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.

Carrot Poriyal / Carrot Stir Fry

Carrot Poriyal is again a typical South Indian side dish. Carrot is a rich source of Vitamin A and also has high dietary fibre content. Moreover it is free of fat and cholesterol.

Ingredients:

Carrots - 2 large size

Onion - 2 tablespoons, finely chopped

Green chillies - 3 nos, slit

Curry leaves - 1 string

Mustard seeds and urid dal - 1/2 teaspoon

Salt - to taste

Oil - 2 teaspoon

Grated coconut - 1/4 cup

Water - <1/4 cup



Method:



1) Scrap the outer skin of the carrots well to remove any dead skin or dust.

2) Cut them into small uniform sizes.

3) Take a frying pan, heat oil. Add mustard seeds and urid dal.

4) When mustard seeds start to pop up, add curry leaves, green chillies and after few seconds, add chopped onions and saute them well.

5) When the onions become filmy (turn translucent in colour), add the chopped carrots. Then add salt to taste and sprinkle some water.

6) Close the frying pan with a lid and leave it to cook for few minutes till the carrots turn soft.

7) Now add grated coconuts and mix then gently. After few minutes transfer the contents from the stove to a bowl.

8) Carrot poriyal is now ready to be served.

Note:

1) If you microwave the carrots for few minutes before you actually start to cook then it requires only seasoning. Hence it saves time.

2) You can also use the same procedure for grated carrot also.