Sprouts Salad

Sprouts salad is a very nutritious one that can be had as breakfast or healthy snack or starter or even as spicy chat. 

Ingredients:

1. Tomato - 1/2 cup finely chopped

2. Orange - 1/2 cup chopped (Can be replaced by pomegranate beads)

3. Onion - 1/3 cup finely chopped

4. Green gram sprouts - 1 cup 

5. Lemon juice - 1 tbsp

6. Salt to taste

7. Pepper to taste (Can add finely chopped green chilies if you want)

8. Italian seasoning - 1/4 tsp (Optional)

9. Ginger juice - 1 tsp

10. Olive oil - 2 tbsp
11. Coriander or mint leaves - 1 tsp finely chopped

Method:

Step 1: Steam or blanch the sprouts with little salt and let it cool.

Step 2: Take all the listed ingredients from 5-10 in a small cup and mix well.

Step 3: In a large bowl, add the tomato, orange/ pomegranate, onion, sprouts and pour the dressing on top of it.

Step 3: Add coriander/ mint leaves, toss well and serve immediately.

TIPS:
* You can add roasted and salted peanuts to the salad to add nutrition and crunch
* You can serve it as a salad or can also serve it as a topping on roasted papad which is your masala papad or can also layer it between breads to get your tasty nutritious sandwich.

Roasted Squash Soup

Both my husband and I are not great fans of pumpkin or the acorn squash, but I don't like to avoid any vegetable for lack of our liking because every other vegetable is unique in nutrients and taste. Luckily, any vegetable is passable for both of us in form of soups or stews; so here comes the creamy squash soup.

Ingredients:

1. Squash - 1 wedge

2. Milk - 1/2 cup

3. Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp

4. Nutmeg - 1 pinch grated

5. Salt to taste

6. Pepper to taste

7. Olive oil - 1 tbsp

8. Pumpkin seeds - 1 tbsp

Method:

Step 1: In a non-stick pan, take olive oil and saute the roughly chopped squash in medium heat until they are roast and soft

Step 2: Let it cool and then blend it smoothly with milk.

Step 3: Bring it back to the same pan and heat on low flame.

Step 4: Sprinkle cumin powder, nutmeg grated, salt, pepper and mix well.

Step 5: Pour into soup bowls, top with crispy salted pumpkin seeds and serve immediately. This is another soup that you can have the temperature you like piping hot or warm or cold.

Uppurundai

Uppurundai is another signature dish of my mother-in-law, I've never had it anywhere else and even after trials we did not succeed in making them as good as her's. As a recipe it is plain and simple, it is just the knack we need to get. For those people who plan and execute all the wet grinder batches (for idlis, kanjeepuram idly, dosas, appams, etc) in one day of a week, this can be tried as another small batch for that evening's snack or dinner. 

Serves:

Preparation Time: 5 min (Soaking time is 2 hours)

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1.       Idly rice – 2 cups

2.       Salt as per taste

3.       Oil – 3 tbsp

4.       Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

5.       Urad dal – 1 tbsp

6.       Channa dal – 1 tbsp

7.       Curry leaves – 1 sprig

8.       Dry chilies – 3

9.       Asafoetida – 1 pinch

Method:

Step 1: Wash and soak the rice for 2 hours. Grind it smoothly with some water and mix required salt.

Step 2: In a heavy bottomed pan, heat 2 tbsp of oil, sprinkle asafoetida, splutter mustard seeds, add urad & channa dals, thrown in curry leaves & broken chilies and add the rice batter into it.

Step 3: Stir continously until it becomes thick and gooey. Turn off heat and make lemon sized balls out of the mass while it is still hot.

Step 4: Steam the rice balls for 5 minutes and serve hot as is or with idly podi.