Sago/ Sabbakki Idly

I was cleaning my pantry and found some Sabbakki/Sago seeds. The only dish i knew with this was sabbakki payasa/Sago kheer, Which I wasn't in a mood to make but wanted to try something new with this. Upma is one more dish I know, but nobody likes that in my family. So I started my hunt and found this recipe on some blog, So I thought why not give it a try and ....it turned out so good and I liked it. So its a keep for sure.

Ingredients:

1cup Sabbakki/Sago seeds
1cup yogurt
1/2cup Fine sooji
cilantro leaves chopped
1tsp Oil
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1/2tsp Urad dal
1/2tsp channa dal
1-2 green chillies chopped
salt to taste
3/4tsp ENO/fruit salt
Method:

Soak the Sago seeds in the yogurt overnight or at least 6 hrs with additional water if necessary. In a pan make tempering with oil, mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, green chillies and broken cashew nuts(optional), add sooji and roast it for couple of minutes. Cool it and add it to the tapioca-yogurt batter. Add chopped cilantro, salt and eno and mix well. pour it into Idly stand and steam it for 15 Min's. Enjoy with sambar/chutney of your choice. Eat it warm.It is similar to rava idli's but has a little taste of Sago seeds.

Spinach-Watermelon salad

This is a very simple and easy spring/summer salad. The color combination is superb and very inviting. It is indeed a refreshing salad with the orange vinaigrette.

Ingredients:

1cup Baby Spinach(You can do 1/2cup each of Spinach and Lettuce)
8-10 watermelon cubes/balls
1tbsp Walnut
1/2cup cooked Pasta

Vinaigrette:
1tbsp orange juice
pinch orange zest
salt & Pepper to taste
1tbsp Extra virgin olive oil

Method:
Put the spinach, watermelon, walnuts and cooked past a in a bowl and prepare the vinaigrette in a separate bowl and mix it before serving.

Spiderman Chocolate Cake

I saw this cake in Wendy's"Cake Space" and wanted to try out as I had some buttercream frosting sitting in my freezer. It was a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. My Son freaked out seeing it.

Spinach Pesto sauce

This is a very easy Pesto sauce with no cheese in it. It tastes wonderful and very healthy. Good thing about pesto sauce is you can make a lot and freeze it, so you will have it any time you need or its that simple that will not take much time.

Ingredients:

2cups Baby Spinach
1cup Walnuts
1/4cup Olive Oil
salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Method:
Grind the walnuts to a fine/coarse powder then add spinach and blend it. Add salt and Pepper and start grinding and slowly add olive oil till its well blended and fine paste is formed. Use it on any pasta or store it in an airtight container.

Note: Its easy in a food processor or a glass jar blender.

Fruit Spring roll

This is a no cook spring roll, so healthy and tasty. It can be served either as appetizer or as dessert.Its easy to make and it can be a game for the guests to do their spring rolls by themselves. These spring wraps/rolls are easily available in the Asian section of the supermarket. I usually have this in my pantry as they have a very long shelf life. All you do it get the filling ready and soak the roll sheets in water and stuff it. As simple as it sounds. Its yummy and even my son enjoyed it as it was filled with his favorite fruits.

Recipe Coutesy: "Everyday Italian "-Giada de Laurentis from Food Network.

Ingredients:

4 Spring Roll sheets
2-3 Strawberry
1 Mango
1tbsp Honey
Hand full of Rice Noodles
1tsp Chives/dill

Method:

Cook the Rice noodles and drain it and put it in a bowl. Add honey and chopped chives/dill and mix it well and keep aside. Now chop long strips of strawberries and mango . Now soak a sheet of spring roll sheet in warm water and when soft spread it on a kitchen towel and add the noodle mixture and mango and strawberry and roll it once and then the sides and roll again. You can dip it in honey or enjoy just like that.

Oatmeal Dosa(crepes)

Oatmeal Dosa is a one of the easiest and healthy Dosa I have eaten. Dosa is something I do every weekend and was so bored of soaking and grinding process. Since I was on a diet and not eating Rice items I was in hunt of a healthy version of Dosa and gave this a try. It was a gr8 hit in my house and tasted good too. Its simple to make and can be eaten any time of the day. Just mix and soak for an hour and its ready to make. The aroma of oatmeal on the griddle is superb. I enjoyed making and eating it.

Ingredients:

For Dosa
~~~~~~~~
1cup Instant Oatmeal
1/2cup Rice flour
1/2cup Yogurt/curds(if sour its still better)
1/2cup Semolina/fine Sooji
1tsp Finely chopped Green chillies
1tsp Cumin seeds/powder
1/2tsp Sugar
salt to taste
1tbsp Chopped Cilantro

For Rasa
~~~~~~~
1tbsp chopped Onion
1tbsp Tomato
1tsp Rasam Powder
salt and jaggery to taste
1tbsp Dalia/hurigadale Powder
1cup water+1tbsp
1tsp oil
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
a little Hing
cilantro for garnish

Method:

Soak oatmeal , rice flour, semolina and yogurt together. Soak for atleast an hour , add the other ingredients to the above mixture and make a semi-thick batter.Pre-heat a tava/griddle and pour a big spoon of batter and make a thick dosa or else they break while they are turned to cook on the other side. Put a spoon of oil on the sides serve hot with chutney/sambar/Rasa. Eat this dosa hot from the griddle, if cooled dosen't taste that good.

Rasa:

In a small pan make the tempering with hot oil ,mustard seeds and hing and let it splutter.Now add onion and fry till they are soft . Add tomatoes and 1 cup of water. Add Rasam powder, salt and jaggery and bring to a boil. Mix the hurigadale powder in a little water and make a thin batter and add it to the rasa with a low flame bring it a boil for 3-4 mins and garnish with cilantro. It tastes good with Dosa. (don't add too much jaggery it will taste like gojju, It has to be a little sweet and little spicy at the same time.)

Vegetable Jalfrezi

Jalfrezi is Indian version of Chinese stir-fry. This word is derived from different languages...Jhal/jal is a Bengali word which means spicy hot and frezi a slang for fry-zee. Zee is Urdu word and it means fry.Together this Jalfrezi makes a spicy hot fried dish. This is really interesting how a dish gets its name an its equally interesting to eat. Its a perfect Indian stir-fry, it spicy, tangy and filled with vegetables. Our family enjoyed every bite of it. Here vegetables have to be a little raw and crispy, you should not fry/cook it completely. But if you have somebody in your family who doesn't like the half cooked vegetables then cook a little more but fry less.

Ingredients:

1/2 Onion (cut into long thin strips)
1 Bell Pepper (cut into long thin strips)
1 Potato(Skin peeled and cut into long strips like french fries )
1 tomato(preferably hard cut into long strips after De-seeded)
1Zucchini(cut into long thin strips)-optional
1 Carrot (cut into long thin strips)
5-6 long cut Tofu/Paneer pieces
5-6 Baby corn
1tbsp oil/butter
1/2tsp Cumin seeds
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
1tsp Garam Masala
1tsp Chilli powder
1/2tsp Dhania-Jeera powder
cilantro for garnishing

Method:
Put the potato, baby corn and Carrot in a microwave safe bowl and boil the potatoes for 5 Min's, till they get tender and not mushy. Heat the oil in a frying pan add cumin seeds and once they splutter, add turmeric powder and onion. Fry till they r soft, now add bell peppers saute them for few Min's and then add zucchini and saute them, now add cooked vegetables and finally add tomatoes. Meanwhile shallow fry/deep fry the tofu on a griddle. Once all the vegetables are saute well add tofu and dry masala and few drops of water and fry them few Min's till the masala's are well blended. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot.
Note: If you want this to be a gravy version then add some water and bring to a boil andd 1/2tsp cornstarch powder mixed in 1tbsp milk. Mix well and serve hot.