Here are few tips for easy and smart cooking...

1. Whenever you want to peel pearl onions, soak them into water for some time and then peel. It will easier when they are wet. 

2. Before cutting big onions, remove the skin and put them in water and then cut, you wont get tears in your eyes. 

3. Always have corn flour in your kitchen. Whenever you do any fry, you can add this at the end. It will suck out all the oil and increase the crispiness. 

4. When you do bindi fry, add some curd instead of water and close with the lid. This vapour plus curd alone is enough for cooking bindi, at the same time it will seperate the pieces.

5. When you prepare the dough for poori, add some rava (Sooji) to it. This will increase the crispiness and also it will take less oil.

6. Whenever you fry pappads, friyums, vathal etc, fry more and store it in a air tight container. This will reduce the reheating of oil all the time. 

7. Whenever you get curry leaves, coriander leaves or pudhina,  sort them out and store in separate containers in fridge. This will keep them so fresh and we can use it whenever we want. 

8. Stick a paper in your kitchen door and write what are all things that have got over everyday in your storeroom. This one you can verify when you go out for shopping. you can strike out when it is refilled. 

9. When you grind idly batter, store some part of batter in a container before fermenting. This one you can use it with too sour batter or you can ferment it in the middle of the week. 

10. When you prepare bindi fry add some bread crumps at the end. This will increase the taste and remove the extra oil as well. 

11. When your idly sambar becomes more watery, add some idly batter to it. This will make it thick without affecting the taste. 

12. When you want to make instant idly upma, keep the idlies in freezer for half an hour and then crush the idlies. It will be crushed properly when you do like this. 

13. Whenever you cook thuar dhal for sambar, add 1 tsp of gingelly oil to it and cook. This will cook the dhal fine and there will be no need to smash. 

14. Cut a lime, squeeze half of it and put the lime inside the cooker bottom, while cooking. This will keep the bottom of the cooker white and clean for several years. 

15. When you prepare any gravy, and you find it too salty, you can recover the taste by adding a tomato. 

16. Add salt while sauting onions, this will make the onions to get cooked soon. 

17. When you clean yam, Colocasia etc, use turmeric and salt with water and then clean. This will decrease the itching. 

18. while cleaning the greens, put the greens in a deep bowl containing water. Take out the floating greens. Do this process 3 times, this will clean the greens better. The sand will settle down in the bottom and the clean greens will come up. 

19. Mix Mustard seeds, Urad dhal broken and jeera(cumin seeds) and store it in a container. This combination will always be used for seasoning. 

20. While preparing chappathi dough, add 2 tsp of gingelly oil and use hot water. This is helpful for making soft chappathis. 

21. Instead of adding kesari powder, you can heat sugar in 1 tsp oil. You can add this to the kesari, this is a natural coloring. 

22. Dry roast the fenugreek seeds, powder it and store it. You can add this powder at the end while preparing sambar, kulambu etc. This will increase the flavour and at the same time good for health.

23. While preparing pongal, add ghee while cooking it in pressure cooker. This will make the pongal so soft. 

24. While preparing urad vada, when the dough becomes watery, you can add sooji and grind it once. This will not affect the exact taste and you will get crispy taste.

25. While preparing Pakoras, use corn flour which will make the pakoras crispy. 

Ingredients:
Tamarind - lemon sized
Pearl Onions - 20
Garlic - 20 pods
Curry Leaves - 1 bunch
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Urad dhal - 1 tsp
Aesfoetida - 1 pinch

To grind:
Pepper corns - 1 tbsp
Thuar Dhal - 1 tbsp
Urad dhal - 1 tbsp
Red Chilly - 4

Method:
Dry roast all the ingredients mentioned in To Grind and grind it to a smooth powder.
In the kadai add 2 tbsp of gingelly oil, add mustard seeds, urad dhal, curry leaves and
saute it.
Add the onion and garlic and saute well.
Add the ground powder and saute it once.
Add the tamarind juice, salt and 1 cup of water.
Close with a lid and allow it cook, till it gets half quantity.
Serve hot with rice and pappads.

I am reposting it for entering the event Think Spice - Pepper conducted by Divya, originated by Sunita. 

Ingredients:
Yam - 1/2 kg
Sambar Powder - 1 tbsp
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Salt - To taste
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dhal - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 bunch

Method:
Remove the outer skin of the yam and cut into small cubes.
Wash it by adding turmeric and salt.
Then cook it microwave for 10 mins.
Keep the kadai and add 2 tbsp of oil and season the curry with mustard seeds, urad dhal and curry leaves.
Add the cubed yam and deep fry it in low flame.
This will go good with variety rice and sambar rice.

Ingredients:
Venthaya Keerai (Methi Leaves) - 1 kattu
Thuar Dhal - 1 cup
Pearl Onion - 10
Tomato - 1
Sambar Powder - 1 tbsp
Salt - To taste
Tamarind - lemon size
Turmeric - 1 tsp
For Seasoning:
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dhal - 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Aesfoetida - 1 pinch
Red chilly - 1
Curry Leaves - 1 bunch

Method:
Sort and wash the keerai nicely. Pressure cook the thuar dhal and keep it aside.
Mince the onion and tomato. Soak the tamarind in 1 cup of water and extract the juice.
Keep the kadai and season the sambar with the ingredients for seasoning in 1 tsp of oil.
Add the onion and tomato and saute it well. Add the keerai and saute once.
Add the cooked dhal water, turmeric powder, sambar powder and salt. Close with a lid and allow it to cook. It will take only less time for the keerai to get cooked.
Add the tamarind juice and cook it for 5 more mins.
Serve hot with white rice. This keerai will reduce the body internal heat and keep us cool.

It should be taken atleast once in a week for maintaining the health.

Especially for diabetic patients it should be an essential ingredient in the diet.

This can also be taken in the form of methi roti, methi adai, methi salad etc.

Shocked on hearing the name....its a very common dish among the rural areas. In those days food is medicine for all....only now we are taking medicines for all ailments. But people cooked in such a way that it will prevent you from diseases at the same time , it will cure your ailments. We forgot those precious recipes a few generations back, thats why we end up paying heavily to the doctor for simple cold and fever. Even now in my native places my granny will cook these kind of recipes. For example "Kalyana Murungai vadai", a roadside grown plant, used as a main ingredient for this. If you have severe cold, you can have this and for your surprise the next day you wont even have the traces of cold. The taste also will be divine. Likewise my granny will use castor oil alone, for frying "More Milagai, as it will reduce the "Kabam" created during the intake of chillies.I am remembering the golden childhood I had, where I had an oppurtunity to have all these forgotten precious recipes. After entering into this fast and furious city life i never had an opportunity to visit my native. Miss you granny......
Coming back to the recipe....
My dad made a visit to my native. My granny used to pack a lot of stuff like this while
returning, and this time for my home she has sent dried neem flower. She used to collect
this neem flower for a month, wash it and dry it in shade and store it.
This recipe will remove all the worms and bad things gathered in our stomach. Good for
diabetic people, will drastically reduce the sugar level.
Ingredients:
Neem Flower(dried) - 1 cup
Red Chilly - 14
Urad dhal - 1 tbsp
Tamaraind - Goose berry sized
Coconut - 2 tbsp
Salt - To taste


Method:
Roast the neem flower without any oil carefully till the color changes to light brown and keep it aside.
Then roast all the other ingredients with 1 tsp of oil.
Add all the items together in the mixer and grind it to a smooth paste.
Have it with hot white rice (you wont feel the bitter taste much)....hahahaha you cant have it when it gets cold as you will feel the bitter taste more that time.

I am sending this to Grammathu Kaimanam/Village Special Recipe Event hosted by Shama. 

None of the working women will like this vegetable. Its because of the hectic sorting and cleaning process. This time my mom was there at home, so she did everything ready for me, thats how i prepared it. Also it depends the kind of flower you chose. If you choose Karpooravalli poo, it will be too bitter, whatever you do will never change the taste. So be careful while choosing the right flower. But when you get a right flower, you will find the real taste of this veggie in various recipes like vazhaipoo vadai, vazhaipoo kootu, vazhaipoo porial etc.

Ingredients:
VazhaiPoo (Plaintain Flower) - 2
Onion (Big) - 2
Red Chilly - 2
Curry Leaves - 1 bunch
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Urad Dhal(Broken) - 1 tsp
Aesfoetida - 1 pinch
Turmeric - 1 tsp

To Grind:
Coconut - 5 tbsp
green Chilly - 3
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Method:
Grind all the ingredients mentioned to grind to a smooth paste.

Sort and clean the flower appropraitely. Mince it nicely into tiny pieces.

In the kadai, add 1 tsp of oil and season the curry with mustard, curry leaves urad dhal.

Add the onion and red chilly and saute it well.

Add the minced flower and saute it for a while.

Add 1 cup of water, salt and turmeric and saute.

Close with a lid and allow it to cook for 5min.

Once it is cooked well, add the ground paste and cook it for 5 more minutes.

Serve hot with sambar rice.

Ingredients:
Semiya (Vermicilli) - 300 gms
Carrot - 1/4 cup
Beans - 1/4 cup
Cauliflower - 1/4 cup
Onion (Big) - 2
Green chillies - 8
You can add any vegetable of your choice like green peas etc.

For Seasoning:
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dhal(Broken) - 1 tsp
Channa Dhal - 1 tbsp
Aesfoetida - 1 pinch
Red chillies - 2
Curry Leaves - few

Method:
Keep the kadai in the stove and roast the vermicilli with 1 tsp oil and keep it aside.
In the kadai heat 2 tbsp oil and add all the ingredients for seasoning and saute.
Then add the onions and chillies and saute till the onion becomes translucent.
Add the veggies and saute them till it gets half cooked.
Add 300ml of water, salt and close it with a lid.
Once the water starts boiling add vermicilli and saute well so that everything gets mixed well.
Again close with the lid and allow it to cook in low flame.
Garnish it with coriander leaves and serve hot.
Nice side dish would be pickle or chutney.
The same recipe can also be prepared with rava (Sooji), but little more oil should be used.
This recipe can be considered for diet consicious people. Instead of having the whole upma as such, this way you can take, which in turn will reduce your intake and also will reduce your calories.