Mushroom Rasam

Being a South Indian, Tomato Rasam becomes part of our meals most of the time. Rather than preparing regular watery rasam, adding mushroom gives it a different flavor and kids love it (provided they like mushroom). If my kids don't find mushroom in Rasam, they don't consider it as Rasam at all :-).

Give it a try if your kids like mushroom....

Ingredients:   

• 7 medium sized tomatoes 
• 10-15 Button mushrooms
• 10 small Garlic cloves
• Curry leaves
• 2-3 dry chillies
• 1 tsp cumin seeds(jeera) 
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp urad daal
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder(or as per your taste)
• 1 tsp dhaniya powder
• 2 tbsp oil
• Lemon sized tamarind

• Salt
• 3 tbsp Rasam powder
• 1 tsp Jaggery powder
• Coriander leaves
• Hing(Asafoetida)

Preparation:   

Wash the vegetables and leaves.

 

Shallow cut tomatoes on four sides and add them to boiling water.

In the meantime, cut mushroom, soak tamarind and crush garlic cloves.

Boil the tomatoes until the skin begins to peel. Let them cool down or put them in cold water. Peel the skin off with your hands, make tomato puree in a blender and keep it aside.

Heat oil in a container or deep pan. Add hing and then mustard, jeera and urad daal. Add curry leaves, crushed garlic and dry chillies. Fry them until garlic turns light brown. Add turmeric powder, chilli powder, salt, dhaniya powder, rasam powder and stir for few seconds. Add mushroom and stir for another one minute.

Add tomato puree, tamarind juice and more water if required. Add jaggery powder and let it come to boil. Make sure not to boil too much to preserve mushroom's crispness.

Garnish with Coriander leaves and serve it hot with rice. If you have bad cold, drink it as soup.

If this is kid's version of Rasam, then God's version of Rasam for festivals doesn't need garlic or mushroom. If you are boiling chana daal for preparing sweet dish like puran poli/obbattu, save the chana-boiled water and add it to rasam. This gives totally a different flavor......enjoy!!

Custard apple (Seethaphal)

Seethaphal is back to season. These soft and tender fruits are yummy like custard...packed with so many health benefits. But we simply can't give the whole fruit to kids. They love it when the fruit is ready to eat with no hassle of peeling.

The only problem is  finding a right way to peel the fruit....well, peeling doesn't work here. Instead scoop it from inside...sounds funny...but that's the best way to move it fast to kid's mouth. Here are some pictures to try the trick...

Split the fruit into two halves...

Hold one half of the fruit in one hand and scoop out the flesh with a spoon...

That't it. I couldn't find a better way to peel it ;-).

Pity pomengranates in the basket made my daughter take pictures of them too :-). And here you go....
With a knife, cut off about half inch of the top and do the same on the other side....

Make 5 to 6 shallow cuts from top to the base...

Now break open the fruit along the shallow cuts...

Skim off the pith and serve the seeds to kids. And here is a link to its health benefits.

For people doing fruit fasting and fruit feasting on this special day, wish you a very HAPPY JANMASHTAMI!!

Vegetable corn soup with Tofu

With soaring summer settling down and rain on the raise, vegetable corn soup with Tofu is my kids favorite to spice up their Jihva. With so many health benefits of Tofu, feels good when my kids ask for second round. Here is the recipe good enough for four people.

Ingredients:   

• 1 large button mushroom
• 4 beans
• 2 tbsp corn kernels
• 2 inch medium sized carrot
• 1/4 medium sized capsicum
• 2 spring onions
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Pinch of ajinomoto (optional)
• 1 inch ginger
• 2 tbsp corn flour
• 1 cup Tofu (cut into small cubes)
• Salt

Preparation:   

Cut all the vegetables into small pieces. Crush the garlic and keep ginger ready to grate at the end to feel its freshness.

In a kadai or frying pan, heat olive oil and then add crushed garlic. Saute for one minute on medium heat.

Add all the vegetables and saute for 5 minutes. Don't over fry, so as not to spoil their beauty and crunchiness.

Add pinch of ajinomoto just to enhance the flavor. Don't overuse ajinomoto/MSG, it's bad for health and can lead to Chinese Restaurent Syndrome. Add salt and then add corn flour mixed in water. Boil on medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes.

Add Tofu cubes and then grate ginger directly into the soup. Boil on medium heat for another 2 to 3 minutes.

Vegetable corn soup with Tofu is ready to serve....of course I already served my kids :-).

You can add green chillies, bay leaves, pepper powder or oregano leaves as per your taste. But for kids, ginger and garlic are good enough to keep the spice under control.

Gutti Vankaaya kura (Stuffed Brinjal Curry)

Gutti Vankaaya Kura is Andhra's special vegetarian dish...liked by kids, big kids and non-andhrites<taking it for granted>. Even Maharastrians have their version of Stuffed brinjal (Bharla Vaang). Tasty dish...consumes a bit more time than usual...but worth the time spent as it makes the tongue do an extra work on fingers before water wash ;-). 

When one gets used with hand and tongue measurements, it becomes really hard to prefix numbers in front of the ingredients....but still trying my best for others to try this dish....

Ingredients:   

• 8 Brinjals (eggplants)
• 2 medium sized tomatoes
• One medium sized Onion
• 10 garlic cloves
• 10 curry laves
• 1 or 2 dry chillies
• 1 tsp cumin seeds(jeera) 
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp urad daal
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp chilli powder(or as per your tastebuds)
• 1 tsp dhaniya powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
• 3 tbsp oil
• 1 tbsp ghee
• Lemon sized tamarind

• Salt
• Hing(Asafoetida)

For the Powder:

• 4 tbsp peanuts
• 2 red chillies

• 3 tbsp chana daal
• 3 tbsp urad daal
• 1 tbsp whole dhaniya (coriander seeds)
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds
• 2 tbsp grated coconut
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• Salt

Preparation:   
In a kadai or frying pan, roast peanuts and red chillies. After cooling, make smooth powder and keep it aside.

Now roast chana daal and ural daal. After sometime add whole dhaniya seeds and then add sesame seeds at the end. Make a smooth powder and add it to the peanut powder.

 

Add salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder and grated coconut to the above powder and mix them well.

Now cut each brinjal into four sections lengthwise without cutting off the stem. Gently fill the stuffing inside the brinjals.  Keep the remaining powder for the gravy. 

Heat oil in a pan, add pinch of hing, mustard seeds, ural daal, jeera, curry leaves, red chillies and crushed garlic. 

Then add onion and fry for sometime. Add tomatoes until they become tender.

Add brinjals and fry them on medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes. 

 

Gently turn the brinjals to the other side with a spatula and fry them for another 5 to 10 minutes. I prefer to use my hand so as not to disturb the sleeping brinjals. Anyways, you got to be gentle with the brinjals.... otherwise they may burst into pieces to show their anger :-).

In a bowl, mix the remaining powder with tamarind water and pour it into the pan. Add turmeric powder, salt, garam masala, chilli powder and dhaniya powder. Gently mix the gravy... be gentle with the brinjals. Cook at medium heat, turn the brinjals from time to time until they are cooked. 

Add ghee at the end and cook for 5 more minutes. Gutti vankaaya kura is ready to serve....

Ponganalu

Crunchy outer layer, easy grip, no mess with chutney and absolutely no need of a plate to stick in one place.... makes Ponganam my all time favorite....just take it and go...once done..come back for another round....until the count fills the tummy. And with the Multipurpose Dosa batter, it's just a matter of preparing tadka(seasoning). 

And all you need is Ponganala pennam (ponganala skillet). I love the traditional stone skillet ...got mine from Tamilnadu.... courtesy of my dear Appa. You can try iron or non-stick skillets too...but food cooked on stone has different flavor ;-).

Ingredients:   

• Dosa batter (for around 20 ponganalu)
• One medium sized Onion
• 10 garlic cloves
• 10 curry laves
• Few springs of Coriander leaves(cilantro)
• 1 or 2 dry chillies
• Salt
• 2 tsp Cumin seeds(jeera) 
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• Soaked Chana daal
• 2 tbsp oil

Preparation:   

Heat oil in a Kadai and then add jeera, finely chopped onion, crushed garlic, curry leaves, dry chillies and chana daal. Fry till onions turn bit brown and then add turmeric powder, salt and finely chopped coriander leaves.

Add seasoning to the batter and mix well.

While preparing the seasoning, heat the Ponganala skillet. Add few drops of oil in each impression and spread it with a spoon. Now add ladleful of the batter in each impression. 

Cover the skillet with lid and cook on low heat for 5 to 10 minutes.

Remove the lid and lift each Ponganam with a spoon and turn it to the opposite side to cook.   

When the Ponganalu are properly cooked, they come out easily and it's more fun to let the kids lift them <be careful with the hot skillet>...and watch them smiling as they pop out :-).   

You can try it with chutney of your choice. But if you are lazy or don't have time...just toss them directly into your mouth ;-).

Cold drink

With hot summer and soaring temperatures in India, all we want is a cold drink to beat the heat. I know, when we talk about cold drinks, the first thing that comes to mind are those soft drinks that fill the refrigerator. OK, I'm not talking about Pepsi or Coke on kid's blog ;-)....they hardly make our refrigerator. If you already saw the pictures on the post, you guessed it right, it is the refreshing and healthy Buttermilk.

It hardly takes 10 minutes to prepare and makes everyone crave for it to break the heat bubbles on the head. My kids love it...if it's not ready, they patiently wait and watch how their mommy prepares and fills the glass for them to gulp. Try it for yourself....

Ingredients:   

• 3 or 4 cups home made curd/yogurt
• Coriander leaves
• 1/2 or 1 Green chilli (optional)
• Salt
• 2 tbsp Cumin seeds(jeera) 
• 1 inch Ginger
• And of course the precious cold water

Yummy....home made curd:

More green chillies in the plate are to make it picture perfect. Measurements are as per user discretion ;-).

Preparation:   

Make paste of ginger, jeera, green chilli and coriander leaves with little bit water. Add curd, salt and more water and run the mixer for few more seconds. Strain the buttermilk.

 

Refrigerate the buttermilk and serve it whenever you want.

 

Drinking chilled butter milk is a treat in summer and much better than soft drinks. Click on the link to know more healthy facts about buttermilk Why Drink Buttermilk?

So..are you ready to beat the heat in a healthy way?

Mini Veg Uthappam

Next item on my list with Dosa batter is Uthappam. Usually Uthappam is famous with Onions and Tomatoes.

Rather than making Onion and Tomato Uthappam all the time, I add Broccoli, Carrot, Mushroom and baby Corn to make it more interesting and healthy for kids.

 

Preparation   

After spreading Dosa batter on the pan, cover it up with lid for sometime.

Add a coat of Chutney and then, add a layer of vegetables. Add oil/Ghee and cook on both sides and serve it hot...sorry, serve it warm for kids ;-).

You can try with other vegetables as per your kid's choice. As Uthappam is bit heavy, try mini uttappams or if it is big, cut it with Pizza cutter.

Make it more fun for kids...you can even try smiley faces. btw, my daughter took an extra step of cutting the vegetables and decorating the Uthappam.

I can't leave this post without a link to Broccoli's health benefits. Do add Broccoli (if you get it) to your diet.