Sweet N Nut Bites

Ingredients

Maida flour - 1cup

Cashew - 5nos

Badam - 5nos

Pista - 5nos

Cardamom - 1no

Sugar - 1/4cup

Milk - few drops

Oil - for frying

Method

1. In a blender add cashew, badam, pista, cardamom (remove skin), sugar and grind it into powder.

2. In a mixing bowl add maida flour and the above powder.

3. Mix it and make it into a tough dough like chapathi. Use few drops of milk if needed. Do not use water. Since nuts have oil in them, you would not need much milk. So be extra careful in making the dough.

4. Take a small dough and roll out and cut into diamond shapes using a knife. If you have patients then you can cut into different shapes.

5. Heat the oil in a kadai and deep fry the diamonds. Turn them on both sides (not immediately after dropping them in the oil) and remove from fire once they are golden brown and drain them in a tissue paper.

This is my submission for WYF-Dessert/Sweet hosted by Hima of SnackoRama.

Cumin-Pepper Rice

Cumin is a spice which is used in everyone's kitchen daily. It is used as seasoning in many dishes. Cumin is used as an ingredient in curry powder, rasam powder and for flavouring soups, cakes and bread. It is also used in the concoction made for digestive disorders. In ayurveda, cumin is considered invaluable for digestion. The aroma of the grounded cumin is stronger than the whole cumin seeds. The cumin seeds flavour is accentuated by toasting it. Zeera pani is a refreshing and appetising Indian drink made from cumin and tamarind water. Cumin together with caraway flavours Kummel, the famous German liquer. Cumin in the form, is used in chutneys, lassi, and in salad dressing or to sprinkle over prepared foods. Cumin tea, prepared by steeping cumin seeds in boiling water, can be drunk after a meal to aid digestion. Superstition during the Middle Ages cited that Cumin kept chickens and lovers from wandering. It was also believed that a happy life awaited the bride and groom who carried Cumin Seed throughout the wedding ceremony.

Jeera rice is a very popular Indian dish. It is generally eaten with a gravy type of side dish. During my morning walk today, i met my friend Dhanam and in our casual talk she told me that her kids love the jeera-pepper rice with plantain curry. Immediately i asked her the recipe and tried it out for lunch today. Since i didnt have plantain at home, i prepared lady's finger crispy fry.



JEERA-PEPPER RICE
Ingredients
Boiled Rice - 1cup
Ghee - 3tsp
Hing - little
Mustard - 1tsp
Pepper - 8-10nos
Jeera - 2tsp
Urad dhal split - 1tsp
Channa dhal - 1tsp
Curry leaves - few
Dry red chilli - 1no
Cashews - 6nos


Method
1. Take the rice in a mixing bowl.
2. In a blender grind jeera and pepper. Pour it on top of the rice.
3. In a heated kadai, add ghee, to it add hing, mustard, urad dhal, channa dhal and stir fry, once they are golden brown, remove from fire, add the curry leaves and then pour it on top of the jeera powder on the rice.
4.Add salt and mix thoroughly.
5.Fry cashews in a tsp of ghee and decorate it before serving.

Tomato Chutney

This chutney can be stored in refrigerator in an air tight container for few days. It would be good to have it with iddli, adai, dosai and freshly made curd rice.

Ingredients

Tomatoes - 4nos

Bell peper red or green - 1no

Ginger - small piece

Garlic - 1pod (optional)

Onion medium size - 1no

Tamarind paste - 1/4tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp

Red chilli powder - 1tsp

Hing - little

Mustard - 1tsp

Jeera - 1tsp

Curry leaves - few

Oil (sesame or olive) - little

Method

1. Wash and dice tomatoes into big pieces, cut pepper with seeds into big pieces.

2. In a blender add the tomatoes, pepper, ginger, garlic and tamarind paste. Grind it without adding water.

3. In a heated kadai, add oil and to it add hing, mustard, jeera and curry leaves. Once u hear the split noice, add the blended mixture into it.

4. Then add turmeric, red chilli powder and salt. Cover it with a lid as it will spill outside when it boils. Stir it now and then. Once all the water has evaporated, remove it from the fire.

Aval (poha)

When guests come home and you dont have enough time to prepare snacks for them, this recipe will be of help to you. I bet you can prepare this in just 10minutes time. This can be sent to children in their snack or tiffin box too.



Ingredients
Aval (Poha) - 2 cup
Onion - 1no
Ginger - little
Green chilli - 1-2nos
Potato - 1no
Carrot - 1/2no
Peas - 1/4cup
Cashew - 10nos
Groundut - 3tsp
Curry leaves - 10nos
Coriander leaves - little
Lemon juice - few drops
Hing - little
Mustard - 2tsp
Urad dhal split - 2tsp
Channa dhal - 2tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4tsp
Salt - taste
Ghee - 1tsp
Oil - 5-6tsp


Method
1. Take the aval in a basin and wash with running water. Set it aside.
2. Wash and grate carrots and ginger. Wash and cut onions, green chilli and potatoes into very fine pieces.
3. Heat ghee in a kadai and add broken cashews and groundnuts. Fry and remove once they are golden brown.
4. Heat oil and add hing, mustard, dhals, turmeric powder, green chillies, ginger, curry leaves, onions and saute. Then add potatoes, peas and carrots. Add salt and stir. The above vegetables must be cooked in oil to get the taste, but i sprinkled water and covered with a lid for few minutes. Once the vegetables are cooked remove from fire.
5. Add the aval, little salt, lemon juice and stir thoroughly.
6. Transfer it into a serving bowl and decorate it with coriander leaves, fried cashews and groundnuts.

Bread and Vegetable Mix

This is a good morning tiffin box dish. Though adults would like to have it hot, the kids would love to take it with them to school.

Ingredients

Bread - 10slices

Onion - 2nos

Tomato - 2nos

Ginger (grated) - 1/4tsp

Bell pepper (any color) - 1/2no

Grean peas - little

Carrot (shredded) - little

Corriander leaves - little

Curry leaves - little

Green chilli - 1-2nos.

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Salt - a pinch

Sugar - a pinch

Hing - little

Mustard - 1/4tsp

Jeera - 1/4tsp

Urad dhal split - 1tsp

Channa dhal - 1tsp

Lemon juice - few drops

Chat powder - little

Oil - little

Method

1. Toast the bread in a toaster and cut them into small squares. This would avoid using too much of oil, if toasted in a tawa, though it would be tasty and have a different taste.

2. Cut onions, tomatoes and bell pepper and green chilli into small bits.

3. Heat the tawa, add oil and when heated, add on hing, mustard, dhals and fry till they are golden brown.

4. Add the onions and saute. Then add the green chilli, curry leaves and bell pepper. Add the turmeric powder and fry well.After two minutes add tomatoes. Stir and add peas. Add salt and sugar. Mix well. Add the shredded carrots. Remove from fire once the pepper is crunchy or till it is done - its your choice.

5. Add in the bread squares, chat powder, corriander leaves, lemon juice and toss well.

Baby corn fritters

Deep fried foods are bad for health. But children like any stuff that is deep fried. This recipe was given to me by my friend Pavitra. I tried it today and came out very well. My kids just finished it in no time.



Ingredients
Baby corn - 12-14nos
Corn flour - 2tsp
Besan flour - 1tsp
Ginger-garlic paste - 1/4tsp
Pepper powder - little
Red chilli powder - 1/4tsp
Tomato sauce - 1tsp
Soya sauce - 1/4tsp
Salt - taste
Oil - for frying
The above ingredients (pepper, red chilli, salt, ginger-garlic) can be added according to taste.


Method
1. Wash and cut the baby corns lengthwise. Make it thin strips.
2. In a mixing bowl add all the ingredients except the baby corns. Mix well.
3. Add the baby corns and toss them well. Keep it in the fridge for 1/2 hour.
4. Heat the kadai, and add enough oil for frying. Once the oil is hot drop the baby corns in them, turn them and remove once they are golden brown.

If you want to decorate it before serving, place the baby corns in a plate and to it add cut onions, corriander leaves, onion leaves, a pinch of chat powder and 2 drops of lemon juice.
Great, I bet you would love to have it to give your tastebuds a chance to enjoy.
I prepared the same batter mix and added bitterguard cut into semi circles. I deep fried them. Yummmm... they were very good. You can introduce this bitter vegetable to anyone who dislikes it. You can also try it with cauliflower. Cut the vegetable into medium size with the stalk and cook it for 5min. Then continue with the above procedure.

Potato Bread

A great snack for children. They would love to take it with them in their tiffin boxes to school. It is also very easy to make. If need be the potato filling can be prepared a day before and kept in the fridge.

Ingredients

Bread - 4 nos.

Potato - 2nos.

Turmeric powder - 1/4tsp

Red chilli powder - 1/4tsp or to taste

Dry Mango powder - 1/4tsp

Jeera powder - 1/4tsp

Corriander leaves - 3tsp (finely chopped)

Oil - little

Salt - taste.

Method

1. In a mixing bowl, add the potatoes, mash well.

2. Then add all the powders, corriander leaves and salt. Mix well.

3. Take a piece of bread, and take a spoon full of the potato filling and spread it over the bread evenly.

4. Heat the tawa, add a drop of oil and place the bread on it, filling facing top. Add a tsp of oil to the potato filling. Turn the bread and cook till both sides are golden brown.

If need be onions and a tsp of lemon juice can be added to the potato filling.

Kothu vegetable paratha

This recipe was told to me by my friend Janaki.


Ingredients

Paratha - 5nos.

Mixed vegetables - 2cups (shredded carrots, beans, cauliflower, peas, cabbage, baby corns split lengthwise)

Onion big - 1no.

Tomato - 2nos.

Ginger - small piece

Curry leaves - little

Corriander leaves - little

Hing - little

Sugar - 1tsp

Mustard - 1tsp

Jeera - 1tsp

Garam masala - 1tsp

Chilli powder - 1tsp

Turmeric powder - 1tsp

Corriander powder - 1/2tsp

Salt - to taste

Oil - little (5-6tsp)

Method

1. Wash and cut the vegetables. Cut the onion lengthwise. Dice the tomatoes. Grate the ginger.

2. Heat the tawa and cook the paratha's till both the sides are golden brown. Place all the parathas on top of each other and cut into small squares using a sharp knife.

3. Heat the kadai, add oil, then the hing, mustard and jeera. Once it splits add onions and sugar and fry for 2min. Then add tomatoes. Saute it. Add to it turmeric powder, chilli powder, corriander powder and garam masala powder. Once the oil in it seperates and the smell of the powders have disappeared add the vegetables, ginger, salt and sprinkle water and cover it. After 5-7min when the vegetables are cooked add the paratha pieces, curry leaves and mix well. Remove from fire.

4. If needed a tsp of lemon juice can be added and mixed well. Garnish with corriander leaves.

5. Serve hot with any type of raitha.

Navrathri

Navrathri or Dasara is celebrated for 9 nights followed by vijayadasami, when the preschoolers get initiated into academics with the blessings of Goddess Saraswati. Nava means nine and rathri means night.The festival is celebrated for nine days following the new moon day of the month of Purattasi (September – October). Usually dolls of deities are arranged in make-shift fixtures which resembles steps. The number of steps will be in odd numbers. People make traditional snack called sundal with one of the nava daniyams like Karamani, Kabuli channa, Kondakadalai, Green Payaru, Mochakotta, with a sweet to God offered as prasadam to guests who come home to see the dolls, known as Golu. The Golu arrangement is a sheer exercise of creativity which reminds us of the age old folk lore and puranas. In modern context it gives an opportunity for people to mingle with one another and relish the refreshments served. The guests invited are offered betal leaves (thambulam) which is mutually reciprocated during the visits of friends and relatives. On an auspicious note, exchange of thambulam spells harmony and good will for hindu families.

A snap of Thambulam offered to guests is as above.

Blackgram dhal (Black Kondakadalai)

Soak kondakadalai overnight. Next day pressure cook it with enough water and a little salt and allow 3 whistles. After it is cooled, drain the excess water. Place a kadai over heat, add little oil and add hing, mustard, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, dry mango powder, corriander powder and jeera powder. Saute and then add the cooked kondakadalai, a pinch of salt and curry leaves. Saute it for a minute or two. Add fresh corriander leaves and serve. Add the above ingredients according to the preference of your taste buds.

Carrot Halwa

Grate the carrot. Grind 3pods of cardamom with 1tsp of sugar after removing the outer skin of cardamom. Heat the kadai and add 2tsp of ghee, when hot add split cashews and then raisins. Keep them aside. Add 2tsp of ghee and add the grated carrots. Saute for few minutes. Then add milk, the carrots must be soaked in milk. Allow it to boil. Once it becomes a solid mass add the sugar and mix well, till the mixture leaves the sides. You can add 2-3tsp of ghee if needed. Remove from fire, add cardamom powder and then the fried cashews and raisins. Sugar can be added according to taste.

This is my submission for RCI Tamil Festival hosted by Viji of vcuisine and also for Jihva special edition 2007 hosted by Keep Trying - Past, Present and Me