Fruit Salad with yogurt

Fruit salad with yogurt is my favourite food for dinner on the day we have a heavy lunch. Its light on the stomach, pretty filling too and not to forget the heavenly taste. You can serve this as a desert as well. Oh do I need to remind you how healthy a breakfast this will make

You can play with the fruits and different flavours of yogurt.



Ingredients (for 2 big bowls)

Mango 1
Banana 2
Grapes around 15-20 big ones
Strawberry Yogurt 1 cup

Method of Preparation

1. Cut all the fruits into small pieces. I usually cut my grapes as well as it helps to mix in the flavours.
2. Add some yogurt to this. Toss well and serve. My fruits and yogurt were chilled, otherwise you can chill it for a hour before serving.

Optionally you can drizzle some honey or chocolate sauce over this. Other things to add flavour would be cinnamon poweder or cardamom powder. Toss in some chopped nuts and raisins as well.




Sending this to Healthy Diet - Breakfast - Priya's event hosted by me this month




Sending this to Lets cook fruits hosted by Radhika

Sending this to Bon Vivant - Fruit recipes

Nadan Soy Chunk Curry - Chicken Style

Kerala is the land of Spices. We are pampered with fresh cardamom, pepper etc. Growing up mom always cooked with a lot of Spices. Though we are Tamilians and cook a lot of Tamil food at home, we are also heavily influenced by Kerala Cuisine. My brother and I are great fans of Nadan (roughly means traditional or from villages) dishes of Kerala.


The below recipe is a vegetarians take on Kerala's famous Nadan Kozhi Kari (Chicken Curry). You can of course make this with chicken if you are a non vegetarian. Other options include making it with boiled eggs or even potatoes.

I am over the moon today after eating this curry. It was just perfect... loved it so much. Do give it a shot if you are new to Kerala Cuisine and want to try something authentic.




Please note that this dish is supposed to be super spicy (most Kerala dishes are). But I have made it very less spicy so that my little one can enjoy it. You can add more ginger, 2-3 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp garam masala and 1 tsp pepper powder to it instead of the below measurements. Adjust according to your taste

Ingredients

Onions 3 finely chopped
Garlic 6 pods
Ginger 1 inch piece
Soy Chunks 2 cups
Curry Leaves around 15
Bay Leaf 2
Clove 3
Cardamom 2
Cumin 1/2 tsp
Fennel Seeds/Saunf 1/2 tsp
Chilli Powder 1 tsp
Coriander Powder 3 tsp
Cumin Powder 1 tsp
Turmeric 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala 1/2 tsp
Pepper Powder 1/2 tsp
Coconut Milk 1/2 cup



Method of Preparation

1. Boil water in a pot. Once it starts to boil, add the soy chunks and cook for 5 minutes. Switch off, drain. Wash with cold water so that you can work with it. Squeeze out all excess water. Press really hard as it will taste better when this water is gone. Most people hate soy chunks cause they do not squeeze out water. Keep aside

2. Heat oil in a pan. Add bay leaf, clove, cardamom, cumin, fennel seeds and curry leaves. When it sizzles, add the onions and saute till it is nicely browned, taking care not to burn.

3. Make a paste of ginger and garlic and add to this. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

4. Make a paste of chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric and garam masala with a little water. Add to the pan. Stir for a minute or 2.

5. Add the cooked soy chunks and toss well along with pepper powder and some salt.

6. Once the masala is mixed well, add coconut milk and around 2 cups of water (according to gravy you need) and mix well. Bring it to a boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes.



Serve with kerala style parota or warm rice or rotis. Will be perfect with Aappams as well.





Linking this to

Kerala Kitchen hosted by Jehanne

EP - Hearbs and Spices - Ginger and Pepper Event by Julie, Guest Hosted by Prabha

MLLA - Susan's event hosted by Priya
CWS - Soy Bean - Priya's event hosted by Anu
Walk thru Memory Lane - Gayathri's event hosted by Jayanthi
Show me your HITS - Iron rich food - Sangee's Event hosted by Julie
SYF HWS Series - Fennel Seeds - Anu's Event hosted by Kaveri

Methi Aloo Banarasi

I took the recipe for Dum Aloo Banarasi and changed it a little bit. Also added some methi leaves. Aloo and Methi just make such a beautiful combination. On the top of it, I just made this with 1.5 tbsp of oil as I opted to bake it and not fry it. The potatoes were nice and roasted. Never again will I fry potatoes.

We all loved it, My son especially loved this dish so much.

Warning : Make a big batch, you will never have enough of this dish. The potatoes will quickly disappear from under your nose :-)



Ingredients

Baby Potatoes 1 kg
Methi leaves 1 bunch (about 2 cups)
Channa Masala 1 tsp
Yogurt 1 tbsp

For the paste
Tomatoes 4 roughly chopped
Garlic 4 pods
Ginger 1 inch piece
Cashews 2 tbsp
Saunf/Fennel Seeds 3 tsp
Cumin 2 tsp
Red Chillies 2 (Mine was mild curry. Increase it according to your needs)
1/2 cup water

Method of Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Wash and dry the potatoes. Arrange them in a baking tray. If they are big cut it into 2-3 pieces. Add 1 tbsp of oil and a little salt. Toss well.

2. Bake for about 25-30 minutes tossing it twice in between.

3. In the meanwhile, heat a pot. Add all the ingredients for the paste along with the water. Cook till the tomatoes are done. Switch off, cool and grind to a fine paste.

4. Add a little oil to the same pot. Toss the methi leaves for a couple of minutes till it welts. Add the paste to it along with the channa masala and salt. Simmer for a few minutes.

5. Add the baked potatoes and yogurt and simmer for a few more minutes.

Serve with warm rotis.






Linking this to I love Baking - Radhika's Event

Linking this to Kaveri's event SYF HWS Series - Fennel Seeds - (event by Anu)

Linking this to Show me your HITS - Sangee's Event Hosted by Julie

Sambar for Tiffin

I learnt this recipe from my MIL's sister when she visited us in my MIL's house. She is an amazing cook and I still have the task of calling her to get a few of her amazing recipes. She made this for us for breakfast and we loved it. I had made notes on a paper as I did not have my recipe book with me at that time. I totally forgot about it. Found it last week inside a book and I knew I had to make it with my Masala Dosa.

When I talked to Chitti sometime ago, she told me how she and chittappa check my blog frequently. I felt so happy!!



Ingredients

Onion 1
Tamarind / Puli 1/2 tsp
Toor Dal 1/4 cup

Oil and Salt to taste

To Roast and Powder

Channa Dal 1 tbsp
Coriander Seeds 1 tbsp
Fenugreek Seeds (Vendayam) 1/2 tsp
Cumin/Jeera 1 tsp
Red Chilli 2
Coconut 4 tbsp

To Make into Paste
Onion 1 big
Tomato 2

Method of Preparation

1. Heat a pan and dry roast all the ingredients under to roast. When it is reddish brown, powder them and keep aside. I do all the ingredients except coconut first and then go for coconut after I remove them.

2. Heat oil in the pan. Add the onions. Saute till it starts to change colour. Add tomatoes and cook till it starts to cook. Remove from fire. Cool and make into a paste.

3. Cook the toor dal in a pressure cooker till it is mushy and well cooked.

4. In the same pan, heat oil. Add the second onion sliced. When it starts to brown, add the spice powder, tomato-onion paste, puli, cooked dal and salt. Stir and bring it to boil.

5. Simmer for sometime.

Serve with Idli or Dosa. We enjoyed with some masala dosa



I like Masala served separate as I feel it makes the dosas a little soggy



Linking this to Walk thru Memory Lane event by Gayathri  hosted by Jayanthi

Vegetable Pizza - Black and White Wednesday #33!

My first entry to B&W Wednesday.... My first attempt at making Pizza at home. Not bad for a first attempt. Recipe after I perfect the making of it :-)



Susan's event hosted by Saraswathi

Pineapple Sheera

I had some Pineapple (canned) that I bought to top my son's pizza. I did not want to sit in the fridge and go bad. When I was making some Kesari today, I thought why not add the Pineapple to it and convert into Pineapple Kesari (Sheera).

So here you go.. Hope you like it

Ingredients

Rava (Sooji) 1 cup

Pineapple chopped finely 1 cup
Sugar 3/4 cup (I felt it was a little less sweet, could have used 1 cup, but my husband found 3/4cup correct)

Cardamom powder 1/2tsp

Cashews few

Raisins few

Orange food colour a pinch

Melted Ghee 1/2 cup

Method of Preparation

1. Heat a pan and add the rava. Roast it for a little bit and keep aside.

2. In the same pan, add a tbsp of ghee and fry the cashews. Keep aside. Fry the raisins and keep it with the cashews.

3. In the same pan, heat 2 cups of water. When the water boils, add the roasted rava. Cook till the rava is done, stirring continuously. This will only take a few minutes.

4. Add the sugar, pineapple (I took a a few chunks and made a paste of it and added along with the other chucks), cardamom, food colour and some ghee. The sugar will make it watery again. Still till all the sugar is melted and it starts to thicken again. After adding the sugar, do a taste check to see if you need more sugar.

5. Keep stirring till it starts to leave the pan. Add the remaining ghee little at a time in between.

6. Garnish with the cashews and raisins




Sending this to Lets cook fruits hosted by Radhika

Sending this to Bon Vivant - Fruit recipes

Jhatpat Baby Corn Subzi

I had been meaning to make something with baby corn for some time now. Never got to doing it. My son loved this curry so much. He was picking out all the vegetables as they had a nice crunch and was munching on them. We also loved it





Ingredients

Baby Corn 250gm (about 1.5 cups)
Cauliflower 1 cup
Green Pepper 1
Red Pepper 1
Onions 2 Big
Tomatoes 4

Cumin/Jeera 1 tsp
Turmeric 1/2 tsp
Coriander Powder 1 tsp
Chilli Powder 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala 1 tsp

Green Chilli 1
Coriander Leaves a little.

Method of Preparation

1. Steam the cauliflower in a microwave and keep aside.

2. Cut the peppers, onions, tomatoes into square pieces. Cut the baby corn into smaller pieces if they are long.

3. Heat oil in a pan. Add the cumin and when it sizzles, add the onions. Saute till it is browned a little.

4. Add the turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder and garam masala. Mix well and cook for a minute.

5. Add the tomatoes, peppers and baby corn along with some salt. Mix well. Add a little water (just sprinkle some).

6. Cover and cook for a few minutes till the vegetables start to cook. Add in the cauliflower as well and mix.

7. Optionally add a paste of green chilli and coriander leaves to this at this stage. Or just garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve with warm rotis .I made some Sindhi Kokis to go along with it. Recipe for that coming soon.