Cow Peas Kootu/Thatta Payaru Kootu

Cowpeas, this nutritious protein rich legumes is well known among the South Indians. We make quite often puli kuzhambu with cow peas and the most favourite evening snacks 'sundal' with this incredible beans. For a change, i picked this kootu from one of my mom's cookbook which is called Kootu,Kuzhambu Vagaikal which she own from a long. Fortunately she carried from India during her last trip from her cookbook collection. While i was talking with her i asked her for a recipe to finish out some leftover cow peas, immediately she said she have a cookbook with her and passed me before few days.

I crossed pulikuzhambu with cow peas in that cookbook again but this kootu with cow peas tempted me a lot.I prepared this delicious kootu with this nutritious beans for our lunch and served this dish with fried papads.This kootu is definitely a different dish from the usual kuzhambu and sundal we make this incredible beans. Since i picked this kootu from a cookbook,this post goes  for the CC Challenge of the month.

Muparuppu Vadai/Three Dals Fritters/Three Lentils Fries

Muparuppu vadai is a evening tea time snack fritters you can munch them with your cup of tea.Muparuppu means three dals, moondru means three and paruppu means dal.This vafais can be a younger sister of masala vada which goes just for channadal,while this vada goes for toordal, channadal and urad dal.Actually this vadai is quite often prepared in Village tea stalls, i tasted this vadai for the first time at my grandma's village and its one among my favourite vadas since ever i tasted it.

If i want to make a different vadai from the usual ones, i'll definitely make this muparuppu vadai which goes for a simple preparation apart from the soaking time. Some may add onions while some wont add them, but my grandma's version is different,she also add some fennel seeds with onions to enhance the flavour to these fried beauties. If you want to make a quick vadai,just skip the onions, fennel seeds and go with other ingredients as per the recipe goes.Every 2nd and 4th tuesdays of the month, we a group of friends shares authentic dishes from Tamilnadu and the name of the event is Tamizhar Samayal Tuesday, please do check the announcement if you want to be a part of it.

Paneer Cutlet

Paneer, this famous Indian cheese is our family favourite, i never forget to pick the store bought ones from Indian store or else i'll make myself at home. I stuffed them in parathas,fried them as pakodas,made many varieties of sabzis and many varieties of rice dishes with this incredible cheese. But trust me i never tried cutlets aka tikkis out of this Paneer. Happily i made some cutlets out of this famous cheese aka  paneer after watching a TV show, i dont remember the name of the show but i still remember this recipe.

This cutlets was in my draft since a long actually more than 5 months and finally am posting for today as i want to clean my draft posts.However this cutlets goes for usual potato and usual spices but the addition of crumbled paneer makes the difference in the texture and the taste. My kids enjoyed thoroughly this paneer cutlets with their favourite tomato ketchup.This post goes  for the CC Challenge of the month.

Urulai Podithuval/Potato Stirfry

Urulai podithuval, this dish is from a TV cookery show called Anjerrai Petty under the segment called Parambariya Samayal, the host of this segment is a Brahmin woman who cooks traditional dishes both South and North India. When she cooked this podithuval for the show,after watching it i tried them the day itself for our lunch, this stir fry goes for a flavourful grounded coarse mixture of coconut,curry leaves and green chillies,This masala mixture gives a wonderful flavour to this podithuval.

A prefect side dish for both sambhar,kuzhambu and rasam rice, i simply served this easy breezy potato podithuval along with vatha kuzhambu. Trust me this combo is just out of the world and we enjoyed it thoroughly.This post goes  for the CC Challenge of the month.Sending to my own event Healthy Diet-Vegetarian Side dish guest hosted by Nandoos..

Vendaikkai Sambhar/Bhindi Sambhar/Okra Sambhar

Sambhar is a dal based gravy which is prepared quite often at South Indian's home.Sambhar or sambar can be prepare very well just with dals, or with veggies or sometimes with greens. One of my most favourite sambhar is always with okras, after drumsticks these sticky veggies gives a wonderful flavour to this dal based gravy. This simple sambhar doesnt need any specific preparation,with simple ingredients you can make this sambhar very much quickly apart from cooking the dals.

Usually i cook my dals with my small pressure cooker which makes my life easier, i cant survive without my pressure cookers, do you want to know how many pressure cookers i have??..I have 5 pressure cookers, yep i cook every day with them and they have their important role in my kitchen.Every 2nd and 4th tuesdays of the month, we a group of friends shares authentic dishes from Tamilnadu and the name of the event is Tamizhar Samayal Tuesday, please do check the announcement if you want to be a part of it.Since sambhar belongs to Tamil Nadu cuisine, am posting this dish today.

Vellari Kuzhambu/Cucumber Curry

I recently saw a TV cooking show called Anjarai petty in a Tamil channel and got hooked to this easy breezy dish. The housewife who prepared this vellari aka cucumber kuzhambu with simple ingredients told that she learned this dish from her husband,how wonderful na. Call this dish as kuzhambu, mor kuzhambu or else as mor curry however this curry goes for curd, coconut,green chillies,cumin seeds and cubed cucumber. If you feel lazy or dont want to spend more time in kitchen,you can make this kuzhambu which gets ready in a jiffy. This kuzhambu will be bit thin but trust me the taste was simply awesome.

Make this curry and serve with rice along with lemon pickle, am sure you will definitely have a filling lunch. Actually we make dal based kootu with cucumber but this curry is defnitely a different dish. If you want,you can replace the cucumber with bottlegourd or pumpkin and go for the same cooking process.This post goes  for the CC Challenge of the month.

Egg Vegetable Rice

A quick,simple and prefect lunch box dish is this egg vegetable rice. If you have leftover cooked rice already this colourful egg rice will gets ready in a jiffy. This rice suits prefectly for any ages as they are spiced mildly just with pepper powder. If you want this egg rice to be more spicy and flavourful, some garam masala will make the magic. My mom makes this rice quite often for my sister's lunch box when she was doing her engineering and everytime i'll wait for my share to enjoy for my lunch, coz i dont carry lunchbox to my college.

This easy egg vegetable rice is my daughter's favourite and i'll do atleast twice a month whenever i feel lazy to cook or else my daughter asks for. If you want to make this more interesting,you can also add some cooked,shreded chicken or else simply add some cooked soya nuggets.

Instant Sprouted Fenugreek Pickle

Sprouting fenugreek seeds at home is not a difficult task, a bottle and soaked fenugreek seeds place in a dark place makes wonderful sprouts.Wat you need is more patience but not anything special for making these wonderful sprouts. After making many interesting dishes out of these sprouts,finally i finished them making this interesting instant version of pickle. Actually this pickle goes for an interesting preparation,both tamarind and jaggery are used in this pickle which sounds quite new for me. I picked this pickle for my cook book name pickles i bought during my last trip to India.

Coming to this instant pickle, they will get ready in very less time and they can be eaten immediately once you finished making this pickle,however i loved mine after a day. This mildly tangy,mildly sweet,mildly bitter pickle goes awesome as side dish with a bowl of hot steaming sambhar rice. Seriously i enjoyed thoroughly this instant pickle with methi theplas,yes this combo works wonder.This post goes  for the CC Challenge of the month.Sending to my own event Healthy Diet-Vegetarian Side dish guest hosted by Nandoos..

Palakottai Podimas/Jackfruit Seeds Curry

Palakottai/Palaakottai or Jackfruit seeds podimas is an easy breezy curry we make often at home coz this dish curry or side dish take just few minutes to get ready if you have cooked jackfruit seeds at home. With usual spices, this podimas makes an excellent side dish to enjoy with a bowl of sambhar rice or hot piping rasam rice.Jackfruit seeds are used usually to make many dishes,they are added in  many gravies or else fried and served as side dish.

Coming to this Podimas, this dish is quickly prepared with cooked and mashed jackfruit seeds. Peeling jackfruit seed's skin may be time consuming, but drying them for a day helps very much to remove the skin easily. Some may use pestle and smash the seeds lightly to remove the skin with minimum effort.My mom often makes this podimas whenever we jackfruit sees abundantly. This dish goes to Tamizhar Samayal Tuesday, an event happening twice a month.Sending to my own event Healthy Diet-Vegetarian Side dish guest hosted by Nandoos..

பலாகொட்டை பொடிமாஸ் 

Nethili Milagu Kuzhambu/Peppered Anchovy Fish Gravy/Anchovy Fish Curry

Been born and brought up in Pondicherry, a beautiful seashore city i have been pampered by fresh seafoods. Obviously i miss those super fresh seafoods here. My mom makes seafoods twice a week either as gravies or as fries. My most favourite fish is always the small tiny anchovies, with which we make pakoras. If you visit Pondicherry,you should taste these fish pakoras or prawn pakoras we call them as kavapu, these sea food fritters are my grandma's signature dish.

Eventhough Anchovies are available in frozen food section, i'll never fail to get them from. This time i had a chance to get some large sizec anchovies, back home i prepared a Pondicherry style milagu kuzhambu aka peppered anchovy gravy. Love this gravy simply with hot steaming rice and papads, while typing itself my mouth is watering here.This dish is one of my mom's signature dish, which i cooked from my handwritten cookbook. If you want to make a different fish curry,give a try to this gravy.This gravy tastes fabulous after a day, so you can keep some aside to have them the next day with some idlies or dosas for breakfast.This post goes  for the CC Challenge of the month.

Masaledaar Tofu Bhurji

Tofu, the wonderful soya cheese is a versatile ingredient, which can be used as a replacer for eggs in bakes, in eggless desserts and also you can cook varieties of Indian style dishes. One among my favourite tofu based dish is tofu parathas, the addition of tofu makes parathas very soft and its our family favourite. Later after making a variety of foods with tofu, i prepared this nutritious,protein rich spicy masaledaar tofu bhurji with this incredible soya cheese.

Actually this dish makes an excellent side dish for rotis, also you can stuff your parathas with this incredible masala tofu bhurji. I crossed this dish from Sanjeev Kapoor's space, immediately i tried my hands with extra firm tofu sitting in my fridge.

Rajma & Flaxmeal Stuffed Paratha

Stuffed parathas are always my kid's favourite, my kids can have daily their parathas if they are stuffed with paneer or else with potato, as much as like their mom.Yes i love parathas very much, after soups and salads i'll make quite often parathas for our dinner.Coming to today's parathas, they are seriously very healthy,nutritious,fibre rich and omega rich, coz of rajma and flaxmeal i went for stuffing in this parathas. Addition of flaxmeal makes this parathas more interesting, none will notice the addition of this incredible small seeds until you reveal it.

Stuffed parathas suits prefectly to carry in lunch box, also this parathas doesnt need any side dish to have coz  the filling is enough to enjoy this nutritious parathas.If you are in hurry, you can make your stuffing even a day before and make your parathas the next day easily. Mix and match the stuffing as your desire. Coming to this healthy parathas, they goes directly to this week's blogging marathon as i chosed to cook under Mess free tiffin box.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#34. Sending to my own event Cooking with seeds-Wheat guest hosted by Priya.

Chocolate Stuffed Ragi Crescent Rolls

How about adding whole grains in our kid's diet, make some finger foods stuffed with chocolate, am sure any kid can have it without any fuss. Chocolate attracts anyone and obviously i'll try to add them in most my dishes for the sake of feeding my kids with wholegrains. However till today, the addition of chocolates never disappointed me. These crescents rolls are approved as kid's friendly snacks by my kids. Yes my kids enjoyed thoroughly this ragi crescent rolls for their snacks. Pack these cute healthy ragi crescent rolls in your kid's snack box, am sure you will be surprised to see their empty snack box.

This week's theme for blogging marathon is Mess free tiffin box, obviously this nutritious crescent rolls suits prefectly for your snack box.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#34.

Vegetable Quesadillas

Quesadillas are prepared with corn tortillas or with flour tortillas with a savoury filling with cheese or else with vegetable then folded in half to form a half moon shape. This is actually originated in Mexico and the name is derived from Spanish word. Quesadillas suits prefectly for your kid's lunch box, since these quesadillas have cheese in it, kids will go crazy if you make this fantastic tortilla sandwich.Stuff it with vegetables or with beans and vegetable filling, am sure anyone will love to carry in their lunch box.

Quesadillas can be eaten as a finger food,obviously its completely a mess free food to enjoy without any hesitation, since i chosed an interesting theme for this week's blogging marathon i dished out three different mess free tiffin box dishes. Yes the theme of this week's blogging marathon is Mess free tiffin box. Quesadillas makes a healthy and filling lunch box,obviously these vegetable stuffed quesadillas suits prefectly for theme.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#34.

Muttai Kose Mor Sambhar/Cabbage Curd Sambhar

The name of this sambhar itself is very interesting, definitely you will be curious to know more about this dish na?, yes i had the same feeling when i saw this sambhar in one of the Tamil magazine 'Sneghiti' supplement named 30 varieties of sambhar. Immediately i cooked this sambhar from that supplement book and trust me sour curd added in this sambhar gives a wonderful tanginess to the cabbage sambhar. Actually curd replace both the tamarind juice or lemon addition usually we go for making sambhar. Wat a wonderful way to finish the sour curds na, make this sambhar for a change with sour curd instead of making instant dosas or else avoid trashing the sour curds if you dont like or dont know how to make dishes out of them.

I served this delicious,mildly tangy sambhar for our lunch with a simple potato roast, you can enjoy this sambhar thoroughly with rotis or breakfast dishes like idlies or dosas. If you have cooked toordal in your fridge, this sambhar gets ready in a jiffy. This post goes  for the CC Challenge of the month.

Cut Eggplant Bajji/Sliced Eggplant Fritters

Evening snacks are the best moment of the day for my kids, they love to devour a packet of chocolate biscuits to a plate of hot bajjis. Anything is welcome if its comes to snacks, dunno why they love their snack time this much. After some cheesy croquettes, here is an another favourite bajji tasted and approved by my lil one. He just hate eggplants but he love eggplants in bajjis, dunno what was in his mind. He can have a plate of hot eggplant bajjis without any fuss.

Obviously,if i want to feed him with eggplants, either i'll go for pan roasting or deep frying. This cut eggplant bajji is one of his favourite,since i chosed this week's theme as evening snacks am posting this addictive crispy bajjis which suits prefect for theme.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#34.

Mochai Murungakkai Kuzhambu /Field Beans & Drumsticks in Tamarind Gravy

Mochai aka Val beans or Field beans are well known beans among the South Indians. We make excellent gravy with them. This delicious mochai murungakkai kaara kuzhambu goes awesome as a gravy when served with rice and papads. Drumsticks gives a wonderful flavour to this kuzhambu, since i love adding potatoes in kaara kuzhambu i have added few cubed potatoes. You can skip it,but i love potatoes in tangy tamarind gravy. This mochai kuzhambu is an authentic dish of Tamilnadu,needless to say that this dish is often made at many households. This gravy can stay prefect for many days and tastes fantastic after a day.

If my mom makes this gravy, she will keep and serve this gravy atleast for three days and we love to have this fingerlicking kuzhambu from breakfast to lunch. Yes a day old gravy tastes simply awesome to enjoy thoroughly with hot steaming idlies or with crispy dosas. Personally this gravy is one among my favourite.Every 2nd and 4th tuesdays of the month, we a group of friends shares authentic dishes from Tamilnadu and the name of the event is Tamizhar Samayal Tuesday, please do check the announcement if you want to be a part of it.

மொச்சை  முருங்கக்காய்  காரக்குழம்பு 

Mozzarella Potato Croquettes

Croquettes are finger foods usually shaped as cylinder, disk or oval shaped patties and they are deep fried Actually croquette is a french word and croquer means to crunch. Usually croquettes are made with mashed potatoes,ground meats,vegetables and cheese mixed with a white sauce and then breadcrumbs for coating.You can deep fry or shallow fry croquettes,it will depends upon you.I stuffed my usual potato croquettes with a piece of mozzarella, the melted cheese in this croquettes will definitely attracts kids and they can finish a plate in no time.

Croquettes makes a wonderful tea time snacks and a prefect snack dish for school going kids. The addition of cheese makes this deep fried beauties as calcium rich snacks, so a kid going kid can enjoy this croquettes with any spread.Today dish is my second entry for this week's blogging marathon and the theme of this week is Evening snacks.Some people add eggs in croquettes but mine is completely eggfree.

Cabbage Pakoda

Evening snacks are always my kid's favourite especially for my younger one, coz he loves to have some deep fried foods for his snacks. Since i dont like deep frying often,i'll go for bakes.But sometimes i'll change my mind and make some deep fried foods just to see the smile on his face. If its deep fried, he can have anything obviously i'll like to add veggies in most of the deep fried foods i'll serve my kids for snacks. One among these deep fried and vegetable loaded snacks is this cabbage pakoda.

This pakodas goes for a simple preparation with simple ingredients,usually i'll add onions in of my pakodas which i completely skipped here. I just went for finely chopped cabbage pieces and these pakodas with a cup of tea is just awesome. Crispy pakodas will definitely goes for a quick preparation and am sure you can enjoy thoroughly these crispy beauties. For the second week of blogging marathon,i chosed evening snacks as theme, these cabbage pakodas are going to be a part of this theme.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#34.

Instant Amla Pickle|Instant Gooseberry Pickle|நெல்லிக்காய் ஊறுகாய்

This pickle is sitting in my draft for a while, finally am posting it today. Pickle have their important place in our Indian menu,if you are serving a vegetarian feast to your guests your serving platter should have definitely a pickle in it. Every Indian household will have atleast a bottle of pickle definitely in their pantry either homemade or store bought. Pickle can come in secure when you dont have any side dish to have with rice or rotis. For me, a simple lemon pickle is enough enjoy with my bowl of curd rice or rotis.

Coming to this gooseberry pickle, i pickled them during summer with some super fresh gooseberries i picked from Indian grocery. Since i dont have patience to make the traditonal gooseberry pickle i went for an instant version which i picked from pickles, a cookbook i bought during my last trip in India. This instant version takes hardly few minutes to get ready and this pickle stays for a month in room temperature if they are conserved properly. But we finished this pickle within a week,a prefect side dish for curd rice.This post goes  for the CC Challenge of the month.

Corn Badam Kheer

Corn is consider as both vegetable and grain, corn when eaten before they get mature is vegetable, once try they become a seed. Corn is highly rich in vitamin A, its a gluten free grain and its one of my main ingredient in many gluten free foods. When i chosed this week's of blogging marathon theme as desserts with vegetables, i know i'll be making a dessert with sweet corns. Earlier i was planning to make halwa with them and finally i went for this super delicious kheer, i used chironji seeds and blanched almonds to give more nuttiess to this excellent dessert.

This corn kheer can be enjoyed both chilled or warm, an excellent dessert to serve your sudden guests or to make as a special sweet for festival days. However i prepared this corn kheer few days back since i had some sudden guest at home. They simply enjoyed this kheer when they were warm and they loved it. If you want to make a different kheer just prepare this delicious kheer with sweet corn kernels.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#34.

Saffron Cabbage Halwa

How you ever prepared halwa with cabbage, but i did. Yes for the week's blogging marathon i chosed an incredible theme called desserts with veggies. After carrot kulfi, i landed towards one of the pungent smell vegetable Cabbage. Since i dont want to make halwa with carrots for this theme, i tried my hands in preparing this saffron cabbage halwa with full fat milk and ghee, trust me this halwa is just out of the world. I couldnt stop myself with a spoon and i finished half of the bowl i prepared and left the remaining to my betterhalf. If you want to make a different halwa, just give a try to this delicious cabbage halwa.

This halwa is prepared fully with ghee and whole milk, obviously its a rich halwa but personally i think to mask the odor of cabbage both ghee and whole milk plays an important role here. Dont feel guilty for adding ghee and whole milk. Also once a while its nothing harm to enjoy fatty sweets na..Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#34.

Carrot & Pistachio Kulfi

Am starting today my first week of blogging marathon with an interesting theme, the theme of this week is desserts with veggies. We rarely make desserts with veggies but mostly we make desserts with fruits, obviously i dont want to go for the usual desserts with veggies especially with carrot as halwa or kheer. Seriously i started breaking my head to chose three different veggies and to make three different desserts with them. Thank God,my small brain worked fabulous and i prepared three different desserts out of three different vegetables.

For the first day,i chosed carrot;pre,ared this Indian kulfi with both finally grated carrot and crushed pistachios. Kulfi is a famous Indian chilled milk based desserts which is often prepared at home eventhough its a popular street food. My lil one who loves carrots, just enjoyed thoroughly this kulfi eventhough the weather is rainy here, trust me you have to give a try to this fantastic carrot kulfi coz this chilled desserts tastes absolutely fabulous..Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#34.

Broken Wheat Upma

Breakfast are very important and they are must to start our day, but somehow i dont eat as like we do in India. My breakfast often goes for a bowl of cereals with a fruit, thats really enough for me to start my day. Obviously i do our Indian style breakfast dishes like dosas,idlies,upmas and pongals for our dinner. I'll do alternative them as per my kid's mood. Sometimes they will love to have just a bowl of soup with some bread and meats.

However my kids enjoy their Indian dinner, eventhough most of the time i'll insist them to take this kind of healthy upma. Coming to this healthy upma with moongdal and coconut, this dish is completely different from our usual upmas coz of the addition of moongdal and grated coconut.Coconut will change the flavour of this simple upma,while moongdal will add some protein to this dish. A super easy breakfast or dinner to enjoy with a spicy coconut chutney.This upma is from one of my mom's cookbook which she treasure from a long.
This post goes  for the CC Challenge of the month.Sending to my own event Cooking with seeds-Wheat guest hosted by Priya.

Chettinad Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu

Chettinad cuisine is very famous for their spicy cooking and the spices used in their daily cooking. Any dish cooked with spices makes the dish very flavourful and delicious.I love chettinad cuisine very much.I always want to make their paruppu urundai kuzhambu aka toordal dumplings cooked in spiced tamarind gravy. Recently i prepared this kuzhambu for our lunch since i had a couple of friends came home for lunch. I prepared few vegetarian dishes for them and served rice with this flavourful paruppu urundai kuzhambu along with papads and brinjal fry.

I crossed this kuzhambu in a TV show, where the anchor of the show goes directly to local people's place and the food will be cooked in front of them by the home maker. This kuzhambu was shared by an aachi of Chettinad cuisine and immediately i tried at home. The special masala paste used in this gravy makes the difference and this kuzhambu served with rice makes a fantastic pair. We enjoyed thoroughly this Chettinad style of urundai kuzhambu especially i got a bunch of appreciation from my guests of the day.Usually i'll for steam cooking the dal balls before adding them in gravy, but this time i tried cooking dal balls directly in the gravy. Dal balls absorbs the spiciness and aroma of the gravy while cooking and they tastes just simply out of the world.Try this gravy, am sure you will definitely do them often.This post goes also for the CC Challenge of the month. Sending to my event CWS-Toordal guest hosted by Madhavi of Madhu's Indian Recipes.

Maida Cake

An another Diwali sweet which gets ready in less time is maida cake, actually i dont like this maida cake when i was kid, coz of my mom makes these cake often for Diwali. Later she stopped making this cake and changed her Diwali savouries and sweets. Finally this maida cake disappeared from her Diwali menu.Last week, i was craving for some maida cake suddenly and prepared this quick sweet. This Indian sweet go for simple ingredients like all purpose flour or maida, sugar,ghee. If you want to make them with flavours like chocolate,pista or almond,just add few teaspoons of chocolate powder or crushed nuts.

With less than 15minutes this sweet will get ready, if you are still searching for an easy breezy sweet, make these maida cake to share and enjoy with your nears and dears for the Festivals of Lights.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#33.This beauties are going Diwali Delicacies Event, hosted by me and Sangee Vijay of spicy treats and to Gayathri's Diwali Special.

Alu Bhujia/Aloo Bhujia/Potato Sev

Aloo bhujia or alu bhujia are one of my favourite snacks i can munch anytime of the day.Most of us would have already tasted atleast once a while the famous Haldiram's aloo bhujias. These potato sev are seriously very easy to make with simple ingredients. These crunchy snack are almost like our omapodi but made with cooked and mashed potatoes, besan flour and with a simple spice powder.Bhujias have a distinct taste and texture since potatoes are used in this sev.

As i told earlier, this week's theme of blogging marathon is festive dishes with stepwise pictures. After a quick and easy breezy halwa, today's post is this crunchy munchy sev with potatoes. If you want something tasty and a different sev, give a try to make these addictive aloo bhujias.

Custard Powder Halwa

Diwali is nearing very fast, its time for many of us to plan the Diwali special sweets or savouries. Even am planning to make a variety of sweets and savouries since this time Diwali is falling on saturday, kids will be at home eventhough H will be working. However once again this time my H will miss the celebration and poojas. If you dont have any idea about any sweets, am sure this custard powder halwa will definitely helps you for last minute preparation. Just a simple custard powder,sugar, ghee with few nuts,your halwa is ready to serve and enjoy with your family.

From today onwards am running an another week of blogging marathon and the theme of this week is festive dishes with stepwise pictures. Obviously i chosed Diwali sweets and savouries, next two days are going to be two different dishes with stepwise pictures. Stepwise pictures helps a lot to learn easily and quickly any dish. Coming to this halwa, this sweet tastes fabulous and takes hardly less than half an hour to get ready, an easy breezy sweet to make when you have sudden guests at home.This halwa tastes as much as like corn flour halwa, seriously we loved it.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#33.Sending to Gayathri's Diwali Special and sending these beauties are going Diwali Delicacies Event, hosted by me and Sangee Vijay of spicy treats.

Kandathippili Kuzhambu

South Indian especially Tamilians can survive for many days with a simple tamarind gravy and rice, thats why every Tamilian household makes different types of gravies with tamarind as the main ingredient. Today's post is also one among those kuzhambu aka tamarind based gravies, this dish is prepared with a very rarely used herbal sticks in our cooking along with other usual spices. Kandathippili, an incredible herbal sticks are available in Tamil herbals stores and this fingerlicking herbal gravy is prepared with them.

These sticks are from India, am sure you cant find them in our Indian stores if you are not living in India. This kuzhambu have many medicinal value and this dish is completely spiced with black peppercorns,cuminseeds,dry red chillies and coriander seeds. My mom call this kuzhambu as pathiya kuzhambu which suits prefectly when you suffering with fever and this gravy will definitely tickle your tastebuds. This kuzhambu stay for a long and they tastes incredible after a day, if you dont like this kuzhambu,you can still make this rasam which acts a medicine if you are suffering from cold or with body aches.This dish goes directly to Tamizhar Samayal Tuesday..

Village Style Thakkali Sambhar/Tomato Sambhar

We love tomato sambhar very much, i often make them for our lunch and serve them even for our dinner with idlies or dosas. But recently i crossed this village style thakkali sambhar aka tomato sambhar in an another Snegithi supplement called 30varieties sambhar.While going through it, i found that this sambhar goes for easy breezy preparation just with a couple of ingredients like onions, juicy tomatoes, sambhar powder, green chillies,tamarind juice and the famous seasoning spice called vadagam. South Indians use vadagam for tempering their gravies, this seasoning spice mixture is prepared yearly once with onions and many more spices during summer season and they conserved properly in air tightened box for further use.

Whatever flavoured with this vadagam will take you to an another world, they will change the taste of any dishes they are added and we often use this seasoning mixture in our kaara kuzhambus aka tamarind based gravies. Seriously if you want to make a different,flavourful,simple and quick sambhar,make this village style sambhar with juicy tomatoes.This mildly tangy sambhar goes as a side dish with idlies,dosas or rotis. Make them and enjoy thoroughly for anytime of the day from breakfast to lunch.Sending to Srivalli's Side dish mela and to my event CWS-Toordal guest hosted by Madhavi of Madhu's Indian Recipes.This post goes also for the CC Challenge of the month.

Peppered Lotus Root Dal/Thamarai Thandu Milagu Paruppu

Lotus root or lotus stem, i got hooked to them once i tried my hands in preparing a simple dish with it. They will be tasteless but if they are cooked well with spices they tastes fabulous. I have tried already many dishes with them,one of my recent trial with this healthy lotus root is this easy breezy peppered dal. While checking my freezer, i saw some leftover frozen sliced lotus root and immediately i cooked this dal with them for our yesterday's lunch.

This dal is seriously very quick and easy to prepare as i went for pressure cooking.Pressure cooker makes our life easier. Since lotus root take more time to get cook, pressure cooking method helps a lot for easy cooking. I cooked both the chopped lotus root/lotus stem with dals along with a spice paste and simple tempering. Your dal is ready to relish with hot steaming rice topped with ghee and a spicy side dish.

Chettinad Therakkal / Chettinad Eggplant and Potato Curry

Chettinad foods are my favourite and am crazy about their way of cooking with loads of spices. Therakkal is one among their curries they served especially with dosas or idlies. Its been ages i had this therakkal, an eggplant and potato curry which is one of my favourite dish from Chettinad cuisine. While going through a couple of supplement books i got during my last trip to India, i crossed this dish in a Snegithi supplement book named VIP's favourite recipes and i want to make them as soon as possible. Since i had an eggplant and potatoes, i prepared this fantastic therakkal which goes for easy breezy preparation few days back and enjoyed thoroughly with rotis for our dinner.

Serve this curry with dosas or idlies, am sure everyone will definitely have two more idlies or dosas with this flavourful curry. Also am sending this Chettinad dish to Viji's SYS - W series,an interesting event where you can chose ur ingredients, yep viji will give a couple of hidden ingredients, just chose your number and you will know about it the day she will reveal the ingredients. I chosed 2 & 3, and my hidden ingredients are eggplants and potatoes. Do check her space and join this interesting event.This post goes also for the CC Challenge of the month.Sending to Srivalli's Side Dish Mela.

Pacha Thakkali Kootu/Thakkali Kaai Kootu/Green Tomato Kootu

Pacha Thakkali is raw tomatoes or green tomatoes, we Tamilians makes a wonderful kootu with this vegetable. Whenever the green tomatoes shows their heads in our home garden, my mom make this delicious and fingerlicking kootu. Kootu is a South Indian semi gravy like accompaniment served usually with rice.This dish is usually made with vegetable,lentils and spices-coconut paste. I rarely get this pacha thakkali here and this time when i went to Indian groceries,i got few super fresh raw tomatoes, back home i prepared this delicious kootu . The mild tartness of this tomatoes make this kootu seriously very delicious.

This kootu will have sourness and spiciness together and goes awesome with rice.I used black peppercorns for a mild spiciness to this kootu, if you want it more spicy you can also add dry red chillies and deduce the amount of black peppercorns.Personally i love to have this kootu with idlies and dosas, especially this kootu goes awesome with crispy dosas, my favourite combination. If you are making this kootu with pacha thakkali, serve this dish with a spicy side dish like potato roast or egg roast, am sure you will definitely  have a satisfy meal.

Sweet Corn Soup

I hardly check and cook from cookbooks eventhough i have a small collection at home. Honestly i never bought till now a cookbook, every cookbook am having at home are from either a gift from family or from many giveaways i won through these virtual world, thanks to this immense world and my fellow blogger buddies whoever always kind enough toward me. When you have a chance to cook from a cookbook and blog about it,who will say no to this wonderful opportunity,obviously i was really excited and went through the cookbooks for Srivalli's Cooking From Cookbook Challenge.

I chosed this easy breezy corn soup from the famous Indian chef Tarladalal's cookbook and the name of the cook book is Cooking under 10minutes. So this sweet corn soup goes for an easy breezy preparation, just a cup grated sweet corn with usual ingredients make this delicious soup. No onion or garlic or any other veggies is needed to make this quick corn soup. A delicious and nutritious soup to enjoy thoroughly when the weather is down outside, i enjoyed this quick corn soup thoroughly for my yesterday dinner.

Eggless Pistachio Brownies

Brownies goes always for eggs,butter but in this eggless pistachio brownies, i replaced both the eggs and butter with applesauce and oil. Trust me they came out extremely spongy,super moist and my kids are fan of this eggless version of nutty brownies. I used pistachios and pistachios gives the nuttiness to this super moist brownies, you can replace them with your choice of nuts.This fabulous chocolaty brownies with plenty of pistachios is my third day post for this week's blogging marathon,as my theme of this week is the humble Chocolates.

Healthy Chocolate Dumplings/Chocolate Paniyaram

Chocolate in anything makes me happy.Yes am a chocoholic and proud to be, if am happy i'll go towards some chocolate bars, if am sad or down i'll definitely go towards chocolates too, munching dark chocolates will definitely makes me happy and its one of my weakness. Trust me, you can create many delicious dishes with healthy stuffs in it.

Am very proud to say that this chocolate paniyaram is one of my recent creation. This healthy, addictive and chocolate paniyaram goes for ragi flour,wheat flour,ripen banana, eno salt, chocolate chips and palm jaggery syrup. Palm jaggery is a natural sweetener and they have numerous nutritional and health values, no need to say the health benefits of ragi and wheat flour, since this paniyaram is loaded with healthy stuffs, instead of searching for a prefect title i named these dumplings immediately healthy chocolate paniyarams. My kids loved these paniyaram when they were still warm, personally i felt the same too.None noticed the addition of ragi and palm jaggery here as this paniyarams have chocolate in it.Sending to Srivalli's Kid's Delight - Potluck Party..As am running under chocolate as theme,this post goes to this week's blogging marathon.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#33..Sending to my event Healthy Diet- Heart Healthy Recipes guest hosted by Sandhya..

Rocky Road Bars

None will complain having this fantastic,super chocolatey nutty bars either in their lunchbox or in their snack box. They are seriously very easy,handy and definitely an addictive snacks. Eventhough this rocky road bars goes for marshmallows,nuts,crushed biscuits, the dark chocolate chips used in this bars gives them mild sweetness when compared to the store bought ones. For this recipe, i used whole almonds, and marshmallows, since i dont get mini marshmallows i opted for the medium sized ones which i cut as two small pieces. If you dont like almonds, you can replace it very well walnuts, peanuts and gelatin in place of sweetened condensed milk. You can make the variations as you wish but however i like this recipe very much.

Today am starting blogging marathon and am running for three days, i chosed chocolates as theme for this week and obviously the next two days are going to be desserts or snack foods with chocolates. Do enjoy my virtual chocolate treats and dont forget to make these rocky road bars if you crave for some.An easy breezy chocolatey bars, a kid's friendly choco bars.

Moongdal Paneer Bonda

Dunno how you will love your evening snacks when the weather very down, but my choice will definitely go for some deep fried beauties with a cup of masala tea. If i get them for my rainy or chilled evening snacks, definitely am the happiest person in the world. Few days back, i prepared quickly this moongdal paneer bonda for our evening snacks when it was raining outside with some cooked whole greengrams and some leftover grated paneer. Just a quick stir fry with cooked moongdal and paneer makes an interesting stuffing for your bondas. If you are bored of the usual potato bonda, you have to give a try to this protein rich stuffing.

Also kids can have easily this deep fried beauties without any hesitation coz both moongdal and paneer works wonder together in the stuffing and they wont even notice them. You doesnt even need any sauces or chutneys to enjoy with this bondas, make some and feed your kids with this protein rich dal and paneer.Add more veggies or spices according to your taste if you want to make these simple bondas more interesting.

Kandathippili Rasam

Kandathippili is available in herbals stores in South India, they are about 2-3inch long sticks. These sticks have many medicinal values and its used in cooking. If you are suffering from body aches,cold or fever, make a simple comforting food aka rasam with these kandathippili sticks and enjoy it. After having this spiced soup you will definitely see the difference. My mom brought me these kandathippili sticks from India and i tried recently this rasam with those herbal sticks.

While talking with my mom she told that my grandma makes even tangy gravy aka kuzhambu with this sticks, however my first trial with this kandathippili sticks is this rasam. You can have this rasam just like a soup or else with some rice.This rasam is quite famous in Tamil Nadu cuisine especially among the Iyer community.

Sago Badam Kheer/Javvarisi Badam Payasam

Happy Onam wishes to all my mallu friends..

Am celebrating today onam with a delicious,nutty and very aromatic kheer prepared simply with sago aka sabudana ,which is cooked in a grounded almond and chironji paste along with saffron strands. This kheer is just amazing with a super nutty texture. Usually we make badam kheer simply with almonds, but for a change i prepared the usual badam kheer with sago and this combination is just mindblowing. Actually i mixed both sago kheer and badam kheer which makes a fantastic sago badam kheer.

If you want to make a different,delicious and innovative kheer, dont forget to make this combination, am sure this kheer suits prefectly for any occasions. This very rich kheer makes a royal dessert for a simple lunch  as well as definitely a crowd pleaser, serve chilled or warm this kheer is just out of the world.

Pomegranate Juice

Fresh juices have their important place in our diet,my kids love freshly squeezed juices from any fruits. Its quite a daily routine for me to serve fresh juices for their breakfast. Pomegranate is a seasonal fruit here and we get them only during summer abundantly, this juice is in my draft since a long and i want to post it today. This juice is a simple,quick,refreshing,healthy,sugarless and a fabulous drink to have if you have an hectic day in front of you.

I used agave syrup in this juice, mostly pomegranates we get here are very sweet so obviouslymost of the time i dont add sugar or either honey. This time my lil one asked me to add some sweetness thats why i have added some agave syrup in this juice, if you dont have agave syrup still you can add both sugar or honey.

Potato Bajji /Potato Fritters

Weather is super nasty, yes its raining nonstop here since few days. Dunno about you all, but i need some fritters to keep myself warm when the weather is down.Some fritters with a cup of masala tea makes a super delicious evening snacks which i would love to have while its raining outside.  Thought of making something to munch with a cup of tea, i finally prepared potato fritters,the famous urulai bajji as am craving for some since a long.These crispy beauties suits prefectly for snacks also you can serve as side dish for rice, seriously i enjoyed having them with a cup of tea and coconut chutney.Such an easy and tasty fritters even kids will love to have them with their favourite sauces.

Drumstick & Jackfruit Seeds Curry

We South Indians,cant imagine serving a meal without a side dish or dry curries. We do varieties of side dishes and obviously we try to serve two side dishes atleast for a simple lunch or dinner. Coming to this curry, this dish is a signature dish of my grandma who makes varieties of foods that too with freshly plucked veggies. She always makes this drumstick and jackfruit seeds curry, whenever its a peak season of jackfruits. My maternal uncle never failed to get a huge jackfruit from the nearby city which is quite famous for this fruit and we love eating jackfruits with honey. Once we get finished with the fruit, my grandma or my maternal aunt will definitely make this curry with freshly plucked drumsticks and jackfruit seeds. I love this curry with sambhar and rasam rice.

This curry goes for vadagam, a flavoured seasoning which is prepared mainly with onions and few more spices, this vadagam is prepared every year during summer and conserved in huge pots or bottles for tempering curries,gravies or sometimes sambhars too. This vadagam will give a distinct flavour to this curry, if you dont have vadagam,you can still make this curry just by replacing them with usual tempering.

Gooseberry Rasam/Nellikkai Rasam

Life is back to routine, kids are back to school and am missing their small fights, their discussion,suddenly the house is so calm and boring now. Coming to the recipe, its a delicious,healthy and a quick rasam with gooseberries. This weekend i picked some gooseberries from Indian stores and tried my hand in preparing this different and healthy rasam. Gooseberries, Amla aka Nellikkai have numerous health benefits and this berries are cooked as many dishes in Indian cuisine.

Usually i'll make rice or pickle out of this gooseberries,after making a rasam with gooseberries few month back, i tried an another version of rasam and they came out extremely awesome. Instead of cooking or adding whole pieces of gooseberries,i went for a gooseberry puree which i prepared simply by grinding the raw berries, check an another interesting gooseberry & dal rasam i prepared previously by pressure cooking the gooseberries. If you get gooseberries abundantly dont forget to make some rasam out of it.One more interesting rasam from my kitchen which am adding to my vast rasam collection.

Announcing Tamizhar Samayal Tuesday Event - Showing The Traditions

We group of friends started a new event Tamizhar samayal tuesday which is going to happen in 2nd and 4th tuesday of every month.Tamilnadu cuisine is famous for its flavor and spices,each disrict has their own signature foods.We know very well that Tamilians have many delicious foods, for example Kanchipuram is famous for idlis, while tirunelveli is famous for halwa, needless to say much about the famous Chettinad cuisine and another well known kongu cuisine.

Yes we are proud to be Tamilians and we love to share our knowledge of this famous foods, thus we planned this event.In this event you can cook and show case the food which is very popular and traditional in any region of Tamilnadu.Both veg and non-veg recipes are allowed.

This event doesn't have any specific themes or ingredients,cook anything popular in the region of Tamilnadu.

The main motto of the event is to know the food cultures followed in each region especially in village sides.

Want to be a part of this event, do leave your mail id in the comment box.

Karupatti Thengai Paal Kozhukattai/Palm Jaggery, Coconut Milk Dumplings

Paal Kozhukattai is well known in Chettinad cuisine,its one of a traditional dish of Tamilnadu. This dish is prepared during festival as festive foods or else you can serve them for evening snacks. Some use jaggery for making this delightful dish while others use sugar, but my version is completely different from it. I used palm jaggery a natural sweetner in coconut milk which gives a mild gorgeous brown colour to this cute dumplings

Since this dish is prepared completely in coconut milk, i named this dish as karupatti thengapaal kozhukattais, which means Palm jaggery,coconut milk dumplings.Enjoy this dumplings bit warm and am sure you will love it thoroughly.I used freshly grounded rice batter for making my dumplings, you use very well the store bought ones too.

Broken Wheat Upma Kozhukattai

How about eating a healthy stuff for your breakfast or for your dinner???.. Actually i love anything cooked with broken wheat /wheat rava/Godhumai rava,make it either as a porridge or cook as like rice or else as briyani or upma, i love it to the core. Yesterday i felt bored of eating the same broken wheat upma, i tried my hands in making a upma and then steam cooked as dumplings, they came out simply awesome. You doesnt even need a side dish to enjoy this healthy dumplings, but still they tastes fabulous with a simple spicy coconut chutney.If you want to give a new avatar to the usual healthy broken wheat upma, make them as this steam cooked upma kozhukattais.

Microwave Basmati Rice

Are you searching for a prefectly cooked rice with less effort and without constant stirring, microwave cooking will definitely help you. Yes you can trust your Microwave oven for prefectly cooked basmati rice, i do prepare my basmati rice for pulao or fried rice through microwave oven coz cooking through stove top always need more attention. Sometimes eventhough we have an eye while cooking rice through stove top, we may fail to get well cooked rice. Basmati rice cooked through microwave oven goes hardly for 20minutes of cooking in high power. But however the cooking time may varies according to your microwave oven.

This easy cooking of basmati rice will be very helpful for bachelors as well as working moms. Cook your rice through microwave to know the difference. Each grain will get cooked prefectly and your rice will be ready in less time to cook.Sending to my own event CWS-Rice guest hosted by Shruti Dhingra Wahi of Shurti Rasoi.

Tomato Peas Briyani

I have already told in my earlier post we love one pot meals very much and i do quite often.Sunday lunch is always my favourite, especially if its something quick as one pot meal i wont say no. Most of our sunday lunch goes for briyanis, this weekend H was bit busy with some stuffs and he didnt stayed with us for the lunch. Obviously, i packed him this quick vegan briyani to carry along with him and went for an easy breezy tomato peas briyani.Serve it simply with hard boiled eggs or fried fryums,am damn sure you will definitely have a filling lunch or dinner..You can easily carry this delicious pulao in your lunch box.Sending to Priya's event Healthy Diet - Healthy Lunch Box guest hosted by Sowmya.

Pan Roasted Brinjal Fry

If you are searching for a quick,easy breezy side dish to serve with your lunch, you have to give a try to this spicy,pan roasted brinjal fry. This fry gets ready in a jffy and goes awesome as side dish with any rice dish eventhough i love this fry with curd rice. Brinjal is one of my favourite veggie and i do make this pan roasted brinjal fry quite often, dont worry if you dont like brinjals you can make the same fry very well with potatoes. Thick slices of brinjal coated with a simple spice mix and  flour mix makes this incredible fry.Sending to Srivalli's Side Dish Mela.

25nos Aubergines or brinjals slices (sliced as thick pieces)
1tbsp Chilly powder
1/2tsp Garam masala powder
1tsp Fennel seed powder
1tsp Coriander powder
2tbsp Rice flour
1tsp Cornflour
Salt
Oil for shallow frying

Take the chilly powder, garam masala powder,fennel seed powder,coriander powder,rice flour ,corn flour and salt in a bowl.

Mix it and add water to make a thick paste.

Add the aubergine or brinjal slices one by one to the paste, coat them well with the spice paste and keep aside for half an hour.

Heat oil for shallow frying, drop gently the spices coated brinjal slices, fry on both sides until they gets well roast and brown in colour.

Drain the excess of oil with a paper towel.

Serve as side dish.