This is one of my most drooled over food pic on social network. (Don't forget to follow me in FB, Instagram and Pinterest, etc. - Links on the right hand corner)

My bro had come home last weekend and i had to make prawns for lunch, because that's his favorite. I was in a big dilemma whether to make prawns biriyani or masala curry. Both are equally tasty and i too just love prawns aka shrimps. I sometimes wonder why few people are so allegic to prawns. They cannot even touch them, else they would have to be admitted in a hospital. Pity them :(

Without any more stories, lets jump right to the Prawn Masala Recipe. You can do a little bit of changes to make it into a semi-gravy or gravy at the end.

There is no looking back, once you make this recipe right.

I don't think I need to describe this gravy, the picture says it all. I wanted to make a green chicken curry which goes well with roti/chapathi and rice too. I had Spinach/Palak, Methi/Fenugreek leaves, Coriander and Mint/Pudina leaves in stock. I was just choosing randomly the greens to use in the curry for the day. Somehow the mint bunch was so attractive, that I decided to go with it. It definitely was a good choice and yummiest gravy I have made. So here goes the recipe:

Since I'm basically from Chennai, I always love fishes and other seafood varieties. Even when I'm writing this, I'm drooling for my mother's fish curry and fish fry. But I never learnt to know the different types of fishes my mom cooks... I just Vanjaram (Sheer fish), Shankara (Red Snapper), Sura (Shark) and there ends my fish knowledge!! Same goes with different Greens available here!!

Usually my fish curry is pretty simple with small onions, garlic and tomato, in a tamarind base curry. Its simple and tasty, but I wanted to try something different. Make the curry a little thick and try to bring in the authentic Kerala taste with coconut and other spices. So I landed in this recipe of roasting and grinding spices with coconut to make this gravy. It's almost similar to my masala used for Chicken gravy if you have tried it.

As you can see in the picture, I made it with our regular fish fry, which is always yummy :P    Recipe coming next!!

I'm Back to posting recipes after a long time. Infact back to actual cooking... ;) I ve been enjoying quite a long time, travelling, eating out all kind of cuisines in US. I even tried red lobsters, crab meat.... :) 
Now I'm busy trying to fit in my new job. 

After this trip, our food habits have also changed a bit. We like a lot of salads, fries, nuts, coke, granola bars, hazelnut latte from starbucks, lots of chicken, burgers, pizzas, cheese, mayo, ranch sauce.....!! 
Out pf all this junk, the good thing is that I'm inspired to try out different cuisines at home. 

So let's move on to today's recipe. When my husband landed back in India, I wanted to cook something he really loves for breakfast and he surely would have missed it in US. I decided to make hot Idlis with our famous Chettinad chicken curry. 

The specialty of Chettinadu curry is choosing the perfect quantity & roasting and grinding the masala items. But trust me it's easy and worth the time it takes to roast and grind (which is just 10 mins)

Day by day I have started to feel the importance of our age old food habits and their medicinal benefits. We have totally forgotten about our grandmom's home remedies and we are heading to the Hospital everytime ending up having a big hole in our pockets!! Someday I would want to make a collection of these age old Indian Ayurveda and Vedic remedies to common ailments and even modern diseases. The ancient scripts which mention these remedies are not less than 1000 years old...!!!! They are the real jackpot we should aim for!!

So How many of us have heard about Navadhaniyam (Tamil word) or the Nine Cereals (Nava means Nine and Dhanya means grains)? It is mentioned in the ancient vedas, and is still used in India for all auspicious rituals. But we do not know the real importance of these cereals, it was supposed to be used as our staple food for leading a healthy life.

We are either having more rice or wheat in India now... South indians started having a lot of Wheat thinking it is better than having carbohydrates in Rice. But that's not true!! Wheat has gluten (Glue-like property) which is hard to digest. Another point Wheat will never suit South Indians... Having lots of wheat will create heat inside the body, which is only required to those who live in extremely cold places. And we have also started having a lot of Maida/flour nowadays in the form of Pizza, Paratha, Bread, etc. We have totally forgotten about the other healthy options!!

What are the Nine Differet Grains or Cereals?
Pigeon Peas (Toor dal/Thuvarai)
Wheat
Horse Gram (Kollu)
Green Gram (Moong Dal)
Paddy/Rice
White Beans (White rajma/Avarai kai)
Black Sesame (Til/Ellu)
Chickpeas (Channa/Konda kadalai)
Black gram (Urad dal/ Ulundu)

Auspicious Significance of the Nine Grains:
Each of these grains represents one of the nine planets, and hence they are used in performing Hindu rituals like Grahapravesham or House Warming Pooja, Navaratri Pooja, etc.

Suriyan (Sun) – Wheat
Chandiran (Moon) -  Paddy/Rice 
Chevvai (Mars) - Tuvarai (Toor)
Bhudhan (Mercury) - Greengram (Moong)
Guru (Jupitor) - Chickpeas (Channa) 
Sukiran (Venus) - White Beans (White Rajma or Motchai or Avarai seeds) 
Sani(Saturn) -  Black Sesame (Til)
Rahu – Black gram (Ulundu or Urad) 
Kethu – Horse gram (Kollu)

Thinking of what to cook for breakfast or dinner is the most toughest job for me in this world!! And I find it's a common problem for everybody else too... People at home get bored of the usual items if repeated too often. The moment breakfast is served, Sandy will ask what's for lunch and when lunch is served, "what's for dinner today?". I would be like "Somebody please do the meal plan for me!!".

I can manage to decide to cook something for lunch, depending on the vegetables available at home but not for breakfast! In this case I envy north indians because they don't have to think so much... roti and a sabji everyday and for all the three meals. We do cook roti/chapati for dinner, but not everyday. Again thinking of what sabji to make for roti is another problem.

So I am going to have a collection of vegetarian tiffin (light meal) items here, with a link to their recipes. So that we can just bookmark this page and drop by to select an item to cook. Else I would give this list to my hubby and ask him choose everytime based on how long he can wait for me to make it. Half of my tension will be reduced... ooof!!

If you feel that some item is missed out, please comment below so that it is helpful for others like me suffering from this cookingtiffinmania!!

I have tried to group it based on the preparation time and cooking time. Because being a working woman, I don't do much planning ahead of time except for special occassions... like soaking the ingredients overnight, grinding the batter, leaving it to ferment for a while, etc. But I do grind my own dosa/idli batter once in two weeks and stock it in the fridge. Saves me most of the times :)

Recent Recipe Collection: Healthy snacks and recipes with Nine different Whole Grains!! Navadhaniya Recipes!!
I would also do a similar post soon for choosing sidedish/gravy/curry recipe for Roti.

Idiyappam is a very famous traditional food item from Tamil Nadu and Kerala (South India). Especially it's very famous in our Chettinad.
Chettinad is a part of Southern Tamil Nadu with Karaikkudi as the capital. It is known for it's specialty cooking recipes.. you can find this name added to many dishes in restaurant menu cards, like Chettinad Chicken, Chettinad Kara Kozhambu, etc. Some of the famous Chettinad items are: Sweets like Paal Paniyaram, Athirasam, Kavuniarisi, Aadi Koozh (Kummayam), Idiyappam, Aappam, Kuzhi Paniyaram, Vella Paniyaram, Therakkal and lots more. My taste buds are tempted by just writing them here.
You should visit chettinad sometime to experience it's cuisine. The best way is to attend a Chettinad marriage function, you will be served food like a King!! The tradition of serving the guests with unlimited delicacies and absolute kindness. . They will serve you until you stop them on your own :) You can find all the varities mentioned served in a marriage feast! Get to experience it soon!!
Chettinad is also known for it's culture, heritage and architectural designs using Marbles and Burma Teak. We would be starting a Vintage page soon with designs inspired from India and include Chettinad designs for you to inspire.

Green and Healthy chutney for your dosas and idlis, quick and easy. This is my favorite chutney since childhood, compared to all other chutneys my mom makes. And this is the best way i could add mint and corriander into my diet.
Ingredients:
Small Onions - 10
Green chillies - 2 or 3
Corriander leaves - 1 cup
Mint leaves - 1 cup
Cocunut scrapped - 2 tbsp
Tamarind - a small pinch
Salt