Bread Upma with Hamburger Buns

I made this upma last Sunday for breakfast. I had many leftover hamburger buns in the refrigerator. We usually make sandwiches/veggie burgers with those buns. As I was bored of eating them the same way again and again, thought of making bread upma with these buns. I make bread upma mostly with regular bread slices. Making bread upma with these buns is a nice variation and it tasted so delicious too!!

Ingredients:(For two persons)

• 4 Hamburger Buns
• A small Onion, chopped fine or lengthwise
• 1 Tomato, chopped
• 2-3 Green Chilies, cut into small pieces
• A small piece of Ginger, peeled and chopped
• A pinch of Turmeric
• 1/4 cup Green Peas (Frozen/Fresh)
• ¼ cup Corn Kernels (I used Frozen)
• 1 tsp Lemon Juice
• 1 cup Water
• Salt

For Seasoning/Tempering:

• 2 tsp Oil
• ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
• ¼ tsp Cumin Seeds
• ½ tsp Bengal Gram (Chana Dal)
• ½ tsp Black Gram (Urad Dal)
• Few Cashews, broken into halves
• Few Curry Leaves

Preparation:

Tear the buns into small pieces by hand and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add cumin seeds + chana dal + urad dal + cashews and fry till they turn golden brown in color.

Then add curry leaves and then onions + green chilies + tomato + ginger + green peas + corn and mix well. Sauté them well. Add turmeric and mix well.

Pour a cup of water and cover. When all the water gets absorbed and the veggies are cooked well, add the bread pieces and mix well.

Cover and leave the pan on a low flame for some time until the bread pieces absorb the essence of the cooked veggies.

Remove the cover, add salt, sprinkle lemon juice and mix well.

Turn off the flame and transfer the contents to a serving plate. Enjoy this delicious bread upma when it still hot. Yummy!!

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Pumpkin Rava Laddu

A new treat for the thanksgiving from me!! I have been thinking of making something new for this thanksgiving, so came up with this idea of making laddus with pumpkin. I am so happy that it turned out so delicious and everyone liked them.

Ingredients: (Makes 25 medium-sized Laddus)

• 1 cup Pumpkin Pulp (canned or fresh) (If using fresh, check out this recipe where I gave step by step instructions for making fresh pumpkin pulp from scratch)
• 2 cups Semolina (Upma Rava)
• ½ cup grated Coconut (fresh or dry)
• 2 cups Sugar
• 2 tsp Ghee
• Some broken Cashews
• Some Raisins
• Some Cardamom Seeds/Powder

Preparation:

Dry roast semolina until it turns golden brown. Then transfer to a plate and keep aside.

In the same pan heat ghee and add cashews + raisins and fry till cashews turn golden brown and raisins bubble up. Then add coconut and again fry till it changes color and turns into light brown.

Later add the pumpkin pulp + sugar and mix well. Keep stirring the mixture until all the sugar gets melted and the mixture attains a soft halwa stage.

Finally add the roasted semolina to the pan and mix very well so that no lumps are formed. Keep stirring the mixture gets thickened (until 2 minutes). Turn off the flame and leave the pan for some time until the mixture cools down and is easy to touch.

When it is cool enough to touch, take small portions of the mixture and make into balls of desired size. Spread on a plate to dry for some time until it gets hardened.

Please Note: As we added pumpkin pulp, it takes a little more time for the laddus to harden.

(But as we couldn’t wait for the laddus to get hardened, we ate them as soon as the laddus are made. They still tasted great, but were little soft and chewy.)

Enjoy these yummy laddus any time of the day. This is my thanksgiving treat for my family.

Here are some more yummy ideas for the thanksgiving:

• Cranberry Bread
• Pumpkin Cupcakes
• Pumpkin Gel Pie
• Sweet and Sour Cranberry-Coconut Laddus

I wish you all a VERY HAPPY AND FUN-FILLED THANKSGIVING!!

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Simple Cauliflower Pappu

Today I am blogging about a simple but delicious pappu (daal) made with cauliflower. This is an ultimate comfort food for any day.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Toor Daal (Kandi Pappu)
• ½ cup Cauliflower Florets, finely chopped
• 2 Tomatoes, chopped into pieces
• 2 or 3 Green Chilies, cut into small pieces
• A pinch of Turmeric Powder
• A pinch of Asafetida (Inguva, Hing)
• Some Cilantro Leaves
• Salt as required

For Tempering/Seasoning:

• ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
• ¼ tsp Cumin Seeds
• 1 tsp Oil

Preparation:

Pressure-cook toor dal until 3-4 whistles.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a bowl/pan and add mustard seeds. When they splutter add cumin seeds.

Then add cauliflower + tomato + green chilies, pour little water and leave it on medium flame until the veggies cook well.

When the veggies become soft, add the cooked toor dal and mix well. To this add turmeric powder + hing and mix well. Add little more water, if needed.

Finally add cilantro + salt and mix well. When dal comes to a boil, turn off the flame.

Transfer the cooked dal to a serving bowl and enjoy. It goes well with rice/chapathi.

On a Different Note:

Have you ever read a story written by a kid? As you already knew my 10-year old has her own blog called “Crazy World of Art” where she shares her art works, craft works and stories. She couldn’t update her blog for many days due to school work, but now she got some time and she posted a beautiful story. Please encourage her by visiting her blog and leaving your precious comments. I think kids would definitely enjoy this story told by a kid. Thank you!! Here is the link:

http://myartisticworld.blogspot.com/2009/11/shortcut-that-started-it-all.html

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Pinto Beans Dosa - Spicy

I recently made a yummy dosa with pinto beans. DH said it tasted soooo delicious. I felt like eating a pesarattu.

Pinto beans are so rich in fiber and iron. Here are some health benefits of these beans:

Pinto beans are a very good source of cholesterol-lowering fiber, as are most other beans. In addition to lowering cholesterol, pinto beans' high fiber content prevents blood sugar levels from rising too rapidly after a meal, making these beans an especially good choice for individuals with diabetes, insulin resistance or hypoglycemia. When combined with whole grains such as brown rice, pinto beans provide virtually fat-free, high quality protein. But this is far from all pinto beans have to offer. Pinto beans are also an excellent source of molybdenum, a very good source of folate and manganese, and a good source of protein and vitamin B1 as well as the minerals phosphorus, iron, magnesium, potassium, and copper. Source: WHFoods.

A closer look

Ingredients: 1 cup Pinto Beans 1 cup Rice Flour A small piece of Ginger 2 or 3 Green Chilies Handful of Cilantro Leaves ½ tsp Cumin Seeds Salt as required Oil Preparation: Wash and soak pinto beans in plenty of water overnight or at least 8 hours. When they become soft, grind the beans into a fine paste along with ginger + green chilies + cilantro. Add more water if needed. It’s ok if it doesn’t grind so smoothly, it still tastes great. Note: You can also grind ginger + green chilies + cilantro separately instead of adding it to the beans and then mix with the batter. Transfer this pinto bean batter to a big bowl and add rice flour + cumin seeds + salt and mix well. Make a thin batter. Heat a non-stick pan and pour a ladleful of the batter in the center and spread quickly into a circle. Pour little oil around the dosa and leave it for some time until it comes off easily from the pan. Flip over and pour little more oil (optional) around the dosa and let it cook for some time. Remove from the pan and place on a serving plate. Repeat the same process with remaining batter. Enjoy these hot dosas with your favorite chutney.  Yummy!!

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Spiced Flax Seed Powder

I never knew about these flax seeds before. Thanks to blogging, I came know many such good things. Flax seeds have very high nutritional values. They are good sources of omega 3 fatty acids and lignans that help to fight cancer. Flax seeds are full of fiber and helps in weight management too. There are many health benefits we can get from these flax seeds. So it would be better if we include these amazing seeds in our daily cooking.

Image Source: http://www.strollerstrides.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/flaxseed1.jpg

I tried to prepare a spice powder with these flax seeds and it was a hit in my family. Try it yourself and taste the health and deliciousness. And it involves very simple and fast preparation.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup Flax Seeds
• 1 cup Black Gram (Minappappu, Urad Dal)
• ¼ cup Coriander Seeds (Dhaniyalu, Dhaniya)
• 3-4 tsp Red Chili Powder (or according to individual taste)
• Salt

Preparation:

Dry roast all the ingredients except chili powder and salt. Leave aside for some time to cool.

Add these roasted ingredients to a blender along with chili powder + salt and grind into a fine powder.

Enjoy this yummy, spicy and healthy powder with rice/dosas/idlis.

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Tomato Rava Dosa

Hope all of you enjoyed the Halloween. My kids collected a year supply of candies and treats. Halloween is the most enjoyable event for all the kids, isn’t it? We had a small gathering for Halloween. It was fun!!

Now coming to today’s recipe, this is a nice variation to the regular rava dosa. It was delicious and colorful. 

Ingredients: 1 cup Rice Flour 1 cup Semolina (Upma Rava) 3 or 4 Tomatoes, medium sized A small piece of Ginger A few Cilantro leaves, chopped fine Some sour Buttermilk or Water to make batter Salt Oil Preparation: Chop tomatoes into big pieces and grind into a paste along with ginger. Keep aside. Combine rice flour + semolina to make a thin batter by adding buttermilk or water.  Add salt as required. Add tomato paste + cilantro to the batter and mix well. Heat a non-stick pan and pour a ladleful of batter first around the edges of the pan in a circle. Quickly fill in the circle to make it into a big circle.  Pour some oil around the dosa and let the dosa cook for a while. Then flip it over and pour some more oil (optional).  When it is cooked on both sides, remove from the pan and transfer to a serving plate. Repeat the same process with remaining batter.  Enjoy these delicious and colorful dosas with your favorite chutney.

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