Foodie Workz

The healthier options while cooking is what tempted me to start this blog.  I am always looking for other ways to prepare the ever favorite idlis. Here is one kind....using whole green moong.  Try frying this batter as bondas and the kids are sure to love them!!! 1/2 cup urad dal 1/2 cup green moong 2 cups idli rice 1tsp methi seeds Soak the methi seeds, the dals and the rice separately. overnight.  It is more important that the whole green moong is soaked thoroughly for a longer time.  Drain the water and begin by grinding the methi and the urad dal.  Half way through add the whole green moon w well

With some leftover boiled black eyed peas in my refrigerator, I decided to use in sambar preparation and found it very tasty.  This is a nice change from the masala gravy that I always try with this fast cooking bean.... 1 cup of cooked lobiya 1/3 cup finely chopped onion 1 small tomato chopped 1 green chilli 1 red chilli 1/2 tsp sambar powder 1 flat tsp tamarind paste salt to taste 1/2 tsp sambar powder(fresh) curry leaves coriander leaves 3/4 tsp mustard 1/8 tsp methi seeds Take little oil and when it gets hot splutter the methi seeds followed by mustard.  Add the red chilli, green chilli, curry leaves and hing powder.  Add the onions and saute it for a couple of minutes followed by the tomatoes.  Let this cook for 3-5 minutes.  Add water and bring this to a rolling boil.  Add salt and a spoon of tamarind paste(you can always taste and add it also).  After this has cooked for a minut...

There can be no greater joy of outsourcing the ingredients from your own garden for using in your kitchen.  We started our own karpooravalli or omavalli(tamil names for ajwain) plant from a cutting given to us by my cousin sometime last year just to add to our collection of health benefical plants like tulasi, curry leaves and manathakkali.  Ajwain is more popular in northern India and the seeds are used as seasonings in dal or in the parathas and more so in the snacks.  Who can forget the aromatic taste of these lovely seeds in the very popular "omapodi" in the tamil households. However the leaves in abundance on my plant tempted me to try this dish which I would be making it again and again for sure.  Infact I do not hestitate to add these chopped leaves anytime I make rotis and puris..... /4 tsp methi seeds 1/4 tsp urad dal 2 tsp dhaniya 1 tsp each tuar and chana dal 1/2 tsp cumin seeds 2  long red chillies 15 to 20 black pepper 20 medium s...

Coming back after a long time decided to start on a healthier note with some nutritious twist to the ever preferred idlis... 1 cup jowar 1/2 cup quinoa 1/2 cup whole green moong 1/2 cup idli rice 1/2 cup urad dal 1/4 cup poha 1 tsp fenugreek/methi seeds Start off by soaking the quinoa, whole moong and the jowar.  Basically I soaked these three ingredients double the time that I did for urad dal, rice, poha and methi seeds.  Wash everything thoroughly before starting to grind.  Grind the urad and methi in the idli grinder first till it is smooth and fluffy.  In the meanwhile, grind the quinoa, moong and the jowar individually in the blender jar with very minimal water.  You do not want to add too much water which might end up in a runny batter.  Add the rice to this and let it grind to a coarse consistency.  Now add all the other ingredients and also the ground poha to the above batter and let the grinder run till it is mixed t...

A simple yet a tasty and a nutritious preparation made with the simplest of the ingredients 1/4 cup Red Quinoa 1/4 cup Millet 1/3 cup Chopped onion 1/2 cup finely chopped beetroot 1/2 cup frozen green peas 2 green chilies 1 inch piece of ginger 2 garlic cloves few mint leaves 1 tblsp oil Salt to taste 1/2 to 1 tsp garam masala powder Soak the quinoa and millet together after rinsing them thoroughly.  Take oil, splutter some cumin seeds and add the onions to sauté them for 2 minutes.  Add the ginger, garlic and green chillies which have been crushed to the onions and sauté for another 1/2  a minute.  Add the quinoa and the millet which has been now drained completely and sauté for a minute before adding the vegetables to it.  Add the salt which is about a teaspoon and few mint leaves that have been chopped.  Add water in the ratio of 1:2 which would be 1 cup for the above quantity, garam masala and pressure cook for 5 to 6 whistles....

Celery is one such vegetable which I came to know of only after coming to the US.    Having pretty much used in salads or soups,  my first attempt to include in regular Indian cooking was in the sambar.    In recent times though, I have tried to come up with dishes like Celery Coriander Thokku , Celery and Potato Podimas , and more recently the Celery  Tomato Rice .   Today, I have attempted to camouflage this vegetable in yet another way......   1 cup finely chopped celery 1/2 cup peanuts 1 red chilli 1 tea spoon tamarind paste salt to taste Take a spoon of oil and saute the celery with little salt for 2 minutes. Add the red chillies and the roasted peanuts and saute this again. Add the tamarind paste and little more salt.  Let this mix well.  Grind this to a paste adding little water. Season with mustard seeds

A very simple and common preparation enhanced by these lovely blue berries giving the dish a nice color and flavor... 1/2 cup rawa 1/2 cup sugar little less than 1/2 cup blueberries few broken cashewnuts for garnish 1/8th tsp of elaichi powder 1/4 cup of ghee Roast the rawa in about 2 tsp of ghee till you get the aroma.  In the meanwhile, heat up about 2 cups of water in the microwave.  Slowly add this hot water to the rawa keeping the flame at low.  Turn up the heat and cook the rawa nicely without any lumps.  Once this is done, add the sugar, elaichi powder and half of the ghee.  Let this cook until the sugar is melted completely.  Again, microwave the blueberries quickly to soften them and add this to the rawa cooking in the sugar.  Add the rest of the ghee and cook until it comes together and does not remain sticky to the touch.  Garnish with some cashews roasted in ghee...

Celery was one such vegetable where I was always tempted to add it my grocery cart but was at loss of ideas as to how to use it in the kitchen.   I  used to see that it was a staple in soups American restaurants and served quite often on salad platters in parties.  I have also used the celery for such dishes.   But how many kids would ever go for the celery given its fibrous and stringy texture?  But over the years I have learnt to use it abundantly in my traditional dishes as well.  I have been using it in sambars and oflate used it in these recipes Celery Paratha(to be posted),  Celery Coriander Thokku  and Celery and Peanut Chutney(to be posted). Thus was born the idea of a nice tangy Celery Rice combined with some ground tomatoes.  It can also be made into pulao by including onions and whole garam masala. 3/4 cup finely chopped celery 1 big tomato 1 long green chilli 1 inch ginger piece 1 c...

How about a tasty treat which is relatively guilt free compared to the ones which need lot of  fat and sugar?  This is my second attempt at this,  having made it earlier for my daughter's girl scout event.... Dates 30 nos Milk about 1/2 cup a couple of generous pinches of cardamom powder sugar abt 2 tblsps ghee(not melted) in semi solid state 5 tsp sliced almonds 1/4 cup toasted pista coarsely ground for garnish almond slices for garnish Cook the dates and milk in the pressure cooker.   Once it cools off, remove and grind into a paste. To begin with add a spoon of ghee into the pan and start cooking the paste.  After few minutes of stirring, add the sugar and some  more ghee. Slowly the mixture will begin to change color and also thicken a bit.  At this stage, you can add the coarsely ground roasted almonds and also the cardamom powder.   The mixture is done, once it comes together like a ball and is not sticky to the to...

I decided to prepare this poha for lunch one day for myself as I usually never get to make this.  My kids are not a big fan of the Poha dishes, though this can be a good snack when they get home hungry.  However, as this poha alone would not quite keep me filled up, I decided to add some cooked lobiya to it.   This was quite delicious and enjoyed it thoroughly with some usual seasonings. 1 cup thick poha - washed and soaked in abt 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup of cooked lobiya water drained(I soaked 1/4 cup of lobiya just for this purpose and got a 1/2 cup heaped amount of lobiya -cooked with little salt) 1 tsp mustard seeds 1.5 tsp urad dal hing powder 1 red chilli curry leaves salt to taste 1 tblsp oil grated coconut to taste crushed black pepper to taste Take the oil, splutter the mustard, urad, red chilli, hing and curryleaves, add the poha and salt needed and stir till it combines well.  Add the lobiya, crushed pepper and stir once again....

Podimas is a very well known dish in any typical Tamil Brahmin household.   I decided to try this out differently by adding celery to it.   The addition of celery gave a nice added flavor to the potaotes.  3 medium potatoes 4 long stalks of celery trimmed 2 long green chillies 1/2 tsp mustard 3/4 tsp of urad dal and chana dal ginger small piece  few curry leaves salt to taste lemon juice to taste Boil the potatoes, peel and coarsely crumble them.   Chop the celery into medium size pieces and steam cook them for 2-3 minutes.  Process this in a food processor. Heat up the oil, add the mustard, dals, green chili, ginger and curry leaves and stir the celery first.  Add the potatoes and salt and keep stirring it on medium flame till it combines well with the celery. Squeeze some lemon juice in the end and give a good mix.  

This is yet another attempt at using pumpkin which needless to say goes to my ongoing event "Cooking For Kids" ...... 3-4 oz of cubed squash 8 oz dry penne 6 oz chopped spinach(I prefer the fresh) 1 small onion 3 garlic cloves red pepper flakes as per taste 1 tsp maida 1/2 cup of milk Pasta sauce(store bought) according to taste Salt few pinches while cooking the vegetables Cook the pasta according to the box instructions.  Drain and set aside. Cut the onion into thin 1 inch slices.  Grind the pumpkin, 2 garlic cloves and red pepper flakes adding little water and some oil.  Take 2-3 tblsp of olive oil.  When it is slightly hot add the onion and the remaining garlic clove grated.  Once the onion becomes translucent, add the pumpkin puree and let this fry in the oil till the raw smell goes.  Combine the maida in the milk and add this to the pumpkin which is cooking.  Let this come to a boil and cook for a minute or two ...

I just noticed that the linky tool in  my event posting was missing.  This is because, I had a trial membership taken a month ago which had apparently expired.  If you want to send in any entries please drop off an email at krithikar@gmail.com  with the following details.... Name Recipe Name Recipe URL Blog Name Blog URL Please include a picture along with the email.

This is yet another attempt to try something different with the pumpkin/squash.  I prepared these parathas with some butternut squash one of my favorites in the squash group.  This again goes to my own event "Cooking For Kids - Pumpkin/Squash" started off by  Kalyani . 2 cups flour 1 cup of cubed squash 1/2 handful of cauliflower stalk coriander leaves plus stalk handful 1 tsp coriander powder 1/2 tsp cumin powder 3 big garlic cloves 1 to 2 tsp chopped green chillies 1/4 tsp red chilli powder 1/4 tsp amchur powder 1/4 tsp turmeric 1/4 tsp ajwain seeds salt to taste Process all the vegetables, salt and the spices together.  Leave this aside for few minutes.  Add the flour, a couple of tablespoons of oil and process it further till it comes together like a ball.  There is no need to add water. Divide the dough into equal portions and roll it out into thin circles.  Cook the parathas on both sides without oil on...

Here I am attempting this pulao for the first time.  This is a preparation that I cam up on my own. 4 ounces cubed pumpkin pieces(or butternut squash which is what I used) 1/2 cup each of chopped carrots, peas, capsicum and potato 1 cup basmati rice 4-5 cloves of garlic 2-3 green chillies 1/8tsp red chilli powder(optional) 1.5 inch ginger piece few coriander leaves cumin seeds salt to taste 1 tsp pav bhaji powder( or more according to taste) Puree the pumpkin  with ginger, green chillies, garlic and coriander leaves.  Soak the rice for 1/2 hr and then drain.  Roast the rice in little ghee or oil until you get a nice aroma.  Take a tbsp of oil, splutter the cumin and add the puree.  Let this fry for about 2 minutes.  Add the vegetables, salt and chilli powder and stir this again 2 more minutes.  Add 1and 3/4cups to 2 cups of water and let this come to a boil.  Let it boil for almost five minutes.  Transfer this to...

Most of my friends out here must be aware of the very famous " HLI " event of Kalyani @ Sizzling Tastebuds and I am guest hosting this event for the month of April. The event has been renamed as "Cooking For Kids" .  This is also my first in hosting an event and I must say I am pretty excited about this whole thing.  When the opportunity came up I did not hestitate to take it but at the same I was a little bit skeptical as to what I can come up with for myself because of the theme.  Yes, the theme for this month's event is Squash/Sweet Pumpkin. Pumpkins are squash like fruit that widely range in sizes.  As they both share some botanical classifications, both squash and pumpkins are used interchangeably.  The colour of the pumpkin is derived from the orange pigments in them.  Beta carotenes being one of the main nutrients, these vegetables are rich in Vitamin.  It is no wonder that pumpkin puree forms an important part of...

After having made the  Banana Bread (eggless), I am posting this yet another egg free baked goodie as  my 100th post .  Needless to say all my baked goods are and will be eggless.  I choose to bookmark only those recipes wherein I will be able to skip the eggs.   I was not averse to eggs until about a few years back when I started trying eggless recipes.  My first ever attempt during my non blogging days to bake something eggless was the wonderful Banana Bread which has been posted here on my blog a few days ago and later on an eggless apple cake. Since then I have been hooked on to these eggless treats and encourage my kids also to try out baking in the kitchen without eggs.   Suddenly, when they get the urge to bake something, they just simply use my idea of milk and oil combination where the recipe calls for just one egg.  This ofcourse has been borrowed from here  which also lists out very many other ideas.  I find this easy to ad...

An all time  favorite of the kids as well as adults.  This is a very simple recipe that I heard from my cousin.  Every time I make this bread I just blindly follow this and it is so simple and easy to remember. The recipe my cousin gave me calls for 3 big bananas for 2 cups of flour.  But the bananas I had were small in size and some portion had to be discarded.  Hence, I decided to halve the recipe and it turned out to be really good. 3 small bananas(I lost some and would have effectively used about two and a half or you can use one and a half big ripe bananas) 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour 1/2 cup unbleached flour 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts pinch of salt Mash the bananas in a small bowl.  Add oil and the brown sugar and combine this thoroughly.  Mix all the dry ingredients in a bigger bowl.  Add the banana oil and sugar mixture to the flour a...

This was prepared before I went on a vacation during winter break.  I wanted to clear out most of the vegetables in my refrigerator especially the chayote squash.  I could have prepared a kurma or a kootu but decided to try out a stew kind of dish using almonds instead of coconut milk. 1 medium chayote squash chopped 1 med carrot cubed 1 potato cubed handful of peas 1 onion finely chopped 3/4 tsp cumin seeds 2-3 green chillies 3-4 garlic cloves 1 inch piece ginger 1 tbsp oil 3 tsp sliced almond soaked in little milk 1 tsp coconut salt to taste 1/8 to 1/4 tsp chilli powder Take oil splutter the cumin seeds, 2-3 cloves, 1 inch cinnamon and pinch of elaichi powder, small bay leaf.  Add onions and saute it on med heat for 2 minutes.  Add the grated ginger, garlic and green chillies and saute for a minute.  Add all the vegetables, salt, pinch of turmeri powder and stir for a minute.  Add water so that the vegetables are just covered and pr...

Mention soup and Minestrone soup is what comes to my mind.  There cannot be anybody who does not know or like this soup.  I can confidently say that this tops the list of my kids favorite soups and also pull  up my collar for they like the homemade version better than the ones at restaurant. 1 small carrot 1 small potato 1 handful frozen peas 2 trimmed celery sticks 1/2 of a medium onion 2-3 cloves of garlic 1/2 a can of chick peas 3 small tomatoes 3/4 cup of uncooked pasta any kind 1/2 tsp paprika 1 bay leaf 1 tsp of Italian seasoning 1/2 tsp dried oregano 1/2 tsp each of coriander and cumin powder salt and pepper to taste some butter and 1 tbsp olive oil Heat up the butter and olive oil.  When it is slightly hot add the onions and garlic and saute for half a minute. Add the bay leaf and all the chopped vegetable.  Add little salt and saute these vegetables for a minute.  Add about 4 cups of water or the amount needed to get the...