Beet leaf thoran

Ingredients:
Beet leaves - 1 bunch
Grated coconut - 2tbs
Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 twig
Salt & Oil

Preparation:

Wash the beet leaves nicely and finely chop the leaves along with the stem into small pieces.

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add the beet leaves red chili, turmeric powder, salt and saute and cover with the lid. Do not add any water. Once the leaves get cooked add grated coconut and curry leaves and mix nicely. After few minutes remove from fire.

Serve with steamed rice.

Sarkara Varatiya/Upperi - Plantain fry in jagery syrup

Ingredients:
Plantain - 3Nos (Raw)
Jagery Syrup - 3/4 cup
Cardamom Powder - 1tsp
Ginger Powder - 1 1/2 tbs
Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp
Sugar (I used brown sugar) - 1 tbs
Oil for frying

Preparation:
Peel the outer skin of the banana, and cut into small thick pieces. Heat oil in a pan and deep fry them on low heat until they become golden brown and crispy.

Mean while make the jagery syrup. Add little water to the jagery and heat it up to make syrup, when the syrup starts becoming sticky consistency add cardamom powder, ginger powder and cumin powder and mix well and remove from fire. Now add the fried banana pieces to this and stir nicely so that he jagery gets coated well. Leave it for 2 to 3 minutes and then sprinkle sugar. When the sugar gets coated nicely, allow it to cool and sore it in an airtight container.

Egg Rice

Ingredients:
Rice (I used basmati rice) – 1 Cup
Egg – 2 Nos
Onion – 1 small
Tomato - 1 small
Bay leaves – 3
Cinnamon – 1 stick
Cardamom – 3 Nos
Curry leaves – 1 twig
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Red chili powder – ¼ tsp
Salt and oil as required

Preparation:
Wash the rice nicely, cook and keep aside.
Chop onion and tomato into small pieces. Heat a pan adding required oil and put bay leaves, cinnamon and cardamom. Then add the chopped onion and sauté for a while, when the onion starts changing its color add tomato pieces to it. Now you can add salt, red chili powder and turmeric to it. Fry for 3 to 4 minutes until tomato gets cooked, then break the eggs into it and scramble nicely. Finally add the cooked rice to it and mix well and remove from fire. Transfer to a plate and serve.

You can have pickle/ salad as side dish.

Oatmeal Payasam

Ingredients:
Oatmeal - 1/2 cup
Milk - 4 to 5 cups
Brown sugar - 1 cup (if you want it sweeter then add an extra 1/4 cup)
Ghee/Butter - 2tbs
Raisin & Cashew nut - Few
Cardamom - 5 Nos

Preparation:
Heat a pan, add one tbsp of ghee fry cashew nuts and raisins and keep aside. In the same pan, pour the milk and later when the milk is about to boil add the oatmeal and keep stirring, allowing it to cook. When it starts getting thick add brown sugar and cardamom powder or whole cardamom. Finally garnish with raisins and cashew nuts and remove from fire. Allow it to cool and then serve.

Note: Don’t reduce the quantity of milk as it will become very thick. If you want you can add extra ½ cup of milk.

Avocado paste sandwich

Ingredients:
Avocado – 2 No’s
Onion – 1 small
Ginger Garlic paste – ½ tsp (this is optional)
Basil leaves fresh - few chopped nicely
If you are using dried basil leaves then 1tsp
Salt as required
Oil – 1tbs

Preparation:
Remove the outer skin of avocado and grind it to a fine paste or smash it nicely using spoon of fork. Chop onion nicely, chop into very small pieces. Heat oil in a pan, add ginger garlic paste, sauté until raw smell goes away, then add the chopped onion and fry until it changes its colour, then add the avocado paste and sprinkle salt and mix well. Leave it for 5 to 6 minutes. Finally add basil leaves and remove from fire. Let it cool

Toast the bread and spread it to make sandwich.

Coriander chicken curry/ Cilantro Chicken

Ingredients:
Chicken – 1 lb
Onion – 1 large
Tomato – 1 small
Coriander leaves/Cilantro - Handfull
Yogurt/curd – 2 tbs
Green Chilies – 3
Ginger paste – 1tsp
Garlic paste – 1tsp
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Red chili powder – ¼ to ½ tsp
Coriander powder – 2 tbs
Garam masala – 1tsp
Fennel powder – 1tsp
Salt and oil as required

Preparation:
Clean the chicken, cut into small pieces. Grind coriander leaves and yogurt by adding little water (if required) to a fine paste. Marinate the chicken pieces with this.

Heat a pan, add some oil and sauté onion, green chilies and tomato, and let it cool for sometime. Then grind it to fine paste. In the same pan add ginger garlic paste and sauté until raw smell goes away. Then pour the ground paste into it add turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder and mix well, add some water to it and allow it to boil. Then add the marinated chicken piece, cover with lid and let it cook. Stir occasionally. When done, remove from fire.

Serve with Vegetable pulav, Idiappam

Pineapple Kesari

Ingredients:
Pineapple - 3/4 cup
Sooji/Rava - 1cup
Sugar -1 1/4 cup
Water - 2 cups
Ghee - 3tbs
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp (Optional)
Cashew - few

Preparation:
Cut the pineapple into slices, remove the eyes and the center part and cut into small pieces. Heat 2 tbsp of ghee in a pan. Fry cashew nuts and keep aside. In the same pan fry Rava also,Boil water add pineapple pieces, you can add the colour now. When cooked, add the fried rava gradually stirring continuously, so that no lumps are formed. Mix thoroughly and continue to stir. Once rava is cooked add sugar,cardamom powder and remaining ghee and cook for sometime. When done remove from fire and garnish with fried cashewnuts.

Let it cool for sometime and serve.

Note: You can also use canned pineapple and the sugar syrup. If you are using the canned pineapple and the sugar syrup then you should reduce the sugar quantity.