You would require:
1 cup poha (which is flattened rice), 1 liter of whole cream milk, 5 almonds, 5 pistachios, 5 cardamoms powdered, 1 cup sugar, 4-5 cashews broken, 15-20 raisins, water and little bit of salt.

Wash and drain the poha. Leave it for 10 minutes.  Separate the poha grains using your fingers from the vessel. Boil the milk in a large vessel and when the milk starts boiling add poha and stire gently in it. Bring the mixture to boil. Simmer till the milk volume reduces to half. Stir occasionally once or twice. It is time add sugar and cardamom, stir it to dissolve. Add the raisins and cashews. Simmer the whole mixture for 2 minutes and garnish with chopped almonds and pistachios. The aval payasam is ready.

Masala Dosa

Masala dosa is a very popular south Indian recipe which you can find in almost all types of fast food joints in India and restaurants. The masala dosa is the most popular recipe among south Indian dishes in other parts of India.

You would require:
2 ½ cup uncooked rice, 1 cup of urad dal preferably whole, 2 tablespoon fenugreek, salt to taste and 2 table spoon cooking oil. For Masala you would require 3 boiled potatoes peeled and chopped, 1 onion chopped, 2 chillies, 1 tbsp turmeric powder, 1 tbsp chana dal, ½ tbsp mustard seed, salt to taste and coriander leaves if you wish.

You have to soak the urad dal, rice and fenugreek seeds separately for at least 8 hours in water. Now grind them well together using the requisite amount of water to make a fine paste. Add salt and set the mixture aside for fermentation for the whole day.

Now when you are ready to prepare masala dosa, cut the onions, and arrange the rest of ingredients to prepare the masala dosa. Sauté the chopped onion in a pan with cooking oil and add mustard seeds, chana dal, and chilly to the sauté onion. Fry till they are brown in color. Add salt and the chopped potatoes, turmeric, chilly powder continuously. Cook it for few minutes. It is time now to pour the ladle on a non-stick pan and give it a circular shape. Put little oil around it and turn around while bubbling appears. Now fill the center of the dosa with the masala (one spoon) prepared. Fold the dosa to cover the masala. The dosa is ready to be served with chutney of coconut and sambhar.

The South Indian food is loved by folks because of their simple preparation techniques and the nutrition value which remains intact in their recipes. You can prepare quickly some South Indian recipes without compromising the taste, aroma and nutrition of food. All you need is to arrange the ingredients of the required recipes. Remember, the South Indian Food are very much taste oriented and if you minus one ingredient, perhaps there may be some chance of mission the origin flavor of it. For example a lot people prepare dosa a popular dish of south India without fenugreek seeds in them which reduce the taste of the dosa to a large extent.

Here are few simple yet healthy recipes of South India Food which you can prepare in your home in no time.

Carrot Rice

This is a yummy dish of South India Cuisine and served as quick breakfast or lunch at homes.

The ingredients:
2 cups of basmati rice cooked well. 1 cup of fresh carrot grated and 1 onion chopped finely. 2 green chillies, ½ cuped boiled peas, 1 tabsp urad dal, 1 tbsp cashew nuts, 1 tbsp mustard seeds, salt to taste, ½ tbsp red chilly powder, ½ tbsp turmeric powder, 4 tbsp lemon juice, coriander leaves, oil for cooking and little bit of cumin.

Take a shallow pan and heat 2 tbspoon of oil. Add the mustard seeds, when they strart spluttering add the urad dal and cashew nuts. Sauté the mixture in oil in low flame till they are brown in color and add turmeric powder, chilly powder, and salt. Now mix the grated carrot and boiled peas and sprinkle with water. Keep the pan cover in low flame till the carrots are tender. Now add lemon juice and add the boiled rice to the pan. With a cooking spoon mix the rice well with the stuff in the pan. Cook for another 3-4 minutes in medium flame. Garnish with coriander leaves. The delicious carrot rice is ready.

Chettinad Chicken

This chicken recipe is very popular throughout India because of its preparation style and nutrition value.

The ingredients:
1 kg of chicken washed can cut into bite pieces. Ginger garlic paste, 2 onions chopped, 1 ½ tsp black peppercorns, 1 ½ tsp white poppy seeds, 2 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 2 twigs of curry leaves, 2 tbsp fennel seeds, 4 green chillies, salt to taste, 1 tbsp turmeric powder, 1 tbsp chilly powder, cooking oil, 1 tomato mashed properly and coriander leaves for garnishing.

Smear the chicken pieces in salt, turmeric powder, chilly powder and little oil properly. Heat the oil in a large shallow pan, add cumin seeds, fennel seeds, chopped onion, and fry till they are brown in color. Add the black peppercorns, poppy seeds, green chilies, curry leaves to it and sauté the spices properly. Keep the mixture aside and now add the remaining onion and ginger garlic paste to the oil and fry till they are brown in color. Add the smashed tomato, coriander powder, sauted spices, and rest of powders of turmeric and chilly. Mix the mixture well and if require sprinkle water over it. Now add the chicken and add salt for taste. Fry the mixture in medium flame for at least 6 minutes. Pour some amount of water and cover the lid of the pan and cook for 15 minutes. The gravy would turn almost dry. When the chicken becomes tender and the gravy quite thick put off the flame and cover the lid for another 5 minutes. The Chettinad chicken is ready to be served with hot bun or rice.

If you want to learn or taste the recipes of India, you cannot miss the pickles, chutneys and appetizers of India which are prepared using the best spices and s sorts of fruits, vegetables, and natural ingredients. Appetizers stimulate the digestive system and add taste and flavor to a particular recipe. As well as they are nutritious and good for health. The appetizers are for all occasions and for all seasons.

If you ever buy any book on Indian Recipes and cooking traditions you will definitely find some recipe lessons on Indian appetizers. The appetizers include items like pickles, chutneys, murabbas, jellies, jams, sherbets, cold drinks prepared in home, squashes and raita. The ingredients required to prepare them are easily available in the local market.

The chutneys, pickles, salads, raita and other things used in a variety of ways in Indian homes depending on their moods, lifestyle, region and festivals. They are served as condiments to enhance the taste of food and add an extra flavor to dishes.

Here are recipes of few appetizers in India:

Coconut Chutney

Ingredients:
1 cup of unsweetened/sweetened grated coconut, 1 cup of roasted chana or roasted peanuts, 1 cup loosely filled cilantro leaves, 5 hot green chilly peepers, ½ tbsp salt, 3 pods of garlic, ½ cup lime juice and 1 cup of water. 

Mix all the ingredients in a pour into a bowl. Now take a blender and blend them find. All salt and mix the blended items well. Garnish the chutney with fresh leaves of parsley or mint or coriander or any herb of your choice.

The coconut chutney is ready to be served with dosa or roti or rice dishes.

Amla Pickle

Amla pickle is a widely used condiment in the homes of Indians. Almost all homes do prepare ala pickle during amla season and relish it with favorable dishes like paranthas.

Ingredients:
15-20 amlas, 1 tablespoon mustard seeds, 4 green chillies, 2 tablespoon turmeric powder, 1 tbsp hing, 7-8 tbsp mustard oil, fenugreek seeds, vinegar and salt for taste.

Take a pressure cooker. Pour all the amlas after washing them well. Now cook them till they are soft and tender. Five or six whistles will make them tender. Take out the amlas and blend them well with mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, and green chillies. Ass the turmeric powder too. If you wish you can add red chilly powder to prevent them from rotting when they are kept for long. Now heat the oil in a kadai and add the paste of that you blended in the mixture to it when the oil is hot. Cook for at least 6-7 minutes. Take a clean glass container whose mouth can be covered tightly. Pour the rest of the oil in the container and put the amla from kadai in it. Add little amount of vinegar to keep the medium tangy and free from rotting pathogens. For one week keep the bottle under direct sunlight. The amla pickle by now gets ready to be served with variety of dishes.

Each region of India has its own specialty which is inspired by race, history, religion and geography. For instance, the Rajasthan cuisines make use of more milk and milk products than water due to scarcity of water in the place. The Punjabi food reflects the vibrant culture of the place, the tradition of people who love variety and want food filled with not only nutritious ingredients but also some amount of love by which they are prepared.

The secret of Indian style of cooking is the use of spices. Always being hot filled with chilly varieties, spices Indian food is also a complement for the blend of sauces that are used while preparing the recipes. The tradition of Indian cooking is an art and you would have great experience in cooking Indian food. Right from planning your recipe to collection of ingredients in right amount to blending of spices, simmering, steaming and stirring, the cooking is an activity that would enjoy the most.

The good thing about Indian cooking is that it is neither complex nor confusing. You don’t have to work too hard to prepare them. Just you need some patience preparing the spice blend and collect some ingredients for them. You have to be very specific while you cook Indian food for the real taste. For example you must use coconut oil for South Indian dishes to get the real taste and pure mustard oil to get the flavor of Bengal and East.

The traditions of Indian cooking have seen both vegetarian and non-vegetarian style of cooking. There are some recipes or dishes which require not a contemporary roaster or micro-woven, but the burning coal or a perfect fire place to roast them. For instance you can prepare tandori chicken in a woven but the taste of it roasted in a hearth has a different feeling.

Indian cooking thus involves all types of cooking- frying, boiling, steaming, roasting and low steam frying. There are few recipes where banana leaves are used to steam meat and fishes. Your mouth would just water while you see them prepared!

Indeed the place is known for their variety of vegetarian food styles. Whether you talk of Lapsi which is wheat porridge or the ‘bhujia-roti’ combination, you have something to stuff in your mouth without any sort of hesitation. If you wish to learn about the taste of Rajasthan and its vivid culture which is reflected in the dishes, read the book on Rajasthan Cuisin by Maharani Gayatri Devi.

Rajasthani food is mostly known for the cooking in Royal Kitchens. Food here is a serious business because of the tourists flooding the state almost all the year round. The cooking here has its unique flavor and they use the simplest ingredients in them. Gram flour is widely used in some delicacies like Pakoda, Ghatta ki Sabji, Khata and others. They use bajra and corn to make bread (rotis). The place is also known for Khichri a particular dish prepared by ingredients like – rice, vegetables, ginger, spices, and some amount of butter. Rajasthan is also known for richly snacks like – ‘Daal-Moth’, Papad, Chips and Bhujia.

Here are few things which you always find in Rajasthan:

Lassi

This is natural yoghurt which is churned to remove the butter and make Lassi (buttermilk) a cool beverage served in summer.

Rajasthani Dal-Bati-Churma

This is a common food of Rajasthani people. Daal-Bati is cooked lentils and roasted balls of dough which is accompanies by pickle berries cooked in different methods. The Churma is a sweet dish made of jaggery or sugar in ghee. For taste and variety some ingredients like coconut, khoya and resins are also used.

Frying Puris and Chola

This is also a Punjabi favorite snack. Grams are soaked in water and later on cooked to a delicious stuffy recipe called chola masala which is served with fried white thin breads that puff like balloons when they are put on hot boiling oil in big pans.

The other common things which you would be able to taste in Rajasthan are – sweets having some spicy flavors, jalebis, mithais, faldas and glass of milk served with thick cream.

Indian food finds a good place in the menu of so many famous restaurant and food joints when a majority of population in the world is making their ways of life totally vegetarian. Indian food is known for their both vegetarian and non vegetarian styles of cooking. But what attract most people to it are the richness, nourishment and taste that is maintained even in vegetarian dishes. Perhaps no other country or place could have such delicious vegetarian food as prepared in India.

The common image of vegetarian food in the West is that - they are tasteless, full of green vegetables, and some cream on them for beating the raw taste. This is what is actually thought about vegetable dishes in most countries in the west. They either boil the vegetables with some salt or serve with cream, sausage or other ingredients. But when you come to India and taste the vegetarian dishes, the whole concept of vegetarian food as tasteless plates change. They can be more delicious and aromatic than non-vegetarian food.

The India vegetarian food has touch of its culture, place and people. Almost every corner of the nation has some famous vegetarian dishes. They are not simple bowel filled with vegetables made without any sort of delicacy. Rather they are more nutritious, rich and healthy food than non-vegetarian dishes. For instance you take the example of –mixed vegetable’ a special item prepared where more than 4-5 vegetables are used and cheese or Soya is used for additional touch. You won’t believe the aroma of the vegetable dish to be a vegetarian one. It smells better than any meat prepared dish.

The rich aroma of Indian food is due to the use of spices of different kinds. You can now learn about them and prepare within your home some famous vegetarian dishes. Prepare a dish and make your children and husband relish on it. They would find it difficult to believe that it is actually a vegetarian dish. It is the exotic style of Indian cooking with use of spices, ghee, and butter that make them so delectable.

The variety of Indian style of cooling of vegetarian food never makes anything monotonous. You have varied styles of cooking which are diverse and distinct. If you have tried some North Indian Punjabi Vegetarian food, you can now try with some Bengali vegetarian food which are known for their taste and mouth water aroma; then you have the South Indian dishes, the Goan recipes, Gujarati food, Maharashtrian exclusive dishes, or Kashmiri vegetarian dishes, sweets prepared from vegetables like carrots, beats, berries and others.

Every state or region of India has its own specialty of preparing large number of dishes. Whether you talk of Northern Punjabi food, or western Gujarati, Maharashtrian Food or Western Bengali or Assamese Food, Or the South Indian delicacies; you always have something new to discover. New taste, new recipes, new ways of cooking and new ingredients used. This versatility of Indian vegetarian or non-vegetarian food is slowly gaining global attention. Here are few regions food which are famous for their exotic recipes and style of cooking.

Bengali Food:

The Bengali food is known for their sweet dishes made from cottage cheese. Their famous dishes include fish items prepared in variety of recipes. Some famous Bengali food that are relished through out India are – Fish Curry, Aloo Posto, Luci Baji, sweets like Rasosollas, Sansdesh, Misti Dai, Chum Chum and others. Food buffs love gulping down the Bengali recipes prepared with complete Begali touch.

Punjabi Food:

Perhaps no other food from India is as famous as Punjabi delicacies. Punjabi Food has found its position in the menu of lots of renowned restaurants across the world. The Punjabi food is known for their richness and the use of butter and ghee. They mostly accompany gravy. They are simply healthy, delicious, and have some sort of fascination when they are put in front of you. The famous Punjabi food items are- shahi paneer, matar paneer, dal makhani, lassi, chicken tandoori, butter chicken, tikkas and kababs, and to name a few. Their bread of different styles like tandori, missi roti, naan, and butter roti too are famous throughout India and the world.

The Striking Goan Food:

If there is a place for which suits best for a relaxing mood, having the best wine on your table and some wonderful recipes, then it has to be Goa. The beach state of India is famous for their Portuguese legacy and the multiculture hub. The place attracts tourists not only for its famous beaches, night outs, and fine wine, but also for the food it serves having true touch of India and Portuguese blended together. You will find hundreds and thousand dishes of fishes, sea food, chicken, mutton and beef items in this heaven of tourists.

Gujarati Food:

The Gujarati are famous for some of their spicy delicacies like dohkla, papad and curd. The foods of Gujarat are prepared taking note of nourishment and balance of everything. Their famous sweet is basundi which is known for its mouth water taste. Their staple diet consists of rice, dal, chapatti, kachumbar (mixed vegetable salad), different types of vegetable dishes and others.

This is not the end. There are still more types of Indian food which you can have in the menu of Indian dishes. They very famous of them are – South India food, Maharashtrian Food, Hyderabadi delicacies, Specialties of Kerala, and alike. Pickles, chutneys, and other additional appetizers are famous items of Indian food which find their position in almost all types of Indian foods.

Scorching summer, sweaty weather has again made its existence felt, in its every possible way. Now what is your strategy to fight back or to give it up? In case you opt for latter one, here’s how . All the seasons bring with them definite do's along with don’ts. So does this sweltering and blazing summer, especially Indian summers.

Avoid oily food

Eating excess of fried food causes lethargy. So go for grilled stuff, steamed, boiled and roasted eatables instead. Such food not only keeps you healthy but also makes

Reduce ingestion of beverages

Consuming excess of tea and coffee increases your urination period, leading to more water loss. You can always go for required amount of such drinks, but as they dehydrate your body fluids, so keep a proper check on their intake level.

Avoid eating stale foodstuffs (fruits and vegetable)

Do not cut Fruit and vegetables much earlier since it leads to water loss thereby causing degradation of their nutritional content that is why it is always recommended to consume only freshly peeled and chopped fruit and veggies. Make sure you avoid stale food because such a Food might be breeding floor for various bacteria.

Avoid excessive smoking and alcohol intake

Avoid both drinking alcohol and smoking cigars and cigarettes, as they dehydrate the contents of our body taking away the required oxygen substance from the blood vessels thereby causing suffocation in our lungs.

Avoid drinks rich in acidic contents

Try to Avoid such soft drinks since they produce gases in our body which leads to digestion problems like gastrointestinal distresses like stomach aches, diarrhea, vomiting etc. so, instead of feeding yourself with such processed carbonated drinks you can consume lemonade, lassi, jaljeera and home-made drinks like mango panna. These drinks help in maintaining the electrolyte balance of the body. Also, yoghurt if consumed with sugar reduces the acid that gets produced in the body because of former carbonated drinks.

Eat in less quantity

Over eating in any season is bad. Make sure your Chew your food bites properly and leave the habit of eating in hurry. In such sweltering summer, go for light meals, particularly at night. Otherwise you may go through indigestion, loose motions or vomiting. Avoid long gaps between meals too. Eat three times a day, interspersed with frequent snacks like salads, sprouts and fruits.

The invention of pressure cooker has brought about a revolution in kitchens the world over. An independent market research that has been conducted in more than 20,000 households all over India by the Indian market research bureau has established that most housewives find pressure cooking better in quality and easy than compared to any other method of cooking. The best materials used in their manufacturing enforce the strictest quality control at every sage of your cooking. Thus, providing you with several years of trouble free services. Such rewarding uses of pressure cooking are listed below:

Pressure cooking saves time

According to research, it has been proved that on an average pressure cooking takes 53% less time to prepare meals as compared to usual and traditional unbolt pot cooking. This takes into account the time required to bring the cooker to full pressure as well as the time during which the food is cooked under full pressure. The longer an item takes to cook, the greater is the time saved through pressure cooking. This benefit extends to all cereals, pulses, vegetables and meats as well. Substantial saving in such a way allows the housewife to devote more attention to the management of her household and pursue her other interests.

Pressure cooking saves money

As you prepare meals faster through this method, you always have a benefit of saving fuel as well as money. So it can be concluded that such a family bank on kerosene, electricity and LPG gas which they would had otherwise required, by utilizing pressure cooker for cooking daily meals. In today’s time when constantly fuel prices are rising high complemented with the erratic supply, such a saving is surely an advantage that one can’t afford to ignore.

Pressure cooking is healthy

Pressure cooking preserves nutritive elements of eatables in a better manner. This is a little known advantage that surely will glee today’s progressively more health and fitness conscious generation. By utilizing a pressure cooker, the family gains better health-as pressure cooking provides more nourishing and healthful food than the one’s we get from ordinary cooking. A survey of extant scientific literature shows that certain nutritive elements, particularly vitamins and proteins are preserved during pressure cooking. For a maddening figure conscious age group too, the pressure cooker seems to be the answer for their exploration as an only exclusive appliance which can avail them with delicately low calorie steamed foodstuffs.

The very mention of Indian cooking makes one think of rich aromatic foods that have been cooked with a variety of spices. However, the art of Indian cooking lies in the selection and combination of spices rather than their quantity. Spices are used in such a manner and quality as to bring out the characteristic flavors of a dish.

In north India, the most commonly used spices are the red chilli, coriander, cumin and turmeric powders. These spices impart both pungency and flavor to the dish. Garam masala powders are also used in selected dishes to enhance aroma and spiciness. In certain recipes whole spice like cumin seeds, cardamoms and cloves are used to impart their characteristic aromas.

Though all these spices are available commercially as packaged masalas and powders, but to ensure that the spices are fresh, it is preferable to use whole spices and grind them fresh each time in a blender or with a mortar and pestle.

How to prepare garam masala at home

Art of roasting spices:

Before grinding, the spices are sometimes roasted to bring out the characteristic aromas. To roast, place spices in a small heavy skillet on medium heat. Stir continuously until the spices darken by a few shades and give out their distinct aromas.

Below are recipes of garam masala both in north Indian as well as in eastern Indian style.

Garam masala-north Indian style

Ingredients:
20 gms peppercorns;10 gms cloves;20 gms cinnamon;15 gms brown cardamoms peeled;10 gms caraway or cumin seeds

Method:

Lightly roast all ingredients on a griddle. Grind to a powder and sieve.

Garam masala- eastern Indian style

Ingredients:
20gms cloves; 20gms cinnamon; 20gms green cardamoms peeled

Method:

Lightly roast all ingredients on a griddle. Grind to a powder and sieve.

Preparation of sambhar powder in south Indian style

One of the prime requisites of south Indian cooking is the sambhar powder. No south Indian home is without it and each region of south India in turn has its own interesting version of the sambhar powder.

Ingredients:
25 gms whole dry red chillies;25 gms coriander leaves;10 gms Bengal gram;1 tsp fenugreek seeds;2 ½ cm pieces turmeric;1 tsp peppercorns

Method:

Lightly roast all the ingredients on a griddle. Grind to a powder and sieve.