Broccoli Vada/ Garbanzo Broccoli Fritter

               There are two kinds of garbanzo beans/ chickpeas: 1. kala channa 2. kabuli channa. The smaller and darker kind is called kala channa /bengal gram/ desi/ kadalai parupu. It has more fibre content than the light colored and larger kabuli channa, making it very low in glycemic index (wikipedia)   
             Parupu vada is a South Indian snack, it's made with split and de husked garbanzo beans and combined with onion, chillies, curry leaves and cumin seeds/ fennel seeds. This is an indian version of falafel. I made this vada with whole garbanzo beans and broccoli
 Garbanzo beans, ceci beans, chana, sanagalu,kondai kadalai and bengal gram are some of the common names for chick peas. 

Broccoli vada !!!

      Soak 1 cup of dry garbanzo beans overnight, it'll swell and double it's original size (1 cup of dried, uncooked beans gives 2-3 cups of cooked beans), drain and wash it. If using canned garbanzo beans, drain the liquid, wash it and mash it with the back of a spoon.
Ingredients:
2 cups   garbanzo/ chick pea
1 cup     finely chopped broccoli
1 tsp      fennel seeds/ saunf
1 clove  garlic (minced)         
few        finely chopped curry leaves
4          red  chillies
1 tbs     besan flour/ chickpea flour or corn starch
salt to taste
Method:
1. Grind garbanzo/ chick peas, fennel seed and red chillies  coarsely. 

2. Combine it with the finely chopped broccoli, besan flour / corn starch, garlic, curry leaves and salt.

3. Take 1 tbs of mixture in the palm of the hand and flatten it  (the middle of the vadai should be thicker than it's side), continue making vada discs with the remaining mixture and arrange it on a plate.

4. Heat oil in a pan (med/high), when the oil becomes hot enough (dip a wooden spoon inside the oil, it should get steady bubbles around it), drop 1-3 vada in the oil. Reduce the heat to medium and fry it for few mins. Flip it and cook, until both sides become golden brown.

Yum!!!

5. Take the vadai out with a slotted spoon and place it on a paper towel. Repeat the process with the remaining vadas, increase the heat before dropping the vada and reduce it to med during cooking. Serve it with spicy chutney Coconut chutney recipe or tomato ketchup
Tips for taste:
1. Fry 2-3 vadas at a time, over crowding the pan will decrease the heat, making the vadas absorb more oil.
2. Slightly wet the hands before shaping the vadas.
        Feel free to comment, i love your feedback. Enjoy ur cooking! Have a blessed day :)   

Cauliflower And Egg Fry/ Salad/ Poriyal

    This is a simple, yet nutritious dish made with cauliflower and eggs, both food have amazing health benefits. This cooking method (stir fry) will not reduce it's nutritional value. Cauliflower blends well with eggs, making this a kid- friendly recipe. 

Egg & Cauliflower Fry

Cauliflower nutrition facts: A high intake of cauliflower has been associated with reduced risk of aggressive prostate cancer.  Cauliflower is low in fat, low in carbohydrates but high in dietary fiber, folate, water, and vitamin C, possessing a high nutritional density. It contains several phyto chemicals, common in the cabbage family, that may be beneficial to human health. Sulforaphane, a compound released when cauliflower is chopped or chewed, may protect against cancer. Other glucosinolates, carotenoids, indole-3-carbinol, a chemical that enhances DNA repair, and acts as an estrogen antagonist,  slowing the growth of cancer cells. Boiling reduces the levels of these compounds, with losses of 20–30% after five minutes, 40–50% after ten minutes, and 75% after thirty minutes. However, other preparation methods, such as steaming, microwaving, and stir frying, have no significant effect on the compounds - Wikipedia

Eggs: All of the egg's vitamin A, D, and E are in the egg yolk. *The egg is one of the few foods to naturally contain vitamin D. A large egg yolk contains approximately 60 Calories; the egg white contains about 15 Calories . A large yolk contains more than two-thirds of the recommended daily intake of 300 mg of cholesterol (although one study indicates the human body may not absorb much cholesterol from eggs. The yolk makes up about 33% of the liquid weight of the egg. It contains all of the fat, slightly less than half of the protein, and most of the other nutrients. It also contains all of the choline, and one yolk contains approximately half of the recommended daily intake. Choline is an important nutrient for development of the brain, and is said to be important for pregnant and nursing women to ensure healthy fetal brain development- Wikipedia

Healthy egg salad...

Ingredients: 
2 cups           shredded cauliflower
2                   large eggs 
3                   green chillies     
1                   onion (finely chopped)
1/4                ground pepper (optional)
1/2 tsp          ginger and garlic paste
2 tsp             oil
few strands   cilantro/ coriander leaves
salt to taste 
Method:

1. In a bowl, beat the eggs and salt with a whisk or electric egg beater, until the egg looks uniformly yellow.

2. Heat oil in a non stick, large flat pan. Fry onion and green chilli until the onion becomes soft and golden brown.

3. Add the ginger and garlic paste, reduce the heat and add the shredded cauliflower, stir it well and cook till it becomes soft but not mushy (cover it and cook, if needed).  

4. Move the cauliflower to one side of the pan. Increase the heat, a little and add the beaten eggs to the other side of the pan and stir fry, until the eggs become soft and moist curds. Combine the scrambled egg and cauliflower, check for salt and add the ground pepper. Reduce the heat and stir till the mixture becomes dry. 

5. Transfer the egg to a serving dish and garnish it with chopped cilantro/ coriander leaves.

                                                             ENJOY:)
                             
                                                     
                                                                  


                                                          
                                                         
                                                       

Kadala Curry/ Channa gravy/ Kondai kadali kuruma

          This recipe resembles my mom's channa/ garbanzo gravy, the only difference is she'll mash some channa to get a thick gravy instead of using ground coconut. This is a good side dish for all the indian flat breads, iddly, dosa and appam. It's a popular pair for puttu Rice Puttu Recipe  in Kerala. We can substitute garbanzo/ channa, with other legumes like fava bean, lima beans and red kidney beans. Add boiled eggs instead of channa for a great tasting egg curry.  

Kadala curry with Puttu

      To cook dry channa (garbanzo beans), soak it in water for 6-8 hrs or overnight. Wash it, add water and salt to it and cook till it becomes soft. If using canned garbanzo, drain the liquid and use. 

Channa curry/ Kadala curry

Ingredients:
1 cup      garbanzo/ channa 
1             tomato
1             onion 
2             green chilli
1/2 tsp    fennel/ saunf/ sombu seeds
2 tsp       chilli powder
1/2 tsp    ginger & garlic paste 
1/2 tsp    curry powder/ chicken masala pwdr
1/2 tsp    mustard seeds
few         curry leaves
few         cilantro/ coriander leaves strands 
1/4 cup   coconut
1 tbs        oil
salt to taste
Method:
1. Chop and slice the tomato and onion, slit the green chillies length wise. 
2. Grind the shredded coconut in a blender/ mixer with the fennel seeds and  2- 6 tbs of warm water, to a fine paste.
3. Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds, when it splutters add the onion and green chillies and cook till the onion turn soft and brown.
4. Lower the heat and add the curry leaves and ginger garlic paste. Stir for few mins. Add the curry powder and chilli powder, stir it well in the oil.
5. Increase the heat a little and add the chopped tomato and cook till it becomes soft and well blended into the masala.
6. Add the channa/ garbanzo and the ground coconut paste, stir it well, mash few channa with the back of the spoon. Add 2 cups of water and check for salt.
7.  Lower the heat to sim, and cook till it's becomes a thick gravy and oil seeps from the sides.
8. Tranfer it to a serving dish and garnish with cilantro leaves.

Ready to eat!!!

       
                            

Egg Nest/ Eggs and toast

        This is my 6yr old nephew's favourite food. He can eat this 3 times a day. There are some interesting names for this toast in the internet: toad in the hole, eggs and toast, egg in the basket, bulls eye toast, to name a few. 

Egg nest/ basket

       I used hamburger bun, instead of the regular bread used to make this dish. 

Egg Nest

Ingredients:
1               egg
1               bun
1 pinch      salt & pepper 
1/2 tsp       butter / oil

Method:
1. Cut the middle portion of the bun with a cookie cutter (from the top slice). 

2. Reserve the cut out portion. 

3. Heat oil/ butter in a pan, place the bun and the cut out piece on the pan. Crack the egg and drop it inside the hole.

4. Season it with salt and pepper, cook until the bottom side becomes crispy, flip it over (gently) with a spatula. 

5.  Remove the bottom slice from the egg and place it on the pan, cut side down (it'll have some egg sticking to it) and cook.  

 5. Sprinkle salt and pepper and cook the egg until  the desired consistency is obtained. Flip it once more and cook the other side.

Tips for taste: 
1. This is an easy and healthy breakfast/ lunch for kid's.
2. For kid's lunch prick the yolk and cook, that way it'll be easier for them to eat without getting messy.

                                                                     ENJOY :)
                                      
                                           
                                           
                                                

Beetroot raitha/ Salad baskets

  Raitha is a yogurt/ curd based indian salad, it may have fruits or vegetables in it. This is a popular side dish  in the spicy Indian cuisine. This recipe has spicy beetroot stuffed inside a cucumber cup, on a yogurt bed. Beetroot can be substituted with carrots/ red onions or any fruits.

Salad Basket!

Ingredients:
1           big cucumber
1 cup     shredded beetroot 
1 cup     yogurt / greek yogurt
1 small  green chilli (chopped)
2 tsp      oil 
1/2 tsp   mustard seed     
 few       cilantro strands 
1/8 tsp   powdered cumin 
salt to taste

easy to eat...

1. Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seed. when it splutters add the green chilli, beetroot and cumin powder.
2. Add 1 tbs of water and salt to the beetroot mixture, cover the pan and cook till the beetroot becomes tender. Add the chopped cilantro leaves and switch off the heat.
How to arrange:
1. Score lines on the cucumber peel with a peeler or lemon zester.

2. Cut the cucumbers into 1" rounds, with a spoon remove the middle part of the cucumber.

 3. Cut the cucumber cup across into small pieces. 

4. Arrange it back (firmly) to it's original shape.

5. In a serving plate, spoon 2 tbs of yogurt, arrange the cucumber cup in the middle, spoon 1tsp of beetroot into the cucumber cup.  

6. Pour a tsp of yogurt over the beetroot, top it off with your favourite nuts.
                                   ENJOY :)
                                      

Beet Leaves Poriyal / Fry

The leafy portion of the beetroot plants are edible too. This year we had some beets from our small kitchen garden :) These plants are very easy to grow. I made poriyal with the beetroot leaves. 

Beetroot leaves poriyal

Ingredients:

• 2 bunch        beetroot leaves
• 1                  med- onion  
• 1                  green chili
• 1 tbs             shredded coconut
• 1/2 tsp          chilli powder
• salt               to taste
• 2 tsp             oil 
• 1/4 tsp          mustard seed
• 1/2 tsp          urud dal

healthy poriyal!

Method:
1. Wash and finely chop the beet leaves and its tender stalks, chop onion and green chillies. 
2. Heat oil in the pan. Add mustard seed and urud dal, after  mustard seed splutters, add green chillies and onion.
3. When the onion turns soft and brown, add the chopped greens, chilli powder and salt. Stir it well.
4. Reduce the heat, cover the pan and cook till the greens are soft and dry, now add the shredded coconut and stir for few minutes.
5. Transfer it to a serving dish.   

fry..

 Enjoy

                                                         
                                                             

Pesarattu / MLA Pesarattu/ Mung bean Crepe

      Pesarattu is a nutritious dosa/ crepe made with moong dal / whole green mung beans and rice. It's a popular telugu dish, high in protein. It's easy to make with out the time consuming fermenting process done with regular dosa, this dosa is without urud dal. Traditionally pesarattus are accompanied with spicy and colorful ginger chutney/ allam pachadi Click here for recipe .

ginger chutney, pesarattu and upma...

      If we add upma (Click here for recipe ) with pesarattu and chutney, it's called MLA pesarattu (got this name because of it's popularity in MLA quarter's restaurants in Hydrabad- wikipedia).
mung bean is also called: moong dal, pesara, moog dal, mash, paasi payir

How to make pesarattu:
2    cup        mung bean/ moong dhal/ paasi payir
1/2 cup        rice/ raw rice
4                 indian green chilli
1/2"             ginger   
1/2 cup        chopped coriander/ cilantro leaves

Method:
1. Wash and soak the mung bean and rice in water for at least 6 hrs.
2. Wash the soaked grains one more time, add little water and grind it with cilantro, ginger and green chillies to a smooth batter in a blender or mixer.
3. Add salt to the batter. Heat the dosa tawa or a flat round (pancake) pan, apply oil to it's surface,
4. Pour 2 ladle of moong dal batter and spread it around thinly with the back of the spoon, add 2 tsp of oil around the dosa.
5. Cook till the dosa gets crispy and brown on the pan side (at this stage the dosa should come off easily from the pan), flip the dosa and cook for a few min's.
6. Remove it from the pan, continue the process with the remaining batter.
7. Serve it immediately with ginger chutney/ allam pachidi.

Tips for taste:
1. Serve pesarattu immediately after cooking with chutney, it tastes better when it's hot and crispy.

2. To make MLA pesarattu, cook  Upma  and Ginger Chutney / Alam Pachadi  chutney before hand and make the pesarattu just before serving.


                                       

Ginger Chutney / Allam Pachadi

This is an interesting side dish for pesarattu (Click here for recipe), bold and colorful. The big flavors should not over power one another, it should be in a harmony. Ginger has a lot of medicinal value. 

Memory lane:
        My daughter played flute in her school (middle school) orchestra. She took it very seriously and practiced daily, at first it sounded something between a train's whistle and a fire alarm. The kids practiced a lot after school. During the final performance they dressed up nicely and played confidently and harmoniously. It was so good! not even one out of place squeaky sound was heard. We enjoyed it and was very proud of our daughter and her friends.
Ingredients:
1 cup         chopped fresh ginger
1/2 cup      tamarind paste 
1/2 tsp       fenugreek/ methi seeds
10- 12       dried red chillies
3 tbs         powdered jaggery/ brown sugar
1/8 tsp       asafoetida
salt to taste
to temper: 
1/2 tsp         mustard seed
1 tsp            black gram/ urud dal
2 tbs            oil 
few curry leaves
Method:
1. In a pan dry roast the red chillies and fenugreek for a few mins on low.  
2. In a blender/ mixer add the roasted red chillies, fenugreek and ginger and grind in to a paste, add the tamarind paste, asafoetida and jaggery and blend it well.
3. Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds when it splutters add the black gram and curry leaves.
4. Lower the heat and add the ground mixture, cook till the liquid evaporates and the chutney becomes nice and thick.
5. Serve it with crispy pesarattu, iddly or dosa.

Tips for taste:
   We can add more lemon juice/ chilli powder/ sugar to the chutney to adjust the taste.