Poha Upma

Poha Upma (Aval Upma) is a very less time consuming, instant upma that you can think of, on a busy morning for breakfast. Made with flattened rice (aval) & onion and few spices, it is very tasty and healthy breakfast. Poha is light on stomach and easy to digest. It is a good source of energy due to its rice content.  So enjoy this simple & too easy to make aval upma with any chutney or sambar or even curds.

There are both white and brown poha available in the market. I use the white vareity (very thin flattened one) for this upma. You can also use other varieties of aval if you want for your upma, but there may be minor variations.

Soaking the Poha and using for cooking:

1. If white variety is used, soak the poha in just enough water to immerse it completely and give a nice rinse by hand and immediately strain all the water through a colander/strainer and let the poha sit for 3- 5 minutes. Within this time, the poha puffs and enlarges in size. It is then ready for cooking. (I have used the white variety in this preparation).

2. If brown variety of poha is used, soak the poha in tamarind water for 5 minutes and then drain all the water through a colander/strainer and let the poha sit for 3-5 mintues. Within this time, the poha puffs and enlarges in size. It is then ready for cooking.

In either of the above ways, once the poha is ready, you can prepare poha upma as below.

Ingredients:

Onion (chopped) - 2
Green chillies - 3, slit into 2 pieces
Red chillies - 3, broken into 2 pieces
Ginger (chopped) - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 3/4 tsp
Salt - 2 tsp
Coriander leaves (chopped) - 2 tsp (optional)
Lime Juice - 1 tsp (optional)
Seasoning Ingredients: Oil - 1 tsp, mustard seeds - 1 tsp, broken urud dhal - 1 tsp, channa dhal - 1 tsp, curry leaves - 8

Pre-requisite:

1. Take the poha into a vessel. Fill with water till it is fully soaked, give a nice rinse and then immediately drain all the water by passing the poha through a strainer/colander. Keep the water drained poha aside.

This quick rinsing and draining of water is enough for the poha to puff. Don't soak it in water for long.

Method:

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

2. When the dhal turns brown, add the chopped onion and 1/4 tsp salt and mix well. Let onion cook until it turns light brown.

3. Add the turmeric powder and remaining salt and mix well.

4. Add the water drained puffed poha and give a nice mix.

5. Remove from stove and optionally garnish with coriander leaves and add the lime juice & mix well and serve with any chutney.

Tips:

1.  Optionally before removing the poha  upma, add 1/2 cup of fresh grated coconut and mix well and remove. As I don't prefer adding coconut, I don't use it in my preparation (am bit cholesterol conscious and avoid coconut as much as I can).

Bisibelabath

Bisibelabath (or) Sambar Saadam is a very famous Karnataka dish, made from rice, lentil, mixed vegetables and spice powders. This is a one pot meal and very delicious to taste. For a long time,  I have been under the misconception that Bisibelabath is too complex to cook, but I was wrong. I realize now that this is one of the easiest dish that one can prepare and relish. This is a wholesome meal as it contains plenty of vegetables and very filling to the stomach. Generally this rice dish doesn't require any side-dish, as the dish itself has lots of vegetables in it, if you still need any side-dish, just enjoy it with few papads/chips.

For the preparation of Bisibelabath, we need to have rice and lentil (toor dhal) cooked separately and kept ready. The mixture of vegetables and spices are separately cooked and finally all the ingredients are mixed together to get the tasty sambar rice or Bisibelabath.

Bisibelabath powder is used in its preparation, which can be either made at home or can be store-bought. (I prefer MTR's Bisibelabath if store bought, as it taste good).

Ingredients:

1. Mixed Vegetables cut to 1 inch long - Small Potato (peeled) - 1, Small Carrot - 1, Beans - 10, Peas - 1/4 Cup, Raw Banana - 1/2, Elephant yam - 1/2, Chayote (peeled) - 1/2 , Drumstick - 1, Brinjal - 3, Broad Beans - 10, Cluster Beans - 6
2. Small onions (peeled) - 12
3.Tomato (Big) - 2 , finely chopped
4. Bisibelabath powder - 4 tsp
5. Tamarind Extracted Water - 1/2 Cup
6. Rice - 1 Cup
7. Toor Dhal - 1/2 Cup
8. Salt - 2 to 3 tsp
9. Seasoning Ingredients 1: Oil - 3 tbsp, Cinnamon Sticks - 2, Cloves - 4
10. Seasoning Ingredients 2: Ghee & oil - each 3 tsp, mustard - 2 tsp, curry leaves - 15
11. Coriander seeds (chopped)- 3 tsp

Pre-requisite:

1. Pressure cook the rice and toor dhal together, adding 4 to 4 1/2 cups of water for 4-5 whistle. (the rice and dhal can be overcooked , no problem. If they are undercooked, it will be a spoiler).

2. In 2 teaspoons of ghee, fry about 10-12 broken cashews and keep ready.

Method:

1. In a Pressure cooker, add the oil and add the seasoning ingredients 1. When they turn aromatic, add small onions and cook for 2-3 minutes.

2. Add all the vegetables and mix well, add little salt and cook the vegetables until they are 60% done (you can close the pressure cooker, but do not add weight. Cook closed for 3-4 minutes and then open).

3. Add the chopped tomato and mix well and cook for another 2 minutes, until tomatoes are mashed.

4. Add the Bisibelabath powder and required salt and mix well and coat the powder well into the vegetable mix.

5. Add the tamarind extracted water and mix well.

6. Add the cooked rice+toor dhal mixture and mix all the contents well. If the rice is thick, you can add 3/4th glass of warm water to loosen it up and mix well.

7. Add 2-3 teaspoon of ghee and mix well and close the cooker and immediately add the weight and switch off after one whistle.

8. Open the cooker when the pressure completely drops and then season as mentioned with seasoning Ingredients 2 and pour onto the bisibelabath and mix and serve.

9. Garnish with coriander leaves (optional).

Bisibelabath Powder

Bisibelabath powder is used in the preparation of Bisibelabath, a famous Karnataka Sambar dish.  This powder can be made freshly at home , just before starting  the preparation of Bisibelabath. Using fresh powder adds more flavor and aroma to the dish. Here is the steps to make the bisibelabath powder.

Ingredients:

1. Coriander seeds - 3 tbsp
2. Channa dhal -3 tbsp
3. Urud dhal - 1 tbsp
4. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
5. Fenugreek seeds - 3/4 tsp
6. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
7. Cinnamon sticks - 6
8. Cloves - 6
9. Poppy seeds - 1 tsp
10. Red chillies - 30
11. Oil- 2 tsp

Method:

1. In a non stick pan, add oil, when it becomes hot, add all the ingredients except coriander seeds and poppy seeds. Fry everything until the dhal turns brown.

2. Then add the coriander seeds and poppy seeds and fry for just a minute or two, until the coriander seeds emanates nice aroma.

3. Remove and cool everything and take into a mixie and grind to dry powder.

4. Store the bisibelabath powder into an air-tight container.

Tips:

1. Poppy seeds is an optional ingredient. You can ignore if you want.
2. Cinnamon stick and cloves are essential ingredient, this gives the unique flavor to the powder, if you want strong spice flavor in bisibelabath, increase their quantity by adding 2 or 3 more in each.

Dry Ginger Kashayam for Cold

There is flu everywhere around us, during winter season, due to the fluctuating low temperatures and very cold weather. From children to adults alike, we succumb to cold quickly. Finally we end up at doctor's clinic and take anti-biotics for 5 to 7 days to get cured. The most common impact of antibiotics which we may all know is that, they weaken the immune system. To keep the cold at bay, there are age-old home remedies which have been practised in olden days, but which has been forgotten/not used regularly in the modern times..One such common remedy are Kashayams, made with ingredients mostly available in our kitchen frequently. These ingredients when combined together and boiled and consumed hot when having cold,  gives us gradual but definite cure from cold, owing to their medicinal properties.

Dry Ginger powder (Chukku Kashayam) is one such kashayam which can be prepared easily at home and is a reliable cure for cold. Drinking this kashayam hot even gives a soothing effect to your throat during infection.

Dry ginger's rich anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties are very good for health. It provides relief from common cold, headache, stomach ache etc. It is effectively used in weight loss treatments too as it helps to burn fat fast & helps to increase the body metabolism as well.

Here is a quick & easy to prepare Dry ginger powder kashayam along with some other ingredients for effective cure of common cold. Consume this regularly for atleast thrice a week and see the difference.

Ingredients:

1. Dry Ginger Powder - 2 1/2 tsp
2. Coriander Seeds - 1 1/4 tsp
3. Black Pepper Seeds - 1/2 tsp
4. Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp
5. Ajwain - 1/4 tsp (Omam in tamil) - Optional
6. Water - 2 1/2 tumbler
7. Palm Sugar or White Sugar - 3/4 tsp (Palm Sugar is Panagkalkandu in Tamil)

Method:

1. In water, add all the ingredients, except Sugar (Ingredient 7) and bring to a boil until the consistency is reduced to half.
2. Then add the Palm sugar or white sugar and boil for 2 to 3 minutes, until the sugar dissolves.
3. Switch off, strain the kashayam and then drink it while it is hot.

Vegetable Salad - IV

Here is another healthy vegetable salad version including some vegetables and sprouted green gram, that can be prepared in a jiffy and relished.

 

Ingredients:

 

Sprouted Green gram - 1 Cup

Shredded/Grated White or Purple cabbage - 1 Cup

Shredded/Grated Beetroot - 1 Cup

Boiled/Cooked white channa - 20

Assorted Nuts - Almonds, pistachio, walnut - 4 each, broken to small pieces.

Pepper powder - 1 tsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp

 

Method:

 

1. Semi-cook together sprouted green gram, grated cabbage and beetroot for not more than 6-8 minutes and remove and drain all excess water.

2. To the above add the boiled white channa, pepper powder and salt and mix well.

3. Garnish the salad with broken nuts & serve chilled or immediately.

 

 

Vegetable Salad - III

This is a mixed salad recipe with some vegetables and fruits. This salad is little different from the normal because of the combination of Avocado and Orange along with vegetables. Avocado, even though quite tasteless, when mixed with other ingredients, it's blandness is overshadowed by the taste of the other ingredients. So eating it raw in a combo is actually quite easy. Orange in this salad is a citric supplement. I have used it instead of lime. A slightly sour orange will be better choice for this salad to give a mild tartness to it. The vegetables used are the usual salad vegetables like carrot, cucumber, beetroot, sweet corn, onion etc. Additionally even sprouted green gram is used.

 

Enjoy this colorful and healthy salad.

 

Ingredients:

 

Sprouted green gram - 1/2 cup

Beetroot (small) - 1, chopped to medium pieces

Carrot (small) - 1, chopped to medium pieces

Cucumber (small) - 1, chopped to medium pieces

Small onions - 6 , chopped fine

Sweet corn - 1/4 Cup

Avocado - 1, peeled and chopped to medium pieces

Orange - 1, peeled and chopped to small pieces

Pepper powder - 2 tsp

Vegetable Masala Powder (or) Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1 to 1 1/2 tsp

Coriander leaves - 2 tsp, chopped fine.

 

Method:

 

1. Semi cook together sprouted green gram, beetroot, sweet corn together for maximum 5 to 7 minutes and remove. Drain the water and keep the semi cooked vegetables ready.

2. In a broad bowl, add the chopped carrot, cucumber, small onions, avocado, orange and mix well.

3. To the above, add semi cooked vegetables and mix well.

4. Add the pepper powder, vegetable masala powder (or) garam masala powder and salt & mix. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve chilled or immediately.

 

 

Mixed Flour Dosa

Mixed Flour dosa is an instant dosa that is made with combination of flours. We call this dosa as "Karacha maavu dosa" in tamil. As this an instant dosa, we need not worry about grinding the batter and fermenting. The preparation time for this batter is just less than 5 minutes and it can be made immediately after the batter is prepared. However, I generally set aside this batter for minimum 5 to 10 minutes and then start making the dosa. After a long day, if you are tired to prepare extensive dinner, this dosa can come to your rescue. Children will surely like the crispiness in the dosa & will eat well.

This dosa is very similar to rava dosa, both by looks and taste. Unlike the sada dosa, this karacha maavu dosa batter is prepared by making a thin circled layer  of the batter from the outside  and then smearing the batter randomly inside, hence this dosa looks so porous in between and the edges turn out very crispy when the dosa gets cooked.

Any combination of chutney goes well with this dosa. Even small onion or drumstick sambar makes a good combo for this dosa. I have tried this dosa with just milagai podi (gun powder) and the combo was awesome. Now let's look at making this instant and tasty dosa.

Ingredients:

Rice Flour - 2 Cups
Maida Flour (All purpose flour) - 1 Cup
Sooji (Rava) - 1/2 Cup
Salt - 2 tsp
Green chillies - 2 (chopped finely)
Cumin seeds - 3/4 tsp
Whole black pepper - 3/4 tsp
Curry leaves - 4 (chopped to fine pieces)
Oil - 2 tsp (for batter)
Oil - 4 tbsp (for cooking)
Water - 4 to 5 cups

Method:

1. In a bowl, add the rice flour, maida flour and salt and mix well. Add water and mix into batter consistency. The batter should be very loose(little watery) in consistency. 

2. Once batter is ready, add cumin seeds, green chillies, whole black pepper, curry leaves, 2 tsp of oil and mix well & set aside for 5 minutes (setting aside is optional, you can start making dosa instantly too).

3. Heat the tava, and drizzle oil evenly, take a ladle of batter and drop them into thin circle in the corner of the tava, and then smear the batter randomly in all directions within the circled layer criss-cross.  Add oil on the corners and in the middle randomly and wait till brown spots appear on the lower bottom corners of the dosa.

4. Then, toss the dosa around and wait for 30 - 45 seconds and then turn the dosa around, brown spots will be seen on the turned side, fold the dosa into two and remove from stove and transfer to a plate.

 This Instant Dosa (Karaicha maavu dosa) goes well with coconut chutney, but you can have any desired chutney or sambar as it's side-dish.

 

Oil Bath for Glowing Skin

In South India, especially in Tamil Nadu, Oil Bath had been a regular ritual in most of the homes. Oil bath is suggested and practised regularly by elders in the family for various healthy reasons.

Oil Bath can be of two types:

1) Head Oil Bath - Where you apply oil on your scalp, leave it for sometime and take bath.
2) Full Body Oil Bath - Where you apply oil from head to toe, leave it for sometime and take bath.

Even though we follow head oil bath regularly, full body oil bath is becoming a rarity in this current busy routine for us. However we need to do this atleast once a month, as it is so good for our health.

Health Benefits of Full Body Oil Bath:

1. Oil bath removes the heat & cools your body.
2. It removes any dirt/dust in your skin.
3. It improves appetite & digestion.
4. It rejunavates your nervous systrem & also improves blood circulation.
5. It makes your skin soft, shining and glowing.
6. It is a stress remover and makes you feel good after a bath.

In current working trend, there are lots of IT engineers,who are stressed continuously & their eyes and body is over-heated owing to continuous radiations from excess exposure to computers. For such persons, oil bath regularly is a real good remedy to de-stress & keep you in good shape.

There are different oils used for Oil bath - Coconut oil, Sesame oil (Gingely oil), herbal oil, ayurvedic oil etc. Traditionally oil bath is done with Sesame oil. Don't mix oils and take bath. Use only type of oil for your bath.

At my in-law's house, we heat the sesame oil with few ingredients & take this bath. The purpose of the mixed ingredients in this oil is to bring out the theraputic effects that each offers.You cannot miss out on the extra glow your skin gets by applying this mixed oil. You will certainly feel the difference to your skin after this bath.

Oil Bath Preperation:

1. Sesame Oil (Gingely oil) - 3 tbsp
2. Black pepper - 8
3. Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
4. Ajwain (Ommam) - 1/4 tsp
5. Ginger  - 1 inch size
6. Red chilly (small) - 1/2
7. Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Add everything in oil except turmeric powder and boil the oil, when the oil starts becoming hot, add the turmeric powder and mix well and remove.

Set this oil for 5 to 10 minutes, and then strain completely and apply it from head to toe (avoid eyes) and bath after 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Note:

1. Avoid applying this oil into your eyes, your eyes will burn.
2. If applying to children, avoid red chillies, and reduce ginger to 1/4 inch. Avoid eye areas.
3. Do not omit turmeric powder, owing to its rich antiseptic and antioxidant properties.
4. The oil may appear slightly yellow on your skin, don't worry, once you bath the colour will leave.
5. If all the above ingredients are not available, use whatever is available in your home and take this bath.
6. Drink a glass of buttermilk on the day your take oil bath. This helps to keep your body cool.

Tulasi Kashaayam for Cold/Cough

Tulasi (Holy Basil) is so commonly found in so many house-holds in Tamil Nadu. Conventionally tulasi were grown in "Tulasi Maadam" (Tulasi Altar) in the courtyard of so many houses & worshipped regularly.  Tulasi apart from being seen as a holy leaf, has so much of medicinal values too. For combating cold/cough, tulasi is one the best medicine to use. 

Some Benefits of Tulasi (Holy Basil):

1. Healing Power  - The leaves are a nerve tonic and also sharpen memory.
2. Helps combat fever, cough and cold.  Tulasi is an important ingredient in many ayurvedic cough syrup.
3. Sore Throat – Effective cure for sore throat.
4. Respiratory Disorders – The herb is effectively used in many respiratory disorder treatments like bronchitis, asthma, cold.
5. Mouth infections -  Cures mouth ulsers and infections.

This Tulasi kashaayam if consumed regularly for 3-5 days, will cure acute cough/cold without medicines.

Ingredients:

Tulsi leaves – a bunch
Dhania (Coriander seeds) – 2 tsp
Pepper – 2 tsp
Jeera – 2 tsp
Cinnamon (Whole) or Cinnamon Powder – ½ “ or ½ tsp
Dry ginger Powder – 1 tsp
Ajwain – ¼ tsp (optional)
Water – 2 tumblers

Method:

1. Add all the ingredient in a deep vessel, and boil until the quantity is reduced to half. Remove and strain and drink the kashaayam.

Pepper Kashaayam for Cold/Cough

In the winter season, with cold weather & fluctuating temperature around, cold, cough & respiratory problem due to these, are always on the rise. The immediate impact is chest congestion with phlegm/sputum, due to which most of the times we have problems with breathing and sleeping. There are some natural homemade remedies which can be quickly followed from home regularly to get rid of the phlegm/sputum completely without the need to visit the doctor and relieve us from cold/cough/chest congestion.

Pepper Kashayam is very effective in removing the phlegm during cold/cough. 

Take this kashayam regularly for 3 to 5 days, you can get rid of the phlegm without the need to go to the doctor.

Ingredients:

Whole black pepper - 3 tsp
Water - 1 glass
Palm sugar or white Sugar - 1 tsp (Palm sugar is panang kalkandu in tamil)

Method:

1. Lightly dry roast black pepper and crush it mildly using a crusher (don't grind in mixie) just enough to see the pepper slightly coarse.
2. Mix the crushed pepper in water and boil it until the water consistency reduces to half.
3. Just few minutes before removing, add the palm jaggery or sugar and mix well and boil for a minute or two until it dissolves  & remove.
4. Strain the water through a strainer and drink while it is hot.

This is an effective home cure for getting rid of chest congestion/cold/cough.

Tips:

1. If this kashayam is to be given to kids, reduce the quantity of pepper & increase the sugar and optionally mix it with half a glass of boiled mix and make them drink.
2. Adjust the quantity of pepper next time (reduce the quantity), if you find this kashaayam slightly spicy to your taste buds.