THENGAI SADAM | COCONUT RICE RECIPE WITH DAL

         Coconut rice is my husband’s favorite rice dish. This is very easy to make one pot meal that can be done in 15 mins if your cooked rice are ready. This recipe is my husband grand ma’s recipe. I really love this rice because of the addition of secret ingredient (moong dal) which makes this rice protein rich and colorful. Here I used coconut oil for tempering the spices, so it makes the rice more flavorful. Best accompaniment for this coconut rice are colocasia roast or potato roast or papad (appalam). I had it with cauliflower fry.

Ingredients

          1/4 cup and 2 Tbsp of Coconut (Fresh or Dry), I used dessicated coconut
          2 Tbsp of Moong Dal
1 Cup of Water
2 Cups of Cooked Rice (Pressure Cooked)
          1 Medium Size Red Onion, Finely Chopped
          2 Green Chillies
1/2 Tsp of Turmeric Powder
          Salt to Taste

To Temper

   1 Tbsp of Coconut Oil
   1 Red Chilly, Big
   1 Tsp of Mustard
   1 Tsp of Urad Dal
   1 Tsp of Chana Dal (Bengal Gram)
   1 Sprig of Curry Leaves

    Method

Heat a pan with water, add moong dal, turmeric powder and little salt, cook in medium flame for 10-15 mins until the dal gets cooked.
Heat a pan, dry roast the coconut until it turns to light brown color, remove it from pan and keep this aside.
Heat a pan with oil, when it is hot, add red chilly(break it), mustard seeds, urad dal, bengal gram, curry leaves, after mustard seeds splutters, add chopped onion and green chilies, fry this for few mins until it turns golden brown. Add cooked moong dal, fry for a min, add cooked rice and little salt, mix well with dal and spices. Finally add roasted coconut to the rice, mix well and turn off the flame.
Protein rich coconut rice is ready to serve with any colocasia fry or potato roast or appalam.

Tips

You can also make coconut rice without onion and dal.
Adjust the number of green and red chilly according to your taste buds.
You can use nuts like peanuts and cashews while tempering.

Health Benefits of Coconut

Quick energy boost.
High in dietary fiber.
Improves heart health.
It has anti-bacterial,anti-fungal & anti-parasitic properties.
Coconut oil can improve blood cholesterol level, boosts brain function.

AVAL VADAI | POHA VADA RECIPE

I usually start most of my days either with poha or oats upma or cereals. When I was talking to my friend, the other day, she gave me this aval vadai recipe, since this aval vadai does not need any grinding and soaking part, immediately I want to give it a try, for my evening snack. Me and my husband really liked it, because it tasted almost like medu vada with crispy texture on outside and soft on inside. You can make this poha vada recipe either as a snack or for navarathri celebrations or diwali or krishna jayanthi. Also make this quick easy aval vada for unannounced guests. I bet kids will love this vadai for sure. Serve this easy aval vadai either with coconut chutney or tomato ketchup and hot tea.

Ingredients for aval vadai

Yield : 9 Vadai

1 Cup of Thick Variety of Aval / Poha / Flattened Rice Flakes
1 Cup of Water
1 Medium Size Onion, Finely Chopped
2 Green Chilies, Finely Chopped
3 Tbsp of Thick Curd (Yogurt)
2 Tbsp of Rice Flour
2 Tsp of Besan Flour / Kadalai Maavu
1 Inch of Ginger, grated
1 Tsp of Whole Black Pepper
Pinch of Asafoetida
1 Sprig of Curry Leaves
2 Tbsp of Cilantro (Coriander Leaves), Finely Chopped
1 Tsp of Salt or to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method

Soak the aval(poha/rice flakes) in water for 5 mins. Drain as much as water from aval, mash well with hand or with back of the spoon.

To the mashed rice flakes, add chopped onion, green chilly, ginger, black pepper, asafoetida, curry leaves, chopped coriander leaves, salt, rice flour, besan flour and finally add thick curd, give a quick stir. Knead well with hand to form a thick batter. Make a balls out of the batter.

Heat oil in a shallow pan. Take a zip lock bag or Milk cover or banana leaf or polythene sheet and have 1 cup of water in bowl on side.

Just wet your right hand in water, place the batter ball in the center of zip lock bag greased with water. Make a hole in the middle of the batter and carefully transfer it to the hot oil. Deep fry them on medium heat, until it turns golden brown on both sides. Continue the same process for each vadai.
Serve hot with coconut chutney or peanut chutney or tomato ketchup and tea.

Tips

You can use thick or thin variety of aval / poha.
To make this vadai, use white or red rice flakes.
If you feel your batter is watery, add little more rice flour.
Adjust the spiciness according to your taste.
If you don’t have besan flour, just use rice flour.
Addition of rice flour gives crispy taste to vadai.
You can also add 1/2 tsp of cumin or fennel seeds, for easy digestion. Instead I added asafoetida for digestion.

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SAVORY SEMOLINA CAKE RECIPE | EGGLESS CAKE | INDIAN SNACK CAKE

When I was looking for some healthy and eggless cake recipe,I saw this recipe in Anjum Anand show in BBC. But I slightly altered that recipe to my taste buds. This semolina cake is very simple to make with household ingredients, just combine all the veggies, spices, semolina and yogurt in a bowl, transfer it to a baking pan and finally bake it in an oven. Addition of yogurt makes the cake moist and tasty. On every bite, sesame seeds gives a nice crunchy taste. You can have this cake either for sunday breakfast or as evening snack with tea or coffee. This cake is super moist on inside and crusty on outside. Try this eggless no butter cake in your home. Even diabetic people can enjoy this snack cake.

Ingredients

1 Cup of Rava (Semolina )
1 Cup of Thick Curd (Yogurt)
2 Tbsp of Water
1 Medium Size Carrot, Grated
5 Green Beans, Finely Chopped
3 Tbsp of Green Peas
1 Inch of Ginger, Grated
2 Green Chilies, Finely Chopped
1/2 Tsp of Turmeric Powder
1/2 Tsp of Red Chilly Powder
1/2 Tsp of Baking Soda
1-2 Tsp of Sesame Seeds
1 Tsp of Mustard Seeds
1/2 Tsp of Whole Cumin
1 Sprig of Curry Leaves
3 Tbsp of Oil (Vegetable or Canola Oil)
Salt to taste

Yield : 1 Loaf

Method

Wash and chop the beans and green chilly into fine pieces, grate the carrot and ginger. Keep this aside.
In a mixing bowl, add semolina, carrot, beans,green peas, green chilly, turmeric powder, red chilly powder, grated ginger, water and thick curd(yogurt), mix well with a spoon. Now the batter should be thick.
Preheat the oven to 350 degree F(180 degree C)
Heat a pan with oil, when it is hot, add mustard seeds and cumin, after it splutters, add curry leaves. Transfer the tempering to a batter, give a quick stir. Finally add baking soda to the batter and mix it.
Grease the loaf pan with oil and pour the batter to the baking pan, sprinkle the sesame seeds on the top and bake it for 30-35 mins. Insert the tooth prick/skewer in the center of the cake, if it comes out clean, the cake is ready.
Remove the baking pan from the oven, let it cool down for 5 mins and then slice it and serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Tips

You can also make this cake in a pressure cooker by having sand at the bottom.
You can add chopped onion to the batter, if you want.
Here I used roasted rava (sooji/semolina) to make this cake.
You can use any vegetables like capsicum, beetroot or cabbage.
Always add baking soda at the end, that is before pouring the batter to the baking pan. It helps the cake to rise.
Topping with sesame seeds gives a nice taste and also gives beauty to the cake.
Always use fresh curd which makes the cake tasty and moist.

Health Benefits of Semolina/ Rava

Good source of protein and vitamin B and E
Semolina is made from durum wheat, so it is digested slowly. This helps you feel full longer and prevents you from overeating.
Semolina improves kidney function, thanks to its potassium content.
Adding vegetables to savory semolina cake and make a power-packed nutrients, as well as delicious meal.