Cucumber Mint Juice

I wanted to try some thing different in Cucumber other than raitha. I came across this recipe from Yummy Tummy. It tasted really nice. It was very refreshing to drink the juice. 

Ingredients

1.Cucumber - peeled and cut into cubes - 2  cups.

2.Mint leaves - 10 to 12. 

3.Juice of 1 lemon.

4.Salt to taste.

5.Sugar to taste.

6.Jeera powder Optional.

7.Water as per requirement.

Method

  Put all the ingredients in the juicer. Pour water and grind it. Strain it. Add ice cubes and serve chilled.

Spicy Carrot Bath

          What's to prepare for lunch? This is the question which will pester our mind often..So as usual I browsed the net and got an interesting but simple recipe from Sailu's Kitchen !

Ingredients
 1.Basmati rice - 250 gms of rice cooked
 2.Carrot 5 medium size - grated
 3.Green chilles , 4 garlic , 1.5 inch ginger paste
 4.Cloves - 2
 5.Cinnamon - 1inch
 6.Elaichi - 2
 7.Bay leaf -1
 8.Coriander powder - 1 tsp
 9.Coriander leaves
10. Kasoori methi - 3/4 tsp
12.Salt as per requirement
12.Ghee or oil as per requirement.
13.Cashews - 6-7

Carrot Rice

Method

        Cook Basmathi rice and cool it. let it be fluffy and seperate. Heat oil or ghee in a pan. temper the oil with cinnamon,bay leaf,cloves,elaichi,cashews. Add onion and saute it. Then add green chillies,ginger ,garlic paste .Add coriander leaves and kasoori methi leaves. Add grated carrot and saute it. after some time add coriander powder. Add salt. Then slowly add cooked rice with the mix. after 2 to 3 minutes remove the pan from flame. Serve hot with raitha.

Palak Soup

           One day we had this palak soup prepared by our friend Maithreyi which was absolutely delicious . I was wondering... will I be able to make this soup as delicious as her. So I got this recipe from her.  I would say it came out well. In summer its very difficult to cook a full fledged meals. so besides fruit juices,we can have soups and fruits for lunch which will be fulfilling.

Ingredients

1.Palak 2 bunches

2.Onion 2 chopped

3.tomatoes 3 chopped

4.garlic pods 6-7

5.green chillies-2

6.salt as per the requirement

7.pepper as per the requirement

8. spring onions - 1 bunch.

9.coriander  a few sprigs.

10. oil 1 tbsp

METHOD

       

     Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onion. saute it for few minutes. then add garlic,green chillies ,tomatoes and palak. let it get sauteed for 10 minutes. let it cool and grind it to a paste add water if the paste is thick. If you want you can strain using a steel strainer. I didn't strain it. then chop the spring onion finely. Again add oil  in a pan and add spring onion's white part and saute it. After the onion got sauteed,add the ground palak and stir. you should add water to the palak to get the soup consistency.Add salt. let it get boiled after some time put the chopped spring onion and coriander sprigs. 

Paneer Kurma

              Ramya and I were discussing about side dishes for chappathis . Suddenly I had this recipe in my mind which I saw in Sharmis Passion . It was a very easy to make recipe and came out very well. Paneer Kurma can be used for Chappathis, Pooris, Idiyappams, Appams etc. I just added a bit more Onions and tomatoes varying from the original recipe.

Ingredients
1. Paneer - cubed 1 cup
2.Onion - 2 finely chopped
3.Tomatoes -2 finely chopped
4.Chilli powder - 3/4 tsp
5.Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
6.Garam masala - 1 tsp
7.cinnamon - 1 stick
8.cloves - 3
9.elaichi-1
10. fresh cream - 2 tsp

For the paste
1.Freshly ground ginger garlic paste - 1.5 tsp
2.Cashews 8-10
3.fennel seeds - 3/4 tsp
4.grated coconut -1/2 cup
5.green chillies - 2
6.poppy seeds - 3/4 tsp

Preparation Method
               Grind the ingredients given under the paste category. Heat oil in a pan and put cinnamon,cloves,elaichi. saute with onion and after the onions becomes sauted add tomotoes. let the tomatoes get cooked. then add the ground paste and 1 cup of water. add turmeric powder and chilli powder and let it boil for few minutes or till the oil comes out. Then add garam masala and fresh cream. garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with phulkas. 

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        I received a free digital suscription of my choice through Priya Sreeram's Bon Appetit  from Zinio. Thanks to Priya and  Zinio. Congratulations to the other winners!!!! 

Paruppu Adai

Paruppu Adai

This is one dish we all in our family enjoy eating. we will sit around the table to break the dosas into chunks while chatting. one will prepare the dosas and others will make chunks from these dosas. My grand mom will tell the stories about her mom preparing this dish. It will be fun watching her.

Now whenever I prepare this dish those memories will bring a smile to my face.I posted this recipe long back and again reposting  and submitting this recipe for Gayathri's Walk Through Memory Lane

Ingredients
1.Boiled rice – 2 cups soaked
2.Tur dhall – ¾ cup
3.Mustard Seeds 1 tsp
4.Urid dhall – 1 tsp
5.Red Chillies – 6 -7
6.Garlic - 15 to 20 pods
7.Salt as per requirement
8.Turmeric powder ½ tsp
9.Oil 2 tbsp
10.Curry leaves







Method:
Soak boiled rice and grind it into batter . while grinding add salt. Prepare dosas from this batter and keep it aside. Let the dosas get cooled and break all the dosas into small chunks. Keep it aside.
While preparing dosas cook tur dhall with turmeric powder. Heat a big pan or wok and add oil . Put mustard seeds, urid dhall, red chillies, garlic and curry leaves . Let all the ingredients turn golden brown then add the cooked tur dhall .
Add salt and let it boil for sometimes then add the dosa chunks into the dhall and mix well. Blend all the dosa chunks into the dhall well. Let it get heated for few more minutes. Serve hot.

I already submitted this to Vardhini's Herbs and Flowers event long back.

Aval Upma

Hungry! want to prepare something quickly to eat ! try aval upma.. it is so easy to make. my MIL taught me this. I knew we can make aval payasam but not upma.. I am reposting this for  Shama's Fast food event series- Aval

Ingredients:
Thick aval 4 cups
Onion- 2 sliced
Curry leaves
Turmeric powder ¼ tsp
Salt
Mustard seeds, Urad dhall for tempering
Oil

Method:
Soak aval in water for 15 minutes. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. after it splutters add urad dhall let it get brown in color then add onion and curry leaves.saute it. Put turmeric powder and salt.
Strain the soaked aval. It should not contain any water. Then add it to the sauted onion.


Aval upma is ready to eat!

Dosas made more crisper

     To make dosas into much crisper , just even  the surface of the dosai batter after ladling into the tawa with the dosai  karandi . This will make the dosai  like hotel dosai. 

Onion Masala Bun

          I was looking for cakes , buns recipes anything to bake ever since I got an OTG about two months ago. Sangeetha's Spicy Treats's Onion Masala Bun  looked very tempting to me. Its really simple and easy to make. My sister and I enjoyed making these. 

Ingredients

      1.      Whole Wheat Flour 2 cups

      2.      All Purpose Flour/APF 3 cups

3.      Rapid Rise Yeast 1 tbsp

4.      Salt      1/2 tsp

5.      Baking powder       1/2 tsp

6.      Sugar            2 tbsp

7.      Milk       1 and 1/4 cup(Luke warm milk)

8.      Oil      2 and 1/2 tbsp

9.      Onion      1 medium (finely chopped)

10.  Green chili    1 no.(finely chopped -optional)

11.  Garlic      3 cloves(finely chopped)

12.  Cumin seeds     2 tsp

13.  Oregano – for garnishing

Add sugar, milk and yeast in a bowl and keep it aside till it turns frothy.

Mean while add flour, salt , baking powder  together. After the yeast mix is ready add oil to it and then add it to the flour. 

Then add finely chopped onion, cumin seeds, chillies, chopped garlic and mix the flour.  The dough will be sticky. Apply oil to your hands and knead the flour for 3 to 4 minutes.

Now place the dough in a greased bowl  and apply oil on top of the dough. Cover it with a damp  cloth or cling wrap for an hour. The size of the dough will be double by now.

In the mean time grease the baking tray and keep aside. After one hour punch the dough and again knead it for a minute. 

Divide the dough and place it in the tray. Again cover it with a cling wrap for 20 minutes.

Allow the buns to raise. Once done brush the buns with milk.

Sprinkle some oregano for garnishing.

Preheat the oven to 200 degree celcius. And bake it for  15 to 20 minutes.

The steps of this recipe is followed as per sangeetha's recipe. I just changed the garnishing.

I am submitting this to the Bake Fest #14 event 

Tawa Paneer Masala

               Its been a very long time since I posted in my blog.... time flies........ I promised myself from now on wards I will regularly post recipes... my interest was rekindled by some fantastic looking blogs and their recipes....they amaze me by their diligent and enthusiastic work . Its really great to see so many blogs which are very much a visual treat and useful. I have bookmarked nearly hundred recipes which are yet to be prepared .Hats off to all the food bloggers in the world!

               Now coming to this post , the recipe I made is paneer tawa masala which i got from  Tickling Palates . This recipe was very easy to make. I just increased some quantity of the ingredients  for more quantity of the dish.

Paneer Tawa Masala

Ingredients

Paneer – 400 gms

Onion- 3 –medium size

Tomato – 4 to 5  pureed

Ginger garlic paste – 2 tbsp

Green chillies – 1 or 2

Garam masala – 1 tsp

Chaat masala – 1 tsp

Red chilli powder – 2 tsp

Coriander powder-  3 to 4 tsp

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Cumin seeds – ¾ tsp

Caraway  seeds- ¾ tsp

Kasoori methi – 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Oil – 3 tbsp

Note: Ingredients like chilli powder , garam masala can be changed according to your taste.

Method:

       Marinade paneer with chaat masala, ¾ tsp red chilli powder , ¾ tsp of ginger garlic paste,a pinch of salt and kasoori methi and oil. Keep it aside for an hour.Keep the paneer in a silver foil and grill it in grill mode in the oven  for 10 to 15 minutes or till done. Or you can shallow fry also.

       Chop the onions finely. Heat the kadai and pour oil. Temper with cumin and caraway seeds. Then add onions and sauté it well. Add ginger garlic paste, remaining red chilli powder , coriander powder ,chopped green chillies and again sauté it till the raw smell goes. After the the mixture becomes dry add tomato puree . mix well. Let the mixture get cooked till the oil is separated. Then add garam masala , cream , salt and let it cook for some more minutes. If the gravy is thick you can add milk which will give you a gravy consistency. Then add the grilled paneer and let it get coated in the gravy. Serve hot with  phulkas , naan , Rotis etc....