some delicious naturally enriched milkshakes for breakfast | 6 easy protein enriched milkshakes for breakfast

Children doing tantrums on breakfast table is quite common and ‘parents feeling guilty about not being able to make them drink enough milk’ is the story of every Indian home. Even as adults we feel accomplished if we have had our quota of milk for the day for breakfast. Milk with fruits, may be an egg and may be some cereal is what most people think when they plan for breakfast. 

Making a milkshake that packs some more proteins and is delicious makes sense if you want an instant option every day. Homemade from scratch and yet instant for consumption I mean, not the chemically flavoured cereals and malted drinks. 

Is that possible?

The other day my sister was telling how her 5 year old son doesn’t eat enough protein although he loves fruits and small servings of homemade snacks. Like most mothers she also thinks that the morning breakfast time milk could be a little enriched with protein so the kid gets a good start of the day. 

Another friend of mine whose adult son keeps a close watch on his diet on week days and binges on weekends was discussing how she could make something for a week so he could have a quick milkshake that is fortified with protein and yet tasty. Most of us like milk but it gets boring if it is the same plain milk every day. Fortifying the fresh milk with some protein from nuts and seeds can make a delicious healthy breakfast everyday.

The problem with young working adults is that the work schedules are erratic and breakfast takes the toll. Many of them just skip breakfast which is not as bad contrary to the belief, those who opt for packaged instant cereals or get a loaded sandwich from office canteen need to fix the breakfast a little better. It actually doesn’t take as much effort as it looks like. High time we start seeing good old milk as a staple meal just as we did some 3 decades ago.

In fact one can do all the work once a week and get a ready milk based breakfast every day. Some 30 minutes a week for a nourishing protein rich breakfast every day I mean. Isn’t that something you could do? 

Say yes.

All of us depend on milk a lot as I mentioned. I love milk too, making flavoured drinks with milk is easy even if you want to stay away from chemical flavours and colours. Please don’t use packaged rose syrups or jams to make the milkshake your family loves so much. A few real ingredients are not that difficult to process at home.

 

I like adding almonds to my milk a lot. Just soak some almonds and make a paste the next day, skin and all. No filtering not straining. Then add some real food flavourings to the paste and add to fresh milk, preferably full fat. Make different flavourings for different days, different family members and so on. Your breakfast is sorted for the week. 

To make almond protein enriched milk I use a mix of 100 gm almonds and 50 gm melon seeds for 2 L full fat fresh milk. Once the nuts and seeds are soaked with water, blended smooth with a little more water it results into about 2.5 L flavoured milk. 

Here are the ways I like flavouring my milk and actually adding value to the protein enriched milk for my breakfast. 

Vanilla Almond milkshake 

To the above protein enriched milk I add some pure Vanilla extract to make it nice vanilla almond milkshake. We love it this way the most.

I normally eat my fruits for lunch but Arvind likes having a banana or apple along with his milk in the morning. You can have anything you like with it, or have only the almond and melon seeds enriched milk for breakfast. 

Matcha almond milk is my favourite. Health benefits of Matcha are well known, the flavour feels grassy to many people but I like it chilled.

I use 2 tsp Matcha powder for 500 ml almond enriched milk, blend it nicely and refrigerate till needed. It keeps well for 4 days refrigerated. 

Dark chocolate almond milkshake 

I am not a fan of chocolate but dark chocolate in chilled milk becomes my evening snack sometimes. It definitely a great breakfast too but when you have a few bottles refrigerated already it becomes a nice snack or small meal whenever needed.  

To make dark chocolate almond milk I melt 2 heaped tbsp dark chocolate chips (Callebout) in 100 ml fresh milk, then blend the melted chocolate with 500 ml of prepared almond milk. This chocolate version refrigerates well for a week.

You can use good quality unsweetened cocoa powder instead of dark chocolate chips. 

Ragi malt almond milkshake 

The ragi malt version of the almond enriched milk is a favourite of both of us. I don't add sugar to these milkshakes but this ragi malt version is so delicious and has a nice aroma that you don't feel like adding any sweetener to it. 

To make ragi malt version just dissolve 3 tbsp powder ragi malt (available online) with 150 ml water, cook till it bubbles and blend with 500 ml of the almond milk mix. It refrigerates well for 5-6 days. 

Date Almond milkshake 

Date milk is seen as tonic and rejuvenating in ancient systems of medicine and we have been told many times how dates cooked with fresh milk become so healthy and strengthening. 

To make the dates version of the almond milk I blend 4 dates per 500 ml of the almond milk and refrigerate immediately. It keeps well for a week if refrigerated immediately after making.

Turmeric Ginger Almond milk 

Turmeric is known to be healing, rejuvenating and antioxidant. Ginger and black pepper help the actions of turmeric in the body and it makes really good flavour profile with the almond enriched milk too. Even kids have loved this version of haldi wala doodh (turmeric milk) trust me.

For 500 ml almond milk made the way mentioned above, I use 30 gm fresh turmeric root and 20 gm fresh ginger root along with 10 peppercorns. Blend them all with 2 tsp water, squeeze the juice and add to the milk. There is no need to heat as the active compound (curcumin) works really well with this combination. The leftover pulp of turmeric and ginger makes wonderful ginger chai this way.

The serving portions of all these enriched milkshakes may be different for children and adults if it is being consumed as standalone breakfast.

Now that you have a few flavour options for the milkshake breakfast, let me tell you how important it is to include milk especially for women and children. 

Dr. Sharad Pandey, an Ayurveda practitioner believes that full fat milk is essential for everyone. Even for making yogurt and other milk products the fat content should not be skimmed he says, skimmed milk reduces the chances of nutrient absorption and metabolisation by the body. Dr Pandey says good quality fresh milk should be arranged on priority for growing children as it is very critical for their growth and bones. Low fat skimmed milk can cause Vit D deficiency.

Tanya Joshi, the senior dietitian and nutritionist at Freshmen's Valley says that being a complete food, milk ranks as one of the best choices available as a part of a nutritious breakfast for the jump start of the day and remain healthy and energetic throughout.  

Milk is a rich source of calcium for building bones, muscles,teeth in growing children and vitamin D for its best absorption thus preventing bone diseases like osteoporosis in later stages.

Milk protein fulfills body’s overall growth and physiological needs. Gives feeling of fullness for long time resulting in sensible eating, preventing binge eating.

Good fats provides energy to perform daily activities. Fats are essential for the absorption of all fat soluble vitamins from milk and other foods.  

High quality vitamins, minerals and electrolytes in milk provides strength, boost immune power and maintains fluid balance.

Do you need more reasons to include milk in your breakfast everyday? Enrich it with proteins from nuts and seeds and make it a filling meal that keeps you full till lunch time.

  

Read more »

101 alternative flours | gluten free cake | ragi cake with carrot and orange

Recently I baked a cake for the birthday of a very sweet gentleman I had just met. It was really funny the way I got to know that it was his birthday that day, but once the birthday was revealed we had to do something. And what better to do than baking a cake?

It was last weekend when we were at Tijara Organic Farm, among fresh produce and lovely birds. We spent the weekend eating local cuisine cooked with the farm fresh organic ingredients while shooting pictures of the beautiful property lovingly constructed by Sneh Yadav and Tara Rao.

And it was Tara's birthday that day. I decided to bake a cake that resonated with the principles Tijara Organic Farm lives by.

We went through what was there in the pantry and decided to do a ragi cake with orange and carrots, everything fresh from the farm, ragi flour had come from the organic farmers in Rajasthan. Then I realised I had to work without an oven to bake the cake.

I used to bake a cake in pressure cooker long back, but the pressure cooker available there was too small. We did a lot of improvisations and decided to bake the cake in a ceramic pot with lid. For such baking one has to fill up the base pot with sand and then heat it up on gas stove, then the cake tin is kept over the sand and covered. In case of pressure cooker the lid is fixed without the pressure vent.

Here is how we placed the cake (in a borosil dish) inside the ceramic dish for baking.

Also, while mixing the cake batter that day I kept adding the ingredients by approximate spoonfuls and Sneh asked me whether I do this way always. I actually used to bake so much cakes earlier that the eyeballing method never failed me. I started weighing the ingredients only after I started writing the recipes for you all to follow. My instagram and facebook shares of the birthday cake brought in some requests for the recipe of this gluten free ragi cake.

So after coming back home, I made the cake again, weighing everything so the recipe can be shared. This time I topped the cake with loads of chopped walnuts, the way we like it.

ingredients
(makes 16 squares)

220 gm ragi flour (finger millet flour)
110 gm ghee (melted, at room temperature, or use soft white butter)
100 gm unrefined sugar
220 gm grated carrots
3 large eggs
1.5 tsp baking powder
zest of 2 oranges (I used local kinnows)
juice of one orange
pinch of salt
80-100 gm walnuts or a handful

procedure 

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. The ragi flour, the baking powder and the salt and sieve together or just whisk to mix well.

Grind the unrefined sugar with orange zest in coffee grinder or mixie jar. Now mix the wet ingredients. Add the eggs, ghee and sugar orange zest mix together and whisk till creamy and smooth.

Pour the wet mix to the dry ingredients bowl. Mix lightly while adding the grated carrots. The mixture will be quite thick and resist mixing. Add orange juice to ease out the batter but do not make it flowing consistency. It should be barely flowing.

Now grease a 7"X7" baking pan and pour the batter into it. Sprinkle the chopped walnuts and press using your fingers lightly to make them embed nicely.

Bake at preheated oven at 180C for 40 minutes or till the center becomes firm, check with a skewer if in doubt.

Cool and cut the cake in squares.

This ragi orange and carrot cake fills your home with a pleasant aroma while it is baking. It is difficult to resist but the wait to cool down the cake will be well worth.

This cake has a delicate crumb just like the ragi ginger honey cake I have shared few years ago. If you cut the cake when still warm it crumbs a lot but when you cut in after cooling down it behaves well.

Ragi orange carrot cake makes nice breakfast cake with milk and may be a banana or eggs. If you are baking it for a birthday you can dress it up with some orange chocolate ganache. Or may be some orange buttercream.

The birthday boy (Tara Rao) for whom I baked the cake that day is diabetic and I had baked the cake with lesser sugar. The ragi, ghee and carrots in the cake ensure the cake remains low glycemic even if it is lightly sweetened with sugar. So diabetics can have a decent sized serving of this cake too. 

I know many diabetics who wouldn't eat any desserts because they are denied and whenever they find a change they binge upon mithais and unhealthy cakes from the market. Baking such cakes for them more sense than making them crave for sugary stuff and giving in to temptations.

Tara messaged me that he loved the cake and finished the leftovers with his coffee the next day. Sneh said this was the best cake she has had. I know it was a sweet complement from a friend but Arvind loves it too.

I myself liked it when I tasted a small piece but personally I wouldn't be able to have it for breakfast like Arvind. I like my savoury breakfasts better.

This ragi orange carrot cake will be useful for those who want gluten free options and of course for those who want to watch their weight while enjoying a few pieces of cake sometimes. Do let me know if you try this cake recipe. It always feels great to hear feedback from you all.

I will share a pressure cooker cake soon. I know some of you were waiting for that too but I couldn't manage to do that. A pressure cooker cake needs either a short video or a step by step pictures to understand the process better.

Please not this cake doesn't behave like any white flour cakes but the taste is great. The texture is also very different from regular flour cakes but great nonetheless. Take care of reheating the cake slices before serving (in microwave, or any other method that you may apply) as the cake tastes best when warm. The cakes slices better when cold but tastes good when warm. Small inconveniences that can be overcome when you bake gluten free cakes. This ragi orange carrot cake won't disappoint you trust me. 

Read more »

sweet potatoes in the season | sweet potato hash browns and apple and sweet potato slaw salad recipes

I bought some nice and plump pink skinned sweet potatoes a few weeks ago, first lot of this season as I can't wait for the sweet potatoes from my garden. The leaves are getting lush and spreading like wild fire now, I use the sweet potato leaves to make a stir fry and add them to my besan cheela sometimes, but the tubers have a charm few can resist.

I make many interesting salads using sweet potatoes. This carrots and sweet potato salad has become a favourite since I cooked it on a farm by instinct, and this sweet potato and beets salad is another favourite. Sweet potato and water chestnuts both have the same season so it makes sense to combine them for salads too. You would love this sweet potato pudding we call shakarkand ki rabdi, a dessert made without sugar.

This season I made a shakarakand ka halwa for Diwali special of my Down to Earth column and the rest of the sweet potato was grated to have fun with it. I instantly posted the picture on instagram it looked so pretty. The grated sweet potatoes helped me make a gluten free breakfast on a weekend. It was quick yet delicious sweet potato hash browns made in almost one batch on my dosa griddle.

Luckily October has finally brought some cheer and we are enjoying our weekend breakfasts in the garden. Some tea was brewed, eggs were fried and jars or peanut butter and Apricot chutney were brought out. The sweet potato hash browns were so delicious we did not need the peanut butter. The Apricot chutney suited really well with the porous hash browns that held together beautifully, thanks to the rice flour I used for binding.

ingredients for sweet potato hash browns 
(2 large breakfast serving along with fried eggs and preserves etc)

scant 2 cups of grated sweet potatoes (washed but not peeled Indian sweet potatoes)
1.5 tbsp rice flour (or use a mix of chickpea flour and oat flour, use buckwheat if fasting)
salt and pepper to taste (keep the salt light if a savoury condiment is being served with it)
ghee or butter or olive oil to shallow fry (1-2 tbsp for a batch of 6-8 hash browns, we had leftovers too)

procedure 

Mix all the ingredients together and let it rest for 5 minutes till the griddle heats up. I used my cast iron dosa griddle and made all the hash browns in 2 batches.

Using your fingers, lift a handful of the grated sweet potato mix and spread over the greased hot griddle and flatten it using a spatula. Drizzle ghee to let it brown on one side. Flip and let it brown on the other side too, some crispness sis desired here so cook till you feel it is good for you.

Make your tea and fried eggs on the other side and serve immediately.

Next time I am going to serve these with some sour cream or a quark dip. These sweet potato hash browns were so crisp they can be served as canapes.

Adding buckwheat flour makes these hash browns as crisp as the rice flour version but take care not to add too much flour. The hash browns are crisp on the outside with a soft center though you can bake them to more crisp texture. 

I had some more grated sweet potatoes so I mixed it with some lime juice, dash of balsamic and honey and refrigerated it planning to make a salad next day. I love raw sweet potatoes and this salad was intended to be made along with some mung sprouts.

But the next day I felt like a fruity salad for lunch and tossed up this slaw salad along with some finely shopped green apple and a popped amaranth and mixed seeds trail mix. Mung sprouts would have tasted great too but after adding one whole apple it became a good quantity for my lunch, hence the sprouts were dropped.

I was not planning to share this salad on the blog but I liked it a lot and clicked pictures. You could add any roasted seeds mix to it and get a good crunch in it too.

This apple and sweet potato slaw is a salad that can be made as a meal, as a sandwich filling or even as a topping for canapes.

Thee is nothing special in this salad but do take care to let the sweet potato seep into the lime-balsamic-honey dressing for a few hours before tossing up the salad. Add the chopped apples, the trail mix and some EVOO, toss and serve immediately. I may not add EVOO next time I make it but you can go with what you like.

Hope seasonal produce inspires you too to cook something new every season and you keep reinventing the same old food in new ways. It does bring some cheer every season trust me.

I hope these recipes will be useful for those who are fasting for Navratri too.

Read more »

kachhe kele ke kabab | raw plantain patties | vegetarian kababs

Vegetarian kababs are much revered for their meaty texture and protein content. Many meaty vegetables can be made into delicious kababs along with some lentils, chickpeas or even cooked beans. Lentils provide a textural base while the fibrous vegetables add the meatiness to these vegetarian kababs and they are great in their own way.

There have been times when I have chosen a vegetarian kabab over the meat kababs as the flavour variation can be very interesting sometimes in the vegetarian kababs. We keep making Kathal ke kabab and kachhe kele ke kababs quite often, but these kababs happen only when the vegetable in question has to be finished and we are in no mood to eat subzi.

Lentil and nut kababs are made occasionally when we make it a meal with some salad. I even make chickpea kababs quite often to use up any refrigerated boiled chickpeas. Only sooran ke kabab is made on special occasion of Diwali as a tradition and we look forward to it.

This time a young client of mine who is a beginner cook wanted a detailed kachhe kele ke kabab recipe and some raw plantains were going almost black in the fridge. There was no excuse why I should not post a recipe for the girl.

I got them plantains peeled and boiled with chana daal (split chickpeas) to make kababs but again the boiled mix kept waiting in the fridge for 2 days. Finally I made the kababs for a late weekend breakfast. Yes that is not a traditional kabab time but we can decide our own foods at home. Just some chutney and tulsi ginger chai was great with these kababs.

The resistant starch in the raw plantain (kachha kela) and a good mix of complex carbs and proteins in the chana daal makes these kababs perfect for breakfast if you consider the nutrient profile. That day after this late plantain kabab breakfast we had a grapefruit smoothie for lunch, a couple of teas later in the evening and did not feel like eating any food till dinner time.

ingredients
(makes 8 kababs, we had leftovers too after the heavy breakfast)

4 medium sized raw plantains (kachhe kele)
50 gm chana daal (split chickpeas)
salt to taste
1/2 tsp coarse pepper powder
1/2 tsp fine cumin powder
1 tsp garam masala
2 tbsp finely chopped onions
2 tbsp minced fresh ginger root
1 tsp minced garlic cloves 1 tsp
minced green chillies to taste
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander greens
ghee to shallow fry (2 tbsp for 8 kababs)

procedure 

The hard variety of raw plantains take longer to cook and the slender ones cook faster, so I normally use soaked chana daal for slender plantains and raw unsoaked chana daal for hard plantains. This time I had some mature hard plantains.

Peel the plantains using a potato peeler so most of the fibrous skin is retained. Peel off only a very thin layer, removing any blackened parts well. Slice the plantains in 1 inch thick pieces.

Rinse the chana daal and mix with plantain slices, put these in a pressure cooker, add salt and 1/2 cup water and pressure cook till done. It takes about 10 minutes after the first whistle. Cool, open the pressure cooker, discard any extra water and mash the mixture. Normally all the water is soaked up while cooking.

Add the rest of the ingredients (except ghee) and make a dough. If the mix feel too watery you can add some sattu (roasted chickpea powder) and adjust seasoning.

Now this dough (mix) can be refrigerated for 2-3 days easily, kababs can be fried when required.

Divide the dough into 8 parts, shape into kababs and shallow fry on a hot griddle with drizzles of ghee, till browned on both sides.

If you want a smooth kabab like galouti you can blend the kabab mix in food processor and skip adding onions.

Serve with chutney of your choice. We had it with kachri ki chutney and amla dhaniya patta ki chutney.

Kachri is a tangy tart small melon that lends well to chutneys with loads of garlic and chillies. Amla was chutnified with some dhaniya patta (coriander greens) and chillies.

Here is a picture of kachri, the melons (Cucumis pubescens) that grow all over India wherever there is arid soil.

More on this small melon later. It will be good to know that dehydrated kachri powder is used as a meat tenderizer and some mutton kabab recipes use the kachri powder for the purpose.

It was a coincidence that a kachri chutney came up with a raw plantain kabab, kachhe kele ke kabab as we call them.

Read more »

egg scramble with garlic chives and sorghum flour pita bread recipe | desi super foods for everyday

A simple regular egg scramble takes about 5 minutes to make and a millet based pita bread can take another 10-15 minutes depending on your roti making skill. Blending pomelo segments to make a smoothie-juice takes another 5 minutes, including cleaning your blender. In about 20 minutes a super food breakfast can be whipped up and this platter of egg scramble with loads of chives and rucola, sorghum pita bread and pomelo (grapefruit) smoothie was our weekend late breakfast last week.

Wondering why I am talking about super foods so often these days?

I know you have questioned the relevance of super foods and have wondered about what foods are super foods and which ones are 'just regular food'. High time we analysed our 'just regular foods' and took a hard look on super foods. Don't you think we need the so called super foods more because we have fallen for junk foods? The more we eat junk foods the more we feel like compensating with some super power..err..super foods.

And lo and behold, the same markets that trapped us into the 'junk food' addiction, are shoving super foods down our throats. And we end up eating the extra large sized junk burgers, gripped by guilt later we buy a pack of some newly introduced (to our part of the world) berries and seeds and try and undo the burger guilt. Oh and we overlook everything else that might have been on our table in a normal way. The 'just regular food' that may be equivalent to the newly crowned super food is often ignored as there are stronger market forces pushing us towards a certain new product.

But the good thing is, we can decide better.

It will help to know that using herbs and some spices can boost up the super food quotient of any 'just regular meal' by several notches.

Here are a few ways you can make a regular meal antioxidant rich, and get it qualify as super food.

• a pinch of clove powder has enough antioxidants as a handful of berries. Add it to your regular banana smoothie if you don't have blueberries. See this to believe.
• adding some basil or tulsi leaves to the smoothie or salad would be even better than blueberries. 
• a generous dash of black pepper would help absorb nutrients better and make a regular bowl of vegetable or fruit salad much more nutrition efficient.
• amla or Indian gooseberry blended with ginger and curry leaves in a glass of buttermilk is packed with super foods of different categories. 
• Think of turmeric, ginger, fenugreek, regular curry powder and even green chutneys and how these have been making Indian meals healthier for centuries. 
• some very easily available leaves like curry leaves, drumstick leaves, purslane, sweet potato leaves, beet leaves and even turnip and radish leaves are full of antioxidants and minerals that one finds in expensive imported berries and exotic leafy greens. 

See how easily drumstick leaves combine with scrambled eggs to make a delicious meal in a hurry.

The egg scramble I am sharing today is made using garlic chives and rucola greens from my garden. It could be simple coriander greens or spring onions or even a generous amount of ginger and garlic, some freshly milled pepper to make the mundane egg scramble more nutrition efficient.

And once you pair this breakfast with a millet bread it become better, a glass of grapefruit or citrus juice makes it even better. If not juice it could be this amla infused buttermilk.

Recipe of the creamy and herb loaded egg scramble..

ingredients 
(2 servings)

4 eggs
1/2 cup chopped garlic chives
1/4 cup rucola leaves  (or use coriander greens or spring onions)
1 tbsp or a bit more roughly chopped mature cheddar
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp milk (you can use butter too)

procedure..

Pour the milk in the pan first, break the eggs directly in the pan and dump in all the ingredients together. Whisk a little, lower the heat to minimum and cover for a minute or so.

Uncover, scramble the soft set eggs till it reaches the desired consistency. Serve immediately.

I used to cook my egg scramble in milk during my research days when I would teach in the early morning hours and then would reach the lab around 9 AM. I would buy milk, eggs, bread and fruits for on the way and cook a quick egg scramble with bread as soon as I reached my lab. Since this was cooked over a simple heater with minimal ingredients and utensils I used to add milk to eggs and quickly stir to scramble them. That became my favourite method to scramble eggs later. My sandwiches were famous among my lab mates by the way.

Recipe of the jowar (sorghum pita)..

ingredients..
(makes 2 large round pita breads, enough for 2-3 servings)

a cup of jowar flour
1/2 cup of yogurt
pinch of soda bicarb
pinch of salt
a cup of hot water

procedure

Add salt and soda bi carb to the flour and whisk to mix. Pour the yogurt and whisk again as it becomes a crumbly dough.

Now add hot water slowly and knead a soft dough while massaging the dough in quick movements.

Heat a griddle, divide the dough into two parts, roll out a flat bread between 2 sheets of cling film or pat a thick roti using your palms. I do just that.

Slap the roti on hot griddle and let it cook both sides. The roti (flat bread) would come off the hot griddle as soon as it cooks, if it keeps sticking to the pan it means it is yet to cook. Give it come more time and it comes off.

Bake it some more over open flame and cut into wedges of halves as per convenience.

Alternatively, the rolled out roti can be baked in the oven till done. On the griddle it takes hardly 5 minutes but in the oven it will take about 25 minutes to bake.

Any leftover jowar roti or pita bread can be crumbled with ghee and jaggery to make instant dessert, the peasant way.

High time we started eating the peasant way.

Read more »

101 gluten free breakfasts : scrambled raw plantains south Indian style | plantain podimas recipe

Raw plantain or kachha kela is one of my favourite ingredients and I always have a couple of them in my fridge. In fact I buy a big bunch if I see nice fresh raw plantain with unblemished skin in the market. I never discard the skin so always make it a point to get fresh skinned plantains.

Kela meti ki subzi, kele aur sem ki subzi are  favourite in winters and I make a chutney with raw banana peels sometimes. Kachhe kele ke kofte is made less frequently though. I make the kababs with them too but haven't managed to post the as yet.

There are two types of raw plantains and no these are not the same variety that we eat as ripe bananas. Plantains taste very different even when they are ripe and I quite like the fritters made with them. In the picture below I have shared the two types we get. The rounded variety with a fat middle part and darker skin is the one that gets a little dry after cooking. The other slim plantains with lighter skin colour and slender tapering ends are tastier and stay soft even after cooking. There is a slight difference in taste too.

The stout plantains are suited more for kababs and koftas and the slender ones for stir fries. But if you get tender plantains then even the stout ones are good to make stir fried dishes. And that is what I did in this recipe.

It so happened one day that I was alone at home and was thinking what to cook for my brunch. I saw Nandita had posted her plantain podimas recipe and I wanted to eat that. Podimas is normally cooked with boiled, peeled and grated plantains but since I wanted to retain the skin and wanted the stir fry to be quick too. After searching and reading a few recipes I came up with an altered recipe that suited me just fine. I actually loved the taste.

ingredients..
(one serving, a 10 minute recipe)

one medium sized raw plantain (3/4 cup when chopped like the picture)
3-4 springs of fresh curry patta
2 broken dry red chillies
1/4 tsp black mustard seeds
pinch of hing (asafoetida)
1/2 tsp urad daal (black lentils skinned)
1/2 tsp chana daal (black chickpeas skinned)
2 tbsp fresh grated coconut ( I used dehydrated grated coconut and re-hydrated it before use)
salt to taste
1 tsp ghee
lime juice to taste

procedure..

The first thing you have to do is lightly peel the plantain skin with a potato peeler so only a very thin layer is removed. If using a farm fresh plantain I would skip this step.

See how I cut the plantain in half lengthwise and then sliced thinly, before chopping small bits of it that resembles grated vegetable. You may want to grate using a box grater.

Then heat the ghee, add hing, mustard seeds, lentils and red chili in that order and let them all become aromatic.

Add chopped curry patta and fry for a second or two. Now add the chopped or grated plantain along with salt and stir fry for about 3-5 minutes or till it cooks.

Add the grated coconut, lime juice to taste and mix well, cook for a minute and serve immediately.

This plantain or raw banana podimas is a great substitute of poha or upma kind of breakfast. I had a glass of buttermilk with it and it was a very satisfying meal that kept me full for many hours.

Did you know raw plantains have resistant starch that makes this vegetable a very low glycemic index and that it is prebiotic too?

This breakfast is supplemented with good fats, great variety of fiber, complex carbs and yes even some protein. Add some sesame seeds if you want a little more protein in this meal.

I must tell you raw banana podimas is served like a subzi or side dish with Indian meals of rice and sambar etc. Converting it to a breakfast dish may work for you too. And mind it, this is a 10 minute breakfast recipe.

Read more »

palm fruit or Ice apple, one of the most exotic fruit | recipe of ice apple and mango creamy dessert fit for breakfast

Yes this would be the yummiest gluten free breakfast even if I don't tag it as the 101 gluten free breakfasts. After all it is made of fruits, milk and nuts. No added sugar for me please. Ice apples, ripe mangoes, cashew nuts and milk, these four ingredients can cast a spell in a bowl.

Ice apple or Palm fruits are in season right now and this peak of summer is the short span of time when they appear in markets of some Indian towns. Yes, these are seen only in some Indian towns although the Palm tree (Borassus flballifer) grows almost all over the country. Such a pity. But one of the reasons why it is not avaialble throughout the country could be the absence of the trained people who climb the Palm trees to pluck these and sell them after chopping off the hard shell these Ice apples are enclosed into.

Ice apples are the delicate jelly like endosperm of the Palm fruit (Borassus flabellifer) that is so flavourful one has to eat it to know what I mean. Not sweet like other fruits but mild cooling sweetness that quenches thirst like nothing else. The texture of this jelly like fruit feels almost watery when tender, and starts getting a bit chewy as it matures.

Ice apples are called Taal shash in Bengali, Nungu in Tamil, Thaati munjalu in Kannada Tad gola in Marathi and Tad phal in Hindi. I asked my father and he told that these fruits were once common in the north too but later these were considered fruits for the poor. What a pity. 

I spotted these Palm fruit sellers in Hyderabad 2 weeks ago and could not refrain myself from buying some every time I passed through this road. One has to choose the tender ones because the mature Ice apples are a bit chewy and less sweet. The tender Ice apples have a sweet watery fluid inside it's cavity and the flesh is jelly like.

One Palm fruit encloses three Ice apples (endosperm part of the fruit) inside and each one is enclosed in a thin soft peel. Nature's wonders.

These Palm fruit sellers are quite deft at chopping off the hard shell of the fruit and delicately sliding off the fruit (edible endosperm) into a poly bag. I wish they had leaf bowls to sell these.

But it is a delight to see these Palm fruit sellers do their job. I was wondering if they accidentally cut their own palm while handling such sharp knives on such hard fruits.

And to my shock I spotted this scar later when I was seeing the cell phone pictures I had clicked. This man had actually got a deep cut sometime in his early life may be.

This is how the husk looks like. This would make good manure after it decomposes.

I clicked these pictures while Nirupama, my friend in Hyderabad collected the Palm fruits in a poly bag. She was the one who asked the seller to give us the tender fruits.

We enjoyed the fruits once we reached Bhavana's place. Nirupama told that the creamy white and thin peel of the Ice apples is used to rub on skin to cure summer rashes, the prickly heat.

I asked a few more people if they cooked these Ice apples too or made salads or desserts with these but everyone said they eat them as is. In fact it is very difficult to save these fruits to cook something as everyone just loves eating them as soon as it arrives.

Later, on my way back to airport I asked the cab driver to stop for the 'Thaati munjalu' (telugu name for these) and he kept looking for them. Such a sweet fellow he stopped where a Palm fruit seller was sitting with a huge heap of these. He even asked him to cut only the tender fruits for me. And I got two dozen of these Ice apples packed into my handbag, though I feared these might be seized at the airport.
But thankfully, these are no arms :-)

Back home, both of us enjoyed the chilled Ice apples of Thaati munjalu to our heart's content. I shared a picture of facebook and friends came up with suggestions to have these with chilled milk. Intrigued, I searched the internet and found someone had blended the Ice apples with soaked cashew to make a payasam. I loved the idea as we both love cashew nuts a lot.

And there came our first Nungu payasam.

I made this one with soaked cashew nuts paste blended with reduced milk (evaporated milk) and added chopped tender Ice apples. This was heaven in a bowl when chilled.

Just a dozen soaked cashew nuts blended with a little milk, added to a cup of reduced milk and a cup of chopped Ice apples. I did not add any sugar and the flavours of ice apple in the natural sweetness of cashew and reduced milk was something we will keep craving till the next time we get Ice apples.

And the next day I added some chopped mangoes to the same mix to make Nungu Mango payasam, and had it chilled for breakfast. This is going to be one of the best breakfasts we ever had. We love fruits and we love milk, this combination of milk and fruits is going to be one of the most favourite thing we did.

Clicking pictures was difficult as I kept eating while I clicked and took just 3 pictures to document the recipe.

This Nungu Mango payasam has no such recipe again. A dozen soaked cashew nuts blended with little milk, added to a cup pf reduced evaporated) milk and then mixed with 3/4 cup of chopped Ice apples and 1 cup of chopped ripe mangoes. No added sugar and still so sweet and flavourful. 

No added sugar to kill the natural sweetness of these flavourful fruits.

And remember this dish can be served as a chilled dessert too, you might like to add just a hint of honey to it if you find it bland as per your 'dessert sense'. My dessert sense agrees with the natural sweetness of fruits.

So a larger serving of such a dessert for breakfast is a good idea for me.

Read more »

101 gluten free breakfasts | sorghum banana pancakes with pomegranate rhododendron jelly

Someone asked me why I work around millets so much. What is the goal I am working towards when I promote millets, traditional recipes that are getting lost and age old nutrition wisdom. I was thinking of the age old wisdom that is being taken over by consumerism and 'tactful' nutrition information fine printed on shiny food packets.

I asked him what did he have for breakfast and he told me about a crisp toast with French butter and some fruit preserve. I told that I made a gluten free sorghum flour and banana pancake and had it with pomegranate rhododendron jelly. Jowar kele ka cheela, as we would call it and he wanted to know more about the pancake and how millets can make such tasty foods. The interest was ignited immediately.

I had never expected this kind of question as all of you my readers and friends have been
reassuring in different ways, and my own quest giving me enough reasons to continue what I love doing. I never follow a goal but do what I like at the moment, taking life as it comes, plans never worked and surprises were always good.

But yes, I do have a reason for reviving old times wisdom and alternative grains, Indian native foods and cooking techniques and most importantly the love for cooking family meals at home. I don't have to explain those reasons for you my friend, because you have subscribed to my blog and have been reading what I think about these.

I would explain my concern about the millets for a reason today. I am an environmentalist by instinct, I feel frustrated to see how the soil health is depleting by monoculture of wheat and rice in different agricultural areas while millets are being neglected. For ages millets were considered food of the poor.

How many of us know that millets take very few resources to grow? These are mostly rain fed crops and do not deplete water resources, do not need pesticides and insecticides much and can be grown organically well.

And there are health benefits that you know already. I know because you are reading healthfood desivideshi and have clicked to read this piece of information. I know you too hate quinoa and use alternative flours for everyday cooking like I do.

ingredients..
(2 servings of filling breakfast)

jowar flour (sorghum flour) 3/4 cup
over ripe banana mashed well 1 or mashed pulp about 1/2 cup
cinnamon powder 1/4 tsp or to taste (optional)
milk 1/3 cup or a bit more
chopped mixed nuts 2 tbsp
flax seeds meal 2 tsp
ghee to shallow fry the pancakes 1-2 tsp per serving ( I used total about a tbsp)
any fruit preserve or honey to serve

procedure 

Make a batter using the flour, the mashed banana, flax meal, chopped nuts and milk. Add just enough milk to make a thick batter.

Heat a griddle and smear ghee over it. Pour small ladlefuls of batter over the griddle and let it cook for a couple of minutes on one side, over medium flame. Turn over and cook the other side too to get a golden crust.

Serve hot or warm with any fruit preserve or honey you like. This time we had the pomegranate and rhododendron jelly with it. I like the pancake plain with some hot milk, the husband always likes some jam or honey with his pancakes.

The pancake keeps me full till evening if I have it with milk. I normally munch on some salted roasted nuts or peanuts in between because I don't feel good after eating something sweet but that is me.

I must tell you that I have seen some people eating such pancakes with laal mirch ka acahar too and that actually tastes really good. A combination of sweet and spicy is actually good.

Tell me if you want to learn more about millets. For health reasons and for environment too, I will make sure there is some millets everyday on your table. Or that is being over ambitious?

I will be in Hyderabad next week, and will conduct a workshop with a millets theme, millets for everyone and everyday, at Our Sacred Space. If you are in Hyderabad and want to learn how to cook with millets everyday, you are welcome. Please sign up with this workshop and have fun with millets.

We are planning to serve this sorghum banana pancake too at the workshop. Would you like to join us there?

Read more »

101 gluten free breakfasts | buckwheat banana scones (egg-less) with cinnamon chocolate chips

When bananas get overripe you bake banana bread and when you want something gluten free you bake a round loaf for buckwheat banana scones. Scones are similar to quick bread, a little dense and dry than a bread and a little moist than a biscuit. I have loads of buckwheat that needs to be used up soon so baking this buckwheat banana scones was an effort to do just that. The scones were a good idea because I have just too many little jars of home made fruit preserves that I keep making now and then. We liked these scones with pomegranate and rhododendron jelly but orange marmalade, plum jam, strawberry jam or mulberry jam will be as good.

It has been long time since I baked something for week day breakfasts, all baking I did for the recipe trials of the products I develop and that kind of work almost killed my desire to bake anymore for the two of us. And when I decided to bake this loaf for the scones I was reminded of the cinnamon chocolate chips Deeba had gifted me long time back. These were lying unused since I was not baking for ourselves at all, a little because of all the travel I did and also because I was just too busy with work. The cinnamon chocolate chips are a burst of flavours on the palate, I had never imagined these will be so good, even for someone who is not too fond of chocolate.

The rich cinnamon chocolate chips added a beautiful depth of flavours to the scones,  I added some flax seeds to make the scones softer as buckwheat tends to get a little dry when baked. Baking with buckwheat flour gives better results when banana and flax seeds are used if not eggs.

ingredients 
(for 8 medium sized scones)

buckwheat flour 220 gm (I ground buckwheat groats in mixie)
baking soda 1/2 tsp
butter 60 gm
banana 140 gm (2 medium bananas)
flax seeds powder 40 gm
chocolate chips 50 gm
mixed nuts chopped 50 gm ( I used almonds and walnuts)
salt 2 gm

procedure 

Mix baking soda with buckwheat flour and sieve a few times to mix well. Add cubes of cold butter and rub to make it look like breadcrumbs. Or run through a food processor to get this.

Now mash the bananas and mix with flax seeds meal. Add this to the flour mix and add the chopped nuts and chocolate chips. Take care if the chocolate chips are kept at room temperature in Indian summers, it may disintegrate in the dough, so refrigerate for better result.

Mix to make a tacky dough, the dough is very soft and sticks to fingers.

Prepare a baking tray lined with baking sheet. Make a loose ball of the whole dough and slap it on the baking tray. Flatten with your fingers to make a 2 cm thick round shape. Usually scones are cut into wedges at this time but since this dough is too sticky, we will do it after the baking is done.

Bake this round disc at 180C in preheated oven for 40 minutes. Check with a skewer and bake a little more if required. The surface gets a few pinkish brown patches this way, if you brown it a bit more it gets a little dry after baking. Buckwheat flour behaves a lot differently than regular flour.

Let the disc cool in the baking tray, it might break if you try to transfer on a wire rack while still hot.

Cut into wedges when cool and store refrigerated. Reheat and serve with honey or fruit preserves. The scones are not sweet even though there is banana in it, the flax seeds and buckwheat almost absorb all the sweetness of bananas. I would still recommend not using any sugar in the recipe, you can always slap on as much fruit preserve or honey as you want.

It makes a filling breakfast with milk or juice if you wish. I rarely eat sweet kind of breakfast and I did not eat these too. I am more into 'idli steamed in my bowl' these days, I need my kick of spices and salt to start the day. The same buckwheat is being used to make my idli too, it takes just 2 minutes to steam in the microwave when I have the batter ready. Will share that too soon.

But these scones and any such muffins/breakfast cakes or quick breads make my mornings more organised as I don't have to worry about making a separate breakfast for the husband. He loves anything that is slathered with honey or fruit preserves.

These scones are perfect with a cup of tea or coffee as well. Served with either clotted cream or fruit preserve it could be a mini meal or snack any time of the day.

I am planning to bake savoury scones with buckwheat. I have some nice herbs growing in the garden and some yellow cherry tomatoes too. It would be great if I could use some of these to bake some nice scones or muffins using these.

Till then bake some buckwheat banana scones.

I have been getting queries about where to get buckwheat in India. My first choice is Down to Earth for whole buckwheat and buckwheat flour but you do get buckwheat in khari baoli market (old Delhi) too and some grocery stores stock too. Although the availability of buckwheat is better during Navratri days as this is a fasting food.

This buckwheat banana scones recipe is also a fasting compatible recipe and can be consumed during navratri fasting. I have always considered that Navratri fasting was devised for healthy living and detoxing the body twice a year.

Read more »