Category: Recipe

From breakfast items to main course, you can find the recipe of eveything that I cook.

10 Foods Rich in Iron

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Here are 10 foods that are rich in iron and can help increase hemoglobin levels in your blood:

  1. Spinach: This leafy green is packed with iron and other nutrients that support healthy hemoglobin production.
  2. Lentils: Lentils are a great source of plant-based iron, making them an excellent choice for vegetarians and vegans.
  3. Beans: Beans, such as kidney beans and chickpeas, are rich in iron and can be added to soups, salads, and various dishes.
  4. Tofu: Tofu is a versatile protein source that contains iron. It can be used in stir-fries, sandwiches, and more.
  5. Quinoa: This whole grain is not only high in iron but also provides protein and other essential nutrients.
  6. Lean Red Meat: If you eat meat, lean cuts of red meat like beef or lamb are good sources of heme iron, which is more easily absorbed by the body.
  7. Poultry: Chicken and turkey also provide heme iron, along with other important nutrients.
  8. Fish: Fish like salmon, tuna, and sardines are not only rich in iron but also provide omega-3 fatty acids for heart health.
  9. Nuts and Seeds: Nuts like almonds and pumpkin seeds, as well as seeds like sunflower seeds, can contribute to your iron intake.
  10. Fortified Cereals: Certain breakfast cereals are fortified with iron and other vitamins and minerals, making them a convenient option.

Remember that vitamin C helps enhance the absorption of non-heme iron (the type of iron found in plant-based foods), so including foods high in vitamin C (like citrus fruits, strawberries, and bell peppers) alongside these iron-rich foods can further boost your body’s ability to absorb iron and improve your hemoglobin levels

Gourmet Baklava – Sarth City Mall – Hyderabad

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Was delighted to see Baklava in Sarath City Capital Mall, Hyderabad. So just tried the three options recommended by the shop keeper.

Mamul Math 1 piece – INR 190

Baklava Special 1 Piece – INR 167

Blueberry Kunafa Small – INR 366

Not really sure how did he do pricing calculation because the most delicious one was either mamul math or Baklava Special You can refer to the images ( will be uploaded soon)

Ingredients of Baklava

  1. Phyllo dough – thin sheets of dough made from flour and water
  2. Nuts – typically chopped walnuts, pistachios, or almonds
  3. Butter or oil – for brushing the phyllo dough layers
  4. Sugar or honey – for sweetening the pastry and making the syrup
  5. Water – for making the syrup
  6. Lemon juice – for balancing the sweetness of the syrup (optional)
  7. Spices – such as cinnamon, cardamom, or cloves, for flavoring the nut filling (optional)

Some recipes may also include additional ingredients like rose water, orange blossom water, or vanilla extract to enhance the flavor of the pastry.

History of Baklava the Sweet Dessert

Photo by Valeria Boltneva on Pexels.com

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The history of baklava is somewhat disputed, as it is believed to have originated in the Middle East or Mediterranean region, but its exact origins are not clear. Some sources suggest that the dessert was first created in the Assyrian Empire around the 8th century BC, while others attribute its creation to the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century.

Regardless of its origins, baklava quickly became a popular dessert throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean, and it has been enjoyed by people in these regions for centuries. The dessert is often associated with special occasions and celebrations and is traditionally served during religious holidays like Eid al-Fitr and Easter.

As trade routes opened up between the Middle East and Europe, baklava also spread to other parts of the world, and today it is enjoyed in many countries across the globe. Its popularity can be attributed to its delicious taste and unique texture, which combines crispy layers of phyllo dough with a sweet, nutty filling.

Fenugreek leaves stirfry

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If you are anaemic and requiring folic acid then you should eat as much green leaves as possible. Using green leaves in Curries and other dishes is good, but it will not give you much of the required nutirients as you will be eating less quantity of green leaves that way. Hence best method is to just fry them and eat. Here is the most simple recipe which tastes wonderful. My mother asked me to just fry the green leaves in a drop of oil and sprinkle little salt and eat daily to improve haemoglobin level in the blood. But I just made little modification and prepared it like this.

What you need

4 bowls of Fenugreek leaves cleaned and washed. Take the tender part of the plant and discard the roots and hard stem. You can use all leaves and tender stem also.

One onion finely chopped.

Salt 1/4th table spoon

Red chilly Powder 1/4th table spoon

Oil – 1 table spoon.

Turmeric powder – a pinch

Heat oil in a pan, add pinch of turmeric powder followed by Red chilly powder. Then add the onions and fry till they are golden brown, now add finely chopped fenugreek leaves and fry till all the fresh green leaves change their color. Now sprinkle salt and reduce the heat to sim. Close the pan with a lid or plate. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes. Do not let it over burn.

Remove from heat. Now the leaves would have reduced to a quantity of one bowl or 1/2 bowl. Just eat it without any accessories!!! Or you can eat with roti or rice.Tell me how it tasted..

You can sprinkle little salt if you feel the leaves gave bitter taste.

Moolangi Mosaru Bajji (Radish Raitha)

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Ingredients – Radish boiled 1

Curd – 100 ml

Coconut grated – 1 cup

Red chillies – 2

Mustard seeds – 1 Table spoon

Cumin Seeds – 1 Table spoon

Salt – To taste

Oil – 1 Table Spoon

Thoroughly wash the Radish and chop into big pieces. Pressure cook for 10 minutes.

Once the boiled radish cools down take it in to mixer jar, add coconut and salt and grind to a paste.

Take a Pan and heat the oil. Once the oil is hot add mustard seeds and cumin seeds, take the pan away from heat, add Red chillies. This is to avoid over burning of the Cumin seeds.

Once this seasoning cools add the Radish coconut paste to this. Then add curd and mix well.

Now Radish raitha is ready.

Veg Do Pyaaza

Bindu1 Comment

Hi Friends,

As you know I am in Hyderabad now. And we went to one New Restaurant near our place yesterday. Its name is Vista, located in Nizampet.

We ordered for kulcha, veg do pyaasa, aloo paraatha and baby corn chilly. we told curry should be less spicy as we have little one with us. everything was good except the sabsi.. it was too hot and spicy.. We ate that with great difficulty ordering extra curd. But by AP standard I believe it was less spicy may be!!

So today I just thought of making ‘veg do pyaasa’ with whatever was available at home. It came out very well.

Here the Recipe goes

Ingredients

Tomatoes – 2
Onion – 4
Cashew nut – 10
Sesame seeds – 3 Table spoon
Grated Coconut – 3 Table spoon
Ginger Paste – 1/2 spoon
Red chilly powder – 1 spoon
salt to taste – 2 spoon
Refined Oil – 4 Table spoon
Jeera – 1 spoon
Turmeric powder – 1/2 spoon
Asafoetida – 5mg
cardamom seeds – 4-5 (1 whole cardamom)
French beans chopped to 1cm each – 2 cups
Potato sliced – 1 cup
carrot sliced – 1 cup
Ghee – 1 spoon
coriander leaved – 1 spoon
cloves and cinnamon powder – 1/2 spoon ( alternately use 4 cloves and 1 cm cinnamon)
finely chopped garlic – 4-5 cloves ( optional)
Green chilly – 1

Cut the Tomatoes to big pieces and boil the same in 2 cups of water.
Take out the boiled tomatoes to a plate let it cool
In the same water, cook vegetables ie beans, carrot, and Potato.
Take a pan and put one spoon ghee, once its warm roast the Asafoetida and take out. If you are using finely powdered Asafoetida then need not roast it.
In the same pan roast the garlic, then half of the onion and take out.

First you grind coconut,sesame seeds, cashewnuts, asafoetida, red chilly powder,cinnamon and clove without adding water. Once its powdered then you can add water. Take it out. Grind tomatoes,green chilly and garlic. Grind the roasted onions.

Now take a kadai, pout 4 table spoon of oil, once oil is hot add Cumin seeds, cardamom seeds, turmeric powder, remaining onions and fry. then add vegetables draining off the water. the water should be kept and used for taking out the left paste in mixer jars. This is to ensure that no flavor is lost and to avoid adding lot of water which will dilute the taste.

after adding vegetables add ground onions, then tomoto garlic paste then the ground masala. Add salt. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Finally add lemon juice and Coriander leaves to garnish.

Pancha Kajjaaya

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Ingredients

1. Chana dal – 1 cup
2. Moong dal – 1 cup
3. Coconut grated – 1 cup
4. Jaggery – 1 cup
5. Til – 1/2 cup

These are the main 5 ingredients, on which it has derived the word Pancha Kajjaaya. In addition you can use Ghee and Cardomom powder which will enhance the taste.

Method of Preparation

Dry roast chana dal and moong dal. Powder it using mixer once it is cool. Take a thick bottomed pan or cooking bowl. Heat the jaggery, add little water and once the jaggery is in the form of batter, and starts boiling add the powdered chana dal, moong dal, grated coconut, Til, Ghee, Cardomam powder and mix well. If you can make it into balls as shown in picture you can do it. else if you feel its hard, leave it as it is, that is also good.

Now the Pancha kajjaaya is ready to offer to the Lord Ganesha.

Instant Potato sambar

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Hi Friends,

Today I wanted to do something simple and easy. Did not want to spend much time in cooking.  Also I remembered my husband told when he was in US on self cooking, he said all your recipes require grinding, as i dont have mixer/Grinder I cant cook those.. So here is something simple..

Ingredients

– 1 cup chopped onions

–  1 cup chopped tomato

– 1 cup chopped potatoes

– few curry leaves

– few garlic cloves ( optional )

– a pinch of turmeric

– one spoon sambaar powder

– one spoon salt

– 1 cup washed Tuvar Dal

– mustard seeds

–  cumin seeds

– 3 spoon oil

– 1 serving spoon grated coconut ( optional )

Method of Preparation

Take a Pressure pan, first put oil and heat. add mustard seeds, let it splutter, then add cumin seeds, garlic cloves, curry leaves, pinch of turmeric, chopped onions one after the other. Then add chopped potatoes and fry a little. Now add tomatoes, salt, sambar powder, grated coconut, tuvar dal and add 2 big glass of water. Close the pressure cooker. If you cook on low flame one whistle is enough.

Now your sambar is ready to eat with rice, rotis and chapati.

Note all ingredients in picture are actual measures I took today.

Stuffed Capsicum

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Hi today I tried Stuffed capsicum, without really stuffing it. And I did it with what ever was available at home, because I did not find all those ingredients at home. Still it came out very well. Hence thought of putting it here.

Un Stuffed Capsicum

Ingredients

Capsicum – 4 large green capsicum ( called Dappa Menasinakayi in kannada)

onions – 2 medium sized

Ground nut  seeds – 100 gm ( kadale Beeja)

Salt to taste

Chilly powder – 1/2 spoon

cinnamon powder – pinch

turmeric powder – a pinch

Refined Oil – 5 spoon

cumin seeds – 1 spoon

coconut milk – 50ml

Take a pan. Put oil. Then when it is hot add Cumin seeds, turmeric powder and chopped onions in the same order. Roast well. Once onions look transperent add sliced capsicum. Fry a little. Add required amount of salt. Stir once. Close the lid. And keep it on a low flame.

Now take the ground nut seeds. Roast it in a pan. Fry for 2-3 minutes. Keep aside. Let it cool. Add tamarind, chilly powder and cinnomon powder and grind it. If you dont have cinnamon powder you can add a peice of cinnamon and a peice of  lavanga.  Grind the mixture.

By this time your capsicum would have cooked properly. Add the ground masala and coconut milk to it.

Now unstuffed stuffed capsicum masala is ready to eat.

I had plans to have it with raagi roti. But it was already 9pm, I had it with rice.

Tomato Onion Gojju

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Ingredients

Tomato – 4

Onion Medium sized – 4

Sambar powder – 1 spoon ( you can vary depending on your taste)

Salt to taste

For seasoning

mustard seeds

Curry leaves

Turmeric powder

Cumin Seeds ( Jeerige)

Method

chop the onions and tomatoes finely.  Take a Pan, Put 2 spoons of oil. Let it heat. put the mustard seeds. Let it splutter, now add Cumin Seeds, curry leaves and turmeric powder one after the other. Then add onions. Roast it well, keep stirring it. Then add tomatoes. Add salt. Add sambar powder or rasam powder.  Add a pinch of sugar. Keep on the flame for 10 minutes. Add water if necessary.

You can add coconut milk or grated coconut if you have.

Now the tomato onion gojju is ready to eat. It goes well with rice, rotis, chapati and dosa.

Tomato Onion Chutney

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neerulli-red-oniontomato

kadale-bele-split-bengal-gram
Ingredients

chopped Onions – 5
chopped Tomato – 1
Curry Leaves – 1 cup
Red Chilley – 2
onamenasinakaayi-dry-red-chilly1
Garlic Clove – one peice
Kadale bele – 2 table spoon ((kadala paripu, chana dal, bengal gram split)
Salt to taste
Grated Coconut – 1 cup ( optional )

Take a Pan put one spoon oil, and roast the onion,

till you get a good aroma, take it out, in the same

pan roast kadale bele, Dry red chillies, garlic and

curry leaves until they become crisp. Take it out,

then fry the tomatoes. Once it is cooled, mix

everyting in the mixer/grinder along with coconut

and salt. Remove from the jar once it becomes a fine

paste.

Now your Onion Tomato chutney is ready to eat. Goes

well with Rice, Roti, Chapti and Dosa