Recipe Fundas!-Simple,Tasty, Healthy Vegetarian recipes for a Vibrant Living!

Ingredients: 1. Ragi Flour- 1 cup 2. Sugar- 1.5 cup 3. Ghee- 1 cup Procedure: 1. Mix 1 cup of ragi flour with 1 cup of water and keep it in a thick bottom pan. 2. Add 1.5 cup of sugar and mix well. 3. Once the sugar dissolves, add ghee and keep stirring continuosly. 4. You can add the food color (aft.mixing with water) and this is optional. 5. Once the ghee starts to separate, the Ragi flour or Kezhviragu Halwa is ready. This will taste like Kaashi Halwa.

Ragi Flour Porridge: This is a tasty dish, of rural S.India.  1. Mix 1.5 cup of Ragi flour with nearly 10 cups of water, so that there are no lumps.  2. Heat the mixture in medium flame for about 5-10 min and keep stirring continuously, until it becomes soft. This should be like Halwa consistency  3. Now, switch off the stove, and allow it to cool overnight. 4. 1 raw onion (chopped finely), 2-3 chopped green chillies and yoghurt of 1 cup. 4. The Ragi Flour Porridge is ready to serve. This tastes great when served hot.

For the benefit of my non-Indian friends, I am posting this... 1. Boil 1 cup of full cream milk 2. Add 1 tbsp of tea powder (indian made: 3 Roses/ Chakra Gold etc) and add 1-1.5 tbsp of sugar. 3. Add 1 tbsp of powdered cardamom/tea masala (that you can buy in places like Little India) and mix well. 4. Once the mixture boils, strain using a tea strainer and your Masala Tea is ready.

This recipe does not have milk and involves only cooked rice, jaggery and sumptous amount of ghee. 1. Take 1 cup of cooked rice 2. Take 1.5 cups of powdered jaggery and add this jaggery to a pan and add water and keep stirring until the jaggery dissolves. 3.Once all the jaggery has dissolved, add the cooked rice and add 3/4 cup of ghee. Let this mixture cook. This is something kids will love. You can also garnish with raisins and cashews (fried in ghee). This tastes great when served hot (with good amount of ghee- Calorie conscious folks- Beware!).

Ingredients: 1. Semolina: 1 cup (broken)and fried in ghee 2. Milk- 3 cups 3. Sugar- 2- 2.5 cups 4. Cardamom powder- 1 tbsp 5. Raisins and Cashew -(4-5)- Fried in ghee. Procedure: 1. Add semolina and milk to a pan and let the semolina cook in milk. 2. Add sugar and cardamom powder and keep stirring. 3. Once the semolina is cooked well, add the raisins and cashew (already fried in ghee). This is another famous payasam in T.Nadu

Ingredients: 1. Moong dhal- 1 cup 2. Jaggery: 1.5 cup 3. Milk- 2 cups 4. Cardomom powder- 1 tbsp 5. Cashew-4 ; Raisins-4 Procedure: 1. Pressure cook moong dhal, adding lil water for 3 whistles 2. Powder Jaggery. 3. In a pan, add jaggery and moong dhal (cooked), add milk and let this boil. (Cook in low flame and keep stirring constantly). 4. In another pan, add 1-2 tbsp of ghee and add cashew and raisins and add these to the boiling moong dhal, milk mixture. Add cardamom powder also. Once these come to a boil, switch off the stove and payasam is ready to be served. This is the traditional payasam (kheer) of TamilNadu.

Another side disk for Chapathi. Ingredients: 1. Rajma dhal- 1 cup 2. Onion- 1 Big chopped 3. Tomatoes- 1 big chopped 4. Channa flour- 2 tbsp 5. Turmeric powder- 1/2 tbsp 6. Chilli powder- 1 tbsp; Garama masala- 1 pinch 7. Salt- as required. Procedure 1. Soak the Rajma dhal for about 5-6 hours and pressure cook for 3 whistles. 2. In a pan, add 2 tbsp of oil and add onion and tomatoes. Once these are cooked, add turmeric powder, chilli powder, garam masala and cooked rajma. When all this starts to boil, mix channa flour with 1/4 cup of water and add this to the cooking mixture. 3. Add salt as required and switch off after 2 minutes

Ingredients: 1. Tamarind- 1 big lemon size 2. Coriander seeds - 3 tbsp 3. Red chillies- 8 4. Channa dhal- 1 tbsp 5. Groundnnut- 2 tbsp 6. Mustard seeds and curry leaves for seasoning 7. Gingelly oil- 2 tbsp 8. Turmeric- 1/2 tbsp 9. Jaggery- 1 tbsp and salt as required Procedure: 1. Soak the tamarind in water and extract thick juice. 2. Dry roast coriander seeds and grind it with red chillies. 3. Fry ground nuts in 2 tbsp of oil and keep aside 4. In a pan, add oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves and channa dhal. Once these start splattering, add tamarind juice (after reducing heat). 5. Add turmeric powder and the ground mixture. Add salt as required and about 1 tbsp of jaggery and add 2 tbsp of gingelly oil and mix well. 6. Let all this boil and become to a paste like consistency. Then, switch of heat. You can mix this with rice and have as tamarind rice. A famous rice of TamilNadu temples.

Ingredients: 1. Sooji- 1 cup 2. Curd- 1 cup 3. Salt- as required 4. Turmeric- 1/8 of the tbsp 5. Lemon juice- 2 tbsp 6. Green chillies- 2 (chopped nicely) Mix all the above ingredients and Leave aside for 1/2 hour. Then, add 1 tbsp of Eno salt and mix well. Grease a container with oil and add the mixture. In an open pan, add water in the bottom and place the container (with the dhokla mixture) and cook with closed lid, for about 10 minutes. Switch off the stove and let this container cool. Invert the container in a plate and cut into small cubes. Season with mustard seeds and serve with Coriander Chutney

This is a tasty side dish for Chapathi, Paratta and Idiappam To Grind: 1. Grated Coconut- 5 tbsp 2. Cashew Nuts- 4 3. Cardomom-3 4. Clove- 4 5. Dhalia- 2 tbsp 6. Coriander seeds-1.5 tbsp 7. Green chillies- 4 8. Ginger- 1 tbsp 9. Garlic- 1-2 10. Cinnamon stick- 1 (small) Others: 1. Onion- 1 big (chopped in fine pieces longitudinally). 2. Peas - 1 cup or mix vegetables- 1 cup 3. Green chilli- 1 slit lengthwise 4. Cumin seeds- 1 tbsp 5. Curd- 2 tbsp 6. Milk- 1/4 cup 7. Coriander powder- 1 tbsp 8. Salt- to taste Procedure: 1. In a pan, add 3 tbsp of oil and add cumin seeds. 2. Once the cumin seeds starts splattering, add onion & green chilli and fry. Once the onion is fried well (color changes), add the vegetables and coriander powder and add 1/2 a glass of water. 3. When the mixture starts boiling, add the ground paste. This mixture will give a thick consistency. Now add curd and let this boil for a minute. Then add the milk and simmer the stove. Add salt and transfer the contents int

Lil did I remember the word, Yoghurt when I kept asking in Brussels for Curd. Some of us buy Yoghurt from the shops. If you are interested in making the yoghurt yourself, you can boil Amul Full Cream Milk or the Australian Full Cream milk (For those living outside India). Keep stirring, when the milk is boiling. Once the milk boils, let it cool and add a 1/4 tbsp of Yoghurt of your choice and leave aside for 10 hours. Yoghurt helps to improve the good bacteria in the digestive tract, cools the body. In India, the term " Panchakavyam " is used to describe all the five produts that we get from Cow. Milk, Yoghurt, Butter, Ghee and Cow's dung are considered to have medicinal properties. After a spicy meal, I just use 1 cup of curd, lil salt, asafoetida and blend in a blender for 1/2 a minute and we get the best drink- Buttermilk which my husband also loves! Alternate uses of Yoghurt: 1. If the yoghurt has set nicely, the cream in the milk will be in the top. You can apply it

If you are someone who loves spicy items, then this is something that you can try. Ingredients: 1. Green Chillies- 10 2.Jaggery- 1 1tbsp 3.Gingelly oil- 2 tbsp 4. Sunflower oil & Mustard to Saute 5. Salt- as required. 6. Optional- Asafoetida (1 pinch), Turmeric powder- 1 pinch. How to make Green Chilli Thokku 1. Grind green chillies adding lil water in a blender. 2. In a pan, add oil and mustard and asafoetida. Once the mustard starts splattering, add the ground mixture, tumeric powder. 3. Add jaggery and salt as required. 4. Let the mixture come to a boil. 5. Once it comes to a paste like consistency, add gingelly oil and store in an airtight container.