Cucumber Yogurt Raitha

This is a Summer special. Nothing can equal the cooling effect of cucumbers in yogurt, when the weather is hot.

1 Cucumber
2 cups of yogurt
1/2 tsp Cumin powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
salt
a big pinch sugar
Cilantro

Peel and grate the cucumber.
Beat the yogurt with the salt, sugar, cumin and chilli.
Add the grated cucumber. Mix well. Garnish with cilantro

Grated Carrot Salad / Carrot Koshimbir

This is a very tasty and healthy carrot salad ...low low fat, full of vitamin A and C from the lemon juice. If had with the Lemon Rice, it is a feast for the eyes as you fill your plate with the yellow lemon rice and orange carrot salad!

4-5 Carrots, grated
1 medium spice green chilli, slit
1 tsp oil (any, olive or corn)
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
1tsp Urad dal ( white colored lentils, available in Indian stores)
1 piece of red chilli, deseeded
Juice of 1/2 a green lime
Salt
Sugar 1/2tsp
Cilantro leaves for garnish
Raisins for garnish

Heat oil.
Add the mustard seeds, Urad dal, and red chilli
Soon as the dal turns reddish and mustard seeds splutter, add the green chilli and grated carrots. Mix and turn in pan till the seasoning is mixed with carrots well.
Take off fire. add the salt, sugar, lime juice and mix.
Garnish with cilantro and raisins.
Enjoy!

Methi Roti with Kala Chana Atta ( Fenugreek Roti with Black chick pea flour)

Kala Chana is  dark brown chick peas with a hard brown skin . It is full of nutrition as it can be
sprouted and when soaked has enough nutrition to grow into a plant! The hard skin is full of fibre, too.
This chana, that looks like a dark brown version of chick pea is made into flour and this is sold as
Kala chana atta in the Indian grocery stores. This flour has high amount of fibre and more protein than whole wheat

Methi is Fenugreek leaves has all the goodness of any greens besides being therapeutic in many ways. It is known to be a blood purifier , besides many other benefits.

Recipe:
1 bunch Fenugreek leaves.
2 tsps olive oil
Salt as required
Whole wheat flour ( Chapathi Atta) 2 cups
Black chick pea flour ( kala chana atta) 1/2 cup
Olive oil for the Roti

For the paste:
Yogurt 1/2 cup
1 green chilli
 1" piece of ginger
Turmeric 1/2 tsp
1 clove garlic(optional)

1.  Fenugreek leaves need to be cleaned thoroughly as they are picked from the roots and are muddy. Clean in plenty of running water until clear.
2. Chop the leaves finely.
3. Heat oil.
4. Add the chopped leaves and saute for a few minutes and keep aside.
5. In the blender, make a paste of the yogurt. green chilli, turmeric ginger and garlic.
6.  In a large bowl, combine the fenugreek leaves, paste, flours and salt.  Make a soft dough.
7. Heat a griddle.
8. Take out a portion of the dough and roll it into a disc.
9. Pat it on the griddle. Soon as bubbles appear on the surface, turn over
10. and apply a spoon of olive on it. Turn over and apply olive oil on the other side too. Cook on both sides till brown spots appear on the roti on both sides.
11. Enjoy with Cucumber Raitha or Pumpkin Raitha

Mixed Fruit Jam........With a Twist!

I had an assortment of fruit, sorely abandoned by the family! I hated to throw them away and they were overripe. Then I hit upon the tedious job of making Mixed Fruit Jam. There is a twist to this jam as it is not wholly sweet! but has a tang and a twinge that makes it interesting!


Here is what I used.....

MIXED FRUIT JAM Ingredients used:

A sandwich bag full of Red Grapes
12 Strawberries
2 large Peaches
2 medium Apples
1 big Banana
4 Cups Sugar
2" piece Ginger (grated and the juice squeezed into a cup)
5-6 Cloves( powdered well)
1 Packet Real Fruit pectin
1 tbsp bottled lemon juice

• Mash all the fruit in the food processor.
• In a large pot, mix the sugar and fruit and boil.
• Keep stirring often and continue boiling the mixture.
• When slightly thickened, add the lemon juice and ginger juice.
• Add the clove powder and continue boiling till thick.
• Once thickened check consistency by putting a little jam on a cold plate.
• After cooling, the jam should be set, not runny.
• Take off fire and put them while still hot into sterilized glass container

Bottlegourd/ Ghia / Louki Raitha

Ghia otherwise known as bottlegourd is now being acclaimed as a curative for various ailments from urinary problems to a liver cure. It balances the Doshas and is an antiflatulant. Insomnia, baldness and juandice are other ailments that find a cure in this wonder vegetable.
In my adventure of trying out recipes, this is about the best I have picked up. Very healthy, balances the doshas and soothing to the stomach.
Besides this is a totally OIL-FREE dish.
And what's more it goes very well with any parathas or pulaos!

3 cups Grated Bottlegourd/ Louki
1 cup thick yoghurt/Dahi, beaten
1/4 tsp powdered mustard
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp sugar
salt
Cilantro/Coriander for garnishing

• Take the grated vegetable in a pan and add water only to the level of the grated vegetable and boil till tender.
• Cool completely and add the beaten yoghurt, spices and salt and sugar.
• Garnish with coriander/cilantro and enjoy with rice or chapathi
• Or you can eat it as it is instead of a sugar laden fruit yoghurt

Chapathis with Kala Chana Atta

Kala chana is the black chana available at most Indian stores. Also available is the flour made out of this Kala chana or Black chickpeas. It is called kala chana atta and has the fibre content of the black chickpeas and also the protein content. Being both high in protein and fibre, it makes a very ideal diabetic diet.

1 cup Wheat flour
1/2 cup Black chickpea flour or kala chana atta
pinch salt

• Make a dough of the above with warm water. Cover the dough and set aside for a half hour.
• Divide the dough into rounds of required quantity, depending on the size of the chapathi you want to make.
• Roll out the rounds into flat discs with the help of a little wheat flour and put it on a heated griddle.
• When you see a few tiny bubbles on the chapathi, turn it over on the other side on the griddle.
• Once again when you see small bubbles on it, Take the chapathi off the griddle.
• Instantly put it on the open flame with tongs and watch it fluff up like a balloon
• Flip it onto the other side and when light brown spots appear onit, take off fire and have it hot with a curry of your choice.

Strawberry Banana breakfast shake for school going teenagers

When my daughter was in High School when they so typically do not have the time to eat breakfast...well, more precisely breakfast is just a pick up while going to the door, this is what I used to give her.

5-6 Fresh strawberries (substitute with chikoo or apple or any seasonal fruit)
1 banana
half a cup of any cereal (cooked oats, cooked dalia/buckwheat, cornflakes )
A few almonds(optional) or 1 tbsp vanilla complan or any vanilla protein powder(again optional)
1 cup milk


Blend all the above in a mixer, put in a glass and hand it to your kid on his/her way to the door. With this, you don,t have to worry even if they skip lunch!

Very Tasty Soy Bean Salad/Sundal

Soy bean is very high in protein, therefore good for children,for seniors and for weightloss diets.It is very good for women's health. Soy bean also helps in reduction of menopause symptoms.
Well, Before I made this, I had no clue, this would be this tasty.Perhaps, like most of you I would have baulked at the idea of soy bean sundal!
Anyhow, it was by sheer accident that I came to discover this! My mother was visiting from India and we had been invited for navaratri haldi kumkum. I soaked what looked like dried peas (vatana) and left. We came back about 4 hours later to find that the soaked peas (!) had turned into elongated beans.We were shocked, I had invited 24 ladies in the evening, planning to make this and what was this! It was then that I checked the package, which clearly said "Soya Beans"! Hmmm, it is to my mother's presence of mind and her ingenuity that I owe this recipe that turned out so good, all my guests took some home!
Another coincidence was that soy bean is very good for women's health and it was so suited to this ladies' get together! Unlike vatana, this was very light on the stomach and best of all no bloating or gas forming which is so common with vatana!

1 cup dried soy beans (soaked overnight or for 4-5 hours)
1tbsp canola oil
3 red chillies
1/2tsp mustard seeds
1tsp urad dal
5-6 tbsp fresh coconut or dessicated coconut
2 or 3 green chillies chopped
curry leaves
salt
juice of 1 small lime
coriander leaves

1.Pressure cook the soy bean, drain and rub the beans so the skin comes off. (do remove the skin ..it is very bitter)
2. Heat oil in a wok or karahi, add mustard seeds and urad dal.
3. Break the 3 red chillies into it.
4. When urad dal is reddish brown, add curry leaves and green chillies
5. Next add the soy beans, salt and coconut and mix well.
6. Add the lime juice and Garnish with coriander leaves and serve warm or cold.
Can add more chillies if liked.

This also makes excellent cold snack, picnic food and a healthy lunch addition.

Celery, carrot and pineapple juice for Hypertension

Here's something to perk up your mornings and at the same time keep your blood pressure behaving. Yes, celery is known to normalise raised blood pressure, so if you or your near and dear ones have hypertension, this works to lower blood pressure.
At the same time, maintains good cholesterol levels. Carrots and pineapple add to elevate the goodness of this morning drink to rev you up for the day.

4 stalks of celery, cut into 1" peices
2 carrots, cut to fit in your juicer
Few bite size peices of pineapple
(If you dont have pineapples, can add oranges, or apples)
1" peice ginger
1tbsp honey
1 tsp raw sugar
few crushed peppercorns
Blend all in your juicer and enjoy.

Low Sodium or No Sodium Banana Chips

For people with High Blood Pressure , who cannot eat the store bought highly salted potato chips, I came up with this idea.

For this you require, green plaintains. the long sturdy looking ones available at most supermarkets. Buy the ones that are fully green and not by any degree ripening.
Chop both ends of the plaintain. Now with a sharp knife make 1cm vertical slits all along the plaintain. With a deft sleight of the knife get an edge on the peel and take out the thick peel. Get all the plaintains ready this way and keep them soaked in cold water.
Heat oil in a deep fryer or fry pan and you can slice the plaintains straight into the heated oil.with a chip slicer or make slices first and put them in the oil. Make sure you wipe the banana completely before doing so . Fry till they are golden yellow and cooked crisp.
Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon. And drain on paper towels.

Eat them as they are with no salt added or can sprinkle light salt on them. Either way they taste worthy of your effort and no sodium too.

DO PEEL THE BANANA WITH OILED HAND.