Poha

Introduction

'Poha' is a very popular North Indian snack, widely used as breakfast and evening snack.

A) Ingredients

1. Poha (1 Cup)

2. Onion (1 Medium Size) - finely chopped

3. Potato (1 Medium Size) - finely chopped

4. Tomato (1 Medium Size) - finely chopped

5. Curry Leaves - better if fresh

6. Mustard Seeds (small) - 1 tbsp

7. Salt (to taste)

8. Pepper ( to taste)

9. Turmeric - 3/4 tbsp

10. Cooking Oil - 2 tbsp

B. Method

Wash the poha under water for 30 seconds, sieve the water away nicely and keep the poha aside so that any water left can dry away. Make sure that the poha doesnt stick to each other and is feathery.

Heat a pan, and add the cooking oil. Now add the curry leaves and mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds are cracked, add the finely chopped onion, and fry till onion is golden brown. Now add the finely chopped potatoes. Keep frying till the potato is cooked. Now add turmeric and mix well. Once the potato is cooked, add the poha and mix well so that the poha is nicely mixed with all the mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. In the end add the finely chopped tomato and cover for 2 minutes.

Poha is ready. Serve hot with a nice cup of tea.

Tips: Both the taste and nutrition of poha can be increased by adding more finely chopped vegetables like carrots, capsicum, peas etc.

Healthy Breakfast

Introduction
Lazy weekend, and no intention of cooking an Indian breakfast. Here is what I tried, and loved it completely. This is kind of a real experimental one, a mix of a very Indian and a very European breakfast style.
A) Ingredients
Boiled black gram peas - 1 bowl
1cm * 1cm Dices of swiss cheese - around 1/2 bowl
1/2 cm * 1/2 cm dices of red capsicum and green capsicum - 3/4 bowl.
Nescafe - 1 cup
Salt - per taste
Black pepper - per taste
red chilly powder - per taste
Everest Chat Masala - per taste
B) Method
Place the boiled grams peas, cheese dices and diced capsicum in a plate.
Sprinkle black pepper, red pepper, salt, chat masala as per taste.
I used an easy to make coffee sache of Nescafe to make me a cup of delicious coffee.

And thats it !! :) You are done. A super healthy and amazingly yum breakfast.

Sambhar Masala (Spicy)

Introduction
Sambhar : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambhar_(dish)
A) Ingredients
Arhar Daal - 1 bowl
Finely chopped mix of vegetables ( 4 beans, 1/4 red capsicum, 1/4 green capsicum, 1 mid sized potato, 2 green chillies) - 1 bowl
Onion (finely chopped) - 1
Mustard seeds (small) - 1 1/2 table spoon
Jeera - 1 table spoon
Dried full red chilli - 1
Turmeric - 1 table spoon
Red Chilly Powder - Per Taste
Salt - Per Taste
Sambhar Masala - 3 1/2 table spoon
Cooking Oil - 4 table spoons
B) Method
Souk the arhar daal in a bowl of water and keep aside.
Add 4 table spoons of oil in a pressure cooker, and let it heat.
Break the red chilli into two halfs and put in the oil when it is hot. Then add jeera (cumin seeds) and mustard seeds (small). Let the seeds break, and make sure they dont burn. Add chopped onion, and let it fry till it is translucent. Add the 1 bowl of vegetables, and stir fry for 1 min. Then add the 1 bowl of soaked daal. Stir nicely. Add turmeric, salt and red chilly powder. Finally add the sambhar masala and close the lid of the pressure cooker. Let it boil till it is completely cooked and mixed with each other very nicely.
Serve hot with rice, or uttapam, or dosas.

Tip: To add to the taste, add lemon juice before serving (per taste).
Do not use sweet vegetables such as carrot or peas for sambhar. That reduces the spicy nature.

Rava Uttapam Style Pancakes

Introduction

Rava Uttapam is a traditional south Indian dish, and I have just changed this a little bit and made it like little pancakes. Healthy, Light and tasty food - can be used for breakfast, lunch, snacks or dinner.

Recipe (server 1)

A) Ingredients

Sooji - 5-6 table spoons

Besan - 1 table spoon

Curd - 3-4 table spoons

1/4 Red Capsicum - sliced finely into 1/2 * 1/2 cm cubes

2 green chillies - sliced finely

1 baby corn - sliced into fine dices of 1/2 cm width

Curd - Enough to mix with 1 bowl of rice

Cooking oil

Salt - Per taste

Red Chilli Powder (Optional, Use if you like spicy food)

Chat Powder (Optional, Use if you like spicy food)

Water

B) Method

Mix Sooji, besan and curd nicely in a bowl and leave for 2-3 min.

Add all the sliced vegetables, salt (to taste).

If you need to make the whole thing more spicy add red chilli powder (1/2 spoon) and chat powder (1/2 table spoon).

Mix the whole mixture well and add little water (around 2-3 spoons) and get the mixture to a medium thick consistency.

Heat a pan, and add little oil. Spread out 2 table spoons of mixture at a time, and make small pancakes out of it.

Cook as much as you would like to have it crisp. Serve hot with sauce.

Tip: The vegetables mix can be varied and different combinations can be used, for example can use tomato, onion, beans etc. Try not to use something like carrots as that will get a sweet taste.

You can serve this with tomato sauce, coconut chutney, green chutney or any kind of chutneys you make like :)

Curd Rice

Introduction

Curd Rice is a very popular south Indian Dish. Why I always love it, it is the fastest, easiest and the most yummy dish :D

Recipe (server 1)

A) Ingredients

Boiled plain rice - 1 bowl

Curd - Enough to mix with 1 bowl of rice

Cooking oil - 1 1/2 table spoon

Full dried red chilly - 1 piece

Brown Mustard Seeds (small ones ) - 1/3 table spoon

Red Chilli Powder - Per taste

Salt - Per taste

B) Method

Mix the rice and curd nicely in a bowl and keep aside.

In a small pan, heat the one a half table spoon oil. Split the dry full chilly into two pieces and put into the oil, once the oil is hot. Then put around 1/3 spoon of mustard seeds (small ones) into the oil, and let them crack. Make sure the seeds dont burn. The moment they are cracked, pour the hot oil mixture from the pan straight into to rice-curd mixture.

Add red chilly powder and salt to taste, and serve hot.

Tip: Mustard is a special ancient spice used across India. This helps cure bronchitis, and reduces muscular and joints' pain.

Whole Wheat Cake

Introduction

This is a gift recipe from my dear dear friend Divya Devpriya (Love her for being such a wonderful person and confidante). With love and flavour added by Divya and my dearest mom, we finally baked our first whole wheat cake, an absolute delicacy with lot of healthy ingredients.

Recipe (Serves 4)

A) Ingredients

Whole wheat flour - 1 Cup

Powdered/granulated sugar - 3/4 Cup

Refined Oil or Amul Butter or Malai - 1/2 Cup

Baking Soda - 1/2 Tsp

Baking Powder - 1 Tsp

Vanilla Essence - 4-5 drops

Eggs - 2

Milk - 1/4 Cup

Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Salt (Optional) --> These add a special taste to the cake. Depends on liking.

Zuccini - 1 Cup, or Dried Grapes (Kishmish) - 1/2 cup

B) Method

1. Take the granulated sugar and butter in a pan and mix it well.

2. Then add the two eggs. You can also choose to add three eggs (as per taste).

3. Then add the wheat and refined flour that has been seived once with the baking powder and soda added to it.

4. Add the milk and the essences.

5. In the last add the dried ingredients and zuccini. (Optional)

6. Put the ready cake batter in a greased pan, and bake at 200 degree C for about 1/2 hour.

You can test the readiness of the cake with a toothpick or cutting knief inserted through the cake.

Tip: Dust the dried ingredients like kishmish (dried grapes) with dry refined flour (maida) and then put it in the cake batter. Doing this will ensure that the dried grapes dont sink to the bottom.

To give different flavours to the cake, you can try to add banana crush, mango crush etc.