recipe of beans and mixed greens salad and how to keep leafy greens fresh for longer and ready to use

Convenience is the most critical factor that comes in the way of cooking healthy everyday. We fall back on short cut methods, quick sandwiches, take-aways and home delivered food sometimes when we are occupied with work or just can't handle the housekeeping and kitchen both along with work. If you have young kids the convenience factor counts even more.

Being prepared, shopping for fresh greens weekly and keeping some boiled beans, potatoes, may be some chicken helps a lot when you want to cook or whip up quick meals. Paneer and eggs also help me a lot when I have to cook quick meals. We eat simple meals at home but it has to be tasty and different every time. I just cannot imagine eating the same things everyday, apart from some classics that we cook every season without fail.

I make sure we eat loads of leafy greens everyday but I am not too particular about eating them raw always. I would steam and sautee the greens sometimes, would puree and make dips or cook them into a delicious lentil soup.

How to keep leafy greens ready to use...

Someone on Instagram asked me how to keep the salad greens and other leafy greens fresh for a week in the fridge. I know it is a bit of effort if you want to eat fresh greens regularly. First of all you need to buy them regularly to keep them stocked always. I get to shop for my leafy greens once a week but one can buy 2-3 times a week if possible.

Now a days one can order salad greens online and schedule an alternate delivery to get them fresh always. But what to do when you get to buy them once a week. You have to make sure you process them and store them in such a way that you can use them in salads, stir fries and soups.

Now let's see how we can sort the greens, clean them (or not) and keep them ready to use for quick meals whether those are salads, stir fries or soups.

1. Sort the greens by type so you can use them accordingly over the week. The lettuces, rocket leaves etc keep well for 4-5 days in the fridge, the spinach, amaranth leaves, Bathua, fenugreek leaves etc keep well for 10 days, the beet, carrot and knol khol leaves stay good for 4-5 days while the most long lasting leafy greens are the cabbages of all sorts. Think about the green or ed cabbages, Chinese cabbage, pok choi and radicchio etc, the ones that form a head. These stay fresh for a month or so if stored well. 
2. For all salad greens, rinse them well, drain for an hour and pack into cloth or paper bags to refrigerate. For the first 2 days they stay fresh and crunchy so use them directly. If they get softer after a couple of days just tear them first and then dip in chilled water while you prepare the dressing and other ingredients of the salad. And if the salad greens have wilted beyond repair in the fridge blend them into smoothies or just blend and add them to lentil soups in the last minute of simmering.
3. Spinach stays well for a week if it is kept wrapped in a paper or napkin. Choose freshest spinach possible and do not wash it before refrigerating if you are storing it raw. Spinach  should be chopped and cooked immediately after washing else it starts rotting. Baby spinach stays well even after washing and draining the leaves well. You can chop and steam spinach and freeze it in ziplock bags to be added to stir fries and to be blended into soups or to make palak paneer etc.
4. Fenugreek (methi) leaves are a little dry and can be washed and chopped before storage. Keep the chopped, ready to use fenugreek greens in a ziplock bag (pierced to allow aeration) or a cloth bag. These will be great even if they dry up a little bit. 
5. Amaranth greens (both red and green variety) keep well if washed and chopped, stored in a perforated ziplock or cloth bag. If kept unwashed these greens last longer as these are almost drought resistant greens.
6. Bathua leaves I always wash, chop and steam before storage. Bathua (Chenopodium) doesn't keep well because of higher water content in them. So steam bathua and store, chop or blend when required.
7. Purslane (kulfa) has high water content but it is a succulent type plant so it keeps well in the fridge for 2 weeks. It stays good even at room temperature for 3-4 days. 
8. Fennel bulbs, leeks and spring onions keep well if the leaves are trimmed. Keep the leaves separate and use them first, the bulbs stay for longer. Keep them refrigerated in cloth bags or paper bags. Knol khol leaves are better cooked with the bulb like this Monji haak recipe, but keeping the greens separately helps in this case too. 
9. Cabbages last quite a long time. The tighter the head of cabbage the longer it will last in the fridge. My home grown cabbages last about 6 months in the fridge, the ones from the market are already a couple of months old when they reach you. Do not wash the cabbages before storage. The good thing is that the cabbages do not require cleaning and can be chopped quickly before cooking or tossing into a coleslaw or chopped salad. 
10. If you are getting mixed salad greens remember to rinse them first and store in a cloth bag or perforated ziplock, but not for more than a couple of days as some of the varieties of salad greens may spoil earlier and cause other to rot too. Dip them all in chilled water before tossing into a salad. I never use a salad spinner to dry the salad greens but I do let them drain in a colander for some time.

Last but not the least, grow some of the herbs and salad greens in whatever space you have. Try and find more leafy greens that grow wild around you and use them. In this salad you can see some Oxalic leaves that impart a tart bite to the salad. 

Coming back to this beans and mixed greens salad, I have used a native variety of cow peas in this salad which is a brown and smaller variety of black eyed peas. The taste is much better than the regular black eyed peas and it cooks faster too. In local parlance it is called as laal chowli or desi chowli or desi lobiya.

I keep using different types of beans for my salads or hummus or even stews. This laal chowli I find suitable for a stew as well. In fact I stir fried the boiled laal chowli with spinach and bathua (separately) and it tasted so good that I thought of making hummus with it too. The beans were boiled and stocked for making quicker salads for my lunch though.

ingredients 
(serves 2 for a full meal)

1 cup boiled laal chowli (lobiya) or black eyed peas (or use any beans you like)
3/4 cup black grapes halved (or use orange segments)
3-4 large cherry belle radishes thinly sliced or beets thinly sliced
300 gm mixed salad greens torn into bite sized pieces
I used a few oxalis leaves (khatti buti) for a tart bite
2-3 tbsp chopped walnuts

Few pieces of thinly sliced toasted bread (preferably multi grain or whole wheat)

Dressing 
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tsp or more extra virgin olive oil (or use mustard oil)
2 tsp tahini paste (or use sesame powdered fresh)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp minced garlic (2-3 cloves)
2-3 black grapes crushed

preparation 

Make the dressing by whisking everything together.

Add the boiled beans (room temperature) to the dressing and toss with the mixed greens, radish slices and chopped grapes or orange segments.

Sprinkle with chopped walnuts if using.

Fill into a salad bowl and arrange the toasted bread slices to one side. Drizzle with a little olive oil and serve immediately.

This salad is a fine balance of flavours and textures. The black grapes give it a sweetish flavour that enriches the dressing so much I felt like making the salad again and again. I used orange segments the next time when I used red cabbage for the salad and it was as good.

Do not skip radish in this salad as it gives a nice crunch, you can add thickly grated or julienne of radish if you want.

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Eggs for breakfast : 12 ways to have eggs for breakfast and include vegetables too | spinach spring onion and feta cheese frittata recipe

Eggs are convenient, quick and cheap source of protein, we must take advantage of this. I do always. It helps that we can pack in loads of vegetables along with our eggs even for the breakfast.

I know many people who balk at the thought of having vegetables along with breakfast and even if they try they get bored with the vegetables. No one ever gets bored with the breads and the fruit preserves and the nut butters or bacon, vegetables feel too boring to be had everyday.

I love my vegetables and can have them any time of the day but even I get bored with the same ways to cook them. Variation is the key when you resolve to eat more vegetables or anything that is good for you every single day.

Eggs and vegetables to be combined for breakfast is the easiest way to ensure one gets the advantage of starting healthy early in the day, this kind of breakfast prevents from any binge eating before lunch time or even after that. Trust me.

The key is to shop for vegetables mindfully, get them cleaned and chopped in advance and be ready for a quick filling breakfast in the morning.

Here is the recipe of the day.
Spinach spring onion and feta cheese frittata.

ingredients 
(2 large servings)
 9" diameter pie dish or pan for baking the frittata (you can choose any deep dish that suits the purpose)
150 gm finely chopped spinach
200 gm finely chopped spring onion, with the bulbs
some sun dried tomatoes to taste
1 tsp minced garlic (optional)
chilli flakes to taste
salt and pepper to taste
fete cheese about 50 gm crumbled
5 eggs

procedure

Whisk the eggs with the minced garlic if using and salt and pepper. Keep aside.

Grease the deep dish, spread the spinach first, press down and then spread the spring onions and the chopped sun dried tomatoes.

Pour the whisked eggs over it and then top it with crumbled feta cheese. You can use any other cheese you like. Toss in some bits of bacon or ham or even boiled and shredded chicken if you like. At this time you would notice the eggs are not visible in the dish.

Bake at 180C in preheated oven, covered with aluminium foil to prevent burning the surface. The frittata should be done in about 20 minutes, check by poking a fork if the eggs are set. You can grate some cheese over it and broil again till it melts.

The eggs will cook and fluff up, you will be able to see the cooked eggs with a rich green mosaic of the vegetables.

 And feta cheese makes plain boiled eggs quite interesting too.

I use feta over some grilled eggplant sliced to make sandwich and supplement the breakfast with boiled eggs. 

Very this sliced of bread, fat slices of eggplants, loads of greens, some feta and boiled eggs. Not much cooking involved to make a filling delicious breakfast.

And then we have boiled eggs topped with loads of this Indian style coleslaw or kachumber.

Plain boiled eggs are halved and then topped with some grated carrot, chopped coriander greens, chopped green chillies or capsicum and some chopped onions. This is drizzled with some extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. A simpler version of this Indian style egg salad is a common street food during north Indian winters, especially in the mountains.

Boiled egg salad with lettuce 

Another egg salad is the one that I make when we have some lettuce growing int he garden.
Some torn lettuce of choice, some thinly sliced onions, and some chopped boiled eggs. Everything is tossed with a light cream based dressing. Mix minced garlic, salt and pepper along with some mustard and whisk, add to the salad and mix lightly.

Serve immediately. This is one versatile egg salad and we keep changing the greens as per season. Some tomatoes and baby spinach also make this salad very nice.

And who doesn't like a nicely scrambled eggs?

This version is a bacon, chives and Parmesan scrambled eggs and is loaded with chopped onions and fat green chillies (mild hot).

1/2 cup minced onions sauteed with butter till brownish, some sliced fat green chillies of cubed capsicum thrown in along with chopped bacon and then some parsley and whisked eggs. Scramble, season and then grate some Parmesan over it and enjoy as it is.

Scrambled eggs with chives

The all season favourite is the chives scrambled egg.  Half a cup of chopped chives for 2-3 eggs and salt and pepper to season. I cook this scramble mostly with a tbsp of light cream or even some milk and not butter.

It turns out great every time. With a multi grain bread and ginger chai this makes a happy breakfast for us.

And talking about the egg scrambles, one of the most popular in my home is the drumstick leaves egg scramble.

We normally make it for a weekend brunch and have it with our multigrain roti. This kind of a brunch takes care of our weekends when we work in the garden or do spring cleaning of the house.

And Spanish omelets need not be too neat and nicely layered.

My Spanish omelets are mostly a mosaic of colours like this.

I saute quartered tomatoes, coloured bell peppers and some chucks of onion with some salt and pepper and then pour whisked eggs. Cover the pan and flip the omelet after a couple of minutes. This Spanish omelet is ready in about 3 minutes and serves one.

Fried eggs demand some bacon or sausages and of course some grilled vegetables. 

I grill the sausages and vegetables in a pan first, empty them all on the plate and then break the eggs in the same pan without adding any more butter to cook them. Wait till the yolk gets ready to your choice and flip them on to the plate. Eat/serve immediately.

Some mushrooms and a mix of peas, carrots and potatoes is a great change to the eggs and vegetable routine too.

This carrot and peas is mostly made pepper hot, the way I like it.

Masala omelet with stir fry vegetables 

The most common thing I do when I make a masala omelet is to throw somee chopped vegetables in the same pan and cover it for a couple of minutes, no extra fat required for this half done stir fry. My vegetables on the side of an omelet is ready to devour.

This way you get some onion, coriander leaves etc in the omelet and some more vegetables on the side.

Stir fry vegetables with soft boiled eggs

I stir fry some vegetables in a pan and boil the eggs on the other stove, quickly soft boiled eggs with warm stir fry with herbs and pepper is very comforting.

I am sure you got an idea how you can eat eggs regularly along with vegetables of your choice and still make it interesting and delicious every single day.

I will keep sharing more ideas because we eat eggs a lot. I keep sharing my meals and breakfasts on my Instagram page too, follow me there if you want more ideas.

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panjeeri is a desi granola mix ; a recipe of mixed millet panjeeri and a millet workshop in Hyderabad

Panjeeri brings back memories of my grandmother who used to make panjeeri with almost every grain. She used to make panjeeri even with rice flour as one of the ingredients and would sometimes bind the mix into laddu for the ease of handling and serving. Panjeeri is a roasted mix of flours, chopped nuts, powdered fox nuts and raisins, the ingredients are roasted separately and slowly along with ghee and are mixed with raw sugar or jaggery powder to make a delicious mix that is considered great for breakfast or for day time snacking.

My grandmother used to have panjeeri with warm milk too, just like one has cereal. Many old people like to add panjeeri to milk as they find it easy to gulp down that way. Panjeeri mixed with mashed banana and some milk makes good baby food too, but for that purpose panjeeri is made without ghee and nuts. How versatile a recipe can be.

The panjeeri mix includes dry ginger, turmeric, edible gum etc if it is made for winters and is made without these for summer days. But panjeeri is not an everyday summer food traditionally, it was made when one had to stock some ready to eat options at home or for traveling.

I remember panjeeri used to be our travel food each summer vacation. My mother still makes it almost all through the year using different ingredients suited for seasons, she makes a sugar free (not with sugar substitutes) version with few raisins and chopped dates for my dad too who is a diabetic. Like all diabetics my dad loves sweets and feels deprived if he doesn't get such things.

This time I made this panjeeri with mixed millets flour. There is some pearl millet, some sorghum, some amaranth flour, some corn meal, some barley flour, some oats flour, little wheat flour, some bran and some whole chickpea flour (with skin) in this mix. One can always mix the flours according to taste and preference and make the panjeeri using any of these flours alone, but mixing the flours works great for a complex flavour.

The panjeeri was actually made in large amount this time. I am doing a workshop on health benefits of millets and their everyday uses and wanted the participants get a taste of what they learn that day. I am so looking forward to the workshop.

The recipe is simple, but takes some time to prepare the ingredients and slow roast them separately. I did it myself in three days as I was busy with work too. Once the panjeeri is ready you feel like tasting it every half an hour. No I couldn't do that this time as I was suffering from a bout of food poisoning and was on a strict diet of yogurt and khichdi, my breakfast was plain yogurt mixed with isabgul husk. Life is not always fair but I will make up for it :-)

ingredients
(makes about 80-100 servings)

mixed millet flour 1 kilo (I used a mix of sorghum (jowar), pearl millet (bajra), barley (jau), corn (makii), oats (jaee), amatranth (ramdana or rajgira), whole wheat, whole black chickpea (kala chana) and little bran. All flours are added in equal amount.
fox nuts (makhana)100 gm (powdered)
flax seeds meal 200 gm
chopped almonds 500 gm (use mixed nuts if desired)
raisins 150 gm
jaggery powder or raw sugar 700 gm (or to taste) I used organic shakkar which is powdered jaggery
ghee 600 gm

*skip using wheat if you are allergic to it. I get this flour mix for my rotis and used the same for making panjeeri, skipping wheat makes no difference in taste. Gluten free version of panjeeri is as good.

** skip sugar or jaggery for diabetics. Ad some stewia powder or just some chopped dates too and serve in small portions to diabetics.

procedure

Heat 50 gm ghee in a pan ( I used a thick base kadhai) and roast the fox nut powder lightly. Keep aside.

Heat a little more ghee and fry the chopped almonds lightly on low flame, add the raisins in the last couple of minutes, fry together and take out from the kadhai. Keep aside.

Heat the remaining ghee and tip in the mixed millet flour and the flax seeds meal. Roast the flour mix at very low flame for an hour or so or till it becomes a bit brown and gets aromatic too. Take off the stove, add the raw sugar or jaggery powder, the roasted fox nut nut powder and almonds and raisins too and mix well.

Let the mixture cool down completely and then store it in air tight jars for about a month. I fill the pajeeri in many small jars so one of them in on the dining table too. This time the lot has already been packed to take it to Hyderabad :-)

A 25-30 gm serving of this multigrain panjeeri is very filling with a glass of milk. Some people even eat 50 gm or more but it is one of the healthier low glycemic foods that keep you full for hours. The next meal is automatically portion controlled if you have had this panjeeri in a large serving.

I always call it desi granola mix as it has everything a granola has and is made with local ingredients. And it can also be modified to suit seasons.

I make a methi panjeeri a lot for myself and the recipe is still to be shared, will share that too very soon. Another version of panjeeri with herbs and nuts is made for new mothers too which is a ritual in most Indian homes.

Are you based in Hyderabad? Come for this workshop if so and enjoy some millet panjeeri with me. There will be some more food to sample and I am sure you all would enjoy being there, we will definitely learn some interesting things that day.

Looking forward to talk about millets, their health benefits and how millets are crucial for the health of our planet as well. Come join me there.

I will be sharing the updates and may be videos of the workshop too with all of you here. Stay tuned.

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broccoli, green garlic shoots and quark cheese dip, making snacking healthier

Cheesy-creamy dips never fail to impress. Making them with homemade fresh cheese and enriching it with flavours of the season is a great way to eat for nourishment. There is a misconception that taste is inversely proportional to nourishment and this blog is here to correct that notion. You know your food well if you are reading this right now and I want you to learn some simpler ways to cook delicious food from scratch because learning how to cook will ensure great quality of ingredients and nourishing food on the table every single day. The feedback that I get from all of you reading this blog encourages me to try and bring more simple, seasonal, affordable, doable recipes that go a long way for a healthy lifestyle.

This broccoli and quark dip is very quick once you have some quark ready in the fridge. Making quark cheese at home is not at all difficult as it is a simple curd cheese with a little higher fat content for creamy texture. Just whip a kilo of plain yogurt with 100 ml single cream (25% fat), let it sit for an hour and then strain it through muslin lined sieve propped on to a large bowl to collect the whey that can be used to knead bread dough later. Keep the sieve along with the bowl refrigerated overnight and collect the thick creamy quark in the morning. Keeps well for a week in non reactive containers once refrigerated. Use as required.

You can whip this quark cheese to make fruit based desserts like strawberry-quark mousse as well as dips using various base ingredients. Quark provides richness in texture and taste and is a healthy ingredients rich in calcium and good fats.

Since I had loads of farm fresh broccoli someone had sent 2 weeks ago, I used that to make this dip to take to our family potluck one day. Everyone loved it and I was regretting why I did not make more. This dip also keeps well for 3-4 days in the fridge.

ingredients..

quark cheese 1 cup or about 300 gm
nuts soaked for 2 hours about 30 gm ( I used cashews and walnuts)
broccoli florets chopped in small pieces 3 cups (about 500 gm)
fresh green garlic shoots with white bulbs chopped 1 cup (about 150 gm)
salt to taste
pepper powder 1 tsp
olive oil 1 tbsp

procedure

Heat a pan and drizzle olive oil to coat. Add the chopped broccoli and salt and stir well to coat lightly with oil and sweat the broccoli. Add the chopped green garlic and mix, cook covered for 5 minutes or till everything is wilted. Cool to room temperature.

Now mix everything else and make a smooth paste in your trusted food processor or mixie.

Serve as desired, drizzled with some extra virgin olive oil.

I served this dip with home made whole wheat crackers. You can serve this with any kind of whole wheat or ragi or millet crackers you like. You can make a variety of dips with many lentils and vegetables with added yogurt, quark or nuts paste and add zing to everyday meals.

This broccoli and quark dip had a mild sharpness provided by fresh green garlic that we get in abundance all through winters. If you don't have access to it you can use garlic cloves but in smaller quantity. Roasted garlic would also taste really good in this dip.

This dip makes a great bread spread as well.

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a warm salad with caramelised sweet potatoes and carrots | a stir fry salad with flavours of lime, ginger and chilly heat

It has been sometime when I had mentioned the 'Farm to Table' meal that we had at Aiyor Bai (close to Hyderabad) and how we dug out baby carrots and sweet potatoes to make a caramelised salad with them. Simple fresh produce was the inspiration for this salad that day and I am amazed at how many people have loved it already. While my friend Bhavana keeps hunting for sweet potatoes in Hyderabad markets, Madhu (the chief farmer at Aiyor Bai) experimented with it too. I myself made this caramelised sweet potato and carrots salad several times after that and took it to potluck lunches twice during the last month and everyone just loved it.

The recipe quickly stir fried at the farm was simpler as we did not have more ingredients but the freshness of the vegetables made up for it. Later when I made this salad at home I added a bit of ginger and crushed lime leaves for more aromatic flavours in the salad.

Since I don't have access to such fresh baby carrots here in Delhi, I used a mix of red winter carrots and the orange summer carrots (that are available sometimes in this season too) to bring out a complex sweetness and good colours as well and was not disappointed with the improved recipe.

The only precaution one needs to take while making this salad is to use thinner baby sweet potatoes as they slice well into bite size pieces and the cooking time is similar to the carrots. Although we are not cooking the sweet potatoes and carrots in this salad, the are just half cooked to retain the bite and allow caramelisation. 

I used a huge sweet potato once when I was making the same salad again to take to a family get together and was disappointed with the way the large (mature) sweet potato responded to caramelisation and had a very firm bite when done. Avoid too big and mature sweet potatoes for this salad.

ingredients
(for 2-3 servings)

2 small sweet potatoes (about 250 gm)
3-4 carrots, preferably baby carrots or mixed variety but use whatever available (about 250 gm)
brown sugar or grated jaggery or unrefined brown sugar 1 tbsp or a bit more
butter 1 tbsp
broken red chillies 2 or roasted chilly flakes 1 tsp or as per taste
salt 1/4 tsp
lime juice 2 tbsp
ginger juice 1 tbsp
lime leaves (or use lime zest) 5-6 broken and crushed
roasted sesame seeds 2 tbsp ( I used mixed seeds for the friends potluck and it was good too)


procedure

Scrub and rinse the sweet potatoes, do not peel them but remove any dark spots from the surface.

Scrub and rinse the carrots as well, I prefer peeling them if they have too many crevices on the surface. Sweet potatoes are smoother so no such concern with them.

Now take a thick base pan and melt the butter. Add the broken dry red chillies and brown sugar or jaggery and let it melt a little. No need to caramelise this sugar as the slow *caramelisation happens when the sweet potatoes and carrots are added. The brown sugar is added just to enrich the taste and to balance the lime and ginger juices and the chilly heat.

Now add the sweet potatoes and sliced carrots at once before the sugar starts bubbling. Toss with salt and stir fry for 2-3 minutes. It takes longer if you are cooking more bulk of this salad, I really have cooked huge amounts of this salad by now :-)

Add the ginger juice and lime juice, the torn lime leaves (or a pinch or two of lime zest if using, roasted red chilly flakes too if using)) and toss the salad a bit more. Cook for total 5-7 minutes for this amount if you have sliced the vegetables thin. The slices should be half done and all the juices that release after adding salt should dry up.

Empty into salad bowl, sprinkle toasted sesame seeds or mixed seeds and serve warm.

You can skip ginger juice if you wish but please do not replace any other ingredient in this salad. You might like to make it just with carrots or just with sweet potatoes too, that is great but the caramelisation, the lime sourness and chilly heat combine really well with the inherent sweetness of these vegetables enhanced by the use of brown sugar. Sesame seeds add texture and more nuttiness, look great too. Some praline could be a good replacement for this but the base flavours of this salad are not meant to be disturbed.

I actually went ahead and created a pancake with sweet potatoes having the same flavour mix. I would definitely share the pancake recipe here, enjoy this salad till then.

*And since a friend asked about what caramelisation means in this salad when I posted a picture of it on my fb page, I think explaining it here makes sense. In this salad or any other starchy vegetable or fruit (with natural sugar), slow cooking with a little cooking fat results in the caramelisation (browning) of naturally occurring sugars in the vegetable and leads to a sweeter richer tasting end product. 

While browning of meat involves a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars at high temperature (called Maillard reaction), browning and caramelisation of vegetables is just a case of Pyrolysis (breaking down of sugars at high temperature) resulting in a nuttier and sweeter taste.

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101 gluten free breakfasts : savoury pancake or rosti with cauliflowers and coriander greens

Savoury pancakes are my way of packing more vegetables into my breakfasts. We call such pancakes cheela if it is made the traditional way using either chickpea flour (besan ka cheela) or split mung beans (mung ka cheela) but when I make them with loads of winter vegetables, the texture is more like a rosti or even better. I like the crunch of fresh vegetables and this savoury pancake with crisp surface and crunchy vegetables inside is a treat if you ask me.

And the catch is, even the husband likes it. He might take some fresh cream or chutney or pesto with it but I have it as it is or with some more salad on the side. Especially if something green is growing in the garden. Else I just use a lot of cauliflowers, broccoli, green peas, minced ginger, green chillies and a handful of chopped coriander greens for winter comfort. In summer I might add some grated gourds, onion or even some amaranth greens to make my savoury pancakes. One with buckwheat flour and amaranth greens is a favourite summer breakfast, or even tea time snack if made into smaller fritters.

Sometimes I use drumstick flowers or leaves in my savoury pancakes. Since both these have a slight bitterness in them, adding loads of chopped onions helps balance it. You would want to get regular access to a drumstick tree when you try these believe me. Another similar cheela (savoury pancake) is made with Bauhinia flowers too.

Coming back to the gluten free breakfast, it's actually not a big deal for those who are not dependent on toast or paratha for breakfast. But those who can't live without their daily toast or paratha, they keep craving for more food even though they eat any other breakfast however calorie dense it be. Porridge, egg scramble or a full English breakfast feel insufficient to them if they don't eat that crip buttered toast, sometimes fruit preserve slapped generously over it. Clearly, this category of people are the ones who need a hearty breakfast to start the day and might survive with very small meals for the rest of the day. This kind of savoury crisp fired (shallow fried) pancakes made using loads of vegetables and some alternative flour provides a sensory satiety as well as quite low Glycemic index to last the meal for a few hours. The calorie count also comes down significantly depending upon the amount of vegetables used.

I mostly use besan (chickpea flour) for such savoury pancakes but I add some quick cooking oats or rice flour sometimes to make the texture better if using soft vegetables like greens. Ragi flour or amaranth flour work well too, but add these in smaller quantity as these flours resist spreading and flipping the pancake. Adding herbs like mint, coriander greens or dill greens adds flavour, sometimes I add cumin seeds or ajwain (carum seeds) to the mix. The mixture of roughly chopped vegetables and besan should not make a flowing consistency batter but a very thick mix that barely spreads on the pan.

ingredients
(2 servings)

cauliflower florets (or a mix of cauliflower and broccoli) roughly chopped 2 cups
green peas (or sprouts) 1/2 cup
chopped onions 1/ cup
chopped coriander greens 1/2 cup
minced green chillies to taste
minced ginger root 1 tbsp or to taste
salt and pepper to taste
carum (ajwain) seeds 1/4 tsp
besan (chickpea flour) 1/2 cup (just enough to get the mixture barely stick together)
ghee or butter to shallow fry (1 tsp per pancake)


procedure

mix everything together and give it a nice massage using your bare hands. This allows some of the water form the vegetables to moisten the besan. Add minimal water to make everything bind together and let it rest till you heat the pan.

Using a cast iron pan will be really good but use whatever flat base pan you have. Grease the pan with a tsp of ghee to season for the first pancake and heat a little. Now pour half of the vegetables mixture over it and drizzle a little ghee to let it cook and get crisp. Wet your fingers and spread the mix evenly over the pan, keeping the flame medium. Let the savoury pancake cook thoroughly on one side and then flip it over to cook and crisp the other side as well. Drizzle a little more ghee if required.

Serve right away with green chutney or fresh cream or tomato chutney whatever suits you.

For this batch of cauliflower pancake I added a little cornmeal and turmeric powder to the mix. This one tasted great with a fresh tomato gazpacho (just 2 large ripe tomatoes, 2 cloves of garlic, one fresh red chilly and salt to taste).

You can always play around with the ingredients keeping in mind the textures you like and the herbs and seasonings you prefer for a breakfast. It actually makes a filling meal as well. The tomato salsa or chutney or gazpacho suits this savoury pancake or rosti really well. Although you can always have it as it is.

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101 gluten free breakfasts : poha (flattened rice) is for everyone | 4 recipes of a probiotic breakfast

Gluten free breakfasts are easier than the sound of it. There are many ingredients that would surprise you about the variety you can afford to have once you ditch that toast or paratha for breakfast.

I have written about how poha (beaten or flattened rice) is a probiotic and prebiotic food, a good quality ready to eat cereal that can be used in so many different ways that no packaged cereal can beat this. Poha can make sweet breakfasts with yogurt and fruit, smoothies with poha and it makes the popular savoury breakfast called pohe with a prefix of onion, potato or peas whatever you add to it. Kande pohe, batata poha and dadpe pohe all are different ways to relish this native cereal produced and used all over India in some form or the other. My experiments have resulted in some yummy concoctions like poha with mango and coconut. But there are a few versions I am yet to share. Bringing some of them in this post, hopefully you would also like them as much as I do.

1. recipe of pohe with paneer matar (preparation time 15 minutes)

ingredients
(2 large servings)
dry poha 1 cup
fresh green peas 3/4 cup
paneer 50-60 gm (crumbled or cut in small cubes)
cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
chopped green chillies 1 tsp or to taste
minced ginger 1 tsp
salt and pepper to taste
chopped coriander greens to garnish
lime juice to finish, as per taste
ghee 2 tsp

procedure..

Rinse the poha under tap water keeping it in a sieve. Keep aside.

Heat the ghee in a wide pan and tip in the cumin seeds. Let the cumin crackle and add the green chillies and ginger, followed by green peas and salt. Mix and cook covered for 5 minutes or till cooked.

Now add the crumbled paneer and stir fry for a few seconds or till the paneer heats up and soaks in the flavours.

Add the drained poha, lime juice and pepper powder, mix well and cook covered on very low flame for 2-3 minutes or till the poha warms up thoroughly.

Sprinkle chopped coriander greens and serve hot.

We like having ginger tea with this kind of breakfast.

2. recipe of kande pohe (preparation time 15-20 minutes)

ingredients
(2 large servings)

dry poha 3/4 or 1 cup
diced red onions 1 cup
finely chopped potatoes (preferably with skin) 1/2 cup
chopped green chillies 1 tsp
chopped curry leaves 1 tbsp
cumin seeds, fennel (saunf) and mustard seeds 1/2 tsp each
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
salt and pepper to taste
fresh grated coconut 2 tbsp
roasted peanuts 2 tbsp
chopped coriander leaves 1 tbsp
lime juice as required
ghee or peanut oil 1 tbsp

procedure

Rinse the poha under running water, keeping them in a deep sieve. Keep aside to drain.

Heat the ghee in a wide thick base pan and tip in the cumin, fennel and mustard seeds. Wait till they all crackle and then add the chopped onions, curry leaves and potatoes. Add salt, turmeric powder, green chillies and stir fry on medium flame till done. You can cover the pan to quicken the cooking process. It takes about 5 minutes for this quantity.

Now add the soaked poha, chopped coriander greens and pepper powder mix well and cover and cook for 3-4 minutes on very low flame. Take the pan off the flame and add the lime juice to taste, adjust seasoning and serve in bowls. Sprinkle grated coconut and roasted peanuts on top and serve immediately.

3. recipe of dadpe pohe (preparation time 10 minutes, resting time 30 minutes)

This dadpe pohe recipe is a Maharashtra special (most poha recipes originated there btw) and doesn't involve cooking and is preferably made with tender coconut water as well as tender coconut meat. But one can make it using regular coconut milk and fresh grated coconut too. Being uncooked poha this recipe provides the best probiotic benefit. This recipe uses freshly grated coconut and packaged coconut milk. If using tender coconut water one can skip rinsing the poha and soak them in the coconut water itself for better flavours.

ingredients..
(2 large servings)

dry poha 1 cup
coconut milk 100 ml (half a carton pack)
chopped green chillies 1 tsp
chopped red onions 3/4 cup
minced ginger 1 tsp (optional)
chopped green coriander leaves 1/4 cup
lime juice 1 tsp
salt and pepper to taste
freshly grated coconut 2 tbsp or a bit more
roasted peanuts 2 tbsp (optional)

procedure..

Rinse the poha under running water and drain completely. The poha looks like this after rinsing and letting them soak for 5 minutes.

Now add the other ingredients except peanuts, mix well in a bowl and press with a small plate to cover the poha mix and keep a heavy bowl over this. Pressing the poha is done to allow the poha to soak all the flavours. I find 30 minutes of pressing enough to soak up the flavours but it depends on the type of poha being used. Normally when one cooks poha the heating makes the flavours seep in easily. For this raw preparation this pressing method is very important.

Serve cold (at room temperature) topped with a little more grated coconut or peanuts. The husband loves roasted peanuts but I skip adding them if it is a flavourful dadpe pohe.

This dadpe pohe might not be the best poha recipe for winter months but in summers this recipe is such a refreshing breakfast that we like to make it quite often. No cook recipe get repeated for other reasons too. Convenience doesn't mean eating instant noodles.

4. recipe of microwave poha (preparation time 5 minutes)

This is another instant recipe that involves just mixing the ingredients and microwaving all of them together for 2-3 minutes per serving. This poha recipe gives instant noodles a run for their money.

ingredients..
(2 large servings)

dry poha 1 cup
chopped red onions 1 cup
chopped green coriander leaves 1/2 cup
chopped green chillies 1 tsp
salt and pepper to taste
lime juice to taste (optional, I hardly add lime juice to this recipe)
fresh grated (or desiccated) coconut 1-2 tbsp
roasted peanuts 1-2 tbsp (optional)
ghee (do not replace with any oil) 2 tsp

procedure..

Rinse the poha just like the above recipes.

Mix all the ingredients in a microwave safe bowl and microwave (covered with a loose lid) for 2 minutes. Stir well and microwave again for 2 minutes or till a cooked aroma of coriander greens and fresh poha with a whiff of ghee is noticeable.

Serve hot and see how you like it so much better than any instant noodles.

I add the dry garlic chutney to this poha sometimes to add more flavours but the south Indian gunpowder also works great. Sprinkle it after serving it on your plate and see how you can make it even more hot and tangy.

And here is a microwave cooked poha topped with fried cashews.

This poha is made using the red poha we sometimes get in north east states of India or even in Maharashtra. Thanks to our travels and the tendency to shop for such ingredients, we end up tasting a lot of things that we don't get where we live.

Now with so many ideas with breakfast poha, gluten free breakfast will not be boring at all. I do eat wheat but minimal use of gluten is what I aim for as I feel lighter whenever I eat gluten free food. Thank God there are so many options of gluten free foods to choose from in Indian cuisine.

I am posting these recipes of gluten free breakfast for all those people who are dependent on breads and parathas for breakfast and complaint that this kind f breakfast is filling and satisfying but it makes them slugging after an hour. Try having a plateful of poha and see how it makes you feel different.

PS : these recipes make 2 really large servings. We generally have a large breakfast when we plan a salad meal for lunch but all these poha recipe can be really light if one serves them in smaller portions that suits well for a tea time snack.

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cauliflower and mushroom soup with a hint of caramalised onions | eating seasonal and local produce mindfully

A cauliflower soup may sound boring and bland if you consider the plain white vegetable being pulped to soup. Cauliflowers are associated with roasted or pan grilled kind of curries and spicy roasts but this vegetable has a potential to make the best white sauces for pasta and some really good soups too. This cauliflower soup is enriched with caramelized onions and mushrooms and a hint of thyme to lend deep flavours. I have recreated this soup again and again with minor alterations in this recipe.

Cooking with seasonal vegetables makes sense always. Talk about the vegetables being fresh and locally produced and being packed with the best possible combination of nutrients for the body. I remember we never used to get any cauliflowers, green peas or tomatoes during summers in any of the small towns I have lived in, and we have actually lived in quite a few places thanks to my dad's transferable job. There was no coriander greens in summers, there was no mint in winters and so on. We have grown up eating seasonal produce but now as transportation of vegetables and fruits is better equipped we do get vegetables grown all over the world and everything is available almost all year round.

The problem with eating these imported fresh produce or any such produce that is transported to long distances is that we are indirectly promoting a food economy that depends a lot upon petroleum fuel. Our food doesn't need to be contributing to green house gas emissions but if we contribute to a food economy that depends upon petroleum fuel to transport it, we do that unknowingly. Our carbon footprint become bigger and bigger. Eating locally produced foods would depend very little on petroleum fuel and wont come loaded with a guilt of a bigger carbon footprint.

But that isn't the only factor that we should prefer locally produced foods. Especially with fresh produce we can ensure quality, hygienic and pesticide free produce more when we know where and how it is being produced, transported and treated during and after transportation. Although in big urban centers like Delhi there is always a threat of heavy metal concentration if say water chestnuts are farmed in or around river Yamuna. But we do choose the lesser of the devils when there are no options. Sad but true.

The best part of eating seasonal and local produce is that the vegetables and fruits are packed with the nutrients they are known for. Growing some of the food we eat will be wonderful if we have options. Nourishment to the body is ensured and that makes up for everything else.

As I mentioned I have been making this cauliflower and mushroom soup in many variations for years now. One of the versions I made last year and clicked pictures too was this caramelized onions and cauliflowers soup that we enjoyed with bathue ka paratha crackers. I will include instructions for this simpler recipe as well in the recipe here.

ingredients..
(2 large soup servings)

cauliflower florets 300 gm
sliced onions 100 gm
sliced mushrooms 150 gm
dried thyme 1 tsp
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of nutmeg powder
fresh cream 30 ml or 2 tbsp (optional)
milk 300 ml
ghee, butter or olive oil (EVOO) 2 tsp

procedure...

Heat the ghee or oil in a deep pan and tip in the sliced onions. Add salt and cook over low flame till the onions caramelize and become brown but take care not to burn them.

Add the cauliflower florets cut into small bits and cook for 3-4 minutes covered, stirring twice in between. Add the mushrooms, saving a few slices for garnish, add the pepper powder, dry thyme and cook the mixture again for a couple of minutes, covered.

Empty the pan once the vegetables are cooked and keep the vegetable mix aside to cool down a bit, to be blended into a smooth paste later.

Spread all the sliced mushrooms in the same pan which would be enough greased to let the mushroom slices get lightly browned if left for some time over low flame.

The cooked vegetables get pureed while the mushroom slices get browned, empty the pan once again and pour the thick puree into it. Add the milk, nutmeg powder and simmer the soup for a couple of minutes. Add a little water or more milk to adjust consistency. Adjust seasoning as well.

Add fresh cream if using (I recommend for really great taste that it brings) and serve hot garnished with the browned slices of mushrooms.

To make a cauliflower soup without the mushrooms I like using a little more onions to be caramelized and and little quick cooking oats (like Quaker or Saffola oats available in markets) blended with the cooked vegetable mix. the seasoning is perfect and needs no change whether you use mushrooms in the soup or not but I like it more with mushrooms.

This is one of those soups that are really filling and comforting and you wouldn't need any bread with it. But if you are in a habit of having something with such a soup, I recommend crackers made with whole grains. A lot more texture a lot more taste to make the meal fulfilling I say.

You can even make this soup using homemade soy milk if you are lactose intolerant. Do try this soup for your dinner sometime and let me know if you found good enough as a one pot meal.

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eggplant raita or baingan ka raita : two recipes to make the everyday meals interesting

Eggplants are versatile vegetables found in various shapes and hues. I have grown almost all possible colours and shapes of eggplants in my gardens over the years and have found slight variations in taste and aroma etc, and the way they cook to become too soft or a little firm. Some of them have a little bitterness after cooking and some have a subtle sweetness that they impart to the baingan bharta or baba ghanoush we make with them.

I am now realizing that I haven't yet shared our traditional recipe of baingan ka chokha (eggplant mash), not even the baingan ka bharta, both being similar in looks but very different in flavours. I will correct this mistake really soon and share both the recipes. This eggplant raita or baingan ka raita recipe was long overdue since Amrita asked for it once I shared a picture of this raita with a beetroot salad recipe. Now that this raita is quite frequent on my plate owing to the ease to cook it and the way I can make variations too, I took a few more pictures and now the recipe is here. I am sharing two variations of eggplant raita. One with the green eggplants from my garden and another with the round purple variety that is also called bharta wala baingan here in north India.

These green oblong beauties are fresh from my garden and I sometimes just grill them on gas flame for a couple of minutes as they cook really fast. I never bother to peel these ones after grilling as the skin is very thin and doesn't change the taste of whatever I cook with them. I make a smooth blended raita with these which is mostly had like a thick cold soup.

Here I served it with a raw papaya paratha (with besan and atta mix) and polished off a huge bowl of this raita with just one paratha. This recipe is useful when you want to consume loads of vegetables and some calcium supplementation in your food too. I have added sesame seeds to this raita along with hung yogurt to fortify it with calcium.

Recipe of eggplant and sesame seeds raita

ingredients
(2 servings)

grilled eggplant peeled (if required) and mashed 1 cup
hung yogurt 1 cup (preferably full fat)
sesame seeds 2 tbsp
garlic cloves 5
paprika powder or mild chilly powder 1 tsp
salt to taste

procedure

Powder the sesame seeds first in food processor of blender. Add hung yogurt, mashed eggplants and other ingredients together and blend till smooth. Serve as desired.

You can use fresh yogurt if you like this raita a little liquid but note that the grilled eggplant mash is quite watery too.

The round purple variety of eggplants is more fleshy and more aromatic I feel. I have not grown this variety for years now but I keep buying it whenever I see some fresh light weight eggplants of this variety. Always choose shiny, light weight eggplants with a fresh green crown on them.

These need to be flame grilled too to made into a raita. This raita is more like a mashed chunky mix of flavours that feels almost like a subzi (curry). You can make it more like a white raita by adding more yogurt or buttermilk to the recipe but it would depend what you are serving it with. Tweak the recipe as it suits you.

Recipe of chunky baingan ka raita

ingredients
(2 servings)

2 medium sized round eggplants flame grilled and peeled or 1.5 cup cleaned and mashed grilled eggplants
minced green chillies 1 tsp
minced garlic 1/4 tsp
finely diced red onions 2 tbsp or a little more
chopped coriander greens 3- tbsp
salt to taste
hung yogurt or thick yogurt 1 cup or more to suit your taste

procedure

Mash everything together to make a thick mix. Serve as required. Here I had it with a multigrain roti (flat bread) and amle ka achar along with loads of cucumber and radish batons on the side.

The kind of simple meals I like. Such meals are very good for days when you want a light yet tasty meal to satiate you.

I have shared some oriental style eggplant recipes here, please check out if you love eggplants like me and want to eat eggplants differently.

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