Lauki- Soya Kadhi

In my eternal quest to cook something that is child friendly - husband's taste bud friendly - my way of eating friendly I am often found scourging the internet for interesting recipes. But sometimes it also happens that in addition to the above constraints, I also have constraints such as - to finish of a vegetable/ ingredient thats been in the fridge too long, to use up some small portions of things etc.

That's how I ended up with this beautiful, lauki-soya kadhi - one that I did not expect to turn out the way it did, but was so grateful for it. I find lauki to be such a versatile vegetable - one that you put into any dish and spruce up well enough- and it tastes fairly good!

My MIL and ILs infact just cannot understand how I so easily have integrated that into my cooking - a vegetable they found largely suitable to the climate and taste of the northern side of the country!

I'm so sorry, I did not take any pictures of my food. But please don't let that stop you from trying this one out:

Ingredients

1 medium lauki (bottle gourd) - peeled and cubed (the seeds can stay)
Sour curds -1 cup
2 tablespoon - besan (chickpea flour)
Soya Nuggets 1 cup
Dhania powder, jeera powder & amchur - a pinch each
Oil - two teaspoons
Jeera - for tempering
Salt to taste
sugar - 1 tablespoon

In a small pressure cooker - I heat the oil & added the jeera to sputter. To this I added the chopped lauki and the soya nuggets straight from the box. I added about 3 cups of water, about a pinch of turmeric and closed the cooked. After about 4 whistles I turned off the cooker.

Meanwhile in my small mixie jar - I combined the curds, besan, coriander powder, jeera powder and amchur, salt and sugar and whizzed till there were no lumps.

Once teh pressure cooker had cooled off, I tipped in teh whizzed mixture into the cooker, keeping the flame on low. I allowed the mixture to thicken and served it with dal parathas.

In Bangalore, sometimes it feels like winter these days. This was perfect for one such day - and I tucked into it eating it straight from the bowl. In fact I carried it to work next day and ate it as a cold soup and it tasted sooo good!

This is a keeper for me. I'll definitely be making this again! Maybe I'd add some kasuri methi to just add to the deliciousness of the dish.

Will you try this?
 

Overcoming the anti cooking attitude and a wholesome bajra roti for you!

The old me used to be a lazy person. Lazy to cook specially. I used to think that cooking is a laborious, boring and useless activity which is given unnecessary importance. I believed that when any kind of food one wants is available in the restaurants, cooking was a waste of time!

Things got into perspective when I had gained an unhealthy amount of weight during pregnancy and post that! Once I had a toddler whose nutrition I had to take care of, cooking became a necessary evil. I still did not like cooking, but came to understand that it was the only way I could ensure that we as a family ate healthy and stayed healthy!

Then as I embarked on weight loss - I was constantly faced with the challenge of eating something that was low on calories , yet high on taste! I discovered the joy of the cooking healthy challenge! As we went along I modified even more - I began to make more soups, cook different types of pulses and also began experimenting with different grains!

Brown rice khichdis, broken wheat "fried rice", different kind of parathas, whole wheat pasta
are now dished out of my kitchen with a lot of gusto! Chittu also gets a staple breakfast of a combination of various millets made into a porridge on a regular basis!

One of my readers also suggested that I take to millets in its various forms. When I was grocery shopping, my eyes chanced upon "bajra flour"(pearl millet flour) and I grabbed a packet without thinking much what I would do with it! I have heard of bajra roties being made and so I decided to experiment.

When I kneaded the bajra flour, I ended up with a brittle textured dough. So I could not roll the chappatis like I roll the regular wheat roties. So I added some wheat flour to it and kneaded with some warm water and made flavourful roties with it. Yes my roties were not too soft. Little on the crisper side and I topped with a bit of ghee too! But both- the husband and toddler loved the roties:

Bajra Roti with Tondli subzi!

How to make bajra roties:

Take bajra flour and wheat flour (70:30)

Add salt

Knead with warm water into chappati dough consistency

Add 1 spoon oil in the end

Roll with rolling pin

Grill on tava like a regular roti

Serve with a smidge of ghee (clarified butter)

Other pointers:

I will try to add some onion/ grated carrots/ grated radish/ cabbage or other veggies the next time

Read the nutrition info for bajra here take a look at the iron content & the fat too!!

The satiety is pretty high!

These rotis are on the chewy side and you'd have to spend time chewing it. So you really cant wolf down too many at a time

I loved the rustic texture of these rotis. The smell of the ghee infused rotis really made me feel like I was eating the healthiest meal in town!!!

 

Finger Millet Banana Cinnamon Pancakes or Crepes?

Do you fantasize about food?

 

I'll admit I do. Sometimes when I see a few ingredients a recipe pops in my head and I cal already visualize how looks and tastes. Many a time, a recipe I envisioned does not look like how I expected it to, but tastes very good.

 

Have youread Enid Blyton novels - secret seven and famous five and how the kids would pack a basket of scones, pound cake, hamburgers and hotdogs? Even though I don't eat ham or any meat, I still used to drool seeing them.

 

Such is my experience with pancakes. Honestly, I don't remember to have eaten them ever. Also remember I don't bring eggs into my home. I do eat them very rarely outside, but am not a huge egg fan! I always had a craving for the perfect pancake.  I had decided that my wait was over and that I was going to try my hand at it, no matter what!

 

I started out with the idea of fluffy pancakes but ended up with soft crepes which were a bit hit in the Sugar household. I'll give you guys the recipe without further ado.

 

Ingredients for Finger Millet Banana Cinnamon Pancakes (Also gluten free)

Overripe bananas - 2 mashed well with a fork
Finger Millet Flour (Ragi flour) 1.5 cups
Flax Meal : 2 tablespoons
Rice Flour 2 tablespoons
Jaggery 2 tablespoons
Cinnamon - a pinch or two for flavouring
Oil for the crepes

I started out by getting all the above ingredients except oil in a widish container. The bananas stayed a bit lumpy here and there but that worked just perfect for me. I then added water to get a consistency of a dosa batter. I let the batter stand for a while to let the jaggery dissolve well. This is how my pancake batter looked:

I then took my regular dosa tava and smeared a bit of oil on it, fearing the batter might have a tendency to stick to the griddle. I was right and it did take me a couple of attempts before I could get a non shredded pan cake.

To get to the step above, smear a ladleful of batter on the griddle. I kept the size smaller tha my usual dosas. Wait patiently till one side cooks and the sides seem to let off from the griddle. Flip over without tearing the pancake. Wait for that side to cook as well.

And enjoy:

 

 

I ate it as it was. There were pieces of warm gooey banana and I loved it. The sweet was just  right for me and as I said all at home liked it. It also kept me pretty filled. Definitely a Sunday morening breakfast!!!As they say - Tasty bhi, healthy bhi!!!

 



Palak soup for the soul!

Do you love soups? I do. I am a soup fanatic. If I was cooking only for myself and did not have to care for the carb crazy husband, I will survive only on soup.

On the other hand I am so NOT a salad person. I think I have a strong dislike for anything uncooked (Other than fruit) and cold (other than dessert). Hence it is only unwillingly that I try to eat things like cucumber raita, sprout salad, carrot salad etc. Veggies like carrots, radishes and beets, I make either into a paratha after grating and adding to Chappati dough or into  payathankanji.

I discovered that as much as a soup may sound fancy, it is actually very very easy to prepare and gets done in a jiffy too.

Palak( Spinach greens) soup for the soul:

1 bunch palak - stems and all - chopped roughly
1 large onion
green chillies 2 or more as per heat requirement
garlic (if you like the flavour, I don't)
2 teaspoons all purpose flour (maida)
milk 200 ml
grated cheese (optional)
Oil - 2 teaspoons
Salt to taste
desired garnish

Heat oil in a wok. Add the onions saute until they turn pink. Add salt as well. Now throw in the chopped palak and chillies. Mix well. Add about a cup of water , cover and cook till almost all water is evaporated.

Once evaporated, cool the palak onion mixture unless you want your kitchen walls painted green.

Once well cooled, add the 2 teaspoons of maida and grind into a bright green smooth paste. Transfer back to the wok on a low flame to let the maida thicken the soup. Keep stirring lest the misture gets lumpy. Add about two cups of water ( or less as needed)Fold in the milk to and simmer until the whole house smells of palak soup. When still hot you may add in the grated cheese. ( I used mozzarella which was sitting in the fridge for too darn long)

You can garsh with grated/ crushed garlic/ chilly flakes/ oregano/dried masil/ parsley.

Serve. as is or with whole wheat pasta/ some home baked bread :)

This is the toddlers bowl with rice and a few drops og ghee. He loves it this way:



 

 

 



And here's my lunch:

Thats a salad with moong sprouts, peanuts, pomogranate, grated carrots and cucumber and crumbled paneer sprinkled with salt and pepper. Very healthy and fairly tasty too :)

And oh!! I have updated a picture from the Contours Womens Day Run. Please do go there and be your sweet selves, dear readers :)

and also updated my work out page, after a well deserved prod from Gowri. Thankyou.


 

A healthified "kheer" during weight loss

At the end of every body pump class I take on Tuesdays and Thursdays the instructor yells  a " Have a good day guys and don't forget to have a protein rich breakfast!"

 

Yes specially when one is weight training, it is important that one eat sufficient protein so that the body can repair any tissue damage and strengthen muscles. Being a vegetarian I don't cook eggs at home. Also I don't prefer to eat "soya"/"soy" products too regularly as I have a thyroid condition and soy is not highly recommended.

 

So that leaves me to use lentils/ dals as the primary source of protein.

 

I give you here a recipe that you can make many variations of. Originally inspired from a dish called "payathankanji" meaning kanji of Moong dal, here is the way I make it:

 

Ingredients:

 

moong dal - one cup uncooked

milk - 2 cups

turmeric - a pinch

jaggery: half cup

 

Method : pressure cook moong dal for 4-5 whistles in the cooker adding sifficient water and turmeric. After the pressure cools off, open the cooker and mash the cooked dal. Turn on the gas on medium flame, add milk and jaggery to taste. Stir until the jaggery dissolves. You can season with some nuts and add a pinch of elaichi powder for flavour.

 

Finished.  Thats all!!!

 

Method 2:

 

delhi carrots/ ooty carrots : 3-4 - peeled and cut into rounds

moong dal

soaked almonds -10

milk - 2 cups

jaggery

 

Pressure cook - carrots, moong dal and soaked almonds. After cooling off well transfer into mixer jar and whirl. Transfer back to cooker on low flame, add milk and jaggery. Season as above if you like. The pretty orange is very attractive.

 

See - you got a vegetable,  milk and dal in a sweet yummy breakfast.

 

My son loves this too. I have experimented with grated beetroot and also lauki. Both have turned out very well.

 

Try it. Will you? You'll love it.

 

Note:

 

1. sorry guys. I don't have a photo. Will try to update with one.

 

2. Jaggery (Velam/ Gud) is a healthier sweetner than white sugar. I'd encourage you to replace jaggery for sugar in your kheers. It gives a beautiful golden colour and also adds a unique flavour.

As someone with a sweet tooth - I am always craving something sweet. Have a good big glass of this kheer makes me feel good and low on guilt even when I am trying to lose weight!

Another recipe without a picture

I am not a big fan of raw vegetables. I know how good they are and all, but somehow, I prefer my veggies cooked and tempered. But yesterday I made up a lovely salad and as usual did not snap! Will surely be making that again so will see if I can update with a picture. But I had to share so that myy fellow bloggers can take good use of it.

Quick and easy Rainbow salad:

1 sliced onion
1 peeled and diced carrot
1 peeled and diced cucumber
1 apple cored and sliced thinly
1 slice shredded britannia slimz cheese slice
sliced black olives

Just assemble all the above drizzle the chilly flakes or desired seasoning. Shake it up and indulge. The crunch of the onions was yummy. You may top with toated pecan/almonds/walnuts and that will be yummy too.

The salt from the cheese and olives was enough for me, though you may enhance salt if desired.

Perfect salad for a summer evening. Pretty filling as well with plenty of fibre. Do try!

Low Carbing for me, a recipe without a picture and some tough resolve!

Wow!! The week has gone by pretty fast. Evening showers in Bangalore have made the evenings cool and breezy and I find it easy to plan dinner. During the colder months, I easily resort to soup for dinner with a side of veggies/ lentil creps/ fruit. During the hot summer, I find it very hard to find cool eating options for me. I'm not one to be too excited by raw vegetable, and therefore cold soups do not make a personal favourite.

I'd love to have put up a picture of my dinner here, because that was how it was perfect, yummy and filling.

Carrot soup with Rajma (kidney beans) & Paneer:

You will need : 

about 3 mediumsized carrots

one onion

oil

panner 25-30 gms

cooked rajma beans - a handful

milk 150 ml

Salt to taste

Spices as your preference

Slice the onion length wise and saute in a few drops of oil until translucent. Meanwhile peel and chop the carrots into rings. Add the crrots and saute. Once combined well, add a cup of water and let it cook a while. Alternately, you may also pressure cook the onion carrot mixture. 

Once well cooked, let it cool. Then transfer to a mixie/blender and blend to desired consistency. You will be presented with a charming orange puree. Transfer back to stove top. Add the milk, then salt and spices. Your carrot soup is ready. I added a bit of cornstarch to the soup as my soup had got a bit watery.

Since, I love one dish meals, I added some sauteed rajma beans and paneer to give my soup a protein fix. I garnished with some freshly ground pepper, red chilli flakes (for I am a lover of spicy food) cumin powder and oregano.

If only I had a picture! Next time, I promise. Even little Chittu loved it.

In other news, I have avoided the mid night snacking bug primarily because my pantry has no tempting food AT ALL. I am also working on limiting refined carbohyfrate intake. Eating refined carbs in moderation simply does not help in weight loss, for me. I did cut myself some slack and loosened my eating rules a bit. But time to bring back the time defined goal into focus. I really want to make it to goal. And there is no easy way up the mountain!

Saturday work out update & Recipe promise!

My dinner yesterday looked like this - curried cauliflower, cow pea sundal and a bowl of curd. I had had a heavy evening snack of my protein shake, and my appetite was not ravenous.

Recipe for roasted cauliflower:

Cut the cauli into florets and clean thoroughly, under hot water.

Heat a teaspoon of cooking oil(I use cold pressed seasame oil) in a skillet, add jeera (cumin) and let it splutter. Also add a pinch of turmeric. Pour a little bit of water, cover with a plate and let it cook on medim flame for about 10 minutes.

Remove the plate, check if the cauli is cooked enough and toss with a ladle.

If all the water has disappeared, you will observe that the cauli begins to roast. Let it roast till desired, tossing often. Add salt to tase and curry powder as per requirement, toss again and serve.

Tip: You may add a table spoon of besan (chickpea flour) as it roasts to give it an added crunch & crispiness. Tastes divine, I promise.

Cauliflower is a low calorie vegetable, and being loaded with fibre, is also pretty filling.

Now for the workout update:
Sunday - talked myself out of going
Monday - half hour on treadmill
Tuesday - strength training - upper body
Wednesday - half hour on stationary bike and 10 minutes on treadmill
Thursday - day off
Friday - home work out assorted stretches and exercises
Saturday - one hour dance aerobics

I ate out thrice this week - once at a Lebanese restaurant not watching portions, second at a restaurant serving continental cuisine. I had already eaten a heavy evening meal and therefore did not go overboard - bit bites here & there. Today, Maami took the day off- So we ordered in a pizza. Yes I ate. But again,mindful eating.Yes I must watch this eating out bit. That is a special area that requires work. Sometimes, we go two weeks with no restaurant meals. Some weeks like the last one, make up for the others!!! I don't beat myself up. Just pick up and continue.

Alright. Just peeked to keep up the promise. Scientist is snoring and I'm about to join him.

The weekly work out round up and the Recipe promise

Yes! I am doing it again. Partly because of some great encouragement from fellow bloggers and weight loss bloggers, and also because it reinforces the weight loss mind frame even during the weekend, when a Pizza for dinner plan sounds so enticing!

So here goes:
Monday - strength training for lower body
Tuesday - Cardio day - 30 mins on elliptical and 10 mins on cycle
Wednesday - took off
Thursday - strength training upper body
Friday - cardio day - 30 mins on elliptical & ran 2 kms on the treadmill non-stop
Saturday - gym closed for maintenance

Last night my dinner looked like this :

The brownish green thing is some sauteed mixed veggies topped with low fat feta cheese. Then there is a red pear and a glass of cold milk with sugar free chocolate hershey's. Perfect dinner, for a hot summer night. Are my Indian readers wondering where I get this stuff from? Please see here.

Here is the recipe for the sauteed veggies (SBD Phase 1 friendly):

You will need:

1 teaspoon cold pressed seasame oil

10 button mushrooms sliced thin

1 zucchini sliced thin

quarter bunch of spring onions

2 tomatoes

2 teaspoons feta cheese for topping

Heat the oil in the skillet

Add the spring onions and saute. Once slightly cooked, add diced tomatoes. saute until cooked and mushy. Then add zucchini and finally mushrooms, because nushrooms cook very fast. Season with your choice. I used some thyme and red chilli flakes. And then finally top with crumbled feta. 

That will make two servings. About 130 calories.

Ok, I know I am a bad picture taker and food blogger and recipe writer. But I will improve with time, I promise. And I this the best I can do right now, with all the time that I have.Please leave a comment giving me your feed back. That motivates me so much!!!

Alright, tomorrow is going to be an early mornign as I am going to head to the gym to make for missed work out today. Weekend update, later!!! I've had a sooper saturday!Watch out!

The weekly work out update, ProtineX review & the recipe promise

Yep! I am keeping my word. My work out  schedule this week looked like this:

Sunday, Monday & Tuesday - I skipped the work out for the reasons I mentioned here
Wednesday: Lower body strength training &
Thursday: 30 minutes on elliptical & 15 on treadmill
Friday: Upper Body strength training
Saturday : dance aerobics group class

Now for the Banana-Black Grape-Strawberry smoothie that is my new found obsession:

Ingredients:
 one red banana, about 10 black grapes and 5 strawberries
2 teaspoons of ProtineX powder
1 cup of curd and half a cup of milk



Whisked everything together in the blender and tadaaa :)



As I said its a new obsession. I feel like its a treat and with no added sugar it is. Two teaspoons of protineX have approx 45 cals. The above will make two servings.And that's about 160 calories per serving. I don't how well it will last in the fridge and so I just drank up the whole thing :P

Sorry about the poor picture quality. But I took the pictures on my iphone 1.

ProtineX - Product review - you can find the calorie break-up here. When had in my shake, it tastes pretty ok. There is 8 grams of sugar per serving, which is not too bad as well. But I might just try the diabetic version next time out of curiosity :). As is apparent from the name it is also a good source of protein. It has also not affected my weight loss attempt. So, the product is pretty good, though a wee bit pricey :)

So my promises have been kept. My eyes are shutting down. I am looking forward to Sunday. How about you?

November wrap up, December plans and a Recipe.

Alright. Posting from work again:

Since December is here, with utmost disregard to my unpreparedness, let’s do a monthly assessment.

Exercise wise, I stayed committed all month. Food is my huge problem. Sugar specially. I cheated on the food diary. Nope not even one day. So, yesterday, I jotted it down on some scrap paper I found. Today, until now is recorded as well. I just have to keep with this, because I seem to have hit a plateau. No losses last week after I hit the 83 mark, only been gaining since then, and feeling sick. But I think I’m retaining water. Because my ankles are swelling again - something which has not happened in months. Something is wrong with my system. So although the scale is showing no love, I’m not beating myself up. Patience. I have a plan.

The plan is that I’m going to watch my food. Journal it. Exercise. Journal it. And see. Basically to ensure that I’m actually doing what I think I am. Because, it so easy to eat high calorie/unhealthy/sugary stuff, and forget about it.  If there is no progress, I will need to join the gym. It’s possible that my body has gone into comfort zone, and I need to shake things up. I have also got my measurements today. So I can be sure if the gain is just muscle, and the fat inches are going away. Sounds good? To me, yes.

So here are the goals for December:

1. food journal

2. add evening exercise twice a week

I made a yummy soup yesterday. Something I’ve been craving for lately,

Broccoli & Cauli Soup (Recipe adapted from here):

You will need:

Brocolli & Cauli in equal amounts cut into florets.  (50 gms each)

1 onion

1 tomato

Skim milk – 100 ml ( I used nandini 2% fat – double toned milk)

Salt, pepper, red chilly flakes for seasoning

1 teaspoon – cooking oil ( I used cold pressed sesame oil from Jaivik)

Method:

First sauté the onion in oil. Then dice the tomato, and add it as well. Then add the cauli-brocolli.

Add about a cup of water. Close the vessel. Let it boil till the veggies become tender.

Let it cool. Transfer to a mixer. Blend till desired consistency.

Transfer back to vessel in which the veggies were made. Add milk. Wait until it warms up to desired temperature.

Season.

Relish.

I had this soup over a light bed of brown rice (also from Jaivik – I love Jaivik)

So, all set for December. Lets go(al)!