Quick Tomato Chutney!

When you are in hurry, it always helps to have some handy dishes that you can whip in minutes. Yes that refers to our traditional Indian Dosa batter or Idli batter. I have always seen Amma storing this for ever. The moment it gets over, she has a fresh batch ready. It also helped that her kids were fond of dosas. Not that mine aren't ok. All 3 of them, even when asked at different periods of the day, would shout out Dosa! Its actually such a relief most of the times. But I do try to give them different things for breakfasts.

So when it comes to our south Indian breakfasts, they always go hand in hand with some dips. And believe me, I can never get tired of eating Coconut chutney or groundnut chutney. But hubby dear desists monotony. So I got to think of some quick tomato chutneys. Both Amma and Athamma have their version of tomato chutneys. So naturally when I am blending it together, I ought to come up with something in common right!

This quick Tomato Chutney takes just 5 mins! If you don't believe me, then try it yourself and enjoy. I believe this fits the label of Bachelor cooking as my bachelor colleagues have asked me for ideas and this was one of the few that I shared with them. They were amazed that such a lip smacking dish can be prepared in just 5 mins! You can double the quantities for more.

Remember the Jowar Appayes, well I served it with these quick tomato chutneys.

Makes a cup enough for two people, of course depends on how much you eat!

Ingredients Needed:

Tomatoes - 2 medium
Onion - 2 medium
Chili powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 tsp
Garlic - 3- 4 pods

Mustard, Urad dal and curry leaves for seasoning.



Method to prepare:

Heat a pan with 1 tsp oil, fry roughly chopped onions till they are pink, add garlic and sauté well. Remove.

Then add roughly chopped tomatoes for 2 minutes. Cool and grind to smooth paste along with chili powder, salt and onions.

Heat the pan with remaining oil, temper with mustard, urad and curry leaves. Add the ground chutney, sauté for 2 minutes.

Serve with Dosas or idles.

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Indian Cooking Challenge Logo

Finally here comes the logo to depict the essence of Indian Cooking Challenge. I was thinking of having an Indian woman cooking or atleast have a woman in the logo to convey the meaning of the event name. But this logo that's decided depicts it far better than anything else.

In passing I requested my friend to create one based on the theme. He took less than 5 minutes to come up with the concept. Its a mixture of Indian flag colours, with the Tilakam or Bindi as worn by the Indian women. The font used looks more like the Indian script.

And the background with square board with four corners shows the small stool used in older days for cooking.

Please update this logo in your blog to show that you are a member of the Indian Cooking Challenge.

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Dietary aspects in the management of diabetes

My sincere apologies to my readers who were waiting for the next edition on the Diabetes. My father was most interested to know how the articles are received. Let me continue with the rest without much ado!

Source: Written for Spice your Life, by Dr. Nagarathnam Jetti, MBBS,DPH,DIH,FIAOH.

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Before we go deep into the details of diet and how a diabetic should go about knowing and adapting the food, lets take a look at some of our famous sayings

In pre-diabetic stage and for those who are potential diabetic, diet plays an important role in postponing the occurrence of diabetes to a great extant.

The 'Diet’ as we refer is extremely complicated, it is as complicated as man himself.

Its an elaborate study on its own, so to understand and to benefit out of the knowledge gained, one needs involvement and commitment.

All of us have to eat to live but we come across some people who live to eat. Diabetics have to eat healthy food to live healthy.

There is a saying in Sanskrit “Lankanam Praramoushadham” (Fasting is the best medicine) this may be true for normal people, but this cannot be practiced by diabetics.

Another saying goes as “Koti Vidyalu Kooti Korake, which in English can be translated as "All the millions skills a man has, is all only a means to sustenance. And even if a diabetic has millions of skills, should always be cautious about the diet.

“Eka Bhojan Maha Yogi, Dwi bhojan Maha Bhogi, Thri Bhojan Maha Drohi, Chatur Bhojan Maha paapi” which means "A Man who takes food only once a day is a blessed man, taking a meal twice a day, is one who enjoys his food, thrice a day a fraud, and four times a day, is a sinner.

But in case of a diabetic, he/she has to divide the total consumption allowed per day, into 5 to 6 small portions through out the day.

The diabetic has to consult a dietitian and arrive at the balance diet suitable for him/her. While arriving at the balance diet, one has to consider the total calories permitted per day, which is arrived at, based on the height, weight and the occupation of the diabetic (expenditure of the calorie involved)

A person with normal work of height 5.5” and medium frame may generally require 1800 KCal per day.

These calories have to be obtained from the total food taken per day, consisting of carbohydrates 60 – 65%, proteins 20 – 25% and fats not more than 15%.

The food chosen should also have sufficient quantities of vitamins, minerals and fiber. Once the types of food and the quantity are chosen, this may be divided into five to six portions, to be consumed through the day.

While calculating the calories, one should keep in mind that carbohydrates and proteins give 4 kcal per gram and fats give 9 kcal per gram. While selecting the carbohydrates (which are generally met from cereals, pulses and roots), one has to select complex carbohydrates, so that they undergo full process of digestion and release the simple sugar (glucose) in a slow manner. And the most important note is to avoid foods containing ready made sugars.

Proteins are generally obtained from pulses, nuts, meat, fish and eggs. It’s always better to take lean meat and more of fish and in the egg its better to avoid the yellow.

For fats we can consume nuts, vegetable oils and the proportion has to be a good mixture of only unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and Mono unsaturated fatty acids and some saturated fats.

Dieting always puts off people, so its very important to select and make the food interesting but also meets the requirement.

So this can be best achieved by adding seasonal foods, fruits and vegetables in their diet. And other factors like regional and racial cultures and habits, family culture, social habits, personal tastes and personal restrictions like nature of job, always take precedence.


While selecting the foods, one has to keep in mind, the glycemic Index, load of carbohydrates and load of calories.

In the forthcoming articles, I will be discussing more on the Glycemic Index and give more elaborate diet plan.

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Earlier on Diabetes:

General Notes on Diabetes
Introduction to Diabetes ~ What Is Diabetes?
Why Early Diagnosis Is Important?
Diagnosing Diabetes ~ Different Types Of Diabetes

Diabetes Diet:

Appey or Paniyaram with Jowar Four
Healthly Snack with Chickpea Salad
Gooseberry Rice
Guava ~ the Wonder Fruit

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Pasta with Herbs and Veggies a treat for kids ~ Guest post from the Mallu Girl!

In my pursuit to find food that would be a perfect fit for kids, here comes a wonderful dish from Shaheen, the Mallu Girl!. She has blogged some detectable biryanis and some yummy gajjar halwas. But when I got to speaking to her, I came to know that she too faces the challenge of getting her kid eat without fussing! One thing led to another, and I ended up inviting her to share her experience and recipes that get eaten without much fuss. I am so glad that she accepted to do a guest post on her kid's favorite food. The picture looks so yum and I can't wait to try this for my kids. This is first of the many such great ideas, so keep watching this space.

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Getting food on the table is easy but getting the kids to eat the food on the table is not so easy. They are fickle in their taste or fixed in their tastes, depending on the nature of kids. And I find it a real challenge to write about their food and their likes and dislikes as it is a different story in each house.

Mostly, the dinners are the same for everyone in the house and I just have to make it less spicy to make it easy on the little tummies. Sometimes, it's a makeover or a kiddie version of what we are eating and sometimes it's just rice and the curry is diluted with yogurt. Sometimes, they eat something from my friend's house, but when I offer it at home, it is rejected. My friend and I compare notes on our kids eating habits every week and nick name their current favorites as "flavor of the week", which may get voted out next week!

There is something appealing about noodles and pasta in a little kid's imagination. I grew up with very traditional food but still was so attracted to noodles and macaroni that Maggi caught onto my palate very early on! Now when my kids demand that, I feel guilty that they are not eating Indian food conveniently forgetting how I used to love that stuff.

Well, here is one of the kid's favorites in my house when the rest of us are eating something like kappa and meen (tapioca/yuca with fish curry) which is declined on sight...buttery pasta.

Never fails and I can even get in some broccoli or peas or carrots in with the pasta. Use whole wheat or regular pasta. For this recipe, use a mix of butter and olive oil or just butter. For herbs, use any...cilantro, parsley, thyme, oregano...

It's really not much of a recipe.. just cook some pasta in a pot or better still, I pressure cook it for one whistle to soften it for the kids. Add long cooking veggies such as carrots, beans, peas with the pasta. Cook the soft veggies such as broccoli separately till slightly cooked and keep aside. Drain the pasta but do not rinse. Melt 1 tbsp butter and throw in half teaspoon of chopped fresh or dried herbs, half a clove of garlic and red pepper flakes(optional) and let it sauté on low heat for a minute. Add salt, pepper, toss the pasta and the veggies with this sauce. Adjust taste accordingly.

Credits @ Mallugirl

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If you have ideas for kids food, please share them here or if you are interested to do a post, drop me a mail @ spicingyourlife@gmail.com.

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A Blog for Indian Cooking Challenge

I have just created a private blog to record the activities done for Indian Cooking Challenge. I will be posting the recipe chosen for the month in the blog, members are encouraged to leave questions or suggestion in that blog. I have already sent out the invite to the members who have already confirmed. If I have missed sending out the invite, please leave your email id in this post.

Will be mailing the Rava Laddoo that is chosen as the trail recipe for the Month of June.

And sorry to say my search for the perfect logo is still on. Will hopefully have it ready before we post the Rava Laddoo.

Last date for posting Rava Laddoo is 30th June.

Participating members will have to mail me the following details

The blog post

Member name

Picture of the dish

Note: The rule that a member cannot miss more than two months applies from July.

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Indian Cooking Challenge Polling starts!

The list has finally reached 100. I didn't have time to check if we are referring to the same dish in different language, couple of them were there and I have removed. So kindly excuse my lack of time right now.

The polling list is displayed on the right side, please choose your dish. The one that gets the maximum votes will be taken for the first month.

Also I was thinking since we are still in the 18th of June, we may be able to do a test run of this event with a simpler dish. The dish that gets voted will of course be made for July. But if you guys are interested in doing a test run, we can run it within 2 weeks time.

If you guys are game, then Rava Laddoo will set well for a 2 week challenge! So please don't' choose that or Suji Laddoo in the list!..Never realized both are one and the same, until my dear friend Dhivi pointed out!

Meanwhile this polling will end by 21 st early morning IST

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Indian Cooking Challenge Rules and List to Choose

I am really overwhelmed with the response to the Indian Cooking Challenge event. To make it even more exciting and interesting, I have come with some rules. I hope these rules will help make it more interesting and something of a challenge to look forward. Suggestions and thoughts are most welcome!

The concept of Indian Cooking Challenge will work out like this.

Select a dish either sweet or savory.
Get a tried and tested recipe
Share it with members
Everybody cooks the dish and posts on their blog by the deadline.


Before getting on with the rules, lets talk about the list. For now I have about 35 different sweets and savories suggested by bloggers. Others are welcome to list out their choice too. Will be putting up a poll soon with the finalized list.


The Project Plan for Indian Cooking Challenge is as follows

Get the finalized list of items - Last Date is 17th June PST (EOD)
Polling on the choice of the month - Will end by 20th June PST
Announce the Choice of the dish - 22nd June
Get a foolproof recipe for the chosen dish - 24 - 25 June
Mail all the members the recipe - at the earliest by 27th or 28th.
First challenge will be for the month of July, which should be posted on the blogs by 28 - 29 July.

Other details:

Special cooking gadgets will be suggested along with the recipe.
Alternative ingredients will be suggested
We should be able to come up with an alternative for Vegan specific requirements. If its not possible, the member can be excused.
The recipe should mostly be given for 4 people or small servings.
Other references will be cited.


Indian Cooking Challenge Rules:

• Members cannot miss this event more than 2 times in a row.
• If somebody is not able to take part, it should be informed in prior.
• In their blog post, should explain in detail their experience while cooking the dish along with the verdict.
• Elaborate pictures if accompanying are most welcome.
• Should display the logo of Indian Cooking Challenge in their blog, along with a link back to the event announcement.
• Should mail me the details by 30th every month, so that I can post the round up by first week of next month.

I think that's about it, but will update once I get more. The logo is still not ready, will have it before we start.

Ok, the list for now

Update: wow its now 90 in total!!

7 cup sweet
Ada Pradhaman(Jaggery/Milk)
Adhirsam
Aethekka Appam (Banana Fritters)
Ari/Godhambu Halwa(Rice/Wheat Halwa)...Cereal
Ariselu / Athirasa,
Aval Vilayichathu
Aval(Red Rice Flakes)Nanchathu
Badhusha
Basundi
Besan Ladoo
Boondi Laddu
Boorelu.
Chakka Pradhaman
Chakka/Ethappazha Halwa(Jack Fruit/Banana Halwa)...Fruit
Cham Cham
Chandrakala
Chiroti
Choorma Ladoo
Coconut Ladoo
Dharwar Peda
Diamond Cuts
Ethakka(Raw Plaintain)Sarkarapuratti
Ethapazha(Banana) Pradhaman
Fried Ice-cream
Golden Jubilee
Gulab Jamun
Ilayappam
Jangiri
Jilebi
Kai Muruku
Kajjikaayalu
Kaju Katli
Kakinada Kaja.
Kala Jamun
Kalakand
Kalkandu Pongal
Kamarkat
Karappusa / Omapodi
Karha Parshad
Kasi Halwa
Kaza
Kesari Bath (with rice)
Kozhukattai
Lavang Latika
Malai Sandwich
Malpua
Manoharam
Milk Peda
Mishti Roi ( Sweet Yougurt )
Mohanthal
Murukku/ Chakralu
Mysore Pak
Narial Barfi
Nethram Appam
Neyyappam
Paal Peni
Palakayalu
Palakova
Parotta
Pathi Peni
Patishapta
Payesh - Kheer - Rice Pudding
Poornalu
Pootarekulu
Pori Urundai
Pudings
Pulli pitha/Dudh Puli (tiny coconut dumplings in sweetened milk)
Puran Poli
Rasagulla
Rasmalai
Rava Ladoo
Ribbon Pakoda
Rumaali Roti
Sandesh
Sohan Papdi
Soiyam
Suji Ladoo
Sunnundalu
Sweet Boli
Sweet seedai
Thenkuzhal
Thirattu Pal
Tirunelveli Halwa
Tokkudu Laddu
Unniyappam

Please update the comments section with your names that are missed in this post that you might want to try.

Looking forward to a great list in place that we all can enjoy!

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