Varalakshmi Vratham with Oats Halwa

On the occation of Varalakshmi Pooja today, I made oats halwa, sago payasam and many more...

Ingredients

1 cup oats
1/2 cup sugar
2 cup water
4-6 tsp Ghee
2-3 cardamoms powdered
Cashew nuts and risins fried in ghee
amonds to garnish
3 tbsp khoya/mawa (optional)

Preparation

In a non-stick pan heat 2-3 tsp ghee and fry oats on low heat till they just change colour.
To this add water and sugar. Stir continously. Also add cardamom powder and the remaining ghee. Stir until the mixture leaves sides of the pan. If you want to make the halwa more rich, add khoya to it. Remove from fire and add dryfruits. Serve warm.


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and my Neivedyam was something like this...

Palak Besan ki subzi

Ingredients

2 cups freshly chopped palak (spinach leaves)
3-4 tbsp Gram flour (Besan)
1 onion finely chopped
1/2 tsp garlic paste or 1 clove of garlic
2-4 dry red chillies
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
a dash of asafoetida
salt to taste
2-3 tbsp oil

Preparation

In a pan, dry roast the gram flour for few minutes till aroma raises and set aside.
In another pan, add oil, mustard seeds, cumin, asafoetida, dry chillies, garlic paste and onions to fry well till it cooks. To this add spinach leaves, turmeric and salt and cook for 3-5 minutes till spinach gets soft. To this add the gram flour and mix well. Let it cook for another 3-6 minutes till the flavors blend together. Serve hot with rotis.

A beautiful temple in the outskirts of Hyderabad


While performing a pooja at our home, almost all the coconuts were like this.


One beautiful morning outside my house in Ooty..

Stir fried-crispy mushroom

I wanted to make a crispy , crunchy mushroom at snack time, without deep frying it. The experiment turned out yum!

Ingredients

1 cup button mushrooms cut into two halves
2-3 tbsp gram flour
2 tbsp corn flour
1 capsicum
1 onion
1tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp chilli powder
salt to taste
3-4 tbsp oil
fresh chopped mint and coriander to garnish

Preparation

In a pan add 2 tbsp oil, to this add the mushrooms, corn flour and gram flour. Stir fry on high flame for few minutes till it becomes golden and crispy. Add salt and chilli powder, toss well and set aside. In another pan add 2 tbsp oil. To this add ginger-garlic paste, onions, capsicum, very little salt and stir fry for 2-3 minutes. Add this mixture to the crispy mushrooms and toss. Garnish with coriander and mint and serve hot. If you want it more spicy, you can add green chillies also. I wanted my kids to enjoy it so I made it less spicy, no colours, no deep fry and it is a perfect snack:)
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Thses are some of my travel clicks while in northern India:)