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Pumpkin Masala

Pumpkin is one of the widely grown vegetables rich in vitamins. You can prepare variety of dishes using pumpkins like pumpkin pie, pumpkin kheer, pumpkin cupcakes, breads and so on. This recipe is mainly based on the preparations in Norther part of India where it is used as a dry side dish and goes very well with channa daal poories, normal poories or rice. This dish is simple to prepare and gets exotic taste from punch phoran spices, jaggrey and amchoor powder. This dish is also prepared during marriage ceremony. This is one of my favorite dry side dish. Enjoy this delicious recipe with your family and friends.    


Bottle Gourd( Lauki) Curd Rice

Bottle gourd (Lauki) is a vegetable which has lot’s of health benefit and everyone should add this as part of their regular diet. It can be used to prepare many recipes like savory, drink, raita, curries and sweets. Bottle gourd curd rice recipe is a variation of the South Indian dish curd rice. Curd rice is made with over cooked rice or left over rice, curd ( yogurt) and tempered with curry leaves, chilies, cashew nuts, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and garnish with coriander leaves and pomegranate seeds. It seem meal is incomplete without curd rice for many people. Curd rice is also distributed in temples as prasad. This recipe is prepared using brown rice instead of normal rice, bottle gourd, curd ( yogurt) and tempered with spices. This is very good for digestion and easy to make. Try this recipe with the twist of bottle gourd and enjoy.

Vegetable Sweet Corn Soup

Soup is primarily a liquid dish. There are mainly two categories of soup, one clear soup and another one thick soup. You can find variety of soup dishes and it also comes with noodles, veggies as well as grilled chicken. This recipe is a very simple, delicious and healthy soup called as vegetable sweet corn soup. The recipe is prepared using fresh sweet corn and mix of veggies. I have added oat in this soup instead of corn starch for thickness, however you can add corn starch. This is one of the favorite soup of many people and generally ordered as a starter in Indian restaurants. You can also make your own variation by adding grilled chicken to it or vegetable of your choices. Enjoy this healthy soup with your family.

Vegetable Tehari

Tehari is a colorful and delicious rice dish very similar to veg pulao. This dish is very popular in Northern part of India specially in Uttar Pradesh. This is a very easy recipe and can be prepared when you are in rush. The rice is mixed with chopped vegetables and cooked together with aromatic spices. You can add any vegetables of your choice but generally cauliflower, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, peas and carrots provide an amazing taste. It is served with raita, or curd and papad. Enjoy this either during rush hours or during the weekends for a light lunch/dinner.

Multi-Grain Appam

Appam is a delicacy from the state of Kerala in India. Everyone likes this recipe as it has mild sweet tastes and goes very well with vegetable stew, vegetable tomato stew, chicken stew and egg curry. Traditionally, Appam is prepared using ingredients like rice, coconut milk and yeast. Appam is very easy to make as it uses very limited number of ingredients and proves to be very delicious. This recipe is slightly different from traditional methods as I have used a variety of ingredients. I have used multi-grains (like wild rice, red rice, brown rice, quinoa), oats and whole jowar, then grinded it with yeast and coconut milk. Whole jowar can be found in any Indian grocery store and the mix of the remaining grains is mostly available at HEB or Sprouts. The texture of this Appam is soft like pancakes, very healthy and delicious. Do try this Appam and I am sure everyone in your family will love it, even the kids.  

Sweet & Sour Mango Chutney

Mango is a versatile fruit, as many delicious recipes can be prepared with raw mango as well as ripe mango; such as mango pickle, drinks, mango roll up, sweet or spice chutney, shrikhand, ice cream, lassi, mango kulfi and so on. Sweet & sour mango chutney is one of my childhood favorite, and my mom used to make this dish during mango season in the summer. She would make it in large quantities and store it in a jar. We loved eating it in our lunch boxes with parathas. This mango chutney also known galka or khattmithi in Northern part of India, but every state has its own variation of making this sweet & sour chutney with different ingredients and has many different names. This recipe made with raw mangoes, jaggery and some spices in Eastern UP & Bihar style.  

Grilled Methi(Fenugreek) Chicken

Grilled Methi(Fenugreek) Chicken is a recipe with slight variation from the regular grilled chicken. The chicken is marinated with dry roasted fenugreek leaves along with other regular ingredients like hung curd and tandoori spices. The taste of this chicken is little different than regular and also fenugreek gives a very nice aroma to the recipe. This is a perfect non-veg starters for you mini parties, family and guests. Kids too love this grilled chicken. 

Dates & Nuts Gujiya

Gujiya is a one of very popular festive season sweet snacks in Northern part of India. It’s generally made during festivals like Diwali or Holi, however it is readily available in sweet shops but homemade always better. There are many kinds of Gujiyas based on the filling in it, like milk mava, rava, coconut with nuts and so on. This Gujiya recipe is made from filling of dates and nuts and flavored with cardamom powder. The outer layer is crispy and flaky. In sweet shops you can also find  Gujiya which are dipped in sugar syrup. Enjoy this very tasty Gujiya though keep in mind the calories.