"Healthy Recipe Substitution" - HRS EVENT & SURPRISE GIVEAWAY- DEC 20th to MAR 20th

Hello Friends,

This is ONE event that I wanted to host from such a long time, and was just delaying it as I thought I was running out of ideas of how to put it together differently.

Well, now that it's holiday season and everyone is baking so much starting from cakes, cookies, pies, veg and non-veg recipes, drinks, soups etc., I thought this event will be a good choice.

Let me explain about the event, anyone can participate in the event and prepare any recipe, but from your recipe ingredients you have to choose one or more ingredients and choose a substitute ingredient/s from the list I have provided HERE and prepare the recipe.

So here I am with the event rules.....

EVENT RULES:
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* The rules are very simple, you have to choose, ONE or MORE ingredient/s to substitute in the recipe that you are preparing and that ingredient should be a healthy alternative, make sure you pick the number from this list HERE.
* Please make sure you MENTION and HIGHLIGHT the ingredients that you are substituting in your recipe and if possible please add few words about the substituted ingredient.
* Use of EVENT LOGO is MANDATORY, to spead the word.
* Any number of recipes are welcome, which includes, veg- non-veg, baked etc., but make sure you link your recipe to MY EVENT PAGE.
* When submitting archieved recipes, you need to re-post the recipes with event logo and link to my event announcement page.
* Event START DATE is DECEMER 20th, and END DATE is FEBRUARY 20th (2 months).
* Please link all your recipes using the Linky tool at the end of the event page, if you have any problem in linking to this event, please send in ur recipes to anu (dot) healthykitchen (at) gmail (dot) com.
* One more important thing is that, you can let me know any other substitutions that you have tried, and I will be happy to add it to my list. (Please leave a comment for the same).

Now lets go to the rules for SURPRISE GIVEAWAY.....

SURPRISE GIVEAWAY:
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* Follow me here.
* Like my FB page - Anu's Healthy Kitchen
* If you are picking more than one ingredient as a substitute, you get that many points for the draw.
* After you do so, please leave a comment here and do not forget to mention how many ingredients are being substituted.
* You get one more point, if you let me know about a new recipe substitution which will be added to the list.
* At the end of the event, I will do a random draw and choose one winner, who will be eligible for this giveaway.

Wish you all a very good luck and hope to see lot many healthy and yummy recipes!!

Christmas Cupcake Edition I ( Ci Lili, Cengkareng 0

Ini pesenannya ci Lili untuk christmas gift sekolah anaknya ci Lili, Karen

Thanks cii

Athalakkai Poriyal / Stir Fry

Athalakkai looks very similar to tender
bitter gourds both in shape and colour. Those who haven't seen this
vegetable before will think that it is a form of tender bitter gourd. But its not so. It
has mild bitter taste, dark greenish in colour and tapioca
pearls like seeds.

Though this vegetable grows in most of the southern districts in Tamilnadu, still this vegetable is not very popular among local people because of its
unavailability in market. It is a kind of vegetable which
is available only during rainy and winter season(between October
and January). During this period they grow without the need for cultivation and then dry after January. The tuber root(Kilangu) stay alive in the soil till next season and grows by itself using the water which is being
passed to other cultivated plants.

Athalakkai - Tamil

Momordica Cymbalaria - botanical name

Kaasara Kaaya - Telugu

Karsikayi - Kannada

Kattupaval - Malayalam (From Wiki)

Using athalakkai, We prepare stir fry (poriyal),
gravy (pulikulambu), pickle and for making vathal (dried athalakkai). I have also heard people making thogayal using
it. The fresh athalakkai seed will burst if you pluck it from
the plant and keep it for a long time in room temperature. So, whenever
you buy athalakkai, immediately prepare any gravy or stir fry it or prepare vadam to avoid
bursting and wasting it.

My grandma used to say it grows well in black soil (karisal land). Hence it is harvested more in the
southern districts of Tamil Nadu. She also used to say it is
very good for diabetes and to prevent gastrointestinal
problems.

Basic Information:

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Serves: 3

Ingredients:

Athalakkai - 250grams

Small Onions / Shallots - 1/2 cup, finely sliced

Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon

Sambar masala - 1 teaspoon

Salt - to taste

Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Oil - 3 teaspoons

Curry leaves - 1 string

Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoons

Asafoetida - a pinch

Method:

1) Cut both the ends/corners of the athalakkai using hands and wash it well it water two or three times. Keep it aside.

2) Take a frying pan / kadai. Heat 3 teaspoons of oil in it.

3) When the oil is hot and not smoking, add the mustard seeds and curry leaves. It will splutter.

4) Add asafoetida and onion.

5) Saute it till the onion becomes soft and translucent but not brown. Add a pinch of salt for quick cooking of onions.

6) Add the washed athalakkai now. Sprinkle a
handful of water. Turn the flame to low and cover the frying pan with
lid. Let it cook for 5-7 minutes on the low flame.

7) After 7 minutes. remove lid and add red chilli
powder, sambar masala, turmeric powder and salt. Mix well and continue
cooking till the raw smell of masala goes off. It will again take
another 5 minutes.

8) Check the athalakkai whether it is cooked or not. The skin will turn into soft once cooked. Turn the flame off.

9) Serve it with hot steamed rice.

Notes:

1) After cooking athalakkai, though the skin turns soft, the seeds give a crunchy taste.

2) It tastes slightly bitter like bitter gourd. So
try adding more onion (if you like) and prepare a stir fry. By this way you
can reduce the bitterness to some extent.