I could'nt peek in here, as i had loads of work after the home got painted and my phone/broadband line was not working. it all made me stay away from the blog. I am back on track now.

Vegetable Soup with Cornflakes

Next to the Tomato soup, Veg clear soup is my favorite. when i prepared it at home, it was so easy and it tasted far far better than the restaurant served one's.
here is the recipe..


Veg Clear Soup Recipe

Prep Time: 10 mins 
Cooking Time: 20 mins  
Serves: 2
Recipe Cuisine: Chinese
Recipe Type: Appetizer

Ingredients:

Carrot - 1/4
Beans - 4
Cabbage - 3 tbsp's
Onion - 1/4
Water - 2 cup's
Corn Flour - 2 tsp's (mix it with 5 tsp's of water)
Spring onion's - 2 tsp's (finely chopped)
Ghee - 1/4 tsp
Pepper Powder - 1/2 tsp
Aji-na-motto - a pinch

Method:

Heat Ghee in a Bowl, add sliced onion and saute it.

Add all the vegetables(carrot, beans & cabbage) to the bowl and saute them.

Add 2 cup's of water to the bowl and let the vegetables get half cooked.

Mix the corn flour with 5 tsp's of water without any lump's. add the corn flour starch to the bowl and mix well.

Add salt to taste, and aji-na-moto a pinch and let the soup sit in the stove in slow flame.

Add Spring onions and pepper powder. when the soup get's little thicker, remove from the flame and serve.


Veg clear soup

Serve with bread stick's or with spiced corn flake's.

* The corn flakes in the images are just plain corn flake's. check the spiced one's here.

It just took 15 mins of time in total and the production cost of this soup could be less than Rs.25, I don't know why the restaurant's charge double the amount.

Day's roll on so fast. I have Lot's of work coming by, in two day's. I wanted to post and mark my presence here before that. Today My Son's school re-opened after Christmas Holiday's, and life turns organised for me now again. Here in Chennai, Street Side Soup Stall's are becoming Famous. Once I tried Vegetable soup in a stall nearby and loved these spiced cornflakes topping's on it. It gave a nice crunch to the hot soup along. so when i prepared vegetable soup today, i definitely needed these spiced cornflakes.

Spiced Corn Flakes

Ingredients:

Cornflakes - 1 cup
Ghee - 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves - 4
Chilli Powder - 1/4 tsp
Peanuts - 1 tsp
Salt - a pinch

Method:

Heat the Ghee in a Pan, add peanuts and roast it, till it turns into golden colour. slow the flame. Now add curry leaves and roast it. add chilli powder and salt and mix well.

Now toss the cornflakes with spices from the pan. toss it well.

Store it in an air-tight container.

You can add this to soup's. also you can have these spiced cornflakes with sambhar rice or rasam rice.

This is a very quick post. In my Next post, i will share the vegetable soup i prepared, to which i added these cornflakes.

Did I tell u my New Year Resolution's,

1. Try to do all your work, without expecting other hand's. (This mean's don't expect from maid..This decision came after she went on leave for 45 day's)

2. Eat more Fruit's and Vegetable's and boost Immunity.

3. Walk for 20 minute's a day.

4. Use less Sugar, Maida and Oil for cooking. ( this was my last year's resolution too)

5. Try to blog more healthy recipe's.

6. Improve Photography skill's.

this is what i have decided till now:)


Recipe Marathon - Lap 7 (Final Lap)

It was just 7 days, and it flew away very fast. I enrolled myself for Nupur's Marathon, as i had many post pending on my draft and also hubby had his Project Delivery Time & was working till mid-night, So i needed some blogging time, to keep me occupied. Iam Glad I enrolled, as i got many new friends from the marathon and got to learn how to allocate time for blogging for the day.
Now I wonder, how 7 days flew so fast....

Coming to Today's Recipe Lobia / Cow Gram Curry / Kaaraamani Kuzhambu.

I don't know why, my hubby fasts on the year end. He fasts till evening and for night, he eats just fruits. so i knew, that iam alone going to eat this curry and thought why not experiment with different flavour's. I added what all caught my eye on my pantry.

Lobia / Cow Gram Curry / Kaaraamani Kuzhambu

You Can't guess, what mystery ingredients i added, just from the look or taste. But all togeather gave a nice taste, that you all should try, thats why iam posting it here.



Ingredients:

Cow Gram / Lobia / Kaaraamani - 1 cup (Soaked in water for overnight)
Tomato - 1 (finely chopped)
Garlic - 3 cloves (chopped)

Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp's
Anardana seed's / Dry Pomegranate Seeds - 2tbsp's

Kasuri Methi - 2 tbsp's
Turmeric Powder - a pinch
Kuzhambu milagaai thool / Chilli Powder - 2 tsp

Oil - 2tbsp
Mustard - 1-/4 tsp
Fenugreek - 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida powder - 1/4 tsp
Curry Leaves - 8

Method:

Heat Oil in a Kadaai or Pan. Add mustard and wait till it splutters. add fenugreek seeds, asafoetida powder and curry leaves and saute them.

Pressure Cook the Cow Gram / Kaaraamani / Lobia with 1/4 cup water and little salt upto 4 whistle's.

Grind the Grated Coconut and Anardana seeds into a coarse powder and keep aside.

Now Add the Tomato and Garlic. fry them till the tomatoes get mashed.

Now add turmeric powder, Chilli Powder, salt to taste and mix well.

Add the grounded coconut + anardana seed powder to the pan and mix well with the tomatoes.

Add the cooked lobia / kaaraamani to the pan and mix well.

Add 1/2 cup water and kasuri methi, Curry Leaves and salt to taste to the pan and mix well. let the curry boil for 5 minutes in medium flame.

This Curry tasted so Good, the anardana and kasuri methi gave nice taste to the curry.

It tasted excellent with Hot Idli's.

* You can also add tamarind paste to the curry, if you like the tangyness.

Wish You All and Your Family A Very Happy New Year....

New Year Wishes


Day - 6 Running on Recipe Marathon.

This post was on my draft for an year. Today iam pulling out from draft for you all. This is an Informative post.

First Iam sharing my Quick Onion Chutney...

Onion Chutney served with Hot Steamed idli's, is certainly a divine combi.

Onion Chutney

Ingredients:

Raw Onions - 2

Dry Red Chilli - 3

Oil - 1 tsp

Method:

Saute the chopped onions and red chilli's in a pan with one tsp of oil for half a minute. let it cool and grind it into a paste by adding 3 tbsp's of water and salt to taste.

if you wish you can season it with mustard, split urad dal and curry leaves.


Serve with Idli's and Dosa's.





Power of Onions:

1. Just crush a peeled small piece of onion, and inhale the smell of its juice, to get rid off your headache's.

2. Onion's are Just Packed with anti-biotic properties. it is proven that, it can help in curing cancer and TB.

3. Onion's work good for heart, as it helps in reducing hyper-tension and cholesterol, thus prevents Blood Pressure also Heart-Attack.

4. Onion's are also said to have anti-septic properties.

6. Onion's can help you to get rid off gastric problem's. (vayuthollai in tamil)


I want to share about this miraculous soup. it just helped to clear my nasal congestion, in minutes. Onion's are best to help you out, when you are affected by cold/flu.

This Onion Soup could prove, you can try it out and tell me..

Onion Soup for removal of Nasal Congestion

Onion Soup

Ingredients:

10-12 Small Onions

1-Big Onion

1 Cup- Water

1tsp-corn flour(optional)

Salt(optional)

Method:

Just peel the outer skin of the small onions and big onions. Big One's can be chopped into four quarter's. In a cup of water, boil these onion's for 5-7 minutes. or you can microwave it for 4 minutes. You can have this with onion's if you like or you can filter the water alone into a glass. you can add salt to taste.

If you want this soup to be little thick, have the cornflour with some water and make it into a thick paste. add this paste to the onion water and let it boil for 2 minutes. if you wish, Garnish the soup with spring onion's.

On having this soup, within minutes, you can sense that you nasal congestion is cleared.

*****************************************************************************


Sauteed Onion's and Garlic for Reducing body heat and Gastric Problem's

A Recipe, that can make your body cool or to say in other words, it reduces your body heat.

Ingredients:

8 cloves of Garlic

10 Small Onion's

Method:

Fry the Garlic and Small Onion's in a tsp of ghee.

Add salt and saute them well.

Mix the sauteed one's with hot rice.

This will certainly help you out in reducing your body heat and gastric problems.



Finally let me tell you a Fact.

Small Onion's have more Protein, Mineral's, Carbohydrate's, Energy, Phosphorus and Iron than Big Onion's.

So Eat Onion's, it will Fight for You.


Check the Highlights of Recipe Marathan

Day - 5 on Recipe Marathon..

Soft Paneer on Spicy Sauce. This Szechuan Chilli Paneer Gravy will surely impress Paneer and spice lovers. I prepared this chilli paneer gravy without adding szechuan sauce, but it did'nt taste that good. so this szechuan sauce is a must to prepare this gravy.

I prepared Szechuan Fried Rice, Szechuan Fried Noodles, Szechuan Potatoes and Szechuan Egg Fried Rice with the Szechuan Sauce. I completely enjoyed this sauce's addition in all the dishe's.

Szechuan Sauce

Recipe For Schezwan Sauce:

{You can make 4-5 servings, with the sauce. }

Oil - 5 Tbsp's

Dry Red Chilli's - 20

Garlic - 10 cloves

Scallions / Spring Onions(White Part)  - 5 [or use one Big White Onion]

Corriander Leaves - fistfull (5 tbsp's)

Corriander Stem's - 10

Vinegar - 3tbsp's

Kashmiri Chilli Powder /  Paprika- 4 tbsp's

*You can add more kashmiri powder, if you prefer spicy and colour in your sauce. ( i added more)


Method:

Soak the Red Chilli's in hot water for about 3 hours.
Drain the Chilli's and Grind it along with other Ingredients. Add little water to get a smooth paste.

Heat a Pan. pour 5 tbsp's of oil. heat the oil. add the grinded sauce to the pan and stir well.
Let the pan sit in medium flame for about 5 minutes.
Let the sauce cool and store it in an air tight container.

I was able to cook 5 servings with the above ingredients. and the sauce stayed fresh for about 3 weeks in my fridge.

Szechuan Chilli Paneer Gravy:


Chilli Paneer Gravy


Ingredients:

Paneer - 100 gms
Red Onion - 1
Green Bell Pepper /Capsi - 1/2
Garlic - 5 (finely sliced)
Green Chilli - 2 (Finely sliced)
Corn Flour - 2tsp's
Spring Onion's (Green Part) - 2 (finely chopped)
Olive Oil - 1 tbsp
aji-na-moto - a pinch

Szechuan Chilli Sauce - 2 tbsp's
Soy Sauce - 1/2 tsp
Vinegar - 1/2 tsp
Chilli Sauce - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Cut the Paneer into small cubes. Roast them in a Tava, till both the sides of paneer turns golden colour.
[The actual Recipe is to dip the paneer cubes in cornflour mix and deep fry them.]

Cut the Red Onion and Capscium in cube shape's.

Mix the corn flour in 5 tbsp's of water without any lumps and keep aside.

Heat a pan, add a tbsp of oil. when it gets heated, add finely chopped Garlic and saute them for half a minute.

Now add the Onion, Capsicum and fry them. also add finely chopped green chilli's and fry it along. Add the roasted Paneer cube's and saute it for a min.

Add all the sauces mentioned and salt to taste. mix well with the paneer, capsi and onion mix.

Now add the corn flour mix and stir well. just let it to boil and switch off the flame.

(If you want it to be in gravy form, add more diluted corn flor mix, or if you want dry chilli paneer, add the corn flour mix and keep stirring, till it gets dried.)

Garnish with Spring Onion's.

Szechuan Fried Rice:

Szechuan Fried Rice

Heat 2 tbsp's of Oil in a Pan, add 2 dry red chilli's and 2 tbsp's of Szechaun Sauce and fry it. Add 1/2 tsp Soy Sauce and mix well. Now add a cup of cooked Rice and mix well. add salt to taste.
add ajinamoto if desired. garnish it with spring onions.
Check the Highlights of Recipe Marathan Day 1, Day 2 , Day 3 & Day 4.

My Fellow Runners on Nupur's Recipe Marathan


If i had to cook in less than 30 mins, then this thuvayal and rasam finds its place definitely. This is my hubby's favourite too. I got the recipe from Kribha. I have tried few recipe's from her blog and loved it a lot. Thanks Kribha for sharing the recipe.

Paruppu Thuvayal

This paruppu thuvayal is served for nursing mom's. The garlic and tuvar dal helps in milk secreation.

Ingredients:

Tuvar Dal / Tuvaram Paruppu - 1/2  cup
Milagu / Pepper - 5
Dry Red Chilli - 3 or  4
Garlic - 2
Asafoetida powder - 1/2 tsp
Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp's
Curry Leaf - 5

Method:

In a Pan, dry roast the above ingredients one by one in the above order. once dry roasted, let them cool.

Add 4 tbsp's of water & salt to taste, along with the dry roasted ingredients and Grind them into a coarse paste.

Transfer the grinded thuvayal to the serving bowl.

Mix the thuvayal with hot rice, add 1/4 tsp of ghee and mix. My way is to pour Rasam generously over the thuvayal sadam and eat it with appalam.

Kothamalli Sadham / Corriander Leaves Rice:

I got to share my Kothamalli Rice Recipe with You all. I prepared my Kothamalli Thokku and mixed with Rice. It turned out excellent. Kothamalli Thokku is one, to be eaten with Hot Idli's or Dosa's. It is also eaten with Noi Kanji, when fallen ill. The Kanji with this thokku is a great combination. anyway for packing lunch, you can mix this thokku with Rice, add some roasted peanuts and pack for lunch.

Check My Kothamalli Thokku Recipe here.

Kothamalli Sadham
[Today's Lunch]

Check the Highlights of Recipe Marathan Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3.

My Fellow Runners on Nupur's Recipe Marathan


Cooking Biryani on weekends is a must for me. I just love the cooking flavour of biryani coming out of every house on weekends. So for my part, i try to tempt others.

Egg Biriyani - Dhum cooked

INGREDIENTS:

Rice - 3 small tumblers
Egg's - 4
Red Onions - 3
Tomato - 1
Green Peas - 1/4 cup
Green Chilli - 1

Milagaai thool / Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp

For Thalippu / Tadka :

Ghee / Oil - 6 tbsp's
Cashewnuts - 5
Pattai / Cinnamon Stick - 2 small stick's
lavang / cloves - 2
Sombu / saunf - 1/2 tsp
elakkaai / cardamon - 3
Bringe leaf - 1

For Grinding:

1. Kothamalli kaambu / Corriander Stem's - 5
2. Cinnamon stick (pattai) - 2 smal sticks
3. Lavang - 2
4. Ginger - 2' inch
5. Garlic - 7 (big cloves)
6. Green Chilli - 1
7. Tomato - 1/2
8. Yogurt - 3 tsp
9. Sombu - 1/4 tsp

To Garnish:

Mint Leaves / Puthina - 10 leaves
Corriander Leaves - 3 tbsp's (chopped)
Oil - 3 tbsp's
Red Onion - 2 no. (chopped finely)
Potato - 2 no. (chopped in shape of french fries)

Method:

Boil the Egg's with little salt in 2 cup's of water on slow flame for about 10 minutes. remove the oute shell and leave it aside.

Soak the Rice in water for about 30 mins. If you are using Basmati Rice, soak it just for 10 mins.

Chop the Onion's finely and keep aside. get ready with ginger and garlic.

Now we shall Grind the masala's.. Grind the masala, with the ingredients given under Grinding and keep aside.

Heat a Aluminium Vessel(like the one shown in pic. below) add ghee or oil and let it to heat. Now add cinnamon, cloves, cardamon, bringe leaf, cashew nuts and fry them in slow flame. add saunf and fry it.

Now add the finely chopped Red Onion's and saute them, till they turn light brown. or till u feel
the nice smell of onions.

Now add the Peas and mix well with the onions.

Add the Grinded masala's to the vessel and saute them for 2 minutes, till the raw smell of ginger-garlic goes off.

Now add the soaked rice and mix well.

Add Chilli Powder and Garam masala and mix well. also add salt to taste.

Now add exactly 5 cup's of water and stir well. (if using Basmati rice use just 3 cup's of water.)

Add Boiled Egg's, Mint / puthina leaves and corriander leaves and close the vessel with its lid.

Dhum Biryani Cooking Method

Place a Heavy weighing vessel over the Biryani cooking vessel. I kept my Pressure cooker filled with water on top of the vessel.

Let this Biryani get cooked in slow flame for about 30 mins. Basmati rice may get cooked earlier or just take 20 mins more or less.

Heat Oil in a pan, fry the chopped Red Onions in medium flame till they are browned. this may take atleast 5 mins.

also fry the potatoes.

Now serve the Biryani with fried onions and fried potatoes.

Egg Biryani with Fried Onions and Fried Potatoes

Enjoy the Dhum Cooked Egg Biryani!!!