Ragi Kanji - Sweet version

As a kid we have grown up drinking ragi kanji. But somehow after the age of 8-10 this is forgotten in households. Then people switch to complan, bournvita, horlicks or some other chocolate option. But ragi kanji is a very healthy power packed drinks for toddlers/kids.

Ragi or finger millet is now being promoted especially for diabetics. So this kanji can be had by people of all age and until now ragi is not known to cause any side effects. It is actually a cure for many health issues. People who are planning to lose some weight can also opt for ragi since ragi fills the stomach very quickly and also has a lot of fibre.

So this can be given for breakfast or as a evening time drink for kids elders alike. And of course it is very easy to make if we have the ragi powder at home.

There is also a salted version available which I shall post later. Since I am posting some recipes for toddlers I chose the sweet version which the toddlers would surely love it.

Ingredients:

Ragi flour (finger millet flour) - 2 tbsp
Sugar - 4 tsp
Milk - 1/2 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Cardamom - 1 (powdered)

 

 Method:

• In a bowl add the ragi flour and water andmix well using a whisk or a spoon. Start heating with continuous stirring.
• Once it starts getting thick and slightly bubbly, reduce the flame to low. Keep mixing and cook the flour for about another 2-3 minutes.
• The ragi flour should get cooked as shiny.
• Mix milk, sugar and cardamom powder. You can adjust the consistency of the kanji by adding more milk or water and just heat it up.

Sweet ragi kanji is ready!!

 Notes:

• For infants its probably more safer to roast the ragi powder  to ensure proper cooking.
• You can replace sugar with jaggery or honey.

Sending this to sapana who is guest hosting Kid's delight.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#62

Mango Shrikand | Amrakhand

Shrikhand is quite new to me. I haven't eaten this often. Though I am not a fan of these mangoes, yet when i tasted shrikhand I liked it. Now that the summer season is fast approaching this would be a good snack or a time pass item for the toddlers / kids.

Mangoes have started to arrive in  the markets and this season i am starting a mango recipe with mango shrikhand. This is a very simple and easy recipe with minimal ingredients. This mango shrikhand can be made with any variety of mango.

Mango shrikhand is usually served chilled. But I guess for toddlers we can serve it at room temperature.It still tastes wonderful.

Ingredients:

Hung curd - 1/2 cup
Mango pulp - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 3 tbsp
Cardamom - 2
Chopped nuts - 1 tbsp

Method:

• Hang curd in a thin muslin cloth for 2-3 hours until all the water is drained.Transfer this to a mixing bowl.
• Puree the mango pulp in a mixer. Just scoop the flesh and grind it in mixer/blender without water. 
• Add sugar, mango puree,cardamom with this curd and mix well.
• Beat using a whisk until smooth and transfer to a serving bowl. Garnish with nuts. Cover and refrigerate until cold before serving.

Notes:

• Fresh mango works best, but ready made mango pulp can also be used.
• Adjust sugar according to sweetness of mango
• I used almonds to garnish this shrikhand. Pistachios can also be used.
• This  is also a good option for dessert

Sending this to sapana who is guest hosting Kid's delight.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#62

 

Vellai Kondai kadalai sundal | Snack with kabuli channa

For the second week of this month's blogging marathon I chose to blog about some interesting snack recipes for toddlers. Though I don't have any toddler around now yet I know how difficult it is to make toddlers eat. I have rarely seen toddlers eating food without any fuss.That toddler should have been me :)

For the first recipe I have chosen a dish which our grand mothers often used to make. Sundals.These sundals are made with a variety of pulses. Today I have chosen white kabuli channa aka vellai kondai kadalai (in tamil)

This is something that the toddlers can eat of their own and they will also enjoy picking one by one abd eating.. doctors also advice that we need to give such foods that kids can eat of their own. Of course there will be a big mess around the house. This sundal recipe is a very healthy snack full of proteins. Do try..

Ingredients:

White kabuli channa - 200 grams
Oil - 2 tbsp
Coconut (grated)- 2 tbsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida (hing) - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Salt - to taste
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Red chillies - 2 nos

Method:

• Soak the kabuli channa in enough water over night or for 8 hours.
• Pressure cook the kabuli channa with salt and turmeric powder until the channa is cooked softly. I kept for one whistle and then in low flame for 8 minutes.
• Wait until pressure is released.
• In a kadai add oil. Add mustard seeds. Once the mustard splutters add cumin seeds and urad dal. Fry for half a minute.
• Now add curry leaves, red chillies, asafoetida and grated coconut. Fry for about 2 minutes.
• Add the cooked channa to the above tadka. Mix well and cook until all the water is drained.

Delicious kadala sundal is ready!! serve to toddlers and enjoy watching them eat.

Notes:

• We can avoid the red chillies if we are giving this to toddlers.
• This sundal can also be used as a side dish to rice and rasam/sambar. It tastes fabulous.
• We can also add some grated carrots or grated raw mango to make this sundal more interesting.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#62

Cheera Morucurry

After breaking my heads this is the third recipe I got for the "no-tomato gravy" theme. This gravy is rarely made at home because with spinach we prefer thoran (side dish) or a gravy with dal and coconut. I have made Cheera morcurry very rarely.

I try to include some form of spinach twice a week in my menu. Cheera morucurry is another fabulous accompaniment for rice. Though I loved it with rotis to. This curry can be made with any type of spinach, I made with red spinach (chuvanna cheera) that is available in plenty especially in the summer season. 

Red spinach (Amaranthus dubius) has a lot of health benefits. Its known to aid digestion, its used for treating anemia and some kidney problems, its used for good vision and strong hair and so on. So if you come across this species of spinach immediately grab a bunch and make this curry at home.

Ingredients:

Red Spinach - 1 bunch

Thick yogurt - 1/2 cup

Coconut (grated) - 1/2 cup

green chillies - 2 nos

cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

garlic cloves - 2

Salt - to taste

turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

To temper:

Oil - 2 tbsp

mustard - 1 tsp

Red chilly - 1 no

shallots - 2 nos

Method:

• Wash the spinach and finely chop them. You can include the stem also.
• In a kadai add enough water and cook the spinach with salt and turmeric powder.
• Grind the coconut, green chillies, garlic cloves and cumin seeds.
• Once the spinach is cooked, mash it a little with a laddle. This is done so that the spinach blends well with the coconut.
• Add the ground coconut mixture to the cooked spinach. Mix well.
• Cook until the gravy boils.
• Switch off stove and add the yogurt gradually, stirring constantly. Yogurt is added after switching off stove so that the yogurt doesn't curdle.
• Check for salt.
• In a kadai, pour oil and add mustard seeds. Once mustard splutters, add the red chilly and very finely chopped shallots. Fry until the shallots start changing color to light brown.
• Pour this on top of the gravy.

Serve hot with some fried potatoes and papads!!

Note:

• This gravy has a semi solid consistency. It is not thin like sambar.
• The spinach can also be cooked in pressure cooker.
• After cooking the spinach, it can also be ground in a mixie instead of mashing. I generally don't prefer this.
• Garlic and shallots can be avoided in this recipe.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#62

Vendakkai Pulikozhambu

Pulikozhambus are Tamil Nadus favourite recipes. As the name suggests these curries have lot of puli (sour) taste in them and the major contribution to this sourness is from tamarind.

This kozhambu i recently made and i got a serious addiction to it. It turned out so yummy, i love it to the core. The smell of shallots, garlic and fresh ground masala just lifts you... Hope you will give this a try and let me know how it turns out for you..

This is best suited for rice although I guess we can try it with dosas too.

Some side dish accompaniments as suggested below

Baby potato fry

Papaya thoran

Cabbage Carrot Thoran

Beetroot poriyal

Ingredients

Ladies finger – 12 young, tender

Tamarind – 1 lemon sized ball

Sambar powder – 2 tsp

Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp

Sesame oil / Oil – 2 tbslp

Salt – As needed

Garlic – 3 flakes

To saute in oil and grind

Shallots (Small onion) – 12 

Coconut – 1/2 cup

To temper

Oil  - 2 tblsp 

Mustard – 1 tsp

Fenugreek seeds / Vendhayam / Methi – 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Method

• Cut ladies finger into one inch pieces. Peel small onion, roughly cube tomato, slice garlic into thin circles. 
• Soak tamarind in 1/2 cup hot water for 30 mins, extract the juice with another 1/2 cup of water. Keep aside. 
• In a kadai, add a tblsp of sesame oil and fry the ladies finger in medium flame stirring every now and then until the slime goes away and black spots appear here and there. Keep aside. 
• In the same kadai, fry peeled small onion. Add oil if needed. 
• Once onion turns transparent,  add coconut and fry for a minute. Transfer to a plate.Let it cool down
• Mean while, Heat oil for tempering, temper with the items given under ‘To temper’, add sliced garlic. When garlic is fragrant, add the sauteed ladies finger
• Add extracted tamarind juice, and adjust water so that totally its 2 & 1/2 cups of water. Add turmeric, sambar powder and mix well. Simmer for 8 mins 
• Meanwhile grind the sauteed onion, tomato, coconut with little water to a paste. Add it to the boiling gravy along with little water
• Boil for 3 more minutes and until the gravy is thick. It thickens a bit after cooling down, so switch off accordingly 

Enjoy with rice and a side dish of your choice.


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Mambazha Pulissery

Am back with the Blogging Marathon!!! For this week I have chosen "no tomato gravies". Well when I selected this category I thought this should be fairly simple, we do make gravies every day for rice and rotis and I Should be able to pick up easily 3 among them. But when I sat down to select recipes I was in for a surprise - almost all the recipes used tomatoes. And then when I finally made a list of recipes I realized I have posted most of them.

It took me almost 3 days to finalize the 3rd recipe!!! Phew!!! I used to think I cannot live without onions but seems like I also cannot live without tomatoes!!

Mambazha Pulissery is a very famous summer gravy recipe all over kerala. Mangoes are cooked in thick coconut  + yogurt gravy and it tastes heavenly with rice and a slightly spicy thoran. The world famous combination (or kerala famous combination) for this curry is idi-chakka thoran. Most of the keralites would prepare this combination atleast once during the summer.




Check out good side-dish accompaniments
Idi chakka thoran
Chakka kuru upperi
Papaya thoran
Cabbage carrot thoran
Beetroot poriyal

Ingredients:

Ripe Mangoes - 3 nos (small)
Coconut (grated) - 100 grams
Yogurt (curd) - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 2 nos
Oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Salt - to taste



Method:

• Cut the mango into pieces and boil in water along with turmeric, chilly powder and salt. Let the mangoes cook until soft. The seed of the mango is also usually added to this.
• Grind the coconut with the cumin seeds and green chillies to a fine paste and add this to the boiling mango.
• Bring this to a boil.Blend the yogurt to make it smooth and add this to the mixture and immediately switch off flame. See to it that the yogurt does not split.
• Heat oil in a pan.  Add mustard seeds and when they crackle, add red chillies and curry leaves and at the end add fenugreek seeds and switch off flame.
• Add the above seasoning to the mango curry and mix well.
• Serve hot with rice and a side dish of your choice.

Notes:

• You can use any mango type for making this curry. We usually make it with nadan mangoes or country mangoes which normally grown in every household in Kerala.
• I didn't add red chilly in the tadka since when I tasted the curry I felt it already spicy.
• This curry is a good combination for dosas too.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#62