DRUMSTICK KOOTU | MURUNGAKKAI KOOTU RECIPE

This kootu recipe is the one which i cooked for the first time when i was in 10 th standard. Right from my childhood i am fond of cooking and helping my mom in cooking. This drumstick is one of my most favorite recipe and one day i assisted my mom in making this drumstick kootu.  My father appreciated me so much as the kootu tasted the same as the one my grand mom(father’s dad) makes. He always says the touch of my hands in cooking reminds him of his mother.

INGREDIENTS:

DRUMSTICK	3 NO
COOKED MOONG DAL	1 CUP
SAMBAR POWDER	1 AND 1/4 TSP
TURMERIC POWDER	A PINCH
SALT	AS NEEDED
COCONUT OIL	2 TSP
MUSTARD SEEDS	1/4 TSP
ASAFOETIDA	A PINCH
COCONUT(GRATED)	3 TBLSP
CUMIN SEEDS	1/2 TSP
CURRY LEAVES	FEW

METHOD:

• Cut the drumstick into small size (2 inches size)
• Cook this in a pan with a cup of water and add the sambar powder , turmeric powder and salt to this.

• Pressure cook 1/2 cup of moong dal with a pinch of turmeric.
• Grind the coconut and cumin seeds into fine paste adding little water.
• When the drumstick gets cooked , add the cooked moong dal and the ground coconut mixture to this.

• Mix well and bring it to a boil.
• Temper with mustard seeds ,asafoetida and curry leaves.

• Enjoy this with plain rice and papad.

• If you feel the gravy is little thin add a tsp of rice flour in water and mix without any lumps. Add this to the boiling kootu to make this to rech right consistency

SPROUTED GREEN MOONG DAL SANDWICH RECIPE

iNDIAN SANDWICH RECIPE.

   Today I am sharing a very easy and healthy breakfast recipe which i made last sunday for breakfast . We all are big fan of sandwich and i normally make sandwiches quite often with the veggies available. This one is  a super hit one and here comes the recipe of sprouted green gram sandwich.

INGREDIENTS:

HOME MADE SPROUTS	3/4 CUP
POTATO	2 NO
CARROT	1/2 NO
ONION	1 NO.
OIL	2 TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER	1/4 TSP
CUMIN SEED POWDER	1/4 TSP
GARAM MASALA	2 PINCHES
LEMON JUICE	1/4 TSP
SALT	AS NEEDED
BUTTER	TO TOAST THE BREAD
CORIANDER LEAVES	FEW

METHOD:

• Boil the potatoes and mash this with your hands.
• Chop the onions and carrots finely.

• In a pan add oil and saute the onions till golden brown.

• Add the carrots, sprouts, salt, red chili powder , cumin seed powder and garam masala.

• Add the mashed potatoes and mix together nicely.
• Switch off the flame and add the chopped coriander leaves ( i didn’t add)and lemon juice. Mix well.
• 
• In a tawa, toast two slices of bread with butter.

• When this becomes golden brown in color,  arrange it in a plate and spread the filling. Use the back of a spoon to spread the mixture.

• Keep the other bread on the top of this.

• If you want this can be cut into triangles.

• Serve with tomato ketchup and enjoy with a glass of juice.

Note:

1. Finely chopped capsicum, grated cauliflower, grated paneer| tofu can also be added to enhance the taste.
2. Garam masala can be replaced with pav bhaji masala.
3. Butter can be skipped while toasting, in that case consume it immediately else it will become dry.
4. I used white bread, you can use whole meal bread also.
5. Green Chutney can be used , inthat case spread this on one side of the bread where you are going to keep the filling, after toasting the bread.

VEGETABLE MANCHURIAN GRAVY RECIPE

     Vegetable manchurian is one which i wanted to try after tasting in a restaurant but somehow i had a feeling that it is slightly tricky and complicated and when i tried this yesterday for lunch i felt that it is an easy one to make and they came out very perfect but somehow i couldn’t get the color of the machurian gravies served in restaurants. that may be because of addition of any food color or too much of soy sauce. But I can say that turned out very well and the taste was very nice when we had with Vegetable Fried Rice.

INGREDIENTS
FOR VEGETABLE BALLS:(yields 12 balls)

MIXED VEGETABLES*(FINELY CHOPPED)	2 CUPS
ALL PURPOSE FLOUR	4 TBLSP
GARLIC	2 PODS(FINELY CHOPPED)
GREEN CHILLI	2 NO.(FINELY CHOPPED)
GINGER	1/2 TBLSP(GRATED)
SALT	AS NEEDED
OIL	FOR DEEP FRYING

*I used carrot, cauliflower, baby corn and cabbage.

• Grate the carrots,and cauliflower.
• Mix all the ingredients in the above table except oil in a wide bowl.

• Heat oil in a kadai and make small balls out of the vegetable mixture and deep fry the balls.
• Do not add too much at a time.
• The water oozes out from the veggie is enough to bind and make a ball.
• If it is too dry then sprinkle  -2 tsp of water.

• When it becomes golden brown take out from oil and drain in a kitchen towel. Always fry the balls in a medium flame. If the flame is too high, then the vegetables will not get cooked inside..
• If it is too low, then will absorb oil.

For gravy|sauce

GARLIC(FINELY CHOPPED)	2-3 PODS
GINGER(GRATED)	2 TSP
GREEN CHILLI(FINELY CHOPPED)	2 NO
CAPSICUM (FINELY CHOPPED)	2 TBLSP
OIL	1 TBLSP
SUGAR	2 TSP
SOY SAUCE	2 TBLSP
TOMATO KETHCUP	1 TBLSP(OPTIONAL)
ALL PURPOSE FLOUR	1 TBLSP
WATER	2 CUPS

• In a sauce pan, add oil and add the garlic, ginger,green chili.
• Saute in a medium flame for a minute and add sugar to it.
• Saute it till the sugar turns light brown(this will give a nice taste)

• Now add the capsicum and saute for a few minutes . Ensure that it should not be overcooked.
• Now mix the water with all purpose flour and pour it in the sauce pan.
• check for salt and boil in a low flame till the sauce slightly thickens.Add Soya sauce to this now.
• Add tomato ketchup (if adding)at this stage and mix well.

• actually i didn’t add the tomato ketchup while making the sauce. But when i was about to click the pictures i somehow felt that the colour is too pale and added again. But i can say , both the versions turned out yummy.
• Add the balls before serving.
• I have heard that these balls will break if they stay longer in the gravy, and i wanted to try out.
• I took out a portion of gravy and dunked 3 balls in the gravy and this lasted for more than 8 hours without any breaks.

BEETROOT VADAI RECIPE – BEETROOT VADA

Masala vada with beetroots. I have first tasted beetroot vada in my friend's house in during my school days. It is similar to our Masala paruppu vadai with the addition of grated beetroots. Even if you are not a fan of beetroots, you will love this beetroot vada for sure.
Check out the Vazhaipoo vada recipe too.
  I have updated the step by step pictures of the beetroot vada recipe.

SPROUTS FRIED RICE RECIPE

FRIED RICE MADE WITH (HOME MADE)GREEN MOONG DAL SPROUTS

        As mentioned in my post  of Home made Sprouts recipe, i am sharing a recipe with moong bean sprouts which i tried from Rak's kitchen and we all enjoyed this with simple onion raitha and the best part is kids liked this very much and they wanted this for their lunch box too.

INGREDIENTS:

GREEN MOONG SPROUTS	1 CUP
BASMATI RICE	1 CUP
GINGER	A SMALL PIECE
GREEN CHILLI	2 NO
ONION	1 NO
SPRING ONION	A SMALL BUNCH
CABBAGE (CHOPPED)	1/2 CUP
SUGAR	1 TSP
SOYA SAUCE	3/4 TSP
OIL	2 TBLSP
PEPPER POWDER	1/2 TSP
SALT	AS NEEDED
CAPSICUM(FINELY CHOPPED)	1/2 CUP

• Chop the onions finely.
• Grind the ginger and garlic coarsely.

• Wash and soak the rice for 10 minutes and cook this into separate grains.
• Allow this to cool and keep it in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

 

• In a pan add oil and add throw in the ginger chilli paste.
• Add the finely chopped onions and add the sugar and saute in medium flame till the onions turns pink.

• Add the capsicum( i used both green and red colour capsicum) and cabbage and saute for a minute in high flame.
• Add in the soya sauce and the sprouts and mix well.

• Add in the cooked rice and mix well continuously and gently without smashing the rice. Check for salt. Add the chopped spring onion (green part only)
• Switch off the flame and transfer to a serving bowl.

• This tasted so yummy and will post some more interesting recipes with moong sprouts soon.

MAWA PISTACHIO BUNDT CAKE – EGGLESS RECIPE

     When i made this Gulab Jamuns using khoya I was searching for a recipe where khoya can be used. My search ended when i saw these cute mawa | khoya bundt cake in  US Masala blog and when i met Nags a few weeks back she gave me a bundt cake pan and i wanted to use that one. So for the first time i made a Eggless bundt cake with khoya and we all thoroughly enjoyed the taste and so as my friends too.
   Thanks for this wonderful recipe aipi.

METHOD:

ALL PURPOSE FLOUR	1 AND 1/4 CUP
SUGAR	1/2 CUP + 3 TBLSP
MAWA|KHOYA(UNSWEETENED)	1 CUP
MILK	1 AND 1/4 CUP + 2 TBLSP
BAKING POWDER	2 TSP
BAKING SODA	1/2 TSP
SAFFRON	3/4 TSP
PISTACHIOS	1/2 CUP + 2TBLSP(for garnish)
CARDAMOM	1/4 TSP
UNSALTED MELTED BUTTER	1/2 CUP
ALMOND SLICES	FEW(for garnishing)

• Bring the khoya|mawa to room temperature.
• In a blender, pulse it along with milk and butter without any lumps.

• Sieve the flour with baking soda and baking powder.
• Soak the saffron in warm milk ( 2 tblsp of milk) for 15 mins.
• Mix the khoya, milk mixture along with the sifted flour and blend it again in a blender along with sugar, pistachios, cardamom and soaked saffron.

• Grease the cake pan and transfer this cake mixture to the pan and bake it in a preheated oven for 25- 30 mins at 150 degrees.

• Garnish with the sliced pistachios and almond slices..
• Insert a tooth pick and check out whether it is done or not.
• Allow this to cool and after 10 mins carefully invert the pan and take out the cake.

• I used a silicon bundt pan , so i didn’t grease it before pouring the batter.

• You can bake this in normal cake pan or even can bake as cute muffins too.

Home made sprouts recipe, How to make sprouts

GREEN MOONG SPROUTS
Learn how to make sprouts, with step by step pictures and video, a simple and mess free method followed in our home for more than 20 years.
   I don’t know  how i missed posting this recipe in my space, as it is a usual practice at my place to make sprouts twice in a week.  My husband and his brothers and even my mil used to eat raw sprouts everyday along with breakfast. Initially i was hesitant to eat the raw sprouts and later when i started eating them raw, i liked the taste and even slowly my kids started eating sprouts now a days. I learnt to make this easy way from my mother in law and i wanted to share the procedure of how to make Sprouts at home.
Also read the notes section without fail.
Check out some interesting recipes using sprouts:

• Sprouts tikki
• Sprouts chaat recipe