Easy recipes

It is difficult to get children to eat vegetables. Indian food is hot and spicy, and one has to get accustomed to it. Here is a recipe that my grandmother used, to get us to take vegetables. It is easy to make, and more importantly, it is not spicy.Those who like their food hot and spicy, will not like this dish, because it is bland. But it's ideal for children.

Parangikkai Paal Koottu

Ingredients:
(1) A slice of pumpkin
(2) three table spoons of kaaramani
(3)two green chillies
(4)milk one and a half cups
(5) sugar half a teaspoon
(6)urad dhal one teaspoon
(7) mustard seeds half a teaspoon
(8) clarified butter one teaspoon
(9) salt to taste
(10) curry leaves four
(11) corn flour one teaspoon

Method

Soak the kaaramani for twelve hours. Pressure cook until the kaaramani is soft.Remove the skin of the pumpkin slice. Cut the slice into pieces.Put the pieces in a cup of milk, and cook. The pieces shouldn't turn too mushy. Then add the cooked kaaramani to the milk, add the sugar, and half a cup of milk, and heat for a minute.Then mix the corn flour with a little water, and add the paste to the koottu. This helps to thicken the koottu. Then stir for a minute. Switch off the stove, and add salt. Then heat the clarified butter in a pan, and add the mustard seeds. When they begin to splutter, add the urad dhal, saute for a few seconds,then add two slit green chillies and then add the curry leaves. Add the seasonings to the koottu.The koottu can be taken with rice, dosai, chappathi and adai.
Nutritional value
Pumpkin has carotene. The child gets protein and fibre from the kaaramani, and the dish contains milk too.

N.B. If you can't get kaaramani,you can use shelled green peas instead. But the koottu tastes best with kaaramani.If you use fresh green peas, you mustn't soak them. Just pressure cook them without soaking them. Instead of pumpkin, you can use snake gourd.You can use cooking oil instead of clarified butter.