Corn Meal Onion Rings

Today my recipe is corn meal onion rings.One day I heard about health benefits of yellow corn meal, from that day onwards I am trying to make different tasty dishes with corn meal. Cornmeal is loaded with many  health benefits. Cornmeal has a good amount of fat, fiber, carbohydrates, and protein, so it can be an essential part of a balanced diet.Yellow cornmeal is rich in antioxidants known to prevent cancer, muscular degeneration and cardiovascular disease.The fiber in cornmeal helps promote colon health,  prevent constipation and lowers cholesterol levels.Corn meal is gluten-free.Corn meal is beneficial for managing diabetes. Generally corn meal is used in bakery recipes like breads,cakes, muffins  etc..... in European countries, but in India we make dosa, upma, kheer etc......with corn meal. Now i made corn meal onion rings, i got this from food magazine.This recipe is very easy to make and yummy too. You can make onion rings with besan (gram flour) also. I hope you try it.............enjoy cooking............

Ingredients:

Yellow corn meal - 1/2 cup

Onion ( big size), cut into rings - 1

Ginger - garlic paste - 1/2 tsp

Green chilli paste - 1/4 tsp

Turmeric - 1/4 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Chat masala powder - 1 tsp

Dhania - jeera powder - 1/2 tsp

Mint ( pudina) paste (optional) - 1/2 tsp 

Oil - 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Method of preparation: 

1. In a mixing bowl, add above mentioned all ingredients except onion rings and oil. 
2. Add water to corn meal mixture to get dropping consistency like pakoda batter.
3. Now take a frying pan, apply little oil and take onions ring, dip into the batter and put it on  frying pan carefully.
4. Repeat the same method for all onion rings.
5. Sprinkle few drops of oil and turn the rings and roast them well. Remove from fire, sprinkle some chaat masala on corn meal onion rings.
6. Now yummy and spicy corn meal onion rings are ready to eat with tomato chutney or green chutney.

Sweet Corn Bhel

Today my recipe sweet Corn bhel is very healthy and yummy ideal snack item for all. Now plenty of sweet corns and normal corns are available in market.My husband's most favourite food sweet corn. I make different dishes with sweet corn, till now I made sweet corn soup,fried rice,tikka and chutney. Generally every one like to eat hot and spicy food in rainy season, for those people this is very tasty and healthy food.This is very simple to make.I hope you all try it and enjoy cooking............

Sweet Corn Nutrition: Sweet corn has vitamin B1, vitamin B5, vitamin C, folate, phosphorus, dietary fiber, and manganese. As an add-on to the sweet corn nutrients already stated, it also has a full array of other nutrients such as sugar, carbohydrates, soluble and insoluble fiber, vitamins, minerals, sodium, amino acids and more.

There are quite a few health benefits of sweet corn. 

1. The significant amount of folate corn supplies helps in maintaining a good health for our heart.  
2. For smokers, sweet corn consumption reduces the risk of lung cancer by 37 %. 
3. Another major health benefit from sweet corn consumption is the increase in memory levels. The reason for this is the presence of Thiamin which is traditionally known to be a key role player for energy production in a human body and also helps in increasing cognitive function. 
4. Another important element of sweet corn is panthothenic acid which is rich in Vitamin B content and helps energy production under extreme stressful conditions. 
5. For these various reasons, the consumption of sweet corn is very necessary, as it has so many health benefits. It is a good idea to include sweet corn as a staple part of your diet to a considerable extent so as to maximize the benefits that you can glean from this rich food source.

  

Ingredients:

Sweet corn kernels, boiled  - 1 cup

Tomato, cut into cubes - 1

Bell pepper (capsicum), cut into cubes - 1

Finely chopped onions - 1/4 cup

Jeera powder - 1/2 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp

Chat masala - 1/2 tsp

Finely chopped coriander - 1 tbsp

Lime juice - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Method of preparation:

1. Heat oil in pan, add onions and saute until it turns into soft.
2. Add tomato slices, bell pepper (capsicum) and saute until done.
3. Add jeera powder, salt and red chilli powder and mix well.
4. Now add boiled sweet corn kernels and mix properly and saute for 2 minutes and remove from heat.
5. Add chat masala and coriander leaves and mix well.
6. Finally add lime juice and serve it.
7. Now yummy and tasty sweet corn bhel is ready to eat.

Appam

Today I am giving to u a popular Kerala break fast recipe is Appam. We went kerala 2 years back for honey moon, then we tasted appam for breakfast, really it was yummy and mouth watering. My husband like to eat appam very much. One day my husband asked me to make appam for breakfast, then i searched for appam recipes and got it from Indian food blog. I tried it and it was really nice and spongy. My husband gave compliments on it, then i have a confidence to make perfect appams. In this recipe I used mainly raw rice, cooked rice, coconut and yeast. Instead of yeast you can use baking salt. Appam is good with coconut chutney or vegetable stew. Here I made chana ( chick peas) stew or curry, it was really tasty with appam than coconut chutney. I hope you all try it.............Happy cooking.........
 

Ingredients:
Raw rice / Par boiled rice - 1 1/2 cups

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 2 tsp

Cooked rice - 1/3 cup
Dry yeast - 1/2 tsp  
Oil for frying
Salt to taste

Method of preparation:

1. Wash and soak the rice for 6 hours. Drain the water well.
2. Grind the raw rice and cooked rice along with grated coconut. Remove from the grinder and add the sugar, and salt.
3. In a small bowl, combine 1 tsp yeast  in 1/2 cup of Luke warm water. Keep it aside for 10-15 minutes and allow it to rise, add to the rice paste and mix very well. The batter should be dropping consistency.Cover and keep for 2 to 3 hours.
4. Pour 1 big spoon of the batter into a deeper non-stick tava. Slowly rotate the batter on the tava so that a thin layer forms on the side and the middle remains thick.
5. Cover with lid and allow it to cook for around 3 minutes on medium heat. When the center of appam is done and the edges start detaching, remove the appam carefully from the pan. Do not flip appams.
6. If you like the edges or laces to be golden brown, add more sugar to the batter.
7. Serve hot with Chana (chick peas) stew or coconut chutney. 

For chana (small chick peas) curry :

Ingredients:

Boiled chana (small chick peas) - 1 cup

Tomato, cut into slices - 2

Onions paste - 2 tbsp

Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp

Green chilli paste - 1 tsp

Turmeric - 1/4 tsp

Finely chopped coriander - 2 tsp

Oil - 2 tsp

Salt to taste 

Method of preparation:

1. Heat oil in pan, add ginger garlic paste and saute for a minute.
2. Add onion paste and saute it.
3. Add tomato slices, green chilli paste and turmeric and mix well.
4. Add boiled chana ( chick peas) and 1/2 cup water and mix well. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.
5. Finally add salt and coriander leaves and mix well.
6. Now yummy chana curry is ready to eat with appams.

Ragi Cake

Hi friends, today I am giving yummy and healthy ragi cake.Ragi is rich iron food so definitely we should add our daily diet in any form like idly, dosa, soup or famous food for south Indians is ragi sankhati etc. I am trying different recipes with ragi. My last recipe is ragi dhokla, this is very yummy and tasty too.One day I wanted to make cake with ragi flour.I got a standard formula for egg less sponge cake so I used ragi flour instead of maida(all purpose flour). I tried it and it was successful. Really I was surprised that ragi cake was so soft and yummy. My friends also tasted it and gave good compliments. I think it is very healthy and tasty too. Definitely you can prepare these type of cakes for kids instead of maida (all purpose flour) cakes. It is very easy to make. Actually here I cut the cake into small pieces by using heart shape cookie cutter. You can cut it in any shape. I made it in micro wave oven. You can make it either in oven or pressure cooker. I am giving two procedures. I hope you like it and enjoy cooking............

 Ingredients:

Wheat flour - 1/2cup

Ragi flour - 1  cup

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Thick Curds or Yogurt - 5 tsp

Oil - 1/4 cup

Salt - 1 pinch

Vanilla essence - 3 drops

Nutmeg powder - 1 tsp

Coco powder - 4 tsp

Nuts (cashew,almond) , finely chopped - 2 tbsp

Dates, finely chopped - 2 tbsp

Butter for greasing

Oven method:

1.  Preheat the oven for 10 minutes. 
2. Cream the sugar and yogurt(thick curd) till the sugar melts.
3. Add baking powder and baking soda. Mix well and keep aside for 3 to 5minutes till the bubbles appear. 
4. Add the vegetable oil and essence. Mix well.
5. Add the sieved ragi flour and wheat flour and mix well but slowly and little at a time ( 2 tbsp at a time) 
6. Add coco powder,salt and nutmeg powder and mix well.
7. Add dry fruits and dates and mix gently.
8. Grease the pan with butter and dusting with flour slightly.    
9. Transfer the mix into the 6" pan.      
10. Slowly pat the pan on the floor to remove any air.  
11. Bake it at 200 degree Centigrade for 10 minutes. 
12. Then reduce the temperature to 175 degree and bake for 20 - 25 minutes. 
13. Allow it to cool and turn it on the decorating plate after some time.

  Pressure cooker method:

1. This cake can also be made in pressure cooker.
2.  Here we can use aluminum bowl or other than stain less steel.
3. Grease the pan with butter and dusting with flour slightly.
4. Transfer the cake batter in to pan.
5. Keep the empty bowl (any) in pressure cooker in invert position.
6. Now put the cake pan on it and close the lid without weight.
7. Keep the flame on high for 5 minutes, on medium for 7 minutes, and on low for 5 minutes.
8. In meanwhile we can check it once with toothpick. Depending upon quantity sometimes it takes more time to bake.
9. Allow it to cool and turn it on the decorating plate after some time.   
   
   
    Here, I cut the cake into small heart shape pieces by using cookie cutter. Enjoy this tasty and lovely cake with a cup of tea.