts in more oil and add this to tamarind mixture. Remove from flame. Cool down and store in a clean container.

To make puliyodarai, cook desired amount of rice. In a kadai, add 2 tsps of sesame oil. Add the desired amount of pulikachal and fry for few seconds. Add the cooked rice and mix gently till the rice grains are evenly coated. Add salt if only needed.

** My Notes:
** The pulikaichal can be stored for 20-30 days in the fridge. But always use a clean dry spoon.
** Sesame oil is the best to use when making tamarind rice but if you want u can use vegetable oil too.
** If you are carrying the rice for a train journey or a long day trip, then cool the rice completely before mixing.

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!

Interested!!! Click to read more...

Medhu Vada/Ulundhu Vadai/Fried Urad dhal fritters | The Indian donut

The Indian donut!!! How does that sound... I am totally in love with that name and the donut, that goes without saying. Medu vadas dunked in sambar or curd is my favorite and the ones from Adyar Ananda Bhavan is love. Appa makes the best vadas, crispy, soft and total yumminess. He says the secret is beating the batter with a fork till its light and fluffy. I have tried making vadas, it was good but not like my appa's and so I never took the pain of making vadas after that.

Now don't think that I made this. Recipe courtesy: appa and Image courtesy: me. He makes vadas whenever he visits me and the last time he made it, I made it a point to click them. They were good, too good and I loved munching on them for tea. And the rest we dunked in sambar and had it for dinner alongside crispy dosas just like a typical South Indian. Nothing can beat a hearty dinner of dosas, vadas, sambar and coconut chutney.

Medu Vada a.k.a Ulundhu Vadai alias The Indian Savory Donut is a crispy fritter which is made from smoothly ground urad dhal seasoned with curry leaves, chillies, peppercorns, onions, salt and more. Some people even add grated carrots and cabbage to the batter. The trademark hole in the vada is a must for this recipe and I learnt it the hard way. The very first time I made vadas and that was after 2 years of marriage for Pongal, I had added more water and the batter was a bit runny. So forming the shapes was a bit tacky. Instead of making bondas, silly me us proceeded with the same shape sans the hole and the result!!! The vadas took a hell lot of time to cook in the middle that by the time they got cooked, the sides started burning... Thats why I say the hole is really really important for the perfect vadas.

~*What U Need*~ Urad dal/Ulutham paruppu - 3/4 cup, whole, de-skinned Onion - 1,medium / Pearlonions - 10 Green chilli - 1 Ginger - 1 tbsp, grated Curry leaves - 1 sprig Hing powder - a pinch Salt, water - as needed Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp Peppercorns - 1 tsp Oil - for deep frying

How I made it:
Soak urad dal for 2 hours. Grind urad dal with very little water till fluffy. With a fork, beat till the mixture becomes light and fluffy, the whole idea is to incorporate air to the batter.

Add cumin seeds, peppercorns, salt, ginger, chopped onions, green chillies, and curry leaves. Mix everything.

Heat enough oil in kadai, wet your hand, make a small ball and using your thumb, make a hole in the middle and drop it in oil. Fry in medium flame, turn the vadais and fry till both the sides turn crisp and golden brown.

Serve hot with sambhar and coconut chutney.

** My Notes:
** You could roast the peppercorns and then add to the batter.
** Add some toasted cashews to make it richer.
** Adding more water will make the vadais to drink more oil. So add water just to keep the machine running.
** If your vadais are sticky then keep it in the fridge and then fry or else you could add a tsp of rice flour too.
** You could use an oiled plastic cover to shape the vadas too.
** I generally grind my batter in mixie, patting it water occasionally. You could do the same in grinder too.
** Use Pearl onions, it gives a unique flavor.

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!

Interested!!! Click to read more...