Soy Chunks Pepper Roast | Indian Soy Recipes

Ever wonder what to make for the meat-savvy converts to vegetarianism. These soy chunks pepper roast is sure to please the spicy meat lover in you. If you are an omnivore, you could still enjoy this dish for the sheer aroma and color which will fool you into believe you are in for a real non-vegetarian treat.

Ingredients:
Dry Soy chunks / Soya Vadi / Mealmaker - 1 cup
Oil - 1 tbsp + 1 tsp
Cinnamon - 1" piece
Cloves - 2
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Peppercorns - 3/4 tsp
Red chillies, seeds removed - 2
Curry leaves - a few
Salt - to taste

Method:
Heat about 4 cups of water. When the water comes to a boil, add the soy chunks and remove from heat. Keep covered for 30 minutes. Drain the water and squeeze the soy chunks. Wash with 3 to 4 exchanges of cold water, squeezing the excess water every time. Cut into small pieces if desired and set aside.
Heat a tsp of oil in a pan and roast the cinnamon, cloves, cumin, pepper and red chillies together until slightly toasted. Allow to cool and make a fine powder. Heat the remaining oil in a non-stick pan and add a little salt. Add the soy chunks and fry for a minute or two. Now add the ground spice powder, curry leaves and mix well. Continue to roast in medium heat until the soy chunks is roast well and becomes a little dry. Serve warm as a side or a snack.
Linking this to Priya's Vegan Thursdays.

Kuzhi Paniyaram | Indian Breakfast Recipes

Kuzhi Paniyaram, these little pillowy delights native to South India are loved at my home. They also go by the name gulittu, guntu pongalu or unniappam. These are crispy on the outside and soft in the inside and make a great snack or breakfast item. I made this for my LO's breakfast one day with Tomato Sambar and he loved them. They are made with a special pan called the Paniyara kal which have little spherical indentations for frying the batter with oil. These can also be made with the ebelskiver pan available in other parts of the world.

Ingredients:
Serves - 2-3
Dosa batter, slightly sour - 4 cups (see notes below)
Oil - 2 tsp + more for making paniyarams
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Chana dhal - 1 tsp
Onion - 1/2 cup, chopped
Green chillies - 2, chopped (see notes below)
Curry leaves - a few
Salt - a pinch

Method:
Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan and splutter the mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add the chana dhal and fry until it takes a slightly darker shade. Add chopped green chillies and onions. Continue to saute until the onion is cooked through. Add a pinch of salt and mix with the batter. Heat the paniyaram (aebelskiver) pan in medium-high heat and pour about 1/4 tsp of oil in each kuzhis (indentations). Fill it with batter until the brim. When the batter puffs a little with bubbles on top, flip them over with a chopstick by pricking and rolling it over. Cook until all the sides are golden brown. Remove and serve hot with a 
chutney or sambar. I served it with Tomato Sambar.
Notes:
Use a day old dosa batter which is slightly sour for a nice crisp and tangy taste. If feeding kids, just slit the green chillies before sauteing and remove it before adding to the batter. 
You can add grated carrots to make it more colorful and get your kids their share of vegetables.

Creamy Mango Oatmeal | Baby & Toddler Food Ideas

Did you know that Oatmeal with fruits is a delightful breakfast. After my attempt with Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal, I have been looking ways to sneak in fruits to oatmeal. This is another one of my successful try in making my LO love oatmeal. A sweet and creamy mango oatmeal with a hint of cardamom is more like pudding than a oatmeal. LO didn't make any fuss on seeing the bright sunshine colored breakfast. Now that he is identifying colors, he loves to have a colorful breakfast. Yellow as in Mango Oatmeal and Blue in his Blueberry oatmeal (his another favorite).

Ingredients:
Rolled oats - 1/2 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Whole milk - 1/4 cup or more
Cubed Fresh Mango - 1/2 cup + more for topping
Sugar/Honey - 1 tsp
Cardamom powder - a pinch
Salt - a dash

Method:
Mix the oats with water and salt in a microwave proof bowl. Microwave for 1-1/2 minutes. Mix once and cook another half a minute. Puree the mango with milk. Mix the mango puree with the oatmeal and cook another minute in the microwave pausing and mixing once in the 30 seconds mark. Allow 2-3 minutes of standing time. Mix the sugar if using and serve warm topped with cut mango cubes.
Notes: For babies less than 10 months, use an immersion blender to puree the warm oatmeal before serving

Lemon Blueberry Pancakes (Eggless) | Breakfast Recipes

This Lemon Blueberry pancakes is full of the blueberry goodness with the lemon adding a burst of flavor which wakes up your taste buds. As I was saying in my Blueberry Rice pudding post, blueberries are my LO's recent favorite. Needless to say these blueberry flecked pancakes is a winner and he eats them for breakfast without any fuss. That is what every mom wants right. 

Ingredients:

Makes 8-4" pancakes

Maida/ All purpose flour - 1 cup

Baking powder - 2-1/2 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Sugar - 2 tsp

Milk - 1 cup (room temperature)

Butter, melted - 1 tbsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Vanilla - 1 tsp

Lemon zest - from 1 lemon

Lemon juice - 2 tbsp

Fresh Blueberries - 1 cup

Method:

Whisk the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder in a large mixing bowl. Mix the milk, butter, oil. Vanilla, lemon zest, lemon juice in a medium mixing bowl. Pour the milk mixture over the flour and whisk. A little lumps are ok. Fold in the fresh blueberries. Heat a griddle/pan in medium heat and pour 1/4 cup of batter on the pan. When bubbles start appearing on the surface, flip the pancake over and cook until it turns golden. Remove to a plate and serve topped with maple syrup or just powdered sugar.
Notes: The lemon zest is kind of an important ingredients and truly reinforces the citrus flavor. Simply substitute milk with any non-dairy milk for a vegan version.

Chinna Vengaya Thokku / Shallot Pickle - South Indian Style

I am travelling to India tomorrow. This time it is going to be a long vacation which is going to last for a few months. My son and I are excited to meet my family and looking forward to spend some quality time with them. I have scheduled some posts to keep this space active. Keep visiting and enjoy the recipes!
There are some foods that grandma makes for us to carry back from India. Goodies from India are always special and are like carrying memories back from the trip. One thing that grandma always does not forget to make for us is this Onion Pickle. The first time she made it was when I was newly married and DH absolutely loved it. Not a surprise, he is a pickle fan and can eat South Indian Pickles with almost any food. Since then she never forgets to make some specially for the greatest pickle fan, DH.
It never occurred to me that I can try and make her pickle recipes at home by myself until now. I frantically called her up and asked for this onion thokku and Tomato Thokku recipes. And yeah again my DH loves this onion thokku more :)

Ingredients:
Chinna vengayam / Shallots / Sambar Onions - 1/2 kg (a little more than a lb)
Tamarind - size of a lemon (pick over the fibrous veins and seeds)
Dry Red chillies - 15
Gingelly (sesame) oil - 1/3 cup + 3 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Salt - 1 tsp or to taste

Method:
Peel and halve the onions. If the sambar onions are bit too big, cut into quarters. Heat 3 tbsp of oil and fry the chillies until it take a darker shade. Drain the chillies to a plate. In the same pan fry the tamarind for a minute or so and transfer it to the chillies plate. Add the cut onions and fry until it turns transparent but not too dark. Allow it to cool in the oil. Meanwhile pulse the chillies and tamarind in a small mixie jar into a fine powder. Add the sambar onions with salt and pulse a couple of times to form a not a smooth paste. Heat 1/3 cup of oil in a sauce pan and splutter the mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add the ground paste and cook in medium heat for about 20 minutes. Stir often to avoid the thokku sticking to the bottom of the pan and getting burnt. When the thokku comes together as a single mass and the oil starts oozing out. Remove from heat and allow to cool, covering with a mesh plate. When cooled for about a day, transfer to a clean and dry glass bottle. This stays good in room temperature. But I prefer keeping it in the fridge. Always use a dry spoon to serve.

Linking this to Priya's Vegan Thursdays.