Pirandai Thogaiyal | Pirandai Chutney| Healthy Chutney Recipes

Pirandai Thogaiyal | Pirandai Chutney is a healthy chutney made with pirandai. Pirandai is a creeper which has amazing health benefits. Pirandai in Tamil is known as Adamant Creeper, Veldt Grape, Devil’s Backbone in English.  This herb is excellent in treating digestion problems. That is why,  tradition is being followed in South Indian Brahmin families to include this thogayal as a “Must-to-do” recipe during some specific occasions on which they make an elaborate menu. It is rich in calcium and hence it is good for treating bone related problems.

Now-a-days, pirandai is available in local markets. You can choose tender pirandai and try out this recipe.

Recipe for Pirandai Thogaiyal | Pirandai Chutney| Healthy Chutney Recipes:

                          Cuisine : Indian| South Indian

Category: Chutney| Dip

Preparation time : 10 Minutes

Cooking time : 10 Minutes

Serves  – 4

Ingredients:

• Pirandai (chopped) – ½ cup
• Mustard – 1 tsp
• Urad dhal – 1 tbsp
• Bengal gram dhal – 1 tbsp
• Red chillies – 5 Nos.
• Asafoetida – ½ tsp
• Tamarind – small gooseberry size
• Coconut gratings – 2 tbsp
• Gingelly oil – 2 tbsp
• Salt to tsate.

Method:

1. Wash pirandai very well in running water, break near the joints, peel the hard outer veins and chop into small pieces. Keep aside.
2. In a kadai, add  1tsp oil and when it is hot, add mustard. Then add urad dhal & Bengal gram dhal and saute till dhals turn golden brown. Add red chillies & asafoetida and  saute until they become crisp. Transfer it to a plate.
3. In the same kadai, add the balance oil. To this add the pirandai pieces and sauté in simmer for 3-5 minutes till pirandai pieces got shrunk in size. Switch off.
4. Transfer all to a mixie jar. To this add tamarind, coconut gratings & salt and grind coarsely by adding little water.

Healthy, tasty Pirandai chutney is ready. You can have it with idli/dosa or curd rice. You can even mix with hot steaming rice.

Note:

• While cleaning pirandai, apply oil on both of your hands to avoid itching. Else you can use hand gloves.
• Don’t avoid adding tamarind in this recipe as it helps in suppressing the itchiness of pirandai.
• Always choose tender pirandai.
• If you like, you can season the chutney with mustard.

Tags: Pirandai chutney recipe,  Pirandai thuvaiyal, Thogayal recipes, Chutney recipes, South Indian chutney recipe using pirandai, pirandai recipes, Healthy chutney recipes, Herbal recipes, side dish for idli/dosa, side dish for rice

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Sweet Aval Puttu| Sweetened Poha

Sweet Aval Puttu| Sweetened Poha is a healthy, tasty sweet dish made using rice flakes as main ingredient. It is usually prepared as Neivedyam during Hindu festivals like Krishna Jayanthi, Navaratri, Aadi Velli, etc. The recipe is a simple one with minimum ingredients and even a newbie can make this as it doesn’t warrant much effort. 

I’m posting this recipe today as “Sri Krishna Jayanthi|Janmashtami” is going to be celebrated on 5^th Sep, 2015. This festival is observed in remembrance of Lord Krishna’s birth. Krishna is fond of aval, butter and other snack items like murukku, seedai, etc. So it is mandatory to prepare the favourites for a birthday baby on this occasion.  I think we, Indian women love to celebrate this festival as we all see mischievous Lord Kanna in our children. Those who don’t have time to make all the traditional sweets|snacks can easily go for this recipe as it needs minimum time for preparation.

“Happy Gokulashtami to one & all”

Recipe for Sweet Aval Puttu| Sweetened Poha| Krishna Jayanthi Recipes:

Cuisine : Indian| South Indian

Category: Sweet|Prasad

Preparation time : 10 Minutes

Cooking time : 10 Minutes

Serves  – 4

Ingredients:

• Thick aval (poha) – 1 cup
• Milk – ½ cup
• Jaggery (powdered) – ¾ cup
• Coconut gratings – ½ cup
• Cardamom Powder – 1 tsp
• Ghee – 1 tsp
• Cashews – few

Method:

1. Dry fry aval in a heavy bottomed kadai and powder coarsely in a mixie.
2. Transfer the powdered aval to a bowl, add milk and mix well. Keep aside for 10 minutes.
3. In the mean time, melt jaggery with ¼ cup of water and strain the impurities.
4. Heat the strained jaggery syrup so that it forms “Honey” consistency.
5. Add coconut gratings to the jaggery syrup and mix well.
6. After a minute, add the soaked poha & cardamom powder and mix everything well.
7. Switch off , when the mixture forms a puttu consistency.
8. Garnish puttu with ghee fried cashewnuts.

Krishna’s favourite aval puttu is ready for Neivedyam. 

Note:

• The given measure of milk works out for thick poha. If you are using thin variety, just sprinkle little milk over the poha powder.
• You can increase the quantity of jaggery to 1 cup

Tags: Sri Krishna Jayanthi Recipes, Janmashtami Recipes, Festival Recipes, Poha Recipes, How to prepare puttu with aval?, Sweetened aval puttu recipe, How to prepare puttu with thick  aval?, How to prepare puttu with thin poha?, Easy pooja recipes

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Cauliflower Egg Burji| Cauliflower Egg Stir Fry| Cauliflower Muttai Poriyal

Cauliflower Egg Burji| Cauliflower Egg Stir Fry| Cauliflower Muttai Poriyal is a tasty side dish suitable for rice as well as rotis. Cauliflower & egg is a super combo and both taste delicious in this recipe. This tastes good with sambar, rasam and curd.

Here we go for the recipe...

Recipe for Cauliflower Egg Burji| Cauliflower Egg Stir Fry| Cauliflower Muttai Poriyal:

Cuisine : Indian| South Indian

Category: Side Dish

Preparation time : 10 Minutes

Cooking time : 15 Minutes

Serves  – 2-3

Ingredients:

• Cauliflower Florets – 1 cup
• Egg – 2 Nos
• Ginger (finely chopped) – 1 tsp
• Onion (finely chopped) – 1 No.
• Green chilli (finely chopped) – 1 No.
• Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
• Pepper powder – 1 tsp
• Coriander| cilantro (finely chopped) – 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste

For seasoning:

• Oil – 1 tbsp
• Curry leaves - few

Method:

1. Cut cauliflower into florets and soak in hot, salted water for 10 minutes.
2. Wash the florets  in running water. Drain them from water & keep aside.
3. In a kadai, heat oil and season with curry leaves.
4. Add finely chopped ginger, onion & green chilli, one by one and sauté till onion becomes translucent.
5. Add turmeric powder & mix everything. To this add the cauliflower florets & ½ of the salt required for the recipe and  mix very well. Sprinkle little water and cook the cauliflower covered for about 5 minutes.
6. In the mean time, beat eggs with  salt required for egg alone and keep aside.
7. When the cauliflower is ¾ th cooked, slide the cauliflower to the edge of the kadai and add the beaten egg in the centre. Allow to cook egg without disturbing for a while.
8. When the egg is cooked,  just scramble the egg into pieces and mix with cauliflower.
9. Add pepper powder, mix everything well and allow to cook for 2 minutes.
10. Finally add coriander leaves and switch off.

Tasty cauliflower muttai poriyal is ready to enjoy with hot steamed rice!!

Note:

• Don’t overcook  cauliflower.
• Carefully add salt as we are adding it in different stages.

Tags: Cauliflower egg bhurjee recipe, Cauliflower stir fry with egg, scrambled cauliflower & egg recipes, cauliflower recipes, egg recipes, cauliflower muttai poriyal, gobi anda fry recipe, side dish recipes, Side dish for rice, Side dish with cauliflower, Side dish with egg, Side dish for roti, cauliflower stuffing for bread

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Kuthiraivali Dosa | Banyard Millet Crepe | Millet Breakfast Recipe

Kuthiraivali Rice Dosa | Banyard Millet Crepe | Millet Dosa is a healthy, tasty South Indian special dosa using the short grain called kuthiraivali. It is prepared like our regular dosa except for using millet in the recipe in place of  idli rice|raw rice. One could not notice any difference in the taste or texture from the regular dosa but may be the colour shows the difference. That too all because I’ve used semi-polished rice in the recipe. There are also 100% polished millets available in the stores & in that case there will not be much colour difference too.

Recipe for Kuthiraivali Dosa | Banyard Millet Crepe | Millet Breakfast Recipe:

Cuisine : Indian| South Indian

Category: Breakfast|Dinner

Soaking time : 5 Hours

Preparation time : 30 Minutes + 8-12 Hours

Cooking time : 20 Minutes

                          Yields –12 dosas (medium size) 

Ingredients:

• Kuthiraivali Rice| Banyard Millet – 1 ½ cup
• Urad dhal - ½ cup
• Fenugreek seeds|Vendhayam – 1 tsp
• Water – as required
• Salt to taste
• Sesame oil | Nallennei – as required

Method:

1. Wash kuthiraivali separately and urad dhal & vendhayam together. Soak them separate in enough water for about 5 hours.
2. Drain urad dhal & vendhayam and pulse it in a mixer grinder. Add the soaked water little by little to make a fine, fluffy batter. Transfer it to a container.
3. Add the drained kuthiraivali rice and grind to a fine batter using the soaked water. Transfer it to the same container.
4. Add enough salt and combine both the batter very well. Add enough water to make like a dosa batter. Cover & allow to ferment for 8 hours or overnight.
5. To prepare dosa, heat a iron|non-stick dosa pan.
6. Mix the fermented batter well with a ladle and add water, if required, to bring it to dosa batter consistency.
7. Take a ladleful of batter and pour on the hot dosa pan and spread the batter in circular pattern.
8. Drizzle some oil over the dosa, cover with a lid and cook in medium flame.
9. After 2 minutes, open the lid, check for the doneness and transfer the dosa on to a serving plate.

Healthy, tasty Kuthiraivalli dosa is ready to eat. You can serve this millet dosa with any chutney of your choice. I had it with coriander chutney. 

Note:

• Instead of kuthiraivali, any other millet can be used with the same proportions.
• Dosa batter stays good for 2-3 days in the refrigerator.

Tags: Kuthiraivali Rice Dosa recipe, Banyard Millet Crepe, Millet dosa recipe, South Indian breakfast ideas, Millet Breakfast recipe, Healthy Breakfast ideas, Healthy millet recipes, Diabetic friendly recipes, Dosa varieties, Millet dosa using mixie, South Indian breakfast using millets, Health benefits of millets, Millet recipes

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Mutton Kheema Biryani | Minced Meat Biryani | Mutton Kaima Biryani

Mutton Kheema Biryani | Minced Meat Biryani | Mutton Kaima Biryani is a simple biryani recipe compared to other non-veg  biryani recipes yet with full of flavours. I love all types of biryani but coming to keema biryani, I’ve the feeling of each & every grain of rice has got the real taste of mutton, all because the minced meat  with the flavouring masala has got infused in the biryani rice so well.

This biryani  happened to be our weekend lunch those years when my son didn’t like to eat mutton pieces. I used to make this biryani quite often to make him eat goat meat.  After a long time, I’m preparing this biryani and as usual, it turned out awesome.

Recipe for Mutton Kheema Biryani | Minced Meat Biryani | Mutton Kaima Biryani:

Cuisine : Indian

Category: Main Course

Cooking time : 30 Minutes

Serves – 3-4

Ingredients:

•      Seeraga samba rice – 2 cups
•      Minced Mutton/ Keema (boneless) – 300 gm
•      Onion (Big) – 2 Nos (chopped lengthwise)
•      Tomato – 2 Nos.(Medium)(chopped)
•      Green chilli – 2 Nos.
•      Fresh Curd – ½ cup
•      Ginger, garlic paste – 2 tbs
•      Chilli powder – 2 tsp
•      Garam masala powder – 1 tsp
•      Turmeric powder -1 tsp
•      Coriander leaves (finely chopped) – ¼ cup
•      Mint leaves (finely chopped) – ½ cup
•      Salt to taste

For seasoning:

• Bay leaf – 1 No.
• Cinnamon – 1 inch piece
• Kal paasi – 2 Nos
• Cloves – 2 Nos
• Cardamom  - 2 Nos.
• Fennel seeds – 1 tbsp
• Oil -3 tbs
• Ghee – 1 tsp (optional) 

Method:

1. Wash mutton keema well with water, squeeze out the keema & keep aside.
2. Take a pressure cooker, pour the oil and wait till the oil gets heated. Add the items given under “seasoning” one by one and wait until all these splutter to get the aroma from the seasoning.
3. Add onion and Green chilli (just break into 2 or 3) and sauté well until the onion becomes translucent. Then add the ginger garlic  paste and sauté till the raw smell of the masala goes off.
4. Add finely chopped tomato and add some salt so that the tomato will get cooked easily and sauté till the tomato gets mashed well.
5. Then add all the masala powders and sauté till the oil oozes  out from the masala. Next, add curd and sauté well until the mixture gets glossy appearance.
6. Then  add the mutton keema , sauté well,  add half portion of coriander  & mint leaves.
7. Add required salt  and  a cup of water, close the lid and wait for  4  whistles and switch off.
8. In the mean time, wash the seeraga samba rice and leave it as such after draining the water. It is sufficient if we do this part before 10 minutes of making biryani.
9. Now open the pressure cooker, measure the keema gravy, add water so that the gravy+water =4 cups for 2 cups of rice and keep it aside.
10. Transfer the above measure of gravy & water to a pressure pan & bring it to boil. When it boils add rice along with the balance coriander, mint leaves and  needed salt. You can check for spice also at this stage and you can add if needed. Drizzle ghee on top, if using.
11. Close the lid and wait for 1 whistle, then simmer the flame for 3 minutes. Open the cooker after releasing the pressure slowly. Then follow the same procedure as we have done for other Biryani Recipes.

Your hot, spicy, tasty  Mutton Kaima Biryani is ready to serve! I have served the mutton biryani with onion raita and Elumbu Thanni Kuzhambu J

Note:

Cooking time for mutton keema varies and you should decide the whistles allowed while cooking mutton.

You can prepare this biryani with basmati rice also.

  

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