Strawberry Mango Crumble

Today I made dessert with Strawberry & Mango and we finished it within minutes!!! Especially my li'l son. I got recipe from closetcooking.com & want to share with you all.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
a pinch of ground cinnamon
1 tsp of Shredded coconut
1 cup strawberries (cleaned & sliced)
1 cup Mango (sliced)
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup oats (I used Maple & brown sugar oats which I had)
1/3 cup butter (melted)

Method:
Mix the sugar, Coconut, cornstarch and cinnamon in a large bowl.
Add the strawberries and Mango slices till it is coated with the mixture.

Now mix the flour, oats, a teaspoon of brown sugar, a pinch of cinnamon and melted butter in a large bowl.
Place the strawberry and Mango mixture into a baking dish and pour the sugar topping on. I had dried mangoes which I put it on the oats micture.

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees
Bake until it is bubbling and the top is golden brown, about 45 minutes.
The Strawberry Mango Crumble is ready to be served. Its yum both hot n cold.

Sending this to Veggie/Fruit Strawberry event hosted by Pari & Priya

 and cooking with fruits event hosted by Smita

Cucumber Chickpea Salad

Thanks Everyone for all your wonderful comments.
Salads and diets have always had a delicious partnership. I want to share you the nutritious salad which I did with Cucumber & Chickpea.
Here goes the recipe:
Ingredients:
Cucumber - 1 cup (chopped)
Tomato     - 1/2 cup (chopped)
Chickpea  - 1 cup (soaked overnight & boiled)
Ripe Mango - 1/2 cup (chopped) 
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Mint leaves   -  1/4 cup (chopped)
Olive oil  - 1/2 tsp 
Salt to taste
Pepper       - 1 tsp
Method:
Mix Cucumber, Tomato, Chickpea, Mango, Mint leaves, Oilve Oil, Salt & Pepper.
Give it a shake. Add Lemon Juice to the mixture and give a stir.
The colorful "Cucumber Chickpea Salad" is ready to be served!!

Note - You could add fresh grated coconut, raw mango to enhance the taste of Salad.

Sending this to Innovative Salad event hosted by Pia

Creamy Crunchy Bread

Its very true any food becomes extraordinarily delicious when we add love and affection to what we cook!!
Yes, Jus' now my son & I had Hot n Creamy, Cheesy, Crunchy Bread taken from Oven..It was heaven for both of us :-)
Let me share you this simple, but mouth-watering recipe with you......
Ingredients:
Bread - 2 slices cut into square pieces
Melted Butter - 2 tsp
Cream Cheese - 1 tsp
Heavy Whipped Cream - 2 tsp(You could add 1/2 cup milk instead)
Sliced Apple - 1 small
Sliced Dates - 2 nos 
Brown Sugar - 2 tsp
Ground cinnamon - a pinch
Method:
Preheat the Oven at 300 degrees.
Whisk the Cream Cheese, Butter, Cream or milk, Brown Sugar until its all mixed evenly.
Now add the apples, dates, bread and put into the mixture.

Transfer it to the bowl and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the bowl from the oven after 10 minutes and the creamy, cheesy, crunchy bread is ready to be served.
Its very yum when served hot!!!

Sending this to  
Anyone can Cook  hosted by Ayeesha

 'ONLY’- COOKING WITH BREAD hosted by Pari  

 &

Warm Desserts  hosted by Priya & Niveditha

Milky VenPongal

I still remember going to temple in the early mornings during Margazhi (December) in my childhood especially for hot Venpongal :-)
Pongal is always been my favourite tiffin.
I made Venpongal recently, I thought I will share my method with you all!!  This is quite quicker and the milk added to the pongal enhances the taste and aroma.......
Ingredieants:
Washed Raw Rice - 2 cups
Washed Moong dal - 1 cup 
Curry Leaves - 10 -12
Butter - 1/2 stick
Whole Pepper - 1 tsp
Powdered Pepper - a pinch
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Cashews - 1 tsp
Ginger - chopped finely - 1 tsp
Milk - 3/4 cup (you can use 1/2 cup cream also)
Salt to taste
Water - 8 cups
For tadka:

Ghee - 1 tsp

Pepper - 1 tsp

Curry Leaves - 5

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Hing - a pinch

Cashews - 1/2 tsp

Ginger - chopped finely - 1/2 tsp

Method:
Take a vessel and add all the above under Ingredients.

Pressure cook for 6 whistles.
Heat ghee and add curry leaves, hing, pepper, cumin seeds, cashews, ginger. 

Once they are roasted, add them to the cooked Pongal. Yummmmyyyy!!!

Serve hot with chutney and Sambar.

(Invisible) Paneer Gravy

I like all the paneer recipes...my hubby doesn't like the paneer chunks in any rice/gravy.
So I thought I will prepare gravy that would meet our needs!!
I grated the paneer in the gravy..
Lets go to the recipe!
Ingredients:
Grated Paneer     - 1/2 cup
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Finely chopped Onion - 1 cup
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp
Chopped Bell Pepper - 1/2 cup
Cauliflower florets - 1/2 cup
Mushrooms - 1/2 cup 
Green Chillies - 3 
Tomato Puree - 1 cup (3 tomatoes)
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Deggi Mirch - 1/2 tsp
Spices - Cinnamon, Star anise, Bay leaves, pepper, cardamom
Turmeric - a pinch
Salt to taste
Butter/Oil for frying
Method:
Heat butter in pan & add cumin seeds & all spices. 
Once it starts leaving out its flavors, add onions, ginger garlic paste.
Saute till its brown in colour. 
Then add bell pepper, cauliflower, slit green chillies, mushrooms and any other vegetables if you want to add.
Once its kind of cooked, add tomato puree (grind the tomatoes or you could use tomato puree available in shops) and stir the mixture in between till the tomatoes are fully cooked ( you could find if raw smell is gone).
Add salt, turmeric powder, garam masala & deggi mirch.
Let it cook for 10 minutes. 
Switch off the stove & add the grated paneer in to the gravy. Mix it and close the pan with lid.
Leave it for 5 - 10 more minutes.
Garnish with cilantro & grated paneer..
It is ready to be served with Rotis/Naan!!

Cauliflower Bhaji

Its raining outside and I wanted to make the appetizer, but simpler and special...
I opted to make Cauliflower bhajiyan ....I wanted to make it some more tastier, added secret ingredients too...
I felt heaven when my 2 yr old son asked for more n more (I stopped him with 3 :-)  )
Now lets see the recipe:
Ingredients:
Besan - 2 cups
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Garlic powder - 1 tsp
Chilli powder  - depends upon your spiciness
Turmeric - a pinch
Ajwain - 1/4 tsp
Lemon juice - 2 tsp
Yoghurt - 1/2 cup
Cauliflower  - Cut into small florets
Salt to taste
Oil for frying
Method:
Put the cauliflower florets in little water and cover with the lid till it becomes semi cooked...make sure its not over cooked.
Once it looks semi cooked, transfer it to another bowl.
Mix Yoghurt, Garam masala, Chilli powder, Garlic powder, Ajwain, Lemon Juice & salt. Make a smooth paste. Now mix it with besan and if required water till you get a kind of paste, not too watery.

Dip the floret one by one into the batter, fry it in oil (Make sure the oil is heated, otherwise the bhajiyan will be soggy)

Serve hot with ketchup or chutneys.

Ginger Kolambhu

Ginger has been all time favourite spice which I don't forget to add in all of my recipes :-)
I made this Ginger kolambhu which I want to share with you all.
Here goes the recipe:
Ingredients:
Ginger - chopped finely
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
Channa dal - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
a pinch of hing
Green chillies - 3
Curry leaves - a little bunch
Tamrind extract - 1/2 tsp
Jaggery - 1/2 cup
Gingely Oil 
Method:
Heat oil in Kadai and add mustard seeds, once it splutters, add fenugreek seeds, chana dal, hing.
Once they turn slightly brown, add chopped ginger. Let it fry till it leaves its flavor.
Then add curry leaves, green chillies & salt.
Now its time to add 1 cup of water & tamarind extract.
Once the mixture has come to a boil, add jaggery. Pour 1 tp of gingely oil over the kolambhu and off the stove. 
Ginger kolambhu is ready to be served.
It goes well with Venpongal or Dosa. I made for Spinach-Ginger Dosa :-)

Sending this to  Sara's Feb 2011 event- Healing foods Ginger and Garlic
                                                                  Healing food page

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Mango Stuffed Sweet Mini Pepper

Today I planned to prepare Mango rice for ladies's get-together.

But it got cancelled due to rain. Then I thought I will do something with mango and mini bell pepper which I got from costco.

I started with mango rice and ended up with mango stuffed bell pepper which turned out to be super hit!!

Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

Raw Mango - peeled & grated

Chilli powder 

hing

turmeric powder - a pinch

Ginger - grated (tip: - usually, I put a piece of ginger in freezer and its so easy to grate it)

1/2 cup cooked rice

cooked spinach (1/4 cup) - optional

Mini Pepper - 10

For tadka:

oil ( I used gingely oil as I like its flavor)

Method:

Heat some oil in a pan & put hing, grated mango. Fry for few minutes, add chilli powder, turmeric powder, ginger, salt and stir till it blends.

Then add  cooked spinach & stir together.

Now add  cooked rice and mix it. 

Switch off the stove once you feel the mixture is ready with mango/ginger aroma.

Cut the sweet mini pepper in half & stuff it with the mixture.

Arrange them in a greased pan. 

Make sure you spray the oil over the mini peppers, then bake for 30 - 40 minutes.

The yummy mango stuffed mini pepper is ready to be served!!

Kothu Parotta (roti)

Kothu Parotta is a delicacy popular in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Its one of my favy dish. 
I had one full set of readymade rotis with me and I wanted to experiment kothu roti in my style.
And it came out so well, I got applause from my hubby too..I am sharing the recipe with you all!!!
Ingredients:
Onion
Garlic
Tomato
Ginger
Coriander leaves
Curry leaves
bay leaves, cinnamon stick, star anise
Bell Pepper (I used mini sweet pepper)
Green chilli
Garam masala
Chilli powder
Ofcourse, rotis or parottas
Lemon
Method:
Fry minced onion, garlic, ginger, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, star anise in kadai.Then add curry leaves, coriander leaves, bell pepper, green chilli.
Saute them for few minutes, now add tomatoes. When tomatoes gets cooked, add salt, garam masala, chilli powder.
Once the mixture gives nice aroma, add parotta/rotis into it and stir it few minutes. switch off the stove.
Squeeze lemon and serve hot with onion raita.

Brinjal Stuff

Today I made brinjal stuff. Now lets see the recipe.
Slit the brinjals. Don't cut the brinjal into pieces.It should be intact with the stem. Just make two perpendicular cuts in the end oposite to the stem,so that u can stuff in the masala. (you could slit into four cuts also)
Mix Sambar powder, coriander powder, jeera powder, saunf, salt, curry leaves and oil without adding water.Then stuff the masala into each brinjal and let it rest for 5 min.
Heat oil in a kadai and and add the brinjals.If u have excess masala dont throw it away add it into the kadai.
Cook with a lid  in medium heat. stir it frequently until the brinjals are cooked. Then deep fry with oil.
10 min before removing from heat add curry leaves and stir.


Serve with rice/roti

Cheese Quesadilla

Hey All,


Its been too long I posted any recipe.
I was quite busy in preparing for my kid's b'day celebration.
Now back after Sankranthi celeb, here I 'm posting which I tried very recently.
Its "Cheese Quesadilla". Yeah..We usually get it from Taco or any Mexican restaurant.
I had some Tortillas left and thought of giving it a try.
In large fry pan on low-medium heat, put 1 tortilla laid flat. Sprinkle cheese over half of tortilla. When cheese is melted, fold tortilla & serve hot.