Spicyandhra

Splendid weather with glorious sunshine, we are making the most of every minute of every day.
Great days ahead of us as our region’s temperature is soaring at 22° C.

Noel has taken his small pool out, i tried to convince him that its too early but he was too excited to play in the water and got into his swimming trunks and all ready to play with dad in the garden.
It was so nice to see both of them enjoying enjoying the warm weather by relaxing in a pool.

I wanted to make them a nice late breakfast as I can only make Indian breakfast at weekends as weekdays are always chaotic, running around doing school run and dashing off to work .

Today I made Idlis with coconut and roasted gram dal chutney and red capsicum chutney with different podis I got it from my sis who specially made them for noel.
These Podis are so good with idlis, dosas that u will just go crazy with those different flavours.
Traditionally speaking, we have curry powder podi, idli karam, dry coconut podi, roasted gram dal podi.
Each got its own unique taste, flavour and with a drizzle of ghee its just a delight in the mouth!!

Now to the recipes:
Idli:
3 cups rice( I used long grain rice)
1 cup urid dal
Soak for 4 to 5 hrs and n grind it and let it ferment overnight.
Next day, add salt and a pinch of baking soda for soft idlis.
Have it with coconut & roasted gram chutney and capsicum chutney.

Recipes for the chutneys:
Coconut and Roasted Gram Dal Chutney:
1 Cup coconut pieces
¼ Cup roasted gram dal
4 Green chillies
Fry these in little oil for couple of min and grind them with salt, tamarind and little water.
For Tempering:
Urad dal, chana dal, mustard seeds: 1 tsp each
Curry leaves few sprigs
2 Dry chillies
Add all these ingredients to 1 tsp of oil and when mustard seeds start spluttering add it to the chutney.

Red Capsicum Chutney:

It was so heavenly with have idlis with those podis and chutneys

Easter was glorious first time ever at this time of the year.
I don’t remember any easter with decent amount of sunshine .

Too many easter events going on and I was more busier then normal school days as i tend to involve in many events as my child likes to be out in the sun and enjoyyy!!
He is such a happy child that i sometimes learn things from him.I love to watch him talk to his dad, help in gardening, cleaning our cars.
He is never indoors when its bright and sunny.
He loves his walks, biking n strolling along the beach with us when its a holiday.
I try to find some local events going on at that time to make him enjoy.
This time we all went to animal rescue centre which was our family dayout for easter.
But the only drawback is i don’t like pets and he and rocky loves them.
Noel keeps on asking for a pet for his birthday, every birthday comes and goes but i am not giving in!
I know i am being mean to them but i know i just can’t stand pets.
So i planned this day out to slowly change my inhibitions i had till now .
May be i won’t be ready for one imme and atleast i am giving it a go and see where this will take me.
I know this is gonna be superb funday for noel at the animal centre.Fingers crossed!!

Coming to my recipe:
I made this healthy pasta salad for our dinner yesterday n it was delicious.
Noel was a bit picky with the size of vegetables, i should have cut them into small pieces but the taste was amazing.

Boil pasta in water and run it under cold water so that they don’t stick together and keep aside.

Take a tablespoon of oil and fry vegetables for a while or until they cooked.

Now add pasta to it and garnish with oregano and parmesan cheese.have it as hot or cold pasta salad.

As we had glorious sun thru out the weekend, i didn’t want to spend time in the kitchen cooking arduous dinners.

Tried this healthy pasta for our lunch and it was very tasty and both my kid and hubby loved it.