UPMA made of leftover IDLIs

IDlis are sometimes boring!!! at times there is extra left or left over from morning breakfast and no one in house wants to have it in there plate. We wont face this in an Tamil family where Idlis are loved but what if we make another dish out of it???, like Idli upma. Yes, I love idli upma that is being flavored with cumins (jeera), carrot, beans and onions. Yummy Yummy evening snacks. Children will love it and also by big children who are in college but always on diet. Idli upma is low caloric with lots of veggies. Once decided to make, you can also include as many variety veggies as you want. Here is an easy evening snack.

Cooking time: 15 minutes
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Serves: 3

INGREDIENTS
Cooked idlis- 8-10
Carrots and beans- 1 cup together
Green chillies- 2-3 cut into 1 inch length pieces
Onions- 1 large, chopped


Tomatoes- 1 large, chopped
Salt to tase
Coriander leaves to garnish

To Temper
Mustard seeds- 1 table spoon
Cumin seeds- 2 table spoon
Urad dal and chana dal- 1 table spoon each
Oil to temper

PREPARATION
Cook idlis or if idlis are already cooked, make them into small pieces. sprinkle some salt and keep aside.
Cut beans and carrot into small pieces and cook them separate for 5 minutes in boiling water. drain water and keep aside.
In a hot pan, add oil followed by mustard seeds, green chillies, chana dal, urad dal and cumins (take care that cumins are not burnt in oil).
Add onions and saute them for 2 minutes following addition of tomatoes. Saute this for 2-3 more minutes until tomatoes becomes softer than earlier.
Now add cooked beans and carrot, mix and add idli pieces.
Give it a mix thoroughly so that idlis get mixed with vegetables.
Now taste salt and add accordingly as required.

Additional toppings: Coriander leaves to garnish, smashed chips or muruku - gives a crunchy effect, Ghee on top, Sweet corns and green peas, Cheese on top when kids love it.

NOTE: avoid green chilies and add tomato ketchup for kids snacks. It give a bit of tangling taste.

Thanks for reading this recipe. Leave your message here.
HAPPY COOKING Le (Ladies) & Ge (Gentleman) :)

HALU SAARU/ MENASINA SAARU / RASAM MADE OF MILK

Thanks Lavanya for sharing this recipe. Halu saaru is a main dish made in winter, adding flavors of pepper, cumin and milk as the main ingredients which keeps body warm and away from cold related diseases. It is very traditional dish, which can be marked as mother-grandmother inherited saaru. This is similar to pepper saaru (pepper and jeera as main ingredients) but bit different because of addition of milk which gives a watery texture. I like to have rice with halu saaru when I am really bored of cooking and when I need simple, tasty dish which reminds me of my mother's style of cooking. Now here is the recipe

INGREDIENTS
Pepper - 8-10 corns
Cumin seeds/ jeera - 1 table spoon
Milk - 1 cup
Salt - as per taste

To Temper:
Oil/ Ghee - 2-3 table spoon
Mustard - 1 teaspoon
Red chillies - 1 or 2
Urad dal - 1 teaspoon
Channa dal - 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves - 5-8 leaves

COOKING
In a round pot, add oil and mustard seeds, let it sputter.
Saute red chillies, curry leaves, followed by urad dal and channa dal
Add pepper corns and jeera (Cumin seeds) and allow on low heat for 2-3 minutes.
Add milk and allow for 1 boil and turn off the flame.
Add salt when it cools down or when its served.
Eat with hot rice and ghee on top which gives a very good taste of halu saaru.

NOTE: Salt should not be adding during the time of cooking halu saaru. Salt should be added only at the time of serving.
It you skip milk, its better be called as Menasina saaru (Pepper saaru) by adding 1 cup of water and salt as per taste.

HAPPY COOKING :)

Long time no Post!

Dear Blog followers, 
 

Thanks for following my blog posts, recipes, comments and feedback.Your comments and feedback makes me enthusiastic and creative to try out new dishes and new ingredients in old recipes. This has been a tradition that we follow what our grand mother and mother teach us. Just a tinge of different flavors in same dish gives it a different name. And why not!! when we need new varieties and new names in our recipe list in our own kitchen. 
Being traveler, I traveled US, South Africa and many states in India that gave me different flavors. I met Italian, Russian, Belgian, German, and many other nation friends who taught me to cook some special food in their own style. It was my pleasure to teach them Indian food and share with them my recipes too. In the modren day life, writing blog, reading and experimenting them by myself is best way to keep social interactions through food. As some one said, to win a heart, make their stomach happy :)
Beleive me or not, whenever I have to make my husband happy I cook. I also cook when I am in stress or in work load. This brings happiness and peace in my life. It could be true in everyone's life. Cook for someone, for yourself, for loved ones and for happiness. 
Long time no blog!!! I could not write any blogs since 3-4 months. This was because of my traveling and learning new food these days. I spent time with my Mom and Mom-in law who taught me the basic cooking, which is not available in restaurants. we were experimenting my type of cooking at in-laws place. My in-laws in Tamil Nadu were introduced to Karnataka style of cooking which they relished the most.
I will be introducing very new recipes, some old traditional recipes which our grand grand parents used to cook, could be of medicinal value, using endemic herbs, dietary use and for new babies. Thanks again for following this blog. 
Keep following and keep cooking :)

MALVA PUDDING

I appreciate Sarien for introducing me to such a wonderful sweet dessert of South Africa. Never leave South Africa without tasting traditional pudding. Its rich with milk and sugar. If you are a good Gulab jamoon eater, then you definitely have to try this.
Something about Malva pudding
It is a dutch origin usually served with ice cream, cream or custard. The main ingredients being apricot jam, it caramelizes and gives a spongy texture to pudding.
My family loves malva pudding so much that I feel South African now.

Here is the recipe!
INGREDIENTS
Sugar - 125ml
Egg- 1
Apricot Jam - 25ml
Cake Flour - 250ml
Baking powder - 5ml
Baking soda (Bicarbonate soda) - 5ml
Milk - 250ml

SAUCE
Sugar - 125ml
Butter - 25ml
Vanilla essence - 5ml
Boiling water - 125ml
Milk - 250ml

DO LIKE THIS
Preheat oven to 180 C
Beat Sugar and Egg until creamy
Stir Apricot Jam, Mix well
Sift flour, Baking powder and salt, add it to egg mixture, mix well.
Add milk and baking soda (give it a stir) to egg mixture.
Make sure you add milk-soda mixture and flour one after the other making it a good consistency with no lumps formation.

Transfer to butter lined tray and bake it for 40-45 minutes or until skewer inserted comes out clean.
Mix all ingredients under 'Sauce' and boil it for 5 minutes.
As soon as the pudding is taken out from oven, pour sauce all over it.
Allow it to soak and serve hot.

Preparation time - 25 minutes
Baking time - 45 minutes
Serves- 5-6 people

HAPPY COOKING :) :)

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

This recipe was shared by Jacinda -Lincke, very beautiful and adorable mother-daughter I have ever met. This is one of my favorite recipes that I collected in recipe hunt month- June 2013
Please try it and share your experience.
Peanut butter cookies- Peanut-butter is not new to anyone, neither to Indians. Peanut butter includes roasted peanuts and butter. It is basically a paste which is used as spread for bread. This recipe uses very healthy ingredients like oats, cornflakes and peanuts.

INGREDIENTS
Peanut butter - 125ml
Butter - 200 gms
Milk- 25 ml
Cake flour/ Wheat flour - 500 gms (Sifted)
Oats - 500 gms
Coconut flakes or freshly grated coconuts - 500 gms
Corn flakes - 500 gms
Vanilla essence - 5 ml
Eggs - 2 (Whisked)
Baking soda - 10 ml
Sugar- 500 gms

DO LIKE THIS
Preheat oven to 180 C
Beat Butter and sugar until creamy
Add whisked egg and peanut butter, mix well.
Dissolve baking soda in milk, add this to peanut butter mixture along with vanilla essence.  Mix well to blend it with peanut butter.
Add rest of the ingredients to peanut butter. Mix well.
Make tennis ball sized balls. small the size easy to flatten it.
Place balls on the greased baking tray and press slightly with a fork.
Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown color.
Transfer onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
It can be stored in air tight containers for a month.

Preparation time - 20 minutes
Oven time- 10-15 minutes
Serves - can make 100 cookies

HAPPY COOKING :) :)

CINNAMON ROLLS a la ERIKA

A Swedish, fun, joyful girl – Erika taught me and made cinnamon rolls for me. She is one of my favourite people I ever met. Whenever I make anything from cinnamon ‘either a curry or a cake’, I remember Erika. I am happy to share it in my Blog

A small note on Cinnamon rolls (CR) – It’s a Finnish origin, also called as Cinnamon bun, swirl or cinnamon snails (it looks like a snail). CR is a sweet roll with dough, cinnamon and sugar as main ingredients. Though another ingredient is yeast, using fresh yeast makes it all. One can use sugar sauce/ icing/ sugar syrup to pour on to roll to make it more beautiful (I call it sexy) and romantic. It varies in size from as small as snails to big as a pumpkin.

Baking time – 2 hours

Quantity – 25– 34 (depending on the size)

 

INGREDIENTS

Yeast (fresh) – 25 grams

Butter – 75 grams

Milk – 250 ml

Sugar – 100 grams

Salt – 1 pinch

Flour – 700 grams (perhaps more)

For stuffing:

Butter – 50 grams

Sugar – 40 grams

Cinnamon – 2 table spoon

DO LIKE THIS

Put the oven on to 225 ^oC.

Crumble the yeast in a bowl

Melt the butter in a pan and mix it with milk. Heat it under very low flame not more or less than 37^oC.

Mix milk with the crumbled yeast. Make the yeast to melt and add salt and sugar to that.

Use an electric mixer (if u has) or a hand whisker to mix flour gradually in the yeast-milk mix. The dough should be nice and smooth with appropriate consistency (similar to roti/pizza dough, but smoother than that). Let it rest for 30 minutes, cover it with a towel.

Make the stuffing: Stir butter (which is already at room temperature, so that it easily melts). Mix cinnamon and sugar with it.

Now the dough is ready. Spread out the dough to a rectangle shape, ~0.5 cm thin.

Smear out the stuffing on the rectangle sheet.

Roll in the dough. Cut the roll into pieces, as small or as big you like.

Put them in a cupcake paper or directly on an oven metal and let them rest for 30 minutes under a towel.

Bake them in the middle rack for 30-35 minutes or maximum to 45 minutes with constant checking.

After baking it is ready to eat directly or by adding a sugar or caramel sauce on it.

HURNADA HOLIGE/ PURAN POLI/ Flat sweetbread/ ಹೂರ್ಣದ ಹೋಳಿಗೆ (Kannada language)

Flat sweetbread, Hurnada holige is sweet dish in most parts of India, mainly in states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. This sweet main ingredients are jaggery (uncentrifuged sugar), lentils (tur dal) and Maida. This sweet is identified during the festival Ugadi, the most precious, new year day every year. I made the same last week on Ugadi day and enjoyed eating with all my friends in South Africa.

INGREDIENTS
Maida/ All purpose flour - 1 cup
Turmeric- pinch
Jaggery- 2 cup
Cardamon - 4 
Lentil/ dal - 2 1/2 cup
Ghee- 1 cup
Oil - 1/2 cup

COOKING
Cook lentils in pressure cooker. When it get cooled, add Jaggery, Cardamon and boil it for 20-25 minutes with constant stirring. This is called as hurna
Once water is completely evaporated, keep this mixture aside for cooling.
On the other side, take maida, turmeric and 2 tb oil, make it soft dough with addition of water and knead it constantly for next 10 minutes. This is called as kanaka
Keep it aside for 3 hours, just to allow it to become soft, with regular kneading
After 3 hours, make small rounds with dough


and roll it flat as shown in picture. Stuff it with jaggery mixture and make it flat as shown in picture.
Cook it on a hot tawa/pan by flipping both sides and smearing ghee on each side until its cooked as like that of rotis.
Eat this with one more spoon of ghee and hot milk.

Serves = only 2 (because its very tasty)

Can make 15 of them

Optional
Lentils and jaggery can also be grind in blender and then cooked on stove.


ENJOY COOKING