Our most awaited vacation gonna start from tomorrow, we will be leaving earlier tomorrow morning to our summer vacation destination, needless to say that am waiting eagerly for this break and am damn sure i'll definitely enjoy this break, no cooking, washing and mobing for few days..Am very much excited and i'll meet u all after 15days friends, dont forget to send ur entries to my ongoing event..Will definitely check my mails once am back from the vacation..Before leaving for vacation, i wanted to post this healthy,nutritious parathas with drumstick leaves and oats which i prepared today for our dinner, finally i finished my frozen drumstick leaves by using them in parathas..Healthy parathas to enjoy without any guilt and we loved it..Sending to Vegetable Marathan-Drumstick guest hosted by Ruchikacooks and to Global Kadai-Indian Flavoured Flat Bread guest hosted by Sandhya, event by Cilantro and to Neha's Kid's Menu..



2cups Wheat flour
1cup Oats (grounded)
1/2cup Drumstick leaves
1tsp Ajwain seeds
1tsp Cumin seed powder
Salt
Oil
1cup Yogurt

Mix the wheat flour, grounded oats, drumstick leaves, ajwain seeds and cumin seed powder in a large bowl,add the salt,water (if needed) and yogurt,knead everything as soft and smooth dough..Let them sit for few minutes..make medium sized balls with the dough and roll as circles..

Heat a tawa, once its hot, gently drop the rolled circles and drizzle few drops of oil, cook on both sides until they get cooked...Serve immediately with any sort of side dishes...

I often make simple stir fries with any sort of veggies either with dals or simply with a combination of many veggies..Since we are leaving tomorrow for vacations, am very busy in cleaning and finishing veggies before leaving for our long waited trip..There were some leftover chinese cabbage which i used for making rotis and curries and i wanted to finish it as something different along with drumstick leaves..This simple stir fry tastes too delicious also easy and quick to get ready eventhough i prepared them in microwave oven..Healthy side dish to enjoy along with rice or with parathas..I enjoyed having this healthy stir fry along with rasam rice, both together tastes fabulous and i truly enjoyed having this fabulous side dish..Sending this simple and healthy stir fry to Srivalli's 365days of Microwave Cooking, Vegetable Marathon-Drumstick guest hosted by Ruchikacooks and finally to Umm's Iftar Moments..



2cups Cabbage (chopped)
1/2cup Drumstick leaves
1no Onion (chopped)
2nos Green chillies (slit opened)
1tsp Mustard seeds, urad dal & channadal
2tbsp Grated coconut
Oil
Salt

Heat enough oil in a microwave safe bowl for 2 minutes in high, add the mustard seeds, urad dal and channadal, heat again for 5minutes in high until the spices turned brown, add the chopped onions and slit opened green chillies, salt to the tempered spices and cook for 5minutes (stir twice) in high in microwave oven, now add the cabbage and drumstick leaves,give a stir and cook for 15minutes (stir thrice in between) until the veggies get cooked.. Finally add the grated coconut, give a stir and serve hot as side dish...

I cant stop using stale bread in my cooking nowadays, before  i usually prepare home made bread crumbs by grilling them and grinding them as bread crumbs, i have a huge bottle of bread crumbs now and i dont want to make out more bread crumbs for few months, so i have found some alternative dishes where i can use those stale bread instead of throwing, one among those dish is this palak bread kofta curry...I prepared this bread kofta with stale bread slices along with potatoes also instead of deep frying, i prepared them in paniyaram pan, which needs few drops of oil and finally cooked everything in a spinach gravy spiced with ginger garlic paste, onion,spinach & tomato puree with spice powders, we enjoyed having this kofta curry with our rotis for dinner and we just loved it, this green kofta curry tastes fabulous, healthy as well as prefect for also aged people..



For Bread Koftas:
6nos Bread slices (soaked and squeezed)
2nos Potatoes
1no Onions (chopped)
2nos Green chillies (chopped)
Salt
2tbsp Mint leaves (chopped)

Heat few drops of oil, saute the chopped onions with salt, cook until the onions turns transculent, take the bread slices, potatoes, sauteed onions, chopped green chillies and chopped mint leaves in a bowl, mix everything, meanwhile heat the paniyaram pan, heat few drops of oil, take a small ball from the mixture, roll it a bit as round balls and drop gently to the paniyaram pan, cook on both sided until they get well fried..Continue the process until the mixture gets finished..Keep aside the bread koftas..

For Spinach Curry:
1small bunch Spinach leaves
1no Onion (chopped)
1no Tomato (chopped)
1tsp Ginger garlic paste
1tsp Coriander powder
1/2tsp Cumin seed powder
3/4tsp Red chilly powder
Salt
Oil
1/2tsp Cumin seeds

Cook the cleaned and chopped spinach leaves with half a cup of water in microwave oven for 5 minutes in high..meanwhile heat few drops of oil, saute the onions and tomato pieces and cook until they get well cooked..Let them cool and grind the cooked spinach leaves and sauteed veggies together until they turns as a smooth paste.

Heat enough oil, let crack the cumin seeds, add the ginger garlic paste, saute until the raw smell goes off, add the grounded paste along with enough water,coriander powder, cumin seed powder and red chilly powder with enough salt, cook in simmer for few minutes, finally add the already prepared bread koftas to the spinach gravy and cook again for few minutes..put off the stove..

Serve hot with rotis..

I have tried many times buns with spinach, this time i want to make them somewat cheesy  with some left over cheese which i bought quiet a long back, as everyone at home love this famous french cheese called 'Baby bel' much, i prepared this buns as savoury buns with a spinach puree and rolled oats with whole wheat flour spiced with red chilly flakes, parsley leaves, flax seeds and pepper powder,salt while i used all-purpose flour for dusting...This buns tastes awesome with many healthy stuffs in it and cheesy ,u can definitely see that melting cheese in the picture,while having this buns needless to say that we truly enjoyed each and every bite of this bun, we had our dinner with this spinach buns along with a bowl of warm pumpkin soup..both together turned out our dinner filling, healthy also prefect...


2cups Whole wheat flour
1cup Rolled oats
1/4cup Spinach puree
1/4cup Olive oil
2tbsp Active dry yeast
1tsp Sugar
1tbsp Salt
1tsp Red chilly flakes
1tbsp Flax seeds
1tsp Dry parsley leaves
1/4tsp Pepper powder
8nos Babybel cheese or any other cheese of ur choice
All purpose flour for dusting

Combine the oats, whole wheat flour, red chilly flakes, flax seeds,dry parsley leaves, pepper powder in a large bowl..meanwhile in a cup of luke warm water, add the active dry yeast, sugar and salt and let this mixture sit for 5 minutes, to get a foamy yeast...Add this foamy yeast ,olive oil and spinach puree to the flour and spice mixture and knead as dough until u get a soft and smooth dough..arrange this soft dough in a greased bowl and keep this bowl in a warm place for an hour with lid closed until the dough double their volume..

Preheat the oven to 350f..After an hour, knead the dough,dust with all purpose flour and divide them 8 medium sized balls...knead the balls one by one, flatten them with ur palms, place a babybel cheese ,bring the edges together and roll them as round buns, arrange the cheese stuffed buns over a baking sheet lined over a baking tray..bake these cheese stuffed buns for 25-30minutes until the crust turns golden brown..

Enjoy this buns warm, those melting cheese will definitely makes this buns more tasty ..

I tried out usual spinach masiyal by using coconut milk and tempered the spices with coconut oil, this spinach masiyal tastes fabulous and everyone at home loved the coconut flavour in this spinach masiyal, acutally i got this idea of making out spinach masiyal coz of some leftover thick coconut milk which i prepared for making some kurmas were laying in fridge and i tried adding those leftover coconut milk while cooking the spinach leaves instead of cooking the spinach leaves just with water.....Different masiyal which tastes too delicious,truly this coconut milk spinach masiyal tastes too yummy and healthy to enjoy with any spicy side dish.


2cups Spinach leaves (chopped)
1cup Thick coconut milk
1/2cup Water
6nos Garlic cloves
1tsp Mustard seeds+urad dal or Vadagam
3nos Dry red chillies(broken)
Salt
1tbsp Coconut Oil

Bring boil the coconut milk and water together, add the spinach leaves and cook in medium flame until the spinach leaves get cooked...Meawhile crush the garlic cloves,keep aside..,heat the coconut oil, let splutters the mustard seeds, urad dal..add the dry red chillies and fry until they turns brown, finally add the crushed garlic and fry for few minutes, put of the stove...Mash the cooked spinach leaves with a hand blender along with the tempered spices and garlic with enough salt..

Serve along with rice and any side dish..

Usually i used to grind spinach with spice powders to make out parathas with spiced spinach puree..This time i dont want to prepare parathas with spinach puree so my choice went to finely chopped and coarsely grounded spinach along with yogurt and prepared this parathas with  wheat flour along with cumin seeds, whole flax seeds and garam masala...This spinach parathas tastes fantastic for a simple dinner with some easy breezy chutneys or with simple gravies...Simple, greeny but healthy spinach parathas prepared along with whole flax seeds to give more healthiness to this simple spinach paratha which i served along with egg kurma and we loved it...


3cups Wheat flour
1cup Spinach (chopped finely)
2tbsp Flax seeds
1/2tsp Cumin seeds
1tsp Garam masala powder
1cup Yogurt
Salt
All purpose flour for dusting

Grind the chopped spinach coarsely along with yogurt ..In a large bowl, take the wheat flour,garam masala powder,cumin seeds,salt and whole flax seeds and knead as smooth dough along with spinach-yogurt mixture..keep aside for half an hour..Make 10-12medium sized balls from the dough, dust with all purpose flour and roll as circular or square shaped parathas with rolling pin...

Heat a pan and drop gently the parathas to the hot pan,drizzle the oil to the paratha... cook on both sides until they get well cooked..Serve along with any gravies..

Braise - to cook (meat, fish, or vegetables) by sautéeing in fat and then simmering slowly in very little liquid. (Courtesy; dictionary.com)

If you live in the Southern states of the US., you will be familiar with cooked greens, braised in bacon fat. I used mustard greens to mimic this at home, but with chicken stock. It's simple and a nice accompaniment with baked or fried chicken and mashed potato.What a comfort food during winter days !!



If anyone is wondering how mustard green looks, I hope this will help.



Try adding peppered vinegar to spike up the heat.



Ingredients:

Mustard Greens - 1 bunch
Chicken Stock - 1/2 cup
Oil - 2 tspn
Onions - 1/2 or 1 small
Garlic - 2 cloves
Black Pepper powder - to taste
Salt - to taste
Vinegar - 1 or 2 tspn or as per your taste

Method:

1. Wash and drain the leaves and tear them into pieces or chop. I have bunched them and chopped them close
2. Heat oil in a pan which will take the volume of the cut leaves
3. Saute onions and garlic and add the leaves
4. Toss around or stir as possible for a minute or two and then add the chicken stock.
5. If you don't care about the color of the leaves you can cook them covered. I tend to keep them open to retain color if possible
6. You should be cooking this at the lowest heat on your stove. Slow cooking is needed for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Notes:

1. These leaves burn your eyes like when you chop onions
2. If you are into greens then you will enjoy eating it as it is or else this is a good accompaniment with grilled, braised, baked, deep fried meat with mashed potato.
3. You can do this kind of cooking with turnip greens, collard greens, kale etc.

Contributor: Sunitha

My readers and followers will know that am trying to make out dishes with brown rice nowadays than the usual rice...Yesterday i prepared making out my favourite venpongal with brown rice and also prepared sambar with green spring onions which i bought weekend from our farmer's market...I prepared this sambar with dry roasting fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds,dry red chillies and grated coconut which usually my mom used to prepare with eggplants and dal to enjoy along with venpongal, instead of making out this sambar with eggplants, my choice went to green sping onions and both brown rice venpongal and green spring onions sambar together works out superb and tastes fantastic...We enjoyed having this both dishes together for our dinner and this dishes together turned out our dinner healthy, filling and prefect...Am sending this green spring onions sambar to CWS-Fenugreek Seeds guest hosted by SE of Denufood and this both dishes goes to FFSL-Tiffin Box event by RV & Sudeshna also am sending this breakfast dish to JFI-Breakfast guest hosted by Suma,event by Indira and finally to Shama's Family Favourite..


Brown Rice Ven Pongal:
1cup Brown Rice

1/2cup Split Moongdal
1tsp Grated Ginger
1/4cup Ghee
1/2tsp Cumins seeds
1/4tsp Peppercorns
10nos Cashew nuts
Salt
5nos Curry leaves


Wash both Rice with split moongdal together n add three cups of water n pressure cook with grated ginger n salt upto 3 hisses.. Meanwhile heat the ghee in a kadai, add the cumin seeds, peppercorns,curry leaves n cashew nuts n fry them until they turns brown..

Once the pressure is released, again mix well the rice n moongdal n add the tempered spices & cashews directly to the pressure cooker n toss them well until everything get well mixed...

Green Spring Onions Sambar:
1cup Green spring onions
1cup Cooked toor dal with turmeric powder
1/2tsp Mustard seeds+urad dal
2nos Dry red chillies
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
Salt
Oil
Curry Leaves

To Grind:
1tbsp Fenugreek seeds
2tbsp Coriander seeds
1/4cup Grated coconut
3nos Dry red chillies


Heat enough oil,fry the mustard seeds, urad dal,asafoetida powder and dry red chillies, add immediately the chopped green spring onions and curry leaves, cook for a while..meanwhile grind all the ingredients given in the list to grind as fine paste..mix this paste to the already cooked toor dal with enough salt and water and add this dal water to the cooking green onions...

Bring everything to boil and cook until the spring onions gets well cooked...

Serve this delicious sambar along with ven pongal and enjoy!!!

Simple soups doesnt need that much chopping or many veggies, this spinach soup goes for frozen (finely chopped ) spinach cooked with onions and garlic in microwave oven and finally cooked in vegetable stock which tooks hardly 25minutes to cook up everything and enjoyed having this delicious green soup with spicy flax seed powder which i prepared today simply with red chillies and flax seeds to spice up these sort of simple soups...This soups tastes fantastic, simple to prepare and delicious to relish..


400grs Frozen spinach (defrosted)
1no Onion (chopped)
3nos Garlic cloves(crushed)
2tbsp Olive oil
2cups Vegetable stock water
2tbsp Flax seed powder+2nos dry red chillies
Salt
Pepper

Heat the olive oil in a microwave safe bowl for 5secs in high in microwave oven, add the chopped onions and crushed garlic cloves to the heated oil and cook for 5minutes in high..add the defrosted spinach and cook for 5 minutes again (stir twice in between)..finally add the vegetable stock with enough salt and pepper powder and cook everything for 10 minutes in microwave oven in medium...meanwhile grind the flax seeds and dry red chillies as bit coarse powder and keep aside..

Blend the soup with a hand blender and serve with spicy flax seed powder..enjoy!!

Our yesterday's dinner is this minty oats paratha which i prepared with some leftover mint leaves, oats flour, quick cooking oats combined along with wheat flour..Such an aromatic paratha, needless to say that this healthy parathas suits incredibly for a healthy breakfast or dinner, tastes divine if served with any non vegetarian spicy dishes or with simple channa masala else with any other vegetable curries or masalas....I cant stop adding quick cooking oats to my indian breads nowadays and one among those healthy bread is this minty oats parathas, even kids will like to have this aromatic parathas for their evening snacks with nutella spread or cheese spread as my lil ones had these parathas with cheese spread for evening snacks with a glass of orange juice..


1+1/2cups Wheat flour
1cup Oats flour (grind quick cooking oats as fine powder)
1/4cup Quick cooking oats
1/4tsp Cumin seeds
1/2cup Mint leaves (chopped finely)
Salt
1cup Yogurt
2tbsp All purpose flour (for dusting)
Oil of cooking

Make a soft dough with wheat flour, oats flour, cumin seed powder, quick cooking oats,chopped mint leaves,salt, yogurt and water and keep aside for half an hour..make 10-12medium sized balls from the dough, dust the dough balls with all purpose flour and roll as flat round disc with rolling pin..

Heat few drops of oil and place the flattened paratha, cook on both side until they turns golden brown..Serve hot either with any side dish..

Whenever i go to Indian groceries, if i find any Indian greens, i will immediately purchased either two or three bunches of any greens as i can get very selective greens here, once back home i'll wash and conserve them in freezer in ziplock bags...Its really handy when i feel like preparing greens, thats the best way of organising myself to prepare dishes with our Indian greens...Yesterday while searching for greens, i found a bag of methi leaves which i have already washed and conserved them in frozen bags  pulled me to prepare this tempting crackers with finely chopped onions and frozen methi leaves(which i smashed once i take off from the freezer) along with brown rice flour and wheat pastry flour...This crispy crackers tastes fantastic when served with avocado hummus and every one at home enjoyed having this crackers...Healthy, crispy and definitely a guilt free crackers to enjoy which suits prefect as a starter...This fantastic crackers goes directly to Madhuram's Whole Grain Baking Event-Rice; Yasmeen's Healing Foods-Bitter Better Health and to my event CWS-Sesame Seeds..


1cup Brown rice flour
1/2cup Wheat pastry flour
1/2cup All purpose flour
1tsp Baking powder
1/4cup Onions(finely chopped)
1/4cup Frozen methi leaves
1tbsp Black sesame seeds
Salt
1/4cup Olive oil
1/2tsp Pepper powder

Combine the brown rice flour, wheat flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, frozen methi leaves, black sesame seeds,chopped onions, salt and pepper powder in a bowl, add gradually the olive oil and turn everything as crumble like texture, add gradually water and knead as soft dough...Preheat the oven for 350F and line a baking tray with baking sheet and roll the dough with rolling pin as a large dish, cut the dough with cookie cutter...

Arrange the crackers over the baking sheet, gather the dough and repeat the process until the dough get finished...Bake the crackers for 15-20minutes until they turns golden brown...

Enjoy the crackers with any sort of spread...

When we were kids, me and my sister used to go immediately to our grandma's village once the vacations starts,for our evening snacks my grandma used to prepare this nutritious ragi adai with freshly grounded ragi flour from her own mill and freshly picked drumstick leaves from her backyard, she used to prepare most of our evening snacks as quite nutritious, healthy, protein packed and fatless dishes..This ragi adai with drumstick leaves is my grandma's signature dish and i do prepare quite often for me even anyone at home dont like that much, after a long i prepared yesterday for our evening snacks and my lil ones enjoyed this adai with sugar while i had with hot lemon pickle (my fav side dish with adai)..This ragi adai makes me nostalgic and one of my fav savoury adai from my childhood.. Needless to say that ragi is very rich in iron content and its very low is fat and calories and am sending this healthy, filling and nutritious ragai adai to JFI-Ragi guest hosted by Madhuram of Eggless Cooking...


2cups Ragi flour
1no Onion (chopped)
1/2cup Drumstick leaves
1/4tsp Mustard seeds
1/4tsp Urad dal
2nos Dry red chillies (broken)
Oil
Salt

Heat few drops of oil, fry the mustard seeds, urad dal and dry red chillies until they turns brown, add the chopped onion and saute for few minutes, put off the stove..Mix the ragi flour, drumstick leaves,salt with fried spiced and sauteed onions and make a dough with enough water and make 4 ragi balls, meanwhile heat a non stick pan..flatten the ragi balls in a greased plate or plastic bag, transfer the flattened adai to the hot pan, drizzle the oil and cook on both sides until they get well cooked..

Serve hot with sugar or hot pickles.

Am also sending few more ragi dishes to JFI-Ragi event:
Ragi Murukku
Multigrain Bread
Ragi N Wheat Coconut Noodles
Steamed Ragi Veggies Rolls
Lemony Ragi Noodles
Ragi Sweet Puttu
Vegan Ragi Cookies
Ragi Idli
Ragi Sweet Dumplings/Kozhukattai