OATS UTTHAPAM

I was never an oats person, but as when I came to realize the benefits, I started loving it, and wanted to add in Oats in everything.....well, almost!!!

When you are looking for a delicious yet healthy start to your day, you know you are on the right track towards keeping yourself fit for your life. Nothing beats beginning your morning with a meal that will keep you energized and active throughout.


A healthy breakfast is the call of the hour for every household and each individual be it a child, a teenager, an adult or old person. Everybody should vie to fulfil the nutritional needs of their body with a breakfast that will add to your lifespan. A little effort and some planning is worth all of it.

Addiing Oats to your meals can provide you with the kickstart you are looking for. High on fibre especially beta-glucans , which aid in reducing blood cholesterol levels. They are a high source of Vitamin E , and consumption of Oats regularly aid in control of Blood Sugar, Blood Pressure, Anti Cancer, along with regulating your bowel function.

This multifunctional cereal can be added in your daily lives in many ways – add them to your cookies, breads, chappati flour, cakes – try adding a handful into all your cooking.

Today I am giving a recipe to make delicious savoury pancake made of oats. Addition of carrots give them a boost in antioxidants and Vitamin A. They are easy and quick to make, and will never fail your taste buds

Preparation Time : 5minutes


Cooking Time : 5 minutes


Ingredients :-

½ cup – oats
¼ cup – coarse semolina
½ cup – low fat yoghurt (maziwa lala)
1 – onion chopped finely (small)
1 – green chilli (optional)
A small bunch of coriander leaves – chopped finely
½ carrot – grated
Ginger – a small piece grated


Method :-
Mix all the ingredients except the carrot and keep aside for 2-3 minutes.
Add enough water to make it into a pouring consistency
Heat a non stick pan and when its hot pour a ladle full of the batter and spread it
Spread the grated carrots on the top
Let it cook on one side and flip it over cooking the carrot side too

Serve it with any accompaniment of your liking or eat it plain.  If cooked on a good quality non stick pan it is zero oil yet delicious!!

 I served it with a simple takkali kootan (tomato onion curry).

VEGETABLE UPMA

Everybody is becoming very health concious. Gone are those days when people, especially Indian people load their phulkas with a dollop of ghee (clarified butter). Also gone are the days when Sunday breakfast meant - stuffed aloo, gobhi, mooli, paneer etc etc parathas, first fried in ghee and then topped with maa ka pyar (mother's love) i.e, a dollop of big butter!! and the lunches meant Chole Bhature, and the dinner meant daal chawal...... Times have changed and people are seriously moving onto healthy options for breakfast, lunch and dinner, thought all the above things that I mentioned still remain a favourite amongst homes.

Honestly I am not one of those people who counts each bite that I put into my mouth. When it comes to food, I really dont like to think about the calories. I just love to enjoy the taste irrespective of the amount of cals its adding onto my already sooooo overloaded existence !!!

But my DH sure is a person who likes to count his calories. So I have to think about various options for his breakfast. Vegetable Upma happens to be a good choice that I make which keeps both him and me happy. Quick to make and delicious too, and not to mention healthy too.)

Ingredients
1 cup - semolina / rawa / sooji
1/2 cup - chopped vegetables (carrots, beans, corn, peas)
2 tbspn - peanuts
1 tspn - mustard seeds / sarson a few sprigs - curry leaves
1 tspn - sugar
1 tspn - salt (pls adjust this to taste)
1/2 inch ginger - grated
1 green chilli - chopped fine
1 onion - chopped fine

Recipe

First and foremost roast the semolina without oil in a wok Roast till it starts giving a nice warm smell
Remove it into a dish In the same wok add about a tbspn of oil and fry the peanuts
Remove the peanuts and keep them separately
Now the oil is hot add the mustard seeds and wait till they stop spattering Pls remember that the oil should be hot
Now add the chopped ginger and fry well
Add the onions and fry till pinkish brown
Now add the curry leaves and green chillies (I avoid green chillies for my LO)
When this is done add 2 1/2 cup of water and let the water come to a boil
Meanwhile put all the veggies in a microwave safe bowl and boil them for about 5-7 minutes, or till they are cooked and tender Strain them
To the boiling water add the salt and sugar (yes I learnt to add sugar from my mom, and blv me it enhances the taste of the upma)
Now add the veggies
Slowly add the roasted semolina and keep stirring with one hand
Cook till the semolina is cooked and all the water has dried up

We used be served this with sugar sprinkled on top most of the time, and I love it, and so does my LO. My husband loves it with some sweet jam.

FRUITY SWEET BUNS

I have been longing to bake bread for ages!!! Yes thats true. Always wanted to, but have been ever so lazy. The thought of kenading the sticky dough, leaving it to rise, then punch it again, then leaving it to rise - all sounded soooooooo boooooriinnng.. But then I had to do it one day, and I sure did - and I sure enjoyed it.

What I enjoyed THE MOST is the yeasty sour smell that was around me. Yes I sooooooooo loooooovveed it. Reminding me of bakeries baking fresh bread, but more than that, it was the smell that took me back to my mom. Yes, yeast was sooo significant to my mom making velleappams in our kitchen. In all of Mayur Vihar where we lived, all our Malayali family friends came upto her and asked her to make these for their house. I proudly have to say, that hers were the best appams in town!!!

It is sad to say the least that I myself have never tried my hands on that recipe. It happens so that all these years, even after getting married, velleappams were just a "wish" away. I just had to tell her and they would be ready as soon as the fermenting aloud it to be. It was a great feeling. But now that I am miles away I miss that advantage very much. But it has been a lot to my advantage. I have learnt to cook so many things that I so easily relied on her to do for me!!!

Well getting back to the bread making. I one day decidied to bake bread, and rolled up my sleeves. Took some flour, added some salt and sugar, mixed the yeast and warm water and sugar, gave it a stir - did a little bit of this, did a little bit of that and in the end added some candied fruits I had in my refrigerator!! This was what I got in return.

Dont ask me for the recipe, coz I really dont remember the measurements and the details.  I never made a note of it, and these pics have been lying in the draft for long. So sorry about that. Not to mention that I did bake bread twice After this once, but never got a chance to click and post!!!!.

But the result was sweet soft buns. 

We all enjoyed

HARA LAHSUN AUR METHI KE PARATHE - GARLIC SPRING AND FENUGREEK FLAT BREAD

There are some things in life that you inherit. No, not in terms of money or assets, but here I refer to things that are handed over to you by your elders in terms of knowledge. Things that experience has taught them, n they would like to pass them onto us. Small tips that make a marked difference.......

The following recipe is what I consider part of my inheritance from my mother-in-law. This is the first time I made it, n beleive me, it is a treasure of a recipe. The flavours were incredibly special, n the end product was a delight on your tastebuds.......

I never knew something like "hara lahsun" even existed. I would see it at the vegetable vendor, but never could distinguish it from the spring onions. That's when my MIL told me that though they look exactly like the spring onions, the bud (i.e, the lower white part) is way much smaller than the onions. This is the first time I used them in anything at all, though when my MIL is here she often buys them, n uses them in the dishes that she makes.












Ing -

50 gms (4/5 stems) - hara lahsun / spring garlic
1/2 cup - fresh fenugreen leaves finely chopped
5 green chillies
1 onion - chopped finely
2 cups - wheatflour
1/4 cup - milk(room temp)
salt to taste
ghee / butter for shallow frying

Method -
In a big bowl, add the wheat flour.
Add the spring garlics chopped very fine & washed
Then add the fenugreen leaves chopped very fine & washed.
Add the onions, green chillies chopped & salt.
Add the milk & mix well.
Now add required quantity of water to knead into a smooth dough. Dont use too much water, coz the dough will turn sticky and difficult to roll.
Heat the girdle / tawa.
Roll the dough into chappatis & shallow fry on the tawa using some ghee/butter or oil - as you like it.

I made mine piping hot (in terms of chillies) and served it with red-hot chilly pickle and plain creamy curd. The chilli pickle was made by MIL, n I shall be posting the recipe soon.

It was a blend of flavours & tasted really really good.
I think this one nutritious breakfast to be served either to kids or packed for lunch.

HEALTHY PANEER ROLLS

Today morning was a rush-rush morning coz Rajeev had to go out till about 9 a.m. & by the time I woke up it was 8.00 I overslept, coz I was two-timing watching both the exciting India-Australia match on one hand & A PERFECT MURDER - the movie on the other channel. I woke up & worried on what breakfast to give him. I was tired of pohas & upmas and didnt want to make the same old thing. Some thinking & experimentation brought me to a nice variation to the daily breakfast. You can add / subtract whatever you like.

Ing -

For the filling -

250 gms - paneer

1/2 capsicum - sliced very thinly & small

2 big onions - finely chopped

1/2 tsp - jeera / cumin

1 tbspn - corriander-mint chutney (I used Heinz)

1 tbspn - tomato ketchup

salt to taste

green chillies

For the base -

1 normal roti or paratha

Method -

In a fry pan, add some oil

Add the jeera, when they sputter add the onions & capsicum. Fry till onions are light brown.

Add the chillies, chutney & ketchup & salt.

Mash the paneer & add into the kadai

Fry well till there is no moisture.

Meanwhile you can make the rotis.

Keep some fill in the center of the chappati & roll.

Cut into two pcs each.

I served it with a glass of chilled chocolate milk - check out my favorite mug - isint it cute?? I had two of them one with the face of a boy. That was his, & this is mine. His broke.......& I was really very sad that the pair had been spoilt.

Pls dont mind the pics, they were taken in a rush.

WHO'S CHEESE IS IT ANYWAYS???

Its mine, its mine .......& only mine.

At a home of two people, where the husband does not favor cheese, the whole box of cheese slices or cheese spread is mine & only mine!! Whenever I reach out my hand to pick up a cheese from the stands, I quickly pull it back reminding myself "you'll have to eat it all by yourself.......do you want to add up on so many calories......nobody is going to share your burden". I am able to put that back only once in a while, but there are times when the cheese beckons me from the stands, begging me to pick it up, longing for a home........& taking pity on the poor cheese, I pick it up & put it in my basket, giving it a name "Shella's Cheese". How I use it is a different story altogether. I pretend to ignore it sitting on the shelf of the fridge, but when I crave, I use it either on bread slices, or on Pizzas, or just consume on its own.......but what I love most is the Omlette I make for myself.........heavenly oozing cheese, in a bed of an egg (mind you, only one egg). It may be known to quite a few of you, but nonetheless, its given below.

Ing -

1 - egg (you can use two or more if you want, I restrict myself for known reasons!!)

2/3 - green chillies (I really like it spicy & the flavor of the chillies do wonders to the omlette)

a little green corriander - finely chopped

1 big onion - finely chopped

a small pc of ginger - grated

3/4 curry leaves

a pinch of sugar

salt to taste

1/2 tsp - sooji / semolina / rawa

1 tbspn - milk

cheese - as much as you like

Method -

In a fry pan, drizzle very, very little oil & add the onions & the sugar.

After about half a minute add the curry leaves

On slow flame saute till onions are a good pink colour.

Meanwhile beat well the egg with the corriander leaves, chillies, ginger, semolina, milk, salt. What I generally do is add the milk, semolina & egg into the mixer & whip it up for a few seconds till frothy, & then fold the rest of the ings very lightly.

Now add the sauteed onions, after removing the curry leaves.

Mix lightly.

On the same pan, add some more oil & spread the omlette.

Let cook on slow flame from one side.

Flip it over & on the cooked side, add the cheese (if its a spread - just add as it is, if slices - just shred them, or if cubes - grate them).

Now fold the omelette & let cook for another few seconds.

You have an absolutley heavenly omelette with a heavenly filling all set for your stomach!!!

Just try this out & you'll feel heaven!! I always do. I dont take any bread or anything to go with this.

Just take a little ketchup or mustard sauce to go with it.

RED MILK

Red Milk - the name sounds interesting, right?? The recipe is interesting too...and it is a very healthy one at that, tastes good, looks good, doesnt need too many ingredients and too much of mehnat (efforts)- which is the best part. Again a gainful inheritance from my MIL, which adds variety to my morning breakfasts, and it is a wholesome breakfast too, when served with toasted bread. And when it comes to kids, I guess they will be attracted to the colour & it is a nice way to get in some Vitamin-A into their systems.

The hot sweet milk is quite a delight during cold winter days, when all you want to do is cuddle up in the rajai (blanket) with something (& someone!!) hot, n picking the gaajar with the spoon keeps you occupied for a much longer time than plain milk would. It can also be substituted when you just want to have a very light meal.

The following recipe is for about 2 people i.e., me & my husband.

Ing -
5 carrots / gaajar - (I dont know how this would turn out with the orange ones, we always
use the red ones avialable in Delhi during winters)
Milk - about 3 glasses.
1 tsp - of oil
Sugar - as per sweetness liked
4/5 pods of cardamom - crushed
You can add any amount of dryfruits you would like to, or leave out all of it.

Method -
Scrape & grate the gaajar
In a kadai, add a little oil and add the grated gajar. Saute for about 4/5 minutes, just enough for the carrots to be tender.
Now add the milk, crushed cardamom and sugar.
Allow it to boil, and the reduce the heat, let it simmer & cook till a thick milk.
Garnish with the dry fruits if you wish to.

Serve in individual bowls or glasses with a spoon.

LEFTOVER GAJAR SUBZI PARATHAS

I dont like gajar ka subzi, but my husband loves it.....so what do I do......make it.......but not eat it, or reluctantly swallow some.....result - lot of leftover subzi. Its not that it doesnt taste good, but somehow I dont like gajar in a subzi. This recipe was invented last winters, when one day I had a really good amount of subzi left over. Great as I am, I took some aata.....n wait.....see the recipe below.

Ing -
1 cup - gajar subzi
1 cup - aata
1/2 tsp - ajwain seeds
1 bunch - corrinader leaves finely chopped
Add a little bit of both salt and chillies, keeping in mind that the subzi already has these two ingredients.

Method -
Mix all this into a smooth dough, dont add water, unless it is necessary, which generally wont be, or very little will be required.
Make this into parathas.

Blv me I loved them, and they were soooooooooo beautiful to look at, absolutely red (Indian carrots during winters are red in colour - not the orange ones).

When winter comes I will post the pics for both the gajar and the parathas also.

MATAR KULCHA

This one is also an absolute hit with my husband & my friends & colleagues too. This is a total street food, sold at every nook & corner of Delhi streets, with vendors selling this spicy & tangy matar accompanied by soft kulchas on pattals (leaf plates), & huge brass urli on their thelas containing the boiled matar. Admittedly, it is the most sought after lunch for the richshaw-valas, drivers, factory workers & at the same time, even the high end restaurants make these available. With prices ranging from Rs. 10 per plate at the thelas to Rs. 50 per plate at Haldiram!!! One food, different price, n blv me there wont be much difference in the quality too!!

Nonetheless, here goes the recipe. It is as easy as the blink of an eyelid. Blv me, it is........

Ing -

2 cups - dried peas
2 big onions - finely chopped
1/2 inch - julienned ginger
green chillies - according to taste
1 small ball of tamarind - soaked in water
1 bunch of corriander leaves
2 tsp - garam masala
Juice of one lemon
Salt to taste
Ready made kulchas - easily available in the market.

Method -

Soak the peas overnight
In the morning pressure cook them with salt, ensuring that there is not too much water left in the cooker.
Mash the tamarind in the water & use the water, discarding the seeds.
Once you open the cooker, put in the onions, ginger, green chillies, garam masala, tamarind water, lemon juice & mix well.
All the ingredients should blend well with the peas.

On a tava, using a little butter heat the kulchas.

Garnish the matar with more corriander & onions. The spicier the matar the better they taste.

Blv me, these are really yummy!!!

LEFTOVER DAAL PARATHAS

This is a recipe that my MIL has passed down to me & blv me it is absolutely wonderful, but I guess that my recipe gets that extra taste because of the love that she showers on what she cooks & for whom she cooks. It is also a wonderful way to use up any leftover daal (you can also use fresh daal for the same)

Ing -

1 cup - any leftover daal
2 cups - aata
1 onion - finely chopped
a bunch of corriander leaves - washed & finely chopped
chillies according to taste (green chillies add that wonderful flavor)
1/4 tsp - ajwain
salt to taste (but remember there is salt already in the daal, so do balance the same)
1/4 tsp - saunf

Method :-

Mix all this into a dough.
Roll into chappatis.
Shallow fry on tava. You can leave out the oil if you wanna cut off the calories (I try to do it often n they still taste good)

Sizzling on my tawa!!

Serve with north Indian mango pickle or for that matter anything else, or just roll it up & eat it.

RECIPE FOR CHOLE BHATURE

My mother's sister had visited Delhi after a very, very long gap just recently (June' 07). She absolutley loves the Chole Bhature in Delhi, so does my mom. If we ever happen to go out, sitting in a restaurant, all she can order is "Cholla batura"

Therefore, when I went over this time, she said how much she missed eating the fluffy fried bread, the aroma & the taste of the chole. I agreed to prepare it for breakfast one day, to satisfy her craving for the same.

Here goes the recipe, however, I had made some mallu alterations while I was there, coz they dont like too much "pulli" in their curries, so I minused the "aamchur", n replaced it with karivepella to give that mallu touch. I am giving below the original, N. India recipe.

Ing for the Chole -

250 gms - white chole (vella kadla) - soaked overnight

3/4 sticks of cloves

1/2 inch stick of cinnamon

3/4 pods of cardamom

1 strong tea bag

2 medium sized onions

2 medium sized tomatoes

1 tsp of finely chopped garlic

1 tsp of finely chopped ginger

a slightly large pinch of asofetida

1-1/2 tbsp of powdered roasted cumin seed

1 tsp - black pepper powdered

1/2 tsp - anaardana powder (you can omit this if you want)

1 tsp - garam masala (if you get Chole masala then use it)

Ing for the Bhature :-

1/2 cup - Maida (Refined Flour)

1 cup - Wheat Flour

2 - boiled potatoes

a bunch of corriander leaves

3/4 green chillies

salt to taste

1/4 cup curd

1/4 tsp - yeast

NOW FOR THE BHATURA

You will have to knead the dough for the Bhatura at least 4/5 hrs before the consumption. Generally I knead it overnight & let it rise. Here I have added wheatflour instead of fully using the refined flour for health purposes........kindly overlook the fried part of the bhature :-)

1. In a little warm water add the yeast to rise


2. Seive the salt & the flours together.


3. Mash the potatoes well, so that there are no lumps & add to the flour


4. Add a tbsp of oil


5. Chop the corriander leaves & chillies finely & add to the flours


6. Add the curd


7. Add the risen yeast water


8. Knead all this together to make a not a very soft dough (use a little water if you need to). It should be a little stiff, coz when it raises the dough becomes too elastic n soft to be handled if it is very soft at the time of kneading.


9. Cover it with a wet cloth & leave it to rest - (I am very restless n go n touch n see it at least a hundred times !!!! )


10. For frying - heat oil in a wok. Remember it should be very hot.


11. Make equal medium sized balls (the size of a small potato) of the dough. If its stickly roll it in a little atta, so that it doesnt stick to the rolling board (we call it chakla in hindi & chappati kall in malyalam)


12. Lightly spread dough into a oval shap using the rolling pin. Use a little more wheatflour if it gets sticky.


13. Fry one by one into the hot ghee & remove when a golden brown colour on a tissue paper.

NOW FOR THE CHOLE

1. Boil the soaked chole in a pressure cooker, along with the cloves, cardamom, cinnamon.


2. Add salt in the pressure cooker before boiling, that way the chole are salty to the core n dont taste bland.


3. To this hide the tea bag way benath the chole for the risk of it getting jammed in the whistle of the cooker. (The tea bag gives it that thick dark black colour, which make the chole sooooooooo tempting).


4. Make a coarse paste of the onions & tomato.


5. Add oil to a wok (kadhai, cheena chatti), n let it heat


6. Add the chopped ginger & garlic, n fry till they are slightly brown.


7. Add the onion /tomato paste, fry till the oil floats on top. Remember that frying it a little more is better than frying it a little less, coz the raw taste spoils everything. Let it be a brown colour.


8. To this add the jeera masala, garam masala, pepper powder, anardana or amchur (this ing is to add a little tanginess to the chole, which I really like - mallus generally dont like it, th4, if you want you can avoid it), a little more salt if necessary, chilli powder or green chillies. Fry all these ingredients well till the colour is dark brown or black (but remember it shouldnt be burnt, you could add a little water each time the masala dries up).


9. Add the chole & mix well. Let it cook for another 2/3 minutes. If you mash up some of the chole, using the ladel itself, the end result is a mushy, thick gravy, which goes quite well with the Bhature.


10. Garnish with finely chopped onions, corriander, tomates & green chilies (or else you can serve all this on the side of the dish)


11. You can also add a few peices of fried paneer to it.

HAPPY EATING GIRLS !!! I hope you will enjoy this recipe & revert with your comments