Dum aloo (baby potatoes) with roasted peanuts.

There are different ways to cook baby potatoes, we can make potato roast, chettinad style, or make starters out of it. Here I am sharing with you a recipe I developed. It's bit time consuming but worth trying.

Dum aloo with peanut gravy

1/2 kg baby potatoes

A handful of peanuts

5 red dry chilies (I have used two for spiciness 3 for colour)

1 tsp white sesame seeds

1/4 tsp saunf

2 to 3 cloves

2 green cardamom

1/2 inch cinnamon stick

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp garam masala

Salt as required

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 onion chopped

2 tsp ghee

1/2 tsp jeera

Tips

I have first cooked the potatoes and halved them.

Method

* Wash and pressure cook baby potatoes by adding 3 cups of water,  for 2 to 3 whistles in medium flame. Open and drain water, cut baby potatoes into halves, keep aside.

* Dry roast peanuts, white til, red chilies, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, saunf, curry leaves, cloves and green cardamom.

* Cool to room temperature and  make a coarse powder.

* I need a pressure pan pour ghee,jeera. Let jeera splutter. Add chopped onion and saute. Add chopped potatoes, mix in, add turmeric,salt, garam masala and peanut powder. Add two cups of water. Bring to boil. The gravy will start thickening. Garnish with coriander leaves.

*Serve hot with phulkas.

Thai rice noodles with paneer and mushrooms

A healthy, quick noodle soup for Aru. Something easy to make and provides enough nutrition.

Thai rice noodles with paneer and mushrooms

100 grams paneer

1 packet mushrooms (washed and finely chopped)

A few pieces of rice noodles (the rolled ones)

1 onion

1 tomato

1 tablespoon palak

1/4 tsp fresh oregano chopped

1/4 tsp fresh Thai basil chopped

2 lemon grass leaves broken into 4 inch pieces

1/4 beetroot leaves

1 cup water

1/2 tsp soy sauce (optional)

1/2 tsp crushed pepper

Tips

I have plucked fresh leaves from garden. Make sure you add any of the greens to this soup, it taste good.

I used very less quantity of rice noodles.

Method

* Wash and chop onion, tomato, mushrooms into very thin slices.

*Cut paneer into small pieces.

*Wash and chop greens like palak.

*Chop all other ingredients like beetroot leaves, oregano,basil,lemon grass leaves.

*Pour a little oil cook onion and tomato,add mushrooms and paneer. Cook for a while, by this time mushrooms will leave water, add noodles and mix in.add crushed pepper.

*Add a cup of water and all the greens and herbs. Cook for about 5 minutes. 

*Make sure the noodles is well cooked. Adjust salt.

*You can add soy sauce/ chili sauce if you like.

*Serves two people.

*Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot.

Bread and palak fritters

Making an evening snack for children, you have to keep it mind many things, their liking, and whether its appealing to their eyes, crunchy. Well, I thought of making bread pakoda for Aru, making her eat everyday different cuisines has become a habit now. Since she enjoy raw salads and fruits, rest I have to work with carbohydrates. Which is the toughest part of being a mother. 

So here you go recipe for bread and palak pakoda(fritters)

Bread and Palak pakoda

Ingredients


4 slices of bread

1 onion chopped

a small piece ginger grated

A small bunch of palak (You can use methi also)

1 tsp coriander leaves

1 tsp fresh oregano leaves

1/2 tsp garam masala

1/4 cup besan

salt as required

1/4 tsp ajwain

1/4 tsp kalonji

Tips

I have used whole wheat bread.

Make sure you add very less water in the batter.

Method

*In a large bowl mix in all ingredients, add less water, crumble bread. Make a thick coarse pakoda batter.

*Keep oil for frying once its medium hot, take small portions of pakoda batter, make small patties and deep fry till golden brown.

* One both sides are crispy and golden brown, remove to kitchen napkin. Let it absorb excess oil.

*Serve hot with masala chai.

Paneer and mixed vegetables salad

Summer afternoon lunch with vegetables and paneer. It's quite filling, crunchy and delicious.

Paneer salad with vegetables

Ingredients

1 cucumber

1 carrot

1 capsicum

1 raw green tomato

1 ripe red tomato

1/2 onion thinly sliced

100 grams fresh paneer cubed

2 tablespoon palak roughly chopped

1 tsp coriander leaves choocho

1/2 tsp garam masala

1/4 tsp jeera powder

1/2 lemon extract

Salt as required

1/4 tsp hand crushed black pepper

Tips

Use fresh Paneer for best results, you can substitute it with tofu.

# serve immediately after making this salad for crunchy vegetables and soft melt in your mouth paneer.

Method

* Wash and thinly slice all vegetables.

* Peel onion and slice.

* Extract lemon juice

* In a small pan pour olive oil add paneer cubes, palak and green chilies. Saute for a while add garam masala,jeera powder and salt. Cook until paneer turn into light golden brown.

* In a large bowl arrange chopped vegetables onion,tomatoes, carrot, capsicum, cucumber. Add  lemon juice and crushed pepper.

* Gently place slightly roasted paneer, palak and coriander. Add little salt and crushed pepper. Mix in. Enjoy salad. It's quick to make.

* This salad is very filling. The above serves 1 person.

*Do try, share and comment.

Palak fritters

Healthy crunchy fritters(Pakodi) are my family's favorite evening snack. I have added a few palak, red amaranth, onion shoots, oregano leaves and onion along with besan as the main ingredient.

Palak fritters(Pakodi)

Ingredients

1 cup besan

1 tsp red chili powder

1/2 tsp hing

salt as required

1/2 tsp Kalonji

1/2 tsp ajwain

1 cup chopped palak

1/2 chopped red amaranth leaves

2 tsp chopped green onion shoots

1 tsp chopped coriander leaves

1/2 tsp curry leaves

1 onion chopped

5 garlic pods chopped

5 shallots chopped

Tips

I have used greens to make the fritters more nutritious.

Method

* In a bowl add all the ingredients, add very less water, make a coarse dough. 

* Keep oil for frying.Once its medium hot, take small portions from the prepared fritter batter and make into desired shaped fritters, deep fry.

* Once first batch of fritters are done, remove it in kitchen napkin. Let it absorb excess oil. Serve with masala chai.

Aapam with kadala curry, potato stew and coconut milk

Appam is a delicious breakfast served with potato stew, coconut milk, egg roast/gravy, kadala curry(Chana)

Today I have made chana  for Appam, the batter should be of pouring consistency and fermentation of the batter are the most important steps in making good Appam. 

Aapam with potato stew

A tasty, healthy breakfast when you have time in hand. Aapam with potato stew is a traditional Kerala breakfast.

It requires skill, patience and time to make it for breakfast. I usually start making aapam little earlier than usual breakfast time.

Aapam

Ingredients:

Raw /basmati rice - 3 cups

Boiled rice 1 cup

Methi 1teaspoon

Cooked left over red rice 1 cup

coconut - 1 cup ( grated, optional)

yeast - 1 tea spoon

salt - as required

Tips

*Instead of adding fresh coconut you can add coconut milk and then adjust the quantity of water while grinding the batter.

* I have not added coconut or coconut milk as a variation. But made stew in coconut milk.

Method

*Wash and soak the raw rice, boiled rice and methi seeds together in water for about 5 hours. Drain water and grind by adding water to a smooth paste. (Adding grated coconut is optional,I have skipped that step)

*Take a ladleful of rice batter from the grinder, add water, cook to kanji consistency by stirring. Once it reaches room temperature add to the already prepared rice batter.(you can skip this procedure if you are adding cooked rice while grinding) 

*Add the sugar(optional) and salt. Mix the batter well, add dry yeast  to the rice mixture.

* The batter should be of pouring consistency, cover it and keep
aside for 7  hours for fermentation.

*Heat an appam kadai and grease
It lightly with oil. Pour a ladleful
of prepared batter and rotate the
kadai slowly.

*Make sure the batter is spread as
shown in the video.

*You will notice a thin layer forms on the side of the kadai while a little batter settles down in the middle of the aapam.

*Close it with lid and allow to cook for some time. Carefully
remove the aapam from kadai.

* Serve hot with stew. 

Variation

2 cups boiled rice

1/2 cup whole urad dal

2 tsp methi seeds

1/2 cup sooji rava

Method

All ingredients soaked together for about 5 hours. Sooji rava to be added while grinding. Leave the batter for fermentation about 7 hours.  Half an hour before making breakfast add 1/2 tsp dry yeast. Mix well and make appams.

Follow the above procedure in making fluffy  appams.

Potato stew

Ingredients

4 Potatoes

1 Onion

2 green chilies

A small piece ginger

A few curry leaves

1 cup coconut milk

salt - for taste

1 teaspoon coconut oil

A small cinnamon stick

2 cloves

1 Bay leaf

Method

*Wash and cut the potatoes into two pieces. Pressure cook for 3 whistles. Drain the water and peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes.

* Cut the onion, slit green chillies and thinly slice the ginger. Keep aside.

*Heat oil in a kadai and add one cinnamon stick, clove, ginger,green chilli, salt, curry leaves and  onion.

*Fry till the onion becomes translucent. Now add potatoes and mix well.

*Add the coconut milk.  Remember to reduce the heat to low flame, proceed to cook for 2-3 minutes.

* Remove from stove and serve hot with freshly made aapam.

Summer coolers - Cucumber and strawberries

Summers brings life to many of us, the trees full of bright brilliant flowers, pink, yellow, lavender, violet, white and cherry blossoms falling as you walk the streets of Bangalore.

To beat the heat we end up drinking water, tender coconut water and freshly home made smoothies.

Here is one such smoothie with a twist

Cucumber and strawberries smoothie

Ingredients

5 strawberries

1 cucumber

1 cup yogurt/curd

1 green chili

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup water

5 ice cubes

Tips

Use fresh strawberries and cucumber for better results

Drink the smoothie immediately after making. Or make it just before serving.

Method

* Chop cucumber and slit strawberries. I have not peeled the cucumbers.

* Slit green chili.

* In a mixer/ blender add cucumber, strawberries, yogurt, water, ice cubes and salt. Blend into a smooth smoothie. 

* Serve in glass jars.