Mint Rice & Mint Coconut Chutney

This dish has an excellent flavour and easy to prepare on any working day. Easy to pack lunch or you may prepare this as a light meal for supper.  I just love Mint flavored rice for its fresh taste and color and prepare it at least once a week at home.  This goes well with any kind of fresh salads, or best with Spicy Mint coconut chutney! Yummy…here is the picture to tempt you enough to try it in your kitchen.

 

Mint Flavoured Rice & Chutney

Total Preparation Time: 20 Minutes

Serves: 4 people

Ingredients:

3 cups / 500 gms. – Rice

6 cups water

½ bunch fresh Mint leaves

1 Big onion chopped

2 Green Chilies Slit into two

2 tsp. Ginger Garlic paste

1 Big lemon/lime

2 tbps  Refined oil

Coriander leaves for garnishing

Ingredients for Chutney:

1 cup grated coconut

3-4 green chilies

½ bunch mint leaves

4-5 strands of coriander leaves

½ inch or small ball of tamarind

½ inch ginger

Salt to taste

Method: 

Heat the cooker/deep pan and add oil.  Add chopped onions,  green chilies and sauté for few minutes.  Add cleaned and chopped mint leaves and sauté for a minute or two.  Add a pinch of turmeric powder and stir.  Add ginger garlic paste and sauté for a minute and add water immediately or it will burn the bottom.  Measure water in the same cup what you use for rice or the rice will get overcooked or undercooked. After adding water, wash the rice and add it to the cooker/pan. Add chopped coriander and juice of one lime into the cooker, add salt to taste and stir well.  Close the cooker lid and cook on medium flame for one whistle.  Take off the stove and wait till the steam gets cleared.  Open the cooker lid and mix the rice slightly till the mint flavor spreads evenly.  If you are using an open cooking pot, stir 1 or 2 times before the water dries up completely and reduce the flame, cook for couple of minutes. Turn of the stove and allow it to stand.

While you wait on the rice to get done, grind the chutney ingredients in a mixer/food processor into a coarse paste or according your desired consistency and season with Mastered seeds and curry leaves with a spoon of oil in a small kadai and tranfer them into the serving bowl and mix well.

Refreshing Mint Flavoured Rice and Spicy Chutney is ready to serve.  

I usually prepare fresh salad to go along with this rice, which is more healthy and easy and also saves me some time!!

Happy Cooking!! =)

Microwave Chocolate Cake in a Jiffy!!

I did not have any plans to bake that night but I had to make it because its been a tradition at our home since our marriage, to welcome each one’s birthday in the midnight over a hot cup of coffee and some good cake.  So made this cake in a jiffy for my boys for Midnight Birthday celebration, since the official cake was going to arrive only in the morning!!

Microwave Chocolate Cake in a Jiffy

Total Preparation Time: 20 Minutes

Serves: 5-6

Ingredients

• 2  cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½  cups sugar – (you can make it 2 cups if you like more sweetness)
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• I teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• ¾  cup butter softened

Directions:

Sieve the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder/soda and salt in a bowl and keep it aside. In a large bowl,  beat the eggs, sugar and butter till it blends well. Add the sieved dry ingredients slowly and fold it in. Grease the microwave-safe dish and pour the cake mix into it. Microwave on 60% power i.e., 480W for 10-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Once done, remove from Microwave and cool on a wire rack.

Since, it was close to midnight, I didn’t have any energy left to make hot chocolate fudge. Just melted some dark chocolate in the microwave for a minute and poured it over the cake.  Bling….Yummy Midnight Birthday Cake is ready. =)  This is one good recipe which came with the Microwave Oven purchase, which I often use.

Do try it!! It can be made in a jiffy even at midnightJ.

Points to Ponder:

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made,.......

                                                                                                                        Psalms 139:13-14

Spicy Macaroni Recipe / Indian Macaroni Recipe

Wow!! Officially this is my first recipe going on this blog. It is one of the weekend specials in our family!  Here it goes.....

Macaroni – Hot n Spicy

Preparation Time: 10-15 minutes

Serves:  3 moderate eaters

Ingredients:

300 gms/3 cups Macaroni

4 ½  cups water / 1 ½ measure for each cup of Macaroni

2 Onions chopped

2 Green chilies slit into 2

½ tsp Pepper Powder

½ tsp Garam Masala

1 Big Tomato

2 tbps Oil

Salt to taste

Cilantro / Coriander leaves for garnishing

Method:

Take a large pan.  Heat oil and add chopped onions and green chilies. Fry till onions become golden brown.  Add chopped Tomatoes and fry till it becomes soft.  You can add salt immediately after tomatoes so that it can become soft quickly.  Then add pepper powder and stir for few seconds.  Then add water and macaroni and cook for 2-3 minutes. If you want a soupy texture, add 2 tbps of any soup powder or corn startch dissolved in cold water at the time of adding water.   Simmer the stove and cook for 5 more minutes until the macaronis turn soft and the soup thickens a little.

Take off the stove, garnish with chopped coriander and serve Hot and spicy Macaroni.  You can also add two cubes of grated cheese for garnishing if you like cheesy flavour.  

While cooking this, I was wondering what to give my little one, because this dish was quite spicy to give it to a toddler.  Then I added some milk to the macaroni to tone down the spiciness.  My little one loved it and wanted more.  You can also add yogurt while eating which my hubby loves to do.   I am going to try cooking some healthy macaroni for the little one next time and will let you know how it turns out!!

Till then, Spread the good taste and stay healthy! 

Welcome to Easy Flavours!!

The reason behind creating this blog is to explore, experiment and express the ideas behind cooking up tasty and easy dishes.  Got involved in cooking only after my marriage. Till then I only got to assist the people where ever I lived. Now, being a fulltime working mom to a toddler and wife to a veggy allergic hubby, (no kidding, he doesn't eat most of the veggies and greens), daughter-in-law to ever dieting In-laws, you can imagine how much time I have to cook elaborate meals for each member of the family.  Most often, I keep wondering what to cook!! I try to cook up something easy and flavourful at the same time. As I browse for new and easy recipes, I have come across some fantastic food blogs with exceptionally easy and tasty recepies on the net. I am so inspired by all the ladies and their creativity in the kitchen!!  I love to try out new recipes and flavours and the funny part is, I can never cook one dish with the same taste again. For example, Chicken Biryani is one of our favourite dishes in our family.  Every time I cook it, it has turned out differently.  So, I need to persistently record what goes into a dish and how it turns out!!

So here I am, attempting to record whats cooking in my kitchen and sharing with you some easy flavours to please the tastebuds. Hope to post some delicious recipes of my Mom, who is an excellent cook. Believe me, anything she cooks turns out so yummy.  She is also an enthusiastic cook who tries out the recipes that she sees on TV shows, where as I just watch them. :P  Special thanks to my cousin who is also an excellent cook and inspired me to bake.  Learnt some baking skills while staying with her family. Haven't been baking a lot but would love to experiment more in baking.  I have acquired a set of 6 recipe books from Sanjeev Kapoor's collection, from the Main Course to the Desserts and also some tried and tested recipes from family and friends. Hope to share them with you as I try to experiment with them.

Now, I am super excited to post my first recipe accompanied by pictures on my Easy Flavours Index. Since I love playing with colours and new found interest in food photography, I am looking forward to get some good shots of the food I am going to post on this blog.  

 I know, there is a long long way to go but Thanks to all the family, friends and super creative food bloggers for all the motivation that I needed, to put my dead creative mind to work in starting this journey!!

I am also trying to add a section called Points to Ponder after each recipe, where I would like to quote inspirational verses and promises given in the Bible and other sources, just to motivate and encourage all the ladies to do their best !!

Comments and suggestions are most welcome!!  Hope to get feedbacks and some good kitchen tips from all the great cooks who visit my blog!! 

Motto: Spread the Good Taste and Stay Healthy!! = )

Points to Ponder:

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and obey his commands.

                                                            Dueteronomy 7:9 (NIV Bible)

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