VIRUNDHOMBAL

Capsicum onion pakoda  is an easy tea time snack made using onions, capsicum, besan flour, rice flour, chilli powder and garlic. When we were in the US, I frequently prepared these pakodas with tri-colored capsicums as a starter for potluck parties. This pakoda tastes yum with our meals also.  To make onion capsicum pakoda, you need to cut them uniformly. You need to cut the onions and capsicums into slightly thicker pieces. Discard all the seeds and the thin white layer in the capsicums and then slice them equally. After slicing the onions and capsicums you are left with just mixing the flour, chilly powder, crushed garlic and frying it until crispy and golden. Now let's see how to make this onion capsicum pakoda with step by step pictures.  Check out my other Evening Snacks Recipes Vazhaikkai (Plantain) Bajji  Cauliflower Fry    Nullikai urundai - Urid dal balls Kara Vadai -  Pattani Paruppu (Yellow Split Peas) Bonda Sabudana Vada -  Javarisi Va...

Little millet payasam - Generally for millet dishes you don't need to spend hours and hours in your kitchen. From sweets to one pot dishes, millets require very less time when compared to other dishes. Today we are going to see a simple payasam with little millets which exactly takes just 30 minutes. It's made with little millet, jaggery, milk, cashew nuts and ghee.  There are two ways you can cook the millets. First one is pressure cooking the millets and the second one is cooking the millets directly in the vessel. To keep it simple, I have cooked the millets in the pressure cooker. Millet payasams could be made with any variety of milk as you like. I made it with full cream milk. You can also use skimmed milk, coconut milk or toned milk. All of these options result in creamy payasam. As this is a healthy dish, I prefer jaggery for this payasam. The plain white sugar also will taste good for this payasam. The final dish had a texture of thick payasam. If you want the payasam ...

Puli curry is a popular Nanjil kuzhambu recipe made with coconut red chilly small onion paste cooked in tamarind extract with the vegetables. After my 30 varieties of Nanjil articles in Aval vikatan, I love Nanjil foods very much. When I want to try new Nanjil dishes, I usually whatsapp with Raji Tamilselvi athai from Nagercoil. She taught me Yellow pumpkin eriseri, Nanjil sambar, Kadala theeyal, Vendakka pachadi and many Nanjil dishes.  The way of expressing the recipe details inspired me to try more Nanjil recipes. For every recipe, she teaches me with the exact ingredients, measurements, final dish appearance and the cooking time also. This recipe is also from her.  Today I am sharing how to make an authentic Nanjil Puli curry recipe made with drumstick and brinjal.  These are the main ingredients needed for this Puli curry.  Vegetables - you can use a mix of vegetables like drumstick, brinjal, lady's finger, yam, yellow pumpkin, seppankizhangu (Colocasia) for th...

Ash Gourd Mor Kuzhambu - an easy kuzhambu that's ready in 20 minutes. Different types of mor kuzhambu are a significant part of the Tamil Nadu and Kerala food culture. This ash gourd mor kuzhambu is one of the popular dishes in mor kuzhambu varieties.  How to make it 1. Cooking the ash gourd Start with cutting the ash gourd into cubes. We need to exert some energy to peel and slice if you are using a whole ash gourd. If you are using precut slices, just remove the seeds and slowly peel the outer skin and cut them into small cubes. Add some water and cook the ash gourds until soft. 2. How to prepare coconut paste  In the meantime, prepare the base mixture for the mor kuzhambu. This coconut paste is what is responsible for giving the particular colour and flavour to this kuzhambu. I will always suggest grinding it with fresh grated coconut. For this magic coconut paste you would require small onions, garlic cloves, ginger, green chilly, cumin, turmeric powder and soaked toor dal...

Vegetable ragi millet noodles recipe with step-by-step instructions. Recently I bought this ragi millet noodles from mothers millets brand in a supermarket. They have a wide range of millet noodles, red rice noodles and many more.  I haven't tried any millet noodles and this year is the international year of millets and I wanted to take this as a chance to cook and post different millet recipes to share with you all. I tried this ragi vegetable noodles with the colourful vegetables as we add it for our regular vegetable noodles. As it's my first time, I have added their tastemaker maker given in their pack. I haven't added any other sauces and masala powders. It came out really good and it can be prepared easily within 20 minutes.  Check out my other tiffin recipes here Idli Black urid dal Dosa Pearl Milet Dosa - Kambu Dosa Aapam - Aapam without yeast  Ragi flour Upma Arisi Upma Poori Bottlegourd Adai Pepper dosa - Milagu Adai Rava Upma Semiya Upma   Rava Dosa V...

Easy pumpkin sambar - this tiffin sambar is one of those nostalgic dishes prepared by my Kamatchi athai during our vacation visit to their house. During our summer vacation to Tirunelveli, she prepared this delicious and quick sambar within 20 minutes for idli. This was a few decades ago, and still I remember that beautiful yellow colour and the authentic taste.  My athai still follows this method for  pumpkin sambar due to its ease of preparation with rich flavours. A few days ago I asked my athai to share the recipe details and immediately she messaged me with the recipe instructions. Apart from the taste of the vegetables or dals or spices, there is one more magic ingredient we want to add in every dish is always love. Cooking with love always makes delicious meals.  Now coming to today's sambar recipe, it's a simple tiffin sambar made with yellow pumpkin, toor dal and sambar powder. The addition of fresh sambar powder makes this sambar so unique and gives the restaura...

A healthy diabetic friendly kichadi recipe made with wheat rava. You can start your breakfast with a cup of this healthy kichadi as it includes carrot, green peas and beans which blend together beautifully with wheat rava. A handful of fresh green peas gives a slightly sweet taste for the kichadi.  There are two main varieties of wheat rava - medium coarse and fine coarse. Fine coarse wheat rava is my favourite for kichadi and upma dishes. Medium coarse wheat rava is perfect for sweet pongal and payasam. Both types require more time to cook when compared to regular white rava. Fine coarse wheat rava doesn't need to be roasted for this kichadi. To cook 1 cup fine coarse wheat rava you will need 3 cups of water. After preparing the kichadi you should let it stand for 15 minutes, covered and undisturbed for a perfect fluffy texture. And once you find how to cook wheat rava perfectly, you will be making it regularly for your breakfast.  Check out my other tiffin recipes here Idli ...