Carrot Babycorn Soup

Winter is incomplete without a hot soup. Soups helps to manage the cold and rainy weather. Try this tasty baby corn and carrot soup !.

Preparation Time: Under 10 minutes
Cooking Time: Under 20 minutes
Serves - 2 to 3 people

INGREDIENTS:

Carrot - 1/2 no ( If small carrot, you can use 1 no.)
Baby corn - 12- 15 no.s
Onion - 1/2 cup chopped
Garlic - 2 to 3 pods
Butter - 2 table spoon
Salt - as required
Pepper - as required
Coriander leaves - for garnishing

METHOD:

1. Chop  carrots, baby corn and onions. In a pressure cooker, add them all together with a cup of water.

2. Cook in high flame for 3 whistles and switch off the stove.

3. Filter the water and keep it aside. Do not throw away the water. Also take some baby corn pieces and keep aside for garnishing.  Once the veggies cool down, grind them to a smooth paste.

4.  Now in a pan, add butter. Now add chopped garlic and fry till they change color.

4. Now add pureed veggies and also the filtered water to roasted garlic. Adjust water to your desired consistency. Add salt, pepper .

5. Allow it to boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Now add the baby corn pieces which you kept aside in step 3.  Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot !.

Tomato Pulao Using Quinoa

Here is the easy recipe to make tomato pulao. Instead of using rice, I used quinoa to make it more healthy.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves : 1 person

INGREDIENTS:

Quinoa - 1/3 cup
Water -1.25 cup
Tomato - 1
Onion - 1/2 cup chopped
Ginger - 1 inch sized chopped
Garlic -3 to 4 pods
Green chilli - 1 no
Coriander leaves - as required
Dry mint leaves - as required
Turmeric powder- 1/2 teaspoon
Red chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Pepper powder- 1/2 teaspoon
Salt - as required

MASALA:

Cinnamon - 1/2 inch sized
Star anise - a small piece
Cloves -2 no.s
Cardamom - 1
Bay leaf - 1
Cumin seeds- 1/2 teaspoon


METHOD:

1. Chop tomato, onion, ginger, garlic and green chilli. Prepare all ingredients and set ready.

2. Grind or mash ginger, garlic and green chilli using mortar and pestle or in a mixer and set aside. In a nonstick pan, take 1/3 cup of quinoa ( no need to wash quinoa ) and dry roast for a minute , until it is hot to touch and you get a nice aroma. Do not over roast , as it would get burnt.

3. Now add 1.25 cups of water and allow it to boil.

4. Now reduce the flame to sim and cover the pan with lid. It takes about 20 minutes to cook. Once it is cooked, turn off the flame. As you can see, quinoa fluffs up and increased in size.

5. Now in a pan, add some oil. Add the items mentioned in the "MASALA" section.

6. Now add onions and fry till they change color.

7. Now add the mashed ginger, garlic and green chilli paste.

8. Now add chopped coriander and mint leaves and fry for a minute.

9. Now add chopped tomato. Add required salt , turmeric, red chilli powder and pepper powder . Mix well and cook till tomato get soft .No need to add water as tomatoes itself will let out some water. If you feel the mix is very dry, you can sprinkle some water.

10. Now add cooked quinoa to the above paste and mix gently.

11. Serve with any favorite curry of your choice.

Tomato pulao , tofu, bitter gourd curry and yogurt .

Masala Tea /Chai

Masala Tea is loved by everyone. It is ideal to drink in the afternoon during winter. Tea usually boost up your mood and you feel lot more happier and better after drinking tea. In that way, tea is much better than coffee . Here is recipe to make a delicious masala tea !

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 1 person
1 cup - 240 ml

INGREDIENTS:

Milk -  1/2 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 teaspoon
Cinnamon stick - 1 inch sized
cloves - 2 no.s
Cardamom - 2 no.s
Ginger -1 inch size chopped finely.
Tea packets - 2 nos ( I used Lipton tea bags)

METHOD:

1. Cut ginger in to small pieces. Prepare the masala ingredients and set ready.

2. Crush the ginger, cinnamon,cardamom and clove using a mortar and pestle. In a pan, take 1/2 cup of water. Cut the tea bags, and pour the tea powder in to the water. Also , add the crushed masala in to that.

3. Allow the contents to boil for 3 to 4 minutes.

4. Now add 1/2 cup of milk. Allow to boil for another 4 to 5 minutes, till the contents rise up. Now turn the flame to sim and wait for a minute and then switch off the stove.

5. Now filter the tea . When you filter, press the contents with the back of the spoon, so you squeeze out all the tea from the tea powder.

6. Now add sugar and mix well. Masala tea is ready !.. Have it with biscuits or any snacks !.

SEE ALSO: Spicy maida biscuits, Veg samosa, Butter murukku

Oats Dosa

This is another recipe of instant dosa that requires no soaking or fermentation and its very healthy too !

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 35 minutes
Yields : 9 - 10 dosas

INGREDIENTS:
Rolled Oats - 1 cup
Rice flour - 1/2 cup
Rava or sooji - 1/2 cup
Curd - 1/2 cup
Salt-  as required
Pepper powder -1/2 teaspoon
Onion - finely chopped
Green chilli - 1 finely chopped
Ginger - 1/2 inch sized finely chopped
Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Water - 2.5  to 3 cups

METHOD:

1. Grind oats to a fine powder. I used normal rolled oats. Do not use any instant oats or flavoured oats. Use any normal oats which has a cooking time of 3 to 5 minutes.

2. In a large bowl, take the oats powder. Add rice flour, rava, salt, pepper powder, onion, green chilli, ginger, cumin seeds. Also add curd , salt and water. Mix the contents well. The batter should be in a flowing consistency and thin.

3. Now heat a pan. When it is hot, pour the batter from outside to inside. Do not try to spread the batter as you normally do for regular dosa.

4. Pour some oil and when it is cooked, flip to other side. This dosa takes longer time to cook. If you try to flip the dosa before it is cooked, the dosa would break. So wait for some 3 to 4 minutes and then flip the dosa to the other side and cook well.

5. Oats dosa is ready to serve. Serve with any of your favorite chutney or sambar.

NOTES:

1. For this dosa, it is better to use a non stick pan instead of iron , so the dosa wont stick to the pan.

2. This is an instant dosa. So make dosa immediately when you prepare the batter. If you allow the batter to rest, then dosa would turn very soft and difficult to make.

3. The ideal side dish for this dosa would be coconut or tomato chutney.

4. If you find dosa too soft, then add some more rice flour and rava. It will turn crispy.

Quinoa Lentil Dosa

This is one more version of dosa that can be made with Quinoa. On my last post, I used quinoa,oats and rice flour to make dosa. This time I want to avoid rice completely and instead I used three different types of lentils -  toor dal, urad dal and moong dal  along with Quinoa. This is protein rich dosa and very nutritious .

Quinoa dosa with veg kurma and sambar ! 

INGREDIENTS:

Quinoa - 1 cup
Toor dal - 1/2 cup
Urad dal - 1/2 cup
Moong dal - 1/2 cup
Salt - as required

METHOD:

1. Wash quinoa and dals separately for 4 to 5 times. Then soak them separately for 5 to 6 hours.

2. Now drain the water from dal and quinoa. Firstly, grind the dal to a smooth paste by adding required water and set aside. Similarly grind the quinoa also in to a smooth paste. Mix dal and quinoa paste and add required salt. The batter shouldn't be too thin. It should be little thicker than the dosa batter. No need to ferment this batter. You can make dosa out of it immediately.

3. Now heat the pan. Take some batter and spread it as thin as possible on the pan. Apply oil and cook on both sides. If you make it thinner, the dosa will turn very crispier and tasty. Serve with any chutney of your choice. Since this dosa has lentils, any side dish that is coconut based will also go well with this. Gives you a taste similar to adai aviyal :P. Or you can also serve with any tangy chutney like tomato  chutney !.

Quinoa dosa with veg kurma and sambar 

SEE ALSO: Moong dal dosa, Pearl millet adai, Little miller dosa 

Instant Quinoa Oats Dosa

This is an very easy recipe and can be made in just a short time. It requires no fermentation or soaking.

Preparation Time: Under 15 minutes
Cooking Time: Under 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

Quinoa: 1 cup
Oats - 1 cup
Rice flour - 1/2 cup
Coriander Seeds -1 teaspoon
Dry red chili - 2
Tomato - 1
Salt - as required

METHOD:

1. Wash quinoa and oats together . Grind it along with rice flour, coriander seeds, diced tomato,dry red chili and salt . Add some water while grinding . Grind to a paste.

2. The batter should not be too thick or or too thin. It should be little thicker than the dosa batter.

3. Heat pan. Take some batter and spread gently on the skillet. The batter will be little soft than regular batter. So when u spread the batter, reduce the flame to low.

4. Serve with any favorite chutney of your choice.

Paruppu Podi/Dal Powder

Paruppu podi/Dal powder is south Indian special spice powder that can be mixed with white rice and with some ghee, taste delicious . This powder can stay good for over a month if stored in an airtight container.

Preparation Time : Under 15 minutes
Cooking Time: Under 10 minutes


INGREDIENTS:

Toor dal - 1/2 cup
Roasted Split  Gram Dal/Pottu kadalai - 1/2 cup
Dry red chilli - 4 no.s
Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon
Black pepper - 1/2 teaspoon
Garlic - 4 cloves
Salt - 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida powder - as required
Oil - 1 teaspoon(For frying garlic)

METHOD:

1. In a pan, dry roast toor dal for 2 minutes.

2. Now add cumin seeds and black pepper and fry for another few minutes.

3. Now add dry red chilli to that.

4. Now add roasted split gram and fry for a minute and turn off the stove.

5. Set aside the above contents. Now in the same pan, add a teaspoon of oil. Roast garlic , till they turn golden brown.

6. Allow the contents to cool completely. Then before grinding add salt and asafoetida powder. Grind them to a smooth powder.

7. Paruppu podi/ Dal powder is ready. In hot rice, mix some ghee and add some paruppu podi . It taste delicious. Papad as a side dish goes well for this dal powder rice !.

SEE ALSO: Sambar powder, Dosai podi ,Rasam powder