Tomato Dosa

Tomato Dosa is a simple and tasty tiffin for breakfast or dinner. Rice, urid dal and tomatoes are the main ingredients for this dosa. Onions, curry leaves and other extra flavours can be added as you wish. There is no need for fermentation process for this dosa. You can prepare right after you grind the batter.

If you use tomatoes that are ripe and dark red in colour, the dosa tastes good. For these type of dosas, I recommend to add a handful of raw rice as it gives you a nice crisp dosa. If you do not prefer, you can omit it. The consistency of this batter is, it should be medium thick. The additional toppings for this dosa are chopped onions and curry leaves. You can also prepare this dosa without onions also. For spiciness red chilly powder is added. Now let's see how to prepare Tomato Dosa with step by ste instructions.


Check out my other Dosa recipes here

• Pepper Dosa
• Black urid dal Dosa
• Horse Gram Dosa
• Millets and Toor dal Dosa
• Rava Dosa 
• Mudakathan Keerai Dosa

Sweet Corn and Paneer Pulav

Sweet corn and Paneer Pulav- simple and easy pulav with mild flavours. This Pulav is best for kids lunch box as they like both the sweet corn kernels and paneer cubes. The freshly ground ginger, garlic and green chilly paste adds a beautiful colour and a wonderful flavour for the Pulav. So please do not skip the ground paste or do not use ready made paste. In this Pulav, I have not used either tomatoes or lemon juice instead I have added thick curd while sauteing the onions. After cooking the Pulav, the paneer cubes are sauted in ghee or oil and then added to the rice.

In this Pulav also, I have used the most common basmati rice, but you can use jeera samba rice or ponni raw rice. When it comes to biryani or pulav the cooking method is easy and requires some attention while adding the water. If you soak the rice for 20 to 30 minutes, then 1.5 cups of water is perfect for 1 cup of rice. Now let's see how to prepare this easy and tasty pulav with step by step photos.

Brinjal (Egg Plant) Stir Fry | Kathirikkai Poriyal

Brinjal poriyal is a spicy and tasty side dish for many South Indian dishes. And also, for those who want to eat brinjals simply as a starter with less oil, this brinjal poriyal is the best one.
For this brinjal poriyal, pick brinjals with smooth skin and heavy in size. You can use any kind of brinjal you have on hand. Recently, I made it with green brinjals. It's hard to cook crispy brinjals with a short time of cooking. But it is possible if you cook the brinjals on medium heat with frequent turns. One more trick to get crispy brinjals is to cook the brinjals in a heavy bottomed kadai and without any water. I prefer gingely oil or groundnut oil for brinjals and for brinjal poriyal I always use crushed garlics. Serve this brinjal poriyal with lemon rice, mango rice or rasam.

Sabudana Vada | Javarisi Vadai

Sabudana vada is a perfect evening snack for your kids with simple ingredients in your kitchen. I learnt this recipe from Chef Prabhakar Prajapati. I actually cooked this vada for the first time and it was so yummy. It's perfect for an evening snack, potlucks and also for poojas. I prefer serving this vada with a simple coconut chutney or tomato ketchup, but you can serve it with anything.

To make this vada as quickly as possible, I suggest to cook the potatoes and soak the sabudans in ahead of time. It saves your time and you can prepare the vadas within 15 minutes. Soaking the sabudanas for 3 to 5 hours will give you perfect vadas. Cook the vadas, right after you prepare the dough. For this vada no need to add any additional flours or batter. Always deep fry the vadas on medium heat and don't overcook the vadas. Don't forget to add chopped green chillies and ginger because these two ingredients add a lot of flavours to this vada. I have used the small sabudanas for this vada, you can use the big variety also.

Kara Kuzhambu | Kara Kuzhambu with Sundakkai Vathal

Karakuzhambu - spicy and tangy kuzhambu with a combination of different flavours. This hotel style karakuzhambu is one of my husband's favourite kuzhambu served in restaurants for meals. After a few practices, I found the exact flavour and it was a big hit in our home. Tamil Nadu cooking is famous for its varieties of kuzhambu. This Karakuzhambu is one among them. The kara kuzhambu can be  prepared in two ways -  with vegetables like drumstick or brinjal and the other one is prepared with dried vathals like sundakkai vathal etc. Today we are going to see how to prepare hotel style karakuzhambu with dried sundakkai vathal.

This kuzhambu is prepared with small onions, garlics, tamarind and dried sundakkai vathal. The main flavour for this kuzhambu is the ground coconut paste prepared by roasting the spices like coriander seeds, chana dal, fennel, cumin and red chilly.
Every kuzhambu has a combination of flavours. To bring the perfect balance of flavours, we have to concentrate on every step. Roasting the spices on correct heat and time is very important for this kuzhambu. Because if you do not roast it well until you get a nice aroma from the spices, then there will be no flavour. And also if you over roast the spices until it turns black, then there will be a bitter taste in the kuzhambu.
For these type of karakuzhambu or pulikuzhambu do not load it with too much of ingredients for roasting and grinding because the kuzhambu will be too thick.
For this Kara kuzhambu we add both tamarind and tomato. So add both the ingredients in correct measurement. I prefer groundnut oil for this kuzhambu as it produces a nice flavour to the entire dish. Don't forget to soak the tamarind in hot water and also do not skip the small onions & garlic cloves. I have shared all the points to make a tasty Kara kuzhambu and now we will see how to prepare this in detail.

Check out my other Kuzhambu recipes here

• Vellai curry (Sambar without dal)
• Pepper Pulikuzhambu
• Mint leaves (Pudhina) Pulikuzhambu 
• Brinjal Kothsu(Brinjal puree in tamarind sauce)
• Curry Leaves Karakuzhambu
• Puli illa kuzhambu (Drumstick leaves pepper kuzhambu)
• Tirunelveli Pulikuzhambu

Semiya Upma | Upma with vermicelli

Semiya Upma is one of my favourite tiffin. This plain semiya upma is such an easy tiffin that you can prepare within 10 minutes. For this plain semiya upma I prefer fine vermicelli (Anil semiya) which is perfect for this dish. I will tell some important tips for this upma.

• Roasting the vermicelli well helps to get perfect upma. If the vermicellis are not roasted well, then the upma turns mushy and there will be no flavour. Roast the vermicelli until few vermicellis start to turn brown.
• Do not load the upma with too much of onions and other tempering ingredients. Add all the ingredients in minimal quantity. I always prefer chopped green chillies for semiya upma but you can add broken red chillies too.
• Next important tip for this upma is the water level. If you are using thick vermicelli, add 2.5 cups of water for 1 cup thick vermicelli. If you are using fine vermicelli, add 1.75 cups of water for 1 cup of fine vermicelli.
• Be sure to cook the upma with very less oil. The reason is that vermicelli won't absorb oil or ghee like rava. So be careful while adding oil or ghee. I have added a handful of fresh grated coconuts in the final stage, you can leave it if you don't prefer. I have listed all the important tips for perfect Semiya Upma and now we will see how to prepare this easy and yummy upma.

Check out my other Upma recipes

• Rava Upma
• Rava Upma with vegetables
• Arisi Upma
• Coconut milk tomato Aval Upma
• Ragi flour Upma

Bitter Gourd Pachadi | Pavakka Pachadi

Pachadi is prepared in two different methods - some are prepared with fresh curd while the other method is we have to cook the vegetable along with onions and tomatoes. Bitter gourd pachadi is prepared by the second method. Since bitter gourds have bitterness we have to add a good amount of chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, tamarind extract and finally a piece of jaggery. The coconut paste is the main ingredient in our cooking, so it is included in this dish also. There are many dishes with bitter gourd that we regularly prepare for our lunch, but this bitter gourd pachadi is extremely different with different flavours. This recipe is also similar to my ladies finger pachadi and the only extra ingredient in this dish is the jaggery. We will see the recipe in detail with step by step instructions.

Maa Vilakku - Diya with rice flour - Karthigai recipe

Maa Vilakku is a typical sweet that makes a healthy prasadam filled with raw rice, jaggery and ghee. Perfect for poojas with simple ingredients. Maavilakku brings so many memories while growing up. Both my mom and Grandma never skip a special Poojas  without some prasadam. This maavilakku is one among them and it wasn't like a prasadam we had this maavilakku as an evening snack.

It's easier to prepare the dough and shape the vilakku. Today, many of us are opting for quick and easy prasadams for poojas that come in ready made mix. In ready to cook products they add too much preservatives and sugar for preserving and there is no taste or any health benefits. Try to prepare homemade foods for your kids with healthy ingredients. There is no doubt that all of our traditional foods are full of healthy ingredients that is essential for us. Our traditional sweets like sweet pongal, jaggery based kheers, maavilakku.. are not only healthy, but they are also tasty. They are the perfect snack replacement because they loaded with antioxidants and minerals.

This maavilakku recipe produces a dough with smooth consistency similar to that of athirasam dough. Maavu raw rice will work perfectly for maavilakku. You can also use foxtail millet rice, to prepare maavilakku. It's important to soak the rice properly and drain the water completely before powdering. And always, don't forget to sieve the powdered rice flour. The powdered rice flour is again mixed with the powdered jaggery to make the dough. If you add more jaggery, then it becomes a gooey and sticky dough. The best way to learn how to prepare maavilakku is to just practice with 1/4 cup of rice. If you make mistakes, do not leave your work as it is. You will learn more with each and every mistake and try to prepare it again. I hope you will follow the instructions and prepare this maavilakku for your poojas.

Checkout my other Prasadam recipes

• Aval with jaggery
• Aval Payasam
• Rice Payasam
• Moong dal Payasam
• Brown rice Sweet Pongal
• Green gram Sweet Sundal
• Sarkkarai Pongal