Instant Khichdi Mix:

-Add salt, turmeric, red chilli powder, and garam masala; if you are adding jaggery, add that as well.

Navane -Hesarubele Payasa / Foxtail millet and moong dal payasam:

Foxtail Millet Kheer is a delicious addition to the festive menu, including the fasting menu, to the traditional kheer we usually make with rice. This millet, also known as Navane in Kannada & is rich in protein, minerals  & dietary fibre.
I have mixed nutty-flavoured Foxtail millet and a little moong dal to enhance the rustic taste.

Soaking millet makes it easier to digest and allows your body to absorb more nutrients. I usually do it overnight.

Foxtail Millet – ½ Cup
Moong dal – 2 Tblsp
Water (to cook Thinai) – 2 ½ Cups
Jaggery – ¾ Cup to 1 cup
Cardamom powder ½ tsp
Coconut milk – 1 Cup (you can add whole milk as well)
Ghee – 2 tsp
Cashew – 10 nos
Method:

-Soak millet for overnight. Morning, drain the water and leave the millet to air dry on a colander.

-wash moong dal and drain that as well.

-Make jaggery syrup by – Add Jaggery and water in a pan and heat it till the Jaggery melts completely. Use a filter to remove the impurities and extract Jaggery syrup. Keep aside

-Now, take a thick-bottomed vessel or kadai, heat ghee, fry cashew bits, and remove it; keep aside.

-Add moong dal and fry it until light brown; add foxtail millet and fry for 2 minutes.

-Add hot water or 3rd extract of coconut milk or whole milk. Cook until millet and dal turn soft and mushy. (it should hold the texture but turns mushy between your thumb and forefinger while pressing it.)

-If you are using clean Jaggery, here I have used Nolen gur (date palm jaggery); add directly and boil until the raw smell of Jaggery vanishes.

-Add thick coconut milk cardamom powder and allow to boil once. Switch off the stove. Garnish with fried cashews and serve.

Vegetarian lasagna:

Who doesn’t love Lasagna/lasagne? It is a baked dish consisting of layers of cooked sheet pasta, pureed tomato sauce, and a preferred filling, such as vegetable or meat and topped with cheese.

 It is an ultimate one-pot meal, and when it is homemade, without using All-purpose-flour nothing is like it. Here I am, sharing my slightly healthier version lasagne pasta recipe.

Lasagne made from scratch:

I have used a circular glass baking pan that is 10” wide.

For dough:

For 4 circular thin lasagne sheets, I took –

Flour – 1 ½ cup ( ¾ cup whole wheat + ¾ cup All purpose flour)

Salt

Water

Olive oil – 2 tsp (approx.)

Method:

For the Lasagne sheet:

Take Flour, and salt, make a stiff dough using sufficient water, knead until soft, apply oil and keep it resting until you make other things.

For Marinara /Red sauce:

-Blanch 4 tomatoes ( take ½ cup of water, chopped tomatoes, microwave for 3 min), cool, grind.

-Boil with required seasoning ( garlic salt, oregano, little jalapeno seasoning etc.) and two tablespoons of  Hot and sweet tomato ketchup and adjust the consistency by adding water.

For Bechamel/ white sauce:

I usually make the veggie-loaded sauce and use it as a filling. ( ½ of zucchini, yellow and red bell pepper, half onion)

-Roast 2 tsp of whole wheat flour OR all-purpose Flour with little butter, whip in a mixer jar with a cup of milk, and keep it ready.

-Heat tawa, add little butter /olive oil, and fry the onion until it turns light brown. Add veggies and fry for a while. Add all the seasonings according to your choice. I usually use garlic salt, red chilli flakes, oregano, and a little jalapeno seasoning.

-Next, add Flour mixed with milk, adjust the consistency by adding extra milk, boil and keep it ready.

Final Layering:

Prepare lasagne sheets one by one. Heat water in a wide vessel, take out the ready dough, divide it into 4, roll it into a circular one, and put it into boiling water; when it is done, it pops up. Remove, drain, and cool it by spreading. Repeat the process.

-For assembling, take the glass bowl in which you bake. Spread one layer of marinara sauce.

Place one cooked sheet, then spread one layer of veggie-loaded white sauce.

-Repeat the process once again. Marinara, lasagne sheet, veggies, last, end with the marinara sauce and grated cheese, and bake at 180 °C preheated oven until the top layer is light brown. Remove, and serve hot.

Raw /Green Tomato Chutney:

Green Tomatoes are firm, unripe and tangy compared to Ripened Red Tomato. Green tomatoes are rich in nutrition and antioxidants.

Raw/Green tomato Chutney makes a delicious accompaniment to South Indian breakfast and is easy to make. When I have homegrown tomatoes, it is a must condiment in our household. Today, I am sharing our favourite, much-loved recipe with you all.

Here is how to make it,

Ingredients:

Raw/ Green tomatoes – 4 to 6 (depending on the size)

Oil- 1tbl sp

Cumin – 1tsp

Garlic cloves – 10 to 12

Green chillies – 4 to 5

Puffed chana / Hurigadle/ Pappu – 1 tbl sp

Coconut – ½ cup

Coriander leaves – 2 tbl sps

Salt

Method:

-Take one tawa, heat one tbl sp of oil, then cumin, chopped green chillies, garlic and roast. Then add chopped tomatoes and fry until it wilts by adding salt.

-Switch off the gas when tomatoes wilts, add puffed chana and coconut and fry for 2 minutes. Cool the mixture.

-Grind this by adding coriander leaves. Enjoy with Dosa, Rotti or idli.

My Instagram Account has been Hacked: ALERT NOTE

If you’re an active Instagram user, you know how devastating it can be to have your account hacked. Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence that can happen to anyone. In this post, I’ll share my experience of having my Instagram account hacked; please note that everyone should follow my new account @shrikripau and not respond to any other account claiming to be me.

My official public account

When I received the email from Instagram saying that my login details, which are my email and phone number, had been changed, my heart sank. It felt like a gut punch, and I couldn’t believe what I was reading. I quickly opened the Instagram app to check my account but couldn’t log in. It is a horrible feeling – like someone had broken into my home and taken everything valuable.

I felt violated and vulnerable, like someone had crossed the personal boundary. It was hard to process the fact that someone had been able to get access to my account, which I had carefully curated and built up over the years. The thought of someone else having control over it is a terrible feeling.

As I tried to make sense of the situation, I felt a surge of frustration. It is difficult to know what to do next, and I am worried about the potential consequences of the hack. I am also concerned about the safety of my personal information and the impact on my online reputation. The whole experience is very unsettling and has left me anxious and stressed.

Overall, the hack is a challenging experience for me. It is hard to shake the feeling of violation and the loss of control. I have yet to recover my Original Instagram account and am waiting for the day I do. There have been incidents where people are trying to impersonate me, so please follow my new official Instagram account @shrikripau and help me!

Thank you to everyone who has supported and continues to support me during this confusing state of affairs.

Kodagasana / Kutaja Tambli :

The Kutaja plant (Holarrhena antidysenterica) is one of India’s most valuable medicinal plants. also known as ‘Indrajav’, ‘Coneru’ in English, and ‘Kutaja’ in Sanskrit,

(Picture Courtesy: Swathi )

In our language, It is called kodagasana, kodasige, kodenchi, kurchi etc.

The scientific name of this plant itself suggests the use of this plant.’ Holos means whole, and ‘Arrhen’ means male. So ‘Holarrhena’ means the male part of the flower or entire anther (The part of the stamen where pollen is produced), and ‘antidysenterica’ is to stop dysentery.

Kutaja plants are common in tropical parts, especially in rocky areas of India. Here, Ku-taja, as the name depicts, is grown in-between rocks.

 Now, how it is procured or stored: In season, we pluck the flowers, clean them and sun dry them for a few days till it shrinks and becomes brown and crisp. We store it for years and use it as and when needed to treat or maintain gut health.

In our region, our ancestors occasionally included Kutaja flowers to maintain tummy health by frying 7 to 8 flowers in little ghee and having it with the first morsel of rice while having lunch.

In some households, it is used while seasoning the Huli menasu ( one of the age-old recipes)

We all know how our grandmoms treated us for our tummy aches, be it because of overeating during childhood, excess indulgence during summer vacation, or any upset tummy episodes.

The only remedy was Kutajarishta, an ayurvedic concoction OR

Homemade kutaja or kodagasana tambli: recipes of our region.

Let us see how it is made in our household –

Ingredients:

Dried Kutaja flowers – 8 to 12

Ghee or coconut oil – ½  tsp

Black peppercorns – 6 to 8

Grated Fresh Coconut – ½ cup

Buttermilk – 1 serving spoon

Method:

-Take ½ tsp of ghee or oil, and fry kutaja flowers and peppercorns.

-Grind fried items, Coconut, salt and water to make a smooth paste.

-Add buttermilk and adjust the consistency by adding water and boil once.

-If you like seasoning on tambli like me, please go ahead and heat some ghee and add cumin and curry leaves. Pour on Tambli and enjoy it as a soothing drink or with Hot Rice.

Veg Ball Manchurian:

Super tasty and popular Indo -Chinese dish. It is served as a side dish with Noodles or Fried Rice. It is either ginger /garlic flavoured, and I usually prefer the ginger one and am sharing the same with you all.

At first, grated veggies are bound together to make a roundel, then deep-fried in hot oil. Once the veg ball is deep-fried and ready, dish preparation doesn’t take much time.

How I make –

Ingredients:

For Veg Ball:

Cabbage – around 200 grams

Carrot – 1 small

Capsicum – ½

Spring onion – 2 springs

Green chilli – 1

Ginger juveniles – 1  tsp

Salt

Corn flour – 1 tablespoon

All-purpose flour – 1 tablespoon

Rice flour – 1 tablespoon

For Gravy:

Oil – 2 tablespoons

Ginger juveniles – 1  tablespoon

Spring onion – 3 bulbs + greens

Capsicum – ½

Schezwan  Sauce – 1 to 2 tablespoons

Soy sauce – 1 tablespoon

Vinegar – 1 tablespoon

Tomato sauce – 2 tablespoons

Salt – as needed

Corn flour – 1 to 2 tablespoons

Method:

-First, we will see the method of deep-fried veg balls:

-Grate or chop cabbage, carrot, and green chilli in a vegetable chopper/food processor.

-Chop capsicum, and spring onion, mix all the sauces in a small cup and keep.

Take one bowl, mix chopped veggies, green chilli, and ginger, sprinkle flour, add salt at the end, and start binding together to make a ball.

-Deep fry all these balls and keep them aside.

-For the sauce,

-make a slurry of cornflour in a cup of water and keep it aside.

-Heat oil, drop ginger, and bulb part of spring onion (chopped) and fry for 2 minutes.

-Add Spring onion bulb part and capsicum and fry for a while.

-Add all the sauces and fry for 1 minute and add 2 cups of water ( I usually use starch water, which we drain while preparing noodles or rice, to make this gravy. It tastes and gives a nice texture.)

-Boil, add cornflour slurry and boil nicely until the sauce looks glossy and the consistency becomes thick.

-Adjust the seasoning, salt and water. Drop those fried veggie balls and allow to boil once garnish with spring onion greens and serve with fried rice or noodles.

Veg Fried Rice:

Who doesn’t love fried rice? Even I love fried rice, especially what my husband makes. Yes! You heard that right. It is his recipe, which I learnt from him. He usually prefers to make vegetable-loaded egg fried rice; today, I kept it simple by preparing veg fried rice.

Here, rice preparation would decide the texture of the final product. So, I suggest preparing rice in advance ( at least 2 hours before the final touch). Remove the starch by using the open vessel cooking method.

At first, I would brief the rice preparation:

Ingredients:

Small grain rice/ sannakki/ Jeera rice – 1 cup

Salt – 1tsp

Oil – 1 tsp

Method:

-Boil water in a big pot; add oil, salt and washed rice. Cook for 7 to 9 minutes / Al dente.

-Rice should be cooked as well as firm. Drain the starch and cool the cooked rice grains to room temperature before making the fried rice.

For the Fried rice:

Ingredients:

Cooked rice – From 1 cup of rice

Chopped veggies – Carrot, capsicum, cabbage.

Spring onions – 4 bulbs with greens (chopped)

Oil – 2 tablespoons

Ginger garlic paste – ½  tsp

Salt

Pepper powder – ½ to 1 tsp

Vinegar – 1 tablespoon

Soy sauce – 1 tsp

Method:

-Take one wide kadai, heat oil, and fry the chopped bulb part from the spring onion choppings.

-Add chopped veggies, fry for a while, add ginger garlic paste, and fry further.

-Add vinegar and soya sauce and fry for 2 minutes.

-Sprinkle a little salt and pepper powder, give a toss, add cooled rice, and mix nicely by adding the required amount of salt and pepper powder.

-Garnish with spring onion greens and serve with any Chinese side dish or eat as it is or with fried egg chunks.

-Here, I served it with Veg Ball Manchurian with Hot Ginger sauce.

Instant Upma/Uppittu Mix

One of the easiest, quick, and most handy pre-mix for working or student individuals. I have been making this upma mix for the past three years, and it has gained popularity among my family and friend circles. After typing so many times, I thought, let me share it here and save it.

For Instant Upma Mix:

Ingredients:

Upma rava / Bombay Rava – 500 grams ( one can use multi-millet rava as well)

Oil – 3 to 4 tablespoons

Mustard – 2 tsp

Cumin – 1 tsp

Urad dal – 1 tbl sp

Chana dal – 1 tbl sp

Hing – ¼ tsp

Cashew bits – (optional)

Curry leaves – 2 springs ( finely chopped)

Green chillies – 2 ( finely chopped)

Coriander leaves – 3 tablespoons (finely chopped)

Method:

First, chop the curry leaves, green chillies and coriander leaves and air dry( inside the room) for 3 to 4 hrs. It would help to dry out all the moisture.

After that, For seasoning: Oil, mustard, cumin, hing, curry leaves, and green chillies.

How to make: Take one kadai, add oil, splutter mustard, hing, curry leaves, and green chillies and fry until chillies are fried and crisp.

-Now add Rava and cumin, and fry till it is grainy. Add coriander leaves, and fry until it is crisp. Switch off the gas.

-Cool the mixture, and pack it in an airtight container or a zip lock bag.

Cooking Process: For One individual

1) If you have access to an induction or gas stove:

Take one tawa, heat one tbl spoon of oil, add lots of onions, chillies, salt, and chopped preferred veggies and add water to boil. When boiling, add half a cup of ready upma mix and cook on a low flame. Allow for 2 to 3 minutes by closing the lid and having it.n You can garnish with lemon, grated coconut, or chopped fresh coriander.

2) If it is in Kettle,

-Take one cup of water with the required amount of salt.

-Switch on the Kettle (Boil mode). When water starts boiling, add ½ cup upma ready mix.

-The Kettle would turn off automatically within 2 ½ minutes if the lid is on. Keep it as it is for 5 to 10 minutes.

-After taking out the Upma, pour water for the used Kettle to soak in before you start eating.

-In this way, the Kettle will be ready for washing by the time you finish eating. You can use liquid dishwashing soap and a nonabrasive scrubber to clean the inside. Take care of the outside base (no water should enter)

Note: Here, I have not used any coconut.

Avarekai Usli/Hyacinth beans:

Avarekalu or Avarekai is pure love for the people of Bangalore- Mysore region. These are seasonal beans available in and around Bengaluru between Nov and Jan., Also known as Hyacinth beans.

We relish Avarekai curry with dosey, a yearly affair at our home. Now, after tasting usli at our friends’ place, there is no looking back. I make it a point to prepare the same combo of vermicelli Uppittu and Avarekai usli.

Avarekai usli is versatile, and it can have it as a salad or with anything and everything.

To make a much-loved effortless dish, here is the method.

Ingredients:

Avarekai ( soaked and peeled one) – ¼ kg

Salt, turmeric

Coriander leaves – 1tbl sp (chopped)

Fresh coconut – 2tbl spoons

For seasoning:

Cold pressed oil – 1 tbl sp (as per your choice)

Mustard – 1tsp

Cumin- 1 tsp

Hing – one pinch

Green chilli – 1 (chopped)

Ginger – 1 tsp (juennile)

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Method:

-Cook Avarekai ( peeled dals) in water. When it froths, remove all the foam and discard. ( I would help to enhance the taste as well as to help to avoid bloating.

-When the dal becomes soft, switch off the gas and keep the vessel aside.

-Now, prepare the seasoning. Heat oil, splutter mustard, hing, cumin, green chillies, ginger, curry leaves, and turmeric and saute.

-Now, add the cooked dal with the remaining water. Add Salt and coconut and allow the flavour to seep by closing the lid. Garnish with coriander greens, and enjoy.