Subbus Kitchen

Tamil New Years day falls in the month of April on 13th or 14th every year. This year its 14th April. The day is the first day of the tamil calender month "Chithirai". In Kerala state of India, they celebrate this day as "Vishu". This year Vishu is being celebrated on 15th Apr.

The Spring Season starts in the month of Chitirai where all the mango and neem trees will be full of flowers and fruits. In this wonderful occassion, the hindus will cook 6 different tasty foods like sweet, bitter,sour,salty,spice and umami

In Kerala state of India, People will celebrate "Vishu Kani Kannal" tradition. They will keep some gold, silver, jewels,mirror, bacillum,cocunut,flowers,cucumber,mangoes,rice, dhal, jaggery infront of the god and seek the blessings of God. Elderly women will wake up early that morning and will see these items and light up the kuthuvilaku and she will wake up the others in the home. Everyone will wake up and see these items first and then they will celebrate the rest of the day.

	Tamil new year recipe	Vishu recipe
Kuzhambu	Araithuvitta Sambar	Mango Moor Kuzhambu
Pachadi	Mango Pachadi	Mango Pachadi
Poriyal	Vazhakkai Podimas	Kothavarangai Paruppu Usuli
Koottu	Aviyal	Oolan
Rasam	Veppam Poo Rasam	Veppam Poo Rasam
Payasam	Coconut Milk Payasam	Chakka pradhaman
Vadai	Paruppu Vadai	Paruppu Vadai
Pickle	Puli Milagai	TomatoThokku
Appalam	Fried Appalam	Fried Pappodam
Curd	Curd	Curd

Some Special Dishes for Tamil New Year's Day:


Festival Menu	Neem Flower Rasam	Mango Pachadi

In our home we celebrate both Vishu and Tamil new year. This year, as per panjangam, the New Year is on 14-apr-2014 and hence we will do the rich lunch on 14th and we will do the kani kanradhu on 15th April.

Strawberries are always favourite for many of us. It is so delicious that we can't stop ourselves from having it. Kids also love strawberry and even its flavour in cake, ice-cream and other dishes. Today I have come up with a combination of strawberry along with coconut milk along with tender coconut water. Believe it! Strawberry with coconut milk and tender coconut water juice is so scrumptious. We can also substitute tender coconut water with Soda.

Strawberry with Coconut Milk and Tender Coconut Water Juice

Preparation time	5 mins
Cooking Time	15 mins
Yield	3 Glasses

Strawberry with Coconut Milk and Tender Coconut Water Juice

Ingredients:

Fresh Strawberries	250gms
Coconut Milk	1/2 Cup*
Tender Coconut Water	1 Cup
Ice cubes	1/4 cup
Sugar	1/2 Cup

* 1 Cup Capacity = 250ml

Strawberry with Coconut Milk and Tender Coconut Water Juice Coconut Water Juice

Method:

Wash and chop the each strawberry into 4 pieces. Add sugar to the chopped strawberry.

Using a ladle gently crush the strawberries. We don't need to crush it so smooth. We need strawberry pieces. So let it just be coarsely crushed

Crushing the strawberries squeezes the juice out of it as we have also added sugar with the strawberry pieces. Take 3 tall glasses and using ladle pour 2 ladles of crushed strawberry juice

Add the ice cubes to each class and tThen add 2 tablespoon of coconut milk to each glass.

Finally add tender coconut water to each glass and using a spoon give a nice stir so that the strawberry juice is completely mixed with coconut milk and tender coconut water.

The yummy Strawberry with Coconut Milk and Tender Coconut Water Juice is now ready for serving. Serve chilled and enjoy the taste!

Strawberry with Coconut Milk and Tender Coconut Water Juice

Ice Cream is favourite for all of us. That too Mango Ice Cream is the most favourite among many of us. There are many variety of flavours in ice cream. Though many of us still order for mango flavour whenever we go for ice-cream shops. Homemade Mango Ice Creams are very easy to concoct and it is very scrumptious too.

Mango Ice Cream

We can also top it up with our favourite toppings before serving this yummy ice-cream. Many people like chocolate chips and nuts as topping and some like tutti-fruti. I have used store bought mango pulp, but we can substitute with pulp from fresh mangoes.

Mango Ice Cream

Preparation time	-
Cooking Time	6 -8 hours
Yield	1 Litre of Ice cream

Mango Ice Cream

Ingredients:

Mango Pulp	30 oz Can or 4 Cups*
Sweetened Condensed Milk	14 oz Can or 2 Cups
Whipped Topping	7oz Can

* 1 Cup Capacity = 250ml

Mango Ice Cream

Method:

I have used the store-bought pulp. We can also substitute this with fresh mangoes. We can peel the mangoes and chop them and blend them to get the pulp. Add the pulp to a big bowl. Then add condensed milk to the pulp

Finally add the cream and using a whip, gently mix them till they are mixed well. Do not beat the ingredients too fast or over beat them. This will make the ice-cream so dense. Gently stir with the whip till all 3 ingredients are nicely mixed well

Pour the ice-cream mixture into a freezer box. Freeze it in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours or overnight. If we like to have mango chunks in the ice-cream we can take out the ice-cream after 2 hours from the freezer and add the chunks and mix well and then again keep it in refrigerator. The next day morning, take out the ice-cream to check if the mango ice-cream has set well.

Now our ice-cream is ready for serving. Take 2 serving bowls and add 2 scoops of Mango ice-cream to each bowl and then top it with cherries, nuts and choco chips and Serve Chilled! Hmmm What a mouth-watering Homemade Mango Ice-Cream!

Mango Ice Cream

We all are tired of this summer heat, but at the same time summer seasonal fruits and vegetables helps us to beat the heat. Chilled fresh juices, ice creams, seasonal vegetables like cucumber, mangoes are always favourite for all of us. Raw mangoes are one among them. We can do many different dishes using raw mangoes. We can do pickles, pachadi, Aam Panna, Stew and many more dishes. Here, I have given the recipe for Raw Mango rice. Raw mango rice is a very delicious rice variety and the preparation of this yummy rice variety is similar to lemon rice and hence so easy to make. We can also pack this as lunch box dish for the kids!

Mango Rice (Mangai sadham)

Preparation time	10 mins
Cooking Time	15 mins
Servings	2-3

Mango Rice (Mangai sadham)

Ingredients:

Raw Mango	1
Cooked Rice	1 Cup*
Green Chilli	1
Red Chilli	1
Turmeric Powder	1/4 teaspoon
Hing	a Pinch
Salt	To Taste

* 1 Cup Capacity = 250ml

For Seasoning:

Gingelly Oil	2 teaspoon
Mustard Seeds	1 teaspoon
Cumin Seeds	1/2 teaspoon
Channa Dal	2 teaspoon
Peanuts	1 tablespoon
Curry Leaves	few
Fenugreek Powder	1/4 teaspoon

Mango Rice (Mangai sadham)

Method:

Wash and Peel the Mango skin and Grate it and keep it aside. Chop the green chilies finely and keep it aside. Heat the oil/Ghee in the pan and add mustard seeds.

When the mustard seeds start to sputter, add Asafoetida, peanuts, channa dhal and fry until dhal becomes golden brown color. Add the curry leaves, slit green chilli and broken red chilli along with grated mangoes

Add a pinch of turmeric powder and salt to the grated Mango and stir-fry the mangoes in medium flame and within 3-5 minutes, the grated mangoes would be cooked. Finally add fenugreek powder and mix well. Add the fluffy cooked rice and mix it well along with necessary salt.

The mouth-watering Mango rice is ready to serve

Mango Rice (Mangai sadham)

Idli are always healthy as we steam cook the idli and there is no oil involved in making them. For Traditional idli, we need to add rice. Diabetics person and diet followers always try to skip rice and broken wheat is their preference. We can do any recipes with broken wheat which we traditionally do with rice like Broken Wheat Adai, Broken Wheat upma kozhukattai and many more dishes. Broken Wheat Idli | Samba Godhumai Idli | Daliya Idli is one of the very healthy and yummy dish.

Broken Wheat Idli | Samba Godhumai Idli | Daliya Idli

Preparation time	15 mins
Cooking Time	20 mins
Yield	12

Ingredients:

Broken Wheat	1 Cup*
Thick Curd	1/2 Cup
Carrot	1
Water	1/2 Cup + more needed
Eno Salt	1/2 teaspoon
Hing	a Pinch
Salt	To Taste
Chopped Coriander Leaves	1 tablespoon

* 1 Cup Capacity = 250ml

For Seasoning:

Oil	1 teaspoon
Mustard Seeds	1 teaspoon
Cashews	5-6
Channa Dal	1 teaspoon
Split Urid Dal	1 teaspoon
Curry Leaves	few

Broken Wheat Idli | Samba Godhumai Idli | Daliya Idli

Method:

Heat a pan and add broken wheat and dry roast it for 2-3 minutes. Take this dry roasted broken wheat in a mixing bowl or vessel. Add oil to the pan and add mustard seeds and when the mustard seeds starts to sputter, add spilt urid dal, channa dal and fry till the dal turns golden brown color. Then add curry leaves and fry for 2 seconds

Wash and grate a carrot and add it to the seasoned ingredients and stir-fry the carrots in high flame for 2-3 minutes. Take these to the mixing bowl. Add chopped coriander leaves to the mixing bowl

Add curd and water and mix well. Keep it aside covered for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, fry the cashews in a pan and take it aside. After 10 minutes, adjust the water level if the all of the water and curd is absorbed by broken wheat. Finally add roasted cashews and eno salt. After adding eno salt mix the whole batter very gently. Eno salt makes the idli fluffy and salt. You can substitute with baking salt also.

Grease the idli plates and fill in the batter in each idli hole and steam cook for 20 minutes

The yummy Broken Wheat Idli | Samba Godhumai Idli | Daliya Idli is now ready to serve with idli milagai podi or any chutney varieties

Broken Wheat Idli | Samba Godhumai Idli | Daliya Idli

Got some Cranberries from the market and wondered how to consume them after making Cranberry Chutney. I did taste the Cranberry Juice in the Restaurants. The ruby red colour and the tart flavour always attracted me. Did some googling for the home made fresh cranberry juice and attempted to make the same. The result was awesome. I did make one mistake, I didn't use a very fine mesh to filter the ground cranberry, hence I got little thicker juice. Ideally the cranberry juice should be very thin (like water), but it's fine, the taste was very good!

Cranberry Juice

Preparation time	-
Cooking Time	30 mins
Yield	4 tall glasses

Ingredients:

Cranberry	2 Cups*
Water	2 Cups
Sugar	1 Cups

* 1 Cup Capacity = 250 ml

Cranberry Juice

Method :

Rinse the Cranberries in the water and clean the same. Heat 2 cups of water in a saucepan and bring them to boil.

Add the Cranberries to the boiling water.Simmer the heat and cook for about 20 minutes. You will hear the cranberries popping like popcorn.

Pour the cranberries into a big bowl and add the sugar and allow the mixture to cool.

Take the Cranberries mixture into a blender/Mixer and grind them nicely. Pass the mixture through a fine mesh sieve. Don't mash the pulp too hard or it will pass through and the juice will be thick. I don't have a fine mesh handy hence used the mesh shown in a picture. To get a clear cranberry juice you need use the fine mesh.

Refrigerate the juice and serve.

Cranberry Juice

My first attempt in baking started with cookies followed by eggless Pineapple cake. After tasting the delicious pineapple cake, My daughter was thrilled as asked me to bake banana and chocolate Eggless cakes. I found Eggless Banana Walnut Cake very simple to concoct, yet, they are so delicious and very spongy and also the bite of walnuts inside the cake makes us enjoy the cake. A very quick and yummy cake to surprise our little ones in their holidays!

Eggless Banana Walnut Cake

Preparation time	-
Cooking Time	30 mins
Yield	4 tall glasses

Eggless Banana Walnut Cake

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour	1 Cup*
Sweetened Condensed Milk	1/2 Cup
Thick curd	1/4 Cup
Butter*	1/4 Cup
Ripe Banana	2
Baking Powder	1/2 teaspoon
Baking Salt	1/4 teaspoon
Cardamom Powder	1/4 teaspoon
Chopped Walnuts***	1/4 Cup

* 1 Cup Capacity = 250ml
** Butter should be at room temperature
*** Walnuts is optional, can be substituted with almonds also

Eggless Banana Walnut Cake

Method:

Pre-heat the Oven at 350 degree F or 180 degrees C

Take the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking salt, cardamom powder in a sieve and sieve it so that all the dry ingredients are nicely mixed. Peel the ripe bananas and mash it nicely using your clean hand

Now lets mix all the wet ingredients. Take a mixing bowl, add condensed milk followed by butter. Butter , curd should be at room temperature. Different temperature of each ingredients will not result in good baking. So make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature.

Then add curd and whisk everything nicely. Then add dry flour that we have passed through the sieve. Fold them all gently and make sure they are mixed well.

Add the mashed ripe bananas and fold them gently followed by finely chopped walnuts. Now our cake batter is ready

Grease a cake tin and dust it with little flour. Pour the cake batter and gently tap so that the batter is evenly spread and there are no air holes

Bake it the oven for 20-25 minutes, until the tooth pick comes out clean. Take out the baked cake dust it with icing sugar(this is optional) and place it in cooling rack and allow it to cool off for another 30 minutes. After the cake is cooled off, make rectangular or triangular cake pieces.

Our yummy and spongy Eggless Banana Walnut Cake is now ready to serve!

Eggless Banana Walnut Cake

Chocolate cake are always special and favourite among kids and also for many of us. So, I have decided to concoct the yummy Eggless Chocolate Cake today. This is a very simple and easy to do cake and the final cake which we bake is so spongy and soft. We can decorate our cake after baking with icing and cherries too.

Eggless Chocolate Cake

Preparation time	15 mins
Cooking Time	20 mins
Yield	6-8 cake pieces

Eggless Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour	1 Cup*
Corn Flour	1 teaspoon
Oil	1/4 Cup
Yoghurt**	1/2 Cup
Water	1/4 Cup
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder	1/4 Cup
Brown Sugar	1/2 Cup
Baking Powder	1/2 teaspoon
Baking Salt	1/4 teaspoon
Vanilla Essence	1/4 teaspoon
Chopped Walnuts***	1/4 Cup
Vinegear	1 teaspoon

* 1 Cup Capacity = 250ml
** Yoghurt should be at room temperature
*** Walnuts is optional, can be substituted with almonds also

Eggless Chocolate Cake

Method:

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F or 180 degrees C

First, lets start with our wet ingredients. Take a mixing bowl and add yoghurt, oil, water and vanilla essence. Add sugar and mix well till sugar dissolves fully

Now lets concentrate on the dry ingredients. Take the allpurpose flour, corn flour, baking powder, baking salt in a sieve and then add the corn flour and pass through the sieve so that all the dry ingredients are mixed well

Add the dry flours to the wet ingredients little by little and keep folding them gently until they all are mixed well and finally add vinegar and give one last stir. Vinegar reacts with baking salt and makes the cake more spongy and salt

Then add chopped nuts and fold them together. Pour this in a greased cake tin and gently tap it so that the cake batter is evenly spread in the cake tin

Bake it in the oven for 20 minutes and make sure the tooth pick comes out clean if you insert. Keep the baked cake in the cooling rack and allow it to cool. Decorate the cake as per your wish. I have done decoration with icing cream and placed a cherry on top of it. I found it very hard to keep my kids away till I finished with my photographing. They are very eager to taste the cake and also the cherry attracted them so much. Finally we can cut our cake in rectangular or triangular piece and serve the cake

We can also make cupcakes out of this same batter and just add 1/4 cup of choco chips. For cupcakes, we need to take cupcake mould and line it with cupcake liner or we can also grease the mould and pour this batter and bake it to get lovely cup cakes.

The scrumptious and spongy Eggless Chocolate Cake is now ready to serve!

Eggless Chocolate Cake

We get Raw Mangoes during summer with which we can do many different recipes. Raw Mango Paruppu Kootu, a delicious stew using raw mango. This is served with rice. We can mix this stew with rice or we can serve as a sidedish for any kuzhambu varieties.

Raw Mango Paruppu Kootu

Preparation time	10 mins
Cooking Time	20 mins
Servings	3-4

Raw Mango Paruppu Kootu

Ingredients:

Raw Mango	1 big Size
Moong Dal	1/4 Cup*
Channa Dal	1 tablespoon
Turmeric Powder	1/4 teaspoon
Hing	1/4 teaspoon
Salt	To Taste

* 1 Cup Capacity = 250ml

Oil	1 teaspoon
Mustard Seeds	1 teaspoon
Cumin Seeds	1/2 teaspoon
Green Chilli	1
Red Chilli	1
Curry Leaves	few

Method:

Pressure cook the moong dal and channa dal in cooker. Wash and peel the skin of raw mango and chop it roughly into slices. Fresh raw mangoes cook very easily and also for stew we don't need to chop them finely.

Take the sliced raw mangoes in a sauce pan and add water to cook them. Generally fresh mangoes cook very quickly and gets mashed up nicely within 3-4 minutes.

Add the cooked dal to the cooked mango. To this add turmeric powder, salt and hing.

Adjust the water level and bring it to boil. Meanwhile, in another pan add oil and when the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and when the mustard seeds starts to sputter, add cumin seeds, broken red chilli and green chilli followed by curry leaves and saute them all for 10 seconds. remove the seasoned ingredients from flame and add it to the cooked raw mango kootu and remove from flame

The delicious Raw Mango Paruppu Kootu is now ready to serve.

Raw Mango Paruppu Kootu

Ice Creams are always favourite for all of us. That too when it comes to choosing our favourite flavour for icecream, its always hard to select as we love most of the flavours. Many of us are lovers of strawberries and especially kids love to have this flavour in ice cream because of its yummy flavour and also its appealing colour. I still know many people who don't like strawberry icecream. A friend of mine always tell that strawberry flavour look like gelusil syrup ;). Store bought strawberry icecream might not be fresh, they might be prepared with strawberry essence instead of fresh strawberries. Fresh Homemade Strawberry Icecream are always so delicious and creamy and I bet even my friend would love to have ;).

Homemade Strawberry IceCream

My daughter enjoyed this icecream so much and I couldn't stop her from having more and more.. Treat your kids with this special Homemade Strawberry IceCream in this summer holidays!

Preparation time	5 mins
Cooking Time	15 mins
Yield	3 Glasses

Homemade Strawberry IceCream

Ingredients:

Chopped Fresh Strawberries	250gms
Powdered Sugar	3/4 Cup*
Fresh heavy cream	3/4 Cup
Full Fat Milk	1 Cup
Lemon Juice	1/2 teaspoon

* 1 Cup Capacity = 250ml

Homemade Strawberry IceCream

Method:

Wash and dry the strawberries and chop them into pieces. Using clean hand coarsely mash the strawberries. Now we are going to measure 1 cup of the coarsely mashed strawberries and take it for our process. Out of the 1 cup mashed strawberries, I am going to take our 1/4 cup separately which I will be using it later. To the remaining 3/4th cup of coarsely mashed strawberries, add powdered sugar

Mix the strawberries and powdered sugar well. Then add heavy cream and give a good stir

Next we are going to add a cup of full fat milk. To get a nice and creamy icecream, we need to use only full fat milk and not semi-skimmed or low fat milk. Also use chilled milk. Give it a good stir and finally add the lemon juice. The reason for adding lemon juice is that, it will bring out the flavour of strawberries nicely

Pour this icecream batter in a square cake tin and put it in the freezer. Make sure you are not covering it with a lid and also make sure the tin touches the bottom of the freezer. This ensures quicker setting of the icecream. After 3-4 hours, the icecream would have been set.

Take that out and break the icecream and add it to the mixer. We are going to blend it in a mixer or if you have a hand blender, you could use that. The reason we blend the freezer set ice-cream is to break the ice crystals that gets formed during the freezing process. Now after blending, we could see a nice, rich and creamy icecream.

To this, we are going to add the reserved 1/4 fresh and coarsely mashed strawberries with juice and give a good stir.

Pour this in a air-tight container and place it in the freezer till the ice-cream is fully set. When I took out the container the next day, I got a lovely rich and creamy Homemade Strawberry IceCream

Take 1-2 scoops of this yummy Homemade Strawberry IceCream in a icecream bowl and serve it with your preferred topping.

Homemade Strawberry IceCream

Kashmiri Pulao is a a sweet and very mild variety of pulao enriched with lots of nuts, dry fruits and fresh fruits. Very simple to make, yet looks very appealing and tastes yummy.

Kashmiri Pulao

Preparation time	15 mins
Cooking Time	30 mins
Servings	2-3

Kashmiri Pulao

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice	1 Cup *
Saffron Thread	5
Onion	1
Milk	1/2 Cup
Water	2 Cups
Cashews	20
Raisins	20
Red Grapes	20
Chopped Walnuts	2 tablespoon
Pomegranate	1/4 Cup
Sugar	2 teaspoon
Salt	To taste

* 1 Cup Capacity = 250ml

For Seasoning:

Butter / Ghee	1/4 Cup
Cardamom	3
Cinnamon Stick	1 inch piece
Cloves	2
Fennel Seeds	1/2 teaspoon

Kashmiri Pulao

Method:

Wash and Soak the basmati rice in water for 10-15 mins. Wash and dry the fresh red grapes and take all the nuts and keep it ready.

Chop the grapes into 2 pieces and remove the Seed. Remove the pomegranate seeds and keep it ready. This we are going to use it for garnishing. Meanwhile, soak the saffron threads in milk and keep it aside. I have used more saffron threads and hence the dark yellow colour, but you could use 2-3 threads if you prefer to get a white or slightly saffron color

Heat little ghee in a pan and add chopped onions and saute them till they turn golden brown color. Take this aside in a plate. Heat some more ghee and add the cashews, walnuts and raisins and saute them till the cashews turn golden brown color.

Next we are going to add chopped grapes. We could even add chopped apples also. Saute the grapes for a minute and take all these in a plate. Heat more ghee in the pan and add the whole masalas listed in the seasonings table above and saute them for a minute

Then add drained rice and sugar and saute it for 2 minutes. Now we are going add milk in which we have soaked the saffron thread and also water along with salt and mix well

Keep the flame high and allow the rice to boil. When all the water is drained, keep the flame to very low and cover the pan with a lid and cook for another 15 minutes

Now we have got nice and fluffy rice. Finally we need to garnish with sauted onions and nuts and give a good toss

Serve the yummy Kashmiri Pulao by garnishing it with pomegranate seeds and fried onions

Kashmiri Pulao

Notes :

You can also add fruits of your choice, like apple.
You can adjust the quantity of the fruits and dry fruits depending on your liking to the sweetness in the rice.

Easter Holidays, keeping kids in home is sometimes causes trouble. My daughter likes to watch Kitchen Superstar Junior, even I do like to watch kids making extraordinary dishes in young age. My daughter wants to do some dish on her own and she is very keen in that. I am still worried to make her work in stove. I was looking for a simple dish that would be easy for her and came across this simple recipe which kids also can do :-)

Concocting Cake always need oven. Today, I have given here the recipe of No Bake Chocolate Cake |or Chocolate Fridge Cake which doesn't need Oven. This is a very simple to do cake and we can include our children to make this yummy delight. My elder daughter enjoyed doing this recipe and she enjoyed the end product too. We just need to use our refrigerator to get the final delicious cake It would not be spongy for sure but the crispiness would be enjoyed by the kids!

No Bake Chocolate Cake | Chocolate Fridge Cake

Preparation time	5 mins
Cooking Time	15 mins
Setting Time	1-2 hours
Yield	15 cake pieces

No Bake Chocolate Cake | Chocolate Fridge Cake

Ingredients:

Dark Chocolate	250gms
Golden Syrup	1/4 Cup*
Butter	50gms
Digestive Biscuits	125gms
Raisins	10-15
Chopped nuts**	1/4 Cup

* 1 Cup Capacity = 250ml
** Nuts are optional

No Bake Chocolate Cake | Chocolate Fridge Cake

Method:

Take a heat proof bowl and add broken dark chocolate along with golden syrup and butter. Add the digestive biscuits in a plastic cover and close it and using a rolling pin bash them into medium pieces

Heat a pan with a glass of water and keep the flame low. Place the heat proof bowl and melt chocolate, butter and golden syrup set over a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally.

Once melted, remove the bowl from pan and add the broken digestive biscuits and mix well. Then add raisins and nuts

Mix all the nuts and raisins and Pour this melted chocolate mixture in a greased cake tin and level the mixture using a flat spatula.Place the cake tin in the refrigerator and allow it to set for 1-2 hours.

For me, It took couple of hours. Remove the tin from fridge and using a knife make square pieces

Our delicious Chocolate Cake is now ready. Serve the yummy chocolate fridge cake and enjoy the taste!

No Bake Chocolate Cake | Chocolate Fridge Cake

Oats Moongdal Tikki, a very healthy evening snack. This simple and yummy snack is rich in fiber because of oats and rich in protein because of moong dal. We are going to use very less oil to make these healthy tikkis. We can serve this delicious oats tikkis to our guests and surprise them!

Oats Moongdal Tikki

Preparation time	15 mins
Cooking Time	30 mins
Yield	12 Tikkis

Oats Moongdal Tikki

Ingredients:

Moong Dal	1/4 Cup*
Oats	3/4 Cup*
Onion	1
Carrot	1
Yoghurt	1 tablespoon
Garam Masala	1/2 teaspoon
Red Chilli Powder	1/2 teaspoon
Salt	To Taste
Chopped Coriander Leaves	1 tablespoon
Oil	2 tablespoon

* 1 Cup Capacity = 250ml

Oats Moongdal Tikki

Method:

Wash and Soak the moong dal in water for 30 minutes. Pressure cook the dal by adding 1/2 cup of water and then coarsely mash the dal and keep it ready

Wash and peel the carrot and grate it. Chop the onions finely and keep it ready. Take a pan and add oats to it. Dry roast the oats till we get a nice aroma and the oats turn slightly brown color. Remove the roasted oats and allow it to cool off

Grind it in a mixer to a nice powder and take 1 tablespoon of ground oats powder aside for coating tikkis. Take a mixing bowl add mashed dal, remaining oats powder, grated carrot and onion.

Also add garam masala, red chilli powder, salt and chopped coriander. Mix all the ingredients and finally add curd and mix well and make it like a dough

Take lemon size ball out of the dough and make small tikki. Coat each tikki with oats powder.

Heat a flat bottomed pan or tawa and grease it with oil. Add 4-5 coated oats tikkis and apply little oil and keep the flame low and allow the tikkis to fry evenly. Except of moong dal, rest of ingredients are raw and hence we need to cook them in low flame. Flip the cooked tikkis to cook on other side. Remove the cooked Oats Moongdal Tikki from flame

Serve this yummy Oats Moongdal Tikki with green chutney

Oats Moongdal Tikki

Mint leaves (Pudhina) are very good for stomach ache and it cure the chest pains. It cures all stomach ailments including indigestion. It has many medical properties.Taking mint juice at night before going to bed induces restful sleep. Taking mint tea half an hour before meals stimulates appetite. Infusion made with mint leaves is useful for cold, flu, hiccups and flatulence. Keep your breath fresh by chewing some mint leaves .Here is the recipe made of Mint leaves - Mint leaves kuzhambu (Pudhina Kuzhambu).

Pudhina Kuzhambu

Preparation time	10 mins
Cooking Time	30 mins
Servings	4

Pudhina Kuzhambu

Ingredients:

Mint Leaves	1 Bunch
Onion	1
Tomato	1
Tamarind	1 lemon size
Salt	To Taste

* 1 Cup Capacity = 250ml

For Grinding:

Red Chilli	4
Fenugreek Seeds	1/4 teaspoon
Coriander Seeds	1 teaspoon
Peppercorns	1 teaspoon
Cumin Seeds	1/2 teaspoon
Oil	1 tablespoon

For Seasoning:

Oil	1 teaspoon
Mustard Seeds	1 teaspoon

Pudhina Kuzhambu

Method

Soak the tamarind and extract the juice

Chop the onion and tomato. Heat the pan and pour two teaspoon of oil. Once the oil gets heated then add the cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds,black pepper, coorinder seeds, red chilli and fry them in the oil till its color changes to light brown.

Add the onion and fry them till its color changes to light brown. Add the tomota now and keep on frying them. Add the mint leaves to the mixture now and continue frying for 2 minutes in the medium flame.Switch off the flame and allow the mixture to cool.

Grind the mixture in the mixer. Add water if required while grinding and grind it to a nice paste. Add the one teaspoon oil in the pan and once the oil gets heat then add the mustered seed. Once the mustered seeds starts pops up add the hing and the curry leaves. Then add the tamarind water. and salt and allow it to boil for 5 minutes.

When the raw smell of tamarind goes off, add the ground paste and mix them well and allow it to boil. Add water if the mixture is very thick. Keep in the medium heat for 5-10 mins and then remove from flame

The healthy Pudhina Kuzhambu (Mint leaves Kuzhambu) is ready to searve.

Pudhina Kuzhambu | Mint Kuzhambu

Beetroot is low in fat, full of vitamins and minerals and packed with powerful antioxidants. Beetroot is of exceptional nutritional value; especially the greens, which are rich in calcium, iron and vitamins A and C. Beetroots are an excellent source of folic acid and a very good source of fibre, manganese and potassium. The greens should not be overlooked; they can be cooked up and enjoyed in the same way as spinach.

Many people dislike beetroot because of its color. But the color of the beetroot is harmless. We should make our kids have this atleast once a week. I have given here the recipe of simple beetroot poriyal. You could also find beetroot thugayal recipe in the site.

Beetroot Poriyal

Preparation time	10 mins
Cooking Time	30 mins
Servings	4

Beetroot Poriyal

Ingredients:

Beetroot	250gms
Turmeric Powder	a Pinch
Grated Coconut	2 teaspoon
Red Chilli Powder	1/2 teaspoon
Salt	To Taste

For Seasoning:

Oil	1 teaspoon
Mustard Seeds	1 teaspoon
Split Urid Dal	1 teaspoon

Method:

Wash and peel the beetroot and chop it finely. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds when the oil is hot. When the mustard seeds starts to sputter, add split urid dal and fry till the dal turns golden brown colour.

Then add chopped beetroot and half a cup of water along with salt, turmeric powder and red chilli powder and mix well. Cover it with a lid and allow it to cook completely. Check the water level and if the beetroot is still not cooked, sprinkle some more water. Normally sprinkling little water itself makes beetroot let out more water. Once beetroot is cooked completely and the water is drained, add grated coconut and mix well and remove from flame

Serve the yummy beetroot poriyal with rice.

Beetroot Poriyal

This week, I have come up with simple and healthy lunch menu. Often we are bored of making usual sambar, or karakuzhambu and we tend to look for something easy at the same time healthy. So I have selected Curryleaves kuzhambu, beetroot poriyal, pumpkin kootu and kottu rasam as a lunch menu. For kuzhambu and kootu we need to go for grinding. Hence I have selected poriyal and rasam as simple. Kottu rasam is so simple we are not even going to cook dal and not going to use tomato. So it is very easy to make rasam. Beetroot poriyal is also healthy and easy to cook.

Curryleaves are very healthy and many of us tend to remove it from dishes. In curryleaves kuzhambu we are going to grind the curryleaves making the healthy leaves to get blended well in the kuzhambu. Finally pumpkin is also a low calorie veg and a stew out of pumpkin is so tasty and protein rich too as we are going to add dal.

Serve this yummy menu with cooked rice and appalam or potato chips and I am sure your family is going to enjoy this delightful menu.

South Indian Lunch Menu 6 - Curryleaves Kuzhambu, Kottu Rasam, Beetroot Poriyal, Pumpkin Kootu


Curryleaves Kuzhambu	Pumpkin Stew


Kottu Rasam	Beetroot Poriyal

South Indian Lunch Menu 6 - Curryleaves Kuzhambu, Kottu Rasam, Beetroot Poriyal, Pumpkin Kootu

Whatever the flavour of ice-cream, we all love to devour them. This time its Pista Icecream. Mostly in ice cream stores, pista icecream are made using pista essence thats the reason of the pale green color. Here, I have not used any essence, its all fresh pistachio nuts and hence the colour of the icecream will not be green, but the taste is delicious compared to using pista essence. Fresh Homemade Pista Icecream are always scrumptious and creamy. Serve this yummy icecream with your favourite toppings and see how your kids are enjoying this delicious dessert!

Homemade Pista Icecream

Preparation time	10 mins
Cooking Time	15 mins
Setting Time	4-8 hours
Servings	4

Homemade Pista Icecream

Ingredients:

Pistachio nuts	50gms
Condensed Milk	400ml / 14oZ
Heavy double whipping cream	600ml

Homemade Pista Icecream

Method:

Remove the outer skin of the pistachios and take out the nuts. Take 1/4th portion of the nuts separately which we will be using it later and add the rest 3/4th portion of nuts to the mixer

Grind the pistachio nuts to a fine powder. Take a mixing bowl and add the condensed milk

Then add the heavy double cream and ground pista powder.

Whisk them all continuously till you get a stiff ice-cream batter. Initially the mixture would be thin in consistency but when you keep on stirring it with a whisk, you could see and feel that its getting thicker and finally you would get a stiff ice-cream mixture. Finally add roughly chopped 1/4th quantity of pistachio nuts which we saved in the first step and give one final mix

Pour this in an air-tight container and freeze it for 4-8 hours or overnight. Once the ice-cream is fully set, you could take out from the freezer and keep it in room temperature for 2-3 minutes and then it will be ready to take it in a scooper

Serve the yummy and creamy Pista Icecream in a bowl or in a ice-cream cone and you can garnish with your favourite toppings!

Homemade Pista Icecream

Andhra Pulihora (Andhra Tamarind Rice) is always a special and traditional dish. A close Telugu friend of mine, concoct this pulihora very tastily and I always request her to make this yummy dish whenever we meet for any pot-luck. I learn from her how to make this traditional wonderful dish. The Pulihora is very tasty and mild in spice hence even my 2year kid love to have this rice.

Andhra Pulihora | Andhra Tamarind Rice

Preparation time	10 mins
Cooking Time	30 mins
Servings	4

Andhra Pulihora | Andhra Tamarind Rice

Ingredients:

Tamarind	1 lemon size
Turmeric Powder	1/2 teaspoon
Peanuts	2 teaspoon
Curry Leaves	few
Salt	To Taste
Sesame Seeds	2 teaspoon
Gingelly Oil	1 tablespoon
Cooked Rice	1.5 Cups

For Seasoning:

Gingelly Oil	1 teaspoon
Mustard Seeds	1 teaspoon
Cumin Seeds	1 teaspoon
Split Urid Dal	1 teaspoon
Channa Dal	1 teaspoon
Green Chilli	2
Red Chilli	2
Curry Leaves	few
Chopped Ginger	1 teaspoon

Andhra Pulihora | Andhra Tamarind Rice

Method:

Soak the tamarind in water and extract the juice.

Spread the cooked rice in a bowl and add gingelly oil, turmeric powder and curry leaves and mix well and cover the cooked rice with a lid and keep it asideHeat a pan and add sesame seeds and dry roast it till it becomes red colour and starts to sputter. Cool the roasted sesame seeds and take it to the mixer.

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds starts to sputter, add cumin seeds saute it for 10 seconds. Then add channa dal, split urid dal and fry till the dal turns golden brown color. Then add slit green chillies, broken red chillies, curry leaves, chopped ginger and fry for 20 seconds

Add tamarind extract along with turmeric powder, salt and allow it to boil for 5-10 minutes in medium flame till the raw smell of the tamarind goes off and the mixture gets thickened. Add the tamarind extract to the cooked rice and mix well with a wooden spatula gently

Grind the roasted sesame seeds to a nice powder. Add this sesame seeds powder to the rice with tamarind extract and mix well

Finally roast some peanuts in little oil and add the roasted peanuts to the tamarind rice and mix well gently

Serve this yummy Andhra Pulihora | Andhra Tamarind Rice with stir-fried vegetable and papad

Andhra Pulihora | Andhra Tamarind Rice

Spicy Paneer Gravy, this recipe is for spice lovers. The dish is hot and spicy and goes well with roti/ chapati or even we can mix with white rice and have it. Paneer cooked in pepper coconut based gravy makes it so delicious. We usually make Paneer Butter Masala, Kadai Paneer, Mutter Paneer but this is different from them as the underlying gravy is based on coconut-pepper mixture.

Spicy Paneer Gravy

Preparation time	10 mins
Cooking Time	30 mins
Servings	4

Spicy Paneer Gravy

Ingredients:

Paneer Cubes	1/4 Cup
Onion	2
Curry Leaves	few
Turmeric Powder	1/4 teaspoon
Kasoori Methi / Dry Fenugreek leaves	1/4 teaspoon
Green Chilli	1
Paprika Powder	1 teaspoon
Oil / Butter	1 tablespoon
Chopped Coriander Leaves	1 tablespoon

For Masala Paste:

Curry leaves	10
Grated Coconut	1/4 Cup
Pepper	3/4 teaspoon
Red Chillies	2
Ginger-Garlic Paste	2 teaspoon
Coriander Powder	1 teaspoon
Cumin Powder	1/2 teaspoon
Mango Powder	1 teaspoon
Cloves	2
Cinnamon Stick	1/2 inch piece

Method:

I have used store bought paneer cubes. I soak them in warm water so that they would be soft. Take all the masala paste ingredients to the mixer and grind it to a nice paste.

Heat oil or butter in a pan, add curry leaves and chopped onion and green chilli along with pinch of salt. Saute the onions till they become golden brown color. Then add masala paste along with turmeric powder and paprika powder and mix well. Keep the flame in medium and allow it to boil for 10 minutes as the masala paste is very raw.

Crush the kasoori methi leaves and add it to the gravy. Next add the paneer cubes and adjust the water level and mix well.

Adjust the salt and cover the pan with a lid keeping the flame low and allow the whole gravy to cook in low flame for 10 minutes. Finally garnish with chopped coriander leaves and remove from flame

Yummy, Spicy Paneer Gravy is now ready to serve with any Indian Bread.

Spicy Paneer Gravy

Sprouts Sandwich, a very healthy breakfast dish. Sprouting at Home, a very simple and the sprouts would be very fresh compared to the preserved store-bought sprouts. We are going to prepare a mild masala using sprouts and going to make yummy sandwich. This is a very healthy breakfast dish as it is rich in protein and fiber content. Instead of filling the sandwich with butter or cheese, try this yummy sprouts masala which helps to boost your protein and fiber content. Also try to use whole wheat bread instead of the white ones to make this dish more healthier.

Sprouts Masala Sandwich

This dish would be a great Lunchbox dish for the kids too. My daughter love to have Sprouts Sandwich for her lunch box.

Sprouts Masala Sandwich

Preparation time	10 mins
Cooking Time	30 mins
Servings	4

Sprouts Masala Sandwich

Ingredients:

Mixed Fresh Sprouts	1/2 Cup*
Boiled Potatoes	2
Onion	1
Tomato	1
Carrot	1
Garam Masala	1/2 teaspoon
Coriander Powder	1 teaspoon
Red Chilli Powder	1/2 teaspoon
Brown Bread Slices	8-10
Green Chutney	1/4 cup
Oil	1 teaspoon

*1 Cup = 250 ml

Sprouts Masala Sandwich

Method:

Take 1/2 cup of the homegrown sprouts or store-bought. Finely chop the onions, tomatoes. Grate the carrot and keep it ready. Also mash the boiled potatoes and keep everything ready to prepare the masala

Heat oil in a pan add onion and saute them with a pinch of salt till they turn transparent. Then add chopped tomatoes and allow it to cook till it gets mushy. Then add sprouts and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes. We don't need to cook the sprouts longer.

Now add the coriander powder, red chilli powder and garam masala powder and mix well. Also add mashed potatoes and mix well.

Keep the masala in low flame for 5 minutes and then remove from flame. Our Sprouts masala is now ready to stuffing the sandwich

Take 2 bread slices and dry roast the bread on both the sides. I have not used any butter, but it is our option we could use little bread to toast the bread.

To one side of the toasted bread, spread the green chutney and spread 1 tablespoon of the sprouts masala and place another toasted bread on top of this spread bread and chop it in triangular pieces.

Now our yummy Sprouts Masala Sandwich is ready to Serve with green chutney!

Sprouts Masala Sandwich