Manathakkali Keerai Kootu Recipe-Black Night Shade Recipes

Manathakkali Keerai kootu is a healthy side dish for rice.I think about manathakkali keerai(Black night shade in English) only when we get mouth ulcers and inflammations .It gives a good cure for liver & other stomach related problems.Apart from these,there are many more health benefits.So I treat this keerai as a medicine mostly.I usually make Manathakkali thanni saaru using fresh leaves and Vatha kuzhambu with dried berries.Its been my long time wish to try kootu recipe with it.But I was afraid of its bitter taste.My MIL told me to add more dal and coconut to suppress its bitterness.I followed the same and the kootu came out very well.This time I followed an easy method and cooked it directly in the pressure cooker just like paruppu keerai.Its taste was very close to hotel ones.Here I have used moong dal.You can replace it with toor dal or chana dal too.Friends,do try this easy,healthy kootu.It’s a good side dish for Vatral kulambu rice.Lets see how to make this South Indian style manathakkali kootu recipe.

Manathakkali keerai kootu recipe

Manathakkali keerai kootu recipe-Healthy,easy one pot keerai kootu recipe

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Side dish for rice

Yields: 3

Prep time: 15 Min

Cook time: 15 Min

Total time: 30Min

INGREDIENTS

1 cup = 200ml

Manathakkali keerai/Black night shade – 2 cups Mooong dal - 3 tbsp Salt & Water – as needed To Grind Grated coconut - 1/2 cup Rice flour - 1 tsp To Temper Cooking oil or coconut oil - 1.5 tbsp Mustard seeds -1 tsp Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp Small onion - 15 nos or Big onion - 1 no Tomato – 1 no Turmeric powder – 1/8 tsp Sambar powder - 1.5 tsp

METHOD

Remove the leaves from stalk and wash it twice.Chop them roughly and set aside.Chop the onions,tomato.Keep aside. Grind the coconut and rice flour to a smooth paste.Set aside. Heat oil in a pressure cooker base and splutter mustard seeds,jeera.curry leaves. Add onions, tomato and saute till transparent & mushy.Add the moong dal,saute for a minute.Now add the chopped keerai and saute until they shrink. Add 1 cup of water,sambar powder,turmeric powder and required salt. Cook it for one whistle in very low flame. After the pressure is released,add the ground coconut paste and boil the kootu for 5 minutes.Add some water if it thickens.Lastly add the coconut oil and switch off the flame. Transfer the kootu to a bowl aned close with a lid.

Note

For variations u can cook the leaves &dal separately and mix them as given in my keerai kootu recipe. Replace manathakkali with arai keerai,mulai keerai or palak and proceed as given above.

Healthy,One pot Manathakkali Keerai kootu is ready to eat with Kara kuzhambu & rice !!

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Spinach Biryani Recipe/Palak Biryani(Keerai Biryani)-Sunday Lunch Recipes-17

I tried this Chettinad style Keerai biryani recipe adding palak leaves after watching Captain TV Cookery show. It came out really well. We loved it. My daughter Raksha had a plateful of this biryani happily. As this was my first attempt of making a biryani adding greens/keerai, I was doubtful about its taste. So I made Drumstick poricha kuzhambu and Rasam along with it. But biryani bowl got emptied first. I am sure this would be a healthy choice for fussy kids who don’t eat green leaves.

Here I have used spinach/Palak as it is easy to clean & chop. You can use Arai keerai, Mulai keerai(Amaranth leaves), siru keerai, methi leaves/ vendhaya keerai as suggested in the TV show. Try this healthy biryani recipe for your kids and Husband’ lunch box. This recipe gets thumbs up from everyone in the family.

Ok, Lets see how to make this Indian Palak biryani recipe in detail.

Please check my other biryani & pulao recipes here :)

Palak biryani/Spinach biryani recipe

Healthy,easy spinach biryani recipe - Sunday Lunch Recipes series -17

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Lunch menu

Serves:3

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 20 Minutes

Total time: 30 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

Spinach/Palak leaves/Keerai - 1 cup ( 1/2 bunch) Basmati rice - 1 cup ( I use India Gate) Salt - as needed Water - 1.75 cups To saute Cooking oil + ghee - 1 tbsp + 1 tbsp Cinnamon - 1 inch Cloves - 2 no Cardamom - 1 no Black stone flower/Kalpasi - 1 no Bayleaf - 1 no Big onion -1 no Small onion -5 nos Green chilli - 1 no Mint leaves – 2 tbsp Tomato – 1 no Curd – 1 tbsp Lemon juice – few drops To grind Red chillies - 3 nos Ginger - 1 inch piece Garlic cloves - 5 nos Pepper corns - 1/4 tsp

HOW TO MAKE KEERAI BIRYANI - METHOD

Grind all the ingredients given under “to grind” to a smooth paste. Set aside. Wash & soak the basmati rice for 30 minutes. Wash and chop the palak leaves. Chop the onions, mint leaves and tomato into fine pieces. Slit the green chilli. Heat oil+ghee in a cooker base. Saute the whole spices and add the slitted green chilli and onions. Saute till transparent. Add the ground paste and saute till raw smell goes off. Add tomatoes and saute till it becomes mushy. Lastly add the mint leaves. Mix well and add the finely chopped palak leaves. Add rice, salt, curd, water and lemon juice. Give a boil. Mix well and close the cooker. Cook in very low flame for one whistle. After the steam is released, remove the lid and fluff the rice with fork. Enjoy !

Note

You can replace palak with Arai keerai, mulai keerai or vendhaya keerai/Methi leaves. Add more number of red chillies for spicy biryani. You can also powder the whole spices and add to this biryani for variation. Adding ghee gives a nice flavor. So don’t skip it.

Try this healthy, kids friendly Keerai biryani. You will enjoy it !

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Jigarthanda Recipe | Madurai Jil Jil Jigarthanda Cool Drink

Jil Jil Jigarthanda recipe – I still couldn’t believe I made this world famous Madurai special cool drink at home and that too from scratch. Jigarthanda is an yummy super cool drink packed with all the benefits of badam pisin, Nannari sarbath and milk.

The term Jigarthanda refers to “a drink that cools the heart”. It is very popular among Muslim settlers in South India.  I tasted this drink very recently once in Tirunelveli and twice in Salem at Madurai Vilakuthoon Hanifa’s Jigarthanda outlets. I made an instaclick and shared a picture of it in Instagram too. 

Last year when my fellow bloggers shared Jigarthanda recipe, I got tempted to try it at home. But I was not sure about the actual ingredients used in it. After tasting it once, I was able to guess the recipe and started browsing for the same. Few weeks back I got a request from a reader to try n share this recipe in my blog. So I decided to give this a shot and found this recipe from sharmi’s blog & this video very helpful to make the authentic Madurai Jigarthanda. So I followed them & made Jigarthanda from scratch except Nannari sarbath/Sarsaparilla syrup and Kadal paasi. 

Original Jigarthanda recipe may use Kadal paasi or badam pisin. But I used badam pisin as suggested in the recipe. First I bought badam pisin/almond gum(Almond resin in English) and Nannari sarbath from Salem Nattu Marundhu kadai. Then I collected all the other ingredients and made it in my own pace. It took nearly 1.5 days for me to make Bhai ice cream, for soaking Badam pisin and to make reduced milk. So I have suggested an easy method of making Bhai ice cream using store bought vanilla ice cream. Hope it would work. 

One thing I should admit here. I was not able to bring the orange color in ice cream and reduced milk following the original recipe. But somehow I wanted to recreate the shop ones. According to me, the color of milk turns orange only when we add caramelized sugar. So I added little caramelized sugar in reduced milk and a pinch of orange food color in ice cream. I am not sure whether food color is added in the authentic recipe, but I became very happy & satisfied when my Jigarthanda looked and tasted very similar to the ones I had. What do you say friends, Isn’t it looking similar to the Madurai ones ??

Even though jigarthanda’s base ingredients takes more time to prepare, its worthy because once you keep all of them ready in hand, you can make this drink in minutes for your family members and guests. Its after all a mixing job. I am giving a glass of this coolant almost everyday for Sendhil along with his breakfast to reduce his body heat. 

Kadal paasi & nannari sarbath used in Jigarthanda is a very healthy body coolant just like sabja seeds/falooda seeds. So its a must try coolant drink in this summer season to beat the scorching heat. Friends try this recipe and enjoy with your family. Check out my Falooda recipe if you are interested ! Ok, enough of boring stories. Let me go to the making of JIL JIL Jigarthanda with pictures.



Picture of Badam pisin before & after soaking

Ingredients needed for making jigarthanda

Jil Jil Jigarthanda recipe

Madurai special cool drink for summer - Jil Jil Jigarthanda recipe from scratch

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Side dish

Serves: Serves 5-6 glass 

Prep time: 1 day

Cook time: 5 Minutes

Total time: 1Day5Minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 cup – 250 ml 

Milk - 1/2 litre Almond resin/Badam pisin - 1 tbsp ( you can get in Nattu marundhu kadai/Native stores) Bhai ice cream or vanilla ice cream - as needed ( procedure shared below) Nannari sarbath / Sarsaparilla root extract- as needed Sugar - 2 tbsp + 1/2 tbsp ( Use more if you like sweet sambar) Plain boiled milk - as needed To make ice cream Milk - 1/2 ltr ( 500 ml, I used low fat milk) Fresh cream - 1/3 cup ( I used Amul ) Unsweetened khoya - 2 tbsp ( I used milky mist khova) Sugar - 1/4 cup  Vanilla essence - few drops Orange food color-a pinch(optional)

HOW TO MAKE JIGARTHANDA - METHOD

Soak badam pisin/Almond resin in large volume of water overnight. I used 4 cups of water for just a tbsp of badam pisin. It will increase in volume hugely. Boil 1/2 liter of milk in a wide kadai till it reduces into 1/2 the volume. Keep stirring every now & then.Collect the skin that falls on sides and mix with the milk. Milk will thicken. Add 2 tbsp of sugar and let it boil.In the mean time,caramalize 1/2 tbsp of sugar in a mini kadai and add it to the boiling milk. Please click this post to know how to caramalize sugar. Mix well and switch off the flame. This is called as reduced milk which is one of the most important ingredients for making jigarthanda. Refrigerate till use. For making ice cream,boil milk in a pan and reduce it slightly. Add sugar and mix well.Let the milk come to room temperature. Add fresh cream, unsweetened khoya, food color and vanilla essence to it. Mix well without lumps and transfer it to a bowl. Freeze it for 45 minutes and remove it. Grind it smoothly in a mixie and again freeze the mixture for another 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Again remove the half set ice cream and beat it well.Repeat this procedure for 5-6 times. The more you do, the more creamy your ice cream would be. But this is really a tiresome job. I felt very bored of doing this and sometimes forgot to beat the ice cream for 4-5 hours too ;P. So develop some patience and do this activity. Don’t forget to lick the left overs in the mixie jar. It tastes yumm and you will get the interest of beating the ice cream again and again ;P. If you don’t want to go for the above process, I will suggest u an easy way. Just go and get a box of vanilla ice cream and allow it to melt completely. Add food color and khoya to it. Beat in the mixie and mix well without lumps. Freeze it for 4-5 hours. Easy Bhai ice cream is ready. Though I have not tried this method, I am confident this would work. Please let me know if you try this way. Boil some milk and let it cool. Take this milk in a bowl. Take some nannari sarbath, soaked badam pisin, reduced milk in small bowls separately. Take out the ice cream and keep aside. In a glass tumbler, take 1-2 tbsp of soaked badam pisin or kadal paasi. Add 1.5 tbsp of Nannari sarbath. Add 2 tbsp of plain milk. Above this add 2 tbsp of reduced milk. Beat them well using a spoon. Lastly add a scoop of ice cream and mix well. Now the glass would be 3/4 th filled. Top with another scoop of ice cream if desired and serve chilled. Enjoy !

Note

Never replace badam pisin with china grass/Agar agar. Taste would vary. Also never skip ice cream because you won’t get the original jigarthanda taste.  Adding food color to the ice cream and caramelized sugar to the reduced milk is purely my idea. Authentic recipe may not use this. You can adjust the quantity of nannari sarbath and badam pisin as per your liking. If you want to make this drink even more cool and healthy, add some soaked sabja seeds.

Try this recipe & enjoy Madurai special JIL JIL JIGARTHANDA sitting at your home. Homemade is always the best, Right ??

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Udupi Sambar Recipe-Hotel Style-No Onion No Garlic Sambar

Last week I tried this Udupi hotel sambar recipe for idli and that too without onion,garlic brahmin version after years.I came across this recipe in “The Hindu” Food safari section.The recipes I have tried from that section is always a super hit in my home.The best example is my soft kulcha recipe.The taste & cooking method of this udipi sambar is very close to my Hotel idli sambar using freshly ground sambar powder.So Sendhil & myself liked it a lot and relished with idli,dosa.Try this recipe if you are looking for a no onion no garlic side dish for idli,dosa & pongal.You will love it !Lets see how to make this Karnataka Udupi's most popular sambar recipe with step by step pictures.

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Bisi Bele Bath Recipe-Karnataka Special Bisibelebath - Sunday Lunch Recipes Series-17

This week’s Sunday lunch recipes is not a biryani post as u all expected.Instead I made Bisi bele bath as per a reader’s request.I posted Homemade bisi bele bath powder few months back and completely forgot about it.But one of my readers reminded me and asked to share bisi bele bath recipe using that powder.Though I have been making it very often,I have not shared this easy recipe here.So I made bisi bele bath and curd rice for our Sunday lunch yesterday just to make this post.It came out really well and tasted similar to the ones made using MTR bisibelebath powder.I referred this You tube video for the recipe,made some changes to make the cooking method even more easy.I have not tasted the authentic bisi bele bath recipe in MTR restaurant but I am a big fan of my (school moms) friend Megha’s bisibelebath.She uses store bought bisi bele bath powder mostly.I am glad this recipe turned out very similar to hers and most importantly I was able to bring the watery consistency.Generally bisi bele bath is served with kara boondi on top.It is one of the best side dish for bisi bele bath. But in my family, both Sendhil & Raksha loves to have it with ghee & raw onion topping. Do try this easy recipe and make this for your lunch box. Don’t forget to reheat it before you eat because bisi bele bath has to be eaten hot as its name suggests(bisi-hot,Bele-dal,Bath-Rice recipe)

Bisi bele bath Recipe - Karnataka Style

Karnataka style Bisi bele bath recipe using Homemade bisi bele bath powder

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Rice recipes

Serves: Serves 3-4

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 20 Minutes

Total time: 30 Minutes

INGREDIENTS
1 cup - 200ml

Raw Rice or steamed rice - 3/4 cup Toor dal - 1/2 cup Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp Water- 6 cups for rice+dal ( Totally I used around 9 cups) Salt - as needed Cooking oil – 2 drops Knol Khol/Kholrabi- 1/2 no Brinjal - 1/2 no (long variety) Beans - 5 nos. Carrot - 1 no (optional) To grind Bisi bele bath powder - 4 tbsp Grated coconut - 1/4 cup Tamarind - Big gooseberry size Jaggery - 1 tsp Water - to grind To temper Cooking oil - 1 tsp Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp Curry leaves - few Hing - a pinch Roasted peanuts - 2 tbsp Ghee – 1-2 tbsp

METHOD

Take rice,dal,chopped vegetables,salt,turmeric powder,2 drops of oil and 6 cups of water. Cook it for one whistle in very low flame.Remove the lid and mash the rice,dal mixture very well.Add 1 cup of water to it and set aside. Now take the bisi bele bath powder,grated coconut and soaked tamarind along with little water in a mixie jar. Grind it to a smooth paste. Take the ground paste,add 2 cups of water and some salt to it. Mix well and boil the mixture in a kadai.Add some jaggery.Let the mixture roll boil for 5 minutes.You will get a nice smell. Now add the masala to the rice+dal mixture. Mix well and add 1 more cup of water.Check for taste and add more salt & bisi bele bath powder if needed. Let it boil nicely for 2-3 minutes. Lastly add 1 tbsp of ghee.Mix well.Adjust the consistency of rice by adding more water.It should be pourable.So add more water based on that and check for salt.Temper mustard,curry leaves, roasted peanuts and hing in a kadai and add to the rice.Mix well and serve hot !! Yummy,hot bisi bele bath is ready.Serve with kara boondi or raw onions as I did !

Note

Add more bisi bele bath powder based on the spice level. You can add more jaggery if you like sweet taste. No need to use carrot or raddish .But you can use peas,chow chow/chayote if u wish.Skip Kholrabi if u don’t like it. Taste the bisi bele bath and adjust the salt whenever needed Addition of ghee at the end gives a great taste.So don’t skip it.

Enjoy eating hot,hot bisi bele bath with kara boondi or Raw onions.Tastes great !!

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Paneer Tikka Recipe on Tawa , Green Chutney With Curd - Stove Top Version

Last week, I made paneer tikka  on tawa for the first time using gas stove .Even though I have an oven with microwave, convection and grill options, I din’t want to make use of it as it was my first attempt. So I tried in my new non-stick tawa. It came out very well. Paneer was perfectly browned & soft. I watched Sanjeev kapoor channel’s youtube video hosted by my favourite Chef Harpal singh. I had already tried Corn cheese balls following his recipe and it was a super hit among my family and friends. So I tried this recipe without any hesitation. He demonstrated the recipe using gas tandoor but I made the same in tawa.


Sendhil loved it and relished the tikka with green chutney adding curd. I became very happy and confident enough to try this recipe for my guests too. Soon I must try the same using my oven’s grill option and make a post here. Now lets see how to make paneer tikka using gas stove on tawa with green chutey as side dish.

Paneer tikka recipe-Stove top version & Green chutney

Paneer tikka recipe using Tawa in Gas stove and its most popular side dish - Green chutney

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Side dish

Serves: 2

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 10 Minutes

Total time: 20 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

Paneer - 100 gms Tomato - 1 no ( deseeded,optional,i dint use) Green capsicum - 1/2 no (u can use colourful bell peppers too) Big onion - 2 nos Cooking oil – 2 tbsp For marination Hung curd or thick curd - 1/2 cup Kashmiri Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp Tandoori masala powder - 1.5 tsp Ginger&garlic paste - 1/2 tsp Chat masala powder- 1/2tsp Kasoori methi - 2 pinches Lemon juice - few drops Salt - as needed To roast Butter – 1.5 tbsp Besan flour - 1.5 tsp Ajwain - 1/8 tsp Mustard oil or cooking oil – 2 tbsp + 2 pinch of turmeric powder Green Chutney with curd Mint+coriander leaves – 1/2 cup Green chillies – 1or 2 no Thick fresh Curd – 1/4 cup Roasted cumin powder – 1/8 tsp Chat masala – a pinch Garlic cloves – 2 nos Ginger – 1/2 inch piece Black salt – 2 pinches Sugar - 1/4 tsp Salt – as needed

HOW TO MAKE PANEER TIKKA ON TAWA - METHOD

Heat butter in a kadai and roast the ajwain & besan flour. Roast well in medium flame for 2-3 minutes till u get a nice aroma. It will turn like a thick paste. Set aside and let it cool. Soak the skewer in water for 30 minutes to avoid getting burnt. Take the hung or thick curd in a wide bowl. Add 1 tbsp of roasted besan mix. Mix the spice powders, g&g paste, salt , kasoori methi and few drops of lemon juice. Check for taste and set aside. Heat 2 tbsp of mustard oil & when it starts to smoke, add turmeric powder. Switch off the flame immediately & add the oil to the marinated masala.  Cut the paneer ,tomato, capsicum and onion into square shared pieces as shown in the pic. Now add all the veggies to the masala and allow it to marinate for minimum 2 hours or over night in refrigerator. Arrange the marinated pieces in a skewer or tooth pick. I placed paneer, then onion, capsicum and I repeated the same order. I finished it with a paneer piece. You can order them as per your wish. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a non-stick tawa. After the oil is heated, turn the flame to low. Keep the skewer and cover the tawa with a lid. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes. Then turn the skewer and cook the other side till it turns golden brown. Keep turning every now and then till you achieve the color. Onions, capsicum, paneer would be roasted well and will give a nice smell. Remove in a plate and serve it really hot with green chutney to enjoy its best taste. Alternate method : Instead of skewing all the veggies, you can saute each vegetable separately in oil and then arrange them in toothpick or skewer. Green chutney for paneer tikka : Wash and take mint+coriander leaves in a mixie jar. To this, add all the other ingredients.Grind it to a smooth paste adding curd. Do not add water. Remove the chutney & serve with tikka.

Note

Adjust the spices as per your taste. If you don’t have tandoori masala, add garam masala instead. But tandoori masala works the best.

Paneer tikka is ready to relish with green chutney & garam garam Chai. Enjoy !!

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Very good recipes Tags: Paneer tikka recipe, Paneer tikka using tawa, Paneer tikka in gas stove, Paneer tikka recipe stove top version, PAneer tikka sanjeev kapoor

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