Snakeguard Curry Recipe

Snake gourd is one of the vegetables that is widely used in South Indian cooking. Snake gourd vegetable is believed to have a cooling effect on the body and is high in water content. So if you want to loose your weight, you can take snakegourd, ridgegourd, bottlegourd, bittergourd dishes often and these vegetables has highly rich in fibre content. 

Here in this recipe I have included more Chana dal that is cooked with Snakegourd to make the dish tastier and nutritious. Chana dal is easily digestible and rich in proteins. Lets move on to the recipe for easy snake gourd chana dal curry.

Ingredients:

1. Medium size snakgourd - 1
2. Chana Dal - 4 tbsp
3. Onion - no
4. Tomato - 1 small size
5. Green Chilli - 1 no
6. Homemade Sambar powder - 1 tsp
7. Mustard - 1/4 tsp
8. Split Urad Dal - 1 tsp
9. Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp
10. Curry leaves - 1 sprig
11. Coriander leaves
12. Cooking Oil - 1 tbsp
13. Salt as per taste

Cooking Method:

• Scrap the outer layer skin of snakegourd with a knife. 
• Cut into 2 or 3 pieces.
• Remove the seeds inside it and wash thoroughly.

Cut the vegetable into small cubes.

• In a pan add oil followed by mustard, urad dal, curry leaves.
• Next add Onion then Tomato. 
• Saute until tomato becomes soft. 
• Now add cubed snake gourd and saute till raw smell leaves.
• After some time add sambar powder, Turmeric powder and again saute it for few seconds.

• Now add water and cook for about 2 mins depends on your quantity. 
• Since we have sauted for some time, at that time itself it was half cooked. 
• So don't overcook. 

• Simultaneously cook chana dal separately in a cooker. 
• Add cooked chana Dal along with the cooked snake gourd. 
• At this time add salt. 
• Close the lid and cook for about 2 mins.

• Finally add grated coconut and garnish with coriander leaves.
• Now our snakegourd curry is ready to have it with plain rice. 
• since we have added more chana Dal the taste will be more when eaten with white rice.

For Making Snakeguard Rice

• In a pan add cooked plain white rice and cooked snake gourd curry. 
• The white rice must be cooled before adding it to the curry. 
• If it is added hot, the rice will be mashed with the curry and the taste differs.
• Mix it gently with spoon. Season with Coconut Oil.

Now our Snakegourd Rice is ready to serve for Lunch

Carrot Stir Fry and Carrot Rice Recipe

Carrot Stir Fry is an easy to make poriyal side dish for rice meal. Most of the people knowing this poriyal recipe eventhough I am posting it, as I like this Carrot rice very much and I like to inlcude this dish in my recipe menu.

Ingredients:

1. Carrots - 1/4 kg
2. Big Onions Chopped - 2 tbsp
3. Green Chilli - 2 nos
4. Grated Coconut - 1 tbsp
5. Fennel seeds / Sombu - 1tsp
6. Mustard seeds - 1/8 tsp
7. Channa Dal - 2 tsp
8. Urad Dal - 1 tsp
9. Curry leaves - 1sprig
10. Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp
11. Cooking Oil - 1tbsp
12. Salt as per taste
13. Cooked Rice - 2 cup (For making carrot rice)
14. Coconut Oil - 2 tsp (For making carrot rice)

Cooking Method:

• In a frying pan add oil followed by mustard seeds. Let it cracks. 
• Then add channa dal, urad dal, Fennel seeds and then Onions and curry leaves after some time. 
• Let all the Ingredients sauted well with nice flavour.
• Now add the Grated Carrots. saute it for some time. 
• Then add salt, sprinkle some water, close the lid and keep in medium flame.
• The carrots will get cooked quickly in about 3 to 5 mins. 
• After all the water has absorbed, add the grated coconut and coriander leaves, mix well and switch off the flame.

Click the Image and zoom you will get clear stepwise pictures

Carrot Rice Recipe:

For making Carrot rice just add the cooked Rice to this carrot stir fry recipe and mix well. Finally season with coconut Oil for a rich flavour. 

I like to have this Carrot rice along with Rasam Rice and Bat Vadam.

Sweet n Sour Lemon Rice Recipe

Every body had heard of simply Lemon Rice with sour taste. Here I have given the idea of making sweet n sour combination of lemon Rice which includes the flavour of raisins in the Lemon Rice. By adding raisins children will love eating the Lemon rice without any hesitation of sourness of the Lemon. This idea is my Mom's where she will make Lemon Rice for our Lunchbox which includes raisins and cashew nuts. Here I have added only raisins where Vyshu loves eating this rice only with Raisins Flavour.

Ingredients:

1. Cooked Rice - 1 Cup
2. Lemon extract- 2 tbsp
3. Green Chilli - 2
4. Ginger - 1/4 inch
5. Curry Leaves - 1 sprig
6. Raisins - 2 tbsp
7. Channa Dal - 2 tsp
8. Urad Dal - 1 tsp
9. Mustard - 1/8 tsp
10. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
11. Cooking Oil - 2 tbsp
12. Salt as per taste

Cooking Method:

In a frying pan add 2 tsp of Oil add the raising fry them and keep in aside.

• In the same pan add Mustard after it gets cracked add Channa Dal, Urad dal and then green chilli, crushed ginger, Turmeric and curry leaves. 
• After a while add Lemon extract followed by salt. Let it boil for some seconds Keeping in low flame.
• Now add cooked rice. Mix the rice well with all the Ingredients.  
• Now season the lemon rice with fried raisins and mix well. Close the lid for some time and serve.

Click the Image and zoom you will get clear stepwise pictures

Sweet n Sour Lemon rice goes well with Mixed Green Chutney - A perfect Combination

Notes:

Here I have not included onions, if you wish you can add shallots or small onions for a different taste.
You can even add cashews along with the raisins. As cashew nuts gives a rich flavour. 

Apple Fried Rice - Kids friendly Recipe

Bored of Usual Veggie fried Rice .... ??? Here is a little twisted Vegetable fried Rice recipe ... Try it Out friends :)

Apple fried rice is Vyshu's favourite in her lunchbox menu. This fried rice is healthy too since we have included Bell Peppers, cashews and raisins. This recipe is somewhat different to normal veggie fried rice. This fried rice recipe  is hot and sweet mixing of ingredients and the sweetness is more dominant here. So kids love it very much. It will be yummy when had with my favourite Crispy Potato Wedges recipe. Let's see how to do ...

Ingredients:

1. Cooked Basmati Rice - 1 Cup
2. Apple - 1/2 
3. Capsicum / Bell Peppers - 2 tbsp chopped legthwise
4. Big Onion - 2 tbsp chopped
5. Spring onion white part - 2 tsp finely chopped
6. Spring onion green part - 1 tsp finely chopped
7. Garlic paste - 1 tsp
8. Soya Sauce - 1/8 tsp
9. Pepper Powder - 1 tsp
10. Cashew nuts - 1 tbsp
11. Raisins - 1 tbsp
12. Olive Oil - 1 tbsp
13. Salt as per taste

Cooking Method:

Be ready with the Ingredients. This pic does not represent the actual measurings and Ingredients for fried rice. 

Chop the Onion, Bell Peppers and Apple. Be ready with the Cooked Rice.

• In a Cooking pan add little oil and fry the cashews and raisins. 
• Transfer it to a plate. 
• In the same pan add some more oil, onion, spring onion white part  and garlic paste. Saute it for a minute. 
• Then add the capsicum and saute it for some seconds. 
• Add soya sauce and then cubed apples. Give a quick saute for about 5 secs. (The apples must not get cooked. It should be crunchy).
• Immediately add the cooked rice, pepper powder and salt. Saute it for few seconds.
• Finally add the cashews and raisins and mix everything with along with the rice quickly. 
• Switch off the flame. Garnish with spring Onions green part and serve hot.

Click the Image and zoom you will get clear stepwise pictures

You can have this fried rice along with Crispy Potato Wedges or any Hot n Spicy Chips of your choice. This is a lovely, tasty and colourful lunch box recipe for kids.

Notes:

• Overcooking of apples turns mushy. So be careful while sauting. 
• You can increase the quantity of apples, capsicum and nuts according to your taste.
• You can even add finely chopped garlic instead of garlic paste.
• You can add Bell Peppers of different colours, so that kids love eating the fried rice and complete the lunch box quickly. 

Brinjal Rice / Vaangi Baath Recipe

Brinjal Rice became favourite for me once when I was Working. One of my friend used to bring this vaangi bath for lunch and she share with all of us. I liked that rice very much and it became one of my recipes for lunch box those days. Though many of u have known this recipe very well, I wish to share my favourite spicy brinjal rice with u all. 

Ingredients:

1. Brinjal - 4 nos
2. Cooked Rice - 2 cups
3. Cooking Oil + Gingelly Oil - 4 tbsp
4. Tamarind - about 2 seed size
5. Jaggery - 1 tbsp
6. Salt as per taste

For Making Vaangi Baath Powder:

1. Channa Dhal - 1 tbsp
2. Urad dhal - 2 tsp
3. Fenugreek / Methi seeds - 1 tsp
4. Sesame seeds - 1 tsp
5. Coriander seeds - 2 tsp
6. Dried Red Chilli - 2 to 3
7. Grated Coconut - 1 tbsp

For Tempering:

1. Mustard - 1 tsp
2. Channa Dhal- 2 tsp
3. Urad Dhal - 2 tsp
4. Curry leaves - 2 sprig

Cooking Method:

Wash thoroughly all the brinjals and cut into pieces of your favourite shape. Soak Tamarind in little water for about 10 to 15 mins. Or you can use tamarind paste too.

Take frying pan add little Oil and other ingredients listed under "For Making Vaangi Baath Powder". Fry till slightly brown in very low flame. 

After it cools down add it to a mixer and grind it to a fine powder and keep it aside.

Click the Image and zoom you will get clear stepwise pictures

• In a Kadai add mustard followed by channa dal, urad dal, curry leaves. 
• Then add the Brinjals and fry in oil till it gets cooked. (It will be cooked soon in oil itself, no need to add water).
• After brinjals gets cooked add the tamarind juice and wait till it gets absorbed. 
• Add the Vaangi Baath Powder with some salt and saute for few seconds. Then add the jaggery and mix well.
• Now add the Cooked Rice along with little salt(remember already we have added salt) and saute till all the rice gets mixed well with the spice mix.

Now a tasty Brinjal Rice is ready and it goes well with any Vadams. I like to have it with Colour Vadams. You can prepare this for lunch box along with Rasam Rice or Curd Rice.

Notes:

• The spice powder can be adjusted according to your taste.
• The Vaangi Bath powder can be made in large quantity and can be stored for future use. 
• You can use basmati rice for doing this recipe.

Curd Rice Seasoning

If we are affected from cold or cough, we usually avoid taking curd or buttermilk. In those times the body produces heat and somehow we have to balance that issue. This Curd seasoning recipe can be taken even when you are affected by cold. Its not like a regular seasoning as we add only mustard, turmeric and curry leaves. Here I have included some cold soothing things with this recipe which cures cold or cough. I usually give this curd rice to my child when she has cold. Vyshu likes this recipe very much and she call it as "Yellow curd rice" and she needs it regularly when she is not having cold at all. Its because of the good taste too.

Ingredients:

• Cooked Rice - 1 cup
• Curd - 1 cup
• Small Onion - 2 nos
• Jeera / Cumin - 1/4 tsp
• Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
• Garlic - 1 pod
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig
• Mustard - 1/4 tsp
• Black Pepper Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Oil - 2 tsp
• Salt as per taste

Method:

• Cut Onion into small pieces. Chop Garlic. 
• Take a pan add oil, mustard. After mustard gets splutterd, add Jeera. 
• Immediately add Garlic and Onion. Saute well , now add curry leaves. 
• Finally add turmeric powder and pepper powder. 
• As soon as you add this add curd and salt, Stir well for some seconds.
• Do not let the curd to boil. Else the curd will be separated.
• Switch off the flame. 
• Add this curd seasoning with cooked rice(hot rice) and stir well. 
• This curd seasoning will give a good taste as we have added garlic and pepper, moreover these both are cold soothing agents.

You can have this Curd seasoned rice as it is, without including pickle as side.

Notes:

Coconut oil for seasoning is preferable