Mushroom Paneer Masala

Try this yummy and healthy side dish. Goes well with chapatis. Very easy and quick to make.

Ingredients:

Fresh Button Mushrooms - 1 packet
Paneer - 200 gm
Potato - 1 (boiled and peeled)
Onions (Big) - 2
Tomatoes - 3
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tblspn
Green chillies (medium size) - 2
Chopped coriander leaves - 3 tblspn
Oil - 2 tblspn
Fennel seeds (saunf) - 1 tspn
Garam Masala - 1/2 tspn
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
Salt to taste

Method:

Chop and grind the onions, tomatoes and green chillies. Wash the mushrooms thoroughly in lukewarm water and chop them into medium size pieces. Wash and cut the paneer into small cubes.

Heat oil in a pan and add fennel seeds. Once they splutter, add the ginger garlic paste along with the ground onion-tomato paste and stir fry. Once the raw smell leaves, add a glass of water, add the cut mushrooms. Add turmeric powder and salt. Close the pan with a lid and let it boil for 5 minutes. Once the mushrooms get tender, mash the potato and add it to the pan. Stir well. Now add the paneer and garam masala powder. Mix well and close the pan for another 3 minutes.  Garnish with coriander leaves. The Mushroom-Paneer masala is ready to serve.
This can be served as a gravy to chapatis or can be made as a dry curry and wrapped in chapatis as a Frankie too. Kids would love it for their lunch.

Oats Kheer

A yummy kheer which is an ideal and filling evening delicacy for the kids!! A very easy and quick to make evening fill.

Ingredients

Oats - 1/2  cup
Milk - 3 cups
Sugar - 1 cup
Kesar - 1 pinch
Cardamom (powdered) - 1 tsp
Cashewnuts (chopped) - 2 tblspn
Raisins - 1 tspn
Almonds - 3-4 (chopped)

Method

Cook the oats in 2 cups milk. Once cooked, add the sugar and keep stirring till the sugar dissolves. Add the kesar and powdered cardamom. Roast the cashews, raisins and almonds in ghee till golden brown and add to the oats kheer. Add the remaining milk and server hot or chilled.

Veg Rolls

I tried this evening snack yesterday and it was loved by my kids :)

Ingredients

Maida or Atta - 1 cup
Potatoes -  3 nos
Onions - 1 big (chopped fine)
Carrot - 1 big (grated)
Peas - a handful (optional)
Fennel seeds - 1 tspn
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tblspn
Chilli powder - 1 tspn
Salt - 1 and half tspn
Coriander leaves - chopped fine - 2 tblspn
Oil - to fry

Method

Filling

Cook the potatoes and peas.  Mash the potatoes. Heat a teaspoon of oil in a tawa. Add the fennel seeds, ginger garlic paste and chopped onions. Fry till the raw smell of garlic goes off. Add the grated carrot and keep turning the mixture for 2 minutes. Then add the mashed potatoes and peas. Add the salt and chilli powder. Then add the coriander leaves and mix everything to form a dough.

To make the rolls

Knead the flour with water in to a dough. Roll the dough into medium thick puris.  Place the filling in a corner of the dough. Roll halfway, close the sides to avoid the filling coming out and roll the remaining half. Slightly press the corners to avoid the filling coming out. Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry the rolls. Serve hot with tomato ketchup or spicy coriander chutney.

Variant

Instead of potatoes, crumbled paneer can also be used for the filling.

Your delicious veg rolls are ready!!

Urundai Kuzhambu

This recipe is very easy to make and tastes somewhat like Kadhi. The members of my family who never used to like Mor Kuzhambu earlier have now become addicted to it after tasting this recipe.

Ingredients:

For the Kuzhambu
Slightly sour Curd - 2 cups
Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil (optionally coconut oil)  - 2 tsp
Curry leaves - 2 stalks
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

To grind
Green chillies - 2
Ginger - 1 piece
Coconut grated  - 1/2 cup
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Rice flour / Besan - 1 tblspn (for thickening)

For the Urundai
Dosa Batter or Besan - 1/2 cup
Rava - 1/4 cup
Oats - 1/4 cup
Big Onion - 1 (cut to fine pieces)
Capsicum - 1 (cut to fine pieces)
Green chillies - 2 (cut to tiny pieces)
Ginger - 2 tblspn (cut to tiny pieces)
Coriander leaves - 2 tblspn (finely chopped)
Salt - 1 tsp

Method:

Urundai:

Keep half portion of the cut capsicum separately and mix all the other  ingredients mentioned above for the urundai, till you get a dough.  Make them into small balls and deep fry them.

Kuzhambu:

Grind all the ingredients mentioned for grinding to a paste. Beat the sour curd, add salt, turmeric powder and mix it with the paste. Add the urundais in this mix and keep it on the stove in medium heat. Heat a kadai, add oil and add mustard seeds. Allow it to sputter and then add the curry leaves and the remaining portion of cut capsicum. Saute them well in oil and add it to the kuzhambu. Switch off the stove. The Kuzhambu can be
served with hot rice.

Spicy Corn Sandwich

Ingredients:

Bread slices – 4

Potato - 1

Onions (Big) – 2 finely chopped

Tomatoes – 2 finely chopped

Capsicum – 1 finely chopped

Corn pods – ¼ cup

Sprouted moong - /4 cup

Grated carrot – ¼ cup

Paneer (grated) – ¼ cup

Salt – 1 tsp

Fennel seeds – ½ tsp

Water or milk

Oil / ghee

To grind:

Ginger chopped – 2 tsp

Chillies – 2

Garlic pods – 4

Coriander leaves chopped – 3 tblsp

Method:

For the spread:

Cook and mash the potatoes.

Grind the ginger, chillies, garlic pods and coriander leaves into a paste and keep it aside.

Heat a kadai and add 2 tsp of oil in it. Add the fennel seeds and allow it to splutter. Now add the onions and sauté them till they become translucent. Add the chopped capsicum and fry cook it well. Now add the ground ginger garlic chilly paste and mix it well. Add the grated carrot, corn and sprouted moong. Add salt and stir well. Sprinkle some water in the mixture and close it with a lid. Allow it to cook for 3-4 minutes.  Now add the chopped tomatoes and mix well till the tomatoes become soft. Now add the grated paneer and mix well. Switch off the heat after a minute.

To make the Sandwich:

Take a slice of bread and spread the sandwich spread on it in the middle, leaving the corners. Keep another bread slice on it. Touch the corners with water or milk and seal the corners gently with your fingers. Heat a pan and spread some ghee on it. Place the sandwich gently on it and pour some more ghee to the corners. After a minute gently reverse the sandwich and allow it to become golden brown and crispy.  Serve hot with tomato sauce.

Alternatively the sandwich spread can also be rolled in a chapatti or a dosa and given as a sumptuous lunch for the kids.

Veg nuggets (Veg appam)

I tried this recipe as my kids were giving me a tough time to eat vegetables like radish, turnip, knol khol, greens etc. They loved the recipe!

Ingredients:

Oats – 1 cup

Rava – ½ cup

Curd – ½ cup

Onion (big) – 1 finely chopped

Grated carrot – 2 tblsp

Grated radish – 2 tblsp

Grated knol khol – 2 tblsp (optional)

Greens / spinach (chopped) – 3 tblsp

Chillies – 2

Garlic – 2 pods

Coriander leaves

Salt – 1 tsp

Oil (to fry)

Method:

Grind the chillies, garlic, greens and coriander into a paste. Add the paste to oats and rava. Mix it well with curd and all the other grated / chopped vegetables and salt to form a thick batter. Heat oil in an Appa Kadai. (Appa kadai is preferred as it uses less oil for frying as compared to a frying pan). Pour the batter in the appam moulds using a big spoon. Fully fry them till golden brown. Reverse the balls using a spoon and fry the other side too. Serve hot with tomato sauce or chutney.

Aval De-light (Poha)

This low calorie snack was experimented by my younger daughter. It turned out to be very yummy. Now she makes it so often after she comes back from school and delights all of us.

Ingredients:

Beaten rice (Poha / Aval) – 1 cup

Onions (Big) – 2

Capsicum – 1

Tomatoes – 2

Roasted groundnuts – 2 tblsp

Coriander chopped – 1 tblsp

Masala powder – ½ tsp

Sprouted moong (optional) – 4 tblsp

Lemon juice (optional) – 2 tsp

Salt – 1 tsp

Method:

Wash and soak the beaten rice in water for a minute and drain the water and keep aside for 5 minutes. Chop the onions, capsicum, tomatoes and mix them with all the other ingredients. Now add the soaked beaten rice to this and mix well. Add the lemon juice (optional) and garnish with chopped coriander.