Peanut- Jaggery ladoo

First made for Janmashtami, this is an easy 2 ingredient recipe that came out really well.

1 cup peanut

1/3 cup jaggery

On a low flame, roast the peanuts till crunchy. Once absolutely crunchy (test one to check), let it cool then remove the skin. 

Add peanuts and jaggery in a grinder jar and pulse till ground to a coarse consistency- a little oil will release and it will become a mass. [do not grind for long stretches or too much oil will be released and you will not be able to make ladoos].

Take it out of the grinder, and shape into ladoos.

It can be stored outside, but will actually get consumed very fast. 

Pomegranate sprouts salad

The simplest of meals, but probably the most flavourful, and colourful. I love sprouted moong. I love pomegranates. And when the two come together, all you need is a bit of rock salt to bind it all together.

Chickpea chaat

A light and healthy snack for all those in between times.

2 cup boiled chickpeas 

1/2 onion

1/4 capsicum

1 small tomato

Salt, red chilli powder to taste

Method:

Chop all the vegetables fine. 

Mix the chickpeas and vegetables

Add salt and red chilli powder and mix well. 

Modified Kosimbir

I always loved my mother's Kosimbir, which she learnt to make from her mother. The lightest, tastiest, healthiest snack/ salad possible is how I always thought of it. Till I had cabbage kosimbir a couple of weeks back, and realised even that perfection could be made better. This started out as a carrot kosimbir, but ended up as something entirely different. Nobody's complaining!

1 cup split moong dal
1 cucumber
1 carrot
1/2 bunch dil weeds
1/2 lemon
1 tsp chilli flakes
salt to taste


Method
Soak the split moong dal overnight (or at least for 4 hours)
Cut the cucumber into tiny pieces, grate the carrot, and mix both well with the dal
Remove the leaves of the dill weeds, cut fine, and mix.
Add salt to taste, squeeze the lemon on top, and toss well.
Serve chilled, either as a stand alone snack, or with rotis.

Green Moong Dhokla

One of my colleagues got this really lovely green dhokala the other day, and after finishing off most of it, I asked for the recipe. It seemed surprisingly easy- so easy in fact, that I suspected there would be a trick to it. But since there is not very much that can go wrong with green moong, I decided to give it a try. And it turned out absolutely fantastic.

1 cup green moong dal
1 inch piece ginger
1 green chilli
Salt to taste
A pinch of sugar*
1 packet Eno (I got only lemon flavour, and that added to the taste)
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds

Method:
Soak the green moong for 6-8 hours (or overnight).
Grind green moong, ginger, green chilli, with minimal water, till you get a consistent batter.
Add salt and sugar, mix, and let it stand for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, grease a container, and heat the water in a pressure cooker.
Add Eno, mix well, pour into the greased container, and level the surface.
Put in the pressure cooker. Close the lid (with the whistle taken off), and cook on high heat for 6 minutes. Reduce the flame and steam for 3 additional minutes.
Remove, and leave it out to cool. Cut into squares.
Heat the oil, temper the mustard seeds, and pour over the dhoklas.
Garnish with grated coconut, if desired.

*- I added this because the batter seemed too hot

Spinach Stir Fry

I had this spinach stir fry in office the other day, and thought it one of the most flavourful dishes I've ever had. Turned out being one of the easiest dishes to make also.

1 bunch spinach
6-8 pods garlic
1 tomato
1 tsp oil
2 tbsp melon seeds

Method:
Wash the spinach well, and cut it into shreds.
Chop the tomatoes into small pieces.
Peel the garlic and cut in half.
Heat the oil, add garlic, and saute till brown.
Add spinach, tomatoes and salt to taste. Fry on medium heat till the water escapes and dries up again.
Garnish with melon seeds and serve.

Curd dip, with spring onions

The simplest dip to make is also one of the most effective ones. There are very many variations to this, but this is my favourite.

1 cup curds

1 spring onion

1/3 tsp paprika powder

Salt to taste

Method:

Place the curds in a muslin cloth and hang it up for a couple of hours till the water drains out (you can reserve the water to drink, or use while making rotis)

Chop the spring onion (including the leaves) into small pieces

Beat the hung curd with a fork, add spring onions, paprika powder and salt and mix well

Serve with chips, cucumber slices, parathas or over crackers/ toast

Pink lemonade with subja seeds

When the heat is killing you, the best way to beat the heat is to pull out the holiday knick knacks from all your previous beach vacations. If thinking about holidays that were memorable despite the heat doesn't make you feel better, nothing will.
And what better drink to sip while you are going through those old memories than pink lemonade?

1 lime
1 tbsp strawberry preserve
Sugar to taste (I didn't add)
1 glass water
1 tsp subja seeds

Method
Soak subja seeds for 15 minutes, and watch in amazement as they quadruple in quantity.
Mix the lemon juice, strawberry preserve and water* to make a lovely pink lemonade. Do a taste test and add sugar if required (I don't add any, because the strawberry preserve has enough for my needs).
Pour over the subja seeds and sip away.


*- I don't like my drinks to be too cold, so use regular water, but you can use chilled water.

Date walnut cake

I always thought eggless cakes were an oxymoron, then I started making a few of my own, and reluctantly agreed that they could be done. But as I surf the internet, I find so very many varieties of eggless cakes, I am absolutely floored.
This recipe came because I wasn't able to access my own tried and tested recipe for an eggless cake, so took the help of google to find something to accompany our Sunday tea. Came out better than I expected, and am definitely making it again.

1 ½ cups whole wheat flour/atta
½ cup all purpose flour/maida
½ cup vegetable oil
¾ cup sugar
1 cup milk
¾ cup water
1 cup seedless dates
½ cup walnuts
2 tbsp flax seeds
2 tbsp melon seeds
2 tsp instant coffee powder
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt


Method
Chop the dates and walnuts and keep aside.
Heat the milk and switch off the flame, add the coffee powder and stir. Add the dates,and allow it to soak for 20 minutes
Seive the whole wheat flours and all purpose flour with salt, baking soda and baking powder.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C/392 F.
Add sugar, soaked dates with milk, oil and water to the sieved flour, and mix well, till well aerated.
Add the chopped walnuts, flax seeds and melon seeds to the batter and mix well.
Pour the batter into the cupcake liners.
Bake for 20-25 minutes till a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Alternately, pour the batter into ceramic/ glass cups, and cook for 60 seconds on the microwave

Sukku kaapi

A couple of months back, I was given a bottle containing an ayurvedic mixture that was supposed to help keep colds at bay. While the concoction was effective, it was too exorbitantly priced (not to mention, unavailable locally) for me to make it my 'go to' drink to ward away colds. As the powder was getting depleted, I was getting ready to go back to my regular "Madam Pomfrey's Potion", when I came across a reference to Sukku Malli Kaapi. It seemed to have a lot of ingredients in common with my ayurvedic concoction, so I decided to give it a try.

After having three cups in a single day, I am almost ready to swear that it works. That and lots of rest, and other fluids!

1/2 cup dried ginger powder
1/4 cup coriander seeds (whole)
1/2 tsp whole peppercorns
1/2 tsp whole jeera

Method
Dry roast coriander seeds till golden brown.
Dry roast jeera and peppercorns together till nice aroma rises. 
Keep aside, and let them cool down completely.
Grind the roasted coriander seeds, jeera and peppercorn to a fine powder.
Mix with the dry ginger powder, and sieve a few times till well mixed.
Store in an airtight jar.

To make sukku kaapi, bring 11/2 cup water to a boil. Add 1 heaped tsp sukku kaapi powder, and let the concoction boil for 2-3 minutes. Strain the infusion, add panakalkandu (or honey), and drink.

Sweet potato halwa

I am a huge fan of halwas made out of vegetables. Not only does it satisfy the sweet tooth, with the milk and the veggies, it is much healthier than many other sweets. So when I had 250 gms of boiled sweetotatoes in the fridge, this was the first thing I thought of making. And I am glad I did.

Most of it is by 'andaz', bit worked beautifully well.

250 gms sweet potatoes boiled and mashed (I pressure cooked for about 20 mins on sim after the first whistle)
1/2 cup milk (andaaz)
1 tbsp ghee (can be less)
3-4 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp raisins
cardamon powder

Heat ghee in a non-stick, and once it has melted, add the sweet potatoes, and cook with constant stirring for about 2-3 minutes.
Add the milk (you need to add enough to cover the sweet potatoes, the sugar and the raisins, and cook on a low flame till the milk completely disappears.
Take off the fire, and stir in the powdered cardamon.
Serve chilled

Green moong-zucchini muffins

Ever since the kids changed schools, and were put in the afternoon batch, my limited culinary skills have been stretched beyond what I thought possible. How on earth do think of something that is healthy, tasty, quick to make and easy to eat five days a week????

This was an experiment that I was quite satisfied with. To be honest, the younger one had to be force fed most of it, but what's new?

- three measures green moong, soaked overnight
- one measure tur dal soaked for an hour
- one zucchini
- green chilli
- half inch piece of ginger
- salt to taste
- grated cheese 
- white sesame seeds

Grind all the ingredients, with sufficient water, to a slightly coarse batter.
Half fill the greased paniyaram moulds, sprinkle a layer of cheese, then topped it up with batter. 
Sprinkle the sesame seeds on the muffins, just before turning them over.
Serve with coconut chutney or tomato ketchup

It takes longer for this to cook than normal paniyarams, but the wait is well worth it.

Grape raita

With grapes flooding the market, this has become one of my go-to dishes. Though I have made this several times and refined the technique, I am posting it only now, because I never thought to take a picture before this.

Blend about 15-20 grapes (you can use up all those squishy-squashy grapes that nobody wants) in the mixer, and strain well (this is necessary, because the ground skin doesn't taste good- you can, however, eat the strained part- it is lovely).
Add to 1 cup curds, and beat well with rock salt to taste, and 1 tsp of honey.
When will mixed, quarter 5-8 grapes and mix well with the curd-grapes mixture.

Tastes really good even as a stand alone dish.

Kofta curry

When I was a kid we had a grove of papaya trees in the backyard, so I grew up on kofta curry. Now that raw papayas are no longer plenty, my mother uses lauki instead. This is her recipe- perfectly tailored to our tastes (or were our tastes tailored to meet her recipe). My only contribution is in making it "healthier"- I don't deep fry the koftas- a tip I picked up from Gauri Shirke.

For the kofta
One medium lauki, peeled, de-seeded and grated
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1/4 cup besan
Red chilli powder to taste

For the gravy
2 medium onions chopped
1 large tomato chopped
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp jeera powder
1 tsp dhania powder
1 tsp chilli powder
3 tbsp curd

Preparation
Fry the onions in 2 tsp oil till light brown, add tomatos and ginger-garlic paste, dry masalas and fry on very low flame till onions turn dark brown.
Cook for 2 minutes, add curd and water till desired consistency.
Cook for another minute, take off the flame.

Grate the lauki, keep aside for about 10 minutes and squeeze out the water.
Add ginger-garlic paste, salt and besan. Knead well.
Make small balls, press them to flatten.
On a non-stick frying pan, sprinkle 1 tsp water, and shallow fry koftas on a low flame till brown.

Add koftas to the curry, and bring to boil once.

Cucumber-Paneer Cups

A few months back, I tried to shift from "three big meals a day", a more healthy "small meals more often". For someone who doesn't particularly like spending time in the kitchen, the mid-morning and mid-afternoon meals were initially a bit of a challenge, but that was only till I discovered soups and salads! 
This particular dish is adapted from one I first saw in Runner Girl in the Kitchen. I had been intending to make Cucumber-Paneer Cups her way, but on that particular day, I craved something sweet, and this experiment was unexpectedly successful.

Crumble 100 gms paneer, sprinkle 1 tps ground cinnamon, add 2 tbsp honey, and mix well.
Wash 2 cucumbers, cut into two/ three/ four pieces each (depending on how big you want each cup to be), and remove the seeds using the back of a spoon.
Stuff the core with the paneer, and enjoy.

This is not exactly *sweet*, but the predominant taste is of honey and cinnamon, and you know you are eating a lot of goodness.

Moong-paneer-fruit salad

This is a salad I make often- with strawberries when they are in season, or with pomegranate seeds, or even with apples (I normally stick to these three fruits, because I like the pops of red colour against the green and white background). This is one of my favourite mid-day snacks, most so because it is so protein rich.

Mix sprouted Moong, small pieces of paneer, and strawberries cut into small pieces.
Drizzle with garlic-mint-vinegar*, sprinkle salt and toss.

* garlic-mint-vinegar was something I discovered accidentally when I found a few sprigs of mint drying in the fridge which I was reluctant to throw away. I pounded it with a green chillis and a couple of pods of garlic and infused it in vinegar. The vinegar takes on the flavours and is a great dressing.

Madam Pomfrey's Magic Potion

I have the Marathon coming up next weekend, and I have a horrible cold. If I want to be sure of gettinr rid of it, I should be on antibiotics, but if I get on them, I can say goodbye to recovering before the race. So I'm overdosing on Madam Pomfrey's magic potion, and hoping the cold will go away.

Take 2 cups of water.
Add a 2 inch piece of ginger roughly sliced, 8-10 peppercorns, 6 cloves, and bring to boil. Lower heat, and let it simmer till the volume becomes half.
Have it hot, but not boiling hot.
Add 1 tsp honey, for taste, if required.

Green with Envy

This drink, apparently, is prefect during a de-tox diet, where you can zap your system with alkalies. I really wouldn't know. All I know is that on some days you really want to sip something as beautifully green as this, and feel virtuous and evil at the same time.


Chop one small cucumber, 1/2 a small bunch of spinach leaves and 1 small green chilli. Blend till smooth, adding upto 1/2 cup water.
Strain (and keep aside the strained portion to spread on crackers and eat).
Squeeze the juice of 1/2 lime, salt to taste and 1 tbsp honey.

Pour into a glass and slurp.

Gunpowder keg

 This was invented on a day when I needed some subji to have with my rotis, and these were the only ingredients in hand.

Mash together boiled potatoes and steamed veggies (carrot, beet, peas is what I had)- warm them to desired temperature, if you are using leftover steamed veggies. Add gunpowder (lots), salt, juice of one lime and mix well. Garnish with roasted peanuts (should have crushed them- will next time). Tastes pretty good with rotis.

Bajra khichadi

For the longest time, I used to either eat the dinner leftovers for lunch, or buy something greasy. And then I discovered this delicious bajra khichadi, and realized that making it is less trouble than walking to the mithaiwala to buy lunch. Since then, I have been making this at least once a week. Naturally, I end up customising it each time, depending on what is available at home, so the recipe will be a bit of an approximation.

1 measure bajra soaked overnight
1 tsp jeera
1 onion chopped
1 green chilli
Assorted veggies
Salt to taste
1 tsp cooking oil
 
Soak whole bajra overnight, and cook it for a single whistle in the pressure cooker. Heat some oil in a pan, add jeera/ cumin. After it finishes spluttering, add chopped onion and chillies, and fry till it turns translucent. Add peas and any other veggies you might want to experiment with. Add cooked bajra and salt to taste. Cover and let it cook on low heat for 2-3 minutes.
You can have it as it is, or with curds or a pachidi/ raita.