Atukula upma / Poha

Another variety of upma that can be eaten as a breakfast item or as a snack.

Ingredients:

Atukulu (Medium thick rice flakes) – 1 cup
Green chilli – 6-8
Onion Medium sized – 1
Potato medium – 1
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Curry leaves
Oil – 2 tbsp
Salt
Turmeric – 2 pinches
Lemon juice – 1 tsp (Optional)
Chopped coriander – 1 tbsp
Peanuts – 2 tbsp (Optional)
Grean pea - 2 tbsp
Sweet corn - 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Pour the rice flakes into a colander and put it under the running water and make sure that all the rice flakes becomes wet and keep it aside.

Flaked rice soaked under running water

2. In the mean time Peel the potato and cut into cubes and put it in a microwave approx for 5 min. Timing might vary depending on the power levels. (You can even half boil it in a normal vessel and make sure that the potato cubes are not too mushy)

Potato cubes, Sweet corn, Green pea and Green chili

3. Cut the green chilli and onion length wise.

4. Heat a pan with oil. Once the oil is hot, add peanuts and roast until light brown. Add green chillies, onion, Mustards, salt, curry leaves sequentially one after the other and fry until the onion becomes translucent.

5. Add boiled potato, sweet corn and green pea and turmeric and fry for a minute and cover with lid until the peas and corn becomes soft. Remove the lid and add the rice flakes (Make sure to drain the excess water if any). Stir for a minute and finally sprinkle the lemon juice and chopped coriander and serve immediately. It tastes good when it is warm. The rice flakes will become stiff when cold.

Atukula upma

Gongura Matikkayala pullakoora (Sorel with cluster beans)

This is a Rayalaseema recipe. We call cluster beans as matikkayalu. Few people call them as goru chikkudu. My mom is good in making these pullakoora varities. I will always end up in eating bit more than usual due to the mouth watering tangy taste.

Found fresh ground nuts in the store and got fresh sorel grown at home. Thought this is the right time to make this recipe.

Gongura matikkayala pullakoora

Ingredients:
Sorel – 2 cups
Cluster beans - about 150 – 200 gms remove the head and tail parts and break into 2 pieces only
Tamarind - lemon size
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Salt
Onion – 1 large cut into medium chunks
Fresh ground nuts (boiled) – hand full
For seasoning:
Oil
Mustard+Cumin - 1 tsp
Chana daal - 1 tsp
Red Chili - 1
Garlic - 2-3 cloves
Curry leaves

Home grown sorrel, cluster beans, green chili, boiled peanuts, tamarind

Method:

Heat a deep pan / sauce pan with few drops of oil. Add chopped onion chunks, green chili, sorrel, custer beans, ground nuts one after the other and stir for a minute or 2 and cover with lid for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and sprinkle some water (about 30 – 50 ml) stir again and cover it again and cook slowly under medium to low flame. In this way the veggies don’t get burned and also tastes good. Once every thing is cooked well, remove from the fire and give a good whisk using wooden pestle.

Add the seasoning and serve with hot rice.

For seasoning: Heat oil in a small pan and when it is hot add Red chilli, chana daal, garlic, mustard, cumin, curry leaves one after the other.

Rice with chappidi pappu and Gongura matikkayala pullakoora

Note: If you don’t have fresh ground nuts, soak the dried ground nuts for 1 hour and then boil them separately until they are just done using pinch of salt. Add the boiled pea nuts along with the other ingredients.

Watermelon scoops with whipping cream

Watermelon is a natural source of most powerful antioxidants provided by nature. It is a good source of the antioxidant vitamins C and A to protect us from diseases. It reduces the risk of dehydration. The health benefits of watermelon are really great.

 

luscious Watermelon with tender seeds

The beautiful red watermelon is also a source of the potent carotene antioxidant which is called lycopene. These antioxidants travel throughout the body neutralizing free radicals. Free radicals are substances in the body that can cause much damage to us. They are able to oxidize cholesterol, making it stick to blood vessel walls and thicken them which can lead to hearty attack or stroke. The lycopene which gives fruits the attractive red color that we find in watermelon can help reduce the risks of prostate cancer.

It is a surprising fact that watermelon is the only fruit that contains higher concentrations of lycopene than any other fresh fruit or vegetable. Watermelon is a fruit that is rich in electrolytes sodium and potassium that we lose through our perspiration.

Watermelon is rich in the B vitamins necessary for energy production. Food experts recommend watermelon as a very good source of vitamin B6 and a good source of vitamin B1 and magnesium. Because of its higher water content approximately ninety percent and calorie value it is ranked more valuable than other fruits.

Watermelon has a special cooling effect and is exceptionally high in citrulline.

The antioxidants help reducing the severity of asthma. It also reduces the risk of colon cancer, asthma, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and prostate cancer.

I have enhanced the coolness of the fruit by adding this to the whipping cream.

To make the whipping cream, take 100ml of double cream or whipping cream and add 2 tsp of icing sugar or sugar powder and whip it using electric / hand mixture until stiff. Place the whipping cream in a bowl and add watermelon scoops to it.

Watermelon balls scooped into whipping cream. A nice treat for kids during summer.

Moong daal sprouts with dry fruits and nuts

Moong beans, apart from being a good source of protein, also contain useful amounts of fibre, potassium, and B-vitamins. They contain low levels of fat, cholesterol and sodium.Sprouts contain an abundance of highly active anti-oxidants that prevent cell destruction and protect us from the ongoing effects of aging.

Ingredients:
Moong daal sprouts - 1 cup
Chopped dates - 2 tbsp
Soaked almonds (Chopped) - 2 tbsp
Soaked Raisins - 1 tbsp

Moon daal sprouts, Almonds, Dates and Raisins

To make sprouts, Wash and soak the whole moong daal in water for about 6 hours. Drain the water and tie the moon daal in a muslin cloth and place it in a box for about 24 hours or until the sprouts are formed. You can directly place the soaked moong daal in the specially designed boxes with holes or simply in sprout makers.

Soak almonds and raisins also for at least 4-6 hours.

When the sprouts are ready, add the chopped almonds, dates and raisins.

This can be served as a cool snack during hot summer. 

  

Broccoli with roasted sesame seeds (Till seeds)

Broccoli is an important calcium source for those who don't consume dairy products. Calcium does more than build strong bones. Research shows that this mineral may play a role in the control of high blood pressure, and it may work to prevent colon cancer. Broccoli is a fiber find.

Broccoli is considered as one of the most nutritive and delicious vegetables. It is highly recommended for vitamin C, and it is also believed that broccoli helps in preventing cancer depending on the way it is cooked. Beta-carotene and vitamin C are important antioxidants that have been linked to a reduced risk of numerous conditions, including cataracts, heart disease, and several cancers.

If broccoli is not cooked in a right manner, it may get overcooked and loose most of its nutrients in the process.

Ingredients:
Broccoli – About 300 gms
Roasted Sesame seeds – 1 tsp
Salt
Lemon juice
Pepper powder (optional)

Radhakrishna with Broccoli

To start cooking, peel off the thick skin from the stem and cut the stalks. Chop the broccoli into small florets. Heat a saucepan with 1 tsp of butter. Once the butter is melted, add the florets, sprinkle little bit of salt and cover the saucepan with a lid. Reduce the heat to medium, and self steam the broccoli for about 4-6 minutes by tossing in between. If necessary sprinkle some water. Then check whether you can pierce the broccoli florets easily or not. As soon as the broccoli is tender and you are able to pierce the florets, sprinkle the roasted sesame seeds and remove the pan from heat as there is the risk of overcooking.

Steamed broccoli with sesame seeds

This can be served as a snack for kids.

Cabbage with Green pea

A simple stir fry with perfect colour combination. Cabbage is a leafy vegetable with loads of health benefits that include treatment of constipation, stomach ulcers, headache, excess weight, skin disorders. Did you know that the cheap, humble looking and so widely used cabbage could work miracles? yes, Doctors advices the breast feeding mothers to place the fresh cabbage leaves on their breast to melt the milk curdles.

Ingredients:

Grated Cabbage – 2 cups
Green pea – ½ cup
Green chili - 4 – 5
Turmeric – 1/4th tsp
Salt

For Seasoning:
Red chilli (Dry) – 1 or 2
Curry leaves – 1 string
Mustard – ½ tsp
Cumin / Jeera – ½ tsp
Oil – 2 tbsp

Method:

Heat a pan with 2 tbsp of oil. When it is hot enough, add all the seasoning items Red chilli, mustard, cumin,  curry leaves one after the other. Slit the green chillies into 2 to 4 pieces and add to the seasoning and fry for a minute. Now add the shredded cabbage, green pea, salt and turmeric powder and stir momentarily. Stir the cabbage for a minute or two with out covering the lid and until the raw smell goes. Sprinkle about 2-3 tbsps of water, cover the lid and allow the cabbage and the green pea to cook with the steam itself under medium flame.

Cabbage with green pea

This goes well with rice or roti or even with pita bread.

Drumstick leaves / Munagaaku Rasam

There are lots of nutritional values in drumstick leaves. Drumstick leaves have Seven times more vitamin C than oranges to fight against many illnesses including cold and flu as it helps in congestion. and four times more vitamin A than in carrots to protect against our eye diseases, skin diseases, and heart diseases. It has four times more calcium than present in milk to build strong bones and teeth. It is three times more rich in potassium than bananas,which is essential for the functioning of the brain and nerves.

Few other benefits of Drumstick:

- The leaves have twice the amount of the protein than in milk and almost equal amounts of protein present in eggs.

- Medicinal uses

- The seeds are generally used to clean and purify dirty or hazy drinking water. It is pounded and wrapped in a muslin cloth, and dipped in jars or containers that has water in it.

-The bark of the drumstick plant contains a gum that is used for the treatment of various stomach ailments such as :---

- Seeds are found to be highly beneficial as they helps a person when there is loss of appetite, colic pain and flatulence ,it removes gas from our stomatch.

- A hot infusion of the leaves provides relief in the case of skin diseases.The same kind of infusion can be bought to use in fevers to reduce temperature.

Ingredients:

Toor Daal – ½ cup
Drumstick leaves – 1 cup
Tomato – 2 large
Rasam powder (any variety)
Turmeric
Salt
Tamarind – ½ lemon size
For Seasoning
Oil – 1 tbsp
Garlic pods – 2 to 3
Mustard + Cumin – 1 tsp
Curry leaves
Coriander
Red Chili – 1 or 2

Drumstick leaves and toor daal

Method:

Wash and pressure cook / boil toor dall, drumstick leaves and tomatoes by adding pinch of turmeric. When the daal mixture is still hot add tamarind and salt and pulse it slightly or mash it with wooden masher. Heat a sauce pan with oil and do the seasonings by adding red chilli, pounded garlic pods, curry leaves, mustard and cumin. Add the daal mixture to the seasoning and add rasam powder and chopped coriander and bring the rasam to boil.

Munagaaku rasam

Serve warm with rice or can be served on its own as soup.