Rava Kichadi

Rava kichadi is a famous South Indian breakfast made with Onion, Tomato, mixed vegetables and spices.  This is a good change from the normal rava upma. It's healthy too, as it contains mixture of vegetables. With little lavish pouring of ghee towards the end, gives this kichadi a very flavorful taste.

Ingredients:

Rava (Sooji) - 2 Cups
Onion (chopped) - 2
Tomato (chopped) - 2
Chopped Vegetables - 1 Cup (Potato, Carrot, Beans, Cauliflower, Peas)
Turmeric powder - 3/4 tsp
G. chillies - 3
Ginger pieces (chopped) - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 tsp
Ghee - 3 to 4 tsp
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tsp
Seasoning Ingredients: Oil - 2 tsp, Fennel seeds - 1tsp

Method:

1. In a kadai/non-stick pan, heat oil and add fennel seeds, when it becomes hot, add the ginger-garlic paste. When it becomes slightly hot,  add chopped g.chillies and ginger pieces and saute until it gets fried. (I forgot to add g.chillies and ginger pieces, so fried them separately and added).

2. Add chopped onions and saute for 2 to 3 mins.

3. Add mixed vegetables and fry for few minutes. 

4. Add chopped tomatoes and fry until tomatoes get cooked well and mushy. Add turmeric powder now.

5.Sprinkle little water and cook closed, until vegetables are 70% cooked.

6. Open the lid and add 4 cups of water and required salt and allow the water to boil. At this time, vegetables gets cooked little more. 

7. Now pour the rava little by little into the water and mix well, keep stirring to avoid any lumps. The kichadi will start thickening and all the water gets absorbed by rava and comes to an upma consistency. At this juncture, add ghee on top and give a mix and remove.

A tasty rava kichadi is ready!!

Garlic Kozhambu

Garlic Kozhambu is one of the most famous kozhambu from Chettinad cuisine in Tamil Nadu. In most of the tamilian's house, it is hard to find a dish that does not include garlic, specifically in any type of kozhambu, where garlic is one of the first ingredient added. Garlic is a super good food for both veggies and non-veggies. There are so much health benefits from Garlic. Garlic not only increases the taste and aroma of our food, but also our health. This garlic kozhambu can be made with 1 to 2 full garlic. So this is indeed a very healthy kozhambu for children and it's a guarantee that they will finish all the garlic in it.

Health Benefits of Garlic:

1. Garlic strengthens the immune system, as it is good source of Vitamin B6.
2. It helps fight chest infections, coughs and congestion.
3. It contains high levels of iodine which makes it an effective treatment in hyperthyroid conditions.
4. It is rich source of Vitamin C.
5. It is used to treat fungal, bacterial infections, as it contains a sulfuric compound called Allicin, which is a natural antibiotic.
6. It is a heart-friendly ingredient.

Even though there is enoromous health benefits from garlic, some people avoid taking it, due to its pungent smell that it leaves behind in your breath after its consumption. In such cases, it is better to brush your teeth after consuming garlic, rather than avoiding this natural medicine for sake of bad breath.

Garlic kozhambu can be prepared in many ways, some prefer to grind the powders fresh and use for this kozhambu, whereas in my recipe, I have used ready made powders,as I find it easy and quick and still able to get the taste right. 

Ingredients:

1. Garlic Pods (skin peeled) - 15 to 20
2. Big Onion - 1, chopped
3. Big Tomato - 1, chopped
4. Tamarind extracted water - 1.5 cups
5. Powders - Red chilly powder, Coriander powder, Cumin powder & turmeric powder - each 1/2 tsp
6. Pepper powder - 1 tsp
7. Salt - 1 to 2 tsp
8. Seasoning Ingredients: Oil - 2 tsp, mustard seeds - 1 tsp, broken urud dhal - 1/2 tsp, channa dhal - 1/2 tsp, Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp, fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp, curry leaves - 4, hing - 1/4 tsp
 

Grind to a fine paste - 1/4 cup raw coconut + 4 shallots (small onion) adding required water.

Method:

1. In a kadai/non-stick pan, add 3 tsp of oil and when it becomes hot, add the garlic pods and turmeric powder and fry for a minute or two, until the garlic becomes tender.

2. Add the chopped onion and fry well until it becomes translucent.

3. Add the chopped tomato and fry well until it becomes mushy.

4. Add all the powders - red chilly powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, pepper powder and salt and mix well.

5. Add the tamarind extracted water and let it boil until tamarind raw smell goes and the mixture starts to thicken.

6. Once the kozhambu starts thickening, add the coconut paste and mix well. Allow the kozhambu to reduce to half its consistency and become quite thick (to the consistency of vatha kozhambu). This may take about 5 to 10 minutes depending on the quantity.

7. Just before removing, season as given and pour it onto the kozhambu. 

A thick and yummy garlic kozhambu is ready.

Tips:
1. Adding Pepper powder highlights the flavour of garlic in the kozhambu from my experience. So don't avoid this ingredient.
2. If you wish, you can also add handful of peeled small onions along with garlic while frying and make this kozhambu as garlic-onion kozhambu.
3. In case you want spice powder to be grounded fresh, then take the ingredient as below, fry in little oil, cool and powder immediately and use in the kozhambu.
    a) black pepper + cumin seeds - 3/4 tsp,
    b) coriander seeds - 1 1/2 tsp
    c) red chillies - 4 or 5
    d) channa dhal - 3/4 tsp
    e) curry leaves - 5 (or) coriander leaves - 1/2 tsp
    f) oil - 1 tbsp
    g) hing - 1/4 tsp
4. If you don't want to use coconut, no problem. Prepare upto step 5, and allow the kozhambu to boil until it becomes quite thick and then season and remove.

Channa Cabbage

Channa Cabbage is a dry side dish variety for chapathi/rice dish. A different combo of cabbage with white channa. This is simple and quick to make, doesn't need too much ingredients and no grinding business. So relatively easy to prepare. Since this recipe uses channa, better to plan this side dish one day in advance , as the channa needs to be soaked (atleast for 8 hours) and then cooked (for 4-5 whistles) prior to this dry curry preparation.

Ingredients:

1. Cabbage (Shredded) - 2 Cups
2. Boiled Channa  - 3/4 Cup or 1 Cup
3. Onion (Chopped) - 1
4. Green Chillies - 3 to 4, slit into 2
5. Ginger pieces - 1/2 tsp
6. Chilly powder - 3/4 tsp
7. Coriander powder - 3/4 tsp
8. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
9. Salt - 1 to 2 tsp
10. Garam masala - 3/4 tsp (Optional)
11. Curry leaves - 4
12. Water - 1 Cup
13. Coriander leaves (chopped) - 2 tsp
14. Seasoning Ingredients: Oil - 1 tsp, mustard seeds - 3/4 tsp, urud dhal - 1 tsp, cumin seeds - 3/4 tsp

Method:

1. In a non-stick pan or kadai, add oil and when it becomes hot, mustard seeds, urud dhal, cumin seeds and mix. Once the dhal start turning brown, add the ginger pieces, green chillies and curry leaves and fry for few seconds.

2. Add the onion and saute for a minute or two, until the onion turns translucent.

3. Add the powders together - red chilly powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt and mix well.

4. Once the powders are mixed well, add the cabbage and mix well. Add water and mix well, close the pan and cook for 7-10 minutes until the cabbage is 80% cooked and the water is almost evaporated.

5. At this stage add the boiled channa and mix well. Close the pan again and cook for another 3-4 minutes. 

6. Open and mix well, check for taste, adjust salt/spice now. 

7. Optionally you an sprinkle garam masala on the cooked channa-cabbage and give a stir.

8. Add coriander leaves and give a stir and switch off and remove from stove.

Tasty Channa-Cabbage is ready to be served for chapathi or rice.

Tips:

1. You can add ginger-garlic paste too if you wish, just after seasoning and before adding onion and saute for few seconds.
2. Onion is an optional ingredient, you can avoid if you don't prefer it.
3. Garam masala is added at the end only, just before removing for additional flavour. No need to cook the curry too long after adding garam masala.

Soya-Aloo Curry

Soya-Aloo Curry is a different side-dish choice in your cuisine, if you want a difference from the usual dhals and curries. A semi gravy dish made with soya and aloo with coconut milk and other spices, makes this curry a unusual combo yet a tasty combo which can well go well as a side-dish for chapathi or any vareity dish.

Soya is a rich protein supplement and potato is a rich carbohydrate supplement. So this dish is a rich protein-carbo choice for you.  Soya has so much of health benefits. So adding this curry once a while in your diet is totally worth it.

Health Benefits of Soya Chunks:

1. It is extremely high in protein.
2. It is very good for health especially for diabetics and heart patients.
3. Soya nuggets provides a good amount of vitamins, minerals, fiber and protein for growing children.
4. Soya contains high amount of fiber, it helps in losing weight as well.
5. Soya bean is one of the best non-fish sources of essential omega-3 fatty acids, that can help in reducing the risk of coronary heart disease.
6. Soy protein can provide positive results for people with high blood pressure.
7. Soy protein has various benefits for the women, especially during the post-menopausal years.

Ingredients:

1. Soya chunks - 26
2. Potato  - 1 , chopped to small pieces
3. Onion (big) - 1 , chopped
4. Tomato (big) - 1, chopped
5. Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tsp
6. Powders (each 1 tsp) - red chilly powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder.
7. Pepper powder , Cumin powder , garam masala powder - each 1/2 tsp.
8. Salt - to taste
9. Oil - 2 tsp
10. Coriander leaves (chopped) - 2 tsp
11. Coconut milk - 1/2 cup.
12. Seasoning Ingredient : Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Method:

1. In a Kadai, add oil and when it becomes hot, add the cumin seeds and fry for few seconds, when light aroma comes, add the ginger-garlic paste and mix for few seconds.

2. Add the chopped onion and fry until it becomes translucent.

3. Add the chopped potato and mix well and sprinkle little water and cook covered for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring in between, until the potato is 75% cooked.

4. Add the soya chunks and mix well. Also now, add all the powders and salt and give a nice mix and cook covered for a minute or two.

5. Add the chopped tomato now and mix well and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes covered, until the tomato is mashed slightly.  (no need to overcook the tomato).

6. Now add the coconut milk and mix well and allow the gravy to boil for 2 to 3 minutes and adding coriander leaves at the end and switch off.

7. Soya-Aloo Curry is ready !!  

 

Tips:

1. I have used coconut powder mixed with warm water to prepare coconut milk, you can also extract coconut milk from fresh coconut or just grind 1/2 cup fresh grated coconut with water to a fine paste and add in place of coconut milk.
2. If you want, you can substitute potato with either cauliflower or capsicum if you want, for difference in taste.

First Anniversary - A BIG THANK YOU !!!!

Dear Viewer,

It excites me to realize that Preethi's Vegetable Plate has completed it's First Anniversary.

365 days back, a simple thought of sharing my recipes in a format that can be of benefit to everyone, transformed into this blog, which with all your continuous support and encouragement, has grown slowly and steadily with viewers accessing it across the length and breadth of the globe.

I am always thankful to each and everyone, who have bothered to take time to visit my blog. I hope somewhere my recipes have been of use to you.

I expect and wish for your continuous patronage, I welcome any suggestions and feedback to make this space more useful for you. I look forward to add more recipe categories and varieties in the coming days. So, stay tuned for more.

Enjoy your stay while you are here and do try out the recipes and have a healthy and hearty meal !!!!

A Big Thanks to you.

Eat Healthy, Live Healthy !!!!

Venpongal

Venpongal is a very common and popular dish served in most of the South Indian restaurant, especially in Tamil Nadu. It is a rice dish, hence very filling to your stomach. In tamil nadu hotels, venpongal with chutney and sambar is irresistable. Also venpongal is a common offering in many temple's in and around tamil nadu. In south tamil nadu, a sambar like side-dish called "gotsu" will be the side-dish for pongal.

Venpongal is rice & dhal cooked and pepped up with some spice powders. The major ingredient to this rice dish, is ghee, which makes it a very rich and tasty dish.

Ingredients:

1. Moong dhal - 1/4 Cup
2. Raw Rice - 1 Cup
3. Water - 4 Cups
4. Pepper seeds - 1 tsp
5. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
6. Chopped ginger pieces - 1 tsp
7. Cashews - 10 (broken)
8. Hing - 1 tsp
9. Curry leaves - 6
10. To grind : Pepper seeds - 1/2 tsp , Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
11. Ghee - 4 to 5 tsp
12. Salt - 1 to 2 tsp
13. Turmeric powder - a pinch

Pre-requisite:

1. Dry roast the moong dhal until it becomes slightly brown & cool.
2. Dry roast the raw rice until it becomes stiff & cool.
3. Grind to a powder and keep ready - Pepper seeds - 1/2 tsp + Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp.
4. In a teaspoon of ghee, fry the cashews to slight brown and keep ready.

Method:

1. Add into pressure cooker, the fried moong dhal, fried rice, water, pepper seeds, cumin seeds, ginger pieces, hing, curry leaves , tumeric powder & required salt. Keep the cooker open and wait till the water becomes hot and starts to nicely boil, at this juncture, nice aroma of hing and ginger can be felt. At this stage, close the pressure cooker and immediately add weight and keep on medium flame and cook till 4 to 5 whistles and then switch off and remove.

2. Wait for the pressure to completely drop and then open the cooker and mash the pongal mixture very nicely using a ladle (karandi in tamil).


3. Add lavishly ghee (about 3 to 4 tsp) & pepper-cumin powder and mix well. Check for salt and adjust now.

4. When pongal is thoroughly mashed and mixed well, towards the end, add the fried cashew and mix well.

5. Pongal is ready to serve with the ideal combination of coconut chutney or brinjal gotsu.

Tips:

1. To get a very tasty pongal (as we get in hotel), it is important that we should be little lavish with ghee, as it gives the pongal its taste and flavour. So adding extra few spoons at the time of serving makes it even more good.

2. The proportion of dhal:rice:water should roughly be 1/4:1:4 1/2 (2 1/4 cups for rice + 1 3/4 cups for dha, so totally 4 1/2 cups of water). If you're doubtful about water proportion for pongal, it's ok to add little extra water as the pongal should be mashed well. If the water quantity is not enough, the rice will not be cooked well and even with lots of effort to mash, it will not mash well.

3. In case the water quantity is less, which you realise after opening the cooker, then immediately heat up 2 cups of water and add the boiled water little by little and mash the pongal to get the desired consistency.

Chickpeas Masala Vadai

Vadai's are generally a deep fried crispy pattise , that goes well with South Indian rice items or just served as snacks. In Tamil nadu, during festival season it is very common to find this vadai being prepared in many houses and also it is a part of offering to god, at times. Children sure will love the vadai as they are very crispy and tasty.  If eaten hot, these vadai's need no side dish, any kind of chutney's like coconut chutney, mint chutney or tomato chutney or even sambar can make a good combination for the vadai. There are vareity of vadai's one can make, the most easy and common one's are medu vadai (made with urud dhal) and parpu vadai (made with channa dhal). The Chickpeas (white channa) masala vadai is a variation from the usual vadai's.

The masala flavour in this vadai comes from the masala ingredients like ginger, garlic, cloves, fennel seeds etc. Fennel seeds are must in this ingredient to get a strong masala flavour while eating. So go ahead, prepare and enjoy making the yummy channa masala vadai !!

However this vadai is not instant, as it requires some minimum soaking time. So plan one day ahead and keep the ingredients ready to relish this vadai the next day. In fact during rainy season, it's common to  crave for this kind of hot vadai to be served along with tea/coffee. With the combination of a cool weather and a hot tasty snack, you just can't stop eating !!! So go ahead, make this tasty channa masala vadai and relish heartily !!

Ingredients:

1. White Channa (Kabuli Channa) - 2 Cups
2. Fennel Seeds - 1 tsp
3. Ginger piece - 1 inch
4. Garlic pods - 2 big or 3 small (with skin)
5. Red Chillies - 4 or 5
6. Cloves - 2 or 3
7. Chopped onion (small) - 1
8. Curry leaves - 6
9. Salt - 1 to 1.5 tsp

Pre-requisite:

1. Soak Channa in plenty of water the previous night and keep aside for 8 to 12 hours, next day drain all the channa water and keep the puffed channa ready.

To Grind together & prepare masala dough for fry:

Grind together WITHOUT ADDING WATER in the following order:

1. Red Chillies to coarse pieces.
2. Then add the channa and grind slightly coarse.
3. Just before removing, add the fennel seeds, ginger pieces, garlic pods, cloves and give one or two quick grind to mix them with channa.
4. The grounded channa should look coarse and portion of channa can be visible even after the grind. This is the right consistency. Then, transfer to a broad bowl.

Once the above is ready, add the chopped onions and curry leaves and required amount of salt to the grounded dough, and beat/mix the masala dough well by hand and keep ready.

Method:

1. In a kadai or non-stick pan, add enough oil to deep fry the vadai and allow it to heat.

2. Meanwhile make even balls from the masala dough and pat it with hand and slightly flatten it and drop each vadai into the hot oil and fry both the sides until they are slight brown and remove. Transfer the vadai on tissue paper, so any excess oil gets absorbed.

3. Hot and tasty channa masala vadai is ready.

Tips:

1. Since the masala dough is grounded without adding water, if there are large quantities of the dough, divide them into equal portions and grind them batch by batch, to avoid the mixer getting struck while grinding. If required, sprinkle very few drops of water while grinding and not more.
2. Optionally chopped coriander seeds can also be mixed with this channa dough while mixing for added flavour.
3. Don't fry till the vadai looks dark brown in oil, because once the vadai is removed from oil, it further gets little dark in colour.

Mint Chutney

Mint Chutney is a very common chutney you can see being served with most of the South Indian tiffin items in Tamil Nadu. This is a nice tasty chutney made with mint. There are many ways to make this chutney, this is a version of mint chutney without using coconut. So cholesterol watchers, this may be just the right chutney for you, if you want to avoid coconut in your chutney.

This chutney I learnt it from my mother and it goes very well with Idly. Even for dosa's it is still good, but I would strongly recommend it for idly.

There are lots of health benefits from Mint. So making this chutney serves 2 purpose - it satisfies both your taste and health. Once in a while, so regularising this chutney, gives your body all the benefits of mint leaves. So don't miss it.

Health Benefits of Mint Leaves:

1. Mint leaves have extensive use in aromatherapy due to its therapeutic properties.
2. Eliminates bad breadth.
3. Mint is a good cleanser for the blood.
4. Regular consumption of herbal Mint tea aids in weight loss.
5. Mint is a strong diuretic, thus eliminates the toxins from our body.
6. Mint reduces growth of fungus and bacteria in the body on regular usage.

Ingredients:

Onion (Big) - 2, chopped
Tomato (Big) - 2, chopped
Mint leaves - 1 1/4 cup
Tamarind - Marble size
Chilly Powder - 1 to 2 tsp
Salt - 1 or 2 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp
Seasoning Ingredients: Oil - 1 tsp, mustard seeds - 1 tsp, broken urud dhal - 1 tsp, hing - 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. In a kadai/non-stick pan, add the oil and when it becomes hot, fry the onions until it becomes translucent.

2. Add the tomato and tamarind ball and fry until tomato becomes mushy.

3. Once tomato is well cooked, add the chilly powder and mix well.

4. Add the mint leaves and fry until it gets mixed with the onion and tomato mixture.

5. Cool all the ingredients and then take it into a mixer and grind chutney into a thick paste without adding water.

6. Season as given and pour onto the mint chutney.

 

Fruit Salad

Fresh Salads are a very nutrition-packed instant food you can relish upon. A very well known benefit of salads is that, it helps immensely in weight-loss, not only that, salads (mostly raw/semi cooked) take time to digest and are generally low on calories, hence keep your stomach full for a quite a long time and also gives all the nutrition from its ingredients uncompromised as it is consumed mostly raw/semi-cooked. Salads also increases the intake of vegetables and fruits in your diet.

 

For a healthy living, it is important that we cultivate the habit of healthy eating for which salad is a very good option. You can make numerous variety of salads mixing various ingredients from vegetables, fruits, lentils to nuts. Having a colorful salad not only feasts your eyes but your hunger too.

 

Here is a healthy fruit salad version, that can be prepared in a jiffy and relished.

 

Method:

 

1. Apple - 1, chopped to thin pieces

2. Grapes - 20, chopped to round, thin pieces

3. Plum - 1, chopped to small pieces

4. Orange (peeled) - chopped to small pieces

 

Mix all the above and serve chilled or immediately.

 

 

Tips:

 

Optionally, add a teaspoon of honey.

 

Cabbage-Peas Curry

Cabbage is a very common vegetable used in the south-indian cuisine and mostly a regular in the south indian weddings & functions menu, particularly Tamil Nadu.  It is not only very easily digestible  & healthy vegetable and but also easy to cook vegetable.

Health Benefits of Cabbage:

1. Cabbage is low in fat and calories. 100 g of leaves provide just 25 calories.
2. Fresh cabbage is an excellent source of natural antioxidant, vitamin C.
3. Cabbage is a very good source of vitamin K, that has a potential role in making our bones healthy.
4. Cabbages help in relieving constipation.
5. Cabbages have anti-inflammatory properties.
6. Cabbages are known to contain potent cancer fighting that prevents the growth of tumors in the body. A recent study in China showed that women who consumed more vegetables from the cruciferous family (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, etc) had a lower chance of suffering from breast cancer.

This is a simple cabbage curry made by combining peas with it. I have used frozen peas in my recipe. If you have fresh peas, you can cook the fresh peas separately and use it in this curry. This dry curry goes well with any south indian sambar, kozhambu or rasam.

English Name : Cabbage / Tamil Name : Muttakose / Hindi Name : Bandh Gobi / Malayalam Name : Muttakose

Ingredients:

Cabbage (chopped) - 2 Cups
Grated coconut - 1/2 to 1 Cup
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 2 tsp
Seasoning Ingredients: Oil - 2 tsp, mustard seeds - 1 tsp, broken urud dhal - 1 tsp, channa dhal - 1 tsp, curry leaves - 10, green chillies (chopped fine) - 4, hing - 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. In a non stick pan or kadai, season as given.

2. When the dhals turns brown, add the chopped cabbage, turmeric powder and salt. Add just enough water to immerse the cabbage and cook closed until all the water is evaporated and the cabbage is cooked.

3. Now add the cooked peas and grated coconut and mix well. Cook for a minute or two and remove.

 Tips:

1. For added flavor, add a teaspoon of coconut oil after removing and mix well.
2. If frozen peas is used, soak the frozen peas in warm water for 5 minutes & drain the water and then add to the cabbage.
3. If fresh peas is used, pressure cook the fresh peas adding required water for a whistle or two (until cooked) and drain all the water and then add to the cabbage.