Red Tomatos

Methu Vada

2011-05-15T05:16:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

Urad dhal 1 cup
Green chilly 1
ginger a small piece(just a peanut size)
salt as required
Oil for frying

Method

Soak Urad dhal atleast for 2-4 hours
Drain the water and grind the urad dhal just sprinkling some water till it comes out fluffy with the green chilly and ginger.
Add sufficient salt .. Add few curry leaves and 1 spoon of finely chopped onions.
Heat oil for frying in a pan and when its hot, drop in small balls of the batter with hole at centre and fry both sides till light brown.
Enjoy the vada with coconut chutney

Avocado - Mint recipe

2011-03-30T17:54:00.000-07:00

This is a wonderful recipe which really did wonders in my body. The results were very good and it made me to stick with this recipe almost daily. It all started with my weight loss planning. I want to have a very healthy, nutritious breakfast after my morning workout. Many options came to my mind, but I was not completely convinced with those. During the same time, there was an party and in the party, I came to know about this recipe through my friend Shilpy. She is a person, who cares her body very well, with healthy and right nutrients. The first time, when I came to know the recipe, I decided it was just for me.... The next week, I started having that. I love the taste of mint and so it was not surprising that I liked the taste just from the first day. The main thing is that it was with simple ingredients and easy to prepare and store and I can just have that for the whole week and helped a lot during the most busiest time in the morning to have a proper, healthy, fulfilling breakfast. Before actually going into the recipe, its very good to know about the ingredients used in this recipe. So, i would like to mention some few important facts about the ingredients, although you may be aware of those.

The first main ingredient is Avocado. It contains folate, potassium, monounsaturated fatty acids(MUFAs) and are very high in fiber. "FAT..." whenever i hear fat, my mind picks up all negative things associated with fat with respect to weight loss. Later, I came to know that FATS are not bad. They play a very important role in our body. Monounsaturated fat is also known as good fat. The monosaturated fat found in Avocado actually help to lower bad cholesterol and increase the absorption of certain carotenoids.

The next main ingredient is Mint leaves, which is a well-known herb, which has a wonderful aroma, great taste, and healing power. It facilitates overall digestion and has many health benefits.

The other ingredient like Green Olives, Garlic, and Green Chilly too have many health benefits. Green Olives too contain high level of monosaturated fat. It also contains Proteins, minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants. Green Chilly helps to improve the overall immune system of our body. A common phrase I often heard about garlic is that they are good for our hearts.

In summary, the main ingredients in this are high fat content and so our food becomes high-calorie meal irrespective of whether they are good fat or bad fat... But, again, a high-calorie(with good fat) meal in the mornings are very important and necessary for our body, so that at the end of the day, our body will not tend us to load ourselves with huge quantities of food. As you can notice in this recipe, we are just blending all the ingredients and using in our meal directly without any other processing and so, all nutrients come directly to our body.

Finally, I got a combination with all these ingredients and I use it as a spread on my whole wheat or multi-grain bread in the morning, along with boiled egg and tomato with a cup of orange juice/Soy Milk. I have this almost every day and my body feels so fresh, energetic, fulfilling and it makes me to stick with this meal daily. I am enjoying this wonderful recipe.

NOTE: I knew some people are allergic to avocados, but this in combination with other ingredients may/may not be reacting the same way... but, just make sure when you are having for the first time, you are not feeling light-headed or experiencing any other allergies...

Ingredients:

Avocado 1
Mint leaves 2 bunch
Green Olives 5-8 nos
Green Chilly 1
Garlic 1/2 of one clove of garlic
Salt to taste

Method:

First pick the mint leaves separately and rinse well in the water.
Green Olives should be deseeded before we grind
Halve the Avocado and take out the entire content with a spoon discarding the seed inside.

In a blender, add the avocado, olives, garlic and green chilly and blend well. Then slowly add the mint leaves and try to blend to a smooth paste without adding water. If you feel you need water, just make sure you add a very small measure of water at a time and try to make a smooth paste.

Now, the nutrient rich avocado-mint mix is ready. This can be spread over the bread and serves as a good breakfast variety. Sometimes, I used to grind some corriander leaves or curry leaves or sometimes both corriander and curry leaves for a variation. I love the taste anyway and my breakfast a lot.

Aviyal

2011-03-12T13:48:00.000-08:00

Aviyal is one of the most poplular dish in South India. This is a very simple dish prepared with Indian vegetables mixed with coconut. The curry leaves and coconut oil gives a very unique taste to this dish.

Ingredients:

Indian cucumber(medium) 1

Snake gourd 4 - 5 inch piece

Brinjal (medium) 1

Drumstick 1

Raw Banana half

Raw mango half

Carrot 1 inch piece

Green chillies 2

Coconut 1/4 cup

Turmeric powder 1 tblsp

Cumin seeds 1/4 tsp

Coconut oil 2 tsp

curry leaves 1 - 2 stem

Preparation:

Wash all the vegetables and cut them into long strips as shown in the picture.

Blend the green chillies without water and keep aside.
Blend the coconut with 1/4 tsp cumin seeds or cumin powder without water and keep aside.

Method:

Heat a pan on medium and add all the vegetables with one cup of water and sufficient salt for the vegetables. When it comes to boil, add the turmeric powder and blended green chilli to it and allow to boil.
When all the water is absorbed, add another half cup of water and allow to boil again.
We need to cook the vegetables only till it becomes tender. So, if you need more water to cook the vegetables, add little by little from this stage.
In between, you can check for salt in the dish and add if required as per your taste. Make sure the vegetables are not overcooked..

Once the vegetables are cooked, add the coconut-cumin mixture and curry leaves and allow to cook for 5-8 minutes with careful sauting.

Once the vegetables and coconut mixture combines well, switch off the flame.

Add two teaspoons of coconut oil with one sprig of curry leaves at the end, which gives a wonderful south Indian flavor to the dish.

Note:

You can always add other vegetables of your choice or take out any vegetable I have used according to your taste and preference. The quantity of each type of vegetable depends on your choice and it does not effect the dish.

If raw mango is not available, follow the procedure without raw mango and at the final step, once the dish is cool, you can add 2 tblsp of curd or 1/2 lemon juice for taste.

Coconut oil is very healthy and it gives a unique taste to the dish and try not to miss it.

Healthy skin and hair

2011-01-29T19:36:00.000-08:00

Need your skin glow with shiny hair and healthy nails? You would be surprised to know how easy it is to achieve our goal with a little effort. Here comes a simple plan..

Fruits and Vegetables are bursting with vitamins and minerals that our skin, hair, and nails rely on to look fabulous. 5 serving of veggies and 3 servings of fruits a day will help us towards our goal. One serving equals half a cup or 125 ml. We need to eat 8 x half a cup of colorful veggies and fruits. The main colorful veggies and fruits include Orange, Red, Blue/purple, and Green foods. Now, its easy for us to track the main veggies and fruits. Here follows the most important color foods to include in our diet, which takes us towards our goal of healthy hair, skin and nails.

ORANGE FOODS: Carrots and Oranges, which contains beta carotene to fight wrinkles causing free radicals and it is loaded with vitamin C to strengthen collagen fibres in skin and hair.

RED FOODS: Tomatoes and Cherries. These are a good souce of lycopene, which protects agains sun and harmful UV rays.

GREEN FOODS: Broccoli and Kale, again is rich in multiple vitamins

BLUE/PURPLE FOODS: Blueberries and Eggplant contain flavonoids that make skin glow and hair shine.

Other than these, Proteins are powerhouse for our skin, hair and nails because our body relies on to replace old or dying cells. Many women skip the suggested two servings of meat, which can be achieved by two boiled eggs or a piece of meat or fish.

Though, 8 servings of colorful veggies and fruits is our goal, we can always start with four servings or 8 servings with two or three serving of our same favorite veggie or fruit and just watch the difference your body will experience, which will help you to stick with the required goal.

South Indian Dhal

2011-01-19T13:16:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:

Toor Dhal 1/2 cup
Garlic 1/4 a pod
Asafotedia 1/4 tsp
Turmeric 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

For seasoning:

Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
Dry red chilly 2
Curry leaves 1 stem

Method:

1. Wash and cook the dhal in one cup of water with garlic in a pan, till it is cooked fully. Add more water, if all the water has been asbsorbed or we can cook in the pressure cooker for up to 6 - 7 whistles.
2. Smash the cooked dhal immediately with a spoon into a smooth paste without any lumps.
3. Add sufficient water to make it a kozhambu/curry according to our consistency. Always make it little water, as dhal tend to thicken once it cools down.
4. Add turmeric powder, asafotedia powder, and sufficient salt.
5. Heat the above dhal mix and bring it to a full boil for two to three minutes.
6. Remove from heat.
7. Heat another pan and add oil. Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and wait till it splutters. Then, add curry leaves and dry red chilly and fry for a minute.
8. Add this to the boiled dhal.

Serve this with hot rice with ghee on top.

Dhal Rasam

2011-01-19T13:02:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:

Tamarind lime size soaked in one cup of warm water
Tomato 1
Green Chilly 1
Garlic 2-3
Cooked Toor dhal 3 tbsp
Corriander leaves For garnishing

To roast and blend:

Corriander seeds 1 tsp
Cumin seeds 1 tsp
Asafotedia 1/4 tsp or small piece
Dried Red Chilly 2
Black Pepper 1/4 tsp
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves few

Seasoning:

Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Cumin seeds 1 tsp
Asafotedia A pinch
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp

Method:

Soak the tamarind in one cup of warm water for 20 minutes. Then, filter it and add one more cup of water to it.
Heat a pan in medium and dry roast all the items listed under "To roast and blend". Let it cool and blend into a powder.
Cut the garlic. green chilly, and tomato into small pieces. Now heat a pan on medium flame and add oil to it. Once the oil is hot, add the garlic and green chillies and fry stirring continously until the garlic pieces turn light brown. Add the tomato pieces and fry for a minute or two.
Add the tamarind juice and add the cooked dhal to it and mix it well. When the whole tamarind juice with the dhal start to boil, add the spice powder we had prepared before and sufficient salt and stir once and wait again for its first boil. Meantime, heat another pan, add oil. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds and wait till it splutters fully. Then, add asafotedia and turmeric powder and fry for a minute. Transfer this to the rasam that is about to boil and when it gets started to boil, remove from heat.

Make sure, the dish doesn't boil at any point.

Spicy Fish Fry

2011-01-19T12:19:00.000-08:00

This is a hot and spicy fish fry recipe. For this recipe, I have taken eight small pieces of fish as you can see in the picture below in Ingredients. So, you have to adjust the spices according to the size and quantity of fish you are using.

Ingredients:

I would like to give the ratio of spices I use for this Fish fry. I usually start with salt. First, I measure salt, sufficient for the fish pieces in a dry container/bowl/plate, then chilly powder double the amount of salt. Rest of the spices as listed below with respect to the chilly powder.

Salt sufficient
Chilly Powder 2 measure of salt
Corriander Powder 1 measure
Cumin Powder 1/2 measure
Turmeric powder 1/4 measure
Garam Masala 1/2 measure

Mix well all the spices and salt with a spoon. Take out each piece of fish and dip in the spices thoroughly as seen in the picture. After doing so, if you get some spice mixture left, go ahead and add on top of the fish. Then refrigerate for one to two hours. The marination time depends on your comfort.

Method:

Heat a wide bottom pan at low to medium heat and add enough oil to fry the fish pieces.
Once the oil is hot, add the fish pieces and keep the flame between low and medium throughout.
Flip to each side of the fish pieces every two minutes. When it is wholly done, remove the pieces

You can use the remaining oil by frying few thinly sliced onions. These onions taste so good with the fish fry.

Tamarind Fish curry

2011-01-19T11:49:00.000-08:00

As the title suggests, the fish is cooked in boiling tamarind sauce along with indian spices, green chillies and little coconut paste. The seasoning gives a very good aroma and a good taste to this fish curry.

Ingredients:

Fish 5-6 pieces
Tamarind lime size soaked in 1 cup of warm water
Tomato 1/2
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
Corriander powder 2 tbsp
Chilly powder 1 tbsp
Shallots 1/4 cup approximately (blend without water)
Cumin seeds 1/4 tsp
Grated Coconut 1/4 cup
Green chillies 2
Salt to taste

For Seasoning:

Sessame Oil 1 tbsp
Fenugreek seeds 10 nos
Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves 1 stem
Shallots 4

Method:

Soak lime-sized tamarind in one cup of warm water for 20 minutes.
Meantime, we can just blend the shallots 1/4 cup without water and keep aside. In the same blender, make a smooth paste of 1/4 cup coconut with 1/4 tsp cumin seeds with just enough water to form a paste. Clean and wash the fish pieces.

After 20 minutes, mix well the tamarind with our hand and filter it to remove impurities into a pan, in which we are going to prepare the fish curry. To this filtered tamarind juice add one more cup of warm water..

To this tamarind juice we prepared, add 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder, 1 tbsp of chilly powder, 2 tbsp of corriander powder and squeeze in half tomato with hand.

Heat the pan of tamarind juice and spices on medium flame and allow to boil. When it starts to boil, just stir once and allow to boil uncovered at medium flame for 5 more minutes from now, so that all the raw smell of tamarind and spices goes off.

After 5 minutes of boiling, add the blended shallots and allow to boil for two more minutes uncovered. Then, add the coconut-cumin paste to this and allow to boil for another 3 minutes uncovered. Get ready the fish and two slit green chillies for the next step.

After 3 min of boiling, add the fish pieces and sufficient salt for the whole sauce and two split green chillies. Now, when it starts boiling, reduce the flame little less and the whole tamarind sauce with the fish in it needs to boil uncovered at slow rate for another 20 minutes.

Just before 20 minutes, heat another pan on medium flame. Add 1 tbsp of sessame oil. when the oil gets heated, add 10 no of fenugreek seeds, 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds and wait till it splutters. Add one stem of curry leaves and shallots cut lengthwise. Fry for a minute or two and immediately transfer to the boiling tamarind fish sauce and cover the pan and remove from heat. Let this stand for atleast 30 minutes so that all the flavors of seasoning get into the fish gravy. Then, the tamarind fish gravy is ready to serve.

Ada Dosa

2011-01-17T13:28:00.000-08:00

Dosa's are all-time favorite dish. Ada Dosai is one of my childhood favorites. I love this dish at my young age just because its very yummy and my mother prepares this dosa with lots of oil especially for me and my sister. Now, post marriage, I love to prepare this dish just because its very easy to prepare during busy days and a makes very healthy meal. The photo you can see above is prepared for my son, Jeishnav and so you cannot find chopped onions and chopped curry leaves, though i always add these in my batter to make it crunchy and greener.

Ingredients:

Raw Rice 1 cup
Urad Dhal 1/2 cup
All other dhal 1/2 cup
(like i have taken
Toor Dhal one layer on top of Urad dhal

Masoor Dhal one layer on top of the above
Yellow Split Dhal one layer on top of the above
Chana Dhal one layer on top of the above
Green gram Dhal one layer on top of the above)

Ginger 1/2" piece chopped
Dry red chillies 2
Green chilly 1
Asafotedia 1/4 tsp or a small piece

Procedure:

Wash and soak the rice and all type of dhals together with ginger, dry red chilly, green chilly and asafotedia for 4-5 hours.

Blend all the soaked ingredients with more water and sufficient salt at the end. It should have the dosa consistency. I usually make it a bit coarse and not very smooth just to get the crispiness. When you try, make sure you are not making it a very coarse batter.

Add chopped onions and chopped curry leaves(optional) according to ur preference just before you make dosas. This is optional. These dosa's tastes awesome with coconut chutney.

Idli Manchurian

2011-01-17T12:42:00.000-08:00

I tasted this recipe for the first time about three years back at one of my friend Jenu's Party. It was like Love at First Taste... I am a lover of Chinese food and this dish with fried Idlies was a good starter that everyone at the party enjoyed the best. The very next week, I invited my friend Jenu to my home and we prepared the dish at my home. My husband liked it so much, that next day he took the leftover to his office. I have to say my spirit of cooking started since then..

Soon, this dish became very common in my kitchen when there were guests, parties, and sometimes as weekend snacks, like that... This is very simple to prepare with left over Idlis. Now-a-days, I cook more Idlis to prepare this dish. I am so excited and happy to share this recipe in my blog and I want to give my best for this recipe, that I decided to shoot a short video with the help of my husband, Ganesh.

Here follows the Ingredients and the method and have a look at my video clicking the link at the end.

Ingredients:

Idli (medium) 6
Ginger 1" (chopped)
Garlic 2-3 pods (chopped)
Onion 1 medium (chopped in large pieces)
Capsicum 1/2 (chopped in large pieces)
Dry Red Chilly 3 - 4
Soy sauce 1 tbsp
Sweet Chilly sauce 1/2 - 1 tsp
Tomato Ketchup 1 - 2 tbsp
Pepper powder 1/2 - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Spring Onions 1/2 cup
Oil For frying

Method:

Refrigerate the Idlis for 6-8 hours if possible. Heat the Oil for frying the Idlis. Cut the Idlis into four peices. Deep fry the Idly pieces in oil till its light golden and crisp outside. Overfrying the pieces can make it hard to absorb the sauces later during the preparation.

Soak 3-4 dry red chilly in just enough water to immerse for 20-30 minutes. Blend them and make a paste.

Now,
1. Heat a pan on medium flame. Add 2-3 tbsp of oil. Add the chopped ginger and chopped garlic and saute till light brown.
2. Add one medicum onion cut in large pieces and saute till it becomes glacy
3. Add half capsicum cut in large pieces and fry for 2-3 minutes only.
4. Add the red chilly paste we had prepared and saute for a minute.
5. Then add soy sauce 1 tbsp, sweet chilly sauce 1/2 - 1 tsp, tomato ketchup 2 tbsp and saute well for another 2 minutes
6. Then add pepper powder and salt and again saute for 1-2 minutes
7. Now, we can add the fried idlies to this and saute till it gets coated with the sauces well.
8. Once coated well, fry for another 2-3 minutes.
9. Finally, add chopped spring onions, reserving some for garnishing at the end and saute for a minute or two.
10. Switch off the heat. Add rest of the spring onions and saute once.

Note:

The no of red chilly paste we are using to prepare the paste depends on how much hot we prefer our dish.

You can always add more tomato ketchup at the end, to make it sweet for kids.

Watch the video here:

Drumstick Sambhar

2011-01-15T14:01:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:

Drumstick 1
Brinjal 2
Cooked Toor dhal 1 cup
Shallots 5 no
Tomato 1/2
Sambhar powder 3 tbsp
Tamarind lime size soaked in warm water
salt as per taste
Corriander leaves 2 stem

For seasoning:
Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves 1 stem
Dry red chilly 2 no
Sessame oil 1 tbsp

Procedure:

Cook the brinjal and drumstick separately with enough water and little salt.

Heat a pan on medium pan and fry th shallots for a minute and then add half tomato and fry for a minute and add to the cooked vegetables and allow to boil for a minute.

Add cooked dhal and sambhar powder and tamarind water and enough salt. add more water to make the whole little dilute (as the dish tends to become thick when it becomes cold, make sure the dish is little watery when it is hot)
Allow to boil for 5 minutes on low flame and finally check for salt.

In a separate pan, heat oil at medium flame. Add fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds and wait till it splutters fully. Then, add curry leaves and dry red chillies.

Add the above seasoning immediately into the boiling sambhar and allow to boil for 2 minutes more at medium flame. once done, remove from heat, garnish with corriander leaves and cover with a lid.

Kerala style fish curry

2011-01-15T10:43:00.000-08:00

This is a typical fish curry that you can find in home-based hotels only in extreme southern part of India. This tastes so delicious with raw mango and drumsticks. The best flavors of this dish comes from slit green cillies and curry leaves. This dish can give you a completely different taste for your family. Women always tend to like the raw mango cooked with fish gravy and drumsticks tastes awesome. Its a good idea to try this dish on a relaxing day and enjoy the real taste of Kerala style Fish Curry. This is commonly served with hot steamed rice and Fish fry.

Ingredients:

Fish 3-5 piece
Drumstick 1
Raw mango(small) 1
Coconut 1 cup
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
Chilly powder 1/2 tsp
Whole Black pepper 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds 1/4 tsp
Shallots 2 or 3
Garlic pods 1 or 2
Green chillies 2 no
Curry leaves 2 stem

Procedure:

Cut the drumstick in small pieces and cook in two cups of water.

While the drumsticks are boiling, wash and cut the raw mango into pieces. Then, blend together coconut, turmeric powder, chilly powder, black pepper, cumin seeds, garlic, shallots together with just enough water to form a smooth paste. Take out two green chillies and curry leaves ready. Also, wash the fish thoroughly and cut in desired size.

Once the drumsticks are cooked, add the cut raw mango and the blended coconut paste into this and wait for the first boil.

Once it starts to boil add two green chillies slit lengthwise and 1 stem of curry leaves and allow to boil not more than 2 minutes.
Then add the fish pieces and salt and reduce the flame to low. If you feel the curry too thick, this is the right time to add water and get the curry to ur desired consistency.

Let the fish pieces cook in low flame with the blended coconut mixture for 15-20 minutes covered.
Switch off the flame and add one more stem of curry leaves for garnishing.

The kerela style fish curry is ready to serve with hot steamed rice and this tastes awesome with Fish fry as side dish.