Healthy Spinach Wada/ Keerai Vadai

Keerai vadai/Spinach wada and Healthy!? Is that possible? All I can say is...Try This!

You will need a APPAM PAN to make this.... This is a pan with depressions that looks like a muffin pan but can be kept on the stove top.

Recipe:
1 and 1/2 cup Urad dal, soaked for 2 hours
1 bunch Spinach, chopped
green chillies-2 or 3, chopped fine.
Jeera/cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
1" piece ginger
salt to taste
Pinch of baking soda

1. Grind the urad dal with salt and ginger to idli batter consistency.
2. Mix with it the chopped spinach, green chillies and jeera.
3. Add the baking soda and mix well.
4. Heat a greased appam pan and add a tablespoon of the batter into each depression.
5. Add some oil around the batter and close the pan with a domed lid.
6. After a few minutes, remove the lid and slowly turn over each wada
7. Make sure it is well browned on the underside
8. Once again drizzle some oil around the wada and do not close it this time.
9. Let it cook to a golden color on both sides and remove the wadas
10. Enjoy with chutney of your choice and No guilt about a waistline!

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.

Tasty and Healthy Mixed Peppers Curry

What an oxymoron that sounds! Tasty and healthy! Can anything healthy be tasty? I am sure a lot of us think that way....well! here's a surprise.
Research always recommends we eat colorful vegetables and fruits to stay protected from diseases, to stay healthy. My next post is a recipe for a colorful vegetable dish.

Mixed Peppers and vegetable Side Dish (Serves 6)

2 Green peppers
2 Red peppers
2 yellow peppers
2-3 carrots
1 medium red potato
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp oil
2 dried chillies
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
salt as requires
1/2 to 1 tsp chilli powder
21/2 tsp coriander powder
One handful peanuts , roasted and coarsely powdered.

1. Chop all the vegetables into longish pieces.
2. Heat the oil and add the cumin seeds and the 2 dried chillies.
3. Next add the chopped vegetables, salt and turmeric and cook till the vegetables are just soft. Be careful not to overcook the vegetables!
4. Add the coriander powder and chilli powder midway, while cooking the vegetables.'
5. Now add the coarsely pounded peanuts. Mix well. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Have this with rotis /chapathis and a cup of curds/yoghurt for a complete meal. Chapathis made with KALA CHANNA ATTA makes this a high protein, high fibre and a low carb meal that is even good as a low fat diet

Pasta Sauce

There is no doubt that a bottle of pasta sauce picked off the shelf is so much more convenient to use. But most of us used to spicy food do find 'something' missing in a regular pasta sauce. I saw my daughter load her pasta with crushed peppers and evolved this pasta sauce..make it bland or spicy, it is worth the effort. Moreover, all those vegetables added make it so much tastier and nutritious!
Bottle it in the very same pasta sauce bottles and you can fool your kids into eating a lot of vegetables.

Anyway here it goes...

1 can Tuttorosa Crushed tomatoes with basil
(If you want to go the healthy way, I recommend no-sodium Eden crushed tomatoes with basil
or for those to whom these are not available, any carton of tomato sauce will do)

Method:
2 green peppers (capsicum) diced
4-5 carrots diced
3 onions diced
2 yellow peppers diced(opt)
Green peas a handful, if liked
Mushrooms, again if liked
any other pasta friendly vegetables!
2 cloves garlic
Fresh or dried Basil
Dried Oregano
Cilantro, a small bunch chopped
chilli powder, as per taste
salt
Crushed black pepper, 1 tsp (reduce if cannot take too much spice)
Olive oil 1 tbsp

whole red chillies 2
2 fresh tomatoes chopped
1/2 tsp sugar

• Heat the olive oil and add the whole red chillies and crushed garlic.
• Sauté for a minute till garlic looks roasted
• Next add the onions and all the vegetables and sauté till fairly cooked
• Do not cook to a pasty texture, stop while the vegetables still hold up shape.
• Add the pepper, chilli powder and salt and the tomatoes, cook for a minute or two
• Next add the crushed tomatoes from the can and the sugar
• Bring it up to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes
• Finally, add the basil and oregano.

Your pasta sauce is now ready to use. Chop the vegetables to longish pieces for an added vegetable flavor to the dish.

Mango Ice Cream

Here is a recipe for yummy mango ice cream, I made yesterday. More than being particularly inclined to make ice creams was the necessity to use up that carton of fresh cream that stared at me from my refrigerator every time I opened it! I have used heavy cream and where heavy cream is not available, you can substitute with this... For 1 cup heavy cream, melt 1/3 cup butter and add 3/4 cup milk to it. Mix very well.
This recipe qualified for this 'healthy options' blogsite when I took a look at all the ingredients on any ice cream carton...there were at least 22 to 25 ingredients if not more. Chemicals to preserve, to keep fresh and whatever other reasons! My next attempt will be to bake my own bread rather than use the 'chemicalized' versions at supermarkets!
So here's to good wholesome ice cream that contains fresh fruit and good old cream and milk and NO chemicals!

You will need..
1 Ripe Mango
2 Cups Heavy Cream
1 Cup Whole Milk
About 3/4 cup sugar (adjust this according to sweetness of mango)

Peel and chop or crush mango to make puree. Blend with all the above ingredients in a blender.
Now you can make this ice cream in a churner or continue to whip for a few minutes then
Freeze icecream till softly frozen
Remove and whip again in the blender and freeze again.
Repeat this a couple more times till you get soft fluffy and light textured ice cream
Freeze and enjoy!

Can make this with any fresh fruit, chikoo, strawberries, figs ...your choice