Moringa yellow split peas curry

This is a delicious and nutritious curry for rice or you can have it as a thick soup. Rich in protein, vitamins, minerals and fibre.

Preparation 

Yellow split peas 1/2 cup, wash and soak for 2-3 hours. Pressure cook and keep aside.

Moringa fruits 5, peel and cut into 3 inch pieces. Split half. Onion 1, sliced, green chilli 4, silted, garlic cloves 7, thinly sliced, curry leaf 1 sprig. Add these ingredients into the cooked peas and allow to cook. Add more water as you required . Add turmeric, chilli and cumin powders. Cook well.

Garnish with chopped shallots and dried red chilli in coconut oil. Curry or soup ready. 

Rice starch water Halwa with condiments

Rice starch water is the drained water from cooked rice.

Rice starch water is a great energy booster. Eases digestion and good drink for sick persons. Cold rice starch water is a nice hair shampoo. Also can be used in vegetable plants to get rid of the mites, aphids and mealy bugs. 

Why to waste it? I love to use in my kitchen for making snacks like, Halwa, kesari, upma by adding any flour you like in 1:4 ratio. In this pandemic period, brought out several uses with rice starch water. For a change this time tried for the condiment halwa with the taste of black pepper to take upper taste.

Ingredients 

Rice starch water 4 cups,

Wheat flour 1 cup,

Salt a pinch,

Coconut oil 2 tbsp.,

Dried ginger powder and cumin powders 1/2 tsp. each,

Black pepper powder 1 tsp.,

Sugar 1/2 cup, powdered.

Preparation 

Add the ingredients together in a bowl and combine well. The batter should be so smooth.

Transfer the batter into a nonstick wok, and cook on medium flame stirring continuously. When it starts thickening, reduce the flame and stir well till it starts get separating from the sides of the wok.

Brush oil in a plate, transfer the halwa mix into the plate. Just moist your palm and flatten the surface. Allow to cool down for 2 hours. Upside down it on a plate. Cut it into desirable size and shape. Super delicious. Will melt in the mouth with the condiments taste. Good for gut health.

Wheat flour cake in Kadai

Easy to make the soft and fluffy cake.

Today is my hubby’s birthday. It is complete Lockdown here. Decided to make the cake with the ingredients available and for a change thought of a variety with two colours. Final slides with jaggery and sugar.

Ingredients 

Mix 1

Wheat flour 1 cup, baking soda 1/3tsp., baking powder 1/2 tsp., fennel seeds 1/ tsp. Sieve the wheat flour and add the rest of the ingredients.

Wet ingredients 

Vegetable oil 1/4 cup,

Boiled milk in room temperature 1 glass,

Grated jaggery 3/4 cup, 

In a mixer grinder, put the ingredients and make it into a smoothie.

Add the smoothie to the flour mix. 

Whisk it thoroughly on one direction to make a smooth batter. 

Mix 2

Wheat flour 1 cup, baking soda 1/3 tsp., baking powder 1/2 tsp. Mix the ingredients and sieve it to remove any lumps in it. Add 1/2 fennel seeds.

Wet ingredients 

Sugar 3/4 cup, vegetable oil 1/4 cup, boiled milk in room temperature 1 glass. Grind it smooth in a mixer.

Pour the mix into the dry ingredients. Whisk it thoroughly in one direction only. Make sure it is mixed well.

Heat a kadai to the maximum, for about 10 minutes.

Brush oil in the cake pan, transfer 3/4 of the mix one by one. Finally pour the rest of the mix in circles on top. Tap the pan to level the batter surface. Transfer the pan into the kadai. Bring the flame to low. Sprinkle 1 tsp. of sesame seeds on the top. Allow to cook. After 20 minutes place some raisins and cashew nut splits on the top. After 25-30 minutes run a tooth pick into the cake to make sure it is cooked. Total 45-50 minutes required for cooking. Cake is delicious and so soft. Above all easy to cook. No oven, no eggs, no butter and no maida. Whole wheat is the healthy option. It is the family cake liked by all.

Broken wheat steam cake ( Puttu)

Puttu (Steam cake) with broken wheat.

Usually puttu is made with flour of rice, wheat, Ravi, corn, tapioca like that. 

Broken wheat is used for porridge, upma, biriyani, pan cake etc. For a change tried puttu. It came out well. Fibre content is good in broken wheat.

Preparation 

Broken wheat 1 cup, clean and wash it. Drain out the excess water. Pour into it 2 glass of boiling water, mix well and close with a lid and keep aside for 30-45 minutes. Drain out the excess water. The broken grains will be so soft. Sprinkle salt to taste and combine well.

Take the puttu maker, boil water in the puttu maker.

Fill the puttu stand with grated coconut in the base and fill with the broken wheat mix. 

Place the stand on the puttu maker. When the steam comes out , wait for a minute, then take it and upside down on the serving plate. With 1 cup of broken wheat 2 pieces of puttu can be made. Serve with chickpeas masala curry.

Carrot egg rice topped with pumpkin flowers

Meal in a wok. I prefer the idea. It’s can be vegetarian, vegan or non vegetarian.

Ingredients 

Basmati rice 1 cup, washed, and drained,

Pepper corns few, fennel seeds 1/2 tsp., cloves 2, cardamom 1, cinnamon stick 1.

In a pressure cooker, dry fry the spices, when aroma spreads, add the rice, salt and 21/2 cups of water. Pressure cook for a whistle. Allow to cool down. Open the cooker, spread the rice in a basin.

Carrot 4, peeled and grated,

Dried red chilli flakes 1 tbsp.,

Onion 1, ginger 1 inch piece, garlic cloves 7, all finely chopped,

Salt to taste,

Coconut oil 1 tbsp.,

Eggs 2.

Preparation 

Heat oil in a wok, drop in onion, garlic and ginger. Sauté till tender. Add the red chilli, stir fry, add carrots, sauté till tender, add salt. Break in the eggs. Stir well and add the cooked rice. Combine well. Top up with pumpkin flowers petals. ( optional). Dish is ready.

Serve hot with your favourite pickles and yogurt.

Egg pumpkin flower stir fry

So simple to prepare and so delicious with rice or chapatti.

Preparation 

Pumpkin flowers as you have, 10-12,

Cut the bottom, remove the base petals and the stigma.

Cut into small pieces,

Shallots 4, dried red chilli 2, garlic cloves 4, ginger 1 inch piece, all finely chopped,

Turmeric powder a pinch,

Egg 1,

Salt to taste,

Cumin powder 1/4 tsp.,

Grated coconut a tbsp.,

Coconut oil 2 tsp.

Heat oil in a shallow pan, drop in a few pepper corns, allow to fry, add the onion, ginger and garlic, stir till tender, add red chilli, stir well, add the flower, salt, coconut, turmeric and cumin powders, mix well allow to cook for a minute, break in the egg, stir well till the egg is cooked. Transfer into a serving bowl and serve hot. 

Savoury wheat cake

This is a savoury cake. It comes out soft. Good snack for people who are restricted in sugar consumption.

Ingredients 

Wheat flour 1 cup, sieve it to remove any lumps,

Coconut oil 2 tbsp,

Milk 1 cup,

Water 1 cup, 

Cinnamon powder 1/2 tsp.,

Grind it in a mixie to smooth it.

Baking soda 1/3 tsp.,

Baking powder 1/3 tsp.,

Salt to taste,

Sugar 1 tbsp.

Preparation 

Add all the ingredients in a bowl, whisk it thoroughly on one side only for about 5 minutes.

Transfer into an oil brushed pan. Tap it twice or thrice to level the surface. Heat a nonstick wok to the maximum. Bring the flame to medium, transfer the cake mix pan into the wok. Cover with the lid. Close the hole in the lid. After 5 minutes, bring the flame to low. After 20 minutes, sprinkle a tbsp. of fried sesame seeds on the top of the cake mix and cover. After 25-30 minutes, run a tooth pick into the cake to check whether cooked. Total 50-55 minutes needed to bake it in the wok. Allow to cool down. It takes 2 hours. Upside down it on a plate. Cut into your desirable size and shape. Serve with tea or coffee. 

Broken wheat steamed cake

Steamed foods  are my favourite dishes. Steamed food are super healthy. Back in my young age these type dishes are made in earthen woks. Now the cooking becomes easy with nonstick cookwares. Earthen wok is known as ‘ Kalam’ in Malayalam. So this dish is known as ‘kalathappam’ in Malayalam.

Ingredients 

Broken wheat 1 cup,

Water 2/12 cups,

Salt to taste.

Pressure cook these ingredients and keep aside.

Carrot 2, onion 1, ginger 1 inch piece, green chilli 2, all finely chopped.

Baking soda 1/2 tsp.

Preparation 

Mix the veggies into the cooked wheat mix, add baking soda, combine well and transfer into an oil brushed pan. Heat a nonstick wok, put the pan into the wok, cover it, close the hole on the lid of the wok. Leave the wok on low flame for 50-60 minutes.

Allow to cool down. It takes 2 hours. Upside down it on a plate. Cut it into desirable size and shape. Serve it with vegetable stew or kurma or with some pickles. Good for breakfast or dinner. 

Rice starch water white Halwa

Rice porridge is a healthy meal. 

We prefer porridge for babies, aged and sick. Why? It helps in boosting the energy and ease in digestion.

Otherwise we waste the rice starch water.

Cold rice water can be used as shampoo.

It can be diluted and used for spraying in vegetable plants against sucking insects.

It can be turned into tasty snacks too.

In this Covid 19 pandemic season it was my passion to bring out snacks from rice starch water. Made black and yellow Halwa.

Made kesari, upma and appam.

Today the turn is for white Halwa. So simple to prepare. If you serve for your guest, no one will identify the main ingredient in it.

Ingredients 

Rice starch water 4 cups,

Fried Semolina 1 cup,

Sugar 3/4 cup,

Ghee 2 tbsp,

Fried sesame seeds 2 tsp,

Fried cumin seeds 1 tsp,

Salt a pinch.

Preparation 

Sieve the rice starch water to remove any cooked rice in it. I took the rice starch water of red rice. Add all the ingredients except ghee into a nonstick wok, combine well without any lumps. Put the wok on medium flame, stir continuously. It will starts thickening in 5 minutes, add a tablespoon ghee, stir continuously, add another tablespoon ghee at 7 or 8 minute, continue stirring till it thickens well and starts detaching from the sides of the wok. Transfer the mix into a ghee brushed plate or tray. Allow to cool down. It will take about 2 hours. Upside down it on a plate. Cut into your desirable size and shape and serve it as a snack. You can refrigerate it for 3-4 days. 

Fried coconut powder with spices to thicken the curry

Grated coconut 2 cups,

Red chilli dried 12,

Coriander seeds 4 tsp.,

Shallots 4 chopped,

Curry leaf a sprig,

Salt to taste.

Dry fry the ingredients in a nonstick pan to dark brown colour. Care should be taken not to over fry.

Allow to cool down.

Powder it in a mixie bowl.

Store it to use further.

Good for vegetable curries.

Also can be used for fish or chicken if you prefer to have fried coconut powder gravy.