Weekly Menu

Monday:
We were out on a BBQ party on Memorial Day.

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Oatmeal with raisins and Ginger chai
Lunch: Paasiparupu sambhar, Idli
Dinner: Chole, Roti

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Oatmeal with raisins
Lunch: Chole, Roti and Cabbage kootu
Dinner: Vegetable Pizza

Thursday:
Breakfast: Raisin Bread
Lunch: Paasiparupu sambhar, Idli
Dinner: Roti, Patani dal

Friday:
Breakfast: Oatmeal with raisins
Lunch: Palak Paneer, Roti, Patani Dal
Dinner: Palak paneer, Moong dal curry, Roti

Celebrating Mother's Day with brownies

I had guests for Mother's Day. We had a big spread for lunch. It included chicken curry, shrimp fry, fish puttu, yummy kootu & rasam (both made by my sis-in-law), brocolli paruppu poriyal and some vegetable raita.
Also, served home-made brownies for dessert with a little whipped cream and fresh strawberries. I wish brownies were a litttle more moist. It was bc I left it too long in the oven. It very tasty nonetheless. The whole batch disappeared by the end of the evening. It was very easy to make. It took me just 10 min to put the batter together.

Happy Mother's day!

Ingredients:
Whole wheat flour - 1 c
Cocoa powder - 1/2 c
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1/2 c
Low-fat Milk - 3/4 c
Brown sugar - 1 c, packed
Toasted Walnuts - 1/2 c, chopped
Semi-sweet dark chocolate chips - 1/2 c

Method:
1. Preheat oven at 350F
2. Mix all the dry ingredients except chocolate chips and walnuts well. (Flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt).
3. Beat oil & sugar and whisk in milk until sugar dissolves.
4. Now fold the dry ingredients until well incorporated. Do not stir too much
5. Lightly fold in chopped walnuts and chocolate chips.
6. Pour it in oil-sprayed pan and bake for about 30-35 min or until toothpick insterted comes out clean.
7. Let it cool for about 30 min. Cut and serve it warm.

Enjoy!

Beetroot Arachuvita kootu

I promised, I'll blog one of my favorite arachuvita kootu recipies. Its pretty versatile. Just replace Beets with any other koottu vegetable like turnip, nookool( banglore kathirika), Peerkanga, Kovakka etc.
This is what I made today for lunch.

Ingredients:
Beets - 2 med, finely diced.
Pottu kadalai - 3 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1-2 tsp
Grated coconut - 2 tbsp(Add just 1/2 tsp, do not omit this entirely )
Leftover cooked Dal - 1/4c ( can be tuvar dal or moong dal)
Split Urad Dal - 1tbsp
Dry Red chili - 1 ( add more if you prefer it spicy )
Mustard seends - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few for tempering.

Method:
1. In a pan add a 1/2 tsp of oil and urad dal. Saute for about a min or 2 and let it turn golden brown. Now add red chili. Let it saute for less than a min. Let it cool and grind it to a fine paste with coconut, Pottu kadalai, leftover dal and cumin seeds. Set it aside.
2. In the same pan, add 1/2 tsp oil. Add in mustard seeds and after it splutters add the curry leaves.
3. Now add finely diced beetroot. Add a 1 cup water and let it cook covered for about 10-15 min on a medium flame. Occasionaly stir.
4. Once the beets are cooked and tender, add salt and mix in the cocont paste. Add little water to bring to a kootu consistency. Adjust salt.
5. Turn it off once the mixture comes to a boil.

Serve it with hot Rice or warm Roti. My daughter loves this and so will you. So, try it!

Enjoy!

Weekly Menu

Monday
Breakfast: Oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar
Lunch: Roti, Peerkanga Kootu
Dinner: Roti, Rajma, Peerkanga Kootu

Tuesday
Breakfast: Egg white omelete with peppers, onions and chilies
Lunch: Roti, Rajma, Palak Dal, Broccoli Poriyal
Dinner: Roti, Palak Dal, Baingan Ka Bartha, Broccoli Poriyal

Wednesday
Breakfast: Oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar
Lunch: Rice, Rasam, Beetroot Kootu
Dinner: Beetroot Kootu, Rasam, Rice/Roti, Fish Fry

Thursday
Breakfast: Egg burji with whites, onions, chilies and tomatoes.
Lunch: Avarakkai/kathirikai Sambhar, white rice, pavakkai poriyal and kovakkai poriyal
Dinner: Avarakkai/kathirikai Sambhar, Dosai, pavakkai poriyal and kovakkai poriyal

Friday
Breakfast: Sathumavu kanji with low fat milk.
Lunch: Roti, tadka dal, cabbage/carrot poriyal
Dinner: Roti Tadka dal, Cabbage/carrot poriyal

Weekly Menu

Monday
Breakfast: Whole wheat blueberry muffins and Chai
Lunch: Sorakka Kootu, Roti
Dinner: Sorakka Kootu, Chole, Roti

Tuesday
Breakfast: Oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar
Lunch: Turnip kootu, Chole, Roti
Dinner: Roti, Aloo Bhindi Masala, leftover chole and turkey balls from sunday

Wednesday
Breakfast: Egg burji(diced boiled eggs with sauted onions, tomatoes & chilies) with Raisin bread toast and Chai
Lunch: Idli, Avarakka&Kathirikai sambhar, Beans carrot poriyal
Dinner: Idli, Avarakka&Kathirikai sambhar, Beans carrot poriyal, Black beans chole

Thursday
Breakfast: Oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar
Lunch: Palak Dal, Black beans chole, Roti
Dinner: Idli, Palak Dal, Gobi Aloo.

Friday
Breakfast: Egg burji(diced boiled eggs with sauted onions, tomatoes & chilies) with Raisin bread toast and Chai
Lunch: Roti, Gobi aloo, Palak Dal
Dinner: Whole Wheat pasta with peppers, paneer, onions, garlic, broccoli sauce.

Whole Wheat Banana Nut Muffins

I just started baking lately and so far my experiments turned out nicely although my first try with banana nut bread was a bit on the dry side and the flavor wasn't right. So, I tried it again with my own measurements and it was a famiyl hit! Before I forget, I wanted to write it down. So here it goes:

Ingredients:
1. Whole wheat flour -2 c
2. Bananas -3 medium, mashed well
3. Walnuts - 1/3 c
4. Flax seeds - 2tbsp
5. Salt - 1/2 tsp
6. Baking powder - 2 tsps
7. Eggs - 2
8. 2% Milk - 1 c
9. 1/3 c oil
10. Brown sugar - 1/3 c packed.
11 Vanilla extract - 1tsp

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Bring Eggs to room temperature and beat it well with a whisk.
3. Whisk in oil, Milk, Brown sugar and mashed bananas. I ran out of brown sugar so I opted for 2tbsp of regular sugar and rest honey to make up 1/3c.
4. Grind Walnuts and roasted flax seeds in a food processer until it becomes a coarse meal. Instead you can also opt for ground flax seeds and chopped walnuts. The reason I do this is because my kid doesn't like nuts in her food. So, I try to grind it to a meal so she doesn't even know its in there.
5. Add this meal to egg mixture and whisk well.
6. Sift flour, baking powder, salt together.
7. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, incorporate the dry ingredients into the egg mixture and fold it well.
8. Oil spray the muffin tray. Spoon in the batter and bake for about 18-19 min or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Enjoy it as a wholsome breakfast with a cup of Chai or a mid-afternoon snack!

Baingan Ka Bhartha

I used to live with a couple from bombay. The Girl was quite organized and it always amazed me how well she maintains a clean home between a full time job, a CPA degree( which she says is pretty demanding) and Socializing(which she never misses...).
Her fridge was never cluttered. She mangages to pack healthy homemade lunches almost everyday. I've learnt a thing or two from her during my stay. She always makes couple of extra subzis and Dal during the weekend and freezes a portion of it for a lazy-night. And during the week she makes simple side dishes like Baingan ka bhartha, Aloo bhindi and cabbage aloo.
This recipe is a slight variation from hers and a quick 'n easy one done under 40 min.

Ingredients:
1. Eggplant - 1 medium.
2. Onion - 1 medium, diced
3. Tomato - 1 medium diced
4. Ginger - 1" inch, minced
5. Garlic - 3-4 pods, minced
6. Cardomon - 1
7. Cloves - 4-5
8. Cinnamon - 1/2" piece
9. Bay leaf - 2 ( if big, 1 is sufficient )
10. fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp
11. cumin powder - 1/2-1 tsp
12. Chili powder - 1/2 tsp
13. Coriander powder - 3 tsp
14. Green chilies - 2, rough chop ( optional)
15. Coriander leaves for garnish
16. 5tbsp oil

Method:
1. Poke holes in the eggplant, rub it with oil and microwave it for about 15 min. Turn it every 5 min. Once done let it stand in the microwave for about 10 min.
2. While eggplant is cooking, heat 3tbsp oil is a heavy bottomed pan and add whole garam masala ( cloves+cardomom+cinnamon+bay leaf+fennel). Let it fry for less than a min.
3. Add ginger and garlic and saute for about a min. It gives out nice aroma.
4. Now add diced onion and add 1/2 tsp salt. (Salt helps onion sweat sooner). Let it cook for about 4 min on a med flame or until it turns a translucent. Add chilies. Skip the chilies for kids.
5. Now add chili and coriander powder and give it a good stir.
6. Throw in diced tomatoes, add salt and cover to cook for about 10 min. Give it a good stir. cook uncovered for another 5 min.
7. Eggplant will be ready by this time. Remove the thin dark skin. Mash the pulp roughly. Add it to the pan and stir well.
8. Adjust salt. Add 2 tbsp oil ( as a healthy variation: add 1/2 c water) and let it cook for 5 more min and garnish with coriander leaves when hot.

Serve it with buttered rotis.

Enjoy!

Aloo Gobi

Ingredients:
1. Cauliflower florets - 2 cups, soak it in salted warm water for about 10 min and drain well.
2. Onion - 1 small, diced
3. Potatoes - 4 small, peeled and med diced.
4. Tomatoes - 2 small, diced
5. Garlic - 4-5 pods, minced
6. Ginger - 1" inch, minced
7. Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp
8. Chili powder - 1/2 tsp
9. Coriander powder - 1 tsp
10. Garam masala - 1 tsp.
11. Turmeric - 1/2 tsp.
12. Peas - 1 c

Method:
1. Heat oil in a big pan, add minced garlic and ginger and let it infuse oil for about a min.
2. Add onions and saute for about 3-5 min or until it turns brown.
3. Add diced potatoes and saute for about 5 min.
4. Now add turmeric, chili powder, cumin powder, Coriander powder and garam masala. Saute for about 2-3 min in a very low flame( dry masala burns quickly) and nice aroma fills the air.
5. Now add the florets and stir to make sure the masala coats each floret well.
6. Stir in diced tomatoes.
7. Add about 1/2 c water. (Skip water if you haven't drained the florets well.) Cover and cook for about 10-15 min on a med flame. Do not stir often, as the florets break easily once cooked.
8. Add frozen peas. Stir to incorporate it well in the dish. Again cover and cook for 10 more min.
9. At this point add salt. The vegetables give out water on its own, so let it finish cooking uncovered for about 10 min for a dry dish. Stir gently(only to make sure it doesn't burn on the bottom).

Serve it with warm rotis or flavored rice. This dish tastes even better the next day. So, be sure to make a big batch. :-)

Enjoy!