Lemon and coriander soup

Lemons are a great source vitamins and minerals. They are a must for daily use and storage. During the season or if you happen to have a tree in the kitchen garden, one can plan to make pickle out of them and it stays for months with out any problem. Fresh lime juice is a popular drink these days even with an array of colourful ariated drinks. Also health conscious/ weight conscious people believe in that glass of lemon and honey in the warm water first thing in the morning.

Coriander is also an important ingredient of indian cooking. When we go for shopping for vegetables, as a routine we pick up lemon,fresh and green coriander, green chillis and ginger. All are great appetizers. So this soup is definetly going to enhance our taste buds and also help in the digestion.

Ingredients:

1 carrot, 1 onion, 1 tbsp butter, 1 green chilli, 1 inch piece of ginger, ½ of lime, 2 spoons of chopped green coriander/hara dhania, 4 medium cups of water and salt to taste.

Preparation:

1. Wash and grate the carrot, finely chop the onion, chilli, ginger and fresh coriander.
2. Heat butter in a small pressure cooker, add chopped onion, chilli, ginger and salt.
3. After frying a little add water and let it simmer till the carrot softens.
4. Finally, add coriander and juice of half lime and put off the flame.

Serve hot on a rainy day or a cold winter night. 

Moong Dal with Tadka

There are times when u don't like to indulge in heavy cuisine and tummy demands some thing light to digest. This tadka dal comes very handy which is very simple to make. For this kind dal you can choose moong dal or chana dal or arhar/toor dal. Ghee ka tadka enhances the taste of the dal and also assissts in digestion.

Ingredients:

100g moong dal and 1 onion

For tempering:

1 tsp ghee, ½ tsp jeera, ¼ tsp haldi, 2 green chillis and salt to taste.

Preparation:

1. Wash and keep the dal ready for use. 
2. Chop the onion finely. 
3. Heat ghee in a pressure pan or pressure cooker, put jeera,onion, green chillis, haldi, salt and the dal, fry a little and add 500ml of water. 
4. Leave the dal for 3 whistles and simmer it for another 5 to 7 minutes before putting off the flame.

Serve hot with rice or roti.

Spinach/palak Dal

This can also be made using arhar/toor dal or masoor dal or chana dal, as per the availability. Palak has to be fresh and with out holes. Only the leaves have to be chosen and the hard twigs can be discarded. It is generally safe to avoid greens during the rainy season unless one grows it in the kitchen garden, where hygiene is taken care of. I put more greens and less dal to gain more on vitamins and minerals.

Ingredients:

100g arhar/toor dal, 300g palak, 3 tomatoes, 1 onion.

For tempering:

1 tsp ghee, ½ tsp jeera, ½ tsp mustard seeds, ¼ tsp haldi/turmeric, ½ tsp red chilli powder and salt to taste.

Preparation:

1. Wash and finely chop the palak and set aside. 
2. Chop onion and tomatoes also finely. 
3. Wash the dal and keep it ready for use. 
4. Heat ghee in a pressure pan or small pressure cooker, put all the tempering ingredients except salt and fry a little. 
5. To this add onions, tomatoes and palak, stir a little and then add the dal and salt. 
6. Finally put 500ml of water and give minimum of 3 whistles, simmer it for another 5 to 7 minutes and put off the flame.

Serve hot  with rice or roti.

Tomato Dal

For a vegetarian, dal is very important because it is the main source of protein. But we cannot just consume plain dal always. So we need to add some taste to it to make it interesting and also sumptuous. We have a variety of dals/pulses/legumes which can be made in various forms to beat the monotony. For example, adding of green leafy vegetables and various seasonal vegetables will only enhance the taste and also the nutritive value.

India is the largest producer and consumer of pulses in the world. Tomato dal can be made with arhar/toor dal or masoor dal. Both taste equally good. Tomato is one vegetable we can get round the year and is used in many dishes. There is one desi variety which comes during summer months. This one is ideal for dal and chutney we generally make, the reason being they are little sour than the usual tomatoes we get round the year, we can put any tomatoes as per the availability.

Ingredients:

100g arhar dal and 5/6 medium size tomatoes

For tempering:

1 tsp ghee, ½ tsp mustard seeds, ½ tsp jeera, ¼ tsp turmeric/haldi powder, 4 green chillis, pinch of asafoetida/hing,1 twig curry leaves and salt to taste.

Preparation:

1. Wash and cut each of the tomatoes into four pieces and wash the dal and set aside. 
2. In a pressure pan or small  pressure cooker heat ghee, put all the ingredients except salt. 
3. Fry a little and to this add tomatoes, dal and salt, stir well and add 500ml water and close the lid. 
4. Give minimum of three whistles and simmer it for another 5 to 7 minutes. 
5. So inall dal should be done in 20 to 25 minutes maximum.

Serve hot with rice or roti.

Kundru with grated coconut

The main advantage of vegetarian cooking is that we have a variety of vegetables and in that again we have variety of spices to make it interesting. So here is another variety of making kundru.

Ingredients:

500g kundru and 1 small fresh coconut.

For seasoning:

1tsp of oil, ½ tsp jeera, ½ tsp mustard seeds, 2 red chillis, 1 twig curry leaves and salt to taste.

Preparation:

1. Wash and slice the vegetable either lengthwise or breadth wise but as finely as possible, without hurting your fingers. 
2. Break the coconut, grate it and keep it aside. 
3. Heat oil in a pan, put mustard seeds, jeera, chillis, curry leaves and once the mustard starts spluttering, add the vegetable and salt, place a lid and let it simmer till soft and done. 
4. Finally  fold in the grated coconut and put off the flame.

Serve hot with rice or roti.

Vegetable upma

Any dish nutritious and filling should be a welcome to all age groups. As a child making tasty upma was the most challenging, though later in life, it became the simplest thing to make. The main task is to make it lump free.

Ingredients:
100g sooji, 300g mixed vegetables- cauliflower, carrots, broccoli, green peas,beans and onions.

For tempering:
1tbsp oil, 10 cashew nuts, 1/4 tsp mustard seeds, 4 green chillis, ½ tsp grated ginger, ½ tsp garam masala powder and salt to taste.

Preparation:

1. Roast the sooji and keep aside till use. 
2. In fact, it is better to roast it before storing this way it can protected from catching worms. 
3. Dice the vegetables and chop the onion. 
4. Heat oil an pan, put mustard seeds, cashew nuts, ginger, green chillis and garam masala powder. 
5. To this add chopped onion fry a little and add the rest of the vegetables and salt. 
6. After sautéing a bit add 500 ml of water and allow it to come to the boiling point. 
7. Now is the time for a little care, the sooji should be blended carefully into the boiling vegetable mix stirring thoroughly so that there is no lumps formation. 
8. Let it simmer for 10 mins and put off the flame.

Serve hot with coconut chutney or sauce.

Spinach and Corn in White sauce

This again goes well with the continental menu. Considerable amounts of starch and fibre makes this dish sumptuous and nutritious. White sauce is the base for this. In fact vegetables like cauliflower, French beans, carrots, and broccoli can be boiled and put in to the white sauce which becomes more palatable to consume with a varieties of breads.

Ingredients:

500g spinach leaves and 200g shelled corn or one full corncob.

For white sauce:

2 finely chopped onions,2 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp maida (white flour), 2 cups milk, ½ tsp white pepper powder, a pinch of nutmeg powder and salt to taste.

Preparation:

1. Wash spinach and microwave for 8 to 10 minutes and set aside to cool. 
2. Boil the corncob in the pressure cooker and pick out the corn from the cob. 
3. Once the spinach cools down squeeze out the extra water and finely chop the leaves. 
4. Heat butter in a pan, put chopped onions and sauté till it gives glazed look, to this add the flour and fry a little. 
5. Take milk and stir in to the onion flour mixture, see that there are no lumps, this is the main task of the white sauce. 
6. Keep stirring till it cooks to form a smooth and soft paste and to this add white pepper powder, nutmeg powder and salt. 
7. Finally blend in the cooked corn and spinach and bake at 170 degrees for 20 minutes.

Serve hot with garlic bread or dinner roles.

Baked Beans

This is a dish made to suit the continental menu. Just as we make rajma /channa with the desi  masalas the westerners make baked beans with whole grains. For this we can use rajma beans or black eyed beans (lobia).

Any whole grain is rich in proteins, minerals, vitamins and fibre which is good for the system. We all know that variety is the spice of life. So the attempt is to make the same rajma or lobia in a different way which can be had with a piece of bread or a dinner role.

Ingredients:

500g black eyed beans, 1chopped onion, 1chopped capsicum, 1tsp yellow mustard, 2 tsp freshly chopped celery 2 tbsp tomato sauce, 200g tomato puree, 2tbsp brown sugar, 1tbsp oil and salt to taste.

Preparation:

1. Wash and soak the beans for 4 to 6 hours and drain the water. 
2. Cook the beans with little salt in a pressure cooker till soft which takes about 20 minutes. 
3. Heat oil in a pan, put onion and fry a little, to this add capsicum, mustard, celery and little bit of salt. 
4. After frying a little more take it off the flame and cool it. 
5. This has to be grinded in the mixie to a soft paste. 
6. Now add the fine paste along with the other ingredients to the cooked beans and bake it in the oven at 170 degrees for about 20 minutes or simmer it on the gas till soft and blended which takes about another 10 to 15 minutes.

Serve hot with garlic bread or dinner roles.

Fresh celery can be substituted with the dried one, regular mustard seeds can be used in the place of yellow mustard and also care should be taken when adding salt because, we add tomato sauce and puree which are salted.

Stir fried Kundru

In English it is known as ivy gourd. In telugu we call it dondakaya. From inside it looks like cucumber. Always better to cook the tender ones and discard the ripe ones which may appear green from outside but red from inside when cut.

It is been tested that kundru is good for the diabetic patients. When eaten regularly at the onset of diabetes this vegetable controls the bold sugar levels. Many of us do not have any great liking to this vegetable. But it can be made interesting and tastes good when eaten hot.

Ingredients:

500g kundru, 1tbsp oil,3 red chillis, ½ tsp jeera, ¼ tsp mustard seeds, twig curry leaves, ¼ tsp haldi powder and salt to taste.

For seasoning:

100g roasted chana dal, 1tbsp jeera, 5-6 red chiilis, 10 garlic cloves and salt to taste.

Preparation:

1. Roast all the seasoning ingredients and make a coarse  powder in the mixie and keep aside. 
2. This can be made when we find time and store in air tight containers until further use. 
3. This in fact can be mixed into hot rice with a little bit of pure ghee, tastes very good on a rainy day.
4. Wash and make thin slices of the vegetable either vertically or horizontally. The pieces have to be evenly sliced for uniform cooking.
5. Heat oil in a pan, put  mustard seeds, jeera, red chillis, curry leaves and the vegetable. 
6. After frying a little add little salt and turmeric powder and fry till soft and done.
7. Finally add 2 tsp of prepared roasted chana powder and put off the flame.

Serve hot with rice or roti.