Redbellpepper Chutney/Easy Chutney/Breakfast Sidedish

This chutney resembles carrot chutney in taste,without even onion and tomatoes .With in minutes you can prepare it for a weekday breakfast or dinner.Now a days easy to go recipes has become everybodys favourite isn't it ?.I ususally add onions to my chutney as it will give good amount of chutney compared to grinding the ingredients alone ,but this chutney without onions and tomatoes its enough for feeding 2-3 members.

Check some other easy chutney recipes.

Carrot chutney
Beetroot chutney
mint-coriander chutney
Paruppu chutney
Coconutcurryleaves chutney

Preparation time:5 min
Cooking time:15 min.
Serves:3-4(1 cup )

Granola Bars/KidSnack/Healthy Breakfast/No Bake

Oats bar are called granola bars. Oats is a very healthy option for morning breakfast, oats gives constant energy through out the day .Its fattier than other wholegrains like wheat,barley,quinoa,finger millet etc, but its(oats) varied options as cereals, bars and cookies make oats a very famous whole grain.

There are  many variety of granola  bars in stores, but this home made version is healthier than them. We know our body requirements so accordingly we can change the ingredients. Also we can adjust the ingredients to suit our palates. For people without an oven or microwave this recipe is especially for you. This is a simple no bake recipe . .Your kids will love it for sure .You can pack this in tiffin box or in their snack box.

You can opt for dried grapes instead of cranberries,apricots (as there are no takers at home i included it  ).My husband and daughter finished almost 1/4 of it in 1 day ( its so tasty I guess ). Original recipe has only cranberries and badam/almonds. I added dates,cranberries,apricots because we don't eat them often.

Try my other no bake recipe Cocoa fudge

Recipe source:inspired taste

Preparation time:20-25 min(2 hours set time)
Yields:18 medium size bars

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 cup badam/almonds
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup pitted dates
• 1/2 cup dried apricots
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• pinch of salt

Method:

• Saute(dry roast) oats for 5 mins in a pan.

• Saute badam/almonds for 5 mins in a dry pan.

• Add butter,sugar,salt,honey,vanilla essence together in a pan.
• Stir until sugar dissolves in butter and all of them comes together .

• Add butter/sugar mixture to oats mixture .
• Mix them together using a wooden spoon or spatula.

• Add dried fruits to oats as well and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon. 

• Press them together in  9 *4 square pan based with aluminium foil /baking sheet.
• Refrigerate for 2 hours covered.
• Cut in to pieces of desired size.
• Store in an airtight container.

Note:

• Choice of dried fruits is unlimited like dry grapes,dates,cranberries,apricots,prunes .So add your choice or add what is available in your hand.
• You can add regular sugar instead of brown sugar .In this case your bars will be white instead of little brown.
• If the bars doesn't stick together add little more oil.
• You can add grated or chopped coconut pieces as well to this bars .
• Adding of butter gives a very good taste to the bars . you can reduce it if adults are interested in these bars.
• If you want to use oven for roasting you can keep the oats in oven safe plate and roast it for 5 minutes or until its little brown.similarly do for badam/almonds also .
• If you want chewy ones you have to keep it at room temperature otherwise keep them refrigerated (in this case bars will be crunchy).

Linking this to parisevent and shruti

Sending these recipe to family foodie event :healthy snack happening at Eatyourveg and bangermash

Strawberry Milkshake/Summer Drinks

Strawberries are abudant here these days and my little girl loves it. So I get a box of them whenever I see them. I give her fresh berries whenever she wishes, apart from this she likes milk shakes. So I make this milkshake often. I thought of sharing this recipe later because its not even summer here, but scroching sun is showing its fury in India. To quench your taste buds for this summer I wanted to share a quick and healthy drink in the form of milkshake. When you want to add some calories to your kids milk or in a hurry on a weekday  this is perfect milkshake. Crush strawberries with milk and tada your milkshake is ready .If you want it a little rich you can add more sugar or use whole milk .

Prepration time :10 min
Serves:2

Potato masala/Poori Bhaji/Easy breakfast

This Potato masala is a common combination for poori or has been stuffed inside dosa in indian restaurants.Its been favourite to many people.Very easy to make subji for a weekend brunch or breakfast .Total time to make poori and bhaji is just an hour.
When we were kids we have been longing to eat poori bhaji on sundays .Whenever we visit hotels this the first dish to order at home,that means our favourite too. My husband is a great great fan of this poori and masala.Make sure you put enough salt to make the masala yummier .

How to make poori(rajma gravy).
How to make Vegetable kuruma(with coconut)
How to make Vegetable kuruma(without coconut)
How to make Kalachana gravy(konda kadalai gravy)

Preparation time:15 min(boiling the potatoes)
Cookig time:15 min
Serves:2-3

Mushroom FriedRice/Simple friedrice/Indochinese recipe

We are very much fond of fried rice .We usually get it from nearby chinese shop (they use much oil and many sauces )when we are craving for fried rice..I sometimes do it at house but was not getting the same taste as we get in chinese shop .But homemade fried rice has less oil and no much sauces in it .If you are craving for fried rice or lazy to do anything for a weekend lunch/brunch, this rice very much .
Very simple rice which has got lots of mushroom flavors .This is not authentic chinese fried rice for two reasons ,one -the rice used is basmati rice and second -has no chinese sauces except soy sauce and hot sauce which is basic for indo -chinese fusion recipes .Next time i want to try adding some rice-vine vinegar and see the taste matches chinese fried rice  .
I used baby bella, you can substitue with regular mushrooms at hand and for hot sauce you can add some chilipaste (i am not sure about this but give it a try ).If you have some leftover veggies you can make a vegetable fried rice too.

Preparation time:15 min
Cooking time:5 min
Serves:2-3

Kathirikai Thirakkal/Eggplant Stew/Brinjal Korma

Kathirikai therakal is  a famous chettinad breakfast sidedish apart from other specialities like Kosumalli ,Vengaya kosu,Chummakulambhu. In tamil kathirikai means eggplant so this is like eggplant kuruma(korma).I guess nobody does korma with eggplant and its special to karaikudi (chettinad).My mother does this dish all the time and its favourite of my fathers.Using tender eggplants will makes this korma more tasty. They do not have a lot of seeds.

Preparation time:5 min
Cooking time:15-20 min
Serves:2

Strawberry Cake/Simple StrawberryCake

I got a whole Kilogram of strawberrys ,so i want to use it in my cake .I blended them  and started making cake and the outcome was so flavourful and so aromatic cake.One of our friend visited our house ,i served them this and the little boy liked it so much .My friend asked me to share the recipe.I was all flying in the clouds :P
This cake has less sugar ,if you have a sweet tooth(sugar lover) you can add more sugar .You can make it as a cupcake and add your favourite topping(frosting) .This cake can be made for birthdays and fill some strawberry topping(frosting) on top ,thats all you wanted for a wonderful birthday .If you want some other cake flavor like berry,banana  simply substitute the strawberry with the fruit you wish.

Preparation time:5 min
Cooking time:35-40 min
Yields:15 slices

Sweetpotato patty/Sakaravalli Cutlet without breadcrumbs and less oil

Patty the name itself tells that its well patted (in tamil we call it as "thatti ").Patties are a great way to start the day as it is easy to put together and can be eaten as it is as a snack or for breakfast .If you have a toddler at home giving them sweetpotato is very much needed as it has lots of fiber and nutritions like vitamin A in abundance which helps in eye health.
Combining sweetpotato with potato will reduce the sweetness  and adding  spice powder(chili powder) can satisfy your palates if you are a spice lover, yet couldn't take idly/dosa with sambhar/chutneys at morning time.You can prepare this and store it in refrigerator for 4-5  days. when the next time you are hungry take one and heat it and there you go .So ready shall we start ?
Little suggestion .If you are serving for your kids you may want to avoid chilipowder and green chili .Just add little pepper so it gets easily digested .This has less calaories than breadcrumbs filled paties so indulge in goodness .

Preparation time:20 min including boiling
Cooking time:10 min
Serves:3

RawBanana fry/Easy sidedish/எண்ணெய் வாழைக்காய்

Banana tree is one useful tree from top to bottom. In India Banana leaf meal is very famous and it has many healthy benefits too. Banana flower is used for making vadas and dry curry which is very nutritious (has iron and helps in getting regular periods ). Banana stem can be served as a dry dish and with dal. Ripe bananas we eat everyday and it has lots of pottasium which is good for high blood pressure .Raw bananas can be fried, or with besan flour it can be made as a yummy evening snack . So when you have a backyard why not grow banana tree .

I usually do variations on banana fry one is directly adding in oil. Other one is this ,Boiling the bananas in water to give a soft texture and later frying (not deep fried) in oil. This method works faster and has less oil compared to the other method.

First time when I ate it in my aunts house I became a fan. From that time I wanted to try and make this dish in my house. When I did this I was excited and was happy with the result.
 This goes very well this sambar and curd rice.

If you want to try the traditional banana fry click here 

Cooking Time:40 min
Serves:2-3

Vegetable kuruma/Vegetable stew/Nococonut kuruma

            3 days ago my grandma passed away. I was in so much pain, I did not get a chance to see her one last time. This is the price people like us who live abroad have to pay . She was a kind lady and loved all  her grand children. She made the most wonderful seedai (now I can't get the tastiest ,crunchy seedai recipe from her ). Because of her loss i didn't blog for almost 4 days .Coming to today post kuruma.

Kuruma is a gravy made with coconut as the base .Some people grind coconut along with fennel and spices and add it to boiled veggies.Some ppl add coconut milk. But one after a really filling full of cheese and stuff  I  wanted to do kuruma without the cholestrol. I meant to avoid coconut (thit is difficult for me )  I was bit hesitant to try it but the end result (kuruma) was so yummy .We had it with chappathi but you can have this for dosas for upma or with rice too. If you are making it for your rice then add little more chilies.

If you want to make coconut kuruma check here

Preparation time:10 min (streaming the veggies)
Cooking time:15-20  min
Serves:3

Instant oats-ragi dosa/Leftover recipes/Easy breakfast

Whenever you run out of idly or dosa batter this dosa comes in handy with the leftover batter in hand to make a wonderful nutritious breakfast -dinner.
My husband is not very fond of oats, so i add it to dosa and hide the sticky texture of oats .Kids who got bored of regular dosa like it very much and ofcourse my daughter loved it to the core.  To make breakfast-dinner more intresting and very different try this dosa and you would be surprised of this soft ,fluffy dosa.Eat it with your favourite chutney,sambhar .

Cooking time:30-40 min
Yields:10 dosas

Kothamalli Thokku/Dry Corinader Chutney/Easy Coriander Recipes

This is very easy and flavourful thokku (Dry chutney).My mom did not have a refrigerator and whenever she brought coriander she used to do this and store it in an empty horlicks bottle ( those were the storage bottles back in the day in India). I guess this chutney might last for a month ,but it used to get over very quickly (so we never knew the shelf life). But sure this chutney will last for couple of weeks at least.This chutney can be accompanied to anything and everything from idly ,dosa,rasam rice,sambhar rice .When you don't like to eat it as is ( dry) add some gingely oil and have it with your plain rice or idly ,dosa.
So from now on this will be one of your go to recipe. This chutney travels well too.

If you want to do dry mango chutney(maga thokku) check recipe here.

Preparation time:5 min
Cooking time:20 min
Yields :1/4 cup

Ingredients:

• 2 bunches coriander leaves/kothamalli.
• 4 red chili/vara milagai
• 1/4 tsp tamarind paste/puli
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp gingelly oil/nalla ennai.
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds/Kadugu.
• 1/2 tsp jagerry/vellam.
•  Pinch of methi powder/vendhaya podi.
• Pinch of hing/perungayam.

Method:

• Clean the coriander leaves and chop it roughly.

• soak red chili in water for half an hour(by doing this you won't see chili flakes in your chutney).
• Grind coriander leaves,tamarind paste,salt,red chili to fine paste with only 2 tbsp of water (Yields 1/2 cup)

ground paste

• Heat saute pan add gingely oil to it.
• Add mustard seeds and let them splutter.

• Add ground mixture(coriander mixture) to it.

• Let it  simmer for 10-15min until it thickens and changes color.
• By this time it might be half in quantity and you can see the oil separate. (I used little oil so you can't really see it the picture).

• Add grated jaggery to it and mix well.
• Switch off the flame and add the crushed methi powder and hing.

• Serve it with  rice or idly ,dosa ..

Note:

• I removed the very hard stems in the corinader bunch and ground it to get a nice texture.
• Bunch of coriander may not be the exact measurement ,may differ from your place(roughly get around 1/2 cup of ground mixture)
• I used very little of oil, so not much oil separated for me.
• Use less methi powder otherwise the dish will be bitter.
• If you are preparing methi powder at home dry roast  and powder it.

Pulkhas/Parathas/Indian Flat bread

Pulkhas

Pulkas are indian flatbread varieties made with whole wheat flour ,which gets puffed in direct gas or a holed pan placed on gas.These flatbread are the staple food of north india where every state got little variations to the basic recipe in name of roti,parathas,phulkas etc.While we south indians do once in a while  .While whole wheat flour has got many nutrients like protiens (do you believe it got protiens ? i read about it recently).

.How to make pulkas ?how to make parathas ?I know many of you might know how to make one while some of you may not know this.This post is about how i make them .
When i studied college i know only about chapathis my mom makes,While searching for job i got to know it from my aunt .My aunt is expert in north indian cooking .She cooks wonderful phulkas,pavbhaji and methi parathas .I gave tips to many others after i learnt from her ,That is another story .To make phulkas is very easy and involves very little trick and will be good while serving hot with dry curries or dals.

Preparation time:5 min
Cooking time:15-20 min
Yields:10-11 pulkhas