Oats-Pesarattu (Oats- Moong dal Dosa)

This morning I realized that I soaked only a little moong dal (Pesara pappu /Green gram) yesterday night. It didn't make enough batter for making dosa for two. I thought I might do upma on a side. But I am out of upma ravva too! the next alternative was to add rice flour, but excess addition of rice flour makes dosa's firm and very crispy, and they do not taste great! so my next alternative was to grind some quick oats and add that powder to the batter. This worked really well, I just loved it!!! from now I know what I should do, if I do not have enough batter to prepare pesarattu. 

Ingredients:
Recipe for two
Moong dal/ pesara pappu/split green gram-1cup
Quick oats powdered coarsely-1/2cup
Green chili-2
Ginger 1 inch
Salt to taste
Onions chopped
oil- as required

Method:
wash and soak split green gram overnight or for 6 hours at least. Next day remove excess water and add this soaked dal to a grinder jar and also add green chili, salt, ginger and grind it to a coarse paste. Take this batter into a bowel and add oates powder, add some water and mix well. The consistency of a batter should be neither thick nor very thin, it should be somewhat like a idli batter. 

Heat pan and add 1/2tbsp of oil and spread all over. Take a laddle full of dough and put this entire batter at the center of the pan and spread into a thin sheet like dosa. add 1/2 tbsp of oil with a spoon around the sides of the dosa, add some chopped onions at the center of the dosa. Cook till it turns golden brown and flip it to cook on the other side, for 30seconds.  Transfer it to a serving plate and serve with a tomato chutney. I hope you like this healthy version of pesarattu!!!!

Vegetable Burger with Yellow peas

There are very few recipes that taste good and do good, vegetable burger is one among them. I always love making veggie burger patties before and refrigerate them, because they make my work simple for the next day lunch box. Yellow peas are readily available in marked in tins, but I prefer soaking the dry peas myself and preparing them for making patties. This is the first time I tried to make a burger with yellow peas, always I used to make with chick peas. Believe me they tasted wonderful.

Ingredients

Yellow peas-dry-100 grams

Soft boiled small potato mashed

Lemon juice 1/2 tbsp

oil 6 tbsp

walnuts-hand full

onion-1/2cup

cilantro-1/4cup chopped

cumin powder-1/2tbsp

coriander powder-1/2tbsp

green chili t taste

turmeric-pinch

cumin seeds few

ginger garlic paste to taste

Method

Soak dry yellow peas for at least 8 hrs and pressure cook them for 3 whistles (or until soft). Let the pressure in the cooker come down then in the mixi jar take all the above mentioned ingredients along with peas and grind them coarsely. Now in a pan heat 2tbsp of oil and add few cumin seeds and allow them to splatter and immediately add ginger-garlic paste and cook under medium flame till the raw smell disappears. Finally add the ground mixture, lemon juice and turmeric and mix well. 

After 10 min of frying under low flame, take this mixture in to separate bowl and allow it to cool. Finally divide the mixture in to 4 equal parts and flatten them in to Patti shape with your hand. Grill them on both sides with sufficient oil. Now the patties are ready and when they cool down to room temperature place them in zip lock bags and freeze them. you can use them for one week if you perfectly freeze them. when you are about to use take them out from freezer 30 min before you serve and microwave them fro 20 sec. Now, place them in the bun with your favorite toppings and dressings. Hope you like my recipe.

Click here for Chickpea Vegetable Burger
Click here for blackeyed peas burger
Click here for Indian food calorie chart

Tip: Kindly note it please, these burgers are very tender, they break easily since there is a very little binding, if you do not mind having egg then I recommend you to add one egg along with onions and carrots and mix well. Egg acts as a super binding agent and also adds moisture and great texture to your patties. If you do not like adding egg then add more wheat flour, if your patties are tender.

Amelia's Empanada

Last week we had a fall break, followed by an exam. I know no one likes to enjoy a break if they were going to have a mid term exam after it. So, I and my friends Amelia and Emma gathered at Amelia's home to study. That was my first visit to Amelia's home (In fact, to a typical American home). Their house was decorated wonderfully, I just loved the Chinese arts and shell collections at her home. The house was located in a peaceful environment and all those bird sounds and beautiful fall colors attracted me a lot, apart from it she prepared a wonderful lunch. I tasted very delicious  vegetarian Empanada's (Especially for me)  for the first time. She also made some Chicken cheese Emapanada's too. This is not the sole effort of Amelia, her hubby also helped her in preparing these delicious Empanadas.  
Here is the recipe that I jot down from her.

Ingredients
For Empanada Dough:

• 4 cups all purpose flour (Maida)

• 1-2 teaspoons salt

• 2-3 tablespoons sugar

• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

• 2 egg yolks3/4 - 1 cup water

Method:

1. Sift the flour into a bowl. Stir in the salt and the sugar. 
2. Blend the butter and egg yolks with 3/4 cups water. 
3. Stir in the 1/2 cup of water/egg mixture, a little at a time with flour, until the dough starts to come together smoothly. Keep kneading the dough, adding more water/egg a little bit at a time as necessary, until the dough is smooth. 
4. The dough will seem a bit shaggy until it has thoroughly chilled. 
5. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour. (you can also store it overnight (or a couple of days) in the refrigerator).
6.  Dough should be soft and smooth.
7. Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and roll into desired thickness.

For making Vegetarian Empanada -(Corn-cheese)
Makes 12 medium-sized empanadas.

• 3 Cups Frozen corn- coarsely chopped

• 1 small onion diced

• 1 Cup Vegetable Broth (Or chicken broth)

• 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter

• 2 tsp Salt (or to taste)

• 1 Tbsp Fresh Thyme, chopped

• 2 tsp Black Pepper

• 2 Tbsp Flour

• 1/2 Cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• 1/2 can cheese

• 1/8 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

Directions

• Heat pan on a medium-high heat, melt butter and cook onion until transparent.
• Add  vegetable broth and chopped corn. Turn down to medium heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes to soften corn.
• Add flour and allow mixture to thicken.
• Add cream, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.
• Add fresh thyme, black pepper and salt. Mix well and keep it aside.  
• Take the rolled dough and place the cooled corn filling on one side of the dough and close it, seal the edges by pressing with a fork. 
• Top with egg wash and bake it at 450F for 20min or till the crust turn brown (check in between)

For Chicken cheese Empanadas substitute Corn with oven roasted chicken and vegetable broth with chicken broth. Me and Emma enjoyed this delicious Empanada's and now it's your turn. I also thank Amelia and her husband for sharing the wonderful recipe with us.   

Noodles Vs Spaghetti; Fried egg Spaghetti

Can you identify the picture below? is it Noodles or Spaghetti. I know, it is difficult to find unless you have tasted it. Noodles and Spaghetti both look alike but they have a big difference form the way of cooking, serving and eating. 

The main ingredient of spaghetti is wheat flour, but noodles can contain different types of ingredients such as rice starch, rice flour, potato starch etc., A good quality of spaghetti is prepared of durum wheat. Noodles originated from China, where as spaghetti from Italy. The way of boiling of noodles to different from spaghetti.  Noodles are boiled in hot water with out any addition of flavor, where as spaghetti is boiled in a salted and herb flavored (optional) hot water with few drops of olive oil.


Noodles are served after stir frying them along with the ingredients where as spaghetti is served with sauce on topping. Generally, spaghetti is had with fork and Noodles with a chopstick. 

Now, enough of the story about their difference and jumping to the recipe.
As mentioned above the cooking of noodles and spaghetti is very different  But, I treat them the same and some times cook spaghetti like noodles and noodles like spaghetti. I do not mind changing the recipes because all that matters is about satisfying our taste buds. Here, I made a fried egg spaghetti with spaghetti sauce.

Ingredients
Spaghetti-1/2 box (100gr)
onion finely chopped-3tbsp
green chili finely chopped-1/4tbsp
olive oil-1tbsp
salt to taste
pepper powder to taste
spaghetti sauce-2tbsp
ginger garlic paste-1/2tbsp
egg-1

Method:

1. Take a deep bottom medium size pan and and fill it with 3/4 volume of water. 
2. Bring water to boil and add 1/4tbsp salt, 2drops of olive oil and pinch of oregano/thyme (optional).
3. Add spaghetti,  and cook till it is done (Make sure you are not over cooking it.
4. Take another thick bottom deep pan and add 1tbsp of olive oil and heat it.
5. Add onion and green chili and cook till onion turns transparent. 
6. Add ginger garlic paste and when the raw flavor goes away, add spaghetti sauce and mix well.
7. Keep stirring and cook for 2more min under medium heat. 
8. Drain water from spaghetti and add to the pan, mix well till all the ingredients are uniformly mixed.
9. Check for salt and pepper and add if required. 
10. Now in the same pan move  the noodles to one side and create an empty space, break open egg and add it on the other side of the noodles.
11. Cook till it obtains a omelet kind of texture, now scramble it  and mix with the spaghetti.
12. Serve hot, Hope you like my recipe and keep visiting for more wonderful recipes. You can also make Noodles in the similar style. I used tomato, mushroom raghu sauce, you can use any kind of sauce or only tomato puree instead of sauce.      

Dhokla with the readymade flour available in the market

Dhokla is one of the dish I always wanted to try, this time I bought some ready made dokla flour form the "Patel brothers" one of the Indian grocery store in our near by area. The ingredients on the pack say that it contains besin (Gram flour) and rice flour. I was little confused, about the kind of ingredients that goes into the recipe. Later I did a little research and came up with my own recipe. It worked, dokla came out wonderfully. I never tasted dokla before, but now after making this yummy and healthy Indian flour cakes, I regret for not tasting them before. Form now dokla always stays in the weekly snack menu of our home.

I feel so dumb sometimes, because I bought dokla flour but forgot the fact that I do not have dokla plates. If your case is same like me, give me "high-5"!! No problem you can use the idli plates instead. Problem solved!  Now coming to the recipe.

Ingredients:
Dokla flour- 1 cup
Curd/ Yogurt-1/2cup

Turmeric-1/4 t.s
Chilli powder-1/4 t.s 
salt-1 t.s
Curry leaves-8
Green coriander-2 tbls
Eno fruit salt-1 t.s

For seasoning:

Mustard seeds- 1/2tbsp

oil-2tbsp

water-3tbsp

Whole green chillies-4

Coriander/cilantro leaves few

fresh grated coconut (optional)

PROCEDURE-
Take curd/yogurt in a bowl, beat well, then mix dhokla flour, turmeric, salt, chopped green chillies, lemon juice and chilli powder and make a semi thick batter with water. Keep aside for 20 minutes,add more water if it became thick.

Grease the plates with oil , add 1/2 t.s eno to the mixture and mix well and pour in to the greased plates and steam them. I used Microwave Idli maker for this process, I kept on high for 7min. Later when the dhoklas are ready wait for  5 minutes and let them set. When the dhoklas are all set remove them from the plates and cut into square or diamond shape pieces.

For seasoning:
Heat 3 tbls of oil in a small pan,add 1 t.s mustard seeds,pinch of asafoetida,,when done ,add 2 tbls of water in it and then garnish this mixture on the top of the dhokls along with coriander/cilantro and fresh coconut

Serve these yummy cakes with mint or coconut chutney. Hope you like my recipe, please leave your valuable comments and keep visitng.  

Lettuce Rice rolls

For me eating raw vegtables and leaves seemed weird before. This is because I am born and brought up in India where the people cook the food with all those delicious spices and eat. I love my food cooked and flavored, but now after tasting many different kinds of salads which are healthy too, I find myself enjoying these kind of foods either. Especially, Iceburg Lettuce it is wonderful leafy vegetable that you  can enjoy every bite of it with any combination you wish, some people like eating it with salads and some like me love eating with fried rice. Now coming to the recipe.

Ingredients:
 Cooked Rice-4 cups(when measured with 160ml cup)
Mint leaves-4 springs
Parsely/Cilantro leaves chopped-10 springs
Celery- 1 stem chopped to fine pieces
Sproted beans handful washed and chopped to half
Pepper powder-1/2tbsp
Salt to taste
Coriander powder-1/4 tbsp
Soy sauce-2tbsp
Green chili-2
Bay leaf-2
Oil-2tbsp
Onions chopped-1/2cup
Lemon juice-2tbsp

For rolling
Iceberg Lettuce-1

Method:
Heat oil in a pan and add bay leaf, beans, celery, onions and green chili. Saute until the raw flavor goes away. Then add coriander powder, soy sauce, salt and pepper powder. Give a quick saute until the all vegetables are well cooked under medium flame. Now add rice, mint leaves and cilantro and mix well. Cook for about 2min under medium flame and squeeze some lemon juice at the end. Let it cool down a little bit because the lettuce leaf is very tender it may loose its crispness when you add hot rice to it.

To seperate leaves from lettuce, hit the stem portion to the cutting board twice then it will become loose and you can pull out the stem easily. Now you are left with leaves and you can easily seperate them. Take water in a bowl and add 1/2tbsp of salt and wash the lettuce leaves in it, keep it aside and let it dry. When the leaves are dry, put some rice in the leaf and fold it, place the folded portion down and serve with your favorite sauce on top. You can enjoy the same with egg fried rice, chicken fried rice etc., it tastes wonderful!!!

Hope you like my recipe, please feel free to post your comments. They are very valuable for me, you can even subscribe by e-mail to my blog, the recipes will reach your inbox. ThanX for visiting my space. Please bookmark it to visit/ remember again. 

Cooking Spagetti with salsa

Spagetti is favorite for everyone especially kids, love to scoop these soft noodles into their mouth. If kids say I am not hungry just make this yummy spagetti and put them on the table, they will run and come to you and finsh the bowl in no time. Spagettin is one wonderful food, that we can make many variations with. I love the way my mother makes, she grinds the tomato, green chili together and adds to the fried noodles by seasoning with salt and pepper. I used to have it very often. The taste of noodles/spagetti changes a lot by the addition of tomato juice, this inspired me to make spagetti with salsa. Now, coming to the recipe

Ingredients:
Spagetti/ Noodles-150 grms (dry weight)
Vegetables (you can prefer any one that you like, here I list the one I took)
Potato chopped in to long pieces-1/4 cup
Onion chopped-1/4 cup
Spring onions chopped-1/2bunch(5 springs)
Capsicum chopped-1/2cup
Pepper powder-1/2ts
soy sauce-2ts
Carrot-1 chopped
cilantro- chop nearly 10 springs
Salt to taste
Salsa(Mild)- 4tbsp
Green chili/ peppers-1 large
vegetable oil-3ts
shredded cheese-1ts (optional)

Directions:

• Take a pan and fill 1/2 a volume of it with water and bring them to boil, add little vegetable oil and very little salt and cook noodles.
• Turn off the stove when the noodles are done cooking, and transfer the noodles to the bowl containing Cold water and keep them aside.
• Now take a skillet and heat 2 ts of vegetable oil, add all vegetables mix and close the lid.
• Saute them in regular intervals under medium flame.
• When all vegetables are cooked add noodles and mix well.
• Add soy sauce, salsa, salt and pepper to taste and mix well..
• Finally add cilantro and turn off the stove, sprinkle some cheese on top and serve hot with cheese/ lemon juice.

Celery and Bean sprouts Fried rice

If you are living in UK/USA, you are obviously craving for Indian food. I know everyone want to find the taste of home in every dish they eat. There are only few vegetables available in the grocery that are Indian such as egg plant, potato, cucumber, capsicum, oakra etc., and leafy vegetables like spinach and cilantro/coriander.

You can also use sprouted beans, celery, squash, parsley and other vegetables. If you do not like to eat celery in salads just throw them in fried rice and enjoy the delicious flavorful fried rice with little twist.

Ingredients:
Cooked Rice-4 cups(when measured with 160ml cup)
Mint leaves-4 springs
Parsely/Cilantro leaves chopped-10 springs
Celery- 1 stem chopped to fine pieces
Sproted beans handful washed and chopped to half
Pepper powder-1/2tbsp
Salt to taste
Coriander powder-1/4 tbsp
Soy sauce-2tbsp
Green chili-2
Bay leaf-2
Oil-2tbsp
Onions chopped-1/2cup
Lemon juice-2tbsp

Method:
Heat oil in a pan and add bay leaf, beans, celery, onions  and green chili. Saute until the raw flavor goes away. Then add coriander powder, soy sauce, salt and pepper powder. Give a quick saute until the all vegetables are well cooked under medium flame. Now add rice, mint leaves and cilantro and mix well. Cook for about 2min under medium flame and squeeze some lemon juice at the end and serve hot.
Hope you like my recipe, please feel free to post your comments. They are very valuable for me, you can even subscribe by e-mail to my blog, the recipes will reach your inbox. ThanX for visiting my space. Please bookmark it to visit/ remember again.

Sweet Paratha with toor dal (Kandi pappu Bobbattu)

For this ugadi I made puran poli and bobattu with toor dal (Click here for Moong dal Version). I already shared Puran poli/Pappu purnam recipe(CLick here for recipe) with you, and now it is time to share Bobattu recipe. My mother used to prepare this for sure on every ugadi, making these kind of traditional recipes and having them will not only make us to follow our traditions, they will also evoke the beautiful memories bound with them. I would like to give the same tradition and culture to kids that my mother gave me (When I have kids though ).


Ingredients:
For inner stuff (Purnam):
Jaggery (grated)/ Sugar -1 Cup
Toor dal (kandi pappu) / chana dal cooked -1 cup
Elachi (Cardamom) powder (Tip: grind by adding 2 spoons of sugar) -1/4 tea spoon.

For Chapati :
Maida - 1 cup
Rice flour -2 tea spoons
Sujii/ bombay ravva/ Upma ravva - 1 table spoon
water- 1 cup
salt - to taste
Others:
Plastic cover (Zip lock bag/ Aluminium foil)--->surface to roll the dough.
Method:

1. Soak toor dal for about an hour and cook it in pressure cooker for 4 whistles.
2. Jaggery + Dal + Elachi powder--> Grinder/ processor---> smooth paste
3. 2 tbl spoon oil + all flours + salt ---> Mix well--->make like chapati dough (wait for 10min)
4. Take a lemon size ball of dough--->keep some oil on plastic bag and roll the dough on the bag to make like chapati.
5. Take a double the lemon size inner batter and wrap it with chapati. (now it should appear like boiled egg).
6. Press gently with hand to make flat disc of DVD size.
7. Heat pan and apply oil and fry the paratha on both sides.
   
8. Serve with ghee (optional) and Enjoy with your loved ones.

Hope you like my recipe, please feel free to post your comments. They are very valuable for me, you can even subscribe by e-mail to my blog, the recipes will reach your inbox. ThanX for visiting my space. Please bookmark it to visit/ remember again.

 TIP: Similarly you can prepare with chana dal (Senaga Pappu) also. Just substitute toor dal with chana dal and follow same directions.

Methi Tomato Rice

Greens are always my favorite in my diet, even my hubby love to have geens every day. My mother used to make mixed geen leaf curry (Kalakura) form spinach(Palakura), sukka kura, methi(menthem kura), bacchal kura and tota kura. I love this curry, it tastes wonderful and good for health, we can rarelay find such type of combos that are made tasty and healthy! Oops I think I deviated from the topic,. So, today I made this wonderful methi rice, I never know that methi rice tastes this good, because I always thought methi is sour in taste so the rice also will taste the same, but to my wonder the rice was that awesome that I and my hubby finsihed it in no time. Try it you will make it again and again like me!!!
 Want to know about calories in Indian food CLICK HERE TO VIEW CALORIE CHART

Ingredients:

Cooked rice-4 cups(Measured with 160ml cup)

Tomato puree- 1 cup(160ml)

Onions finely chopped-1/2cup

Cumin seeds-1/2tbsp

Methi/fenu greek leaves-2cups

Ginger- finely grated-1/2tbsp

Garlic- finely grated-1 tbsp

Green chili-chopped-2 big(depending on the heat you require in the rice)

Salt to taste

pepper powder-1/2tbsp

Curry leaf-5 in number(optional)

Cilantro/coriander-10 springs chopped

Bay leaf-2

Cinnamon stick-1 inch

cardamom -2 cloves

Dhaniya powder/coriander powder-1/2tbsp

oil/butter-2tbsp(I prefer butter,because it gives good flavor)

turmeric-pinch

Directions:

First prepare a curry paste with tomatos+Chili by grinding them together. Take a pan and add 2ts of oil/butter and heat it, to the oil add cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and bay leaves. when all the spices get baked add onions, curry leaf, ginger,garlic,little turmeric, and green peas and fry until the onions are finely cooked. Now, add the first grinded paste, methi leaves and coriander powder and cook until the raw flavor of tomato vanishes. Add cooked rice and mix them. close the lid and cook in simmer for 2min. Finally garnish with cilantro and the delicious dish is ready.

Hope you like my recipe, please feel free to post your comments. They are very valuable for me, you can even subscribe by e-mail to my blog, the recipes will reach your inbox. ThanX for visiting my space. Please bookmark it to visit/ remember again.

Mushroom samosa

Whenever you remember samosa, I know you'll start drooling!!!Afterol it is favorite for everyone!! But suddenly you also remember calories, then you limit yourself to only one!!! Here is an interesting idea make your samosa in a healthy way, so that you can enjoy every bite of it and never worry about calories!! Yes, this mushroom samosa is yummy and low calorie compared to regular samosa!
Want to know about calories in Indian food CLICK HERE TO VIEW CALORIE CHART

Ingredients
Mushrooms chopped to large pieces-1cup
Boiled potato sliced-1cup
Green chili-3 and garlic cloves-2 crushed together
Salt to taste
Turmeric pinch
Amchur powder/ dry mango powder-1/2 tbsp
Chopped cilantro/coriander leaves-1/4 cup
Onion chopped-1/2cup
Jeera/cumin seeds-1/4 tbsp
Oil for deep fry and as required
Maida/ all purpose flour-2 cups( makes 6 samosa)
Voma/ vama/ajwain-1/2 tea spoon
Salt to taste

Method
Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan and add cumin seeds when they splatter add onion and cook till they are tender. Add pinch of turmeric, salt, amchur powder, green chili-garlic paste and mix well. When the mixture is well cooked add potato and mix well. In another pan heat 1tbsp of oil and add mushroom slices and keep cooking them till they are well cooked, mushrooms will release water while cooking carefully remove all the water and keep frying them till they do not release any water, add this mushrooms to potato curry and finally add cilantro leaves mix well and keep it aside. You need not have to cook this mixture again.

To prepare dough for samosa take flour in a bowl and combine salt and ajwain/ vama seeds and mix well. Add 2 tbsp of oil and mix well, finally add water and mix it like a soft chapati/. Roti dough.
To make samosa roll out the maida into chapati/ roti, and keep the mixture in the middle and shape it like samosa. Fry it under medium flame and seeve hot!!
Hope you like my recipe.

Chickpeas burger Patties (Vegetarian Burger) in Indian style

These days I am kind of falling in love with the western food!!!! and I think this is because it is easy to make and I can modify to whatever taste I would like to. Today I made this yummy burger patties they are really delicious and I bet you will love it too!!! The main reason behind making this burgers is my hubby, he has been asking to make sandwiches for the lunchbox, but I felt only sandwich is not good enough for a lunch as he does a laborious work every day in the office. So, I wanted to make a highly proteinaceous and yummy recipe and that is how I came up with the idea of these delicious burgers and now I'm sharing with you!

Want to know about calories in Indian food CLICK HERE TO VIEW CALORIE CHART

Here is the recipe
Ingredients
Chickpeas/Garbanzo beans/ senagalu(white)- 2cups(When measured with 200ml cup)
Cumin seeds-1/2tbsp
Red chili powder-1/2tbsp
Salt to taste
wheat flour-2tbsp
Chopped coriander leaves/cilantro- 1/4cup
grated carrot-1/2cup
Onion finely chopped-1/4cup
Grated ginger-1/2tbsp
chopped garlic-1/2tbsp
Walnut-1/4cup

Method:
Take chickpeas in a medium size bowl and wash them. Soak the overnight in  a water and boil them. Do not cook them till they become mushy. Drain water and take them in a mixie/food processor then add all the above ingredients except carrot, cilantro and onion and grind it. Finally add remaining ingredients and mix well. Taste the mixture and adjust to your taste. If you want to make little Indanised version add chat masala/dry mango powder. Now take handful of mixture and roll it in to a sphere and flatten it. Finish it on all sides so that it remain smooth and there is no air inside it. Spread oil on all sides of the pattie and fry on a griddle. Yummy burger patties are ready!!!

Tip: Kindly note it please, these burgers are very tender, they break easily since there is a very little binding, if you do not mind having egg then I recommend you to add one egg along with onions and carrots and mix well. Egg acts as a super binding agent and also adds moisture and great texture to your patties. If you do not like adding egg then add more wheat flour, if your patties are tender.

For making burger I used 1tomato, 1slice of american cheese, 1tbsp of mayo, 1lettuce leaf and 1 onion ring with whole wheat bread. You can prepare it to your taste.

Apple Rice Pudding/ Kheer

Red delicious apples are one of my favorite apples. Now let me tell you the story about the birth of this kheer. Once up on a time I cooked the plain rice(I mean yesterday ;)), but we could not have them all so some rice was left. The next day I thought to make pudding with soy milk and almond milk. When I opened the refrigerator for milk, I saw an apple lying lonely and staring at me. Then I took it into my hands and said don't worry I will use you too and combined with rice!!!!! and that is how the yummilicious kheer was made. Isn't it interesting!!!!(I know its kinda boring)
Want to know about calories in Indian food CLICK HERE TO VIEW CALORIE CHAR

Ingredients:
Apple-1 large- grated with out pealing
Rice-1 cup(when measured with 200ml cup)
Almond milk-1/4cup(Optional, use regular/soy milk if you do not have it)
soy milk-1/4cup
Regular milk-1/2cup
Sugar-1/2cup
Cardamom powder-1/4tbsp
Nuts and raisins of your taste (I added finely chopped dates, cashew nuts, badam, walnut and yellow raisins)

Method:
Combine all milk and boil it till it reduces half, add rice to this milk and let it cook until it becomes mushy. You can use your spoon to mash rice, if your rice is taking too long to become mushy. In another non stick/thick bottom pan add grated apple and keep sauteing under medium flame till it turns light brown. When the apple is done add sugar and mix well. Cook till all the moisture evaporates. Now combine rice mixture to the apple mixture and mix well. Check for the taste add sugar if you need more. Cook this mixture in the medium heat by mixing it continuously till all the liquid in the mixture evaporates.

In the next step you can do the either way form these two methods
Method 1:
High calorie but delicious:
Heat 2tbsp of ghee(Clarified butter)/butter in a pan and add the nuts such as walnuts, cashew nuts, raisins, dates and saute till they are golden brown and add to the pudding and mix well. serve chill or hot it depends on how you like.

Method 2:
Add all your raisins and nuts directly to the pudding and mix well. This is also delicious but if you want to taste the traditional Indian flavor prefer method 1.(it is OK once in a while to have high calorie food!!!)

Oops I forgot to mention when you finish your dish turnoff the stove and add cardamom powder and mix well. (I bet your house will be filled with wonderful aroma and every one will start craving until you serve!!! I really enjoyed this recipe, hope you will love it too! please leave your valuable comment before leaving :))
 Sending this to the event "ABC series- Fruit Fiesta"

Black eyed peas and Split green gram Burger patties

I love this recipe for green gram and black eyed peas patties because its easy to make as well as tasty, two of my favorite qualities in a recipe! They aren't quite firm enough to toss grill, but are good for and very nutritious.
Want to know about calories in Indian food CLICK HERE TO VIEW CALORIE CHART

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup dry split green gram
• 1/2cup black eye peas
• 2 carrots grated
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 slices bread, crumbled
• 1 tbsp of freshly chopped garlic
• 10 springs of cilantro/parsely/coriander  chopped
• 1/4cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
• salt and pepper to taste
• oil for frying
• Amchur powder/chat masala---optional

Preparation:

Soak beans over night and cook them in a cooker, for 2 whistles. Cook them fine but keep an eye on it so that it may not turn mushy. Filter all water after cooking and dry them on a paper towel.

Sautee the onions and garlic till soft, about 3-5 minutes in 1tbsp of oil. In a large bowl, mash the beans until almost smooth(Let the some beans remain intact). Add sauteed onions and the rest of the ingredients, except the oil, adding the flour a few tablespoons at a time to combine well. Mixture will be thick.

Form bean mixture into patties, approximately ½ inch thick. Take plain flour in a bowl and dust the patties with flour and  fry patties in a small amount of oil until slightly firm.
Make veggie burgers with your favorite vegges, I made them with slice of tomato, onion and american cheese, mayo and mustard!
enjoy!!! :)


Click here for Chickpea Vegetable Burger
Click here for blackeyed peas burger
Click here for Indian food calorie chart


Nutrition Information (From calorie count):Servings: 8
Calories per serving: 294
Calories from Fat: 11
Total Fat: 1.2g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 25mg
Total Carbohydrates: 55.3g
Dietary Fiber:11.3g, 45% RDA
Protein: 16.8g
Vitamin A 0%, Vitamin C 1%, Calcium 10%, Iron 23%, based on a 2000 calorie diet

Sending for the event Fast food not fat food by UMA of My kitchen experiments

Puffed rice- Murmurala upma with celery and capsicum

Puffed rice( muramuralu) 6 cups
Green chili finely chopped 1/2 tbsp
Lemon juice 3 tbsp
Oil 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds 1-2 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1-2 tbsp
Red chili 1
Onion 1 cup divided
Salt to taste
Cilantro/ coriander enough for garnishing optional
Curry leaf optional
Roasted chana dal powder-2tbsp
Celery 1 stalk finely chopped
capsicum-chopped 1/4cup



Method
Soak puffed rice in a vessel with 10 cups of water for about 5 min. Mean while heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and allow them to splatter. Then add cumin seeds & curry leaf and wait till they pop up. Now add 1/2 cup onions, green chili, capsicum &celery and sauté till they are well cooked. Add turmeric powder and sauté till raw flavor goes away. Add lemon juice and salt. Then squeeze out water from puffed rice and add it to the pan and mix well. Cook fow 3 min under medium flame sauting in regular intervals. Add remaining 1/2 cup onions and mix well. You can add 2 tbsp of roasted gram dal powder( putanala podi) which enhances the taste. You can garnish with coriander and serve if you wish. Hope you like my recipe.

Vegetable Spring rolls with Indian Flavors

These are the delicious rolls, that are crisp out side and soft inside. The filling inside the spring rolls can be made to our taste. I like Indian flavors so I prepared it in Indian style.here re the few tips for making the perfect spring rolls. Adding more spices will destroy the taste of the spring roll. Less amount of spices including salt will make you to enjoy the beautiful and unique flavor of a spring roll. Do not stuff your spring roll with lots of stuffing mixture, just add a spoon full, it should be good. While rolling a spring roll, roll it tight so that no spaces are left inside the filling. While frying it try to fry it on a medium heat so that the inner part also gets cooked.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW CALORIE CHART

Ingredients:
Serves:2
Serving size:3
Spring roll sheets: 6
Cabbage finely chopped-1cup
Tofu shreaded-1/4cup(optional)
Carrot shredded-1/2cup
Onion finely chopped-1/2cup
Spring onion- chopped-5
Grated potato-3tbsp
Ginger paste-1tea spoon
garlic paste- tea spoon
Cumin powder-1/2tbsp
pepper powder to taste
Salt to taste
1tbsp of maida/all purpose flour mixed with 2tbsp of water-to stick edges(You can use egg wash if you wish)
oil-1tbsp
Oil for frying spring rolls

Method:
Heat oil in a pan and add all vegetables and cook by closing the pan, keep stirring them in between. when the vegetables are 80% done add ginger, garlic, cumin powder, salt and pepper powder. Addition of soy sauce is optional, if you would like to add 1tbsp should be enough. Mix all the ingredients well and cook in the open pan, allowing all the moisture to escape. The filling should look dry, if there is still any moisture left, keep stirring and cook it on medium flame till it becomes dry. Now take the curry and allow it to cool.

Take the spring roll sheets out of the refrigerator and cover them with a damp cloth, this will help them from drying out. Now take one sheet and put the filling on one corner as shown, roll it tightly and stick the final edge with all purpose flour.
Heat oil in  a skillet and fry them under medium heat and enjoy with ketchup/tomato sauce. Generally these spring rolls are deep fried, if you wish you can deep fry them either.
Hope you like my recipe.
I'll post several variations on this spring rolls soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!till then keep visiting my blog.