Badam Elaichi Milkshake

Another long weekend is coming and we have planned a trip this time. We are all excited and eagerly waiting for the Friday evening. We have gone for many one day trips with my little one, but this is his first long trip in US. Hope he enjoys the journey. So I will be away for just a few days and might miss your wonderful recipes. But I will try to be back to blogging as soon as I get settled at home after the journey :). Wishing all my US buddies a very happy long weekend !!

Meanwhile, enjoy a healthy milkshake with almonds and a pleasant cardamom flavour. This is great for kids who are lazy to drink the plain milk. With the goodness of cardamom and almonds, this sure makes a lovely, refreshing and healthy drink.

What you need?

2-3 tbsp Badam or Almonds ( I had some peeled and sliced almonds with me)

1/2 tsp Cardamom powder

2 cups Milk

Sugar/Honey to taste

How to prepare?

Take a little milk and soak the almonds in it for about 30-45 minutes.In  a blender , add the soaked almonds and make a smooth paste. Now add the rest of the milk and cardamom powder. Blend well. Add sugar or honey according to your taste. Serve it chilled.

Enjoy the refreshing and healthy drink!!

Serves 2

Notes:

* Increase the quantity of almonds for thicker consistency.

* If you like strong flavour of cardamom, do add more.

Since Milk and Almonds are a good source of protein, I am sending this to the COOK IT HEALTHY-PROTEINicious event happening here.

Finally, my friends..........please don't forget to send your wonderful proteinicious recipes to my event :)

Okra Masala/Bhindi Masala

Bhindi or Okra might be a favourite veggie  for most of us. I usually prepare a simple okra fry to have with rice. But recently I started preparing a spicy okra masala which is very delicious. This goes well with roti and rice.My husband liked it a lot. I have been preparing this frequently for past few days and thought I will share with you all too. Here goes the recipe for a simple, delicious and spicy bhindi masala....

What you need?

15-20 small size Okra

1/2 cup chopped Onion

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

1 tsp Ginger-Garlic paste

1 tsp Oil

For Masala:

1/2 tsp Chilli powder

1/2 tsp Garam Masala

1/2 tsp Coriander powder

1/2 tsp Fennel seeds powder (dry roasted and powdered)

1/4 tsp Chat Masala

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

Salt

How to prepare?

Cut the head and tail of each okra. Then cut each okra into 2. You can use the whole okra also.

Add the ingredients under For Masala in a bowl. Make a smooth thick paste by adding very little water. Add the paste to the okra and mix well so that each okra piece gets coated well. Keep aside for 15-20 minutes.

Heat oil in a pan. Splutter cumin seeds. Add ginger-garlic paste and onions. Saute until the onions turn pink. Add the okra, sprinkle a little water, cover and cook on a low flame until bhindi is well cooked. Stir gently in between or give a toss. Once okra is cooked, remove the lid and stir fry on a medium flame for a few minutes. Serve hot with rice or roti.

Serves 2-3

Notes:

*If you feel okra will be too sticky, use the whole okra rather than cutting it.

*Add a little pepper too if you want it really hot.

Gobi Palak Pudina Sabzi (Cauliflower Spinach n Mint sidedish)

Hello friends....I would like to give some update on the event happening here-
COOK IT HEALTHY: PROTEINicious. I am so happy to tell you that I have got so many lovely entries for the event. I was  actually a bit anxious since it's my first event and never thought that the response will be so good. :) Thank you friends, I thank all those who showed their support to my event !! So friends, please keep sending your lovely recipes for this event. I would like to remind again few things:

*Send in recipes which has atleast a main ingredient high in Protein.
*It would be great if you specify in the post which ingredient is rich in protein.
*Last date is July 20th.
*Vegetarian and Non Vegetarian recipes are allowed.
*Multiple entries are allowed.
Some of the high Protein foods are lentils, beans, sprouts, eggs, chicken, sea food, nuts, paneer, cheese,yoghurt, soya, tofu etc.

Now coming to the recipe: Gobi Palak Pudina Sabzi 

As the name suggests, its a lovely combination of Spinach, Mint and Cauliflower. The recipe is a quick and simple one. Its a healthy dish with a nice flavour of mint. Spinach is high in iron and calcium. Mint is a wonderful herb which aids in digestion. Cauliflower is also rich in dietary fibre and Vitamin C. So its sure a great combo rt? Hope you will enjoy this healthy sidedish.

What you need?

a small bunch of Spinach, chopped

1.5 cup Cauliflower florets, chopped

a handful of Mint leaves chopped

1/2 cup Onion chopped

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

2 Garlic cloves chopped

1 tsp Chilli powder

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

1/2 tsp Garam masala

1 tsp Oil

Salt

How to prepare?

Heat oil in a pan. Splutter cumin seeds. Add the garlic and saute until they turn brown. Add the onions and saute till they become transparent. Now add mint leaves and saute for a minute. Then add the spinach and mix until they shrink completely. Now add the cauliflower.Add salt and spices. Mix well. Add a little water ( less than 1/4 cup) ,cover and cook. Stir in between.When the cauliflower is almost cooked, remove the lid.Cook until all the water is dried up. Serve hot with rice or roti.

Serves 2-3

Sending this to the Dish it Out - Spinach and Garlic event at Vardhinis Kitchen, an event started by Vardhini.

Apple Payasam/Apple Kheer

I had never tried out a payasam with a fruit. Few days back, I made the apple payasam by using chopped apples and without making a puree. So the consistency didn't turn out thick. Then I realized that I can make a puree of  the apples and get a payasam like consistency. I tried this method and it turned out great. Its a simple recipe and you can utilize the left over apples this way. Enjoy this delicious payasam.

Check out my other payasam recipes:
4 minutes Oats payasam, Cracked Wheat payasam

What you need?

2 Apples

1/2 cup Coconut milk

3/4 cup Jaggery

1/4 tsp Cardamom powder

1 tbsp chopped Dates
1/2 tbsp sweetened Cranberries

Ghee

Water

How to prepare?

Peel the skin of the apples. Chop them into small cubes. In a pan, add about 1/2 cup water and the chopped apples. When the water boils, reduce the flame,  cover and cook the apples. Stir in between. This may take a few minutes. Apples will become soft once cooked. Keep aside the cooked apple and let it cool. Once cooled, put them in a blender and make a puree of it. 

Put the apple puree and coconut milk in a pan. Add water if necessary to get the consistency you desire. Cook on a medium flame. When it starts to boil, add the jaggery and it will melt soon. Now add the cardamom powder and sprinkle some ghee if you desire. Mix well and the apple pudding is ready. Garnish with dates and cranberries.Serve warm or chilled.

Serves 2-3

Notes:
*Add some chopped apples in the end to get a crunchy effect.
*You can garnish with cashews and raisins.

Thanks a lot Priya Sreeram @ Bon Appetit  for sending across the participation award for the Fast Food, Not Fat Food event.

Quick Fruits n Biscuit Pudding (Kids special)

This is a recipe from a cookery show once I saw in the television. Its the easiest and simplest pudding I have ever made. This pudding will be ready in a few minutes. I had bought a packet of Teddy Graham biscuits for my son. He liked and had it for few days and then stopped eating it suddenly. The likes and dislikes change quickly among these little naughty cuties rt. :). I was wondering what to do with the leftover biscuits and then thought about this recipe. You can use any biscuit or cookies..if its chocolate, then kids will love this pudding for sure. The fruits in the pudding makes it colourful and tasty. My husband too liked it :). Do try this super quick pudding, your kid is gonna love it :)

What you need?

1 Apple chopped

1/4 cup chopped Dates 

1/4 cup chopped Cherry 

1 tbsp Honey

Biscuits (I took about 1/2  packet)

1/4 -1/2 cup Milk 

1 tbsp Butter (optional)

How to prepare?

The method is very simple. Take all the chopped fruits in a bowl. Add honey to this and mix well.

In another bowl, crumble all the biscuits with the hand or powder it. Add butter if you are using it. Mix the biscuit powder and butter. Add milk slowly to this and mix well to get a smooth paste, not very runny though. It should have a custard like consistency. Add more milk if required. Now pour this mixture to the fruits and mix well. That's it...Your pudding is ready in few minutes.

I added some Oreo biscuits which I broke into pieces, so that kids can bite them too in the pudding. :) 

Serve immediately or chilled. 

Notes:

* Add some nuts and raisins if you desire.

* Use any fruit which your kid likes.

* Use any biscuit/cookie which is preferred by your kid.

Cracked Wheat Upma

Upma is always a simple breakfast, easy to prepare and a comforting food. There are so many varieties of Upma. We, south indians can make Upma out of anything I guess :). I tried this simple Cracked wheat upma for breakfast today. I prepared it for the first time and did similarly like the sooji or oats upma. It came out good and now this will be a frequent breakfast for us :).

Check out my other upma recipes: 

Pasta Upma, Oats Upma, Vermicelli Upma, Poha Upma

What you need?

1 cup Cracked Wheat

1/2 of an Onion chopped

1/2 cup Vegetables of your choice (I used carrots, corn, peas n beans)

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

1/2" pc Ginger finely chopped

2 Green chillies chopped

3-4 Curry leaves chopped

2 cups Water

1 tsp Oil

Salt

How to prepare?

Dry roast the cracked wheat for a few minutes until the colour changes to slight brown and a nice aroma comes. Keep aside the roasted cracked wheat.

Heat oil in the same pan. Splutter mustard and cumin seeds. Add curry leaves, ginger and green chillies. Saute for a minute. Add onions and saute until they turn pink.Now add the veggies and cook them. Once veggies are also cooked, pour the water into the pan and add salt. When water starts boiling, reduce the flame. Now slowly add the cracked wheat and keep on stirring while you add. Cover and cook until the water dries up and the wheat is cooked completely. Serve hot with sambhar or chutney.

Notes:

*If you want the wheat to be very soft and a little mushy, add a little more than 2 cups water.

*You can use the fine wheat variety too.

*Garnish with some coconut or coriander leaves.

*You can also add some peanuts or cashews before adding onions and roast them.

Eggless Strawberry Cookies

I am not an expert with cookies. I had made the Apple cookies, which I had mentioned that it was an experiment, but they turned out good. They were more like soft cookies. Yesterday I made these Strawberry cookies, they too came out good. They weren't too soft or too crunchy. It's a simple recipe with less ingredients and without the eggs. I do eat eggs and you might be wondering why most of my baking is without eggs, that's coz eggless baking is always like a challenge to me. Also, I don't like the strong smell of the eggs in baked snacks. I liked the colour of the cookies too, they were slightly pink in colour.

What you need?

1 1/4 Cup Wheat Flour 

5-6 Strawberry 

1/2 Cup Sugar 

1.5 tsp Baking Powder

2 tbsp Oil 

1 tbsp sliced Almonds

How to prepare?

Make a puree of the strawberries in a blender without adding any water. I got about a little less than 1/2 cup of the puree.

Mix the wheat flour, sugar and baking powder in a bowl. Add the oil to this and mix everything well. Now slowly add the strawberry puree and the almonds. Make a smooth dough using this.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil.

Pinch equal size balls from the dough, flatten at the centre and place on the tray about 2 inches apart. Bake for about 12-15 minutes or until the base gets browned. Allow it to cool before serving.Store in air tight containers.

Makes about 10-12 medium size cookies

Sending this to Let's Cook - Break Time Snacks at Tickling Palates by Radhika.

Scrambled Eggs with Spinach n Awards..

Scrambled eggs is something very easy n quick...I can have it any time of the day. So what if its made more healthy and colourful? Kids might love it because of the colour and moms can be happy since the kids are eating greens as well. Serve with rice, roti or with bread toast...this dish will suit with anything. It's so simple, prepare like how you normally do for scrambled eggs and add spinach to it. Eggs are high in protein and Spinach is also a good source of protein. Isn't it a protien packed healthy dish ?

What you need?

3 Eggs

1 cup chopped Spinach

1/2 of a large Onion chopped

1 tsp Chilli powder

1/2 tsp Coriander powder

A pinch Turmeric powder

1 tsp Oil

Pepper

Salt

How to prepare?

Heat oil in a pan. Add onions and saute until they turn transparent. Now add the spinach and saute until they are cooked and shrink completely. Add the spices - chilli powder, coriander powder , turmeric powder and salt. Mix well. Now break each egg into the pan. Keep stirring until the eggs are dried up and separated. Sprinkle pepper if you need it more spicy. Serve hot with rice or roti or make a sandwich using these.

Sending this to COOK IT HEALTHY-PROTEINicious event here at my space.

I have been showered with so many awards by many of my blogger friends during the past few weeks. I have to post it atleast now rather than being lazy and keep the ball rolling :)

I would like to thank the following friends who passed on the awards to me. 

Sangeetha@ Typical Indian Cooking

Rohini     @  Food Served with Love n Calories

Vardhini  @ VardhinisKitchen

Prathima  @ Prathus food world

Chitra      @ Share my recipe

Kalyani   @ Kalyani's Kitchen 

Vimitha    @ My culinary trial room

I have to pass  these awards to 15 of my blogger friends..I wish I could pass it to all my blogger friends...choosing 15 is very difficult :(...So I have chosen some of my friends...actually this list is more than 15. I was going on adding my friend's names and it wasn't ending at all...at last I realized I have to stop adding :)

Divya                     @ Divya's Recipes

Biny anoop            @ Biny's Recipes

Jisha                      @ Jisha's Kitchen

Sarah                     @ Vazhayila

Priya                      @ Priya's Easy and Tasty Recipes

Reva                      @ Kaarasaram

Kaveri                    @ Palakkad Chamayal

Sharmilee               @ Sharmis Passions

SouthIndianhome   @ SouthIndianrecipes

Raksha                  @ Raksha's Kitchen

Laxmi                    @ Samayal Diary

Radhika                 @ Tickling Palates

Hari chandana        @ Indian Cuisine

Priya mitharwal       @ Mharo Rajasthan's Recipes

Deepa                    @ Hamaree rasoi

Soujanya                @ Souju's Home

Priya sreeram          @ Bon Appetit

Khusi                     @ A Girl's Diary

Dhyuthi                  @ Melange

Reshmi Mahesh      @ Easy Cook

Jay                         @ Tasty Appetite

Sangeetha               @Kothiyavunnu

Below are the rules to claim and share these awards.

* Thank and Link the blogger who has given you the award.

* Copy and paste the Logos in your blog.

* Pass these on to 15 other Great Blogger friends.

* Comment on the most recent post and let the nominated blogger know of the award.

* Leave a comment in this post after you posted awards in your blog.

Tandoori Soya

I saw Tandoori chicken recipes at various blogs and thought why can't I try the same with Soya chunks. I have used almost the same ingredients for marination, used for a tandoori recipe. I marinated the soya overnight and prepared the tandoori soya for lunch today. They came out really good, a different one from the usual soya chunks recipes. Soya chunks is high in protein and I like any dish using them. This will make a good appetizer for any party. Its a simple recipe, except that it takes time for the marination. So if you plan ahead, you can make this wonderful dish. I served it with the Spinach-Carrots Pulao which I have posted earlier. This was the special for Father's day :). Happy Father's day to all the wonderful dads!!

What you need?

1 cup Soya chunks

1/2 of a large onion, diced

1/2 of a bell pepper, diced

For marination:

4 tbsp Yoghurt 

1/2 tsp Red chilly powder

1/2 tsp Coriander Powder

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

1/2 tsp Pepper powder 

1/2 tsp Garam masala 

1 tsp Ginger-Garlic paste 

1 tsp Lime juice 

Salt 

How to prepare?

Boil about 3 cups of water in a vessel and add the soya chunks to the water. Let it boil for about 5-10 minutes. Remove the vessel from stove, close it with a lid and let it remain so for 10-15 minutes. Then drain the water, allow the chunks to cool. Once cooled, gently squeeze out the water and keep aside.

In a bowl, beat the yoghurt well. Add all other ingredients listed under For marination and mix them well to form a smooth paste. Add this paste to the soya chunks and mix so that the chunks get coated well. This should be kept in refrigerator for a minimum of 4-5 hours. I kept it overnight and made the tandoori next day. Longer the marination time, better the taste will be.

I have used about 6 bamboo skewers. If you are using them, soak the skewers in water for atleast 20 -30 minutes, else they might burn in the oven.

Preheat the oven to 425F. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil and spray some oil. On each skewer, slide in carefully the soya chunk, onion and bell pepper alternately. Place it on the baking tray.Once all the skewers are filled and kept on the tray, spray some oil on them.

Set for baking

Bake for 10-12 minutes on one side. Slowly turn the skewers to the other side. Bake for about 10 minutes again. Keep an eye on the oven as all ovens vary.

Sprinkle some chaat masala or lime juice if you desire. Enjoy the Tandoori Soya !!

Sending this to COOK IT HEALTHY-PROTEINicious event here at my space.

Event Announcement- COOK IT HEALTHY

My dear friends...This is my first event announcement. So I am all excited about it and yet a bit anxious on how it will go. But this idea was in my mind and thought of giving it a shot. Without your support and participation, it wouldn't be a success. So guys, I expect your full support :)

GOOD FOOD is all about healthy cooking. I am always trying to come up with recipes which are cooked in a better way, so that we can eat them whole heartedly. So I thought of coming up with an event which stress on healthy food. So the event is "COOK IT HEALTHY"

This time I have chosen a simple theme - "Proteinicious"
Proteins are said to be the building blocks of our body and helps to build, maintain, repair muscles. Kids especially need protein rich food during their growing stage. Also, protein rich diet is mainly followed by the dieters. High protein foods can be lentils, beans, sprouts, eggs, chicken, nuts,diary products etc..lots more rt??

If you think, we make protein rich foods almost daily at our home. So isn't it a simple and exciting event ? Hope you will come up with many innovative recipes.

So what are you waiting for...Get ready...cook delicious and healthy proteinicious foods :) 

Rules are simple:

1. Cook any dish starting from appetizer to dessert, but atleast one of the main ingredients should be high in protein.

2. Please mention in your post which is the ingredient that is protein rich in your recipe.

3. The event starts on June 17th 2011 and last date will be July 20th 2011.

4. Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian dishes are allowed.

5. Multiple entries are allowed. Maximum two archived entries are permitted and they should be reposted.

6. Recipe should be linked to this announcement page.

7. Please use the logo.

8. Non bloggers can also participate.

Please send in your entries to itzGoodFood@gmail.com with subject as Cook it healthy.

Provide information such as :
Your name, Blog Name, Blog URL, Recipe Name, Recipe link and Picture
(If possible reduce the picture size to about 50K)

Non bloggers - Please send the recipe and picture to the above mail.

Hope you all will participate and make this a big success. Send in all your entries soon....:)

Brinjal Masala

I was wondering what sidedish to make for rotis for dinner yesterday. I had some brinjals in my refrigerator and thought of making a quick brinjal masala. This is a very simple and delicious recipe. Though the ingredients list look a bit long, most of them are the common spices in our kitchen. So its a very flavourful dish with lots of spices. This goes well with both rice and roti. I have made this as a dry version.

What you need?

4-5 Brinjals

1 Onion chopped

2 small Tomatoes chopped

1 tsp Ginger garlic paste

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

1 tsp Chilli powder

1/2 tsp Fennel seeds powder (I have dry roasted the fennel seeds and powdered it)

1/2 tsp Garam masala

1/2 tsp Coriander powder

A pinch Asafoetida

4-5 Curry leaves

Coriander leaves for garnishing

1 tsp Oil

Salt

How to prepare?

Cut the brinjals lengthwise and soak in water for 15 minutes.

Heat oil in a pan. Splutter mustard and cumin seeds. Add curry leaves, onion, ginger-garlic paste. Saute the onions until they turn slight brown. Add the spices - turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder , fennel seeds powder, garam masala, asafoetida and saute for a minute. Add tomatoes, mix well, cover and cook until tomatoes get tender ( 3-4 mins). Drain out the water from the brinjal pieces and add to the pan. Mix thoroughly so that masala gets coated well on the brinjal pieces. Sprinkle salt and a little water. Cover and cook until brinjal gets completely cooked. Stir in between. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve it with rice or roti.

Dates bread (Eggless and Sugarless)

After the success of Eggless and Sugarless Banana bread, I wanted to try the dates bread . I prepared it very similar to the banana bread. The dates bread came out very soft and tasty. I felt that the bread had enough sweetness. But my husband who is a great sweet lover wanted it to be a little more sweeter. So if you are a sweet loving person like my husband, maybe you can add some sugar to this. But I enjoyed the sugarless version a lot.

What you need?

1 cup Wheat flour

1/2 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp Baking soda

1/4 tsp Salt

15 pitted Dates

1/4 cup Honey

3/4 cup Milk

3 tbsp Oil

1 tbsp each Almonds and Raisins

How to prepare?

Soak the dates in warm milk for about 15-20 minutes. (Microwave the milk with dates in it for 45 sec to 1 minute). After soaking time is over, put this in a blender and make a smooth paste. Transfer to a bowl and add honey and oil to this. Mix well and the dates mix is ready.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly spray the oil on all the sides of a baking pan.

Add the dry ingredients to a bowl - Wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt. Mix well. Now slowly add the dates mix to this and constantly mix the flour. Add the nuts and raisins.Mix everything well so as to get a smooth paste (not very runny though).

Pour this to the pan and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes. Keep an eye on the oven after 25 minutes itself. Insert a knife or tooth pick  to see if it comes out clean.

Notes:
*Add about 1/4 cup sugar if you want to make the bread more sweeter.

Oats Spinach dosa

If you are tired of eating oatmeal for breakfast, this is a great variation. Its a healthy dosa and very simple to make. Oats provide you with many health benefits.I have added some spinach in the dosa, which makes it much more healthy and tasty. You can add any vegetable you prefer and make it more colourful. Adding greens to your breakfast is really good and if its with oats, then what more you need rt :)

What you need?

1 cup Oats (I used Quaker oats, old fashioned)

1/2 cup Wheat flour

3/4 cup chopped Spinach

1/2" pc Ginger finely chopped

2 Green chillies finely chopped

1 tsp Cumin seeds

A pinch Asafoetida

Salt

Water

How to prepare?

Grind the oats to a fine powder in a blender. Put the powdered oats and wheat flour to a bowl. Make a batter by adding water, a little at a time. Add salt, cumin seeds, ginger, green chillies and asafoetida. Mix well. Finally add the spinach and mix again. Add water to the batter if required to get a dosa like batter consistency. It shouldn't be too thick or thin. 

Heat the tava. Pour a ladle of the batter on the tava. Spread it slowly like you normally do for dosas. It might not be very easy like the normal dosa. Apply oil on sides. Cook both sides. Serve hot. I served them with a simple coconut chutney.

Mixed Raita

Hello friends..Hope you have observed that GOOD FOOD is with a new look now....I have completely changed the design a day back...Once in a while, a change is necessary rt :). Today's recipe is a simple raita. Its' just a small modification to the onion-tomato raita. I have added some chopped apple to this. My mother makes this raita and so I learnt this from her. The raita sure tastes good, easy and simple to make. I have garnished with some cherries here to make it colourful.

What you need?

1/2 of an Apple chopped

1/2 of an Onion chopped

1 small Tomato chopped

1.5 cup Yoghurt

2 Green chillies chopped

Cherries for garnishing (if using)

Salt

How to prepare?

The method is simple. Mix the chopped apple, onion, tomato and green chillies. Sprinkle some salt. Beat the yoghurt well and add to this. Garnish with some cherries or coriander leaves.

Vegetable Idli

After the experiment with dosa which was my previous post -Fruity Uthappam, I thought of trying something new with idlis. So I tried this Veggie Idli which was suggested by one of my friends. I liked her idea and tried it today morning for breakfast. The idlis turned out really good and I liked biting the vegetables here and there :) I am not a great fan of idlis, but I liked these a lot as its quite different from the plain idlis. Kids will also love it when they see these colourful and new idlis . My son also liked them a lot. Hope its a great idea for your breakfast !! Have a great weekend...

Ingredients:

3-4 cups of Idli batter

3/4 cup Vegetables of your choice (I used carrots, green peas and corn)

1 tsp Mustard seeds

1 tsp Cumin seeds

1/2" piece Ginger, finely chopped

2 Green chillies, finely chopped 

4-5 Curry leaves, finely chopped

2-3 strands of Coriander leaves, chopped

Salt

Oil

Heat oil in a pan. Splutter mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Add curry leaves, green chilli and ginger. Saute for few seconds and add vegetables. Saute the vegetables for 2-3 minutes. Add a little salt and coriander leaves. Mix well.

Take the idli batter in a bowl. Add a little salt and mix well. Transfer the vegetable mixture into this and stir well.Grease slightly the idli moulds and pour the batter into these. Steam them for about 10 minutes or until the idlis are well cooked.

Serve with chutney or sambhar.

Fruity Uthappam

I have prepared the usual uthappams like the onion uthappam and vegetable uthappam. This is the first time I tried making an uthappam with fruits. Kids will surely love this and it would be a different and colourful breakfast for them. I have used apple and cherry here. You can also try with any other fruits such as grapes, pineapple, dates etc. Make it more colourful and make your kids eat different fruits :). Hope you will try this and will enjoy this special uthappam.

Ingredients:

3-4 cups of Dosa batter

1/2 cup Apple chopped

1/2 cup Cherry chopped

Salt

Oil

Mix the dosa batter with adequate salt. Heat the tava and drizzle a little oil on it. Pour a ladle of batter and spread a little, but not too much like you do for the thin crispy dosas. Sprinkle the apple and cherry on top. Cook on both sides. Fruits might stick a little on the tava when dosa is  flipped. So be careful when you turn the dosa back.Serve with sambhar or chutney.

Notes:

*Try adding some nuts with the fruits.

Watermelon Smoothie

Watermelons are favourite among those who diet. This is mainly because its fat free and about 90% of the melon is just water. You can have them as much as you want. Be it a simple juice or a smoothie....i like watermelons in any form and I love to eat them too. This Watermelon smoothie is very easy to make, an excellent thirst quencher and a wonderful drink perfect for the summer.

Ingredients:

(For a single serving)

1 cup Watermelon cubes, de-seeded

2 tbsp Condensed milk

Sugar/Honey if required to taste

Blend the watermelon cubes and condensed milk in a blender. Add sugar or honey if required. Serve chilled.

Sending this to the following events:

Serve it-Chilled event hosted by Denny

Kid's Delight - Cool Comforts at Seduce your taste buds, an event initiated by Srivalli.

Vegetables in White Sauce

This recipe is an inspiration from Nita Mehta's recipe, which I read in her book. I have seen many recipes using all purpose flour, butter or oil  for making the white sauce and I didn't want to try that way. Then I saw one of the recipes in her book which included preparation of white sauce in it and I liked the idea very much. It was making use of wheat flour, no butter or oil and simple ingredients. So I thought of making the white sauce in a similar way and to add some veggies in it. I have used Cauliflower and Bell Pepper here. The sauce came out really good, very spicy and flavourful too.

Ingredients:

1.5 cup Cauliflower florets

1 Bell pepper chopped (Use any veggies you prefer)

1 tsp Oil

Salt

Pepper

For White Sauce:

1/2 of an Onion, finely chopped

1/4 tsp Ginger Garlic paste (Original recipe had only Ginger paste)

1.5 tbsp Wheat flour

1-2 tsp chopped Coriander leaves

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Red chilli flakes

1/2 tsp Pepper

1 cup Milk 

1 tsp Tomato ketchup

Mix all the ingredients under For White Sauce in a bowl and whisk so as to get a smooth paste.Keep it aside.

Put the cauliflower florets and bell pepper in microwave safe bowl. Cook for about 4-5 minutes in microwave. Heat oil in a pan. Add the cooked cauliflower and bell pepper in it. Sprinkle some salt and pepper. Stir fry so that the vegetables get slight brown. Keep them aside.

In the same pan, add the white sauce paste and cook on medium flame. Stir continuously until you get a saucy consistency. Add the vegetables to this. Mix well. Garnish with coriander leaves.Serve hot with steamed rice or any bread.

Sending this to the Bookmarked recipes- Every Tuesday event