Osaman/ Clear Lentil Soup

Osaman is a very thin and easily digestible soup mostly made by Gujrati's. This is a very healthy and tasty soup. The soup is made by using green mung beans. The mung beans needs to be soaked overnight and then cooked in water till soft but not mushy. The water should be drained from the beans and that water is what is used to make this soup. I used the cooked beans to make sundal.

This soup is now a regular in my kitchen. Earlier I used to discard the bean stock but now this is used to make this very tasty and tangy soup.

(Recipe Source: You Tube)

Ingredients:

Mung Beans- 1 Cup ( Soaked overnight or at least 8 hours)

Asafoetida (Heeng)- A pinch

Mustard Seeds- 1/4 tsp

Cumin Seeds- 1/4 tsp

Cloves- 2

Cinnamon- 1/2 inch stick

Whole Black Pepper- 5

Oil- 2 tsp

Ginger and Green Chilli Paste- 1 tsp

Salt- to taste

Turmeric Powder- 1/4 tsp

Jaggery Powdered- 1 tbsp

Curry Leaves- 6-7 leaves

Coriander Leaves finely chopped- 1 tbsp

Lemon Juice- 1 tbsp

Procedure:

• Drain the soaked beans and cook in an open vessel with atleast 4 cups of water so that beans gets cooked thoroughly but does not get mushy.
• Once cooked drain the water in a pot from the beans and keep the beans separate to be used for any other dish. The water drained is what we require to make the soup.
• The above quantity of ingredients is for 2 cups of mung bean water. If the water drained from the beans is less then some more plain water can be added to dilute it and make 2 cups.
• In a pan add the oil and once heated add asafoetida, mustard and cumin seeds.
• Once the seeds splutter add in cloves, cinnamon, black pepper and curry leaves.
• Add in ginger and green chilli paste and sauté for a minute. Finally add in the mung bean water and keep on boiling.
• Once the soup starts boiling and in salt and turmeric powder and continue boiling.
• Add in jaggery and coriander leaves and boil till the jaggery has melted. Add in the lemon juice.

Switch off the gas and serve the soup hot.

Linking this soup to MLLA- 34 brainchild of Susan and hosted by Desisoccermom.

Chocolatey Oats And Honey Slices

It has been quite some time since I baked any thing and this was brought to my notice by my daughter N. Suddenly after coming back from school she said "mummy it's long since you made me any muffins or cake ...why don't you make me some".

After she said this I thought of baking some thing and in the mean while I got a call from my mom. Since I started blogging ,most of the times the conversation topic between myself and my mother happens to be FOOD and when I told mom that N wants to eat some baked goodies she immediately gave me this recipe. My mom has been watching food channels lately and she had noted this recipe for me.

I was too happy as this recipe is very quick and I had all the ingredients handy. The whole process hardly takes 30 mins and I had a very happy daughter. The loaf came out very soft.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour- 1 Cup

Oats- 1/2 Cup ( I used quaker)

Honey- 1/2 Cup

Brown Sugar- 1/2 Cup ( Firmly packed)

Chocolate Chips- 1/4 Cup

Baking Soda- 1/4 tsp

Salt- a pinch

Vanilla Extract- 1/4 tsp

Oil- 1/2 Cup( I used Canola Oil)

Procedure:

• Pre heat the oven at 170 degree C.
• Sift together APF, Baking Soda and Salt together.
• Add in other ingredients and mix well.
• Put the mixture in a greased loaf tin and press down the mixture with hands to make it even.
• Bake in the pre heated oven for 22-25 minutes or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• Cool before taking out from the tin and cut in slices.
  Notes:

• The loaf was very sweet. Sugar may be reduced to 1/4 cup.
• I baked in 2lb loaf tin so got very thin loaf. In case of using 1 lb loaf tin the loaf will be thicker but the time of baking has to be increased accordingly.

Also sharing today are some lovely awards which I got from my lovely fellow bloggers

Malar of Kitchen Tantra

Suja of Kitchen Corner

Ammu Mohan from Rasi's Veg Bites

Lots of heartfelt thanks dearies...really appreciate your friendly gesture.

.

To keep the ball rolling I am passing these to some lovely bloggers:

Seema Kamath

Anjali

Ila

Divya

Hema

Kamakshi

Kalpana

Oriyarasoi

SinFoodie

Watermelon Yoghurt Drink

I have been practically living on cool beverages to keep myself hydrated. So made this super cool drink combining watermelon and yoghurt. The drink was super tasty and satisfying too.

Ingredients: ( Makes 2 tall glasses)

Thick Hung Yoghurt- 1 Cup

Watermelon- 1 Cup( De seeded and cubed in small pieces)

Honey- 3 tbsp

Fresh Mint- 10 Leaves

Rock Salt- 1/4 tsp

Crushed Ice- 1 Cup

Procedure:

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend well. Check for sweetness. If required add little more honey. Serve chilled.

Linking this to Torview's Food Palette Series Pink Event

Kurinji's HRH- Healthy Summer Event

Radhika tickling palates Fun N Sun Event

Saffron Streaks Seasonal Indulgence- Series Summer Cooler

Aam Ka Panna/ Green Mango Cooler

The sun has been shining very bright here, mercury is rising very fast and soon it will be 48-49 degrees temperature. During supermarket trips my shopping basket is being full of juices and soft drinks too , but I think nothing can quench thirst much better other than our Indian drinks like Lassi, panagam, jal jeera, lemon juice, thandai and aam ka panna.

This green mango cooler or aam ka panna is made in different ways in different parts of our country. Some people make it plain with only sugar and salt, others make it with spices, some with herbs and even some with both spices and herbs. I make mine with both spices and herb like mint.

The spices like cumin, carom have got excellent digestive properties and mint has got cooling qualities. Aam ka panna is very helpful in case of heat stroke. I used slightly ripe green mango which gave excellent colour to the drink.

Ingredients:

Raw Green Mango- 2 Big

Water- 4 Big Glasses

Sugar- 1/2 cup or according to the sourness of the mangoes

Rock Salt- 1/4 tsp

Salt- According to taste

Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp( Roasted and ground)

Black Peppercorns- 10 (Roasted and ground)

Carom Seeds (Ajwain)- 1/2tsp (Roasted and ground)

Mint- 2-3 sprigs

Ginger- 1 Inch piece chopped

Procedure:

• Pressure cook the mangoes with some water for 4-5 whistles or till they turn very soft .
• Once the mangoes have cooled down peel off the skin and squeeze out the entire pulp in a big saucepan.
• Add in water in the pulp and add sugar. Keep the saucepan on heat and stir till the sugar is dissolved.
• Once the sugar is dissolved add in other ingredients and keep on heat for another 3-4 minutes. Switch off the gas.
• Strain the panna and allow to cool to room temperature.
• Once cooled keep in the refrigerator and serve chilled with ice.

Sending this refreshing cooler and also my thandai and strawberry lassi to Kurinji's HRH-Healthy Summer Event

Radhika tickling palates Fun N Sun Event

Saffron Streaks Seasonal Indulgence- Series Summer Coolers

Chocolate and Pistachio Slices

This is a recipe which I had kept since quite some time but it was hiding inside my diary and was long forgotten. Yesterday while I was going through my diary, this recipe paper fell out and my daughter got hold of it. The paper was wrapper of of nestle's condensed milk. When my daughter saw the recipe picture she told mummy you should be making this...this looks so yummy. And as I had all the required ingredients I decided to make this.

The chocolate and pistachio slices were very good. Crispy in the bottom with gooey middle and crunchy on the top from the pistachios.

(Recipe Source: Nestle)

Ingredients:

For the crust-

Plain Digestive/Marie biscuits- 200gms crumbled

Unsalted Butter- 150gms melted

For the topping-

Sweetened Condensed Milk- 1 tin(395 gms)

Butter- 50 gms

Brown Sugar- 50 gms

Cooking Chocolate- 200gms (chopped)

Pistachios- 1/2 cup( chopped)

Procedure:

• For the crust combine biscuits and butter then press the dough into a rectangular cake tin and bake in a pre heated oven at 190 degrees C for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
• Place butter, sugar, condensed milk in a non stick saucepan. Cook with stirring over low heat for 5-6 minutes or until the caramel is light golden colour and thick.
• Remove from heat and pour the caramel over the crust in the tin. Set aside to cool completely.
• Melt the chocolate in microwave and stir in the pistachios. Spread the melted chocolate over the caramel topping and allow to set completely in the refrigerator.
• Cut into desired shapes to serve.
  
  

Sending these to Priya and Aipi's Bookmarked Event- Every Tuesday

And also to Hearth and Soul Blog Hop co hosted by Kankana

Vattayappam for ICC

This month Srivalli challenged us to make a unique dish from Kerala known as Vatteppam or Vattayappam. Initially I thought of skipping this challenge as I was really taken aback by seeing the long recipe, but after reading the recipe for 2-3 times and seeing comments from fellow bloggers who already made this..I decided to give this a try. And after seeing and tasting the end result I was really happy that I tried this.

Thanks to Srivalli who gave this wonderful challenge and also to Shn whose recipe we followed.

Ingredients:

Raw Rice- 1 Cup (soaked for 6 to 8 hours)

Cooked Rice- 2 tbsp

Grated fresh Coconut- 3/4th cup

Thari Kurukku (Porridge)- 4 tbsp

Instant Dry Yeast- 1/4 tsp

Sugar- 3/4th Cup

Cardamom- 1tsp

Cashewnuts- Broken and Roasted in ghee

Raisins- Puffed in ghee

Procedure:

• Grind the soaked rice in a mixer adding very little water and when it is little coarse remove 2 tbsp of it for making thari kurukku.
• After removing 2 tbsp of coarse paste add grated fresh coconut to the remaining paste and grind it till fine consistency is achieved. Use very little water to grind the paste.
• Add the cooked rice to the batter and grind again. Set aside with the jar to cool.
• To make thari kurukku- In a pan combine the 2tbsp of coarse paste with 1/2 cup of water and cook it on medium flame stirring continuously till it reaches a thick porridge consistency. Switch off the gas and keep the paste aside.
• Add 4 tbsp of this thari kurukku mixture to the ground batter and grind again in the mixer.
• Add the instant dry yeast to this mixture and pulse 2-3 times for everything to blend well.
• Transfer the final batter to a big steel utensil and allow to ferment for 6 hours or overnight.
• When the batter is fermented add 3/4 th cup of sugar and mix gently. Keep to rest for 2 hours.
• Before steaming add the cardamom powder and mix in nuts in the batter.
• Pour the batter in a greased round cake tin and keep it in the pressure cooker filled with water without whistle to steam for 30 minutes or till done.
• After removing the cake tin from the pressure cooker allow the vatteppam to cool completely before taking it out.

• Transfer it to a serving plate and cut in wedges. Serve and enjoy.

Potato And Coriander Tikkis

It has been raining here since last 2-3 days and as rains are very rare here , we are enjoying the beautiful weather...just hoping that this beautiful weather will stay for some more days. Today I am sharing potato and coriander tikkis... we enjoyed these tikkis seeing the rain drops.

Ingredients:

Potatoes- 2 Large boiled and grated

Coriander Leaves- 1/2 Cup chopped

Cornflour- 2 tbsp

Cheddar Cheese- 2 tbsp grated

Salt- to taste

Red Chilli Powder-1/2 tsp

Amchoor- 1/2 tsp

Cashewnuts- 10 broken

Oil- to shallow fry

Procedure:

Mix all the ingredients except oil and knead in a dough. Take small balls out of the dough and flatten them little in between the palms. Heat a non stick tava and shallow fry these tikkis in little oil turning both sides till they turn golden brown. Serve hot with chutney or tomato ketchup.

Sending these tikkis to Herbs and Flowers in my Platter- Coriander Leaves event hosted by krithi originally started by PJ.

Daal Lucknowi

Daal Chawal is the most comforting food for me. And since daal has got proteins it is good for kids too. And sometimes when I am too lazy to cook a great meal, daal chawal is always there as my saviour. So I always keep on trying various varieties of daal. Recently my husband gave me Sanjeev kapoor's Tasty Eating for Healthy Living book set as a gift...quite a surprise for me...as he does not believe in giving surprise gifts:( so this came as a pleasant shock to me. And while going through the daals and kadhi's book volume 4 , I came across this easy recipe of daal lucknowi.

I have never added milk in my daal before so I was not sure as to how the taste would be...but to my surprise the daal was very smooth, creamy and delicious. And adding lots of garlic was another special feature of this recipe...overall we had a delicious lunch with this daal, rice and my favourite mango pickle.

Ingredients:

Spilt Pigeon Peas( toor daal)- 1 Cup ( Soaked for about an hour)
Green Chillies- 2 Chopped
Turmeric Powder- 1/4 tsp
Salt- to taste
Ghee- 1 tbsp
Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp
Red Chillies- 3 broken
Garlic Cloves- 4 Chopped
Asafoetida- a Pinch
Milk- 1 Cup ( I used skimmed)

Procedure:

• Wash the soaked daal and pressure Cook the daal and green chillies with 2 cups of water in a pressure cook till 2 whistles. When the pressure is reduced completely open the lid and add turmeric powder and salt and simmer on low heat.
• Heat the ghee and add cumin seeds, red chillies, garlic and asafoetida for tempering. Saute till garlic gets cooked . Pour the tempering in the daal and mix well.
• Add 1 cup of milk and water as per required thickness and continue to simmer it for further 5 minutes.

Serve hot with steamed rice or roti.

Sending this daal to Cooking With Whole Foods- LB-Toor Daal event started by Kiran and hosted by Suma of Veggie Platter

Vanilla Cinnamon Toasts

It is good to indulge once a while in dishes that we normally would consider not soooo ....healthy....isn't it? One of such breakfast dish where I can satisfy my sweet tooth along with satisfying craving for my favourite spice -cinnamon is this toast. This toast gets ready in very less time and would satisfy all sweet cravings for sure.

I had this toast along with green tea mainly to negate all the calories....well...not really...hehe.

The toast can be made with whole wheat bread to make it little healthy...I made this toast with white milk bread ....my daughter hates every other bread apart from her favourite white milk bread...so had to make it with that.

Ingredients:

Bread Slices- 2

Unsalted Butter- 1 tbsp ( At room temperature) or more if you wish

Light Brown Sugar- 1 tbsp

Fresh Ground Cinnamon- 1/4 tsp

Vanilla Extract- Few drops

Procedure:

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees C. Mix together butter, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla extract. Beat it nicely with the help of a spoon. Apply this mixture on the bread slices evenly. Bake this in the oven for 10- 12 minutes and grill it further for 1 minute watching closely so that it doesn't burn.

Slice the bread and serve hot.

Caramel Coffee Milkshake

Delicious, Yummylicious, Uberlicious...that's what this milkshake is. Milkshake packed with wonderful flavours of coffee and caramel sauce makes me go ga ga for this. My friend S suggested that I should be posting some cool drinks to beat hot summer...and me being a coffeeholic I could only think of coffee...so came up with this milkshake. The caramel sauce adds a toffee kind of flavour to the shake and now I am addicted to this too.

The caramel sauce can be stored in refrigerator and should be warmed up before use. The sauce itself is so addictive that I found myself licking it shamelessly...and needless to say that shake was so good that I was through 1/4 th of the glass before realising that I have to take the photo.

Ingredients:

Chilled Whole Milk- 1 Glass

Caramel Sauce- 2 tbsp

Powdered Sugar- 1 tsp

Instant Coffee Powder- 1/2 tsp

For Caramel Sauce:

Sugar- 1/2 Cup

Water- 2 tbsp

Butter- 2 tbsp

Whipping Cream- 1/4 Cup

Procedure:

• For making caramel sauce take a heavy bottomed pan and add sugar and water to it. In medium heat let the sugar melt and stir it. Once it starts boiling stop stirring and let the sugar caramelise. The pan can be swirled in between but too much stirring may cause the sugar to form lumps.
• Once the caramelised sugar turns to a dark amber colour add in butter and whisk till butter melts completely.
• Switch off the gas and add cream and whisk till everything is incorporated and a smooth caramel sauce is obtained.
• Let the sauce cool and store it in a glass jar.
• For the milkshake mix in all the ingredients in a blender and blend once.
• Serve chilled. Add in ice cubes if required and this shake can also be topped with ice cream.

Sending this to Hearth and Soul Blog Hop event co hosted by kankana of Sunshine and Smile.