Summer love - Smoothies!!!!!

APPLE - BANANA - STRAWBERRY Smoothie

We had an exceptionally hot summer vacation this time with temperature hitting almost 45 degrees. 

Its very important to stay hydrated. Time to make smoothies.

Berries, Apple, Banana, Kiwi, Papaya, Lemon, Watermelon.....endless possibilities to combine them.



Some smothies recipes loved by us are the following, 


Combination 1: 1 Apple, 1 Banana, handfull of strawberries, crushed ice and sugar 


Combination 2: 1 Mango,  1 Banana,  crushed ice and sugar


Combination 3: 1 cup Kiwi, 1 Banana, crushed ice and sugar


Combination 4:  Watermelon with crushed ice


Combination 5:  1 cup Strawberries , 1 banana , milk , crushed ice and sugar

Red currants!!

RED CURRANT SMOOTHIE

Plucked a lot of red currants this time.

Red currants are a bit sour but full with vitamins.

Add bananas, sugar, milk and vanilla sugar to make a tasty smoothie.

Cheera payar Thoran

Cheera Payaru Thoran

(Red Spinach & green gram dal stir fry)

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Cheera/Red Spinat is very nutritious and is well known for its health benefits.

Its a regular vegetable in south india and mom used to make this thoran atleast once a week.

So here goes,.......

THINGS NEEDED

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Cheera chopped coarse - 3 cups

Green gram dal soaked in water - 1 cup

Onion chopped - 1/2 cup 

Mustad seeds, oil , curry leaves

Shredded coconut - 1/2 cup

Jeera - 1/2 tsp

Garlic - 1 pod

Salt

PREPARATION METHOD

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Cook green dal seperate adding little amount of water. 

Pay attention not to overcook. 

Drain the excess water and keep it aside.

Grind coconut,jeera,garlic salt to a mixture. Keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan. 

Splutter mustard seeds.

Add curry leaves .

Add chopped onions, saute till transparent.

Add cheera and saute for a min. 

Add cooked green gram dal & coconut mixture.

Mix and cook covered in medium heat. 

Saute in between.

Potato Brussels sprouts puree

POTATO PUREE 

THINGS NEEDED:

Potatoes  3 cup

Brussels sprouts 3 cup

Parsely leaves - 2 spring

Cream - 100 ml around

Butter

PREPARATION METHOD:

Coarsely chop both vegetables . Add half  measure water. Enough salt. Cook covered.

Add parsely leaves, cream and puree using stab mixer.

Add 1 tsp butter for taste.

Pumpkin Cream Soup

PUMPKIN CREAM SOUP 

Just love the Autumn for  all the colours it has to offer.....green, yellow, orange, red and brown.

It was the harvest time both for us and the wild bunnies behind our Garden.

We got lot of Raspberries, Tomatoes, Red current berries Strawberries and 3 big Pumpkins this time...

The Pumpkins were mostly green as I plucked em. Stored them in a carton in the Basement. Found them full in orangish yellow after 3 weeks.

I have made the soup a couple of times now. Its healthy .
Always loved by my people :)

Things needed :

1/2 Pumpkin - peeled, cut into chunks 5 cup around
White radish - 1 big whole, peeled cut into chunks
Carrot - 1 big
Potato - 1 cup

Chicken broth - 2 sp
Parsley leaves
Cream - 200 ml

Preparation method:

Peel and cut all Vegetables into big chunks .
Cook all vegetables covered adding chicken broth and water ( water level should be lower to the vegetables).
When done add 150 ml cream, parsley leaves, puree using a stabb mixer.
Serve hot pouring some cream on top .

Weekend Cooking - Parippu curry with rice

Rice with Parippu curry, thoran, fish fry, Pickle and pappadam

Its Sunday Morning! 

After sending my son to Church with his father entered the Kitchen.

 We had absolutely no food, refrigenerator was empty as well . 

So I started, washed rice and set it up to cook in a deep pot. Washed roasted dal and add some turmeric and salt set it to cook in a pressure cooker. 

Let the frozen fish sink in warm water ..

Chopped some long beans , onions and fried it .

Ground some coconut with jeera and garlic, took one sportion for thoran 

and another for parippu curry. 

Fried papadam. Marinated the fish with chilly powder salt and some tamarind i took for dal curry. Fried them as well with tonns of curry leaves . 

Drained rice and I am done.

After craving for a long week for some rice and curry , it was rather a treat.

Cooking is fun , so do eating . Guten Apetit ;)

Red Lentils Dal curry

Red Lentils Dal Curry 

Was very amazed to see an indian recipe in a German website.
The method was totally different from how i used to do, especially ginger and coconut raspel added late, so do the lately added turmeric.

Have made a couple of times now with Jeera basmati rice or chappathi. Children loves it hence the recipe is a keeper and thus its in my site.

Giving credits to the author from Chefkoch for this amazing recipe.

http://www.chefkoch.de/rezepte/128381055063820/Rote-Linsen-Curry.html

Quoting the English version of the recipe here...

Things Needed:

Red lentils - 1 1/2 cup
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Onion  - 1 chopped
Ginger - 1 sp chopped
Coconut raspel - 2 sp
Tomatoes - 4 chopped
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Chilly powder - 1tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Cream - 50 ml

Preparation Method :

Wash red lentils and cook adding enough water. They cook very fast like in 5 min.. Set aside.

Heat 2 sp oil in a pan in medium heat. Fry onions ading cumin powder till transparent.

Add ginger and coconut raspel. A nice aroma spreads. Saute till coconut turns golden brown.

Toss in chopped tomatoes. Mix nicely and cook covered for 5 min.

Add chilly powder, turmeric, coriander powder, garam masala, salt, cream sauting.

Add cooked lentils. Cook covered for 10 min.

Serve topped with chopped coriander.

Tomato Rice

TOMATO RICE

Very flavourful  veg rice variety loved by my family. So here goes the recipe...

THINGS NEEDED:

Cooked rice - 3 cup

Tomatoes, finely chopped - 4

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Methi seeds - 1/2 tsp

Urad dal - 1 tbsp

Chana dal - 1 tbsp

Dry red chillies - 2 

Cashew nuts - some

Coriander leaves - 2 spring

PREPARATION METHOD:

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a nonstick pan. 

In a medium flame, splutter mustard seeds, cumin seeds & methi seeds in it.

Add urad dal, chana dal, nuts, dry red chillies. Fry till  the dal light brown, the chillies black red.

Add turmeric , a pinch of hing and a tsp chilly powder.

Toss in chopped tomatoes. Saute and cook for 5 min.

As the last step add cooked rice. Cook covered for 5-10 min. 

Top with chopped coriander leaves.

Baked Potatoes with Herbs and German Soft Cheese

BAKED POTATOES WITH HERBS - CREAM CHEESE FILLING

Had a very buzy friday due to shopping and not much time sauting and staring. 

Its a very typical food mostly eaten with satakes or sausages.

THINGS NEEDED :

Potatoes washed - 500 gm
Cream cheese / Quark (German Soft cheese) - 500 gm
Chives - one bunch
Garlic cloves - 1
Parsley (flat leaved) - one bunch
Salt and Pepper
aluminium foil

PREPARATION METHOD :

Cook potatoes adding some salt.

Then  roll them in aluminium foil and bake for half an hour.

Mix cream cheese, chopped herbs (chives, cloves  parsley leaves),some  salt and pepper.

After the potatoes are done split them into 2 and fill 1 spoon of the chream cheese filling.

Garnish with some chopped chives and serve with pan fried sausages.


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Peanut Laddu (Peanut Balls)

PEANUT LADDU

Its a super simple recipe. 

Grind one cup roasted peanuts with 1 tbsp palm sugar (karippotti) or Jaggery well 

and roll them to balls.

Full with calories . Ideal tea time or breakfast snack for children.

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