Instant Poha Upma Mix Recipe – Ready To Eat Poha Mix

When we think about quick breakfast recipes, Rava & Poha comes to our mind ( Poha = Rice flakes in English, Poha in Hindi, Aval in Tamil, Avalakki in Kannada).Poha recipes are easy to cook & a very healthy option for diabetic people too. In my kitchen, Rava upma and poha upma makes its appearance at least twice in a week. Sendhil loves Poha upma very much. So I keep making variations in poha upma like mixed vegetable poha upma, lemon poha, Kanda Poha, Batata Poha, Gujarati Poha, Karnataka Chitranna etc. When Sendhil went for an abroad trip, I packed homemade Instant Rava upma mix and poha mix for him. No soaking and chopping is needed. Just boil some water and cook. It will be ready to eat in few minutes just like noodles.You can enjoy this mix as teatime snack like chivda/Poha mixture.This mix was very useful for him and he loved it too. So I started making Instant mix recipes very often in my home. I make use of this mix whenever I feel lazy to cook after coming back from a trip. For this recipe, I referred this & this blogs, made some additions and tried it. Bachelors, working women and students who stay in hostel, PGs can try and keep this mix in bulk quantity. It will really help you to make quick,hassle free breakfast or dinner.Try this and share your feedback . You can try this upma mix with Red aval, Brown aval or even thin rice flakes. But cooking time and water quantity may vary slightly. See to it. Ok, lets see how to make Instant Poha upma mix recipe.
Check out my Tamil nadu style aval upma, Maharastrian Kanda poha, Gujarati Batata poha and lemon poha recipes.

Instant Poha upma mix recipe - Rice flakes mix

How to make homemade instant poha upma mix

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Main-Breakfast

Serves: -

Prep time: 5 Minutes

Cook time: 15 Minutes

Total time: 20 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 250ml Thick Rice flakes/Poha - 3 cups Cooking oil - 4 tbsp Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp Urad dal - 1 tbsp Chana dal - 2 tbsp Cumin seeds/Jeera – 1 tsp Roasted Peanuts - a handful Curry leaves - 2 sprigs Hing/Asafetida – 2 pinches Red chillies - 6 nos ( Pinched ) Turmeric powder – 1 tsp Pepper powder - 1 tsp ( optional) Salt - as needed Sugar – 1/2 tsp

METHOD

Clean the poha if needed but without washing in water. Heat oil in a kadai and splutter mustard seeds, Urad dal, chana dal, pinched red chillies, curry leaves, hing and turmeric powder.Add poha, salt, sugar and pepper powder. Saute well until poha turns crispy. Keep the flame medium to high and roast patiently by staying nearby.Add roasted peanuts and mix it.Switch off the flame and let it cool in the kadai itself. ( Roast peanuts Once its cool, store in an air tight box or ziplock cover. No need to refrigerate. It stays good for weeks even without refrigeration. To make poha upma with this mix, boil 1.5 cups of water. Add 1 cup of poha mix and keep mixing till it absorbs 3/4th of the water. Cover the kadai and let it cook in low flame for few minutes. Open the kadai and stir it once in the middle. After its cooked well, sprinkle some lemon juice and garnish with coriander leaves.Mix well and serve hot !! For variations, Soak this mix in hot water for few minutes and then cook it with little water. You can saute one finely chopped big onion in 1 tbsp of oil and then add water. Add poha mix and follow the above procedure. You can add chopped and cooked potatoes along with onions like North Indian “Kanda batata poha” OR saute finely chopped vegetables along with onions, cook for few minutes and add poha mix.This makes the poha mix more healthy. You can even add some garam masala powder and make a twist from the usual upma. NB: Add more chillies or chilli powder as per your taste buds. Add 1/2 tsp of lemon peel powder in this mix if you have in hand. I din’t use it. If you have potato flakes in hand,

Make your own instant poha upma mix at home and enjoy !

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Ven Pongal Recipe – How To Make South Indian Khara Pongal

Ven pongal also known as Khara pongal is one of the most important South Indian breakfast recipes which is very popular in Tamil nadu. I have already shared my MIL’s easy, Venn pongal recipe in a pressure cooker with a video. Today I have come up with my mom’s version of making ven pongal. My parents are with me in Bangalore and I am having a great time with them. I am enjoying my mom’s special recipes. This morning amma made ven pongal and coconut chutney for our breakfast. Most of us avoid eating pepper corns if its added as whole ones. So my mom adds coarsely powdered pepper corns just like the ones served in some hotels. And she adds more quantity of moong dal to make the dish more healthy. It doesn't look like hotel style ghee dripping pongal but sure its tasty. Do try this version. You will love it. Ok, Lets see my mom’s style South Indian Ven pongal recipe for breakfast.

Ven pongal recipe

Ven pongal/Ghee pongal/Khara pongal - South Indian breakfast recipes

Cuisine: South Indian

Category: Breakfast

Serves: Serves 2-3

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 20 Minutes

Total time: 30 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 250ml Raw rice/Pacharisi - 1 cup Yellow moong dal/Paasi paruppu - 1/4 cup Water - 5 cups ( add more based on your desired consistency) Ghee - 4 tbsp Pepper corns – 1 tsp Cumin seeds - 1.5 tsp Curry leaves - few Chopped ginger - 2 tsp Asafetida/Hing - 2 pinches Cashew nuts - few Salt - as needed

HOW TO MAKE VEN PONGAL - METHOD

Heat 1 tsp ghee and roast moong dal in a kadai till nice aroma arises. Do it patiently without burning them. Remove in a plate. For variations, you can skip roasting the dal and wash it with rice.  Wash the rice and set aside. In a kadai, heat 2 tbsp of ghee and roast the pepper corns.Let it crackle. Remove half of them and powder it coarsely. If you want, you can powder all the roasted pepper corns. I powdered half & added the remaining as it is for photographic attraction. But my mom usually powders all the pepper corns. Add cumin seeds to the remaining pepper corns and roast the jeera for few seconds without burning. Switch off the flame and set aside.In a cooker base, take the washed rice and roasted moong dal. Add 5 cups of water and required salt. Mix well and add the roasted pepper + cumin mixture, chopped curry leaves, ginger and hing. Mix everything and pressure cook in high flame for 7 to 9 whistles. Remove the weight valve after the steam is released. Heat 1tbsp of ghee and roast cashew pieces till golden brown.Open the cooker and add the roasted cashews and powdered pepper corns. Mix well till mushy and add the remaining 1 tbsp of ghee. Mix and serve. Serve hot with coconut chutney .Enjoy !

Enjoy yummy ven pongal for breakfast !

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Methi Chaman Recipe – How To Make Paneer Methi Chaman

Last week my friend Shalini was telling me about methi chaman gravy (Methi = Fenugreek leaves in English, Vendhaya keerai in Tamil, methi in Hindi, Menthe soppu in Kannada) she had in a restaurant. She told her family loved the gravy a lot and suggested me to give a try. She also shared me a link with a recipe close to the restaurant style methi chaman. Actually speaking, I have no idea about this recipe and its origin. So I browsed few more recipes to know its birth and came to know methi chaman is from Kashmir and it is very popular in Mumbai too. It is a mildly spicy curry/ gravy made using palak, fenugreek leaves/Methi leaves. It is popularly known as Hariyali Methi Chaman.Today I have shared Paneer methi chaman recipe. I am not sure this is the authentic recipe because I found many variations in this basic methi chaman recipe by adding paneer, Palak,  sweet corn etc. In fact my friend Shalini tasted makai methi chaman in which sweet corn and methi leaves were the major ingredients. It is without paneer and palak. But its my first attempt for this recipe. So I blindly followed the recipe shared in the link. It came out finger licking good.Its a good side dish for roti, naan, kulcha, ghee rice and mild pulao varieties. I loved it like anything and found “Kitchen King Masala” is the star ingredient for this particular recipe. Friends, do buy a pack of kitchen king masala if you don’t have in your hand.It gives restaurant style taste and flavor to North Indian gravies. If you don’t have fenugreek leaves, you can use crushed kasuri methi ( Dried frenugreek leaves) too.Ok, lets see how to make methi chaman gravy with paneer.
Don't forget to check out my other paneer recipes in THIS LINK

Paneer methi chaman gravy recipe

Paneer methi chaman gravy recipe - Mildly spiced gravy with Indian cottage cheese & Fenugreek leaves- Side dish for roti,naan, kulcha and mild pulao varieties

Cuisine: North Indian

Category: Side dish

Serves: Serves 2

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 20 Minutes

Total time: 30 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 200ml Fenugreek leaves/Methi - 1 cup Paneer/Indian cottage cheese - 1/2 cup Cooking oil - 1+1 tbsp Big onion - 2 nos Tomato - 2 nos (big) Ginger – 1 inch piece Cumin seeds/Jeera – 1/2 tsp Cashews or melon seeds - few ( I used 3 cashews) Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp Red chilli powder - 1 tsp ( Add more for spicy gravy) Dhania powder - 2 tsp Cumin powder/Jeera powder – 1/2 tsp Kitchen king masala powder - 1 tsp ( I used Kwality brand) Boiled Milk - 1/4 cup Salt & water - as needed

METHOD

Cut paneer into cubes.Chop tomato, slice onions. Boil 2 cups of water till water starts to roll boil.Add the paneer cubes. Take fenugreek leaves ( methi leaves) & wash it thrice to remove the dust. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadai. Crackle cumin seeds. Saute onion till transparent. Add ginger pieces,cashews. Then saute tomato till mushy adding some salt. Let the mixture cool down. Grind to a smooth paste adding required water.  Heat 1 cup of water & add 1/2 tsp sugar and the washed leaves. Boil for few minutes till the leaves cook well. Cook till all the water drains out. For variation, you can saute the leaves in oil instead of blanching to reduce the bitterness.Also you can grind the cooked leaves to a paste and add to the gravy. This gives green colored base to the gravy. Heat 1 tbsp oil in the kadai. Saute the tomato-onion paste, 1/4 cup of water, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, dhania powder, kitchen king masala powder, required salt. Mix well till oil starts to ooze out. To this add the blanched methi leaves and some water, mix well and let it boil.Check for taste and add more salt, spice powders if needed. Add the paneer cubes, boiled milk and let the gravy boil for a minute. Check the consistency and switch off the flame. Add fresh cream if you like. Mix well and serve hot with roti/Pulao/Naan. Enjoy ! Don't forget to check out my other paneer recipes in THIS LINK

Enjoy restaurant style Paneer methi chaman recipe with roti/naan !!

 

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Vegetable Uthappam Recipe – Mixed Vegetable Dosa

Basically I am a big dosa lover and love to try dosa varieties at home.I make them mostly for breakfast. But I couldn’t share all of them in my blog as I don’t get time to click the pictures in the busy morning hours.Today Sendhil is working from home.So I prepared this mixed vegetable uthappam for his breakfast and clicked it too. Onion uttapam and vegetable uthappam are our favorite among all the uthappam recipes in restaurant. So most of the time, this would be in our daily routine menu. More than the restaurant ones, I love this dosa version from small road side dosa corner. I have tasted and seen the making of mixed vegetable dosa several times in road side 101 dosa varieties stalls in Salem and Bangalore as well. Topped with the mixture of colorful, finely chopped vegetables & with lot of butter, this dosa tastes awesome with a watery coconut chutney, spicy Kara chutney and sambar served as a side dish. Literally I am drooling while writing this post and feel like running to a nearby dosa stall. At home, we can make a low calorie version by using less oil/butter and more healthy by adding more quantity of vegetables than hotels.Do try this for breakfast & kids lunch box. They would love to eat this colorful dosa. Sprinkle some cheese & make it more attractive for kids. Lets see how to make this yummy vegetable uthappam recipe with step by step photos.

Vegetable Uthappam Recipe

How to make mixed vegetable uttapam - Healthy dosa varieties for breakfast/dinner !

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Main- Breakfast

Serves: 4 nos

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 5 Minutes

Total time: 15 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

Idli dosa batter - 1 cup Finely chopped carrot - 1/4 cup Finely chopped onion - 1/4 cup Finely chopped tomato - 1 no Finely chopped coriander leaves - a handful Finely chopped capsicum - 2 tbsp (optional) Finely Chopped green chillies - 2 nos Cooking oil/ghee/butter - as needed Check out my MIXIE DOSA BATTER recipe too.

METHOD

Wash and finely chop the carrot, onion, tomato, green chillies, capsicum and coriander leaves and mix everything together.Instead of fine chopping you can grate carrot.If you like ginger flavor, add a tsp of grated ginger. In addition to this vegetables, you can add finely chopped cabbage, beans if you like.Heat a dosa tawa and pour a ladleful of dosa batter. Spread it slightly and make thick dosa if making uthappam. If you want to make as a dosa, spread more. As soon as you see some holes on the top of the dosa, start sprinkling the mixed vegetables all over the dosa. Drizzle 2 tsp of oil around it. By this time, the bottom portion of dosa would have cooked. Flip the dosa, press it lightly with the dosa flipper and cook the dosa in medium flame for 2-3 minutes. For variations cover and cook the dosa without flipping it.

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Idli Sambar Powder Recipe – How To Make Hotel Idli Sambar Podi

Homemade idli sambar powder – Idli sambar can be prepared in many ways. But most of the people like hotel idli sambar ( restaurant style idli sambar) as it has got a special flavor.Usually my Mom & MIL makes Idli sambar adding freshly ground spices in addition to our usual Kuzhambu milagai thool/sambar powder just like hotels. My mom calls this powder “Mel podi” in Tamil. My MIL makes this sambar podi every time freshly whereas my mom makes this powder in bulk quantity and stock it for a week. She adds this powder to idli sambar and lunch sambar as well. Its a very simple recipe with just 5 ingredients. Sendhil loves hotel style idli sambar as it is more flavorful than the plain idli sambar. But most of the time especially during busy morning hours, I make a simple onion sambar for idli without adding mel podi. Recently my mom suggested me to grind and store this idli sambar powder and use it whenever needed. I gave a try and it really helped me for quick & easy cooking. Its smell & flavor lasted for more than 2 weeks even though I made in small quantity. If you have leftover lunch sambar in hand, you can add this powder to convert into idli sambar. Check out Notes section in this post. I have shared in detail.Friends, do try this idli sambar powder and make restaurant style sambar at home easily. Lets see how to make it.

Idli sambar powder - Hotel idli sambar podi

How to make idli sambar powder at home for making hotel style sambar

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Homemade powders

Serves: 1/2 cup

Prep time: 5 Minutes

Cook time: 10 Minutes

Total time: 15 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp - 15ml : 1 tsp - 5ml Dhania/Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp (heaped) Chana dal - 2 tbsp Methi seeds/ Fenugreek - 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds/Jeera - 1 tsp Red chilli - 5 nos ( I used byadge & guntur chillies for color & spiciness) Cooking oil - 1 tsp For variations you can few curry leaves while roasting. Dry grated coconut can be added while grinding but not more than 1 tsp.

METHOD

In a small kadai, heat oil. Add the methi seeds, when it starts to sizzle add the chana dal, pinched red chillies, cumin seeds and dhania seeds.Roast everything in low to medium flame. Make sure no dals or spices are burnt. Let them cool down. Grind everything to a fine powder. Store in an air tight box and use it whenever needed. This sambar powder stays good for one week if stored in an air tight box. Please refer my HOTEL IDLI SAMBAR post for the procedure of making sambar. In that recipe, I have shared the ingredients of spices to roast & grind. No need to make that powder. Instead add 1 tbsp of  this sambar powder at the end.Give a boil.Switch off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves. If you have left over lunch sambar in hand, you can easily convert that into hotel style idli sambar. For that : Season mustard seeds, cumin and curry leaves in ghee ( Add chopped small onions if needed). Add 1 tbsp of this idli powder in the ghee,saute for a second and add to the left over sambar. Dilute 1 tbsp of besan flour in 1/4 cup of water. Add to the sambar. Mix everything well. Let the sambar boil nicely. Check for taste and add more salt or sambar powder if needed.Enjoy ! Note : In this recipe, I have used less number of chillies. So I add either green chilli or add some sambar powder or red chilli powder for extra spiciness. So please add more chilli powder or chillies as per you need. Try to prepare this sambar 1-2 hours before serving. This standing time helps for all the flavor to enhance while serving. You can use this powder for making sambar 3-4 times.

Try this homemade idli sambar powder and share your feedback with me.

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Mini Tiffin Recipes – South Indian Breakfast Thali

Mini tiffin is very popular in Tamil nadu restaurants.It is served mostly for breakfast. I guess most of you would have tasted mini tiffin in hotel Saravana Bhavan, Chennai. But I tasted this first in AAB (Adayar Ananda Bhavan), Bangalore and liked this concept very much.One could relish many varieties of South Indian tiffin items like Idli, vada, Masala Dosa, pongal, Kesari along with different types of chutney and sambar – AAAllll in one plate. A South Indian food lover, especially a big Idli, dosa fan like me would enjoy this breakfast menu like anything. I can have this for dinner too :)).Even kids would love this menu a lot. So whenever I go to Tamilnadu, I ask for mini tiffin in restaurants and have it happily. Recently I had this in hotel Aadithya of Kumbakonam. They served almost the same menu with a small cup of filter coffee(Mini coffee) as a compliment. After tasting it, I got tempted to try this South Indian breakfast thali at home and blog it. So I prepared all these dishes for our weekend breakfast. Usually we make this kind of menu for our guests. It took nearly an hour for me to make this platter. But the final result was very tasty and enjoyable. Sendhil & Raksha loved it to the core. You can try this menu for special days like anniversary, birthday and treat your family members.I have shared the recipe links and method of preparation with time saving tips.Lets see how to make restaurant style mini tiffin recipes at home.

Mini Tiffin Recipes - South Indian breakfast thali

Mini tiffin ideas - Idli, Vada, Dosa, Pongal, Kesari, Chutney varieties & sambar

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Main - Breakfast

Serves: Serves 3

Prep time: 20 Minutes

Cook time: 40 Minutes

Total time: 60 Minutes

Chitra Ganapathy

INGREDIENTS

Idli, dosa batter Ven pongal Urad dal Vada in mixie , batter in grinder Rava Kesari Coconut chutney Red chutney Green chutney Idli podi Hotel sambar ( I made this sambar ) Filter coffee

METHOD

Keep Idli, dosa batter ready in hand. Soak Urad dal for vada in the early morning. You need to soak it for one hour minimum. I soaked 1/2 cup of dal and ground the batter in mixie adding green chilli, ginger. Then added pepper corns, cumin seeds and hing to the batter. Do Not add salt while grinding the batter. Add salt at the time of deep frying. First make Ven pongal in a small pressure cooker adding 1/2 cup of raw rice, 1 tbsp of moong dal and 2.5 cups of water.Refer my Ven pongal post for the recipe with video.It takes nearly 20 minutes to cook. In another cooker base, cook toor dal along with carrot, potato, pumpkin pieces( If using), chopped onion, 2 whole tomatoes. It takes 15 minutes. In the mean time, you can prepare other dishes. Make Rava kesari and let it set. Grind the coconut chutney & green chutney. Saute tomato, onion, red chilli and grind with salt to smooth paste. Lastly temper mustard, urad dal and curry leaves.Add to all the chutneys. Now steam idli in an idli pot. By this time, ven pongal and dal for sambar would have been cooked.So open the cooker, add some ghee to pongal, mix well till mushy and close the cooker.Let it sit till serving. Open the dal cooker and mash it well. To this, add the  tamarind extract, sambar powder, salt, diluted besan flour and let it boil. Temper with ghee and garnish with coriander leaves. I din’t add freshly roasted sambar powder in this recipe. I just used my usual sambar powder and prepared this sambar in a simple way. After making all the dishes, serve them in a plate and keep it ready. Lastly make dosa and vada.Serve it.Make filter coffee at the time of eating.serve hot immediately.Enjoy !

Note

For variations in this menu, you can make poori and potato masala, khara bath /Upma recipes. Instead of kesari, you can keep any other sweets like gulab jamun, badam halwa, kaju katli You can also keep tea/chai instead of coffee. Actually in the hotel, they ask for choices between tea and coffee.

Try this special breakfast menu for your guest or your husband/kids birthday, anniversary and enjoy restaurant style menu at home

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Dal Baati Recipe – Rajasthani Dal Bati Recipe

Dal baati is a very famous Indian dish that is made of Dal ( lentils) & wheat flour/Atta as major ingredients. It is most popular in Rajasthan, Madhya pradesh and Uttar pradesh. I tasted this dish in Rajdhani restaurant and started loving it a lot. Whenever I visit Rajdhani, I ask dal bati for the second serving and have it without any guilt. Actually I planned to post Chole batura recipe this week but I was not happy with the clicks.I should try again and take pics in good lighting. Somehow I wanted to make a North Indian recipe post in my blog as per the schedule. So I made a simple, mini Rajasthani thali for our lunch yesterday. I prepared Rice, Dal bati, Churma, Marwari Potato curry( Aloo Ki sabji) recipes and ate it heartily with curd & pickle.I will post the thali pictures this weekend. Today I would like to share the recipe of Rajasthan’s Signature dish – Dal baati. Actually Bati can be made in Oven, tandoor, microwave or deep fried in ghee/oil. I tried in oven as its my first attempt. If you have Bati in hand, making churma/Choorma is so easy. I will share that recipe soon. Now lets check how to make Dal bati recipe with step by step pictures. For this recipe, I referred Rajdhani’s website, Tarla dalal and Ruchis kitchen.

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