Ada Pradhaman

Ada Pradhaman is equivalent to paayasam or kheer in Kerala. Kundan had tasted it from one of his colleagues and was craving to have it again. Unfortunately I couldn't find from my local grocers, the readymade ‘ada’ which is a main ingredient for this dessert. Amma had got it from Pondicherry sometime back and I finally attempted this simple version of ada pradhaman. Traditionally the ada itself is made at home as and when required and prepared with coconut milk which I'll try and share shortly.

Serves:  5

Preparation Time:  15 minutes

Cooking Time:  30 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Ada – ½ cup

2.    Sugar – 1 cup

3.    Milk – 3 cups

4.    Coconut chopped – 3 tbsp

5.     Cashew nuts – 10

6.    Raisins – a fistful

7.     Cardamom powder – ¼ tsp

8.    Ghee – 2 tbsp

Method:

Step 1: Boil the milk in simmered stove by stirring occasionally until it thickens well.

Step 2: Heat ghee in a tawa and fry ada, cashew nuts, raisins and coconut one by one and keep them aside.

Step 3: Add the fried ada to the boiling milk and cook it until the ada is soft by stirring occasionally.

Step 4: When the ada is cooked well, they float on the surface; check if it is soft till center and then add sugar and cook for another 5 minutes. Turn off heat.

Step 5: Stir in cardamom powder, fried cashew nuts, raisins and serve hot or warm or even chilled.

Banana Stem Mocktail

Okay, I can hear that ‘what the heck…’ on seeing the name J. People say that many a time boredom is in the way things are presented rather than the things itself. So here is my attempt to make a not so interesting banana-stem juice more alluring. Try it and I bet you won’t regret it. And a well known piece of info is 'It is said to be very good for people with kidney stones'.

Serves:  2

Preparation Time:  NA

Ingredients:

1.      Banana stem – 4 “ long

2.    Coriander – few sprigs

3.    Curry leaves – 1 sprig

4.    Green chili – 1 small

5.     Lemon – 1

6.  Salt to taste

Method:

Step 1: Wash and chop the banana stem into 1” size cubes; place it in a mixer jar.

Step 2: Wash and add green chili, coriander leaves, curry leaves, lemon juice and salt to the mixer jar.

Step 3: Grind them with some fresh water. Filter using a mesh and grind the pulp again with some more water to extract the juice completely; filter and discard the mush.

Step 4: Now taste and adjust salt, water and lemon juice in it.

Step 5: Serve and relish the refreshing mock tail immediately.

Veg Sandwich

Sandwiches are very flexible and customizable in terms of what can be filled in between. Sandwiches, in addition to attributing as any of the meals (breakfast or lunch or dinner or just snack) happen to be one of the healthy-tasty foods ever which is also usually easier to prepare. In fact it is more convenient for packing and munching on travel.

Yields:  5 Sandwiches

Preparation Time:  15 minutes

Cooking Time:  10 minutes

Ingredients:

1.      Bread Slices - 10

2.    Tomato –  1 + ½

3.    Onion – 1 + ½

4.    Capsicum – 1

5.     Cucumber – 1

6.    Lemon – 1

7.     Coriander – 1 small bunch

8.    Green chilies – 2

9.    Ginger – 1” piece

10.  Garlic – 4 cloves

11.   Oil – ½ tbsp

12. Butter – 1 tbsp

13.  Grated cheese – 2 tbsp

14. Salt  to taste

15.  Chaat Masala – 1 tsp

Method:

Step 1: Thinly slice one onion, one tomato, capsicum, cucumber and season them with little salt, chaat masala and lemon juice.

Step 2: Chop and sauté half an onion, half a tomato, ginger, chilies and peeled garlic in the oil.

Step 3: Clean, wash and chop the fresh coriander leaves.

Step 4: Grind it along with the sautéed vegetables along with some salt. This is the green spicy spread for our sandwich.

Step 5: Now take bread and spear butter on outer side of it and green spread on the inner side. Arrange the sliced vegetables on it and scatter some grated cheese over it. On the top side of the covering bread smear some butter and cover the sandwich. Get the entire sandwiches ready this way. (oops! the pic has a wrong focus)

Step 6: Now toast it on a tawa or sandwich maker and serve hot with sauce or ketchup.