Spicy roti with cheese

Atta, green chilies to taste finely chopped, salt. Mix all these & make a soft dough for roti. Make thin rotis, smear with ghee & take it out, spread some finely grated cheese, keep on the hot tawa for a minute for cheese to melt.

This can be a good breakfast or to carry to school & office, as it can be rolled & eaten like a Frankie !

Dal/lentil onion paranthas

Any left over dal/ kuttu, 1 small onion chopped fine, green chilies to taste, salt. Mix all these with atta/ wheat flour, to make a soft chappati  dough. Make thin paranthas on a tawa, cook on both sides & when almost done, smear some ghee on both sides & take out when light brown.

ps- if made spicy, it can be eaten by itself along with curd or you can have some tomato chutney & curd to go with it.

Cucumber in rich gravy

this is one of the simplest & easy recipes, that can be made quickly in gas/ microwave.

Ing.- 2 cucumbers peeled & cut into small pieces. Soak a tbsp of cashew nuts in water & grind with 4-5 green chilies to taste along with 4-6 garlic pearls.
1/2 tsp haldi/ turmeric pdr,  salt
1 tsp oil   1/2 tsp mustard seeds, coriander to garnish.

If you're doing in microwave, heat 1 tsp oil with mustard seeds & 2 red chilies, let it crackle well, it will take a minute on micro high. add a pinch of hing, add the cut cucumber pieces, haldi & about 1/2 cup of water. Mix well with salt to taste & micro high for about 3 minutes till soft. Add the ground paste &  add some more water as required & micro high for 2 minutes. garnish with coriander leaves. This goes well with roti & rice too.

snake-gourd vege

Ing.- 1/2 kg snake gourd veg., wash & cut into small thin pieces, add about 1/2 tsp salt & 1/2 tsp haldi, mix well, keep it in a colander, put something heavy on top, for the bitterness to go away. After about 30 minutes, squeeze it & keep it on a plate. 

2 tbsp besan roast it well with 1/2- 1 tsp chili powder keep it aside.

In a heavy pan add 1 tsp oil, add 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, once it crackles, add the cut & squeezed out snake gourd, add another 1/2 tsp salt, sprinkle some water & cover & cook till done. Then add the roasted besan/ gram flour along with another tbsp of oil, mix well, keep it on low flame for 2 minutes stirring well. Remove.

This goes well with rice & sambar, rasam & even roti.

Cushion covers- crochet

These 2 cushion covers are my favorites, though, to make it was comparatively difficult then the other designs.

Crochet Cushion covers- Satisfaction

These are 4 of the 6 cushion covers done by me. Each one is a different design.

sambar without coconut

Ingredients-       onion/tomato/pumpkin/ lady finger/ any veg of your choice.  Tamarind juice thick 1 small cup
sambar pdr 1-2 tsp   haldi 1/2 tsp      cooked arhar/ tuvardal 1 cup       salt         oil 1 tsp dhania, curry leaves


Method- In case you're using, onion/ ladyfiner/brinjal/capsicum, fry it after doing tadka/seasoning with mustard seeds 1/2 tsp, methi seeds 1/4 tsp, curry leaves, hing, add any of these veg. or it can be a combination of veges also, fry it lightly, then add the tamarind juice, haldi, sambar pdr., salt & add 1 more cup of water, along with some chopped dhania/ coriander leaves/cilantro. Let it boil for 10 minutes or till the vegetable like pumpkin /or other veg. gets cooked. Then add the cooked & smashed dal along with 1 tsp of atta/rice flr. Mix well, add more water in case you feel the sambar is too thick. garnish with dhania last.




Ps-  in case you're adding radish, wash & cut it into rounds &  boil it separately & add to the tamarind juice. 


When you add dhania, you can add the stems too by cutting it fine for sambar / rasam, as it gives good flavour if you add it while boiling first.

Sambar without tamarind juice !

Ingredients-  1 big onion cut fine or small sambar onions 15-20,        curry leaves 2 sprigs  salt   oil 1 tsp
cooked arhar/tuvar dal 1 small cup   1/2 tsp mustard seeds  coriander leaves


To grind-  2 tbsp coriander seeds      11/2 tbsp chana dal     1/2 tsp udad dal         1/2 tsp methi seeds
4 red chilies or to taste.  Roast all these with wee bit of oil, last add one small marble size tamarind roast it, grind this along with 1 tbsp of coconut ( those who aren't high on potassium can add more coconut).


Method- in a thick pan, add 1 tsp oil, add mustard seeds, once it crackles, add little hing, curry leaves cut fine, add onion with wee bit of salt ( adding salt when you fry onion, helps it to fry in minimum oil). Once fried, add water, let it boil for few minutes, add the ground masala, mix well & allow it to boil for 10 minutes, then add salt to taste, cooked dal, along with 1 tsp of atta/ wheat flour ( adding atta helps to thicken sambar). Mix well, let it boil for 2 minutes, garnish with coriander leaves.


ps- this tastes as good as normal sambar, as my hubby who is normally finicky, liked it, so you can be sure that it tastes good.

Raw Mango rice

Ingredients- 1 big raw mango grated           1 big onion cut fine         jeera/cumin 1 tsp           peppercorns 1/2 tsp
pepper pdr. 1tsp        salt            ghee 2 tbsp        
cooked rice 1 big bowl


Method-
In a thick pan, heat ghee, add jeera, black peppercorns, add grated mango fry slightly, add onion fry well with little salt. Add pepper pdr, salt to taste along with rice, mix well.


This is a quick & easy recipe, as raw mango is also cooling in summer.

Stuffed ladyfinger/bhindi vege- Microwave

To make stuffed ladyfinger veges, if the ladyfingers are long, you can cut them into half like what I had done, or else, if they're small, after washing & wiping well, slit them carefully, so that you don't separate them totally. To make stuffing, you'd need curry powder, salt, chana masala, 1 big onion cut fine. 

Mix the stuffings well ( stuffings will depend on how much bhindi you're using & also how much stuffing would you like inside. The quantity of onion, which is optional depends on how much onion you'd like. For roughly 1/4 kg bhindi, I used, 1 big onion cut fine, 3 tbsp of curry powder, 2 tsp of chana masala & 1 tsp of salt.

After stuffing in each ladyfinger carefully, I put them on a microwaveable safe plate & mixed 1 tsp of oil, covered & cooked for 3 minutes. Then I tossed them well, again covered & cooked for another 3 minutes. Then I added 1 tsp of oil more, cooked uncovered for another 2 minutes. This goes well with rotis, rice & sambar, rasam also.

Cushion covers- crochet

These cushion covers were designed by me.

Healthy Poha/ Avil upma

this is one of the healthiest breakfast, you can eat. It is full of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, iron. if you're using thin flaked rice/ avil, just wash it in colander & keep it aside. In case, you're using, thick avil, then wash it well, sprinkle little water & keep it, as it saves you the trouble of squeezing water in case you soak it in water.

Ingredients- 2 tbsp oil, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 2 tsp chana dal, 2 tsp udad dal, 2 tbsp of peanuts, green chilies to taste, 1" ginger piece cut fine, 1 big onion cut fine, 1 big carrot cut fine, some florets of cauliflower, peas, 1 potato cut fine, 1/2 tsp haldi pdr., salt ,coriander leaves for garnishing.

In a thick kadai, add oil, mustard seeds, the dals, peanuts, once the mustard seeds crackles, add the cut veges along with ginger, chilies & garlic in you like also cut fine, mix well adding some haldi, salt & sprinkle some water, cover & cook till the veges are soft. Then add the soaked avil/ poha, mix well, adding salt to taste. last add coriander leaves. Add lime juice once you take off the gas.

 TIP- Lime juice helps you to absorb better the iron from poha. eating regularly this for breakfast, helps one to improve their iron in the blood along with spinach at least 3- times in a week. As i already said,  whenever you eat spinach, always remember to have some amla/gooseberry pickle or murabba with your food as it helps to absorb iron better from spinach/ methi.

Idlis soaked in Milagai podi !

To pack idlis for lunch or when you're touring, the best thing is to put lots of milagai podi on a plate, put lots of til/ sesame oil on it, mix well, dab the idlis on it well on both sides. This will the idlis last long. In case you're keeping it in the fridge, then when you warm it, then cover the dish with plastic wrap/ sprinkle some water on it, as then the idlis will  be soft.

Normally in olden times, this is the way, idlis were packed & taken on long journeys ! At times, along with oil, some hot water is also added to milagai podi, as then the idlis will be soft on long journeys & they're wrapped on banana leaf !