Popular Posts of 2018

A compilation of top five most popular recipes of 2018 on One Teaspoon Of Life.

Hi All, Happy New Year to you!!

I hope you had the best holidays ever. Did you spend quality time with family? Did you party hard until you dropped?

Whatever you did, I hope it was fun and it involved a lot of food.

As we start a brand new year, I looked back on the progress I made on the blog over 2018. It was one of my best years, here on One Teaspoon Of Life. My reader base grew, my reach and impressions on social media grew so much, plus, I started my own YouTube Channel. It was a fun filled year here in the kitchens of One Teaspoon Of Life.

In December, I decided to look back and identify what you guys loved. Here are the top 5 posts of 2018 from One Teaspoon Of Life:

5) How to make Tofu

This post showed how to make tofu when you don't have access to nigari. It contained a video with step by step process on making tofu with lime juice and DIY tofu press. It also contains links to make your own Soy Milk. 

4) Lauki Kofta

This recipe is a delicious take on an otherwise boring vegetable. The bottle gourd was mixed with chickpea flour and spices to make a kofta ball that was later simmered in a spicy tomato based masala. This recipe also included a video that gave you step by step instructions to make Lauki Kofta.

3) South Indian Chana Masala

How much this recipe was loved actually surprised me at the time. I've posted various recipes of chana masala or chhole on One Teaspoon Of Life, but this South Indian version was the most appreciated. Unlike the North Indian versions, here the chickpeas are simmered in a masala made with fresh coconut and spices. No video here, but some really good photos.

2) Iyengar Bakery Style Masala Bread Toast

You guys loved this simple local bakery style dish. I love it to. Masala Bread Toast is a simple dish in which spicy sauteed onions are topped on a piece of toasted bread. This post included a video that provided step by step instructions.

and the Number 1 recipe is....

1) Dahi Bread Chaat

I loved this one sooo much. It is such a simple and flavorful dish. Toasted bread topped with whisked yogurt and sweet and spicy chutneys, colorful pomegranate, chickpeas, onions, tomatoes and what not. It was my quick take on a more complicated Dahi Bhalla and it was loved my all of you. This recipe contained step by step photo instructions on how to assemble this plate of beauty.

Special mention...

10 Vegetarian Snacks | 6 Vegan Finger Foods

You guys loved this compilation too, a little more than few of the recipe posts. Hope you have a snackalicious 2019.

Read more ...

Mangalore Buns Recipe | Banana Buns Recipe [Video]

Mangalore Buns or Banana Buns are deep fried slightly sweet puris flavored with ripe bananas.
These Mangalore buns are vegan and are popularly enjoyed as breakfast or tea time snacks.

In a hurry? Jump to Video or Jump to Recipe

Hi Peeps, how are you doing? All set for the holiday season? Plans made with family?

Holidays with family are the best, aren't they? You create so many memories that you can feel nostalgic about in the future. Most of my favorite memories are of vacations with my family. This dish of Mangalore Buns features prominently in one of my childhood vacation memories.

Memories....

Early in the 90's Indian Railways started changing all meter gauge trains to broad gauge and that meant that trains were no longer accessible to the general public. Until then, we always traveled by train to my grandma's house, a tiny village near the city of Mangalore. Then started the days of bus travel. Since the village was so tiny, there was no direct bus from Goa. We had to alight at the closest point and wait for a connecting bus, all at 5am in the morning. While waking up that early was a torture, there was a silver or rather golden lining there. Before the first connecting bus arrived, a small restaurant would open its doors and start selling breakfast and these golden Mangalore Buns were always on the menu. My mom introduced us to these buns, and what an introduction it was. My love affair with these Mangalore Buns started back then!

Till today, when we are around Mangalore, we go in search of tiny restaurants that make fresh buns. If you want to know some of my favorite places, ask me in comments.

What is not to love? The buns are banana flavored and deep fried. They are more like Banana Puris. Mildly sweet with specks of cumin all over, they are just super delicious. Mangalore Buns are one of the only sweet breakfast that I enjoy, otherwise, I'm a savory breakfast girl. Mangalore Buns are commonly served with a simple coconut chutney and a piping hot sambar.

Traditionally, all purpose flour or maida is used to make the Mangalore Buns. But I usually use 50% all purpose flour and 50% wholewheat flour (atta). I've made it also with 100% wholewheat flour and it did not absolutely take away from the flavor, the texture however wasn't as spongy and the bins were slightly flat. I still did not mind that, they still tasted amazing. The dough can be rested overnight if the temperature is lower, else you can rest it in the fridge in warmer weather. These buns are a perfect way to use overripe bananas that you may have discarded otherwise. Ripe to overripe bananas work best in this recipe. Serve the buns with chutney or just plain.

Go ahead, make them this holiday season, and create your own special memories.

Fun fact - No matter whether it is just one bun or multiple, it is always called "buns". 

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Mangalore Buns Recipe | Banana Buns Recipe

Mangalore buns are banana flavored deep fried buns made from either all purpose or whole wheat flour. These vegan buns are a popular breakfast around the city of Mangalore.

Recipe Type:  Breakfast
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     2.5 Hours (includes dough resting time)
Cook time:     20 minutes
Total time:     3 Hours
Yield:                Makes 10-12

Ingredients:

2 ripe Bananas
0.25 cups Curd (Yoghurt)
3 cups All Purpose Flour or Wholewheat Flour
3 Tbsp Powdered Sugar
0.25 tsp Salt
A pinch of Baking Soda
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
Oil to fry

Method:

1. Mash the bananas with powdered sugar until smooth.
2. Add in the cumin seeds, whisked curd, baking soda and salt. Mix well.
3. Add in the flour and knead into a stiff dough.
4. Apply a little oil on the dough to prevent it from drying. Cover and rest for 2-4 hours. The dough can be rested overnight too. If the weather is warm, rest in the fridge.
5. Dust the kitchen counter with some dry flour.
6. Pull out a ball of dough and roll it out on the dusted counter.
7. Heat oil for deep frying.
8. Carefully drop in the rolled out buns and fry on medium high heat until one side browns.
9. Flip over and fry until the other side browns.
10. Remove from oil and place it onto a absorbent kitchen towel to cool.
11. Serve hot or at room temperature with chutney.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Banana Bread

Cucumber Pakoda

Menthe Pathrode

Read more ...

Avarekalu Saaru Recipe | How to make Hitikida Avarekaalu Sambar (Huli) [Video]

Avarekalu Saaru or Avarekaalu Huli is a winter special curry made in Bangalore, with seasonal hyacinth beans by double peeling them and cooking them in a coconut and spice based masala. This Avarekalu Sambar is vegan.

In a hurry? Jump to Video or Jump to Recipe

Avarekalu, is a delicious bean that is very local to the region around Bangalore-Mysore. It is very similar in profile with edamame beans, just much smaller in size. They flood the markets in Bangalore around this time of the year aka winter. They are either sold whole, with the beans still in their pods or sometimes, loose beans removed from the pods. There is even an entire fest dedicated to these beans at the Food Street near V.V. Puram in Bangalore. The entire food street gets obsessed with these avarekalu and you will see them being used so creatively in so many recipes. There are dosa, thalipettu, curries, sweets, and what not. If you are in Bangalore, this is one traditional fest you should not miss. 

I first ate avarekalu when I moved to Bangalore. The first time I ate in this avatar of Hitikida Avarekalu Saaru was when my friend got it for lunch at work. It was her grandma's specialty and it was super delicious. I managed to get the recipe from her and after several confusions about the quantities of the ingredients, I finally got it right to suit my palate. Since then, come winter, I make this curry multiple times.

When I first posted this recipe back in 2014, I never imagined it would be my most popular recipe on the blog. Come winter and the popularity of this Avarekaalu Saaru recipe starts rising. After 5 years, I decided it was time I reposted this recipe along with a video that gives you step by step instructions on how to make this Hitikida Avarekaalu Saaru.

(Clockwise from top left) Whole avarekai, Shelled avarekalu, peeled avarekalu, peeled and unpeeled avarekalu

Hitikida Avarekaalu Saaru is a South Indian vegan curry made from double peeled avarekaalu or hyacinth beans. You can make this curry with any fresh beans you have available - edamame, fava, double beans, toovar or even avarebele (lentils of hyacinth beans). Hitikida refers to the process of squeezing out the beans from their cover. The beans are double peeled to make the curry, first the beans are removed from the pods and next from their really thin cover. If you are bored to do the second step, you can cook it with the cover on, only they will take a tad longer to cook. While soaking the beans in water before squeezing them out is the traditional way to peel them, I found that freezing them overnight in a bag works wonders. It is much easier to squeeze them out when frozen and thawed. 

The curry is actually a sambar or huli which is made with freshly ground sambar masala. The masala is simple and contains coconut, aromatics, whole spices and ground spices. The curry can be enjoyed as a side with akki rotti or chapati when it is thicker in consistency and with rice when it is thinner in consistency. 

Enjoy!

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Avarekalu Saaru | Hitikida Avarekaalu Sambar

Avarekalu Saaru or Avarekaalu Huli is a winter special curry made in Bangalore, with seasonal hyacinth beans by double peeling them and cooking them in a coconut and spice based masala. This Avarekalu Sambar is vegan.

Recipe Type:  Curry
Cuisine:          South Indian 
Prep Time:     30 minutes
Cook time:     40 minutes
Yield:              2-4 Servings

Ingredients:

2 cups Avarekalu or Hyacinth Beans
0.75 cups grated Coconut
1 Tbsp Poppy seeds
1 small Onion
1 Tbsp chopped Garlic
A pinch Asafoetida
1 - 2 tsp Red chilli powder
1 tsp Turmeric powder
1.5 Tbsp Coriander seeds
1/2" piece Cinnamon
1-2 Cloves/
1 tsp Tamarind
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
8-10 Curry leaves
2 tsp Oil
Salt
Water

Method:

1. To double peel the avarekalu or hyacinth beans, remove the beans from their pods.
2. Soak the beans in water for 30-45 minutes or freeze them ovenight in a ziploc bag or a box.
3. Pat the beans dry on a kitchen towel.
4. Gently squeeze out the bean from its peel.
5. Boil the beans in mildly salted water until soft.
6. While the beans cook, make the sambar masala by grinding together coconut, onion, garlic, poppy seeds, coriander seeds, asafoetida or hing, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and tamarind along with a little water.
7. Once the beans are cooked, add the sambar masala along with 1-2 cups of water and allow it to reach a boil.
8. If you are planning to eat it with rice, add more water, and if with chapati or rotti, add less water.
9. Add salt as required. Remember the water was salted while cooking the beans.
10. Heat oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds.
11. Once they splutter, add the curry leaves.
12. Pour this tempering into the curry and remove from heat.
13. Serve hot with rice, rotti or chapati.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Avarekalu Uppit

Rasam

Kaalu Palya

Read more ...

Jeera Rice Recipe | How to make Jeera Rice [Video]

Jeera Rice or Cumin Rice is a simple flavorful rice main made by cooking Basmati rice with whole and ground cumin seeds. Jeera Rice is earthy, fragrant, healthy and delicious. It also fits into various diets - vegan, gluten-free and plant based with no or minimal alterations.

In a hurry? Jump to Video or Jump to Recipe

I always considered December as the slowest month of the year at work. With everyone in the world looking forward to the holidays and doing their last minute holiday shopping, baking boozy cakes, and making travel plans. This year hasn't turned out to be that - Slow. Come December, and I've been busier than usual at work, and it may have something to do with the holidays. May be everyone wants to complete what they started before going off to enjoy some quality time with family. And that means we are all working twice as hard and scrambling to get stuff done at office. All in all, extremely exhausting and stressful. Add in all those pending treats from friends and dinners with family. It's led to me barely cooking on weekdays.

And when I am stressed out or busy, all I look forward to is comfort food. And my idea of comfort food is simple Indian food, especially, Rice. I hate to say this, but I think I secretly like rice. I spent a better part of my life, telling people how much I hate rice and how much I love wheat. If it was a battle of the cereals, my teenage self would have fought front and center of the wheat army. But now a days, I realize that although I eat wheat more regularly than rice, I tend to lean towards rice when I need comfort. And with such chaos at work, I've never needed more comfort. And this Jeera Rice is that and more. It is flavorful comfort food that is easy on your body and time.

This Jeera Rice is not hot nor heavy on the spices, but it is definitely not flavor less. It has loads of that earthy cumin flavor. Plus it has the fragrance of Basmati Rice. You can get all chefy on this recipe and add all sorts of whole spices, but I kept it simple. Of all the spices out there, Cumin has to be my favorite. I add cumin to my tadka all the time.

You can make Jeera Rice two ways, one by tempering leftover rice with cumin seeds and the other by cooking raw rice along with cumin seeds. This recipe is the latter. I made this Jeera Rice in a pressure cooker, you can also make it in a pan or in a rice cooker. Jeera rice is Vegan, gluten free and healthy. It can also fit into a plant based diet, by totally eliminating the oil in the recipe.

Jeera Rice is almost always accompanied by a flavorful Dal. There are several recipes of Dal on One Teaspoon Of Life that will go wonderfully with this Jeera Rice.

• Restaurant style Dal Fry
• Pancharangi Dal or Panchmel Dal
• Palak Dal
• Heerekai Tove
• Dal Makhani

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Jeera Rice Recipe

Jeera Rice is a vegan and gluten free rice main dish made by cooking basmati rice along with cumin seeds.

Recipe Type:  Main
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     30 minutes
Cook time:     20 minutes
Total time:     50 minutes
Yield:                Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked Basmati Rice
1.5 cups Water
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1 tsp Cumin Powder
1 Green Chilli, chopped
3 tsp Oil
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash the basmati rice 5-6 times until the water runs clean. Drain and keep aside for 30 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add cumin seeds.
3. Once they brown slightly, add in the chopped green chilli.
4. Add the basmati rice and mix until the oil coats the rice grains.
5. Add in the water and cumin powder.
6. Add salt to taste.
7. Cover and pressure cook for 2-3 whistles or 5-8 minutes after the pressure builds up.
8. Serve hot with dal.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Corn Spinach Pulao

Ghee Rice

Mint Rice

Read more ...

Broccoli and Zucchini Fritters Recipe | Broccoli Cutlets Recipe [Video]

Broccoli Zucchini Fritters or Tikkis are cutlets made from finely chopped broccoli, grated zucchini, carrots and peas along with some cheese and spices. The fritters are shallow fried in this video. Broccoli Zucchini Fritters are a fun way to eat the healthy vegetables. This recipe is kid-friendly and the perfect dish to sneak in vegetables to your children.

In a hurry? Jump to Video or Jump to Recipe

It's a Fabulous Friday and I'm back with a snack recipe. I realized you can never have enough of those.

These fritters are so DELICIOUS, you won't even know they are made from such healthy ingredients. It has so many vegetables, it is almost a salad! So these fritters are made with one of my favorite veggies - Broccoli. I've been in love with the vegetable since I first tasted it. The taste, the texture, the color, I cannot get enough of it and I find it hard to accept that there are folks out there hating this awesome vegetable. 

You have to try these Broccoli and Zucchini Fritters if you are a Broccoli lover like me, and you have to especially try it if you hate Broccoli. This recipe will CONVERT you! Trust me when I say, you won't even realize that you ate it with all the delicious medley of flavors in there. 

So these cutlets or fritters are not just about the Broccoli, as I mentioned, it is practically a salad, just shaped beautifully and shallow fried, but a salad nevertheless. It has the added goodness of carrots, now all of us love carrots, right? Now tell me you definitely love Zucchini. I totally do. Carrots, eh, not so much, but Zucchini, I can do so much with. Zucchinis are so versatile, use them in Zoodles, use them as a Lasagna sheet, or you can use them in a frittata like I did. Then I just added in some frozen green peas, because I just wasn't satisfied with all the other healthy ingredients... ok, jokes apart, the peas add a slight sweetness and texture that I really really like.

Some points...

• To make these fritters, the veggies are microwaved before mixing in the other ingredients. This helps in reducing the batter getting moist at a later time. You can also lightly saute the veggies or just steam them slightly before using. 
• Soaked and crumbled bread is added to help bind the veggies together. You can use bread crumbs instead. 
• I used Pizza Cheese, which is a mix of mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Use any cheese you have. I recommend something that melts easily.
• Deep fry or bake if you desire, I found shallow frying gives it the texture I desired without using too much of oil.

These cutlets are kid friendly and a perfect way to sneak in vegetables to your children.

These Broccoli and Zucchini Fritters are a perfect appetizer to serve for dinners or as a fancy tea time snack. 

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Broccoli and Zucchini Fritters Recipe

Broccoli and Zucchini Fritters are shallow fried vegetarian cutlets made from broccoli, zucchini, carrots and green peas.

Recipe Type:  Snacks
Cuisine:            International
Prep Time:     15 minutes
Cook time:     20 minutes
Total time:     35 minutes
Yield:                Makes 8 cutlets

Ingredients:

1 cup finely chopped Broccoli
0.25 cup Green Peas
1 Carrot, grated
1 small Zucchini, grated
2 slices Bread
0.5 cup Pizza cheese, grated
2 Tbsp Corn flour (corn starch)
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Oil to fry

Method:

1. Add chopped broccoli and green peas to a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 2 minutes.
2. Squeeze out the water from the zucchini and add to the bowl along with grated carrot.
3. Microwave on high for another 2 minutes.
4. Add grated cheese, cornflour, salt and pepper to the bowl and mix well.
5. Soak the bread in water and squeeze out the water. Crumble the bread and add to the bowl. Mix well.
6. Divide the batter and shape into patties.
7. Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry the patties in it.
8. Flip when the first side browns.
9. Remove from oil once both sides browns.
10. Serve hot with ketchup.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Curried Rice and Zucchini Fritters

Dahi Kebab

Millet Cutlets

Read more ...