RAGI ADAI (SPICY VERSION) | FINGER MILLET RECIPES

My mom makes Ragi adai for my grandma, like I have already told in my Ragi dosa post. But I am trying only for the first time, though I wanted to try for a long time. Today I called and checked with my mom for the recipe and made for my lunch and had. Onion raita is the perfect side dish for ragi adai. You can also try any chutneys, coconut chutney is my choice! I love the green chillies and tomatoes when I eat this adai. My mom used to make with jaggery too for us when we were kids, have to try that soon as well!

Ragi Adai recipe (Spicy)

Recipe Cuisine: Indian  |  Recipe Category: Breakfast
Prep Time: 20 mins    |  Cook time: 15 mins    |  Makes: 4

Ingredients

Ragi flour(Finger millet)	1 cup
Onion	1
Tomato	1
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Salt	As needed
Water	As needed

To temper

Oil	2 tsp
Mustard	3/4 tsp
Urad dal	1 tsp
Asafoetida	2-3 pinches

Method

1. Take ragi, salt in a bowl. Heat pan with oil and season with the items given under ‘To temper’ table. Then add curry leaves,onion and fry for 1  minute. Add tomato and fry for another minute.

2. Add the fried items to the flour and mix well. Add water little by little and make a soft,smooth non sticky dough.

3. Divide into 4 equal balls. Flatten over a greased Ziploc cover. Heat tawa and drizzle with 1/2 tsp oil. Transfer the flattened adai to the pan and cook in medium flame. Drizzle oil over the adai and then flip and cook until done.

Notes

• This is a bit dry kind of adai, so eat hot, if it cools down it wont taste that good.

Serve immediately, hot, with onion raita or chutney!

Technorati Tags: ragi adai recpe,agai adai savory,savoury ragi adai,ragi adai with side dish onion raita,dieabetic

HOT CHOCOLATE RECIPE (MICROWAVE SINGLE SERVING)

I tried this from Hershey’s website and loved it! Its damn easy and can be made under 5 minutes in microwave oven. Smells and tastes great and perfect to start a day for a chocolate lover. Best way to finish away the last few spoons of coco powder. Best way to treat yourself when you are craving for something chocolatey, best way to cheer up your bad mood...Only 3 ingredients!!

Microwave hot chocolate recipe

Recipe Cuisine: Continental  |  Recipe Category: Beverages
Prep Time: 1 mins    |  Cook time: 1 mins    |  Serves: 1

Ingredients

Coco powder(I used Hershey's)	2 tsp
Sugar	2 tsp (adjust as per ur taste)
Milk(I used low fat)	1 cup

Method

1. Place coco and sugar in a microwave-able cup.
2. Add 3 tblsp of milk and blend well.
3. Top with milk and microwave in high for 1 and 1/2 minutes or until the milk boils.

Note

• You can stir in between to ensure even mixing.
• You can reduce coco powder upto 1 tsp.
• My one cup holds 250 ml in this case.

Mix well and enjoy your hot chocolate HOT!

Technorati Tags: hot chocolate,hot chocolate recipe,hot chocolate recipes,homemade hot chocolate recipe,how to make hot chocolate,microwave hot chocolate

RED BEAN QUESADILLA RECIPE

    I tasted Quesadillas only two times, and both the times I tasted only this red bean quesadillas. I had this once when we went to Raj restaurant, with my in-laws when they visited here. I loved it and again tasted and wanted to try it out at home. I could almost recreate the taste and am so happy with the result. They served it with Tomato Salsa and sour cream dip, it was yummy and tasting great with a buttery smell! Let me share the recipe straight away! Refer here for tortillas recipe.

Ingredients(filling enough for stuffing 5-6 tortillas)

Red kidney bean	1 can
Yellow onion	1
Tomato	1
Chopped coriander leaves	2 tblsp
Lemon juice	1 tsp
Pepper powder	1/2 tsp
Green chilli	1
Grated mozzarella	1/4 cup
Salt	as needed
Tortillas	5-6
Butter/ clarified butter	As needed

Method

Drain the bean in the can and wash it. Take it in a bowl and mash it coarsely. Add salt and pepper and mix well. Chop onion and tomato(deseeded), chilli very finely. Mix onion with lemon juice. Take a tortilla and spread 3 to 4 tblsp mashed bean and top it with onion, tomato, green chilli, coriander and lastly cheese as shown in the picture. Spread only half of the tortilla. Fold it exactly into half to cover the spread completely. Heat a pan and grease with butter/ ghee and arrange the tortilla stuffed with bean. I toasted two at a time. Cook in low flame on both sides until golden brown and crispy. By that time, the cheese will also melt.

   Cut each in to two quarters and serve hot with tomato salsa and sour cream or a cheesy dip! 

Notes

You can also spread over fully on a tortilla and close the filling with another tortilla, toast both sides and cut into quarters. While flipping, do carefully. Especially when you do by the above method. I found my method easy, i.e; use a tortilla and fold into a half as shown in the picture. Cheese can be increased or decreased as per your choice. More the cheese, more tasty, but watch out for the calories. One tortilla make 2 quesadillas, it depends also how big you roll and how big you want.

Technorati Tags: Red bean quesadilla recipe,homemade quesadilla recipe,how to make quesadilla at home,quesadilla from scratch. step by step recipe

TOMATO SALSA RECIPE (FRESH)

 

     I love this salsa, because its simple to make, yet delicious! This goes perfect with tortilla chips, or bruschetta or even our papad!  Try it and sure you would love it. This may not be an authentic Mexican salsa because, I have my own tweaks in this recipe :)  But I can assure you will taste great!

 

Ingredients

Tomato	2
Yellow onion	1
Green chilli	1
Black or white pepper powder	1/2 tsp
Sugar/honey	1 tsp
Coriander leaves, finely chopped	2 tblsp
Lemon juice	1 tsp
Red chilli powder(optional)	1/4 tsp
Chilli tomato sauce(optional)	1 tsp
Salt	As needed

Method

Deseed the tomatoes and chop finely also onion,green chilli and mix it with the other ingredients.

            That’s it! Ready to serve tomato salsa. Enjoy with any chips, bruschetta or with papad!  Make it when ever you want it freshly and finish it off, as it tends to leave water.

Technorati Tags: Tomato salsa recipe(fresh),fresh tomato salsa recipe,simple and easy tomato salsa,how to make tomato salsa at home,tomato salsa for bruschetta

HOMEMADE TORTILLAS RECIPE

       

       Tortillas are nothing but our Roti, made with all purpose flour. We can also make this with wheat flour. I have never tasted any wraps using tortillas, but I happened to taste a Quesadilla in a restaurant last month. Vj suggested to taste it and I instantly loved it. For past 2 weeks, I was craving for the quesadillas again and Vj took me to the restaurant and bought me the same on Valentines day… hehe. Then yesterday I thought why not try the same at home… I just googled for the info and successfully made today! Stay tuned for the salsa and quesadilla recipe coming up next!

      And for those who are hearing these things for first time, do not think its not our kind of recipe, stay tuned and try the recipes, you are sure going to love it! The ingredients are also pretty ‘available’ only, no fancy things!

Ingredients ( makes 5-6)

All purpose flour/ maida	3/4 cup, heaped
Wheat flour	1/4 cup, heaped
Olive oil	3 tblsp
Baking powder	1/4 tsp
Salt	As needed
Warm water	As need

Method

Mix both the flours, salt, baking powder well in a bowl. Add olive oil and rub well. Gradually add required warm water and knead to a smooth dough. You can rest the dough for 15 minutes. Divide into 5 or 6 equal sized balls. Roll into thin discs, dust when ever needed with all purpose flour. Heat a pan and toast the rolled tortillas on both sides in medium flame until slight golden dots starts to appear,also take care its evenly cooked.

         You can make these tortillas in bulk, you can even properly layer this and freeze it and use when ever we want and and make wraps or quesadillas with this.

Notes

You can add softened butter/any cooking oil in place of olive oil. You can try with wheat flour as well fully. The dough has to be smooth, not too sticky or too tight.

Technorati Tags: tortillas recipe,homemade tortilla,tortillas,how to make tortillas at home,step by step pictures

NUTELLA TRUFFLES | NUTELLA RECIPES

I had no idea about nutella , that it would be so yummy and tasty until I bought it for the first time last week. And only now I know that there is a day called ‘Nutella day” even! I am not not big fan of peanut butter and I had a thought that this could also taste similar to that. But it was not. To all who doesn't know about nutella taste, it tastes just like yummy (nut) chocolate and the its simply divine and tastes out of this world!

Thanks to Jeyashri for letting me know this recipe from Deesha’s blog, that it is so simple and yummy too. And also I saw so many recipes through foodgawker and tastespotting, cant wait to try them one by one!

Nutella truffles recipe

Recipe Cuisine: Continental  |  Recipe Category: Dessert
Prep Time: 15 mins    |  Cook time: 5 mins    |  Makes: 10

Ingredients

Nutella	4 tblsp
Cookies (I used milk biscuits)	6
Corn flakes	2 fist full
Butter	1 tsp
Coco powder	for rolling

Method

1. In a microwave-able glass bowl, take nutella and butter and melt it for 1 and 1/2 minutes to 2 minutes. Add crushed biscuits and corn flakes to it and mix well.
2. Let it cool down. Make desired sized balls and arrange in grease paper.
3. Roll in coco powder to coat it well and arrange it.

Notes

• Adjust the timing for melting according to your microwave oven.
• If you do not have microwave oven, then you can melt by double boiling method. i.e; heat a flat bottomed pan with water and keep this thing to be melted in a bowl and keep the bowl over the boiling water to melt it.
• I reduced cornflakes amount and added a hand full of muesli, with more of nuts and raisins to it, so feel free to experiment with the ingredients.

Refrigerate for 3-4 hours before serving. Pop in your mouth and its just crunchy, chocolaty and more over easy to make!  Try this for your Valentine, sure would love this!

Technorati Tags: nutella recipes,easy nutella recipes,nutella,nutella truffles,how to make truffles with nutella,nutella recipe

RAW BANANA DRY CURRY RECIPE (WITH FRESHLY GROUND SPICES)

Most of the time I buy raw banana/ vazhakkai, I make this raw banana dry curry, other than the simple vazhakkai poriyal. Vj loves it this way. Aj also eats silently, so I stick to this recipe. The curry is so flavourful, that I bet you would be wanting to eat it soon while you cook. The freshly ground masala is such a flavourful masala! It has the fine selected spices that even nullifies the gastric problem we usually get when we cook vazhakkai.I always wonder and appreciate how they incorporate the spices to balance all these in our cooking!  Because the pepper,jeera,coriander seeds and mainly garlic does this job. This can be a perfect combo for more kuzhambu or even with any simple rasam. Again, this is a recipe I learnt from my MIL. We do even potato curry this way. I have already posted it.

Raw banana dry curry recipe

Recipe Cuisine: Indian  |  Recipe Category: Lunch
Prep Time: 10 mins    |  Cook time: 20 mins    |  Serves: 3

Ingredients

Raw banana / vazhakkai	1 big
Onion	1
Turmeric	1/4 tsp
Salt	As needed
Coconut oil	1 tsp

To temper

Oil	1 tblsp
Mustard	3/4 tsp
Urad dal	1 tsp
Curry leaves	1 sprig

To grind to a paste

Coconut	2-3 tblsp
Coriander seeds	1 & 1/2 tblsp
pepper	1& 1/2 tsp
Jeera	1 tsp
Red chilli	2
Garlic	2

Method

1. Cut onion length wise, peel the skin of raw banana, slit length wise, slice them and keep immersed in water. Grind the ingredients under ‘To grind to a paste’ with little water to a little bit coarse paste.
2. Season with mustard, urad dal and curry leaves and add onions to fry till transparent. Add the cur vazhakkai along with the ground masala, 1/4 cup water, salt and turmeric.
3. Mix well and cook covered for 4 minutes in medium flame. When the water evaporates completely, then keep frying until the masala turns golden in colour. Say about 3-4 minutes in medium flame.Add 2 tsp oil while frying. Lastly add coconut oil and mix well.

Notes

• Use less water, otherwise curry may turn mushy.
• Use more oil towards the end as it helps to turn the curry golden without sticking to the pan.
• Coconut oil is a great flavorful addition to the curry.

Transfer to the serving bowl, flavourful curry is ready for accompanying your rice.

Technorati Tags: raw banana curry recipe,raw banana dry curry,raw banana recipes,plantain recipes,vazhakkai recipe,how to make vazhakkai curry,with fresh gound spices

Easy fried rice recipe (Indian style)

      For me fried rice means Chinese style, until last week when we visited Kailash Parbat for a dinner treat. Though Kailash Parbat is famous for chaats, that day, more than that I loved this Fried rice which was not the Chinese style one, but it was Indian style.It had only vegetables, but was so flavourful!  It was so simple that, I could really guess the ingredients and very tempted to try at home. The very next day (Since I only had fried rice the before day), I made for lunch with Gobi Manchurian.  The recipe is so so so simple. Only thing to do is cut the veggie finely. Its very flavour but a quick fix, you can try for lunch box too with any rich gravy…

Easy Fried rice recipe

Recipe Cuisine: Indian  |  Recipe Category: Lunch
Prep Time: 15 mins    |  Cook time: 15 mins    |  Serves: 3

Ingredients

Basmati rice - 1 cup

---

Carrot - 1

---

Beans ( I used baby beans) - 12

---

Baby corn - 5

---

Pepper powder   - 1 tsp

---

Spring onion - 4 sprig

---

Olive oil - 3 tblsp

---

Sugar - 1/2 tsp

Method

1. Cook rice with 1 & 1/2 cup water and separate the grains. Cut the veggies very finely so that it will get cooked easily in short period of time. Heat a broad pan with olive oil. When its hot, add the veggies with sugar and fry for 2 minutes or until its cooked,but retains its crunchiness. 
2. Lastly add pepper, spring onion and fry for a minute. Add cooked, rice and stir till it gets heated up.

Notes

• You can replace olive oil with sesame oil.
• You can try the same with left over rice by keeping it overnight in fridge.
• You can add ajinomotto and soya sauce in this same recipe.
• I added black pepper, but white pepper is recommended as it gives a colourful result!
• Adding sugar to retain colour.
• Use best quality basmati rice as the rice flavor plays a main role in this recipe. 
• Veggies should not be over cooked for this mainly, so make sure its just crunchy. 

It is simple yet  packed with flavours! The basmati rice will dominate and makes an awesome combo with the pepper and veggies flavor...The crunchy veggies compliments this well. I never thought it would turn out so good… Try yourself to believe it!





Technorati Tags: Indian style fried rice recipe,Fried rice Indian,fried rice recipe,Indian restaurant style fried rice recipe

EASY KEERAI MASIYAL RECIPE | KEERAI MASIYAL WITH GARLIC

One of the easiest and simplest, yet yummy and flavourful keerai masiyal recipe! (Keerai = greens, Indian spinach). This is the way both my mom and mom in law do. We do not add anything for spiciness in this. Actually my  mom adds a lots of garlic and the hotness from garlic will be enough in this. But my MIL adds only less, still it tastes great. Hot steamed rice , with ghee and keerai masiyal is mostly everyone's favourite.  Its good for kids too and almost my mom makes twice or thrice in a week when we were kids. Such healthy one, so try and see if you haven't before. I will share another recipe for keerai masiyal here in future, which has no garlic in it.

Easy keerai masiyal recipe

Recipe Cuisine: Indian  |  Recipe Category: Lunch
Prep Time: 15 mins    |  Cook time: 10 mins    |  Serves: 3

Ingredients

Keerai	1 bunch
Garlic	3-4 cloves
Salt	As needed
Sugar	2 pinches

Method

1. Remove the root part of the keerai and look for any other plants and wash the keerai well. Drain and chop it roughly. Boil water (very less) and add sugar and chopped greens. Cook until the stems get soft and drain the water. Reserve to use it in sambar or in some other gravy u prepare. First grind peeled garlic and salt in the mixer.
2. Then add the cooked, cooled keerai and grind well to make a puree consistency.

Notes

• Adding sugar while cooking ensures to retain the green colour of the keerai.
• I used mulai keerai, so used the stem as well. If any other keerai variety, use only the leaves.

Serve with hot rice and ghee! Accompany with any curry and enjoy the healthy and tasty masiyal.

Check out other keerai recipes here :

Technorati Tags: keerai masiyal recipe,keerai masiyal,mulai keerai masiyal,arai keerai,thandu keerai,how to cook keerai without changing its colour,keerai,keerai recipes