VIRUNTHU UNNA VAANGA

Chapathi/Paratha is comfort and filling food for either breakfast or lunch. If its added with green leaves, and its much more better for us, isn’t it? Palak paratha is most popular but you can try with any other green leaves… I have prepared the marble paratha with arai keerai/amaranthus leaves…

Category	Breakfast/Dinner
Cuisine	Indian
Preparation Time	30 Minutes
Cooking Time	15 Minutes
Servings	4

Source – My Own

INGREDIENTS

Arai keerai – 1 Bunch, washed and drained

Oil – 2 Tsp

Cumin seeds – 1 Tsp

Green chillies – 2-3

Shallots – 10-15

Salt – To taste

To Knead

Wheat flour/Atta – 2 Cups

Salt – To taste

Oil – 2 Tsp

Water – To knead

Garam masala powder - 1/4 Tsp

Pepper powder - 1/4 Tsp

METHOD

Heat oil in pan, add cumin seeds wait for sputter and add green chillies and shallots sauté it till translucent.

Now add green leaves and sauté it for 2-3 minutes on low flame and without cover the pan.

Add salt to the mixture and cool it completely and then grind into smooth paste with little water.

Now take a wide bowl, add wheat flour and pour the green puree, garam masala powder and pepper powder little by little and knead into pliable dough and keep it aside for 30 minutes by cover with damp cloth.

In another bowl, add wheat flour, oil, salt and water knead into pliable dough and cover with the damp cloth for 30 minutes.

Now divide into two equal portion, and mingle it as shown in the picture.

Roll the ball using rolling pin to get marble paratha.

Heat dosa tawa, put the paratha and cook it on both sides with drizzling oil.
Serve it hot…

NOTE

You can do only spinach paratha if you don’t want marble.
You can replace any other green leaves to make the paratha.

Ragi/fingermillet is very healthy and filling from 6 months+ babies to adults. It has so many nutritional values and can make many varieties of recipes. Ragi is one of my favourite millet, and used to make roti, upma, kozhukattai and puttu. Ragi malt porridge is very popular and healthy for infants and adults too…

The sweet ragi dosa is easy to make with jaggery syrup. My aunty used to make this for me when in my childhood. But after that period, I didn’t taste for long time, so I wanted to try out and here is the recipe of healthy ragi pancake…

Category	Breakfast
Cuisine	Indian
Preparation Time	10 Minutes
Cooking Time	15 Minutes
Servings	4

Source – My Own

INGREDIENTS

Ragi flour/Finger millet flour – 2 Cups

Salt – 1/8 Tsp

Jaggery syrup– ¾ Cup (Adjust according to the thickness of syrup)

Cardamom powder– 1 Tsp

Hot Water – To knead

METHOD

Take a wide bowl add ragi flour, salt and cardamom powder mix it well.
Now pour jaggery syrup and hot water to require, mix it with laddle without any lumps.

The batter should be flowing consistency.
Heat dosa tawa, pour one ladleful of batter to the hot tawa, don’t spread the batter, its automatically spreads into circle.

Drizzle some oil and when the edges are cooked, flip the dosa.
Cook the other side too and take it out from the tawa.

Serve it hot…

Lima beans (Mochai) and butter beans curry with coconut flavor. In my place I can get fresh mochai and butter beans. I have seen that many of us, confused with lima beans and butter beans whether its same or different… Yes! Its different lima beans is mochai in Tamil and it looks green in color and flat texture. Butter beans will be in white color, round texture and buttery in taste.

difference-between-lima-and-butter-beans

Butter beans is my favorite after green peas. I love the buttery texture and taste will be too good with any other kurma, masala or curry. The lima beans and butter beans curry tastes so well and I have prepared this as side dish for sambhar satham. Here is the recipe,

Category	Curry / Side dish
Cuisine	Indian
Preparation Time	10 Minutes
Cooking Time	30 Minutes
Servings	4

Source – My Own

INGREDIENTS

Mochai (lima beans) –1 Cup

Butter beans – 1 Cup

Water – 1 ½ Cup

Salt – To taste

Oil – 2 Tsp

Mustard seeds – 1 Tsp

Urad dal – 1 Tsp

Onion – 2, finely chopped

Curry leaves – Few

To grind

Coconut, scraped – 2 Tbsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ Tsp

Red chilli powder – 1 Tsp

Coriander powder – 1 ½ Tsp

Pepper powder – ½ Tsp

Fennel seeds – 1 Tsp

Cumin seeds – 1 Tsp

Garlic – 10

METHOD

Pressure cook the lima and butter beans together upto 2 whistles and keep it aside.

Grind the ingredients under to grind with little water into coarse paste.
Heat oil in pan; add mustard and urad dal wait for sputter.

Add onion and curry leaves sauté it till translucent.
Now release the pressure in the cooker, add the beans with the stock.
Let it boil for 2 minutes or until the water reduces into 3/4^th.
Now add the ground paste and mix it well and allow cooking till the water evaporates from the mixture.

Now switch off the flame and serve hot with roti or rice…

NOTE

You can use either one beans or mixed up your favorite beans like rajma, chickpeas or green peas.
Adding the beans stock is optional, if you want very dry curry don’t add the stock.
If you need gravy consistency, add the stock according to the consistency and when its in gravy consistency switch off the flame.

Orange aroma is just inviting and divine, I never say to either oranges. My niece is big fan of oranges, she loves to have the fresh oranges at anytime. I planned to make some cookies for the Christmas, and also prepared vegan cookies, its yet more healthy… right? Yesterday, I baked orange cake for my grandma, its her favorite cake and that too I should prepare the cake with butter not with oil… because she loves the butter cakes much than oil cake J

Today I had prepared the simple, easy and healthy vegan orange cookies with olive oil. The biscuit comes out very crispy in outer and mild soft in inner… I could feel the flavor of oranges in the biscuits… Its one of my favorite and sure gonna make it often only because of oranges and vegan… Here is the recipe for you…

Category	Cookies / Eggless Bake
Cuisine	-
Preparation Time	10 Minutes
Baking Time	10 Minutes (Star Shape) 20 Minutes (Round)
Yields	26-30 Depending on shapes

Source –Veg recipes of India

INGREDIENTS

Whole wheat flour / Atta – ¾ Cup

Corn flour – ½ Tbsp

Baking powder – ¼ Tsp

Baking soda – 1/8 Tsp

Salt – A pinch

Light brown sugar, powdered – ¼ Cup

Olive oil – ¼ Cup

Orange zest – ½ Tsp

Orange juice – 2.5 Tbsp

METHOD

Preheat the oven at 180̊C for 10 minutes.
Sieve atta, corn flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a wide bowl.
Add powdered brown sugar mix it once.

Add olive oil, zest and orange juice to the mix.
Knead it well with hands and make dough.

Divide into equal balls and press it in palms and run fork or tooth picks OR
Roll the dough using rolling pin (Keep parchment paper on top of the dough and roll it), press cookies cutter on the dough to make your desired shape.

Arrange it in the baking tray with ¼ Inch space between each cookies.
Bake it for 10-12 minutes (star shaped cookies), 20 minutes for hand shaped cookies.
Cool it completely on cooling wire rack.
Serve it…

NOTE

You can replace brown sugar with white sugar too.
Squeeze orange before add to the flour, else it will turns bitter.
Zest is important to get the flavor, and be care while scrap the orange peel, the white part will be bitter.
If you want non-vegan, replace the olive oil with softened butter.

Dal tadka is very popular recipes in India. I love dal recipes much, whenever I visit restaurant mostly my orders were garlic naan and dal tadka... I already posted dal tadka with toor dal, and this time I have tried with moong dal. It comes out very tasty and am sure no one say no to the yummy dal gravy…

The aroma of ghee and spices will give you the unique taste. Usually the main deal is easy to cook because it takes little time to cook compared to other dal varieties. Within 20 minutes you can complete the recipe, moreover its protein packed dal and suits for lunch box of kids or even adults. My usual combination of dal rice with potato roast, its irresistible combo… I prepared vazhaikkai kola urundai as side dish for the dal tadka, will post the kola in the next session… Now check out the recipe…

Category	Dal/Gravy
Cuisine	Indian
Preparation Time	10 Minutes
Cooking Time	20 Minutes
Servings	2

Source – My Own

INGREDIENTS

Moong dal, split – ¼ Cup

Water – 2 Cups

Turmeric powder - 1/8 Tsp

Castor oil - 2 Tsp

To Temper

Ghee – 1 Tbsp

Cumin seeds – 1 Tsp

Mustard seeds – 1 Tsp

Urad dal – 1 Tsp

Dry red chillies – 1, broken

Hing – ¼ Tsp

Onion – 1, finely chopped

Curry leaves – Few

*Garlic-Green spice paste – 2 Tsp

Salt – To taste

*Garlic-green spice paste

Garlic – 5 Pods

Shallots – 4

Cashew nuts – 5

Green chilli – 1

Cinnamon -1” piece – 1

Fennel seeds – ½ Tsp

Cumin seeds – ½ Tsp

METHOD

Boil 2 cups of water in pan, add washed and drained Moong dal, turmeric powder and castor oil.

Allow cook it for 10-15 minutes on medium-high flame, and put one laddle in the pan it will prevent overflow.
Meanwhile, heat ghee in a pan, add cumin seeds, urad dal and mustard seeds wait for sputter.

Add hing and dry red chillies and then add finely chopped onion and curry leaves sauté till translucent.
Then add the garlic-green chilli spice paste sauté it till the raw smell goes off.

Now the dal will be cooked well and transfer the onion mixture to the dal and add enough salt and allow boil for 1-2 minutes to extract the flavors from the mixture.

Switch off the flame and serve it hot with hot rice…

NOTE

I added the garlic-green chilli spice paste, which especially ground for vazzhaikai kola. So I added the left over paste to the dal, but the spice taste given the flavorful and unique taste to the dal.
The paste is optional, if you are not add the paste, add finely chopped garlic and green chillies while sauté the onion mixture.
If you running out of time, pressure cook the dal upto 2-3 whistles.

Christmas is nearing so everybody busy in bakes. I can see so many Christmas fruit cakes, ginger bread and snowman cookies and yet more… I have prepared fusion cookies with my secret ingredients which was given by Priya aks for Shhh Secretly Cooking Challenge. This month, she challenged me with Coconut and Pottukadalai (fried gram dal), when I have seen the combination I remember coconut chutney only… Yes! I think every South Indian should prepare the chutney at least thrice a week, right? But I want to try something different with the ingredients, mostly we can use the combos to make kurma/gravy or bondas... Yet! The Christmas mood inspired me to make cookies with the secret ingredients… JJ

OK! Coming to the cookies, its vegan cookies, yes! No butter or no eggs in it… Very easy to prepare and bake and I must say its guilt free cookies. When I tried the recipe, I kept my finger crossed for the outcome of the combo, Yayyy! It was coming out so well and taste too excellent. I never thought it would come out good as I expected… Happy Danceeeee J I should say, when I posted the picture of cookies in the fb group of Shhh challenge, my friends were guessed all the ingredients except pottukadalai and coconut, I knew some of you stare at me ;) as it was quite difficult to guess... Thank you so much dear friends who were all in the guessing part and here is the special treat for you all...

Category	Cookies / Eggless Bake
Cuisine	Indian
Preparation Time	10 Minutes
Baking Time	15 Minutes
Yields	10-12

Source – My Own

INGREDIENTS

Fried gram dal powder / Pottu kadalai Maavu – ¼ Cup

Whole wheat flour / Atta – 2 Tbsp

Dry coconut powder – 2 Tbsp

Baking soda – ¼ Tsp

Baking powder – 1/8 Tsp

Salt – 1/8 Tsp

Light brown sugar, powdered – 1 ½ Tbsp

Olive oil – 1 ½ Tbsp

Maple syrup – 1 ½ Tbsp

Vanilla Extract – ¼ Tsp

Dark chocolate chips – 2 Tbsp

Water – 1 Tsp

METHOD

Preheat the oven @ 180̊C for 10 minutes.
Sieve fried gram dal powder, wheat flour, coconut flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a wide bowl.
Add powdered brown sugar and give it mix.

Add olive oil, maple syrup and vanilla extract mix it well.
Then add chocolate chips and then add water and knead into firm dough.

Roll the dough into 10-12 balls and flatten the balls by pressing between your palms.

Arrange it in baking tray and bake it for 15 minutes.

Cool it on cooling wire rack and store it in air-tight container.

NOTES

You can add maida and honey instead of wheat flour and maple syrup.
If you don’t have coconut powder, replace it with dessicated coconut or just replace the amount with fried gram dal flour.

Banana trees are one of noble and it gives so many useful things to us. It gives us raw banana, ripe banana, banana stem, banana flower, banana leaf and so many… I love ripe green banana is much more than other in the list. Kids usually don’t like to have banana stem or flower, so in that case we have to make something different with the ingredients and make them joy…

I already shared banana stem (VazahiThandu) kootu, banana flower (Vazhaipoo Vadai) vada, vazhaipoo kola urundai, saiva meen kuzhambu and next is vazhaikkai kola urundai (raw banana balls). The kola urundai will be super duper hit among kids or whoever doesn't like raw banana…

Category	Snacks
Cuisine	Southi Indian
Preparation Time	10 Minutes
Cooking Time	30 Minutes
Yields	11-13

Source – My Mom

INGREDIENTS

Raw banana/Vazhaikkai – 1, medium

To grind

Shallots – 10

Garlic – 6

Cashew nuts – 6

Green chillies – 2

Cumin seeds – 1 Tsp

Fennel seeds – 1 Tsp

Cinnamon - 1" - 1

Turmeric powder - 1/4 Tsp

Fried gram flour/Pottukadalai podi - 2-3 Tbsp

Salt – To taste

Oil – To deep fry

METHOD

Wash, cut the head and tail of the vazhaikkai and diced into small pieces and then put it into bowlful of water. (To prevent from browning)
Boil water and put the bananas to the water to cook.

Meanwhile grind the shallots, garlic, cashew nuts, fennel, cumin seeds and green chillies into paste and keep it aside.

When you insert skewer or knife to the bananas it will go smooth and comes out easily and the water color also will be change. Switch off the flame.
Strain the bananas and cool and peel it.

Mash it with spoon or fork into smooth paste and keep it aside.
Now add the ground paste to the banana mixture, add salt and mix it well by hands into smooth dough.
If the mixture is too dry, touch water in your hand and knead to smooth dough.

Heat enough oil for deep fry on medium-high flame.
Divide into small balls and keep it in a plate. There is no crack in the balls, it will break while frying.

Fry the balls into golden brown and keep it in tissue paper.
Serve it hot…

Orange cake is never fails to give good texture and taste to the cake. It is egg-free, butter-free cake with fresh orange juice and almond powder. The cake comes out very nicely with the flavor of orange and almonds. The cake is vegan and not glaze. Finally glazed with chocolates gives awesome and great hit at my home…

The cake is probably one of the best cakes to ever come out of my oven. It has a perfect crumb and incredibly moist. After the chocolate glaze, it has citrusy, sweet and chocolatey. The add of salt enhances the citrus flavor and sweetness from the cake.

Category	Eggless Cake
Cuisine	Universal
Preparation Time	10 Minutes
Baking Time	40-45 Minutes
Servings	8-10

Source –vegkitchen

INGREDIENTS

APF/Maida – ¾ Cup

Whole wheat flour/Atta – ½ Cup

Baking powder – ¼ Tsp

Baking soda – 1 Tsp

Salt – ½ Tsp

Almond powder – ½ Cup

Light brown sugar, powdered – ¾ Cup

Olive oil – 1/3 Cup

Apple cider vinegar/Vinegar – 1Tbsp

Orange juice – 1Cup

Orange zest – 1 Tbsp

Vanilla essence – 1 Tsp

*I halved the above measurements

Chocolate Glaze

Milk – 2 Tbsp

Butter – 1 Tbsp

Dark chocolate, chopped – ¼ Cup

Icing sugar – 1/3-1/2 Cup

Vanilla essence – ¼ Tsp

METHOD

Preheat the oven @ 180̊ C for 10 minutes.
Grease the cake pan with greased butter and dust with maida or line with parchment paper.
Sieve maida, atta, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl.
Add almond powder and whisk it thoroughly to aerate the flour.

Add light brown sugar, olive oil, orange juice, orange zest and vanilla essence to the bowl and mix it well.

Pour the wet mixture to the center of flour mixture.

Gently fold with spatula into smooth batter.
Pour the batter to the cake pan.

Bake it for 40-43 minutes or until turn golden brown or insert toothpick to the cake and it should be comes out clean.

Run knife on the sides of the pan, unmold the cake and cool it in cooling wire rack.

Chocolate Glaze

Add butter and milk into a MW proof bowl.
MW high for 30 seconds and take it out.

Add the chopped chocolate and mix it till smooth.
Add icing sugar and vanilla essence to the chocolate and mix it well.

Glaze is ready.

Keep the cake on a plate and pour the chocolate glaze over the cake.
Garnish with almond powder and almonds or as your wish…
Slice it and serve it…

NOTE

I used light brown sugar instead of white sugar.
Powder the whole almonds into coarse powder and use it.
Use freshly squeezed orange juice for perfect taste.
Prepare chocolate glaze before going to pour on the cake, else the glaze will be thicken like fudge icing.

Chettinad cuisine gives us so much tempting and filling recipes with their unique method of preparation. Aloo/Potato is all time favorite and when it's prepared in Chettinad style, never say “NO” to the recipe, right? The potato with freshly ground spices, will give aromatic and attractive, it suits for rice, roti or poori… Kids would love it much and perfect dish for potato lovers like me…us!!!

Category	Side Dish
Cuisine	Chettinad
Preparation Time	20 Minutes
Cooking Time	20 Minutes
Servings	4

Source – My Own

INGREDIENTS

Potatoes – 1/2 Kg

To roast & Grind

Cinnamon – 1” - 1

Cloves – 2

Cardamom – 2

Fennel seeds – 1 Tsp

Cumin seeds – 1 Tsp

Black peppercorns – 2 Tsp

Dry red chillies – 3

Coriander seeds – 1 Tbsp

Coconut, grated – ¼ Cup

Dry curry leaves – Few

Oil – 2 Tbsp

Garlic, crushed – 2 Tbsp

Shallots – 10, chopped

Turmeric powder – ¼ Tsp

Salt – To taste

Red chilli powder – 1 Tsp

METHOD

Boil the potatoes, peel and cut into small pieces and keep it aside.
Dry roast cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, fennel, cumin seeds, black peppercorns, red chillies and coriander for 2 minutes and transfer into a plate.

Then add grated coconut to the pan, roast it for 1 minute and transfer into the plate, cool it completely and grind into smooth powder.

Heat oil in pan, add mustard and urad dal wait for sputter.
Add crushed garlic sauté it for 2 minutes and then add shallots and sauté it till translucent.

Add the potatoes and stir it once and then add turmeric and salt sauté it for 5 minutes.

Add red chilli powder and sauté it for 10 minutes on low flame.
When the oil oozes out from the masala, switch off the flame.

Serve it hot with rice or chapathi…

Chocolate brownies with a scoop of vanilla ice cream is fabulous combination, but weather is not favor me and having cold also, so no chance for ice cream…:P Few months ago, my sis had sizzling chocolate brownie with ice cream at pastry shop in my place. It was egg-brownie, so couldn't taste it and from the day itself I crave for the brownie and finally did it with dark chocolate.

The texture of the brownie comes out very well, I used dark chocolate compound and spreads of walnuts… The crispy walnut and soft, crumbly chocolate brownie. The brownie is best one, and I gonna make it often… So, are you ready to bake it for Christmas or New year, am sure kids and family will love the brownies much...

Category	Brownie – Eggless
Cuisine	Universal
Preparation Time	15 Minutes
Baking Time	45 Minutes
Yields	12 Pieces

Source –Divine Taste

INGREDIENTS

APF/Maida – 1 Cup

Baking powder – 1 Tsp

Baking soda – ½ Tsp

Salt – 1/8 Tsp

Dark chocolate, chopped – ½ Cup + 2 Tbsp (I used Morde Brand)

Water – 6 Tbsp

Unsalted Butter, softened – 6 Tbsp

Powdered sugar – 3 Tbsp

Condensed milk – ½ Tin (200g)

Vanilla essence – 1 Tsp

Walnut, chopped – 2 Tbsp

METHOD

Sieve maida, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a wide bowl and keep it aside.
Add chopped dark chocolate and water in a MW proof bowl and keep it MW mode for 40-50 seconds.

Now stir it well till the chocolates melts and it look like sauce and keep it aside for cool.
Preheat the oven @ 180̊ C for 10 minutes.
Add butter and sugar in a wide bowl, beat into creamy using electric beater or hand whisk.

Then add condensed milk and vanilla essence beat into creamy.

Now pour the chocolate sauce to the mixture and stir it in one direction till combined well.
Add the flour little by little and gently fold the batter till all the flour used.

Add 1 Tbsp chopped walnut mix it once and pour it in parchment lined or grease cake pan.
Spread other 1 Tbsp. chopped walnut over the batter and tap it once to escape the air.

Bake it for 40-45 minutes or insert toothpick into the center of the cake when it comes out clean take it out from the oven.
Gently invert the pan and cool it completely on cooling wire rack.
Slice and serve it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Desserts with fruits are always welcome at anytime and healthy too, isn't it? It’s the best way to include the fruits to poor eater or to kids… Fruit salad with custard is one of the most famous and easy dessert to make and delicious too. I heard about the fruit custard, but didn't taste still I did it on myself (Yes! Today only I tasted and it was so awesome in taste with different flavors, attractive colors and with different tastes of fruits…

You can use any fruits to make fruit custard, but use more than three fruits to get different flavors and its healthy too. I used apples, orange, strawberries and pomegranate, if you have any other fruits like banana, grapes, pineapple adds everything and gets a healthy and filling fruit custard. Hope it must be a wonderful dessert for Christmas or New Year to your kids, family and friends… Now check out the easy recipe…

Category	Dessert
Cuisine	-
Preparation Time	15 Minutes
Cooking Time	10 Minutes
Refrigeration Time	30-60 Minutes
Servings	4

Source – My Own

INGREDIENTS

Milk – 1 Cup (200 ml)

Custard powder – 1 Tbsp

Light brown sugar – 2 ½ Tbsp

Mixed Fruit – 2 Cups (I used Apple, Pomegranate, Orange & Strawberries)

Pistachios, chopped - 1 Tbsp

METHOD

Reserve ¼ Cup of milk in a glass and boil the remaining milk.
Add custard powder to the ¼ Cup of milk and mix it without any lumps.

Now add the custard milk and brown sugar to the boiling milk and stir it well on low flame.
Stir it till gets thicken (If you take the milk, it will coat on back spoon) but be careful it should not be too thicken. It should be pouring consistency, because while it cools, it will thicken.

apple-pomegranate-strawberry-orange-recipes

Switch off the flame and cool it for a while and refrigerate it for 30 minutes.
Now take serving glass or bowl, pour 1 Tbsp of custard mixture and then add the mixed fruit and pour the custard over the fruits.

Garnish with chopped pistachios and other mixed fruits.
Refrigerate it for 15 minutes and then serve chilled.

NOTES

If you are boiling the milk in induction stove, after add custard powder keep it on low temperature to avoid burning at bottom.
You can add granulated white sugar or jaggery instead of brown sugar.
Adjust the sugar according to your sweetness.
You can use your favorite fruits for the salad.
Drizzle some honey over it and garnish with chopped nuts and raisins to enhance the flavor.

Happily sent off 2014 and welcome 2015. I wish all my friends, readers, subscribers and my family…

WISH YOU VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR 2015!!!

I wish you all your good dream comes true.

Stay blessed with happiness, health, wealth and filled with peace…

Have a great year ahead…

Payasam or Kheer is important for any special days or occasion. We used to make many varieties of payasam but I used to try different payasam recipe, as I love desserts much. Today double festive day, one is new year and other one is Vaikundha Ekadesi… Early morning feeling blessed and watched Parama Patha Vasal – Perumal Darshan in Live TV channel. I felt blessed and spiritual start of the year…

Special day needs to be treat with special foods especially desserts… I had prepared corn dalia kheer as healthy start of this year. The payasam is easy to prepare and everyone love the creamy payasam. Add of condensed milk gives so creamy texture and badam drink mix gives unique flavour to the kheer… Now, lets check out the recipe…

Category	Dessert
Cuisine	Indian
Preparation Time	10 Minutes
Cooking Time	30 Minutes
Servings	4

Source – My Own

INGREDIENTS

Corn Dalia/ Broken Corn – ½ Cup

Water – 2 ½ Cup

Condensed milk – 2 Tbsp

Boiled milk – 1 Cup

Light brown sugar – 5 Tbsp (Adjust as per your taste)

Salt – A pinch

Cardamom powder – ½ Tsp

MTR Badam Drink Mix – 1 Tbsp (Optional)

METHOD

Boil the water and then add corn dalia to the boiling water and cook it on medium temperature.

Cook the corn till softly, and then add condensed milk and boiled milk to the corn and stir it well.

Now add brown sugar, salt and cardamom powder stir it well on medium temperature for 2 minutes.

Add MTR badam drink mix stir it well and switch off the stove.
Serve it hot or chilled J

NOTE

To reduce the cooking time, soak the broken corn for 15-20 minutes and then cook.
You can add jaggery or white sugar instead of brown sugar.
Add coconut milk to get even more rich and creamy payasam.
MTR badam drink is optional; instead of it add ghee roasted cashew nuts and raisins.

Thiruvathira or Thiruvathirai or Aruthra Dharisanam is a Hindu festival celebrated for lord shiva. The festival will be celebrated on the Thiruvathriai star on full moon day. Its also know as Mangalya Nonbu on South Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Every married woman will follow fasting to the longevity of husbands. Unmarried girls also follow fasting to get married good person. They will have food before the sunrise of the day and follow fasting and complete their fasting while the moon rise in the evening.

We usually do 16 kaikari kootu, Inippu appam, medhu vadai and Karuppati vadai with rice, dal and rasam. After doing the Pooja tie yellow rope on the hands (unmarried women) and the neck (married women). Then complete our fasting with these neivediyum. I have shared Thiruvathirai Inippu Appam which we offer for the god of the special day. The appam is my most favorite, but we prepare only 7 appams on the special day and reserve the remaining batter in refrigeration and will prepare it on next day to enjoy… J

Category	Dessert
Cuisine	South Indian
Preparation Time	7 Hours including Soak Time
Cooking Time	20 Minutes
Yields	15-20

Source – My Own

INGREDIENTS

Par boiled rice – 1 ½ Cup

Raw rice – ½ Cup

Jaggery – 1 ½ Cup

Water – Required to grind and jaggery syrup

Salt – ¼ Tsp

Oil – To deep fry

METHOD

Soak parboiled rice and raw rice for 4-6 hours.
Melt jaggery with 2 Tbsp of water on low flame and filter it to prevent impurities and keep it aside.

Wash and drain the rice and grind it with little water into a smooth batter.

Pour the jaggery syrup into the batter with salt and grind it once.

Transfer into a bowl and keep it aside.
Heat enough oil to deep fry on medium-high flame.

Pour one ladleful of batter and fry till golden brown.

Keep it on absorbent paper and serve it…

NOTE

You can add cardamom powder and scraped coconut to the batter.
Do not increase raw rice ratio, else it will become too hard.

Thiruvathirai kai kootu or 7 kari kooti is very important on the day of Thiruvathirai festival. As I already shared about the festival in my previous post. The kootu contains different types of country vegetables in tamarind gravy. I don’t know how long the storyline is true or not. But I heard it from my relatives (aged people) told the story for making the kootu.

On the day of thiruvathira, one woman’s husband was dead. She didn't inform others about her husband’s dead because of thiruvathirai. So, she decided to do the pooja and forget about her H’s death and do all the pooja works. She went to the garden and picked all the available vegetables and did the kootu and while making pooja, she woke up her husband without remembering as he dead already. But it was a miracle for her, when she woke up him, he just woke up. So the pooja has power to give long life of husbands. This was the story of the pooja I heard. Do you hear the same? I just wanted to share the story with you…

Coming the kootu, it's usually prepared with country vegetables. You can prepare the kootu with 7, 16 or 21 vegetables. In my place the vendors sell 21 vegetables together on the special day. All the vegetable cooked in tamarind gravy gives unique taste and it will taste better in the next day. We used 21 vegetables as shown in the picture with mochai and tomato to make the gravy.

Category	Gravy
Cuisine	South Indian
Preparation Time	30 Minutes
Cooking Time	30 Minutes
Servings	10-12

Source – My Mom

INGREDIENTS

To sauté and grind

Oil – 1 Tbsp

Shallots – 1 Cup

Tomato – 4

Coconut, scraped – ¼ Cup

Mixed Vegetable – 3 Cups

Mochai – 1 Cup

Turmeric powder – ½ Tsp

Kuzhambu chilli powder – 5-6 Tsp

Salt – To taste

Tamarind pulp – 3 Tbsp

To Temper

Oil – 2 Tbsp

Cumin seeds – 2 Tsp

Mustard seeds – 2 Tsp

Urad dal – 2 Tsp

Curry leaves – Few

Shallots, chopped – ¼ Cup

METHOD

Heat oil in pan; add onion sauté till translucent and then add tomato sauté it for 3-5 minutes and then add coconut and cool the mixture and grind into smooth paste. (Missed to take the step-wise)
Pressure cook the mochai with 3 cups of water with little salt for upto one whistle.
Meanwhile, cut the all vegetables and put it in immersed water to avoid discoloration of the vegetables.

After reducing the pressure, open the cooker, add turmeric powder, red chili powder, salt and the ground paste. Stir it well and keep it on high flame.

While the mixture start boils, add the hard vegetables, which take long time to cook and allow cooking for 15 minutes.

Now add the other vegetables and mix it and allow cooking on medium flame.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan; add cumin seeds, mustard and urad dal wait for sputter.

Add curry leaves and shallots sauté till golden brown and switch off the flame and keep it aside.

Now add the tamarind pulp to the gravy and stir it once and let it cook for 10 minutes or the mixture gets thicken but the gravy should be pouring consistency. While cooling it will get thicken.

Add the tempered mixture and stir it well and switch off the flame.
Serve it hot…

NOTE

You can prepare the kootu with 7 vegetables as 7 kari kootu. If you prefer 7 kari kootu use country vegetables.
Adjust the spiciness according to your taste.
Chop the vegetables into medium pieces to get a good texture.

Green peas and potato is fabulous and favorite combo at any time. Sometimes I order green peas curry with naan when I visit to restaurants. Now, I get fresh green peas at my place and I never miss to restore in refrigerator. The gravy comes out very well and it tastes like restaurant gravy. Well suits for naan, roti or with variety rices.

Category	Dessert
Cuisine	South Indian
Preparation Time	7 Hours including Soak Time
Cooking Time	20 Minutes
Yields	15-20

Source – My Own

INGREDIENTS

To make Kofta

Green peas – 1 ¼ Cup

Potato – 10 Baby potatoes or 1 Big potato

Red chilli powder – ½ Tsp

Garam masala powder – ¼ Tsp

Roasted cumin powder – ¼ Tsp

Salt – To taste

Corn starch – 1 Tbsp

Milk powder – 1 Tbsp

To make Gravy

Butter – 1 Tbsp

Oil – 2 Tbsp

Onion, finely chopped – ¼ Cup

Ginger garlic paste – 1 Tbsp

Dry fenugreek leaves – 2 Tsp

Tomato puree – 1 Cup (Used 4 Tomatoes)

Red chilli powder – 1 Tsp

Coriander powder – 1 Tsp

Roasted cumin powder – ½ Tsp

Black pepper powder – ½ Tsp

Salt – To taste

Cashew-almond paste – 2 Tbsp

Fresh cream – 2 Tbsp

Garam masala – ½ Tsp

Coriander leaves – To garnish

METHOD

Boil the potatoes and green peas separately. Peel and mash the potato and grind 3/4^th cup of green peas (remaining ½ Cup for gravy) and transfer into a bowl.

Meanwhile, heat enough oil to deep fry.
Add red chilli powder, garam masala, cumin powder, salt, corn starch and milk powder knead into a smooth dough.

Divide into equal balls without any cracks and keep it in a plate.

Deep fry the balls till golden brown on medium flame and keep it in plate.
In another pan; heat butter and oil and then add chopped onions sauté till translucent.

Add ginger garlic paste and sauté till raw smell goes.
Add dry fenugreek leaves and sauté it once and then add tomato puree sauté till the oil oozes out from the mixture.

Now add red chilli powder, coriander powder, roasted cumin powder, black pepper powder and salt sauté till raw smell goes.
Now add the remaining green peas and ½ Cup water to the gravy and let them boil.

Then add cashew-almond paste, garam masala and fresh cream, stir it once and allow cooking for 3-4 minutes.

Add coriander leaves and switch off the flame.

Add the kofta to the gravy before going to serve.
Serve it hot with white rice or roti…

NOTE

Drain well the green peas before grinding.
Use Kashmiri red chilli powder to get rich color, if you wish to add a pinch of red food color.
Roll the balls in breadcrumbs before frying to get extra crispy.
Adjust the spiciness according to your taste.

Flax seeds are very healthy and it's very needy for vegetarian people. It has Omega 3 fatty acids, which helps to keep your heart healthy, normalize blood pressure, strengthen the immune system, enhance joint comfort and flexibility, lose weight and keep it off, ease PMS and menopause symptoms and support healthy kidney and liver functions.

I used to make the flax seed as an egg substitute for cakes and prepared podi rice with peanuts. Recently, I have prepared the idli podi which I got the recipe from +Kalpana sis. Thanks you so much for the wonderful and healthy recipe. The podi tastes so good with drops of gingelly oil, it goes well with idli, oothappam and dosa…

Category	Basics/Spice Powder
Cuisine	Indian
Preparation Time	5 Minutes
Cooking Time	15 Minutes
Yields	1 Cup (200g)

Source –Life with Spices

INGREDIENTS

Urad dal – ½ Cup

Chana dal – ¼ Cup

Flax seeds – ¼ Cup

Dry red chillies – 10

Sesame seeds – 1 Tsp

Hing – ½ Tsp

Salt – To taste

METHOD

Dry roast the dals till golden brown on medium flame, be care do not burn it.
Transfer into a dry plate. Then dry roast the flax seeds till sputter and transfer into a plate.

Dry roast the dry red chillies and transfer into a plate and switch off the flame.
Add sesame seeds, hing and salt to the hot pan and roast it and transfer.

Cool it completely and grind it in dry mixer into coarse powder.

Cool it completely and store it in air-tight container.

Sprouted lentils are very healthy with loads of nutrition and gives energy to our body system. Mostly, sprouts have been taken as in raw form like salads. But some may not like the raw form, they can get the benefits from cooked sprouted lentils. I love green peas much as I already told. I have prepared the curry for sambhar rice, which is the perfect combo platter.

Category	Side dish
Cuisine	Indian
Preparation Time	10 Minutes
Cooking Time	20 Minutes
Servings	2-3

Source – My Own

INGREDIENTS

Sprouted green peas – 2 Cups

Oil – 1 Tbsp

Mustard seeds – 1 Tsp

Urad dal – 1 Tsp

Shallots, chopped – ¼ Cup

Curry leaves – Few

Salt – To taste

To grind

Coconut – 4-5 small pieces

Garlic – 3 pods

Turmeric powder – 1/8 Tsp

Red chilli powder – 1 Tsp

Coriander powder – 1 Tsp

Roasted cumin powder– ½ Tsp

Black pepper powder– ½ Tsp

METHOD

Grind the ingredients given under the section with little water into a coarse paste and keep it aside.
Heat oil in pan; add mustard seeds and urad dal wait till sputter.

Add shallots and curry leaves sauté it till translucent.
Add the green peas and sauté it once and then add water , ground masala and salt to the mixture and allow cooking for 10-15 minutes on medium flame.

Check whether the peas cooked or not, if its cooked keep it on high flame to evaporate the water till the curry consistency reaches.

Switch off the flame and serve it hot…

NOTE

You can use fresh/frozen green peas instead of sprouted peas.
Sprouted peas take a quick time to cook than the soaked peas, so cook according to your preference.
If you want gravy consistency, don’t allow to evaporate remaining water.
Well suits for hot rice, roti or simple evening snacks.

Pongal is my top most favorite whether it is a sakkarai Pongal or ven Pongal. I never seek other foods if Pongal available on my plate. I tried the Rava Pongal for the first time and never tasted the Pongal before I attempted. Yes! I just followed the recipe of rice ven Pongal and prepared it. It was coming out really delicious, creamy and ~~heavily~~heavenly too… (The Pongal was tasted like restaurant servings, so happy about the result and everyone loved it much.

My dad used to call the pongal as “thooka mathirai” (sleeping pills). Haha! Yes… whenever he had it, he goes to sleep whether its morning or night. Rava Pongal is very easy to prepare within 30 minutes. If you add the given amount of ghee to the Pongal, it will be rich and filling breakfast and you don’t feel hungry for the lunch too.

Category	Breakfast
Cuisine	South Indian
Preparation Time	5 Minutes
Cooking Time	30 Minutes
Servings	2

Source – My Own

INGREDIENTS

Semolina/Rava – ½ Cup

Moong dal – ¼ Cup

Turmeric powder – 1/8 Tsp (Optional)

Ghee – 3 Tbsp

Cumin seeds – 1 ½ Tsp

Black peppercorns – 1 Tsp

Curry leaves – Few

Ginger, chopped – 1 Tbsp

Hing – ¼ Tsp

Salt – To Taste

Water – 4 Cups

METHOD

Wash and drain the moong dal and add to the pan.
Add 2 cups of water to the dal with turmeric powder cook till the dal cooks well.

Now the dal will be ready, if the water evaporates add 1 cup of water to the dal with salt and let it boil.

Meanwhile heat ghee in pan add cumin seeds wait till golden brown and then add pepper corns wait for sputter.

Add cashewnuts and sauté it till golden brown and add curry leaves, ginger sauté it for 30-40 seconds and switch off the flame.
Add hing to the oil and keep it aside.

Add rava to the dal mixture and stir it constantly till the rava cooks well.
The mixture will start thicken and then pour ghee tempering to the rava.

Mix it well and switch off the flame.

Serve it hot with coconut chutney and sambhar.

how-to-make-rava-pongal-restaurant-style

NOTE

Adjust water according to the dal cooking time.
Don’t compromise ghee amount for the rava pongal, else it will be dry.
If you wish add oil and ghee to get less light version.

Pongal is an important festival of harvest. After the first harvest of the season, the new raw rice cooked with a sweetness and offer to the god as pongal padayal. It's like Diwali for all farmers, they usually get new clothes for Pongal festivals and grandly celebrate in their villages with family and friends. How can forget about sugar cane (Karumbu), karumbu is my all time favorite and waiting to taste it tomorrow.

Kalkandu Pongal is very easy to prepare and delicious. Kalkandu Pongal will be creamy while cook with milk. But I have prepared without milk because my mom won’t like milk in some recipes. No compromise on taste, the Pongal without milk is tastes well with the flavor of cardamom and ghee.

Category	DESSERT
Cuisine	Indian
Preparation Time	20 Minutes
Cooking Time	30 Minutes
Servings	2-3

Source – My Own

INGREDIENTS

Raw rice – 1 Cup

Moong dal – 1 Tbsp

Ghee – 3 Tbsp

Cashew nuts – 10

Raisins – 10

Sugar candy/Kalkandu – ¾ Cup + 2 Tbsp

Cardamom powder – 1 Tsp

Salt – A pinch

Water – 4 Cups + ¼ Cup

METHOD

Wash and soak the rice for 15 minutes.
Grind the sugar candy into powder and keep it aside.

Heat 1 Tsp ghee in a pressure pan; dry roast the Moong dal and then add drained rice stir it once.

Add 4 cups of water and cook up to 4-5 whistles.

After the pressure reduce, open the cooker lid and mash it well.
Now add the sugar candy and ¼ cup of water mix it well on low flame.

Meanwhile, heat ghee in a pan; roast cashew nuts and raisins and keep it aside.
Add cardamom powder, salt to the Pongal and stir it well.

Finally, pour the ghee with cashews and raisins, mix it well and switch off the flame.
Serve it hot…

NOTE

You can substitute the ¼ cup of water with milk to get rich creamy Pongal.
Powder the sugar candy is optional; it will melt in the heat itself.

WISH YOU ALL VERY HAPPY PONGAL/MAKARA SANKRANTI!!!

இனியபொங்கல்திருநாள்வாழ்த்துக்கள்!!!

On this special occasion, I have a desire to start a fascinating event to multiply your bliss. I would like to thank Divya and my friends who helped me to start the event. Surprise or feast always adds an element of fun and excitement to our lives don’t you agree? And while you surprise someone you always get satisfied and a contented heart for making someone’s day better. So here’s an event where I have planned to bring this element of fun into blogging.

You would have had got inspired by some blogger at some point of time and there are people in this blogging world with whom you’d like to share a lot with. And for some reason you may not be able to get in touch with them. You might also feel like doing something for the blogger who inspired you or helped you at some point in time. So here’s a chance.

Here’s an event JING A FRIEND (Jing=Surprise) where you can dedicate a post cook something special for such a person and surprise them. This event will help you do something for the blogger you've been admiring for long.

Here’s what to do…

Who is your surprise friend and why are you dedicating the post to her?
Share your first contact/interesting moment with them; if not what you like to tell them?
What are your likes from her as personal or/and her’s blog?
Treat her with a special recipe and why you selected the recipe?
Send me your questions/doubts; what you like to ask them? I will get replies from the person without telling your name and will be posted with the post. The replies will be surprised for you too… J
The Last but not least, Please don’t reveal your surprise friend’s name to anyone till the post publish on my blog…

Who can participate in the event

Both bloggers and non-bloggers can surprise a blogger friend.

Event Time

Every month – 4^th Monday
Question submission – before 2^nd Wednesday
Recipe submission – 2^nd Friday

How to participate

Mail me (vijisvirunthu@gmail.com) or inbox me on Facebook (Vijisvirunthu)

Give me your name and the friend’s name. Other details we can discuss further in the mail.

Are you ready to surprise your friend!!!

Who knows you may be the next person to enjoy the surprise from the loved one!!!

SPINACH MARBLE PARATHA I GREEN PARATHA I KEERAI CHAPATHI I HEALTHY PARATHA RECIPES

RAGI INIPU DOSA I FINGER MILLET SWEET PANCAKE I HEALTHY BREAKFAST RECIPES

LIMA & BUTTER BEANS CURRY I MOCHAI BUTTER BEANS MASALA

VEGAN ORANGE COOKIES I EGG FREE BUTTER FREE ORANGE COOKIES I CHRISTMAS COOKIES

MOONG DAL TADKA

FRIED GRAM DAL CHOCOLATE CHIPS COOKIES I POTTUKADALAI CHOCOLATE BISCUITS I VEGAN COOKIES I CHRISTMAS RECIPES

VAZHAIKKAI KOLA URUNDAI I RAW BANANA BALLS I SOUTH INDIAN SNACKS

CHOCOLATE GLAZED ORANGE ALMOND OLIVE OIL CAKE I VEGAN ORANGE ALMOND CAKE I CHRISTMAS RECIPES

CHETTINAD POTATO CURRY I EASY ALOO CURRY I SIDE DISH FOR RICE & ROTI

CHOCOLATE WALNUT BROWNIE I EGG-FREE CHOCOLATE NUT BROWNIE I CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR RECIPES

FRUIT CUSTARD I MIXED FRUIT SALAD WITH CUSTARD I HEALTHY FRUIT CUSTARD I CHILL DESSERTS I CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR RECIPES

CORN DALIA KHEER I BROKEN CORN PAYASAM I HEALTHY DESSERT I FESTIVAL RECIPES

THIRUVATHIRAI INIPPU APPAM I THIRUVATHIRAI RECIPES I ARUTHRA DHARISANAM RECIPES

THIRUVATHIRAI KOOTU I 7 KARI KOOTU I THIRUVATHIRAI THALAGAM I THIRUVATHIRAI RECIPES

MUTTER KOFTA CURRY I GREEN PEAS BALLS GRAVY I NORTH INDIAN GRAVY RECIPES I RESTAURANT STYLE RECIPES

FLAX SEED IDLI MILAGAI PODI I HOMEMADE HEALTHY IDLI MILAGAI PODI WITH FLAX SEEDS

SPROUTED GREEN PEAS CURRY

RAVA PONGAL I SEMOLINA VEN PONGAL I PONGAL RECIPES

KALKANDU PONGAL WITHOUT MILK I SUGAR CANDY RICE I PONGAL RECIPES

JING A FRIEND!!! - AN EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT