Moong dal laddu / Moong dal sweet balls

Healthy recipe, suitable for kids.

Ingredients:

1. Moong dal - 1 cup
2. Roasted bengal gram  / dariya dal - 1/4 cup
3. Ghee - 1/4 cup
4. Boiled milk - 6 tbs
5. Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup (adjust according to ur taste. this measurement is medium sweet)
6. Cardomom powder - a pinch

Method:

• Dry roast moong dal in a clean pan. Once it cools down grind moong dal & roasted bengal gram into fine powder seperately. Seive them thoroughly and mix together. Keep this mix aside.
• Heat the ghee in a small pan, sprinkle the cardomom powder and switch off the stove immediately. Wait till the ghee cools down to medium heat.
• Take a big bowl - add dal powders, powdered sugar, pour the ghee and mix thoroughly. Quickly make small balls out of this mixture before the ghee completely cools down. If u cant do this, sprinkle the hot boiled milk and make the laddus.

Mirchi Bajji / long bell pepper fritters / மிளகாய் பஜ்ஜி

 

Simple spicy winter comfort food. I wont forget to pack this whenever we go for swimming / beach.

 

Ingredients:

1. Mirchi  / long bell pepper - 10 nos
2. Gram flour / Besan flour / Chickpea flour - 1 cup
3. Rice flour - 6 tbs (optional) Rice flour gives a crispy coating
4. Chilli powder - 2 tbs
5. Food color (orange) - 1/2 tbs (optional)
6. Hing /Asafoetida & baking powder - 2 pinch each
7. Salt to taste
8. Cooking oil for deep frying

 Method: 

• Wash the bell peppers & cut them lengthwise into 2 equal halfs. Remove the seeds and keep it aside. If u r planning to taste the seeds too (it will be spicy), dont remove the stem portion and make few small slits with a sharp knife on every bell pepper. Otherwise mirchi ll pop while frying.
• Prepare a smooth batter with ingredients 2 to 7 by slowly adding water.
• Heat oil in a pan for deep frying.
• Dip the bell peppers one by one into the batter and gently drop from the sides of the pan for deep frying. Cook in medium flame, else the fritters ll get darken quick and the stuff inside may not be cooked. Once the bajji turns golden brown, serve hot with tomato ketch-up / fresh coconut chutney.

Modhakam - Ganesha chadhurthi special

Ganesha chadhurthi - Birthday of Lord Vinayaka.

Modhakam - Considered to be the favourite dish of Lord Ganesha. Hope kids will like this dish very much...

Ingredients:

1. Rice flour - 1 cup

2. Channa dal / Kadala paruppu - 1/2 cup

3. Finely chopped fresh coconut - 1/2 cup

4. Grated Jaggery - 1/2 cup

5. Ghee - 1/2 tbs

6. Salt - as required

7. Cardomom powder - pinch

Method:

1. Wash & soak the channa dal in water for 30 mins and half cook it in 1 cup of water. Drain water completely & Use this drained water for making the dough later. Grind the half cooked channa with a pinch of cardamom powder & keep this aside.

2. Heat 1/2 tbs ghee in a pan and saute the chopped coconut in it.

3. Now add all the ingredients together and make a soft dough out of it. Use the water drained from channa for making the dough.

4. Make small balls from the dough and cook in steam (idly maker) for 10 mins. Serve hot.

Rava paniyaram / Semolina deep fried sweet bread

Its Gokulastami today - Birthday of lord krishna.

This is a sweet recipe. Maximum cooking time is 30 mins. Can be served as a snack. I used to prepare this recipe for Gokulastami.

Ingredients:

1. Semolina / Rava - 1 cup

2. Maida / All purpose flour - 1/2 cup

3. Baking soda - pinch

4. Jaggery - 3/4 cup (can use powdered sugar also)

5. Cardamom powder - pinch

6. Oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Soak all the ingredients with 1 cup water for 20 mins (there should be no excess water after soaking).

2. Beat well the soaked ingredients into a thick batter shown below.

3. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying. Scoop up the batter and pour into the oil one by one. Fry till all sides are golden brown. Serve hot :P

Rava kesari / Suji halwa

Kesari - tooks place in almost all the indian festivals. Easy to prepare indian sweet.

Click here for the recipe. Just replace vermicelli by semolina / rava. Others measurements and procedure are same.

Ribbon pakoda

South indian snack recipe in the shape of ribbon. Crispy and medium spicy. This dish very famous in my hometown karaikudi. Quick and easy to prepare.

Ingredients:

1. Rice flour - 1 cup
2. Kadalai mavu / Gram flour / Besan flour - 1/2 cup
3. Perungayam / Hing /Asafoetida - 2 pinch
4. Butter - 1/2 tbs
5. Red chilli powder - 1 1/2 tbs (adjust as per ur choice)
6. Salt to taste
7. Cooking oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Add all the ingredients together except oil and make a soft dough out of it by sprinkling water.
2. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying. Take a small ball of dough and sqeeze it using a idiyappam press (use ribbon pakoda mould instead of idiyappam mould) into the oil for deep frying. Flip and cook the pokada for 2 mins on each side (the cooking time is totally 4 mins only). Remove from oil and store on a tissue paper to remove excess oil sticking to it.
3. Complete the remaining dough in the same way in batches.
Serve hot.

Bread vadai / Spicy bread fry

What to do with excess leftover bread ??? Here comes a delicious masal vadai recipe.
An indian recipe using excess bread.

Ingredients:

1. Bread slices
2. Splited chick peas - roughly 1 handful (for 1 loaf of bread 2 handful of splited peas)
3. Big brown onion - 1 finely chopped
4. Green chilli - 4 nos (finely chopped)
5. Cumin seeds / Jeera - 1 tbs
6. Curry leaves - 5 nos finely chopped
7. Hot water - 3 cups
8. Salt to taste
9. Oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Soak the spilted peas in water for 45 mins.
2. Dip a bread slice into the hot water for 2 seconds (should not be more than 2 seconds) and slightly wring it, keep it aside. Similarly dip & wring all the bread slices.
3. Drain water completely from soaked splited peas and coarsely grind in a blender / mixie. Add it to the wringed bread slices.
4. Add all the remaining ingredients to the bread and mix well. Make into a soft dough.
5. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying. Make small balls out of the bread dough, flatten it and frying it. Flip the vadai till it is coated with a brown color in all the sides.
6. Store the fried vadai on a tissue paper to remove excess oil and serve hot with ketchup or chutney.

Crispy ulundu vadai / Urad daal vada / Crispy indian donuts

Vadai is a most popular & healthy snack recipe of south india. Usually served with breakfast (Idli / pongal / Dosa). Coconut chutney or sambhar could be a prefect combination for this recipe. Can be served with yogurt and spices, then it is called dahi vada. Perfect winter comfort food and simple to prepare.

Ingredients:

1. Ulundhu / Urad daal (whole white lentil) - 1 cup

2. Big brown onion - 3/4 finely chopped

3. Green chili - 3 nos finely chopped

4. Cilantro / coriander leaves - 1/2 handful finely chopped

5. Asafeotida / hing - pinch

6. Salt to taste

7. Curry leaves - 6 nos finely chopped

Method:

1. Wash and soak the urad daal for 3 hours (1 - 1 1/2 hours is also enough). Wash the soaked urad daal and strain water completely. Grind the urad daal with salt & hing into a tight batter. Add 2 tbs of water for ease of grinding. Do not add water more than that.

2. To the batter add onion, green chili, cilantro and mix well.

3. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying. Drop small balls of batter into the oil. Stir with a slotted laddle so that the batter ball will be coated with golden brown color in all the sides. Intially while dropping the ball the oil bubbles, cook till it settles. Once the bubble settles, take out the vada with a slotted laddle. Store the vada on a tissue paper for few seconds to strain the oil. Serve hot with chutney or ketch up or sambhar.

Tip:- Make the batter into donut shapes instead of balls. That is the traditional way. I am bit lazy... so made into balls... :P

Paal kolukattai / Traditional steamed rice balls in coconut milk

Kolukattai is a traditional indian recipe and it is believed that lord Ganesha loves this dish. Usually rice balls will be stuffed with jaggery coconut mix, but this variety of kolukattai is more popular in chettinad (south india). Simple to prepare and more apt & healthy dish for kids.

Ingredients:

-for dough

1. Rice flour - 1 cup
2. Salt - a pinch
3. Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
4. Crushed cardamom - 2 nos

- to cook

1. Coconut milk - 1/2 cup
2. Luke warm water - 2 1/2 cups
3. Milk - 1/2 cup
4. Powdered sugar - 3 tbs

Method

1. Mix everything mentioned below for dough with half cup of luke warm water and make a soft dough. Make small balls out of this dough and keep aside.
2. Boil the remaining water in a pan and drop the rice balls. Cook in medium flame. Cook till the outer layer of rice balls are trasparent (1st pic in 2nd row). This takes 4 mins.
3. Mix 1/2 cup coconut milk + 1/2 cup milk + 1/2 cup water which is used for steaming rice balls together and bring them to boil. Drop the cooked rice balls from step 2 to this boiled mixture and add sugar immediately. Cook this mixture for 2 mins in medium flame and remove from fire. Serve hot.

Cabbage pakora / Indian vegetable crisp

Cabbage Pakora / Indian vegatable crisp is deep fried vegetables dipped in gram flour. Most versatile snack recipe of india, can be combined with anything meat or vegetable. Can be served as an appetizer also.
A perfect winter comfort food. Mmmm its very cold outside naa... Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1. Gram flour / Besan flour / Chickpea flour - 1 cup or 250 grams
2. Red chili powder - 1/2 tbs
3. Salt to taste (or 3 pinch)
4. Hing / asafoetida - pinch
5. Cilantro / coriander leaves - 1/2 handful (washed and chopped)
6. Big brown onion - 1 roughly chopped
7. Cabbage - 1/4 roughly chopped (choose ur choice of vegetables mushroom, cauliflower, spinach, chicken, paneer etc.,)
8. Green chili - 2 nos chopped (optional)
9. Cooking oil for deep frying

Method (cooking time is hardly 30 mins)

1. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying.
2. In a big vessel mix all the ingredients by sprinkling water slowly. The batter should be very tight. The batter need not cover the vegetables, sticking around the vegetables is enough. 3. Sprinkle the mixture into the oil from a little height. The oil bubbles initially, wait till it settles. Flip with a slotted ladle and wait till the bubbling settles. Strain the oil and remove from fire. Store the pakora on a tissue paper and serve hot.

Aval kara pori / Mirchi poha / Spicy rice flakes

Aval kara pori / Spicy rice flakes is a crunchy, yummy snack variety like popcorn. I learnt this recipe from friend of mine, she used to prepare this for long travels. Thanks to my friend.
Cooking time is very less and i can say its a best party mix.
Usually i prepare this dish once a week in bulk and store it in an air tight container.

Ingredients:

-to cook
1. Aval / Poha / rice flakes - 2 cups
2. Sev / Oma podi / Chickpea flour twigs (available in indian grocery stores) - 1 cup
3. Pori / Mamra / puffed rice - 1 cup
Based on the requirement take the above ingredients in 2:1:1 ratio (Aval:Sev:Pori)

-to saute
1. Cooking oil - 2 tbs
2. Green chili - 4 nos (washed and finely chopped)
3. Aldi / Turmeric powder - pinch
4. Salt - 2 pinch

Method

1. Heat 2 tbs oil in a pan and add chopped green chili, turmeric powder. Once chili started splattering add 2 cups of Aval / Poha / Rice flakes and saute till it becomes cruchy. Hardy this takes 4 mins. Remove from fire and put it in a container.
2. Heat the same pan and add Sev / Oma podi / Chickpea flour twigs and Pori / Mamra / puffed rice together and stir continously till they become crunchy. This takes 2 mins. Remove from fire and mix it with Poha prepared in the previous step. Sprinkle the salt while mixing. Thats it!!!

Beetroot cutlet

Beetroot is a bit difficult vegetable for me. I tried doing usili , sambhar and poriyal recipes with this. But nothing satisfied my taste buds. As a result, few beet roots were sleeping in my fridge for more than 2 weeks. Finally my hubby gave this idea and it worked out well. Now-a-days i am not afraid of buying this vegetable.

This dish recipe can be kept in fridge for about 2 days. In that case, heat for 30 sec in microwave before serving.

Ingredients:

-to cook

1. Betroot - 3 nos - peal the skin and grate using a grater thru thin slots.

2. Carrot - 1 no - similar to beet peal the skin and grate

3. Frozen peas - 1/2 cup (washed)

4. Big brown onion - 1 (finely chopped)

5. Garlic - 2 cloves (grate similar to beetroot)

6. Ginger - 1 small piece (grate similar to beetroot)

7. Saunf / sombu - 1 tbs

8. Jeera / cumin seeds - 1 tbs

9. Garam masala - 2 tbs

10. Cilantro - 1/2 handful - finely chopped

11. Salt to taste

12. Cooking oil - 5 tbs

-to coat

Crumbled rusk - 3/4 cup if it is not available u can use Rava / Semolina - 3/4 cup

Heat a pan and roast the Rava in 1/2 tbs of ghee

Method

1. Heat 3 tbs of oil in a pan and add jeera and saunf. Once it is splattered add chopped onion & cook till its transparent. Then add grated ginger and garlic. After 2 mins add garam masala and cilantro, cook this for 2 mins.

2. Add the grated beet, carrot + peas and mix well. The masala should blend with the vegetables. Add 1 cup of water and enough salt. Cook the mixture in medium flame till carrot and beetroot gets smashed. Stir the mixture consiously. The cooked vegetable comes like a dough. Remove from fire and allow it to cool.

3. Take the vegetable dough balls in ur palm and flatten it (like vada). Dip it in the rava or rusk powder. The particles should stick to all the sides of the cutlet.

4. Heat a pan and fry the cutlets by sprinkling oil drops. Flip the cutlet and fry so that the other side too gets cooked.Romove from pan serve hot with tomato / chili / tamarind sauces.

5. Arrange the excess cutlets in a box and keep it in fridge.