Showing posts with label Nutritious. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nutritious. Show all posts

Papaya Milk Shake

By    1:14 PM // 3 comments
Everyone at home loves to eat papaya fruit and we see to it that it is consumed empty stomach at least once  a week as this tropical fruit is known to help in digestion. After papaya pudding, I was thinking why not prepare healthy yummy papaya milkshake from the leftover fruit resting in the fridge. A refreshing drink this can be served during breakfast or as light snack in the evening. I served it before our breakfast and kids loved it.




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Usal Pav - A Match Made in Heaven

By    9:56 PM // 14 comments
Usal pav is a traditional Maharashtrian breakfast/ snack dish, a legume based gravy served with pav. Although simple and straightforward recipe, it is very popular as yet another street food along with misal pav, so don't miss any opportunity to eat it when you are in Maharashtra. This was the best food I could think of eating from the canteen in my break before I head to the library after college hours study time. Back home amma used to make this concoction from different beans and legumes but the favourite of mine till date has been Mataki/Moth bean. She would go easy on spices, flavor it with goda masala and add little jaggery which I used to relish with garam garam phulkas. 

 I have always followed amma's recipe to prepare this dish, but this time when I ran out of stock with ready to use goda masala [I usually get it from Mumbai] I decided to try the recipe from Koushi Bhatia's book "Favourite dishes of India". This recipe uses freshly ground masala paste to make it, an alternative option instead of ready to use masala powders. The preparation took a little more time as it involved frying and grinding the ingredients, but the final dish was fingerlickingly good. If you want it really hot and spicy you may add more chillies.



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Rice With Juicy Soya Nuggets, Burnt Garlic and Veggies

By    11:36 PM // 4 comments
A favourite recipe of mine with fascinating fusion of flavors coming from juicy soya nuggets and burnt garlic! When JD from Jayanta's Home Kitchen posted his recipe for "Juciy soya nuggets with burnt garlic", I tried it the same day during lunch time [Any recipe with garlic and I cannot hold back myself, moreover his recipe looked so simple, had to try it that day itself]. 

 The enticing aroma wafting through my kitchen fired up my hunger pangs and I ate to my heart's content, which meant nothing was left for my hubby :P. This rice is not only delicious but also healthy and quick. After my first attempt, I adapted his recipe by adding extra veggies and an extra dose of burnt garlic for that awesome flavor. Prepared it twice after that and both times my family enjoyed it. Below is the recipe that I adapted from JD's recipe.




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Beerakaya Pesarapappu

By    8:10 PM // 8 comments
I have not prepared much from Andhra cuisine and my thinking has been limited to this "Traditional Andhra cuisine means spicy, hot dishes with a tangy taste". During my Bangalore visit, when I asked my Telugu friend for an authentic Andhra cookbook she referred to me this book with vegetarian recipes from a traditional Andhra Kitchen titled  "Cooking at home with Pedatha". She was going on and on about the wonderful recipes in there and how it helped her to overcome her kitchen fear as a novice cook. And so here is my copy. Thanks "L" for suggesting this book to me.




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Wheat Jaggery Halwa/ Atte Ka Halwa

By    11:55 PM // No comments
After the recipe of wheat flour dosas, I was reminded of  a sweet known as "Atte ka Halwa". I have prepared this sweet many times as its so quick and with simple steps it just gets done in 15 minutes. It was when "S" posted this dish on a food group about a year back, I tried it for the first time. The recipe she shared was inspired from Divine taste. This sweet dish, also known as Karha Prashad is prepared and served as prasad in langhar [ free community dining room, a feature of all Sikh temples] during gurudwara programs. Having said to be full of protein and rich in iron, this dish when prepared in ghee tastes so delicious that you will be tempted to go for 2nd and 3rd servings. I prepared this sweet once again on occasion of Holi today. 


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Patal Bhaji With Palak and Methi leaves

By    12:13 PM // 1 comment
Patal bhaji is a specialty prepared from colacassia/taro leaves and sour greens [ambat bhaji] in combination with peanuts and chana dal. It has a unique sour and spicy taste, with little sweetness and goes well as side dish with main menu. This is most popular dish prepared by Maharashtrians. With absence of these leaves [we rarely get colocasia leaves here], I decided to prepare them from most commonly available greens in the stores which is palak. Next day, on the way back from my office, I picked some palak and when my eyes fell on fresh methi leaves I decided to include them too. Below is the photo and recipe of what I prepared. 




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Purple Cabbage Rice

By    3:01 PM // 2 comments
At times when the whole menu can not be cooked, making some variety rice comes to my rescue. I prepare it at least twice a week to go easy on everyday cooking and utilize other time to do other household chores. The dish is cooked specially or sometimes the leftover rice is jazzed up into a nice meal. Mix and match the vegetables depending on their availability and experiment with different spices to create a unique flavor combination. You can check different combinations for these rice varieties that I have prepared and posted here.






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Mooga Polo/ Whole Green Gram Dosa

By    1:24 AM // 2 comments
After green gram dhokla, I am posting the recipe of green gram dosa. A very nutritious dish here which I prepare more often from whole green gram for the nutrition they provide, yummy and filling by itself and especially in winter months when fermentation suddenly turns out to be difficult. The below recipe doesn't require any fermentation. You can also prepare them using split green gram or sprouted ones. North Indian prepare similar type of dosa which they call as "cheelas"




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Chikki/Gajak and Happy Mahashivratri Wishes

By    11:30 PM // 1 comment
After doing Sesame Groundnut Laddoos, I thought of doing chikki with the remaining reserve of kolhapuri jaggery. While searching for recipes, I came across this name "Gachak". Upon doing a bit of research I found out that it is called as "Gajak" [source wikipedia], a kind of chikki prepared in northern India from sesame seeds, to be consumed mostly in winter months. You can read more about it over here.

 During my search for its recipe, I felt it is nothing but a recipe somewhat similar to chikki /nut brittle and the name was different depending on which part of India it came from. I decided to try them and prepared it adapting this recipe from here. 


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Instant Masala Oats Appos

By    1:20 AM // 4 comments
Recently, I got a request from one of my friend/ reader to share some diet recipes. I already have few of them shared on this space. With a note to myself to list down these recipes at the earliest [which would help readers to easily access them], I assured my friend to add more healthy recipes to this list whenever I come across it, provided the outcome of these recipe trials is "thumbs up" by family members :) 

 Oats have been on hot seat/ in demand these days due to its health benefits and majority of us are trying to incorporate them in daily menu. I am one such person who is always on lookout to consume them through different recipes. The best part is it can be included in many recipes like parathas, idlis, dosas, upma, laddoos, etc. You can check the recipes that I tried successfully with inclusion of oats and has been posted here, here and here. Below is the recipe of Masala Oats Appos which is not just delicious but a healthy powerpacked dish served as breakfast in the morning or tea time snack in the evening. The original recipe was shared by my friend Suphala Shenoy and I did minimal changes to her recipe. So if you are diet conscious this is one of those recipes you should try it.


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Prunes Walnut Rolls

By    11:00 AM // 1 comment
I have an eye for sweet and sugary things especially after my dinner, kuch meetha ho jaye types. Try my best level to keep control on sugar intake but sometimes just give in to my cravings and later deal with the guilt of increased caloric load. 

Prunes walnut rolls/ logs [and similar log recipes which uses no ghee and no/less sugar] falls under the sweets category that I can eat without a guilt. They are delicious,  fiber rich and can be made as healthy as possible by including different types of dryfruits. Below recipe is a perfect one to pamper our tastebuds while keeping a check on the caloric intake. The recipe is inspired from here. You can include different dryfruits such as figs, apricots, dates, cashew nuts, almonds, pistas, etc. 




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Beetroot Rice

By    6:40 AM // 3 comments
Carrots, Peas, Cauliflower, Brocolli are very often used by me to prepare quick variety rice. Recently beetroot got added to the above veggie family. I tried making beetroot rice few days back and it was all gone before we knew, all of us loved it. I liked the way beet imparts natural color to rice. Kids really got attracted to this rice because of its color. The mild sweetness from beets and the flavors from spices, sambhar powder made this colorful rice taste yummy. One of the easiest rice recipe, it can be a satisfactory meal for the family when paired with raita or plain curds. Do try this nutritious, colorful, delicious variety rice and hope it becomes a family favourite in your home too !




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Eggless Zucchini Beetroot Cake

By    11:43 AM // 8 comments
Recently my friend, Donna announced a cooking challenge in her foodie group "Kuch Khatta, Kuch Meetha, Kuch Teekha "[KKKMKT]. Challenge was to prepare a cake without the use of white flour, white sugar and eggs. I had attempted cake recipes that would go with this theme but then I had already posted those recipes on her group and they were Eggless Ragi Banana Cake, Green Moong Savoury Cake and Eggless Savoury Semolina Cake. Moreover, I wanted to try something with oats flour and this led to my search for its recipe that would fit into this theme. After browsing through different recipes [which made me realize I have to attempt many similar recipes for a nutritious cake], I zeroed down to Oats Carrot Savoury muffins recipe from Divya's culinary journey and decided to adapt her recipe. I made use of zucchini and beetroot together instead of carrots as I didn't have them at that time. I baked them in different cake pans as well as muffin molds and hence you see those three layers !



 Thanks Donna for this wonderful theme that gave me a great chance to try out this recipe. 


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Sesame Jaggery Laddoos/ Tilgulache Laddoo

By    10:19 PM // 6 comments
Makar Sankranti celebrated as a harvest festival marks the beginning of Sun's journey from Dakshinayan to Uttarayan when it enters the zodiac sign of Makar rashi (Capricorn). This is one of the few Hindu festivals which is celebrated on same date , i.e 14th January every year. This festival known by different names is celebrated with varied customs in different parts of our country which you can read over here. 

 Since the festival falls during midwinter, the food prepared  during this festival would be from the ingredients that would provide high energy and keep the body warm. Most of the sweets prepared for this festival includes the sesame seeds [til] and jaggery [gul]. 




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Soya Chunk Baby Corn Stirfry

By    9:14 PM // 5 comments
Every year during our annual vacation, shopping for kids books [informative as well as story books] is the top priority. Finally at the end of the trip, the books are in huge volumes and numbers [because they want to possess every book that they come across] and our luggage filled with these books looks bloated up ! So most of the times I end up not buying any cookbooks inspite of carrying a long list. This vacation it was different ... no no their books topped the list but with less time available they were fewer in numbers leaving some space in our suitcase. 

 I plan for quick book shopping, head towards Sapna Book House and in no time get deeply engrossed browsing through the vast collection of books from cooking, gardening, crafts, photography to general topics. Amidst this, I happen to meet a person in spotless white khadi kurta and pyjama, we exchange hello and cross our paths after which I realize it was Gulzar saab who happened to visit the stores that particular time. In short, the trip to bookstore turned out to be fruitful meeting famous poet, lyricist and then picking up my collection.

 In the pic below you can see the collection that was bought home and the excitement was so much that instead of packing them I sat down to browse through the recipes. Poor hubby who was sitting besides to help me in packing gave a look with question mark on his face, wondering if the job would be done in time ... ha ha ha. I had to control my untimely temptation by quickly browsing through the index of just one book "100 Soya Foods" by Mrs. Mallika Badrinath



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Badam Burfi

By    1:39 AM // 12 comments
We do get Indian sweets like Kaju Katli, Motichur Laddoos, Jalebis in the mithai shops here, but I haven't seen badam burfi in any of these shops. Badam burfi is a famous Indian sweet. I came across many recipes for it on different blogs and food groups, but when my friend "J" posted her recipe and photos, they looked perfect and tempting as always. I wanted to grab them straight from the computer screen itself. [How I wish that "grab from screen technology" was invented by this time,,, do u also wish the same ?]




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Soya Chunks Song/Saung

By    6:02 PM // 2 comments
Song/ Saung is an authentic dish from Konkani cuisine. It is one super spicy and tangy dish which goes very well with rice, dosa, idli and even chappatis. I usually opt for less spicy levels so that kids too eat it . I prepare this dish from either of these ingredients - potatoes, mushrooms, cauliflower, green peas and few beans like navy beans, soya bean, etc. 

 Soya/ Meal maker which is known to be a healthy means of increasing the protein intake is also known to readily absorb the flavors of any dish that we cook them in. Recently I have been using soya chunks in different recipes substituting it for the main ingredients. It is during one of these times the below recipe happened. Glad that I attempted it and this was a healthy twist to amchi recipe which tasted very nice with chappatis.




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Adraki Aloo Palak

By    2:16 PM // No comments
Today I am posting one of my favourite dish, Aloo Palak.  This is yet another traditional Punjabi delicacy filled with flavors and packed with nutrition. There are different ways to prepare it. I usually follow the same recipe of Palak Paneer, where I substitute paneer cubes with boiled potato cubes. But when I came across the recipe of aloo palak here, I liked that extra unique adraki flavor given to the dish. With generous amounts of ginger infusing its flavor into this dish, it was a perfect accompaniment to rotis especially at the time when the weather was chilly outside.


Recipe adapted from "Annapurna" by Mangala Barve 


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Sprouted Moong Ghashi

By    4:16 PM // 2 comments
The recipe that I am posting today involves process of sprouting. I have always seen amma saying and practicing to consume sprouted dhanya [beans/ pulses] and this is because they are known to be very nutritious and helps in digestion too. We call the process of sprouting as "Kirloche" and the sprouted bean as "Kirlaile dhanya" in konkani.

I was less lucky with this task in those initial days of cooking, firstly, I never observed the proper technique when amma used to do it. Secondly, the climate here [extreme summers and extreme winters] didnt't give me the sprouts as expected and overall due to repeated failures I assumed the process to be tough and hence the bean used to sit back in the pantry for days together. But when amma visited me during my first delivery, I carefully observed her way to grow the sprouts. Refer the notes section below the post to know how to sprout any bean**. Since then I have been following her method to sprout them and have never failed in doing so. The easiest and fastest to sprout amongst all beans/dhanya is the green gram or moong bean. We can prepare salad, upkaris/stir-fry, usli and randeyi/curry from sprouted moong. 

 Mooga Ghashi [using moong bean] is a konkani festive dish [as it contains no onion garlic] and favourite of most of the amchis. This dish which is a coconut based gravy can be prepared in combination with yam / raw jackfruit / tender bamboo shoots / potato. 


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