CHOLA PANIYARAM

Its millets everywhere now. The awareness of their health benefits have brought a thought of including them in our daily meal. Millets which was often being called as "poor mans meal" has now become more of a mandatory ingredients in most of our kitchen. Irrespective of their health benifits i was reluctant to cook with millets wondering will they be tasty enough. Few of us in home including me, are quite picky when it comes to food. Finally, decided why not give it a try. So, started adding them to my regular diet and so far no complaints. Most of the dishes came out good.

Today's recipe, chola paniyaram which I got from my Chithi ( my moms younger sister) came out quite tasty and crispy as well. I generally avoid paniyarams as they consume more oil. Now with nonstick paniyaram pan and my millet batter I almost ate 2 servings.. Cheers to healthy and definitely tasty cooking.

This millet, commonly known as cholam in tamil), jowar (in hindi) or sorghum (in english) is of pepper size and is white in colour.  It is far more nutritious than rice or wheat. In other words its a power house which is packed with nutrients. One important thing that you should always remember before using any millet is that they are tiny grains and sometimes you find stones mixed. So, wash them well at least 4-5 times before use.

JEERA RICE

A simple yet flavourful dish. I made it along with rajma gravy for lunch. Actually, this is not the exact version of traditional jeera rice. I changed it to suit my families taste buds. It did came out really well and everyone in home liked it. When wondering what can be done to improvise this dish to my families taste, it suddenly striked why not use the leftover stock water of cooked rajma (thank goodness i finished the gravy first) to cook my jeera rice. But will that be enough? Checked my pantry and I found some cashews. Also, had ginger garlic paste which I always make it a point to have it in my fridge. The first thing i do coming home from market every week is to make ginger garlic paste for the week (I also add few green chillies and the stalks of coriander leaves to the paste. I like it that way as it adds more flavour and aroma. Plus the stalks of coriander are nutritious.  So next time use it instead of discarding it). Finally, with all my ingredients ready the cooking began.....

RAJMA GRAVY

A north Indian delicacy which steals your heart with all the richness. It is a wholesome meal for an ideal Sunday lunch. It goes well with pulavs, jeera rice, roti or naan and even with plain cooked basmati rice. As any recipe goes you can make this one too in a few ways. The recipe that I'm to post now  is an easier version and more of a home cooked style than, a restaurant one. The tricky part here is to perfectly cook the rajma. There are a few tips you can use to make this mouth watering dish.                      1. It is one difficult bean and takes a lot of time to cook so I always soak it overnight preferably in warm water and cook it in a pressure cooker. 

2. Selecting the right bean is also a crucial part. Light coloured ones take less time to cook.

3. Also check the date of packing. Older beans takes  more time to cook.

Hope these tips help you. Do try this recipe and post your comments. 

MIXED VEGETABLE TOAST

I love sandwiches any given day. They are fresh, easy to make and so yummy to taste. Its an easy and effective way to make people eat veggies especially, kids who love cheese. I even add cooked or sprouted pulses to make it more nutritious. Also, when there is leftover vegetables from lunch i stuff it in bread with some cheese or mayonaise or mint chutney and toast it.  Basically there is "n" number of stuffing's you can make for a sandwich. The beauty here is it never fails you and it always comes out yummy... The recipe I'm posting now is quite a mixed sandwich. I initially planned on making a Bombay sandwich and ended with this one. As i said, they never fail me. It came out pretty good and every one in home loved it. Especially, my father in law and sister in law, who too share my craziness for sandwiches. They are my inspirations to cook. They love whatever i make. My sister in law is my co partner in kitchen and my poor father in law who is our tester to all the madness we create in the kitchen. Thanks guys. Love you loads....

பீர்கங்கை தோல் தொகயல்

Peerkangai is a quiet common vegetable which is loaded with dietary fibers. Most of us just use the inner flesh and throw away the skin. Well don't do so. You can make a yummy thogayal out of it. It tastes heavenly with hot rice and some ghee on top. A quick, easy yet, a healthy recipe. You can make this dish in quite a few ways. Instead of thur dal you can use channa dal. Same way garlic for ginger. Even you can substitute red chilli with green chilly. This is how i learnt cooking. When i dont have a few ingredient for a recipe i add somethings which i feel might go with it. Its been four years since my cooking journey begun and this mix matching has never let me down. Actually it sort of cultivated my intrest in cooking also ended in few recipes which were quite tasty and proudly mine.   

mushroom podimas

MUSHROOM PODIMAS

Last week I went to my native place near Pollachi to attend a family function. We ordered food (all three course meals) from "Anandas" a veg restaurant in Coimbatore. Not only did the food taste good the entire course was full of different and unique recipes. The recipe I have put here is "mushroom podimad" which we thought was some porial. None of us had the slightest idea that it was made of mushroom until they informed us. It just tasted like egg podimas. I gave it a try in home and it tasted really good. My hubby said it was excellent. So guys do try this recipe and post your comments.