Carrot Dal

If you want to pack some protein rich dish with some veggies for your kids and family members, then try these flavorful spiced dal. Easy to prepare dish and perfect to serve with Rotis and Phulkas. Adding Garam masala and lemon juice, enhances the taste and gives aromatic punch to the dish. 

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Ingredients :

• 1 Cup Moong Dal / Pasi parupu
• 1 Big Onion, finely chopped
• 1 Big Tomato, finely chopped
• 2 Carrots, grated
• 2 Green chillies, chopped
• 1/2 Tsp Garam Masala
• 1/2 Tsp Turmeric powder
• Salt to taste
• Water, as needed
• 1 Tsp Lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp Oil
• 1 Tsp Mustard Seeds
• 1 Tsp Jeera
• 4 Garlic pods, finely chopped
• Curry leaves or Coriander leaves for garnishing

Method :

• Pressure cook moong dal for 4 whistles and keep aside.

• Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds.

• Once it starts spluttering, add jeera followed by garlic and green chillies.

• Saute for few seconds and add the chopped onion.

• Saute for couple of minutes and add the chopped tomato.

• Cook till the added tomato turns soft and add grated carrots.

• Mix well, add turmeric powder and salt followed by water.

• Cover and cook for 5 minutes or till the carrots turn soft.

• Now add the cooked dal and mix well.

• Add garam masala at this stage and cook for 3-4 minutes in a medium flame.

• Once done, Remove from the flame and add lemon juice. Mix well.

• Garnish with curry leaves or coriander leaves and serve.

Serving Options :

Serve hot with Roti or Phulka.

Spicy Okra Stir Fry / Vendakai Kara Poriyal

Vendakai Kara Poriyal, a very famous South Indian Side dish is served with Rice Varieties and also can be served with Indian Breads. One of my favorite veggie and I prefer this spicy dish with sambhar Rice and curd  Rice. Very simple and less time consuming recipe. Spiciness can be adjusted according to taste buds and Sometimes, I do add crushed pepper at the last stage of cooking to make it more spicy and delicious. 

Ingredients :

• 125 Gms Lady's finger / Okra / Vendakai, chopped
• 1 Big Onion, Finely chopped
• 1 Big Tomato, Finely Chopped
• 1 Tsp Chilli Powder
• 1 1/2 Tsp Coriander Powder
• 1/2 Tsp Turmeric Powder
• Salt to taste
• Water, as needed
• 2 Tbsp Oil

Method :

• Heat 1 Tbsp oil and add the chopped Lady's fingers.

• Saute them for 3-4 minutes in a medium flame or till the stickiness goes off.

• Remove from the flame and keep aside.

• Add remaining oil to the same pan and add the chopped Onions.

• Fry it for couple of minutes and add chopped tomatoes.

• Saute them together for another couple of minutes and add turmeric powder followed by chilli powder, coriander powder and salt.

• Mix well and add the sauteed Lady's finger.

• Add little water, cover and cook it for 5 minutes in a medium flame or till the mixture becomes dry.

• Once done, Remove from the flame and garnish with curry leaves or Coriander leaves.

Serving Options :

Serve with any Rice Varieties like Sambhar rice, Curd rice, Rasam Rice etc...
It can also be served with Chapati or Roti.

Linking this to Tamilzhar Samayal Tuesday




Gayathri's "WTML"

Chicken & Spinach Soup

I love soups! It makes me very energetic and whenever I step in to Restaurants, I make sure that soup is also ordered. I love tasting variety of soups but being a solo soup lover its very difficult to try at home. Luckily this month theme for "5 Ingredient Fix Challenge" by Lakshmi vimala was Soup. Every month, 5 Ingredients will be declared by her and its our challenge to try out something Innovative. And coming to March month, we got 5 Lovely ingredients " Olive Oil", "Homemade Stock", "Chicken or Veg", "Green leafy veggie" and "any kind of pulses". And keeping all my challenge ingredients, tried this delicious soup for our Sunday lunch menu which turned out a huge hit :)

Adding pureed dal gives a creamy and thick consistency so adding of corn flour is not necessary. This can be served as warm soup with fresh cream on top along with croutons or can also be served with hot rice. My son loved it with hot rice and ghee. 

And here is my march month challenge.....

Ingredients:

For Stock:

• 250 gms Boned Chicken
• 1 Big Onion, chopped or sliced
• 1 Tbsp Pepper corns
• 1 Carrot, chopped
• 5 Garlic, crushed
• Water, as needed

For Soup :

• 3 Tbsp Masoor dal
• 15 Spinach leaves, washed and chopped
• Salt to taste
• 1 Tsp Pepper
• Water, as needed
• 2 Tbsp Olive oil
• ¼ Boiled Chicken, cut into small strips
• Basil leaves for Garnishing

Method :

• Add all the ingredients given for preparing stock in a large vessel and add required amount of water.

• Simmer and cook it for 45 minutes.

• Meanwhile, Pressure cook the dal and spinach leaves for 4-5 whistles.

• Once cooker cools down, blend the dal and spinach to a smooth paste. Keep aside.

• Heat olive oil in a pan and add the chicken strips.

• Saute for a minute and add the pureed spinach-dal mixture.

• Remove boned chicken from the stock and blend the remaining ingredients using blender.

• Strain and extract the stock.

• Now add stock to the boiling dal-spinach mixture followed by salt and pepper and boil it for 10 minutes or till the soup consistency occurs.

• Once done, remove from the flame, garnish with basil leaves and serve hot with croutons.

Note : 

Fresh cream can also be added for extra richness.

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

Snickerdoodles Cookies

Snickerdoodles is a Traditional Cookies coated with Granulated Sugar and Cinnamon powder. Cream of Tarter and Baking soda is added to leaven the dough. These are perfect for kids snack box and can be served with a glass of Milk. Snickerdoodles has cracked surface with crunchy top and inner part of cookies will be chewy n soft. Cookies are rolled in Cinnamon and Sugar before baking which gives a crunchy texture for the cookies and Flavorful taste.

Ingredients :

• 1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 3/4 Granulated Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Butter
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Essence
• 1/4 Tsp Salt
• 1/4 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1/4 Tsp Cream of Tartar
• 2 Tbsp Sugar
• 2 Tsp Ground Cinnamon

Method :

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with a wooden spoon.

• Add egg and beat well followed by vanilla essence.

• In a separate bowl, sift flour, salt, baking powder and cream of tartar.

• Stir the dry Ingredients into the Wet mixture with wooden spoon till well mixed to form dough.

• In a small bowl or plate, combine 2 tbsp sugar and cinnamon powder, keep aside.

• Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll each balls in the sugar-cinnamon mixture.

• Place the sugar coated balls on greased cookie sheet or tray with 2 inch gap.

• Bake it for 10-15 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 180 degree C.

• Once done, remove and cool the cookies on rack.

• Store it in an air-tight container.

Are you ready to try these yummy cookies?

Sending this recipe to "Love2Bake" by Spicy Treats.

Lemony Chilli Grilled Chicken

Are you a chicken lover? Then this recipe is for you...

Grilled Juicy chicken with a spicy-lemony flavor will be a sure hit in your taste buds. Marination is very important in this recipe, the more time you leave chicken to swim in the marinade, the yummiest and delicious chicken is guaranteed. These yummy grilled ones can be served as a starter with Salsa ( will post soon ) and mayo. This is also a perfect evening snack to munch with family on weekends. Adding marinade while cooking the chicken will enhance the flavor and tastes amazingly good.

Ingredients :

• 4 Chicken Thigh cutlets
• 1/4 Cup Lemon Juice
• 4 Green chillies, crushed
• 1 Tbsp Oil
• 1 Tbsp Sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp Soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp Honey
• 3 Garlic pods, crushed and chopped
• 2 Spring Onions, chopped
• 2 Tbsp Chopped Coriander leaves
• Salt to taste

Method :

• Combine Lemon juice, crushed green chilies, soy sauce, honey, chopped garlic, spring onions, coriander leaves and salt in a large bowl and mix well.
• Add chicken pieces and stir to combine. 
• Refrigerate for 3- 4 hours or over night, stirring occasionally.
• Remove the chicken pieces and reserve the marinade.
• Place chicken on lightly oiled grill and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes.
• Flip the other side and cook for another 5 minutes or until the pieces gets tender and cooked.
• Brush with reserve marinade in the last minutes of cooking.
• Remove and serve Hot.

Serving Options :

Serve hot with Salsa or Mayo.