Delicious Sabudana Khichdi (Sago cooked to perfection flavoured with chilli-peanut powder.)

February 19, 2009April 16, 2009 Shoba28 Comments

The first time ever that I ever had Sabudana Khichdi, was when my good friend L, made it. I was so completely love with the dish…She makes it so delectable taking time to soak it to a particular consistency, sauteing it in spices, with little pieces of potatoes peeking here and there and flavours it with a flourish with roasted ground powder of red chilli and peanuts. It was unimaginably delicious…The next time around, whenever she would make it, she would reserve a small portion for me, to partake and enjoy. Sabudana Khichdi is a pretty tricky proposition …It matters how you soak the sabudana and one should not soak for too long, or in too much water that all you get is starchy mush, or on the other hand, a little less water and it would roll off like balls of mercury away from your palm.

Here I am posting my tried and tested method of making this amazing khichdi. It`s almost comfort food for me now. On a cold night, we would love to snuggle up to watch a great movie, eating cups of steaming hot khichdi….

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound of Sabudana.

1 cup of raw peanuts.

5-6 red chillis

3 Medium potatoes cut in to big cubes.

2 spoons of jeera.

5 green chillis slit vertically

Curry Leaves

Salt to taste.

A pinch of turmeric.

PREPARATION:

Depending on the time you have to prepare, first toss the sabudana in to a collander and wash it under the tap. Allow it to drain but keep the collander closed so that the moisture is retained. If you feel that the sabudana is getting too dry, go ahead and sprinkle a few drops pf water so it stays moist. Keep it this way for 3 hours at least. Just before cooking add 1 1/2 spoons of salt to the sabudana as it soaks up the salt really well.
Pop the cubed potatoes with a sprinkle of salt, in to a microwave safe glass bowl and cook it with water for 5 mins. Drain all the water after its cooked and let it stay. It will finish cooking in the khichdi.

Take a dry kadai and dry roast the peanuts first and then add the red chillis. Keep the flame on medium low and roast so that this unhurried method, enhances the flavour of the peanuts.
Grind the roasted peanuts and red chillis together to a near fine powder in a mixer and store it in a container sealed with cling film. This forms the sole “masala” for the khichdi. Make this powder ahead, so it can be used whenever you want to make this khichdi.
In a kadai, add a spoon of ghee and a spoon of oil and when it begins to smoke, toss the jeera, slit green chillis and the curry leaves.

In a few minutes, toss in the cooked potatoes which already has the salt in it and a pinch of turmeric. Saute it for a couple of minutes before adding the sabudana.
At this stage its important that the gas stays at medium low. The sabudana needs to cook in a uniform flame, in steam. So try to use a vessel thats not too high. Keep stirring every 4 minutes or so and keep covered.
Take care that the sabudana doesnt form clumps. Use a wodden spatula and keep seperating and stirring them every once in a while. At any point if you feel that the khichdi looks dry sprinkle a few drops of water.
It should take approximately 20 minutes to slow cook in steam. Now add 4-5 spoons of the peanut-chilli powder. If you feel that its too dry, add a spoon of ghee as this enhances the overall flavour.
Garnish with chopped cilantro and a spoon of coconut. Squeeze fresh lemon juice as garnish.
Keep closed until its time to serve. Best eaten HOT!!!

NOTES:

Sabudana is something that is not at all standardised in its performance, in my opinion. Every brand reacts ever so differently.
My opinion would be to try this whole thing in a quantity of say 1/2 cup. The spices are also completely left to the individual`s opinion. Try it once and then you can benchmark the spice and salt levels that work for you.

Bon Appetit!!!

Easy LunchBox Series. · Kid Friendly Recipes. · Snacks & Tiffin Items

Colourful Heart Sandwiches – Quick & Tasty.

February 19, 2009November 24, 2014 Shoba6 Comments

As always I am looking for newer and more innovative methods to present the same food to my daughter to spruce it up to make it look a lot more colourful and lively. There are certain food items where she also helps me making it, so there is that additional excitement, that her labour has gone into it too. I also believe that the physical presentation and appeal are quite important in itself . So I try to make the maximum use of colors to play with one another, keeping in mind not to alter the original intended taste and yet to see If I could use many items.

Yesterday we had this surprise bday party for my friend A, with the Valentine theme, and we had to decide what to chip in for starters. I offered to make these Colourful Heart Sandwiches as they are easy, fast, colourful and of course go with the theme. I had picked these lovely heart shaped cutter from Dierbergs yesterday …so I wanted to put them to use. The method is pretty much the same, only I dressed it up with half a cheddar cheese topping for the kids and pepper jacks for the adults…Here`s how..

INGREDIENTS:

2 Medium sized Potatoes.

1 Juicy Carrot.

1/4 cup of Peas.

1/2 spoon Dhania Powder.

A pinch of garam masala powder.

1 tsp salt.

Somph or Fennel Seeds to season.

Chopped Corriander.

1 loaf of White Bread / Sandwich Bread sliced.

Slices of Cheddar Cheese and Pepper Jack Cheese sliced in to triangles.

Ketchup.

PREPARATION:

It`s ok to make this filling a day ahead, If you are planning a small party or your kid`s sfriends come over for a snack, or even for a picnic.

Cook with minimal water, potatoes and carrots in the cooker with a little bit of salt. Chop the veggies roughly so they cook easily.
Take them out when cool, and roughly mash them.
In a kadai, add a spoon of oil and when smoking, add somph/fennel , chopped onions (optional) mashed veggies, peas, dhania powder, garam masala, turmeric, and salt.
Stir it all in and after 5 mins switch off the stove.
Garnish with chopped cilantro and keep your filling ready.
When it`s time to serve the sandwiches, use the cutter and cut out cute hearts from the bread slices. Save the corners as this can make you delicious bread crumbs for cutlets etc.
Lightly toast the bread hearts on a tava and arrange them on a serving platter.
Heart Shaped Cutter.
Squeeze a little ketchup on the top side of the bread hearts and spread them lightly so that the filling sticks on them.
Use a spoon and scoop a small serving of the filling on the bread hearts and spread them.
Top them with a triangular slice of Cheddar cheese.
Continue and complete all the slices with this arrangement.
Pop the entire plate in the microwave for 30 seconds. This slightly melts the cheese triangles and makes a little pocket for the filling, so it stays in to the cheese pocket.
Decorate with a squeeze of ketchup over the cheese so you get a pretty colour and flavour!!!
Watch your kids enjoy the colorful sandwiches.

HINT:

This is easily a quick fix snack for a potluck or as a starter. Use any filling that is left over in your pantry.

Also a snack that can be easily whipped up for unexpected guests.

This is my second entry to Srivalli`s Kids Delight Event happening at Spice Your Life.

Cakes / Pastries / Cookies/ Bread/Muffins.

Crunchy Coffee Cookies…..

February 18, 2009November 20, 2013 Shoba10 Comments

There is nothing in this world that`s more comforting to me than curling up on my couch,and sipping my morning cuppa. It`s a moment of complete contentment..where the world stops still, and there`s nothing more eveident to me, other than the aroma of my “Madras Style Decoction Coffee”. My husband is a complete coffe lover and would love to have coffe, in the morning, before, after, and in between his meals too!!! Mornings are not the same without them…In summers, we love to have our coffee outdoors n the patio, enjoying the cool breeze, watching the rising sun, birds flying unhurriedly, trees swinging softly in the breeze – It`s a reminder of another day that I am here in the world!!!

Taking coffee to cookies – well, thats something that I`ve always wanted to do…I had the original recipe of the eggless crisp cookie that I had stumbled upon by mistake when I was trying an eggless cake . So me thought – why not try this with coffee??? And here goes my experiment.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup All Purpose Flour .

2-3 Tbsp Butter.

1/4 cup powdered sugar.

3 spoons of Instant Coffee Powder. ( I used Great Value Arrabica Coffee Powder).

A pinch of baking soda.

A pinch of cinnamon powder. (Optional as many people don`t like the smell of cinnamon to overpower the flavour and aroma of pure coffee. Thats quite understandable though!!!)

PREPARATION:

Mix in the dry ingredients first – the all purpose flour, baking soda and the three spoons of coffee powder and set is aside.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
In a mixing bowl, firstly add the the butter which has to be at room temperature. Room temperature butter is always a sure shot winner. Else if the cookie making was not preplanned, slightly warm the butter in the microwave for just about 20 seconds.
To the butter, add the powdered sugar and cream it well. Use your hands if you dont have a hand blender. You will see that the sugar and butter create a creamy mixture.
To this creamy mixture, add the dry ingredients and knead well till you get a smooth ball. If you feel that the butter is not enough, add a wee bit of water to incorporate it all together.
Make little balls of around 1 inch only as they grow a lot in size inside the oven. Flatten the balls in your palm and place them in a parchment paper lined cookie tray. Place them at least 2 inches apart to allow the balls to grow in size as they bake.

You could press in a little almond sliver or half a cashew.
Bake @ 350 F for 12-13 minutes depending on the power of the oven. This would approximately make 20 cookies.
Cool and eat crisp with steaming cups of coffee or tea…

No Need of Onions!!! · Side Dishes for Rotis/Dosas/ Naan.

20 Minutes Tangy Tomato Gravy – Homestyle??? Nah.. Amma style!!!

February 17, 2009January 2, 2011 Shoba16 Comments

As a child, I hated the very thought of idlis…I always argued with Amma “It`s just batter ma, it has no taste”…How can people ever say “great Idlis”??? And she would wordless pass on this tomato gravy to me, and I would gulp down the hot idlis soaked lavishly with the gravy. The next day when she would make crisp dosas, I would submerge them in this gravy and some times amma would wonder whether it was tomato gravy to eat as a side with dosa or the other way round???

I am guessing that this is a recipe that has been passed on to my amma from her mom…Nobody knows exactly…This is a very versatile gravy cum chutney – This could be a side for idlis and dosas as the tanginess really sweeps you off your senses..It`s also an excellent side for hot Venn Pongal or steaming Gujarati Khichdi. It can also double up as a side for rotis for dinner!!! I always make a lot and put away half in to the fridge for another day so I can toss it out and use it for chappati or parathas and my husband will never even know!!!

It just uses 5 ingredients and is pretty simple. The original recipe does not use onions so there`s no sweat on days when you need to avoid them!!!

INGREDIENTS:

5 Medium sized tomatoes chopped.

4 dried red chillis.

3 spoons of urad dhal.

1/3 cup of coconut.

A cup pf water.

A pinch of turmeric

Mustard and curry leaves to season and salt to taste.

PREPARATION:

In a kadai, add a spoon of oil and roast the urad dhal and red chillis till the dal turns brown. Make sure that the flame is on medium low and the roasting is slow as this enhances taste.
Grind this with the coconut and a little water and make a smooth paste. Set aside for later.
In the same kadai, add a spoon more of oil, and when it begins to smoke, add mustard, curry leaves and immediately the tomatoes.
Stir in a pinch of turmeric and hing and the requisite salt. At this point pour in the one cup pf water and allow to boil.

After 10 minutes add the ground paste and adequate water to make it in to a pouring consistency.
Switch off when it comes to a boil and serve Hot with Venn Pongal , Gujarati Khichdi or Idli / Dosa garnished with chopped cilantro.

Off goes this entry to FCI Orange which is the brainchild of Harini of Sunshinemomblogs and hosted by Aparna of MydiverseKitchens.

NOTE:

You can grind the roasted ingredients with a spoon of coconut milk to get added richness.
You could also try this version with onions for an extremely filling side dish.

Italian Cuisine.

Penne Pasta & Roasted Vegetables in Quick White Sauce.

February 16, 2009November 20, 2013 Shoba4 Comments

Penne Pasta with veggies in white sauce.

My forays in to italian cooking are definitely inspired by Giada Laurentis of foodtv fame, but I have my own methods and madness of cooking up a storm here. I always like to start with a lot of veggies as I am always looking at ways to compensate the body`s requirement of fibre, iron etc, that might not form a part of our regular south indian cooking. I dont have a fixed recipe in the mind when I begin, but some how as I chop the vegetables, somewhere in the back of my mind, there are instructions and my hands fluidly follow them…

Today I knew that hubby dear would come home ravenous, and I need to give him a filling dinner with a lot of vegetables. I looked at the vegetables that I had to start my pasta…Yes I did have the Whole Wheat Penne, as I had already tried the angel hair pasta the last time and well, in my opinion penne is a lot more easier to pick wth a fork!!! I would have appreciated butternut squash or my all time favourite – zucchinni, but I had to make do with what I had…Onions, carrots, peppers and hey I had some fresh mushrooms. I still had some leftover Italian flat leaf parsley from two weeks back, which I had saved in a ziploc, rolled tightly in a soft fresh tissue towel. I also felt like using cilantro today, although I knew that was distinctly “Not Italian”!!!

The instructions would definitely “seem” a little winding and long, but its definitely a quick dish to make, once you get a hang of things.Don`t worry about the ingredients – You could make do, even if you have one or two of them missing.

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound of Whole Wheat Pasta. ( I used the one with the extra fibre

1 Onion sliced thin and long.

1 green pepper sliced.

1 carrot sliced thin and long.

12-13 Mushrooms sliced.

Small Bunch of Itlain Parsleychopped. (Optionally use dried parsley)

3 spoons of Part Skim Ricotta Cheese.

2 spoons of Part Skim Cream Cheese.

1 spoon of Light Sour Cream.

1 spoon of dried basil.

1 spoon of dried oregano.

A pinch of nutmeg.

Salt & Pepper.

1 spoon of butter.

Mozzarella Cheese to top.

PREPARATION:

Saute the vegetables and mushroom very lightly for 2 mins in a spoon of butter. This enhances the flavour of the vegetables and the mushroom. This step is optional and can be omitted.

Line a baking sheet with oil spray and add all the sliced veggies and mushrooms. Sprinkle salt and pepper sufficiently and some of the chopped parsley and dried basil.

Veggied with parsley, basil and pepper ready to get roasted. — Veggies with parsley, basil and pepper ready to get roasted.

Preheat the oven to 375F and pop it in to the oven to roast for ten minutes or until the veggies are roasted and soft. Pull out and keep aside.
In a wide mouthed container add enough water to allow the pasta to drown and cook for 12 mins or according to the instruction on the pasta container, along with 1 spoon of salt.
When its cooked almost 70% drain out the pasta and save one cup of the pasta water.
In a cup mix the ricotta cheese, cream cheese and sour cream and add some chopped cilantro and chopped parsley.
Into the baking dish containing the roasted veggies, add the hot pasta, dried basil, dried oregano and a pinch of nutmeg and the cheese mixture.
Mix well so the cheese will slowly melt in the heat of the pasta. If you find that its too dry, add 1/2 cup of pasta water and mix the vegetables, the pasta and the cheese sauce.
Add more salt or pepper if you deem it necessary.

Mozzarella Cheese sprinkled over the pasta before baking.

Sprinkle part skim grated mozzarella cheese over the pasta and pop it again in the oven covered with a foil sheet for about 1o minutes at 350F.
Bake for another 5 minutes with the foil removed.
Serve simmering Hot pasta to your family and enjoy the fragrance of the cheese sauce, herbs and veggies.

Poriyals / Kootu Varieties.

Amma`s simple Alu Fry.

February 16, 2009January 21, 2010 Shoba5 Comments

As I have already mentioned in my previous posts, every sunday afternoon lunches are slow and lazy and filling. D and me would devour the amazing vengaya vethakuzhambu and alu fry made by amma and lounge on the chair and try to solve the Express Sunday Crossword and the Jumble. I always remember such sunday afternoons with relish as those were the days…as a student, eating food cooked by amma, studying, watching some tv, reading books ad magazines, and sleep happily in the nights. Now, as a mother, I realise what a pleasure it is, to stay young and enjoy the thrills and innocence of childhood. Yesterday I was reminded of amma, and so I decided to treat my husband with the same menu. It`s very simple and easy, but very delicious and tasty.

INGREDIENTS:

5 Medium Potatoes.

1 spoon of salt

1 spoon of red chilli powder.

1 spoon of flax powder.

1/2 spoon of dhania powder.

Hing

Turmeric.

3 spoons of oil.

Seasoning:

Mustard, Urad Dhal and Curry Leaves.

PREPARATION:

Remove the skin from the potatoes and chop them in to really fine pieces, dropping them in a vessel with water. This prevents them from blackening and cutting them fine, helps it to cook faster and consume much less oil.
Drain all the water and pop it in to the microwave for a good 4 minutes.
Take a heavy bottomed kadai and add 3 spoons of oil. When it starts to smoke, add mustard, urad dhal , curry leaves and a dash of hing before adding the chopped potatoes.
Sprinkle more hing, salt, red chilli powder and dhania powder and incorporate them in to the potatoes.
Allow to cook and roast well and stir in intermittently if you feel that the potaotes are sticking to the bottom. You could spray a little oil, if you feel that the alu is getting too dry.
After about 25 minutes of roasting well, switch off the stove.
Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve with Vengaya Vethakuzhambu or VethaKuzhambu. Alternatively is an excellent option for filling bread to make sandwiches or to go with rotis and phulkas.

Sambar / Rasam / Kuzhambu Varieties.

Milagu Jeeraga Rasam (Tomato broth simmered with roasted cummin,pepper and lentils.)

February 15, 2009March 31, 2009 Shoba10 Comments

Milagu Jeeraga Rasam is also part of the comfort food series…On a cold day to have a dose of steaming pepper rasam along with piping hot rice and your favorite side of vegetable like vendekkai kari, Amma`s Alu Fry or “kootu” is something I can never trade anything else for!!! Whenever its the rainy season and we come down with a cold or cough, amma or Madurai amma would make piping hot rasam and we would feel fussed. It`s also “Pathya Samayal” as its given to people when are they not keeping well, to purify the body, build immunity and to recuperate. The flavor of the “rasam” is enhanced when you add a drop of ghee – what else can you call that aroma and taste – Divine!!!

This morning my husband was not keeping too well, complained of cold and sore throat and I thought this was a good day to make comfort food. Its lightly flavored with the sourness of the tomatoes and the pepper and cumin gives it that extra kick that enhances the warmth around the throat. Here it is, from my kitchen to yours…

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups of tamarind water extracted from a lime size tamarind .

1/4 cup of cooked toor dhal. (Optional)

1 Tomato.

Turmeric

Hing

Salt to taste

Curry Leaves.

Roast Dry:

1 1/2 spoons of pepper.

1 spoon of jeera (cumin)

3/4 spoon of Bengal Gram

5 curry leaves.

Seasoning:

Mustard, Vepampoo and curry leaves.

PREPARATION:

In the mixer, grind the dry roasted ingredients to a powder and THEN add one tomato chopped coarsely with a little tamarind water and grind to a paste.
In the copper bottomed vessel, add the ground paste and the remaining tamarind water.
Add salt, hing. curry leaves and turmeric and allow to boil on a medium low flame.
When the raw smell is gone and the liquid is reduced by 1/3, dilute the cooked toor dhal with 1/2-3/4 cup of water and pour it in.
If you are making this for a person who has an upset stomach, you may skip the toor dhal and simply dilute it with 1/2 cup of plain water.
When it begings to boil, switch off the stove and add chopped corriander.
Season in ghee with mustard, vepampoo and curry leaves.
The Vepampoo or the Neem Flower is believed to aid in digestion and stimulate the liver and also prevent many kinds of cancers, so I thought it would be a good idea to add some more nutrition and build immunity in to our systems.

Sending piping hot pots of Pepper Jeera Rasam to “Think Spice – Think Pepper” event hosted by Divya Vikram of Dil Se and started by Sunita.

Sambar / Rasam / Kuzhambu Varieties.

Vengaya VethalKuzhambu (Onions fried and simmered in tamarind gravy)

February 15, 2009October 5, 2009 Shoba6 Comments

Vengaya Vethalkuzhambu served with rice.

My mum makes the most fragrant, yummy, delicious,mouth watering Vengaya Vethalkuzhambu you ever ate!!! It always used to be a delicacy my sister and me would get indulged in, over the weekends…Weekends would always be spending long hours on things that we wouod never get time for during the frenzied weekdays – amma smothering our scalps with gently warmed gingely oil, cleaning the window sills chatting about what happened in school and college over the week, and amma listening to us and making fragrant Vengaya vethalkuzhambu and alu fry. We would have our beauty baths with shikhakai traditionally ground my Madurai amma and get so hungry that we would be ravenous…A slow filling lunch consisting of this kuzhambu, alu fry, thakkali rasam, vadam and thayir sadam with vepallaikatti…Man, my day was made!!!
It`s now a huge favorite of my husband`s. It`s one of those comfort feel good gravies that make you content on a cold lazy sunday afternoon…Here it is, for all of you to try and test…
This is also my entry for FIC-Orange which is the brainchild of Harini of Sunshinemomsblog and hosted by Aparna of MydiverseKitchens.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups of Tamarind Juice extracted from a lime sized tamarind ball.

1 Medium onion chopped or 20 numbers small onions or 10 numbers shallots.

1 spoon of Vathal (sundaikkai or manathangalikkai) (this is optional)

1 spoon heaped Sambar Powder.

1 spoon salt
A dash of Turmeric.

A pinch of hing.

3 spoons of Oil.

A dash of mustard and curry leaves for seasoning.

1 spoon of rice flour dissolved in 4 spoons of water.

PREPARATION:

Take a heavy bottomed kadai or copper bottomed vessel and pour in 3 spoons of oil. When the oil starts to smoke, reduce the flame and pop in the mustard, curry leaves and immediately the chopped onions or the shallots.
Allow to saute in the oil for sometime until they get a little brown and then add the vathals which are pretty dispensable in this version of the kuzhambu. You can also make this kuzhambu completely omitting the vathal.
When well roasted, add the extracted tamarind juice, hing, turmeric, salt, and sambar powder and allow to simmer for 25 mins or so until it reduces to a thicker consistency.
At the very end, add the rice flour dissolved in the water, to this thick reduction to loosen it a bit, so it comes to a pouring consistency.
Garnish with corriander leaves and serve HOT over rice with Alu Fry.

Brisk Breakfast · Kid Friendly Recipes. · Snacks & Tiffin Items

Quick Mango Lemon Sevai – Rice sticks flavoured with mango & lemon with temperings.

February 14, 2009July 7, 2009 Shoba11 Comments

Rice sticks are definitely a quick and easy substitution for its fresher variant we do back home – “Sevai”….Sevai is when grind rice that has been soaked, cook it over a stove top to make it thicker, shape it in to dumplings and steam them in the cooker and then extrude the cooked rice dumplings in the form of noodles with the help of a press. This is then flavoured with lemon, tomato, pulikachal (tamarind paste), coconut or some times eaten as they are!!! Many of us, when we were kids, liked the unprocessed sevai, smelling of a trace of hing, and coconut oil….YUM!!!

When I was a school kid, sevai was an elaborate event planned for every alternate saturday afternoons. Madurai amma would supervise the grinding of the rice batter by my mami and amma would chip in, after half day`s work at the bank, by cooking the 4 cups of rice batter on the stove top. We lived in a lovely large joint family of 8, so there would definitely be no holds barred. Then all the children of the family would be called for shaping the cooked balls in to rough round dumplings to steam in the cooker in multiple rounds. THEN, all of us would take turns in extruding the sevai from the iron press – This was one with a huge tripod stand, and a big receptacle for the dumpling to sit in and a large handle to push in the press, to extrude out the steaming hot sevai. This pressing would have to be finished when the dumplings are still hot, so Madurai amma would be watchfully overseeing us, to make sure that there is no small talk in the middle of the proceedings! Then she would divide them in to 4 portions – The bigger portion would be for the spicy tamarind sevai, one portion for the lemon sevai, one for the coconut sevai and the plain tiny portion for my little baby cousin!!! The fruit of the 3 hours labour would vanish when we all sit down and partake of our favourite sevai for tiffin as well as for dinner!!!

When my daughter S, visited Madras last year, and we were all helping out with the usual Sevai routine, she was thrilled to see white steaming noodle ribbons getting pressed out and she exclaimed in glee!!! Madurai amma happily doled out a huge portion to her which she ate in minutes with hundreds of tiny pieces strewn on the dining table, expectantly asking for more…S loved it so much, she offered to press the sevai to help us with it…Madurai amma was proud of her great grand-daughter…She had dutifully wanted to chip in to the family tradition!!!

Knowing that my daughter loves Sevai, I can only give in to her request, which are pretty much last minute, by using 777 Dhideer Sevai or Rice Sticks that are available in the Asian Grocers. Both have to be cooked in boiling water for 5 mins, but I indulge by adding a few drops of coconut oil, so that the rice sticks are fragrant and dont stick to one another. Once they are cooked, drain them on to a collander, and allow to stay for ten minutes. Take the precaution to keep the collander closed so that the rice sticks are not robbed of their moisture.

Today, I wanted to try lemon sevai, but decided to add Mango also to it….My friend Rekha, had once made Mango Rice and so I adapted it to suit my daughter`s palate!!! This is an excellent dish to take when you have long drives ahead of you. Easy to eat, as its non-fussy, very tasty and requires minimal time in the kitchen!! Also great for potlucks and parties and kids always love them!!!

INGREDIENTS:

1 pack of rice sticks.

1 Mango freshly grated.

Juice from 1/2 lemon.

Turmeric Powder.

1 Onion chopped.

Salt to taste.

2 Green Chillis chopped.

Cilantro to garnish.

Seasoning:

Oil. Mustard, Channa Dal, Curry Leaves, peanuts.

PREPARATION:

Take a wide mouthed kadai and add 3 spoons of oil. When warm, add mustard, bengal gram, peanuts, green chillis and curry leaves in that order.
When the mustard splutters and the dals are a little brown, add the chopped onions and saute well till they are pinkish brown.
Add turmeric and salt and grated mango and simmer the stove to very low.
Mix in all the ingredients carefully so as not to break the soft grated mango pieces.
Swirl in the cooked rice sticks and mix well with the cooked ingredients after adding adequate salt.
Finally squeeze juice from half a lemon and garnish with chopped corriander leaves.
You can also serve HOT with coconut flakes garnish.

This delicious tangy Mango Sevai makes an excellent easy Breakfast to be sent to Divya`s Show Me Your Breakfast.

Easy LunchBox Series. · Kid Friendly Recipes.

Instant Healthy Bread Pizza & Masala Bread Chat

February 13, 2009November 22, 2013 Shoba6 Comments

My daughter has always been a poor eater all the way. And like any another kid, getting her to have her daily dose of vegetables is a pretty herculean task. I some times wonder how big chunks of pasta and pizza can get past her oesophagus in a matter of seconds, but rasam sadam and keerai always seems to get stuck some where midway!!! But, as is the dilemma of other moms, I have to invent creative little dinners for her to eat, on the other hand, make sure that she does not lose her veggie spread . Yesterday I had to create a quick fix one for daughter and one for the dear dad for a Valentine Day Pre Party snack!!! They both enjoyed it and I did too…

INSTANT BREAD PIZZA:

Instant Bread Pizza

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup The prepared Vegetable Topping.

Tomato Ketchup.

Salt to sprinkle.

1/4 cup part skim mozzarella cheese grated.

Bhujiya to sprinkle

ASSEMBLY:

Take a single slice of bread either slightly toasted or plain. Start by smearing a single layer of tomato ketchup. Alternatively you could use Marinara sauce, but the ketchup does not make the bread soggy and allows whatever is placed about it to stay in place.
Scoop a big chunk of the prepared topping and flatten it over the layer of ketchup.
Add a small dash of the bhujiya and top over that with mozzarella cheese.
Pop it for just 30 seconds in the microwave and serve it to your child and enjoy the smiles and praises you get right there!!!
Mine said “Mommy, you are the best”!!!…and my day was made!!!

Flagging off this post to The Bread Mania – by Bayleaf.

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QUICK BREAD CHAT:

Quick Bread Chat

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup of prepared vegetable topping.

Tomato Ketchup.

Sweet Tamarind Chutney

Pudina Chutney.

Salt to sprinkle.

A spoon of chopped onions to sprinkle.

Corriander to garnish.

ASSEMBLY:

Take a single slice of lightly toasted or plain bread. Spread over it, a thin layer of tomato ketchup.
Scoop the vegetable filling and flatten. Add a dash of sweet tamarind chutney and pudina chutney.
Add a garnish of bhujiya, raw onions and chopped corriander.
Serve as it is – Almost felt to me like a quick chat snack!!!..and smelt like one too…

The chunky topping is a combination of the following:

3 Medium Potatoes cooked and mashes.

1/2 Onion chopped.

1/4 cup Peas

1/4 cup beans

1/4 cup carrots.

1 spoon of salt

1/4 spoon of amchur.

1/4 spoon of dhania powder.

1/4 spoon of red chilli powder.

Corriander to garnish.

Pinch of turmeric.

Jeera to season.

PREPARATION:

In a kadai, add oil and when warm add a pinch of jeera and the onions. Saute till they turn pinkish brown.
Add the carrots, mashed potatoes, peas and beans and stir in turmeric and salt.
Drop in the powders – amchur, red chilli powder, dhania powder and incorporate them in to the mixture.
When nicely cooked, switch off and allow to cool. Garnish with chopped corriander.
This cold be a base for any filling – Stuffed Capsicum, Stuffed Tomatoes, Vegetable Puffs, sandwiches etc.

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