Broken Wheat /Lapsi Vegetable Upma

Upma is a complete meal in itself. When you make upma with vegetables, coconut it comfortably gets into the "healthy food". Preparing upma with lapsi/ broken wheat is a great way to include it in our diet. It is an excellent source of fiber and is also low in fat .It is not only healthy but also a filling breakfast recipe. 

Ingredients:

 Lapsi Rawa/Broken wheat rawa – 2 cups (pressure cooked in 4 cups water)

 Onions – 2 nos (medium-sized; finely chopped)

 Mixed vegetables( carrots,beans, ,peas)-1cup

Curry leaves – a sprig; finely chopped

Green Chillies – 2-3

Salt – to taste

 Lime juice (optional) –1 lime

Ghee- 1 tsp

 

For the seasoning

Oil - 1 1/2 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Urad dal - 1/2 tsp

Chana dal- 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves – few

For The Garnish

Chopped coriander (dhania)- 2 tbsp

Fresh grated coconut-1/4 cup

Method:

1.Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add mustard. seeds, when it splutters, add urad dal , channa dal.

2.Then add curry leaves, once it starts to pop add the grated ginger, green chillie,onion and saute till the onions become translucent.

3.Add the green peas, carrot,beans broken wheat and saute for few minutes Then add water, salt and mix well. Close the lid of the cooker and cook it for 1-2 whistles.

4.Once the pressure cooker cools, open the lid and let it cool and set for a few seconds.

5.Tranfer the contents of the cooker to the serving vessel and Add ghee then garnish with ,coriander,grated coconut and lemon juice to it and mix well.

6.The broken wheat/lapsi vegetable upma is ready. Serve it hot with coconut chutney.

Lauki (Bottle gourd) Soup

Bottle gourd is also known as lauki, ghiya, dudhi in india. Bottle gourd has to be one of the healthiest of vegetables and I think it is not so favorite amongst many, When I was sick  my friend  A one day she prepared  bottle gourd soup  for me and the result was an amazing, thick, rich, creamy and nutritious soup. She shared the recipe with me and I made the soup couple of times. I want to share this as most of us do not like bottle gourd and that includes me too. This soupwill change that for folks who do not like bottle gourd as it has done for me. I love bottle gourd in this form. It also excellent for children and old people as bottle gourd has a lot of health benefits. Bottle gourd soup is great for those who are either on diet or wants to lower their cholesterol. It is good to be served to those who have diabetics in their home. You can have this soup in mid morning or in the evening with a brown bread .It will make you feel full because it contains lot of fiber and water and hence helps to curb hunger pangs. 

 

Health Benefits: Bottle gourd is low in fat and cholesterol yet high in dietary fibre. It contains 96% water, which makes it very cooling and easy to digest. It is rich in iron, vitamin C & B complex, has sodium and potassium. It is excellent for light and low-cal diets and effective against constipation and other digestive disorders.

 

Ingredients:-

For Soup:-

Lauki(Bottle gourd) - ½ peeled and cut into medium size pieces, can remove the inner seeds if hard.

Green Chilli – 1

Ginger- ½ inch

Garlic – 2 to 3 peels

Milk - 1/2 Cup

Onion, peeled and chopped-1

Tomatoes, chopped-2

Any vegetable - 1 cup, cut into small pieces.

Toor Dal/ Any split lentil - 1/2 cup

Tejpata - 1

Dalchini - 1 inch

Salt – As per taste

Black Pepper - 2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Method:

1.Rinse the bottle gourd in enough water and peel it.

2.Chop the bottle gourd , onions and garlic and put it in a pan.

3.Add enough water just about covering the chopped gourd, onions and garlic and turmeric powder and cook

4.In separate pan  steam the mixed veggies for 15-20 mins and cover the pan

5.Now let the veggies and stock cool; in a blender or food processor blend the veggies. But keep the stock aside.

6.In another pan now heat the oil And lightly fry onion, garlic dalchini, tejpatta  Sauté for 2 minutes .
7.Then add the pureed bottle gourd, veggies, dal then add the veggies stock to get the consistency you want and boil in simmer for 5-6 mins.

8.Before you switch off the fire add the cream cheese( optional).

9.Garnish with freshly ground pepper and serve hot

Aviyal & Idichakka Thoran

Aviyal & Idichakka Thoran

I am not a keralite. But my village (read)is in south tamil nadu near kerala border. So In our home we prepares recipes mostly related to kerala & Tirunelveli combination. Aviyal & jackfruit thoran both are often prepared in my home.

Aviyal (Avial) which is a must in our Sadyas .The word ‘Aviyal’ means a mix of several. As a dish Aviyal (Avial) is a mixed vegetable recipe with thick gravy. . Avial is a semi-dry preparation with mixed vegetables, held together in a yogurt-coconut base. Avial in my house is made with curd(yogurt) for sourness but there are versions with tamarind added instead of yogurt. You can use many vegetables available to prepare this dish but the very common ones are Yam, Ash Gourd, Carrots, Beans, Drumsticks and Raw Plantain (Banana). You can also add Cucumber (vellarikka), Raw Papaya), Potatoes etc. This is a great combination with Rice and also as a side dish.

Ingredients:

Brinjals - 2

Raw banana -2

Potato -2

Carrot -2

Drumsticks - 3

French beans - 100 gms

Pumpkin - ½ cup

Tender Yam (Chena) - ½ cup

Curd (Medium sour) - ½ cup

Coconut - 1 ½ cups

Green chilies - 4 to 5No

Turmeric powder - ½ tablespoon

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tablespoon

Salt - to taste

Seasoning:

Curry Leaves - 1 bunch

Coconut Oil - 1 tablespoon

Method:

Clean the vegetables and cut them into 2 inch pieces and parboil them with turmeric powder and salt.

Add only a little water since the vegetables themselves will have enough juice to keep the curry thick gravy.

Grate the coconut and grind it with green chillies and cumin seeds to get a smooth paste.

Take the cooked vegetables and add the ground paste, salt and curd and Boil for a few minutes and once the vegetables are cooked.

Season it with coconut oil and curry leaves.Serve it with Rice.

Idichakka Thoran

Idichakka (Tender Jack fruit) thoran is a delicious dry dish served along with cooked rice.. Removing the skin and cleaning up the jack fruit is a tedious job but the taste matters. In season, people at kerala /sout tamil nadu make variety of dishes using jack fruit, jack fruit seeds and tender jack fruit. The thoran made up of tender jack fruit is a tasty traditional dish .Idichakka Thoran is a very tasty and is good to be served with Rice.

Ingredients:

Small Chakka (Raw Jackfruit) : 1 small

Coconut - 1 cup

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Curry Leaves - 1 spring

Dry Red Chillies - 2 nos(cut into pieces)

Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp

Black gram (Uzhunthu parippu) - 1 tsp

Coconut Oil - 2 tsp

Salt - as required

Method:

Slice the Jackfruit into small size pieces.

Add salt, turmeric powder and cook the jackfruit in a small quantity of water.

When cooked, mash the cooked vegetable either using the Ammikallu or in a mixer.

Heat Coconut Oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and black gram and allow them to splutter.

Add curry leaves and dry red chillies and fry them for a minute.

Add the crushed Chakka to this and mix well. Finally add the coconut and cook them.

For Chakka varatti Or Jack Fruit Halwa see here