Spinach Kuzhi Paniyaram

Kuzhi paniyaram is one of my favourite dish when paired with the yummm tomato or pudhina chutney.Basically i prepare these paniyaram's instatly with left over idli batter. By now most of my fellow bloggers would know that i am a health freak and i peep deep in to the nutrition fact of each food i cook at home. So this time i have added spinach / palak to make the simple paniyaram a more healthier one !!!

Preparation Time : 10 Minutes
Cooking Time : 10 Mins
Serves : 2

Ingredients :

Left over Idli Batter : 3 cups
Spinach - 1 cup - finely chopped
Onion - 3/4 cup - Finely Chopped
Green Chilli - 2 - 3 or accordingly - Finely Chopped
Mustard - 1 tsp
Urad Dal - 1 teaspoon
Salt -a pinch if required (as there is already salt added in the idli batter )

Method :

Heat a teaspoon of oil in a tadka pan, add mustard, let it splutter, now add urad dal fry until golden brown. Finally add a pinch of asafoedita. Mix all the ingredients together along with the mustard tadka and mix well and keep it aside.
Now heat a paniyaram pan, grease it with little oil, pour a spoonful of the batter to the pan and cook covered on medium flame until it turns golden brown, similarly turn the other side and cook untill golden brown. Serve hot with any chutney of your choice.
This can be served as a snack or as breakfast !!

Drum Stick Leaves Roti

Drumstick Leaves have always been used to combat malnutrition among infants and is a good lactating agent in  nursing mothers. Leaves can be eaten fresh, cooked, or stored as dried powder,The leaves are most often added to a broth to make a simple and highly nutritious soup.These leaves have the calcium equivalent of 4 glasses of milk, the vitamin C content of 7 oranges, potassium of 3 bananas, 3 times the iron of spinach, 4 times the amount of vitamin A in carrot, and 2 times the protein in milk. Just a small bunch of these leaves can be used as garnishing similar to coriander leaves. Isn't it a nutritious packed green.

Preparation Time : 20 Minutes

Cooking Time : 15 Minutes

Serves : 2

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Flour - 2 cups

Cleaned Drumstick leaves - 1 cup

Salt

Water

Oil / Ghee - 1 tbps

Method:

Add wheat flour, drumstick leaves, salt and sprinkle water and knead it to a nice soft dough. Leave it for 10 Minutes. Now split the dough in to 6-8 equal sized balls, roll it in to round rotis. Heat a tawa, place the roti gently and cook until golden brown on both the sides. Smear ghee on both sides and serve hot with  delicious curry of your choice or just simply with pickle and yoghurt :)

Tips :

You can also add more masalas and make it in to a paratha.

Luv

Lavanya :)

Strawberry Pyaali

This is one of the most rich and delicious recipe i have ever tasted,Recently we happened to walk in to a restaurant at pune called Juice world which is near camp area in pune. After having a tangy pav bhaji we wanted to have some desserts, when we scanned the menu, we could find loads of fruit creams, you name any fruit they had cream made of it. one such dish was strawberry pyali or cream of strawberry. I immediately wanted to try the same at home, to my surprise it did come out very well, here's sharing the same with you all :) 

Serves: 1

Preparation time: 45 Minutes

Cooking time : none

Ingredients:

Thick Fresh Cream - 1 Cup

Strawberries - 1 Cup

Sugar - According to taste

Method:

Beat the fresh cream with required quantiy of sugar and keep it aside. Wash make a pulp with 4 to 5 straberries and cut rest strawberries in to thin slices. Now mix the pulp with the fresh cream. Take a serving bowl, pour one layer of fresh cream mix and layer them with sliced strawberries, similarly keep repeating the steps until you finish 4-5 layers. Refrigirate them for an hour or two and serve chilled. You can also use differents fruits of your choice like banana, custard apple, guava, kiwi etc.

Tip:

you can even prepare this the previous day and can refrigirate for it to set well.

Love

Lavanya,

Dal Kichdi

Hi fellow bloggers,

its been indeed quite a few months since i logged in to my blog, though tried to catch up other bloggers, i missed many of your posts. Life has been hectic for past few months with work, home and kid.So wanted to take a break from blogging, but my mind always thought about the numerous contests and awards which would be shared every now and then, missed all those participation in the contests, reading nice reviews and congratulating each others, never mind priorities keep changing :))  let me cheer up my self and start my blogging once again with a very simple recipe which i would often end up doing when my vegetable tray is completely out of stock

Preparation Time : 5 Minutes

Cooking Time: 20 Minutes

Serves : 2 

Ingredients :

Rice : 1 cup
Toor Dal : 1/4 cup
Moong dal - 1/4 cup
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Green Chilli - 1 - slit
Pepper Corns - 4 - slightly crushed
Mixed vegetables - 1 cup ( purely optional)
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 teaspoon
Coriander leaves - 1 tbps - finely chopped
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2 tbps
Ghee - 1 tbps

Method :


Heat oil in a small pressure cooker , add cumin seeds and let it splutter, then add ginger garlic paste and green chilli, saute for half a minute. To this add the washed rice , dal, 2.5 cups water, turmeric powder, pepper, mixed vegetables, ghee and salt. Close the lid and pressure cook for 3 - 4  whistles. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with pickle :)


Love

Lavanya !!

Macaroni Upma / Macaroni Stir Fry

PreparationTime : 10 Minutes
Cooking Time: 5 Minutes
Servings : 2

Ingredients :

Pasta - 1.5 cups
Onion - - Finely chopped - 1 small

Tomato- Finely chopped - 1 small

Coriander leaves - Finely chopped - 1 tablespoon

Mustard - 1 teaspoon

Urad dal - 1 teaspoon

Hing / Asafoedita - a pinch

Red Chilli Powder - a pinch

Salt - to taste

Oil - 1 tablespoon

Water - 21/2 cups

Method :

Boil Pasta in 2.5 cups water until soft. Strain and keep it aside. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard let  it splutter, then add urad dal fry until golden brown, now add onions and tomatoes, saute for a minute, add red chilli powder, and saute them again for two minitues. Add Salt, asafoedita, and cooked pasta.Cook on low flame for few minutes.Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot.

Mini Pizza Crackers

I always have cravings for Pizza flavour, so is my husband, we end up eating pizza atleast once in 15 days, while trying to satisfy our cravings, i came up with this quick snack option which is very ideal along with a hot cup of coffee or tea. The crunchy crackers with the soft veggies along with cheese is really a tempting snack. This can also be a finger food or snacks to fussy kids, unlike pizza its not junk. You have all the raw healthy veggies topped with cheese.Yumm yumm delicioso :)

Servings : 2

Preparation Time: 10 Minutes

Ingredients:

Crisply Salted Crackers - 10

Mixed Vegetebales - 1 Cup - Cut in to small cubes)

(Capscicum, onion, tomato,cabbage etc)

Grated Cheese - 1/2 cup

Pizza / Pasta Sauce - 2 tablespoon

Salt

Pepper

Method:

Mix vegetables and pizza sauce together with little salt and pepper. Place a tablespoon of it on a cracker, sprinkle grated cheese over it and place it in microwave for 2 to 3 seconds not more than that. Serve hot with beverage of your choice !!

Tip: Do not keep in the oven for more than 3 seconds as it will become soggy if kept for long.

Lavanya :)

Nest on Bread

This is a easy and a very healthy breakfast recipe, learnt it from my filipino friend, they use ham and cheese, being a veggie i tried my veg version. It came out very very well, it took me hardly few minutes to prepare this. As you all know i always rely on quick and easy cooking, this is one such quick recipe for a quick breakfast :) Am sure fussy eaters would love them too !!!

Preparation Time : 5 Minutes

Cooking Time : 4 Minutes

Serves: 1

Ingredients :

Bread - 2 Slices

Egg - 2

Tomato Ketchup - 1 teaspoon

Green Bell Pepper - 1 tablespoon - finely chopped

Onion - 1 tablespoon - finely chopped

Tomato - 1 tablespoon - finely chopped

Cheese - 1 tablespoon - grated

Salt

Pepper

Method:

Spread tomato ketchup slightly on each bread, take a empty tablespoon and press centre of the bread gently to make a shallow,sprinke some mixed vegetables all over leaving the shallow part.Similarly sprinke grated cheese, now break open a egg gently on the shallow part of the bread and keep it in the microwave oven for 2 minutes or until the egg is cooked. Sprinkle some salt and pepper and serve hot !! 

Tip: Do not bake it longer as the egg will become hard to eat. Can make this without cheese also. 

Carrot Corn Pulav

This is again a quick one pot meal with goodness of sweet corn and carrot. Few health benefits of sweet corn are they act as a antioxidant and thereby reduce the chance of heart diseases and cancer. Carrot as we all know are rich in vitamin A and dietary fiber. It becomes all the more easy, when it is prepared in Microwave. Lets enjoy this pot meal with whole lot of nutrients in it :)

Preparation Time : 10 Minutes

Cooking Time : 17 Minutes

Serves - 2

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup

Carrot - 1 Medium Sized - Grated

Sweet Corn Kernels - 1/2 cup

Green Chili - 2

Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tablespoon

Coriander leaves - 1 tablespoon - Finely chopped

Fennel Seeds- 1 teaspoon

Cinnamon Stick - 1 small

Bay Leaf - 1

Oil

Salt

Method:

Add a 3 tablespoons of oil, fennel seeds, cinnamon stick and bay leaf in a microwave safe bowl. Heat on High heat for a minute, now add slit green chillies, ginger garlic paste and heat for another minute. Now add washed rice, corn kernels along with 2 cups of water. Cook on high heat for about 10 minutes.Now add grated carrots,salt, give a stir and cover and cook for 5 more minutes or until cooked. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve Hot with Chips and Raita :)

Veggie Grilled Sandwich

I always go for this quick brunch on any of those lazy weekends. A veggie sandwich filled with healthy veggies can never be less in nutrition. Am sure its a great meal for kiddos too who fuss to eat just a plain sandwich. Lets see how to make this yummy sandwich !!

Preparation Time :  15 minutes

Cooking time: 10 Minutes

Serves : 2

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Bread - 8 slices

Cabbage - Finely Chopped - 2 tablespoons

Onion - Finely Chopped - 2 tablespoons

Red Bell Peppers - Finely chopped - 1 tablespoon

Green Bell Peppers - Finely Chopped - 1 tablespoon

Mint Paste - 2 tablespoons

Red chilli Powder - According to your taste

Salt

Butter - 2 tablespoons

Chees Slice - 4 ( Optional )

Ingredients to make Mint Paste: 

Mint Leaves - 1 Bunch

Green Chillies - 3

Garlic - 5-6 pods

Method: 

 Grind Mint leaves, green chilli and garlic together with little water and make it in to a paste. Store them in a bottle and refrigirate. It stays good up to 10 days, you can use it for making curries and sabzis too.

Method to make Sandwich

Mix all the veggies together along with red chilli powder and salt. Smear mint paste on the bread, place a spoonful of the veggies on the bread, keep a slice of cheese if required and cover it with another bread.Smear the toaster with butter.place the sandwich on the toaster and toast them until they turn golden brown. Server hot with ketch up and salad.

Tip : It tastes great with cheese, weigh watchers can use low fast cheese slice to enjoy the taste to fullest :)

I am sending this recipe to two for tuesdays event hosted by Girlichef , Kids Delight hosted by Pari and Kids Menu Event hosted by Neha.

Channa Biriyani

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Servings: 2

Ingredients:

Cooked Ordinary Rice / Basmati Rice  - 2 cups

Sprouted Channa - 1 cup - Boiled

Onion - 1 Large - Chopped length wise

Tomatoes - 2 Medium - Chopped length wise

Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon 

Biriyani Masala - 3 teaspoon

Bay Leaf - 1

Fennel Seeds - 1 teaspoon

Cinnamon Stick - 1

Hing - a pinch

Yoghurt - 3 tablespoons

Salt

Oil

Method:

Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan,fry bay leaf, fennel seeds and cinnamon stick, add onion and tomatoes, saute until soft, add the masalas and the sprouted channa, saute for 5 minute.Sir in the yogurt and cook on low flame for two more minutes. Now mix the rice along with little salt .Serve hot with raitha.

Tip: Most of the biriyani masalas will have chilli powder, if you want to add more spice , you can add more chilli powder accordingly.

I am sending this recipe to Priya's Easy and Tasty Recipes LETS SPROUT event and Umm Mymoonah's Iftar Moments Hijri 1431.

.

Instant Fried Rice

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 5 minutes

Servings: 2

Ingredients:

Cooked Rice  - 2 cups

Cabbage - finely chopped - 2 tablespoon

Carrot - finely chopped - 2 tablespoon

Srping onions - 1 small bunch - finely chopped

Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon (depending on the spiciness)

Soy Sauce - 2 teaspoon

Hing - a pinch

Salt

Oil

Method:

Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan, fry all the vegetables oh high flame for a minute, now add soy sauce, redchilli powder and hing, saute for a minute.Mix the rice along with little salt and garnish with spring onion leaves. Serve Hot.

Besan Dosa

Preparation time : 20 Minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 2

Ingredients:

Besan / Gram Flour - 2 cups

Rice Flour - 1 Cup

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Hing / Asafoedita - 1/2 teaspoon

Curd - 2 tablespoons

Salt- to taste

Oil - Few teaspoons

Method:

Mix together all the ingredients except oil,add water, beat well and make in to a batter of pouring consistency of dosa.Keep it aside for 20 minutes. Now Heat a tawa, drizzle little oil. Drop a laddle full of batter and spread in to a thin dosa and let it cook on medium flame on both the sides. Remove and serve hot with coconut chutney.

Fermentation for this Batter is not required. 

Tip : You can add chopped onions,tomatoes and coriander leaves to enhance more taste.