Sambar Idli Recipe | Hotel Style Sambar Idlis | Mini Idli Sambar Recipe

Today's recipe is an another popular South Indian food, Sambar Idli Recipe. Sambar Idli is nothing but soft mini idlis dunked in ghee flavored Sambar. The Sambar Idlis will be soft and soaked well in hot sambar, full of flavors and taste. My kids doesn't like Idli with Sambar or Chutney poured on top of Idlis. They prefer served in separate dipping bowl. But, recent years they started liking Sambar Idlis with ghee and some finely chopped onions on top. I also prefer to grease mini idli plates with ghee instead of oil for extra flavor and taste. Homemade Ghee gives special flavor and taste. Sambar Idli is one wholesome meal best for growing children to have for their breakfast. 

Paneer Fried Rice Recipe / How to Make Paneer Fried Rice - Indo-Chinese Style Recipe

My kids love all varieties of Indo-Chinese recipes and Paneer recipes a lot. So why not to combine both and made a simple yet flavor rich rice recipe, Paneer Fried Rice. Instead of adding plain paneer pieces I just spiced up paneer with dry spice powders and roasted in Cast Iron pan before adding it to the rice. This way the paneer was crispy and tasty and everyone at home loved it. You can serve the roasted paneer separately along with some grilled vegetables as a started/side.

Palak Khichdi Recipe / InstantPot Spinach Dal Rice / Palak Dal Khichdi Using InstantPot

Hello all, Good to be back after 4 years. Hope to keep my website active from now on and planning to update recipes frequently. Heartfelt thanks to my followers who kept emailing me now and then for updates & recipes. Some of your messages motivated me to come back.

Paneer Kolhapuri Recipe | Easy Paneer Recipe | No Onion No Garlic Curry Recipe

Paneer Kolhapuri recipe with step by step pictures. Paneer Kolhapuri is an another easiest Paneer recipe that can be made in jiffy without onions and garlic. Yes.,this recipe does not require onions and garlic. Paneer Kolhapuri is a rich, spiced and creamy tomato based curry.

Palak Paneer Recipe | Indian Cottage Cheese In Spinach Gravy | Paneer Spinach Curry

Palak Paneer or Indian Cottage Cheese/Paneer in Spinach Gravy is a North Indian Side dish that is loved by most of the people around the world. It is also one of the most Popular Vegetarian Restaurant Menu. I have tried few varieties of spinach gravy with Potato(Aloo Palak), cauliflower(Gobi Palak), channa(channa Palak), Tofu(Tofu Palak) and Paneer. Of all the recipes I loved this Palak/Spinach curry a lot. This is a very mild palak/spinach gravy without any fancy masala and more ingredients. I got this recipe from my Neighbor Aunt. I have tried this recipe a couple of times and everytime it turned out awesome. This Palak Paneer can be made in a jiffy, this is a must try recipe for those whole love spinach and paneer.

Soya Chunks Brown Rice Biryani / Soya Chunks Biryani Using Brown Rice / Brown Rice Biryani Recipe!

Today's recipe is a healthy, flavorful and delicious one pot meal Soya Chunks Biryani using Brown Rice. For more than 2 years i am using brown rice for my meals. I have tried more recipes with brown rice before but biryani, this is the first time. For May month's Shh secretly cooking challenge i was paired with Manjula of Desi Fiesta and she gave Brown Rice and Cilantro as the secret ingredients and in turn i gave her wheat flour and Pepper. She made healthy Wheat Dosa with Pepper. And i am here with Soya Chunks Brown Rice Biryani.

Punjabi Kadhi Pakora / Punjabi Kadhi With Pakora ~ Punjabi Recipes!!

Today's post is an Authentic Punjabi Kadhi recipe / Punjabi Kadhi Pakora recipe which I learnt from my Neighbor Aunt. After moving to Aurora, we are happy to have two Indian Neighbors. And the two families are so kind, caring and helping people. Really am blessed to have such people around us. I am lucky to have such people around me after 3 years. Yes.,for the past 3 years we don't have any Indian neighbors. One of the neighbor family is from Punjab and the other family is from Himachal Pradesh. So you can expect more recipes from Punjab & Himachal Cuisine soon.

Paneer Pasta / Curried Paneer Pasta / Indian Style Cheese Pasta

Paneer Pasta / Indian style Cheesy Pasta / Curried Paneer Pasta recipe with step by step photos. Paneer Pasta is my kids' recent favorite Pasta. My kids love both Paneer & Pasta a lot and when both combined in a single dish is a super duper feast for them.

Green Tomato Dal / Green Tomato Pappu / Tomatillo Lentils Curry

Today's recipe is simple, easy to make comfort side dish Dal curry using Green tomato / Tomatillo & Masoor dal/Red Lentils. This is a quick & simple recipe just involves cooking of dal and seasoning. This kind of simple recipes comes in handy to make our busy weekdays' lunch more easy and healthy. As it is a mild or less spicy recipe kids will definitely love it. You can serve this dal/pappu with rice and topped with ghee or sesame oil. My kids love this dal with rice and dosa. Best and easy side dish for rice to serve kids.

For a change, With the simple dal/Pappu i added tomatillos and the  Tomatillo pappu tasted mild tangy and delicious. I served this Tomatillo pappu with rice for lunch and rotis for dinner. Tomatillos more or less like the raw tomato in taste and i even tried chutney with it (to be blogged soon). Now off to the recipe..

Green Tomatoes and Tomatillos are not same, i mean here that you can use either green tomato or tomatillo for making this dal. So don't confuse that both green tomato and tomatillo are same.

Broccoli Pesto Pasta / Creamy Broccoli Pesto Pasta / Whole Grain Penne Pasta With Broccoli Pesto

I rarely make Pasta/Macroni/Sphagetti recipes since my H doesn't like pasta so only for me and my kids i make once in a bluemoon. That too will use only whole grain pasta in my recipes. After a very long time made this super quick, healthy and yummy Broccoli Pesto Pasta. Love Broccoli in any form, when i saw this broccoli pesto in Raks Kitchen immediately i bookmarked it and finally today made this Yummy Pasta with slight variation. I have seen in some of the recipes adding greek yogurt or cream to broccoli pesto pasta so i tried adding hung curd/fresh thick curd and it worked out and the pasta turned out so creamy and yummy with broccoli crunch. My lil' one totally loved this pasta i did not add Parmesan cheese to my pasta its totally a low calorie and healthu version. You can serve it as a meal or as a salad. Either way its yummy and filling. Now to the recipe...

Bread Veggie Balls / Bread Vegetable Rolls / Bread Croquettes ~ Easy Bread snack recipes!

Recently noticed that I did not post any snack recipe in my blog for long time, so i wanted to share some easy n quick snack. So started squeezing my brain to make something interesting, filling n quick snack which is loved by both kids and adults. Then went on a hunt in my kitchen and noticed that my bread has to be used within a day, so decided to make a snack using the bread slices and thus this bread veggie balls born :)

Hariyali Dal / Greens & Lentils Curry

Today's recipe is easy and healthy, comfort side dish made using Dal/Moong dal and Greens combo. Hariyali means "Green" or Green colored, so Hariyali Dal means dal curry with greens n green color. I saw this recipe in a cookery show long back and had tried this many time and now its one of our family fav side dish. This curry goes well with both rice n rotis. I slightly tweaked the recipe to my taste, very healthy n nutritious side dish. For this recipe i used both Spinach and Methi Leaves and also Cilantro for Greens and Moongdal. But its traditionally made using masoor dal. This is so easy to make very healthy n filling Side dish.

Beets Potato Paneer Paratha / Aloo Beets Paneer Stuffed Paratha - Easy Kids Lunch Box Recipe.

Actually i started to make cutlets with beets and potatoes for Valentine special savory snack and i  made cute pink colored heart shaped cutlets and also the cutlets come out so good and i even clicked around 40-50 pictures. But due to low lighting the pictures were too bad and turned out so dark n grainy ones. I wan't upset because its an expected one since it was around 4.00 pm when i set everything to click pics. So with that doubt I kept some stuffing in the fridge to make the cutlets again in the morning but next day i changed my mind and instead of cutlets made this yummy and filling Parathas along with some crumbled paneer. There's not much cooking involved in the stuffing-beets potato paneer preparation except boiling potatoes which also requires only 15 or less time, so u can make the filling within 20 minutes.

Chinese Veg Fried Rice / Vegetable Fried Rice - Chinese Restaurant Style

We love Chinese Food - Fried Rice, Broccoli in Hot Garlic Sauce, Spring Rolls, Garlic Chicken, Tofu Coconut Curry and veg noodles are our most fav and constant restaurant order. Once in a month we used to go Chinese Restaurants  - Panda Hut, P.F. Chang's China Bistro. Even my kids love this Chinese Fried Rice. Its my long time wish to recreate their Fried Rice & Broccoli in Hot sauce. And finally made it last weekend for our lunch. Traditionally Chinese Fried Rice are made with a day or two days old Cooked Rice(cold Rice) and also in restaurants they use Jasmine/Long grain rice but I used Basmati Rice. Except the rice flavor n taste, got the 90% Restaurants' Fried rice taste, texture and flavor.

Poosanikkai Puli Kootu / Puli Kootu Recipe / Tangy Ash gourd & Lentils Curry

Today's recipe is a south Indian traditional recipe, very healthy and filling side dish made using lentils and ash gourd. This is a tamarind based curry and i first time tried this recipe from Vardhini's CooksJoy. This recipe was recommended to me by my sister who is one of Vardhini's follower :) We usually make kootu without tamarind and i had already posted a 3 different version of koottu. This Puli kottu is entirely different from my family version and so my sister wanted to try this recipe using cluster beans as per the original recipe. And it was liked by her family members and she recommended me to try this kootu. So without any second thought I tried this puli kootu with poosanikkai and it turned out so good, even my little one liked it with rice. Thanks Vardhini for this yummy recipe, we loved it!

Vegetable Biryani I

   This time i made this veggie biryani with addition of nuts n greens paste...which turned out to a rich and more flavorful biryani.I served simply with boiled eggs n raitha.You too try this version n tell me how it turned out to you.
Still sometimes i wont get updates from the blogs i am following...tats y not able to visit your yummy recipes in time n post my thoughts...so don't mistake me will try to keep watching you... :))

Ingredient

1. Basmati rice  2 cups
2. Mixed vegetable   2-3 cups(carrots,beans,peas,cauliflower & broccoli) 
3. Ginger garlic paste   2 tbsp
4. Green chillies   3 no.s(slitted)
5. Onion    2 medium(sliced)
6. Tomato   2 no.s(chopped)
7. Turmeric powder    1/2 tsp
8. Salt    as needed
9. Oil/ghee    2-3 tbsp

To wet grind

1. Almonds    8-10 no.s
2. Cashew nuts    8-10 no.s
3. Coconut    1-2 tbsp(shredded)
4. Fennel seeds    1 tsp
5. Dry red chillies    4-5 no.s
6. Coriander leaves    1 handful + few
7. Mint leaves   1 handful
8. Curry leaves    1 sprig.

To temper

1. Black Jeera   1/2 tsp
2. Clove   5 no.s
3. Cardamom  3-4 no.s
4. Cinnamon  2" stick
5. Bay leaf   2 no.
6. Star anise 1 no.

Method

• Soak almond and cashew nuts in warm water for 10 minutes and then grind it along with other "wet Grind" ingredients to a fine paste and keep aside.
• Wash and cut the vegetables to your desired shape n size and keep aside.(you can use any no. of veggies,paneer,mushroom n toasted bread slices also).
• wash and soak basmati rice for 30minutes,drain and fry them separately in a pan and keep aside.
• Heat oil in a non stick vessel,add the tempering ingredients one by one and fry lightly and add sliced onions and slitted green chillies and saute nicely.
• Then add ginger garlic paste and turmeric powder and fry till raw smell leaves.

• And now add the chopped tomatoes and saute till soft but not too mushy add the grounded masala paste and fry for 2-3 minutes.

• then add the cut vegetables and mix well and fry till oil separates.
• Add enough salt and water stir well and add some more fresh finely chopped cilantro n mint leaves and allow the gravy to boil.

• When it starts boiling add the fried rice and cook till rice get cooked and close it with a lid tightly and allow to be in Dhum for 15 minutes and the yummy spicy vegetable biryani is now ready.

• Serve hot with any  gravy or simply with raitha.

You can also transfer the entire content(after adding water n rice) to a microwave safe bowl and cook for 20-22 minutes or to a electric  cooker and cook till done.

Mushroom Biryani Recipe | Easy Mushroom Biryani Recipe

For the first time I tasted Mushroom in the form of Mushroom Biryani in one of my friend's wedding party. After tasting that biryani I started liking it but hesitate to cook. So we mostly eat it in the restaurants only either as biryani nor Mushroom Masal Roast. Then after coming to US,  started cooking it and I mostly prefer the sliced mushrooms box which is easy to handle and also quick to prepare. Just requires a gentle wash...

vegetable biryani

This is very simple n basic version of Vegetable Biryani. I mostly make this for Weekend lunch, easy n aromatic preparation. You can add any vegetables of your choice.