Dosas Galore

I wanted to try something new and send it to Dosa event, but i could not do it due to some unexpected personal work. I dont want to miss this event though since i love dosas. Who can resist dosas? :)

Plain Dosa :
Urad daal - 1 cup
Idli Rice - 4 cups (I use grinder, if you don't have grinder reduce it to 3 cups)
Fenugreek seeds - 1 spoon

Method :

Wash and rinse rice and daal with methi seeds separately and soak them for a minimum of 6 hours. Grind the urad daal and methi first with little water till it gets fluffy. Remove and grind the rice with some water. The batter should be thick but need not be as thick as idli batter. Let it ferment overnight. If the daal and rice are soaked long enough there is no need to keep the batter in a preheated oven.

Heat the dosa griddle/tava and spread 1 ladle of batter into a circle. Spread it very thin to get crispy yummy dosa. Spread some oil around it and when it is almost cooked on one side, flip the dosa and cook for another minute or more to get crispier texture. Repeat procedure. Enjoy! :)

To make cone dosas for kids, once you spread the batter and it is almost cooked on one side, make a slit from the center and flip the dosa and cook for one more minute. When it ready, just roll it from the slit and make a cone. My kids love the cone dosa :) I also make alphabets, shapes or draw lightning mcqueen or elephants out of dosa batter. Sometimes they look horrible and my first son gets a big kick out of it when he sees my horrible artwork. He thinks it's too funny and forgets about making a fuss :) Here's my elephant dosa..this pic was taken in my old mobile so the picture quality is quite bad.

Here are the other dosas from archive :

Protein added Rava Dosa

Plain Rava Dosa :

Moong Daal Dosa :

Masala Dosa :

Oatmeal Rava Dosa

Sending these to Padma's Dosa Corner

Carrot Almond Kheer - From Chandrabagha

My mom makes carrot kheer and i love it but never bothered to take the recipe from her.
When i saw Anu's Carrot Kheer, i instantly started craving for it. To make it worse (or better, i should say! :)), it had almonds in it and i had to have it immediately. It was so easy too.
Am glad i didn't wait to make it. It was super yummy! I pretty much stuck to the recipe except that i increased the quantity of almonds and reduced the milk to get thicker and creamier texture.I used blanched almonds.

Ingredients:

Carrots - 2
Milk - 1 cup
Blanched Almonds - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 2 spoons


Method :

Soak almonds in milk (just enough to cover them) for about 15 minutes . Wash carrots, peel and pressure cook. Let it cool. Add carrots, almonds, sugar, milk (I used boiled and chilled milk) in a blender and blend until smooth. Serve chilled. Cardamom is optional. My first son doesn't like cardamom, so i didn't add it. I liked the colour of this kheer so much, so didn't want to add any nuts or raisins to it either. I added only 2 spoons of sugar as both me and my husband don't like it, if it is too sweet. Pls. adjust the quantity of sugar as per your taste.

I am sending this to Sanghi's FIL-Carrots and Srivalli's Mithai Mela

Protein Rich Strawberry Smoothie

I am seeing lot of desserts made with Tofu these days and i have been having this hesitation to try a dessert with Tofu. Now that we got used to the savory recipes of Tofu and have even started liking them, i wanted to explore in the other direction as well :-) Started with a simple smoothie with my kids favorite - strawberries.

Ingredients :

Silken Tofu - 1/2 pack (about 7oz)

Strawberries - about 12

Sugar - as required

Milk - 1/2 cup (optional)

Method :

Puree strawberries and tofu in a blender with sugar. Add water or milk to get desired consistency.
The first time i tried with just water and it tasted good, but i felt slight bitterness after i had it.
I added milk to it and it tasted better.

Verdict :

It is definitely good and i will make it again and again, but it will not replace the strawberry milkshake if you love milk, like me! :) My kids had some and said it was good, but did not inhale it like how they inhale the swad mango juice ;-)
I liked it for another reason too - It can be used as a breakfast smoothie on busy mornings where one tends to skip the breakfast.

I am sending this to :

1. Mahi's 15 minute cooking event.
2. Priti's Festive Food : Summer Splash
3. Anu's Refreshing Drinks event.

Along with this i am sending the following drinks for Refreshing Drinks and Festive Food : Summer Splash events. :

Dates and Almonds Milkshake - A very healthy drink with no sugar.

Strawberry Lassi - Apt for the scorching heat of summer

Strawberry Milk shake - The creamy, yummy entry :)

Salsa Verde / Green Salsa

I had this first at a local mexican restaurent when i went for a team lunch. Till then, i didn't even know such a thing existed :-) I like this better than the regular salsa.

When i searched in the internet for this i saw different recipes with different methods - cooked, uncooked, pureed, chopped and also with different list of ingredients. As usual, i picked the one with lesser number of ingredients and i did not want to go with the uncooked version. After all the salmonella scare, i dont feel comfortable to eat anything uncooked :) I didn't note down the recipe (lazy me!) and i didn't follow the recipe exactly, so ended up with a watery salsa. I sauteed the tomatillos instead of roasting or boiling and i think that's the reason why i ended up with a watery salsa.

Ingredients :

Tomatillos - 6
Onion - 2 (chopped)
Cilantro - 1 small bunch
lemon juice - 1 spoon or as required
Salt
Serrano peppers - 2 or more



Method :

Boil the tomatillos for 10 minutes. Let it cool. Chop them and pulse them in a processor along with the chopped onions, peppers and cilantro. Add salt and lemon juice (you can skip lemon juice if the tomatillos are very sour).
Tastes great with tortilla chips or the healthier, baked pita chips (seen in picture). Here is a picture of tomatillos, if you are not familiar with it.

I am sending this to Vaishali's IAVW : Mexican
I am also sending this to Sanghi's Fall In Luv : Tomato

Potato Parathas with a Healthy Twist

And the healthy twist is..i added oatmeal to wheat flour. Didn't make much difference at all.
Parathas tasted great. I just needed to apply few more drops of oil to keep them soft.

Now to the recipe :

Ingredients for stuffing :

Potatos - 6
Red chilli powder -3/4th of a spoon
Masala of your choice - 1/2 spoon ( i used pav bhaji masala and it was very good)
Salt to taste
Cilantro - 1/2 bunch finely minced
Mustard seeds, urad daal and hing for seasoning


Method :

Pressure cook the potatos and mash them with a fork. Once it has cooled down, add chilli powder, minced cilantro and salt and mix well. This way you get the spices and salt evenly mixed.
Heat little oil in a non stick pan and pop mustard seeds. Add urad daal, hing and the masala and fry till the daal is golden brown. Reduce heat to sim and add the mashed potato and saute for a minute or two. Let it cool. Divide into equal sized balls and keep aside.


Ingredients for the dough :

Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
Toasted oatmeal - 0.75 cup
Salt to taste
Water


Method :

Mix everything and add water little by little till you get a pliable dough. Wrap it in saran wrap and let it sit for an hour. Divide the dough into equal sized balls and stuff the potatos and roll it and make it into parathas. The trick to get round parathas is to roll it without applying too much pressure and ofcourse with some experience you will get the hang of it. I used to make different continents when i started cooking and now i get them in decent shapes, mostly. You can refer to this post on how to make parathas (Good luck with that! :D)



I am sending this to :
1. Srivalli's MM-Kid's lunches
2. Roma's JFI : Wheat
3. Lakshmi's Meals on Wheels

Strawberry Milkshake and MW Chivda with cereal

Strawberry Milkshake :

I made it the way my husband makes it, by adding whipping cream. It really makes a big difference. Milkshake tastes very creamy and yummy and we all love it. When i started typing this my son Ashu came and asked me to mention that it's yummier than the strawberry lassi :-)



Ingredients

Strawberries - 10
Milk - 1.5 cups
Whipping cream - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 2 spoons
Honey - 1 spoon

This is the first time i am using honey in a milk shake so i started with a small quantity and it was good. I am thinking of using just honey the next time i make it. The strawberries weren't too sweet, so i used 2 spoons of sugar.

Chop the strawberries and blend it with little milk. Add honey, sugar, whipping cream and rest of the milk and blend it well. Serve chilled.

Just for the picture, i topped it with some whipped cream and by the time i got to taking pictures, it started spreading and created a wierd texture on top of the milkshake :(

I am sending this to FIC Pink hosted by Priya. FIC event was originally started by Harini.

Microwave Chivda with cereal:


Here's another entry for Priya...This time a savory snack that's healthy too .

This is similar to the MW Chivda. Instead of sending the old recipe, i made some changes to it and am sending this for Priya's MEC : Savory Snacks, originally started by Srivalli.

Ingredients :

Rice flakes (Thin) - 1 cup
Green chillies - 3
Corn flakes - 1/2 cup
Blanched almonds - 1/4 cup
Cumin seeds - 1/2 spoon
Oil - 2 spoons
Red chilli powder - a pinch
Salt to taste

Method :

1. Spread the blanched almonds in a microwave safe plate.
2. Sprinkle a pinch of red chilli powder and some salt.
3. Sprinkle few drops of oil and mix well and spread it again
4. Microwave for 3 minutes - Stirring in between every minute.
5. Let it cool.
6. Take a microwave safe bowl, add 2 spoons of oil, finely chopped chillies, a pinch of turmeric powder and cumin seeds.
7. Microwave for 45 seconds, stir and repeat for another 45 seconds to 1 min. By now, the chillies should look fried.
8. Add the rice flakes (poha) and salt and mix well. Microwave for 3 minutes, stirring in between every minute.
9. Add the cereal - i used honey bunches of oats since i didn't have cornflakes. It had mild sweet taste, but was good. Microwave it for 2 minutes, stirring once in between.
10. Remove and add the roasted spicy almonds and mix well.

Enjoy with a hot cuppa chai :D

I am also sending the chivda to :

1. JZ's Let's go nuts with Almonds

2. PJ's Tasty bytes for toddlers

Entry for Click n Kids favorites with Dates and Almonds

Let me start with my entry for Click, an event that makes me put in some effort to take nice photographs :D
I love this simple wooden salad bowl and thought of taking a pic with it. You can find the cabbage salad recipe here.

Next comes a healthy sweet treat for the kids. Actually i ate most of it while preparing it and that's another story :-)

Dates and Almond Sweet
Ingredients :
Dates - 10
Almonds - 1/2 cup
Milk - just enough to soak the dates and almonds
Marie biscuits - 7 (If you don't find Marie, you can substitue with Nila wafers)

Method :
Dry grind the marie biscuits first. Soak the dates and almonds for an hour. Grind them (with milk) into a paste. Add the biscuit powder and mix well. Roll them into small balls and refrigerate for 2 hours (if you have any left by the time you are done making it:-)). I had only 6 biscuits, so they kinda look little sticky. There was no compromise in the taste though.

Note : I needed more than 6 biscuits for this as the consistency of the dates almond paste was little loose. While adding the biscuit powder, pls. add little by little till you get a pliable dough.

Dates and Almonds Milkshake

Another almond recipe - with one less ingredient from the above. This is a healthy drink with no sugar added. Tastes sweet and delicious.

Ingredients :
Pitted Dates : 8 - 10
Blanched Almonds : 1/2 cup
Milk - 2 cups

Method :
Soak dates and almonds in milk (enough to cover them), for 1 hour. Blend it into a smooth paste in a blender. Add the rest of milk and stir it. Add honey if required. Add some chopped almonds and saffron (optional) and enjoy the milkshake. If you want it to be sweeter, you can add some honey or increase the dates.

I am sending both Almonds and dates sweet and almonds and dates milkshake to
1. JZ's Let's go nuts with Almonds
2. PJ's Tasty bytes for toddlers

Spicy cheese sandwich with cauliflower and peas‏

Eewww it's green! Eeewww it's yellow! I don't like the taste of it! It doesn't look yummy at all!! Sounds familiar?! :) These are the reactions of my 6 yr old on most vegetables. My toddler has just started speaking and repeats mostly after his big brother, whether he means it or not. Or even better, just dumps it on the floor to express his dislike!!
I try various ways to sneak veggies into their diet, so they get the required 3-5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. I'm fairly lucky on the fruit department :) When it comes to veggies, i have to try different methods like adding grated vegetables to the dosa/idli batter, making parathas out of almost every curry i make, preparing vegetable pongal, sandwiches, etc. One sure-fire way with my kids is adding cheese. This sandwich is one of the sneaky ways to make them eat the 'not so good looking' cauliflower and the 'eww it's green' peas :) They both loved it and the sandwich disappeared in no time. I tasted a little bit and it was good.

Ingredients :
Cauliflower - 1 small
Peas - 1/2 cup
Pepper - 1/2 spoon
Cumin seeds - 1 spoon
Mustard seeds, urad daal and hing - for seasoning (Optional)
Bread slices - 6 or more.
Cheese slices - 1.5 per bread slice
Salt to taste

Method :
1. Wash and cut the cauliflower and steam it along with peas in the microwave for 6,7 minutes.
2. Dry grind the pepper and cumin seeds and keep aside.
3. Heat little oil and pop mustard seeds.
4. Add urad daal and hing and fry till the daal is golden brown.
(This is completely optional. I was planning to use the left over cauliflower as curry for lunch and gave a desi touch to it :) Btw, the curry was really spicy and good.)
5. Add the steamed cauliflower and peas.
6. Add the cumin pepper powder and salt and saute till you get a dry crumbly curry.
7. Place the vegetable on bread slices. Place strips of cheese on top of it. You can also use shredded cheese to make it easier. Microwave it till the cheese melts. I used generous amount of veggies on each slice as the cheese will hold it in place once it melts. Both my kids loved it. The picture has some gourmet bread (i can't remember the name), but it tastes equally good with whole wheat bread also.




I am sending this to
1. PJ's Tasty bites for toddlers
2. Divya's Think Spice Think Pepper started by Sunita

3. Srivalli's MM-Kid's lunches

Awards :
I also want to thank Anisheetu for showering me with the following awards One lovely blog, Triple Awards, Great buddy award, Circle of friends, Uber Amazing blog and The adorable blog award. I feel very honoured to receive it from Anisheetu.

Say No to Plagiarism:

Also want to mention that recently our friends Usha Nandini and Mahi were victims of Plagiarism. The blogger who had copied their pictures has removed it now, but i still want to mention it here for those who are not aware of it and also to show my support to Mahi and Usha and to show that we will not support Plagiarism.

Check this post for more details : http://ushanandini.blogspot.com/2009/03/proof-for-plagiarism.html

Tomato Pickle / Thakkali Thokku

I learnt this from my mom after a friend asked me for the recipe. The funny thing about this recipe is i have never tasted this before i made it for the first time :-) My mom used to make this often as my dad liked it, but i never touched it. Tomatos made into pickle sounded wierd to me. When my parents came here, we had invited our friends for some occasion and she made it for breakfast to go with idlis. My friends loved it and asked me for the recipe. My husband liked it too and i decided to take the recipe from her :) Since everyone seemed to be liking it, i thought i'll give it a shot and it was yummy. It didn't have the wierd sweet taste that i was expecting it to have. Infact, it was sooo spicy that i reduced the chilli powder the next time i made. It is not only yum, it is very easy to make too and a very simple recipe to remember.



Ingredients :
Tomatos - 4
Red chilli powder - 1/2 spoon (increase if u can handle it :))
Salt to taste
Sugar - 1 spoon (it still doesn't give the wierd sweet taste :))
Mustard seeds and hing
Oil - 1 spoon (I like sesame oil for pickles)

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ (Tomato thokku with oatmeal rava dosa) ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Method :
1. Boil water (enough to immerse the 4 tomatos) in a large pan. Immerse the tomatos in boiling water and keep it for 5 minutes or so.

2. Remove and let it cool by running it in cold water. This will make it easy to peel the skin off.

3. Mash the tomatos and keep aside.

4. In a pan, add oil and pop mustard seeds. Add a pinch of hing.

5. Add the mashed tomatos, chilli powder, sugar and salt to taste and cook till the you get a thick gooey consistency.

Tastes good with Dosa, Idli, Rotis, Curd-rice and Pongal.

Sending this to Sanghi's Fall In Luv : Tomato and i'm dedicating it to my brother as he loves tomatos. I am not a big fan of tomatos, but when we were kids, my bro showed me a yummy way to have tomatos- by cutting it and dipping the juicy side in sugar ;-) It tastes really good.

Quick n easy Bread Pongal

I made this on my son's request. He saw this in a t.v show and wanted it. He loved it and more than him my toddler kept asking me for more :) I used the Sara Lee blueberry bread and since it is already sweet, i didn't use much sugar and i used just a spoon of ghee. So, it isn't as bad as any other junk food.

Ingredients :

Bread slices - 3

Sugar - 1 spoon (increase if using regular bread)

Milk - 1/2 cup (increase if the bread is dry)

saffron a pinch

Ghee one spoon

Raisins and cashews - a handful

Method :

Crumble the bread slices. In a non stick pan, add few drops of ghee and saute the bread pieces for 2 minutes. Add milk, saffron and sugar and saute till the milk is evaporated and the bread is kind of mushy. Heat the rest of the ghee and add the raisins and cashew and fry till the cashews are golden brown and add it to the bread pongal and mix well.

Since i made it for my kids, i am sending this to Alka's Just For You and Preety's Cooking For Kids which was originally started by Sharmi from N e i v e d y a m.

I am also sending this to Varsha's RFRU

I am also sending Bread Pizza for Cooking For Kids.

Chickpea Patties

When i saw Yasmeen's Chickpea corn vada, i got tempted and wanted to make something similar at home. I had boiled chickpeas in my freezer. Instead of making(baking) chickpea corn vada, i shallow fried them and made them similar to my Aloo tikki. It was an instant hit at home. With all the protein in it, i was too happy that my kids liked it :)



Ingredients :
Boiled chickpeas - 2 cups
Potato - 1 (big)
Bread slices - 3
Redchilli powder - 1 spoon
Garam masala - 1/2 spoon
Salt to taste
Hing - a pinch
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Cilantro - 1/2 bunch, finely chopped

Method :

Mash the boiled chickpeas and potatos. Add crumbled bread, salt, chilli powder, masala, hing and turmeric powder and mash them well. Add the cilantro and mix them well and roll into equal sized balls. Make patties and shallow fry in a non stick pan.

Tastes good with Maggi tomato chilli sauce. My kids loved it with bread. They had it like sandwich. I didn't have the patience to keep them between the bread slices and eat. I kept gobbling 'em up, while cooking ;-) I used only 3,4 drops of oil per side of each patty. They looked little dry but they were not dry when tasted. They were really good.

I am sending this also to Sunshinemom's FIC: Yellow, Srivalli's MLLA, an event started by Susan and also to JFI Chickpea hosted by MS.

I am sending this to Deepa's CFK- Potato

Berry Cool! - My entry for Click-Red

I took this picture 2 weeks back and i had totally forgotten about it. There are so many events going on these days and it's so hard to keep track of it :-) Mahimaa's beautiful click reminded me of the event. Here goes my entry for Jugalbandi's Click - Red


I had different ideas in my mind, but when i saw the white snow on the deck i wanted to take a picture there and put the berry on it. Don't you think the strawberry sitting on fresh snow looks berry..er..very cool?