Paruppu Keerai / Dal Spinach

Spinach is one of the nutritious vegetables. Tender Spinach is consumed in raw form in many westen countries because of its high vitamin and mineral content. Most of the time, I prepare this dal without onion, tomato and garlic and I am giving the recipe for it. You can do this dal in a jiffy and if you have time, feel free to add onion, tomato and garlic if you like to add. All the other methods are same.

Ingredients:



Spinach (Keerai) - 1 bunch

Toor Dal - 1/2 cup

Dry red chillies - 5 nos

Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Urid dal - 1/2 teaspoon

Oil - 3 teaspoon

Salt - To taste

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

Asafoetida - a pinch



Method:



1) Wash spinach twice in water and chop it finely.

2) Wash Toor dal twice or thrice in water until the water becomes clear.

3) Add Toor dal along with a cup of water in a pressure cooker and allow it to boil. However don't close the lid.

4) When the dal is half boiled(remove the foam using ladle that foams on the top of water), add spinach, cumin seeds, turmeric powder, salt and some water.

5) Close the lid of the cooker and wait for 3 whistles.

6) Allow the steam to subside. Then open the lid and mash the spinach dal mixture well with a masher.

7) Take a kadai (frying pan) and heat oil.

8) Add mustard seeds and urid dal. When they seeds start to splutter, add curry leaves and dry red chillies,asafoetida to it.

9) Add this to spinach dal mixture and stir well.

10) Dal Spinach (Parruppu Keerai) is now ready to be served with rice.

Note:

1) Add onion, tomato and garlic to get additional taste and flavor.

Orange Smoothie

If you don't like to have orange in its natural form, then try this smoothie. It might suit you well. It retains both the characteristics of the orange fruit - it is sweet as well as tangy. Moreover it's a hit among kids.

Ingredients:



Orange - 1

Milk - 1/2 cup

Curd / Yogurt - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 2 tablespoon



Method:



1) Peel the orange and remove the seeds.

2) Boil the milk and make it to cool. You can also add fresh milk if you don't intend to use boiled milk.

3) Blend / Mix the Orange slices, add milk until they get mixed well.

4) Add sugar to suit your taste and blend for few seconds.

5) Add yogurt and blend the mixture again until it becomes smooth and creamy.

6) Transfer the contents to a jar and your Orange smoothie is now ready to be served.

Rava Upma

When we say Upma, the dish that comes to our mind is 'Rava Upma'. It is a common breakfast recipe and can be cooked for all situations. However it is a tricky task to get the upma in the right manner and it is only possible by knowing the tricks of stirring and mixing the rava well.

Ingredients:



Rava - 1 cup

Water - 2 cups

Onion - 1 chopped

Green chillies - 3

Chana dal - 1 tablespoon

Urid dal - 1/2 teaspoon

Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Curry leaves - 1 string

Salt - To taste

Oil - 3 teaspoon



Method:



1) Roast the rava well in the wide pan. Keep it aside when aroma starts coming from rava. Flame should be in low level when roasting.

2) Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and chana dal. Let the mustard seeds pop up.

3) Add urid dal, curry leaves and green chilies and fry for few seconds.

4) Add Onions and fry then until the onions turn translucent.

5) Add 2 cups of water and salt to taste. Stir it well and allow it to boil.

6) Now add rava slowly to the boiling water.Simultaneously keep stirring until the rava becomes thick.

7) Always keep the stove in low flame while adding rava in water. Continuous stirring is a trick to avoid lumps.

8) After few minutes, rava is cooked and ready to be served.