TOMATO PULAO

Tomato pulao is a yummy rice variety with some veggies.  Today, I prepared the same for Lunch along with raita, papad, karuvadam etc.

As I was bored of eating chapati everyday and thinking of what to make as side dish for the chapati, for a change, I was thinking when my maid did not turn up for making chaptis, this dish for the last two days.

After  having a lovely time attending the  Happy Streets organised by Times of India  group, I was lazy to enter in the kitchen so made my day very easy by preparing this tomato pulao.  I have already posted tomato rice recipe in the blog.  You should have fully ripe tomato which is red in colour.

METHI LEAVES KARAKUZHAMBU

Fenugreek seeds are good for diabetes, to keep the stomach cool etc.  Methi leaves are used to make methi matar malai, methi thepla,methi paratha, methi subzi etc.  We can also make methi leaves sambar.  Here I have used the methi leaves to make karakuzhambu somewhat similar to vathalkuzhambu.  This curry is made with tamarind pulp, masalas etc. and is really tongue tickling.

This goes well along with plain white rice, along with fried vadam, chips, etc.

BREAD PARATHA

Varieties of Parathas are made by North Indian.   Hot parathas of any kind, is very tasty and liked by all.  I happened to have the aloo paratha soaked in ghee ( i mean a lot of ghee was put in while cooking the same)   along with Maa ki dal once when we went out in a Punjabi restaurant in a  Mall.  It was awesome minus the ghee which I could not digest as we use very less oil and ghee.  But those who are loving it that way, it is divine.

I made the bread paratha today because I had four slices of left over bread and was thinking what to do for the breakfast.  Since parathas are liked by my children very much, I decided to try this bread methi paratha and it was awesome with curd and sauce. 

PALAK PANEER DOSA

Instant Palak Paneer dosa I made tonight for a change as we were bored of having chapati everyday.  Since I had palak, paneer and the soaked methi seeds in the fridge, I thought of making this different kind of dosa which was quite tasty with pickle and sambar.

Few benefits of palak and paneer is given below after the recipe for your information.

KAIPPAKKA KONDATTAM, BITTER GOURD VATHAL

Bitter gourd is very good for health especially those who are suffering from diabetes.  This juice is very useful in controlling the sugar.

Bitter gourd vathal is made and stored in airtight container during summer.  This is used to make varuval or vathal kuzhambu during rainy season when  vegetables are scarce.  Most of the vathals, vadams, pickles are made during summer and stored by Indians during  summer. 

Let us look at the recipe now how to make this vathal.  In malayalam, it is called kondattam.

CLUSTER BEANS VATHAL, KOTHAVARAKKA VATHAL

Cluster beans or kothavarakka or kothavarankai or ghavar subzi is made normally as dry subzi.  South Indians make it poriyal, or usli, thoran etc. whereas in the north side, it is made along with onion, tomato etc with some masalas.

It is quite tasty but for some people, it gives gas trouble.  Hence we need to put garlic and hing powder in it to reduce that effect.

This can be sun dried and kept for frying or making subzi during rainy season.

TINAI DOSA

Tinai  (foxtail millet) dosa was really tasty with the sambar, chutney. Millet are good for health than the usual rice varieties.  Since it is healthy, I have started using these flours instead of rice now.

Millets are nutritious, easy to digest,  high on fibre.   Millets are a good source of  nutrients, including manganese, phosphorus, and magnesium.  

If you have got the flour, only have to grind urid dal and add to the flour and the job becomes very easy.

Let us look at the recipe now:

PAPAYA THOKKU

Raw papaya pickle is also very tasty like the raw mango thoku.  I had a piece of raw papaya in the fridge hence thought of trying it.  It came out so well and I had it with brown rice kichadi today.  Since my friend wants varieties of pickle for demonstration in her class, I was trying various kinds of pickles, and this is one among them.

It is a simple preparation and can keep it in fridge for a week.  Since the raw papayas are available through out  the year, we can prepare fresh pickle and consume.  Papaya thokku

Let us look at the recipe now:

PEANUT COCONUT MANGO PICKLE

Summer is the time to make vadams, aam ka panha, pickles etc.  Mango season has started and the market is flooded with kairi.  I have made few pickles today and presenting this peanut coconut mango pickle now.  

I am sure you will love this.  Before the mango season gets over, do try and give me your feed back.

TINAI, KAPPA KOZHUKKATTAI

Tinai, kappa pidi kozhukkattai I made it today and had with rasam.  You can also serve it with sambar, chutney,  morukootan etc.

Without much narration about the millets, as everyone knows that it is health friendly, let us look at the recipe now.  The method of preparation is like the normal upma kozhukkatai replacing the rice rava with tinai rava with addition of Kappa.