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Showing posts from July, 2017

Foxtail millet tomato rice

Foxtail millet tomato rice /Thinai arisi thakkali sadham Foxtail millet tomato rice is a healthy, easy and tasty meal for your lunch. You can enjoy the tangy and spicy rice if you prepare this in ahead of time. The ground tomato paste adds beautiful colour and wonderful taste of this rice. This rice is prepared with very few common ingredients and very little preparation work. Cooking time is not more than 20 minutes. Always remember to use very less oil and salt for cooking millets because it requires very little oil. To add extra colour to this rice you can add fresh green peas. If you do not have foxtail millets you can replace it with Kodo Millets or Barnyard millets

Carrot Halwa

Carrot Halwa  This carrot halwa is one of my favourite dessert. I learnt this recipe from my mother. This halwa has a smooth texture with little moisture in it. The grated carrots are cooked in milk and then ground it to a smooth paste. Then the ground paste is mixed with sugar and ghee. I have tasted many carrot halwa that is sweetened with condensed milk or sweetless kova is added or the carrots cooked milk and further sweetened with sugar. All the methods are good but, this halwa is different. The richness of the carrot paste with  the ghee and sugar just melts in our tongue.

Tomato Dal - Easy & quick dal for roti

Making this  tomato dal   is such a great way to use up your fresh tomatoes for quick weeknight dinner. It is one of those best dal recipe, because it's so easy to make. I like using  the combination of tomatoes and dals to make my dal colourful and tasty. It's a dal that never fails and one of my favourite weeknight dinner options. I normally opt for chilly powder or sambar powder in my dals, but I wanted to change the flavours in this dal with fresh green chillies. Just keep in mind that you will need to adjust the spice levels, according to the green chillies that you use. So taste and adjust the seasonings. I have pressure cooked the tomatoes and green chillies along with the masoor dal and later ground into a smooth paste. If you are not having red masoor dal, try with regular unpolished toor dal. The dal consistency will be slightly different with toor dal but it will be delicious. I have many spring onions left in my refrigerator, so I garnished this dal with chopped s

Paavaikai Poriyal (Thoran) - Bitter Gourd Thoran

Bitter gourd/Pavaikkai  thuvaram/Stir fry with onions and coconuts Bitter gourd is cooked in a variety of ways. It is sometimes fried, steamed or roasted. But in this recipe , the bitter gourd  is pre cooked  and sauted with equal amount of onions and in addition we have to add cooked toor dal & coconut paste. The coconut paste and the onions, add flavour, colour and taste to the dish. Usually the bitter gourd is cooked in gingely oil or sunflower oil but I recommend to use coconut oil for this thuvaram. This is because the sweetness and flavour in the coconut oil enhances the taste and reduces the bitterness in the bitter gourd.

Tomato garlic rasam

Tomato garlic rasam Many South Indian rasams are based on tomatoes. Typical rasam is made with little tamarind extract, tomatoes and seasoned with pepper, curry leaves, asafoedita and coriander leaves. This rasam is also with basic ingredients, but I have skipped the tamarind extract and rasam powder.

Vazhaikkai (Raw banana/Plantain) Puttu/Podimas

Vazhaikkai(Plantain) puttu/podimas This is one of our all time favourite side dish for sambar, rasam and pulikuzhambu. The raw bananas(plantains) are pre cooked in water and further grated into small gratings. Then the  grated bananas are flavoured with finely chopped onions and some good amount of freshly grated coconuts. For spiciness you can either add  finely chopped green chillies or broken red chillies. The crunchiness of the onions combined with the soft banana(plantain) gratings and the sweetness from the coconuts make this dish wonderful. A few good ingredients make this dish so delicious. When making this puttu/podimas it is important to pick the correct raw bananas(plantains). The bananas should be fresh without any black spots or dull skin.  If you are not using the correct plantains, your podimas/puttu will turn mushy. So follow this simple instruction before preparing this tasty and easy puttu/podimas. We often prepare this vazhaikkai puttu for lunch.  

Radish (Mullangi) Sambar

Radish (Mullangi) Sambar This is one of the easiest and tastiest South Indian Sambar made within 30 minutes. This dish is a speedy fix for your unplanned weekday lunch.Radish has many nutritional and health benefits. In this Sambar, also I have added coconut  small onions paste to enhance the taste. Radish sambar will reach the unique taste only if the radishes are sauted well and cooked well in the tamarind mixture. Some radishes will take time to cook so allow them to cook well. If you slice the radishes thinly it will get cooked easily. Try to use fresh radishes for a nice flavourful sambar. Here is the link for homemade sambar powder.

Tomato Pasta

Tomato Pasta (Pastas in tomato puree and vegetables) Do you want to prepare simple homestyle pasta with few available ingredients then try this simple recipe tomato pasta. Impress your kids with this beautiful red pasta. There is no need for any cheese or cream. Just few tomatoes, few veggies and a teaspoon of dried oregano. If you do not have oregano you can substitute with dried kasuri methi leaves. 

Black sesame seeds (Ellu) idly podi

Black sesame seeds / Ellu Podi for idly and dosa A best accompaniment for idly and dosa is black sesame idly podi. You will eat more dosa after preparing this. Definitely it will be your family favourite side dish for idly and dosa.

Horse gram Dosa

Horse gram/Kollu Dosa Horse gram is a good source of proteins. When combined with any cereal such as rice, it improves its protein value. Horse gram is also a good source of dietary fibre and helps regulate blood glucose levels. It is very hard in texture and requires to be soaked for 6 hours.