ONION RAITA

Raita is  a commonly made side dish for biryani, pulao.  You can also serve with dal roti, dal rice.  You do not need any special item for making raita.

Normally, the basic things like onion, tomato, cucumber etc. are always available with any of the Indian Household so preparing a raita makes the task very easy.  If not these are available at home, you can add some boondis  or sev to the curd along with some spices like chaat masala, chilli powder, roasted cumin powder etc.

BLACK PEPPER RICE

We can make various rice varieties and each one has its taste and aromas.  Since so many days, I was thinking of preparing Black Pepper Rice somehow I could not do that.  Today, as I had to go out for my daughter's orientation programme, I decided to cook rice and quickly made the black pepper rice and went way so that after coming from the college, I can just heat it up and have it.

It was a simple preparation yet very delicious along with onion raita and papad.  Loved it.

DATES KHEER

Today, I have invited my brothers and family for lunch.  Menu was decided by my daughter lauki partha, rice, sambar, payar thoran.  for dessert, mummy, I will leave it to you, she said.  I was bored of cooking the normal kheer viz. pal payasam, wheat payasam, ada pradhaman, semiya payasam  etc. etc.

I made dates chikoo milk shake and next day I tried the dates kheer too.  Somehow, I could not post the same as the photographs were lost due to fault in my camera.  Since I had the opportunity to make the dates kheer again, I thought I will post the same today itself.

RAJGIRA PARATHA

Rajgira paratha is made like we make the normal parathas viz. alloo, lauki etc. It is quite tasty and healthy too.

One thing you remember, serve it hot.  If it becomes cold, it does not taste as good as  the hot stuff.

RAJGIRA DOSA

Rajgira or Amaranth seeds it is known as is most pretein rich grain.  We can make porridge, laddu, chikki, uttappa etc with this.  It is also known as Ramdana in UP.  I always buy the chikki and laddu available in the market.  I was wondering what is this about and after browsing the net, I came to know that it is Amaranth seeds.

Today I made uttappa, dosa and partha out of it.  It was really awesome.  Here I am sharing with you now the dosa recipe.

Since I am making it for the first time, I tried with little quantity but came out so well.

BRINJAL GOTHSU, KATHRIKAI GOTHSU

Brinjal gothsu is prepared in tamarind gravy with some tomatoes and onions.  this can be served with idli, dosa, chapati too.  It is a simple preparation and will be loved by everyone. I made it slightly in a different way and it was too good to have with dosa and chapati.

Here I am sharing my version of gothsu.

BAJRA SPROUTS SUBZI

Bajra or Pearl Millet it is known as is very popular in Rajasthan.   This has been eaten in India since the pre-historic times.  Rotis and Kichadis are made out it normally, espcially in winters.  It is high in proteins with good amount of amino acids,  good source of iron, which helps in formation of hemoglobin thus prevents anaemia.  It is also a moderate source of vitamin B1 which is required for a healthy nervous system.

I had soaked the bajra for making kichadi but somehow, I could not complete the process.  So I removed the water and kept it for sprouting.  When I saw the sprouts, I thought of making subzi out of it.  

A healthy side dish for roti, chapati.

JACKFRUIT UTTAPPA

Jack fruit uttappa can be made with the batter made for jack fruit dosa.  For making uttappa, I made little masala for it to make it more richer and tastier.

JACKFRUIT DOSA

I got a jack fruit which was given by my brother as someone had given him.  When I cut it, you will  not believe there was only 4 bulbs in it.  We were quite surprise to see such a big jack fruit with only four bulbs in it.  Any way, I do not waste anything. So thought of making dosa, jack fruit  uttappa, cutlet out of the four bulbs I had.

Out of the four bulbs, I used two for making dosa and uttappa and another two for making cutlet.

BANANA SKIN THORAN, BANANA SKIN STIR FRY

Banana skin (nendrankaya) is used to  make thoran or stir fry subzi in Kerala. After peeling the same for making the chips, the skin is chopped very finely, along with vella payaru it is called (lal chowli or red chowli or karamani), this subzi is made.  I normally eat the same with Curd rice as I love the taste of it with curd rice apart from serving the same with rasam rice or sambar rice.  Banana skin can be used for making thogayal, chutney too.

IDLI

Idli is a traditional breakfast in South Indian households, especially in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala too where it is a popular breakfast.  It is a savory cake that is made out of rice and dehusked black gram i.e. urid dal famous in India and neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka. The batter  is fermented and is put into the mould, then steam cooked. Served along with sambhar and coconut chutney.  The fermentation process breaks down the starches so that they are more readily metabolised by the body.

This dish can be served as breakfast, and at dinner time too. In fact it is any time favourite of Indians.

You can grind the rice and dal once in a week and keep in fridge for 3 -  4  days consumption.

The first day, Idli is prepared and second day, it becomes dosa, third day if the batter is remaining, then it becomes uttappa or kuzhipaniyaram.  While preparing dosa, you can add little bit of rice flour and water  to adjust the consistency.

Since all are familiar with this dish, I am not explaining much about it and let us straight away look at the recipe now:

Other idli varieites:  Kanjeevaram Idli, tuvar dal idli, idli fry, chinese idli,
How to preserve idli batter in natural way:

JOWAR IDLI

Idlis are always good for health.  In South Indian Families,  breakfast is incomplete without Idli, dosa.  We can make varieites of Idlis viz.  Kanjeevaram Idli, tuvar dal idli, idli fry, chinese idli, Ragi Idli, Rava Idli etc.

Here I am presenting another variety with Jowar.  The humble ancient grain, Jowar (orghum) belongs to the millet family.  Sorghum is packed with iron, protein, fibre and  has a higher content of calcium.  It is antioxidant, helps in lowering cholesterol levels.

We can make porridge, kichadi, roti etc. with this grain  which  has got good health benefits.

MASALA PEANUT

Recently, we had been a restaurant and had Hungama Masala over there as starter. fried peanuts with some mild gravy, was wonderful.  We liked it very much and forgot to see the ingredients and masalas described in the menu.  Never mind, I thought I will try my own version and tried it today and could not believe, the same was really tasty.  I am sharing this recipe with you and sure will love it.

If you are having the basic ingredients at home, it can be made very quickly.

MUTTER PANEER

Mutter paneer is made  with Mutter and paneer cooked in a delicious tomato based gravy, served with rice, roti, naan, paratha etc.  It is a very delicious, simple and easy recipe to cook and tastes yummy.  The paneer can be made at home and keep in fridge.  Similarly, during the season, you can also buy fresh mutter in huge quantities, shell them and put in zip lock bag and put in freezer or you can use the dried green peas by soaking in water overnight.  I always store tomato paste or tomato masala in the fridge hence making tomato based subzi is easy for me.

Making paneer at home: Videos on Youtube:  Paneer 1 , Paneer 2, Paneer 3

FRUIT CHUTNEY

Like other chutneys, fruit chutney also goes well with idli, dosa.   Apart from eating fruits as it is and making juices, salads etc.  out of it, we can also make use of them for the preparation of chutney.   Today, I made the chutney with pomegranate and papaya and was really tasty with idli. It has become a habit for us to have anything and everything with liquid subzi or chutney hence compulsorily, I have to make something. Every time to make make something without coconut is really a difficult task.  Still I manage with something or the other and this chutney was invented by me today which I am sharing with you all.  Hope you will also like this.  This is my kind of version and there is another version of making this sweet chutney with fruits, tomato etc. which shall be posted soon.