Boiled rice upma(Choru upma)

                                                                  When my brother was a small boy ,everyday he demanded different types of snacks after returning from school. My mother may not get enough  time everyday to prepare different snacks or some days there may not be enough things to prepare snacks. during such occasions she used to prepare boiled rice upma because there will be already boiled rice which she had prepared for lunch.Boiled rice upma is a very tasty dish, very easy to prepare and needs less ingredients. It can be had as breakfast,for lunch or for  dinner, when there are no enough side dishes or curry. It can also be had with evening tea.

Ingredients

1 cup boiled rice

1 onion or 2 small onions

1 sprig curry leaf

1 papad

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

Salt to taste

2 dried red chilli

1 teaspoon coconut oil

1/2 teaspoon ghee(optional)

Method

         Keep a pan over low flame. Pour coconut oil into it. When oil becomes hot, put mustard seeds into it. let it pop in the oil. Cut the papad into 4 or 5 pieces with your hands and put them in the oil. Stir well and allow them to fry. Put red chilli into the pan after cutting it into small pieces and stir well. Add curry leaves and salt. Now add boiled rice and stir well for 2 or 3 minutes. Add ghee and mix well with the rice upma. Switch off the flame. Remove the boiled rice upma to another vessel. Serve hot. If want , you can serve it with coconut dry chutney or pickle or vegetable stir fry or anything you have at home  like chutney powder fish, papad etc.

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Tapioca fry

               

 

                                 This tapioca fry is not the tapioca chips that we usually buy from market. In order to prepare this tapioca fry, we should first boil the tapioca after cutting it into cylindrical pieces.  Then it has to be cut into fine pieces and dried in the sun for 4 to 5 days till it is dried properly. Since all  the water content present in tapioca gets evaporated, it can be stored for months. Usually we dry tapioca during summer season.

Ingredients

1. 1 tapioca.
2. Salt as required.
3. Water required to boil tapioca.
4. Coconut oil required to fry tapioca.

Method

• Peel tapioca and wash thoroughly in plenty of water 2 or 3 times.
• Cut it into 3 or 4 cylindrical pieces.

•  Take water in a vessel and place it on the stove.
• When eater starts boiling put the pieces into it.
• Add required salt.
• When tapioca has cooked properly(Do not overcook), drain water from the vessel.
• Transfer the tapioca to a flat vessel.
• Let it cool.
• When cooled, cut each piece into two, vertically.
• Slice it into fine pieces.

• Spread these pieces on a cotton cloth or plastic sheet and keep it in the sun for 4 to 5 days till all the water has evaporated completely.
• Keep a  pan over the low flame.
• Pour coconut oil required to fry tapioca.(Take only the required amount of tapioca pieces)
• When oil becomes hot, put tapioca pieces into the oil.
• Stir gently.
• Fry till  golden brown color comes. Do not over fry.
• Transfer them to another vessel.
• When cooled , store in air tight container.

Note:   Fry only the required quantity of dried tapioca and keep the remaining for future use.

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Lady's finger fry

Lady’s finger fry can be used as a side dish for rice. I feel that it is better than pappad because pappad contains baking soda in a large quantity. Moreover it is very tasty too. It takes very less time to prepare. My friend Sony Mary used to bring this fry to school every day. That was how I tasted it for the first time.

Ingredients

1. 2 Lady’s fingers
2. A pinch of turmeric powder
3. A pinch of red chilly powder
4. Salt as required
5. Coconut oil required to fry it

Method                                                                                                                              

                Wash the lady’s finger thoroughly. Cut it into thin pieces as shown in the figure. Add salt, turmeric powder and chilly powder and mix well. Keep the fry pan over the flame. Pour coconut oil. When the oil is hot put these pieces and stir well. Remove from the pan when it attains a brown colour. Serve hot.

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Pudina chutney

          Pudina chutney can be made without using coconut. This can be served along with masala dosai,ghee roast, vada,ghee rice and vegetable biriyani.

Ingredients

1. Mint leaves             :1 handful
2. Salt                          :as required
3. Green chillie            : 4 to 5
4. Coconut oil              : 1 teaspoon
5. Lemon                      : 1/2
6. Water                       : as required

Method 

         Squeeze the lemon and collect the juice in a bowl. Remove the seeds from it. Keep it aside. wash the pudina leaves. Put it into the chutney jar along with green chillie. Add required amount of water and make a fine paste of it. Now transfer it into a bowl. Add lemon juice. Add enough salt and coconut oil and mix it thoroughly with the chutney using a spoon. Now our pudina chutney is ready. 

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Coconut chutney

If you are in a hurry, what would you do to make chutney? My sister shared me  the idea of making chutney easily.Let me share it with you.

Ingredients.

1. Coconut      :1/2 grated
2. salt                : as required
3. curry leaves: 1 sprig
4. Dried red chillie: 3
5. oil                  : 1 teaspoon.
6. Mustard seeds : 1 teaspoon

Make a fine paste of the grated coconut.Add enough water as required. Add enough salt. Keep the kadai over the flame and add oil.When the oil is heated add mustard seeds. Let it pop in the oil. Cut each red chillie into 3 0r 4 pieces and put it in the oil.Add curry leaves and stir it.Now add coconut paste into it. When it starts boiling remove the kadai from the stove. transfer the chutney into a bowl. Now it is ready to serve.

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