September 30, 2014

Kids Lunchbox Recipes

Being a working women, my mother used to pack regular meals for lunch for us and we hardly ask for some variations in our lunchbox but nowadays, making kids eat is itself a major task. As a mother, we need to spend lots of time sitting along with them or running behind them to feed our kids but hard time begins, only after joining them in school.
Packing Lunchbox is not so easy as these kids expect variations and demand for different menu to surprise their friends and as a mother, it is our duty to make them healthy. I have listed few Kids Lunch box recipes which I follow for my kid. 

Oats Veggie Kuzhipaniyaram :


Oats has become one of the important ingredients in our life as it contains lots of healthy nutrients. But kids hate it because of its taste and gooey texture after cooking.So for a twist, I have added oats in dosa batter to prepare healthy kuzhipaniyaram. Oats veggie Kuzhipaniyaram is a small savory balls prepared with Oats, veggies and left over dosa batter. It is a perfect lunch box recipe and can be served with any varieties of chutneys. I have added only couple of veggies in this recipe but lots of veggies like cabbage, peas... etc can also be added. 

Ingredients :
  • 1/2 Cup Idly Batter / Dosa Batter
  • 1 Cup Oats
  • 1 Onion, Finely Chopped
  • 2 Carrots, Grated
  • 2 Potatoes, Grated
  • 2 Green chillies, Finely Chopped
  • Small piece of Ginger, Grated
  • 1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
  • Salt to taste
  • Few Curry leaves
  • 3 Tbsp Oil
  • 1 Tsp Mustrad Seeds / Kadugu
  • 1 Tsp Urad dal / Uzutham parupu
  • 1/2 Tsp Jeera / Cumin seeds
Method :
  • Mix Oats and Idly/Dosa Batter in a bowl and keep aside for 1/2 to 1 hour.
  • Add water if the consistency is too thick.
  • Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds.
  • Once it starts spluttering, add Jeera followed by urad dal and curry leaves.
  • Add grated ginger and saute for half a minute.
  • Now add the chopped onion and saute till it turns translucent.
  • Add the remaining grated veggies followed by Turmeric powder and salt.
  • Mix well and cook for 3-4 minutes in a simmer flame.
  • Once done, remove from the flame and add it to the Oats batter.
  • Mix well and add water if necessary.
  • Heat Kuzhipaniyaram pan and smear oil in all holes.
  • Take batter in a spoon and pour them in all holes carefully.
  • Cook for 4-5 minutes in a medium flame and flip the other side using Kuzhipaniyaram stick or fork.
  • Cook for another 3-4 minutes and remove from the flame.
  • Repeat the process for the remaining batter.
  • Serve Hot.

Mango and Carrot Rice :


Mango and Carrot rice is an unique and tasty rice which is perfect for Kids Lunchbox. It has a delicious tangy flavor and adding grated carrot, not only enhances the taste of rice and also it gives mild sweetness to balance the tanginess from mango. And we all knew that Carrots are very good for eyes and kids should include this veggie in their regular meals.To make it more healthy, different varieties of veggies can also be included and this is delicious when served with Fryums, pickles and Potato fry.

Ingredients :
  • 1 Cup Rice, cooked
  • 2 Tbsp Oil
  • 1 Tsp Mustard seeds
  • 1 Tbsp Chana dal
  • 5 Cashew nuts, broken into pieces
  • 2 Tbsp Groundnut
  • 2 Green chillies, chopped
  • 1/2 Tsp Turmeric powder
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 Big Mango, grated
  • 2 carrots, grated
  • Few curry leaves for garnishing
Method :
  • Heat pan and dry roast the groundnuts and remove from the flame.
  • Peel the skin and keep aside.
  • Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds.
  • Once it starts spluttering, add chana dal followed by cashewnuts and groundnuts.
  • Add green chillies and turmeric powder, mix well.
  • Now add the grated mango and carrot along with salt, mix well.
  • Simmer the flame and cook for 5 minutes.
  • Add cooked rice and mix slowly without breaking the rice.
  • Garnish with curry leaves and serve hot.

Tofu Aloo Paratha :



Aloo paratha is one of the kids friendly recipe as it contains potatoes which is kid's favorite veggie. To make it more healthy, I have added grated Tofu along with the potatoes.
Tofu is popularly known as bean curd and it is made of Soy milk. Though it has a subtle flavor, it is rich in protein and very healthy. Potatoes are known for its highly contained Carbohydrates and adding protein rich tofu along with this, it makes a complete healthy meal. These yummy parathas can be served with spiced curd or Tomato sauce.

Ingredients :
  • 2 Cups Wheat Flour 
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 Tbsp Oil
  • Water to knead
  • 3 Big Potatoes, Boiled and Mashed
  • 1 Cup Tofu, grated
  • Few finely chopped coriander leaves
  • 1 Tsp Garam Masala
  • 1/2 Tsp Turmeric powder
  • 2 Green chillies, finely chopped
  • Salt to taste
Method :
  • Mix Wheat flour, salt, oil and water in a bowl.
  • Knead well and prepare a soft dough. Keep aside.
  • Add mashed potatoes along with grated tofu in a separate bowl.
  • Now add garam masala, salt, turmeric powder, chopped coriander leaves and  finely chopped green chillies.
  • Mix well and prepare small balls.
  • Divide the chapati dough into big sized balls.
  • Roll out each balls into a small circle and fill it with tofu-potato mixture.
  • Now bring all the sides together and seal it tightly.
  • Roll it again gently using rolling pin and cook it on the tawa or griddle using little oil or butter until both sides turns golden color.
  • Remove from the flame and serve hot.

Sending all these recipes to "100 Kids Lunchbox Recipes Recipe Book" Event conducted by Indusladies.










September 21, 2014

Watermelon Rind Kheer / 5 Ingredients Fix Challenge


 Watermelon is one of our family's favorite fruit and it is bought home every week. While removing fruit for juice, I used to clean and store the leftover rind (white part) for regular cooking. I used to prepare Kootu, Sambhar and Kara kuzhambu with this healthy part of watermelon. Yeah ! It is very healthy as it comes under water vegetables like white pumpkin, bottle gourd... Last week, Instead of regular menu, tried kheer with these rind using only 5 Ingredients for one of my favorite challenge "5 Ingredient Fix Challenge" hosted by Lakshmi Vimala from cookingclub17. Our september month challenge was sweet recipe with exact 5 Ingredients of our own as part of Onam Celebration. As we all knew that Payasam / kheer is the important sweet for Onam celebration, so for a twist used watermelon rind in payasam / kheer.
It tasted very delicious and felt excited to see my hubby's reaction after his first sip. It was very creamy and delicious. Every sip tasted yum yum with a mild flavor of watermelon. As per challenge, we have to use only 5 ingredients for our recipe so added only cashews in this kheer. Variations and Improvisation can be done by adding pista, elachi, raisins and saffron. Instead of cooking in microwave, you can add water after sauteing in ghee and cook it for 5 minutes in a simmer flame.

Ingredients:
  • 1 1/2 Cup Watermelon Rind, grated
  • 1 Cup Milk, Boiled
  • 1/2 Cup Condensed Milk
  • 10 Cashew Nuts, broken into pieces
  • 2 Tbsp Ghee
Method :
  • Microwave watermelon rind for 3-4 minutes and keep aside.
  • Heat 1 1/2 Tbsp ghee in a pan and add cooked watermelon rind.
  • Saute and cook for 5 minutes in a lower flame.
  • Add boiled milk and let it for boil.
  • Now add milkmaid and mix well.
  • Simmer and cook for 5 minutes or until it gets thicken.
  • Meanwhile, heat remaining ghee and fry cashew pieces.
  • Add the fried cashews to kheer and remove from the flame. Serve.



Serving Options :

Serve hot or cold.


Note :
Since I am linking this recipe with 5 Ingredient challenge, I have used only 5 ingredients. The same recipe can also be improvised by adding extra nuts and raisins according to taste buds and creativity.

Linking this recipe with  Lakshmi's "5 Ingredients Fix Challenge"





Linking this recipe with mykitchenodyssey's " First Anniversary Giveaway ".





September 16, 2014

Cashew Tandoori Chicken Gravy

Ending up with leftover foods after a party is quite normal but making our family members to eat the same food is very difficult. They expect variations so most of my leftover foods turns into a new recipe. Likewise, prepared this creamy gravy using leftover Tandoori Chicken and served with Chapathi. I had used Tandoori leg pieces as it was my leftover pieces. Creamy gravy with a smoky chicken flavor made my family happy and the joy of converting leftover into delicious curry made me happy :)

Ingredients :
  • 200 gms Onions, sliced
  • 150 gms Tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp Ginger - garlic paste
  • 1/2 Cup Cashew nuts
  • 2 Tsp Chilli powder
  • 3 Tbsp Oil
  • 1 Bay leaf
  • 2 Elachi
  • 1/2 inch Cinnamon stick
  • 6 Tandoori Leg Pieces
  • 1/2 Tsp Garam Masala
  • 1/2 Tbsp Kasuri Methi / Dry fenugreek leaves
  • 2 Tbsp Fresh Cream
  • Salt to taste
  • Water, as needed
Method :
  • Soak cashews for 1/2 hr to 1 hr and grind into fine paste. keep aside.
  • Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and add the sliced onions.
  • Fry till it turns brown color. Remove and grind into fine paste. Keep aside.
  • Grind the chopped tomatoes into fine paste and keep aside.
  • Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan and add bay leaf followed by elachi and cinnamon.
  • Add onion paste followed by ginger garlic paste and saute for a minute in a medium flame or till the raw smell of ginger garlic paste goes off.

Add tomato paste and saute for another 1 minute.




Now add Chilli powder followed by garam masala and salt.
Mix well and cook for a minute.




Now add the cashew paste and mix well. 




Simmer and cook for 4-5 minutes or till the raw smell of cashew paste goes off.
Add hot water if the gravy is thick and mix well.




Meanwhile, shred the chicken from Tandoori leg pieces and keep aside.
Add the chicken pieces to the cashew gravy and cook for another 5 minutes in a simmer flame.




Now add the crushed Kasuri methi and mix well.




Cook for couple of minutes and switch off the flame.
Add fresh cream and mix well.

Serve hot.






Serving Options :

 
Serve with Indian breads like Naan, Roti, Paratha and Phulka.




Linking this recipe with mykitchenodyssey's " First Anniversary Giveaway ".






September 9, 2014

Egg Fried Rice & Foodpanda Experience !



Rainy days, not only brings out happiness it also brings out our laziness. Yeah ! It's pouring cats and dogs here and I am feeling very lazy especially to prepare dinner. And Power shut down added all the more reasons to order my dinner from Restaurant couple of days back. When it comes home delivery, I order food only from our nearby known restaurants and never tried any online food portals. But for the first time, I ordered food through Food Panda and overwhelmed with the response from the Team. There was just few steps to get registered and selected my place to search for my nearby Restaurants. Amazed to see Restaurants which has varieties of cuisines to be linked with food panda. With all my conflicts in choosing food, I ended up with Chinese and ordered Egg fried rice and Paneer Jalfrezi. Menu was listed like in a menu card and felt like sitting in a Restaurant. Final completion was with the code submission which I was supposed to get through phone and I did not receive it. But in a jiffy, got a call from Food Panda to apologize on their Technical issue and confirmed my order on behalf of me. After 10 minutes, received an another conference call from food panda with a Restaurant person to inform the unavailability of Paneer dish and took a replacement order. Finally got my confirmation mail from Foodpanda with a clear details of order. Amazing right !

I found payment section as the most advantageous since it has both the option of online payment and Cash on delivery which most of the online food portal is lack in.


If you are planning for home delivery, then try Foodpanda to experience the stress free order.

App for Android, windows phone and i phones are also available. Just download free app to enjoy ordering food through Mobile/Tab. .

Food panda is available in most of major cities, such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai etc...

QR code  to scan and download the app.


Check out the below illustration to know the process of food order from Foodpanda !



Egg fried rice is a Chinese dish which is prepared with cooked rice and veggies along with egg or meat. Easy to prepare with leftover rice and tastes delicious. Leftover rice, which is cooked a day ahead is an excellent option for fried rice. Add oil to the cooked rice to avoid stickiness. It can be served with Tomato sauce, Chili sauce and any wet Manchurian. 

My food panda experience made me to try this yummy rice for my lunch ! Here is my style Egg Fried Rice !

 

Ingredients :

  • 2 Cups Basmati Rice, Cooked
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1 Tbsp Garlic, Finely chopped
  • 2 Tsp + 1/2 Tsp Soya Sauce
  • 1 Carrot, Finely chopped
  • 5 Shallots or Spring Onion bulb, Sliced (or use onions)
  • Salt to taste
  • 1/2 - 1 Tsp Pepper powder
  • 3 Tbsp Oil
  • Few Spring onion leaves, finely chopped
Method :
  • Cook rice on a previous day and refrigerate it.
  • Remove from refrigeration and add 1/2 Tbsp oil.
  • Mix well and keep aside.
  • Break eggs in a bowl and add 1/2 Tsp Soya sauce.
  • Beat well and keep aside.
  • Heat 1 Tbsp Oil and add the beaten eggs.
  • Scramble them and keep aside.
  • Add the remaining oil in a same pan and add the chopped garlic.
  • Saute and add shallots, saute for a minute in a medium flame.
  • Add finely chopped carrot and saute for couple of minutes.
  • Now add soya sauce followed by the cooked rice and mix well.
  • Add salt and pepper powder. Mix well and switch off the flame.
  • Garnish with finely chopped spring onion leaves and serve.





Serving Options :

Serve hot with Tomato sauce, Chilli sauce or any Manchurian gravy.




 Note :

  • Leftover rice is an excellent option for fried rice so that the rice does not stick to the pan.
  • If cooked rice, then spread it on a plate and refrigerate for an hour and then use it for cooking.

Linking this recipe with mykitchenodyssey's " First Anniversary Giveaway ".










September 4, 2014

Cantonese Sweet and Sour Chicken


Let me start with a lovely wishes to all "International Food Challenge" members for their successful event who is celebrating IFC First Anniversary. International Food Challenge is a monthly event to excel the world cuisine. I had joined this group few months back but unfortunately due to personal reason, missed out few wonderful events. I am glad to start my recipe post from this celebration month. As part of their celebration, 24 old recipes were recalled and given a chance to try and relish the menu. When it comes, non veg recipes, seafood recipes leads my list but this time tried my family member's favorite chicken recipe "Cantonese Sweet and Sour Chicken" hosted by saraswathi Tharagaram.
Though the process of this recipe looks elaborate and lengthy, this recipe is very easy to prepare and tasted very delicious. The flavor of each bite made us feel heavenly. 

Recipe source : http://www.kitchensecretsandsnippets.com/2013/09/sweet-and-sour-chicken-ifc-1.html


Ingredients :

  • 1/2 Kg Chicken Boneless
  • oil to deep fry
  • 1 Tbsp Sesame Oil 
  • 1 Onion, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
  • 1 Cucumber, peeled and cubed
  • 1 Small Capsicum, chopped into 1/2 inch  pieces ( I have used mixture of all three capsicums yellow, red and green )
  • 1 Red chilli pepper
  • 1/2 Cup Pineapple chunks ( Optional)

To Marinate :

  • 1 Tsp Corn flour
  • 1 Tsp Custard powder
  • 1 Egg
  • 1/2 Tsp salt
  • White pepper powder, to taste

To make Sauce :

  • 4 tbsp Ketchup
  • 3 Tbsp Chilli Sauce
  • 3 Tbsp Plum sauce ( or 1 tbsp Tomato ketchup + 1 Tsp Vinegar + 1Tsp Brown sugar)
  • 1 Tsp Light Soya Sauce
  • 2 Tbsp Water
  • 1 Tsp Sugar 

To dredge the chicken :

  • 3 Tbsp All purpose flour / Maida
  • 3 Tbsp Corn flour
  • 2 Tbsp Rice flour

Method :

  • Add all the "To Marinate" ingredients to boneless chicken and mix well.
  • Marinate it for 10 minutes or before starting the cooking process.
  • Mix all the "To make Sauce" ingredients in a small pan and bring it to boil by stirring well.
  • Remove from the flame and keep aside.
  • Mix all the ingredients given in "To dredge the chicken" in a plate.
  • Dredge the marinated chicken in the above flour and keep aside.
  • Heat oil in a pan and fry the dredged chicken pieces in a medium flame.
  • Deep fry them until it is half cooked, remove from the flame and drain on a kitchen towel.
  • Let them cool for 10 minutes and in the mean time fry the remaining batches.
  • Now again fry the first batch (half fried ) chicken until it is cooked.
  • The texture will be crisp and light golden color. Remove and keep aside.
  • Repeat the process for remaining batches and keep aside.
  • Heat 1 Tbsp sesame oil in a separate pan and add onions.
  • Saute for a minute and add red peppers followed by colored capsicum and cucumber.
  • Saute for couple of minutes in a medium flame.
  • Now add the prepared sweet and sour sauce. Mix well.
  • Add the fired chicken and mix well to coat the chicken with the sauce evenly.
  • Stir in pineapple and mix well. ( Optional)
  • Switch off the flame and serve hot.


Serving Options :

Serve hot with Rice or Fried rice.



Linking this recipe with mykitchenodyssey's " First Anniversary Giveaway ".