Idly Upma using Idly milagaipodi

    Left over idlies are always consumed by dipping in milagaipodi. Thought of making it as upma and try out the taste and yes it did turn out yummy.

Ingredients:
Idlies - 8 nos
Gingely oil - 4 tsp
Idly podi - 4 spoons (or more according to need)
Mustard seeds - 1/2 sp
Asafodeita - 1/2 pinch
Salt to taste
Ghee - 2 spoons

Method:
Break the idlies into small pieces. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and when it splutters add asafodeita and idly milagaipodi. Saute and add idly immediatly and mix well. Check for salt and add if needed.

Add ghee and serve hot.

Eggless French Toast

Ingredients:

Bread (wholemeal pref)              - 4 slices  

Besan                                          - 3 tsp

Rice flour                                    - 1 tsp

Semolina (rava)                          - 1 tsp

Onion (small)                             -1 tsp

chat masala                               - 1/4tsp 

Paneer cubes                             - 4 or 5 small

Salt                                            - little

pepper                                       - little

Method : 

Mix the  flour, rava, salt ,pepper,chat masala and finely cut onions in a bowl. Keep  paneer cubes in 3 or 4 tbsp of water in a bowl and heat it for about 2 min in microwave to make it soft. Take it out and squeeze the water from the paneer and crumble them and add to the flour mixture. Add the water squeezed from paneer to this to make a thick paste.  Heat a  tawa .Take a bread slice and spread the paste on one side and put it on the hot tawa and put little butter on the sides and roast it. Just flip over and roast the other side too.. Do the same for the other slices too. 

This is a very good evening snack for the kids who raid the kitchen otherwise !

Upma Kozhukattai- Pidi Kozhukattai by Uma Sridharan

This is also known as Pidi Kozhukattai.

Ingredients:

Raw rice 1 1/2 cup

Toor dhal  1/4 cup

Salt to taste 

Oil  2 tbs

Ghee  2 tbs

Mustard  1 tsp 

Urid dhal  1 tsp

Pepper corn 1/2 tsp

Jeera  1/2 tsp

Red chillies 3

Asafetida powder- a pinch

Preparation

Grind rice, toor dhall, pepper, jeera, red chillies to a rava consistency. Heat a heavy bottomed pan, pour oil. Add mustard seeds, urid dhall and curry leaves. Pour 4 cups of water and bring to boil. Add salt and ghee. Now slowly put in the ground rice mixture.

Mix well without any lumps till the rice mixture absorbs the water and becomes soft .

Remove from heat and keep aside.

When it is cool shape them into small cylinders.

steam for 15-20 minutes.

Serve with coconut chutney

Makes a different kind of Party Starter dish

Wheat Veggie Rolls by Bhooma Sudhakar

Wheat based recipe by Bhooma Sudakar

Ingredients:

 Atta – 2 cup

Maida – 1 cup

Carrot, cabbage, capsicum, peas – one cup each (finely chopped)

Green chillis – 2

Pepper powder – 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil to fry.

 

Method:

Mix the atta and maida with salt and water, make dough.

Heat the pan, pour little oil, add green chillis, all veggis stir well and half cook it. add pepper powder and salt. Keep it aside till it cools.

Make a small balls of atta, roll them into small pooris.

Take one spoon full of mixed veggis place it in one corner of the round, and roll it nicely and close the ends as the stuffing should not cum out when you fry. (make sure that you remove the green chills before stuffing)

Heat the pan, add oil, put the rolls one by one fry both the sides till it turns golden.

 

Now, Hot Wheat Veggi rolls are ready to serve with tomato sauce.  

 

suggestion :- pls add the green chillis, as whole. as it will be difficult to remove before stuffing.. 

Recipe for Kadhamba Vadai with vegetables

Ingredients:
Thuvar Dal/Toor Dal - 1 cup
Bengal Gram Dal - 1/2 cup
Urad Dal - 1/4 cup
Raw Rice - 1/4 cup
Green Chillies - 4 nos
Red Chillies - 8 nos
Hing - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Cashew nuts - 12 nos
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few
Grated Carrot - 1/2 cup
Finely chopped cabbage - 1/4 cup
Green Peas (Boiled) - 1/2 cup


Method:
Wash and soak the dals and rice for about 4 hours. Better soak Thoor dal and Bengal gram dal together, rice separately and urad dal separately. Drain well.


Grind urad dal first a bit coarsely without adding much of water. Grind other two dals along with red chillies, green chillies, salt, 1/2 of the curry leaves, coriander leaves and hing sprinkling just 2 tbsp of water. Before removing from the mixer add the coarsely ground urad dal and give a spin so that all the dals mix well nicely. Slice the cashewnuts thinly and mix it with the dal. Add the grated coconut and mix that too well. Cut the remaining curry leaves into half and add it to the ground mixture.


Slightly boil the carrot and cabbage or better steam or microwave it to make them soft. Add it to the ground dal mixture along with the peas. 


Mix well with hand again and pat them to make small vadais. You can also make them as balls and serve it as bondos. Fry them till they are golden brown. 


 Serve hot with tomato sauce, tomato ketchup or coconut chutney.

Recipe to make Kadhamba vadai

An easy to make tiffin item. Which also makes a different starter dish for parties. Kids will love it.
Ingredients:
Thuvar Dal/Toor Dal - 1 cup
Bengal Gram Dal - 1/2 cup
Urad Dal - 1/4 cup
Raw Rice - 1/4 cup
Green Chillies - 4 nos
Red Chillies - 8 nos
Hing - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Cashew nuts - 12 nos
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few

Method:
Wash and soak the dals and rice for about 4 hours. Better soak Thoor dal and Bengal gram dal together, rice separately and urad dal separately. Drain well.

Grind urad dal first a bit coarsely without adding much of water. Grind other two dals along with red chillies, green chillies, salt, 1/2 of the curry leaves, coriander leaves and hing sprinkling just 2 tbsp of water. Before removing from the mixer add the coarsely ground urad dal and give a spin so that all the dals mix well nicely. Slice the cashewnuts thinly and mix it with the dal. Add the grated coconut and mix that too well. Cut the remaining curry leaves into half and add it to the ground mixture.

Mix well with hand again and pat them to make small vadais. You can also make them as balls and serve it as bondos. Fry them till they are golden brown.

 Serve hot with tomato sauce, tomato ketchup or coconut chutney.

Recipe to make Cheese Cutlet

Cutlets are healthy snack for kids during the summer holidays.

Ingredient:
Potato - 2 nos
Maida / Multipurpose flour - 4 tsp
Onion - 1
Salt to taste
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Cheese - 200 gms
Green Chilly - 1 no
Bread Crumbs - 1/4 cup
Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup

Method:
Chop green chilly and coriander leaves finely. Boil potato, mash finely. Mix Maida with a little water to make a fine paste. Spread bread crumbs in a flat plate.

Add salt, turmeric powder, coriander leaves and grated green chilly to the mashed potato. Mix them thoroughly. Make small balls of the potato. Cut cheese into small cubes. Make a small hole in the potato ball and insert the cheese cubes into it and close it. Flatten the potato balls. Dip it in the maida flour and roll it in the bread crumbs and shallow fry it or fry it in tawa. 

Cheese Pakora an after school snack recipe

Cheese Pakoras are delicious snacks that can be served to the kids as an after school snacks.

Ingredients:
Cheese cubes - 2 nos
Onion - 1 no
Green chilly - 2 nos
Bread slice - 2 nos
Curry Leaves - a few
Gram flour - 1 cup
Corn flour - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Red chilly Powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil for frying

Method:
Cut the sides of the bread slices. Soak them into water for a min. Squeeze out the water. Mix salt, red chilly powder to gram flour. Chop onions, green chillies and curry leaves finely. Mix these too to the gram flour. Cut the cheese into small cubes. Mash the bread and mix it with the corn flour. Mix the cheese cubes also to the corn flour and make a dough which is not too hard or too watery.

Heat oil in a shallow pan and add small balls of the dough to it. Fry them till they become golden brown in colour. Serve with green chutney or tomato sauce.

More Kali or More Koozh - An old is gold recipe

Ingredients:
Rice flour - 1 cup
Butter milk - 1 1/2 cups (a bit sour)
Red Chillies or More milagai - 4 nos
Salt to taste
Oil - 4 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp
Urad dal - 2 tbsp
Asafodeita - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup finely chopped

Method:
Mix salt to the rice flour and mix it with butter milk and make a batter not thicker than dosa batter. In a pan heat oil and add mustard seeds and when it splutters add the urad dal and asafodeita. Add the batter slowly and keep stirring continuously so that it does not form any lump. Add curry leaves and coriander leaves. Reduce the flame and cover it with a lid (keep a wooden laddle in the pan, so that there will be a little gap and the steam will go out). Grease a plate with little oil and when it is cooked spread it in the plate, flatten it and make pieces. Serve it hot.

Masal Vadai using Urad Dal

Masal Vadais or Masala Vadais are speciality vadais made using the same batter that is used to make Ulunthu vadai or Aama vadai with slight variations. Here is the recipe to make masal vadai using urad dal.

Ingredients:
Urad Dal - 2 cups
Curry Leaves - 1/4 cup
Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
Salt to taste
Onion - 3 to 4 nos

Method:
Soak Urad Dal for about 2 hours. Grind it to a fine paste along with curry leaves, coriander leaves and salt. The dough should not be watery.

Chop onions finely. Add it to the ground dough. Make vadas using it. This makes a great evening time snack or a rainy day snack.

Aloo tikki with fillings.

Baby corn and potato makes a great combination. Making tikkis out of it in a combination or making cutlets out of it along with a few other vegetables will be a best choice to make the kids eat a lot of vegetables.

Ingredients:
Potatoes - 4 nos
Sweet corn - 1/2 cup
Green Peas - 1/4 cup
Red Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala Powder - 1/4 tsp
Chat masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Amchur Powder - 1 tsp
Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
Mint leaves - 1/4 cup
Salt to taste
Corn flour - 1/4 cup
Bread Crumbs - 1 cup
Lemon Juice - 1/2 tsp
Oil for frying

Method:
Boil and grate potatoes. Boil corn and green peas separately (if dry green peas is used, it should be soaked over night and then boiled).

In a large mixing bowl, add the grated potato, salt, turmeric powder, amchur powder, red chilly powder, chat masala, garam masala, coriander leaves, mint leaves and mixed well. (Alternatively you can grind coriander leaves and mint leaves along with the other masala powders and salt and mix it with the grated potato). Mix all well to make a thick dough. (Add little corn flour, if the mixture is little watery)

In another bowl add peas, corn, salt, 1/4 tsp garam masala, salt and lemon juice. Mix well and let it set.

In a shallow bowl add corn flour, salt and little water to make a batter. Should flow freely when it is poured from above using a spoon.

Divide the potato mixture into large lemon sized balls. Flatten them, and add about a spoon of peas corn mixture. Fold and cover with potato and make them into a cylinder. (It can remain as cylinder or can be flattenned out a bit). Let it set for a few mins.

Spread the bread crumbs in a plate. Roll the tikkis in the batter and again in bread crumbs.

Heat oil in a shallow pan. Fry the tikkis one by one till they are golden brown.

Serve hot with mint chutney and tomato ketchup.

Corn sundal - an evening snack

Corn is one grain that is loved by almost all the ages. It can be made in a variety of forms to make the kids eat and reap the benefits in store.

Ingredients:
Corn Kernels - 2 cups
Onion - big 2 nos
Green Chilly - 1 no
Red Chilly - 1 no
Sambar Powder - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves - a few
Coriander leaves - a few
Salt to taste
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Lemon Juice - from 1 lemon.
Oil - 2 tbsp
Broken Urad dal - 2 tbsp
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup (optional)

Method:
Pressure cook corn kernels for about 3 whistles using a little salt. Cut onions into small pieces. Heat pan and add oil to it, when hot add mustard seeds. When they splutter add broken urad dal, slit green chillies, red chillies and saute will. Add the corn kernels and mix thoroughly. Taste the salt and add the desired amount. Add the sambar powder and mix well.

Remove from flame add, curry leaves, finely chopped coriander leaves, grated coconut and mix well. Add the lemon juice and mix well. Makes a great evening snack for the kids.

Moong Dal Vada

Ingredients:
Moong dal - 2 cups
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup
Curry leaves - 1/2 cup
Saunf - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 8 nos
Onions - 2 nos
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

Method:
Wash and soak the Moong dal for about 2 hours. Drain and grind it along with 6  nos of green chillies and 1/2 tsp of saunf to a thick paste (it should not be watery so avoid adding water while grinding). Chop onions, remaining green chillies, coriander leaves and curry leaves finely. Mix them to the moong dal batter along with the remaining 1/2 tsp of saunf. Make vadas out of it and fry them till it becomes golden brown in colour.

Serve with green chutney and or coconut chutney.

Mixed Dal Spicy Sundal

Ingredients:
Bengal Gram Dal - 1/4 cup
Moong Dal - 1/4 cup
Cow peas (Brown) - 1/4 cup
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Green Chillies - 2 nos
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Broken Urad Dal - 2 tbsp
Asafodeita - 1 pinch
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method:
Wash and pressure cook the dals. Strain the excess water if any. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When they splutter add the broken urad dal, asafodeita and saute for a min. Slit green chillies and add it to the pan. Add the dals and mix well. Add the grated coconut and salt and mix thoroughly.

Makes an evening neivedhyam during Navarathri.

Masala Vada - 2

This is another method to make Masala Vada using ingredients used for Aama Vadai.

Ingredients:
Thuvar Dal - 2 cups
Bengal Gram Dal - 1 cup
Rice - 2 tbsp
Fennel Seeds - 2 tbsp
Asafodeita - 1/2 tsp
Red Chillies - 6 nos
Curry leaves - 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Onion - 2 nos
Oil for frying

Method:
Wash and soak the dals  and rice together for about 1/2 an hour. Grind them coarsely along with salt, asafodeita, curry leaves and red chillies.

Chop onions finely. Crush the fennel seeds. Mix onions and fennel seeds to the ground dal. Make vadas out of the dough and fry it in hot oil. Fry untill golden brrown.

Masala Vada - 1

Masala Vada can be made both from Ulundu Vadai and Aama Vadai ingredients. Here is the method to make Masala Vadai from Ulundu Vadai Ingredients

Ingredients:
Urad Dal - 2 1/2 cups
Green Chilly - 4 nos
Asafodeita - 1 tsp
Curry Leaves - a few
Coriander leaves - a few
Onion - 2 nos
Salt to taste

Method:
Soak Urad dal for about 2 hours. Grind it to a fine paste along with 3 green chillies, asafodeita, curry leaves, coriander leaves and salt. Cut the onions finely. Mix it with the dough. Cut the remaining green chilly into thin rounds and add that too to the dough.

Make vadas out of the dough and serve hot with coconut chutney and sambar.

Lemon Poha | Elumichai Aval

Aval or Poha makes a great evening tiffen for the kids. Making it in different ways enhances the taste.

Ingredients:
Poha - 1 cup
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 tbsp
Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tbsp
Bengal gram dal - 2 tbsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Asafodeita - 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves - a few
Coriander leaves - a few
Green chillies - 2 nos

Method:
Wash and soak poha for about 1/2 an hour. Drain excess water and spread it on a shallow vessel of plate. Heat 1 tbsp of oil and pour it on the poha and mix it with the back of a laddle or fork so that the Poha doesnot break. Heat the remaining oil and add mustard seeds, when it splutters add urad dal, bengal gram dal, turmeric powder, asafodeita and slit green chillies. Add it to the poha and mix well. Add salt, finely chopped coriander leaves and curry leaves. Add the lemon juice and mix thoroughly.

Vegetable Balls

Ingredients

1. Cabbage – one cup
2. Peas – ¼ cup
3. Carrot – ¼ cup
4. Potatoes - 2
5. Corn Flour – 4 tbsp
6. Rice Flour - 1 tsp
7. Chilli powder – 1 ½ tsp
8. Salt to taste
9. Oil for Frying

Method

1. Chop the vegetables finely
2. Cook the potato and mash it
3. Cook the other vegetables in microwave for 10 minutes or cook all the vegetables in pressure cooker.
4. Drain the water from the cooked vegetables completely.
5. Squeeze them with hand to remove excess water
6. Add salt, chilli powder and corn flour and mix them thoroughly.
7.The mixture should be thick like pakoda batter.
8. Make small balls and fry them till they are golden brown

Tastes good with mint chutney or tomato sauce.
Ginger garlic paste and fennel seeds can be added if available.

Aloo Paratha

Ingredients
1. Potato
2. Garam masala
3. Dhania powder
4. Chilli powder
5. Salt
6. Ghee

Method

1. Boil 1 potato
2. Mash it without lumps
3. Add salt to taste, Garam masala - 1/4th tsp, Dhania powder - 1 tsp, Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
4. If Amchur powder is available add a pinch but its not manatory
5. Prepare roti dough in usual way
6. Take one medium size roti ball and make a small roti with your hands
7. Stuff the mashed potato in this.
8. Spread this stuffed roti ball in usual way
9. Cook it in a tawa and smear ghee on it

It tastes good without any sabji. Try it with a cup of curd and mango pickle.

After school tiffin ideas

Kids love to eat fried snacks and some light items after coming back from school. As they will be quite hungry, if there is something to munch up before going to play or starting to write and read, then they feel quite contented. Here is a small list of ideas.

Paani Poori - A favourite for most kids

Corn Paneer Pakora - Combination of corn and paneer will make the kids eat two more pieces. Save a few for you too, if you are making it on a working day.

Potato Rolls - Easy to make snack if you have stock of potato and bread handy.

Aloo Vada - Dont taste it before you give them to your kids, you will end up eating up every thing.

French Fries - Who dont love French Fries? If you can make it at home, kids wont ask you to get it next time when you are eating out

Veg Paneer Cutlet - Making the kids eat cutlet is a big task for all the mothers. Make this cutlet in different shapes using moulds available in the market, and the first preference of evening snacks for the kids will definitely be this.

Masala Idly Upma - Though you can give it in your kid's lunch box, you can make this fast if you have idlies left over from the morning breakfast. Something the kids will definitely demand for.

Sweet Poha - A healthy evening tiffin with a combination of jaggery (iron rich) and coconut.

Paneer Samosa

Aloo Tikka - Easy to make at home.

Aloo Paratha - Paratha stuffed with potatoes.

Lemon Poha - Poha made similar to Lemon rice

Aloo Poha - Poha mixed with potatoes

Different kinds of Pakoras:

Easy Pakora

Cauliflower Pakora

Onion Pakora

Cashew Pakora