Breakfast porridge or kanji

Hello friends,

I was bored of cooking up the same Akuri and French toast for Sunday breakfast.  Hence today I tried to make a healthy bowl full of goodness i.e. Porridge. Porridge is a thick, warm type food especially prepared  for breakfast. We all till date remember the famous fairy tale - Goldilocks and the three bears, and all about that delicious porridge. Isn't it?

I made a really quick porridge ( kheer) with some easily available ingredients. The best part it that there was no added sugar in it. Instead I used natural sweeteners in the form of dates and raisins.

Let me also tell all my readers, that there is no right or wrong while preparing  a recipe. If you feel you want to add sugar or jaggery  in this recipe please go ahead and do so. These days people tend to be more health conscious than ever and want to have wholesome and healthy dishes instead.

Ingredients

To make two bowls of porridge

1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 cup fine jowar atta (read for options)
250 ml milk
I/2  tsp powdered cardamom (elaichi)
Few chopped dates
Handful of raisins
Honey to sweeten on table (optional)

Porridge can be made with  with rice, barley, oatmeal or any other grains like jowar, bajra or even millets.

Method

1. I had leftover jowar chapattis, so in a dry mixer the chapattis were ground to make powder like in the picture below. You can take grain you have at home. Make one cup of it.

2. In  a medium size deep bottom pan, add the flour and half the milk to bring to a boil. Lower heat to gentle simmer.

3. Add  the cardamom , cinnamon, chopped dates and raisins. Stir and cook till milk thickens.

4. Cover and leave until the consistency thickens. Add a little more milk every time the porridge's consistency thickens.

5. Switch off the gas and serve the porridge in bowls topped with chopped almonds.

Well some like it hot, some like it cold but definitely not nine days old.

Note - Add honey to sweeten on the table but I feel we all need to develop that light sweet taste instead of an overtly sugary taste our Indian palate is used too.

Happy Stirring and happy Sunday to all. 

Matar Paneer Gravy in 10 minutes

Hello Friends,

Its been ten days now, my maid Sujata has gone to her village. However much I like to cook, the prep of cutting vegetables and washing after cooking  is not what I like to do. So I am being a real chor in the kitchen these days and taking short cuts.
This morning, I just got up and impromtu decided to cook as early as 9 AM. Rummaged my refrigerator to find I just had a block of paneer and no veggies besides onions and tomatoes. The deep fridge has some frozen peas. So I decided to quickly do a Matar- Paneer.

So check out the ingredients and method to follow. Infact you can alter some ingredients according to what you have in your kitchen . Tamarind instead of tomatoes or even some other dry spices you wish to try. Cooking is all about experimenting and creativity. So get your apron on and Cook with Sweetannu

Ingredients

For making gravy:
1 tbsp oil
2 medium size onions
3 small green
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
4 medium size tomatoes
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
Salt to taste

Other ingredients needed

I cup fresh /frozen peas
250 gms paneer
Few curry leaves
1 tbsp cooking oil
Corriander for garnish

Method

Making of onion tomato gravy:

1. Add oil in a pan, into it add finely chopped onions and saute for few minutes till translucent.
2.Add green chillies, ginger garlic paste and saute for few minutes until raw smell disappears.
3. Add chopped tomatoes to it, saute for few minutes.
4.Add salt, red chilli powder turmeric powder, mix well and cook until the tomatoes till oil leaves the side and tomatoes are cooked.
5. Now add this mixtur into a blender and blend into a fine smooth paste.

For the Matar Paneer:

6. Cut one inch pieces of the paneer.

7. Also boil the peas for five minutes and strain and keep aside.
8.Take a pan, add oil to it. Now add curry leaves and let it splutter.

9. Add the onion tomato puree, boiled peas and paneer cubes.
10.. Let it cook on slow for 5 minutes.
11. Check for salt, add if you feel its less.
12. Garnish with corriander leaves.

13. Serve hot with roti and salad.

Now isn't that an easy dish. Just pray that Sujata is back soon and I enjoy cooking up more tasty dishes.

Vegetarian Dhansak Dal Recipe

Hello friends,

I have been getting many requests from my vegetarian foodie friends to share a veg version of the dhansak daal. So here I am today to cook up an equally tasty vegetarian masala dhansaak dal you can savour with brown rice and cacchumber.

There is alot of nutrition value in the dal due to the added vegetables so don't  strain out the dal after boiling to retain all the fibre.

Ingredients

For Dal 

1 cup tuvar dal
1/2 cup masoor dal
1/2 cup channa dal
1 potato
1/4 doodhi ( bottle gourd)
1 meduim sized brinjal
1 small piece of pumpkin
2 large tomatoes
2 green chillies
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp kasturi methi

Masalas

2 tsp Dhansak masala (Everest or any other brand)
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp ghee/oil
2 tbsp tamarind paste
1 chopped onion
Salt to taste
A dash of vinegar and sugar ( optional)

Method

For the dal

1. Wash all the dals and let it soak for an hour minimum.

2. Chop the veggies except onions and add to dal with salt, turmeric powder, green chillies and ginger garlic paste.  Add enough water to let them veggies be soaked.

3. Pressure cooker this for three to four whistles.

4. Let the cooker come to room temperature, open lid and grind all of this to a paste.


For the dhansak dal masala

1. Heat ghee in a pan, add finely chopped onions and saute them till they become transparent.

2. Add the dhansak masala, red chilli powder, garam masala and saute it for 3-4 minutes.

3. Now add the lentils and veggies blended paste mixture.

4. Let it simmer on slow flame for a 5-6 minutes and then add the tamarind paste.

5. Let it thicken, add a dash of vinegar and sugar.

6. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

7. Serve it with a onion/cucumber/ tomato salad and brown dhansak rice.

Surmai fish curry with tamarind and coconut

Hello Friends,


I just realized that I have posted many chicken recipes and hardly any for fish. Actually eating fish is very healthy as its lower in fat content. Some oily fish are a rich source of healthy omega-3 fatty acids. It's also packed with protein, vitamin B-12 and selenium. I can go on and on with its health benefits but lets get cooking with Surmai (King fish) and make a spicy sour curry with tamarind and coconut milk. 

 
 

Fish is very delicate and doesn't take time to cook like chicken or mutton. King fish has no scales, is an oily fish with only one bone in the middle. It is indeed a fleshy and tasty fish. Note the ingredients this fish curry needs. It can be achieved in 30 minutes or under.

Fresh King Fish

  Ingredients

·        500 gms Kingfish (you can use pomfret too)

·        2 tbsp grated coconut

·        2 tbsp oil

·        2 chopped onions

·        2  chopped tomatoes

·        1 tsp mustard seeds (rai)

·        ½ tsp turmeric

·        1 tsp red chilli powder 

·        1 sprig curry leaves

·        100 gms coconut milk

·        100 gms tamarind pulp 

·        2 cups water 

·        1 tsp ginger garlic paste

·        1 tsp garam masala 

Method 

For Masala

1. Fry the chopped onions in 1 tbsp oil until lightly golden. Add grated coconut curry leaves, garam masala and chilly powder
2. Add the tomatoes to this. Let it all cook together.  
3. Now when this mixture is cool; blend it in a mixer to make a coarse paste. If needed add 2 tbsp water to blend well.
   
   
   For Curry  
1. Add one tbsp oil to the kadai.To the oil  add mustard seeds and let them splutter.
2. Now add the ground masala mixture to the oil and saute it for 5 minutes. 
3. Now add the ginger garlic paste and turmeric powder to this
4.  Add tamarind pulp and coconut milk with one  cup water. Bring it to a boil. Cook until the oil begins to separate and the gravy thickens a bit.
5.  Place the washed pieces of fish slowly and cook on a medium heat cover and cook for 5 more minutes.
6. Add salt to taste.
7. Garnish with coriander leaves. 
   

Serve with pride on the dining table with steamed rice, papad, salad..... and. Oh, I missed the pickle in this picture. But you can add a spoonful of pickle on your plate because it will only enhance the taste of the tamarind fish curry  to make it a finger licking experience.

If you have any queries be free to ask me in the comments below.