Our friends sent us loads of farm fresh tomatoes they harvested in their farm. Last week saw the making of a lot of tomato based recipes namely, tomato pickle, tomato rasam, tomato soup and Tamatar Pulao. Tomato Pulao is an extremely flavorful rice dish using ripe red tomatoes and rice.

I always have left over Idlis when I prepare Idlis for breakfast or dinner. When I am in need of a quick snack, all I do is saute the crumbled cold refrigerated idlis with a spiced base of onions and lots of fresh coriander leaves. I tend to play with the spices each time I go the crumbled idli upma way.

Any dish I prepare with left over idlis makes my stomach happy. Masala Idli is a favorite and takes me less than 15 minutes to prepare. Usually prepared as a breakfast fare with a good dose of lemon juice and fresh coriander as garnish. Lively, invigorating flavors!

How about a savory breakfast with a tangy twist? Bursting with flavor and fragrant, our morning meal was delightful. With surplus raw mangoes at home, its been an overload of tangy goodness this past week. Mamidikaya (raw mango) Vermicelli Upma is quick and simple to prepare with few ingredients.

Yesterday, I prepared Vegetable Fried Rice and had some left over white rice and chopped mixed vegetables. Decided to use the left over rice and veggies to prepare an Indo Chinese appetizer. Very easy and quick to bring together and makes for a great evening snack when your kids come home hungry after play. Interesting combination of flavors and textures.

Yesterday we had chicken roast with a quick capsicum rice for our mid day meal. The butter flavored rice had lot of crunch due to capsicum and cashew nuts and it hardly needed any other ingredient to enhance its taste. One pot meal that is a total keeper!

A large boiled potato was lingering about in the fridge along with some chapati dough. I decided to make Aloo Parathas for breakfast since it meant less preparation work. The stuffing I make is super simple. Whatever variations of the stuffing I prepare, coriander leaves and green chilies are a constant. And I always use desi ghee to roast them, the flavor is simply out-of-the-world.

This had been lying in my drafts and wouldn’t have seen the light of day if a reader had not requested for Chilli Cheese Toast recipe. Not much of a recipe really. A quick breakfast/brunch or lunch box recipe that can be prepared in 10 minutes.

This morning I prepared Iyengar Bakery style ‘Vegetable Open Sandwich’ for breakfast. Makes for a colorful lunch box treat for kids. While packing Nehal’s snack box, I went the grilled sandwich way. You can serve it as an open or grilled sandwich.

When pressed for time, I tend to go the one pot meal way. Semiya Biryani is a delightful one pot light meal, fragrant with aromatic spices and loaded with vegetables. Use whole wheat vermicelli and you have some wholesome goodness on your dinner plate.