High potential for probiotics

Natural mango pickle and yogurt 

Both can be used as mid meal for probiotics.

Both are having high potential for probiotics.

Probiotics are very good for gut health.

Natural mango pickles are prepared in brine. Cut mangoes with skin is used in natural mango pickle. No added sugar or vinegar in it.

Since the pickle is salty, use the yogurt without salt.

Those who like this can have it thrice in a week.

 

Simple sadya at home

Birth star lunch at home. So simple and delicious 😋 List of items in the sadya 

1. Parippu ( Moong dal curry)

2. Sambar 

3. Pulissery 

4. Pachadi ( curd curry)

5. Aviyal ( veggies mix in grated coconut)

6. Mezhukkupuratti ( sautéed beans and potato)

7. Inchi puli( ginger curry)

8. Papadum 

9. Pradhaman ( jaggery kheer)

10. Yogurt 

11. Red rice 

All these items are served in banana leaves in an order.

Additional papadum will be served along with pradhaman also.

It’s so good, nutritious, delicious and healthy!

If you had more pradhaman, do not forget your extra workout to burn the extra calories!😀

 

Anchovy specials @ home

Fresh needle like anchovies are to be used for these dishes.

1. Achovy Moringa leaves stir fry 

Ingredients 

1. Fresh and cleaned anchovies 250 gym

2. Moringa leaves, cleaned 3 handfuls 

3.Grated coconut 1 cup 

4. Onion 1, garlic cloves 7, green chilli 4, ginger 2 inch piece, all four, finely chopped 

5. Coconut oil 1 tbsp., mustard seeds 1/2 tsp.

Preparation 

Heat the oil in in a shallow pan. Drop in the mustard seeds, allow to crackle and add the chopped onion, garlic, ginger and green chilli, sauté it, add salt to taste. Add  half cup of water,  1/4 tsp. turmeric powder, when it starts boiling, add anchovies, allow to cook, add the Moringa leaves on it, reduce the flame into low. When the leaves are stewed, add the coconut, close it with a lid and allow to cook for 2 minutes. Combine the contents in the pan with care not to break the anchovies. Dish is done ✅ 

Good for rice and chapatti.

Anchovy mango curry 

Ingredients 

1. Cleaned anchovies 250gm

2. Raw mango 1, peeled and thinly sliced 

3. Shallots 5, green chilli 2, ginger 1 inch piece, garlic cloves 2, all thinly sliced 

4. Grated coconut 1/2 cup, make it a paste 

5. Curry leaf a sprig 

6. Fish masala 1 tbsp 

7. Salt to taste 

Preparation 

In an earthen cook ware, pour a cup of water, add mango pieces and the sliced items under 3

and curry leaves. Allow to boil, add salt, fish masala and anchovies. Allow to cook in low flame. Add the coconut paste, swirl the cook ware to combine the ingredients. Dish is done ✅ 

Super dish for rice 

 

Healthy side dish for lunch with Moringa leaves and beetroot

  First time in my kitchen this dish! Was not thinking to publish this recipe. So didn’t take the pics of Moringa leaves and beetroot. Usually Moringa leaves stir fry I make with green gram or dal. Also without grams it can be cooked. But the thing is that it becomes more thick. Beetroot was there in my refrigerator. So thought of mix and try it’s match together. WoW, it turned out good. Then, why to hesitate? The simple recipe is here 

Ingredients 

Moringa leaves, cleaned 2 handfuls, beetroot large 1, peeled and grated, shallots 5, garlic cloves 5, both chopped finely, turmeric powder ,chilli powder, 1/4 tsp. each,  cumin powder a pinch, salt to taste, grated coconut 1/2 cup, mustard seeds 1/4 tsp., coconut oil 1/2 tbsp.

Preparation 

Heat the oil in a shallow pan, drop in the mustard seeds, allow to crackle, drop in shallots and garlic, sauté it. When the fragrance starts add, beetroot and stir it. When half cooked add, salt, turmeric, chilli & cumin powders, combine well and add the Moringa leaves. Mix well. When the leaves are sautéed add the grated coconut, combine well and allow to remain in low flame for a minute. Dish is done ✅ The sweetness of beetroot adjusted the bitterness and the softness of beetroot adjusted the hardness of Moringa leaves. The dish is delicious and of course nutritious.

Can serve as side dish for rice, chapatti, roti and porotta. Super for vegetarians.

Splash of Thai taste in my kitchen

In my travels abroad I love to taste different cuisines. To be honest I am a foodie respecting the food of the world 🌎 

Thai restaurants are one of my favourite!

I love the greens 🥬 in their dishes whether in starters, salads, soups or main course!

I have Thai sauce in the refrigerator, Ceylon spinach in our garden, garlic and ginger in the pantry! With these ingredients along with boneless chicken, rice, butter, sesame oil, onion, green chilli, crushed pepper, 1 tsp. cornflour  and salt the dishes were ready for a delicious lunch!

Chicken spinach soup and chicken fried rice 👌👌

Chocolate pieces as desert ❤️

Grand and delicious lunch@home 

 

Garlic potato stir fry

 

Garlic the super star 🌟 in this simple dish. Others are turmeric, pepper, curry leaf and lemon juice. They all are side ingredients but they are the stars. Why to enhance our immunity power. That’s the special need of the hour. Let’s stay healthy to resist the attack of Corona virus 🦠. Now let’s come to the recipe. So simple, multiple roles for this humble and delicious dish. Good for snack, good to have with rice and roti.

Ingredients 

Medium potatoes 3,

Garlic a bulb 

Salt to taste 

Curry leaf 2 sprigs

Coconut oil 1 tbsp.

Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp.

Crushed pepper 1-2 tsp.

Preparation 

Peel and cut the potato into thin slices. Peel the garlic and slice it thinly. Heat oil in a shallow pan, drop in the potato and garlic, allow to get stewed, add salt and curry leaves, combine well. Now bring the flame to low, combine well and allow to cook. You can do other works in the kitchen. Stir the ingredients in the pan intermittently. When 90 percent is cooked, it’s the time to add turmeric and crushed pepper, Combine well. When done, close the pan and keep for 2-5 minutes. That will make your dish moist. Serve with lemon tea. Super for evening snack.

Garlic is having medicinal values, good for heart and gut health. So also turmeric having antiseptic, antibacterial and also antioxidants. Pepper great for cardio respiratory and gut health. Lemon juice good for cold and cough. Go for it. Everyone likes it. Let’s stay healthy!!!

Healthy lunch idea with home grown veggies

Avial, ripe mango in yogurt ( pulissery), pickles and papadum. 

Dessert here is banana 🍌 A superb lunch for all ages.

Simple lunch idea!

Balanced diet means it should have carbs, proteins, fat, minerals and vitamins.

Here rice along with sautéed okra 

 

Crushed chilli from homestead garden

Covid 19 pandemic activities 💕

Homestead products happiness 💕

Seeds from my chilli container 💕

Cultivation by myself 💕

Allowed a batch of chilli to ripe 💕

Dried it in sunlight 💕

Crushed in my grinder 💕

Crushed chilli ready in the pantry 💕

WoW amazing to be in touch with nature 💕💕

 

Rose apple (jambaka) vine and candy

The seasonal fruit tree in our homestead. Rose apple or jamba tree. Every season used to distribute, do cooking like pickles, curd curry and theeyal. Also sometimes prepare wine. This time after taking the wine, thought to utilise the crushed fruit into soft candy. Made sugar syrup, dropped in the leftover fruit stuff, roll it and sun dried for three days. Soft candy done ✅Happy when it turned out delicious. Another recipe in my Covid 19 pandemic cooking!

 

Dinner so simple

Having chicken, veggies and eggs in stock. Noodles in your pantry. Then so easy and variety dinner at home. No need to order food.

Cook the noodles as directed.

Heat sesame oil in a shallow pan, add onion, garlic, ginger and green chilli slices, add salt to taste, combine well and sauté it, add the cooked noodles and seasonings along with the noodles, add cooked chicken and eggs. Combine well. Dish is ready to serve.

 

Dosa chutney with sautéed chicken veggie masala

So simple and kids friendly dinner dish.

Chicken veggie masala 

Boneless chicken, potato and carrot slices, onion, ginger and garlic slices as required, cook it and keep aside. Heat coconut oil in a shallow pan, add salt and Kashmiri chilli powder 1 tsp., add the cooked mix and combine well. Add chopped cilantro and mix.

Dosa batter can be prepared and keep refrigerated.

Take the batter out and allow to warm in room temperature. Prepare the dosa in a non sticky pan. 

No need of oil or ghee.

Prepare coconut chutney with grated coconut, shallots, cumin seeds, Kashmiri chilli powder and salt to taste.

Garnish with coconut oil mustard, red chilli and curry leaves mix. Serve hot.

 

Idli, veggie stew and chutney

Idli is a super healthy dish for breakfast. Suitable for all ages. 

Idli batter to prepare with urd dal, idli rice and fenugreek. Allow to ferment overnight. Prepare idli on the idli cooker. It will take 10 minutes. Allow to cool down. Then separate the idli and transfer into a casserole.

Veggie stew 

Chick peas 1cup, soaked overnight and pressure cooked,

Potato 3, carrot 2, peeled and cut into small chunks,

Onion 1, garlic cloves 5, green chilli 6, ginger 1/2 inch piece, all cleaned and thinly sliced,

Pressure cook all the ingredients adding salt to taste and 1/2 tsp. turmeric powder to save time.

Coconut milk 2 cups, fennel powder 1 tsp., nutmeg mace 1, cilantro chopped 1 tbsp., coconut oil 1 tsp.

Where the pressure is settled down, add nutmeg mace and coconut milk and allow to bubble in low flame. Add rest of the ingredients and allow to boil. Stew ready.

Coconut chutney 

Grated coconut 1cup, cumin seeds 1/4 tsp., shallots 2, Kashmiri chilli powder 1 tsp., salt to taste. Grind these ingredients in a blender. Heat 2 tsp. coconut oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, allow to crackle, add dry red chilli, curry leaves and add the chutney. Off the flame, combine well and ready to serve hot with idli. 

 

Poori subji

 It’s is easy to prepare and delicious to have for breakfast.

Poori preparation 

Wheat flour 1 cup, salt to taste, sprinkle water and prepare soft dough. Make gooseberry size balls. Press it in a chapatti press and spread it ready to fry. Heat required oil in a shallow pan, and fry both sides of the poori to golden brown.

Subji preparation 

Potato 4, onion 1, garlic cloves 5, ginger 1 inch piece, peeled and cut into thin pieces 

Green chilli 6- silted, salt to taste, turmeric powder 1/2 tsp. Pressure cook in half glass water. Allow to cool down, open the cooker and allow to get thicker in low flame. Add 2 tsp. coconut oil and chopped coriander leaves. Combine well and serve hot with the poori.

A lunch idea without rice

 Just to keep away rice from our lunch came with the idea of Upma, pappad and pickle.

In the upma added carrot and grated coconut along with ginger, shallots and coriander leaves. It provides minerals and nutrients in the dish. Pappad gave a crispy touch with a balancing sweet and spicy taste of the banana pickle.

Delicious and nutritious. Of course healthy food.

Idli sambar and chutney

Delicious, nutritious and super healthy. 

Idli 

Rice, urd dal and fenugreek batter. Steamed food. Easy to digest. Good for all ages at all times.

Sambar 

Toordal and veggies are the main ingredients. Condiments and salt gave the special flavour with the touch of asafoetida. Final garnishing with mustard, red chilli, curry leaves and coriander leaves in coconut oil is the highlight in taste and aroma.

Coconut chutney 

Coconut, green chilli, shallots, cumin seeds are the main ingredients. Garnishing mustard seeds, curry leaves in coconut oil gives the chutney a blast.

The combination of idli, sambar and chutney is always nostalgic.

Special lunch without rice

Poori made with whole wheat flour fried in sunflower oil.

Side dishes are chicken roast with shallots and chilli flakes, chickpea kurma and taro stem curry in coconut gravy. 

Taro root and yogurt soup

This is a thick, sweet and sour soup. Of course delicious and nutritious.Good for gut health, the taro chunks fill in the tummy, so substitute for a mini meal.

Preparation  

Taro root 3-4, peeled and cut into small chunks, green chilli 4, silted, garlic cloves 4, onion 1, ginger 1 inch piece, all three thinly sliced, curry leaf a sprig, turmeric powder 1/2 tsp., salt to taste, cook it in a cup of water.

If you want to save time go for pressure cooking, I am always a busy person, so prefer pressure cooker.

Thick yogurt 3 cups, sugar 1 tbsp., whisk it gently.

Coconut oil 1 tbsp., dried red chilli 2, broken, green chilli 2, sliced thinly, curry leaves few, mustard and cumin seeds 1/4 tsp. each.

Heat the oil in a shallow pan, drop in the mustard and cumin seeds, allow to crackle, drop in the red chilli, followed by curry leaves and green chilli, sauté till tender, add the cooked taro root mix, allow to bubble followed by the yogurt, gently mix and allow to bubble in low flame. Transfer into a serving bowl and serve hot. 

Banana pseudo stem Bengal gram stir fry

So delicious and highly nutritious.The high protein in Bengal gram gets strong with the dietary fibre in the banana pseudo stem. 

Preparation 

Cooked Bengal gram a handful 

Pseudo stem chopped 3 handfuls 

Heat coconut oil in a shallow pan, drop in mustard seeds, cumin seeds, allow to crackle, drop in dried red chilli followed by curry leaves, add chopped shallots, garlic and ginger, sauté till tender, add chopped pseudo stem, mix well, add enough salt, turmeric and chilli powders, combine well and allow to cook in low flame. Add the cooked Bengal gram. Mix well and serve hot with rice. 

Banana pseudo stem pickle

Banana pseudo stem is rich in dietary fibre.

Pickles are so nice and easy to cook.

Preparation 

Chop the banana pseudo stem cutting into circles and removing the threads. Stack the circles and chop it.

Heat sesame oil sauté the chopped pseudo stem till tender. Drain out the pseudo stem, add more oil if required, add chopped ginger and garlic, sauté till light brown, add enough chilli, asafoetida, fenugreek and a pinch of turmeric powders. Add salt to taste. Add a tsp of sugar, mix well and add sautéed pseudo stem, combine well and allow to cool. Transfer into an airtight glass bottle. Pickle is ready.

 

Kadala vazhapindi asthram ( Bengal gram banana pseudo stem coconut mix)

A great dish for rice porridge.

Usually asthram is made with taro or yam. I used Bengal gram and banana pseudo stem. It came out well.

Preparation 

Heat oil in a shallow pan, drop in mustard seeds, allow to crackle, add dried red chilli, followed by curry leaves, add the chopped banana pseudo stem, stir till cooked, add the cooked Bengal gram and the coconut mix. Combine well and adjust salt. 

Bengal gram 1 cup, soak overnight and pressure cook with salt to taste.

Banana pseudo stem half foot length, cut into circles, remove the threads and chop it.

Grated coconut 1cup, shallots 3, garlic cloves 3, cumin seeds 1/2 tsp., turmeric powder 1/3 tsp., chilli powder 1/2 tsp. Grind these ingredients into a semi coarse mix.

Heat a tablespoon of coconut oil in a shallow pan, drop in mustard seeds, allow to crackle, add dried red