Mangalore Buns (Low fat Version )

Here is low fat and lovely version of Mangalore Buns which is fab to taste so soft and spongy too that I love it :) 

Ingredients 

2 cups maida

2 banana (med sized  over ripened )

4-5 Green chillies

1 tbsp Jaggery 

1 tsp Jeera

1 tsp coarsely crushed black peppercorn 

2-3 tbsp curd

1/2 tsp Baking soda

salt to taste

oil for frying 

Method 

• Grind  over ripened banana in mixed grinder to a fine paste or you can even finely grate it.
• Mince green chillies finely . In Bowl add pureed Banana, minced green chillies. whole Jeera, coarsely crushed black peppercorn , Jaggery, curd , baking soda, salt to taste and whisk it well and leave it aside. After 2-3 mins you can see bubbles forming .
• Now add maida/ plain flour  and knead to a smooth dough . add more plain flour to knead into a smooth dough .
• Leave in to ferment overnight . If you intend to do this tomorrow it's pretty best knead the dough at night.
• Next morning knead it well again dusting with little maida/ plain flour ,  Pinch out a little dough make round balls of all the remaining dough .
• Roll it once with the help of rolling pin not more then the size of puri and then heat oil and deep fry in oil .
• Serve hot and serve with coriander chutney of your choice ...Perfect morning breakfast !

Cucumber Idli

This is one of my favourite idlis since Childhood days and there are two variations you can do one is sweet idli and other is the spicy one this is one of the no fermentation method of idlis so if u have a cucumber in hand can be made in a jiffy too :)

Ingredients

1 cucumber grated (use a fine grated and do not discard the water) (measure it to 1 cup)

1 cup Rice ( Prewashed then spread on a cloth till dry and grind to a mixie to a Coarse Rawa Semolina consistency)

1/2 cup freshly grated coconut

3 tbsp Jaggary or more if you prefer

 salt to taste

Ghee for greasing 

Method

• In Mixing bowl add grated cucumber,rice,coconut, jaggary,salt and mix well and then grease the idli moulds with ghee and then pour the idli mix into each mould and then steam it for 10-12 minutes on a medium flame and then serve hot with  fresh homemade butter .

Kosambari

Kosambari means salad and basically it's a medley of  all fresh vegs or mix of finely chopped vegetables and lentils , Today I am posting my favourite version of kosambari which my mom used to prepare this during auspicious occasion  of Ram Navami this along with jaggary panak which a gingery based traditional drink which you will find in every household during summer and when it is served chilled its absolutely amazing thirst quencher especially on a hot sunny day so this paired with this salad was truly a combination when one can't miss , I have such a fond childhood memories that while typing down the recipe I automatically got teleported down the memory lane ........now coming to the recipe of this humble salad , here it goes :D

Ingredients 

1/2 cup finely chopped cucumber

1/4 cup yellow mung dal soaked for 2 hrs

1 small carrot grated

3 tbsp grated coconut 

1 green chilli finely minced

2 tbsp coriander leaves finely chopped

dash of a lime 

salt to taste

For tempering 

1 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

generous pinch of hing / Asafoetida

Method 

• In a mixing bowl add in soaked yellow mung dal ( wash soak for couple of hours , rinse thoroughly , discard all the extra water) , cucumber, grated carrot, green chillies, coriander leaves , salt to taste and dash of lemon , grated coconut mix well. 
• In pan add oil add mustard seeds, when it starts to splutter add in generous pinch of hing and pour this on the mix. 
• Serve with Rice and dal as a salad or you can enjoy it just like that with a smile on your face, I am sure though simple it is going to satiate your taste buds :D 

  

Idli Fingers with Garlic chutney

This Chutney is such a delicious combo with Idli that you will simply love the taste . 

(RECIPE CREDIT - SHYAMALA KINI AKKA)

Ingredients

For Idli Fingers

3-4 Leftover idli
2 tsp coconut oil 

Method

• Cut Idli into fingers and keep aside
• Heat oil in a griddle and then fry the idli fingers till crisp and brown on both sides and then serve it with garlic chutney

For Garlic chutney

1/4 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp peppercorns

3 cloves of garlic

2 Dry red chilli

1/2 cup grated coconut

1 tsp tamarind 

1 tsp ghee

salt to taste

Method

• Heat ghee in a pan add cumin seeds, peppercorn, garlic, red chilli and fry till garlic turns brown and then grind it along with coconut, tamarind, salt to a fine paste and then serve with idli fingers.

Tomato & Beetroot soup

Would you like a delicious soup that is filling and also healthy? Then I would definitely recommend you to try this out and it would be your favourite soup too and it is all healthy. This is an easy to make soup and good light lunch time meal for anyone who isn't keen on eating lots. This soup is the key to anyone's meal time hunger, I actually came across this recipe when I was on Instagram and I decide to try this and it was a fab in the house. So do try this and comment in your replies in the space below.

Ingredients

RECIPE CREDIT - NEHA DEEPAK SHAH

2  medium sized Onion (sliced)

3-4 cloves of Garlic

1" Ginger (sliced)

1-2 Green chilli (depending on your spice level)

2 medium sized Carrots (cut into roundels)

1 tbsp Coriander stem (retain the leaves for garnishing)

1 small Beetroot (cubed or in quarters)

2-3 yellow Moong dal

3 Tomatoes (sliced)

2 tbsp oil

Salt and Pepper ( depending on your taste)

Butter and chopped Coriander leaves for garnishing

Bread croutons to top your soup (opt)

Method

• Take a pressure cooker add 2 tbsp oil and when it is smoking hot add in the onions, garlic, ginger, green chilli and sauté for a couple of minutes then add carrots, chopped coriander stems, small beetroot, soaked yellow moong dal, tomatoes then add 1+1/2 cups of water and pressure cook for two whistles.
•  Cool and grind it to a fine paste.
• Transfer it into a deep pot then add in the paste, and the required quantity of water and bring it to a boil.
• Season with salt and pepper as per your taste, garnish with coriander leaves.
• Serve piping hot with bread croutons.

Jackfruit Mulik

 These are traditional seasonal delicacy which is a wow ! I had learnt this recipe from my mil thanks to her for sharing such age old classic recipe with me the actual recipe calls for ground rice flour/ Idli Rawa but in this recipe we have added semolina to make it a little healthier , in case you need to follow the traditional way please do go ahead and swap semolina with idli rawa , it is amazing sweet and traditional one and very dear one to my heart as I have grown up seeing my mom preparing it whenever Jackfruits are in season . Do try this and let me know how did you find it to be :)

INGREDIENTS

1/2 Cup Jackfruit pieces (10 - 12) (deseeded)

1/4 cup Jaggery (can add more if needed depending on the sweetness of the Jackfruit)

1/2 cup semolina

1/4 cup coconut use fresh or desiccated

1/2 tsp ground elaichi powder / Green cardamom powder

Oil to deep fry the fritters 

Method 

• Grind Jackfruit pieces with jaggary to a fine paste (My tip is to grate jaggery and then whizz it.
• Take semolina in a bowl and add this jaggary puree little by little and blend it to make a semi thick batter.
• Add Green cardamom powder and mix well and keep aside.
• Now heat oil wet your hands pinch a small portion of the batter and deep fry in oil till golden .
• Serve as a tea time snack and enjoy with masala tea absolutely a bliss !!!

Chakli

 

CLASSIC POPULAR TEA TIME SNACK WHICH NEEDS NO INTRODUTION !

INGREDIENTS

2 CUPS RICE FLOUR 

1/2 CUP  URAD DAL 

1/2 CUP ROASTED CHANA DAL / CHUTNEY DAL/ DARIA DAL

2 TBSP BUTTER

2 TBSP ROASTED WHITE SESAME SEEDS

1 TSP  WHOLE JEERA

SALT TO TASTE

2 + 1/2 CUP OF LUKEWARM WATER

OIL FOR DEEP FRYING CHAKLI 

METHOD

• Roast 1/2 cup urad dal on simmer flame till dal changes colour and gets the nutty light brown colour with lovely aroma then switch off the gas. 
• Grind the roasted urad dal to fine powder and sieve and keep aside.
• Grind daria dal to a fine powder and sieve and keep aside.
• Now in a large mixing bowl add in rice flour, roasted urad dal powder, daria dal powder, mix well , add sesame seeds, whole jeera, salt to taste mix well and keep aside.
• In a pan add 2 + 1/2 cup water and add butter, heat the water till it's lukewarm and the butter melts and then add it to the rice flour chakli mix and knead to a smooth dough 
• Now pinch a small portion of the dough and put it in chakli press and press down and shape like spiral chakli.
• Now heat oil and deep fry till crisp and enjoy as a tea time snack.

Curry leaves and Peanut chutney Powder

Hello Readers hope you are all doing well on this fine day. I am actually posting here after a long hiatus, and I have come up with another healthy recipe with curry leaves and peanuts; a chutney powder which is a beautiful blend of ingredients which you can enjoy at any time of the day . You can satiate your taste buds by preparing this if your are a peanut lover like me and consumption of curry leaves have such a great benefits and the wonders it does to the human health and is certainly a go-to option for diabetics who can cherish this  as well . Inclusion of curry leaves isn't just to add some more flavour to the recipe, but it also has additional health benefits such as sustainment of hair for example. From a personal point of view, the smell of curry leaves certainly does turn a frown upside down and the compatibility of this with peanut chutney powder is as good as the compatibility of Tweedle-dee and Tweedledum. Thanks to my mum for sharing one more recipe which we are going to treasure :)

Ingredients

• 1 + 1/2 cups of curry leaves 
•  1/2 cup of roasted groundnuts/peanuts 
•  1/2 cup of desiccated coconut 
•  Small piece of Jaggery 
•  2-3 garlic cloves 
•  Salt to taste
• 1 tsp of oil

Method 

• Take a pan and add in 2 teaspoons of oil and add curry leaves. Roast it lightly till crisp. Please note to do this on a simmer flame( a very small flame), so that you don't burn the leaves. 
• Keep it aside on a separate plate once it is lightly roasted and crispy . Roast desiccated coconut a little till a light nutty brown colour and keep it aside. 
• Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend it to a course powder. Try it and enjoy it with anything complementary like idli or dosa. To all readers, please leave in your comments and feel free to give any feedback in the comments section below and happy cooking.

Nan Katai

Hello readers , I am posting here after a long hiatus so thought of posting one of the classic biscuit recipe which I learnt from my mom , this is one of my favourite tea time biscuit recipe which has a lovely hint of elaichi/ Green cardamom and it gives that classic Asian touch , Amazing to taste and so flaky in texture that one bite it teleports me to my childhood days where my mom used to prepare this during Diwali and it always would vanish so quickly that I used to always request her to prepare a big batch of them .  It's easy to prepare and makes it even more special when you share , so do try this recipe and share it with your loved ones . Now coming back to this recipe there are few key steps which you have to follow which nails the texture here .  Please do message me in the comment box below with your feedbacks, questions would love to read them.

Ingredients

1/2 cup Maida /Plain Flour

1/4 cup semolina

1/4 cup Besan/ Chickpea flour

1/2 tsp cooking soda

1/2  cup Ghee (which is at room temperature)

1/2 cup powdered Sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla Essence

1/4 tsp Green cardamom powder

Method

• Powder the Sugar with Green cardamom seeds with the help of a mixer grinder and keep aside.
• In a bowl Cream Ghee and powdered sugar together till pale white in colour and well incorporated mix well it takes good 5 minutes to do it . This is a key step please do not skip it.
• In a mixing bowl Sieve Plain Flour (Maida), Besan , cooking soda together and keep aside. mix in the semolina and keep aside.
• Add in the creamed ghee, vanilla essence and mix it well till it comes together to form a dough, and if you are not able to do it don't worry just add another 1 tbsp ghee . Shape them into small round ball and flatten just a little .
• Grease a baking tray with a little ghee add line these cookies and bake in a preheated oven.
• Here the oven temperature is the key for the cracks they form on the cookies which gives a classic look and gives a lovely flaky texture.
• Preheat the oven to 170'c for 5 mins. Bake them for 10-12 mins till done and the bottom of the cookies turn a little golden brown and they form cracks on the top .
• After they have cooled store in an air tight container and Enjoy with a hot cup of tea.

Wheat Flour chocochip cookies

I absolutely love choco chip cookies and was looking for something which is healthy and calls for less sugar too ...these were perfect , gorgeous and made with few ingredients and the texture is so good just like the store bought ones , no compromise on taste and that's a promise.....this was an instant hit in my house, my kids absolutely loved it, thanks to my friend Sujatha S Shenoy's post who inspired me to cook these gorgeous cookies . The original recipe calls for butter , but I have used ghee here ; I have tweaked the recipe which has turned out perfect for me and have even used the same measurements to prepare more than 2 batches and it has come out perfect !...Please do try them and enjoy them sipping down a hot cup of tea  :D

Recipe adapted from Healthy kadai 

Ingredients 

1 cup wheat flour 

1/4 cup semolina  

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1/4 cup sugar 

1/4 cup chocochips 

1/4 cup ghee ( should be at room temperature )

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp vanilla essence 

Method 

1. In a deep bowl add in wheat flour, semolina , cocoa powder, sugar, mix well , add in chocochips and mix well. 
2. Now add in vanilla essence , ghee and mix well until it becomes a perfect dough, add maybe 1/2 tsp more ghee if u find it a bit difficult to bind the dough but otherwise it should be fine.
3. Leave the dough aside for 10 mins.
4. Preheat the oven to 170'c for 5 mins.
5.  Line a cookie tray with the parchment paper and pinch a small portion of dough, make a round ball place a chocochip in the centre. 
6.  Bake for ab0ut 15-20 mins until the top gets a bit cracked and it's cooked.
7.  Store in an air tight container. Enjoy !