Beetroot Uthapam

Beetroot Uthapam - This is a healthy dish which is very easy to make. Beetroot is very good for health and it has high amount of vitamins and minerals. It helps improve haemoglobin in blood also. But some kids fuss about eating it. This is one way of including this wonderful vegetable in their diet. You can call this as 'Pink dosa' ;-)

I learnt this from my mother in law. She makes it with carrot and that also has a very good taste and nice color.

Ingredients:

1. Beetroot- 1 medium sized
2. Dosa batter - 1 kg
3. Big onion - 2 medium sized
4. Green chilli - 1

Method:

1. Chop beetroot, big onion, green chilli and whip them well two times in mixie to get a coarse paste. Do not add water and grind to smooth paste. Just whip them twice to coarse bits.

2. Mix this with the dosa batter. Heat dosa pan, and spread 1 ladle of batter lightly like a uthapam and drizzle oil on sides. Once cooked (approx after 2 mins), flip to other side and keep in low flame for 4 to 5 mins.

 

Serve hot with chutney!!

Notes:

1. Make sure the uthapam is cooked well. As the uthapam contains veggies it takes sometime to cook.
2. Flip the uthapam only after it is cooked well, otherwise it will tear.
3. Serve preferably with pudina chutney or any spicy chutney.
4. You can make the same with carrot.
5. You can make mini uthapams also.

Dates Walnut Almond Muffins

Well, honestly I didnt know how to name these. I referred the recipe here and made few modifications to it. I usually have so many constraints while baking eggless, butterless, less sugar and wheat flour if possible. All because I need a low fat version. This cake suited my constraints and so I wanted to try it. Also, you will be more than surprised that I dont like dates. I cant eat more than 2 pieces at once. But I just loved these.

Ingredients:

1. Dates - 1/4 cup packed
2. Milk - 1/4 cup for soaking dates and 1/4+1/8 cup
3. Granulated Sugar - 1/4 cup - 3tbsp
4. Honey - 3 tbsp
5. Maida - 3/4 cup
6. Wheat flour - 1/4 cup
7. Curd - 1tbsp
8. Baking powder -1/2tsp
9. Baking soda - 1/2tsp
10. Vanilla essence - 1/4 tsp
11. Oil - 4tbsp
12. Almonds and Walnut chopped for topping

Method:

1. Sieve the flours, baking powder and soda and set aside.

2. In 1/4 cup hot milk soak the dates for 10 mins and grind to smooth paste with the milk after cooling down. Do not add water and make it runny. It will be a bit thick paste.

3. In a bowl, take sugar, oil, dates paste, remaining milk (1/4+1/8 cup), curd, honey and vanilla essence. Mix well while adding each ingredient. Make sure the sugar has dissolved well.

4. Preheat oven to 180 deg C
5. Meanwhile, mix the dry and wet ingredients together in 2 or 3 parts and mix well till you get a semi runny batter. Add 1 or 2 tbsp of milk extra if the batter is thick.

6. Grease the liners and spoon the mixture to the moulds/muffin pan. I had some silicone moulds also so made use of them too. Add in the nuts now on top of the batter. Do not fill the batter more than 3/4th of the mould as it will rise.

7. Once the pre-heating is done, bake them for 15 mins. The ones in silicone moulds took 5 mins longer. Test if properly baked by inserting a toothpick.
8. Let them cool down and you can enjoy!

                             

Notes:

1. If you are sweet toothed, add in more sugar.
2. You can use butter also as in the original recipe.
3. See if the muffins are done in 15 mins. If not keep them for extra 5 mins. Test with tooth pick.
4. Do not leave the batter to sit for long time after mixing.
5. I got 4 muffins using the moulds and 2 &1/2 (small one :) ) in the silicone moulds.

Carrot Rice - Healthy and Tasty!

I had a whole bunch of carrots in hand and wanted to make something with it. Then dawned this idea of carrot rice. I am not a big fan of carrots in raw form but love it when it is cooked. I also love variety rice so thought to give this a try.

Ingredients:

1. Carrot (medium sized) - 2
2. Rice - 1 cup
3. Cashew - 5 to 6 roughly broken
4. Ginger garlic paste - 1&1/2 tsp
5. Onion - 1 slit lengthwise
6. Green chillies - 3 chopped
7. Pepper powder - 3/4 tsp
8. Coconut grated - 1 handful
9. Salt - as needed
10. Coriander - for garnishing

To temper:

1. Oil - 1&1/4 tsp
2. Ghee - 1/4 tsp
3. Bay leaf -1
4. Cloves -2
5. Cinnamon - 1 tiny piece

Method:

1. Cook rice separately. Grate the carrots and cut the onion.
2. In a kadai, heat oil and ghee and add the items under 'To temper' section.
3. Add the cashews and saute till slightly browned.

4. Add the ginger garlic paste and onions and saute till onions turn golden brown. Add in the green chillies and give a stir.

5. Add the freshly grated carrot and pepper powder,salt and saute for a while till the raw smell leaves. Add in the coconut at last and saute for 2 to 3 mins in low flame and switch off.






6. In a wide bowl, take rice and mix it with the above, garnish with coriander and serve hot with papad/raitha!.

Notes:

1. I have used pepper powder here. I heard in a TV show that pepper is very good for health and in olden days Indians never used chilli powder. There is an old saying in Tamil "Pathu milau irunthal pagaivan veetla kuda saapdalam", which means If you have 10 peppercorns in hand you can even eat in an enemies house. So, I wanted to use it wherever possibe. However, you can add chilli/smabhar powder instead.
2.If you dont want ghee, you can add oil instead. But the ghee gives a nice aroma.
3. You can also use leftover rice for this.

Easy Tomato Onion Chutney

This chutney is very easy to make and requires no grinding part!. As you know, we have unscheduled power cuts these days and I bet all of us would have been really irritated when the power goes off when we need to grind in mixie. This is a very simple recipe once you have the onions and tomatoes chopped.

Ingredients:

1. Big Onion - 1 (finely chopped)

2. Tomatoes - 2 ( big sized, finely chopped)

3. Garlic - 3 pods

4. Ginger chopped -1/4 tsp 

5. Sambhar powder - 2tsp

6. Chilli powder - 1 and 1/2 tsp

7. Salt - as needed

8. Water - little

To temper:

1. Mustard - 1/4 tsp

2. Urad dal - 1/4 tsp

Method:

1. Heat oil in kadai and temper with the items under 'To temper' column.

2. Add  onion, ginger and garlic and saute till onions turn golden brown.

3. Add tomatoes, chilli powder, sambhar powder, salt and give a stir. Saute till the tomatoes turn mushy.

4. Add little water and simmer it for 3 to 4 mins till gravy thickens.

Serve with idli/dosa!

Notes:

1. Adjust spicyness according to your taste.

2. You can also add slit green chillies and decrease the chilli powder.

Fish Gravy/ Meen Kuzhambu

Fish! The word alone makes me drool!. I just love fish whether in gravy form or fried form. Even when I go to beaches I get the freshly fried fish there. My mother and mother in law have two different ways of making fish gravy. I am posting my mother's version here. 

Ingredients:

1. Fish - 6 pieces

2. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp ( to marinate)

3. Tamarind - 1 small lemon sized

4. Gingelly oil - 5tbsp + 1tbsp to add at last

5. Salt - as needed

To grind:

1. Coconut - 1/4 cup

2. Red chillies (long variety) - 7

3. Jeera - 2&1/4 tsp

4. Small onion -10

Method:

1. Soak tamarind in water for 30 minutes and extract tamarind juice from it.

2. Marinate the fish pieces with turmeric powder and little salt for 15 to 20 mins.

3. Grind the coconut, red chillies, jeera with little water in mixie to a paste. Then add the small onions and give just 1 or 2 short turns in mixie.

 4. In a kadai, pour the tamarind juice, ground paste, salt and oil. Once it boils, add the fish pieces and cook covered for 5 mins in low flame.

5. Open the kadai, and if the gravy is watery keep in low flame for 7 to 10 minutes till gravy becomes thick. Transfer this to a bowl and add 1 tbsp oil on top. Serve hot with rice and fish fry!.

Notes:-

1. You can add 1 more red chilli also for more spicyness.

2. Use only gingelly oil not any other oil.

3. Do not grind the small onions for long time. Just 1 or 2 turns.

Easy Toor Dal Tadka

This is my favorite when it is served hot along with rasam and potato fry. Its also very easy to make and it makes the dish more special :-P. 

Ingredients:

1. Toor Dal -1/2 cup

2. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

3. Oil - 4 to 5 drops

4. Salt - As needed

To temper:

1. Oil - 1 &1/2 tbsp

2. Mustard - 1/2 tsp

3. Urad dal - 1/2 tsp

4. Curry leaves - 1 sprig

5. Small onion  - 10

6. Green chillies -2, finely chopped

7. Garlic - 1 pod crushed

8. Asafoetida - 2 pinches

To garnish:

1. Coriander leaves - 1 palm full, chopped finely.

Method:

1. Pressure cook dal with water ( to cover the dal completely ) with turmeric and oil for 4 whistles or till soft. Add little more water if required and add salt now and set aside.

 

2. Meanwhile chop the onions, chillies and coriander leaves.

3. In a kadai, heat oil and add mustard and after it splutters add urad dal. Add the asafoetida, curry leaves, garlic and saute. Add onions and green chillies and saute till onions turn golden brown.

4. In a serving bowl, put the coriander leaves, and add the pressure cooked dal, and add the tempered items and give a nice stir. 

Serve hot with rice, rasam and any spicy curry!. 

Notes:

1. You can add 1/4 tsp jeera also while tempering. Also you can add tomato. But somehow I dont like tomato when it comes to dal.

2. You can substitute red chillies in place of green chillies.

Happy Birthday Dear Friend!!

Happy Birthday Revathy!

Wishing you the best in life!

Simple Potato fry

This is the simplest potato fry but very tasty. This is a big specialty of my mom and even though it is very easy to make, this is a huge hit among my school and college friends. My mother used to mix this with rice and name it 'potato rice' :). I used to take this for lunch with an egg or papad. My friends just love the taste and I always used to carry an extra box for them too. This post will also be useful for beginners in cooking and also, it can be made in a jiffy. So, here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

1. Potato - 5 (small size)
2. Big onion - 1/2 (finely chopped).
3. Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
4. Garlic - 1 flake (crushed)
5. Sambhar powder - 2 and 1/2 tsp
6. Salt as needed

To temper:

1. Mustard - 1/2 tsp
2. Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
3. Curry leaves - 1 sprig
4. Asafoetida - 2 pinches
5. Oil -3tbsp (refer notes)

Method:

1. Cut the onion and potato finely.

 


2. Heat oil in kadai, add mustard. Once it splutters, add urad dal. Add asafoetida and curry leaves after urad dal turns slightly brown.

3. Add the onion and garlic and saute till the onions turn golden brown. Add the potato, turmeric powder and stir. Add sambhar powder and salt.

4. Cook till the potato turns soft while stirring occasionally. Potato fry is ready!.

Notes:

1. You can increase the sambhar powder or add chilli powder if you want it more spicy.
2. This will be enough for serving 3 people.
3. As mentioned, you can mix it with rice also. Its also a great accompaniment with dal, sambhar or rasam.
4. We always use gingelly oil for this recipe. You can try with other oil too. You may increase 1tbsp of oil if you want to mix it with rice.

Carrot and Capsicum baked french fries

Carrot and Capsicum Baked French Fries

Hi All, I am here to give you a guilt free recipe. The name of the dish by itself sounds a bit funny right? Its baked then how do you call it 'fries'? This was my husband's comment when I told him the name. But I feel that this name is apt because it tastes exactly like its been fried.

I had to prepare some evening snacks for my husband and I was thinking about what to prepare. Then all of a sudden I had this idea. I wanted something like chips but guilt free and I didnt have potato or raw banana at home. So, as usual started browsing the net for recipes with capsicum and carrot which I had and found this. I was so happy that I found a guilt free recipe. I didnt want to eat some deep fried thing and feel that I have put on atleast 2 kgs weight in a single day, plan to do all sorts of exercise and end up not doing even half of them. Oh! Thats a terrible feeling. Enough of my stories, here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

1. Carrot (skin peeled) - 2
2. Capsicum -1 small
3. Pepper powder - 1 and 1/2 tsp
4. Chilli flakes - 1tsp
5. Salt as needed
6. Refined oil - 2tsp

Method:

1. Preheat oven at 190^◦  C for ten minutes.
2. Meanwhile, slice the carrot and capsicum length wise, so that they look like french fries.

3. In a mixing bowl, combine the veggies, oil, pepper, chilli flakes and salt.
4. Arrange the veggies on the baking tray (I covered it with aluminium foil) and bake for about 7-10 mins till cooked and crispy.

Serve hot with tomato sauce!
                                       

Notes:

1. I had cut the veggies thin so mine got done in 7 minutes.
2. You can try only with carrot as in the original recipe.
3. I baked them in 2 batches.

Kari Vathakal/Mutton fry recipe

Kari Vathakal/Mutton Fry 

This recipe is from a tamil cookbook (Paavaiyarukana Palsuvai Malar) which my mother gave me for my marriage. Its a very good book which has so many recipes including baking.

Ingredients:

1. Mutton - 300 gm
2. Tomato Sauce - 2tsp
3. Chilli powder - 1 and 1/2 tsp
4. Gingelly oil - 3tsp
5. Big Onion - 1 medium sized (finely chopped)
6. Salt - as needed
7. Turmeric powder - 3/4 tsp
8. Coriander leaves - to garnish

To Saute and Grind:

1. Gingelly oil - 1 tsp
2. Red chilli (small variety) - 5
3. Jeera - 1tsp
4. Coriander seeds - 2tsp

Method:

•  Clean mutton and cut into small pieces.
•  Saute and grind to a powder the ingredients given in the 'To Saute and grind' list. Saute till a nice aroma arises.

•  Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add the onion. Saute the onions till golden brown.
• Add the cleaned and chopped mutton pieces and add turmeric and give a stir.
• Add the ground masala powder, stir and add water enough to cook the mutton (I used nearly 3/4 cup). Add salt and close the cooker.

• Cook the mutton upto 7 or 8 whistles or till soft. Open the cooker and wait for water to reduce. When the water level has reduced a little, add the chilli powder and tomato sauce.

• Stir occasionally till the desired consistency is reached and switch off. Serve garnished with coriander leaves.

Notes:

1. This can be served as a side to any non veg gravy with rice. It goes well with rasam also. You can have it with dosa also ( switch off before it reaches a dry stage to have it with dosa).

2. In the original recipe, they had cooked mutton first with salt and turmeric and then cooked it separately with the ground masala. But I cook it like this as it is less time consuming.

3. You can also reduce the spice level.

4. Make sure the mutton is cooked well.