Oat-flake delight

Feeling  great to be back after a long break…it is new year with new hopes, new dreams, new commitments…new resolutions. Leaving the blog aside for a while was inevitable due to our busy schedule and official tours… but it makes us happy to see that we have new members and supporters added to our Facebook follower list. We both have decided to bring out some healthy recipes this year…hope we will able to keep up that promise.

First in the list for this month is a nice simple sweet turned snack item…packed with iron, taste locked in. the traditional Kerala ‘Aval Vilayichath’ comes here with a healthy twist. We incorporated oats along with rice flakes…thereby increasing the fibre content and health quotient of this mere sweet recipe. Try it out and scoop up health in every spoon you have.

*Health tip: A glass of lemonade or a bite into a juicy gooseberry suits best with this dish…not just to complete your evening snack but also because a dose of vitamin C helps speed up iron absorption. J

Oat-flake delight

Ingredients

1.      Oats                             ¼ cup

2.      Rice flakes                   ½ cup

3.      Grated coconut           40g

4.      Jaggery                       50g

5.      Milk                             50ml

6.      Cardamom                  3nos

7.      Ghee                            5g

Method of preparation

1.      Cook oats in 50ml of milk for 2-3 minutes. Then remove from fire and mix rice flakes till they are well moistened.

2.      Heat jaggery with 1 tbsp of water such that it melts completely. Strain to remove impurities.

3.      Add jaggery syrup to the oat and rice flake mixture.

4.      Then add crushed cardamom, grated coconut and mix well.

5.      To this add 1 tsp of ghee and blend well.

6.      Garnish with roasted cashews or almonds and serve hot/cold.

Serves 3

Nutritional Information:

1 serving gives 18.7 g of protein, 28.4 g of fat, 165.2 g of carbohydrates, 329.4 Kcal of Energy, 41.4 mg of calcium and 7.4 mg of iron.

Chettinad Egg Curry

Chettinad Egg Curry

Chettinad cuisine is always known for its spicy flavour and aroma. The fresh ground masalas along with coconut is the speciality of Chettinad style, and it gives the curry a twist as compared to the Kerala style egg curry. I just enjoyed trying this out and had it along with ‘Palappam’. The spicy curry with the subtle flavour of appam was just mesmerising…so do try out friends and let me know if you like it.

 Ingredients

1.      Eggs                            2 nos.

2.      Garam Masala            ¼ tsp

3.      Onion                          ½ cup finely chopped

4.      Coriander leaves         1 tbsp finely chopped

5.      Tomato                        1 no.

6.      Salt                              to taste

7.      Cinnamon                   5 g

8.      Cloves                         2 g

9.      Curry Leaves               5 nos.

10.  Water                           ¼ cup + ½ cup

To grind:

1.      Grated coconut           ¼ cup

2.      Coriander seeds          1 tbsp

3.      Red Chilly                   1 no.

4.      Garlic                          2 cloves

5.      Ginger                         5 g

6.      Pepper corns               1 tsp

7.      Fennel seeds                ½ tsp

8.      Cumin seeds                ¼ tsp

Method of Preparation:

1.      Boil eggs until done. Spilt it into half and keep aside.

2.      In a pan, dry roast all the ingredients that are to be ground. Sauté until it turns brown.

3.      When the mix cools down, grind it along with ¼ cup water.

4.      Heat a kadai, add oil and splutter cinnamon, cloves and curry leaves. Then add chopped onion and sauté for a few minutes. Then add chopped tomato and sauté it till it turns mushy.

5.      Now add the ground paste to the above mixture and sauté well until the raw smell leaves.

6.      Add 1/2 cup of water and allow it to boil. Then add garam masala and salt and cook for 5 to 10 mins in low flame until oil separates.

7.      Add the sliced eggs into the gravy and allow to simmer for few seconds for the flavours to blend in.

8.      Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with ‘Palappams’ or rotis.

Serves 2

Nutritional Information:

1 serving of the egg curry gives 7.07g of protein, 17.8 g of fat, 6.8 g of carbohydrates, 216.2 KCals of energy, 46 mg of calcium and 1.6 mg of iron.

Paneer Kulcha

Paneer Kulcha

One of my all time favourite dishes...Kulcha is an amazingly delicious member amongst the various  Indian flat bread varieties. Best factor of this dish is that you could try out various combinations of masalas to prepare the stuffing, and each time you will have a unique and interesting flavour.  I have just tried out a combination of my choice, here and was happy when it turned out well.

You could prepare plain kulchas adding just a little amount of onion, green chilli and coriander leaves alone, and it will still turn out to be yummy. But I love paneer and wanted to incorporate it as well. I checked through many recipes, but decided to choose the flavours I thought will go well with paneer and also make it real spicy. So here goes the recipe...do try and let me know if you like it... J

Ingredients

For Kulcha:

1.      Maida                          2 cups (or combine 1 cup each of Maida and Atta)

2.      Yeast                            2 tbsps

3.      Luke warm water        ¼ cup

4.      Sugar                           1 tsp

5.      Ghee                            1tsp

6.      Yoghurt                       ½ cup

7.      Salt                              1 tsp

For Stuffing:

8.      Paneer                                     100g

9.      Onion                                      50g

10.  Green chilli                             2 nos.

11.  Chilli powder                          1 tsp

12.  Turmeric powder                    ½ tsp

13.  Garam Masala                        1 tsp

14.  Chana Masala                         1 tsp

15.  Coriander leaves (chopped)    10 g

16.  Fennel                                     1 tsp

17.  Salt                                          to taste

Method of Preparation:

1.      Mix yeast in lukewarm water adding sugar and let it rise. Add the risen yeast, ghee, salt into the Maida or refined floor and sift well. Then add yoghurt little by little and knead it into a very soft sticky dough. Let the dough rest for an hour so that it rises to double its size.

2.      For making the stuffing, in a bowl mix well all the ingredients from 8-17.

3.      Once the dough had risen, divide it into equally sized balls and let it rise again for 15 mins.

4.      Once the balls are ready, take each ball spread it out a little with the chappati board and pin.

5.      Add 1 ½ tbsp of the filling in the middle of each roti and roll it in, sealing all the sides together. Then roll out the kulcha carefully so that it has uniform thickness throughout.

6.      Heat a pan and toast each kulcha till they are cooked well on both sides. You can add butter if you choose. Heath conscious? Then just skip that step...anyway your tasty Kulcha is ready!! You can have it with any curry of your choice.

Yields 5

Nutritional Information:

1 Kulcha gives 13.2 g of protein, 6.7 g of fat, 62 g of carbohydrates, 361.4 Kcal of Energy, 94.6 mg of calcium and 2.3 mg of iron.

Cream of Onion Soup

Cream of Onion Soup

The weather in Kochi has changed totally from scorching heat to chilling rains. When I get home drenched after a hectic day, a bowl of hot soup kips me warm and ma tensions at bay! ;-) .

So decided to make the very simple, yummy and soothing “Cream of Onion Soup”. It takes less than 15 mins to prepare this soup… It is actually filling and jus perfect for a rainy evening…

1.      Butter                                      1 ½ tbsp

2.      Maida                                      2 tbsp

3.      White pepper powder              1 ½  tbsp

4.      Milk                                         1 cup

5.      Water                                       1 cup

6.      Onion, chopped into rings       60g

7.      Salt                                          to taste

8.      Cooked macaroni                    50g     

9.      Dried Parsley (to garnish)      ½ tsp

Method of preparation

1.      Saute onion in butter till it turns translucent. Add 2 tbsps of maida. Saute well till the raw taste of maida goes.

2.      Combine milk and water. Add to the above mixture and stir well, to avoid lumps. Cook on a medium flame till it boils.

3.      Then add salt, white pepper powder and cooked macaroni to the soup. Let it simmer for 1 minute.

4.      Sprinkle with parsley and serve toasted bread cubes.

NB: You can add spring onions if you choose, coz it just makes the flavor even better. J

  Serves 2

Nutritional Information:

1 serving of the soup gives 7.4 g of protein, 13.46 g of fat, 38.53 g of carbohydrates, 304.2 Kcal of Energy, 231 mg of calcium and 1.3 mg of iron.

Schezuan Fried Rice

Schezuan Fried Rice

Back after a break, we decided to try out something we have never made before. The flavor of Schezuan fish/chicken that we used to have from our favourite Chinese restaurants had us think of trying it. So here we are with this interesting fried rice recipe. It is simple, tasty and spizzzyyy…..

Ingredients for Schezuan sauce:

1.      Dry red chillies            12 nos.

2.      Vinegar                       ¼ cup

3.      Ginger                         20g

4.      Garlic                          25g

5.      Soya sauce                  1 tbsp

6.      Tomato Ketchup          1 tbsp

7.      Pepper powder            2 tsp

8.      Salt                              2 tsp

9.      Vegetable Oil              1 tbsp

10.  Water                           ¼ cup

Method of preparation of sauce

1.      Soak dry red chillies in vinegar for an hour. Remove the seeds and grind it into a smooth paste.

2.      Heat oil in a wok or a frying pan and sauté ginger and garlic for few minutes until raw smell goes.

3.      Add the red chilli paste to the above and simmer on low flame till the oil begins to separate from the paste.

4.      Add pepper powder, soy sauce, tomato ketchup and salt and sauté for another minute.

5. Then add water and simmer for 3-5 minutes until it reaches sauce consistency.

Ingredients

1.       Basmati rice                          1 cup

2.      Carrot                                     60g

3.      Onion                                     120g

4.      Cabbage                                 60g

5.      Capsicum                               50g

6.      Spring onion                           2 sprigs

7.      Salt                                         to taste

8.      Olive oil                                  2 tbsp

           

Method of preparation of rice

1.      Soak basmati rice in water for half an hour, and then drain away the water.  Add the washed rice into cooking vessel and cook the rice into separate grains.

2.      Heat a pan and sauté oil, carrot, cabbage till they are half cooked and crunchy.

3.      Add 2 tbsps of Schezuan sauce and sauté for another few minutes.

4.      Add salt and spring onion and mix well.

5.      Finally add cooked rice, fry for a minute and remove from fire.

Serves 3

Nutritional Information:

1 serving of the schezuan rice gives 5.68 g of protein, 10.46 g of fat, 60.4 g of carbohydrates, 356.7 Kcal of Energy, 49.2 mg of calcium and 1 mg of iron.