Murungai Keerai/ Moringa /Drumstick Leaves Thoran | Healthy Side Dish for Rice

Murungai Keerai also known as moringa is one healthy green available loaded with iron.The first food most physician would recommend for an anemic patient would be this green.Most houses have this wonder green tree in their backyard.Only the leaf separating part from the stalk is a bit time-consuming.To do that job easier just keep this green in a  poly bag in the fridge overnight.Next morning all the leaves would have fallen from the stick.Collect the leaves and make dishes with it.

Pasi Paruppu Sundal | Moong Dal Sundal

Another easy to make Sundal for this festive season. The overall process for this sundal recipe was just 30mins. So if you haven't soaked any legumes to make Sundal just go for this easy sundal variety. For variations you can add chaat masala, chopped mango init. But here I have made it plain by just adding coconut.

Instant Idli | No soaking no fermentation idli | Idli with Idli rice rava (video recipe)

Instant idli with step by step pictures and video recipe.

Happy new year to all, I wish and pray for success and prosperity to follow in this new year.
Let me start my first post of this year with a healthy note. We all know steamed food and that too if it happens to be idli it is very good and healthy. But making idli need a batter which involves a long procedure of soaking, grinding and fermenting. Many people complain about not getting soft idli and hence they avoid making the batter at home.

Peanut Sundal | Verkadalai Sundal

Peanut/Verkadalai Sundal with step by step pictures.

Peanut sundal is one healthy sundal which can be made in few minutes. As its festival season in India, people make a variety of sundal each day to offer to their God. This sundal can be made with or without coconut. I saw many soaks this peanut overnight and cook it. But I usually just pressure cook it which is good for me.

Kambu idiyappam | Pearl Millet String hoppers | Breakfast / Dinner recipe

Idiyappam/ string hoppers is a food which is soft,steam cooked and is easily digested by all all age groups of people.When kids or people fall sick and in recovery stage doctor mostly refers easily digestible steamed  food like idli or idiyappam.When it is idiyappam for dinner my kids will be waiting to indulge init.Mostly I serve with plain red coconut chutney and very rarely some non-veg dish.

Curry leaves kuzhambu

 Curry leaves kuzhambu with step by step pictures and video.

Curry leaves is one major green which we use in all recipe which includes tempering. The aroma it emits when tempering will make it more salivating. Whenever we buy vegetables here in Chennai, India the vegetable vendors will give this curry leaves for free. As we buy weekly we get a huge bunch every week. I mostly trash the previous week leaves. Sometimes when leaves are not withered I try this gravy or use it in making podis.

Black rice dessert | Kavuni Arisi payasam

Black rice/Kavuni Arisi payasam with step by step pictures.

Black rice is one of the healthiest rice and it is different from red rice and brown rice. It is also called forbidden rice by the Chinese. Some health benefits of it are, it is rich in antioxidants, helps to fight diabetics, as this rice is gluten-free it is the best alternative for those with gluten allergies, etc. This rice is found to be to have the highest content of the antioxidant anthocyanin. Sine this rice has a deep dark color it gets the name as black rice but when cooked it gives a purple shade.

Pirandai Idli/ Dosa | Adamant Creepers Idli | Healthy Recipe

Priandai Idli/dosa recipe with step by step pictures.

Pirandai is known as “Adamant Creeper” or “Veldt Grape” or “Devil’s Backbone” in English.  It has many health benefits and the one which I read in one of my Facebook group is it helps to prevent osteoporosis. It is the best medicine for it, so people suffering from this disorder consume this easy herb at least once a week. The only place I saw it during our Xmas vacation last year in my FIL's coconut yard. It was seen in abundant there and thought to take some while returning Chennai. But I didn't take.

To say the truth I haven't seen or eaten it before or after marriage.

Beetroot Salad | Easy Salad Recipe

Beetroot salad recipe with step by step pictures.
Beetroot salad with pieces of cooked beetroot, sliced onion, green chilly tossed up with salt & lime juice makes an excellent combo for any biryani variety or pulao. My mother uses to make it often but I never made it until when my sister-in-law made and I realized that I haven't tried it. This salad has a connection with Srilanka's cuisine but I really don't know why. When my daughter loved this salad at my brother's house I too decided to make it at home. You can also make this salad and eat as such.

Ragi Poori/Puri | Breakfast Recipe | How to make millet Poori

Ragi poori with step by step pictures.
Poori/puri is a deep fried recipe.Although deep fried it is not an issue in having it once a while for breakfast.My son loves poori and insists me to make every week.Due to the deep fry technique, I avoid it.

Pirandai Rasam | Adamant Creepers- Tamarind Soup (video recipe)

Pirandai rasam with step by step picture and video.

After making pirandai thogayal and pirandai idli, now I'm here with another recipe with it. The climate calls for nice hot rasam to be mixed up with rice. Instead of making simple rasam try making this healthy pirandai rasam. I got some ideas from here and made this. The original recipe called to use tender creeper but in the pack, I bought there was no tender one hence used the matured part only.

Vella Aval Puttu| Rice Flakes with Jaggery ( Video recipe)

Aval /Rice flakes itself a healthy super good food that can be had as a snack or as breakfast. Here I have used a thick variety of red rice flakes which is even more nutritious than white flakes. This method does not require any cooking of it and can be done in no time which is the best option for after school snacks. But if you doubt the quality of the jaggery make syrup and add to it. I have made that method in the video.

Tomato Pickle | Tomato Thokku | Step by Step Pictures

 

Tomato pickle with step by step pictures and Video. 

Making pickle at home is quite interesting, healthy and easy.Thanks to this blogging world which has introduced me to different areas which I had never thought would happen and this pickle making is one such.Though pickles are easily available in all shops even with small quantity pouches we don't know whether its healthy as some preservatives could be unhealthy.So making it from starch at home without any preservatives is good for you family and try for some.

Therachi/ Thirukkai (Stingray Fish ) Kuzhambu | Step by step pictures.

 

Therachi fish kuzhambu with step by step pictures.

Therachi which is also known as Thirandai is a healthy fish that has medicinal values. In English, it is known as Stingray fish. We can make this fish in many ways like using coconut or without coconut, can roast spices, and make curry, or with coconut milk too we can make this curry. Each one makes it in their own way. Here we made by roasting the spices. Let us see how to make this.

Ragi-Oats Ladoo | No sugar energy balls

Ragi ladoo with step by step pictures.

Healthy ragi aka finger millet ladoo with no sugar added in it. This sweet is a real energy booster as it has dates in it. When carving for sugar just have one ball of it which not only fulfills your sweet carving it also makes you feel energized. For the more sweeter version you can increase the number of dates. The oil from the groundnuts and sickness from the dates helps to make balls.

Kancheepuram Idli | South Indian Breakfast | Step by Step Pictures

Kancheepuram Idli with Step by Step Pictures

Kancheepuram Idli as the name says this idli/ steamed rice cake is famous and from the temple city in south India, Kancheepuram which is near Chennai. To be honest I have never eaten this idli before until I made it at home. When I was blank what to make for breakfast the next day this idli came into my mind. While searching I found out people use raw & boiled rice together along with some spice in the idli batter. Mix well and steam it.

Instant Ragi Dosa | Instant finger millet flour savory crepes

Instant millet flour dosa with step by step pictures.

Instant dosa comes as a savior when we don't find time to grind idli/dosa batter or when clueless what to be cooked for breakfast/dinner. As millet flour is used init this dosa happens to be a healthy one. As I mentioned in my previous post, Kadamba chutney, I served this dosa with that chutney. Here I have used ragi flour but I guess you can use any millet flour in a similar way to make this dosa. If  I try with other flour sure I will write about it here.

Healthy Cupcakes | Vanilla Cupcakes with Cane Sugar

Vanilla cupcake with step by step pictures.

Healthy vanilla cupcakes with unprocessed cane sugar. As many know white sugar is not good for health I have seen many people are changing to other sweeteners in the place of white sugar. So when I made this cupcake with unprocessed cane sugar I clicked and so blogging.

Nethali Meen Thokku | Anchovies Fish Recipe | நெத்திலி மீன் தொக்கு | Video Recipe

Simple and easy fish thokku.Here I have used anchovies fish but you can use any fish variety.Since my kids don't like that small fillets in this fish I removed it all but you can use it together.

Soya beans Dosai | Soya Beans Crepes | Breakfast Recipe

Soya beans dosa with step by step picture and video.

After the soya beans dry curry , here comes the next recipe with soya beans which is south Indian famous dosa recipe.In addition to the health factor this dosa is very crispy and cooks very fast.Do give a try once as you cannot find any difference from the regular one and we get satisfied feeding protein filled food to family.