Green moong vegetable

Green moong or mung beans are extremely nutritious and are a great source of protein for vegetarians. There are a lot of health benefits and you can visit this website to learn more about it and get some amazing recipes: Moong benefits and recipes

This dish tastes great with chappatis and goes very well with hot white rice.

Ingredients:

1. Whole moong beans - 1/2 cup
2. Onion - 1 medium
3. Tomato - 1 large
4. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
5. Garlic - 4-5 cloves
6. Curry leaves - 1 sprig
7. Green chili - 2 slit in halves
8. Red chili powder - 1 tsp
9. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
10. Salt & oil as needed

 Method:

1. Wash the moong beans a couple of times and  then soak in 2 cups of water overnight. The moong will have swollen as it absorbs some water. 
2. Chop onions, tomatoes and garlic and set aside.
3. In a pressure cooker, add the soaked moong with water, onions and tomatoes. Adjust the quantity of water as needed. Take three whistles and wait for the pressure to completely release.
4. In another pan, heat 2 tbsp oil, add the mustard seeds and let it start crackling, then add the garlic, green chili and curry leaves and fry for a minute. 
5. Add the red chili and turmeric powder and the cooked moong from the pressure cooker. Add salt, mix well and cook on medium flame, till most of the water is evaporated. 
6. Once you are satisfied with the consistency of the vegetable, switch off the flame.

Beans and Aloo sabzi

Beans and aloo is an uncomplicated vegetable recipe and goes well with chappatis and can be easily put in a lunch box. You can make a chappati roll with this veggie and it would be easy to consume it as a quick meal. Of course you can always pair it with a simple meal of dal and rice too. However, you pair it, it is a keeper. I make this on days I don't want to make a beans foogath or poriyal. So let's get cooking!

Ingredients:

1. French beans - 250 gm
2. Potatoes - 1 medium 
3. Onion - 1 medium
4. Tomato - 1 medium
5. Green chili - 2 nos
6. Garlic cloves - 4 nos
7. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
8. Red chili powder - 1 tsp
9. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
10. Amchur powder - 1/2 tsp
11. Coriander powder - 1/2 tbsp
12. Oil and salt as needed

Method:

1. Wash the beans and cut to one inch pieces. Peel potatoes and cut in long pieces like French fries and same size as the beans. Keep the cut potatoes in a bowl of water till you are ready to use it. Slice onions and tomatoes, slit green chilies and chop the garlic.
2. In a pan, heat oil and add the cumin, let it fry for a minute and add the garlic, and let it lightly fry. Add the onions and let it fry till it softens. 
3. Drain the water from the potatoes and add it to the pan. Add salt and all spice powders, mix well. Add the green beans and mix well. Cover with a lid and cook on low flame for 8 to 10 minutes.
4. Add the tomatoes and mix well and cook for another five minutes. Lastly add 1/2 tsp of garam masala and mix well and once the vegetables are cooked, switch of the flame and garnish with coriander leaves.

Raagi pancake

Before I discovered this nutritious pancake, I occasionally made pancake with the store bought ready to use pancake mix. Sometime, midway through this year, I made a decision to improve my family's eating habits and was trying different recipes with healthier ingredients. This recipe is a great creation, as we love it for our breakfasts and my son also eats it during his snack time. I looked online through a couple of recipes and tried a few before settling on this recipe. It's a basic pancake recipe with healthier flours and sugar

Ingredients:

1. Ragi flour - 1/2 cup
2. Oats flour (wheat flour/multi-grain flour) - 1/2 cup
3. Egg - 1 no
4. Coco sugar or powdered jaggery - 2 - 3 tbsp (can add more if you want it sweeter)
5. A pinch of baking soda and salt
6. Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp
7. Water - use as needed to make a batter
8. Ghee or oil - as needed for frying the pancake

Method:

1. In a bowl, break the egg, add the sugar, vanilla essence, salt, and baking soda. Whisk the ingredients well. 
2. Add the flour in slowly while whisking and add water as needed to make a pouring consistency batter, so it is a good idea to start with little water and then keep adding as required.
3. Heat a pan, add 1/2 tsp ghee/butter/oil, and then take 1/4 cup batter and pour it into the pan.
4. Once you see bubbles appear all over on the top, flip it and let it cook on the other side for three minutes. Once done, remove the pancakes from the pan and use the batter to make remaining pancakes. 
5. The pancakes are ready to be served. They taste great on their own but you can also serve it with honey.

Notes:

1. You can store the batter in the refrigerator for up to two days, in case you wish to make it over a couple of breakfast meals or snack time. 
2. You can also use only oats flour to make the pancake. But the ragi flour adds a nice grainy texture when you bite into it, plus it's healthy.
3. In case you wish to make blueberry pancake, you add the ghee to the pan, add a few berries in the ghee, let it fry for a minute, then ladle the pancake batter over it and cook as mentioned above.  

Prawns and potato masala

Prawns are eaten around the world and are so versatile, they taste good in a lot of different styles of cooking or preparations and with different herbs and spices. Even plain salted and fried prawns taste so amazing. I usually just fry them with the Goan Rechado paste, as it is extremely time saving, quick to make and is one of the best combinations when you pair it with hot rice, coconut juice curry and a vegetable foogath. But sometimes for a change, I like to make the prawn and potato masala or tamarind prawns and prawns ghee roast. Today I share the prawns and potato masala recipe. It can be quickly put together as all the ingredients are readily available in any Indian kitchen and the method is quick and easy. It goes well with rice and daal or rice and plain curry and a vegetable foogath. It is a typical weekday lunch meal at my home. So let's get started. 

Ingredients:

1. Prawns - 500 gms
2. Potatoes - 3 medium sized
3. Onions - 2 medium sized
4. Tomatoes - 2 medium sized
5. Green chili - 2 nos
6. Ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp
7. Red chili powder - 1 tsp
8. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
9. Coriander powder - 1 tsp
10. Malwani masala or any garam masala - 1 tsp
11. Salt and oil
12. Coriander leaves - for garnish

Method:

1. Shell and devein prawns and set aside. Chop onions and tomatoes, slit green chili lengthwise and cube potatoes.
2. Pour oil in a pan, let it heat up, add the chopped onion, let them turn soft and pink, add the salt and ginger garlic paste, fry till the rawness of the ginger and garlic goes away. 
3. Add all the powdered spices and mix well for a minute or two.
4. Then add the potatoes, green chili and tomatoes. Mix well, lower the flame, use a lid to cover the pan and let it cook till the potatoes are almost done.
5. Now add the prawn, increase the flame of the stove and cook till the prawns are done, stirring continuously. Prawns take about five minutes to cook so keep that in mind and switch off the flame when done.
6. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with chappatis, parathas or rice and daal.