Thursday, January 30, 2020

Raspberry Smoothie With Chia Seeds | Smoothie Recipe

Raspberry Smoothie, a delicious and easy to make fulfilling smoothie with few ingredients. Smoothies can be made with almost all fruits and any type of milk like full fat, skim milk, coconut milk  and almond milk or even with curd. I personally prefer to make my smoothie with milk if the fruit has little tartness in it and with curd if the fruit is too sweet to balance out the taste. The raspberry that i have used today has little bit of tartness in it, so i used milk here, taste your berries, based on that you can use milk or curd or as per your liking.

Here in today's smoothie i have added some soaked chia seeds to the smoothie. Adding chia seeds to your drink helps to keep you fill for very long time, so you can have this as breakfast smoothie if you plan for earlier lunch. Chia seeds are often known as super food and have many amino acids which the body needs, also the nutritional experts advice to include in the diet. And this is one of many way of me including this super food in my diet other than adding into my honey water or oats bowl. Do give it a try, it's tasty and fulfilling!!!

Raspberry Smoothie With Chia Seed

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 0 minsServes :
Recipe Category: Smoothie | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Raspberry, Smoothie, Chia Seed, Healthy, Breakfast Ideas, Breakfast Smoothie Raspberry Smoothie with chia seeds, a delicious and easy to make fulfilling smoothie.
Ingredients
Raspberry - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Maple syrup/Honey - as needed
Chia seed - 1/2 tsp

Procedure
Take the chia seed in a bowl, add the water(1/4 cup) and set it aside for minimum 20 to 30 mins to bloom or until it becomes all gel like consistency.In a blender/mixie jar add the raspberry, milk & maple syrup and grind into smooth mixture.Pour into the glass and add chia seed into it . Mix it well and topped it with few berries.Tasty, healthy & fulfilling Raspberry smoothie is ready.
Notes:
  • Add more or less of sweet as per the sweet of the berries and your preference.
  • If you're having the habit of eating chia seed daily, then you can soak more chia seed & refrigerate and use as needed base.
  • Soaked chia seed stays well in refrigerator up to a  week.
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Monday, January 27, 2020

Thenga Manga Pattani Sundal | Beach Sundal

Thenga manga pattani sundal / Beach sundal , a healthy snack made from yellow peas, raw mango & coconut. 

It's one of the popular sundal that you can get it on any beach in Tamilnadu. Adding raw mango gives little bit of tanginess to the sundal and with amazing coconut flavor, this sundal tastes heavenly delicious. 

Though i make sundal regularly at home, most of the time, it's simple tempering with bit of grated coconut, this particular version is very rare at our home because of the few extra ingredients it needs. 

Last week, luckily had all the ingredients, so quickly made this sundal for our evening snack and it's totally worth adding those few extra ingredients like raw mango & carrot, it totally enhances the sundal taste and it's hard to stop eating them.

Here in today's recipe, i have used yellow peas just like how it would be available in beach, but you can use the green peas also in this recipe.
In our family, we love to have sundal as tea time snack and it's one of the healthiest back-school snack also. It's full of protein, much needed for growing kids, so try to include sundal varieties in your kids evening snack box if you haven't had that practise already. 

Ok,now  let's check out how to make this delicious beach sundal !!

Thenga Manga Pattani Sundal | Beach Sundal

Preparation Time : 8 hrs | Cooking Time : 15 minsServes :
Recipe Category: Snacks | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Thengai Mangai Pattani Sundal,Pattani Sundal,Thenga Manga Pattani Sundal,Yellow peas Sundal,Peas Sundal,Beach Sundal, Beach Pattani Sundal Thenga manga pattani sundal / Beach sundal , a healthy snack made from yellow peas, raw mango & coconut. It's one of the popular sundal that you can get it on any beach in South India.
Ingredients
Yellow Peas - 1/2 cup
Green Mango - 2 tbsp(thinly sliced)
Carrot (small )- 1/2
Grated Coconut - 3 tbsp
Pearl onion - 2
Green chili - 1 
Coriander leaves - few
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Salt - to taste

Procedure
Soak the peas in water for overnight, in the next morning, discard the soaked water and add into the pressure cooker along with fresh water just enough to cover the peas. Add the required salt for peas.
Cover and pressure cook it for 2 whistles or until it's soft. Cut the carrot & mango into thin slice, onion & green chili into small pieces. 
Heat the pan with oil, add the mustard, let it crackle, then add the onions & curry leaves. saute it in the oil for 20 secs, then add the carrot & mango along with little salt.
Saute till the mango & carrots are soft, add the cooked peas and give a good mix.
Finally add the coconut and chopped coriander leaves and mix it well. 
Tasty & healthy Thengai Manga Pattanai Sundal is ready to serve.

Related : Pachai Pattani/ Green Peas Sundal 

Notes:
  • Since i had soaked the peas overnight, cooked for 2 whistle is enough to get soft cooked peas without being mushy.
  • If you have soaked less hours, then 3-4 whistle of cooking is required.
  • Make sure to add the add the salt while cooking peas itself for even seasoning in the sundal.

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Thursday, January 23, 2020

Wheat Flour Banana Muffins | Banana Muffins | Breakfast Muffins

Banana Muffins, a soft, spongy and delicious breakfast muffins. As i had mentioned before in my chocolate banana bread recipe , bananas are great for baking. It gives great flavor and softness to the baking products. 

Since we love banana flavors a lot, i have been using them in baking a lot lately and these banana muffins are our recent favorite, they are great for breakfast or as mid time snacks. If you do like banana flavor, give this muffins a try!!! 
Here in today's recipe, i have used combination of wheat flour and all purpose flour. Previously, i had baked them with only wheat flour and it turned out tasty but little dense, the light and airy texture was missing!  

So in the next time, i have reduced the wheat flour and added a little all purpose flour, the texture and taste was so amazing. Ever since  i have been baking these muffins with combination of both flours. It's also healthy compared to use all purpose flour alone.  

Coming to food blogging, recently i have started sharing videos on my youtube channel, so far, i like the process of video making. I have heard from many food bloggers( who make videos regularly) that editing video is the most annoying thing to do in the video making process. 

But to be honest, i like the editing process more than the shooting process, obviously it takes lot of time since i'm so new into this, but creating something on your own from the start to end gives such a immense satisfaction, right??

 I'm in that phase now, also learning something totally new is really exciting !!! Do check out  my youtube channel and let me know your feedback, now let's checkout the recipe for banana muffins.


Wheat Flour Banana Muffins

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 60 minsServes :
Recipe Category: Muffins | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Banana Muffins,Breakfast Muffins, Wheat flour banana Muffins, Wheat flour muffins Banana Muffins, a soft, spongy and delicious breakfast muffins.
Ingredients
Wheat flour - 3/4 cup
All purpose flour - 1/4 cup
Banana - 1 
Light Brown Sugar - 1/2 cup
Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda - 3/4 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Egg -1 
Milk - 1/3 cup
Oil - 1 tbsp
Vanilla Extract - 1/2 tsp
Pecans - as needed(optional)

Procedure
Preheat the oven @ 350 F
Peel the banana and add in into the bowl and mash the banana with fork. Then add the sugar into the mashed bananas.
Crack open a egg in to the bowl and then add the vanilla extract & milk. 
Next add the oil and whisk it until all mix together well. To the wet ingredients shift the dry ingredients(wheat flour, all purpose flour, cinnamon powder,baking soda & salt.)
Mix the dry ingredients with wet ingredients without any lumps.
Pour into the cupcake mould and topped it with few nuts(purely optional). Bake it in the preheated oven for 30-35 mins or until the tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Tasty & Spongy Banana Muffins are ready. Let it cool a bit and it's ready to serve.

Related : Banana Chocolate Bread


Notes:

  • Adding nuts on the top is purely optional, you can skip that.
  • Instead of nuts on top, you can top it with sliced banana also.
  • Stay well for 1-3 days in room temperature or put it in ziplock pack or air tight container and store in refrigerator for upto a week.
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Friday, January 17, 2020

Eggless Blueberry Muffins | Breakfast Muffins

Eggless Blueberry muffins, a delicious breakfast muffins made from fresh blueberries. As it's cold here now, it's difficult to eat fresh fruits straight from the refrigerator, so tried to include them in oatmeal bowl, pancakes, baking items and so on. Last week, i had noticed a pack of blueberries siting idle in the refrigerator for a week and remembered this muffins from some hotel's breakfast that i had earlier. Since i didn't grew up eating this kind of home made stuff, for all western recipe i would search online for recipes and for baking, my first go to place is joyofbaking. Her detailed explanation on basic things makes it easier for novice bakers like me. So this recipe is adopted from joyofbaking and it turned out super soft, delicious with mild sweet. More than for breakfast, i would love to have this with evening tea, they are so perfect.
In the original recipe, egg is used. Since i halved the recipe and the recipe calls for only half a egg, i didn't want to waste the other half of the egg left out after used in the recipe, so totally skipped it, instead i have added the milk. I thought that the curd in the recipe itself would yield soft muffins and i was correct, it turned out so good.Now let's check out how to make this delicious blueberry muffins.  

Eggless Blueberry Muffins

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 15 minsMakes : 12 
Recipe Category: Muffins | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Muffins, BlueBerry, Eggless, Breakfast Ideas, Breakfast muffins Eggless Blueberry muffins, a delicious breakfast muffins made from fresh blueberries.It's soft, delicious and has mild sweet!!
Ingredients
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Curd - 1/2 cup
Milk -1/4 cup
Oil - 2 tbsp
Baking soda -1/2 tsp
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - a pinch
Blueberries - 1/3 to 1/2 cup
Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp

Procedure
Preheat the oven @ 350 F
First let's add all the wet ingredients in a bowl. Add curd, milk & oil in a bowl.Next add the vanilla essence & sugar into it and whisk it well until all combined together.In a another bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Then add the blueberries into it and coat each blue berries with flour lightly.Pour the wet mixture into it and mix it all together.In a lined cup cake sheet, add a couple of tbsp of batter in each one and bake it in the preheated oven for 15-20 mins.Remove from the oven and let it cool on the wire rack. Tasty Blueberries muffins are ready.

Notes:

  • Sifting the flour, baking powder & baking soda ensures there is no lumps in it.
  • It makes 12 mini muffins and 6 regular size muffins.
  • Instead of fresh blue berries, frozen can also be used.
  • It stays good at room temperature for couple of days.

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Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Ponnanganni Keerai Poriyal | Accompaniment for rice

Ponnanganni Keerai Poriyal, a healthy accompaniment made from very few ingredients. Poonanganni keerai is known as Alternanthera sessilis or dwarf copper leaf in english. As i had mentioned earlier, the indian store here stock up these kind of rare greens when it's in season. So far, from my past experiences, most of the indian store carry majority of the north indian grocery items & veggies. Some ingredients specific to south india are mostly difficult to source like karupatti(palm jaggery),sunda vathal(dried turkey berries) and some veggies like siru kizhangu and this greens. But luckily here, the indian store stock all the seasonal veggies from throughout India, but you have to be on time to get those, most of the veggies would be out of stock within couple of days of arrival.
When i had first bought this keerai ,prepared kootu with it and it was really good and we both like it a lot, so on the next time, i tried poriyal. As excepted, it was also so good, this greens is so apt for both kootu and poriyal. If you haven't tried poriyal with ponnanganni keerai before, do give it a try. 


Ponnanganni Keerai Poriyal

Preparation Time : 1 hr | Cooking Time : 20 minsServes :
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ponnanganni Keerai,Ponnanganni Keerai Poriyal,Keerai Poriyal Ponnanganni Keerai Poriyal, a healthy accompaniment made from very few ingredients. Poonanganni keerai is known as Alternanthera sessilis or dwarf copper leaf in english.
Ingredients
Ponnanganni Keerai - 1/2 bunch
Moong dal - 1 tbsp
Asafoetida powder - 1/8 tsp
Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste
To grind
Garlic - 2 
Pearl onion - 2
Green Chili -2 
Cumin seed - 1/2 tsp
To Temper
Coconut oil - 1 tsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Pearl onion - 1 (chopped)

Procedure
First remove the leaves from the ponnanganni keerai bunch and chop the leaves roughly into small pieces.In a kadai, bring one cup of water to boil,then add the moong dal and asafoetida powder, Cook the dal till it's half done, then add the ponnanganni keerai.Let it cook until it softens, in the mean time, grind the ingredients listed under "To grind" into coarse mixture.Add that grounded spice mix & enough salt into the keerai, let it cook until all the moisture evaporates.Next add the grated coconut,give a good mix and remove from the flame.Next temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper" and add into the keerai.Tasty and healthy Ponnanganni Keerai Poriyal is ready. Serve it as accompaniment for your meal. We had with rice, sambar.


Notes:

  • This green takes long time to cook than the other greens.
  • Coconut oil and coconut gives great flavor to this greens. So i highly recommend to use.
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Friday, January 10, 2020

Curry leaves Chutney | Karuvepillai Chutney | Chutney Recipe

Curry leaves chutney, a delicious and flavorful chutney made from curry leaves and coconut as main ingredients. If you have been following me for a while, you might know how much i like idli and dosa. If I were given a choice to choose only one food to eat my entire life, I would have chosen dosa anytime. 

I love to eat dosa any time, even for lunch, without any complaints. Do you know about the ekadasi vratham( it was last monday this year) in margazhi(tamil) month?? Back in our home town(Tirunelveli), throughout that day, we eat only idli or dosa, strictly no rice on that day. 

Next day morning(thuvadesi), the whole banana leaf meal is prepared to finish off the vratham. To be honest, I like ekadasi vratham especially for that idli & dosa diet on the whole day. When I was a school goer, I preferred to have dosa for three meals, and didn't even consider the idli on those days :-)  
Is this post about chutney, right? Yes, I can hear your mind's voice. As much as I like idli and dosa, the same side dish in a row would be really boring. So I always tried to make different varieties of chutney. 

More than sambar, I prefer chutney varieties for idli or dosa and this curry leaves chutney is my recent favorite. Back in the US, I never found curry leaves in any store other than Indian store. In one of my previous posts, I had mentioned how cautiously I would use the small pack of curry leaves for 2 weeks. 

But here in Canada, even Walmart carries curry leaves and it's usually come in larger quantities , so I have been making curry leaves chutney and podi a lot nowadays. 

Curry leaves are packed with a lot of micro nutrients and it's believed to improve your hair growth tremendously and helps to avoid the grey hair in early age, so apart from using it in tempering, including them in chutneys or podi will give more benefits to your health. 

Now let's checkout how I have prepared this healthy & tasty curry leaves chutney.

Related : How to make Curry leaves Podi 


Curry leaves Chutney | Karuvepillai Chutney

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 5 minsServes :
Recipe Category: Chutney | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
curry leaves, karuvepillai, chutney Curry leaves chutney, a delicious and flavorful chutney made from curry leaves and coconut as main ingredients.
Ingredients
To grind
Coconut - 1/2 cup
Curry leaves - 1/2 cup(tightly packed)
Green chili - 2 
Tamarind - a small piece
Garlic - 1 pod
Roasted gram dal - 2 tbsp
Salt - to water
Water - as required
To Temper
Sesame oil - 1 tsp
Mustard & urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few

Procedure
Get all the ingredients be ready, put all the ingredients under "To grind" except "roasted gram dal" into mixie jar and grind into coarse mixture.
Next add the curry leaves, roasted gram dal, salt & water and grind into smooth chutney.
Temper the ingredients listed under "To Temper" &  add the chutney and the required water, mix it well. Switch off the flame.
Tasty & healthy Curry leaves chutney is ready. Serve it with Idli or Dosa

Related : More Chutney recipes for idli and dosa


Notes:
  • Adjust green chili as per your taste.
  • If you're in cold place, then the fat from the coconut easily separated when you grind, to avoid that, add luke warm water to grind. That's the one trick always helps me to get smooth chutney.
  • Sesame oil gives great flavor to the chutney.
  • Don't let the chutney boil, it will be thicken since it has roasted gram dal.

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