Monday, May 18, 2009

Quick recipes - for busy days



I've been so behind in participating in any cooking-events lately. The moment I see an event announcement, I get all geared up and enthusiastic about participating, but my energy plunges down like a torn balloon as days go by. And by the time I realize, its already too late to contribute. This has become my habit in the last several months. I'm sure I missed quite a few interesting events that I could have contributed. So, now I'm into this resolution mood of participating in all cooking events, ok - atleast as much as I can, from now on. Don't know how long this energy will last, but atleast wanted to try.

So, after browsing through some of the great events hosted by some great bloggers, I started sorting by the end date and I noticed Mahimaa's 15 min cooking event is nearing its deadline. Ever since I saw her announcement, I've been thinking about participating in her event, because quick-meals are my preferred meals! So this was a perfect come back for me! But as usual I was delaying for no reason. Finally I'm all set to join the event! Thanks Mahimaa, for hosting this event! Here are some of the easy recipes that can be put together in a few minutes.

Purple Shake!

A perfect summer time shake with vibrant grape flavours and frozen yogurt. Long back I tasted Grape Milk Shake in a restaurant and fell for it right away. I thought the combination was quite unique and best of all, I loved the color. Since then, I've been making it at home. But the recipe has undergone some evolution and has now become a low-calorie version, but still offers the same great taste!



Ingredients (for 2 glasses):
  • Grape Concentrate (Frozen/Undiluted) - 3 tbsp
  • Vanilla Frozen Yogurt (non-fat) - 1 cup
  • Water - 1/2 cup
  • Low fat milk - 1 cup
  • Lemon juice - 1 tsp (optional)

Procedure:

  • Run all the ingredients in a blender or food processor until they form a nice frozen mixture. Serve immediately in glasses, topped with a scoop of frozen yogurt.

Corriander leaves with Gram flour - A different side dish!


Fresh herbs are a wonder to cook with! Nothing can beat the fresh smelling corriander leaves and their nice zingy color! Given a chance, I would add them to anything I cook. This dish is a dish that contains corriander leaves as the main vegetable iteslf! Quite an interesting recipe that I learnt from my friend, and have been a fan of this dish ever since I tasted it for the first time from her lunch box! After trying a few times I think I'm getting better in matching her taste. The key is to add the right amount of gram flour (besan). A very simple, yet tasty dish.



Ingredients:

  • Chopped corriander leaves - 2 cups
  • Garlic - 2 small pods
  • Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp
  • Gram Flour - 1/2 cup
  • Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Procedure:

  • Chop the corriander leaves and garlic finely. I run both of them together in a food processor for a few mins.
  • Heat oil in a pan, season with cumin seeds. Once they pop, add chilli powder and salt in the oil. After a few seconds, add the corriander leaves and garlic and mix well.
  • Add salt, cover and cook for 2-3 mins. Do not add water.
  • Increase the heat, and add gram flour in batches until the mixture becomes without moisture. Don't add too much flour, or it may spoil the taste. I hope the picture gives an idea on the consistency.

Serve hot with Rice / Rotis.


Sweet and Spicy Pumpkin Curry

Another of those quick and easy ones that I learnt from my same friend! Again, my first encounter with this dish was from her lunch-box and I've now made it quite a few times. I love pumpkin especially in a sweet form. This is a little different and I love the combination of Sweet and Spicy flavors.


Ingredients:

  • Pumpkin - 2 cups (cut into cubes)
  • Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
  • Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
  • Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp
  • Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
  • Jaggery - 2 tbsp

Procedure:

  • Heat oil in a pan, season with mustard and fenugreek seeds.
  • Add the pumpkin cubes, chilli powder, garam masala and salt.
  • Cover and cook for 5 - 7 mins. Pumpkins usually cook faster and release lots of moisture. So, don't add water.
  • Add the jaggery and cover for a couple more mins. Increase the heat and stir periodically until the water completely evaporates and pumpkins are soft and tender.

I enjoy this with Rice and Sambar.


Spicy Green Buttermilk

Its summer time and I can't ignore buttermilk! I made this over the weekend after a tiring day. If you are a spice lover, this buttermilk version is for you. Ofcourse, you can also make a less spicy version of the same recipe, by altering the spices. I enjoy it as medium spicy.



Ingredients:

  • Curd / Yogurt - 1 cup
  • Water - 3 cups
  • Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp
  • Asafoetida - 2 pinches
  • Ginger - 1 inch
  • G.chillies - 2 small
  • Curry leaves - 3
  • Corriander leaves - 1 tbsp (chopped)
  • Salt - as required.

Procedure:

  • Grind everything together in a blender except the curd. You can add some water to make it a smooth paste.
  • Then add the curd, remaining water and blend for a few mins.
  • Serve chilled, garnished with curry leaves.

All these entries go to Mahimaa's 15 min cooking event and EC's WYF - Quick Meal event.

40 comments:

Suparna said...

Hi Sujatha,
Lol...on the event participation thingie :) that was so cute.
The purple drink looks fab with designed red hearts, love the addition of frozen yogurt.
Both the dishes are new to me and a must try. specially the pumpkin.
And ya! the buttermilk dare not be ignored :) nice froathy cooler for summer.
Thanks
TC

gtyuk said...

Purple shake must be a yummm, lovely color and great combination!
coriander leaves with gram flour is something new to me, I love coriander in every forms, this sounds a bit like a thovayal and adding gram flour to is something new to try along with the pumpkin curry, sounds delicious too! and the spiced butter milk, yummmm, that will be sufficient for the day ! all quick and delicious recipes :)

chef and her kitchen said...

Thats a lovely collection of simple dishes gal..I loved especially that coriander n besan sabzi..So simple with very few ingredients.....must be very flavorful..will give a try sometime..

Finla said...

Wow that is a lot of dishes you have whipped up in 15 minutes each.
Love all of them,

Padma said...

All the dishes look great ... especially adding gram flour to the coriander leaves fry ... it's very different ... will try once and let u know :)

Unknown said...

Recipes lined up soo well...I luved ur spicy buttermilk idea, am sure its divine during summers!

Gita Jaishankar said...

Great dishes Sujatha...I have bookmarked your shake and corriander curry to try it later :)

Parita said...

Wow thats one lovely collection of quick dishes..love the corainder with gram flour..it would be great stuffing for veggies...very tasty pumpkin curry too..in all delicious :)

notyet100 said...

yummy post specially loved the butter milk nd coriandr dish,..:-)

Trupti said...

all dishes looks delicious..specially coriander one..will try that soon

Pooja said...

Amazing lot of dishes for the event! Simple but fabulous!

Cham said...

Haha u took a resolution to blast one event :) Gal all the dishes are simply superb, grape to cilantro curry!

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

dear suja,

you make me bookmark each and every post of yours.... hehe

thanks for the wonderful quick recipes! i am going to try this coriander-gram flour curry... my mom used to make a similar one...but she adds lots of onions. once onions turn golden brown,she adds lots of coriander, green chilli... and finally adds 1 tbsp of roasted gram flour. i should actually post the recipe sometime.

Deepthi Shankar said...

the coriander gram flour thing got me interested .. sounds very good to me

Unknown said...

wow what a post all of then are so delicious and that coriander side dish is very new to ne and very helthy too perfect post

Raks said...

Nice collection!! Every thing are very new to me !! Sounds awesome Sujatha,thanks a lot for posting!!

Manju said...

i just love all of them!! especially the coriander and besan dish!yumm!!

A_and_N said...

the pumpkin curry sounds fantastic! the pic itself is pretty inviting :)i also liked the coriander/gram flour side dish. the color is nice indeed :)

Laavanya said...

Wow.. what a super collection of quick recipes and the grape milkshake and coriander-besan curry sound so enticing and different.

Indhu said...

lovely post.. I love the pumpkin dish.. awesome picture... and yeah.. and I loved your deflated balloon analogy - same here :)

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

Oh my so many recipes the pumpking curry is so eye catching not to forget the purple drink... The coriander sidedish is so differnt,...

EC said...

The purple shake and coriander dish particularly stand out..lovely colours of the dishes..thanks for the entries

Purva Desai said...

They are real quick ones.......even we make coriander and gram flour sabji and cal it bhuka.....
purple shake looks tempting and buttermilk is a must for me in my diet.....best cooler for summers

ST said...

Awesome and fabulous dishes...Loved coriander one very much...Will try definitely...

Suganya said...

Lovely set of recipes. Looks so good. Loved the Coriander leaves side dish, sounds so different to me. Nice YUM!

Kalai said...

Wonderful dishes.I love the cilantro with gram flour combo.

anudivya said...

All of these look amazing. When I read your post, I remembered that i forgot to send in my entries to the events I promised for the last post. Gosh! I have such a poor memory. I am going to get back to that now.

lubnakarim06 said...

Oh wow so many.....love that combo of coriander and gram dal...

Usha said...

Good collection of quick recipes, everything looks real inviting!

Sia said...

u got my full attention with coriander leaves with gram recipe. I am so looking forward to try it out!

Sujatha said...

Thanks everyone for your thoughts.. :) Do try them out and let me know how they came out :)

Sukanya, Nice to see your comment after a long time! Hope you are doing fine.. :)

Anudivya Lol.. you are like me, I remember the events only after their deadlines :)

Dori said...

They all look good, but I am loving the sweet and spicy pumpkin curry!

Vikis Kitchen said...

Love the spread especially the cilantro side dish and sweet pumpkin curry. Great entries for the event.

Rahin said...

everything looks amazing , the coriander n gramflour , i miss it , my mom wud make it , neways now i can try

Vani said...

Love that cilantro side dish! Everything else looks good too

Unknown said...

Wonderful post sujatha..esp i like that coriander dish..yummy...

Indian Khana said...

Wow wht was tht....wonderful post with so many yummy dishes...That was treat to eyes :)

Nithya said...

All the recipes looks super cool and healthy as well as quick to make. The grape shake looks too tempting...First time here and your blog looks really cool. keep it going.

Take a look at my blog when u find time.

Red Chillies said...

My mom used to make the besan dry curry with spring onions. It has been a while since I amde it though. Loved the buttermilk drink and the purple shake.

kitchen queen said...

wow ur coriander leaves with besan recipe looks maouth watering. i am going to try it out.You can also visit my blog and view my recipes and give ur comments