Curry In Kadai ~ An Indian Cooking Blog

No more excuses for skipping breakfast!!!. Here's how to whip up a fresh, natural and healthy nutritious smoothie perfect fit for a beautiful sunny day in less than 15 minutes.. My Strawberry and Kiwi luscious smoothie is sweetened with honey and fresh home made yogurt. The regular smoothies at the stores are brimmed with ice cream, which i would like to replace in the early mornings with some good old plain yogurt. I have made Strawberry smoothie for my husband, and for myself a Kiwi-Strawberry smoothie.

For the above Strawberry smoothie, i have just blended some strawberries, yogurt and sugar.. This is for my husband at dinner..


You need:

• 1 cup fresh plain low fat yogurt(store bought low fat Dannon or homemade curd)
• Milk ( optional, add if the yogurt or curd is too sour )
• 5 fresh ripened Strawberries
• 1 ripened kiwi ( you can core it if you want )
• Honey according to your taste
• Ice
  

How to:

• Clean and chop strawberries
• Peel Kiwi fruit and you can remove the core if you don't like any seeds
• In a blender( I use Braun Hand Blender, so easy to whip up any smoothie in no time ), add strawberries and Kiwi.
• Once pureed, add ice, honey and yogurt and blend it until frothy.
• And the toppings could be endless from fresh fruit to cereals like granola, raisin bran or your favorite cereal , now that's a complete nutritious breakfast!!!
  

This simple delicious smoothie is on its way to.,

• Fresh Produce Of The Month : Strawberries hosted by Marta -- Yep these are fresh from my favorite "Marias Market" a local Farmers Market.
  
• Healthy Cooking hosted by Mansi -- Mansi i skipped ice cream and used honey instead of sugar...
• Express Breakfasts hosted by Raaga -- Yep done in 15 min or less
• Summer Splash hosted by Arthee -- This strawberry and kiwi honey smoothie is indeed a refreshing drink in these hot summers
  
• WYF - Juices and Ice cream event hosted by EC of Simple Indian Food
  

A bunch of thanks for Mythreyee of "Paajaka" who is hosting a "Sweet Series-Sweet Rotis" event., otherwise i could have never made these healthy, moist and soft rotis, I wouldn't have thought out of the box for coming up with these Simple n Nutritious Sweet Potato and Coconut Parathas.. As soon as i saw the announcement, i started thinking of various sweet rotis grandmas, mom and my MIL makes, but i wanted to something even simpler than those.. Usually the sweet rotis they make are Sojjappam/Halva Poori , Oliga/Puran poli and Paala Poori.. But these are time consuming and you need to have both time and patience( Hehehe, I am very bad at this though!!! )..

I thought of making peanut butter rotis, kova Rotis, etc.., before these Sweet Potato and Coconut Rotis.. I wasn't really sure if could at least bind the flour and sweet potato together, anyways i decided to try a few rotis.. Cooked the potato in microwave , added some dry coconut, a little bit of sugar, ghee and Wheat flour, Tada!! To may surprise I was actually able to bind everything together to a very soft pliable dough... Adding coconut gave these rotis that extra nuttyness and flavor.. And here goes the simple recipe..


Ingredients:

• 1 medium sized sweet potato
• 1/4 cup dried coconut or fresh coconut grated very fine
• 3/4 - 1 cup whole wheat flour( Atta )
• 1 cardamom grounded / 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• Sugar/jaggery according to taste
• Ghee or butter stick for cooking
  

Method Of Preparation:

• Cook the sweet potato in a microwave under potato setting in a microwave safe bowl covered with very little water.
• Once the sweet potato is completely cooked, peel and mash the sweet potato. While its hot add jaggery / sugar, elaichi( cardamom powder ), nutmeg, salt.
• If you want to add dried coconut add it now, otherwise if you wanna use fresh scraped coconut add it once the sweet potato mixture is cooled to room temperature
• Once the potato is cooled, add some milk( optional) add flour and try to bind together.. You might need to adjust the amount of flour, milk according to the size of the sweet potato..
• The dough should be very soft and moist.. Apply ghee( clarified butter ) allover the dough keep it covered for half an hour. Resting is a must for moist rotis.
• Divide and roll out the dough using very less flour.., and heat them on the griddle just like chapathis., for instructions on hot to heat and store them click here.
  
• Serve them hot or cover them for later..
  

Serve these sweet potato coconut flat breads with some fresh ripened straw berries.. These rotis came out thin and very moist. I just bought some more sweet potatoes from farmers market to make these rotis again.. Hail to sweet potato...!!! These sweet potato rotis are going to be in my regular everyday Menu from now on...


Thanks Shubha of Chutki Bhaar Pyar for giving this Rocking Girl Blogger Award.. I feel elated, thanks dear.. I would like to pass this award to each and every blogger in this Food Blogosphere who put so time and effort in cooking, taking pictures and posting the recipes... Hail to all fellow Bloggers!!!...!

My sweet potato and coconut whole wheat rotis are rich in protein from Whole wheat flour, coconut and sweet potato... And these sweet potato and coconut rotis are on their way to:

• Sweet Series-Sweet Rotis event hosted by Mythreyee
• AFAM - Coconut hosted by Suganya
• Pancakes on Parade event. hosted by Susan, at the Well Seasoned Cook
• Eat Healthy - Protein Rich hosted by Sangeeth at Let Us All Cook
  

Tags: Chapathis, Rotis, Sweet Rotis, Chilakada dumpa, Gansigadda, Sweet Potato, Coconut, Flour

Parathas hot and fresh from the griddle are always sumptuous and mouth watering. My husband is the first person to be so much content and satisfied when i serve parathas( particularly his favorite aloo parathas ) with some regular plain old home made yogurt, he wouldn't ask for any more, and that makes my job... even easier !

As it was my very first time adding mint and kasuri methi to the parathas , i wasn't sure of the end product... but lemme tell you the parathas were too good to be true.. The nuttyness from the sesame seeds, tanginess from the yogurt n lime, lots of flavor from kasuri methi, ginger, garlic and mint., made these parathas a quick seller... We could finish these parathas just as they are, you don't need any curry on the side.. yep that good...

This is an appeal on behalf of a group of food bloggers who are friends of Briana Brownlow @ Figs With Bri. Bri was diagnosed with breast cancer two and half years ago. A mastectomy, chemotherapy and two years of relatively good health later, the cancer is back. It has metastasized to other parts of her body. At the age of 15, Bri lost her 41-year old mother to the disease. Now, she’s waging her own war against breast cancer. More about it here.
She is going through intensive chemo and other treatments and needs to focus single-mindedly on healing and finding what treatment works best for her. Her health insurance, unfortunately, does not cover holistic alternatives which she would like to try. Bri and her husband Marc have enough on their plates right now in addition to worrying about her medical bills.
The team organising the JUNE edition of CLICK at Jugalbandi has organised a fundraiser to help Bri and her family meet her out-of-pocket medical costs for ONE YEAR. CLICK is a monthly theme-based photography contest hosted by Jugalbandi. This month’s theme is: YELLOW for Bri .. Yellow is the colour of hope. Through the work of the LiveStrong Foundation, it has also come to signify the fight against cancer. The entries can be viewed HERE. The deadline for entries is June 30, 2008. The fundraiser will extend until July 15, 2008.
The target amount is 12,000 U.S. dollars. We appeal to our fellow bloggers and readers to help us achieve this. Bri deserves a chance to explore all options, even if her insurance company thinks otherwise. There’s a raffle with exciting prizes on offer. After viewing the list, you may make your donation HERE or at the Chip-In button on any participating site. Your donation can be made securely through credit card or Pay Pal and goes directly to Bri’s account. This month’s photo contest also has some prizes. Details HERE. You can support this campaign by donating to the fundraiser, by participating in CLICK: the photo event, and by publicising this campaign.

I'm here with my Healthy Buttermilk and Rice Flour Soup aka Majjiga Pindi in Telugu, a recipe that cools down your body temperature in these hot summers... This recipe is from my Pinni( moms sister ) and it didn't take long for it to become an instant hit and i remember she once served this majjiga pindi / rice flour soup in a dried half coconut shell( sagam kobbari chippa ) and it was so much fun! The tangy buttermilk compliments the spice from the green chillies... I promise this is a very simple, quick and hearty recipe quenching those salty cravings any time of the day!! This recipe is also on its way to Frozen Yogurt hosted by Siri of Siris Corner

Ingredients you need:

• 3-4 cups sour light buttermilk / Churned thin yogurt
• 1 cup sifted rice flour
• 4-6 green chillies cut lengthwise( please adjust the spice )
• 6 - 10 curry leaves chopped coriander( cilantro/kothimeera )
• 2 tsp urad dal
• 2 tsp chana dal
• 1 tsp mustard seeds( aavalu )
• 1 tsp cumin seeds ( jeera )
• a pinch of turmeric
• 2 tbsp oil salt to taste
  

Procedure:

• Sift the rice flour and churn the buttermilk well( it shouldn't be thick ), and mix in rice flour with buttermilk and make sure no lumps are formed.
• Add salt to the mixture and set aside
• In a kadai or thick bottomed saucepan, do the tadka with oil, mustard seeds, cumin, urad dal and chana dal, once they start to dance around, add curry leaves, green chillies and turmeric
• Stop the flame and add the rice flour butter milk mixture stirring slowly .
• Now put on the flame and bring this mixture to boil stirring continuously, when it gets together check for if its done remove from flame
• Adjust salt to your taste and add chopped coriander.
  

Guys, i added less buttermilk( approx 2 - 2.5 cups ) for a thicker soup, should have added 3 - 3.5 cups. Please do adjust the quantity of buttermilk since i have churned homemade yogurt into buttermilk!!

NOTE:: Do relish this sour and spicy buttermilk soup when it is steaming hot...

Tags: Pindi, Majjiga Pindi, Challa Pindi, Healthy Buttermilk and Rice Flour Soup, Perugu Pindi, Yogurt Soup

Recipe Source: Pinni( Moms sister )

When i brought these purple potatoes home, i was surprised to see the bright purple flesh inside, since i was expecting it to be similar to red potatoes, wherein only the peel is red. I found these bright and firm petite potatoes in a local farmers market intriguing and couldn't stop buying some. The other day i was telling my mom about the array of potatoes you find here in US like the red potatoes, russet potatoes, Yukon gold potatoes, baby red potatoes, fingerlings, blue potatoes and these purple potatoes. It was very interesting cooking these Purple Peruvian Potatoes as they were creamy in texture and did hold their shape when cooked .., and the best part they cooked to perfection in no time... I made a simple vegetable saute with purple potatoes, tender beans, crisp green pepper, fresh cauliflower, firm tomatoes along with some ginger and garlic. I can call this one a super healthy dish with less fat, lots of fiber, Vitamin C, Potassium etc .. This curry recipe will be going to Eat Healthy - Fiber Rich hosted by Sangeeth

Ingredients you need:

• 3 small petite purple potatoes
• 10-15 petite beans cut into 1 inch pieces
• A small handful of cauliflower bunch
• 1 small red onion
• 2 small firm tomatoes
• 1 green pepper
• 1 red pepper( optional )
• some frozen or fresh green peas ( option, i didn't add them though )
• 2 tsp coriander power
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• a pinch of garam masala( optional )
  
• 2 tbsp oil
• 3-4 green chillies to your taste
• coriander and mint for garnish

Tadka or tempuring:

• 1 tsp cumin seeds( aavalu )
• 1 tsp mustard seeds( jeelakarra )
• 10 curry leaves
• a pinch of turmeric

Preparation:

• Wash and drain all the veggies, except tomato( Wash before chopping )
• Heat oil in a kadai, wok or nonstick pan and add onions, green chillies, potatoes, green beans, cauliflower in order
• After 2 mins add cut green pepper and cook with lid half covered
• Now add the chopped tomatoes and cook without the lid, make sure the tomatoes are still firm and not mushy
• Add salt, cumin and coriander powders. Alternatively you can add curry powder
• Switch off the flame add coriander and mint.
• Do adjust salt and spice to taste..
  

This Mixed Vegetable Curry curry tasted great both with rice and chapathis and the potatoes stayed purple once cooked, but not as vibrant as when raw. This dish is a dry curry and all the veggies should be crisp and not fully cooked.. The idea is to keep the flavor, texture and crunch of the veggies. There is no hard and fast rule as which vegetables to use, anything that can hold its shape when cooked can be added...

Tags: Purple Potato, Mixed Vegetable, Purple Peruvian, Mixed Vegetable Curry