Oats Murungaikeerai Adai | Oats Lentil Crepe with Drumstick Leaves

Oats Murungaikeerai Adai | Oats Lentil Crepe with Drumstick Leaves is a nutritious tiffin with the goodness of main ingredients-oats, lentils & drumstick leaves. It is packed with carbohydrate, protein, vitamins & minerals and ideal for a day to start with. The batter for adai needs no fermentation and very easy to prepare. Instead of preparing regular recipes with oats, this oats adai is a good variation to try for a change. It goes well with coconut chutney, avial or jaggery. 

 Check out for my other Adai varieties Here.

Recipe for Oats Murungaikeerai Adai | Oats Lentil Crepe with Drumstick Leaves

Cuisine : Indian| South Indian

Recipe Category : Breakfast/Dinner

Soaking Time : 1 Hour (Min)

Preparation Time: 5 Minutes

Cooking time : 3-4 Minutes per adai

Serves – 4

Ingredients:

• Oats – 1 cup
• Toor dhal – ½ cup
• Channa dhal – ½ cup
• Drumstick leaves – 1 cup
• Red chillies – 4- 5 Nos
• Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
• Ginger – ½” piece
• Asafoetida – ½ tsp
• Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
• Salt – to taste
• Gingelly oil – as required
• Coconut gratings (optional)– ¼ cup
• Salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash and soak toor dhal and channa dhal together in water for an hour.
2. In the mean time, clean murungaikeerai and pluck only the leaves. Wash them well in water, drain and keep aside.
3. First grind red chillies, ginger piece, fennel seeds together.  To this add the soaked dhals and grind coarsely. Transfer the dhal batter to the container.
4. Add oats to the mixer and grind coarsely by adding water. Transfer this to the same container.
5. To the oats-dhal batter, add the washed, cleaned drumstick leaves, coconut gratings, turmeric powder, asafoetida & salt. Mix everything well and bring the batter to a thick idli batter consistency by adding water, if needed.
6. Heat a tawa. Pour a ladle full of batter and spread it circularly like a thin dosa.
7. Drizzle few drops of oil and close with the lid and cook in simmer.
8. After  2 minutes, open the lid and carefully flip the adai to the other side and cook in simmer without lid for about 2 minutes. 

Hot & soft Oats Murungaikeerai Adai is ready. You can serve this adai with cocnut chutney or avail. But my personal preference is always for jaggery…so simple but yum.

Note:

This recipe will give soft adais as we add only the oats. If you want crispy, you can add ½ cup of raw rice in addition to the above ingredients.

Tags: Adai dosa recipes, Lentil crepe recipes, Oats recipes, Breakfast recipes, Dinner recipes, Diabetic recipes, Greens recipes, Murungai keerai recipes, Drumstick leaves recipes, Oats adai recipe, Murungaikeerai adai recipe, How to make soft adai with oats?, Healthy breakfast/dinner ideas, South Indian breakfast recipes, lentil pancakes recipes

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Raw banana fry | Vazhaikkai varuval

Raw banana fry | Vazhaikkai varuval is a spicy, tasty side dish which goes well with sambar, rasam, curd as well as with any Variety rice. Though I prepare raw banana fry in different methods, this recipe is quite simple with minimum ingredients. This dish comes handy during busy week days. I make this varuval often and our favourite combo is vazhaikkai varuval with lemon rice. 

Coming to the recipe, the raw banana needs to be sliced slightly thicker than as we do for banana chips. The risky part in this recipe is sautéing the veggie as it cooks very fast and tends to break easily. So care should be taken to retain the shape of the veggie in the end product. Other than this, it is a very easy to follow recipe.

Recipe for  Raw banana fry | Vazhaikkai varuval

Cuisine : Indian| South Indian

Recipe Category – Side Dish/Vegetarian

Preparation Time: 10 Minutes

Cooking time : 15-20 Minutes

Serves – 2

Ingredients:

• Raw banana | Vazhaikkai – 1 No.
• Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
• Salt to taste

For seasoning:

• Oil – 2 to 3 tbsp
• Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
• Garlic (crushed) – 4 pods
• Curry leaves – few

Method:

1. Peel the skin from vazhaikkai, slit into two, cut them to thin discs and keep in water.
2. In a non-stick pan, heat oil and season with fennel seeds and curry leaves.
3. Add crushed garlic and sauté till it gets slightly browned.
4. Then add required salt, turmeric powder and red chilli powder, give a quick stir to mix all ingredients evenly with oil.
5. Immediately, add the raw banana pieces and mix everything well.
6. Cook covered with a lid in medium fire,  for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, open the lid and just turn around the pieces. Cook covered for 5 minutes.
7. Open the lid and fry in simmer for about 10 minutes, gently turning the pieces in between & switch off.

Spicy Vazhaikkai Fry is ready to serve! It goes well with sambar, dhal, rasam,curd or with any Variety rice.

Note:

• Adding garlic gives a nice flavour to the recipe as well as aids digestion. If you don’t like garlic flavour, add a pinch of asafoetida.

Tags: Vazhaikkai varuval recipe, simple raw banana fry recipe, Raw banana recipes, Vazhaikkai recipes, vazhakkai  varuval recipe, simple vazhai varuval, how to make simple fry with raw banana, vazhakkai fry, Chettinad vazhaikkai Fry, vazhaikkai poriyal recipe, Vegetarian fry recipes, Vazhaikkai stir fry recipe, Raw banana stir fry

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Sakkaraivalli kizhangu poli | Sweet potato poli | Shakarkandi sweet paratha

Sakkaraivalli kizhangu poli | Sweet potato poli | Shakarkandi sweet paratha is a healthy, sweet flat bread prepared with sweet potato stuffing.  Sweet potato is my favourite and we eat the boiled potatoes for morning breakfast once in a week during season time. Eating sweet potatoes without any add-ons this way, is better as it is a high calorie veggie. Last time, I bought some extra quantity of these sweet potatoes as they seem to be fresh with a nice pink coloured skin, having this poli in mind. I was really happy that the poli idea worked out very well as they came out super soft, all because of this sweet potato pooranam and no one could find out it was made of sweet potato. Finally I got one more addition to my sweet potato recipes to share with you...

Coming to the recipe,  as I had already posted Coconut Poli | Thengaboli with wheat flour earlier, I’ve used APF | maida for preparing sakkaraivalli kizhangu poli. 

How to prepare Sakkaraivalli kizhangu poli | Sweet potato poli | Shakarkandi sweet paratha...

Cuisine : Indian

Preparation Time: 40 Mins (including standing time, pressure cooking, etc)

Cooking Time: 20-30 Mins

Yields 8-10 Nos.(Medium size)

Serves – 4

Ingredients:

For the outer cover:

• Maida | All purpose flour – 2 cups
• Salt – a pinch
• Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
• Water - as needed
• Oil – 1 tbsp

For pooranam:

• Sweet potatoes (Medium)  - 2 Nos
• Coconut gratings – ½ cup (optional)
• Jaggery (crushed) –   ½ cup
• Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
• Ghee – 1 tsp + 1 tbsp
• Maida | All purpose flour – as needed for dusting 

Method:

1. In a mixing bowl, add maida, turmeric powder and a pinch of salt. Mix well. Add water little by little and make a soft, pliable dough. Then add oil, mix well and  allow to stand for 30 minutes. Keep the dough covered.
2. In the mean time, wash sweet potatoes in water and pressure cook them with enough water until soft. I left for 3 whistles.
3. Once the pressure subsides, open the pressure cooker and drain the sweet potatoes. Once cooled, remove the skin and mash them without any lumps. Keep aside.
4. Also,  melt  the powdered jaggery in ¼  cup of water and strain the impurities.  Keep aside.
5. In a heavy bottomed kadai, add a tsp of ghee and sauté the coconut gratings for 2 minutes. To this, add the mashed sweet potatoea and mix everything well. Add jaggery syrup & cardamom powder and sauté till everything forms together like a mass. Allow it to cool. Make small lemon sized balls out of this filling.
6. Also make balls out of the dough. Take a dough ball and by applying oil on  hand, flatten it to form like a small bowl (சொப்பு/கிண்ணம்). Keep the sweet potato stuffing inside and cover this stuffing  by gently stretching the edges of the dough so that the filling should get covered completely. Repeat the process for rest of the dough.
7. Roll the above stuffed balls into thin, round discs using roller pin, dusting the ball with maida/ all purpose flour.
8. Place the tawa/skillet on a stove. Let it get heated.
9. Place the rolled boli on the heated tawa, wait for bubbles to come on the surface. Flip it immediately and leave it for a minute.
10. Cook on both sides on high flame, flipping it now and then, by applying ghee on both sides and till it gets cooked completely.

Super soft, tasty Sweet potato poli  is ready to eat!

Note:

•  Coconut gratings are optional.
• Quantity of jaggery depends on the sweetness of sweet potato as well as your taste preference. So adjust accordingly.
• You can use sugar | palm jaggery in place of jaggery. Follow the same procedure, if using palm jaggery. If using sugar, mix with mashed sweet potato and sauté till it forms a ball.
• You can add use wheat flour instead of maida, to make it healthier.

Tags: Boli recipes, Healthy boli recipes, How to make boli using sweet potato? Sweet potato poli recipe, How to make poli using palm jaggery?, Sakarkanthi Obbuttu recipe, festival recipes, Sweet potato stuffed poli recipe, sakkaraivalli poli recipe, sarkarai valli kizhangu poli recipe, how to use sarkarai valli kizhangu for making poli? 

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Steamed Fish in Banana Leaf | Meen Pollichathu | Fish Fry in Banana Leaf | Vazhai Ilai Meen

Steamed Fish in Banana Leaf | Meen Pollichathu | Fish Fry in Banana Leaf | Vazhai Ilai Meen is a healthy option for fish lovers, that too who prefer fried fish rather than curry fish. This is more like steaming fish in banana leaf. Though Karimmen (Pearl Spot fish) Pollichathu is our family’s favourite, I didn’t  plan for preparing any special dish last week when I bought koduva | barramundi fish. When I was marinating  the fish with spices, I got an idea of preparing this fish fry in banana leaf as I got some left-over  banana leaves which I bought for Panguni Uththiram, the previous day. I followed the simple recipe, yet it turned out to be so yummy. This is mainly due to the flavours of banana leaf which really enhanced the taste & aroma of the dish. The fish potlis looked so cute on the serving plate and tasted real yum. We enjoyed it as a starter with onion rings & tomatoes and got vanished like flash in the pan.

Ingredients:

• Fish – 5 pieces
• Banana leaves – as required
• Oil – 2 tbsp for frying
• Onion, cilantro, tomato – for garnishing

For marination:

• Red chilli  powder – 1 tsp
• Ginger garlic paste – 2 tsp
• Pepper powder – 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
• Lemon juice – 1 tsp
• Thick tamarind paste – 1 tsp
• Oil- 1 tsp
• Salt to taste

Method:

1. Clean & wash the fish pieces using water with turmeric and curd.
2. Add the ingredients kept for marinating and mix everything well to form a paste. Add few drops of water, if needed, to make a thick paste.
3. Apply this masala paste on the fish pieces and marinate in the refrigerator for an hour.
4. In the mean time, wash the banana leaves and dry them.  Check the leaves by folding them to ensure that they are flexible enough to wrap the fish, without tearing. If they are thick and tend to tear while folding, switch on the flame and show the banana leaves over the flame for few seconds, just to make it tender. Don’t overdo this to change the colour of the leaves. Normally tender leaves won’t get torn while folding.
5. Cut the leaves into big squares to wrap the fish pieces.
6. Place the single fish piece with some marinade, in the centre of each banana leaf and fold on all the sides to form a potli or packet. Tie it with twain or thread. Repeat for other fish pieces and prepare the potlis | packets.
7. In a non stick pan, add 2 tbsp of oil and heat.
8. When the oil is hot, arrange the fish potlis on the pan and keep it closed.  Cook  the fish in simmer for about 5 minutes. Then carefully flip the fish to other side and cook covered for 5 minutes. Repeat again with both sides twice or thrice & cook covered until done. This will take 20 to 25 minutes in simmer.

Tasty fish potlis are ready to relish. Enjoy the bite with any of your favourite side | dip or with hot, steamed rice & fish curry...

Note:

• Care should be taken while flipping the fish potlis.
• You can add any spice | masala of your choice and proceed with the same cooking process but marination part is very much essential.

Tags: Fish Fry in banana leaf recipe, steamed fish fry recipe, Fish pollichathu, Koduva meen in Banana leaf, How to cook fish in banana leaves?,  Fish fry in banana leaf, Fish cooked in banana leaf, Fish banana potlis, Fish potlis for starter , Vazhai Ilai meen recipe, simple fish fry in banana leaf, koduva meen fry, Healthy fish fry recipes, Diet fish recipes, Seafood recipes, fish recipes, Simple koduva fish fry recipe, How to steam cook fish in banana leaf? Grilled fish in banana leaf, steamed barramundi in banana leaf

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