Egg salad

Ingredients:

Eggs boiled          -2

Lettuce                 -5 leaves chopped 
Onion                   -1/4 onion cut lengthwise
Cherry tomatoes   -5 cut each into two 
Strawberries       -2 cut into thin slices 

Dressing : 
Olive oil              -1/2 tsp
Lemon juice        -1 tbsp
Pepper powder   -1/2 tsp
Salt as per taste 

Preparation :
Combine all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and keep aside. In another serving bowl arrange all the salad ingredients and then pour the dressing over it. Serve it as any meal of the day 

Ney pathal (Iftar Special)

Ingredients:
Rice  (Par boiled rice)   - 1cup
Grated cococnut            -1/4 cup
Shallots                          -4
Fennel seeds                   -1/4 tsp
Salt as required
Oil or ghee for frying

Method:
Soak rice in warm water for 3-4 hours.Grind together rice ,grated coconut,fennel seeds , shallots and salt to a  grainy paste with just enough water.The paste should not be watery.If it is watery ,just absorb water using kitchen tissues or cloth.
Heat oil in a deep frying pan.
Make pathal balls(size of a lemon) from ground paste and flatten it to  small thick rounds using hands by keeping it in any non sticky suface like plastic sheets .Now take each flattened pathals carefully and drop into the oil and fry both  sides until it is light golden brown in color.Serve with any spicy curry

Spinach toasts

Ingredients:
Bread slice               - 6 slices
Spinach                    -3 cups finely cut spinach leaves
Onion                       -1 small sliced
Ginger &garlic paste -1/4 tsp
Tomato ketchup       -6 tbsp
Cheese Grated         -4 tbsp
Green chillies           -2 chopped
Salt as required
Oil  as required

Method:
Heat oil in a pan.Add onions and saute.Add chopped spinach,ginger garlic paste ,green chillies and salt .Saute nicely.Remove from fire.
Spread 1 tbsp ketchup over each bread slice.Now spread the spinach mixture over it .At the last sprinkle grated cheese.Decorate with some tomato slices if  needed.
Heat a normal pan or a grilling pan and grill bread slices for 3-4 minutes until the cheese melts and the bread gets toasted.
Serve hot.

Pathiri(rice roti-Kerala style)

Ingredients:
Rice flour       - 2cups
Water            - 2 cups
Salt to taste
Method:
.Boil water with salt.Add rice flour to this and lower the heat.Stir the flour with a spoon till it is well mixed.Remove from fire and keep it covered for 5  minutes.Remove it to a wide plate for kneading.

.Knead it well to a big dough  ball before the mixture is cooled completely.If you are feeling that water is not completely mixed with flour, you could wet your hands and do it.Make equal sized balls of it.(size of a lemon).Each ball makes each pathiri.

.Take each ball and dip it in dry rice flour.Sprinkle some rice flour on a dry rough surface.Now place each ball on the surface and roll it out into a thin round using a rolling pin.If you didnt get round shape, dont worry trim  the edges using any round shaped lid.

. Heat  tawa or griddle.Spinkle some water and  see whether the water is evaporating quickly.If so its ready to put pathiri.Cook the Pathiri  by turning both sides till it puffs.Remove from fire.

Preparationof coconut milk

Grated coconut  -   1/4 of a coconut
Shallots             -    2
Curry leaves      - 3-4
Oil                     - 1 tsp
Water                - a cup
Salt to taste

.In a mixi ,blend coconut, salt and water together.Drain it through a drainer to get coconut milk.Heat oil in a small pan.Add sliced shallots and curry leaves and saute for sometime.Pour this to the coconut milk.
.To make the pathiri softer,either dip pathiri in the coconut milk prepared earlier or keep it separately and serve.

Im sending this to theRice event hosting by Anita

Egg White Omelette

If you are a health conscious cook,you may need to limit the usage of cholesterol loaded food like egg,beef,mutton ,shrimp....Sounds a bit difficult right?For those people here comes a tasty omelette recipe with very low fat and cholesterol.

Ingredients:
2    egg whites
1    slice of bread(preferably white)
2    tbsp low fat milk
1/4 cup sliced vegetables(bell pepper,onion,tomato,mushrooms etc) according to your taste.
1    small piece ginger crushed
1/4 tsp garam masala powder
1/2 tsp oil(preferably olive oil)
Salt and pepper powder to taste.

Method:
. Heat 1/4 tsp of oil in a pan and  saute the vegetables and keep aside.
. Remove the sides of the bread and soak it in water taken in a bowl.Sqeeze out the water completely.
. Whisk the egg whites using two forks or with a beater.
. Add the bread  to the beaten egg whites .Add  ginger crushed,garam masala powder and milk to this and    beat it again.

. Heat a non-stick pan which is greased with rest of the oil.Pour the egg mixture.As the egg white mixture begins to cook,place the vegetables on the omlette.When the down part of the omelette is done,turn it over and cook the other side too.Season with salt and pepper and serve immedietely.


Sarah passed on two lovely,encouraging awards.Thanks a ton dear.

Sangeetha too shared me an award.Thanks a lot Sangee for sharing this award.

I would like to pass on these awards to all my blogger friends.

Rice Paalada

Paalada along with mutton curry is one of my sister's specialities.During our vacation in June- July in India ,when my sister and myself were together at our home,I was going behind her for more paalada and mutton though I had it for 2-3 times.While I'm writing this itself that taste is lingering on my taste buds.

Dont think that it can be taken only with mutton.Even sugar or pickle will goes well with it.Its very easy to make as well as tasty.Here comes the Rice Paalada recipe. Mutton curry is following.

Ingredients:
White Long grain rice  - 2cups
Egg beaten                  -1
Coconut milk               -3/4 cup
Salt to taste

Method:
Soak rice for three hours.Grind together all the ingredients except coconut milk to make a fine paste.Gradually add milk little by little to make it loose.Now it is ready to use.No need to ferment like dosa batter.In a hot pan pour 1/2 cup of batter and tilt the pan to form a thin even layer.Cook for a few minute on high flame until the edges start to leave the pan and is crispy.Remove immediately and fold to four.If you use more rice with less egg,the paalada will be more whitish.

Appam (Rice Pancake)

Ingredients:

Idli Rice/Basmati Rice   -3 cups

Cooked Rice                -3/4 cup

Flattened rice flakes      -1/2 cup(optional)
Coconut milk                -1 1/2 cup
Sugar                            -1 tbsp
Yeast                            -1 tsp
Warm water                  -1/4 cup
Salt to taste           

Method:
Soak rice for 6-8 hours. Grind together the soaked rice,cooked rice,flattened rice flakes(aval) and coconut milk to make a smooth batter of dripping consistency.The batter should be looser than dosa batter.If it is not loose ,you can add some water.
In a quarter cup of warm water,add the yeast granules and keep it for 5 minutes till it dissolves.Add this to the batter made.Add sugar also.Keep it for 7-8 hours or overnight for fermentation.Add salt to this .In a
hot appachatti( if you dont have appachatti,you can use any non-stick pans) ,pour 1/2 cup of batter and swril around the pan.Cook it with lid closed on medium flame for 1-1 /2 minutes.

Tuna Sandwich

Nadi,this is for you!!!
                                       

Ingredients:

Tuna                       - 1can (white tuna in water,drained,flaked)

Lettuce                   - 3 large leaves (chopped)

Carrot                    - 1/4 cup shredded
Mayonnaise            - 1/2 cup
Pepper powder       - 1/2 tsp
Onion                     - 2 tbsp (chopped)
8 slices of whole bread.
Method:

 Toast the bread slices.Mix all other ingredients  until blended.Cover  a toast slice with mixture,top with another one.

Idli

Idli is one of the popular South Indian breakfast recipe.It is a  nutritious item with no oil.Idlis are usually served with sambar and chutney.

Ingredients:

 Idli rice                     -21/2 cups

(If you dont get Idli rice,we can use any other parboiled rice)

Urad dal                    -1 cup

Cooked rice              -1/2 cup

Salt                           -1 tsp

Fennu greek seeds    -1tsp

Procedure:

Soak rice and dal separately in water for 4-5 hours.Grind it with enough water to get a thick batter in a blender or a grinder.Pour it in a big vessel and keep it for fermentation for 9-10 hours depending upon the weather.Before making idlis,stir the batter with enough salt.Grease the idli mould with little oil and pour the batter.Steam it for10 minutes.Remove the idlis from the mould with a wet spatula.Serve with sambar or chutney.

For making Coriander Chutney:

    Coriander leaves  -1 cup

    Grated coconut    -1 cup

    Red chillies          -5

    Ginger                 - a small piece

    Tamarind             -a small piece

    Salt  as required

    Musturd seeds    -1/4 tsp

    Broken Urad dal -1/2 tsp

    Oil                      -1tsp

    Procedure:  

       Grind together all the ingredients from corainder leaves to salt in a blender.Heat oil in a small frying pan.Splutter musturd seeds,then broken urad dal.When urad dal becomes light brown in colour,pour the mix from the blender to this and switch off the stove.

     

  For feeding kids with idli ,we can try this trick which i learned from my aunt.What she do is:

Cut one idli into 2 or 3 pieces.Then decorate it with some chutney .See!!!  It looks like our eyes !!!Now we can see the kids excitment to have this IDLI FACE.

Kothu parotta

First time I had this dish when I was in KIMS hospital in Thiruvananthapuram (in Kerala) for my kid's delivery.My husband liked it a lot.So i started making it at home in my own way as i don't know the exact way to do that.For this we can use the left over parottas.

Ingredients:
Parotta -3 no:(cut into pieces)
Onion - 1 sliced
Tomato -1/2 sliced
Ginger paste - 1tsp
Garlic paste -1 tsp
Green chillies -4 nos
Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
Garam masala -1 tsp
Pepper powder -1tsp
Soya sauce -1 tsp
Boneless chicken -250 gm(1/2 pound)or minced beef- 100
Salt as taste
Curry leaves a string
Coriander leaves for garnishing(optional)
Any no: of vegetables sliced lengthwise(red capsicum,green capsicum,beans,green peas,carrots,cauliflower,cabbage)-1 cup

Procedure:
Heat oil in pan.Add onions, ginger garlic paste, chillies,turmeric & curry leaves.When the onion gets cooked add tomatoes.Saute for some time and then add the chicken cubes 0r minced beef.Cook it for 5-6 min closing the pan with a lid keeping it in medium heat.Next add the vegetables according to your taste and saute again for few min.Add so ya sauce,salt and gar am masala powder . At last add parotta pieces and saute for 2-3 min again.Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.Like this we can make with left over chapathis and bread slice.

Indian flag puttu

In this blog I'm planning to share some of my experiments with my spoons and cutting board.When i started my cooking,i didn't know the ABC of cooking.In this blog I'm sharing some of the easy recipes i know to those who are facing the same situation as me when they started fighting with spoons n vessels in the kitchen.

Lets start with breakfast.When we ask a malayali about the easiest breakfast they can offer,they will tell its puttu.So lets make some different varieties of puttu(steamed rice cake) to impress our family or guests.Usually with puttu we will have either banana or whole green gram Dal and of course pappad.This flag puttu is one of my mother's recipes which she makes when some unexpected guests comes in the morning.

Ingredients

Rice flour                               -2 cup

Grated coconut                      -3/4 cup
Grated carrot                         -1/2 cup

Whole green gram dal            -1/2 cup

Green chillies                         -1

Turmeric powder                   -a pinch
Salt to taste

Method:

Soak whole green gram dal for few hours.Better to keep it soaked overnight.Cook it with some water in a pressure cooker if you soaked it in the morning only.otherwise cook it in the normal vessel with a pinch of turmeric powder ,salt and split ed green chilly.When it is almost done mix quarter cup grated coconut to it.By that time we can grate coconut and carrot and keep it aside.

Take the rice flour in a big bowl.Add some salt to a cup of warm water and sprinkle it evenly over the flour and knead it.Add 1/4 cup of grated coconut to it.The key is that only enough water to wet the flour be added, and that too slowly.This should not have the consistency of dough,but rather a damp coarse mixture.

Usually for making puttu there is a special utensil which is available in most Indian stores.This puttu maker can be used over any pressure cooker lid.Fill the pressure cooker with enough water and keep this puttu maker over the lid.If u didn't have a puttu maker ,you can use idly mould too.

Now in this puttu maker ,primarily put quarter cup of carrot grated mixed with 2 tablespoon grated coconut.Above that put the rice flour mix and last the gram dal mix .Steam it.hmm...our colourful healthy puttu is ready.We can serve it with some pappad and pickle.