Monday, October 5, 2009
Is your baby resisting to eat the tasteless baby foods available out there in the market?
Are you not sure what to prepare for dinner or an evening snack?
Are u suffering from cold and want instant relief?
Don't like to cook an expansive meal?
Too much vegetable in the refrigerator, all in small portions, don't know what to do with them?
If your answer is 'yes' to any of the above then read on....
This is the final version of the recipe I arrived at after making lot of modifications. Before I get into the recipe, I would like to share the story behind this...My daughter was 6 months old when the pediatrician said that I could start giving her some mashed vegetables and fruits. Consulted few of my friends and chose one of the best brands. For the first few days my sweet lil thing ate few spoons. Later she started to spit them out. I tasted them to see if it was ok. To my horror I didn't like a bit. Being a choosy person myself, I should expect some amount of this gene on my child too. So I started preparing myself. One vegetable everyday. I would pressure cook, grate and give her this. Didn't add salt because of sodium content..was too conscious ignoring the taste..:). Then we went to visit the doc on a routine checkup after a month. She started with a long list of fruits and vegetables and said I have to give her all of them. This little one would just have 2 or 3 spoonfuls and how am I going to feed all these vegetables. It was definitely a herculean task. So I started adding all the available vegetables and of course some lentils for some protein and a tinge of salt so that I could happily eat the leftovers. I started to make this for everyone in the family as it was delicious and healthy. In spite of all these my daughter is still below her normal weight..
Here's the list of things that's needed for making this soup.
Ingredients:
All kinds of vegetables that is available with you. - 2 cups (cut into 1 inch pieces)
(for eg: beans, carrot, beetroot(for the color), squash, potato, sweet potato, radish, peas, pumpkin, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflowe, corn)
small onion - 2
garlic - 1 clove
small tomato -1
turmeric powder - 1 tsp
moon dhal - 1 tbsp
garam masala powder -1 tsp(if its for your little one, ignore this)
corn flour -1 tsp
salt - as required
pepper - if required
butter - 1 tsp
milk - 4 tbsps
fresh cream - 1 tsp
Method:
1. Pressure cook the vegetables, tomato, onions, garlic, turmeric powder, moong dhal, garam masala together.
2. Allow it to cool.
3. Grind them to a smooth consistency using a blender.
4. Now heat a pan and melt the butter.
5. Add corn flour and roast them for a min.
6. Add milk and allow it to boil.
7. Now add the ground vegetables.
8. Add required salt and let it cook for sometime.
9. Serve hot topping it with fresh cream.
10. Add pepper if need be.
Variations:
1. Make it to a thick paste and offer it to an infant. Highly nutritious.
2. Don't add fresh cream. Add some more water and make it as a rasam. Add coriander leaves for extra flavor.Goes well with rice and papad.
3. Don't add garam masala while cooking the vegetables. After the vegetables are cooked add ground coconut, cumin seeds and green chilli. Cook them together for 5 min. Season with mustard, urad dhal and asafoetida. This is a good side dish for chappathi or rice varieties.
Do try this recipe and give your comments
This recipe is participating in the event Cooking for Infants and Toddlers 0-3 yrs by Radhika and Sudeshna. This can be offered to children from ages 6 months and up!!
This soup is also participating in WFY Light Meal by EC.
This soup is also participating in WFY Light Meal by EC.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Hi Everyone!!!. I hope all of you had a wonderful Navarathri celebration more importantly the 'sundal celebration'. I'm sure you would have all geared up for the next festival, Diwali. My mother made lots of bhakshanams(sweets and savories) during all festivals and more importantly diwali. However I didn't ever care to taste any of them.Mainly becoz I was all alone at home and there wasn't anyone to give me company. However, when my sisters were around, we all had a blast. Gone are the days when diwali was so much fun. After we came to the US, diwali is more like any other normal day, except that we ate some homemade sweets, wore a new dress and of course made calls to India (unable to hear each other due to the noise of fire works) and finally rushing to office. But this year I think we could add some color to diwali as it comes on a saturday. Here is one of the savory that my mother prepares for diwali and it has always been a hit. I made this for navarathri this year. It came out so well that I'm thinking of making the second batch the coming weekend.
Here's the recipe for Homemade Mixture:
Ingredients for Bhoondhi:
Besan Flour(Chick Pea Flour) - 1 1/2 cup
Rice Flour - 1/2 cup
Cooking soda - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
water - as required
Ingredients for thin Sev:
Besan Flour(Chick Pea Flour) - 1 cup
Rice Flour - 1 cup
Salt - 1 tsp
water - as required
Other Ingredients:
oil for frying - 2 cups
Thick Rice Flakes(Aval) - 2 tbsp(optional)
Peanut - 2 tbsp(optional)
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 2 tbsp
salt - 1 tsp
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Asafoetida - 4 pinches
Roasted Channa Dhal - 2 tbsp
Method:
For Bhoondhi:
1. Mix the above said ingredients for bhoondhi.
2. Add water such that the batter is slightly thinner than pancake consistency(should be like a bajji batter).
3.Pour oil in a pan and heat the pan.
4. When the oil is smokey hot, pour the batter slowly on a flat ladle that has small pores in them. I used the one in the below picture.
5. Using another ladle (as shown in the picture), gently make circular motions on top of the batter that is there in the porous ladle.
6. U should be able to see minute pebbles dropping in the oil. Pour as mush as the pan can hold(just one layer should be fine).
7. Let it stay undisturbed for sometime. Turn them over only once. When the oil stops making the bubble sound, remove the bhoondhi from oil and place them on top of an absorbent paper.
8. Repeat the steps with rest of the batter.
For thin Sev:
1. Mix all the ingredients mentioned for sev.
2. Add very little water and make a thick dough, similar to a poori dough.
3. Heat oil in a wide pan.
4.Put the dough into a sev press and squeeze them onto hot oil making big circle(as big as the pan can hold).
5. Leave them for a 2 min and turn them over. Remove from oil once the oil stops making bubble sound.
6. Place them in absorbent paper.
7. Repeat the procedure with rest of the dough.
Frying other ingredients:
1. In the same oil pour the rice flakes and fry them for a min. Drain and place them on absorbent paper.
2. Now add cashews and fry them till golden brown.
3. Then goes peanuts and curry leaves.
Mixing all prepared items:
1. Now spread a big sheet of paper(I used newspaper) and pour the sev, bhoondhi, fried rice flakes, peanuts, cashews and curry leaves.
2. Mix them together after adding chilli powder, salt, asafoetida and ghee.
3.If need be u can crush the sev to smaller pieces.
4. Store them in an airtight container.
For some reason I don't like to eat them separately. I usually make this as a side dish for sambhar rice, rasam rice, curd rice, etc.
This savory is participating in Sara’a event- Sweet and savories event.
This savory is participating in Sara’a event- Sweet and savories event.
Enjoy!!!
I got this recipe from one of my friend. She offered this to us when we had been to her home for lunch. She said that it tastes like chicken fry(she became a veg. after marriage).
Ingredients:
Dry Soy Wadi - 1 cup
Chilli Powder(I used kashmiri chilli powder) - 1 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Cumin Powder -1 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
oil - 2 tbsp
salt - as required
water - as required
coriander leaves - for garnishing
Method:
1. Soak the soy wadi in warm water for 1 min.
2. Add turmeric powder and salt and cook this in microwave high for 5 min with the lid closed.
3. Allow it to cool. It should have absorbed all the water. If not drain excess water.
4. Add chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, ginger garlic paste and mix them well.
5. Let this stay in the refrigerator freezer section for 2 hrs for it to incorporate the spices.
6. After 2 hrs remove from the refrigerator and allow it to settle for 15 min.
7.Mix oil and fry it in microwave high for 10 min. U can increase the timing to 15 min if u want them crispy.
8.Alternatively u can fry them on stove top just like any other curry.
9. Garnish with coriander leaves.
I offered this to my 1.5 yr old and she loved it. I'm sure you would know the nutritional value of Soy and how good it is for kids.
This recipe is participating in Srivalli's Kid's delight event and also in Srivalli's-MEC event.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
"Paal Kozhukattai" is one recipe that's been carried forward from generations in our family. My mom said that she learnt this from her grand mom. I prepared this on the first day of Navrathri. I'm waiting for my daughter to grow up so that I could pass this on to her. Here's the recipe for u.
Ingredients:
Raw Rice - 3/4 cup
Jaggery - 1 cup powdered jaggery.(Add water and filter them if required).
grated coconut - 1/4 cup
water - as required
saffron - 4 or 5 strings
cardamom powder - 4 pinches
Method:
1. Soak the raw rice for 2 hrs.
2. Grind them to a smooth and thick paste.
3. Add 1/2 cup of jaggery and 1 1/2 cups of water to this ground paste and mix them well.
4. Pour this mixture in a broad pan(preferably nonstick) and cook this in medium flame until the mixture becomes thick. (to a consistency wherein u could make balls with the cooked mixture).
5.Allow this mixture to cool.
6. Now make small balls out of this dough mixture(1 cm dia)
7. In the same broad pan pour rest of the jaggery and add 2 1/2 cups of water, boil this in medium flame and allow the jaggery to melt. Filter the solution if need be.
8. Now add the balls that u had prepared in step 6.
9. Let this cook for sometime, till the dough balls becomes twice its original size.
10. Grind the coconut to a smooth paste by adding little water.
11. Pour this paste to the boiling mixture.
12. Let it cook for 5 more min.
13.Add cardamom and saffron.
14. U can serve this either hot or cold.
I'm sending this to the following events
EC’s WYF-Festive treats
Shanthi’s -Sweets for festivals
Sara’a event- Sweet and savories
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Here are some of the health benefits of oats that I've tried to paste from wikipedia.
* Oat bran is the outer casing of the oat. Its consumption is believed to lower LDL ("bad") cholesterol, and possibly to reduce the risk of heart disease.
* Dietary oats can help lower cholesterol
* Oats contain more soluble fiber than any other grain, resulting in slower digestion and an extended sensation of fullness.
* Oat is the only cereal containing a globulin or legume-like protein, avenalin, as the major (80%) storage protein.
I have just picked some from the site. Having realized the health benefit of oats, we at home started to have oats as the morning breakfast. The other reason was it was also so easy to make. We tried various flavors of oats and at one point I decided to switch to the plain Quaker oats. I cooked oats on stove top and we started to have this in porridge consistency. Like anyone else my husband always needed some change in the menu and he resisted to have oats everyday. So I switched to a flavored cereal. The poor oats bag lay untouched for months together. I never bothered to make this again.
Last Friday, I decided to make pesarattu and soaked green gram. Suddenly a thought clicked me "why not add oats to this batter". That's how "Green Gram and Oats Dosa" was born.
Ingredients:
Whole green gram with skin - 1 cup
onion - 2 medium size
ginger - 1 inch
green chillies - 5
salt - as required
raw rice - 4 tbsp
oats - 4 tbsp
For topping:
cut onions - 1/2 cup
finely cut green chillies - 1 tbsp
cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
oin - 1 tbsp
Method:
1. Soak green gram and rice together in water for at least 10 hrs.
2.Grind with onion, ginger, green chillies and oats to a smooth paste. Add salt at the end of grinding.
3. Heat oil and cumin seeds. Then add onion and green chillies.
4.Heat a heavy dosa pan.
5.Pour batter in the center and spread them to sides in circular motion.
6.Add oil around the dosa.
7. Sprinkle the onion mixture on the top and press it with laddle.
8.Fry it in medium flame till dosa becomes crisp.
9.Fold and serve hot with a chutney of your choice.
I'm sending this to
My legume love affair-15,this edition hosted by Sia of Monsoon spice,an event started by Susan.
I usually make Red Chilli Rice when I there is no stock of green chilli in my refrigerator and also am tired of all the masala spicy items. I added sprouted green gram so that this dish could also participate in My legume love affair-15,this edition hosted by Sia of Monsoon spice,an event started by Susan.
So here it is for you all to give a try.
Red Chilli, Green Gram Rice
Ingredients:
Basmathi Rice - 1 cup
Large Onion - 2
(Following vegetables has to be cut lengthwise and measured after that)
Potato - 1/4 cup
Green Peppers - 1/4 cup
Cabbage - 1/4 cup
spring onions - 1/4 cup
carrot - 1/4 cup
oil - for frying
Ajinomoto - 1 tsp
salt - as required
sprouted whole green gram - 1/4 cup
To be ground:
Dry red chilli - 8 nos
Garlic - 4
Method:
1. Wash the basmathi rice and soak it for 10 min.=
2. Soak the red chilli for 10 min and grind it along with garlic to a smooth paste.
3. Pressure cook the basmathi rice and spread this in a plate by adding little ghee. Let this cool.
4. Add little oil in a wide pan and heat it in medium flame.
5.Add onion and fry until translucent.
6. Now add beans, potato, carrot, cabbage, soaked green gram, green peppers, spring onions in 5 min interval.
7. Add ajinomoto to the vegetables.
8. Once the vegetables are cooked add the ground chilli and onion paste and salt.
9. Add the steamed rice and let this stay for 5 more min in low flame.
10. Serve hot with any kind of raita.
I'm sending this to
Monday, September 21, 2009
Pina Colada:
I have been looking at 'Mexican Fiesta 2009' for a week and have been thinking of some kind of contribution from my end. The idea of 'Pina Colada' popped up in my mind coz thats one of the favorite drink when I go to any Mexican restaurant. I have also been amazed by the way they serve this. Most of the time I have seen them serving this inside a coconut shell. So thought I would do with pineapple.
Ingredients:
Pineapple juice - 1/3 cup
Coconut cream - 3 tbsp or Coconut milk - 1/3 cup
Vanilla ice cream - 1/3 cup
ice cubes - as require
Note: I wanted this without rum and so skipped this
Method: Add all the ingredients and mix them together in a blender.
"Hey is it just 'Pina Colada' for the fiesta. There is nothing new here and have been posted by most of the fellow bloggers" was something that was lingering in my mind. I should admit the fact that I always fail miserably when I try any dish for the first time. I make a perfect dish after trying for many times. So I didn't want to try something new and tough. 'Mexican Wedding Cookie' was something that was easy to make and at the same time tasty too. Here it is for you all
Mexican Wedding Cakes
Ingredients:
All-Purpose Flour - 2 cups
Butter - 1 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Confectioner's Sugar - 1/2 cup
Almonds - 1/2 cup
vanilla extract - 2 tsps
almond extract - 2tsps
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place the almonds in a flat baking sheet and heat it in the oven for 5 min.
3. Allow it to cool and chop them to pieces by hand or a chopper.
4. In a large bowl mix the butter,sugar, almond extract and vanilla extract evenly.
5. Add chopped almonds, all-purpose flour and mix them well.
6. Make small 1 inch dia balls out of the dough.
7. Refrigerate this for 1 to 2 hrs.
8. Place these dough balls in a cookie sheet and bake for 15 min till they are still white in color and firm.
9. Remove the sheet from oven and place the cookie in wire racks.
10. While the cookie is still warm roll them over confectioner's sugar.
11. Coat it again with confectioner's sugar after it's cooled completely.
12. Wrap them using a chocolate wrap(optional).
I'm sending this to 'Mexican Fiesta 2009'
;;
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