Tomato Oats Upma

Ingredients:

1. Quaker Oats - 3 tbsp.
2. Tomato - 1 large or 2 small chopped finely
3. Onion - 1 medium chopped finely
4. Green chilli - 1 finely chopped
5. Chilli powder (optional) - 1/2 tsp.
6. Dhania powder - 1 tsp.
7. Oil - 2 -3 tsp.
8. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp.
9. Ginger-garlic paste (optional) - 1/2 tsp.
10. Curry leaves - 5-6
11. Salt - to taste.

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in a kadhai and splutter the mustard seeds. Add ginger-garlic paste, green chillies, curry leaves and saute.
2. Add onions and lightly fry till golden brown.
3. Add tomatoes and stir fry till the tomato becomes pulpy.
4. Add chilli powder, dhania powder and salt.
5. Add oats and stir in. Add around 1 cup of water and boil as you keep stirring.
6. When it reaches the required consistency ( like saffola masala oats), switch off and enjoy it while it is hot.
7.  

Pudina Raita

I made this as a side for the tomato pulao I made today. Just plucked a few sprigs of pudina from the backyard and whipped this up. It is very simple to prepare and has a soothing taste.

Ingredients:

1. Pudina - around 10-15 sprigs
2. Curds - 200 ml
3. Jeera powder - 1/2 tsp
4. Chilli powder - 1/ tsp.
5. Salt/Black salt - to taste 

Procedure:

1. Separate out the leaves of the pudina, wash thoroughly.
2. Grind them to a paste with a tbsp. of curd,  jeera powder and chilli powder in a mixie.
3. Add this paste to the remaining curd and serve as a side with Biryani/Pulao.

If you do not have jeera powder, dry roast jeera and dry grind it in a mixie first. Add the remaining ingredients to this and continue as per step 2.

Tomato bhath using Red rice

Ingredients:

1. Red Rice - 1.5 cups
2. Tomatoes - 2 large (chopped)
3. Onion - 1 large (chopped long)
4. Oil - 3-4 tsp.
5. Jeera - 1/2 tsp.
6. Bay leaf - 1
7. Cinnamon bark - 1 inch piece broken into 2
8. Cloves - 2
9. Ginger- garlic paste - 1 tsp.
10. Green chillies - 2
11. Salt - to taste

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in a pressure pan. Add the cumin seeds, bay-leaf, cloves, cinnamon, ginger-garlic paste, and saute.
2. Add the chopped onions and green chillies and fry for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes and saute further for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the red rice and stir well.
5. Add around 3 cups of water and salt as per taste.
6. Cover with lid, put the weight on and wait for 2 whistles and switch off.
7. Serve with raita.

Foxtail millet Khichdi

Ingredients:

1. Foxtail millet - 1 cup
2. Moong dal - 3/4 cup
3. Ghee - 2 tsp.
4. Jeera - 1/2 tsp.
5. Kalonji - 1/4 tsp.
6. Bay leaf - 1 leaf
7. Green chilli - 1
8. Turmeric - 1/4 tsp.
9. Salt - to taste

Procedure:

1. In a pressure pan, heat ghee, add jeera, kalonji and bayleaf. Add the chopped green chilli.
2. Add moong dal and roast for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add foxtail millet and roast for another minute.
4. Add around 4-5 cups of water, salt and turmeric powder.
5. Close the lid and wait for 3-4 whistles.
6. Stir well and serve.

Kootu

Kootu is a basic TamBrahm dish made with lentils and vegetables.
It contains almost no oil (except for the seasoning), the lentils provide protein and the vegetables provide vitamins, minerals and fiber. All in all, it is one of the healthiest side-dishes to vote for.
It can be eaten as a side dish for chapatti, or eaten with rasam rice. You can even mix it directly with rice and eat it. With the versatility it offers, and the variety of vegetables that can be used in it, we can consider making this almost every alternate day.

The most common vegetables used for kootu are ridge-gourd, chow-chow, cabbage, bottle-gourd, ash-gourd, green leaves ( palak or dhante or any other keerai).

Ingredients:

1. Vegetable of your choice (chopped into 1/2 inch pieces) - 3 cups
2. Moong dal - 1 cup
3. Green chillies - 3 or 4
4. Jeera - 1 tsp.
5. Coconut - 1/4th cup.
6. Oil - 1-2 tsp.
7. Mustard - 1 tsp.
8. Red chilly - 1
9. Urad dal - 1 tsp.
10. Salt - to taste

Procedure:

1. Wash the chopped vegetables and moong dal and cook them together in a pressure cooker, with enough water to cover them. Cook for 2-3 whistles until the dal is soft enough to be mashed.
2. In a mixie, grind together the green chillies, jeera and coconut, with a little water to make a paste.
3. Add this to the cooked vegetable and dal and stir well. Turn on the flame and bring to boil.
4. Add salt as needed.
5. In a skillet, add oil, temper with mustard seeds, red chilly and urad dal, till the urad dal turns slightly brown.
6. Add this to the kootu and turn off the flame.

Fruitcake

Fruitcakes are my favourite among cakes and my whole purpose of learning to bake is to make fruitcakes and savour them.
I modified my previous cake recipe for banana cake a little and ended up with this delicacy that can be a great tea-time snack.


Ingredients:

1. Maida - 1 cup (125 ml)
2. Oil - 3/4 cup (around 90 ml)
3. Sugar - 1 cup (125 ml or 125 grams)
4. Eggs - 3
5. Pineapple essence - 1 tsp.
6. Baking powder - 1/2 to 3/4 tsp.
7. Tutti Fruiti (Red and green)- 50-75 grams
8. Extra flour and oil for greasing and dusting.

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Grease and dust a cake mould (I used olive oil and maida)
3. Sieve the flour and sift it together with baking powder.
4. Take the tutti fruiti in a small bowl, add a little extra flour and toss it to dust the tutti fruiti completely. This is to make sure that the tutti fruiti pieces don't sink to the bottom of the cake while baking.
5. In a mixie, powder the sugar, then add oil to this powdered sugar in the mixie and cream them together to form a runny paste.
6. Add the eggs, one at a time and quickly whisk each time for a few seconds to make sure he eggs are beaten well.
7. Add the pineapple essence and blend it again.
8. Now add the flour to this mixture little by little and fold in using a ladle. You can blend it in the mixie too, but the air trapped into the batter that way will be less.
9. Add the tutti fruiti to this mixture and fold in gently.
10. Pour this batter into the cake mould and bake for around 35-45 minutes, till a knife inserted comes out clean and the crust is slightly browned. (I baked for 45 minutes)
11. Cool it for around half an hour, cut it into slices and store in a container.

Top view

Bottom view

Cross section

Banana Cake

This is the quickest and simplest cake recipe ever. Just blend and bake.

Ingredients:

1. Sugar - 1 cup ( 125 ml )
2. Maida - 1 cup (125 ml)
3. Cooking Oil - 1 cup (125 ml)
4. Baking powder - 3/4 - 1 tsp.
5. Eggs - 2
6. Vanilla essence - 1/2 - 3/4 tsp.
7. Banana - 1 large ripe

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Sift together the flour and baking powder.
3. In a mixie, grind the sugar to a powder.
4. Add oil to the powdered sugar in the mixie and blend it till a creamy paste is formed.
5. To the mixie, add the eggs one at a time and whisk. Run the mixie in pulse mode for a few seconds at a time.
6. Add the vanilla essence and banana chunks and blend till a smooth paste is formed.
7. Now, either add the flour little by little to the mixie and quickly blend it by running the mixie or by folding the flour with a ladle.
8. Only if the batter is too thick and does not flow when you ladle it, add very minimal warm milk and whisk again. I didn't have to do this step.
9. Grease and dust a cake tin and pour out the batter into the tin to form a layer of one inch or slightly more. Leave space for the cake to double in size.
10. Bake at 180 degrees C for 25 mins. Check if the cake is done using a knife or fork. Bake for an additional 10 minutes if not done. I baked for 35 minutes.

The cake would be dense, yet soft, not very spongy. The colour would be light brown, like whole wheat bread. This was a Valentine's Day special cake. Hence the heart shape.
Recipe courtesy: Yogita Pimpalkar. The original recipe had 3 eggs, but I didn't want an eggy flavour, so cut down an egg.

I felt that the cake had a little more oil than required. I am going to try this with slightly less oil next time. Also this had a milder flavor of banana. I would like to add another banana to this and try it out.
Please try this out and let me know any variations that worked better for you.