Low Fat Banana Bread

I am not a big fan of banana, but i like it if it is given in the form of Banana nut bread :) Another good thing about this is, it is a quick bread - no yeast, no waiting. Perfect for people like me! :)

I adapted this recipe from Joyofbaking. I reduced the sugar and oil and it was still perfect. A little bit of guilt free eating there!







Ingredients :
Ripe bananas - 2
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Low fat Yogurt - 1/2 c
Canola oil - 1/4C (Original 1/2 C)
Sugar - 1/2 C (Original 3/4 C)
Egg - 1 (Sorry didnt find a good eggless recipe!)
Flour - 1.5 C (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Salt - a pinch



Method :

1. Mash banana with fork and mix baking soda and Yogurt to it.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk oil, sugar and egg.

3. Combine 2 with 1.

4. Add flour, Baking powder, Salt and mix well. Transfer the mix to a bread loaf pan and bake it at 350F for 45-55 minutes.


You can add walnuts to it. Mine has a handful of chopped walnuts in it.

Mango oatmeal aval upma / Mango oatmeal poha

Ingredients :

Poha / Aval (thick that doesn't need soaking) - 1 cup
Oatmeal - 1/2 cup (optional)
Raw mango - 1 (chopped into small pieces. Reduce the qty if it is very sour)
Green chillies - 4
Roasted peanuts - handful
Salt to taste
Mustard seeds, urad daal and channa daal for seasoning
Hing - a pinch
turmeric powder - 1/4 spoon
Curry leaves and Cilantro (Optional)

Method :

Wash the aval / poha in water and keep it aside. Heat little oil in the pan and pop mustard seeds. Add hing, turmeric powder, urad daal, channa daal, green chillies, peanuts and curry leaves and fry till the daals are golden brown.  Add the chopped mango pieces and saute till they are cooked. Add water if required. Add the wet poha and the dry oatmeal. Add salt and sprinkle some water. Sprinkling water helps in cooking the oatmeal and prevents it from becoming mushy. Garnish with cilantro.

Note : I had given an alternate email id for the feedburner and i had not checked it in a while. I just saw that there are recipe requests and wishes from some of my readers in that email id. Thanks for all the wishes and i will try to get to the recipe requests as well. Sorry for not responding earlier.

Idli made healthier!

I read somewhere that idli is one of the top ten healthy breakfasts in the world. I decided to make it healthier by replacing a part of the rice with oats and after few experiments i found out that 1/3rd of rice replaced with oats produces almost the same result. You can taste the oats and if you dont like oats you may not like this. It is soft and fluffy, but regular idlis are fluffier and whiter. That's something i can live with :)

Ingredients :
Parboiled rice (Idli rice) - 2 cups
Urad daal - 1 cup
Methi seeds 1 spoon
Salt to taste
Water
Oats - 1 cup

Method :

Soak Rice and urad daal + methi separately for 6-8 hours. Just 15 minutes before grinding it, soak the oats in just enough water to cover it. Grind the urad daal + methi first till you get a fluffy batter. Remove it from the grinder / mixer. Add rice and the soaked oats and add enough water and grind it well. Mix this with urad daal batter and add salt and mix well. The batter should not be too thin. It should be little thick. Let it ferment overnight.

Apply few drops of oil in the idli moulds and steam it for 15-20 mins in the idli cooker.

To check whether it is done, insert a fork. It should come out clean.

Note : Depending on the brand of rice and urad daal use the quantity may differ. Use the rice and oats in 3:1 proportion. After couple of days, you can use the same batter to make dosas and with added oats you get golden brown, crisp dosas To make dosas, add little water to the batter to make it slightly . I forgot to take pictures of the dosa.

Crispy Cornmeal Dosa

First of all, i want to thank all the readers for your comments and i apologize for not stopping by your blogs. It is little hectic now and will continue to be hectic till april end and i'm hoping i'll get more time after that. I don't miss your recipes though, thanks to google reader :)

Here is something that i tried recently and was fairly easy and approved by my kids as well.
Since it was my first time i did not add any vegetables in it as i did not know what to expect.


Ingredients :

Corn Rava (Cornmeal) - 1 cup
Riceflour - 1/2 cup
Buttermilk - 1 cup
green chillies - 3 (finely chopped) - optional
Salt to taste
Cumin seeds - 1 spoon
Water - as required

Method :

Mix all the ingredients and set it aside for a minimum of 1 hour.
The batter should be of rava dosa consistency. Watery.
Heat (non stick) tawa. Keep the stove between med high and high. Stir the batter and start spreading the batter from outside. (Opposite to how you make regular dosa).Since it's a bit watery, the batter will start running towards the center forming polka dot holes. If this does not happen, your batter is thick and you need to add more water. Spread little oil on the dosa and wait till the wet batter look disappears and flip the dosa and cook it for another minute or so.
Unlike rava dosa, the dosa gets thicker in the center, but it is still crisp like rava dosa, but not as thin as it. Adjust the heat while cooking to get the golden yellow colour consistently and also stir the batter before you make each dosa.

See how crispy it is? :)

It is heavier than Rava dosa and takes little more time than it.

Tastes good with chilli powder or chutney.

Thengai Sevai / Coconut Rice Noodles

Ingredients :
Instant Sevai / Rice Noodles - 200gms (I use 777 brand)
Green chillies - 5
Grated coconut - 1 cup
Salt to taste
Urad daal - 1 spoon
Channa daal - 1 spoon
Cashew nuts - a handful
Cilantro - for garnishing
Mustard seeds, hing and curry leaves for seasoning.

Method :

Boil water in a large pan. Add the sevai / rice noodles in it and switch off. It will be cooked in 2,3 minutes. Drain water and mix a spoon of oil to the sevai so it won't become sticky.

Heat another spoon of oil, add mustard seeds, hing and curry leaves. When it pops, add green chillies fry for a minute and add urad daal and channa daal and fry till they turn into golden brown. Add grated coconut and saute for 2 minutes. Add the sevai to this and add salt and mix well. Garnish with cilantro and roasted cashews.

Tastes good with any type of potato curry / gravy. I like it with Vathakuzhambu and Morkozhambu too :)

I am sending this to

1. Poornima's Let's go nuts -Cashews, an event started by Aquadaze.

2. Mahi's 15 minute cooking event.
Here is something long overdue. Priya and Varsha passed me this award. Thank you friends, i feel very excited and honored to receive this from you.

Tofu Paratha and Sandwich

I used to take tofu because it's nutritious not because i liked it. It was okay for me, but not a favourite. I saw a tofu omelet recipe and i wanted to try it. It was a flop and it turned into scramble, but the taste was very good. Addition of milk blended well with the tofu and gave a nice taste. Sort of like ricotta cheese minus the sweet taste. I started making it frequently and one fine day it occured to me to make it as parathas since my kids prefer parathas to rice. It was an instant hit! My toddler literally snatched each piece from my hand and gobbled it :) My 6 year old asked me what i put in the paratha and when i said Tofu, his jaws dropped to the floor. Hehe..Sometimes, it helps not to tell what's in there before they have their food :)

Ingredients :

Wheat flour - 2 cups

Salt to taste

For the tofu scramble :

Tofu - 14oz

Onions - 1 (i used onions instead of spring onions)

green chillies - 6 (increased it for the parathas)

Milk - 3/4cup

Mustard seeds, hing and urad daal

Method :

You can find the Tofu scramble recipe here.

For Parathas :

Add water to the wheat flour, little by little and keep kneading till you get a pliable dough.

Cover with Saran wrap and keep it aside for atleast an hour. This really helps you in getting soft parathas. My parathas used to be hard as a plate if you didn't eat them as soon as they were made. I tried so many tips i got from different people and this is the best that worked for me.

Divide the dough into equal sized balls. Take each ball and make a cup out of it and stuff the tofu scramble. Close it and roll it into paratha. Cook it in a hot tawa for 30 seconds. Flip and apply few drops of oil. Cook for another 45 secs to 1 min and flip again and apply oil on the other side. Both sides should be golden brown. (Phew! It's so tough to explain in writing :D)

The same filling can be used to make sandwiches. Here are the yummy sandwiches :)



I am sending this to

1) Srivalli's MM-Kid's lunches
2) PJ's Tasty bytes for toddlers
3 )Roma's JFI : Wheat

Healthy Savory Toast

Last week my husband was not in town and it was so cold here, that i didn't feel like going to the grocery store and was trying to manage with what i had. I did not have cheese and my first kid wanted sandwich for lunch. I had some moongdaal dosa batter left. I added some grated carrot to it and applied this on bread and toasted it. It tasted so good :-) Crispy on the outside and soft in the inside, it was perfect for cold weather. I prepared couple more and had it myself for breakfast :) It was quite filling. I got this idea from this recipe : Anudivya's Toast.

Ingredients :
Whole wheat Bread slices - 4
Moongdaal dosa batter - 1/2 cup
Grated carrot - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 1 finely chopped (optional - the batter has some chillies too)
Cilantro
Butter - optional

Method :
Add grated carrot, chillies and cilantro to the batter and mix well. Apply butter (for kids sandwich :)) on the bread and apply a spoonful of batter on each side and sprinkle 2,3 drops of oil on top it and toast it in a pan in medium low heat till it turns golden brown. Repeat for all the bread slices and enjoy with some tomato sauce.
I am sending this also to Sunshinemom's FIC: Yellow . I am also sending this to EC's MBP - Easy Breezy Breakfast. MBP was originally started by Coffee.

I am also sending this to Sindura's Bread Mania. Along with this i would like to send my bread pizza too

Ann passed on this refreshing Lemonde Award. Thanks dear!

Now, i am passing it on to Asha, Malar, Keerthana, Priya, Preety, Lubna, Vidhya and Akal .

Protein added Oatmeal Rava dosa

Though my kids are picky eaters, they seem to like some good stuff too :) Oatmeal is one of them. I used to make Oatmeal Rava Dosa once or twice a week to avoid dinner time battle. I wanted to increase the protein in it. I modified my earlier recipe and added 1 cup of Besan to it. I love besan because just one cup of besan has 21g of protein (almost 3 times the protein in 1cup of milk). Dosas came out well and tasted good. Best part -the kids love it.




Here's the recipe for it :
Toasted Instant Oatmeal - 1 cup (dry grind it)
Rava (Cream of wheat) - 1 cup
Rice flour - 1 cup
Besan /Chickpea flour - 1 cup
Buttermilk - 1 cup
Water - as per the consistency
Salt to taste
Cumin seeds- 1/2 spoon (approx)
grated carrot - 1 cup (optional)
green chillies - finely chopped and as per taste (optional)
cilantro - finely chopped
fenugreek leaves or baby spinach - finely chopped (optional)
Mix all the ingredients and let it soak for atleast an hour. Add more water if necessary. The consistency should be as thin as rava dosa batter. Heat the dosa girdle and make dosas.

I am sending this for Ramki's Recipes for the rest of us

I am also sending this for JFI Chickpea hosted by MS and Srivalli's MLLA, an event started by Susan and JFI Chickpea hosted by MS.

Rava Dosa - A foolproof recipe

I had never entered the kitchen before i got married. My mom tried her best to get me to learn some cooking before i got married and my grandma and my dad used to promptly nip it in the bud by saying 'anyway she has to cook after she gets married, let her be carefree and enjoy till then' to which i used to think 'Ha! that's what u think...i will make my husband cook or buy me all 3 meals from some fancy restaurents' :-)



After my engagement, my mom tried (read as threatened!) to get me to learn some cooking which usually ended up in a Mahabarath war between me and my mom. I was really frustrated because i couldn't even close the pressure cooker properly :-O One day, i asked my husband if he knew that i can't cook. He said he knew and he didn't care as he had a cook there. He asked me not to bother about learning how to cook and said he will ask the cook to come even after our wedding. I went to my mom all excited and said 'Good bye to your cooking lessons..i have a cook'..I enjoyed the first 3 months of my married life to the fullest extent... then we moved to U.S and the reality hit me hard...GRR :-S Actually it hit my husband harder, as he had to go thro' the torture of tasting whatever i cooked and still say it was good. Poor dude! I knew he secretly wished they had given dependant visa for the cook too ;-)

One fine day, i came across this recipe in Bawarchi and even i could not mess this one up ;-) When few people took this recipe from me, my excitement had no bounds. I told my dad, ‘See, I have become an expert now and people are taking recipes from me’ and he replied ‘Oh if they are taking recipes from you, imagine how bad their cooking must be’. It was always fun to chat with my dad. We both always pulled each other’s leg. I miss him soooo much now :-(

I made this once when he was here and he really liked it.



I think it’s time for me to stop rambling…







Here’s the recipe -





Ingredients :



Rava / Coarse Sooji - 2 cups

Rice flour - 1 cup

Buttermilk - 2 cups

Salt to taste

Cumin seeds - 1 spoon

Green chillies - 4 - finely chopped

Cilantro - a handful - finely chopped.

Hing - a pinch



Method :

Mix all the ingredients and add some more water. The consistency of the batter should be thinner than regular dosa batter.Let it soak for a one hour minimum.Heat non stick tawa. Keep the stove between med high and high. Stir the batter and start spreading the batter from outside. (Opposite to how you make regular dosa).Since it's a bit watery, the batter will start running towards the center forming polka dot holes. If this does not happen, your batter is thick.Spread little oil on the dosa and wait till the wet batter look disappear.



Flip the dosa and cook it for one more minute.After 3 or 4 dosas you may start getting dark dosas. Reduce the heat at that point. Keep stirring the batter before spreading each dosa. Rava Dosa goes well with Chutney , Chilli powder (idli podi) and/or Sambar.

Soft Rava Idli

Both my kids love rava idli, so this is a no-struggle breakfast or dinner at my place. It's also easy to sneak in some grated veggies. I have added just grated carrots in the idlis shown in the picture. You can also add finely chopped spinach or grated zucchini.

Ingredients :

Sooji / Cream of wheat - 1 cup
Beaten yogurt - 1 cup
Eno salt - 1.5 spoons
Salt to taste
Grated carrots - 1 cup
Channa daal - 1 spoon
Urad daal - 1 spoon
Roasted cashew pieces - handful
Mustard seeds, curry leaves and hing.

Method :

Mix sooji, yogurt, salt and carrots. Add some water if required. The batter should be of thick consistency. Let it sit for a minimum of one hour atleast. In little oil, pop mustard seeds, add channa daal, urad daal, curry leaves and hing and fry till the daals are golden brown. Add this to the batter. Add roasted cashews also. 5 minutes before cooking add 1.5 spoons eno salt and mix well. If you don't see the batter fluffing up, add some more eno salt. Pour the batter in idli mould and steam it for 15 - 20 minutes. If you soak for atleast an hour the idlis turn out to be very soft.

Goes well with idli powder or chutney.

Tomato Aval (Poha)

I made this similar to Tomato rice and it was good. Quick and easy too.

Ingredients :

Aval/ Poha - 3 cups

Tomatos - 2

Onion -1

Green chillies - 3

Sambar powder - 1 spoon

Salt to taste

Cilantro for garnishing

Mustard seeds, urad daal, chana daal, hing and curry leaves for seasoning.

Method :

Wash the Poha and keep it aside.

In a pan, heat some oil and pop mustard seeds.

Add urad daal, channa daal, hing and curry leaves and fry till the daals are golden brown.

Add green chillies and fry for a minute.

Add the chopped onion and saute till they are translucent.

Add chopped tomatos and sambar powder and cook till it is done and the raw smell of the sambar powder goes away. Reduce the heat. Add Poha, salt and mix well and cook for 2 more minutes. Garnish with Cilantro.

I am sending this to Aparna's WBB : Grains in my breakfast event

Moong daal dosa and Pakora

Before i goto the recipe, i want to say few things about my grandma (paati). I share a very special relationship with her. She's the friendliest paati i have ever seen. She's really cool and modern :-) Because of her i got away from lot of trouble ;-) My mom was working and me, my brother and my cousins (their moms were working too) would all goto our grandparents house after school and stay till our parents came back from work. She used to take care of all of us with each one being a kind! :D I dont know how she did that because i get totally worn out taking care of just 2! But, i have to give some credit to ourselves too..We weren't half as naughty as these two.

She used to make this dosa and i see that it is also called as Moongdaal chilla in some websites. My grandma used to make this for us and she used to call it Pesarattu, which it is not. I dont know who told her this was Pesarattu. When i came to U.S, one of my telugu friends made Pesarattu and i was surprised to see that she made it with whole moong. I gave my grandma a hard time for making me believe this was pesarattu all along ;-)

Update : Uma, a fellow blogger from Andhra confirmed that this is also Pesarattu, so my grandma was right after all :D

Here is the recipe :

Ingredients :

Split moong daal - 1 cup
Urad daal - 1/4 C (optional)
Green chillies - 4
Salt to taste
Onion - 1 (finely chopped)
Cilantro for garnishing
Hing - a pinch






Method :

Soak the moongdaal and urad daal for a minimum of 2 hours. Grind it into thick batter with green chillies, hing and salt. Consistency should be same as Idli batter.
Heat the dosa griddle and spread 1 ladle of batter into a circle. It should be little thicker than dosa. Spread some oil around it and when it is almost cooked on one side, spread the chopped onions and cilantro on the top and press it slightly with a spoon. Flip the dosa and cook for another minute or more to get crispier texture. Repeat procedure.

Tastes great with chilli powder and/or sambar or chutney.

I had some leftover batter and i made pakoras with it and they were very crunchy and tasty.
Made a great evening snack. Here's how i made the pakoras :

To 1 cup of leftover batter, i added 1/2C of rice flour, 1 onion (finely chopped), 2 green chillies and salt.

Heat oil and drop the batter with a spoon and cook till it is golden brown and crisp.

Tasty n Healthy Tofu Scramble and Awards

Tofu Scramble :

Long back i came across a Tofu omelet recipe that i had not book marked. I tried to recollect and i tried something and i could not make an omelet or pancake out of it so i tried this scramble and it turned out to be very good :-)



Ingredients :
1/2 pack Extra firm Tofu (7 oz)
1/2 glass milk
Salt to taste
Green chillies - 3 finely chopped
Spring onions - 3 finely chopped
Cilantro - 1/2 bunch finely chopped

Method :

Blend Tofu, milk and salt in a blender. Add the finely chopped spring onions and cilantro and mix well. In a non-stick pan, heat little oil and fry the green chillies for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat and add the Tofu mix and keep stirring constantly to get the scrambled texture. It takes about 4 minutes. End result is Yum!

I am sending this to JFI - Soya

Now, the awards :


Lubna has passed on the 'Wylde Woman Award' to me. Thank you Lubna!
The rules of this award are: 1.You can give it to one or one hundred or any number in between - it's up to you. Make sure you link to their site in your post 2. Link back to this blog site http://tammyvitale.typepad.com/ Tammy can go visit all these wonderful men and women and remember the Purpose of the Award: To send love and acknowledgment to men and women, who brighten your day, teach you new things and live their lives fully with generosity and joy. I am passing this award to Sia , Madhuram, Suma, Suganya and Mansi Desai who have inspired me.

Easycrafts has passed me the 'Good job' award. Thanks EC!

I am passing this award to Vidhya, Srivalli, Meera, Shreya and Divya

Zucchini and Spinach Vermicelli Upma

I always have to find ways to sneak some veggies into my kids' food. This is one way where i could do it successfully :-) I've already posted the recipe for Vermicelli Upma and this is prepared the same way except that i have added some vegetables to it and made it healthier :-)

As i said in my earlier post, my kids love vermicelli upma since they are like noodles and sneaking some vegetables into it was easy, especially a vegetable like Zucchini which blends with the color of the vermicelli!

Here is the recipe :

Ingredients :

Roasted vermicelli - 1 small pack

Green chillies - 3 or 4

Zucchini - 1 medium sized (finely grated)

Spinach - 1 cup (finely chopped)

Cilantro - for garnishing

Roasted Cashew - handful

mustard seeds, hing, urad daal for seasoning

Method :

In little oil, pop mustard seeds, add hing and urad daal and fry till urad daal turns golden brown.Add the grated zucchini and spinach and saute for 2 minutes. Add approximately 3 cups of water and let it boil. Add the roasted vermicelli and salt to taste and cook till it is done. Add cilantro and the cashew pieces. Add more water if required. My first kiddo who is very picky with vegetables didn't even notice the zucchinis ;-)

I am going to send this to WBB: combi Breakfast hosted by Masala Magic.

Tamarind Poha / Puli Aval

This is another recipe that every one likes in our house. My mom used to make it with thick poha/aval. I tried it with the thin poha and it came out well. Honestly, i don't know how my mom makes, but i tried it this way and it was good and tasted close to what my mom makes. Only difference is i used green chillies and i know for sure that my mom uses red chillies.

Ingredients :

Aval / Poha - 2 cups

Tamarind concentrate - 1/2 spoon mixed in 1/4 cup of water

Salt to taste

Red chillies / Green chillies - 3 or 4

Cilantro to garnish

Mustard seeds, urad daal, hing and channa daal for seasoning.

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Method :

Wash poha in water and let it sit. If it is thick poha, soak it for 15 minutes.

In a pan take little oil, pop mustard seeds, add turmeric powder, urad daal, channa daal, chillies, curry leaves and fry till the daals are golden brown. Add tamarind water and let it boil. Add the poha and add salt and saute till done. Garnish with cilantro. You can also add roasted chopped peanuts and/or cashews.

Kuzhi paniyaram

Recipe and Picture contributed by my sil Radhika.


Ingredients :
Raw rice (Pacharisi) - 1 cup
Boiled rice (Puzhungarisi) - 1 cup
Urad daal - 1 cup
Salt to taste

Soak both rice together and the daal seperately for 5,6 hours.
Grind to the consistency of idli batter.
Add salt and ferment overnight.
In little oil, pop mustard seeds and add urad daal and channa daal and fry them till they turn golden brown. Add finely cut green chillies and hing to it and saute for a minute and add this to the batter and cook it in kuzhipaniyaram pan (or Aebleskiver Pan).

Cooking Method : Apply 1 or 2 drops of oil to each impression in the pan. Fill the impression with batter. Fill it only half way as it puffs up. Cook for about 2,3 minutes and turn each paniyaram with the wooden spoon and cook for some more time. Check by inserting the back of a spoon to see if it sticks. If it doesn't, then it is done and you can remove them from the pan.

Note : You can add grated carrots to the batter. It turned out well and both my kids loved it.
My sil said she tried adding finely chopped cooked onions to the batter but felt like it wasn't cooked properly near the onion pieces.
This goes well with onion chutney.

Spicy Macaroni

It's a spicy Macaroni. When i came to u.s., i had a hard time adjusting to any cuisine other than indian. It took me 2,3 years to try other cuisine. I used to indianize everything before that and i ended up with this recipe one day. It's simple and good.

I dont measure and cook. I am giving the quantities approximately.

Ingredients :

2 cups cooked macaroni
Water
Salt to taste
Green chillies - 4 or 5 - finely chopped
1 onion - chopped
1/2 cup of peas

1/2 cup of chopped capsicum

1/2 cup of grated carrots
mustard seeds, hing, urad daal and turmeric powder for seasoning

Method :

Add salt to the water and boil the water.
When it starts bubbling, add the macaroni.
Keep stirring once in a while as it will stick to the bottom otherwise.
Once it's cooked, pour it in a colander and drain the water.
Rinse it in cold water.
Meanwhile steam the peas, capsicum and carrots and keep it ready.
Heat some oil in the pan and pop mustard seeds. Add urad daal, hing, turmeric powder and fry for couple of minutes. Add green chillies and fry for some more time. Add the onions and saute till it is translucent and add the steamed vegetables and some salt and saute for some more time. Add the pasta and some more salt if required and cook for 2, 3 minutes. Garnish with cilantro.

This took approximately 30 minutes and will serve 2 persons.

The picture does not have carrots and capsicum as i didnt have them, but i usually add them too.

I am going to send this and Veggie Quesadilla to Archana's 'Monthly One Dish Event'

Mor Kali

This is almost a last minute entry for Siri's Frozen Yogurt event.



I love yogurt and it's a 'must have' for me everyday. So this event got me all excited :)
My mom's mor kali is even better. Next time i goto india i am going to watch her make it and learn to make it better.

This is again a quick and easy recipe.


Ingredients :

Rice flour - 2 cups
Buttermilk - 1 cup
Salt to taste
Green chillies - 5 (finely chopped)
mustard seeds, hing and urad daal for seasoning
Cilantro for garnishing



Heat some oil in a pan. Pop mustard seeds and add hing and urad daal. Fry till urad daal turns golden brown. Add green chillies and fry for couple of minutes. Add riceflour and add salt and water and cook for some time. Add buttermilk and cook till it's done. Garnish with Cilantro.

Another method to cook this is : Mix riceflour in buttermilk and add water if required. It should be of pourable consistency. Follow the initial steps as above and after frying green chillies for couple of minutes add this batter and cook till it's done.

Tastes good with pickle or mor milagai.

Vermicelli Upma

This is another quick and easy recipe. Kids like it too since it looks like noodles.

Ingredients :

Roasted vermicelli - 1 small pack

Green chillies - 3 or 4 finely chopped

Onion - 1 medium - chopped

Cilantro - finely chopped

Roasted Cashew - handful

mustard seeds, hing, urad daal for seasoning

Method :

In little oil, pop mustard seeds, add hing and urad daal and fry till urad daal turns golden brown.

Add the chopped onions and saute till the onions are translucent. Add the roasted vermicelli and saute for couple of minutes and then add water and salt to taste. When it is done, add cilantro and the cashew pieces.

If you boil water side by side, it will be quicker.

Oatmeal Rava Dosa / Oatmeal and Cream of Wheat Pancakes

Getting back to recipes... I have few more recipes waiting for a long time. I didnt have time to download the pictures to the pc and i didnt want to post any recipes without any pictures.

Ingredients :

Toasted Instant Oatmeal - 1 cup (dry grind it)

Rava (Cream of wheat) - 1 cup

Rice flour - 1 cup

Buttermilk - 1 cup

Water - as per the consistency

Salt to taste

Cumin seeds- 1/2 spoon (approx)

grated carrot - 1 cup (optional)

green chillies - finely chopped and as per taste (optional)

cilantro - finely chopped

fenugreek leaves - finely chopped (optional)

Mix all the ingredients and let it soak for atleast an hour. Add more water if necessary. The consistency should be as thin as rava dosa batter. Heat the dosa girdle and make dosas. I tried making it as thin as rava dosa but was not successful. It was little thicker than that.

The picture that i have posted is the kids version without green chillies and little thicker. I didnt have cilantro or fenugreek leaves either.

I am sending this to 'Pancakes on Parade' Event