- Very healthy recipes from the kitchen to the table in minutes

This is a very popular soup usually made with potatoes and leaks. Whenever I have a bunch of leaks from the farmers market, I do think of ...

Potato Soup in 15 Minutes

This is a very popular soup usually made with potatoes and leaks. Whenever I have a bunch of leaks from the farmers market, I do think of making this soup for my daughter. Potato Soup is my daughter's favorite soup. She talks about it the whole day to everyone she sees and looks forward to dinner. Sometimes, I do not particularly plan on making it but, I make it because she pleads for some potato soup. Today, it had been pouring cats and dogs and from the minute she got into the car she has been talking about warm potato soup for dinner. So voila that is what we had for dinner.

I sometimes make it with  just onions or half leeks half onions or just leeks. It all depends on what I have in my kitchen. As far as the potato goes, I use whatever I have. I have also made it with vegetable broth and without it. Vegetable broth definitely adds more flavor to the soup. So, if you are not prepared but have potatoes, onions and milk you can still make it taste good.



Gadgets:

Pressure Cooker or Heavy Bottom Pan
Cutting Board
Knife
Measuring Cup
Spatula
Handheld Blender


Ingredients:

Potato  ( skin pealed) - 5
Onion or Leek or 1/2 of both - 2 1/2 cups
Garlic - 1 pod
Salt
Fresh Cracked Pepper
Butter - 1 tbsp
Milk - 2 cups ( 2%)
Water - 2 cups
Vegetable Broth - 1 cup
Note: If you do not have veggie broth substitute with water.

Preparation:
1. Peal and cut potatoes into cubes and rinse it under water. Cut onions or leeks or a combination of both uniformly.
2. Heat the pan or pressure cooker on medium high with some butter.Allow the butter to melt then add the onions, leeks, garlic, salt and cook until they turn soft.

3. Add potatoes, water and veggie broth and pressure cook it. If using the pan cover and cook until the potatoes are well done. Allow to cool then blend with an handheld blender until smooth.
4. Turn the heat to medium and add milk pepper and allow it to come to a boil and serve it hot with bread or quinoa or rice or paratha or naan or crackers.

11 Comments:

A few weeks ago an anonymous person requested I post something with broccoli as the main ingredient. I found some very good quality tender...

Broccoli With Garlic And Tomatoes In 15 Minutes For Mrs. Anonymous

A few weeks ago an anonymous person requested I post something with broccoli as the main ingredient. I found some very good quality tender broccoli from the farmers market. I tried to use the long stock and cut them uniform and long which helped in cooking faster and the texture was perfect. I cooked it well by request and my daughter and nephew gobbled it all up. It had a lot of flavor and will go perfect with any kind of food. I am sure Mrs. Anonymous will not be disappointed with this recipe. Please do get back to me with your comments. Looking forward to hearing from you Mrs. A.



Gadgets:

Heavy bottom Wok
Saucepan
Measuring Pan and Spoons
Cutting Board
Knife

Ingredients:

Broccoli - 2 cups
Olive Oil - 1 tbsp
Fresh Cracked Pepper - as per taste
Garlic Powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt
Marinara Sauce - 1/4 cup
Water - 4 cups


Preparation:

1. Boil water in the saucepan until it reaches a rolling boil. Heat the wok to medium heat.

2. Add the uniformly cut broccoli to the boil water and turn out the heat and drain the water after a minute.

3. Increase the heat of the wok to high. Add oil and broccoli and toss.

4. Add salt, pepper, garlic and toss. Cover and cook on medium heat for a few minutes, making sure to toss often.

5. Once the broccoli feels cooked, add marinara sauce , mix and cook covered for a few more minutes. Serve hot with any kind of food.














8 Comments:

The most popular dip among my nieces and nephews : Guacamole. Every time they get together this is the most requested dip. I happened to h...

Chunky Guacamole in 5 Minutes

The most popular dip among my nieces and nephews : Guacamole. Every time they get together this is the most requested dip. I happened to have a whole bag of avocados in my fridge that needed immediate attention. Since the school was out due to MLK's birthday, I was requested to make the dip for snack this afternoon. I keep varying the ingredients, but here is a tried and tested chunky style guaco that I make often. 



Gadgets:

Cutting Board
Knife
Mixing Bowl
Measuring Spoons
Spoon
Fork



Ingredients:

Avocado - 2
Garlic- 2 cloves
Salt- as per taste
Lemon Juice- 2 tsp
Cilantro- 2 tbsp chopped 
Pepper - as per taste
Jalapeno- 1 ( with no seeds) or  3 sliced jalapeño soaked in vinegar

Preparation:


1.  Mince the garlic with some salt until the garlic almost gets to be a paste.


2. Pass the knife along the length of the avocado. Open the avocado into two halves and remove the seed.







3. Cut the avocado into big chucks and add to the bowl with 2 tsp lemon and coat the avocado chunks in the juice. This helps to keep the color and stop avocado from getting oxidized.






4. Add the garlic paste to the avocado along with some freshly grated pepper, jalapeño's and finely chopped cilantro.


5. Using the fork roughly  mix the avocado. Taste to see if the salt and garlic are well mixed.


6. Serve with chips, use with in a burrito.

4 Comments:

Happy Pongal! Pongal is a very special celebration for me since childhood. It was special because it used to be a three day hol...

Chakara Pongal ( Dairy Version)

Happy Pongal!




Pongal is a very special celebration for me since childhood. It was special because it used to be a three day holiday and the weather would start to warm up. Everywhere we went, one would see homes all cleaned up and decorated with beautiful kolams. The joy of eating warm pongal off the stove was very comforting indeed. I remember the afternoons when we used to sit down and enjoy chewing on sugar cane. Among all that the television was grand those three days with a zillion shows and movies to enjoy. It was such a traditional festival for the people of Tamil Nadu. Today, I wish you all a very happy pongal and love to share a recipe that I made this morning. Enjoy!



Gadgets:

Pressure Cooker 
Measuring Cups and Spoons
Heavy Bottom Pan
Grater
Bowl to cook the rice.


Ingredients:

Rice (Long Grain Rice) - 1 cup  ( usually new rice is used)
Moong Dal - 1/3rd cup
Channa Dal - 2 tbsp
Milk - 2 cups
Water - 4 cups plus 1 cup for the pressure cooker
Jaggery - 2 cups 
Water - Enough to cover the jaggery
Nutmeg - 1/4th tsp grated
Cashew Nuts - 1/4 cups broken pieces
Roasted Sliced Almonds - 1/4 cup ( From Trader Joe's )
Raisins - 1/4 cup
Ghee - 2 tbsps
Cardamon - 6 pods powdered
Saffron - a pinch
Salt- a pinch




Preparation:

1. Heat the pressure cooker with 1 cup of water.

2. In a wok dry roast the dals separately and add to a vessel.

3. Wash the rice with water and add the roasted dal to it.

4. Add 2 cups of milk and 3 cups of water and pressure cook to 1 whistle on high heat and 2 whistles on low heat.

5. Heat the jaggery and cover it with water just enough to cover it.

6. Once the pressure is realized heat the heavy bottom pan with ghee. Add the nuts and raisins and allow it to get lightly toasted. Add grated nutmeg and add 1 cup of water to stop the nuts from getting burnt.

7. Add the pressure cooked dal and rice to the wok and mix well. Add the melted jaggery and allow to cook on low heat. Add a pinch of salt.

8. Make sure the pongal is not thick but is loose because the pongal will thicken when it starts to cool.

9. Add the powdered cardamon and jaggery and serve hot.

5 Comments:

Every time I make kootu (which I make most often), I usually follow the simple recipe and I substitute it with different veggies. This eve...

Kootu Podi/ Kootu Powder

Every time I make kootu (which I make most often), I usually follow the simple recipe and I substitute it with different veggies. This evening, I wanted to try Mrs. Saraswathi Viswanthan's recipe and try adding a powder to the kootu mix. I like it because, it not only acts as a thickening agent but also gives a texture to the kootu which I like. This is a powder that can be prepared and stored in a bottle. When needed this podi can be added to the kootu in the end. Sometimes, its nice to taste something different. Next time you are in the mood to make some kootu try adding this podia/powder in the end.



Gadgets:

Wok
Spatula
Measuring Cups and Spoons
Blender

Ingredients:

Udad Dal - 1 cup
Channa Dal - 3/4 cup
Black Pepper - 2 tbsp ( add this ingredient as per your taste)
Red Dry Chillies - 2
Cumin Seeds - 2 tbsp
Oil - 1 tsp



Preparation:

1. Heat the wok with some oil. Roast all the ingredients, allow to cool and coarsely powder, then store in a bottle.


2 Comments:

Cabbage is a common vegetable found in every country. It is very easy to cook and it also gets done very fast. It is delicious when well c...

Cabbage Curry/ Poriyal/ Salad in 10 minutes

Cabbage is a common vegetable found in every country. It is very easy to cook and it also gets done very fast. It is delicious when well cooked and can smell awful and slushy when over cooked. My Amma and my Padhu chithi make it very well.They had a different approach to making them delicious. Padhu Chithi prepared the curry using a pressure cooker and my Amma used the kadai. Over the years I have adapted my own version and I thought it would be great to blog about it. I think cabbage poriyal can easily be passed as a salad with any kind of food especially if they are rice based. One can also improvise by adding udad dal, peas etc.



Gadgets:

Heavy Bottom Wok
Spatula
Measuring spoons
Cutting Board
Knife
Food Processor ( Helps to uniformly shred cabbage)

Ingredients:

Cabbage - 1 whole finely shredded ( please cut them or shred them uniformly, makes all the difference when cooking washed and drained well)
Oil - 1 tsp
Ghee - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Chilies - ( green or red whichever you may prefer) - 1
Cilantro - 2 tbsps minced
Curry Leaves - a few
Coconut - 3 tbsps ( optional)
Peas (optional)
Salt

Preparation:

1. Heat the heavy bottom wok on high heat. Add oil, ghee, mustard seeds. Allow the mustard seeds to pop and then add chilies and curry leaves. Add cabbage.

2. Mix well and allow the seasoning to coat the cabbage. Allow it to cook well before adding salt. Water will start to ooze when salt is added. Keep mixing the cabbage until the water evaporates. All this will happen in 4 minutes.

3. Garnish with cilantro,curry leaves and coconut and serve it hot.

5 Comments:

This weekend was Thiruvathirai Kali and I always enjoy making the kali ( a sweet rice dish made with jaggery) and Thalatha kozambu that g...

Thiruvathirai Kali For Nombu In 25 Minutes

This weekend was Thiruvathirai Kali and I always enjoy making the kali ( a sweet rice dish made with jaggery) and Thalatha kozambu that goes with it. I do not know who came up with that combination, but I enjoy it and so does my husband. We look forward to making it every year and enjoy it. It is very simple to prepare and can be made anytime. It resembles a sweet upma. Here is the kali that I enjoyed yesterday. 





Gadgets:

Heavy Bottom Vessel/ Wok
Spatula
Blender
Measuring cups
Saucepan


Ingredients:

Long Grain Rice  - 1 cup
Water - 3 1/2 cups for cooking rice and 1 cup for melting jaggery
Jaggery  - 1 pound
Ghee - a few tbsp
Cashew Nuts - 15
Sliced Almonds - 1/2 cup
Raisins - 1/2 cup
Cardamon - 6 pods
Coconut - 1/4 cup grated


Preparation:

1. In a heavy bottom skillet dry roast the rice until it turns white.

2. Allow it to cook and using the blender make a coarse rice mixture ( one the resembles couscous)

3. Boil 3 1/2 water and once it comes to a rolling boil add a pinch of salt and add the broken rice. Allow it  to boil and then reduce the flame and cooked covered while mixing it a couple of time. The rice must be completely cooked and be transparent.

4. In the meantime heat the saucepan with jaggery and water. Allow the jaggery to melt and filter to remove stones and residue.

5. Add the jaggery liquid to the cooked broken rice. Mix and allow the jaggery to cook into the rice for 10- 15 minutes on low heat.

6. Add ghee to the seasoning wok. Add the raisins, cashew nuts and almonds. Lightly toast and add to the kali.

7. Garnish with cardamon and mix well and serve it hot with thalatha kozhambu.

5 Comments: