Corn Salad

Asha suggested to me that I must forward this recipe to Hima for her event of What's your Favourite with the theme of Diet Food this month. Thanks Asha.

So this is my contribution for the Diet Food event, Hima.

Corn salad has approximately-
200 calories
2 gms Total Fat
0 mg Cholesterol

Corn Salad is one of the easiest and likeable salad/ side dish/ snack.

It is very nutritious too.

It is also called as Corn Bhel.

I make this salad quite often.

You can make it using fresh corn or the frozen variety.

I always have some corn in my freezer, So I quickly make this as a snack in the evenings often.

To make Corn Salad you will need-

2 cups of frozen or fresh corn kernels

1 Onion

1 Tomato

1 Green Chilli

Juice of half a Lime

Half a cup Cilantro, finely chopped

Salt

1 tsp chaat masala pwdr

Method-

First of all, cook the corn in the microwave on high for 5 minutes.

You can also boil it in the pressure cooker.

For that, fill water in the bottom of the cooker, about an inch and place another vessel in the cooker with corn in it. so that the corn does not become too moist. And pressure cook on high for 5 minutes and then let the pressure drop on its own.

Chop onion, tomato and green chilli.

Mix these chopped veggies in the corn.

Add all the Chaat masala pwdr, salt and lime juice.

Garnish it with chopped Cilantro.

Serve it right away or it tastes great chilled too.

Masala Rice

My favourite way of using the leftover rice for a quick and easy and ofcourse tasty lunch.

This rice is made in different ways.

It is called by various names too!

But the end product is somewhat quite similar!

Whenever I make plain rice for dinner, it has to remain!

For I purposely make some extra so I can make masala rice the next day!

What I do to make this Rice is-

Slice an Onion

Slit a couple of green chillies lengthwise

Chop a handful of coriander leaves

Slice a capsicum, if I have one

Heat oil in a pan.

Splutter 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds.

Add 1/4 tsp Hing, 1/4 tsp Turmeric, a few Curry Leaves and the slit Green Chillies.

Then drop in the sliced Onion.

Let it turn pink.

Then put the sliced capsicum.

Add salt.

Saute for around 3-4 minutes.

Then add 2 cups of cooked rice.

Mix well.

Saute for another 5 minutes.

Garnish it with coriander leaves.

Sprinkle juice of half a lime for a tangy taste.

Serve hot with pickle or curd.

It tastes great!

Gobi Paratha

Parathas are an all-time favourite at our home.

So I try to make different kinds of parathas every now and then.

Recently I have been making Gobi -Parathas a lot!

I dont follow any particular recipe, but whatever I feel like adding ..goes in!

So this is just a basic guideline you can alter the ingredients according to your taste.

To make 4 Gobi Parathas, You will need-

2 cups grated Cauliflower

1 green chilli, chopped

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1/4 tsp cumin pwdr

1/4 tsp garam masala pwdr

1/4 tsp dry mango pwdr

salt to taste

2 cups of wheat flour

Water

Oil.

First of all knead the dough adding salt and water.

It should neither be too soft nor too hard.

Keep it aside for half an hour.

Take a bowl and put in the grated cauliflower, onion, cilantro and all the dry masalas.

Add salt at the end when you are about to roll out the parathas.

Mix all the ingredients well.

Divide this stuffing into 4 equal parts.

Divide the dough also into 4 parts.

Make a ball of one part and roll out a little.
Fill it with stuffing in the centre and roll out again to make a paratha.
Cook on a hot griddle putting oil or ghee on both the sides.

Serve hot with curd or pickle or sauce.

Enjoy!!

My simple lunch today

Usually for lunch I always have some leftovers from the previous night and I just have to make chappati or rice to go with it.

But at times there are no leftovers or there are days when I feel like making something fresh and simple, even though its for me alone.

Today was one such day!

I decided to make a Gujrati Lunch.

So I made 'Gobhi Sambharo' i.e.cabbage vegetable and 'Gujrati Dal' to go with it.

When I was in school, I often visited my Aunt to spend my vacations with my cousins.

And they were in Gujrat. I enjoyed the train journey from Bombay to Gujrat as much as the stay there. My aunt would make all types of gujrati dishes and farsans like sev tomato, Undhiyo, Carrot sambharo, Khaman Dhoklas, Dhabheli, Kachoris and the list is really endless.Though I was not much interested in cooking then, but I did help her in the kitchen often. And so now I try to recreate those dishes in my way for my family and remember those times!

For the Cabbage Vegetable-

1 small head of cabbage, chopped

2 Green Chillies, slit

1 tsp Mustard seeds

1/2 tsp Asafoetida(Hing)

1/2 tsp Turmeric Pwdr

1 tsp Coriander-cumin Pwdr

Salt to taste

Oil

Cilantro to garnish

A pinch of Sugar

Juice of half a lime.

Method-

Heat 2 tbsps of oil in a pan.

Splutter mustard seeds.

Add hing and green chillies.

Put in the chopped cabbage.

Cover and let it simmer till the cabbage is half done.

Keep stirring in between so as it does not stick to the bottom of the pan.

Then add the coriander-cumin pwdr, salt, sugar, turmeric and mix well.

Cook for a little bit more timetaking care that the cabbage a still crunchy and not over cooked.

Garnish it with cilantro and lime juice.

For making the Dal-

1 cup Yellow Lentils(Toor Daal)

2 Tomatoes, chopped

1 green chilli, chopped

5-6 Curry leaves

1 tsp mustard seeds

1tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp Asafoetida(Hing)

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp red chilli pwdr

Salt to taste

Sugar, a pinch or more according to your taste

Juice of half a lime

Cilantro to garnish

Water

Oil.

Method-

Pressure cook the dal in 2 cups of water till its done.

Then mash it with a wooden churner or hand blender.

Heat oil in a pan.

Splutter mustard seeds and cumin seeds.

Add the curry leaves,hing, tomatoes and green chillies.

Saute for a while.

Then add turmeric, red chilli pwdr, salt and sugar.

Put in the mashed dal.

Mix well.

Add water for the desired consistency and let it boil well.

Garnish it with cilantro and lemon juice in the end.

I had my dal and vegetable with chappatis for a nice, simple and satisfying lunch!