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Verkadalai Sundal/Peanut snack

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Verkadalai sundal (peanut sundal) is a guilt-free protein rich snack made with peanuts and loaded with homemade spice powder. It is quick to prepare and peanuts are rich in protein. This sundal is made by boiling peanuts and then tempering with few spices. It’s a healthy snack. It is one of the sundal varieties made during the 9 days of the Navrathri festival. “Nava” means 9 and “rathri” means “Nights”. It is celebrated by making steps with dolls called “Gollu” and guests are invited to come and sing devotional songs in their house. They offer snacks & sweets as Prasad.  I have grown up watching this festival at my place. My mom used to be so busy these 9 days and she used to drag me wherever she goes, she makes me sing in the houses I visit, they give me in return some snacks and gifts :D. My mom used to dress me up each day differently as if I am participating for a fancy dress competition and she will send me with my sister to neighborhood places to invite them for our gollu 😀 It’s so funny and nice to relish all those memories.


Roasted salted peanuts will not work for this recipe. Otherwise you can use any kind of peanuts readily available in market. Peanuts are very healthy, simple and delicious. Most houses have peanuts at their house. So, you don’t have to go shopping for this.  Raw mango gives an extra kick to sundal 🙂 I like to add it but I could not find it nearby, add grated ones if you get it.

Sundals are simple to make and a healthy snack. So even if you don’t keep gollu 😉 like me, do make sundal and eat.

Today being the second day of navrathri, here goes my recipe:



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VERKADALAI SUNDAL/ PEANUT SNACK
Author: 
Recipe type: Side dish
Cuisine: Indian
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
Ingredients
  • Peanut – 1 cup
  • Salt – as needed
  • Asafoetida – a pinch
  • Grated coconut – 3 tbsp
    To roast and grind:
  • Oil – 1 tsp
  • Channa dal/ kadalai paruppu – 1 tbsp
  • Coriander seeds – 1 tsp
  • Pepper – 1 tsp
  • Red Chilli – 2
  • Jeera/cumin seeds – 1 tsp
  • Asafoetida – a pinch
    To temper:
  • Oil – 2 tsp
  • Mustard – 1 tsp
  • Urad dal – 2 tsp
  • Curry Leaves – few
Instructions
  1. Soak peanuts for an hour (optional). Pressure cook peanuts with water just enough to immerse the channa completely. Add salt and asafoetida. Pressure cook for 4 or 5 whistles in a medium flame. Switch it off, drain and keep it aside. Keep it moist.
  2. Heat a kadai and roast the ingredients under “to roast & grind” in the same order as mentioned. Roast until the channa dal turns golden in colour. Blend it when it cools.
  3. Heat the same kadai and temper with the items under “to temper” table. Add the drained cooked peanuts.Stir well.
  4. Add the powdered masala and coconut. Mix well again for a minute in the medium flame.
Notes
1. When you grind them, add jeera and asafetida finally as it will burn.
2. If you use fresh peanuts, no need to soak. Just pressure cook with salt.
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Orange Coconut Smoothie

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This is a great source of vitamin C, and help in increasing your immune system. And top of it, if you have cold & flu, it helps to reduce it. It has Orange, Coconut milk, ginger, vanilla and honey. As a whole it has amazing benefits. Ginger has been a treatment for cold for thousand of years. It’s a five-ingredient smoothie, which does wonders to us. If we have one smoothie similar to this for a day once, it’s really good for healththumbsup.

I am not really good at saying all this health related stuffs. But out of experience, I recommend oranges always. And I personally know that oranges are good for skin, hair and health. I have read that it’s good for skin and prevents aging faster nice.

I used the leftover oranges as I used the orange peel for Orangettes. I kept them in refrigerator covered for thirty minutes so that I can avoid ice much. And I used coconut milk, which was kept in refrigerator too.

You can even use the store bought orange juice and try this recipe instead of fresh oranges. It taste equally good. But fresh oranges/clementines has more nutritional value as we all know. If you wanted to get over the bottle of orange juice somehow as the expiry date is near by, then this is the best handy recipe.

I did this recipe with honey. If you don’t want honey on this recipe, use sugar.

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ORANGE COCONUT SMOOTHIE
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2 large glass
 
Ingredients
  • Oranges – 4 peeled and cut roughly.
  • Ginger – 2 tsp crushed.
  • Coconut milk – 1 ½ cups
  • Shredded coconut – for garnishing
  • Honey – 2 tbsp (or sugar – 2tbsp)
  • Ice cubes –3-4
Instructions
  1. Blend the oranges, coconut milk, honey/sugar, ice cubes and ginger zest together in a blender for 2 minutes.
  2. Filter them if you don’t like the pulpy flavor.
  3. Garnish with shredded coconut.
Notes
1. I did this recipe with honey. If you don’t want honey on this recipe, use sugar.
2. You can even use the store bought orange juice and try this recipe instead of fresh oranges. I have tried it.
3. Filter them after blending if you don’t like the pulpy flavor.
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Balsamic Peach Spinach Salad

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This is my favourite dish if I wanted it to eat healthy. To be frank with you, I am not a salad person at all. But once in a while, I would have that craving for salads. I guess I should stress on the “WHILE” part 😀 strongly. And when I have them, I want them with all the taste and health factors on the plate.

I like the part that salads are simple enough to put together for a light weeknight meal, and really fancy enough to serve as a starter at your night or summer party’s.

Balsamic peach spinach salad nuts toast

It’s a refreshing summer salad. The dressing used is jam packed with all sorts of ingredients that just come alive when you eat it. The combo with sweetness of peach and balsamic glaze, crunchy walnuts, mustard flavor, freshness of spinach, and that crumbled cheese is really worth it. When you look at the combo, its kind of weird. But try it 🙂 you would surely know what I am trying to say, Fresh, crunchy, salty and sweet! That explains it all.

You can also grill the peach and use. It gives an excellent smoky taste. Do it with some olive oil, balsamic, pinch of salt and use it instead of plain peach. But if you want grill your peaches, be very careful. They have a tendency to pick up the flavors of what you previously grilled on that grill. You may want to clean your grill well before grilling them.

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Balsamic Peach Spinach Salad
Author: 
Recipe type: Dinner
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2
 
Ingredients
  • Peaches - 2 firm yet ripe.
  • 4cups baby spinach
  • ¼ cup crushed walnuts and pecans together
  • ½-cup blue cheese crumbles or feta cheese
  • ½-cup balsamic vinegar

    Dressing:
  • Dijon Mustard – 2tbsp
  • Honey -1/2tsp
  • Olive oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Lemon
Instructions
  1. Pour the balsamic vinegar into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Heat it in simmer for 15-20 minutes until the balsamic vinegar is syrupy and reduced very well.
  2. Meanwhile, Slice the peaches into 5 or 6 segments per peach.
  3. In a small bowl, stir together a drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, salt and pepper. Whisk together all the dressing components and taste. If you like it more mustard flavor, add more mustard, if it’s too tart, add a bit more honey. Chill until ready to use.
  4. Dry roast walnuts and pecans. Keep it aside.
  5. Toss spinach with a little of olive oil. Place it in the salad bowls. Top the layer the spinach with salad dressing, balsamic vinegar, peach, nuts and crumbled cheese. Top it with balsamic if needed.
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