Tomato Chutney

This is a repost. Its one of my earlier posts when very few or sometimes nobody read my blog. So its about time this one sees the light of day and gets some acknowlegement. Also of late I have been involved in so many things and could not devote time to my dear blog which I love and visit my blogpals. To make things worse my laptop died on me leaving me helpless and many pictures are inaccessible on its hard disk. Hopefully can retreive them and can continue blogging regularly. If not I'm trying to be comfortable on my hubby's computer. Also thanks a ton for your love and support and for enquiring about my whereabouts... Till then enjoy this Tomato Chutney recipe.

Tomatoes are an integral part of indian Cuisine. They are high in Vitamin C and a good source of Vitamin A. There are researches being done that show that cooking Tomatoes for example, may enhance the nutrients, providing you with more health benefits than eating raw tomatoes. They say that more of the phytochemical lycopene is absorbed by the body from cooked tomatoes — such as canned tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce and spaghetti sauce — than from fresh. Also when lycopene is combined with a small amount of fat, absorption is even better, making olive oil and tomato sauce a perfect and healthy combination. So this proves that tomato chutney is good for you and its very easy and quick to make. You could serve it with parathas , as a side dish, with dosa or idli .

Ingredients:

• 1 Onion
• 5-6 big fresh tomatoes
• 1-2 green chillies
• 4 gloves of garlic
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin-coriander powder
• salt as required
• a pinch of Asofoetida (hing)
• Olive oil

Preparation. 1. Finely Chop all the vegetables. 2. Heat oil. Add Mustard seeds and asofoetida. Allow the mustard seeds to splutter. 3. Add Onions and fry till golden brown. 4. Add Garlic and ginger and fry for a minute. 5. Add the tomatoes , green chillies and all the dry spices (turmeric,red chilli,cumin-coriander powder,salt). 6. Cook on medium flame till the oil leaves the surface. 7. Ready to be served.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Tis the Season to eat berries.
Strawberries are not only so beautiful to look at but delicious at the same time. They are packed with nutrients. Around this time of the year you'll always find fresh succulent strawberries at your local grocery stores. They are very perishable . Strawberries should not be washed until right before eating or using in a recipe.

1) 1 cup fresh strawberries(diced)
2) 1 ripe banana
3) 1 cup plain yoghurt
4) 1 cup milk
5) 1 tbsp honey
6) 1/2 cup crushed ice

Preparation
1) Combine all the ingredients in a blender.
2) Blend until smooth
3) Serve immediately

Serves 2.

Ajwain Paratha

Paratha is an Indian flat-bread. It could be round, square or triangular. They could be plain or stuffed. Mostly stuffed parathas are served with pickle and yoghurt. Plain parathas could be served with vegetables , meat, chicken and paneer dishes. The sky is the limit when it comes to parathas. They are very versatile. One can be very creative when it comes to making stuffed parathas. You can have endless possibilities. But I guess by and large aloo(potato) parathas are the most popular.
Ajwain is also known as carom seeds or Bishop's weed and they are mainly used as they help in digestion.


Ingredients :

3 cups wheat flour

2 tsp ajwain

salt

1 tsp oil

1 cup of water (to knead the dough)

Preparation

1) Mix all the ingredients and knead the dough for the parathas. Now for someone who is trying to knead the dough for the 1st time. Slowly add the water to the mix and keep on kneading. Keep on adding water till the dough is not too sticky or not too hard. You would need a little more than 1 cup of water. But if you add too much water the dough would be too sticky to roll the parathas.

Now keep it aside for 15-20 minutes.

2) Now to roll the parathas. Divide the dough into golf size balls. Roll it into a small circle. Apply some oil to the circle. Now fold the circle into a semicircle. Fold it again and it would become a triangle shape. Apply some flour and roll over the triangle gently to the desired size.

3) Heat a tava( griddle) and roast the paratha on medium heat with ghee , oil or butter. Cook on both sides until they are golden brown.

4) Serve hot with yoghurt and pickle or as an accompaniment to a main course dish. This would make around 10 -12 parathas.