After school snack-Simple Tomato Pasta with Milk

This quick after school snack is sure to win many kids. A quick pasta with a glass of milk.
You need...
Pasta -250gms
Tomato sauce- 1tbspoon
Tomato-2 grind to fine paste or you can use tomato paste
pinch of salt and pepper
Grated cheese for garnishing
Cook pasta according to instructions on the packet until soft. Drain and while its warm mix with tomato puree and tomato sauce. Scoop into a serving plate and garnish with salt and pepper and finally with grated cheese. Sure to win a hungry tummy with a glass of milk.
Another look ...

Sprouted Moongdal & Rainbow Salad

I started preparing salad using cucumber, tomato and onion for pulav etc., Eventually I started experimenting by adding one by one other fresh veggies like corn, carrot etc., Finally this particular salad become one of my hits amongst family and friends, plus in my dinner parties. Corn is missing in my salad today, since i run out of corn cobs.
We need...

1 carrot

1 cucumber

1 tomato

1/2 cup sprouted moongdal

1 green granny smith apple

1/2 cup corn kernels

Pinch of salt and pepper.

1tsp lemon juice

1tbsp finely chopped walnuts.

Method:

Dice carrot, cucumber, tomato and granny smith apple. Mix with corn kernels and sprouted moongdal. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Add lemon juice and mix well. Just before serving add finely chopped walnuts. Serve as side dish with lemon rice, pulikaachhal sadam, Ghee rice, saffron rice, veg pulav etc.,

Breakfast-American waffles

This is another breakfast which my kids enjoy. There is nothing complicated about this one. But the mix and match is what they like in this. Sometimes I present this as it is, some times i cut slices of banana and decorate on waffles. Either way this is another hit in my house, so i am sticking to it.

On the plate ........

Hardboiled egg - boiled for 15 mintues

Cornflakes and oats with dried fruits with milk ofcourse.

American waffles toasted with little butter.

Semiyaa Upma & Groundnut chutney

This dish was my first trial dish when I suddenly decided to learn cooking when I was 16 years old. I asked for recipe from my mum and she gave it to me without realising that someday I am going to spoil her kitchen and her cooking pan. Luckily I got the opportunity during my summer school holidays when my mum went to see her sister that afternoon for a chat. I ran to grab my best friend and schoolmate(she lives only couple of streets from where i live) and started my experiment. Not to mention that i burnt the Vessel so much so that my mum could never use that again. But the tricky part which shocked both of us was, after tadka, when we added water in the oil for boiling. we were shocked to see mild flame just above the vessel. Later my sister told me that, I must reduce the flame either to lowest or turn the stove off before pouring water in tadka. The recipe goes like this...
2 cups Semiyaa(Thin noodles)- You can buy this in any indian shop.

1 cup rava(semolina)

1tbsp ghee

1spoon mustard seeds

1red chilli, 1 green chilli

few curry leaves

1sppon Channadal

1spoon udid dal

Hing, salt.

4 cups water

1 cup mixed vegetables(carrot, peas, potato, corn)-optional- Microwave or boil for couple of mintues.

Method:

First fry semiyaa and rava with ghee until the raw smell goes.

In a pan add bit of oil and add mustard seeds, red chilli, green chilli, curryleaves, channadal, udiddal, and hing. Keep strring until the mustard seeds starts splutter and other ingredients turns to golden brown. At this stage you need to pour water slowly either by turning the burner off or in low flame. Add veggies and salt. Cover and let it boil in high flame until you see the bubbles start coming. Turn flame to low again, and slowly pour roasted semiyaa and rava. Start mixing without forming any lumps. Let it cook covered for another 5 minutes before turning off. That's it Upma ready. This is an excellent combination when you are in a hurry and healthy too.

Groundnut chutney:

1 cup roasted groundnuts

4 or 5 red chillies

1 garlic

salt

Mix and grind together the above ingredients to a fine paste. Temper with mustard seeds, curryleaves and finely chopped and fried onion(optional).

Kathrikkai Thair Pachhadi(Eggplant with Yoghurt)

When I saw Sangeetha's choice for this month's JFI-Event as "Eggplant", I went vow.. i must participate. But lazy me.. eventhough I get to make many dishes with Eggplant during the past month never had time to take a picture. So Yesterday as part of our sunday special lunch I decieded to include "Kathrikkai Thair Pachhadi" to participate in JFI event. Right... as far as recipe goes this is one of my mum's recipies. My mum serves Kathrikkai Thair Pachhadi along with lemon rice.
What you need:

2 eggplants - roasted on direct flame. Peel and mash with fork.

1 cup fresh natural yoghurt

4 or 5 Sundried pickled green chilli(MoRu Milaghai)-My mums usually prepares this in summer by soaking in Youghurt and drying in sun for 10 to 15 days. You can buy in most indian shops aswell. I will post recipe for this soon.

1/2 tsp salt

1tbsp oil

Mustard seeds, curryleaves for Tadka.

Method:

Mix roasted and mashed eggplant and youghurt in a bowl along with salt and keep aside for few minutes. In a pan pour 1 tbsp oil, when hot add mustard seeds, when it starts to splutter, add curry leaves and Sundried pickled green chillies. Keep tadka in low flame until the sundried pickled green chillies turn its colour from light brown to dark brown or black. Remove from the flame and add it to the above eggplant and youghurt mix. Add salt, mix well and serve with Lemon rice or you can use this as 'dip' for pakodas, bhajias etc.,

Pesarattu(Green Moongdal dosai)

When I was working in Andhra, I had to travel to work for nearly an hour and half to reach workplace. So I leave home at around 6:30am after drinking my mum's fresh filtered coffee to catch bus. We have canteen run in our office premises. In that canteen they prepare this "Pesarattu" which is usually served with coconut chutney and sambhar. But somedays they make it with tomato chutney. Whenever they announce "pesarattu" day in their menu, I make sure I reserve a table for me and grab few of my colleagues and spend our morning tea break enjoying this special "pesarattu" with another cup of coffee. Oh!! those days!!! I requested my colleague to find out recipe from the canteen cook and this is what he gave me, which i still follow.
3cups green moongdal
1cup raw rice
1tbsp corn flour
2 green chillies salt
For filling
1cup grated carrot
1cup finely cut red onion
2green chillies fine sliced
Method: Soak green moongdal and rice overnight and grind them finely along with green chilli to dosai consistency. Add salt, let it ferment for overnight. Just before preparing "pesarattu" mix with cornflour and prepare "pesarattu" using hot nonstick pan. Serve with Tomato chutney

Our Sunday Special lunch#2

Our sunday special lunch for this week is mix and match from few fellow bloggers recipes and my friend's Special sago and beetroot payasam. List goes....
Maanga Saadam(Mango Rice),
Podalangaai Koottu(SnakeGourd Koottu),
Cucumber thair Pachhadi(Cucumber Raita),
Onion Vadagam,
Sago and beetroot payasam.Maanga Saadam:
2 cups Rice,
2 Green Mangoes,
1/2 cup fresh grated coconut,
1/2 cup curryleaves,
2green chillies,
4 red chillies,
coriander powder-1tbs,
Hing, Turmeric, salt-as required
Mustard seeds for tadka

Method:

Cook Rice, spread in a wide basin mix with 1 tbsp olive oil plus turmeric. keep aside.

Roast some peanuts and remove its skin and keep aside.

In a pan dry fry all the above ingredients except green mango and coconut. Grind them to a fine paste, add mango and coconut grind again. In a separate pan add a little bit of peanut oil, add mustard seeds and the above mango mix, turnoff the stove and let it cook in that heat for couple of minutes. Evenly mix this paste with the above cooked rice add some salt and roasted peanuts in between mixing. Maanga sadam is ready.

SnakeGourd Koottu

2 cups finely cut snakegourd

1 cup toordal boiled

Grind 1/2 cup coconut, few green chillis, 1tbsp jeera, 1tbsp dry roasted urad dal into fine paste adding a bit of water. keep it aside. In a vessel add cut snakegourd pieces cook with little bit of salt and turmeric until they are tender. Add cooked toordal and ground paste at the same time and cook for another few minutes until the koottu thickens. Finally temper with mustard seeds and curry leaves.

Beetroot and Sago Payasam

Beetroot 1/2 cup -boiled

Sago 1 cup - soaked 2 hours and boiled with little water until tender.

1tbsp coconut

1tbsp ghee

1 cup brown sugar

Milk 2 cups

Cardamom, cashew nuts as required

Grind coconut and beetroot together with little water.

In a Vessel melt brown sugar and ghee, when melted, add ground coconut and beetroot. After couple of minutes add boiled sago and milk. Let it boil for few minutes until sago becomes like pearl. Add cardamom powder and turn heat off. Add fried cashews. Pour this into serving dishes and keep it in the fridge to become firm. Just before serving either add a scoop of vanilla ice cream in summer or finely cut fruit salad during winter.

Breakfast Blast-Quick and easy

My son who loves fresh hot breakfast every morning. I belive in " healthy start of a day leads to healthy life all along". So I make sure I prepare a good breakfast for my kids every morning. Trupti from The Spice Who Loved me... also a part of reason for this posting. This dish is my entry for Trupti's web event WBB12.

On the plate, there is Slice Chilli Pineapple, Fresh squeezed Orange Juice, Fresh veges on garlic Bread.

Sliced chilli Pineapple:

3 slices of canned slice pineapple

A pinch of salt and pinch of chillipowder

Mehtod: Arrange pineaplle in a plate and using the salt and chilli shaker shake a little on the pineapple pieces.

Veges on garlic Bread

1 tomato Diced.

1/2 cup corn

1/2 avacado diced

1/2 carrot grated or diced

Method:First grill or toast garlic bread under grill for couple of minutes. Take it out from the grill and spread the veges evenly and pop back under grill for another two minutes. If you are making this for after school snack or for lunch try adding some grated cheese on it. It really is yummy! and kids eat this like pizza. Keep an eye so not to burn the veges. Of course while this is happening you can squeeze couple of fresh oranges. Breakfast is ready!!

Thakkaali Oorugaai -Tomato Pickle

Karthi from kitchenmate, and Saffron from Saffron Hut inspired me to do this beautiful Thakkaali Oorugaai/Tomato pickle. My husband bought a bag of tomatoes in the market on saturday and I was wondering what am I going to do with these tomatoes. Then I realised looking at this beautiful pickle in one of the blogs I visited a while ago. I followed their Ingredients and method and just added little bit of my magic to create this one. Here you go..

1kg Tomato

4tbs Raw chilli powder

1tsp sugar

salt, Hing and oil

Method: In a big vessel add oil and when hot add some mustard seeds and curry leaves and add bit of hing. After few seconds add Pureed tomato( I peeled Tomatoes by immersing them in hot water and then in cold water for few minutes and pureed tomatoes in food processer), salt and let it simmer for nearly an hour mixing now and then. At the end add chillipowder and let it simmer for another 10 minutes or until the mixture starts to leave the pan. Let it cool and store it in jar or bottle. You can keep this in fridge for couple of weeks.

Tip: when serving always use a dry spoon.

Our Sunday Special lunch

Every Sunday i try to prepare something special for my family as i feel after a long working week we all deserve tobe treated ourselves with a special food. After lunch we normally take a small stroll either to shopping or sometimes to swimming pool or if it is bright sunny afternoon to a nearby park and let kids play and we sit down and watch them while chitchatting. Last week i have prepared Methi Pulav with Carrot Thair Pachhadi and Tindora Fry with some Rice Pappadams. Of course, i did'nt ignore our sweet tooth and prepared some Carrot Halwa.
Recipes for CarrotHalwa and Tindora Fry will follow soon... for now here is my recipe for Methi Pulav and Carrot Thair Pachhadi. This is very very simple and quick meal.

Methi Pulav
1 cup Methi leaves
2 cups rice( I use andhra Sona Masuri rice)

1 green chilli

1/2 cup Green Peas Frozen can be used

1 pod garlic(optional)

Method: In a Pan add 1 tb spoon ghee when its hot add chopped green chillis and garlic pod, fry for a few seconds, add Methi leaves fry for another minute or so, and then add washed rice to this mixture add some salt and mix well for couple of minutes until the rice is well coated with methi and green chilli masala. Transfer this to rice cooker add enough water and cook it.

While this pulav is cooking prepare for Carrot Thair Pachhadi. You need a cup of grated carrot and a cup of Yoghurt, one chopped green chilli. Mix all these three together add bit of salt and tamper with mustard and curry leaves. That's it Methi Pulav and Carrot Thair Pachhadi ready.

ChatMasalaPuri

In Bangalore, the site of these chat corners used to be a favourite stop for me after work and during weekends with family on our way back to temple. Masala puri is one dish which still makes my mouthwater. After coming to sydney I craved for this dish. Which, somehow inspired me to regenerated this recipe with the ingredients available and according to my taste. Since then, this is one of the regular dish atleast once a month in our home. Eventhough it takes some time to prepare, its well worth the effort with a cup of coffee and favourite book for a good weekend relax. Here it is... and dont forget to post your comments...
What we need....

1. Masala puffed rice

2. Green and spicy chutney

3. Dry green peas masala kurma

4. Omapodi/Karasev- 1/2 cup
5. 1 - small red onion
6. 1 small boiled potato mashed

7. Roasted peanuts

8. Roasted channal dal/ Pottu kadalai

Recipe for Masala Puffed Rice

Puffrice -1 cup

1tsp chillipowder

1tsp turmeric

1tsp oil

1tsp crushed garlic

few curry leaves

Method: In a big vessle add oil, when heated add crushed garlic, turmeric, chilli poweder, curryleaves and saute them until a good aroma fills your kitchen turn stove off while the vessel is hot add plain puffed rice and mix well until the the masal coats puffed rice. Add some Keep this aside.

Recipe for Green spicy chutney

4 seedless dates-soaked for 1/2 hour

2 green chillies

tamarind pulp 1 tbsp

pudina/mint-1cup

coriander leaves-1 cup

cumin seeds-1tsp

few curry leaves

Mix all the above ingredients and grind them finely into a food processer or coffee grinder.

Recipe for Dry Green Peas Masala

Soak Dry green peas overnight and cook them well with low heat for an hour. In a vessel add bit of oil and 1tsp chillipowder, 1 tsp curhed garlic and ginger when brown add cooked peas and add some salt and let it simmer for another 1/2 hour. when finished add finely chopped and coriander leaves and bit of lemon juice.

Recipe for karasev/omapodi

1cup rice flour

1/2cup basin flour

2tbsp omam/Ajwain (soaked for half an hour in a cup of water)

1tsp chilli powder/1 tsp salt

Mix all the above ingredients with Soaked Ajwain water. Mix to a consistency of thick dosa batter. Pour the batter in the Seva presser or Murukku press straignt into hot oil and deep fry them until brown.

How To Serve
First scoop a laddle full of peas kurma to a plate. on top of it add Masala puffed rice. Roasted Peanuts goes next. Red onions goes next. To this add some mashed potatoes. To this mixture add some Karasev and finally the green chutney. Serve with a squeeze of lemon juice. Enjoy the homemade MasalaPuriChat....

Jackfruity chips - My entry to Jugalbandi's JFI event.

When Jai and Bee of Jugalbandee announced the ingredient for this months "JFI" as "jackfruit" I felt a sweet craving for this furit and decided to participate in this months event. But later on whenever I planned to cook a dish with jackfruit, other than spicy curry nothing came to my mind. Finally yesterday when I went to supermarket I spotted this beautiful "jackfruit chips" in asian market and decided to use this as my entry. This is my first entry to JFI as well as my beginning to blog world, eventhough I have been regular visitor to all your blogs as a silent admirer.