Coconut milk porridge (Thengai Paal Kanji)

Ingredients

• Raw rice  - 1/2 cup
• Moong dhal - 2 tbspn
• Fenugreek (methi) seeds - 1/4 tspn
• Coconut milk - 3/4 cup
• Garlic - 4 pod

health tip

Moong dhal is rich in protein. Fenugreek is a natural source of iron, silicon, sodium and thiamine and helps in soothing and relaxing inflamed tissues. Garlic has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antiviral properties.

Coconut milk porridge (Thengai Paal Kanji)

method

I learned this recipe from my Mom. Back in India, my Mom used to make this porridge every other weekend because it is good for health & the fenugreek in the recipe cools down the body. Soon after I left India I rarely made this dish except during the summer times. I was about to post this recipe for the "cooking with seeds" event but I am past the event date. Please be aware the recipe uses coconut & if you are conscious about cholesterol you may want to tone its quantity down a bit.

1. Dry roast the rice, moong dal & fenugreek seeds till they all give out a nice aroma. Let them cool.
2. When cooled, wash them & pressure cook them with chopped garlic for 3 whistles or till the rice gets soft.
3. Grind the coconut & squeeze out the milk while the rice is cooking.
4. Mash the cooked ingredients & add coconut milk & salt. Turn on the stove & let it heat for 2 minutes. You don't want to over heat it. Serve it with garlic pickle .
   

   This Kanji can be made using mixed beans like Green gram, Red beans & other smaller beans you have along with Kambu, brown rice, red rice & black rice. Soak the beans overnight & cook it with other ingredients. Beans doesn't have to get mushy. Eliminate the garlic. Brown sugar or jaggery can be replaced for salt in both the methods.

   
   

Easy Tasty Sambar Rice

Ingredients

• Parboiled rice -1 cup
• Toor dal - 1/4 cup
• Onion - 1
• Tomato -1
• Chopped veggies - 1 1/2 cup ( Eggplant, Carrot, Potato, Drumstick, Beans)
• Sambar powder - 1 1/4 tspn
• Asafoteida(hing) - 1/4 tspn
• Fenugreek powder - a pinch
• Tamarind - a Goose berry size or 1/4 tspn
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn

health tip

Veggies are rich in vitamins, minerals & fiber. Dhal or pulses are rich in protein. Rice is high in carbohydrate.

Sambar Rice

method

1. Wash the rice & dal together. Cook it in a pressure cooker till the mixture gets soft & mushy.
2. Heat some oil & ghee in a pan. Add curry leaves, hing, methi powder and Cinnamon stick. Add the diced onion & tomato. Saute it till tomato gets mushy. Add the sambar powder& salt. Saute it till the oil separates. Add the chopped veggies & saute for some time.
3. When the pressure goes off, mash the rice dal mixture with the back of the ladle or using potato masher. Mix in the sauted veggies, Tamarind juice & little brown sugar or jaggery. Taste it for salt & spiciness. Add some hot water & cook it for one more whistle. Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves & green onions.
   

Homemade Paneer

Ingredients

• Milk - 1/2 gallon or 2 liters
• Vinegar or lemon juice - 3 tbspn

health tip

Milk is rich in Calcium, Protein, Vitamin B2, B12, A, D & K. It is better to consider buying organic milk because of the presence of hormones in regular milk & high Omega 3 content in organic milk.

Homemade Paneer

method

Paneer is a mild flavored Indian cheese. Excess milk which is about to expire can be made into paneer & stored in freezer for future use. Because of the added flexibility in choosing hormone free milk & the fat content in milk, I usually make paneer at home. Ricotta cheese can be substituted for paneer but it will tasted different from paneer. It is easy to make paneer at home. Paneer is made by curdling milk by making it acidic by adding vinegar, lemon juice or yogurt. Adding yogurt may yield more quantity of paneer than using lemon juice or vinegar. Use 1 cup of yogurt per 1/2 gallon of milk when using yogurt. Reminder of the recipe is the same irrespective of the method you use to curdle the milk.

1. Bring the milk to boil in a heavy bottomed pan.
2. When the milk begins to boil, add the desired acidic product & stir constantly. Milk solid will start to separate & curdle at the top leaving thin liquid called Whey at the bottom.
3. Line a colander or strainer with a cheese cloth or a white cotton towel & place it in another vessel to collect the whey water.
4. Turn of the heat & pour the contents into the lined strainer. Gather the ends of the towel together & squeeze the excess water out.
   
5. Flip the colander upside down & place the paneer wrapped in towel over the flipped colander.Press it down with a heavy weighing item to let the excess water drain & to make the paneer harder. Leave it in an undisturbed place for 3-4 hours with the weights on.
6. After 3 or 4 hours take the weight off & unwrap the towel. A block of homemade paneer is ready to use. Cut the block into cubes & use it fresh or store it in a freezer for later use.

Falafal Sandwich

Ingredients

• Soaked chickpeas - 2 cups
• All purpose flour or maida - 2 tspn
• Small Onion - 1
• Garlic - 3
• Baking soda - 1/4 tspn
• Coriander powder - 1 tspn
• Cumin powder - 1 tspn
• Chilli flakes - 1/2 tspn
• Parsley - 2 tspn
• Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup

health tip

Chickpeas or channa is rich in Folate, dietary fiber( with skin on), Protein, B Vitamins & Iron. Beans & legumes are a good substitute for meat protein. High fiber content prevents blood sugar levels from rising too rapidly after a meal making these beans especially a good choice for individuals with diabetes, insulin resistance or hypoglycemia.

Falafal

method

I was hooked to falafals after having falafal sandwiches at Maoz. Since then I wanted to make them at home. At first, I tried with instant falafal mixes but they did not taste like the ones I had at the restaurant. Therefore, I searched for falafal recipes in the net & experimented with few of them. After couple of trials & adjustments I am finally satisfied with this one. Please go ahead and try this recipe & let me know your comments. This recipe will produce 10 medium sized falafals.

1. Soak the beans overnight. It doesn't have to be cooked. Cooked beans make the Falafal soft & fall apart while frying. This is also the reason why we should not go for tinned beans.
2. Chop the garlic, onion, coriander & parsley leaves coarsely. Add it to a food processor along with other ingredients & soaked chickpeas. Grind them all coarsely with out adding water.
3. Add approximately 1/2 tspn or more of salt & mix well. Leave the dough in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
4. Take the dough out after 20 minutes of refrigeration & make equal sized balls & flatten them to 1 inch vadai. Fry them in hot oil. This recipe yields 11 falafals.
   

   You may freeze falafal for future use. To freeze them, arrange the vadai 1 inch apart in a freezer safe container & place the container in the freezer. To thaw & fry the falafal later, place the frozen falafal in a microwave safe plate & microwave them for a minute or two. Fry them as usual.

   
   
5. You may serve fried falafals as part of a sandwich. You can make yummy sandwiches with pita bread, falafal and hummus. You will need to first spread the hummus on the pita and then add falafal patties to it along with lettuce, tomato, onion and olives.

Banana Fritters

Ingredients

• Ripe Banana - 2
• All purpose flour or Maida - 1/2 cup
• Salt - a pinch
• Sugar - 2 1/2 tbspn
• Large egg white - 1
• Baking powder - a pinch
• Milk & water - 1/4 cup together

health tip

Banana is packed with lot of minerals especially potassium which lowers blood pressure.

Banana Fritters

method

Asian restaurants (Thai or Malaysian) serve this dessert with ice cream. Cold ice cream at the center with hot & crispy fritters on the sides drizzled with sweet syrup. Mouth watering, right? Come, join me, I will show how to make fritters at home at your own convenience.

1. Mix the dry ingredients together & make a batter with egg white, milk & water. The batter should be thick like Bajji batter.
2. Peel the banana & cut them into three pieces. Cut the pieces length wise into three.
3. Heat some oil in a pan. Dip the banana pieces into the batter & fry them till golden brown.
4. Serve them hot with ice cream and sprinkle some powdered sugar over it & serve hot.

Chicken or Mutton Uppu Kari

Ingredients

• Chicken or Mutton - 1 pound (1/2 Kg)
• Chopped  large onion - 1
• Chopped garlic - 5
• Chopped tomato - 1
• Red chillies - 3
• Chilli powder - 1/4 tspn
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn
• Coconut milk - 3 tbspn tinned or milk from a cup of coconut
• Curry leaves, Fennel seeds, Cinnamon for seasoning.

health tip

Chicken and mutton are both high in protein. Mutton unlike chicken is red meat with more fat. However, mutton is a good source of Iron. It is recommended to go with chicken especially if you are watching your cholesterol.

Chicken or Mutton Uppu Kari

method

Uppu Kari is a Chettinad delicacy usually made with mutton(goat meat). You can use Chicken as an alternative if you are unable to find good goat meat. Where I live, goat meat is hard to find, hence the reason for Chicken in this recipe. Uppu kari is a dry curry cooked in coconut milk spiced with dried red chillies. Majority of the heat in the curry comes from dried red chillies than from chilli powder. Dried red chillies are fried in oil & cooked in coconut milk to make them little bit sweeter. Taste would be even better if you use goat meat or chicken with bone in.

1. Extract milk from coconut & set aside.
2. Wash & cut the meat into small pieces. Break the chillies into half. Dice the onion, garlic & tomato.
3. Heat some oil in a kadai or pressure pan. Since the cooking time varies, kadai may work for chicken but for mutton it is best to use pressure cooker.
4. Add the seasonings to the hot oil. Fry the broken red chillies. Saute the chopped onion, garlic & tomato one after another along with salt, turmeric powder & chilli powder till tomato gets mushy.
5. Add the meat pieces & saute them till raw meat smell goes off. Add the coconut milk & cook the meat with lid closed. When the meat is cooked, open the lid & cook it till the liquid condenses or evaporates. If the meat looks over cooked, separate the meat from the liquid & leave it in a bowl till the liquid reduces to 1/4th of its quantity. Finally, add the meat & let it dry out.

Gobi (Cauliflower) Manchurian

Ingredients

• For Batter
• Cauliflower - 1/2 of one large flower or approximately 3 cups cut into florets
• All-purpose flour or Maida - 2 tbspn
• Corn starch or corn flour - 2 tbspn
• Rice flour - 1 tbspn
• Chilli powder-1/2 tspn
• Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tspn
• Salt to taste
• Water to make batter
• For Gravy
• Medium onion -1 finely chopped
• Green pepper - 1/4 finely chopped
• Green chilly - 1 small or 1/2 bigger
• Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tspn
• Chilli sauce - 1/2 tspn
• Soy sauce - 1/2 tspn to 1 tspn
• Tomato Ketchup - 1 1/2 tbspn
• Sesame oil - 1 1/2 tbspn
• Brown sugar - 1/4 tspn
• Lemon juice - 1 tspn
• Coriander & green onion for garnishing
• Salt to taste

health tip

Cauliflower and other vegetables like broccoli, cabbage and kale contain compounds that may help prevent cancer. Sulfur-Containing Phytonutrients in cauliflower promote liver detoxification. It is rich in Vitamin C, K and folate. Spicing cauliflower with turmeric help promote men's health. Green Pepper is rich in Vitamin C & Vitamin A.

Gobi Manchurian

method

1. Mix all the ingredients given for batter with half a cup of water.
2. Dip the cauliflower florets into the batter & deep fry them till crispy. Keep them aside.
3. Heat the sesame oil in a pan & add ginger garlic paste & green chillies. Saute them for few minutes.
4. Add the onions & saute it. After 2 minutes, add the green peppers & saute it for 2 more minutes. The veggies should retain their crunchiness. Add the other ingredients given for sauce with 2 1/2 tbspn water. Cook them for 2 more minutes. Turn off the heat.
5. Add the fried gobi to the sauce. Mix well & transfer to the serving dish & garnish it with chopped coriander leaves & green onions.
   

   Mix the cauliflower just before serving to retain the crispiness of the cauliflower. Onions can be substituted with 1/4 cup of green onions.