Black-eyed Peas Fritters/Karamani Pakoda

Black eyed peas is becoming one of my favourite ingredient after Urad dal for making fritters or vadas. After trying my hands with black eyed peas vadas, i couldnt stop myself frying out some pakodas with them.They came out extremely super crispy and prefect to munch with some tea for snacks. However these cute crispy balls was a big hit among my kids, obviously they enjoyed munching them with their favourite sauce while i had this pakodas as side dish for some hot piping rasam rice. Yes you can even serve these cuties as side dish for your rice dish. As much as like usual gram flour based pakodas, these fritters came out extremely crispy, but all you need is to soak and peel the skin of black-eyed peas.

Gluten free Mini Tofu Fingers/Fried Tofu Fingers

Am trying to inculde tofu quite often in our meal, kids love it as much as like paneer. Actually tofu is replacing very much paneer in my cooking. One of my recent trial with tofu is this simple and very easy fried fingers. Yes you can make some fantastic starter with extra firm tofu. Simply flavoured with any sort of spices, tofu can be cooked as many delicious dishes. However we are great fan of this fried tofu fingers. Since tofu doesnt have any flavor, if you are making this ultimate Vegan and gluten free tofu fingers dont ever hesitate a second to flavor them with your favourite spices. Actually i went with simple garam masala flavoured tofu fingers as we love masala flavor in tofu.

Quinoa and French Lentils Salad

I just love French lentils cooked with loads of garlic and thyme, when served along with baguette slices, i can finish my lunch or dinner happily. Actually cooking lentils with garlic and thyme is a classic French dish, a super aromatic protein rich dish as crushed garlic cloves are sauteed with thyme leaves.French lentils works awesome for making some delicious salads as well. And my today's dish is a prefect dish to cook with this nutritious lentils. French lentils are also known as Le Puy Lentils which is easily available in all provisional stores here. Needless to say how nutritious this lentils are, obviously lentils are rich in protein and extremely rich in dietary fiber as well.

Banana Blossom Channadal Kootu/Vazhaipoo Kadalaparuppu Kootu

After tangy tamarind gravy aka Kuzhambu and dal based sambhar, kootu is an another popular dal based dish cooked often in South Indian cuisine. Kootu have their own place in a meal served on a banana leaf on festive days or else for a special occasion. Kootu can be prepared with any sort of vegetables or else with a combination of beans or vegetables. My today's post is an healthy and protein rich Kootu prepared with banana blossom aka vazhaipoo. Banana blossom is an edible flower which is also known as Banana heart, used very much in Southeast Asian and very much in Indian cuisine. Though this banana blossom is known as flower, Indians consider this bitter banana blossom as vegetable.  Indian cooks this banana blossom as stir fries, curries or else in stews. Looking for some interesting dal dishes, then check here.