Methi Moong Dal ( Menthikura Pesarapappu)

Methi is a healthy leafy vegetable. There are many varities of dals , subzis with methi. Methi Moong Dal is one of them. It is a very easy dish which can be eaten with hot rice or roti.    

1 cup Yellow Dal / Moong Dal without skin

1 cup Fresh Methi Leaves / Fenugreek Leaves

3 1/2 cups of Water

2 Green Chillies

1 teaspoon Salt

2 teaspoons Oil

1 teaspoon Bengal Gram

1 teaspoon Black Gram

1 /2 teaspoon Cumin Seeds

1/2 teaspoon Mustard

10 Curry Leaves

1. Wash moong dal. Boil it with 2 cups of water. Slit green chillies. 

2. Wash and clean methi leaves under running water. There will be lot of dirt on them. So it clean it thoroughly and keep it aside. When moong is half cooked, add methi leaves. Add 1/2 cup of water, slit green chillies and salt. 

3. In a small pan,  add oil, mustard and Cumin seeds. When cumin seeds start to crackle, add bengal gram and black gram, saute till they turn light brown. Add curry leaves, saute for a min and then add this to the dal. Mash the dal a little and cook it till the almost all the water absorbed. 

Bread Pakora / Bread Bajji / Bread Fritters

Bread Pakora / Bread Bajji is our favorite breakfast and tea time snack.

I usually make it with stuffing. But this time I made plain bread pakora. It tasted too good. My kids liked this one more than stuffed pakora. 

It is winter here in SA. We always want to have some hot snack for tea time. I had few bread slices left so made this. It is easy to make and quite fast. I added rice flour to the besan flour to make a bit crisp. Try it.

6 Bread Slices

1 cup Chick Pea Flour / Besan Flour

1/2 cup Rice Flour

3/4 teaspoon Salt

1/2 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder

1 Big pinch of Baking Soda 

1 - 1 1/4 cup  Water

Oil for deep fry

1. Heat Oil for deep fry. Mix Chick pea flour, salt , red chillli powder and beking soda in a bowl. Slowly add water to this and make a thick batter. Batter should be thick enough so that all over the bread slices easily.

2. Cut the edges of the bread and then cut the bread diagonally into 2 halves. When the oil is hot enough, dip each slice in batter, coat bread all over the bread and then place that in hot oil. 

3. Fry the slices to golden brown on both the sides. Remove from oil and drain on a  absorbent paper.

4. Have it with Tomato ketchup or green chutney.

Suji Halwa / Sooji Halwa / Semolina Pudding (without Milk)

Suji Halwa / Sooji Halwa is a very popular sweet dish prepared all over India.

This cashews, Kismis and ghee rich pudding is a treat to your taste buds. It can be made with milk too but I often make it wihtout milk so that it can be stored for 2-3 days in refrigerator.

Rava Kesari is prepared for religious occasions and offered to god (prasad). It smells and tastes divine.

1 cup Suji / Semolina

3 cups of Water

1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cup Sugar

 3/4  cup + 1 tablespoon Ghee / Clarified Butter

10 Cashewnuts

10 Kismis

2 pinches Cardamom Powder

1. Roast Suji in a pan, saute every minute till it turns light brown. Transfer it onto a plate. Boil water until you see too many bubbles in it. 

2. Now it is time to add suji to water. You need to be really quick after adding suji to water. Keep Sugar and ghee ready. Slowly add roasted suji to water and mix it at the same time so that no lumps are formed. It comes close with in few seconds.

3. When it boils and comes close again, add 3/4 cup Ghee and mix it properly. When the ghee disappears (gets mixed) remove it from flame and keep it aside.

4. In a small pan, add a table spoon of ghee, fry cashews till light golden brown, add asafoetida and kismis. Kismis becomes round and big with in few seconds. Add this to halwa. and mix it again.

5. Mouth watering and tempting Suji Halwa. 

Sugar Biscuits

Sugar Cookies are delicious buttery classics that bring joy in the family.

Make it for any occasion and get your kids involved. Make these in any shape and enjoy them plain or decorate them.

3 cups All purpose Flour / Maida

2 1/4 cup Sugar

1 1/2 cup Butter / Ghee

1. Pre heat the oven at 180 degrees. Mix All Purpose Flour and 2 cups of Sugar. Then add Butter / Ghee and mix it again. It looks like bread crumbs. Leave it for 15 mins and then mix again. Shape the dough like a ball. 


2. Place a baking paper on the baking tray or grease the tray with a teaspoon of butter. Make lemon sized balls of dough and press it down to a thin circle. Place the tray in oven and bake it for 13-15 mins. Take the tray out sprinkle sugar on biscuits and bake again for 5 more mins. Don't let the colour change to brown. 

3. I followed very easy method. You can also make biscuits of your desired shapes. For that roll the dough thin using a rolling pin and cut the dough with the different shaped cutters and then bake.


4. You can make these for any occasion or you can gift these to your family and friends.