Paneer is available easily everywhere . But home-made paneer has its own taste. Apart from using regular milk to make paneer, you can use the same method if you have spoilt milk as well. Add lemon juice and get homemade paneer.

Ingredients

Milk — 1 liter

Lemon juice — 2-3 tablespoons .

Method

Take a thick bottom vessel . Pour in the milk and put it to boil. Once the milk starts boiling,lower the heat,add the lemon juice. Stir continuously , you will see the milk curdle . Put of the heat. Drain the curdled milk over a colander. Leave it for about 15 minutes. Paneer is ready.Save the residue of the paneer.

Residue of paneer is called Whey. Whey has lot of nutritious value . Some of the uses of whey. Substitute water with whey while making chapathi, poori dough. Add it to a gravy when making subji which has a sour base. Add it to soups. Use it when baking cakes, pancake ,breads instead of water.

Anyone for pooris? If this question is asked, I am sure there will be a ‘Yes’ from everyone at home. Poori’s are an all time favorite at every home. You could have pooris anytime of the day be it breakfast,lunch or dinner. You can have it with any subji or simply with any pickle,chunda or just with amras. I added little homemade paneer to give the poori an extra richness and flavour.

Ingredients

Wheat flour —- 3 cups

Besan flour — 1 tablespoon

Semolina — 1 tablespoon

Paneer — 1 cup

Ajwain — 1 teaspoon

Salt

Whey / the residue after making paneer.

Method

Add the besan and semolina to the wheat flour mix well. Add the crumpled paneer , ajwain and salt mix well. Now add the whey and knead well to get a firm dough. Rest the dough for 5 minutes . Make small balls from the dough. Take one ball and roll it into 3 – 4 inches round. Repeat with all the balls. Heat oil in a pan, deep fry the poori’s. Enjoy hot poori’s with amras and ……..😊.

Masiyal is the most simplest dish. A dish quick and easy to prepare . It’s prepared with just one vegetable . Masiyal can be prepared either with seppankizhangu, chennai or urulaikilangu. Enjoy masiyal with rasam or Manga kuttan.

Ingredients

Seppakizhangu — 1/2 kg

Tuvar dal — 1/2 cup

Ginger — 1 inche

Green chili — 3

Turmeric powder —12 teaspoon

Mustard seeds — 1/2 teaspoon

Urad dal —- 1/2 teaspoon

Salt — 1 teaspoon

Sesame oil — 1 tablespoon

Lemon juice — 3 tablespoons .

Method

Wash the seppankizhangu well. Peel the skin. Cut the seppankizhangu into thick slices. Rinse the seppankizhangu slices. Pressure cook tuvar dal. Slit the green chili’s ,cut the ginger into juliennes. Add green chili,ginger ,turmeric , salt and half of glass of water to seppankizhangu and pressure cook for two whistle . Open the cooker, add the dal and mix it well with the cooked seppankizhangu. Cook for 2 minutes and put off the heat. For the tempering ,heat the oil,add the mustard seeds ,when they crackle add the urad dal and saute till they change colour and add it to the masiyal. Allow the masiyal to cool down a little and then add the lemon juice . Enjoy Seppankizhangu masiyal .

Mor kali is a age old snack. During our childhood days, every evening we would go out and play. Some days as the sun would be setting you would feel a small hunger and you would go to your mother and ask her for something to eat. And your mother would prepare Mor Kali in 10 minutes . The ingredients are easily available in every kitchen and time taken is also minimum. Give it a go!

Ingredients
Rice flour — 1 cup
Curd — 1 cup
Salt — 1 teaspoon
Mustard seeds — 1/2 teaspoon
Urad dal — 1/2 teaspoon
Dry red chili/ mor milagai — 2
Sesame oil — 3-4 tablespoons
Water — 3 cup.

How else can you have watermelon juice🤔. Very simple add sugar ,ghee and make watermelon halwa.A richer version of watermelon juice, the halwa is so silky and smooth that it just falls from your spoon.

Ingredients
Watermelon — 1 kg
Sugar— 3/4 cup
Ghee — 3/4 cup
Corn flour — 2  tablespoon
Cashews and Almond
Cardamom powder — 1 teaspoon.

The quickest and simplest chutney with watermelon rind. I prepared it at home and my family said it tasted awesome and were surprised that I had used watermelon rind!

Ingredients

Watermelon rind — 2 cups

Tomatoes. — 3 medium

Green chili — 2

Channa dal — 2 tablespoon

Urad dal — 2tablespoon

Dry red chili — 2

Asafodita — 1/4 teaspoon

Tamarind — small marble size

Salt — 3/4 teaspoon

Oil — 4 teaspoons.

Method

Remove the green skin from the watermelon rind . Chop the rind and tomatoes into small pieces . Heat a pan ,add 1 teaspoon of oil ,add the dals ,red chili and fry till the dal changes color. Put of the heat,add the tamarind and asafodita ,saute and keep aside . Heat 2 teaspoons of oil,add the tomatoes and saute for a minute. Add the watermelon rind and further saute for 2 minutes,add salt and close and cook in medium heat for about 4 minutes or till most of liquid from the tomatoes are evaporated . Cool it, and grind it along with green chilis and the fried dals, adding little water to get a chutney consistency.For the tempering ,heat the remaining oil,add the mustard seeds,when they crackle ,remove from heat and add this to the chutney. This chutney goes well with dosai or with any snack.

Here’s a dish that goes well with chapati, poori or any parathas. The procedure may look a little long, but when you want to enjoy a heavy dish, a little extra work shouldn’t worry you. So prepare it and enjoy the kurma.

Note — Remove the green skin of the rind.

Ingredients
Watermelon rind — 1 1/2 cup
Carrot, beans, capsicum — 1 1/2 cup
Onion — 2
Tomato — 2
Garlic — 4
Ginger — 1 inch
Green chili — 2
Cashews — 6
Cloves — 4
Cinnamon — 2 small pc
Coriander  powder — 1/2 teaspoon
Cummin powder — 1/2 teaspoon
Garam masala — 1/2 teaspoon
Bay leaf — 2
Cummin seeds —- 1 teaspoon
Salt — 1 1/2 teaspoon
Fresh coriander and mint leaves — 1/2 cup
Oil & gheee.

Watermelon rind is watermelon skin. Everytime you make juice or salad with watermelon you throw away the skin. The other day I was talking to my mother and she said that after making watermelon juice, when she was going to bin the skin/ rind her helper asked her doesnt she use the skin to make kootu with it,my mother made it and said it tasted great . That’s what made me try dishes with it. Watermelon rind has many nutritions value. Found from google that it has high content of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, potassium, Vitamin B6 and zinc. It is loaded with citrulline, chlorophyll, amino acids, lycopene, phenolic compounds and flavonoids.So here’s my version of watermelon rind mulakushyam,the easiest and simplest dish but with lot of nutrition .

Ingredients
Watermelon rind — 2 cup
Green whole moongdal — 1/2 cup
Turmeric — 1/2 teaspoon
Salt — 1 teaspoon
Pepper powder — 1/2 teaspoon
Coconut oil — 1 teaspoon
Few Curry leaves.

Watermelon is a summer fruit. It contains majorly water and most of us enjoy its juice which is very refreshing and keeps us from getting dehydrated. There are also many other nutritious values that the fruit contain. Here’s my take on Watermelon summer salad.

Ingredients

Watermelon — 2 cups

Cucumber — 1 cup

Pomegranate —- 1/4 cup

Gooseberry / raw mango — 1 tablespoon

Cheese cub — 3

A bunch of fresh coriander & mint leaves

Salt — 1/2 teaspoon.

For the dressing

1 tablespoon – olive oil, 1 tablespoon – honey, 1 tablespoon – oregano , 1 teaspoon – chili flaxes & 2 tablespoons lemon juice.

Method

Remove the skin of watermelon and cut into small cubes . Peel cucumber and cut into small cubes. Cut coriander,mint,gooseberry, cheese . Transferal the cut ingredients and toss them together. Add all the ingredients of the dressing into a bottle and give a good shake. Pour the dressing over the salad ,add salt ,toss them again . Your Watermelon summer salad is ready. Enjoy it anytime of the day.

Reserve the watermelon skin, which is called as watermelon rind. Recipe coming tomorrow .

Lockdown has brought out many skills of your family members and the one that tops the list is cooking. I am sure that at least one extra member in every family are trying their culinary skill, how it taste 🤷‍♀️. In my family whenever possible my son has been cooking on weekends cutting the monotonous of work from home. I still remember as a boy who was of class 4,one day he came to the kitchen saw the rasam boiling and said ,Amma can you teach me how to make rasam. I said ok and asked him what would you like be when you grow up and answer was a Chef. But as time passed things changed, he did learn a little cooking out of compulsion, but has always been ready to help me with cutting vegetables . So today I thought of publishing the soup he prepared.

Ingredients

Potatoes —- 3

Corn — 1

Onions —-2

Garlic —- 3

Green peas —- 2 tablespoons

Pepper powder —- 1/2 teaspoon

Cummin powder —- 1/2 teaspoon

Salt — 3/4 teaspoon

Butter.

Method

Heat the pressure cooker and add a good amount of oil and butter to it. Add garlic and saute. Proceed with adding onions and saute until it becomes translucent. Add cut potatoes into the vessel and saute. Now, add salt, cumin powder and pepper. Lower the flame and mix it all together. Cover and cook for further 3 miutes. Open the lid, add your fresh corn and add a good amount of water to cover. Lock the lid and let it cook for upto 2 whistles. Open the lid, stick blend the ingredients to get a nice soupy consistency. Add a little bit of water, add the cooked peas and cook it further for 2-3 minutes on a medium flame. Moreish corn and potato soup is ready to be served!

Note: If you don’t have a stick blender, let the mixture cool after the 2 pressure cooker whistles. Grind the mixture in a mixer and proceed with rest of the procedure.