Spinach and Corn Uttapam - Classic Combo in a new avatar

Slightly sour dosa/idli batter mixed with onions, chilli's is the way we usually make the uttappams. I am trying different combinations to increase the intake the vegetables and spice up the regular dishes. Spinach and corn compliment each other perfectly in many dishes. Tried to get them into the uttappam batter and the resulting dish was quite tasty. In many ways, it can be a one pot meal with all the necessary protein, vegetable and carbs together presented in a tasty combo.

Soaked rice proves the adage "Old is Gold"

In Telugu, my mother tongue, there is a saying, Peddalamata chaddi annamu muta. Here left over cooked rice is compared to the wisdom of the elders. It is not glamorous but is full of life's wisdom distilled, that we take for granted.
Before the dosa,idli and the cereals of today took over the breakfast scene, it was a bowl of this rice soaked in water overnight, that filled the tummies of the farming community. Today it is proven that rice soaked and eaten like this has a lot of health benefits.

3 pepper omlette - a riot of colors

Break the fast with this beautiful omlette made with the three peppers and free range eggs. Doesn't the yolk look just like sunshine on the plate. Not much of a recipe - just saute a table spoon each of the peppers, break two eggs, season with salt and pepper and eat.

Cabbage jowar roti with spring onions and left over rice

A cup of left over rice, a cup of jowar flour and add a lot of cabbage and spring onions with some ajwain. There is a lot going on in terms of ingredients, but the taste is excellent and is the best way to incorporate more millets like jowar into the dinner. This is not rolled like the normal roti's or chapathi's but must be patted on a banana leaf. Kannadigas are very proficient at making this kind of rotti.

Colorful and Healthy Sandwich Meal

Stir fried on high heat with a tea spoon of olive oil, cheery(cherry) tomatoes garnished with basil and seasoned with salt and pepper are the star of this sandwich meal. The sandwich itself is simple, spread with some corriander chutney and onions and grilled till crisp and brown.

The tomatoes were bursting with flavor and perfectly complemented the spicy sandwich.

Healthy Indulgence for a weekend brunch

Green chutney and cheese sandwich grilled with a healthy dose of creamy mashed potatoes and quick sauteed broccoli - a nice and healthy weekend brunch.

No recipe needed.

Lacy Millet Coconut Neer Dosa

Neer Dosa is quite popular in coastal Karnataka. Rice and coconut are the main ingredients for this lacy and tasty dosa. We were first introduced to this on a trip to Sringeri at Coffee Shop Bhadra Stop. White lacy dosa was served with peanut onion chutney on the banks of river Bhadra in a coffee plantation. What is there not to like in it. Came back and searched for the recipe and tried it out. It took some turns to get the recipe right. 

With my quest to have more of millets, I tried to replace the rice with Little Millets and followed the same process resulting in quite tasty but brown dosa. Served with a dollop of butter for a tasty meal.

Sabudana Kichidi with Yogurt - Complete Meal

Sabudana kichdi with curd is a complete meal and quite tasty even when cold,  making it a good lunch box option.  It does require some planning in soaking the sabudana overnight and if peanut powder is ready gets done without much effort.

Nurturing Nourishment - #catchupongrowth

Mornings in our and most households with school going children is no less than a war zone or at the very least it will represent a war room of a big project. Chaos reigns all around. Add to the task of getting the kids ready to school and packing the lunch boxes is the bigger problem of getting something into their tummies. Sleepy kids do not want to have anything and this problem intensifies in the cool seasons. 

Savory Oats Porridge Topped with Manchurian Flavored sprouts

On a cold rainy morning, a bowl of steaming oats warms the entire body. In our home our  preference is for salty and spicy oats over a sweet bowl. I topped the bowl with a quick saute of moong sprouts and added some soya sauce and tomato sauce to give a sharp Indo Chinese flavor which is loved by one and all. All of us know how much we love our  'Gobi Manchurian' and every variations of it. Many of us have a cart back home which makes the brown and tasty concoction called Manchuria.

Sprouts are tasty, cooks very fast and healthy too. But we will not always like to have them plain. So I have quickly sauteed them and added the oomph factor. Here is a bowl that is pleasing, healthy and very easy to prepare too. Indo Chinese is not specific to a region now, but it is originally credited to the the streets of  Kolkotta.

Spinach Paratha and a green lunch box

Stir fried spinach mixed with spices and besan (chick pea flour), stuffed and rolled into parathas, dipped into corriander chutney, a spoon full of curd and a bite of sauteed green chillies with some salt and all this in a lunch box, what is not to like in it. It does sound very cumbersome to cook and pack, but it actually is not. The green chutney (slightly sauteed corriander leaves and chilli grided with salt and lemon juice) can be made in advanced and left in the fridge overnight to make it easy in the morning. Even the stuffing and the atta can be prepared the night before, all making it very easy to roll them out and pack in the morning. A view of the tasty and easy green lunch box. I should shop for a green one to match for the contents :-)

Aloo Paratha Overloaded

Aloo paratha is tasty. No second opinions about that. I have not met anyone till now who does not like one. What if you can overload it with nutrition too. I added some moong sprouts and sesame seeds to up the nutrition level. Of course you act coy and do not mention all the good additions and serve without mentioning anything. Trust me that the parathas will be finished without any complaints or detecting and picking out the "too healthy " elements from the plate.

Overload is used in a positive context here. If you have done any Java Programming, you would know where I am coming from.

Dosa Makeover: Cheesy Broccoli Dosa

1. Spread the dosa batter on the pan.
2. Spread the grated broccoli.You need not cook it ahead. Grated broccoli cooks really fast, in the time it takes the dosa to roast - around a minute.

Savory Dunkin Doughnuts aka Rasam Vada

Urad dal vada soaked in piping hot rasam, garnished with bundi can give the real doughnut a run for its sweet. Of course there is no comparisons other than that both are round and that both the vada and the donut are fried.

Uddi Vada, Medu Vada, Urad Dal Vada or whatever you want to call it, is a very tasty preparation, primarily served for break fast. I had made simple rasam to go with it instead of the usual sambar or chutney. The vada soaked up the rasam and was very delicious. Perfect for the monsoon mornings.

Recipe for the rasam and the urad dal vada will be posted and linked later.

Lucky Lentil Pasta, Any Time Meal with Corn and Lentils

I came to know that lentils are served in Italy for good luck on New Year. That is it, I had to blog about this pasta dish I make regularly, for DelMonte cooking contest.  I could use all the luck I can get for winning this one, what with all the amazing cooks across the world wide web.

Lentils are power houses of nutrition. Especially if you are a vegetarian or a vegan or want to have a meat free meal with good quality protein, then lentils are the way to go. Lentils in some shape or form appears daily on our plates. My blog has a good collection of recipes with lentils, whole and split and sprouts.

I have substituted whole organic masoor dal as we do not get the Italian (Puy or Umbrian varieties) here in Bangalore. The picture and the description matched that of  whole masoor. We also like the delicate nutty taste of whole masoor when cooked, in addition to the fact that it gets cooked very fast.

Here I have lentils for the protein, corn for the vegetable and a favorite with kids and of course, the star of the dish - the pasta. Butter, salt, pepper and lemon juice add all the oomph. I generally use my pressure cooker to reduce the cooking time and save on the fuel. All the ingredients in the pressure cooker, 2 whistles on medium high. Voila, you have an easy, tasty and a healthy dish that goes on the serving table in 15 minutes with minimal preparation. In fact, taking the pictures for boasting take more time than cooking and eating.

Serve it as breakfast, as an evening snack or in the lunch box, which ever way you want. Get back the cleanly licked box/bowl as a bonus.

Dosa Makeover: Coin Uthappam/Dosa with Sprouts, Easy Peasy Lunch Box

Dosa batter topped with moong and masoor sprouts, easy healthy and tasty. They are an ideal breakfast, finger food, any time snack. Packet with a peanut chutney powder, they make a very good lunch box option for the kids. Carbs, vitamins and proteins and non fussy to eat. What more do we want. I have used moong sprouts and masoor sprouts. One tea spoon of sprouts sprinkled on one table spoon of dosa batter and cooked on medium heat for 1/2 minute on each side, that is the recipe. 

Chapati and no onion, garlic vegetable curry with coconut and corriander, lip smacking

Peas, carrots , potato and add to it corriander and turmeric, the resulting dish has many hues. Not lacking in flavor and nutrition too. With frozen peas in the pantry, the side dish comes together in matter of minutes, literally.

Salad Upma, South Indian Upma with vegetables and sprouts

Chomping on vegetables is good for you. Yes, all of us know that. But eating raw vegetables is boring after a while, especially for the tongue used to the Indian palate. So came up with this dish, which is made with cabbage, carrot and urad dal sprouts, quickly stir fried with upma seasoning.

Rice Kanji with Moth beans stir fry

1/2 cup of left over rice and 1/2 cup of Matki or Moth bean sprouts and a rumbling tummy resulted in this bowl of good soup or Kanji. The disclaimer as usual, the photo might not do justice to the dish.

Chapathi with a salad sabzi, Healthy and colorful lunch box

Bored of eating the same raw cucumber and tomatoes as salads. I have quickly stir fried them in the standard Indian tadka with 1 tea spoon oil. Filled the major section with curry and the minor with the Roti - reversal of roles for the health conscious. The sabzi turned quite tasty. Left the peel on the cucumbers to add to the fiber content.