RAJMA PULAO RECIPE | EASY LUNCH BOX RECIPES

Rajma chawal

Making interesting items for lunch box is a challenging task for most of the moms. Thankfully both my kids love chole, rajma and other legumes. The channa pulao is always a super hit in their lunch box . I always make rajma masala seperately and make basmati rice and mix both and pack for box. Recently when one of my friend was telling casually in a chat, she made rajma rice for lunch box and mentioned she made it as a one pot meal. She made it the same way as my channa pulao. I slightly tweaked the recipe according to my taste and it was a super hit with kids. 

 I made this again for me today for me and enjoyed spicy rajma pulao with boondi raitha.

Rajma pulao

  Preparation Time : 10 mins+ 8 hours soaking| Cooking Time : 20 Mins |Serves: 1-2

     Rajma     1/4 cup
     Basmati rice    1/2 cup
     Onion   1
     Tomato  1
     Ginger garlic paste   1/4 tsp
     Red chili powder    1/2 tsp
     Coriander powder   1/4 tsp
     Cumin powder   1/4 tsp
     Green chili   1
     Oil    3 tsp
     Garam masala | rajma masala   1/2 tsp
     Bay leaf           1
     Cardamom         1
     Mint leaves     few
     Coriander leaves     few 

Method:

• Soak rajma for 8 hours or over night.
• Cook the rajma till 4-5 whistles. Add 1/2 cup of water while cooking the rajma. Add little salt too.

• Soak basmati rice in 1/4 cup of water. The water we have used in cooking the rajma will be used for the pulao too. So 1/4 cup of water is enough.
• Finely chop the onions and tomatoes. 
• In a pressure cooker add oil and throw in the cardamom, bay leaf,clove and ginger garlic paste.
• Saute it for few minutes in a low flame and add the chopped onions. Cook for few minutes.

• Add in the chopped tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes in a low flame. Add in the red chili powder, green chili, cumin powder, coriander powder, rajma masala (garam masala). Add in finely chopped coriander leaves and mint leaves. Add salt. Remember that we added salt while cooking rajma too. So add accordingly.
• Add the cooked rajma. Do not discard the water. Measure the water and keep 1/4 cup for cooking the pulao. Already we added 1/4 cup to the rice.

• Add the rice and water. Mix well and cover it. Cook till one whistle and put in a lowest flame for 7 minutes.
• Let the pressure subside on its own. 

• Fluff the rice with a fork. You can either pack it for lunch or serve it hot for lunch too.

Notes:

1. Ensure that the rajma is well cooked before you put for the pulao
2. You can grind the onion, tomato, corinade leaves, mint leaves too.
3. Adding a tsp of butter while cooking enhances the flavour.

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EGGLESS RAGI CHOCOLATE CAKE| MILLET RECIPES

ragi chocolate cake with nutella glaze

Making cake with millet flour, is the one i always love. I have already baked a thinai cake and the recipe of which is in my recent cookbook. I wanted to make a cup cake with ragi|finger millet flour. Finally i made this vegan ragi chocolate cake and it was a super hit among kids. The recipe was slightly adapted from here . I packed this for their snacks and they really enjoyed it very much. I just topped the cake with a nutella galze. Since i had 1 tblsp of nutella lying in  the box, after trying a sandwich with nutella (recipe coming soon). I felt very satisfied for giving a home baked millet cake for kids to school.  Even if you do not have oven, you can try the same cake in pressure cooker too. Check out my pressure cooker cake for more details and instructions.

Ragi chocolate cake

  Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 35 Mins |Serves: 16 square pieces

     Ragi flour   1 cup
     Whole wheat flour   1/2 cup
     Sugar    1/2 cup
     Cocoa powder  1/4 cup
     Baking soda   1/2 tsp
     Oil      5 tblsp
     Lemon juice   1 tblsp
    Vanilla essence     1 tsp
    Water    1 and 1/4 cup         
   For nutella glaze
   Nutella   1 tblsp
   Butter   1 tsp
   Milk    2 tblsp

Method:

• In a wide bowl, sift the ragi flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda and cocoa powder.
• Powder the sugar and in a bowl add the sugar, oil,lemon juice, vanilla essence and water.

• Now slowly mix the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients together and whisk it gently without any lumps.

• Grease a cake tin with oil and dust it with little flour.
• Pour in the batter to this and genlty tap it to get rid of the air bubbles.

• Bake this for 30 -35 minutes in a oven at 160 degrees. Insert a toothpick in the center and if comes out clean then it is done. Mine took 30 minutes . Timing varies from oven to oven. 
• Allow this to cool completely. Cut them into sqares after pouring the nutella glaze.

• To make the glaze, in a pan add nutella, milk and butter together.
• Keep in a low flame and stir it. Let this get combined together. Once the butter is melted switch off the flame. It took 2-3 minutes for me to make this glaze.

• when the cake is completely cool, pour the glaze over the cake and spread it evenly and genlty with a butter knife.

• Then cut this into squares. 

Notes:

1. You can replace whole wheat flour with maida too.
2. You can skip the nutella glaze and serve it plain also.
3. The cake was bit dense but was very tasty and kids friendly too.
4. You can add finely chopped nuts while mixing the flour.
5. Chocolate chips can also be added.

Technorati Tags: ragi chocolate cake,millet recipes,fingermillet chocolate cake,eggless baking recpies,jeyashriskitchen millet recipes,fingermillet recipes,healthyu cake recipes,jeyashris kitchen ragi cake

RAGDA PATTIES BHEL PURI, PAPDI CHAAT| COOKING FOR GUESTS SERIES 24

chaat recipes

As promised in my previous post, i made a chaat platter,and presenting you the same. Chaat is always a welcoming one in my house. Whenever we go to Kailash parbat restaurant here in Singapore, chaat platter is a must one in our order list. Some times we just have the chaat platter and a glass of lassi and finish our meal and come back home. I have a few chaat recipes in my website, and i have chosen 3 popular chaat recipes, ragda patties, papdi chaat and bhel poori. If the chutneys are ready, making chaat is more simple. Make this chaat platter this weekend and make your weekend more special .

WHOLE WHEAT NAAN RECIPE| PESHWARI NAAN RECIPE

whole wheat naan on stove top.

Naan generally when we go out and eat in restaurants will be in our order. No wa days we always order tandoori roti and sometimes kids order naan. Naan generally made with all purpose flour| maida. I have already posted Plain Kulcha recipe. I wanted to try naan for a long time and finally tried it with whole wheat naan. I tried this recipe from here. I have heard and read about this rich peshwari naan. So wanted to try this at home and it was a very successful attempt. Generally naan goes well with malai kofta, paneer butter masala and chole masala. 

MUSHROOM PASTA IN WHITE SAUCE| EASY PASTA RECIPES

LAst month when we celebrated my daughter's birthday, we took her and her few friends for bowling and followed by a lunch in Pasta Mania here. Somehow me and my hubby don't prefer pizza huts or pasta mania now a days. But as kids love those outlets once in a while we take them. We both munched on a pasta and kids enjoyed pizza, pasta and cold drinks. My helper who also joined us, ordered for al funghi for her. As soon as it came, she told me to take little from that as it was bit more for her. I was bit hesitant as i always feel pasta in white sauce will be very heavy. But the blogger in me was so active !!. And i tasted it. Last week i bought mushrooms and made it for her. The taste was very similar to the one we tasted in PAsta mania. Check out my homemade pasta sauce recipe too

SAMAI ARISI KANJI | MILLET RECIPES| MILLET PORRIDGE

Rice can be replaced with any millets rice to make the dish healthy. My mom used to make arisi kanji sometimes for my paati either for breakfast or for dinner. Especially during summer, while making vadam, she makes this in bulk and keep it chilled. So it will be a perfect summer coolant. As the porridge has vendayam(fenugreek seeds) it will be a natural coolant for the body. Either you can have this for breakfast or for dinner or make it bit thin and drink as a mid day drink too. This recipe is a perfect one for people who are on diet and diabetic too.
   I tried this porridge with samai arisi. You can try with any millet of your choice. Check out my millet recipes here.

MUSHROOM PULAO, MALAI KOFTA, MANGO SAGO - COOKING FOR GUESTS 23

This week in cooking for guests series, i have compiled a bit simple and yet super hit menu. The menu includes, Malai kofta, Mushroom pulao, plain paratha and mango sago pudding. As i told before, i will be posting a picture collage of the menu from next week in this series, like how i did for cooking for guests series 9.   Actually i planned to post a chaat platter. Since this picture was in my draft, i thought before the mango season ends, i will post this menu. Will post a  chaat platter next week for sure. Now let's see how to plan the cooking of this menu.

AADI PAAL | THENGAI PAAL PAYASAM| SOUTH INDIAN FESTIVAL RECIPES

Aadi is the 4th month in Tamil calender. On the first day of aadi, generally in most of the tamil brahmin houses they make this aadi paal or thengai paal payasam. I have already posted the collection of aadi pandigai recipes . Tomorrow being the first day off aadi, i thought i will post it today so that it will be useful for ny readers who search for Aadi paal or thengai paal payasam. Stay tuned for more festival recipes coming up here.

MISAL PAV RECIPE | MAHARASTRIAN MISAL PAV

Misal pav is a popular Maharastrian dish. Misal is a gravy made using sprouted moong bean. Traditionaly they use moth beans but i used Green moong sprouts. It is served with pav buns, garnished with chivda and chopped onions. I have heard about this a lot but never tasted or tried anywhere.  As have sprouts, bun and chivda too at home, thought will try the misal pav today. My friend gave me the  recipe and explained it in detail. Though there are many variations in making this misal pav recipe, here i am sharing you the recipe which i got from my friend. It turned out very well and i loved it very much. A very healthy recipe and a must try one too. Even this misal can be served with rotis too.

POTATO CHEESE SANDWICH | KIDS FRIENDLY RECIPES

Potato Cheese sandwich is a easy sandwich recipe and always a super hit among kids too. This post lying in my draft for a long time. As my sister is here for a vacation, we are having super fun here enjoying movies, non stop chatting, eating, roaming around. So i am not in a mood to click anything new. Will be back with some interesting posts in 2 days. This potato cheese sandwich is a perfect snack for kids, when they come back from school or for kids breakfast.
Check out my Corn cheese sandwich, Grilled cheese sandwich, Veg cheese pizza sandwich