Pineapple Cranberry Punch

 Long long time ago, I used to volunteer at a library and for Christmas they had a party for all the volunteers. At that party was served a Punch. And that was the most amazing drink I ever had. It was awesome.

The punch I made today is kid friendly...no Alcohol :( but it is great.

Pineapple Cranberry Punch

Pineapple Cranberry Punch

Ingredients:

1. 12 oz pineapple juice
2. 12 oz Cranberry juice or Cranberry cocktail with whatever other flavors you like
3. Sprite
4. Cranberries and/or pineapple pieces

Chill all the drinks until ready to serve. 

mix all the drinks except sprite in a punch bowl. Add ice to glasses and before serving add sprite. Garnish with pineapple pieces and/cranberries. Enjoy

Chicken Kale Wraps

 I had such great plans for this year. It was such a good number 20 20. But it turned out to be such a bad year for so many thousands and thousands to people. But finally it is coming to an end...but I do not have any great hopes for the following year. Anyway...I will stop.

This is one of the recipes you can make with left over chicken.

Chicken Kale Wraps (Chicken and Kale salad wrapped in a Tortilla)

Chicken Kale Wraps

Ingredients:

1. 4 burrito size tortillas of you choice of flavor. I got spinach.
2.  2-3 cups of Rotisserie chicken shredded.
3. 2 cups loosely packed shredded chopped
4. 4 oz each of cream cheese, 3-4 oz sour cheese
5. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, pepper
6. 1 tablespoon hot sauce
7. 2 tablespoons finely chopped onions
8. 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
9. 1 teaspoon olive oil

in a pan heat the oil and add the onions and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add garlic and fry for 30 seconds. Add chopped kale and stir to combine. Add 1/4 cup water and salt and stir. Cover and reduce the flame to small. Let steam for 5 minutes. Drain if there is any more water left.

Mix all the ingredients together.

Lay the tortilla on a flat surface and spread 2-3 tablespoons of chicken mixture on the tortilla. Leave about 1 inch of edge.

Roll the tortilla into a roll and let sit in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. Cut into 3-4 inch pinwheels and serve with Salsa

Mediterranean meat balls

 Meat balls are a good way to sneak some veggies into your picky eaters' tummies. I always add some grated veggies to the meat balls and they taste super yummy and healthy for you and the eaters do not have to know, that they are eating a veggie, otherwise they will not touch.

Mediterranean Meat Balls (Dill filled Meat balls with Zucchini)

Mediterranean Meat balls

Ingredients:

1. 1 lb lean ground meat
2. 1 medium small zucchini grated and squeezed out to get as much liquid out as possible
3. 3/4- 1 cup loosely packed Dill weed, chopped
4. 1 teaspoon minced garlic
5. 1 teaspoon each of salt, cumin powder, coriander powder
6. 1/2-1 teaspoon black pepper
7. 1/2 cup grated red onion, squeezed out for liquid
8. 2 tablespoons whole milk
9. 1/4 cup bread crumbs (optional)

Mix all the ingredients together and set aside for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make about 12-16 meat balls and lay them in a oven safe pan 1 inch apart. Bake for 15 minutes. Drain as much liquid off of the pan and flip the meat balls and bake 10-15 minutes. Enjoy with spaghetti and marinara sauce or with Pita bread 

Raagi Dosa

I know the lock down has made all of us innovative cooks. What else can we do, if we have to cook meal after meal after meal at home, every single day!!!

There are only so many recipes you can make with wheat flour and the plain all purpose flour. On one of my trips to the Indian store, I picked up different kinds of flours. One of them was Raagi flour. 

First off..what is Raagi or Ragi. It is called Finger Millets in English .Here is a very good resource to know more about Super Millet- Raagi

Raagi Dosa (Crepes made with Finger Millet and Black gram flour)

Ingredients:

1. 11/2 cup Raagi flour
2. 1/2 cup urad dal/ Black gram flour
3. 1 cup plain yogurt beaten
4. 1 cup water
5. 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6. 1/2-1 teaspoon salt
7. Oil for frying

To Garnish:

1. Finely chopped onions
2. finely chopped ginger
3. cumin

Sift the raagi and urad dal flour along with the salt and mix the yogurt and water. Set aside for 20-30 minutes. Add the baking soda and mix well.

Heat a griddle. Add a ladle of batter to the center of the griddle and with a light hand spread the batter outward in circular motions. Add oil to the edges of the dosa. Garnish with onions, ginger and cumin and if desired finely chopped green chillies. Fry for 3 minutes and when the edges start to raise a bit, flip the dosa and gently press so that the onions stick to the dosa. Fry for 2-3 more minutes. Flip it and fold it into half and serve with any chutney or ketchup

Coconut Rice with Black Beans

Coconut rice feels like a delicacy when you eat plain white rice pretty much every day. Coconut rice has that subtle coconut flavor to it, which is awesome. I combined the coconut rice with black beans and increased its nutritional value that much. Its a one pot meal...can't beat that, when you do not want to do the dishes.

 Coconut Rice with Black Beans

Coconut Rice with Black Beans

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups long grain rice
2. 1/2 can coconut milk unsweetened
3. 1 can black beans rinsed and drained
4. 1 tablespoon oil
5. 1/4 cup chopped onions
6. 1 large or 2 medium garlic chopped fine
7. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, fresh ground black pepper
8.  1 tablespoon coconut flakes toasted (optional)

In a pan heat the oil and fry the onions till they become translucent. Add garlic and fry for a minute. Add beans 1/8 cup water. 

Add 2 cups of water and the coconut milk and salt and bring to a rolling boil. Add rice and reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes or until rice is done. Add the black beans to the rice and mix gently. Garnish with toasted coconut flakes and enjoy

Some similar recipes

Black beans and Golden Corn rice

Coconut Rice

Thai Green Egg curry with vegetables

 I usually do not like to add sweet potato to the curries. I always have a feeling that the curry would turn out to be sweet and I will not like it. But today I dared and I added sweet potato to this amazing gravy and it was super delicious. The original recipe is here . Of course I had to modify it. I added boiled eggs top it and made it more hearty.

Thai Green Egg curry with vegetables (Boiled egg curry Thai based coconut gravy with Sweet Potatoes and Green Beans)

Thai Green Egg Curry

Ingredients:

1. 1 Tablespoon + 2 teaspoons oil
2. 1¾ cups Unsweetened Coconut Milk
3. 4 oz Green Beans, ends trimmed and sliced length wise
4. 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
5. 1 medium Onion sliced into half circles
6. 1 medium small Sweet Potato cubed into 1 cm cubes
7. 2 Tbsps Green Curry Paste
8. 6 hard boiled eggs peeled

In a deep pan heat the oil and add the ginger garlic paste and the green curry paste and fry for a minute stirring. Add the onion slices and the sweet potato cubes and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add the coconut milk + 1 cup hot water and bring to a boil. Add the green beans and let it boil for 10 minutes. 

In the mean time, in another pan add the 2 teaspoons oil, give the eggs small slits with the knife. Do not cut the eggs. This is just to create space with the skin of the boiled eggs, so that when you fry it, it will not explode in your face. Fry stirring 2-5 minutes*.

Add the fried eggs to the curry and simmer for 5 more minutes. Give it a taste test, adjust the salt and garnish with cilantro and enjoy with White/Ponni rice

*My Hubby likes the skin crispy and rubbery...so fry till the skin becomes brown. The rest of the family does not, so fry it just for 2 minutes, to get better flavor

More Yummy Curries:

Thai Red Curry Mushroom

Thai Coconut Peanut Wings

Thai Chicken Watercress Soup

Anda Bread Bhurji

 I was looking for some inspiration for breakfast and I stumbled upon the Bread Bhurji recipe from Tarla Dalal. Since I am not a vegetarian and I eat eggs, I added eggs to the dish and made it more hardy. 

Super yummy and filling and gets ready quite quickly.

Anda Bread Bhurji (Yogurt soaked bread stir fried with eggs)

Anda Bread Bhurji

Ingredients:

1. 4 eggs lightly beaten with salt and pepper 
2. 6 slices of wheat bread
3. 1 tablespoon oil + 1 teaspoon oil
4. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, turmeric powder, grated ginger
5. Few curry leaves
6. 2 dried red chillies broken to pieces
7. 1/2 cup plain yogurt
8. 1/3 cup sliced onions

Cut the bread slices into 4 strips and cut them again to 4 pieces.

In a bowl mix the yogurt with the turmeric +a pinch of salt. Add the bread pieces to it, mix  and let them get soaked.

Add 1 teaspoon oil and add the beaten eggs and scramble them. Drain and set aside.

In the same pan pan heat the tablespoon of oil and add the mustard seeds and curry leaves and fry till they start to splatter. Add cumin and red chillies and fry for a minute. Add onions and fry for 3 minutes. Add ginger and fry for 30 seconds. Add the yogurt bread and fry on medium high flame for 3-4 minutes. Add the scrambled egg and mix well. garnish with cilantro and enjoy yummy breakfast