JFI Entry for July: Onion Kothsu

The entry for this month to Jhiva For Ingredients is Onion Kothsu. I Thank Sig for hosting and choosing a wonderful ingredient.

Tamarind is an indispensable ingredient in South Indian cuisine. I make it a point to use tamarind in most of my dishes and I am very happy to participate in this event this month as tamarind is my favourite ingredient.

Ingredients

• 100gms of small onion
• A lime sized tamarind
• One green chilli
• Few curry leaves
• Salt as required
• 1/2 tsp asafoetida(Hing)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder

For seasoning

• 1/2 tsp mustard
• 1/2 tsp urad dal
• 1/2 tsp channa dal
• 11/2 tsp cooking oil

For dry roast

• One tsp white sesame seeds
• 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 2 red chillies

Method

1. In a Kadai, fry sesame seeds, fenugreek seeds and red chillies without oil till it becomes red.
2. Allow it to cool and grind it in the mixer coarsely.
3. Peel off the skin from the onion.
4. Cut green chilli into fine pieces.
5. In a frying pan put oil.
6. Add Mustard, urad dal and channa dal. Let it splutter.
7. Add onion, green chilli, curry leaves, hing and turmeric powder.
8. Fry for 5 minutes.
9. Add tamarind extract and salt.
10. Cook till the raw smell of tamarind disappears.
11. Add the ground powder and boil for 5 minutes.
12. Serve hot with kichidi, upma and rotis.

Red Rice Veg Pulav

Red rice is something that I have got introduced to recently. Thanks to my English neighbour for introducing me to this wonderful organic food.

Red rice has a nice nutty flavour, is soft in texture and is especially very good for your health. I say it is very good for your health because it is full of vitamin B and is grown without pesticides and herbicides. Moreover it helps in reducing cholestrol and high blood sugar levels.

However unlike ordinary rice, It takes more time to cook. Regardless of this long cooking time, I make this organic food once a week for my husband who is a diabetic. At last he can have some kind of rice 🙂

Here comes the recipe

Ingredients

• One cup of red rice
• One cup of mixed vegetables(carrot, Beans, cabbage, peas,capsicum)
• Half cup of green gram sprout
• One green chilli
• One medium sized onion
• 3 flakes of Garlic
• Few parsley
• Few celery leaves(cut the stem into small pieces)
• 11/2 tsp olive oil
• One clove
• A small piece of cinnamon
• One cardamom
• 1/2 tsp Saunf
• 1/2 tsp poppy seeds
• Salt as required

Method

1. Powder all the spices.
2. Peel off the skin from the garlic and cut into small pieces.
3. Slit green chilli.
4. In a pressure cooker cook rice(1cup) with 2 cups of water.
5. Pressure cook the rice without weight for 45 minutes.
6. Boil sprouted green gram, beans, carrot and Peas with enough salt till it becomes half cooked.
7. In a heavy bottomed pan put 11/2 tsp oil.
8. Add the spices.
9. Add chopped onion, garlic and green chilli and fry for a while.
10. Add the cabbage,celery leaves and capsicum and cook in a high flame for 5 minutes.
11. Add the cooked vegetables and fry for a while.
12. Add the cooked rice and salt and mix well.
13. Garnish with parsley and serve hot with raitha.

Sprouted Green Gram and Paneer Chaat

Ingredients

• 100 gms of Tofu paneer
• One cup of Sprouted green gram
• 1 capsicum
• 1 Onion
• 1 Tomato
• 1/2 Carrot
• 1 Lemon
• 1 tsp Pepper powder
• 1 tsp roasted jeera powder
• 1/2 tsp sugar free powder
• Salt as required
• 2 table spoon chopped parsley

Method

1. Cut the paneer into cubes.
2. Cut the capsicum, onion and tomato into thin strips.
3. Grate the carrot.
4. In a mixing bowl, add paneer, sprouted green gram, capsicum, onion, carrot, tomato, pepper powder, jeera powder, salt, sugar free powder, lemon juice and chopped parsley.
5. Mix well.
6. Serve with whole wheat bread.

Mulai Keerai(Amaranth Leaves) and Moong dal Gravy

Ingredients

• One bunch of Mulai Keerai ( Amaranth Leaves)
• One onion
• One tomato
• 3 or 4 garlic flakes
• One green chilli
• One tsp pepper jeera powder
• One cup of yellow moong dal
• 1/2 tsp hing ( asafoetida)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• Salt to taste

For seasoning

• One tsp mustard
• One tsp urad dal
• One red chilli
• 11/2 tsp cooking oil

Method

1. Wash the keerai well to remove mud completely.
2. Remove the stalk if it is not tender.
3. Chop the leaves finely.
4. Chop onion and tomato into fine pieces.
5. Peel off the skin from the garlic.
6. Make green chilli into fine paste.
7. Pressure cook moong dal with enough water and keep it aside.
8. In a Kadai cook keerai with enough salt, turmeric powder, hing and enough water.
9. Mash the cooked leaves with a masher.
10. Add cooked moong dal to the mashed leaves.
11. In a frying pan put one and half tsp oil.
12. Add mustard, urad dal and red chilli. Let it splutter.
13. Add chopped onion and garlic and fry till the onion becomes soft.
14. Add chopped tomato and fry till it gets cooked.
15. Add green chilli paste and fry for a while.
16. Add the cooked keerai and dal and pepper jeera powder.
17. Add enough water and salt (if needed).
18. Boil for 5 minutes till everything gets completely mixed.
19. Serve hot with rotis or wheat rava kichidi.

Oats Porridge

Last Saturday, we were in a holiday mood. We went shopping, had sumptuous lunch and came back only in the evening. I was too tired to cook. But I didn’t want any of us to skip dinner. My daughter wanted something light, but filling. I quickly made this porridge without milk and sugar.

Generally oats are rich in protein and fiber and including oats in your diet regularly helps you reduce cholesterol and also helps you control blood sugar.

This porridge is ideal for those who want to lose weight and are on diet.

The steps to make this porridge are simple.

I first cooked the oats and allowed it to cool. I added two carrots, one amla, fresh curd, enough salt and enough water in a mixer and ground the contents well. I strained the ground contents and added the contents to the cooked oats.

The result was something as shown below 🙂

You can have this porridge with fruits.

Note: The consistency of the porridge should be like soup.

For a cup of raw oats, you can take two carrots, one amla and half cup of fresh curd.

Jamun and Lemon Punch

The Jamun tree is found mainly in India and we can find this fruit in the market in the month of June.

Jamun can be eaten raw and good quality Jamun can be used for making sherbat. This fruit reduces the sugar in the blood and is very good in the control of diabetes.

Jamun seeds are used as a remedy for diabetes. Jamun seeds reduce urine sugar quickly and have been effective in controlling diarrhoea.

This fruit is rich in carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins.

I prepared this juice with a combination of lemon and Jamun to enhance the taste.

Here comes the recipe

Ingredients (serves1)

• 10 Jamun
• One tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp sugar free powder
• 1/4 tsp Black salt

Method

1. Remove the seeds from the Jamun and cut into small pieces.
2. Grind the pieces in the mixer and strain the mixture by passing through sieve.
3. Add lemon juice, sugar free powder and black salt.
4. Stir well
5. Serve chilled

Note: Sugar free powder and black salt can be added according to your taste

Wheat Rava Upma

In south India , Upma is usually taken during breakfast. It is a simple and tasty dish made using Sooji/Semolina. Wheat Rava Upma made using less oil is very healthy and ideal for people on diet. Wheat Rava Upma also fills your stomach very well.

So here is the recipe for you:

Ingredients

• One cup of wheat rava
• One onion
• One tsp cooking oil
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp lemon juice

For Grinding

• One small piece of coconut(Optional)
• Few coriander leaves
• 2to 3 green chillies

For Seasoning

• 1/2 tsp Mustard
• 1/2 tsp urad dal
• 1/2 tsp Channa dal
• Few curry leaves

Method

1. Grind coconut, green chillies,coriander leaves into fine paste.
2. In a heavy bottomed Kadai, add 1 tsp oil.
3. Add Mustard, urad dal and channa dal and cook until the lentil starts to brown.
4. Add chopped onion, asafoetida and curry leaves and fry till it becomes soft.
5. Add 2 1/2 cups of water and enough salt.
6. When water starts boiling, add the ground paste and wheat rava.
7. Stir well so that ther should not be any lumps.
8. Lower the heat and cover the Kadai with a lid allowing it to get completely cooked and all the water is dried.
9. Take off from the burner and add lemon juice.
10. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with chutney.

Spicy Cabbage Curry

Cooking is my passion. I love to learn about different cuisines and try them in my kitchen. My daughter who is on diet wanted to have something different, but spicy without masala to go well with rotis. I tried this low fat dish and she relished the same

Here comes the recipe for you

Ingredients

• One small cabbage ( finely chopped)
• One capsicum (chopped)
• Two onion ( chopped)
• One tsp cooking oil
• One tsp Jeera
• 1/2 tsp asafoetida
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• Salt to taste
• Few coriander leaves

Method

1. In a frying pan Put 1 tsp oil.
2. Add Jeera and let it splutter.
3. Add chopped onion, asafoetida and turmeric powder and fry for a while.
4. Add chopped cabbage, capsicum and enough salt.
5. Lower the heat and cover the frying pan with a lid allowing it to get cooked and all the water is dried.
6. Add 1/2 tsp chilli powder and fry till it gets completely mixed with cooked cabbage.
7. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rotis.

Sunday Afternoon Treat: Apple and Cucumber Salad

Yesterday was a really hot day in Hyderabad. On a really hot sunday afternoon, you feel like have something filling, something refreshing. So I made this quick salad for us yesterday.

The steps to make this salad are very simple.

I sliced the apples into long, fine pieces. I sliced the cucumber also. I added the slices in a mixing bowl and tossed them together with a pinch of sugar, Kala Namak, Chaat Masala, pepper powder and 1 tsp lemon juice.

If you are diabetic you can use sugar free powder instead of sugar.

The salad really refreshed all of us. 🙂

This salad is an ideal snack for diabetics and people on diet.

Tindora Masala

Ivy gourd/Tindora or Kovakkai (Tamil equivalent) is a green vegetable used in Indian cooking.Tindora is usually deep fried or stuffed with masala and boiled it in a cooker. This way it is very tasty.

Tindora is an ideal vegetable to be recommended for diabetics due to its low glycemic index and its possible ability to help regular blood glucose. This vegetable is also rich in beta – carotene.

This dish here goes well with hot rotis. Indeed it is very easy to make and tastes yummy.

Ingredients

• 300 gms of Tindora
• One medium sized onion(Finely chopped)
• Two tomatoes( cut into 4 pieces)
• 4or 5 flakes of garlic
• Half bunch of coriander leaves
• 2 or 3 Red chillies
• 1 green chilli
• 1 tsp Jeera
• 1/2 tsp daniya powder
• 1/2 tsp Garam masala powder
• 11/2 tsp oil
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• Salt as required

For seasoning

• One small piece of cinnamon
• One clove

Method

1. Cut Tindora into round shape.
2. Cook Tindora in a microwave oven with salt, turmeric powder and little oil.
3. Grind half onion, tomatoes, garlic, jeera, red chillies and coriander leaves into fine paste.
4. In a frying pan add 1 tsp oil.
5. Add cinnamon and clove and fry for a while.
6. Add chopped opnion and one green chilli and fry till it becomes soft.
7. Add the ground masala and fry till the raw smell disappears.
8. Add daniya powder and garam masala powder and fry till the smell comes.
9. Add the cooked Tindora, Salt( if needed ) and fry till it gets mixed with masala.
10. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with Phulka.