PREP TIME: 15 Minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 Minutes

We have been eating a lot of junk food lately, so I am trying to squeeze in at least one salad lunch menu during the week. Our salad recipe always had carrots and quinoa but today I did not want to have quinoa (I made quinoa Adai last night – thought it will be quinoa overload 😉). Had red potatoes and mushrooms so wanted to try oven roasted potatoes and mushrooms. As potato and Mushroom has different cook times, I had to bake each separately, but it was worth it. The potatoes with the garlic tasted so good and the mushrooms were a hit with my son as he loves mushrooms. He is not a big fan of spicy food, so I seasoned it with just dried basil and salt. You could add crushed black pepper for a spicier version.

Ingredients – Roasted Potatoes

Potato – 2 (250 grams)

Garlic – 3 cloves finely chopped

Salt – As required

Crushed black pepper – ½ teaspoon

Olive oil – 2 teaspoons

Ingredients – Roasted Mushrooms

Mushroom – 15 (washed & quartered)

Salt – As required

Dried Basil – 1/4 teaspoon

Olive oil – 2 teaspoons

Ingredients – Other

Cooked Chickpeas – 300 grams

Cooked Edamame – 200 grams

Beetroot – 1 chopped

Tomato – 1 chopped

Olives – 15 chopped (I used almond stuffed Olives)

Salt & Pepper – to taste

Procedure – Oven roasted garlic potatoes

STEP 1: Preheat the over to 400 degrees F

STEP 2: Peel and cut the potatoes (better if there is consistency in size for evenly baked potatoes). Toss in the chopped garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil. Mix well so the salt and pepper are coated well.

STEP 3: Prepare the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spread out the potatoes in the baking sheet and bake for 15 to 17 minutes by flipping the tray at about 10 minutes. It took 17 minutes for me to achieve the consistency in the picture.

Procedure – Oven roasted mushrooms

STEP 1: Preheat the over to 400 degrees F

STEP 2: Wash and cut the mushrooms into quarters. Add in the olive oil, salt and basil. Mix well so the salt and dried basil are coated well on all the mushroom pieces.

STEP 3: Prepare the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spread out the mushrooms in the baking sheet and bake for 10 – 12 minutes by flipping the tray at about 5 minutes. It took 12 minutes for me to achieve the consistency in the picture.

Procedure

STEP 1: Soak the chickpeas for 6 hours and pressure cook for 2 whistles. I only soaked the chickpeas for 3 hours so used the instant pot pressure cook mode and set the time to 7 minutes.

STEP 2: Chop the beetroot, tomato and olives.

STEP 3: Cook the edamame in the microwave or stove top. I used the stove to cook the frozen edamame and it took me about 10 minutes.

STEP 4: All done!!! In a serving bowl add in all the vegetables, salt and crushed pepper.

Bon Appétit 😊

Tip: You could also add a teaspoon of lemon juice//cayenne pepper or roasted cumin powder//chopped coriander leaves//a teaspoon of maple syrup for enhanced flavors (maple syrup for the luxurious flavor a.k.a sugar dose for the day😉)

PREP TIME: 10 Mins

COOKING TIME: Yay!!!! No cooking time😊

This is a very quick, simple, easy to make yet tasty salad recipe. The ingredients are readily available in most of the time. It is a nutritious, super delicious and protein rich salad.

Ingredients

Roasted peanuts – 1 cup (I used store bought roasted and salted peanuts)

Carrot – ½ cup grated carrot

Cucumber – ½ cup finely chopped

Onion – ½ cup finely chopped

Tomato – ½ cup finely chopped

Coriander leaves – 2 teaspoons finely chopped

Lemon Juice – 1 teaspoon

Crushed black pepper – ¼ teaspoon

Cayenne pepper – ½ teaspoon

Salt – per taste

Procedure

STEP 1: Mix peanuts, carrot, cucumber, onion, tomato, coriander leaves, salt, crushed black pepper, cayenne pepper and lemon juice.

STEP 2: All Done!!! Grab a spoon and enjoy the yummy salad 😊

TIP: Add finely chopped or grated raw mango for tangy/sweet flavor.

Sweet corn soup

PREP TIME: 5 Minutes

COOKING TIME: 20 Minutes

Ingredients

Cream Style corn – 1 Can (398 ml)

Fresh or frozen corn kernels – 150 grams

Carrot – 150 grams (Shredded and chopped finely)

Shredded Cabbage – 150 grams

Fresh or frozen Green peas – 150 grams

Corn Starch – 1 teaspoon

Black pepper powder –1 teaspoon

Salt – as per taste

Oil – 1 teaspoon

Procedure

STEP 1: In a microwave safe bowl add washed green peas, corn kernels and water and microwave for 5 minutes.

STEP 2: Heat oil in a pan, add shredded carrot and cabbage. Cook on high heat for 5 minutes.

STEP 3: Add the microwaved green peas and corn to the cabbage-carrot mixture and cook for 5 more minutes.

STEP 4: Add cream style corn, salt and 3 cups of water. Cover pan and cook for 5 minutes.

STEP 4: In a bowl mix 1 teaspoon of cornstarch and water. Mix well until there are no lumps and add to the boiling vegetables. Cook for 5 minutes until the soup thickens.

STEP 6: Add a teaspoon of pepper, mix well and turn off the heat.

TIP:  Mushrooms, spring onion or finely chopped green beans can also be added to the soup.

Masala Vadai is a tasty, easy to make recipe. It is similar to making medhu vadai except that this recipe requires channa dal instead of urad dal. Usually masala vadai is prepared using only channa dal but in the below recipe I have used both channa dal and urad dal so the vadai will turn out to be a little soft when compared to making the vadai using only channa dal.

SOAKING TIME: 2 Hours

PREP TIME: 5 Mins

COOKING TIME: 20 Mins

Ingredients

Channa Dal – ¾ cup

Urad Dal – ¼ cup

Fennel seeds – 1 tea spoon

Dry red chillies – 5

Curry leaves – 3 sprigs

Ginger – ¼ inch piece

Garlic – 3 pods

Green Chilli – 1

Asafoetida – ¼ teaspoon

Onion – 1 finely chopped

Cilantro – 5 sprigs finely chopped

Salt – 1 teaspoon

Oil – to deep fry the Vadai

Procedure

STEP 1: Wash and soak the dal for 2 hours and grind it to a coarse paste adding salt, fennel seeds, curry leaves, red chilli, green chilli, ginger, garlic and very little water. If the batter is too watery you will not be able to shape the vadai.

STEP 2: Add chopped onion, chopped cilantro and asafoetida to the dal batter and mix well.

STEP 3: Heat oil in a deep pan.

STEP 4: Take a small plastic sheet, apply 2 drops of water and spread it well. Now take a small portion of the dal mixture and place it on the plastic sheet. Flatten the dough to make the vadai and carefully place it in the hot oil.

STEP 5: Wait for the vadai to turn golden brown on one side, then flip and allow it to cook on the other side.

TIP: Serve with coconut chutney, tomato ketchup or any sauce.

Chickpeas sundal (Kondakadalai sundal in Tamil) is a special recipe prepared mostly as prasadam. As it was Vinayagar Chathurthi last week I prepared this dish as prasadam. It can even be prepared and served as a snack. Chickpeas is rich in protein and fibre. Many variations can be made in this preparation by adding grated coconut, grated mango or by adding masala paste instead of adding red chillies for the spiciness and so on. Below is the simple and quick version of the recipe.

PREP TIME: 8 hours for soaking

COOKING TIME: 3 Mins

Ingredients

Chick peas – 1 Cup (you can use canned chickpeas)

Dry red chilli – 2

Mustard – 1 tea spoon

Urad Dal – 1 tea spoon

Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Asafoetida – ¼ teaspoon

Salt – per taste

Procedure

STEP 1: Wash and soak the chickpeas for 8 hours. Pressure cook the soaked chickpeas for 6 whistles. (If using canned beans no soaking required, just pressure cook for 3 whistles)

STEP 2: Heat oil in a pan, add mustard and wait to splutter. Add urad dal, then curry leaves, red chillies and asafoetida.

STEP 3: Add the cooked chickpeas to the oil and salt. Toss it well so the oil, salt and asafoetida gets coated on the chickpeas. Cook for a minute and turn off the heat.

TIP: You can add grated coconut to the chickpeas after turning off the heat and mix well. This will make the sundal more crunchy and flavourful.

Modhagam is special, traditional recipe that is prepared on Vinayagar Chaturthi/Ganesh Chaturthi and offered to Lord Vinayagar. Last week we celebrated Vinayagar Chaturthi so I prepared the modhagam as prasadham. Very few ingredients are used to make this delicious recipe. The below recipe makes 30 – 35 lemon sized modhagam’s.

PREP TIME: 15 Mins

COOKING TIME: 30 Mins

Ingredients

Raw Rice – 1 ½ cups

Jaggery – 1 ¼ cups

Cardamom – 2 crushed coarsely

Grated coconut – 3 tea spoons

Ghee – 3 teaspoons

Procedure

STEP 1: Wash the rice and dry it on a paper towel for 2 – 3 hours or until the moisture from the washed rice is gone. You can skip this step and start with STEP 2 if you are in a hurry and if you believe the rice is clean.

STEP 2: Using a blender make a coarse power out of the dried raw rice.

STEP 3: Add 3 teaspoons of ghee in a pressure cooker, add the rice and 4.5 cups of water. Pressure cook for 4 whistles.

STEP 4: Take the jaggery in a microwave safe bowl, add 1 cup water and microwave for 2 minutes or until the jaggery melts completely.

STEP 5: Using a sieve, filter the melted jaggery to strain the impurities from the jaggery.

STEP 6: Mash the rice mixture well to make sure there are no lumps.

STEP 7: Heat ghee in a pan, add the cooked rice mixture and the filtered jaggery and mix well. Few lumps may form so mash well using a ladle or a masher. Cook till the mixture thickens and leaves the sides of the pan.

STEP 8: Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool down. Once cooled down add grated coconut and crushed cardamom to enhance the taste and the flavour.

STEP 9: Heat the idli pot to steam cook the modhagam.

STEP 10: Apply some oil/ghee on the palm and make small lemon size balls out of the mixture and place it in the idli plate and steam cook the rice balls.

STEP 11: The steaming can be done in batches of 10 or 20 depending on the size of the idli plate. It can take 5 – 7 minutes for each batch of rice balls to cook to perfection.

TIP: Garnish with some grated coconut on top and serve.

Vellai Paniyaram is a traditional Chettinad recipe prepared using just 2 ingredients, rice and urad dal seasoned with some salt. It is a very easy to make, tasty, deep fried appetizer. This savoury dish is a MUST HAVE on the menu during any festival, function or weddings in the Chettinad region.

PREP TIME: 1.5 hours

COOKING TIME: 20 Mins

Ingredients

Raw Rice – 1 cup

Urad Dal – 1/4 cup

Salt – as per taste

Oil – to deep fry

Procedure

STEP 1: Wash and soak the rice and urad dal for 1.5 hours and grind it to a fine batter adding salt and water. The consistency of the batter should be like a dosa batter. (Do not add too much water while grinding as you can adjust the quantity of water later on, but if the batter becomes watery it will be hard to get the paniyaram in the desired shape).

STEP 2: Heat oil in a deep pan.

STEP 3: Take the batter in a ladle and pour in the hot oil. Once the paniyaram gets cooked on one side flip it over to the other side.

STEP 4: Cook on low flame till the bubbles subside and the paniyaram is cooked on all the sides.

STEP 5: Remove from oil and place in a plate lined with paper towel.

TIP: Vellai paniyaram tastes good with tomato chutney or any spicy-tangy chutney. If the batter is thick, sometimes the centre of the paniyaram might not get cooked completely. Add water, one teaspoon at a time, mix well and try making the paniyaram. If you have achieved the desired consistency and paniyaram is well cooked stop adding water.

PREP TIME: 5 Mins

COOKING TIME: 15 Mins

Ingredients

Asparagus – 1 bunch

Chickpea flour/Besan flour – ¾ cup

Chilli powder – 1 teaspoon

Corn flour – ¼ cup

Salt – per taste

Oil – for deep frying

Procedure

STEP 1: Wash the asparagus and remove the thick portion by holding the asparagus on both the ends firmly and bend slightly so the asparagus breaks into two pieces. The top portion that is tender can be used for cooking. Discard the bottom thick portion.

STEP 2: Heat oil in a deep pan.

STEP 3: In a bowl add, chickpea flour, salt, chilli powder, corn flour and water. Mix well and make a thick batter (dosa batter consistency) without any lumps.

STEP 4: Add the asparagus pieces, one at a time to the batter and make sure the batter gets coated well on the asparagus on all sides. Add it to the hot oil and deep fry till golden brown.

TIP: Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

PREP TIME: 2 Mins

COOKING TIME: 10 Mins

Ingredients

Ripe brown or black plantain – 1

Oil – for deep frying

Procedure

STEP 1: Wash, peel and chop the plantain into 1 inch quarters.

STEP 2: Heat oil in a pan.

STEP 3: When the oil is hot, add the plantain pieces one by one carefully in the oil. As my pan is deep but narrow I added 5 – 7 pieces at a time.

STEP 4: Cook till golden brown on all sides.

STEP 5: Remove from oil and place it in paper towel.

TIP: Serve immediately as a snack or with rice.This can also be served as a dessert with a scoop of ice cream.

PREP TIME: 60 Mins

COOKING TIME: 15 Mins

Ingredients

Beetroot – 1 cup chopped

Toor dal – ½ cup

Onion – 1

Curry Leaves – 1 sprig

Salt – per taste

Chilli powder – 2 teaspoons

Oil – for deep frying

Procedure

STEP 1: Soak the toor dal for 45 minutes and grind to a coarse paste.

STEP 2: Chop the beetroot and blend to make puree. Transfer the puree to a mesh sieve and let the excess water/beetroot juice drain from the beetroot puree.

STEP 3: In a bowl add the toor dal, beetroot puree, finely chopped onion, salt, chilli powder and curry leaves. Mix well. (Make sure the mixture is thick. If the mixture has excess water, you will not be able to shape the vadai).

STEP 4: Heat oil in a deep pan.

STEP 5: Take a portion of the beetroot mixture and make small balls or flatten the small ball to make vadai. Toss it gently into the hot oil.

STEP 6: Cook till the vadai changes to a darker color or till the bubbles in the oil subsides.

TIP: Beetroot vadai can be served with rice or can be served as an appetizer.