Upma Kozhakattai with Kadala Parup Chutney

Any steamed tiffins are always good for health. And this one is always healthy and tasty. My grandma used to make it often .She used to serve it different chutney's and sambhar . That was really tasty.I also make it quite often and my husband loves them.Even my friends enjoyed it .Just wanted to share with all of you too.

Raw Materials Required

Rice -1 Cup

Tuvar Dhal -1/4 Cup

Coconut -1/4 Cup (grated)

Mustard Seeds -1 tsp

Urdh Dhal -1/2 tsp

Curry Leaves few

Red Chilli -4-5

Hing few pinch

Salt as per Taste

Preparation Style

Take the rice and dhal and make a fine powder in a blender and set it aside. In a kadia add oil and when it is hot add mustard's seeds , urdh dhal ,curry leaves and hing .When the mustard seeds starts to crack add red chilli and fry them. Once the urdh dhal is brown in color add water to it .Add salt and grated coconut .Let the water comes to a boil and then add the powdered mixture (rice and dhal) and stir it well. Once the water is evaporated and it becomes like a upma off the gas. Then make small upma balls and place them in a idle plate .Once all the upma balls are done ,place then in the idli plate and steam cook them as idlis are cooked. Once they are steamed cooked serve them hot with any chutney or sambhar.

I served them with my Kadala Parup Chutney .

Cabbage Rice

I had cabbage in my fridge .Always used to make a sabzi or dhal out it. But this time i decided to make something new which i have never made.I decided to make rice . This is my own version of a simple rice .

Raw Materials Required

Cabbage- finely chopped 1 1/2 cup

Carrot -chopped -1/4 cup
Peas -1/4 cup

Basmati rice -2 cups

Medium Onion -1/4 cup

Jeera -1 tsp

Chilli Powder -1 tsp

Dhanya Powder -1 tsp

Gram Masala -1tsp

Oil /Ghee -2 tsp

Salt as per Desired

Preparation Style :

In a kadia add oil and jeera seeds to it .Once it starts to crack add onions and fry them until they are brown.Then add all the masala's together and mix them well.Add all the vegetables together and rice also and transfer them to the rice cooker.Add salt and required water (i add 1.5 glass of water for 1 cup of basmati rice) and cook them through the rice cooker.Simple and easy cabbage rice ready.

Game Over ------மைசூர் பக் - Mysore Pak

The first post for my new year would being with a sweet/Dessert.It just seems y'day was the 2007 and today if i look its the 10 of Jan 2008 .Oh god days run so fast. 2007 went by so quick could not realise it .My brother was in town for few days.Meeting him after so many years was just wonderful.We had really great time . Eating ,Laughing and shopping that was all i was doing when he was around .Now that he is back to school in Texas, i am also back to my routine.I have to wait for few months to see him back. When he was here i made Mysore Pak. He loves them and my husband also.

Raw Materials Required

Besan- 1 Cup

Sugar -2 Cup

Ghee -2 Cup

Water -1/2 Cup

Preparation Style

In a big pot pour 1/2 cup of water and add to sugar to it .Allow it to boil until you reach one string consistency .See to that you keep the sugar syrup boiling for some time. Keep it in medium flame.Then slowly start adding the besan flour to the syrup .When you add the besan see to that your are simmering the gas a bit or else it would be difficult for you to stir .Once the besan is mixed with the sugar syrup then turn the gas on high and start stir it continuously .Start adding the ghee at regular intervals .You have to keep stirring it without leaving hand from the kadai.

Stir until you see to that the ghee starts to separate from the pan .You would see that the color of the besan changes and becomes porous .After the ghee starts to separate pour the Mysore pak into a greased try and spread them out.Dust sugar on top of it and cut it into diamond pieces. Try to cut the shape when it is hot and then take out the pieces when they cool.

Enjoy!!!!

Back with the Guessing Game!!!!!!

Friends guess what is this ...Results will be out by thrusdays

Happy New Year 2008!!!!!

Wish You all A Very Happy and A Prosperous New Year 2008!!!!!!

Photo @ glitter-works.org

1 Week Break !!!!

Friends, my brother is in town this week .Meeting him after a couple of years. So i am taking a small break from my blog for a week.Would be back after CHRISTMAS.!!!

Wish you all a Happy Christmas and Happy Holidays..!!!!

See you soon !!!!

Tomato Rice

Tomato are very rich in viatmins . Many of us use tomatoes in our everyday menu.I make tomato rice quite often .They are really easy and simple to prepare. Here is my way ..


Raw Materials Required

Tomatoes - 4
Onions -1 diced
Green chilli -2 chopped
Green peas - 1 cup
Garlic -2 cloves
Jeera -1 tsp
Fennel seeds -1 tsp
Haldi -1 tsp
Red chilli powder-1/2 tsp
Sambhar powder -1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds -1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves handful
Salt as per desired
Basmati rice -1 cup
Oil - 3 tsp

Preparation Style

In a small kadai add oil and mustard seeds.When they start to crack add jeera, fennel seeds and fry for a minute. Then add onion ,green chili, garlic and fry them until they turn light brown.After sometime add the chopped tomatoes, and cook till tomatoes are a bit mashed and start to loose water . Add haldi ,chilli powder and sambhar powder and allow it to cook well.After 5 mts or so add the green peas and off the gas.
On the other side cook the basmati rice separately.Once the tomatoes are cooked, mix the rice and tomatoes together and garnish with Coriander leaves. Serve it hot with cold cucumber ratia..

Rava Ladoo

For this weeks ladies meet i was supposed to make dessert.I wanted to make something that i did not make before .I decided to make something simple and tasty and which is less time consuming .I made rava ladoo...So here it goes .Recipes includes few aspects from my mother and few from my mother in law.

Raw Materials Required

Rava -1 Cup
Sugar -1 cup
Cardamom - 5-6
Raisins -10-15
Almond -10-15
Ghee -4 tsp
Milk -1/2 glass


Preparation Style

Roast the rava with ghee until they turn golden brown.Off the gas and allow them to cool for 10-15 mts.Then dry grind the rava and sugar together along with cardamon and almond.It should be half fine grinded.Transfer the entire mixture in the a big plate and spread them .
In a separate kadia fry the raisin's with ghee and pour them to the grinded rava mixture and mix them well .Sprinkle milk on the rava (micro wave the milk for 1 mts) and try to make small ladoos .
I did not add loads of ghee, instead i used milk as a binding agent to make the ladoos .It turned out to be very tasty ..Enjoy

Simple Potato Curry

Potatoes are the most favorite at our place and i think this would be true at every body home . If you give my brother to eat potatoes all day along in different ways he loves them .He never gets tired of eating them .My husband too is a big fan of potatoes.

I am sure there are many ways for a potato curry .Here is mine version which is quite simple and easy to make .So enjoy this !!

Raw Materials Required

Potatoes -5 nos

Coconut -1 cup

Green Chilli -3-4

Mustard Seeds -1/2 tsp

Urdh dal -1/2 tsp

Hing a couple of pinches

Oil -2-3 tsp

Salt as per desire

Preparation Style
Cook the potatoes in the pressure cooker .Peel the skin and smash them and keep it separately.In a small kadai add oil and mustard seeds to it .Let it start to crack then add urdh dhal and hing to it .Add the smash potatoes and mix them well.

In the meantime grind the coconut and the green chilli by adding little water. Add the grinded paste to the potato and mix them well .After a couple of minutes add salt and mix them well and allow the potatoes to become little crispy in the bottom of the pan .Off them gas once done and serve them with hot rasam or sambhar. Enjoy

Simple tomato rasam

Tomato Rasam ..I think there are numerous ways to prepare it .Each of us have our own style and ingredients to it .This one is plain and simple tomato rasam .It just has a couple of simple ingredients and in no time you are done with it.So here it goes .

Raw Materials Required
Tomato -4
Black Pepper -1 1/2 tsp
Jeera -1 tsp
Toor Dhal- 1 1/2 tsp
Red chilli - 2-3
Ghee - 2 tsp
coconut -1/2 cup
Haldi -1/2 tsp
Salt as per desire
Curry Leaves Few

Preparation Style

Boil the tomatoes in the pan with half filled of water until the skin starts to peel .That would be the indication that the tomatoes has been cooked.Allow it to cool for sometime and later on blend them and make a perfect tomato juice .Strain them with the strainer to get the seeds out of it and keep the pure juice aside .

On the other hand in a small pan fry toor dal ,red chilli ,pepper and jeera together along with ghee .Fry them until they become golden brown.Allow them to cool and blend them along with coconut to get a nice paste.


Add the grinded pasted onto the tomato jucie .Add enough water to it to loosen it .Not to add to much to it .Add haldi and salt to it.Keep them on low flame and let it come to a boil.Add curry leaves, mix them well and serve it hot with rice . It taste great.