Beetroot fingers

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

 Hi All,

Beetroot being a red blood root vegetable which is very easily available all over the year. I love the color and the shape of the beet. Eventhough I am not a big fan of beet, but love to try new recipes with it as my elder daughter loves it.

I too like it, if I try something new way. The down recipe is one of those, which I love to eat it often.

(The other photo which I presented these fingers nicely is missing somewhere!!, Please bear with me for this not so clean photo)

Ingredients :

Beet root - 2 big

Salt to taste

Red chilly powder - 1 tsp

Amchur(dry mango powder) - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder a pinch

Oil to fry

Method :

• Boil the beetroot. When cool, peel the skin and cut into finger size bytes. 
• Mix the salt, red chilly powder, turmeric powder and dry mango powder. Keep it ready in a bowl.
• Heat oil in a kadai. When its hot, slip the beet slowly in batches and fry on high flame for first one minute. Then fry on medium heat for few minutes or till the skin turns light brown. Transfer it into a plate(with kitchen tissue on it). 
• Sprinkle the ready powder on it and mix it well. 
• Repeat with remaining batch.
• Serve hot.

Sending it to,

Priya's Healing Foods - Beetroot Event Guest Hosting
(linking it to  Siri's Healing foods home page)

AND

Srivalli's Announcing Kid's Delight ~ Finger Food

AND

Akila's 

Dish Name Starts with: B

Keep Smiling,

Tri Colored Chapatis and Tomato Chutney!

Tried and tasted by Nivedita 

Hi All,

Colorful food!!! We all get attracted towards colorful food. Here is the recipe for colorful chapati! My mom and me prepared it together. She loves to try new food and always supports me with my cooking ideas. 

She prepares it for kids parties or some get together functions. 

I will directly go to the recipe as the procedure is long. But I have taken the step by step photos. It will be easy for me to write the recipe and easy for you to follow it to make.

Step 1 :

Ingredients required :

Wheat flour - 1 bowl each for 3 vegetables.

Spinach - 2 big bunch

(I used only one, as I had only one with me)

Carrot - 2 big

Beet root - 1 big

Salt to taste for each dough

Oil for each dough

Be careful about using chilly as it is mainly served for kids. 

Green chilly - 1 for spinach

Red chilly powder - 1 tsp for beet root

Orange color chilly - 1 (optional if you have) 

or skip it.

Oil to fry chapatis.

Step 2:

1. Wash, clean, chop and boil the spinach for few minutes. Remove and put in the cold water for a minute. Strain and puree it with the hands. Do not use blender as it will be watery and needs more flour.

2. Wash, clean and boil the carrot and beetroot separately. (I cooked in the cooker for 2 whistles.)

Mash the carrot and puree it again with the hands. 

3. Grate the beetroot with small grater and keep it aside.

Step 3 :

Take 3 plates or big bowls.

1. Take one cup of wheat flour. Add pureed spinach, crushed green chilly, salt and oil. Knead it into dough.

2. Take another cup of wheat flour in one more plate. Add mashed carrot, crushed orange chilly(if using), salt and oil. Knead it into dough.

3 . Take 3rd cup of wheat flour in third plate. Add Grated beetroot, Red chilly powder, salt and oil. Knead it into dough.

Be careful about adding water  when making the dough. 

Keep aside for 10 to 15 minutes.

Step 4 :

Make long rolls with each dough. Like this :

Step 5 :

Follow the photo to keep the rolls on each other :

Step 6 :

Slowly cut the roll into equal pieces :

Step 7 :

Gently press the pieces.

Step 8 :

Roll each piece into chapatis.

Step 9 :

Fry each chapati with little oil.  And chapatis are ready to eat.

 

Now for the Tomato chutney :

Raw or green tomato - 3 medium, cleaned, chopped

Green chilly - 2 or less if for kids

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 1 tsp

Curry leaves -few

Garlic - 6 cloves

Jaggery - 1 tbsp or more depending on the sourness of tomato

Fry all the ingredients together for 5 minutes and keep it to cool.

Fresh coconut - 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Fresh coriander - 1 tbsp

Add the fried ingredients with fresh coconut, salt, fresh coriander and put it into blender to make into fine paste. 

Tomato chutney is ready.

Sending this to Srivalli's monthly event "Kid's Delight,". And this month's theme is 

Announcing Kid's Delight ~ Colouring your Kid's Delight!

I am sending this to 

Announcing Global Kadai - Indian flavoured flatbreads ! by Sandhya of Sandhya's Kitchen

Providing the link back to Cilantro's page as per the rule.

Keep Smiling,

Beetroot Halwa (Sending my Heart to My Valentine!!!)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Valentine's Day! A day of love!!!

I am missing my husband for this day, as we always celebrated together. Last time, he bought  3 roses, one for me, two for our daughters. This year we are far from him, but still very near in our heart. Hoping that,  next year we will celebrate together this day!

This beautiful red heart is for him!

A very simple sweet, my husband loves it! And me too!So thought of making it on this day of love!

Beet Halwa:

Beet root - 2 big

Sugar - 3/4 cup of grated beetroot

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Cinammon powder - 1 tsp

Ghee - 1/4 cup

Fresh cream or milk powder - 2 tbsp

Crushed almonds - 8 to 10

Split almonds - 10 to 12 for decoration

Peel and grate the beet. Measure the quantity. Take 3/4th cup sugar of measured beet.

Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a thick bottomed (must) kadai. Add beet into it and keep on frying till it looks dry or the water is almost gone from the beet. Add one more tsp ghee mix well. Now add sugar and mix it well. Fry it without leaving for 3 to 4 minutes.(if you are adding milk powder,add it now) Add crushed almonds. Once it starts leaving the sides of kadai, add cardamom powder and fresh cream(if you are not adding milk powder). Add Cinammon powder.

Put some more ghee if you feel its very dry. Mix well and transfer it to a plate. Give desired shape and serve it with garnished almonds.

Even though it is not everyone's favorite in my family, but me and my husband loves it~! And this is dedicated to him and only him! (Am I getting more bollywood!!! No! Missing him!)
So I thought of sending this to the event(breaking the rules of the event!):

This heart is going to 

FAMILY'S FAVOURITE FOOD EVENT -- VALENTINE'S DAY S..

held by Shama Nagarajan. 

AND

This is going to 

Priya 's  Announcing Hearts For St Valentine's Day Event

Keep smiling,

A queen of blood meets rice and white milk!! accidentally!!!

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Are you thinking that I have started writing novel on ghosts and devils!! I always find this subject very funny and scary movies makes me laugh.( Do not tell me to watch "The Exorcist" or something like that!!!)

Yesterday, I was in a fix to fix a lunch box for my daughter. As you all know she loves to take rice, I have to plan variety of rice for a week and keep it ready in menu .

So, I checked the fridge for vegetables. I did not find anything, as I bring vegetables only in the afternoon of every Tuesday.

I checked the onion basket, thinking that I will make onion rice and send her. Then I saw these red queens sitting and talking to onions! First I hesitated to use these for rice, as I felt may be Rajul will not like the raw smell of beetroot. Then I thought of giving it a try as she likes boiled beet.

I will give you the recipe before I will tell the result!!

Here they come in line:

Rice - 1 cup or 200 gm

Beet - 1 big or 2 medium

Jeera or cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Onion - 1 big, cut into slices

Ginger & Garlic Paste - 1 tsp

Whole garam masala - 1 tbsp crushed.

(1 cardamom, 2 cloves, few shajeera, a small piece of cinammon)

Red chilly powder - 1 tbsp or more if cooking for elders

Tomato - 1 medium, chopped

Then comes the sweet heart of this rice, do not skip this!

Fresh coconut - either grated or small cut pieces to make coarse milk

(I am not getting proper word here, so let me explain you, take few small pieces or grated coconut, put little water and put in a blender to get coconut milk with coarse coconut. I mean, no need to make it full milk. I hope you got me!!!)

Salt to taste

Oil - 2 tbsp

Procedure to make:

Wash the rice and keep it to dry.

Wash, peel and grate the beets.

Heat oil in a cooker. Add jeera and onion. Fry till brown. Add ginger garlic paste and garam masala. Fry for a minute and add the beet and tomato. Its time to keep on frying the beet till it becomes dry or looks dry. Like this I thought the raw smell will go! and to check whether the smell vanished or not,  read full story.

Now add salt and chilly powder with coconut milk. Fry for half a minute.

Add the rice immediately and fry for a minute so that the red masala will get mix with the rice. 

Here is the place where the queen of blood meets the rice and white milk. So the suspense is over.

Add hot water till the rice is covered. 

Cover the lid and give 2 whistles.

The red beet rice is ready to eat!

Yes! There was no raw smell of beet anywhere! Actually no one will make out that it is prepared with beet.

This was my real invention in a hurry!!! 

Why I am calling these beet as queen of bloods?? All of us know that beet is the house of  highest contain of iron, and regenerates the red blood shells. And doctors suggests to have it more if you want increase your hemoglobin. So what will be the best way to give this to kids, without making them cry! or running and shouting behind them?

The result was, the full day,my daughter was on this rice it self. And in the school her friends took half of the rice from the box. Seeing the color of the rice, even her teacher asked her what is it made of???

Do I need more appreciation?

YES! I want the sweet comments from all my friends here. 

Sending this to silpa of Anita' s Kitchen  APS- Rice Event.

AND

Sending it again to

Priya's Healing Foods - Beetroot Event Guest Hosting
( Linking it to Siri's Healing foods home page)

Keep Smiling,

Veg. Juice Pulao

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

My last minute entry to Chaitra's event! The reason is, as I stay little far from the city, it is difficult to get all the vegetables when I need. We depend on weekly markets, which are small and will have very little options to buy varieties. Even though I wanted to make this rice before only, I did not get spinach all these days. But today when I went to market I saw fresh Spinach and thought of making the rice and send this entry to Chaitra's event.

As I told before, I am trying new rice preparations, this is one of them. One month before, I watched this recipe in the TV, but could not write down. So depending on my memory, I tried the pulao, it came out good. But for sure, it is very healthy for kids, as they do not eat palak and beetroot directly.

Here is the recipe,

Long grain rice - 2 cups

Beet root - 1 small

Palak(Spinach) - 1 bunch small

Carrot - 1 big

Onion - 1 small, chopped into long pieces

Cauliflower - cut in to 12 to 15 pieces

Paneer - 8 to 10 cubes(optional, but tastes good)

Soya nuggets - 8 to 10(Soaked in the water for sometime)

Tomato -1 medium

Tej patta - 1

Cinnamon stick - 1/2 inch

Clove - 3

Cardamom - 1

Oil - 1 tbsp

Butter - 1 tbsp(optional)

Salt to taste

Chilly powder - 2 tbsp

Soak the rice in water for 2 minutes. Drain the water and keep aside.

Clean and wash palak leaves. Boil for few minutes. Peel the beet root, carrot. Cut into pieces. Boil and keep it to cool.

Prepare palak, carrot and beetroot juice separately.(you can mix all together and make the paste at a time also.)

Wash, cut the tomato and prepare the paste.

Squeeze the water from nuggets.

Heat oil and butter in a cooker. When hot, add all dry masalas(crush it once or they will pop out). Add onion. saute for a minute. Add soya nuggets, paneer. Saute for 2 minutes, keep on stirring.

Now goes palak,carrot and beetroot juice and tomato paste. Let it boil for 3 minutes. Now add rice, salt, chilly powder and cauliflower. Mix properly. Add hot water till the rice is covered. Give 2 whistles. Wait till the cooker is cool.

The pulao is ready to serve.

Sending this recipe to

Rice Feast @ Aathidhyamfrom Chaitra

Keep smiling,

Beetroot Salad

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Beet root is very good for health. It is having many health benefits. When I was browsing about the beet root, I came through this web site, which gives detailed benefits (http://www.ayushveda.com/womens-magazine/benefits-of-beet-root/).

My elder daughter loves to eat it with every meal. So I keep on trying to make different recipes with this.

My daughter loves to eat only with salt also.

Here is the recipe, which when I make it vanishes from the plate just like that.

Beet root -2 boiled

Oil -1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Hing- a pinch

Curry leaves - few

Urad dal - 1 tbsp

Chilly powder - 1 tsp(Optional)

Salt to taste

Amchur powder - 1/2 tsp

or

Lime juice - 1/2 tsp

Remove the skin on boiled beet root. Cut in to desired shapes. Thin round pieces will be good, as it is easy to spread other ingredients. Spread the pieces in a plate.

Heat oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds. When they are done, add urad dal. still it till it becomes slightly golden color. Now add all other ingredients. Put evenly on the beetroot plate.

Serve as a salad with your main meals. Or you can serve as a starter.
Sending it to

Priya's Healing Foods - Beetroot Event Guest Hosting
(Linking it to  Siri's Healing foods main page)

Keep smiling,