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

It was a crazy day during the championship games. We ended up making a bunch of dips to enjoy the game. It was such a breeze to make it an...

A Video On How To Make Onion Sun Dried Tomato Dip In Under 2 Minutes

It was a crazy day during the championship games. We ended up making a bunch of dips to enjoy the game. It was such a breeze to make it and was done in 2 minutes. I had an idea for the recipe when I was getting ready for the game. Texture I thought was very important in the dip and so the addition of fried onions and sun dried tomatoes were perfect. The spices were all from my sisters pantry. The dip was very popular and I thought it would be great to share this as a video which my nephew put together. If you are getting ready for the super bowl party, this one will be a crowd pleaser.


Gadgets:

Bowl
Measuring Cup and Spoons
Cutting Board
Knife

Ingredients:

Sour Cream - 15 oz
Honey - 1 tsp
Fried Onion - 3/4 cup
Garlic Powder - 1 tsp
Pepper Flakes - 1 tsp
Rosemary - 1/2 tsp
Basil Paste - 1 tsp
Salt
Black Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Sun Dried Tomatoes soaked in oil - 2 tbsp chopped


Preparation:

1. In a bowl add the sour cream, followed by the rest of the ingredients, give it a mix and serve it with chips, sweet peppers, crackers.


8 Comments:

My Amma is in town and that means, very sathu ( healthy) food will be served. Amma loves anything that is good for health. She will relish...

Sundakkai Vathal Thogayal or Thuvaiyal/ Dried Turkey Berry Chutney

My Amma is in town and that means, very sathu ( healthy) food will be served. Amma loves anything that is good for health. She will relish it and sometimes, makes one wonder if it is really that good. Last week, I got into the frame of enjoying sundakkai vathal with curd rice. Amma kept telling me it was so good for the body. As I was relishing the salty sundaika balls, I kept thinking that it would taste better if it was spicy. So the idea of the thogayal was born. This morning I made the sundakkai thogayal which I think can be enjoyed with plain rice or curd rice. You will not taste the bitterness of the vathal.

Just had it spread on toast for breakfast. Its awesome! 



Gadgets:

Measuring cups and Spoons
Blender
Wok
Spatula


Ingredients:

Sudakkai Vathal ( already fried ) - 1/2 cup
Udad Dhal - 1 1/2 Tbsp
Channa Dhal - 1 1/2 Tbsp
Tamarind - small lemon size
Red Chillies - 3
Black Pepper - 1 1/2 tbsp
Water - Just enough to make a thick paste
No Salt 
Oil - 2 Tbsps
Asafoetida - as big as 2 sundaikka's
Jaggery - 1/4 tsp

Preparation:

1. Heat the oil in the wok. Add asafetida and fry it. Add udad and channa dhal, red chillies, pepper and roast it until it is golden brown. 

2. Add this to the blender along with the already fried sundakkai vathal, Jaggery and tamarind.

3. Blend all of this dry first. Then add some water to make it into a thick chutney or paste.

4. Transfer into a glass container and store them in the fridge and enjoy with hot rice or curd rice.

11 Comments:

Every Friday, this is what we make at home. Salsa! as a part of junk night. My family and I enjoy the salsa from the farmers market an...

A Video Of How To Make Tomato Salsa In A Food Processor



Every Friday, this is what we make at home. Salsa! as a part of junk night. My family and I enjoy the salsa from the farmers market and we secretly want to recreate the flavors and taste, like the farmers wife. In our various experiments we liked using the food processor to make the salsa to get the perfect texture. My nephew wanted to shoot his video of the salsa making process and we made our second video this weekend. Sometimes, it is hard to do video blogging because, by the time the salsa is prepared, there are a zillion people trying to taste it and we had to shoo everyone away to click some photos. It was a lot of fun working with my nephew who is full of ideas.


Gadgets:

Cutting Board
Knife
Food Processor
Measuring cups and spoons

Ingredients:

Cherry Tomato -1 tub
Garlic - 4 pods
White Onions - 1/2 medium
Jalapeno and Serrano Chillies - 1 each
Honey - 1 tsp
Salt
Cilantro - 1/4 of a bunch with stock ( adjust this if you are not fond of cilantro)
Lemon Juice - 1 tsp

Preparation:

1. In a food processor add tomatoes, chillies, garlic and give it a few buzz's in the food processor.

2. Add the onions, salt, cilantro, ( I like to add the stock of the cilantro because it gives a lot of flavor and my family loves cilantro)  honey( smear the tsp with some oil before adding honey, it will come off clean), lemon juice and give it a buzz.

3. Serve with chips.



9 Comments:

In the south, we have traditions for each family to follow in the tamil month of Thai and Adai. Each family, on one of the four Friday...

Maa Vilakku


In the south, we have traditions for each family to follow in the tamil month of Thai and Adai. Each family, on one of the four Fridays of the month (Thai) or ( Adai) will light a  lamp made with flour and  ghee to their family god and goddesses. Later the flour is mixed with the ghee, coconut  and made into ladoos, to be distributed to family and friends. This is popularly known as Maa (flour) Vilakku ( lamp).  To keep up with the traditions, I offered maa vilakku on Friday as it was Thai ( Jan 15th - Feb 15th)  Velli ( Friday).



Gadgets:

Plate
Measuring Cup and spoons
Wick
Matchbox
Bowl


Ingredients:

Makes 12 portions

Rice Flour - 1 cup
Powdered Jaggery or Brown Sugar - 1 cup ( makes it very sweet)
Cardamom Pods - 5 ( powdered)
Ghee - 1/4 cup melted
Fresh Coconut - 3 tbsps


Preparation:

1. Measure the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix well and make 2 equal heals of the dry mix on the plate.

2. Make a small well in the center  of each heap with the fore finger.

3. Place the cotton wick and cover the well with melted ghee. Light the lamp and add ghee as required for the lamp to keep burning for some time.




4. Once the lamp put itself out. Remove the blackened wick and mix the ghee that is soaked in the flour along with the coconut.
Make a stiff dough and make into ladoos.


6 Comments:

I am very excited to post my first you tube video, that my little nephew made for me last year. He is very passionate about making mov...

A Video Of How To Make Cauliflower Ragu For Pasta?



I am very excited to post my first you tube video, that my little nephew made for me last year. He is very passionate about making movies and you can find him with his little camera walking around the house like a director/ camera man making his movies. For months we have discussed about making food videos for my blog and at last we got a chance to make one. This is a recipe that I found in Mario Batali's book that we made for my sister's birthday. By using gluten free pasta, we made this allergy free. It was a big hit and what I liked about this recipe is that we could use regular veggies in pasta preparation. This allows our kids to eat pasta and veggies. Thank you Mario! 



Ingredients:

Yellow Cauliflower - an whole one
Butter - 4 tbsp
Onions - 1 Medium 
Garlic - 3 cloves
Crushed Peppers - 1 tsp
Water - 1 cup 
Pasta Water - 1 cup or more to make a sauce
Salt

12 Comments:

The chutney that is super popular in our family is the almond chutney. My sister Sowmya, had asked me to try it some months ago, and at la...

Almond/ Badham Chutney

The chutney that is super popular in our family is the almond chutney. My sister Sowmya, had asked me to try it some months ago, and at last I decided to try the few minute wonder chutney. It was so perfect with any tiffin types ( upma, idli, dosai, adai etc) and has now become a staple in my household.   Takes less than 5 minutes for me to prepare and it totally replaces coconut chutney. In fact, I start to grind the chutney after I place the idli or upma on the plate. Truly, a few minute wonder that I enjoy these days. 


Gadgets:

Blender
Measuring Cup

Ingredients:

Almonds with skin - 1 cup
Green Chillies - 1 or 2
Garlic - a pinch
Salt
Warm Water - 1/2 cup


Preparation:

1. Place all the ingredients in the blender and blend into a thick chutney.

2. Check for salt and serve it with idli,

15 Comments:

I had some pomegranates sitting on my kitchen shelf and I finally got around to cutting them open. What I found was ruby like seeds inside...

Pomegranate Raita

I had some pomegranates sitting on my kitchen shelf and I finally got around to cutting them open. What I found was ruby like seeds inside it. They tasted very sweet and looked very red.  I thought of adding it to yogurt and serve it as a raita for lunch. The sweet tart taste from the pomegranate along with the yogurt and salt creates a very interesting texture and taste. Next time you want to try a new raita, try this one for sure.


Gadgets:

Cutting Board
Knife
Bowl
Measuring Cup and Spoon

Ingredients:

Pomegranate Arils - 1 cup
Yogurt - 1 1/2 cups
Salt
Cilantro - 1 tsp 


Preparation:

1. Mix the yogurt in a bowl with some salt. Add the promogranate into it and mix well and serve.

11 Comments:

Since we had family visiting us over the holidays, we decided to make something special for lunch. There was a great demand for paneer bas...

How To Make Three Quarts Of Butter Paneer Masala

Since we had family visiting us over the holidays, we decided to make something special for lunch. There was a great demand for paneer based side dish and so we made butter paneer masala. Most of the time, I make nut free side dishes as there is always allergy problems among people these days. But, this time I decided to indulge in nuts and recreate the side dish that most people love. Some months ago I had bookmarked  Chef Harpal Singh's recipe. It resulted in a resturant style paneer butter masala for sure. The three quarts of silky, rich paneer butter masala soon disappeared and was a big hit.


Gadgets:

Stock Pot
Spatula
Cutting Board
Knife
Measuring Cup and Spoon
Blender


Ingredients:

Ripe Tomatoes - 1 box of grape wine from Costco ( about 13-15 tomatoes) cut into chunks
Paneer - 2 Pack from Costco
Red Onion - 3 medium cut into chunks
Salt
Garlic - 1 tbsp paste
Ginger - 1 tbsp paste
Green Cardamom - 4 pods powdered
Kashmiri Chilli Powder - 1/2 - 1 tsp
Fenugreek Leaves - 1 tbsp lightly warmed in a pan and powdered
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Cashew Nut - 1/2 cup
Butter - 4 tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp plus 2 tbsp
Fresh Cream - 1/2 cup


Preparation:

1. On high flame cook tomatoes and onions.

2. Add 1/2 cup of cashew nuts and cook until they get soft.

3. Make a smooth puree of the onion tomato cashew mix. Strain the puree and set them aside.

4. Add 4 tbsp of butter and oil into the stock pot. Add ginger and garlic and cook until the raw smell leaves. Add Kashmiri chilli powder and cook it for a few seconds.

5. Add the puree to the mix and simmer for 20 minutes. Add salt cover and cook.

6. Add fenugreek leaves ( kasturi methi), 1/2 tsp cardamom, 1/2 tsp garam masala and paneer cubed. Allow it to cook for a few minutes.

7. Add fresh cream and cook for a few seconds and serve hot with rice or roti.

11 Comments: