In Kerala this dish is often served as part of a section of  Onam or Vishu Sadhya. It’s very healthy and delicious. This is a good and tasty combination for rice.

Warm  flavor provide the keynote flavor to this wonderful mixed vegetable dish.

Ingredients:

1.Drum stick (Muringakka) – 100gm
Yam (chena) – 100gm
Ash gourd (Kumbalanga) – 100gm
Raw Banana(Paccha Kaya) – 100gm
String Beans(Payar) – 100gm
Carrot – 1
Green chili -1
Turmeric powder -1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves – 3 stalks

2.Coconut(grated) – 1 cup
Cumin Seeds (Jeera) – 1tsp
Yogurt (curd) or raw mango - 1/4 – 1/2 cup

4.Salt-as required

Method:

1) Cut all the vegetables into thin long slices. Cook this with a little amount of water, green chillies , turmeric, curry leaves with salt to taste.

2) Grind coconut(should not grind to a fine paste) and cumin seeds .To this, add cooked sour green mango or yogurt. Add the coconut paste into it. Gently mix it. Sprinkle some coconut oil on the top of the cooked vegetables with curry leaves.

This dish originate from Arab Countries. This is rather an unusual, but easy way of cooking rice and meat in layers with onions . Now this  very popular in Kozhikode(Calicut) Kerala, served with mint chutney and raita..

Preparation : 1  and half hour, plus one hour to marinate.

Ingredients:

1.Whole cut chicken pieces – 2 lb/1 kg

2.Marinate:

. Yogurt- 4 tbsp
. Green chillies- 5
.Ginger garlic paste- 2 tbsp
. Curry leaves- two stalks
. Chopped Coriander leaves- Half bunch
. Chopped Mint leaves- Half bunch
. Garam masala- 1 tsp
. Salt as required

4.Chicken masala powder-1 tbsp

5.Turmeric powder- half tsp

6.Cardamom-2

Cinnamon – 1 inch piece
Clove – 5

7.Fennel powder- 1 tsp

8.Onions- 5 big( for gravy)
One medium onion sliced(for rice)

9.Tomatoes- 1 big

10. Basmathi rice- 4 cups
Elachi- 3 ( for rice)
cinnamon-1 inch
cloves- 3

Bay leaves-3

11.Water – 7 1/2

12.Butter- Half cup/ 8tbsp

13.Cashew and raisins for garnishing- 10 num

14.Oil( Veg or olive oil )- 5 tbsp

15.Chopped ginger and garlic- 1 tbsp

Method

Preparation of rice:

1.Clean the rice. Drain the water from the rice. Set this aside.

2. Heat the pan, melt 8 tbsp of butter. Put elachi, cardmon and cinnamon stick .Shallow fry this for 5 minutes. Then add sliced one medium onion,fry until golden brown for  8 minutes. Pour hot water (7 1/2) cup and cook in a rice cooker. Add salt in the rice while cooking.

Preparation of chicken biriyani masala:

3.Cut chicken into small pieces. Clean the chicken and drain water for until dry. Take all the ingredients of the madinate and marinate in the chicken for 5 hours.

4.Fry raisins and cashew until brown.Keep this aside.

5. Meanwhile in another pan heat some oil . Add the sliced onions, bay leaves and fry for 10 minutes. Add chopped ginger and garlic, and chopped tomato to the pan.Fry again for few seconds in medium flame.To this add the chicken masala, with marinated chicken and mix gently in medium heat. Add  half cup of water. Cook this for 20 minutes.

6.Meanwhile serve this in a bowl , add cooked first layer of  rice  and in second layer add cooked chicken with gravy. In this method you have to make layers of both chicken and rice. Close this with a lid .Keep this in simmer for 5  minutes.

7.Then serve this in a glass bowl container. Garnish with raisins and cashew. Serve with mint chutney, raita, pappad and boiled egg.

This dish is very   popular in Karnataka,India.This is healthy and delicious with large amount of fibers, iron  and protein. This is good for  diabetic patients. It is one of the low calorie food recipe. The main ingredient of this dish is millet flour. Millet flour is one of the oldest foods known to humans and possibly the first  grain to be used for domestic needs. In old days people used to make bread with this flour.But still in some parts of India, people are using this as main dish for healthy reasons.In India people used to give this for kids by cooking and mixing this flour with milk or water with molasses.Here below written one is tasty and  healthy dish for every one.

Ingredients:

Water- 4 small cups
Ragi powder (Millet powder)- 3 small cups
Salt as required

Method:
 In a heavy based pan or wok over a  heat, boil water along with salt and 1 tbsp ragi powder . To that boiled water , add the remaining flour and leave it for 4 to5 minutes on very medium flame. Do not stir.When you are getting the good smell of ragi, stir with the strong wooden spoon. Keep stirring until the flour becomes smooth and soft without lumps (if you  feel difficulty to stir the contents in the vessel on the flame, switch off the flame and mix it properly). Again cook it for 4 to 5 minutes. It  should be similar to  chapathi dough consistency. Set this aside and let it cool down a little bit .Wet your hands, take some portion of ragi and shape them into a small ball.Frequently wet your fingers in cold water while rolling other one . Protein rich and nutritious ragi mudde is a good combination with sambar and any other gravy.

Welcome to this month’s art work!

Using glitter is an excellent formula in a marker art work.  This project is easier than it looks .This is  embellished with glitters and marker colors.

Tools and Materials:                                                                                                                                 

1. Markers

2. Glue

3. Color glitters

4. Scissors

5.  For Back ground - Off White , beige, light pista green or cream color sheet

6.Photo  frame                                                                                                                                                                

7.Pencil # 2

Measure : Design length  and width of the paper you want to draw this art work.          

Then trace the flower and vase. Trace some designs in the vase. Then color this with markers.Here I used red and pink shade.

You can use any 2 04 3 color combination. Example;  while using  Yellow, use orange and light red shade for more attraction.

Designing the vase is very important. Carefully choose what kind of color you like.Then choose the glitter color too. Silver color glitter is best for any kind of paintings.

After finishing the coloring , carefully use the glue through out the vase design. Sprinkle the the gliter on the top of glue.                                                                                                                                                                                      

  After 5 minutes gently shake off the excess glitter. Now carefully cut the art work .Take this gently and  place this in your back ground sheet and fix this in your frame. Thin faded golden frame embellished with glitters looks gorgeous for this work !

Just remember,  if your kids are creating this kind of art work , after the glue and glitter work, simply place your kids art work  in a light weight plastic frame to get a simplicity.If you want to submit your  or your kids  art work please submit it guest category in Vizmaya’s homepage.

This dish is pretty enough for any kind of occasions.Thinly sliced onions, spicy ginger  and juicy tomatoes adds flavor and color to this shrimp.An excellent combination for white rice with steamed vegetables.

Preparation time : 45

Cook : 20  minutes.

Ingredients:

Jumbo shrimp- 1 lb

Chopped onions- 1 big

Chopped ginger & garlic- 2 tbsp

Chopped tomatoes- 3 big

Chili powder- 1 tsp

Turmeric – half tsp

salt as required

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed vessel.Fry onion for five minutes in medium flame.

2. To that add chopped ginger and  garlic to it, fry this for few seconds. To this add the chopped tomatoes and shallow fry this for 1o minutes.

3. Add the chili powder, turmeric and coriander powder. Next add curry leaves, water and cook this for ten minutes.

4. Then add the cleaned  shrimp  to this and again cook  this for 15 minutes in a pressure cooker by adding  half  cup of water. Let the water evaporate from the gravy and mix it gently with the tomato onion mix.Garnish with curry leaves. Sprinkle some coconut oil on the top of the curry.

There is an excellent way of getting  nutrients, in this lightly spiced chickpeas dish. This  tasty sophisticated  healthy dish go extremely well with appam, puttu & idiyyappam.

Preparation : 30 minutes

Serves : 3

Ingredients:

Chickpeas soaked overnight- 1 cup

Chopped onions- half cup

Chopped ginger- 1 tsp

Turmeric- 1/4 tsp

Salt

Green chili- 2

Red chili powder- 1 tsp

Curry powder 1 tsp

Coriander powder-1 tsp

Curry leaves

Coconut milk- 1 cup

Water as required.

Method:

In a heavy bottomed vessel, add some oil in a pan. To that add some onions, ginger, green chili and shallow fry this until golden brown. Meanwhile  add the spices like chili powder, turmeric, curry powder and coriander powder and add the soaked chickpeas. Cook this in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes. To this add some coconut milk and stir to mix.

My Mom  and GrandMa used to make this  sweet when I was a kid. The smooth texture of this delicious steamed sweet  is very good for kids. It is a popular throughout Kerala. The blend taste of molasses and coconut is an ideal choice for a snack and incredibly easy to make.

Preparation: 20 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Idiyappam powder ( rice powder)- You may find this flour from Kerala store.

Salt as required

Boiled water as required to mix the dough with butter and salt

For filling :

Molasses- half cup

Cardamom- a pinch

Fresh grated coconut- 1 cup

Method:

Boil some water with  salt. Meanwhile in a bowl take some idiyappam powder( rice powder) and pour some boiled water carefully to the powder.  After sometimes mix this dough gently. Set this aside and let it cool down a little bit .Wet your hands with a little bit of oil,shape the dough into a small ball. Fill  some molasses, grated coconut  and cardamom powder inside the rice dough and seal the dough with your fingers.

In another steamer boil some water . In that steamer place the rice ball and steam this for 15 minutes. While serving cut this rice ball into half.

Ingredients:

Ripe tomato-1
Whole milk-150 ml
Cold water

Method:

Add the tomato cubes in a blender. Strain through a piece of muslin cloth and remove the pulp. Add the tomato juice to an equal quantity of milk. Store this in the refrigerator in a covered container. Apply this to the face and neck, using cotton pads once a day. Leave on face  for a 15 minutes. Clean your face with cold water.

Frequency of use: Weekly 3 days.

This is a popular dessert in north part of India, where it features cheese and sweet taste. Rich and mouthwatering this dessert is best  prepared in advance.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Butter stick unsalted-1 (8 Tbsp)

Condensed milk -14 fl.oz
Ricotta cheese -15 fl.oz

Method:

Heat butter in microwave .Add condensed milk and ricotta cheese to the butter and mix it gently. Cook it in microwave for 17 minutes. Pour this mixture on tray and let it cool for some time. Cut  into cube  pieces and decorate it with with almonds, pista or cashew nuts.