November 27, 2015

Baby Potato Fry (Small Potato Curry) Recipe

This is my second recipe for baby potato curry.Earlier I have shared a madurai style small potato curry.After that,I din’t get a chance to make baby potato recipes other than biryani and pulao.So this time I reserved few baby potatoes to make an easy,spicy curry recipe for rice.It’s a no grinding roast recipe that takes less preparation time if you have cooked & peeled small potatoes ready in hand.This recipe is apt for Bachelors and working women who look for easy side dish for rice.Yesterday morning I tried this along with paruppu rasam for Sendhil & Raksha’s lunch box.They loved it a lot.It ‘s a good side dish for sambar rice,rasam and even curd rice.So friends,try this easy and spicy small potato curry for your lunch and share your feedback with me.

Baby potato fry recipe

Small potato curry/Baby potato fry recipe for rice

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Side dish for rice

Serves: Serves 3

Prep time: 15 Minutes

Cook time: 10 Minutes

Total time: 25 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

Baby potato - 15 nos
Big onion - 1 no ( finely chopped)
G&G paste - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1.5 tsp ( use 1 tsp for less spice)
Dhania powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Lemon juice - few drops
Coriander leaves – to garnish(optional)
Salt & water - as needed

To temper

Cooking oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
Urad dal – 1 tsp
Cumin seeds/Jeera – 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few

METHOD

Wash and pressure cook potatoes adding 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder.Peel the skin and set aside.You can prick the potatoes with a fork if you wish.

Heat oil in a kadai and splutter mustard seeds,urad dal,cumin seeds. Add finely chopped onions & curry leaves.After onion turn transparent,add the g&g paste.Saute till raw smell goes offf.Then add red chilli powder,turmeric powder,dhania powder,garam masala powder and salt.Lower the flame and saute for few seconds.Lastly add the peeled small potatoes and mix well.

Saute for few minutes & after the masala is well coated over the potatoes,switch off the flame.Sprinkle some lemon juice.Garnish with coriander leaves if you wish.Serve hot with rice !

Note

Adjust the quantity of chilli powder as per your taste.
For no onion no garlic version,skip onions and g&g paste.Instead add finely chopped ginger while sauting.
Lemon juice can be skipped if you want the curry to be more spicy.
You can also garnish it with coriander leaves after switching off the flame.

Easy,spicy baby potato curry,Paruppu rasam with banana chips was our lunch yesterday Happy

It was yummm !! You too give a shot !

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November 26, 2015

Ginger Carrot Soup Recipe - Vegetarian Soup Recipes

I have never imagined a soup recipe beyond tomato soup & sweet corn soup so far.Whenever we visit a restaurant, most of the time our order would be tomato soup as it’s the only soup which is liked by all of us.Other than this,I have tried Veg clear soup with wontons in a Chinese restaurant and tomato shorba in a North Indian restaurant.Last week when I was talking with my friend Shalini,she was suggesting me to try this healthy ginger carrot soup by sharing her recipe.I have heard about this soup but I had no idea of how it tastes & looks.I thought this soup might be having a sweet taste because of carrot and I was hesitant to try it.On the same day,I got a mail from the editor of Daily thanthi newspaper asking me to share some interesting soup recipes for Monsoon.I tried this soup with a 50-50 mind set Worried

.But to my surprise,it came out extremely well.Sendhil & Raksha were full of praises Applause

.The smell of butter and spices with the mild ginger flavor were awesome.For Vegan version,replace butter with olive oil.Non-vegetarians can use chicken stock instead of vegetable stock. I happily clicked the picture of this soup and shared the recipe with the editor.It was published on Last Sunday Chennai edition.I was waiting for Karthigai deepam celebrations get over to post this yummy & rich soup recipe in my blog.So here you see how to make this easy,creamy and healthy ginger carrot soup recipe ! It’s a perfect n soothing soup recipe for this rainy season Happy

Check out my tomato soup & sweet corn soup recipes if interested !

Ginger Carrot Soup Recipe

Ginger Carrot Soup Recipe - Healthy soup recipe

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Soup

Serves: Serves 2

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 20 Minutes

Total time: 30 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

Butter - 1 tbsp
Carrot - 1 Big sized
Ginger - 2 inch piece
Big onion - 1/2 no
Garlic cloves - 5 small
Bay leaf - 1 no
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Salt - as needed
Water or vegetable stock - 2 cups ( adjust)
Sugar - 1/4 tsp
Pepper powder - as needed
Fresh cream - 1 tbsp (optional)

METHOD

Wash and chop the carrots into slices.Chop onions,ginger and garlic cloves.Heat a pressure cooker base adding 1 tbsp of butter (Use butter for best taste,Vegans can use olive oil).Saute bayleaf and cinnamon for a second.Add the chopped onions,ginger,garlic and carrot pieces.Saute for a minute.

Lastly add 2 cups of water and required salt.Pressure cook in low flame for 2 whistles till carrots are done. Open the cooker after the steam is released.Drain the excess water in a bowl.
Take out the bay leaf and cinnamon from the cooked mixture and add it to the drained water.

Let the carrot mixture cool down.Grind them into a smooth paste adding reserved water.Strain the ground paste using a metal strainer.Use a spoon & mix well to strain it thoroughly.It will look like a paste while you strain.Add it to the reserved water and boil the soup for few minutes adding sugar,salt and pepper powder. Add little water if necessary.

Lastly add the fresh cream,mix well and switch off the flame.Serve Hot !! Enjoy this flavorful,soothing Carrot Ginger Soup with your family:)

Note

Adjust the quantity of pepper powder as per your taste.
You can skip cinnamon if you don’t want more spices.
This soup can be had directly without straining to get a creamier taste.
Instead of carrot,u can use pumpkin.
Fresh cream is completely optional.But don’t skip butter if you are not a vegan.It gives a great flavor to this soup.

Try this easy,healthy Carrot Ginger Soup during this monsoon season.You will enjoy every sip of it !

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November 23, 2015

Maida Appam Recipe With Sugar - Karthigai Deepam Recipes

Maida sweet appam - Sweet maida maavu paniyaram recipe with step by step photos and video !

Sweet appam can be made using different ingredients.It can be prepared with maida,wheat flour or raw rice.I have already shared two versions using wheat flour & raw rice.Here is my third version of sweet appam using maida,banana &sugar.This is the most easy to make version among all the three.My Mil makes this appam for our surprise guest along with a bajji variety. My MIL makes deep fried version whereas I used paniyaram pan here.If you feel maida & sugar are unhealthy,u can replace it with wheat flour & jaggery.Lets see how to make this easy sweet appam recipe using maida & sugar for Karthigai deepam festival !
Please click HERE to check my other recipes for Karthigai Deepam.

Maida appam with sugar

Sweet appam with maida,banana & sugar

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Sweet

Serves: 8 nos

Prep time: 5 Minutes

Cook time: 10 Minutes

Total time: 15 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 cup = 200ml

Maida/All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
Rice flour – 1 tbsp
Small banana - 1 no ( I used yelaki)
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Cardamom powder - 1/8 tsp ( 2 seeds)
Water - as needed
Cooking soda - A pinch
Salt – a pinch

METHOD

Take the ripe banana and mash it well with your hands or grind in a mixie. To this, add maida, sugar, rice flour, cooking soda, salt and cardamom powder. Mix well without water.

Add water little by little and make a smooth, lump free batter. Batter should be thick but pourable. If the batter is too thin, appam may become flat. If its too thick, appam would be hard. So take care.

Heat a paniyaram pan adding oil in each hole. After the pan is heated,pour a small ladleful of batter in each hole.Keep the flame medium and cover cook for sometime.Flip it & cook for the other side too.Remove in a bowl.

I tried few appam by deep frying them.I used oil till 1/4 of the pan and deep fried one at a time.It came out well with golden brown color as u see in the picture below.So if you wish to deep fry,u can go ahead. But remember to deep fry the appam in less oil to get a good shape. I used my mini tadka pan. You can use any kadai.

Enjoy !

Note

Replace maida with wheat flour & sugar with jaggery for healthy substitute.

Try this quick and easy maida appam for this festival.Happy Karthigai Deepam !

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November 22, 2015

Karthigai Deepam Pooja Procedure,Date,Recipes

Karthigai Deepam is a festival of lights, celebrated in the Tamil month of Karthigai. It is celebrated on the full moon day of the Karthigai month(November-December) which coincides with Karthika star.This year 2017,Thirukarthigai deepam falls on December 2nd, Saturday. Pooja should be done in the evening around 5-30 to 6pm. Actually One must light deepam every evening in the entrance and do the pooja on all the 30 days of this month. On the Thirukarthigai day, the entire house is decorated with the oil lamps. This festival of lights indicates the removal of darkness (Ignorance) and enhancing of light (Intelligence).Karthika Month is the only month in which both Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu are worshipped. Karthika Pouranmi or Karthika Purnima is also one of the days when the temples of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu are full with the devotees wanting a darshan of their deities.
The other names of Karthika Pournami are Deva Diwali or Tripurari Purnima. Generally people observe vratham/fasting during 30 days of Karthigai month.On those days,people avoid eating Non-veg foods.They take head bath daily and read one chapter in Kanda puranam book.They must take meal only once per day either it can be a lunch or dinner.Most of the people observe this kind of Vratham on auspicious days like karthika poornima, karthigai somavaram etc.In this month,Karthigai Deepam is the most important festival for Hindus.

Little Millet Biryani / Samai Biryani Recipe - Millet Recipes

As I promised in my previous post,here is the long time due Sunday Biryani from my blog almost after a month.Yeah,I couldn’t post any biryani recipe for the past few weeks as I was concentrating on Diwali recipes.So this week,I wanted to share a healthy,interesting yet easy biryani recipe using millets.Actually speaking,I got the idea of making this biryani after I got few requests from my readers.I used little millet/Samai to prepare this biryani.I made a easy,no grinding biryani adding mixed vegetables for our lunch today.As I din’t have peas in hand,I used sweet corn kernels.It came out very well and it was tummy filling too.You can follow the same recipe and replace samai with varagu or Kuthiravali.I have mentioned the quantity of water for other millets in the Notes section.Please have a look at it before you try them.Lets check how to make this healthy,easy millet biryani recipe ! This recipes goes into my Sunday Lunch Recipes series 34 Happy

. I am happy to share this recipe to Nativefoodstore.com where they sell organic food products in online. You can purchase millets and its related products at reasonable price.
Check out my other biryani recipes in this series .

Nei Appam Recipe - Ghee Appam - Sweet Paniyaram - Karthigai Deepam Recipes

2015 is running fastly and that too festivals are coming one after the other very quickly. Last week I just sat & thought “Appaada,Diwali festival is over” and now Karthigai Deepam festival has arrived.Just 4 days to go .For every food blogger, festival starts one week earlier than the actual day because we need to try varieties of neivedyam recipes for the sake of blogging.Sometimes I feel lazy to try out new recipes but whenever I get some mails of appreciation and recipe requests,I feel myself refreshed and start to browse for some interesting recipes.Yesterday I got a mail to share Nei appam recipe using rice.Even though I had posted an easy and instant nei appam recipe with rice flour, rava and wheat flour last year,that was not the traditional recipe.Traditionally nei appam is made using rice and it should be deep fried in ghee or oil.In Kerala,they call nei appam as unniappam.So this year for Karthigai deepam 2015,I wanted to share a nei appam recipe with rice as per my reader’s request.I adapted this recipe from my MIL’s sweet paniyaram recipe and I used my paniyaram pan to make this appam.So this is not a deep fried version. It came out very well and soft. The flavor of ghee & jaggery with cardamom was awesome. We all loved it.Friends,if you are looking for nei appam recipe with rice,do try this one.It needs 4-6 hours fermentation time based on the weather.For instant version,please click THIS LINK. For appam recipe using wheat flour,click THIS LINK. Next week i will try to share a sweet appam recipe using maida !Lets see how to make ghee appam/Vella appam recipe for Karthigai Deepam .

Nei appam recipe

How to make nei appam recipe using rice n dal ! - Karthigai deepam recipes

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Sweet

Serves: 20 nos

Prep time: 120 Minutes

Cook time: 5 Minutes

Total time: 125 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 cup = 200ml

Raw Rice OR Idli rice - 1 cup
White round urad dal - 1 tbsp
Toor dal - 2 tsp
Poha/Aval - 2 tbsp
Methi seeds/Vendhayam - 1/2 tsp
Water - as needed
Salt - a pinch
Cooking soda - 2 big pinches
Grated jaggery – 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp
Cardamom - 3 nos
Ghee - as needed ( to cook appam)

METHOD

Wash and soak rice,methi seeds,urad dal,toor dal and poha together for 2 hours.Grind it in a big sized mixie jar adding grated jaggery and cardamom.The batter should be very smooth.So add water accordingly.Do not make the batter too watery.It should be of dosa batter consistency.As we are adding jaggery while grinding,it will leave some water.So use water carefully.

Remove the batter in a bowl and keep aside for 3-4 hours. Usually we grind the batter around 11am in the morning and make appam at night around 7.By doing this way,batter would be fermented slightly and gives soft appam.So soak the rice & grind the batter earlier at least 5-6 hours before making appam to get really soft appam.

In the evening around 6pm,take the batter and mix it well.If you feel the batter is too thick,add some water to bring dosa batter consistency.Add 2 pinches of cooking soda,mix well and set aside for 10 minutes.
Heat a paniyaram pan and add 1/2 tbsp of ghee in each hole.You can mix gingely oil + melted ghee and make this appam.When the ghee is heated,pour the appam using a small ladle.Fill the batter till half of each holes.This helps for even cooking. Keep the flame low and close the pan with a lid.

After 2-3 minutes,flip the appam and cook the other side by covering the pan.Prick it with a fork for even cooking.Appam looks golden brown,bulgy and soft.Insert a toothpick or back of a spoon and check for doneness.If the spoon comes out clear,appam is done.This appam stays good for a day.( color of appam may vary based on the color of jaggery.If the batter is well fermented,u will get nice golden colored appam as u see in the picture) Enjoy !

Note

Do not use thick batter for making appam.Appam will become hard.
You can add 2 tbsp of grated coconut while grinding the batter.
This appam tastes the best when the batter is ground 6 hours before making.So try to make it earlier. If the batter is properly fermented,u can omit cooking soda.
Sometimes my MIL adds a ladleful of fermented idli,dosa batter to avoid cooking soda.
You can mix gingely oil + melted ghee and make this appam.

Try this traditional Nei appam recipe for this Karthigai Deepam and Enjoy !

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November 17, 2015

Easy Arisi Upma | Rice Upma Recipe - Fasting Lunch Recipes/Vrat Food

Arisi upma is our family favorite recipe. I learnt this from my MIL.Its one of our traditional recipes in which raw rice & toor dal is soaked in water for 2 hours,ground coarsely and slowly cooked in Vengala paanai/Brass pot with seasoning.It takes nearly 45 minutes to prepare in pot.This upma is also prepared by Iyengars/Iyers.Mostly we make this upma for Lunch and sometimes for breakfast or dinner during fasting/Vrat/Vratham days like Maha Shivratri, Ekadesi, Kanda Shasti and Karthigai.Today being Kanda Shasti, we made this rice upma along with no onion no garlic sambar recipe and sweet puttu for our lunch.You can make some payasam, pongal or some sweet dishes adding jaggery and offer for Neivedyam. Sambar & coconut chutney are the best side dishes for this upma.My MIL taught me how to make this upma quickly & easily using pressure cooker without even soaking rice & dal.So I thought of sharing this simple and easy fasting lunch recipes idea for you all to make your food quickly under 15 minutes on fasting days.If you are allowed to take raw rice on Vrat days,do try this easy upma recipe.You will love it.Lets see how to make our South Indian breakfast recipe - Rice Upma/Arisi upma.
I have discussed the traditional method in Notes section.Please have a look at it !

Godhuma Dosai(Instant Wheat flour Dosa) Recipe – Easy Breakfast/Dinner Recipes

I think some of you might have expected a biryani post today.Sorry friends,I was not able to share any biryani recipes for the past few weeks as I was concentrating on Diwali recipes.And now,after eating all the high calorie Diwali sweets & snacks,we are in the mood of taking some diet foods at least for a week.So strictly there is no biryani in the menu. But I am sure I will make some interesting biryani recipe for blogging sake and come up within this week.Stay tuned !! Today’s post Godhuma dosa /Instant wheat flour dosa ( Atta dosa in Hindi,Godhumai dosai in Tamil,Gothumba dosa in Malayalam,Godhuma pindi dosa in Telugu)is the one I make at least once in a week for breakfast or dinner.It’s a very easy to prepare, Instant dosa recipe that can be made in no time.More than me, Sendhil likes this dosa a lot.I make it in two ways based on the time in hand.One by adding tempered & sauteed onions and one more very simple version just by adding raw pepper & jeera. It tastes great in either ways.You can make this dosa for breakfast or dinner on lazy days.My mom & mil makes this dosa in a healthy way without adding rice flour.But I add little rice flour to make it crispy.Some people also add curd or buttermilk to get a mild tangy taste but I don’t add it.My mom & mil makes coconut chutney as side dish for godumai dosa. When I was young,I used to have it with sugar .But now my vote is for spicy tomato chutney . Sendhil loves to have this dosa with idli podi.So in the above picture,you can find the dosa with my favorite & his favorite side dishes and a store bought juice.Whatever be the side dish,it tastes great when eaten hot !Lets see how to make South Indian style godhumai dosa recipe with stepwise pictures and a video !

Paneer Korma Recipe ( Mughlai ) - Paneer Recipes

Paneer Korma recipe was in my try list for long time.So I tried it last week for Sendhil & Raksha’s Lunch box as a side dish for roti.Actually I was looking for a paneer korma without coconut.But I found this recipe with curd,cashews & coconut masala in Mughlai style.I found it interesting and prepared it by making small changes in the actual recipe to suit our taste buds.It came out really well with a restaurant touch.This gravy also goes well for Pulao & ghee rice.The most important thing in this korma is that curd should be fresh & not sour at all else it will spoil the taste of this gravy.So friends,if you have fresh curd & paneer in hand,go ahead with this recipe.It tastes yum.Soon I will try to share a paneer masala korma with tomato base.Now lets see how to make this Indian Paneer Korma recipe with coconut .

Do check out my North Indian style White Paneer Korma Recipe too !

Paneer korma recipe

Paneer korma recipe - How to make yummy paneer kurma recipe with coconut

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Side dish For Roti

Serves: Serves 3

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 20 Minutes

Total time: 30 Minutes

INGREDIENTS
( 1 cup - 250ml)

Paneer - 1 cup ( 100gms cut into small cubes)
Cooking oil - 2 tbsp
Bayleaf - 1 no
Cinnamon – 1 inch
Cloves – 2 no
Cardamom - 1 no
Pepper corns - 1/8 tsp
Big onion - 1 no
Red chilli powder - 1/2 - 1 tsp ( add 1 tsp for spicy taste)
Dhania powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/8 tsp
Garam masala powder – 1/2 tsp
Salt and water - as needed
Sugar - 1/2 to 1 tsp
Kasoori methi - 2 big pinches

To grind

Grated coconut -1/4 cup
Fresh curd - 1/3 cup ( Should use fresh curd)
Cashew nuts - 8 nos
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Poppy seeds/Khus khus -1 tsp
Green chilli – 1 no

METHOD

Cut the paneer into small cubes or strips and keep them immersed in hot water till use. Grind all the ingredients given under “ To grind” to a smooth paste. Add water to grind if needed. Set aside.

Heat oil in a pan and saute Cinnamon, cloves, bayleaf, cardamom and pepper corns.Add big onions and saute until transparent.Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder, dhania powder, sugar and salt.Mix for few seconds without burning the masala.Now add the ground coconut paste and saute well. Lastly add garam masala powder and mix well.

Add 1 cup of water and boil for few minutes.Check for taste. Add more spice powders if needed. Lastly add the paneer cubes. Crush kasoori methi lightly and add it to the gravy. Switch off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves if you wish. Enjoy with roti and pulao !

Note

Make sure you use fresh curd. It should not be sour.Sour curd makes the gravy tangy and tasteless.So please see to it.
Add more chilli powder for spicy taste.