Vegetable Pulao or Veg Pulao is a regular lunch box recipe that I pack for lunch. It is a quick one pot meal that you can make pack for lunchbox and club it for lunch. We all love eating and there are times when we love to indulge in some really good food. What if you are fasting or just don’t have access to anything non-veg and you still feel like gorging on some yummy .

Pulaois a one pot rice dish cooked with fragrant basmati rice and aromatic spices.Veg pulao is one of the basic dish made often in Indian home, parties andbuffet menu.

The difference between Veg Pulao and Veg Biryani is as below
Veg Pulao is a simple recipe where rice and vegetables are sautéed together and then boiled or pressure cooked with water till the rice is fragrant, fluffy and cooked through. It’s a one pot dish where biryani is usually made by par cooking vegetables or meat which are then layered with rice and slow cooked. Frankly, veg pulao is the faster-to-make cousin of veg biryani, which is more labor intensive and a longer process.

Ingredients:

• Any Mixed vegetables (carrot, beans, green peas, green/red/yellow capsicum. Potato, sweet corn) – 1 cup
• Panner – 1/4 cup
• Mushroom – 1/4 cup
• Onions – 2 nos
• Garlic – 3 nos
• Green chilli – 3
• Coconut milk – 1 cup
• Basmati rice – 2 cup
• Cinnamon – 1 stick
• Bay Leaf – 1
• Cardamom – 2 nos
• Mint – 2 sprig
• Oil – 2 tbsp
• Ghee – 1 tbsp
• Salt – to taste

Instructions:
Preparation time 15 – 20 minutes

• Wash rice and soak it in water for 15-20 minutes.
• Heat ghee and oil together in a electric rice cooker. Add bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom and sauté for 30 seconds.
• Add garlic and onion, sauté until it turns light brown or for approx. 2 minutes.
• Add chopped vegetables, panner and Mushroom. Stir-fry them for approx. 2 minutes.
• Add soaked (drained) rice and salt.
• Stir-fry them for approx. 2 minutes.
• Add 1 cup of coconut milk and 3 cups of water and mix well. Add chopped mint.
• Close the lid and cook over until it comes to keep warm mode.
• Let it cool at room temperature. Open the lid carefully and fluff the rice with a fork. Transfer it to a serving bowl and garnish with fresh mint leaves.

Tips and Variations:

• Just use rice and water in 1:2 ratios. i.e. for every one cup rice two cups water should be added.
• You can also prepare equally delicious mixed vegetable rice pulao in a pan with a lid. Use same amount of ingredients as mentioned in this recipe, cover pan with a lid and cook it on low flame for 8-10 minutes. Do not open the lid in between while cooking. After turning off the flame, open the lid after 7-8 minutes. However, cooking in a pan may require more water as steam will escape easily, hence add 1/4 cup more water for given recipe.

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Chakka pradhaman is a traditional payasam /pudding of Kerala, South India made of Jack fruit Jam/Chakka Varatti or  Jackfruit pulps cooked in coconut milk and then sweetened with jaggery .Varieties of pradhamans /payasam are made in Kerala, like Chakka -Jackfruit Pradhaman, Ada-Rice Flakes Pradhaman, Parippu-Lentil  Pradhaman, Godambu- Wheat germs Pradhaman, etc.

This delicious Payasam /Pudding can be served warm or cold, depending on the weather and your mood; cold is great on a hot summer night, while serving it warm makes this a superb comfort food. Once you taste this dish you are sure to come back for more.

Ingredients

• Ripe Jack fruit pieces – 12
• Sugar – 1/2 cup
• Milk – 1/2 litre
• Ghee – 3 tsp
• Cashewnuts – 3 tsp broken
• Coconut bits – 1 tbsp
• Cardamom powder – a pinch

Method:
Cooking time: 30 minutes

1. Heat a pan and add 3 table spoon of ghee.
2. Add coconut bits and cashews , fry till golden brown, set aside.
3. In the same pan, add roughly chopped jack fruits and fry it till it becomes soft and mushy.
4. Cool the jack fruit mixture and divide into two equal portion.
5. Grind one half into smooth paste and keep in aside.
6. Heat a thick bottom vessel and add milk to it.
7. Boil the milk, until it reduces to 3/4 of the actual quantity.
8. Add the ground jack fruit and chopped jack fruit.
9. Allow the mixture to boil well. Add sugar as per sweetness.
10. Turn off the stove and add roasted coconut, cashew nut and Cardamom powder.
11. Serve it warm or cold with nuts and coconut bits. I love it cold!

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Soya nuggets/chunksis popular know as a Meal Maker. It’s a vegetarian version of protein source. A good substitute for all chicken dishes that the vegetarians can enjoy.

Soya chunks are made from the pulp of soaked and grinded soya beans, which is then dehydrated. During thedehydration process, they chunks accumulate dusts, so it’s advisable to soak them in water and until they are soft and wash it thoroughly.

Below is simple and quick recipe using those chunks.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups soya chunks
• 3 tbsp oil
• 1 tbsp fenugreek seed
• 1 tbsp channa dal
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds
• 15 dry chilli
• Few curry leaves
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp chili powder
• ½ tsp coriander powder
• salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Preparation time: 10 minutes

• Soak the soya chunks until they’re soft. Wash it thoroughly.
• In a pan add water and allow in to boil.
• Add the soaked soya chunks to it and boil it for 5 minutes.
• Drain the water and let it cool. Once the soya chunks are cooled, squeeze the excess water and keep it aside.
• Heat a Kadai and add fenugreek seed, channa dal, coriander seeds, curry leaves and dry red chilli.
• Dry roast/saute till they turn aromatic.
• Cool the ingredients and grind into fine powder.
• In a bowl add the squeezed soya chunks, the dry roasted powder, chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt.
• Mix all together. The soya chunks need to be coated well with the dry ingredients. You  need not add water while mixing, because the little moisture in the soya chunks will bind with the dry ingredients.
• Heat non-stick pan and add 3 tbsp of oil.
• Once the oil is heated, add the mixed soya chunks, and stir well.
• Cook till the soya chunks are crisp and turns golden brown.
• You can serve it with Dal rice or it can be eaten as evening snacks with hot tea

Some important tips
1. Boil the soya bean well and rinse in cold water, else soya bean doesn’t taste good.
2. Soyabean contains more proteins, so eat it in limits, to avoid problem of indigestion.
3. Soya nuggets fry recipe can also be prepared with combination of peas and corn to make it more healthy and tasty.

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Egg podimas /Muttai podimas / Muttai poriyal recipe is a simple South Indianversion of scrambled eggs. When you want to cook something really quick, eggs comes to the rescue. This recipe is an easy, quick to make and tastes delicious.You can have this muttai podimas as a side dish for rice or chapati.

This recipe is very easy to make. Onions and eggs make for a good combination andthe spices added gives a nice flavor to the dish. There are no tomatoes added to this podimas. You can make this poriyal in minutes, especially on week days when you want something filling and can be made quickly. As for nutrition, eggs are rich in proteins and great to be included in our diet.

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1 onion medium-sized
• 1 green chilli
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp egg curry powder
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 1/2 tbsp oil
• Salt to taste

Instructions:
Cooking time 15 minutes
Preparation time 5 minutes

1. Chop onion finely. Finely chop the green chilli.
2. Heat oil in a pan, add chopped green chilli and saute it well
3. Add Onions and saute till the onions turn translucent and soft.
4. In a bowl add salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and egg curry powder. Mix it well and add two table spoon of water.
5. Break the eggs and mix it well with the masala.
6. Add the sauted Onions into the bowl and mix it well.
7. Heat the pan and add a table spoon of oil. Gently pour the mixture.
8. Then keep stirring the mixture till the eggs are cooked. Remove from heat.
9. Serve muttai podimas hot with rice or rotis.

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Yet another simple and quick egg dish.

This recipe has been a life saver ever since I made it for the first time. It is the perfect side to mild curries like dals and sambar. This is a wonderful Kerala style egg based dish where hard boiled eggs are stir fried in spicy masala. This egg fry is a simple and a staple side dish that is usually served as an accompaniment with appam, chapatti or poratta. It can also be served with any kind of Indian bread

This recipe needs no onions, no tomatoes, so no chopping and can be made in a jiffy, if you have boiled eggs and very few indian spices. So lets see how to make this Quick spicy egg fry with few ingredients.

Note

1.If you prefer less spicy then add black pepper powder according to the level of spicy taste.

2.Adding roasted black pepper powder would give even better taste to the whole dish

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To all the non –veg lovers out there, have you ever said NO for a biryani??? Biryani is a dish that nobody can never resist. Be it a dinner party or any celebratory occasion, biryani seems tobe an ideal main dish to serve along with a spicy salan or refreshing raita.

There may be few, who particularly believe that making biryani is very technical and tough game. But my Amma used to say, slow cooking,equal ratio of rice and meat and right amount of water is a perfection of making an excellent briyani. Whenever you make biryani, you need to understand that it is different than making the usual cooked rice or Pulao. For a perfect biriyani the th quantity of water added for the rice to cook is always must. The secret behind my Amma’s biryani is 1:2 ration of water is to rice. If she soaks the rice for more than 20 minutes then the ratio of rice is to water is 1:1 1/2 cup while cooking the rice with the curry.

There are so many ways briyani is made across India. Mutton biryani recipe involves series of steps to follow. Biryani recipe indeed includes marination, to cook mutton, to cook rice, layer the biryani and then dum it. I’m sharing the recipe that my Amma often cooks at our home any occasion

Ingredients Of Mutton Biryani

 Prep Time 20 minutes
 Cook Time 1 1/2 hour
Marinating time 1 hours

• 1 kg of rice Basmati
• 1 kg of mutton, chopped
• 200 ml of oil
• 5 Tbsp of ghee
• 2 cups of curd
• 300 gm tomato
• 500 gm onion
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 4 cardamom pods
• 4 cloves
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 tsp of Fennel seed
• 2 star anise
• 50 gm Cashewnut
• A small bunch of coriander
• A small bunch of mint leaves
• 10 green chillies
• 1 tsp of chilli powder
• 1 tsp tumeric
• 5 tsp chilli powder
• 2 tsp briyani masala powder
• 1 tsp garam masala powder
• 100 gm of garlic
• 80 gm of ginger
• Salt to taste

Step by Step procedure

Marinating the mutton:

• To the mutton add the 1 cup of beaten curd, ginger-garlic paste, tumeric, salt, chilli powder and garam masala.
• Allow the mutton to marinate for 1 hour.

Preparing fried onion and ginger garlic paste for briyani

• Slice 2 onions very thinly. Separate the slices.
• .In a pan or kadai add ghee and fry the onion slices till nicely brown.
• Take care not to burn them. Fry in small batches. Do not put all the slices at a time, that will lead to lumpy messy onions.
• Make sure all the onion slices frying are dipped in ghee, if needed add more ghee. Keep stirring continuously but gently for an even brown color.
• Take the fried onions out with a slotted spoon or ladle.
• Keep them on a paper-towel lined plate.
• In mix jar, add garlic, ginger and few mint leaves.
• Grind them into fine paste.
• This mixture will enhance the flavor of the biryani.

Preparing the rice:

Use only good quality long grain Basmati rice. 1kg rice roughly measures 5 cups. Always use 1:2 ratio of rice and water. Wash well till the water runs clear and soak the rice for 20 minutes in 10 cups of water.

Cooking procedure:

• Add ghee and oil to a thick-bottomed handi.
• Add cardamom, cinnamon sticks,bay leaves, cloves, fennel seeds, cashewnut, cook for about 2 minutes
• Add the green chilli and saute for a minute.
• Add the thinly sliced onions and fry it until it light golden brown color.
• Add ginger,and garlic and mint paste and mix well.
• Add marinated mutton and cook on high heat for seven to eight minutes.
• Add 1 cup curd and cook it thoroughly with the mutton.
• Add tomato and mix it well and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add red chilli powder, garam masala, biryani masala powder and salt to taste. Mix thoroughly and cook for about 5 minutes
• Add the finely chopped coriander, mint leaves.
• Stir in three cups of water from the soaked basmati rice to the mixture, bring it to a boil, reduce heat and cook covered till mutton is almost cooked. It will take approximately 30 to 40 minutes.
• Once the oil starts to separate and the remaining 7 cups of water and bring it to boil.
• Once the gravy starts boiling, add the soaked rice and mix it thoroughly with the gravy.
• Heat a heavy bottom Tawa and place the Handi on top of it and cover it with lid and place a pan or vessel with water on top of it as shown in the below picture.
• Keep the heat to lowest. And cook the Biryani in this ‘Dum’ process for 40 minutes.
• After 40 minutes switch off the heat and add the fried onions and coriander leaves and let the biryani stand for another 10 minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl.
• Serve with raita and salad.

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When it comes to breakfast at our home, first thing will be idli with groundnut chutney or myall time favorite poori masala. Even when we dine out, the first breakfast dishthat we order will e poori.

Poori masala is asimple potato curry served with poori and is one of the easiest and flavorfulside dish. Poori is one of the most eaten breakfast across India. Each regionhas their own style of making poori and potato curry. This potato curry goeswell with Chappati too.

Here is my all timefavourite and quick potato curry.

Prep Time : 15 mins
Cook Time : 20 mins 

Ingredients

•   Soft boiled  Potatoes – 4 medium size
•    Onion – 3/4 cup finely chopped
•    Green chilli -3 slit
•    Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
•    Salt to taste
•    Oil – 4 tsp
•    Mustard – 1 tsp
•    Urad dal – 3/4 tsp
•    Channa dal /kadalai paruppu/bengal gram – 1/2 tsp
•    Ginger – 1/2 tsp finely chopped
•    Garlic – 2 pods finely chopped
•    Curry leaves – few

  For garnishing

   Corianderleaves

Preparation

1. Wash and pressure cook potatoes for 3 whistles or until soft. After it cools, peel the skin. Add a pinch of tumeric and mash it up well and keep it aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan/kadai, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add channa dal and urad dal. When dal turns golden brown, add onion, green chillies, ginger, garlic and curry leaves.
3. When onion turns pink, turmeric powder and saute well.(you can add a little salt while sauteing the onions)
4. Add the mashed potato and mix it well with the onions.1 1/2 cups of water and salt needed.
5. After adding the potatoes and water, keep it in medium flame and cook for another 3-4 minutes. You can adjust the consistency of the curry by adding more or less water. I prefer thick consistency
6. Switch off the stove and garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves. Serve with hot pooris

This potato masala can also be had as a side dish for chapati, stuffing for bread toast or sandwich.

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When the gentle breeze hit the hanging metal, a lovely tingling sound from the wind chime soothes your mood and attract positive energy around you. Wind chimes have a great significance in Vaastu and Feng Shui. They are known to bring in positive energy at home. You will find many different types of wind chimes on the market. These include metal, wooden (usually made of bamboo), and ceramic ones.

There are three main considerations to be kept in mind when choosing wind chimes.

• The material used in the chimes
• The number of rods or bells
• The symbols present in the design

Some common pieces of advice for using wind chimes are as below

1. At the time of purchasing wind chimes, see the number of rods for certain and also the metal it is made up of.
2. Hollow chime rods are the best choice where you seek an energizing influence, while solid rods are best where you seek to suppress energy. 
3. Pay attention to the number of the rods or bells. Numbers 6 and 8 are the most popular numbers of bells in a wind chime if you want to increase the beneficial energy, while 5 is considered best when you want to suppress bad energy
4. While you can place wind chimes anywhere in your home, it is advisable to hang these in the direction of wind-flow to increase the effect of the pleasant sound it creates .
5. Listen to the sound that it creates, It should be soothing and pleasant.
6. Don’t hang wind chime over the door, or in places where people gather to talk or sleep.

Crafting for the home is a fantastic way to combine one of your favorite hobbies with making your home a prettier place to be. I have few wind chime hanging in our balcony . Recently got one made of terracotta (price Rs. 150) and below is picture of the wind chime which I painted myself

It’s a good idea to add few things at home which might turn out to be interesting when u come across them and sometimes they might be distraction in a good way.

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