Vellai Karamani Bonda / Black eyed beans Bonda

Black eyed bean or black eyed pea is one of the legume varieties that i usually make sundal with. Its just soaking it in water for up to 8 hours and then cooking it till it is soft and consuming it. Obviously the next big thing is that i need to put in a lot of effort to make my kids eat it !!! (of course, showing their zero interest during the process....)

During the process of thinking how to make my kids eat these kind of stuffs in such a way they like it, VOILA.....my friend Manju introduced me to this recipe. The recipe for sure, interested me to the core to try it out immediately as an evening snack for my kids.

Due to my recently developed disease of 'learn-the-nutrition-before-cooking-or-eating', i had to make lot of research if this one is a really healthy snack since its ground. But yeah, it is really healthy and good for kidsto do this once in a while.

To learn more about black eyed beans: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/5-powerful-health-benefits-of-black-eyed-peas.html

Preparation time :3-4 hours
Cooking time : 30 mins
Serves: 6

Ingredients:

Black eyed beans / Vellai karamani payaru - 2 cups
Urad dal - 1 tbsp
Rice flour - 1 tbsp
Green chilly - As per taste
Ginger - a small inch sized
Curry leaves - few
Corriander leaves - few
Salt - as per taste
Oil - for deep frying


Preparation steps:

1. Soak black eyed beans for 3-4 hrs along with urad dal in hot water.
2. After 4 hrs when the beans is nicely soaked, grind it with rice flour, green chillies, ginger piece and salt.
3. Mix this with finely chopped onion,curry leaves and corriander leaves.

Tip: Do not add water while grinding. If required sprinkle very less and grind it to a nice paste

Cooking steps:

1. Heat oil in a kadai and wait till the oil is heat enough to drop the batter.
2. Take small amount of the batter and drop it in the oil very carefully.
3. Wait till the bonda turns golden brown.

4. Serve hot

Enjoy a healthy evening snack :)

Veg Spaghetti Masala

My dear husband used to tell me to try making a dish with spaghetti, but somehow i was not sure how it might turn out and how my family might accept it. Finally i decided to try it and see how it tastes. Its almost the same recipe as i do for noodles, with some slight variations here and there. 

The final outcome was too good and my kids liked the dish. Now i have got the courage to try out other pastas also.

References:

Tarla Dalal mam's notes.

Items required:

Spaghetti - Required amount.

Onion - 1, chopped

Tomato - 2

Capsicum - 1 cup (chopped)

Mustard powder - 1 tsp

Grated mozarilla cheese - for garnish.

For Grinding:

Garlic - 3 pods

Ginger - a small piece

Red chilly - According to taste

Pre-requisites before starting to cook:

1. Boil water and once the water starts to boil, switch off the flame and put the spaghetti into it. Let it cook for few mins. Once the spaghetti becomes tender, remove from stove, drain the water and keep it aside.

                                      

                                      

2. Grind all the items given for grinding and keep it aside.

                                     

3. Boil water in a bowl. Once the water starts to boil, switch off the flame and put 2 tomatoes in it. Remove after 5 mins, peel the skin off and keep it aside.

                                    

Method:

1. Heat oil in a kadai and saute the onion once the oil is heated nicely.

2. Add the grind paste of ginger, garlic and red chilly to the saute onion once the onion becomes golden browm in colour. 

3. Add the capsicum (bell pepper) pieces now and saute all of them well for few mins. Sprinkle the required amount of salt and 1 tsp of mustard powder to it.

4. Add the peeled and smashed tomatoes to it now. Mix them thoroughly. Now add the cooked spaghetti and mix them well.

5. Remove from flame and transfer it to a serving bowl. Grate some mozzarella cheese and spread them on top of the cooked masala spaghetti.

Serve hot :)

Try this and let me know your comments. 

Usili Kozhukattai / Ammani Kozhukattai / Steamed rice balls in dal masala

This is one of my very favorite snack item which my mom prepares. I haven't heard or tasted this anywhere else. This is healthy too as there is no need for oil except for seasoning and the entire item is steamed. Though the process is little lengthy, the finished product is too good and different from the usual deep fried snacks varieties.Here goes the recipe:

Items required:

For Rice balls:

Rice flour - 2 cups
Salt
Water

For masala dal:

Channa dal - 1 cup
Red chilly - 4
Hing - a pinch
Salt
Water

For seasoning:

Oil - 1 teaspoon
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves - a bunch

Method:

1. Mix rice flour, required salt and water to make it like dosa batter and keep it aside.

2. Soak channa dal in water for an hour. Then grind the soaked channa dal, red chilly, hing, salt with little amount of water. Do not add too much water. The paste should be in such a consistency that we can make balls from it.

3. Add a teaspoon of oil and half a tumbler of water in a kadai and keep it in gas flame. Once the water is heated, add the rice flour batter slowly to the kadai and keep on mixing it slowly in low flame. The batter should become a soft dough.

4. Now make small balls from the rice flour dough and place them in idly steamer.

5. Make balls of the ground dal paste and keep it in the idly steamer as well.

6. After 7 mins remove the balls from the steamer and keep it open to get cool. Put the steamed dal balls in a mixer jar and make it into smooth powder.

7. Heat oil in a kadai and add mustard seeds. Once they start to splutter, add the curry leaves to it. Now add the steamed rice balls to it. Saute them slowly and now add the ground dal to it and mix them nicely so that the dal gets mixed with the rice balls.

8. Remove it from flame and serve hot.

Try this let me know your valuable comments :)

Bajji (Onion/Potato/Paneer)

Bajji is one of the most favourite snack item in Tamilnadu.  With the bajji batter in hand, different varieties of bajji can be made. A cup of tea and a plate of Bajji makes a perfect combo for evening.

Items Required:

For the batter:

Gram flour - 2 cups
Rice flour - 2 tablespoons
Salt
Chilly powder
Hing / perungayam
Oil - for deep frying

For the stuffing:

Onion, Potato, Raw banana or plantain, paneer - skin peeled, cleaned and cut into thin and long pieces.

Method:

Mix all the items given for the batter into a 'not so thick and not so watery' consistency. Keep it aside.

Heat oil in a kadai. Once the oil is ready for deep frying, take a piece of onion, dip it in the batter and slowly leave it in the oil. Same way dip the other stuffings in the batter as well to make different types of bajjis.

Once the bajji is cooked, keep them in a tissue paper or news paper for few mins for the extra oil to be absorbed.

When the Bajji is ready, transfer them to a serving plate. Serve hot with Coconut chutney.

Try this mouth watering snack and provide your comments :)

Vegetable Rice

I learnt this from one of my friend. This recipe is a lighter version of Vegetable Biryani which can very well be packed for kids lunch. My kids like this since its not much spicier and has a very good aroma. When we have all the vegetables cut, then its one of the very easy and quick recipes to be prepared on a busy morning.

Items Required:

Vegetables - Carrot, Potato,Green peas,beans,cauliflower, onion and tomato. Cut into equal sized small squares.
Basmati rice - 1 tumbler. Cleaned and soaked in 1.5 tumblers of water for a minimum of 30 mins.
Green chilly - as per taste.
Garam Masala - 1 tablespoon
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tablespoon
Bay leaves, cloves and cardamom - small amounts.
Salt - as required.
Oil and Ghee - as required.

Pre-requisites before starting to cook:

1. Clean and soak the basmati rice a minimum of 30 mins.
2. Cut all the vegetables and wash it in clean water.

Method:

Heat the pressure pan. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and 2 tablespoons of ghee. Add the bay leaves, cloves and cardamom pieces. Once they are cooked, add the chopped onion and green chilly and fry them in oil till the onion becomes golden brown.Add the ginger garlic paste and cook it with onion till the raw smell is gone.

Now add the vegetables mix and saute them well for 2 mins. Add the tomato now and mix them well. Add a pinch of turmeric powder and garam masala to it and mix them with the vegetables.

Now add the soaked rice to the vege mix and add required amount of salt to it. Mix them gently making sure the rice doesnt break.

Let the rice starts to boil for few mins. Now close the lid and allow it for 4 whistles. Once the steam is completely gone, open the lid for the beautiful aroma :)

Mix the rice gently and transfer the contents to a hot pack. Serve it with Onion Raitha.

Try it and provide your comments :)

Vegetable Dosai

I always have carrots in stock as i use carrots in all possible forms in many dishes. When i plan to make onion dosa, i generally use carrot along with it to make it more healthier and tastier. When served with any good combination chutney/sambar, this dosa is too yummy to be left without it.

Kids like it too due to its catchy colour.

Items required:

For the spread:

Onion - cut in to small pieces.
Carrot - skin peeled and grated.
Chilly - if required, cut into thin and small pieces
Corriander leaves - cut into thin pieces
mustard seeds and urad dhal - for seasoning.

Method:

Heat 1 teaspoon of oil and add the mustard seeds to it. Once they start to splutter, add the urad dhal and remove them from flame once the urad dhal becomes golden brown  in colour. Add this to the onion-carrot mix. Add the thinly cut corriander leaves also. Sprinkle very little amount of salt and mix them gently. Keep this aside.

Heat the dosa tava and spread little oil in it. Once the tava is hot, sprinkle water to make the surface clear. Lower the flame and take little amount of dosa batter and spread it evenly and thick on the tava. Take the onion-carrot mix and spread it evenly on top of the dosa. 

Sprinkle little oil/ghee around the dosa and on top. With the spatula, press the vege topping slightly so that it gets pressed in the dosa nicely. Let it cook. 

Slowly turn the dosa upside down and cook it in low flame. Remove the dosa from the tava after few secs.

Vegetable dosa is ready. It goes very well with coconut chutney.