Pasipayaru Paratha

Here is a dish for growing kids and also for adults who are in diet. This paratha will make your kid take proteins in their diet. Everyone in your home would enter your kitchen to look for this delicious flavor and aroma. ;-)

 Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 30 min
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

*  Chappathi flour - 1 ½ cup
*  Oil or ghee - 1 tbsp
*  Salt to taste

Stuffing:

1.   Mung bean / Green Gram / பாசிப் பயறு - ½ cup - cooked
2.   Onion - 1 cup - finely chopped
3.   Coriander - ¾ cup - finely chopped
4.   Garam masala - 2 tsp
5.   Ginger garlic paste  - 1 tsp
6.   Green chili paste - 2 tsp
7.   Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp
8.   Salt to taste

Procedure:

1.  Take a large mixing bowl and add chappati flour. I used multigrain atta. You can use regular atta too. Add ghee or oil and salt. Mix them well. Then add water and make it into a smooth soft dough. Close the lid or wrap in wet tissue and set aside for 15 minutes.

2.  Meanwhile, prepare stuffing for paratha. Pressure cook green gram. It should be about to turn mushy. But not too mushy. Slightly smash it and keep it in a bowl.

3.  In another mixing bowl, Put all ingredients given in “Stuffing” section and mix them well. Allow it to rest for 5 min. The nice aroma from the stuffing itself tempts to eat :-)

4.  Then make big lemon sized balls from the dough and roll it to a small circle. Place the stuffing and wrap the edges to seal the stuffing completely.

5.  Gently tap with dry flour and roll it again into a circle paratha. Heat chappati pan and cook paratha on both sides. Add oil or ghee while cooking paratha. Serve with raita and remaining stuffing ;-)

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Carrot Payasam - With Coconut Milk

Carrot is a excellent source of Vitamin A and it has number of health benefits improving vision, beautiful skin, anti-aging. It is always good to take carrot in different form everyday. Carrot payasam is a yummy dessert too.
Preparation Time: 5 min
Cooking Time: 20 min
Serves: 2
Ingredients:

• Carrot - 2 medium sized
• Milk - 1 cup
• Coconut milk - ½ cup
• Sugar - ¼ cup and 2 tbsp
• Cashew nuts - few
• Dry grapes - few
• Almonds - few
• Ghee - ½ tbsp 

Procedure:

1.  Heat a medium sized pan, pour milk and bring it to boil. Add coconut milk and stir slowly. Reduce to medium flame and add sugar. Keep stirring slowly.

2.  Clean and peel the skin of carrot. Grate them and grind it into a smooth juice. You can use juice extractor too. Add carrot juice to boiling milk.

3.  Roast cashew nuts, almond, dry grapes in ghee and add to carrot payasam. Serve hot or chill.

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Conchigliette Pomodoro

Italian Cuisine:

Conchiglitte means small shell pasta. Pomodoro means tomato. And this mouth watering dish is an Italian recipe. Kids always love pasta and instead of the regular masala pasta we make, here is a twist to the pasta flavor with healthy vegetables. You can add vegetables of your choice and serve.

Preparation Time: 10 min

Cooking Time: 30 min

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

1. Conchiglitte / Small shell pasta - 1 cup
2. Tomato - 2 medium sized - finely chopped
3. Carrot - ¼ cup - grated
4. Broccoli - ¼ cup - cut to small size
5. Spinach - ¼ cup - finely chopped
6. (peas, corn can also be added)
7. Garlic - 3 pieces - finely chopped
8. Pepper powder - 3 tsp
9. Lime juice - 2 tsp
10. Spring onion - 1 tbsp - cut into pieces
11. Cheese - ¼ cup - grated
12. Olive oil - 2 tbsp
13. Salt to taste

Procedure:

1.  In a large pan, heat olive oil. Add garlic and saute for few sec, As nice aroma comes out add paste. Garlic should not turn brown. Saute pasta for 2 min.

2.  To this add vegetables of your choice. I added carrot, broccoli, spinach, spring onion. Give a good stir. 
3.  Then add tomatoes and mix well. Add salt and pepper. Before tomato becomes mushy add 3 cups of water and bring it to boil. You can add vegetable broth instead of water.
4.  Reduce to medium flame and close the lid. Allow it to cook for 15 min. Water will be completely absorbed and pasta should be cooked well. At this stage add lemon juice and give a good stir. Finally garnish with cheese. Serve hot.

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Onion Idly

Preparation Time: 5 min
Cooking Time: 20 min
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1. Idly batter 1 cup
2. Onion 1/2 cup
3. Mustard 1 tsp
4. Urad dhal 1 tsp
5. Jeera 1 tsp
6. Curry leaf - 1 sprig
7. Green chili - 1
8. Asafetida
9. Salt to taste

Procedure:

    1.   In a medium sized pan pour oil. When oil becomes hot, add mustard jeera and allow it to sputter. Then add urad dhal channa dhal. Roast till it starts turning golden brown. Add curry leaf and sauté for 2 sec. Sprinkle asafetida. Then add onion green chili. Add little salt. Sauté them till onion becomes translucent. Switch off the stove and transfer the mixture to a bowl.

    2.   Allow the mixture to cool down for 5 min. Then add the idly batter. Mix the content thoroughly. Pour a scoop of batter in the idly pan.

    3.   Cook for 5 min after steam starts coming or until its cooked completely. Transfer the hot cooked idly into hot box or serve hot with sambhar or your favorite chutney.

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Paneer Paratha

Preparation Time: 10 min

Cooking Time: 30 min

Serves: 7

Ingredients:

• Wheat flour - 2 cup

Stuffing:

1. Oil - 1 tbsp
2. Onion - ½ cup
3. Paneer - grated - 1 cup
4. Salt to taste
5. Green chili - 2
6. Coriander - 1 tbsp
7. Coriander powder - 1 tsp
8. Garam masala - 1 tsp

Procedure:

1. Heat a medium sized pan and add oil. Once the oil gets heated, add the chopped onions and saute it until it turns golden brown. Now add the grated paneer, 1 tbsp chat masala and 1 tbsp coriander powder.
   
2. Add little salt to it and mix it. Saute them until raw smell leaves. Transfer it to bowl. Add finely chopped green chili and coriander leaves. Make the stuffing into small balls.
   
3. In a mixing bowl, put wheat flour and add salt to taste. Make it into a smooth dough by adding water. Apply few drops of oil. Cover it for 15 min. Make big balls from the dough. Roll it lightly and place the stuffing in the middle and seal it by lifting the edges of the dough.
   
4. Gently roll the dough and make sure the filling doesn't come out. Use dry wheat flour for rolling if required. Place the paratha on a hot tawa. Cook it for few seconds and turn it the other side. Add few drops of oil. Roast till its cooked and turns golden brown.
   

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Laddu

Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 30 min
Serves: 10 laddu

Ingredients:

1. Kadalai Maavu - 1 cup
2. Food color - yellow - 1 pinch
3. Ghee - 1 tbsp
4. Cashew nuts - 10 pieces

Syrup:

1. Sugar - 1 ½ cup
2. Water - ¼ cup

Procedure:

1.   Sift kadalai maavu. In a large mixing bowl, mix kadalai maavu and food color. Add water and make it into a batter. It should be in dosa batter consistency.

2.   Heat oil in a kadai. Check whether oil hot by putting a drop of batter into it. It should rise immediately to the top. Take a karandi with holes.

3.   Pour a scoop of batter over the karandi and slowly rub the batter.Once it is cooked remove it from oil. Place it over the tissue. It should not become crispy.

4.   In a pan , heat water and sugar to make the syrup. Keep in medium flame and check for string consistency. If you check with syrup in between index finger and thumb finger a string should be formed. In a small pan, heat ghee and Roast cashew. Add to sugar syrup.

5.   Then add the prepared bhoondi in the sugar syrup. Mix it thoroughly and transfer to mixer. Do not allow it to cool. Grind for 2 sec.

6.   As it is in bearable heat make small balls. Allow it to cool for some time.

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Badusha

Preparation Time: 10 min

Cooking Time: 30 min
Serves: 12 pieces

Ingredients:

1. Maida - 1 cup
2. Ghee - 3 tbsp
3. Baking soda - 1 pinch
4. Sugar - 1 tbsp

Syrup:

1. Sugar - ¼ cup
2. Water as required

Procedure:

1.   Take a large mixing bowl, add ghee and baking soda. In a mixie grind a tbsp of sugar into a fine powder. Add the sugar powder to ghee. Mix well.

2.  Add maida flour and blend them together. After mixing them thoroughly, add little water and make it to a chappathi like dough.

3.   Make small smooth balls and set aside. Heat oil in a kadai and fry them in low-medium flame.

4.  In a pan, add sugar and little water till sugar gets immersed. Heat the pan and makes a syrup. When you touch the syrup with fingers, it should be sticky.

5.   Dip the fried dough in the sugar syrup. Take out and set aside. Allow it to cool.

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Mini Carrot Dosa

It is always a challenge for moms to feed a healthy diet for their naughty kids. Making the dishes colorful tempts kids to eat. Mixing veggies in every possible ways is good for health, this mini carrot dosa is one such way..!!!

Preparation Time: 5 min
Cooking Time: 5 min
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1. Dosa Batter - 1 cup
2. Carrot - 2 medium sized

Procedure:

 

1.  Clean the carrot and grate them. Heat dosa pan and grease it with little oil. When the pan is hot, pour dosa batter using a tablespoon. Make small othappam. Sprinkle carrot over the mini dosa.

2.  When one side of the mini dosa turns brown, turn it to other side and spray oil. Transfer mini dosa to plate.

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Omapodi - Diwali Snack

Preparation Time: 10 min

Cooking Time: 30 min

Ingredients:

1.     Gram / Besan Flour / கடலை மாவு - 2 cup

2.      Rice flour - 1 tbsp

3.      Salt to taste

Procedure:

1.  Sift gram flour and add it in a large mixing bowl. To this add rice flour and salt. Add water and make a sticky dough. Use little oil if it too sticky.

2.  Heat oil in a kadai. This time I bought a new electric kettle to make diwali snack. Our normal kadai will be good to fry. Use idyappam press to make big circles into the oil. The holes in my idyappam maker will be little big. If you wish you can use small hole idyappam press too.

3. Check whether the oil is hot by dropping a small dough piece. It should rise to the surface of oil immediately. Maavu will be little hard to press. You can also press on the reverse of karandi and then drop it into oil. Fry them until the sound is seized.

4.  Transfer then to a tissue or oil strainer to remove excess oil. Slightly break them to make omapodi. Do not break them too small. It will so crispy and will break by itself.

                Crispy plain sev / omapodi is ready for snack..!! Happy Diwali to all..!!!

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Murukku Twists

Murukku is a crispy south Indian snack. Murukku is a everyday snack as well as a festival special especially on Diwali..

Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking Time: 30 min
Serves: 50 - 60 pieces

Ingredients:

1. Boiled Ponni Rice - 4 cup
2. Urad dhal - 1 cup
3. Butter - 3 tbsp
4. Jeera - 3 tsp
5. Sesame - 3 tsp
6. Chili powder - to taste
7. Salt to taste

Preparation: 

*  Soak boiled ponni rice for 2 hrs

Procedure:

 

1.  Clean the soaked rice and dry them on a clean cotton cloth for 10 min. Then grind them in batches using a mixer.

2.  Sieve the powdered rice. Grind the coarse left over rice again and sieve them again. Repeat until a fine rice flour is obtained. Slightly roast them to remove moisture. If it forms lumps because of moisture, sieve it again to get a very fine dry rice flour.

3.  Then heat a pan and dry roast urad dhal as it starts turning golden brown. Allow it to cool down and grind it to a fine powder. Sieve them to get a fine urad dhal flour.

4.  In a large mixing bowl mix rice flour, urad dhal flour and rest of the ingredients. Mix them well. Add water and make it into a smooth dough. Using a murukku press, roll the dough into murukku. I used star shape press.

5.  Heat oil in a kadai. Fry the murukku. As the sound of murukku ceases, it is the perfect time to take out the  murukku. Place it on a tissue to remove excess oil.

                                                   Crispy muruku is ready for the snack..!!!

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