CAULIFLOWER SOUP

This is a Yummy and Creamy soup. It tastes very classic. Its my inspiration from the famous cook, Sanjeev kapoor's creamy brocolli soup with garlic.  I was much tempted on seeing the brocolli soup, on television. I couldnt get brocolli on that day, So I substituted caulifower instead of brocolli and with some more little alterations, I got this yummy creamy soup. I felt the soup was heavy and can be serve as a meal instead to be a starter.

Ingredients:

1. Cauliflower - 1 medium size
2. Garlic - 6-7 cloves
3. Bay leaf - 1
4. Salt - as required
5. milk / cream - 1/2 cup


Seasoning :

1.  Sliced Roasted  garlic - 1/2 tbs
2. Pepper - as required
3. Butter - 1/2 tbs
4. Fresh bell peppers / capsicum - 1/2 cup  chopped red/ yellow/ green colour

Method:

1. Remove the cauliflower florets seperately, wash it and clean it from worms and other things. Keep it in a seperate bowl.

2.  Heat another pan, add 1/2 tbs butter to it. Add  garlic cloves. Fry it to golden brown. Keep it separate. Fry chopped capsicum also and keep it separately which can be added while serving. 

 3. In the same pan, add the bay leaf and sliced garlic. Roast it nicely. keep it seperately. Add

4. Boil 2 cups of water in a vessel.  Add the cauliflower florets. Boil for 2-3 minutes. Strain the florets separately. Once it comes to room temperature, grind with roasted garlic cloves to a smooth puree. 

5. Transfer to a sauce pan, pour the puree and allow to cook for a minute with little bit salt. 

6. Transfer the soup with roasted sliced garlic pieces and capsicum pieces. 

Note : You should try broccoli soup also. Just substitute broccoli in place of cauliflower. Its very nutritious and yummy soup. 

OATS IDLY

Now a days almost everyone is aware of having a quality food style in their day - to -day life.  All over the world Oats is accepted as a healthy diet . Oats was used as porridge in earlier days. Why can't we create much interest among the people? So that the  people will start trying to use oats often . This is one of the successful recipe,  in South Indian style which came out well. Its instant. Easy to use it for breakfast. Hope you all will step ahead to use oats after trying this recipe and create your own recipes too with oats, a fiber rich diet. 

Ingredients :

1.  Oats - 1 cup
2. Wheat rava / Samba rava / wheat sooji - 1/2 cup
3. Curd - 2 cups (fresh curd is better)
4. Salt - as required
5. Oil - for seasoning
6. Eno fruit salt (regular) - 1 tsp (you can also use baking soda)

For seasoning :

1. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
2. Urud dhal - 1 tsp
3. Chopped Coriander leaves - 1 tbs
4. Curry leaves - few
5. Hing/ Asfotedia - 1 pinch


Method :

1. Grind Oats into a thin coarse powder. 

2. Grind Wheat rava also into thin coarse powder.

3. Blend both wheat rava and oats together in a bowl. Mix curd, salt and mix it well.

4. Heat oil in a pan. Once the oil gets hot, add mustard seeds, urud dhal, curry leaves and asfotedia powder. 

5. Mix the seasoning with the oats mixture.  Add chopped coriander leaves too.

6. Leave the batter to soak for minimum 1/2  an hour to 1 hour.

7. Boil your pressure cooker or idly cooker with water inside for steaming. 

8. In the mean while grease your idly plates with oil or ghee/clarified butter. 

9. Add baking soda or eno salt to the batter and mix it well.

10. Pour the batter in the idly plate and steam for 12 - 15 minutes .

11. The idly will be sticky when it is hot. But it will get perfect once it comes to normal temperature. 

12. Serve it with Coriander or Tomato chutney.

Note : You can also add ginger pieces, cashew nuts too with the seasoning. 

PAAL(MILK) PONGAL

Pongal is an excellent family occasion celeberated all over India in different names and ways interestingly.  This festival is celeberated, as  a thank to the nature God and seeking good blessing for ever. I think each one of us can take a oath on this good eve to protect our nature for  our well being by stopping small small eco-negative activites.  Wishing you all a happy pongal. Taste this paal pongal with your family and fulfil the pongal celeberation.  This is a simple, delicious, one pot cooking recipe and a must on pongal.

Ingredients:

1. milk - 6 cups - 7 cups or milk 5 cups + water 2 cups.
2. raw rice - 1 cup
3. salt -  2 tsp or as required

Method:

1.  Clean the rice. Wash it and soak it for 1/2 hr.

2. On the other hand  take a wide and thick bottom vessel. 

3. pour the milk, water and allow to boil. The above mentioned milk can be partially substituted with water. The taste and richness depends upon the quantity of milk you use.  

4. When the milk comes to boiling point, add the soaked rice and keep stirring.

5.  Be careful as the milk has the nature of over coming the vessel, so keep stirring then and there. Add the required amout of salt and mix well.

6. The pongal is ready once the rice gets cooked to a smashed consistency. When it is finished you may feel the consistency of the pongal is semi liquid state.  But once it comes to the room temperature it will abosorb all the extra moisture and becomes perfect to present to God and to all your family members.


 

CARROT CHUTNEY

Adding vegetables in chutney form is a easy and  healthy diet in our day to day life.  Carrot chutney is colourful, healthy, good for all age groups. 


Ingredients:


1. Urud dhal - 1tsp
2. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
3. Jeera - 1/2 tsp
4. Onion - 1 (small size)
5. Red chillies - 2
6. Carrot - 1 big size
7. Tamarind - a small piece
8. Salt - as required
9. Hing - 1 pinch
10. Oil - for seasoning and frying


Seasoning:


1. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
2. Jeera - 1 tsp
3. Urud dhal - 1 tsp
4. Curry leaves - few


Method:


1. Heat oil in a pan. Add urud dhal, mustard seeds, jeera, chopped onion and fry nicely. Add Chopped carrot and red chillies and fry for 2 more minutes.


2. Once the fried items cooled, you can add tamarind, salt, hing and grind to a smooth paste.


3. Heat a tsp of oil in a pan, add  mustard seeds, jeera, urud dhal and curry leaves. Once they got fried to golden brown, pour it on top of the chutney. Mix it well and serve hot with idly, dosa etc...

BITTER GOURD FRY

Bitter gourd, an unliked  vegetable in general . There are also some people who are crazy for bitter gourd for its bitterness. There are so many ways of cooking bitter gourd  tastier. Here is my,  one of the way of preparing  bitter gourd curry. 

Ingredients:

1. Tomato - 2

2. Onion - 1

3. Bitter gourd - 3 ( medium size)

4. Lemon juice - 1 or 2 tsp according to taste

5. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

6. Salt - according to taste

To grind:

1. Coconut - 1 tbs

2. Dhania / coriander seeds - 1/2 tbs

3. Jeera - 1 tsp

4. Red chillies - 2 or 3

5. Asfotedia / hing - 2 tsp

Seasoning:

1. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

2. Jeera - 1 tsp

3. Curry leaves - 1 twig

4. Oil - for cooking

Method:

1. Wash and clean the bitter gourd nicely.  Slice it as thin as you can.

2. Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan. Add thinly sliced bitter gourd and fry nicely. Its enough to fry until they get cooked. Keep it aside.

3. In the mean while, grind fresly grated coconut, dhania/ coriander seeds, jeera , hing powder and red chillies to a fine paste and keep it ready.

4. Heat oil in a pan for seasoning.  Add mustard seeds, jeera and curry leaves. Once they got popped, add thinly sliced onions and tomatoes. After they become soft,  add the grind paste and keep frying without sticking to the pan for 2-3 minutes.

5. Once the raw smell goes, you can add the fried bitter gourd to the pan and mix it well. If you want you can even add 2 spoons of water to the curry and fry for 1 more minute to give a nice blend. 

6. Transfer the cooked curry to a serving bowl. Add lemon juice on top of the curry, and mix it well. 

7. Serve hot with  white rice or roti and also as  a side dish with sambhar and rasam. 

SWEET GOOSEBERRIES ( SWEET AMLA)

This is one of my most favorite, most traditional recipe from India. Almost someone in our family will be aware of this recipe. Still I would like to share for some of the unknown youngsters. No big introduction is required for the nutritional values of gooseberry or amla or nellikai (  in tamil). Persons who are suffering from anemia, calcium deficiency can take amla regularly to over come from their health issues. In India, amla is taken in pickle form, sweet form and most of the times it is taken raw with a pinch of salt. Sweet form attracts kids to make a start with amla.


Ingredients:


1. Amla big sized - 12 ( as many you want)


2. Regular sugar - 1 cup


3. Plain water -  cup


Method:


1. Chop the amla into pieces removing its inner seed.  If you prefer, you can use it as whole. 


2. Before using amla, wash it and wipe it thoroughly.


3. Pressure cook  amla without adding water for 10 minutes. ( add 2 cups of water inside the cooker vessel. Take a deep bowl, put the amla pieces and keep it inside the cooker)


4. The amla will become soft. 


5.  In the mean while, dissolve 1 cup of water and 1 cup sugar. Make a sugar syrup. There is no specific consistency. The sugar syrup's colour should get little bit brownish and little bit thick. Approximately it will take 7-10 minutes if you cook in a medium flame. 


6. Drop all the cooked amla into the sugar syrup and boil for 5-7 minutes. 


7. Allow to cool. Store it in a air tight container. Keep it in the refrigerator for better shelf life. The only precaution you have to take care is you have keep it in distance from  water. 


8. You can serve it when ever you want. 

KOHLRABI WHITE GRAVY ( NOOKAL KURUMA)

Kohlrabi, is called as nookal in south India. Kohlrabi is commonly used in sambhar, curries and in kuruma.  Its a fiber rich food enriched with full of vitamins and other vital nutrients. Its a winter season vegetable. Its stems are also edible, if they are cooked properly.  I tried making a white gravy with kohlrabi as a side dish for roti with a fusion of kuruma's flavour. Even though the colour is plain, it was full of flavour. Hope you too will try it for a change escaping from red, yellow, orange colour gravies for a day. 


Ingredients:


1. Kohlrabi - 2 medium size ( chopped into chunks)
2. Onion - 1 ( thinly sliced)
3. Milk - 1 cup


To grind:


1. Fresh coconut - 1 tbs
2. Fried gram dhal - 1 tbs (pottukadalai / chutney dhal)
3. Green chillies - 1 or 2 (according to taste)
4. Fennel seeds - 2 tsp ( sombu / saunf)
5. White poppy seeds - 3 tsp ( kas kas)
6. Ginger - 1 inch piece
7. Garlic - 6-7 cloves 


Seasoning :


1. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
2. Bay leaf - 2
3. Chopped coriander leaves - 1 tbs 


Method:


1.  Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and bay leaf. Once the mustard seeds got popped, add thinly sliced onions to the pan, add fry for 1 or 2 minutes. No need to fry onions to brown, as we are making white gravy, it will appear odd.


2. Add kohlrabi pieces, fry for 2 -3 minutes. Add 2 cups of waters to the vessel. Add salt, and cook with closed lid. Cook until it becomes soft. Its better if the water in the pan is almost absorbed by the vegetable. 


3. Add the grind paste to the cooked vegetable and keep stirring for few minutes. Slow the flame, add 1/2 cup of cold water and 1 cup of milk  simultaneously . Keep stirring without leaving your hands to avoid curdling of milk. 


4. 3-4 minutes later you can raise the flame to medium,  the gravy will start thickening.   You can sprinkle chopped coriander leaves on top of the gravy and transfer to a serving bowl. It goes well with roti etc.


Alternative :- To reduce the fat content, I have reduced the amount of coconut and substituted fried gram dhal. The other option is you can use cashew nuts instead of fried gram dhal . 2) you can use just coconuts alone . 3)  And also you can substitute coconut milk, but the total version of the gravy gets change to stew.