Carrot mixed Idlis | Vegetable Idlis | Kid Friendly Dishes | Quick Breakfast Dishes for Kids

Well this is very quick if you have the Idli batter on hand. When kids refusing to eat the daily mundane breakfasts or even lunches, you really got to think out of box and plan very interesting dishes for them. And when you have three, believe me you have every reason to go crazy.

Most weeks I try to plan ahead for Konda's meals. But at times when Sundays get to be hectic, I don't get to plan well. That really gets us to have a bad start for the week. Mondays become a drag. I normally have the Idli batter ground on Sundays so that Monday breakfast is always planned. But it so happened that boys refused to have idlis. Then Peddu was ok with it, while Chinnu refuses point blank. Konda eats Idlis only if a certain chutney is made with it.

All this confusion ultimately led me to believe I should drop Idli off the menu. That ensured that we had lot of excess Idli batter on hand. Amma always spices up the Idli batter with all sorts of different stuffing and mixes. She ends up dressing them differently. Yet another idea from her was this Carrot mixed Idlis, which are a hit with kids.

Not only does the batter gets over, you can get the kids eat carrot. All three of them eat Carrots, but still it was a good idea to get them included in the breakfast.

Ingredients Needed:

Idli Batter - 1 cup
Carrot, grated - 1 medium
Onions, small. - 1 finely chopped
Green chili - 1
Salt for taste


Method to prepare

Add the grated Carrot, onions, green chilies to the batter along with a bit of salt. Mix well.

Grease the idli plates with oil and pour small scoops of this batter on to them.

Steam the idlis in the Idli cooker or steamer for 15 minutes as you regularly do.

Check if the idlis are done. Since onions are added, it might be little soft inside. So steam for couple of minutes more if required.

Serve with Chutneys.

Peanut & Fried Gram Chikki Balls | Verusenaga mariyu Senaga pappu Undrallu | Indian Sweets | Diwali Sweets

Most times goodness comes in small measures. Take these peanut jaggary balls for instance, there is none that can resist yet they are not easy to make. Amma had made these a while ago, in fact it has been two months now when making Manoharam, she said we can make these also as it's one of my favorite. The fact that we were more interested in Manoharam and clicking more pictures we forgot the proportion on what went into these jaggary balls.

So I asked Amma to give me the exact measurement as it is very important to get the right consistency of the jaggary threads. Else you will end up having a brittle balls, that will fall apart right away.

Peanut Chikkis in flat bars are very famous in our parts. We never fail to pick up a handful during shopping. The problem with me is, I never know what these are called locally. Most times I refer these in Telugu and never bother finding out what it is called in Tamil.

Anyway the simple fact is it rules! As peanut and fried gram have gone into these, they make a great powerhouse of energy for kids. You can pack these for their snacks and you can snack on them too for a change. The last batch that was made, was mostly consumed by yours truly. Felt I had to make for the kids again. Chinnu loves groundnut, so getting him eat it with Jaggary is an added advantage.

I was supposed to post this for the Finger Food, then felt it asked for a different type of finger food, not a sweet included. Well I will be doing the round up in couple of days time.

Ingredients Needed

Peanut and Fried Gram  - 3 cups
Jaggary - 1 cup
Ghee - 2 tsp

Method to prepare:

Take roasted ground nuts and fried grams together.Keep it aside.

Boil the jaggary in a thick bottom pan and remove the scum if any.  Then add the ghee,  continue boiling till you get a thread consistency that makes a ball of the jaggary. Be careful when you check this consistency.This ball thickness is normally done by dropping a tiny drop in water and rolling it into a ball. When you get a perfect ball it means it is done.

Add the nuts into the pan and mix well. You can allow it to get cool a bit before attempting to make the balls. If required dip your hands in water lightly and make balls.

Place them on a plate for it to cool further before storing these in an air tight container.

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Punjabi Kadi Pakoras - Indian Cooking Challenge for September ~ Step By Step Recipe!

After all that sweets and savories, I thought it should be a gravy for the Indian Cooking Challenge this month. I always have been wanting to make Kadhi Pakoras famous dish from Punjab! Kadi Pakodas are those fried dumpling soaked in a yogurt based gravy.

So I pinged Lataji to ask if she has anything in mind. She suggested Khandvi, then when I said why don't we try Kadhi Pakoras, she even searched back her repository and sent a Sanjeev Kapoor's recipe.Then I remembered Simmi and asked her if her Mom has a recipe for this. Before I could even ask, Simmi said she has a killer dish! Now that got so much interesting.

Lataji even tried it immediately for her lunch and mailed me saying it was just very delicious. Now that is going to be some wonderful change.

Lets see the recipe in step by step

Making the Pakoras:

Take the Besan along with salt, chili powder in a bowl. Have the onions all chopped and ready

 

Slowly add water to get a lump less batter

Then add the onions and mix well.

you can scoop out the fritters with spoon and whisk well
.

Heat a pan with oil enough to deep fry the pakodas. Scoop out with spoon just enough to make medium sized pakoras.

Once they are cooked on both sides, drain them to a kitchen towel.

Making the Kadi

Get all the ingredients together.

Heat a tbsp of oil in a non stick pan. Add a tsp each of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, carom seeds and methi. Let splutter for a few seconds.

 Then add chopped onions.

 Stir till it is well browned.

 Make a paste with yogurt and besan, then mix with water to make a very thin batter. Pour in the yogurt/besan batter to the pan.

 add turmeric powder, salt

 and red chilli powder

 Stir everything well.

 Ensure it is all mixed well.

 you can get both the pakodas and kadi get going together.

 Finally add garam masala

just before removing from stove add the pokodas, bring to boil

Serve it with either rotis or rice

Punjabi Kadi Pakoras
Source: Simran of Bombay Foodie

Ingredients Needed:

For Pakoras:

Besan / Chickpea Flour - 1/2 cup
Onions - 1 medium
Salt to taste
Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Water
Oil for Deep frying

For Kadi

Curds / Yogurt - 1 cup
Besan/ chickpea flour - 1/3 cup
Water - 3 - 4 cups
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp
Ajwain/ Carom Seeds- 1 tsp
Methi / Fenugreek seeds- 1 tsp
Onion -1 large
Turmeric powder a pinch
Salt to taste
Red Chili powder - 1/2 tsp

Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Amchur/ Dried Mango powder - 1 tsp

Method to prepare:

For the Pakoras

Slice onions length wise. In a bowl, take the chickpea flour, add salt, red chili powder. Make a batter with water to get a semi thick consistency.

Heat a pan/ kadai with oil. When it is hot, dip onions in the batter and gently drop into the hot oil. Deep fry until crispy.

Drain and keep aside.

For the kadhi

Make a paste with yogurt and besan, then mix with water to make a very thin batter.

Heat a tbsp of oil. Add a tsp each of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, carom seeds and methi. Let splutter for a few seconds.

Add onion slices, fry till they turn light brown.

Pour in the yogurt/besan batter, add turmeric powder, salt and red chilli powder.

Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and let simmer for at least half an hour.


Keep stirring occasionally.

When you feel it is pretty thick, add the reserved pakoras, bring to boil. Add garam masala and Amchur powder to the gravy just before removing from stove.

Notes from Simran.:

She says this gravy needs to be stirred occasionally but otherwise you can leave it on its own to get cooked.

The kadhi has to be fairly thick - if you've had a thin, watery kadhi then it will be the Gujarati version. For a hearty Punjabi one,make it thick.

To all my ICC members, please link your Punjabi Kadi Pakoras post to Mr. Linky.

Mini Triangle Stuffed Paratha | Step by Step Recipes | Finger Foods for Kids

With kids at home for their quarterly holidays, I have to think not about one snack break but many that continues. When I decided on Finger Foods for Kid's Delight this month, I was sure the entries I get will surely benefit me more than anything. And knowing that time is running, I don't even have an entry myself.

Few weeks ago while I was chatting with Amma, she showed me a Telugu magazine that talked about interesting tiffins for kids. I browsed through the pictures as I can't for the life of me read telugu. Then had Amma read them for me. Couple of the paratha ideas were what I already make. The third one was called chinese style triangle paratha. Now knowing the ingredients again didn't throw why it was called a chinese. But maybe the author had a point. Anyway I was interested on the combination and the name she called it. Triangle Stuffed Paratha.

Since then I was planning to adapt the same into a finger food, making it convenient to be consumed by kids with their favorite tomato sauce!

I had something else planned for today. But with so many other things happening, I completely forgot about it and wanted to make these mini triangle parathas.

The vegetable mix for this is quite simple. You can actually add whatever is available in your pantry. As Carrots, Beans and Cabbage are eternal in my fridge I thought I will just use them.

You can get very creative in making this. I just added whatever I felt my kids will eat. Of course I ended up eating the most.

I used exactly the same amount of vegetables as shown in the picture. Have all of them ready at hand!

Heat a pan with oil, saute onions and cumin seeds

Then goes the carrot..

 Followed by the cabbage, beans, and tomatoes.

Add the chili powder, tomato sauce, salt, Simmer for 5-7 mins with cover.

Meanwhile make small balls and roll out into small discs.

 Make a cut in the middle to get two half moons.

 Scoop out the stuffing and place in the middle.

Bring one flip towards the other to cover the stuffing as shown in the picture.

 Repeat with the other half and press well to close the stuffing in.

 Heat a pan with oil. Roast these triangle with oil sprinkled over it. Cook on both sides.

 Once it is cooked on one side, flip to the other side.

Serve with Tomato Sauce!

Mini Triangle Stuffed Paratha
Makes : 6 pieces

Ingredients Needed:

For the dough

Whole Wheat flour / Atta - 1 cup
Salt to taste

For the Stuffing:

Onion - quarter of a medium
Carrot - 1 small
Cabbage - handful
Beans - 4-5 nos
Tomato - quarter piece
Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Tomato Sauce - 1 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/4 tsp
Hot Tomato Sauce - 1/2 tsp (opt)
Oil - 1 tsp
 
Method to prepare:

For the dough:
Mix the flour with salt and enough water to knead into a soft dough

For the stuffing:

Chop all the vegetables into fine pieces, heat a non stick pan with oil. Sauté the cumin, along with onions. Then add the vegetables one by one. Simmer the flame and cover with lid.

Add the salt and chili powder. Mix well. Then add the tomato sauce and the hot tomato sauce if you are using it.

This almost gets done in 5 -7 mins. It will be great if the vegetables are still crunchy.

For making the mini parathas:

Heat a pan for roast the parathas.

Divide the dough into small balls. Roll them into thin discs.

Cut through in middle to get half moons. Scoop the stuffing and place over the middle. Bring one side over the stuffing and seal the sides to ensure the stuffing doesn't come out.

Roast them over hot pan and grease oil over it. Cook on both sides by lightly pressing them to make sure all the spots are cooked.

This goes to my event Kid's Delight themed on Finger Foods. Hope you are getting your entries ready!