Cabbage & Wheat flour Adai

Ingredients

Wheat flour-1cup

Chopped onion-1/4cups

Chopped green chillies-3 (adjust to taste)

Chopped cilantro-2tablespoons

Grated coconut-1tablespoon

Salt

Water

Oil 

to saute 

Oil-1teaspoon

Cumin seeds-1/2teaspoon

Chopped cabbage-1/4cup

Method

Heat a teaspoon of oil, add the cumin seeds and let them splutter. 

Add the cabbage and sauté for 2-3minutes.

Let it cool down completely. 

Combine wheat flour-chopped onion-chopped green chillies-chopped cilantro-sauted cabbage-salt-grated coconut in a bowl. 

Add water to make a thick batter. The consistency should be thicker than the regular dosa batter.
Heat a griddle, make thick dosa with the mixed batter.
Drizzle oil and let it cook on one side, flip it and cook the other side as well.
Serve hot with your choice of side dish.

Any kind of pickle,  plain yogurt or coconut chutney will be a perfect side for this adai. Can have as such too..which is what obviously I did! ;) :). As I was in a hurry to make the dinner, I just sautéed the cabbage on the griddle itself! It makes the process faster. 

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Methi Leaves Stir-fry/Vendhaya Keerai Poriyal

You might wonder cooking methi leaves alone will result in a bitter dish. But try this recipe, I bet you will love it. Its healthy, quick..more than that its delicious! :)
Ingredients
Methi leaves -1small bunch
Chopped onion-2tablespoons
Red chilies-2 (or) 3
Tomato-1 (small)
Grated coconut-1tablespoon
Mustard seed-1/2teaspoon
Channa dal & Urad dal-1/2teaspoon each
Sugar-1/4teaspoon
Salt
Oil
Method
Keep the onions-tomatoes-redchilly and other tempering ingredients ready.

Clean and wash methi leaves.

Heat the oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and let them pop-up. Add the channa & urad dal and fry till they turn golden.

Now add the chopped onion-broken red chillies and sauté for a minute. 

Meanwhile chop the methi leaves. (If the green is fresh and tender, you can use the stems of the methi too. I have added the stems as well.)

Add the chopped tomato and cook until its soft. Then add the methi leaves, sprinkle some water. Add the sugar and let it cook. 

Methi leaves get cooked fast, so add the coconut and enough salt to the stir-fry and put off the stove. 

Mix everything well and let the pan be on the stove for 2-3 minutes. By then stir fry would be dry and  ready. Enjoy it with your choice of rice dish or roti. 

I had it with Jeera rice and dhal. It tastes great with plain white rice or sambar rice, rasam rice. It will be perfect side for the roti too. 

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Spinach-Garlic-Moong dal Stir-fry

Keerai-Poondu-Pasiparuppu Porial 

Ingredients

Spinach- one small bunch

Garlic - 4 to 5 fat cloves

Moong dal-11/2tablespoons

Shredded Coconut-1tablespoon 

Chopped onion-1tablespoon

Red chilly-2

Cumin seeds-1/2teaspoon

Channa dal-1/2teaspoon

Urad dal-1/2teaspoon

Salt

Oil

Method

Wash and chop the spinach leaves. [If the stems are tender, include them as well]

Cook the moong dal in microwave for about 2 minutes and keep it ready.

Heat oil in a pan, once its hot, add the cumin seeds and let them splutter. Add the channa and urad dal, fry until they turn golden in color.

Now add chopped onion, chopped garlic, broken red chilly and sauté for a minute.

Add the chopped spinach..

Stir it gently..the leaves will wilt  and shrink in a minute. Add the cooked moong dal..

Add enough salt and combine them gently. Reduce the heat to low and cook for one more minute. Then add the grated coconut and put off the flame.

Mix it well and the stir-fry is ready to serve. 

Goes well with rice & roti..

Enjoy this quick and healthy stir fry with white rice-sambar and rasam.

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Oat Meal~Quick n Healthy Breakfast

This is a quick, healthy and delicious breakfast! If you have the raisins, walnuts, oats and milk stored in your pantry, you can enjoy a bowl of warm oatmeal within 5 minutes on a lazy and hungry morning! ;) :) 

Ingredients

Oats-1/2cup [Quick cooking oats or Rolled oats]

Milk-1/2cup

Raisins- a fist full

Walnuts- a fist full

Brown Sugar-1tablespoon [adjust to your taste]

Combine the oats with enough water [mentioned on the pack of the oats], microwave it.
[If using quick cooking oats, microwave it for 11/2 to 2 minutes, give 30 seconds standing time and take it out.
If using rolled oats, microwave it for 21/2 to 3 minutes, give 30 seconds standing time and take it out.]

Add the milk, stir the oats, top it with  broken walnuts, raisins and sugar.
Enjoy it warm with a serving of fruit and/or a glass of orange juice. Tastes best if consumed warm. :)

P.S. Oats tops the list of lactogenic foods(foods that increase the milk supply).Eating a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast each morning is a frequently heard recommendation for increasing milk supply. Lets go ahead and enjoy this simple breakfast!

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Vendhaya Sadham/Methi Rice

 Like my previous post, this is also a special recipe for New Mom's! Vendhayam/Methi is very good source of milk supply, so as garlic. Both of these are incorporated in this recipe and its quick and easy to make as well.
Ingredients
Boiled Rice-1cup
Vendhayam/Methi seeds-2tablespoons
Garlic-12cloves
Ginger-2"piece
Onion-1
Tomato-1
Green chilly-1
Red Chilly-2
Chilly powder-1teaspoon
Turmeric powder-1/8teaspoon
Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon
Cumin seeds-1teaspoon
Salt
Oil

Method
Wash and soak the methi seeds/vendhayam over night or at least 8 hours.
Wash and soak the rice for 1/2hour.
Chop the onions-green chilly-tomato-ginger and garlic into small pieces.
Heat oil in a pressure cooker, add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds, let them splutter. Now reduce the heat and the soaked, drained methi seeds/vendhyam. Sauté carefully
Then add chopped onion-g.chilli-garlic and ginger. Fry for few minutes or till the onions&garlic turn golden in color.
Now add the tomato.
Once the tomato becomes soft, add the turmeric n chilly powder, give a quick stir, add the rice with enough water. [We add 21/4cup water for 1 cup of rice. Be careful, rice should not become mushy]
Cook for 2 whistles on medium heat. Let the pressure cool down, open the cooker, fluff the rice with fork.
Tasty n healthy rice is ready to serve.

Serve hot with generous amount of ghee drizzled on the rice with your favorite side dish. We had it with broccoli stir-fry.

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Edible Gum Laddoo/ Dink ke laddu

Typing this recipe after a reasonable gap! Days and nights are flying just like that with my lil Angel. Squeezed a few minutes and spending it in my blog! :) 

Coming to today's recipe, this is a very healthy, nutritious and delicious laddoo. This is generally given to nursing mothers, and of course any one can enjoy this delicious sweet which keeps the body warm. If you are taking more laddu's its advisable to have them with a glass of milk. 

I Have heard of these edible gum laddoo's recently but I haven't even seen the gum! One of my North Indian friend made the laddoo's for the first time and I tried my hands on this time. Browsed the internet and tweaked little bit according to my convenience, finding some shortcuts! Hope this recipe will be useful to the readers, especially the new mom's.

Ingredients

Edible gum-2tablespoons

Aata/Wheat flour-11/4cup

Sugar-1/2cup

Dry Fruits&nuts-3/4 cup to 1 cup [ Dates, raisins, walnuts, almonds]

Ghee-1/2cup

Method

Heat a tablespoon of ghee and fry the gum, keep it aside.

Chop the dates and keep it ready.

Fry the dry fruits and nuts[I didn't fry the dates] and let them cool down.

Take the fried gum, dry fruits and nuts in a blender and grind them coarsely.

Heat 2-3 tablespoons of ghee, and roast the data/wheat flour for a few minutes, until you get a nice aroma.

Take the roasted flour in a microwave safe dish, mix the sugar.

Add the remaining ghee, mix it.

Add the chopped nuts, give it a quick mix.

Microwave it for 4 minutes, give a minute standing time, take it out and mix it.
Again microwave the laddoo mixture for a couple of minutes, give 2 minutes standing time and let the mixture cool down a bit and make laddoos.
Tasty and healthy  laddoos are ready. They keep well at room temperature for a week or 10 days, I bet they will be over before that! :) 

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