Mutta Paniyaram / Egg Paniyaram

I have to camouflage eggs in my little one's food. He wouldn't eat egg otherwise. While I was telling my MIL about this, she asked me to add beaten eggs to the dosa batter and make dosas out of it. I tried that and it worked. But then, I also wanted to make these little paniyarams out of it with more seasoning and flavour. Nowadays, this happens to be the easiest dinner idea whenever I am running out of vegetables in the refrigerator.

You can add equal number of eggs to the batter. But that didn't seem like a good option in my case since my little one has pretty good sense of smell and taste :-). So he finds out that I have added eggs to the paniyarams.Otherwise you can add 1 egg to 1 cup of batter and make these delicious and easy paniyarams.

Ingredients: Idli/Dosa batter -2cups Egg - 1 Salt - as needed Oil - 2 teaspoons + for making paniyarams Onion - 1 finely chopped Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon Green Chilli  - 1 finely chopped Cilantro - 1 fistful, finely Method Mix beaten egg with the batter with required amount of salt. In a  pan, add oil and when it gets hot add mustard seeds. Now add onion, green chillies and saute till the onions becomes translucent. Remove from heat and add chopped cilantro leaves to it. Let it cool down a bit. Add the onions to the egg and batter mixture. Make paniyarams out of it and enjoy with your favorite side dish.

Idli Podi Upma

What better way to use leftover idlis than making a classic, simple yet delicious upma with it. Almost everyone from Tamil Nadu would have tasted this upma atleast once. This used to be our evening snack during school days. The boring, white round idlis can take this magical transformation with a little seasoning.

I almost forgot the exixtence of such a simple dish until I saw this in the menu of an Indian Restaurant here. It said Madurai Special Idli Podi Upma and I ordered it thinking it is going to be something different than the regular idli upma. But it was just our same old idli upma with a hint of idli podi and a nice aroma of ghee. So I recreated it at home, and for sure it tasted better than the restaurant version.

Ingredients: Idli -6 to 8 Oil - 2 teaspoons Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon Urad dhal - 1/2 teaspoon Curry leaves - few Cilantro - 2 tablespoons (chopped finely) Onion - 1 sliced thin Idli Podi - 3 tablespoons(my idli podi is mild, so adjust the quantity accordingly) Ghee - 2 teaspoons. Method Crumble the idlis with clean hands and keep it aside. In a wide pan, add oil and when it gets hot add mustard seeds. After it splutters, add urad dhal and curry leaves. Saute till the urad dhal get a golden brown color. Now add onion and saute till it becomes translucent. Add the crumbled idlis along with idli podi. Give it a good stir so that the podi can combine with the crumbled idlis. Add chopped cilantro and ghee. Serve it hot with your favourite side dish.

Carrot Ginger Juice

I am sorry, I am a little too late. But wishing you and yours a very Happy New Year. Things have been rather hectic here. I have been missing in this space for a couple of weeks now. I might have many reasons for not posting any recipe. But the underlying reason is pretty simple. I just wanted a break from my routine. No fancy cooking in the kitchen. Took things easy and spent a good chunk of time with family during the holiday season. So today's recipe is a very simple fresh juice to start your day.

Bright carrots, juicy lemon and fresh ginger. Does it get any better than that. There is no better way to kick start your day than having a fresh vegetable juice with a touch of fruit and a tinge of ginger spice. This juice is an excellent source of Vitamin A and Beta Carotene. Ginger in the juice helps in digestion and lemon acts as a blood purifier. You can also add an apple while juicing and you get a boost of Vitamin A when you do so.

Ingredients: Carrots - 3 medium sized Lemon - 1/2 Ginger - 1 inch Honey - as needed Method Wash and cube the carrots. If you are not using organic carrots, scrap the skin of the carrots and cut it into cubes. Clean the ginger and pass the carrots and ginger through juicer. If you do not have a juicer, grind it using a mixie/ blender and sieve it. To the juice, add juice of half a lemon and desired amount of honey.  Serve immediately with crushed ice on top.

Mac n Cheese My Way

Loads of sodium and artificial coloring agents did not look like a good option for me to feed my kid. It was my husband who was very particular about not feeding my son packaged/processed/frozen foods. Initially I felt almost unrealistic to shield our son from processed foods. But now, I am very happy we took that path. I am not saying we never fed our kid any store bought food (He has had the store bought boxed mac n cheese once so far). But I try my best to make homemade versions of the store bought boxed foods.

Store bought mac n cheese would be a really big time saver, but homemade version is easy to make and it always good to know what goes into the food that you feed your kid. It might not look anywhere near the store bought version, but I promise homemade version tastes so much better. I have used cream cheese here in this recipe. But Vermont white cheddar works well too. Sometimes I also, add veggies like broccoli or carrots or green beans to it.

Ingredients: Macaroni- 1/4  cup Butter - 1 tablespoon Garlic - 1 clove grated (optional) Cream Cheese - 1 1/2 tablespoons Salt & Pepper - to taste Whole Milk - 1/2 cup Method Boil water in a pot and cook macaroni until it becomes soft. Drain the water and keep the macaroni aside. In another pan, heat butter and add grated garlic and saute until fragrant. Add milk and bring it to a boil. Add the cooked macaroni along with cheese, salt and pepper. Let it cook until the sauce thickens. I remove it from heat just before it thickens because the sauce tends to get very thick once cooled down. Serve it with a side of steamed vegetables.

PB&J Stuffed French Toast

I guess some of you must have noticed the change in the template of my blog. I have started playing around with the design of my post with background colors. I somehow felt, the orange background didn't go very well with other colors. So I am keeping it simple with a light background. I am still getting used to this template. Being so used to the orange background of My Recipe Congeries, few times, I kept looking at the pages, just to see if this is really my bog. Hope you all like it. I welcome any suggestions or comments on the new design.

Now to today's recipe...

How about a delicious hot breakfast, which actually tastes like dessert, but still being good for you? Yeah, it is french toast stuffed with all the goodness of peanut butter and jelly. The name might be a little long, but I promise, you can put this together in less than 15 minutes.

What could be better than a stuffed French toast for a breakfast lover? And if it is stuffed with peanut butter and jelly, it is a double bonanza. It makes a very good lunch box item for kids. You can go as creative as you want with French toast. You can stuff it with literally anything you eat. My next project with French toast would be chocolate stuffed version. I am sure my two chocolate monsters would love it. 

Ingredients: Egg  - 1 whisked with a splash of milk Sugar – 2 teaspoons Cinnamon – a pinch Peanut Butter – 1 heaped tablespoon Jelly  - 1 tablespoon Butter – 1 tablespoon Method Whisk together egg, milk, sugar and cinnamon and keep it aside in a flat bowl. Take a tablespoon of peanut butter and spread it in one slice of bread. Spread any fruit jelly of your choice in another slice of bread. Make a sandwich out of these two bread slices. You can either dip the whole sandwich in the egg mixture or make strips as I did for the little hands. If you decide to go with the second option, make 1 to ½ inch thick strips of the sandwich. Melt butter in a non stick pan over medium high, dip either the whole sandwich or the strips in the egg mixture to coat the slices and place in the pan. Turn the piece/ pieces in about 3 to 4 minutes or until it turns golden brown and cook the other side until it turns golden brown. Serve it with maple syrup.

Kaima Idli

Today's post is about Saravana Bhavan Special "Kaima Idli" which is always a big hit at home. Deep fried idlis in spicy and tangy sauce cannot be missed by anyone who visits Saravana Bhavan. I am a die hard fan of their Kaima Idlis and Mixed Vegetable Parotta.Yesterday, when I made this for dinner, we discovered that our little hero likes this a lot too. So Kaima Idli is going to be a frequent visitor to our kitchen.

Ingredients:


1. Idlis - 10 to 12
2. Oil - 1 tablespoon
3. Onions - 1 medim (finely chopped)
4. Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tablespoon
4. Tomato - 1 (finely chopped)
5. Tomato paste - 2 tablespoons
6. Chilli powder - 1 teaspoon or more if desired
7. Garam masala - 1/2 teaspoon
8. Cashews - 8 to 10
9. Cilantro - to garnish
10. Salt - as required
11. Oil - to deep fry the idlis
12. Ghee - 1 tablespoon


Method:


1. Cut the idlis into bite sized pieces and deep fry them in hot oil till it turns golden brown.
2. Place it in a paper towel and leave it aside.
3. In a pan, add 1 tablespoon of oil, add onions, ginger garlic paste. Saute till the raw smell goes away and the onions turn translucent. Green peppers and red peppers can also be added at this stage.
4. Add tomato and salt. Let the tomatoes get mushy. Add tomato paste.
5. Add chilli powder and garam masala and saute for a couple of minutes.
6. Add a few tablespoons of water, just so that the fried idlis can absorb the sauce in.
7. Add the fried idlis and gently mix it with the sauce.
8. Saute it till the idlis absorb the sauce.
9. Add a tablespoon of ghee and add cilantro and fried cashews to garnish.


Serve it with onion raitha.

Adai - A protein rich breakfast

I did not know this is one of my favorite breakfast until I realized my mom making it every time I go home on a short break from college. I guess, I have too many favorites to keep track of. :-) This adai is a flavorful combination of rice and lentils with sauteed onions and hing. This is a very filling breakfast that you will not even think about a mid morning snack if you have this for your breakfast.

Sorry for the dull pictures. 

 

This recipe will yield approximately 6 adais.

Ingredients:

1. Idli rice - 1 cup

2. Mixture of dhals - 1 cup (I used uradh dhal, moong dhal, toor dhal and channa dhal in equal amounts to fill the cup)
3. Onion - 1 medium chopped finely
4. Dried Red chillies -2
5. Hing - a generous pinch
6. Salt - as needed

Method:

1. Soak rice and all the dhals together at least for 4 hours. Grind them into a coarse mixture with dried red chillies and salt and less water. When you touch the better it should feel like a mixture of coarse rava/sooji. The batter should be a bit thicker than idli batter.

2. In a hot tawa, add a teaspoon of oil. Add onions and saute till it get soft. Do not let it turn brown.
3. Add the sauteed onions with a generous pinch of hing to the batter.
4. Heat an iron griddle or a dosa pan, spray some cooking spray or oil.
5. Pour a spoon full of the batter and make a thick adai. Sprinkle oil on the sides of the adai. Keep the heat low. I kept it in 3 all the while while cooking adai. This is make the adai nice, crispy and golden brown. Lift it and see if the adai has turned golden brown and crispy.
6. Gently flip it over, add another spoon full of oil to the sides. Adding oil the second time is really optional. But this enhances the crispiness and taste. Remove it from heat once the other side turns crispy and golden brown.


Note: Adai tastes best as soon as you make the batter. Unfortunately, the adai doesn't come out well if the batter is stored in the refrigerator and used later. 

Serve it with coconut chutney.

I am sending this entry to Srivalli's "Breakfast Mela"  

Baked French Toast Casserole

When it comes to French Toast, I am ready to try any version that I come across. Am not sure if it is because it is sweet or if it is because it is one of those dishes that reminds me of my childhood cooking. Whatever it might be, I just love French Toast :-) .

When I came across this recipe in SmittenKitchen, I knew I am going to make this for our weekend breakfast.I made it for a Sunday breakfast and it was absolutely delicious.

Ingredients:

1. Bread  - 1 loaf (I used a loaf of challah but any fresh loaf of bread should work)

2. Milk - 3 cups
3. Eggs - 3
4. Sugar - 3 tablespoons
5. Salt - a pinch
6. Cinnamon - 2 teaspoons

Method:

1. Mix Milk, eggs, sugar and salt and keep it aside.

2. Slice the bread into thick slices.
3. Foil a baking dish or casserole. Butter the baking dish generously. Line the bread slices. You can tear apart a bread slice and fill any gaps.
4. I couldn't make a second layer because my baking dish was not so deep. If you decide to have layers in your toast, pour the milk egg mixture over the first layer. You can add any dry fruits or nuts and then proceed with arranging the second layer.
5. Pour the remaining milk egg mixture over the second layer. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top. Cover with a cling wrap and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight.
6. The bread will absorb all the goodness while you are sleeping.
7. Bake it at 425F for 30 minutes. The bread will puff up nicely.

Serve it with maple syrup or any topping of your choice.

I am sending this entry to Srivalli's "Breakfast Mela"  

Puttum Pazhamum

I know... I know.... The shape of the puttu presentation is unusual :-) That is the reason why puttu maker (the cylindrical one) is in the top of my shopping list when I go to India this time.

Regardless of whatever shape it is, I can just inhale it any time. My mom makes it very often just because I love it a lot. I can see her eyes twinkling with happiness when she sees me eating her puttu. When my mom was here with us last time, she made rice flour and I use that flour to make puttu. I came out perfect. I have tried using the store bought rice flour but never got that perfect taste. I usually make a little more puttu than actually needed and keep it in the refrigerator. It will come in handy to satisfy my sweet tooth after each meal :-) .

My mom used raw rice to make this flour. Soak raw rice in water for 2 hours. Drain all the water. Use a kitchen towel to dry the rice a little bit. It need not be very dry. Little moisture is needed. Grind the rice in a mixie till fine. Sieve it to get a very fine rice flour. Let it dry in the sun for 2 hours/ till it gets dry and store it in an air tight container. You can use this flour to make puttu, idiyappam, kozhukattai, etc..,

Ingredients:

1. Rice flour - 2 cups

2. Salt - a pinch

3. Luke warm water - as needed

4. Ghee - 2 tablespoons

5. Sugar - 8 teaspoons / per taste

6. Grated coconut - 3/4 cup

Method:

1. Mix rice flour with salt. Add water little by little and mix it till you get the flour with which you can make a firm ball yet breaks easily when you touch it.

2. Let it stand in your counter top for half an hour. 

3. Here come the secret step for my moms super soft puttu. Pulse the flour a couple of times in the mixie. Then sieve it till you get a fine rice flour. Lazy me skipped the pulsing part and that is why you an see few lumps in the picture :-)

4. Use a puttu make to layer the flour, coconut and sugar or steam cook it and then add coconut, sugar and ghee.

Serve hot with ripe bananas 

Aloo Parotta

May it be school tours or long travels, my mom always packs Aloo Parotta. Her version of aloo parotta is a little different from mine. She mixes everything in the dough and makes parottas whereas I do the stuffed version.  Today I am going to give the recipe for the stuffed version.

 

Ingredients:

For the dough :

1. Whole wheat flour - 2 cups

2. Salt - as needed

3. Luke Warm water - 1 cup approx

4. Oil - 2 teaspoons

For the stuffing:

1. Potatoes - 3 medium

2. Onions - 1 large (chopped)

3. Oil - 1 tablespoon

4. Ginger garlic paste - 2 teaspoons

5. Green chilly - 2 finely chopped

6. Cilantro - 2 tablespoons roughly chopped

Method:

1. Mix the flour salt and oil and mix it well, so that oil and flour mix properly without any lumps.

2. Add water little by little and knead it till you get a soft dough. Keep it aside.

3. For the stuffing, cook the potatoes till soft and mash it and keep it aside.

4. In a pan, heat some oil and add onions, green chillies and ginger garlic paste. Saute till the onions become soft.

5. Now add the mashed potato and cilantro. Remove it from heat and keep it aside.

6. Separate the dough we have prepared into 8 equal parts. Take one part of the dough, make a thick roti. Separate the stuffing into 8 equal parts and take one part of the stuffing and form it into lemon size ball. Place the stuffing in the middle of the thick roti. Bring the edges of the roti to seal. Now again roll the rotis with the seem side down to form thin parottas. Repeat the same with the other seven parts of dough and stuffing.

7. Heat a tawa, place one parotta at a time, let it cook. Flip it over and let it cook on the other side. Sprinkle some oil / ghee and cook both the sides till you see nice golden spots.

Serve it with your favourite Raitha.

I am sending this entry to Srivalli's "Breakfast Mela"  

Sabudhana Kichadi

I usually stop by my colleague's cubicle for a little chit chat after warming up my lunch in the kitchen. Conversations vary from how the weekend was, how the traffic was that morning, how the kids are doing and obviously how is work :-) . And definitely, we will have a conversation of what we have in our lunch boxes. That is when I came to know about this kichadi which I have never had before. She offered this kichadi once to me and I absolutely loved it. It was so puffy and light with a little crunch in between. Of course I wanted to make it for dinner that day. I did not get a chance to get the recipe from her. So I called another friend of mine on my way back from work and asked if she knows about this dish. She told me the recipe for this dish and that is when I discovered that it needs some prep work and I will not be able to make it for dinner the same day :-(. But I made it for next day's dinner and we both loved the taste.

My friend who gave the recipe also gave me her grandma's idea of adding split moong dhal to it and that tasted even better. But today I made it without the moong dhal. So please don't search for the moong dhal in the picture.

Soaking the sago is the whole trick in this dish. I did not pay proper attention to soaking the sago part once and ended up with a gooey thick ball that directly went into my trash can. So please be careful with soaking the sago with just enough water. That makes a lot of difference.

Ingredients:

1. Sago/Javarisi/Sabudhana - 1 cup

2. Roasted peanuts - 3/4 cup

3. Salt - as needed

4. Sugar - 1 tablespoon

5. Oil - 2 tablespoons

6. Cumin - 1 teaspoon

7. Curry leaves - few

8. Potato - 1 medium (cubed)

9. Turmeric powder - 2 teaspoons

10. Lemon - 1/2

11. Cilantro - to garnish

Method:

1. Wash and soak the sago at least for 8 hours or overnight. The amount of water should be just enough to immerse the sago.

2. Make the roasted peanuts into a coarse mixture just by pulsing it in the mixie/blender couple of times.

3. Mix the soaked sago with the ground peanuts, salt and sugar and keep it aside.

4. In a pan, heat the oil and let the cumin seeds splutter. Add curry leaves and potatoes, turmeric powder, salt and saute till the potatoes are cooked right.

5. Now add the sago mixture and mix it with the potato masala. reduce the flame to medium and let the sago cook completely. Stir in between. It should be cooked without lid and no water is needed since sago is already soaked.

6. Once the sago is cooked add the juice of half of a lemon and remove it from heat.

Garnish it with cilantro and enjoy!

Tip: Cooked moong dhal can be added in step 5 when u add the sago mixture. Moong dhal should not be cooked too much. It should be just right.

Vermicelli Briyani

This is a very easy dish to put together. Just cook the vermicelli and add the masala and you have a wonderful briyani to serve with Raitha.

Ingredients:


1. Vermicelli - 2 cups
2. Oil - 1 tablespoon
3. Ghee - 1 tablespoon
4. Cinnamon - 1 stick
5. cloves - 2
6. Cardamom - 2
7. Bay leaf - 1
8. Onion - 1 finely chopped
9. Tomatoes - 1 finely chopped
10. Carrot - 1/2 cup chopped
11. Peas - 1/2 cup chopped
12. Green chilli - 4 slitted
13. Cilantro - to garnish
14. Turmeric - 1/2 teaspoon
15. Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 teaspoon
16. Salt - to taste


Method:


1. Cook the vermicelli as per the package instruction and keep it aside in a colander to drain. Make sure you do not overcook it. I usually add a teaspoon of oil when it cooks so that it does not stick to each other.
2. Heat a pan, add oil + ghee and all the whole garam masala and saute it for a minute.
3. Add chopped onions, ginger garlic paste and chillies. Saute till the raw smell goes away.
4. Now add tomatoes, salt and turmeric powder and cook until the tomatoes get soft and mushy.
5. Add the vegetables and saute it for a few minutes.
6. Now reduce the flame and add the cooked vermicelli and mix it gently till all the masala mixes with the vermicelli.
7. Let it cook just for a couple of minutes. Remove it from heat.


Garnish with cilantro and serve it with onion raitha.

Savoury French Toast

It was the day of  Cricket World Cup Finals. The match was too good to miss even a single ball. But at the same time I wanted to prepare breakfast too. Weekends are when I make hot breakfast. During weekdays, breakfast will be usually cereals or some bagels. So did not want to compromise on the breakfast part over the weekend. So went into the kitchen to make something quick and healthy. I have seen a lot of recipes for this savoury french toast / bombay toast. So decided to give it a try.

I was watching the game and making these toasts. Now you know why I browned the toasts a little too much :-) But still, it tasted good.


Ingredients :


1. Bread - 4 slices (I used multigrain)
2. Eggs - 3
3. Salt - to taste
4. Turmeric - a pinch
5. Chilli powder - 1 teaspoon / per taste
6. Milk - 1 tablespoon
7. Chopped cilantro - 1 tablespoon
8. Oil - to toast the bread


Method:


1. Mix all the ingredients except for the bread slices and oil.
2. Cut each bread slice into 2 triangles.
3. Dip each triangle in the egg mixture and toast it in a hot tawa with a teaspoon of oil.
4. Flip it over once it is cooked and let it cook on the other side too.


Enjoy the toast with ketch up or some hot sauce.

Tomato Dosa

This is a very quick dosa recipe that requires very little prep work. Tomato dosa does not need to be fermented. The dosa gets the tangy and sour taste from the tomatoes.

This recipe comes in handy whenever I do not have dosa batter in the fridge but still crave for dosas with coconut chutney. Coconut chutney is the best combination for this dosa.

Ingredients:

1. Idli rice - 1 cup

2. Tomatoes - 2 medium
3. Grated coconut - 2 tablespoons
4. Red Chilli - 1 /per taste
5. Salt - to taste
6. Oil - to make dosas

Method:

1. Soak the idli rice for 2-3 hours.

2. First grind tomatoes, coconut and red chilli into a fine paste, then add the soaked rice and grind it fine by adding enough water.
3. The consistency of the batter should be like the regular dosa batter.
4. Add salt and make dosas.This dosa takes a little longer to cook than the normal dosa.
5. Flip the dosa to let it cook on the other side to get nice crispy dosas.


Serve it with coconut chtney or any chutney of your choice.

Instant Dosa

I wanted to make something very quick for dinner today before my little one comes back from the daycare.


I came across this recipe once in Padhus kitchen . She had mentioned that this instant dosa will just take 2 minutes. So I thought, I will give it a try and the dosas came out really goodl. Nice alternative to the normal wheat dosa.


This recipe will yield 15 dosas approximately.

Ingredients:


1. Wheat flour - 1 cup
2. Rice flour - 1 cup
3. Salt - as needed
4. Water - 4 1/2 cups


To temper:


1. Oil - 1 teaspoon
2. Cumin seeds- 1 teaspoon
3. Green chillies - 2 finely chopped
4. Hing - a generous pinch


Method:


1. Mix everything together mentioned in the ingredients section. make sure there are no lumps. The batter should be watery.
2. In a pan heat the oil and add cumin, green chillies and hing. Add this to the dosa batter.
3. Now make dosas. You will not be able to spread the batter in the dosa tawa like you would normally do. Take a spoon full of batter and make circle from the outer edge and the batter will naturally flow inside. If needed you can fill in using additional batter.
4. Spray little oil. This dosa takes a little longer to cook than the normal dosa. Flip it over once one side is cooked. Let the other side of the dosa cook.
5. Serve it hot with coconut chutney.

Kuzhi Paniyaram

Kuzhi Paniyaram is a very famous south indian breakfast. When I was a kid, I remember my grandma buying paniyarams from a lady who makes it every day in front of her house. That taste was unique. It was a little bit sweet as well as savory. But never figured out the right recipe. I guess it is some secret ingredient that brings out that taste :-)

I will give you my version of Kuzhi Paniyaram. I usually make paniyarams with idli batter when it starts getting sour.

Ingredients:

1. Idli batter -6 cups

2. Rice flour - 1 fistfull
3. Onion- 1 medium chopped
4. Channa dhal- 2 table spoons
5. Curry leaves - few
6. Mustard seeds- 1/2 teaspoon

Method:

1. Soak the channa dhal in water for atleast 2-3 hours. Keep it aside.

2. Add the rice flour to the idli dough. This will make the paniyarams crisp.
3. In a pan heat some oil, add mustard sedds and let it splutter.
4. Add finely chopped onions and curry leaves and sauted till the onion turns pink.
5. Now, transfer this into the batter and add the soaked channa dhal and mix well.
6. Make paniyarams using a paniyara chatti.

Serve it warm with any chutney of your choice. We prefer to have kuzhi paniyarams with peanut chutney.