Nutrious Recipe Book

ICDS
Nutritious
Food
Recipes
The Department of Integrated Child Development Services

Tamil Nadu
Content Page
1. Millet Recipes 1
2. Fireless Cooking Recipes 13
3. Nutritious Sweet Recipes 25
4. Nutritious Recipes for Children 37
5. Nutritious Recipes for Pregnant Women 49
6. Herbal Recipes 65
Millet
Recipes
Ragi Adai
4
What we need:
Ragi – ½ cup
Fried Gram – 100 gms
Murungai spinach – 1 bundle
Grated Coconut – 1 Cup
Green Chillies – 5
Onion – 150 gms
Grated Carrot – 150 gms
How we make it:

Grind the fried gram into powder. Wash and clean the spinach. Add them to ragi flour and add grated
carrot, green chillies, small quantity of chopped onion and salt.
Add water and mix it to batter. Heat dosa pan on the stove, spread a ladle full of batter. Once it is
cooked, flip it, cook again and transfer to plate.
Saute pudina, coriander, coconut, chillies, garlic and some tamarind to make chutney. The chutney
pairs well with this dosa. Even children who don’t prefer spinach, would love to eat this adai.
Kambu Kozhukattai
What we need:
Kambu -
1kg
Groundnut -
100 gms
Roasted Gram - 50 gms
Jaggery - ¾ kg
Boiled Rice - ½ kg
Coconut - 1
Cardamom powder - 25 gms
How we make it:

Washkambu, groundnut, roasted grams, boiled rice well and roast them in a tava, until golden
brown in colour. Grind the mixture to a flour.
Chop the coconut into small pieces. Add chopped coconut and cardamom powder to the flour. Melt
jaggery in boiling water and filter it. Add this mix with the flour and prepare a dough.
Take the dough thus prepared, and use your palm to make small round shaped dumplings
(kozhukattais). Cook them in idly maker and then serve hot.
This nutritious food can be given even to 6 months old babies and to pregnant women. Lactating
mothers can eat these dumplings for their well-being.
2
Corn and Gram Flour Roti
What we need:
Corn flour - 1 Cup

Gram flour - 1 Cup
Onion - 100 gms
Drumstick leaves - Handful
Oil - ½ Tablespoon
Water - 150 ml
Salt - as required.
How we make it:

Roast corn flour and gram flour separately in a pan. Then mix them together.
Add washed drumstick leaves, chopped onion, salt and water to the mix. Knead the mix to chapati/
roti consistency. Split the dough to small balls, roll them with a rolling pin to small rotis.
In a hot tava add little oil, spread the roti. Let it cook, flip, cook again and serve hot.
Saamai Tamarind Pongal

What we need:
Saamai - 1 cup
Raw Groundnut - ¼ cup
Shallots - 10 nos.
Red chilli - 2 nos.
Mustard - 1 teaspoon
Sambar powder - 2 teaspoons
Jaggery - a small piece
Sesame oil - one scoop of gingelly oil
Tamarind - Amla size
Salt - as required
How we make it:

Soak the tamarind, take out two cups of tamarind extract and keep it ready.
Pour gingelly oil in a hot pressure pan and add sesame, curry leaves, fenugreek powder, dry chillies
and chopped shallots.
Mix and stir them all together. To this add the tamarind extract, millet (saamai), jaggery, sambar
powder, groundnut, Salt and a cup of water. Close it with lid and let it steam till one whistle. Serve
while it is hot with chopped onions.
3
Millet Kozhukattai
What we need:
Kuthiraivali - 1cup
Green Chilli - 3 nos.
Asafoetida powder - ¼ teaspoon
Cumin powder - 2 teaspoons
Grated Coconut - 2 teaspoons
Curry leaves - a few
Salt - as required.
How we make it:

Grind kuthiraivali rice to flour. Add mustard, black gram, cumin, curry leaves to hot oil in a pan
and saute them.
Add chopped green chillies, required salt, grated coconut and a cup of water. Once it is cooked,
add kuthiraivali flour and mix well till you get a pliable dough.
Start shaping this kozhukkattai mix into neat dough balls. Place them in a vessel and steam for 7
minutes, take them out and serve with coconut chutney.
Kambu Palak Roti

What we need:
Kambu flour - 1 cup
Palak Spinach - 70 gms
Salt - as required
Ghee - 20 ml
Water - 20 ml
How we make it:

Chop palak spinach and keep aside. Add 10 ml of oil to pearl millet (kambu) flour, along with a
pinch of salt, chopped spinach and knead it to chapatti/roti dough consistency.
Shape the dough into small balls, roll them into rotis with a rolling pin. Place the roti/chapatti on
hot tava, let it cook. Flip, cook again adding little oil. Serve hot.
4
Varagu tomato rice
What we need:
Varagu rice - ½ kg
Tomato - 200 gms
Onion - 100 gms
Chilli powder - as required
Coriander powder - 3 teaspoons
Turmeric powder - a small pinch
Tamarind - 7.5 gms
Salt, ginger, garlic - as requried.
Oil - as required
Coriander leaves - one bunch,
Green chilli - 10 gms
Bar Cinnamon - 2 nos.
How to make it:

Clean varagu and keep aside. In a hot pan add little oil and saute the mustard, urad dal, ginger garlic
paste, chopped onion and tomato in it. To this add turmeric powder, coriander powder, chilli
powder and tamarind. Add required water and salt to the mix and allow it to boil.
Add varagu rice and let it cook. Serve hot.
Millet (siruthaniya) puttu

What we need:
Corn - 100 gms

White Corn - 100 gms
Millet - 100 gms
Jaggery - 50 gms
Coconut - as req
Ghee - 100 ml
How we make it:

Grind all the grains and mix them thoroughly. Steam the mix until it is cooked.
Add grated coconut, jaggery and serve. Children would love the taste.
5
Millet Veg Biryani
What we need:
Millet - 200 gms
Green Peas, Carrot, Beans - ¼ kg in total
Ginger - a small piece
Bay leaf - few pieces
Cinnamon - a small piece
Ghee - 50 ml
Tomato - ¼ kg
Garlic, Onion - ¼ kg
Green Chilli - 5nos
Coriander, Pudina - as per need
Curry leaves - few
Lemon - 1
Fennel seeds and Cumin - a little
How we make it:

Grind ginger, cinnamon, onion, and garlic into a paste and keep aside. Heat ghee in a cooker. Saute
cinnamon, bay leaf, fennel seeds, cumin, curry leaves, chopped pudina, coriander leaves.
Add the ground ginger garlic onion paste to the mix in cooker. Once the raw smell leaves, add
chopped tomato, onion, green chillies, vegetables, peas and saute well.
Add kuthiraivali rice and enough water and let it steam. Add little ghee and the tasty kuthiraivali
veg biryani is ready to serve.
Kambu Paniyaram
What we need:
Kambu - 200 gms

Raw Rice - 200 gms
Black gram - 50 gms
Jaggery - 200 gms
Cardamom -4
Cashew nut - 20 gms
Fenugreek seeds - as per need
Oil - as required.
How we make it:
Soak kambu, raw rice, black gram and fenugreek seeds in water for 12 hours and wash it
thoroughly. Drain excess water and grind in mixie to a paste.
Add required salt to it. Boil water and add jaggery to it. Let it boil till jaggery melts. Filter it, pour it
into the dough and mix thoroughly.
Add cardamom, cashew nuts while stirring the mix. In a hot paniyaram pan, apply some oil and
pour batter into the paniyaram moulds. Cover and let it steam, flip the paniyarams, cook until done
6
and serve hot.
Kuthiraivali Rice Biryani
What we need :
Kuthiraivali Rice - 500gms
Green Peas - 50 gms
Carrot, Beans - 50 gms
Ghee - 50 gms
Oil - 50 ml
Cashew nut - 20 gms
Meal maker - 50 gms Ginger,
Garlic paste - 3 teaspoons
Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon
Curry masala powder – 2 t easpoons
Tomato - 2
Green chilli - 4
Dry chilli - 2
Cardamon - 4
Pudina - as required.
Salt - as required
How we make it:
Take a broad vessel and pour some oil or ghee. Saute cardamom and cashew nuts.
Add ginger, garlic paste to this and sauté it well till the raw smell leaves.
Add all other chopped vegetables one after another and saute well. Add curry masala powder,
turmeric powder and ½ litre of water. Let it boil.
Add kuthiraivali rice to the boiling water and steam it well. Tasty kuthiraivali biryani is ready.
Corn Paniyaram
What we need:
Corn - 100 gms
Black gram - 25 gms
Fenugreek seeds - 5 gms
How we make it:

Soak all the above mentioned ingredients for four hours and grind it to a batter.
Allow the batter to ferment. Add chopped onion, chillies, and salt as required.
Pour batter in paniyaram mould pans and cook. If you want to make sweet paniyaram, instead of
onion, chillies and salt, make palm sugar flummery and add with the batter.
7
Kambu Adai
What we need:
Kambu - 100 gms

Split Gram - 250 gms
Chilli - 10 gms
Green gram - 50 gms
Drumstick spinach - 50 gms
Oil - as required
Salt - as required
How we make it:

Soak kambu, split gram and green gram together.
Grind it to batter along with chillies and then add chopped drumstick spinach. Make adai with this
batter on hot tava.
Kaikuthal Rice Vada

What we need:
Kaikuthal rice flour - as required

Raagi - 1 kg
Onion - ½ kg
Cumin - 25 gms
Chilli - 10
Drumstick Spinach - a little
Oil - ½ litre
Salt - as required
How we make it:

Sift ragi flour and mix rice flour with it.
Add finely chopped onion, chillies, drumstick spinach, cumin and salt to it. Knead this mixture
and shape them into small balls.
Heat oil in a pan. Flatten the balls into vadas and fry them in the oil.
8
Ragi Upma
What we need:
Ragi - 100 gms
Carrot - 100 gms
Beans - 100 gms
Green Peas - 100 gms
Potato - 50 gms
Onion - 50 gms
Mustard - as required
Oil - as required
Salt and Curry leaves - as required
How we make it:

Clean ragi and grind it to powder. Chop all the vegetables finely. In a hot kadai, pour some oil and
add mustard, dry chillies, chopped onion, curry leaves and saute well.
Add required amount of water and salt and let it boil. Add ragi flour to the boiling water and stir
continuously. Make sure it is without lumps. Let it cook, tasty ragi upma is ready.
Corn Vegetable Upma

What we need
Corn Rava - 100 gms
Carrot - 100 gms
Beans - 100 gms
Drumstick Spinach - 50 gms
Onion - 100 gms
Split Gram - 10gms
Oil - 1 teaspoon
Mustard, Salt - As req
How we make it:

Pour oil in a hot pan. Add mustard, chopped onion, carrot, beans, drumstick spinach and split gram
to it and saute.
Add water and allow it to boil. Add corn rava to the boiling water and stir well. Let it get cooked.
Now you have tasty, healthy corn vegetable upma.
9
Proso Millet Plantain flower adai
What we need:
Proso Millet - 200gms
Black gram - 50gms
plantain flower - 200gms
Fenugreek seeds - 5gms
Onion - 1
Capsicum - 1
Coriander, Pudina,
Ginger, Garlic - A little quantity of each
Grated Coconut - A cup
Salt - as required
How we make it:

Soak proso millet, black gram and fenugreek seeds together.
Add necessary water to grind them into a semi solid batter. Add fenugreek seeds, chopped onion,
capsicum, pudina, coriander leaves, chopped ginger, garlic, grated coconut and chopped plantain
flower and salt to it.
Pour the batter and spread into adais on a hot dosa tava and fry it properly on both sides. Serve hot.
Adding either grated coconut or sesame with the batter enhances the taste. You may also add
moong bean if you wish.
Proso Millet Spicy Appam

What we need:
Proso Millet - 200 gms
Black Gram - 50 gms
Coconut - ½
Buttermilk - Small quantity
Ginger, Capsicum, Onion, and Salt
How we make it:

Soak proso millet, black gram and grind it to a batter.
You may also add coconut, ginger, capsicum, onion and salt while grinding it.
Add buttermilk with the batter and leave it for four hours.
Heat an appam pan, make appam using this batter and let it cook. You may cover or choose not to
cover while it is being cooked. Serve hot.
Applying oil in the pan before pouring the batter,1p0revents appam from sticking to the pan.
Corn Dhokla
What we need:
White corn Rava - 1 cup Split
gram powder - ¼ cup
Baking Soda - A little bit
Curd - 1 cup
Turmeric powder - ¼ tablespoon
Salt - as per need
To stir fry with Oil
Mustard, Black gram - 1 tablespoon each
Green Chilli - 2
Curry leaves - a few
Oil - 2 tablespoons
Coriander and
Grated Coconut - can be added for garnishing.
How we make it:
Add corn rava with split gram flour and baking soda and mix well. keep aside.
Add turmeric powder to curd and stir well. Add this curd to the corn rava mixture and mix well.
Add water to this and make it into batter.
Pour the batter in a high edge plate and place it inside a idli vessel.
Let it steam for 15 minutes and then take it out. Flip the steamed dhokla onto another plate.
Saute mustard and black gram with some oil in a hot pan. Add chopped green chillies, curry leaves
and saute.
Pour the seasoning over steamed dhokla on the plate. Decorate with grated coconut and coriander
leaves. Cut it into pieces and corn dhokla is ready to be served.
Pearl / Proso Millet sprouts

Green gram Pongal
What we need:
Pearl Millet Sprouts - 100gms
Green gram sprouts - 100gms
Pepper, Cumin - 10gms
Ginger, Garlic, Coriander - As req
Cashew nut, Badam - 20gms
How we make it: Coconut and Ghee - if necessary
Pound pearl / proso millet sprouts and green gram. Boil 200 ml of water to a hot earthen pot. Add
the pound millets to boiling water. Stir the mix properly and let it cook. You may crush it with your
hands to check whether it is cooked properly. Add water if necessary. Serve it with either chutney
or sambar.
Different types of pongal using foxtail millet/ barnyard, mung bean sprouts or Moong bean pepper
Pongal can be made likewise.
11
Chow Chow (or) Little Millet Wheat Poori
What we need:
Little Millet Flour - 150 gms
Wheat Flour - 50 gms
Chow Chow - 150 gms
Salt - as required
Grated Coconut - ½ cup
Jaggery, Dates - 100 grams
Cashew nut and Badam - 50gms
How we make it:

This is a water poori which can be made without using a drop of oil. Instead of mixing the flour in
milk, oil or water, we mix the flour with chow chow (chayote) juice.
Chop the chayote into pieces and grind it. Filter the liquid from the vegetable.
Mix the juice with little millet flour(saamai) and wheat flour. Add salt, knead the flour and split it to
small round balls.
Flatten a ball on to a flat ladle to the size of a poori.
Take a three litre capacity vessel and fill 3/4th of it with water and allow it to boil. When the water is
hot, place the flat ladle with a flattened poori inside the water and steam it for two minutes.
Drain the water and flip it on to a plate. Repeat the same for other pooris one by one. These pooris
don’t puff up like a normal poori fried in hot oil. Now you may sprinkle grated coconut, powdered
jaggery, minced dates, dry grapes, pieces of cashew nuts and badam on the steamed pooris and
serve.
Caution: Do not place the flattened batter while the water boils, as it will disintegrate.
Proso Millet / Barnyard Millet Idli & Dosa

What we need:
Proso Millet Rice/

Barnyard Millet - 750 gms
Black gram - 250 gms
Fenugreek - 20 gms
Salt - as required
How we make it:

Soak proso millet rice, black gram and fenugreek in water for four hours and grind them to make
batter. Add salt and allow it to ferment for twelve hours.
Stir this fermented batter well and pour it in the idli vessel plates and let it steam until cooked. You
may also use the same batter to make dosa. Serve hot with chutney.
12
Fireless
Cooking
Recipes
Cucumber onions or White pumpkin salad
What we need:
Cucumber,
white pumpkin - each 100 Gms
Capsicum - 2 nos.
Tomato, carrot and chilly - 1 no each
Curry, coriander
and mint leaves,
Pepper and
Cumin powder, salt - minimum required
Coconut milk, curd,
soya curd or
Any grain curd - as required
How to make it:

Wash and peel the skin of all vegetables and cut into small pieces. Chop coriander, mint and curry
leaves. Add pepper, cumin powder, rock salt with the vegetable greens mix and stir well.
Add coconut milk and curd if required. This goes well with saffron briyani.
Fruit Mixture with Pulp

What we need:
Sapota - 1
Banana, strawberries - 2
How to make it:

Peel all the fruits and cut them into small pieces. Combine them with baby food.
It is a healthy salad for children.
14
Blended fruits mixture with honey
What we need:
Mashed sweet banana

and sapota fruit, honey - each 1 tsp
How to make it:

Blend both fruits with little honey and mix them well. This fruits mixture can rejuvenate you.
Orange Punch
What we need:
Orange - 2 Nos.
Small piece of ginger
and pinch of salt.
How to make it:

Squeeze the oranges and keep the juice aside. Peel ginger, crush it and obtain extract. Mix this
ginger extract, orange juice with half glass of water and mix well. Add a pinch of salt before
serving.
15
Tomato Punch
What we need:
Tomato - 2
Carrot - 2
A Piece of Ginger
Salt
How to make it:

Grind chopped tomato, carrot and ginger.
Filter the juice. Add required salt and serve.
Fruit Piece
What we need:
Corn powder or powder - 1 cup

Banana - 1
Orange – 1 tsp
Fleshy part of sapota
Milk - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 tsp
How to make it:

Peel off all the fruits and cut into pieces.
Mix the remaining ingredients with chopped fruits.
Soak it for 10-15 minutes before serving.
16
Fruit Mixture
What we need:
Peach - 1 no.
Papaya - 10 to 12 small pieces
Small Apple - 1
Fresh curd - 1/2 cup
Salt - as required
Pinch of Cumin and
Pepper powder
Coriander leaves - 1 tsp
How to make it:

Chop all the fruits into small pieces. Season them with cumin, pepper powder and salt. Pour fresh
curd over it and mix well. Garnish with coriander leaves.
Jilu Jilu Chill drink

What we need:
Fermented rice water /
Butter milk
Green chilli - 1 or 2
Curry leaves coriander paste - to taste
Ginger, cucumber,
grated mango and salt – to taste
How to make it:

Seasoning mustard and asafoetida with buttermilk, mix the other ingredients in it thoroughly. It is a
nutritious instant drink for summer.
17
Ashtaavadhani Juice
What we need:
Dates soaked in honey - 500 gms
Well-ripened sapota fruit - 2 nos.
Dried ginger - 50 gms
Barley and Jaggery powder - each 50 gms
Palm sugar - 150 gms
A little bit of cardamom powder
Large lemon - 1
How to make it:

Peel sapota fruit and blend it well with water, set aside. Pour a tumbler of water in a bowl. Add
dates, dried ginger, barley powder, palm sugar, cardamom and jaggery to it. Mix well. Add pulpy
sapota to this and squeeze a lemon over it. Store it in a fridge. Mix a glass of water to a glass of
juice while serving. Older people can drink it with hot water.
Dried ginger is best for digestion. Dates with honey improves iron content. Palm sugar and barley
reduces excess gout by removing water from the body.
Mixed Fruit Shake

What we need:
Melon and mango pulp - Each 2 cup
Cold milk - 3 cup
Ground Ice and Sugar - 1 cup
Lemon juice - 4 tsp
Necessary things for making a juice cube:
1. Seedless black grape juice
2. Pomegranate fruit juice
3. Nagpur Orange Juice
Pineapple slices to decorate
How to make it:

Prepare the juice cubes by filling the above mentioned juices in the ice tray halfway through and
place it in the freezer. The fruits of the season can likewise be prepared and packaged separately in
the freezer to be used later. Mix melon and mango pulp, lime juice and chilled milk well.
Fill three quarters of a glass with little ice and the pulp mix. Float the juice cubes on top, insert a
large and a small pineapple piece over the rim of the glass and serve. This shake reduces our body
heat, it is tasty and nutritious.
18
Sprouted Rye Salad
What we need:
Sprouts and rye - each 1/2 cup

Sprouted peas,
Cucumber, carrots - each 1/4 cup
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Salt – as per requirement
How to make it:

Mix all the ingredients well. Sprouted seeds contains lot of vitamins. It improves the health of
children.
Cucumber Salad
What we need:
Small cucumber - 1/4 kgms

Onions and Tomato - each 100 gms
Green chilly -2
Lemon - one
Salt and coriander leaves - as per requirement
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
How to make it:

Add chopped cucumber, onions, tomatoes and chillies in a bowl. Add required salt and pepper to
taste.
You may also garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
19
Fruit chat
What we need:
Watermelon
Half withered Pomegranate
Orange and Sweet lime - 5 pieces each
Chat masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Pinch of Pepper powder
and salt
How to make it:

Mix all the fruits with chat masala, salt and pepper to taste. Fruit chat is ready to serve within
minutes.
Green gram salad

What we need:
Sprouted green grams - 1 cup
Pepper powder - half tsp
Salt - minimum required
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
How to make it:

In a bowl mix sprouted green grams, salt and pepper. Sprinkle lemon juice. Enjoy green gram salad!
20
Multi Fruit Dessert
What we need:
Musk melon - 6
Sapota - 2
Orange - 1
Apple - 1
Banana - 1
Honey - 4 tsp
Pineapple – 1tsp
How to make it:

Peel off the fruits and chop into small pieces. Spread the cut fruits in a plate and add a dash of honey.
Have a nice dessert. It is very easy to prepare.
Milk Flakes
What we need:
Flakes - 200 Gms

Jaggery - 100 Gms
Milk - 250 ml
Cardamom powder - little
Grated coconut - 2 tsp
How to make it:

Cleanse the flakes and drain water. Add jaggery powder, grated coconut and cardamom powder to
the flakes. Add boiled and cooled milk to it.
This is a good recipe for people to break fast. We can add fruit with milk flakes to make it more
filling.
21
Puffed rice Chat
What we need:
Puffed rice - 1 cup
Grated carrot - 4 tsp
Onion,tomato - each 1
Om powder - 1/2 cup
Potato chips - 1 tsp
Grated cucumber - minimum
Pinch of coriander leaves
Chat masala powder
and salt - as per taste
Sweet chutney and
green chutney - each 1 tsp
How to make it:
Chop onion and tomato into pieces and add other ingredients. Decorate the chat with coriander
leaves and serve.
Dried fruit chat

What we need:
Flakes, groundnuts,
fried grams - 1/4 cup each
Raisin, badam and pista - each 10
Chat masala powder - 1 tsp
Dates and dried grapes - each 10
Pinch of salt
How to make it:

In a bowl add flakes, fried grams, groundnuts, grated badam, raisin, pista, chat masala powder. Add
chopped seedless dates, dried grapes with salt. Dried fruit chat is ready to serve.
It is a special chat for school going kids.
22
Fruit Chat
What we need:
Banana, Pomegranate,
Apple, Guava - Each 1
Lemon - 1/2
Salt and Pepper powder - as required
How to make it:

Peel and cut banana, apple and guava. Wither pomegranate. In a vessel add the fruits, lemon juice,
chat masala powder, salt and pepper powder. Mix well and serve it chill.
Salad
What we need:
Curd - 1 cup
Kara boondi - 1/2 cup
Coriander leaves
and salt - as required
How to make it:

Stir the curd well and add kara boondi, chat masala powder, salt and coriander leaves and serve.
This is a tasty instant salad.
23
Chat Masala Powder
What we need:
Cumin, Coriander,
Mango Powder - Each 1/4 Cup
Pepper - 1 tablespoon
Dried Red Chilly - 1/2 Cup
Black Salt - 1 tsp
Cardamom, clove – 5 each
Salt as required
How to make it:

Mango powder and black salt are available in all leading grocery shops. Dry all the above items in
direct sunlight and grind it nicely. Your chat masala powder is ready!
Grapes and Watermelon

What we need:
Sliced watermelon and

seedless grapes - each 1 cup
Orange juice - 2 tsp
Chopped mint leaves - 2 tsp
Gingerbread - 1 tsp
Black salt - as per required
(available in all leading
grocery shops)
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
How to make it:

In a bowl mix orange juice, ginger bread, black salt, and pepper with water. Add watermelon and
seedless grapes to the mix in a long glass and garnish with mint leaves.
Note: Watermelon contains minerals that restores health.
24
Nutritious
Sweet
Recipes
Samai Pori Urundai (Barnyard Rice balls)
What we need:
Samai (Barnyard Millets) - 100 gms
Bengal Gram - 50 gms
Coconut -½
Jaggery - 100 gms
Sukku (Dried Ginger) - 5 gms
Ghee - 50 ml
Sesame seeds - 5 gms
How we make it:

Melt jaggery in a hot pan and add it to samai flour, along with the dried ginger powder. Mix
thoroughly.
Saute bengal gram, sesame seeds and shredded coconut in ghee and add to samai-jaggery mix.
Roll the dough into balls that are ready to eat!
Thinai Inipu Pongal (Foxtail Millet sweet Pongal)

What we need:
Thinai - 200 gms
Jaggery - 300 gms
Sukku (Dried Ginger) - 5 gms
Cardamom - 5 gms
Ghee - 100 gms
Cashew nuts - 20 gms
Raisins - 20 gms
Milk -¼L
How we make it:

Boil milk and add millet to it. Once the millet is cooked, add the jaggery, cardamom and dry ginger
powder to this mixture.
When the contents condense after mixing thoroughly, season the pongal by adding sauted cashews
and raisins and the dish is now ready to serve.
26
Thinai adhirasam (Foxtail millet doughnut)
What we need:
Foxtail millet - 1/2 kg
Jaggery - 1/2 kg
Cardamom - a few
Groundnut Oil - ½ l.
How we make it:

Wash, dry and powder the millet finely.
Melt the jaggery until it reaches a thick, string-like texture. Pour this jaggery slowly, part by part
into the millet powder while constantly mixing the dough together. Then, add pounded cardamom
to this. Place the dough into a completely dry container and seal it. Wait overnight for the dough to
settle and ferment.
The next day, pat the now completely set batter into palm-sized adhirasams. Heat up the oil in a pan
on a medium flame and gently place the adhirasams one by one to fry. Once it turns golden-brown
in from the middle, it can be removed; and served hot!
Thinai Poli
What we need:
Thinai - 100 gms
Wheat flour - 100 gms
Groundnut Oil - 5ml
Thatta Payaru (Cow peas) - 25 gms
Kollu (horse gram) - 25 gms
Salt - to taste
For filling:
Jaggery - 100 gms
Gram flour
(Soaked & Ground Gram) - 50 gms
Cardamom powder - a pinch
How we make it:
Wash, dry and toast the thinai and the horse gram, then powder it finely.
Add wheat flour to this mixture, add salt (to your preference) and knead it to the texture of
chapatti/roti dough. Mix gram flour with the jaggery on a low flame. The mixture will slowly
condense and form your filling (pooranam). Keep aside.
Roll poli dough into medium-sized balls and flatten it with a rolling pin. Place the filling as smaller
balls in the middle of the flattened poli batter and fold it up carefully like a dumpling, without
tearing the layer.
Flatten the filled polis and fry it on a pan with groundnut oil on both sides. Thinai Poli is now ready
to eat!
27
Vendaya (fenugreek) Kali Halwa
What we need:
Vendayam (Fenugreek) – 150 gms
Wheat – 50 gms
Jaggery – 250 gms
Dates – 30 gms
Raisins – 30 gms
Cashew nuts – 30 gms
Almonds – 30 gms
Cardamom powder – a pinch
Coconut –½
How we make it:

Soak wheat and fenugreek in water and set it aside for 8 hours. Then, strain the water and place the
contents on a cloth or a hot pack for another 8 hours so they start to sprout.
Grind sprouted wheat and fenugreek with some water and heat the filtered resultant milk on a low
flame. Once the milk thickens, add jaggery and coconut milk (you can use shredded coconut as
well).
Once the halwa thickens well, add the cashews, raisins, almonds, dates (finely chopped), cardamom
powder and mix thoroughly on a low flame. The halwa can be steamed in an idly cooker in order to
shape it and make it healthier and non-sticky too!
Varagu (Kodo millet) Halwa

What we need:
Kodo Millet/Varagu – 300 gms
Coconut – 1
Bengal Gram – 250 gms
Jaggery – 400 gms
Dates – 30 gms
Raisins – 30 gms
Almonds – 30 gms
How we make it:
Soak the millet for 2 hours in water. Soak the bengal gram for a while and add the two together.
Grind them to a thick fine paste (idly batter-like texture).
Melt the jaggery and set it aside. Place the halwa batter in an earthen pot and stir continuously on a
low flame. Once it thickens, add coconut milk and stir again. Add the required amount of jaggery
(to your taste).
Once it reaches the thickness that you want, add cashews, almonds, raisins, dates, and cardamom
powder and mix thoroughly until it is cooked well.
Transfer the halwa onto a plate and let it dry. Once dry, cut it up to pieces of your desired size and
the halwa is ready to eat!
28
Kambu (Pearl Millet) Payasam
What we need:
Pearl Millet/Kambu - 100 gms
Jaggery – 250 gms
Rava – 100 gms
Raisins, Cashew nuts,
Cardamom - a few
How we make it:

Toast the kambu / pearl millet and grind part of it to the texture of rava. Then, toast the rava as well.
Boil both the kambu and the rava in a hot pan of water.
Shred the jaggery and mix it along with the contents.
Saute the cashews, cardamom and raisins in ghee and season the payasam once it is done.
Kuthiravali (Barnyard millet) Sweet Adai

What we need:
Kuthiravali flour – 250 gms
Jaggery – 200 gms
Coconut – 1
Almonds – 30 gms
Cucumber seeds – 20 gms
How we make it:

Mix kuthiravali flour with melted jaggery and coconut milk and knead it to a chapatti/roti dough-
like consistency.
Chop cashews, almonds and cucumber seeds and add them to the dough along with the cardamom
powder and shredded coconut. Cover it with a wet cloth and set it aside for 30 minutes.
Then roll the dough into small balls and flatten it with your palm. On a hot tava, place the flattened
adais, add little oil and cook. Flip, cook and the adai is ready to serve!
Alternatively, we can substitute with other millet types as well (like kambu, samai, ragi, etc.) for
similar health benefits.
29
Arukampul (Scutch Grass) Payasam
What we need:
Arukampul/Scutch Grass
(cleaned and powdered) – 1 cup
Milk (Preferably organic) – ½ Litre
Brown Sugar – 300 gms
Poppy seeds – 25 gms
Cardamom powder,
Edible camphor – a pinch
Raisins – 25 gms
Saffron – 1 gm
Ghee – 20 ml.
Salt – to taste
How we make it:
Pound arukampul and poppy seeds separately.
Heat the milk, add arukampul and poppy seeds pastes and let it boil. Stir continuously. Add brown
sugar and stir again.
Once the payasam is almost done, saute cashews and raisins in ghee and add them. Add a pinch of
edible camphor, cardamom powder and stir well on low flame.
Finally, add some saffron and salt (to taste).
The aromatic, healthy payasam is now ready to eat!
Ragi Groundnut Halwa

What we need:
Ragi flour – 100 gms
Groundnuts – 100 gms
Pumpkin – 100 gms
Palm Jaggery – ¼ kg
Coconut (shredded) – 100 gms
Milk – as required
Ghee – As Required
Water - As Required
How we make it:

Roast the ragi flour until its aroma arises and let it cool. Add water to it and stir, until it reaches a
dosa batter-like consistency.
Heat required quantity of milk and as it boils, add the cut pumpkin pieces to it and let it cook.
Then, add jaggery and ragi batter to the milk. Add ghee as required. Stir continuously.
When the halwa is almost done, season with groundnuts and cashews roasted in ghee. Add the
shredded coconut, cool and serve.
30
Samai Sweet Pongal
What we need:
Samai/Barnyard millet – 200 gms
Yellow Moong Dal – 100 gms
Jaggery – 300 kgms
Cashew nuts – 20 nos.
Cardamom Powder – 1 tbsp
Ghee – 50 gms
Raisins – 20 gms
Edible Camphor – a pinch
Milk – 200 ml
How we make it:
Place the samai rice and the moong dal in a hot cooker. Add 200ml milk and 700ml water and leave
it on for 3 whistles. Simmer on a low flame for 5 more minutes.
Meanwhile, melt the jaggery, keep aside. Add it to the cooked pongal and stir thoroughly.
Saute the cashews and raisins with ghee and add it to the Pongal. Add cardamom powder.
Sprinkle some edible camphor on it right before serving, for added flavour!
Thinai (Foxtail millet) Halwa

What we need:
Thinai/foxtail millet – 200 gms
Jaggery – 200 kg
Cardamom Powder – ½ tbsp
Dried Ginger powder – 2 tbsp
Almonds – 10 gms
Raisins – 10 gms
Ghee – 100 gms
How we make it:

Mix thinai millet with jaggery and water to the consistency of a dosa batter.
Pour some ghee on a hot pan. Once it melts, slowly pour the thinai batter little by little and stir
continuously, so that it doesn’t form lumps. Stirring continuously, pour some more ghee little by
little.
Once halwa leaves out ghee and stops sticking to the pan and millet is cooked, saute the cashews,
almonds and raisins in ghee. Add it to the halwa along with cardamom powder and dried ginger
powder. The halwa is now ready!
31
Samai (Little Millet) Milk Payasam
What we need:
Milk – 1Ltr.
Samai/Barmyard millet – 5 tbsp
Sugar – 1 cup
Cashew nuts – 10 nos.
Cardamom – 8 nos.
Saffron – a pinch
How we make it:

Pour milk into a cooker and add samai millet to it. Once it starts to steam, place the weight on it and
leave the stove on a low simmer flame for 30 minutes. Open the cooker and stir continuously.
Soak almonds and cashews until they turn a little soft, then grind them into a puree.
The millet would have cooked by now and the milk would have turned to a pale yellow colour.
Now, add sugar to the payasam. After it dissolves, add the cashew badam puree and stir
continuously.
Powder the cardamom and add it to the payasam along with a pinch of saffron and leave it on the
stove for 5 more minutes. Season it with shredded cashews sauted in ghee, and serve it either hot or
cold!
Bengal gram laddu

What we need:
Bengal Gram – 1/4 kg
Jaggery – ¼ kg
Coconut – 1
Cardamom (powdered) – 4 nos
Dried ginger – 1 piece
Maida – 200 gms
Rice flour – 250 gms
How we make it:

Cook the bengal gram. Shred the coconut and saute it in oil.
Grind the cooked gram along with jaggery, and add the coconut shavings, cardamom, dried ginger
powder and mix into a thick dough.
Add maida and rice flour with a pinch of salt and mix it thoroughly with the dough.
Roll the dough into medium sized balls and fry it in a wok of oil. The bengal gram laddus are ready!
32
Thinai (foxtail millet) Payasam
What we need:
Thinai flour – ½ cup

Milk – 4 cups
Ghee – 1 tsp
Cashew nuts - 10 nos.
Raisins – 10 nos.
Cardamom Powder – 1 tsp
Sugar – 1 ½ cups
How we make it:

Dissolve thinai flour in water and heat it on a low flame. Stir continuously so that it doesn’t form a
residue on the bottom.
Once the flour is cooked, add sugar and stir well. Season the payasam with cashews and raisins
sauted in ghee. Turn off the heat and finally sprinkle the cardamom powder on top. The payasam is
now ready to be served!
Moong dal Payasam

What we need:
Yellow moong dal – 50 gms

Milk – 50 ml
Honey – 1tsp
Palm Sugar – 1 tsp
How we make it:

Soak the moong dal. Mix it with milk and boil it.
Add the palm sugar and mix until it dissolves. Add some honey to the payasam and it’s now ready
to serve.
33
Kuthiravali / Varagu Payasam
(Barnyard/ Kodo millet)
What we need:
Varagu/ Kuthiravali – 350 gms
Jaggery – 300 gms
Cardamom Powder – 20 gms
Raisins – 50 gms
Ghee – 50 gms
Milk – 150 ml
Water – as required
How we do it:
Mix milk with water and boil. When it starts boiling, add the varagu/kuthiravali millets and cook well.
Once the varagu is cooked, add shredded jaggery to the the payasam along with cardamom powder.
Season the payasam with sauted cashews and raisins and serve hot.
Ragi sweet roti

What we need:
Ragi flour – 100 gms
Rice flour – 10 gms
Coconut (shredded) – ½
Jaggery – 50 gms
Cardamom - 2 nos.
Ghee – as required
How we make it:

Mix together the ragi flour, rice flour, shredded coconut and cardamom powder.
Melt the jaggery in a hot pan with water and let it boil for a while. Strain it and once it is cool,
pour it on to the ragi mixture along with some ghee and knead it into a dough. Let it rest for 5
minutes.
Roll the dough onto small balls and flatten it out with your palm. On a hot tava, spread the rotis
and cook well on both sides. Serve hot!
34
Date Milk Barfi
What we need:
Seedless dates – 1cup
Shredded coconut – ¼ cup
Milk – 1 ½ cups
Sugar – 2 cups
Ghee – ¼ cup
How we make it:

Soak dates in milk for 30 minutes. Add the shredded coconut to it and grind it to a fine paste.
Place the paste in a thick vessel and add sugar, milk and ghee to it. Stir continuously.
Once the mixture thickens and doesn’t stick to the walls of the vessel, simmer on low flame.
Transfer to a plate. Cut it to pieces of your desired size and serve hot!
Dry Fruits Laddu

What we need:
Dates – 100 gms
Almonds – 10 gms
Coconut shavings – A handful
Glucose – ¼ cup
Powdered sugar – a pinch
Ghee – a few drops
Cherries (for presentation) – as required
How we make it:

Add all the ingredients in a bowl and mix it thoroughly, with ghee.
Roll this mixture into small balls. Roll the balls on coconut shavings for flavour.
Place a cherry on top and serve!
35
Milk Barfi
What we need:
Milk – 2 cups
Sugar – 1 cup
Ghee – 2 tbsp
Cardamom Powder – 1 tsp
How we make it:

Pour milk and sugar in a vessel with a thick base and keep stirring until it thickens. Once the water
content has fully evaporated, turn off the stove and add the cardamom powder. Stir continuously.
Once it reaches a non-sticky consistency, pour the contents on a plate and let it cool. Then cut it to
pieces of your desired size.
Since it is made from milk, the added sweetness makes the barfi a lot tastier!
Date Walnut Rolls

What we need:
Seeds dates – 1 cup
Milk – ½ cup
Carrots – ¼ cup
Ghee – 1tbsp
Sugar – 1 tbsp
Shredded coconut – 2 tbsp
Walnut – a few
(to be powdered)
How we make it:

Soak the dates in milk for 30 minutes and grind it to a coarse paste.
Heat up a vessel with a thick base and place the contents, adding sugar and srirring until it reaches a
thick consistency.
Take the vessel off the stove and add the powdered walnut and ghee. Let it cool.
Once it cools, roll the batter into multiple lengthy rolls and dab them slightly on shredded coconut.
Refrigerate for 3 hours.
After 3 hours, cut the rolls up into smaller rolls and it is now ready to be served!
36
Nutritious
Recipes for
Children
Nutritious Millet Porridge
What we need:
For Dry Frying:

Sago – 50 gms
Barley – 50 gms
Ragi – 75 gms
White corn kernels – 25 gms
Raw rice – 50 gms
Green Moong Dal – 50 gms
To add while grinding:

Palm Candy – 100 gms
Fried gram – 50 gms
How we make it:

Except palm candy and fried gram, roast all the other ingredients separately in a large pan one after
another, till the raw fragrance disappears. Let it cool. Now dry grind all ingredients along with fried
gram and palm candy to a powder-like consistency. Sieve the mixture and store it in an airtight
container. For the porridge, take one spoon of the powder and mix it without lumps in half a glass
of water. Heat it and bring to a boil. Add some milk, simmer for few more minutes and turn off the
flame once the porridge comes to a desired consistency. Serve lukewarm.
Corn Leaf Dumplings (Kozhukattai)

What we need:
Corn Flour – 100 gms
Jaggery – 50 gms
Moong Dal – 10 gms
Sesame seeds – 5 gms
How we make it:

Roast the sesame seeds and moong dal. Mix jaggery with water in a hot pan and melt. Strain and set
aside the jaggery syrup. Knead the corn flour, by adding the jaggery syrup little by little. Next, add
the roasted ingredients, and continue kneading until you get a pliable dough. Divide into flat pieces
of 3 inches length or roll them into small dumplings. Spread some oil in your hands to prevent the
dough from sticking to your hand. Place the prepared dumplings in corn husk, keep them in an idli
steamer and steam it.
38
Corn Sundal
What we need:
Corn kernels – 100 gms

Lobia seeds – 50 gms
Shallots – 50 gms
(chopped)
Red Chilli – 2
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp.
Oil – 1 tsp.
Salt – as required
Curry leaves and
coriander (chopped) – 2 tsp.
How we make it:

Wash, and soak the corn and lobia seeds for two hours in water. Steam them in a pressure cooker.
Strain the water. In a hot pan, add oil and heat it. Temper with mustard seeds, chilli, curry leaves,
coriander. Add chopped onion and saute for a few seconds. Now add the cooked corn and lobia
seeds, add salt. Mix well and turn off the flame. Serve hot.
Corn Munthiri Kothu

What we need:
Corn flour – 100 gms
Green Gram flour – 100 gms
Jaggery – 100 gms
Raw rice flour – 100 gms
Oil – 300 ml
How we make it:

Soak jaggery in little water and prepare jaggery syrup. Mix corn flour and green gram flour to it and
shape them into small balls. Dust a little gram flour to the balls and deep fry them in oil. Serve hot.
39
Foxtail millet Puttu (Thinai puttu)
What we need:
Foxtail millet flour – 100 gms

Pound Jaggery – 100 gms
Grated coconut – 100 gms
Cardamom seeds – 5 gms
How we make it:

Knead foxtail millet flour, sprinkling water little by little. Bring it to puttu consistency (firm when
you hold it in your hand and breaks when you pinch the flour). Steam it. Serve by mixing the
steamed puttu with grated coconut, jaggery and cashew nuts fried in ghee.
Kambu Kozhukattai (Bajra Dumplings)

What we need:
Bajra millet – 1 cup
Finely chopped Onion – 1 cup
Finely chopped green chilli – 5
Finely chopped red Chilli,
curry leaves, coriander leaves,
coconut gratings – 2 tsp.
Oil – 2 tsp.
For tempering:
Urad Dal – 1 tsp.
Gram Dal – 1 tsp.
How we make it:

Soak bajra in water for three hours. Grind it coarsely in a blender. In a heavy bottomed pan, heat oil
and temper with mustard, urad dal and gram dal. Add the onions, chilli, coriander, curry leaves and
fry until the onions turn golden brown. Add salt and ground bajra to it. Simmer as you gently stir.
Once the dough thickens, add coconut grating, stir and turn off the flame. Once it cools down, make
small dumplings using your hand and steam them. Serve the dumplings with sesame idly powder
(gun powder) or hot chutney.
40
Ragi Roti
What we need:
Ragi flour – 1 cup
Finely chopped onion – 1 cup
Finely chopped green chilli,
curry leaves, coriander – 2 tsp.
Finely chopped red chilli – 3
Oil – 1 tbsp
Water – as required
Urad dal – 1 tsp.
Oil – 1 tbsp
How we make it:

Mix ragi flour with water and oil and knead into pliable dough. In a heavy bottomed pan, add oil,
mustard seeds, urad dal to temper. Add onions, chilli, coriander and curry leaves. Fry till the raw
smell leaves. Add these to the dough and let it set for 10 mins. Heat a dosa skillet, add a little oil.
Flatten the ragi dough, spread it in the hot skillet and let it cook for some time. Flip to the other side
and add more oil. Once both sides turn golden brown, serve with chilli chutney. Frying in
groundnut oil adds more flavour to the rotis. The more onions you add, the more flavourful it gets!
Varagu Arisi Porridge Dosa

(Kodo millet Indian crepe)
What we need:
Kodo millet – 1 ½ cups
Grated coconut – ¼ cup
Green chilli – 2 (chopped)
Ginger – 1 inch piece
Asafoetida – ½ tsp.
Cumin seeds – 2 tsp.
Curry leaves – a few
Oil – as required
How we make:
Grind together ginger, chilli, cumin seeds, coconut, curry leaves into a coarse paste. Wash and soak
the millet in water. Drain the millet and grind it into a batter. Take one ladle full of this batter, add 1
cup of water, and heat it in a pan. Once the batter is cooked turn off the flame. Keep aside. Add
water to the remaining batter and soak for three hours. Add the cooked batter to this mixture along
with the coarsely ground paste and make dosas. This dosa does not need any accompaniment.
41
Corn Sukhiyan
What we need:
Yellow corn kernels - ½ cup
Pound jaggery - ½ cup
Grated coconut - ¼ cup
Urad dal - ¼ cup
Cashew nuts -4
Cardamom powder - ½ tsp.
Ghee - 2 tsp.
Salt, oil - as required
How we make it:

Soak urad dal for two hours. Drain away the water. Add a pinch of salt and grind it in a blender to
form a thick paste, keep aside. Soak corn kernels separately. Drain it, and grind with pound jaggery,
coconut, cashews and cardamom powder into a coarse paste. To a hot pan, add ghee and this coarse
paste, saute till the raw smell disappears. Let it cool. Mix along with the urad dal paste, make into
small balls and deep fry in oil.
Corn Milk
What we need:
Sweet corn kernels - 2 cups
Barley - 1 Cups
Milk - 2 tsp.
Cardamom powder - ¼ tsp.
Jaggery - ¼ tsp.
Saffron - 1 pinch
How we make it:

Soak corn and barley separately in water. Drain. Grind them separately and extract milk from the
pulps. Mix the extracted milk. Add jaggery and cardamom to this and bring it to a boil. Once it is
cooked well, sprinkle saffron and serve.
42
Nutritious Idli
What we need:
Raw peanuts (skin peeled) - 6 cups

Raw rice - 1 cup
Boiled rice - 1 cup
Toor Dal - 1 cup
Urad dal - 1 cup
Gram dal - 1 cup
Green moong dal - 1 cup
White chickpea - 1 cup
Butter beans (mochai kottai) - 1 cup
Black-eyed pea - 1 cup
Soya - 1 cup
Jaggery - 1 cup
Cashew nuts, raisins - as required
Coconut (large) -2
How we make it:
Soak all millets separately. Soak the pulses, legumes and rice. Grind the soaked and drained
ingredients along with coconut in a grinder into a coarse paste. Flatten into patties, and steam in an
idli steamer. In a hot pan add oil. Roast cashews, raisins in it and set aside. Crumble the idlis, add
some jaggery, and heat it in a pan. When you get the aroma of the jaggery syrup, add 1 tsp ghee,
cardamom powder, dried ginger powder and grated coconut. Add roasted cashews and raisins, stir
and serve hot. Your nutritious idli is ready.
Spicy Idli:
Crumble the idlis. In a hot pan, add oil and heat it. Add mustard, gram dal, urad dal to temper.
Add chopped onions, chilli, dry ginger, curry leaves, coriander, crumbled idlis, salt and stir well.
In both the varieties, the idlis will carry the fragrance of groundnuts making it all the more
appealing.
43
Sweet Coconut Wheat Aval
What we need:
Wheat Aval (flakes) – 200 gms
Corn aval (flakes) – 200 gms
Coconut –½
Date syrup – 150 gms
Cashew nuts, almonds,
Raisins – 50 gms
Cardamom – few
How we make:
A no-cook ready-to-eat snack for children.
Wash the flakes in little water and drain. Make sure you don’t add too much water. Leave the
washed flakes aside. In 10 mins, they will turn fluffy. Now add the remaining ingredients, mix and
serve!
Foxtail Laddu
What we need:
Multi-grains/Foxtail millet – 300 gms
Dates syrup – 200 gms
Cashews, almonds,
Cardamom and Raisins – a few
How we make it:

Sprout the millets/grains, dry them and grind them to a powder. Or, you can remove impurities from
millets, and grind it into powder. Add dates and raisin syrup to this powder little by little and mix.
Once the consistency is solid enough to roll into laddus, add cashews, almonds and cardamom. Roll
them into small balls or flat barfis. This can be stored for two days. You can also add sesame seeds
and coconut to this.
44
Ragi and Banyard Millet Dosai
(Kezhvaraku Kuthiraivali Sweet Dosai)
What we need:
Ragi millet - 100 gms
Banyard Millet - 100 gms
Urad dal - 50 gms
Palm Jaggery - 200 gms
Cardamom - a few
Groundnuts, cashew nuts,
almonds (crushed) - 100 gms
How we make it:

Soak the millets and urad dal for two hours. Drain and grind it into a batter. Add palm jaggery to
the batter. You can also mix millet flour and urad dal flour with palm jaggery syrup to prepare the
batter. Add crushed cardamom, nuts and raisins and mix well. Pour a spoonful of batter on a hot
dosa skillet, cook, flip and transfer to a plate. This is a delicious and healthy dosai.
Sprouted millet Kheer

What we need:
Bajra or sprouted
pearl millet - 300 gms
Coconut milk - ½ cup
Raisins and
jaggery syrup - 150 gms
How we make it:

Wash and soak millet in water for eight hours. Drain the water. The millet will sprout well. This
magic sprouted millet is abundant in nutrition. You can cook the sprouted millet in almond milk,
cashew milk or coconut milk. Add jaggery syrup to prepare a delicious kheer.
45
Cottonseed Milk
What do we need:
Cottonseed - 100 gms
Jaggery - 300 gms
Cardamom - A little bit
Coconut - Half portion
How to do it:
Soak the cotton seed in water for a few hours. Grind well, extract cotton seed milk. Boil the
extracted cotton seed milk. Add some jaggery to the boiling milk and keep stirring. Add coconut,
cardamom, sesame milk, groundnut milk, cucumber seed milk and mix properly and serve.
To enhance taste, add some cashews, almonds, pistas and dry grapes.
Rice flakes Kheer

What do we need:
Fried Rice flakes – quarter cup
Maida flour – 1 tsp.
Peanuts powder - 1 tsp.
Ghee - 1 tsp.
Milk – one and half cup
Jaggery powder – quarter cup
Saffron powder – a little bit
How to do it:
Take a vessel and roast rice flakes until it gets red and allow it to cool. Grind it to a coarse rava
(granules). Add sprout grains powder, peanut powder and milk to the coarse rice flakes and boil the
mixture. Add a small amount of saffron powder to the kheer, keep aside. In a pan, add some water,
jaggery and allow it to boil. Filter the jaggery syrup and add it to the rice flakes kheer and mix it
thoroughly. Add ghee to the kheer and heat it. Once done, serve the delicious dish to children.
46
Wheat Semia Kesari
What do we need:
Wheat Semia - 150 gms
Coconut scrapings - Half coconut
Jaggery - 100 gms
Cashew, Dry Grapes - 50 gms
Cardamom - A little bit
Kesari powder - A little bit
How to do it:
Take a vessel and add 400ml of water to it and boil. Add roasted wheat vermicelli (semia) while the
water boils and stir. Add jaggery and milled coconut paste to the mixture and stir.
Add some kesari powder, cardamom powder, cashews, almonds, dry grapes. Spread the semiya
kesari in a plate. Let it cool slightly and then cut into slices. Children love it. It can also be served
as a morning breakfast.
Green gram Pongal

What do we need:
Green gram - ½ cup
Turmeric powder - a little bit
Oil - 1 tsp
Salt - As per req
Rice - half a cup
How to do it:
Melt butter in a hot frying pan, add green gram and fry till golden brown. Add turmeric powder and
salt and cook well. Cook the rice and mix it with the fried green lentils and mash well. You can also
mix boiled crispy vegetables.
47
Vegetable Bulrush
Idly (Kambu Idly)
What do we need:
Bulrush - 200 gms
Black-gram - 100 gms
Fenugreek - 50 gms
Capsicum - 1
Tomato - 1
Groundnut - 50 gms
Cashew - 20 gms
Salt – a little bit
Garlic, Ginger – a little bit
How to do it:
Either soak kambu (bulrush) in water for 2 hours to grind or add water with kambu sprouts and
grind. Similarly, grind soaked black gram or sprouted black gram and mix it with kambu flour and
idli batter. Allow the batter to set overnight and in the next morning, add finely chopped tomato,
garlic, ginger, cashews, cumin and salt. Pour the batter on a baking sheet and steam in idli steaming
vessel. Serve with coriander chutney and tomato chutney. Mixing vegetables with idli flour gives
additional nutrition.
Vegetable Dosa
What do we need:
Dosa batter - 2 cup
Scrambled carrot - 1 tsp.
Chopped onion - 1 tsp.
Chopped ginger – ¼ Spoon
Chopped chili - 2
Coriander - A little bit
Curry leaves - A little bit
Salt – as per requirement
Honey – additional ingredient
Sesame oil – to fry
How to do it:
Prepare the dosa batter and add all the ingredients to it. Set aside undisturbed for a few minutes.
Heat a nonstick pan and pour a ladle of batter into it, spread it, cover with a lid and allow it to cook.
Turn-over and cook again. Transfer to a plate, add honey and serve. Honey has the ability to
activate brain cells.
48
Nutritious
Recipes for
Pregnant
Women
Paneer Tikka
What we need:
Paneer pieces - 2 cups
Chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Garam Masala powder - ½ teaspoon
Capsicum - 1 piece
Yogurt - 2 table spoon
Lemon juice - 1 teaspoon
Salt - as required
How we make it:

Mix chilli powder, salt and garam masala powder in yogurt. Soak paneer pieces and chopped
capsicum in it for 30 minutes.
In a hot non-stick tawa place the paneer pieces along with capsicum and cook on all sides. Add the
lemon juice and serve hot.
Samai chicken Briyani

What we need:
Samai (Barnyard Millets) – 500 gms
Country chicken - 500 gms
Onion – 50 gms
Tomato – 50 gms
Ginger and garlic paste - 1 table spoon
Anise, bark powder - as required
Yogurt - ½ cup
Mint - 1 Handful
Lemon juice, Turmeric and
chilli powder - as required
Seasoning : Ghee - 100 ml
Clove - 5
Cardamom and Bay leaf - 2 each.
Mace - a few.
How we make it:
Clean the chicken, mix it with yogurt, salt, turmeric, lemon juice and leave aside for 10 minutes.
Heat the ghee and season the ingredients. Then add the anise, bark powder, ginger-garlic paste and
saute well.
Add chopped onions and mint and saute until the tomatoes are well browned. Add the curry mix
and once it is sauteed well, add water and bring it to a boil (twice as much water to the rice). Once it
boils, add the washed rice to it and cook until don5e0.
Kuthiraivali Idiyappam
What we need:
Kuthiraivali - 250 gms
Jaggery - as req.
Coconut - 200 gms
Salt and water - as req.
How we make it:

Wash, dry and powder the millets finely.
Add hot water and salt to the millet powder and knead it thoroughly to idiyappam dough
consistency.
Place the dough inside the rice noodle maker and press it in concentric circles on idli moulds.
Steam the idiyappams in idli maker. Add grated coconut with jaggery to it and serve hot.
RagiSev
What we need:
Ragi - 100 gms
Urad dhal powder - 50 gms
Rice flour - 50 gms
Ajwain - 5 gms
Salt and oil - as req.
How we make it:

Add rice powder, ajwain, salt and hot coconut oil with ragi flour and mix thoroughly into a dough.
Add required amount of water and stir the dough.
Place the dough in sev maker, squeeze the sev and fry in oil.
51
Readymade dhokla
What we need:
Fermented idli flour - 2 cups
Rava - ¼ cup
Green chilli -6
Eno fruit salt - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - as req.
Mustard, Cumin seeds - ¼ teaspoon
Jaggery - ½ teaspoon
Cilantro - a few
Oil - 2 teaspoon
Salt - as req.
How we make it:

Ferment freshly ground idli batter with eno fruit salt and leave aside for few hours. Add turmeric
powder, rava and salt to fermented idli batter and leave it for 10 minutes.
Pour the batter in idli mould coated with oil and steam. Remove the dhoklas once cooked. Season
mustard, cumin seeds with chopped green chillies in a pan. Add little water and jaggery to it.
Add the seasoning to the dhokla. Shower some cilantro and serve it with love.
Kuthiraivali Pongal
What we need:
Horse-tail millet - 500 gms
Ghee - 100 gms
Cashew nut - 10 gms
Green gram whole - 100 gms
Pepper and Cumin seeds - a few
Salt and Water - as req.
How we make it:

In a hot pan, season whole green gram until gets golden brown in colour and add horse-tail millet to
it.
Add water as required and allow it to boil. Let it cook.
Add pepper, cumin seeds, salt, roasted cashew nut and stir thoroughly. Your dish is ready!
52
Sola Adai (Corn Adai)
What we need:
Corn - 1 cup
Yellow split peas and
Bengal gram - ¾ cup (mixed)
Urad dhal and
Whole green gram - ¼ cup
Anise, pepper,
cumin seeds - 1 table spoon
Onion - 1
Grated coconut - 2 tablespoon
Dry chilli -5
Salt, Asafoetida,
Coriander, curry leaves - as req.
How we make it:
Soak grams and corn in water. Chop onion and coriander leaves and keep aside. Grind ginger, salt,
cumin seeds, anise, grated coconut, curry leaves and dry chilli together.
Dry grind this mix with the grams and corn till coarse. Then add little water and grind further to a
batter. Add onions and coriander leaves to the batter and stir it thoroughly.
Pour a ladle of the batter on hot tava, spread it and let it cook. Turn it over adding little oil and cook.
The adai is ready to serve with coconut chutney or jaggery.
Nutritious porridge
What we need:
Boiled wheat porridge - 100 ml.
Oats - 50 gms
Milk - 100 gms
Dried grapes - 25 gms
Almond - 25 gms
Jaggery - 15 gms
How we make it:

Pour half a litre of water into a heavy pot and bring to a boil. Add wheat porridge and oats to the
boiling water and cook well.
Add almonds, jaggery and milk to the mixture and stir. Serve. It is good for new and expectant
mothers since it contains easily digestible high - calorie protein, calcium, iron.
53
Nutritious Cutlet
What we need:
Baked potato - 1 cup
Boiled and fried Garbanzo beans - ½ cup
Boiled Bengal gram - ½ cup
Whole green gram - ½ cup
Bengal gram powder - 50 gms
Finely chopped onion - 50 gms
Finely chopped ginger - 10 gms
Chopped carrot, Chopped beans - 100 gms each
Cumin seeds, Pepper powder - 10 gms each
Chopped Green chilli - 1
Black salt - 2 gms
Lemon juice and Sesame oil - 10 gms each, Finely chopped garlic - 10 pieces
How we make it:
Add the baked potatoes with the grams and mix well. Add oil in a wok and saute onions, garlic,
ginger and green chilli.
Add to it beans, carrot, cumin powder, pepper powder, black salt, lemon juice, bengal gram powder
and knead it to a dough. Roll the dough into small balls and flatten it with your palm in the shape of
a cutlet. Heat oil in a pan and fry the cutlets.
This cutlet is a tasty snack made with lentils and is suitable for serving in the evenings.
This tastes better with mint chutney and is the best selection of essential nutrients for pregnant
women.
Masala Gram Podi

What we need:
Garbanzo beans, Bengal gram - 10 gms each
Whole green gram,
Yellow split peas - 10 gms
Fenugreek leaves, Ginger - 5 gmseach
Lemon juice - 10ml
Onion - 50 gms
Garlic, Pepper - 10 gms each
Curry leaves - 20 gms
Cumin seed powder - 5 gms
Garam masala, Sesame oil - 5 gms each
Salt - as required
How we make it:
Wash the lentils, cook them well and keep aside. Saute finely chopped onions in a hot skillet until
the onions become golden brown in color.
Then add the ginger, garlic, curry powder, pepper, cumin powder, garam masala and mix them well.
Add the cooked lentils and stir. Add lemon juice to the mix and stir well.
This dish is high in calories, protein, iron, and calcium. This dish, if served with green cucumber,
carrot and onion salad, makes a great addition to the salad. Pregnant women love this dish.
54
Garlic Broth
What we need:
Peeled garlic - 10 pieces
Coriander powder - 30 gms
Whole coriander - 15 gms
Pepper powder - 15 gms
Dried Chilli - 15 gms
Onion - 50 gms
Fenugreek, cumin seeds - 5 gms
Salt - as req.
Sesame oil - 5 gms
How we make it:

Add a little oil in a skillet and saute the onion, cumin, chilli, coriander, curry leaves. Let it cool and
grind it to a thick paste.
Add oil in skillet and saute fenugreek, garlic along with chilli powder, grind this separately. Add
this to the ground onion paste and stir well. Add required amount of water and salt and boil the mix.
Once the contents condense after stirring thoroughly, serve it with idli, dosa. Garlic helps in milk
secretion and helps us to get rid of the unwanted body fluids. It is good to have this twice a week.
Garlic Chutney
What we need:
Peeled garlic - 10 pieces
Dried Chilli - 2 pieces
Pepper - 15 gms
Tomato - 100 gms
Cumin seeds - 2g
Sesame oil - 10 gms
How we make it:

Grind the garlic, dried chillies along with tomato and curry leaves into a paste.
Heat oil in the skillet and fry cumin seeds. Add the tomato-garlic paste and salt as required and
cook. Serve with rice or other supplements.
55
Garlic Rice
What we need:
Peeled Garlic - 15
Ghee - 20 gms
Salt - as required.
Cumin - 5 gms
Boiled rice - 2 cups
How we make it:

In a hot skillet pour ghee and saute cumin seeds in it.
Add some curry leaves along with garlic pods. Sprinkle salt and pepper as required.
Add the mixture with rice, stir well and serve.
Garlic powder
What we need:
Peeled Garlic -5
Bengal gram - 100 gms
Yellow Split gram - 100 gms
Crushed Bengal gram - 50 gms
Sesame oil - 5 gms
How we make it:

Fry the bengal gram and yellow split gram in a separate pan, keep aside. Heat oil in a skillet and add
garlic pods.
Fry until it gets crispy.
Add salt, bengal gram, yellow split gram and fry. Let it cool and grind it to a powder.
Add the crushed bengal gram with the mix and grind it well.
Mix the garlic powder in hot rice and add some ghee with it to make a fragrant and tasty dish.
56
Sukku (Dry ginger) Garlic Legiyam (paste)
What we need:
Amukkara root - 25 gms
Peeled Garlic - 100 gms
Dry ginger powder - 100 gms
Karupatti (palm jaggery) - 50 gms
Sesame oil - 5 gms
Coconut powder - 10 gms
How we make it:

Boil 50 grams of palm jaggery in 250ml of water and filter the residue.
Heat the skillet, add little oil and deep fry the peeled garlic pods.
Add amukkara root powder and dry ginger powder with the fried garlic and stir well. Add palm
jaggery to this and stir.
When the mix condenses, add little honey and cardamom powder to the paste and keep it closed in
an airtight container.
This legiyam is very important to lactating mothers. Roll the paste using your palms and have it
thrice a day. Drink a glass of hot water immediately to increase lactation. It can be also taken as a
medicine to gastrointestinal problems.
Mothers special broth

What we need:
Peeled garlic - 100 gms
Peeled ginger - 100 gms
Back pepper - 10 gms
Urad dhal - 20 gms
Raw rice - 10 gms
Sesame oil - 200 ml
Cumin seeds - 10 gms
How we make it:

Roast urad dhal, bengalgram, raw rice separately.
Roast cumin, curry leaves, pepper in a separate pan.
Add some oil in a hot pan and saute peeled garlic, ginger. Grind the roasted and sautéed ingredients
into a thick paste. In a hot pan, add the paste, pour water and boil. Stir and keep boiling until the
mix thickens to a paste. Pour sesame oil to the paste and allow it to boil. Once the broth is cooked,
allow it to abate and serve.
It helps lactating mothers to recover from fatigue and tiredness. It also helps to remove post
pregnancy body waste and increases the milk sec5re7tion of feeding mothers.
Seven easy tips for making Kashayam
for pregnant women
Consuming kashayam on daily basis from seven months of
pregnancy until childbirth will give lot of benefits to pregnant
ladies. Take it before going to bed. It can be made with simple
ingredients from home. It gives strength to the pregnant women, if
taken a full week, every month.
What we need:
CUMIN KASHAYAM : Cumin - 5 gms
Jaggery- 15 gms
FENUGREEK KASHAYAM : Fenugreek - 5 gms
Jaggery - 15 gms
CURRY LEAVES KASHAYAM : Curry Leaves - 10 gms
Jaggery - 15 gms
DRUMSTICKS LEAVES KASHAYAM : Drumsticks Leaves - 10 gms
Jaggery - 15 gms
ANISE KASHAYAM : Anise - 5 gms
Jaggery - 15 gms
DRIED GINGER(Sukku) KASHAYAM : Dried Ginger - 5 gms
Jaggery - 15 gms
CLOVE KASHAYAM : Clove – 3 gms
Jaggery - 15 gms
How we make it:
Select any one of the for each day of a week. The main ingredient should be just 5 grams to 10
grams in quantity. To the main ingredient, add jaggery, 500ml of water and let it boil.
Keep boiling until the water reduces to 100ml. Filter the residue and kashayam is ready.
It removes any swellings from the legs and controls urinary infections until delivery. Provides good
results if taken from the seventh month until delivery.
Foxtail millet flour sweet

What we need:
Foxtail millet - 200 gms
Ghee - 50 gms
Jaggery - 200 gms
Cardamom seed powder - 5 gms
Cashew nut - 20 gms
Milk - ¼ cup
Salt - 1 spoon
How we make it:
Roast foxtail millet, grind it to a powder. Heat ghee in a separate pan, add cashew nut and roast it
until it gets golden brown in colour. Add to it cardamom seed powder, jaggery, salt and add drops
of milk and stir. Pour this mix little by little to the millet powder, knead and roll it into balls that are
ready to eat! These millet balls are rich in protein5.8It gives more energy for girls, who have attained
puberty.
Rye leaf Adai
What we need:
Rye rice - 1 cup
Bengal gram - ½ cup
Jaggery - ½ cup
Cashew nut -6
Cardamom powder - ½ teaspoon
Ghee - 1 teaspoon
Grated coconut - ¼ cup
Oil - 1 table spoon
Salt - a pinch
Banana leaf -5
How we make it:
Soak rye rice in water for 3 hours and grind it into a batter.
Pour some oil and a pinch of salt in a pan and add rye batter and stir it properly until it thickens into
dough. Once it is cool, rub oil on both hands and knead it to a soft pliable dough. Set aside.
Cook bengal gram dhal in a cooker. Once cool, grind it to a paste. Fry cashew nuts in a skillet with
ghee, add bengal gram paste and stir. After mixing grated coconut and cardamom powder, stir
thoroughly. Allow the mix (stuffing) to cool. Flatten a small ball sized dough on banana leaf piece,
place the stuffing in it, close it and cover with the leaf. Place the leaf adais in idli moulds. Steam in
an idli vessel for 15 minutes. It can also be made using palm jaggery.
Millet Adai
What we need:
Rye - ½ cup
Ragi - ¼ cup
Other millets combined - ¼ cup
Yellow split gram - ½ cup
Whole green gram - ¼ cup.
Dry chilli - 5
Green chilli - 5
Salt - as required
Chopped curry leaves,
coriander - a small quantity.
How we make it:

Soak all cereal and millets combined together in water for three hours.
Add green chilli and dry chilli to the soaked cereal and millets and
grind them into a coarse batter. Add chopped curry leaves, coriander and
salt to the batter.
Pour a ladle full of batter on a hot tava, spread the adai. Pour little oil, let it cook. Turn it over, cook
again. Serve it with coconut or garlic chutney.
By using all millets without dehusking, we can gain all the energy and taste. Adding onion, makes
the dish spicier and yummy. 59
Corn Adai
What we need:
Corn flour - 150 gms
Bengal gram flour - 50 gms
Onion - 20 gms
Salt - as required
Oil - 1 spoon
Water - ½ litre
How we make it:

Roast corn flour and Bengal gram flour separately. Mix both the roasted flours together and add
water to the flour to make a smooth batter.
Add chopped drumstick leaves, chopped onion to the batter.
Oil a hot dosa tava, pour a ladle of batter, spread the adai and cook. Flip it over and cook. Flip it on
to a plate. Tasty Corn adai is ready.
Kodo millet Paniyaram

What we need:
Kodo millet rice - 200 gms
Urad dhal - 75 gms
Fenugreek - 1 teaspoon
Oil - as required.
Bengal gram - 1 teaspoon
Coconut - a small piece
Curry leaves, salt - as required
Green chilli -2
How we make it:

Soak kodo millet rice, urad dhal in water for few hours. Grind it and keep the batter aside.
Pour oil in a hot pan and saute mustard, bengal gram, green chilli, grated / finely chopped coconut
and curry leaves. Add this seasoning to the batter, add salt and mix thoroughly.
Pour the batter in paniyaram mould and cook. The dish is ready!
60
Veg papad roll
What we need:
North Indian papad - 8
Chopped tomato - 1
Chopped onion - 1
Grated Carrot - one teaspoon
Capsicum chopped - one teaspoon
Green chilli chopped -2
Garam masala - ¼ teaspoon
Salt - as required
How we make it:

Mix all the chopped vegetables with salt, garam masala and drain the water from it.
Roast the papad over a stove. Place ½ teaspoon of vegetable mix in each roasted papad, roll and
serve.
This papad roll goes well with mint chutney.
Being a snack without oil and sugar, this is suitable for those who are on a diet.
Mint jeera chai

What we need:
Mint - 2 cups
Powdered cumin seeds - 1/2 spoon
Jaggery - as required
Water - 2 ½ cups
How we make it:

Boil water and add mint, powdered cumin and jaggery to it.
Simmer in low flame until the water reduces to 2 cups.
Filter the tasty chai and serve!
61
Jack and Jill
What we need:
Deseeded Jackfruit pods - 10
Mango without fiber -1
Cherry - 10
Rasthali Banana -2
Orange -1
Panneer grapes
(seed grapes) - 10
Cherry fruit - 10
Honey - as required
Boiled milk - 1 cup
Rose milk concentrate - 1 ½ spoon
Strawberry biscuit - 1 packet
How we make it:
Make slits of half inch width in jackfruit pods. Deseed the pod and apply honey inside the slits. This
assumes the shape of a tiny cup.
Deskin mango and cut it into 10 pieces; peel the banana and cut it into 10 pieces.
Deseed the orange and remove the pulp. Remove seeds from the grapes.
Process:
Inside the honeyed jackfruit cup, place a banana piece and a mango piece. Stuff the orange pulp
around it. Place a cherry on top. Split a grape into two and keep it on either sides of the cherry.
Arrange the jackfruit cups in a plate. Refrigerate for one and half hours.
Add milk to the remaining fruits and grind well. Add concentrated rose milk and a teaspoon of
honey and grind it until it reaches milkshake consistency. Pour this shake into a container and store
it in the refrigerator.
Serving:
Place the jackfruit cup, pour a spoon of milkshake over it. Place a strawberry biscuit
wafer on top. Serve this cool jack and jill in the evening!
62
Sura Puttu
What we need:
Shark fish - ½ Kgms
Onion - 100 gms
Garlic – 2
Green chilli – 2
Salt - as required
Sunflower oil - ½ teaspoon
Coriander leaf,
Curry leaves - ½ cup
Turmeric powder - as required.
How we make it:
Boil water in a skillet. Add cleaned shark fish and little turmeric powder and cook. Shred the boiled
fish and keep aside.
Heat oil in a pan, add curry leaves, onion, green chilli and temper. Add boiled fish with required salt
to the it, place it on low flame and stir until the puttu becomes flaky. Take it down and serve!
Spinach Chicken Masala

What we need:
Chicken – 12 Kgms
Spinach - 1 roll
Chopped Onion - ¼ KG
Chopped tomato - 200 Grams
Coriander powder - 3 teaspoon
Chilli powder - 2 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - ½ teaspoon
Ginger garlic paste - 1 teaspoon
Clove bark and
cardamom - 1 each
Salt - as required.
How we make it:

Wash chicken, spinach and chop them. Heat oil in a skillet and add clove bark, cardamom, chopped
onion. Fry till onion turns golden brown. Add tomato, ginger garlic paste and saute.
Add chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and sprinkle some water. Add chicken and
spinach with little water and salt to the mix and cook well. Add cilantro toppings and serve!
63
Gooseberry Thokku/pickle
What we need:
Gooseberry - 200 gms
Dried chilli - 20 gms
Fenugreek - 4 gms
Garlic - 20 gms
Oil - 30 gms
Cumin seed powder - 15 gms
Salt - as required.
How we make it:

Heat oil in a skillet and saute cumin seed powder, fenugreek, dry chilli and garlic.
Add chopped gooseberries to it and saute. When the gooseberries are half cooked, add quarter cup
tamarind extract and pepper powder and saute till the raw smell leaves. Add salt as required, grind
the cooled mixture and serve with breakfast.
As gooseberries have lot of medicinal value, it is suggested to take it thrice a day in small
quantities. It keeps one healthy.
Spinach Dhal Usili

What we need:
Spinach – 300 gms
Whole green gram - 100 gms
Dried chilli - 10 gms
Cumin seeds - 10 gms
Oil - ½ teaspoon
Salt - as required.
How we make it:

Wash and chop the spinach finely. Add water and boil the spinach with salt to taste. Drain the water and
keep aside.
Add curry leaves, dried chilli to soaked whole green gram and grind it to a coarse batter like vadai
batter.
Saute cumin seeds in a hot skillet and add spinach to it. Stir fry and add green gram batter to it. Stir
and allow it to cook like upma. This usili is a good side dish for rice. Since it has high fibre content,
it aids digestion.
One can also make rasam with the drained spinach water.
64
Herbal
Recipes
Mudakkathan (Balloon vine spinach) Dosa
What we need:
Mudakathan Spinach
(Cleaned and cut) - 2 cups
Boiled Rice - 1 cup
Urad dal (whole) - 1tsp
Fenugreek - 1 tsp
Toor Dal - 2tsp
Oil - As required
Salt - As required
How we make it:
Soak the rice, fenugreek and toor dal for an hour in water and grind it. When half done, add spinach
to the batter and grind to a fine texture. Add salt as required and add water to it to make a dosa
batter.
Set aside the dosa batter for 7 hours to ferment.
Oil the hot dosa tava, pour a ladle of batter. Spread the dosa, let it cook and turn over. Let it cook, flip
onto a plate and serve.
Pirandai Thuvayal (Veld Grape Plant Chutney)

What we need:
Pirandai – 150 gms
Round red chillies - 6
Tamarind - 1 Marble sized ball
Urad dal - as required
Salt - as required
Oil - as required
How we make it:

Cut the pirandai stem to small pieces.
Pour some oil into a wok and saute urad dal and chillies. Add the pirandai stem and saute further,
then add salt.
Add tamarind to this and grind together into a fine paste.
66
Sukku Kali (Dried ginger pottage)
What we need:
Boiled rice - 1cup

(to be soaked for 2hours)
Dried ginger (sukku) - a big piece
Cardamom -1
Oil - 100 gms
Palm jaggery - 100 gms
How we make it:

Grind rice into a fine batter, adding dried ginger and cardamom.
Spread oil in a wok and pour the ground batter into it. Stir continuously.
Add jaggery to the mixture and keep stirring until it starts to roll itself into a ball. Then switch off
the heat and serve hot!
This dish has the ability to eradicate all respiratory ailments. This pottage is given to new mothers.
Vallarai Chutney
What we need:
Vallarai Spinach - 1 bundle
Shredded coconut - 4 tsp
Urad dal - 4 tsp
Dried chili -2
Tamarind - Marble sized
Oil - 2tsp
Salt - to taste
How we make it:

Saute chillies and urad dal in little oil and keep aside. Saute vallarai Spinach with the rest of the oil
separately. Let it cool.
Once it cools, add shredded coconut, tamarind, salt, sautéed chillies and urad dal to the spinach.
Grind well into a thick paste.
67
Murungai (Drumstick) soup
What we need:
Drumsticks -4
Potato -1
Onion -1
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Lime juice - 1 tbsp
Corriander - little
Butter - 1 tbsp
Salt - As required
To grind: Corriander seed/Daniya powder - 1 two ; Green chili - 1 ; Garlic - 2 pieces ;
Chili powder - 1/2 tsp
How we make it:

Peel the potato. Cut the onion, drumsticks and peeled potato into big pieces and place it in a cooker.
Add 2 cups of water, cover and cook to 3 whistles.
Once done and cooled, separate the skin of the drumstick and scoop out the flesh. Grind the cooked
potato and onion to a paste, add the drumstick flesh. Mix thoroughly with boiled water and keep
aside.
Grind the other ingredients mentioned separately above.
Melt butter in a wok. Add the daniya, green chilli paste and stir. Then add boiled water mix and
simmer until the raw smell reduces completely.
Once it starts to boil, turn off the heat and add lemon juice and chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot!
Vegetable Mudakathan Soup

What we need:
Carrot, Beetroot, Capsicum,
Tomato - 2 each
Shallot - 3
Garlic - 2 pieces
De-stemmed
Mudakathan s
pinach - 1 bundle
Garam Masala - 1 tbsp
Oil – 2 tbsp
Corn flour - 1tbsp
Salt - o taste
How we make it:
Cook the vegetables and spinach together.
Grind the tomatoes, onions, garlic and little pepper together to a paste. Pour some oil onto a wok
and saute the paste.
Add garam masala. Add the boiled vegetables and spinach with boiled water to this paste and let it
simmer.
Finally, add the corn flour, simmer and serve.
68
Arugampul Soup
What we need:
Scutch grass
(Arugampul) - 1 cup
Pepper powder - 1/4 tbsp
Jeera - as required
Salt - as required
Milk - 1/2 Ltr
How we make it:

Gather and clean the arugampul thoroughly and grind it to a paste. Add this paste to milk and boil
until it thickens.
Upon straining the arugampul infused milk, add pepper, jeera, salt, palm sugar (for people without
diabetes), and serve. If fed to children every night before bed, ailments of any type can be cured.
Cumin soup
What we need:
Water used to cook toor dal - 3 cups
Tomato puree –` 1/2 cup
Lemon juice - 2 tsp
Coriander leaves chopped – 2tsp
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - as required
To grind:
Cumin - 2 tsp, garlic
cloves - 4
To temper:
Ghee - 1 tsp,
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
How we make it:

Grind cumin to a paste. Pound the garlic cloves. Heat ghee in a pan and temper using cinnamon.
Add tomato puree, dhal water, salt, cumin paste and pound garlic. Let it boil for 5 min.
Turn off the flame and add coriander leaves and lemon juice.
Serve hot!
69
Agathikeerai Soup (Humming bird tree leaves soup)
What we need:
Chopped Agathikeerai – 2 cups
Coconut milk – ½ cup
Pepper powder – 2 tsp
Chopped shallots – 2 tsp
How we make it:

Pour a cup of water in a wok and heat it. Add shallots, salt.
Add agathikeerai and let it cook.
Once the keerai is cooked, add pepper powder and coconut milk.
Let it come to a boil.
Remove from heat and serve!
Musumusukkai leaf Chutney (Aganaki Chutney)

What we need:
Musumusukkai leaves – 4 handful
Sesame oil – 3 tsp
Ginger – 1 inch piece
Curry leaves – 4 bunches
Mint leaves and coriander
leaves – 1 handful each
(finely chopped)
Urad dal – 50 gms
Cut coconut – few pieces
Tamarind – size of a small
lemon
Red chilli – 6
How we make it:

Heat a heavy bottomed pan. Add ginger, urad dal and chilli, sauté.
Add the tamarind and cook. Let it cool.
Grind this into a fine paste. Add salt, curry leaves, coriander, mint leaves and coconut to this paste
and grind again, keep aside.
Heat ghee in a pan and temper with mustard seeds, gram dal, chopped shallots and sauté the paste.
You can use this tasty chutney as an accompaniment, or add it to rice along with hot ghee and eat it.
70
Cinnamon Tea
What we need:
Cinnamon sticks – 5 gms
Ginger – 5 gms
Sugar – 2.5 gms
MaratiMoggu(Kapok buds) – 5 gms
How we make it:

Pound cinnamon and maratimoggu. In a pan, heat 200 ml of water. Add this powder. Add pound
ginger and let it boil for 10 minutes. Filter the tea, add sugar and enjoy this tasty and healthy tea
which can keep viruses at bay.
Avarampoo tea (Tanner’s Casia flower mix)

What we need:
Avarampoo – 2 tbsp
Pepper powder – ½ tsp
Ginger - ¼ inch
Lemon juice – ½ tbsp
Jaggery powder – 1 tsp
How we make it:

Boil avarmpoo in water.
Add pepper powder, ginger, lemon juice and let it boil.
Filter it and enjoy your herbal tea adding honey/sugar/palm jaggery to it.
71
Vallarai powder (Brahmi leaves)
What we need:
Vallarai spinach – 1 cup
Coriander seed powder – 2 tsp
Gram dal – 1 tsp
Red Chili – 6
Asafoetida – 1 piece
Salt, oil – as required
Tamarind – a small quantity
How we make it:

Dry roast brahmi leaves until they turn crunchy. Keep it aside.
To a hot pan, add little bit of oil, and saute all other ingredients except salt and tamarind.
Sauté well and keep aside. Let it cool.
Now add tamarind and salt and grind everything together to get a powder like consistency.
Yellow Bhringraj stew (Yellow

Karisalanganni Kootu)
What we need:
Yellow Bhringraj leaves – 1 cup
Split moong dal – ½ cup
Cumin – 1 tsp
Pepper – 1 tsp
Coconut – ½ cup
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
How we make it:

Cook the dal until mushy, keep aside. In a vessel, cook the leaves in ½ cup of water.
Add the cooked dal, coconut and salt to this. Bring it to boil.
Add crushed pepper and cumin. Cook for a few minutes.
Take off the flame. Add mustard tempering to this stew.
It gives you amazing health benefits - healthy body, skin and hair. It is good for eyesight too.You
can have it twice or thrice a week.
72
Neem Flower Chutney (Vepampoo Thuvayal)
What we need:
Neem flowers - 3 tbsp
Mustard – ¼ tsp
Urad dal – 1 tbsp
Red chili – 2
Tamarind – 2 small amla sized balls
Pond jaggery – 1 tbsp
Coconut gratings – 2 tbsp
Salt, oil – as required
Garlic cloves – 2 (finely chopped)
How we make it:

In a hot pan, add oil. Temper with mustard seeds, urad dal, red chilli and keep aside.
In the same pan, simmer the flame and add a little oil to roast the neem flowers.
Turn off the flame.
With the fried ingredients, add tamarind, salt, grated coconut, jaggery and grind in a mixie.
Add garlic cloves at the end if required. This chutney goes well with rice and tiffin varieties.
Neem flower salad

What we need:
Boiled peanuts – 100 gms
Whole green gram - 1 cup
Big onion - 1
Tomato - 1
Coriander leaves - as required
Sliced ginger - ½ teaspoon
Green chilli - 1
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
Neem Flower - 1 tbsp
Salt - as required
How we make it:

Finely chop tomato, green chilli, coriander leaves and onion, keep aside. Add some salt with whole
green gram and cook it well.
Roast neem flowers in a skillet. Take a vessel and put boiled peanuts, cooked whole green gram and
other chopped ingredients along with chopped ginger and add roasted neem flower to it. Mix
thoroughly.
Add lemon juice if necessary. Chat masala or garam masala can also be added to make tasty neem
salad.
73
Neem flower Powder
What we need:
Neem flower - 100 gms
Asafoetida - ¼ spoon
Urad dhal - 100 gms
Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
Red chilli - 10 to 15(add as required)
Yellow split peas - 50 gms
Salt - as required
How we make it:

Dry roast all ingredients one by one in a hot pan, except salt.
And add salt with the roasted ingredients and grind together it to a powder.
Neem flower Powder is ready!
Kodo Millet (Varagarisi) - drumstick spinach soup

What we need:
Soaked Kodo millet rice - 2 teaspoon
Whole green gram - 1 teaspoon
Onion -1
Dried ginger - a pint size
Pepper -6
Drumstick spinach - a handful
How we make it:

Boil all the above said ingredients in 4 cups of water.
Add a handful of drumstick spinach to it, bring to a boil and the soup is ready to serve.
74
Manathakkali spinach Thuvaiyal
What we need:
Manathakkali spinach - 1 cup
Grated coconut - 20 tbsp
Green chili - 3
Oil, Mustard, salt - As required.
How we make it:

Take a handful of manathakkali spinach. Drain water.
Grind it with grated coconut, green chili, ginger and salt.
Season it with mustard seeds. Manathakkali thuvaiyal is ready!
Drumstick Rasam
What we need:
Yellow split peas - ¼ cup.
Tamarind - pint size
Drumstick - 3
Tomato - 2
Salt - 1 teaspoon
Pepper - 1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon
Dried chilli - 2, Green chilli - 1
Fenugreek - ¼ teaspoon
Turmeric powder - ¼ teaspoon
Mustard - 1 teaspoon
Oil, Coriander,
Curry leaves - As required.
How we make it:

Boil the drumstick and scoop out the fleshy part. Boil the yellow split peas separately, keep aside.
Boil 2 cups of water adding tamarind, salt, fenugreek, turmeric powder, tomato in it and let it boil
till the raw smell leaves.
Saute pepper, cumin seeds, dried chili with oil and grind the mixture. Add this mixture with the
boiling rasam.
Add split green chilli along with boiled split peas and drumstick flesh to the rasam and allow it to
boil until it shows effervescence.
Season mustard seeds with curry leaves, coriander and add them to rasam.
Serve hot!
75
Lotus flower coffee
What we need:
Lotus flower Petals - 10
Jaggery - 5 gms
Milk - 200 ml.
Cardamom - 1 teaspoon
How we make it:

Dry the lotus flower petals very well. Powder the petals and cardamom finely. Boil the water with
jaggery or sugar. Add 2-4 teaspoons of petal powder to 1 cup of jaggery/sugar syrup. Add milk to
taste.
We can also prepare this coffee with shade dried and powdered rose petals or mix both rose and
lotus petal powders.
Thoothuvalai (Solanum Trilobatum) Soup

What we need:
Solanum Trilobatum spinach
(Thoothuvalaikeerai) - 1 cup
Onion - 1
Garlic - 5 pieces
Pepper - ½ teaspoon
Cumin seeds - ½ teaspoon
Coconut milk - ½ cup
Oil - 3 teaspoon
Salt - Requisite quantity
How we make it:

Clean and chop the thoothuvalai keerai.
Peel off onion and garlic and crush them.
Saute in a hot pan pound onion garlic, add thoothuvalaikeerai and stir fry.
Pour 3 cups of water into the pan.
Add salt, bring to a boil and switch off the stove after assuring yourself that thoothuvalaikeerai has
been cooked properly.
Add pepper powder, cumin seed powder and coconut milk to this, stir and serve it hot!
76
Neem bud tea (Veppanthulir Tea)
What we need:
Neem bud, bael leaves,
Tulsi - handful
Sugar - 05 grams
Milk - 200 ml
Cardamom - Small quantity
How we make it:
Pluck small quantities of neem buds and bael leaves and
dry them separately in shade. Grind them to powder form
and put them in a glass jar and close it air-tight.
Pluck green, garden-fresh tulsi leaves for use.
Pour a glass of water in a vessel, boil the water; after it boils, add neem buds and bael leaves
powder and tulsi leaves and let the tea boil (in high flame) for 3 minutes.
Switch-off the stove, filter the tea using clean cloth, add requisite quantity of sugar to the tea and
serve hot!
Green neem buds provide us with the best of medicinal benefits. These buds can cure ulcer and kill
bacteria in the body. Bael leaves don’t lag far behind in offering medicinal benefits to us. It cures
acidity and can easily heal long-pending and incurable injuries. It is the ‘enemy No.1’ for bacteria.
Tea from fresh neem buds, bael leaves and tulsi leaves is the best. Using this tea can help us cure
ulcers.
Baby-corn Pasalai gravy

What we need:
Baby-corn - ¼ kilogram
Pasalaikeerai - 20 leaves
Dried Mirchi - 5 nos.
Coriander powder - 10 grams
Cinnamon - 2 grams
Onion - 100 grams
Tomato - 75 grams
Pepper - 10 grams
Oil - 15 grams
Curd - 250 grams
How we make it:
Rinse baby-corn in water, add water and cook it in a cooker. Saute the baby corn with oil and keep
aside.
Saute red chilli, chopped onion, tomato and pasalakeerai, curd with oil in a cooker and stir. Add
water, and let it boil. Once it is cooked, add pepper powder, coriander powder, cinnamon and let it
cook for a few more minutes. Switch off the stove, add baby-corn in it and serve it hot!
Rich in fibre, the combination of baby-corn and pasalaikeerai turns out to be so tasty that it is
certain to attract kids. It’s a perfect dish as supplement to your breakfast or lunch.
77
Pirandai (Veld grape) Pulikozhambu
What we need:
Chillies - 10
Dried coriander - 1 big spoonful
Fennel - 1 teaspoon
Grated coconut - ½ coconut
Bengal gram dal - 4 teaspoon
Tamarind - Small ball (the size of a big lemon)
Pirandai pieces - 1 cup
Salt - Requisite quantity, Ghee - 4 teaspoons, Fenugreek seeds - 1
teaspoon, shallot - 1 handful, Tomato - 2, Asafoetida - 1 piece
How we make it:
Dry roast coriander, chillies in a hot pan and grind it to powder form. Roast fennel, bengal gram dal
and grated coconut separately in a pan and grind them. Soak tamarind in water and add the powdered
coriander and chilli to it. In a hot pan, add little ghee, saute fenugreek seeds and pirandai. Add
asafoetida, chopped shallot, tomato and saute for few more minutes. After it is cooked, add tamarind
extract mix and let it boil. The coconut-dal-fennel paste should now be added along with remaining
ghee, stirring adequately. The kuzhambu is ready.
This can be eaten along with boiled rice, with pirandai supplementing as a side-dish. This can cure
indigestion and incites the appetite to eat more. However, pirandai should be fried, cooked and added
with tamarind for it to taste good without irritating the taste-buds in the tongue or creating a burning
sensation in the stomach while eating.
Pirandai chutney
What we need:
Red chillies - 4
Bengal gram dhal, Black gram - each 4 teaspoon
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Tamarind - Small ball, the size
of a big lemon
Cut onion (small) - 1 cup
Asafoetida - small quantity
Tomato - 3 Nos.
Coriander leaves - 1 bunch
Ghee - 10 grams
Green chillies - 2
Curry leaves - Small quantity
Pirandaistem - 1 cup
How we make it:
Saute chillies, asafoetida and Bengal gram separately one by one in a hot pan with ghee, keep aside.
Grind tamarind, salt, green chillies to a paste. Deskin pirandai stem, break it, saute and add grind it
with tamarind green chilli paste. Add coriander leaves and asafoetida to this, grind well, keep the
chutney aside. In a hot pan, temper mustard seeds, stir in chopped onion and tomato. Add curry
leaves and season the chutney. This chutney is a perfect side-dish for idli, dosa and boiled rice. This
obviates indigestion; creates appetite for eating and increases digestive power. Stomach-related
disorders would be taken care of. 78
Pirandaikodi Leaves Thuvaiyal
What we need:
Pirandai stems - 1 handful
(they should be cleaned and then rinsed carefully)
Asafoetida - small quantity
Black gram - 2 teaspoon
Red chillies - 3 Nos.
Tamarind - Small ball, the size of a big lemon
Gingelly oil - 2 teaspoon
Mustard seeds - ½ teaspoon
How we make it:

Saute red chillies in a hot pan with little oil. Saute black gram and asafoetida separately and keep
them aside. Cook pirandai. Grind chillies, salt, tamarind and grind to a paste. Add pirandai and
grind well into a chutney.
Remove the residue as you grind.
In a hot pan, add oil temper mustard seeds and season the thuvaiyal.
Thuvaiyal is now ready. Mix it well with boiled rice by adding a teaspoon of gingelly oil.
This is very good for curing indigestion and would keep the stomach clean.
Sotrukatraazhai (Aloe Vera)
What we need:
Aloe vera - Requisite quantity
Coconut (Grated coconut) - 1 cup
Red chillies - 4 Nos.
Bengal gram dal (or) groundnut - 100 gms (broken)
Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon Salt - Requisite quantity
Shallots - 10 Nos. Tomato - 4 Nos.
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon Curry leaves - Small quantity
Coriander leaves - 1 bunch Cinnamon - 1 gms
Fennel, Peppercorns - 1 teaspoon each
Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon
How we make it:

Grind grated coconut and fennel together into a paste. Chop shallots and tomatoes. In a pan, add
ghee and saute mustard seeds, red chillies and groundnut/bengal gram dhal. Add shallots, tomatoes
stir. Add chopped curry leaves and coriander leaves.
Add salt, coriander powder, coconut-fennel paste. Stir.
Cut aloe vera, rinse thoroughly and add to the pan. Switch off the stove after 10-15 minutes.
Sprinkle pepper corn, stir further and serve after mixing coconut milk.
79
AmmaanPachcharisi – Marugu Pookkal Payasam
What we need:
AmmaanPachcharisi - Requisite quantity
Marugupookkal - Requisite quantity
Milk of high density, Cashewnut, grapes,
Cardamom - Small quantity
Ghee - 10 Gms
Badam - Requisite quantity
Green camphor - Small quantity
Jaggery - 1 Kgms
Saffron - Requisite quantity
How we make it:

Pour ghee in a hot pan, saute ammaan pachcharisi, marugupoo. Add a cup of water and then milk to
it and bring to a boil; add sugar. In another hot pan, add ghee, fry cashew nut and grapes and add it
to the payasam. Add powdered cardamom and camphor. Heat saffron mildly in ghee and add to the
payasam. This ammaan pachcharisi-marugu payasam can be taken by lactating mothers in the
mornings as well as in the evenings. This helps to a great extent in secretion of milk and is a great
boon to mothers who don’t secrete sufficient milk to feed their babies.
Magizhchitharum thokku
What we need:
Snake gourd - 150 gms
Murungaipoo - 150 gms
Powdered peppercorn - 10 gms
Red chilli - 10 gms
Jaadibathiri - 2 gms
Shallots - 50 gms
Mustard seeds - 2 gms
Garlic - 10 pieces
How we make it:

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, fenugreek, red chillies and garlic cloves and perform
seasoning. Add snake gourd to this and cook. After it is half-cooked, add murungaipoo, chopped
shallot and stir/cook further for ten more minutes.
Add to this tamarind extract (1/2 cup) and also cumin seeds, pepper-corn and jaadibathiri and
stir/cook until till the greenish tinge is lost.
Add requisite amount of salt and then grind the thokku in a mixie.
This is very delicious to eat as a side-dish along with boiled rice as well as roti/chappathi.
This highly effective dish during peak summer and keeps the body energized at all times. Eat it
thrice a week during lunch to rid the body of the heat, say ‘goodbye’ to tiredness and remain
brimming with enthusiasm!
80

Nutrious Recipe Book

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Nutrious Recipe Book

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Nutrious Recipe Book

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

ICDS

The Department of Integrated Child Development Services

2. Fireless Cooking Recipes 13

3. Nutritious Sweet Recipes 25

4. Nutritious Recipes for Children 37

5. Nutritious Recipes for Pregnant Women 49

How we make it:

Cardamom powder - 25 gms

How we make it:

Corn flour - 1 Cup

How we make it:

Saamai Tamarind Pongal

How we make it:

How we make it:

Kambu Palak Roti

How we make it:

How to make it:

Millet (siruthaniya) puttu

Corn - 100 gms

How we make it:

How we make it:

Kambu - 200 gms

How we make it:

Kambu - 100 gms

How we make it:

Kaikuthal Rice Vada

Kaikuthal rice flour - as required

How we make it:

How we make it:

Corn Vegetable Upma

How we make it:

How we make it:

Proso Millet Spicy Appam

How we make it:

Pearl / Proso Millet sprouts

How we make it:

Proso Millet / Barnyard Millet Idli & Dosa

Proso Millet Rice/

How we make it:

How to make it:

Fruit Mixture with Pulp

How to make it:

Mashed sweet banana

How to make it:

How to make it:

How to make it:

Corn powder or powder - 1 cup

How to make it:

How to make it:

Jilu Jilu Chill drink

How to make it:

How to make it:

Mixed Fruit Shake

How to make it:

Sprouts and rye - each 1/2 cup

How to make it:

Small cucumber - 1/4 kgms

How to make it:

How to make it:

Green gram salad