Microwave Coconut Balls

Ha, the end of another year has come. So here is a simple and a sweet way to say goodbye to 2010 and welcome 2011. This is an easy sweet that can be done in the microwave. It is essentially my version of Brazilian kisses. You can use sparkling sugar to make it attractive for the little ones. This can be made a couple of days ahead. So a huge hit in parties.. Hopefully you will try this in one of your parties.

Ingredients:
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes (See notes)
- 1/2 tsp butter
- sparkling sugar/coarsely ground unsweetened coconut flakes (optional)

Method:
1. In a microwave safe bowl add the butter, condensed milk and the coconut flakes. Give it a good mix. You need not reduce the power of your microwave. Start with 3 minutes. Remove and stir. Now cook for another minute. Remove stir. Do this till your mixture becomes one big lump. It took me about 7 min in my microwave oven. Just be sure you remove and stir it frequently.

2. Cool this and roll them into balls. If it is too sticky apply little bit water when you roll these. You can then roll these balls in sparkling sugar or the ground coconut flakes. Arrange them in a cute muffin paper liners and serve.

Notes - I had to buy my coconut flakes in a health store and I used Bob red Mill Try to use the unsweetened variety. The sweetened kind makes these ball really sweet. Sometime you do not get the right size flakes. If it is too big then just give it a whirl in your mixer.

Spinach and Angel Hair Pasta

This is a simple and flavorful recipe from Honey, What's cooking The best part was the use of whole wheat pasta, spinach and nuts which are all very good for your health.

Ingredients:
- Whole wheat angel hair pasta (I used a box)
- 1 packet (about 10-150z) washed baby spinach chopped (You can use frozen too)
- 1 cup chopped walnuts and almonds
- 1 small onion chopped (I am not a big fan of garlic so I use onion)
- 1 tsp red chili flakes (adjust to taste)
- 1/2 cup chopped basil leaves
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tomato chopped
- salt to taste

Method:
1. Cook your pasta as per the instruction in the package. When you drain the pasta reserve some of the cooking liquid.
2. Heat a small pan and add the nuts. Toss them till they start to crisp. This takes a couple of minutes. Now keep this aside.
3. Meanwhile heat a big pan and add the olive oil, onion and the red pepper flakes. Cook till the onion is slightly brown. Add the toasted nuts.
4. Add spinach, salt and cover to cook this. The spinach will start wilting in the heat in about 3 minutes.
5. Add the cooked pasta and toss it well with the spinach. Add the chopped basil and tomato. Toss it till the tomato heats through. Serve this hot.

Note - If you like you can grate some fresh Parmesan cheese on top. I wanted it to be a healthy dish so I avoided it.

Sending this to Bookmarked Recipe's hosted by Priya.



and to Hearth and Soul

Red lentil puluv

I love cooking with red lentils. They cook really fast and they taste great. This is an easy one pot meal where you mix your dhal, rice and vegetables. It is slightly different from our traditional kichidi which is just dhal and rice for the most part.

Ingredients:
- 1 cup red lentils
- 1 cup rice (If you prefer more dhal then reduce rice to 3/4 cup)
- Mixed vegetables (carrots, beans, peas, potatoes, cauliflower) to suit your taste
- 1 onion thinly sliced
- salt to taste

Seasoning:
- 1 tsp jeera
- 1 tsp fennel seeds (optional)
- small piece of cinnamon stick
- few cloves
- 1 anise seed (I love the smell)
- 1 tsp oil
- few drops of ghee
- 1-2 green chilies (Slit into half)
- 1/4 tsp of ginger

Method:

1. Wash and soak the lentils and rice in water for 10 - 15 minutes. Meanwhile prepare your vegetables. Cut all the vegetables to the same size so they cook easily.
2. In a wide pan pour the oil and ghee. Once it becomes hot add your seasoning ingredients. Wait till they turn slightly brown. Add your ginger and chilies last.
3. Now add the onion. Saute till it becomes slightly limp. Add the rest of vegetables and give them a quick toss.
4. Add the soaked lentils and rice. Mix it all well. Now add water. I start with 2 cups of water. Bring this to a boil and now reduce the stove to a medium heat.
5. Cover and cook for 20 minutes. Do not walk away from this. You might need to add some water if you find the rice to be undercooked. Typically I add a 1/2 cup more water.

Remove from the heat, garnish with cilantro leaves and serve with a few drops of ghee for added flavor.

(Note: You can make this dish using your pressure cooker too)

Sending this lovely recipe to My Legume Love affair - MLA#30 hosted by Priay of Mharo Rajasthan Recipes. The event was started by Susan

Whole grain pasta with Spinach pesto

I have to apologize for the poor quality of the picture. But let that not deter you from trying this awesome spinach pesto recipe. The good thing is I did not use much oil and neither did I use any cheese. So it is perfect for a vegan meal and on top of it the whole dish comes together in about 15 - 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

- 4-5 cup of whole wheat pasta (Penne or shell should work)
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 2 tsp of pine nuts and walnuts for garnish

For Pesto
- 1 cup spinach (I used baby spinach)
- 1/2 cup basil leaves
- 1/3 cup roasted walnuts
- 1/3 cup pine nuts
- 2-3 sundried tomatoes in oil (1 used about 2 tsp of oil that comes with the tomato)
- 1 onion chopped and sauted to golden brown.
- garlic (if you like)

1. Cook your pasta as per the instruction in your package. Toss the pasta with the olive oil. Reserve 2 cups of the cooking water from the pasta.
2. Grind the ingredients for the pesto to a smooth paste. If you need to use the cooking water for the pasta.
3. In a big saute pan pour add the pasta and the pesto sauce and toss it around. If you feel it is too dry then add the reserved cooking water from the pasta. Mix them sauce until the pasta is well coated.
4. Sprinkle the pasta with the pine nuts and walnuts. This adds a crunch to the pasta.

Optionality serve it with some fresh grated parmesan cheese.

Preasure Cooker Baingan Bharta/ Eggplant in a spicy tomato sauce

Most of my readers must be familiar with Beingan Bharta. Eggplants are roasted and smashed and this is blend with a flavorful spicy tomato sauce. I typically use my oven to make this as I have an electric stove. I was browsing this site (she has some awesome recipe) when I came across the recipe where she cooks the eggplant in a pressure cooker. I wanted to try it and it was a great hit in my house.

Ingredients :
- 2 big eggplant (I used the big American eggplant)
- 1 big onion chopped
- 2-3 tomatoes chopped
- 1 tsp chili powder (adjust to taste)
- 1 tsp garam masala

Seasoning
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 tsp jeera

Method
1. Peal the skin from your eggplant. Cut it in half. In a pressure cooker add some water and the eggplant. Cover and cook for 1 whistle.
2. Meanwhile in a pan pour oil and add the jeera. Once it is brown add your onions. Cook till it really shrinks. This takes at least 10 minutes in a slow heat.
3. Now add tomatoes, chili powder and cook till they become very soft. Let it be on a slow heat for at least 15 minutes
4. Now remove the eggplant. Mash it with a fork. As they are cooked in a preasure cooker they mash very easily. Add this to the pan. The longer you cook the better it tastes. I cooked mine for 45 minutes at a very low heat mixing it periodically.

Garnish and serve it hot with rice or better with roti's or Nan

Sending this to Bookmarked Recipe's hosted by Priya and also to Heart and soul.

Easy Paruppu Thogayal

I learnt this paruppu thogayal from my MIL. This is a very easy and tasty thogayal. It goes very well with spicy kulambu like milagu kulambu or vetha kulambu. It has no spice in it so you and your kids can also have this thogayal.

Ingredients

-2/3 cup Yellow Moong dhal

-1/4 cup Shredded Coconut

Salt to taste

Method

1.Dry Roast Moong dhal until it turns light brown color.

2.Soak it in water for 1 hour.

3.Grind the moong dhal with coconut and salt.

Serve it with rice and vetha kulambu. Perfect for a cold winter day.

Quinoa Eggplant rice

This recipe is a total inspiration from Priya's blog. This one was a brilliant use of the super nutritious quinoa in our traditional cooking. I got her inspiration but I used my mom's method of making this dish. I would have never guessed quinoa to go well with eggplant but this dish was super yummy.

Ingredients :
- 2-3 eggplants cut to bite size pieces(I used the Japanese eggplant)
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- salt to taste

Seasoning :
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp urad dhal
- 1/2 tsp jeera
- pinch of hing
- peanuts (optional)
- curry leaves (0ptional)

Method:
1. Wash the quinoa and then add two measure of water for one measure of quinoa. Microwave it for 20 minutes. The grain will turn into a glossy color. You can fluff this with your fork.
2. In a large pan add the oil and the seasoning ingredients. Once the urad dhal turns brown add your chopped eggplant. Add turmeric and salt and cook till the eggplant becomes soft. Now add the curry masala and mix till the spices coat the eggplant well.
3. Turn the heat down and add the cooked quinoa and mix it well. Use a fork for this other wise the quinoa breaks a lot.

Serve hot with raita or papad.

Sending this recipe to
Bookmark recipes created by Priya of Mharo Rajasthan and and hosted by US masala.
Cooking with whole grains guest hosted by Priya Mitharwal and started by Kiran

ThengaPal(Coconut Milk) Thengozhal

We tried this snack after seeing the recipe in a cooking show. Thengozhal, similar to murukku is a savoury snack. To make it you need a thengozhal press. You can get that in India. Normally the dough for thengozhal is prepared by mixing the flour with water. In this recipe we use coconut milk. The addition of coconut milk makes it crispy and also the thengozhal has a rich taste.

Ingredients

- 1 cup Rice flour
- 1 tablespoon Uradh dhal  flour
- 1 tablespoon Butter
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1.5 cup Coconut milk (Adjust quantity based on the dough consistency)
- 1/4 tsp Jeera
- Oil for frying


Method

1. Mix flour, butter, salt and jeera. Add coconut milk and make the flour into a stiff chapathi like dough.
2. Heat oil in a deep bottom frying pan. Check if the oil is hot by adding a small piece of dough to the oil. If the dough raises up immediately then the oil is ready for frying.
3. Add the dough in the thengozhal press. Squeeze the press and make into zigsaw circle shapes.
4. Try it over a plastic sheet and once you get the idea directly squeeze the mould in the oil.
5. Deep fry the thengozhal until its done. You can take it when its light brown or wait until it turns golden brown.
6. Drain them over paper towels.

Store it in air tight containers and enjoy the snack with your evening cup of tea or coffee.

Okkarai

Another sweet we prepared for this diwali. This is commonly prepared in many south indian houses during diwali. A simple sweet but a tasty one. Forget your diet and eat this with a dollop of ghee. It is definitely worth it. 

Ingredients

- 1 cup Chana Dhal
- 1 tbsp Rice
- 2 cup Jaggery
- 2 Tbsp ghee
- few cashew
- 1 tbsp oil
- pinch of cardamom

Method

1. Dry roast chana dhal and rice until the lentils turns light brown and you get the aroma.
2. Soak the dhal in water for 1 hour.
3. Grind the dhal in blender into a  coarse paste.
4. Steam the paste in idli plates for 10 minutes (similar to idli).
5. Pour oil in a frying pan and add the steamed dhal.Fry this until the dhal crumbles into small pieces
6. In another pan add jaggery and add water until the jaggery is immersed
7. Boil this until the jaggery melts thoroughly. Filter it to remove any impurities.
8. Boil the liquid again until you get the proper consistency. To check the consistency pour a drop in a plate. Try rolling this drop between your thumb and index finger. If it turns into a ball then the consistency is correct.
10. Add the jaggery mixture to the channa dhal and reduce the flame. Stir it until it is mixed properly and the channa dhal is fluffy and dry. Add the ghee and stir it again.
11. To this, add roasted cashews and cardamom.

Serve this with a dollop of ghee.

3 - Minute Microwave Mysore Pak

Everyone must be busy making Diwali sweets. This time I thought of making something simple. With two kids I didn't want to spend a long time in the kitchen. I saw this recipe in The Hindu paper online. The mysore pak was very tasty and it was ready in 3 minutes. Try it out and you will love the taste.

Ingredients

- 1/2 cup Besan powder
- 1 cup Powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup Ghee: half cup
- 2 tsp Milk

Method

1.Melt ghee in a microwave for one minute on high. Now mix all the ingredients in the melted ghee. Mix well.
2.Microwave the mixture for three minutes. Remove the mixture in between and mix well. You can see bubbles forming on the mixture.
3.This is the right consistency. Now remove and mix nicely and pour over a greased plate.
4.After 10 minutes cut into pieces. Remove after it cools completely.

Note: The mysore pak was a little crisp. We all loved the taste but if you want a softer texture check the mixture after 1.5 minutes. Then keep it for another 30 seconds and check it again. If you see the bubbles then you can pour it in a greased plate.

Eggless Strawberry cake

I am a great fan of DK's space - Chef in You. All her reciepes that I have tried have come out so well. The step by step explanation makes it so easy. When she posted the eggless strawberry cake I tried it out immediately. It was so easy to make and the cake was so moist and fluffy. I did not change the recipe. So please check it out here.

Sending this to one of my favorite event Tried and Tested hosted by Priya and started by Delights of Cooking

Green Rice

This is an easy green rice that I stumbled upon when I was browsing Aayis blog. I think it is pretty ingenious use of spinach in a rice item. I typically cook this rice with just cilantro leaves and some mint. But the addition of Spinach makes this more healthy and also adds little bit more body to the sauce. Made some modifications to suit our taste.

Ingredients:
- 1 cup rice soaked for 30 minutes
- 1 cup spinach
- 1 cup cilantro
- 1 onion
- 1 cup mixed vegetable (I just used frozen peas and carrots)
- 4-5 green chilies
- small piece of ginger pealed
- 1/4 cup shredded coconut
- 1 tsp garam masala
- salt to taste

Seasoning:
- few cloves
- 1 star anise
- 1 tsp jeera
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp oil

Method:
1. Grind spinach, cilantro, ginger, chilies, coconut to a fine paste. Do not add too much water.
2. Now in a huge vessel add oil and all the seasoning ingredients. Once they turn slightly brown add the onions and fry till it becomes soft. Add the ground paste. Fry till you see oil separate from the sides.
3. Add the vegetables and toss them around till the sauce coats all the vegetables. Now add the rice and salt. Give this a good mix.
4. Pour in two cups of water and let it all come to a boil. Reduce the heat and cover it. Cook it until the rice becomes fluffy. This takes around 20 minutes. Check in between to see if it has enough water. If not add some more. Serve it hot with raita or pappad.

An alternate method is to skip coconut and instead add coconut milk. So instead of two cups of water cook it in 1 cup coconut milk and 1 cup water. This makes a richer and creamier rice. Perfect for parties.

Ash Gourd/ White pumpkin kootu.

A few days ago I happened to find white pumpkin in my Asian market. This is a rare occourance in my small town. I got a piece and typically I make a kootu with lots of coconut and channa dhal. I wanted to try something slightly different with this one. I ended up making this gravy and it was a slight variation to my original recipe.

Ingredients:
- 1 small piece white pumpkin cut to bite size pieces
- small piece of tamarind (Soften it in the microwave)
- 2 tbsp brown sugar or jaggary

Fry till they become golden brown
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp jeera seeds
- 3-4 red chilies
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- 1 tsp urad dhal
- 1 tsp rice (This thickens the gravy. You can substitute this with rice flour or atta)
- 1/2 cup frozen coconut (Add it after the above whole spices turn slightly brown)

Seasoning:
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- few curry leaves

Method:
1. In a heavy bottom vessel boil your pumpkin in water and salt.
2. Meanwhile grind all the ingredients which you had fried with tamarind to a fine paste. So it is enough if your tamarind is slightly softened.
3. Add this mixture to your boiled pumpkins. Mix in jaggary and cook till the pumpkins become soft and tender to touch.
4. In a seperate pan add oil and the ingredients for seasoning. Once they turn brown add it to the pumpkin.

Serve this with fluffy white rice.

Sending this to Book Marked Recipe hosted by Priya

Corn Soup

We were able to purchase some fresh corn from our store. So I ended up hunting for some fun recipes on the web to make use of the corn. One of the recipes that I really liked was corn soup by Munjulas Kitchen. The part that was great to me was that she did not use any cream in this recipe. Here is how I made it.

Ingredients:
- 3 corn (I used fresh corn)
- 1/2 cabbage shredded
- 2 carrots chopped finely
- 1 small tomato chopped - squeeze out any excess juice
- 1/2 a onion chopped
- 1 tsp corn starch
- 1 tsp black pepper (adjust to taste)
- 1 tsp jeera
- 1 tsp oil
- salt to taste.

Method:
1. Remove the husk and steam the corn till they are soft. Use a knife to remove the kernels. Keep a handful aside. Blend the rest to a smooth paste.
2. In a hot pan add oil and jeera. Once the jeera splutters add onion and cook till it becomes slightly brown. Now add the carrots and cabbage and cook they are soft to touch.
3. Traditionally you will strain the corn and get the juice with none of the pulp. Instead of doing that I just added the blended corn to my carrot and cabbage mixture. This will taste more chunkier then your regular soup.
4. Mix your corn starch with 1/4 cup of water and add it to the soup. Add another 2 -3 cups of water, salt and pepper and bring this mixture to a boil.
5. After the soup has thickened to the consistency you prefer add the chopped tomatoes. Let it boil for a minute or two. Turn off the heat and serve this hot.

It makes a great lunch with just some breads to accompany it. Sending this recipe to Bookmark Tuesday and also to Dish Name that Starts With C hosted by Akila of Learning to cook.

Thatkola

This is a very new dish to me. I saw this in a cooking show. Even though it is a tedious process it is worth the effort. It is a tasty and healthy dish.

Ingredients
- 1 cup Boiled rice
- 1/4 cup Moong dhal
- 1/4 cup Shredded coconut
- Salt to taste

 To temper

- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- few curry leaves
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds
- Red chillie powder to taste
- 1 tbsp Oil

Method

1. Soak rice for 2 hours. Grind the rice with salt in a blender. It should be little thicker than dosa consistency and the mixture has to be coarse.
2. Boil moong dhal separately.
3. Add oil in a frying pan. Once the oil is hot add the batter. Mix it well until it comes together and it should not stick to the pan.This procedure is similar to the way you prepare kozhkattai outer cover.
3. Let it cool down for few minutes. Grease your hands with oil. Take a small lime size dough. Roll it into a cylindrical shape. Check the photo to see how I have rolled the dough.
4. Boil the rolled dough in a idli plate for approximately 10 minutes. The color will change once it has cooked. So check that and adjust the time.
5. Take the boiled dough out and once its cooled, cut it into small pieces.
6. Add oil to a frying pan. Add mustard seeds,cumin seeds. Once it splutters add the boiled dough. Mix it well and then add red chillie powder.
7. After 3-4 minutes add the boiled moong dhal, coconut, curry leaves and mix it well.
8. Turn off the stove.

You can serve this with sambar. We ate it without any side dish and it was very yummy.

Creamy cauliflower and peas subji

This is something my husband makes when we need a quick subji. I like the addition of yougurt to this subji. It is not much but the little bit goes a long way..

Ingredients:
- 1 cauliflower seperated into florets
- 1 cup cooked peas
- 2-3 tomatoes
- 1 small onion
- 4 tbsp yogurt

Fry and grind to a coarse paste:
- 2 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 small stick cinnamon
- 1 bay leaves
- 2 cloves (They are strong so use just a few)
- 2 dried red chili (optional)
- 2 green chilies chopped (Remove seeds if you do not want the heat)
- 1 inch ginger chopped
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1 tomato chopped
- 1 tsp oil
Add oil and add the spices first. Fry till they are slightly brown.  Then start adding your chilies, onions, tomatoes, ginger and fry till they become soft.  Cool this mixture.  Grind this to a paste and keep it aside.

Seasoning:
-1 tbsp oil
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp kalonji/onion seeds
- 2 green chilies chopped (adjust to taste)

Method:
1. In a large pan add the oil, cumin seeds and chilies.  Fry till they are golden brown. Now add the chopped onion. Cook till it becomes soft.
2. Add the separated cauliflower and fry it with the onions. Keep the heat high.  You do not want your cauliflower to become mushy.  After about 5 min add your peas and tomatoes. Cook for another minute or two.
3. Add the ground masala and mix it well. Cover and cook till the vegetables turns soft.   Now turn off the heat and add the yogurt.  You add it at the end so that the yogurt does not curdle. Mix well and garnish with cilantro.

Serve it hot with rice or roti.

Navratna Kurma

Yesterday I made navratna kurma to go with chapathi. It is a very rich and tasty side dish. Forget your diet and try this out. You will not be disappointed.

Ingredients

- 2 cup chopped Vegetable (I used cauliflower,peas,carrot,potato)
- 1 onion
- 4 big tomato
- 2 cloves garlic
- small piece ginger
- 1/4 cup cream 
- 1 tbsp garam masala
- 1 tbsp Red chillie powder (Adjust as per taste)
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds
- handful of mixed nuts (I used cashews,almonds and raisins)
- 1/4 cup chopped pineapple
- 1 tbsp oil
- Salt to taste

Method

1.Boil the vegetables in a steamer. The vegetables should be soft and not mushy.
2.Heat oil in a frying pan. Once oil is hot add onion,ginger,garlic. Fry for few minutes and add the tomatoes.
3.Once the tomatoes turns soft cool down the mixture and blend it.
4.In a frying pan add oil. Once the oil is hot add cumin seeds and nuts.
5. When the nuts gets brown add the blended mixture. Let it simmer for few minutes. Add the boiled vegetables and the chopped pineapple.
6. Add garam masala,salt and red chille powder. After it simmers for 5 minutes mix in the cream.
7. Give it a stir and put off the stove after few minutes

Watermelon Rind Kootu

We planted watermelon in our vegetable garden last year. This year we skipped it as the watermelon creeper grows everwhere and it becomes very messy. But somehow the watermelon plants sprouted again. There was a medium size watermelon in the creeper. After browsing the net, I decided it was time to pick the watermelon. But I was wrong, the watermelon was not ripe yet. My MIL suggested we make a kootu out of that. Even though I have seen many kootu recipes with the rind, I was still doubtful. We tried it out and it was very tasty. Please try it out the next time you buy a watermelon. It tastes like white pumpkin kootu. My husband could not tell the difference. This is one yummy kootu with watermelon rind, stuff that you would normally discard.

Ingredients

- 5 cups of wateremelon rind (chopped into small pieces)
- 1/4 cup chana dhal
-  pinch of turmeric

To Temper

- 1/4 tsp mustard
- 1/2 tsp uradh dhal
- 1/2 tsp Jeera
- 4-5 curry leaves
- 1 ts Oil

To Grind

- 3/4 cup coconut
- 5-6 red chilli
- 1/2 tsp jeera

Method

1. Boil chana dhal and the watermelon rind with salt and turmeric.
2. In a blender grind the coconut,red chilli and jeera until it become a smooth paste. Add to the watermelon and cook for few minutes
3. Heat oil in a pan and saute the mustard seeds, uradh dhal, jeera, curry leaves.
4. Add this tempered spices to the watermelon kootu.

Serve it with rice or rotis.

Chickpeas with spicy sweet sauce

My fasination with 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer continues. He has a wonderful section on legumes. The combinations he uses are mind-boggling. Take this recipe. He uses two types of chick peas with urad dhal and rajma. Here is how I made this.

Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup dried black chickpeas
- 1/4 cup dried chikpeas/garbanzo beans
- 1/4 cup kidney beans
- 1/4 cup black urad - I used split urad
- 2 tbs sugar
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp hing powder
- 2-3 dried red chilies
- 2-3 green chilies slit into half
- 2 medium tomatoes chopped
- sugar to taste
- cilantro for garnish

Seasoning
- 1 tsp oil/ 1 tsp ghee
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds

Method:
1. Soak all the dhal overnight and cook till they become soft. If you are lazy like me then just add the dhals in your croak pot/slow cooker. Add water till they are completely immersed. Set your cooker at high. Keep an eye on it and add water as required. They should be done in 4-6 hours
2. Heat a heavy bottom vessel. Add the oil, mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Let these crackle. Now add salt, sugar, red chilies, cumin coriander, turmeric and hing powder.
3. Once you smell the aroma add the tomatoes and the green chilies. Cook until the tomato has softened. Add this tomato mixture to the cooked dhal. Cook this for another 12 - 20 minutes. If you are using slow cooker then set this to a low heat and you can cook till you serve.

Sprinkle some cilantro and serve hot with rice or roti

I am sending this one to Bookemarked recipe - hosted by Priya

Carrot Halwa

Happy Vinayaga Shaturti to my lovely readers. Hope you had your share of modak (Kolukatai). In our house we had a potluck dinner. Everyone got a different sweet and I choose to make carrot halwa. I do not make too much sweets but carrot halwa is an exception. With juicy carrots, milk, and ghee how could one possibly go wrong. I absolutely love this dish. This recipe to me is pretty versatile too. You can kind of play around with the measurements and still end up with a lovely sweet. Here is how I did it.

Ingredients:
- 2 cups of shredded carrots
- 1/4 cup sugar (adjust this to the sweetness of your carrots.)
- 11/2 tbsp ghee (reserve 1/4 tsp to fry cashwes)
- pinch of cardamom
- few cashews (or any nut of your choice) for garnish.

Method:
1. In a heavy bottom vessel add ghee and once it melts add your carrots and cook till they become soft.
2. Meanwhile heat your milk. I used a big microwave vessel and heated it for about 15 minutes. Stir this in between so it does not boil over.
3. Once the carrots are soft add the milk and cook it till most of the milk evaporates. Takes about 5- 7 minutes
4. Add the sugar and mix it. The sugar melts and gives the carrots a glistening color. Cook it for another 3-4 minutes. Add cardamom and mix well. Turn off the heat.
5. In a small pan add the reserved 1/4 tsp ghee and fry your cashews till it becomes golden brown.

Garnish your carrot halwa with your cashews. The cool thing about this dish is it tastes pretty good both at room temperature or hot. Enjoy!

Green tomatoes and Eggplant subji

I borrowed this lovely book from the library - 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer. He has some very interesting recipes. I am particularly fascinated by his combinations of vegetables. The recipe I am blogging today combines eggplant with raw tomatoes. The tomatoes have a tangy taste to them and when cooked with eggplant it becomes a delicious saucy dish. This is a good way to use up the unripe tomatoes that you might have in your garden.

Ingredients:
- 1 big eggpant (I used the american kind) cut to bite sized pieces
- 4 medium sized unripe tomatoes cut to bite size pieces
- bunch of chopped cilantro leaves
- 3 -4 green chilies
- 2 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- salt to taste

Seasoning:
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds

Method:
1. In a pan heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds and once it starts to pop add your cumin seeds. Cook till it turns slightly brown.
2. Add the chilies, eggplant, tomatoes and cilantro. Stir-fry them for about 5 minutes. The vegetable should be tender and seared by now.
3. Add the ground corriander powder, cumin powder salt and turmeric. Pour in 1/2 cup of water and cover the pan. Reduce the heat and let it cook for another 10 minutes.
4. Your vegetables will become really tender now. Mash them slightly with a back of a ladle. Cook for another 3 to 4 minutes

Serve it hot with rice or roti.

Ribbon Pakoda

Wish you all a Happy Janmashtami. This is a simple savory recipe that is a fun afternoon snack with a cup of hot tea. Enjoy

Ingredients

- 2 cup Rice Flour
- 2 cup Besan Flour
- 1/2 tbsp butter
- 1/4 tsp asafoetida
- 1 tsp Ajwain/Sesame Seeds
- Salt and Red Chillie powder to taste

Method

1. Mix everything and in the bowl. Add water little by little and form stiff dough.
2. Take a murukku maker and use the one with a vertical slit.
3. Heat oil in a fryin pan. The oil should be very hot
4. Press the dough in the hole on the top. Press the murukku maker in the oil and make flat ribbon shapes design in the oil.
5. Once its brown take the ribbon and drain it in the paper towel

Spinach and cauliflower roti

This was an inspiration from Chef in you. I absolutely loved the idea of adding spinach and cauliflower to a dish. It was soft rotis which you could eat with pickles or raita.

Ingredients:
To make roti
- 3 cups atta
- 2 green chilies (adjust to taste)
- 2 cups spinach
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 1 tsp ajwain seeds
- salt to taste

Method:

1. Grind spinach, chilies, yogurt to a fine paste. To the flour add some ajwain seeds and the ground mixture and kneed it to form a tight dough. Keep it covered for at least an hour. Meanwhile proceed to make the filling/curry.

Ingredients for the curry:
- 1 medium sized cauliflower finely chopped
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (recipe calls for paneer)
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 potato boiled and pealed
- salt to taste

Method to make filling
1. In a skillet add oil and cumin seeds. Once they start to brown add the cauliflower, chili powder and salt. Cook till they become soft. Make sure there is no water. Keep it aside so it can cool down.
2. Meanwhile mash the potatoes so there are no lumps. Mix the cooked cauliflower, potatoes and the shredded cheese. If the mixture is slightly warm the cheese melts very nicely.
3. Make small balls and keep it aside.

Method putting it all together

1. Take a small piece of the dough. Pull it apart and place a ball of the vegetable mixture. Now bring the sides together. Roll it in your hands to form a smooth ball. Make sure your stuffing is all inside the dough.
2. Dust a flat surface. Place this ball and roll it using a rolling pin. These need not be too thin.
3. Heat a flat pan/tawa. If you like drizle some ghee and place the roti in the tawa. Cook till they become slightly brow on both sides.

Serve it hot with pickles. This was super duper tasty. I am sending this one to Bookemarked recipe - hosted by Priya

Zucchini Pasta

We are getting lots of Zucchini this year. I wanted to try this unique pasta where you substitute your pasta with Zucchini. I tried to keep everything in this dish raw. It was a fun alternative to regular pasta.

Ingredients
- 5 medium sized Zucchini
- 2 tomatoes roughly chopped
- 1 small onion roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp sun dried tomatoes soaked in oil
- red chili flakes add it according to your taste
- ground black pepper to taste
- salt to taste
- few sprigs of basil

Method:
1. Peal your Zucchini into thin strips. I just used a regular vegetable pealer. Save the core to make soup.
2. In a food processor add tomatoes, onion, sun dried tomatoes and pulse it a few times. Do not over process it. You want it to be slightly chunky.
3. Remove and add salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and the chopped basil
4. Toss Zucchini with the sauce just before serving. If you do this earlier it will become very watery.

This is perfect for a nice summer day.

Bread Halwa

This week I tried baking a banana bread with cardamom. I made some mistake and I ended up with a dense and bland tasting bread. So with a big loaf of bread in hand, I searched some blogs to use up the bread. I stumbled on this Bread and Oats Halwa in Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes. I skipped the oats, as I had a big loaf of bread. This is a very easy recipe and tastes great. My husband was happy that I messed up my bread.

Ingredients

- 6 cup ground bread slices
- 2.5 cup milk
- 2 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp ghee
- 1 tsp cardamom
- Orange Food color (as needed)

Method

1. Grind the bread slices coarsely in a blender.
2. Boil the milk in a pan. Once the milk starts boiling add sugar and the food color.
3. After the mixture starts boiling add the bread. Add the ghee and stir continuously.
4. Once the mixture stops sticking to the sides of the pan and comes of the bottom of the vessel easily,add the cardamom.
5. Garnish with some nuts. I used slivered almonds.

Mixed Dhal with Coconut Milk

Today I made some paratha and to go with it I made a mixed dhal subji. This is similar to Dal Makhani but with a slight variation. I used coconut milk instead of cream or milk. The dhal was rich in flavor and had a slight sweet taste because of the coconut milk. I used sprouted moth beans, black uradh dhal and green moong dhal but you can susbtitute with any other beans.I have given approximate measurement of the spices and powder. Please adjust according to the quantity and your taste.

Ingredients

- 1.5 cup mixed dhal (I used sprouted moth beans, black uradh dhal and green moong dhal)
- 1 Onion chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 Jalapeno chillie
- 4 tomato chopped
- 1 tbsp Panch poran
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1.5 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- 2 tbsp coconut milk
- 1 tsp oil
- Salt to taste

Method

1. Pressure cook the dhals untilt he dhals gets cooked.
2. Heat oil in the frying pan. Add panch poran once the oil is hot.
3. Once it splutters add onion,garlic and the green chillie. Fry until onions becomes soft and translucent.
4. Stir in tomatoes and fry until the tomatoes get soft.
5. Then add the cooked dhal and mix it well.
6. Add cumin,coriander,garam masala, red chillie powder and salt.
7. Add the coconut milk and let the dhal simmer for 5 minutes
8. Serve it paratha or roti.

Spicy Sprouts

I love to buy mung sprouts from my store. I always have huge plans on how I will use it but I end up making this sprouts curry. Sprouts spoil very easily so I make it a point to use it within a day or two. The curry is very simple, very healthy and very tasty. Try it next time you have a bag of sprouts or some leftover from other recipe for a quick snack.



Ingredients:
- 1 packet sprouts
- 3 dried red chilies
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp urad dhal
- 1/2 tsp hing
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp oil
- salt to taste

Method:
1. Set a wide sauté pan at hight heat. Add the oil and mustard seeds. Once it pops add the urad dhal. Tear your dried chilies and add it to the oil. Saute for a few seconds. Now add hing and turmeric powder. Cook for 10 more seconds.
2. Now add the sprouts. Stir it continuously and try to keep the heat high. If you reduce the heat sprouts will start releasing water and it will become mushy. Cook this for 3 minutes. Add salt and give it a quick mix. The sprouts will be slightly limp but it will should still be crunchy.

You can eat this as is as a healthy mid afternoon snack. I like this better then the raw sprouts.
I am sending this to Priya's Easy N Tasty - Let's sprout event.

Peach Thokku

Our neighbor has a great yard and he has planted a Peach tree. During the season time the tree was filled with peaches. Some of the branches of his tree fall in our yard side. Our neighbor was very generous and asked us to use the peaches that fall in our yard. In such a small branch we would have collected over 30 peaches. Since I am the the only person who eats fruits, my MIL suggested peach thokku. It is a very tasty thokku. Sweet,sour and spicy it goes very well with dosa,chapathi or idlis.Here is the recipe. Adjust the spice level according to your taste.

Ingredients

- 4 big Peaches
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 1/4 tsp hing
- 2 tbsp red Chille powder
- 2 tbsp salt

Method

1. Cut the peaches in bite size pieces.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan. Once the oil is hot add mustard seeds, fenugreek and hing.
3. After it splutters add the peaches.
4. Simmer in medium heat until the peaches become soft and mushy. Using a ladle or a masher, mash the peaches.
5. Add the chillie powder and salt and let it simmer for 10 -15 minutes
6. Taste the thokku and adjust the seasoning.

Serve it with dosa or idli.

Sprouted Baked Channa

Continuing with my interest in sprouting the other day I started some kala channa, black channa dhal to sprout. The black channa dhal are smaller in size and it is used a lot in south indian cooking. This is one of my favorite's for making sundals. We also make a yummy kulubu out of this channa. I was browsing Mallika Badrinath's 100 Masala's and Kuruma recipe and came across this one. It tastes pretty good almost like a chhat but it also tasted good as a side for roti.

Ingredients :
For the channa
- 2 cups black channa sprouted (white/canned chick peas will work great too)
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 2 green chilies slit
- 1 potato (cut this in big cubes)
- 2 tbsp oil
- salt to taste

For the chutney (Grind these to make the chutney)
- 1 bunch corriander/cilantro leaves
- 1/4 cup mint leaves
- 1/4 tbsp jeera or just use ground jeera powder
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice (optional)
- 3 green chilies (adjust to your taste)

For sweet sauce (Grind this to a fine paste)
- 1 cup water from the tamarind juice
- 2 tbsp jaggary/Brown sugar
- 3 pitted dates

Method:

1. Cook your sprouted channa until it becomes soft. I used my slow-cooker for this. I had to boil my sprouts for 8 hours at a low heat to get the required consistency.
2. Set your oven to broil (400F degree) and broil your potatoes for 10 minutes or until it is golden brown. The recipe calls for deep frying but to avoid the oil I decided to broil it.
3. In a pan add oil and fry the green chilies and onion till they become golden brown.

Putting this together

Coat an oven proof bowl with oil. Add a layer of the cooked channa. Top it with the onions and chilies. Now add a layer of the chutney. Top it with the broiled potatoes. Add another layer of channa and top this layer with the sweet sauce. Bake this in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Garnish with chopped raw onions (optional) and cilantro and serve it hot. If you are using this as a side to roti I would try to use more of the chutney and less of the sweet sauce.

Sending this one to book marked recipes hosted by Priya(Yallapantula) Mitharwal.
I am also sending this to Priya's Easy N Tasty - Let's sprout event.

Sweet potato buns and Minestrone soup

This months tried and tested event features vegi inspiration. I had a few recipes I had book marked and I decided this was a good time to try these. I picked two of her recipe to make a light dinner. The first one is Sweet potato buns. This was a simple and a healthy bun to prepare. Made very few changs to the original recipe.

Ingredeints:
- 3/4 cup oat flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour ( atta)
- 1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
- 1 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 1 cup mashed cooked, mashed sweet potato
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- red chili flakes to taste
- 2 tbsp oil
- ground cumin and whole pepper, flax seed

Method:
1. Mix the oat and wheat flour with salt.
2. Add the ground cumin, black pepper and flax powder. Mix in your crushed red chili flakes with salt and brown sugar.
3. Now add the salt, and yeast (as I am using bread machine yeast I typically skip the proofing part). Add the sweet potato and now kneed the dough with required water until you get a soft and a pliable dough. I kneeded mine for 10 minutes.
4. Add 11/2 tbsp of olive oil and kneed it more until the dough absorves all the oil. Coat this soft dough with more oil and keep in a clean bowl that is twice the size of the dough.
5. Keep this in a dry place and let it rise for an hour or so. It should double its original size.
6. Now take the dough and seperate them to small balls. The size depends on how big you want your bread to be. Now line these dough balls in a greasd baking sheet. Let it raise for another hour.
7.Meanwhile preheat your oven to a 375 degree. Bake these buns for 20 minutes. Adjust temp to suit your oven.

Serve them hot with a soup which is exactly what I did. I made a minestrone soup to go with these delicious bread which was another recipe from veg inspiration. Here is a link to the original recipe. I had the day to myself and I was planing this soup for dinner. So I used a cast iron pot and simmered it all day. When I served it at night it was very flavorful and the vegi's had become very tender.



Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup white beans (I used lima beans) cooked
- 1 cup dried pasta ( I used shell pasta)
- 1 medium yellow onions
- 2 medium carrots chopped
- 2 stalks of celery chopped
- 3 very large tomatoes
- 1 tsp each of dried basil and oregeno
- 1 tsp red chili flakes
- 1 tsp of black pepper
- 1 tbsp of sun dried tomatoes (I used the one soaked in oil)
- 3 tbsp of tomato paste (I used this because I did not have vegetable stock)
- 1 tbsp oil
- salt to taste

Method:
1. In a large cast iron pot add oil and saute your onions. Once they become translucent add the carrots and celeray.
2. Cook them for a couple of minutes. Now add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and 2 - 3 cups of water, salt and let it simmer. I let this go at a low flame for an hour.
3. Now add your sun dried tomatoes, and all the spices. Add more water if needed. Mix in your boiled beans.
4. If you have time then I suggest you keep the cast iron pot in a low heat and let it cook through out the day. Otherwise try to use a vegetable broth. In spite of not using vegetable stock cooking it in a low flame just made the soup very flavorful.
5. About half an hour befoe serving add the uncooked pasta and cook till the pasta becomes aldente.

Garnish with parsley and serve hot with a som bread or bun. This was a real easy and healthy dinner.

Sending this to Tried and tested hosted by the taste space – steam, bake, boil, shake!

Sprouted Wheat berry salad

Did you know you can sprout wheat berries? Wheat berries are whole wheat kernels which have had their husks removed. They are rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber, and to me sprouting them could only make them better. I made a salad with these sprouts. I did not cook these berries so they were a little chewy. The common way to use this berry is to boil them for an hour. I took the alternate route of sprouting them.

Ingredients:
- 1 cup sprouted wheat berries
- 1/2 cup nuts _ I used a combination of pecans and walnuts
- 2 stalks of celery chopped
- 1 green onion chopped
- 1/2 cup craisins
- 1/2 cup cilantro - Keep 2 tbsp aside
- 1 tbsp lemon juice (Add more if you would like this tart)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- black pepper and salt to taste

Method:
1. In a small bowl whisk the olive oil, pepper, salt and lemon juice to make a salad dressing.
2. In a bowl toss all the ingredients except the nuts and the 2 tbsp of cilantro. Mix in the salad deressing. Refrigerate this for an hour.
3. Before serving toss in the nuts and garnish it with the remaining cilantro.

Serve it chilled with a hot soup and bread. Perfect for a hot day.

Massor Dhal with Methi Sprouts

I am suddenly becoming a big fan of sprouting. It is such a easy and simple thing to do and in all my research it seems to be one of the best ways to consume these grains. Typically I soak the grain overnight. I drain and wash the soaked grain few times. I then keep these soaked grains in a strainer covered with a moist paper towel, with a vessel beneath to catch any excess water. I keep this in a dark place and the grains start to sprout overnight. Now once they sprout I store them in a airtight container in my fridge. Now I have sprouted grains to use throughout the week for my cooking.

So recently I sprouted a bunch of Methi seeds. They sprout very well and once you sprout them they tend to loose their bitter taste. I made a simple dhal using these methi sprouts

Ingredients:
- 1 cup massor dhal
- 1/2 cup toor dhal
- 2 tomatoes chopped finely
- 2 tbsp sprouted Methi. If the Methi is not sprouted then you might want to use 1/4 tsp
- 1 tsp jeera
- 1 green chili slited
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp oil

Method:
1. Soak your dhal for atleast an hour. Microwave it for 10 minutes removing it frequently in between and giving it a stir.
2. In a seperate tawa add oil and jeera. Once it starts to splutter add the chopped chili and tomatoes. Cook until this turns to a mushy consistency. Add salt.
3. Add the sprouted Methi seeds and cook for a minute. Add this to your cooked dhal and microwave it again for 4 minutes. If you feel it is a little dry add 1/4th cup of water.

Serve it hot with roti or rice. With the addition of Methi seeds this becomes one healthy dish.

This one finds its way to Think -Spice - Think Fenugreek hosted by Priya Mitharwal and originally started by Sunitha.
I am also sending this to Priya's Easy N Tasty - Let's sprout event.

Our First Award

We are so thrilled to recieve this first award from Priya(Yallapantula) Mitharwal of Mharo Rajasthan's Recipes. Thank you so much for the award and all the wonderful comments. We are grateful and honored to receive this award.

Now seven things about us -
1. We both never in our wildest dream thought about starting any kind of blog.  But now we are so lucky to have it grow in its own steady pace.
2. We love travelling to exotic places like (Alaska :-) although we never seem to get time to do this.
3. We have very different likes and dislikes in food but blogging has made us try various cuisine.
4. We chat for hours when we call each other.
5.  We love baking.
6.  We used to fight a lot for clothes when we were young. :-)
7. We both have kids about the same age so it is always fun to visit each other and cook and enjoy together.

I would like to pass on the award to 10 fellow bloggers

1. Satya
2. Usha
3. Srivalli
4. Madhuram
5. Sangeejeeta
6. Mahima
7. Srividhya
8. Kitchen Queen
9. Jagruti
10. Sanyukta

Milagu Kulambu

We make different type of kulambu as a side dish for rice. We make Vetha kulambu atleast once a week. This weekend in our local Tamil Channel I saw a program called Aaha Enna Rusi,a cookery show . In that they showed how to make a spicy milagu kulambu.  It is a very simple recipe. This recipe needs lots of oil, so don't skimp on the oil. The original recipe had some onions and garlic. I skipped those and made it plain. Try this out if you really love spicy dish. The milagu kulambu with hot rice and parrupu thogayal is a perfect combination.

Ingredients

- 10 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp Mustard
- 1 tbsp Channa dhal
- 1/2 tbsp Uradh dhal
- 1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds
- 1 tbsp Pepper
- 10 curry leaves
-  2-3 Red chillie
- 1 tbsp Red chillie powder
- 1 tbsp Pepper powder
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric
- 1 Big Lemon Size Tamarind (Soak in hot water)

 Method

1. Heat oil in a frying pan. Once its hot add mustard seeds, chana dhal, uradh dhal, fenugreek seeds, pepper and red chillie
2 Once it splutters add the curry leaves.
3. Take the tamarind extract. Add it to the frying pan. Now add in red chillie powder, turmeric, pepper powder
3. Let this mixture boil for 15- 20 min or until the kulambu becomes thick. Turn off heat

Serve it with hot rice

This one finds its way to Think -Spice - Think Fenugreek hosted by Priya Mitharwal and originally started by Sunitha.

Misal

I first tasted Misal when I went to dinner to my cousin's house.  I have never tasted Misal before and I really loved this dish. I wanted to try it out for a long time but never got to cook it. After making my sprouts pulav, I had some sprouted moth beans left. I was tempted to make this dish with that. So I researched the internet and found lot of good recipes. Finally I came up with my own simple recipe. This is not the traditional way of doing Misal but we all still loved the dish. It was a wholesome and delicious food. This is also a very healthy dish.

Kolhapuri Masala Ingredients

- 11/2 tbsp Coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp Jeera
- 1 tsp Sesame seeds
- 1/2 tsp Pepper
-  4-5 Cloves
- 1/2 inch Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Fennel seeds

1. Dry fry the above spices in a pan. Once the spices turn brown remove from heat
2. Cool it down and grind the spices to a fine powder


Misal Ingredients

- 2 onions
- 1/2 cup coriander
- 1/4 cup frozen coconut
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 handful peanut
- 3 cup sprouts
- 5-6 potato
- 1 -2 tbps Jaggery/ Brown sugar
- 1 tsp tamarind paste

For Tempering

- 1 tsp mustard
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp hing
-  2 tsp oil

1. Pressure cook the sprouts moth beans and potato.
2. In a pan add a tsp of oil. Add onion, garlic cloves and fry until the onions turns  brown.
3. Add coconut and coriander and fry for few minutes
4. Once it cools down grind this mixture in the blender to a smooth paste.
5. Add oil to the pan and once its hot add mustard,cumin,hing. Once it splutters add peanuts and fry until the peanuts becomes brown. 
6. Add the paste to the pan and fry it for few minutes until the oil separates from the paste. Add the Kolhapuri masala, red chillie powder and salt.
7. Now add the cooked sprouts and potato mixture. You can add water if the gravy is thick. Let it simmer in heat for 10 -15 min
8. Mix in tamarind paste and jaggery and simmer for few more minutes. 

To Serve

Take a bowl and add misal. Drizzle yogurt on top of it. Add chopped onion,tomato and farsan/sev/bhel mix/crushed potato chips and serve it with pav or white bread.

I am sending this to Priya's Easy N Tasty - Let's sprout event.

Watermelon and cherry juice

The last few days have been HOT. So I am trying to come up with juices and cold salads to make the heat bearable. We had quite a lot of cherries and a huge watermelon sitting in our counter top. I ended up creating this for our mid day snack. It was simple to put together and was quite refreshing.

Ingredients:
- 5 cups of watermelon
- 30 cherries pitted (Keep a few aside for garnish)
- 1 inch ginger
- juice of 1 lemon (adjust to taste)
- 1 tbsp mint leaves chopped (Optional)


Method:
Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend them until they become smooth. Strain it if you want it like a juice but if you like it pulpy you can skip that step. As my watermelon was very sweet I did not have to add additional sugar.

Serve it chilled.

Sago Vadam (Javarisi Vadam)

Texas gets very hot during summer and the heat reminds me of the days when my mom used to make vadam. Me and my sister used sit upstairs and chase the crows from eating the vadam. Once its a little dry we will be eating the vadam as it is. This year my in-laws are here and my MIL was tempted to try out vadams. She started with the easy one Javarisi (Sago in English) vadam. It was a very easy recipe.

Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Javarisi/sabudana
- 2 Green chili
- 1 tbsp Lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp Asafoetida powder
- Salt – as per taste

Method

1.Soak javarisi overnight in 2 cups of water. In a pan boil two cups of water and add javarisi and boil it in low flame. Grind the green chili,asafoetida, salt.
2. Add it to the boiling javarisi. Cook till the javarisi turns transparent or glassy.
3. The mixture will be semi-liquid. Once it cools down it will become a little thick
4. Take a tablespoon of the mixture and put it in a plastic sheet or ziploc
5. Keep it in direct sunlight for two days. After the first day turn the side and let it dry.
6.Once its dry you will be able to remove it easily from the sheet
7. Now the vadams are ready to be deep-fried.
8. Deep fry in oil and enjoy it as a snack.

Sending this one to CWS-Sago Seeds hosted by Kitchen Samraj originally started by Priya.

Gazpacho

 

This months AWED is featuring Spain. I personally love this event. It gives us bloggers an opportunity to try something that is different and not in our comfort zone. When Spain was announced I decided on Gazpacho which is a cold tomato soup. It originates from Andalucía in southern Spain. There are so many different recipe for Gazpacho and I kind of mixed a bunch to make my own. I was not too particular on using vinegar so I substituted that with lemon juice and I did not add garlic (if adding use around 3 cloves). The soup was fabulous and a perfect dish on a hot day.

Ingredients:
- 1 cucumber, seeded, but not peeled
- 1 green and 1 red bell peppers, cored and seeded
- 4 tomatoes
- 1 red onion
- 3 tomatoes to make a juice or you can buy store bought juice.
- juice from 1 lemon (adjust to taste)
- 2 tbsp good olive oil
- salt to taste
- 1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup cilantro
- avocado for garnish (optional)

Method:
1. Chop cucumber, bell pepper, onion and tomatoes. Add them to the food processor separately and pulse them. Make sure you don't over process them.
2. In a blender add the tomatoes, salt and black pepper. Grind them well to make your tomato juice.
3. Now mix the vegetables and the tomato juice. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to suit your taste. Add the chopped cilantro and chill this for at least an hour. The more you chill this the better it tastes.
4. Serve this chilled with avocado and more cilantro as your garnish.

Perfect for a hot day.

Submitting this to AWED - Spain announced by DK

Sprouts puluv

After checking out chef in you site I was also inspired to sprout some beans. I tried mung and moth beans. So now I add it in my toddler's rice when I boil other vegetables. Then when I checked out the recipe for moth sprouts rice recipe in chef in you, I wanted to try it out. I made some changes and tried it out for this weekend. To go with it I made kofta curry. We enjoyed a healthy and tasty meal. Check out the original recipe here.

Ingredients

-2 cloves garlic
-4 green chillie
-1 small piece ginger
-6-7 mini sweet bell pepper
-1 cup sprouts (I used a combination of moth and mung sprouts)
-3-4 cloves
-2-3 bay leaves
-1 small stick cinnamon
-5-6 pepper
-1 tsp panch poran
-1.5 cup rice
-2.5 cup water
-3 tbsp oil
-3 spring onions
-1.5 tsp kitchen king masala
-Salt to taste

Method

1.Soak rice in water for 1/2 hour.
2.Add oil to a hot frying pan. Once the oil is hot add panch poran,clove,bay leaves, cinnamon,pepper.
3.Once the panch poran splutters add garlic,ginger and green chillie. Fry it for 1-2 min.
3.Add spring onions and fry for few min. Then add the bell pepper and the sprouts. Fry this for 3-4 min.
4.Drain the water from the rice and add it to the pan. Add 2.5 cups water. Adjust water according to your rice. Add salt and garam masala and mix it well.
5.Close the pan and keep the stove in medium heat.
6.Check after 15 min to see if the rice has cooked. You can add water if the rice is not cooked yet.
7.Garnish with coriander

Serve it with raita or any spicy side dish.

This dish is going to the wonderful event My Legume Love Affair hosted by Siri and started by Susan
I am also sending this to Priya's Easy N Tasty - Let's sprout event.
Also sending this to one of my favorite event Tried and Tested hosted by Priya and started by Delights of Cooking