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Most of my lunchbox (husband’s) recipes are super simple & can be put together in 20 minutes. Shiva leaves home by 8:15 and it is difficult to make elaborate lunches.…

Once in a week my school & college days’ lunchbox menu will definitely have Lemon Rice/Tomato Rice with a piece of Lemon Pickle as sidedish. Such a humble yet comforting meal. Even after eating it all these years am never bored or tired of SouthIndian variety rice ☺️ Maybe because of the gene I suppose. This tomato rice recipe is my own & have been following it for years. It is slightly different from my mom’s. Her recipe doesn’t include garlic & garam masala powder for flavor. The best side dish for this rice is obviously Potato fry but for…

This is my go-to recipe when I want to make a simple side dish for Rice/Roti/Poori. I usually mix these veggies together (Onion,Carrot,French Beans,Potato,Tomato,Capsicum,Cauliflower/Broccoli).They all make a fantastic combo. You can even add Cabbage,Spinach or any other greens too to make it even more healthier. Such a simple recipe but tastes absolutely delicious. Since I love crunch in the curry, I don’t add too much of water while cooking the vegetables. Since they will soften the texture. Just sprinkle few drops of water while cooking the veggies. The following measurement serves two. Adjust quantity accordingly
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This is such a versatile healthy side dish that can be served with Rice ,Roti or even with Dosai too ☺️ The basic ‘koottu’ (கூட்டு) recipe contains 3 important components 1. Veggies – Pumpkin, Carrot,Eggplant,Drumstick, Snakegourd,Spinach,Chow Chow,Cabbage are the most commonly used vegetables. 2. Daal (lentils) – A cup of pressure cooked daal. It could be either a mix of moongdal and channa dal or just moongdal or toordal 3. Coconut Paste – This paste is essential. All you need is fresh coconut, green chilli & jeera. However if you want you can add peppercorns, ginger & garlic too Once…

Sambar is an integral part of Tamil cuisine. Be it breakfast or be it lunch, Sambar has to be there. Whenever I prepare tiffen items like Idli,Dosai or pongal, I usually go for this one pot sambar. Its done in pressure cooker and all you need is just 20 minutes. Tamarind is not used in this recipe and hence to give that tangyness to Sambar, I have added more tomatoes Tastes so good with even Sevai (Rice Vermicelli), Appam, Idiyappam too. Also even if you have unexpected guests, you can prepare this quickly without any hassle. The below recipe can…

Weekends we mostly prefer hearty lunches. Food is the perfect way to unwind a stressful week. Yesterday we went to purchase groceries and came back home at around 11:00am..Both of us were damn hungry and I thought of putting together a quick meal yet delicious one. I zeroed in on Daal + Chawal (Rice with lentils) and for sides i initially planned a simple potato fry. The fresh capsicum I picked from the market was starring right into my eyes A simple potato fry became stuffed capsicum and to add some deliciousness (read calories) sprinkled cheddar cheese at the…

My mom makes this spicy,tangy ‘Milagu kuzhambu’ whenever we come back home from a trip or vacation. The reason behind this is that we used to be tired from travel & from all those restaurant foods, this ‘kuzhambu’ is considered as a cleansing food. There are no vegetables involved, no onion/garlic , no extra spices. A very simple south indian style ‘pachadi’ (similar to yogurt based Raita with a Tadka) & a pappad (preferrably sutta appalam) are served as side dishes. This kuzhambu is a very common recipe in Tamil Brahmin community. Especially for nursing mothers we serve this kuzhambu…

Halloumi – A variety of Cheese that is believed to be originated in Cyprus. It is widely used in Middle Eastern cooking and is popular in many western countries as well. The cheese is produced from Cow’s,Sheep’s and Goat’s Milk. When compared to other cheese varieties I find this cheese a bit extra salty and hence while cooking adjust the quantity of salt accordingly. Few months back when we had our lunch at a restaurant, we tasted Halloumi Skewers for the first time. Loved it totally and since then its been on my monthly grocery list. I usually pan fry…

I always have Dosai batter in stock and it comes handy while trying to make quick breakfast or dinner. But at times I do forget the bowl of batter lying in fridge and it does become a bit sour after two days. Instead of wasting the sour batter you can try making this ragi rava roast[Finger Millet flour + Semolina crepes] and am sure your family will enjoy this breakfast.I served coconut chutney and tomato chutney as side dishes. However you could serve it sambar or molagapodi [GunPowder] too The following measurement approximately yields 12 medium sized dosas. Unlike dosa batter, this ragi rava batter has to be watery like our regular rava roast. Also you need to pour batter on a hot Dosa Tawa. If the temperature is not correct then it will difficult for you to remove dosa from the pan

In the ‘Deepavali Special’ snack series today am sharing recipe for Pottukadalai Murukku (Roasted Gramflour murukku). I have used single star plate (ஸ்டார் போட்ட அச்சு) to prepare these murukkus. This is the first time I am using that plate and hence it took a while for me to shape murukku perfectly