Smoothie - The Healthy Breakfast!
Thanks to Lori for inspiring me to make my own healthy smoothies, It is an excellent breakfast and I feel totally full after having a glass of it! To make it even healthier I 've replaced the regular sugar with Stevia (sweet extract form herbs), pinch of cardamom and a scoop of whey protein powder.. and all I can say is YUM! I actually made two smoothies one with berries and other with Apples, I drank the apple one before taking a picture! :)

Ingredients:
Blackberry (Fruit of your choice)- 1 cup
Milk - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 2 tbs
Protein Powder - a scoop
Cardamom powder - Pinch

Preparation:
Blend everything together in a blender and its ready!
Thursday, April 30, 2009 | Category: | 14 Foodies Review

Kichidi
kichidi means - Combination of Rice and Lentil cooked with some spices. This is served as a main meal and it's so soothing and easy to digest. I prepare this during my lazy days, which takes only 20mins of work overall! You can make this with lentils like - Mung,Yellow or Red lentil.
Ingredients:
Yellow Lentil - 1 cup
Rice - 1.5 cup
Onion chopped - 1cup
Cumin seeds - 1tbsp
Green Chillies chopped - Tbsp
Cinnamon stick - 1/2 "
Cardamom - 1 pod
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1tbsp
Cloves - 2
Salt
Chilly Powder - 1tsp
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Cilantro for garnish.
Preparation:
Heat the oil, add the cumin, green chillies, ginger & garlic paste, cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom.
Add the chopped Onions and fry till it is translucent.
Add the chilly powder, turmeric and salt, cook till the raw smell subsides.
Mix the washed lentil and rice add 6 cups of water and cook for 2 whistles in pressure cooker.
If not using pressure cooker - Cook them covered for 15-20 mins.
remove from heat and garnish with Cilantro.
Serve with Pickle or Yogurt, I served it with Tomato Pickle and Okra fry.
Sunday, April 26, 2009 | Category: | 13 Foodies Review

Spicy Okra Fry
Ingredients:
Chopped Okra ( medium Size) - 1 cup
Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
Garam Masala - 1tbsp
Paprika- 1tsp
Turmeric - 1tsp
Salt - 1/2tsp

Preparation:
Heat Oil, add the cumin seeds.
Add the Okra and fry for 2 mins.
Add rest of the ingredients and cook in low heat till the okra gets tender..
Serve with rice and curry.
Sunday, April 26, 2009 | Category: | 4 Foodies Review

Banana Oatmeal
Oatmeal was one of my favorite breakfast and I ate this every single day almost for a year and I really had enough of it!
Accidentally found a box of rolled oats while checking my pantry today, I don't want the oats to feel forsaken, so thought of making oatmeal with the ripen bananas and some pecans.

Ingredients:
Old fashion Oats - 1 cup
Milk-1 cup
Mashed banana - 1
Chopped banana - 1/2
Honey - 1 tbsp
Salt - a pinch
Pecans toasted - handful

Preparation:
Heat the milk and mix the oats, let it cook in medium heat (5 mins), stir occasionally.
Add the mashed banana and mix well.
Add the salt.
Remove from heat and add honey, chopped banana and pecans.
Sunday, April 26, 2009 | Category: | 2 Foodies Review

Carrot Halwa
Carrot Halwa is an Indian dessert served hot or cold. The word Halwa means 'Sweet'. I am not a great fan of carrots but I love this dessert ! It is quick to prepare and tastes delish. You can replace carrots with beetroot, it's called beetroot halwa. Which is equally delish!


Ingredients:
I only had 1 cup of carrots leftover for my halwa. Please adjust the quantity as per the ratio.

Shredded carrot - 1 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Sugar- 3/4 cup
Whole Cashews - 2 tbsp
Cardamom powder - pinch
Unsalted butter - 2tbsp
Salt- a pinch!

Preparation:
Heat a wide pan with 2 tbsp butter and add the cashews, fry it for a minute.
Add the shredded carrots and fry for 2 mins.
Mix the cup of milk and allow the carrots to cook in milk, give it a stir every 2 mins.
Add the sugar , salt and cardamom powder. Cook till all the milk gets absorbed.

The halwa wont stick at the bottom due the added butter, in this stage you can turn off the heat and transfer the halwa to different vessel. Else, the halwa will gets burnt at the bottom cause of the remaining heat from the pan.

Serve chilled or hot.
Thursday, April 16, 2009 | Category: | 23 Foodies Review

Paneer Peas Curry
Paneer Peas Curry: What else can I make with the home made - Indian Cheese that I did last week?
This is very rich, creamy, little spicy and yummylicious curry. Prepared with much less effort than you think.
Ingredinets:
Paneer Cubes - 10 - add more If you wish!
Frozen Peas - 1 cup
Onion chopped - 1/2 cup
Tomato - 1/4 cup
Cumin seeds - 1tsp
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Cinnamon - 1/2 stick
Chili powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric - 1tsp
Milk - 1/4cup
Butter milk - 1/2 cup
Cardamom pods - 1
To Grind:
Onion - 1/2 cup
Tomato - 1/4 cup
Cashews - 2 tbsp
Cinnamon - 1/2 stick
Ginger garlic Paste - 1tbsp
Cloves - 1
Preparation:
Heat Oil in a pan, add the cinnamon, cardamom, cumin, onion and tomato fry till it gets soft.
Pour the grind paste, fry till the raw smell subsides.
Add the garam masala, turmeric, salt and chili powder. fry for 2 mins.
Add milk, butter milk and stir well for 2 mins in medium heat.
Introduce the frozen peas and Paneer, let it cook in slow heat for 10 mins.
Done deal !!
Yummy curry is ready to serve.. Its a fabulous combo for Indian bread or naan.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009 | Category: | 10 Foodies Review

Spicy Indian Donut
In South-India, a traditional breakfast always includes this spicy little donuts named as - Medu Wada, served with Chutney. It has a crunchy outside and very moist inside. Few prefer to soak this in yogurt and also in Lentil curry called Sambar.
The one soaked in yogurt is my favorite :)

Ingredients:
White lentil - 1cup
Onion finely chopped - 1/4 cup
Green Chillies chopped - tbsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tbsp
Chopped ginger - 1tbsp
Whole black pepper - 1tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Curry Leaves chopped (optional) - handful
Oil for deep frying.

Preparation:
Soak the white lentil in water for 30 mins.
Using food processor or grinder, grind the lentil to fine paste adding no water or minimum water.
Grinding the lentil with less water is the key to fluffy donuts. It will absorb oil if its too watery.
Remove the lentil batter, when it gets to thick and fine paste consistency.
Mix the batter with onions, chillies, cumin, peppers, salt and ginger, mix well to incorporate the added ingredients.
Take a medium Ziploc, grease it with oil, Dip your hands in water before working with batter, it helps the batter non-sticky in hands.

Place a handful of batter and make a donut shape with a whole in the center :)
Flip that Ziploc in to your palms.
Now, drop them slowly in to the hot oil and deep fry both the sides to golden brown.. isn't that simple?
Serve it with chutney or yogurt or curry
Thursday, April 02, 2009 | Category: | 3 Foodies Review

Home made Indian cheese - PANEER
paneer (Indian Cheese) is the only cheese used in traditional Indian cuisine, it has a soft texture similar to tofu. Used widely in curries, specially with Spinach, Peas and Potatoes. Gives a perfect combo for Indian breads, this can be prepared easily at home. I have used some herbs in paneer, just to increase its flavour and taste while using in curries.

Ingredients:
2% milk - 1 litre
Cumin - 1tsp
Pepper powder - 1tsp
Basil powder - 1tsp
Lemon juice - 1/2 cup

Preparation:
Boil 2% milk in a heavy bottom pan to boil. (heating till boiling condition is necessary).
Add Cumin, Pepper and Basil (this will give great flavour and taste to paneer)
When its boiling, add the lemon juice and keep stirring the milk in medium heat.
Within few(5) mins the milk separates in a solid form.
Switch off the heat.
Drain it using a cheese cloth.
Pour 3 cups of luke warm water over the cheese to get rid of the lemon flavour.
Tie the ends of the cheese cloth to form a bundle.
keep the bundle under a medium weight (I kept my wooden cutting board) to drain the excess water for 20 mins.
Removing too much of moisture from cheese will make it hard while cooking. So, draining it for 2o mins is just enough.

Traditionally the Paneer will be sliced in to a flawless pieces, hence we added whole cumin, it may not get a flawless piece.
You have to roll it in to small desired shapes.
Fry both the sides in a pan for a min, by drizzling few drops of oil.
Fried Paneer is ready.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009 | Category: | 7 Foodies Review