Pesarapappu payasam or paasiparuppu payasam

Ingredients

Yellow Moong dal- 1 cup

Jaggery - 1.5 cups

Milk - 1.5 cups

Cardamom powder- 1/2 tsp

Cashews - 8-10

Ghee - 2 tsp

Method

1. Fry cashews in ghee and keep aside.
2. Fry moong dal in the same kadai till light golden colour
3. Cool it slightly and add enough water and cook the dal till it is soft( not mushy) using either a pressure cooker or in the same kadai.
4. Mash the dal lightly and add powdered jaggery. Cook till jaggery melts.
5. Add milk and cook again for some more time.
6. Add fried cashews and serve hot.

 Notes 

           The recipe I followed had different measurements which didn't work well for me. These measurements were fine so feel free to adjust these according to your taste. 

Idli cutlet.

Today being Shivaratri, my husband decided to fast. I forgot about this and I went ahead and made steaming hot idlis for breakfast. So when he said he wasn't going to have breakfast imagine my horror!!! 

Now I had about 6 idlis leftover with me. I had to somehow make my kid eat it. Idlis for breakfast and snacks- NO WAY:( Now Google came to my rescue and I found this recipe, though a slightly different version. Made this straightaway and my son liked it a lot thinking that it was a regular cutlet.   As it was a festival day I avoided adding onions. 

Ingredients

Idlis - 3

Potato - 1 

Carrot - 1

Peas - a handful

Coriander leaves 

Pav baji masala - 2 tsp

Coriander powder- 1 tsp

Chilli powder- 1/2 tsp

Salt - as per requirement 

Oil- as per requirement 

Method 

1. Boil potatoes, carrot and peas till soft and keep aside to cool when done.
2. Mash idlis and the vegetables together.
3. Add all the powders and mix well.
4. Add coriander leaves and mix again.
5. Make small patties from this and keep aside.
6. Patties can either be deep fried or shallow fried as per our taste and convenience.
7. Serve with ketchup.

Notes

•  Can also add onions, ginger- garlic paste.

Rava idli

Ingredients
Rava - 1.5 cups
Curd -1.5 cups - 2 tsp
Carrot - 1
Beans - 2-3
Peas - 2 tbsp
Oil- 1 tbsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Cashew - 6-7( broken into small pieces)
Curry leaves - few
Green chillies - 1
Salt - as per requirement
Lemon - few drops
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Method

1. Chop carrot and beans into very fine pieces. 
2. Boil the vegetables along with peas, little salt and water in a pan till soft. Keep aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard. When it splutters, add curry leaves and then cashews.
4. When cashewnuts turn brown, add rava and fry till there is no raw smell.(colour of rava should not change)
5.  Keep 1 tsp of curd aside and take rest of the curd in a bowl. Add the boiled vegetables. Mix well.
6. Add the roasted rava and mix well again. Check if the batter is of dropping consistency. If not, add little water and mix well again.
7. Keep the idli cooker and the plates ready.
8. To the reserved curd add baking soda and mix well.
9. Add the baking soda mixture to the rava batter and beat well. The batter will turn frothy.
10. Keep aside for 5-10minutes.
11. Pour the batter in the idli plates.
12. Steam for 10 minutes or till done.

Bread halwa

Ingredients
Bread slices - 3
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1.5 cups
Ghee - 4 tbsp

Method

1. Cut bread slices into small pieces.
2. Fry the pieces in ghee till they turn crisp.
3. Add milk and cook for some time.
4. Add sugar and cook till ghee separates from the mixture.
5. Add dry fruits of your choice.

Garlic bread

Ingredients 

Bread slices - 4

Salted Butter - 25 g 

Garlic - 2 tsp

Italian seasoning - 2 tbsp

Chilli flakes - 2 tbsp

Method

1. Heat butter in a kadai. 
2. Add finely sliced garlic pieces to the melted butter. Switch off the stove.
3. Spread the melted butter on one side of the bread slice.
4. Sprinkle the seasoning and chilli flakes on it.
5. Preheat oven to 200 C for 10 minutes.
6. Bake the slices for 5 minutes or till brown.