Sambhar (South Indian Lentil soup)

I love this soup. It is awesome for cold days. In India we don't call it soup. But just to help everyone relate to it ..I will call it soup / sambhar interchangeably.

Good:

It goes with lot of things. So you make one batch and you can use it with whatever you have cooked. Also it is very easy to store and reuse. I believe it tastes better next day anyways.

You can cook with as few ingredients you have to as many you want.

Bad:
Very easy to over eat.

Dal soup base
Ingredients:
Split toor dal (pigeon pea) - 1 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tea spoon
Salt - to taste (you can even add it in the end according to taste)
Water - 5 cups ( more or less depending on how thick or thin you want it)
Tamarind (or kokum) pate - 1 tea spoon

(I generally add a piece of tamarind or few pieces of kokum. But if you don't have it, skip it.)

Add all the ingredients to pressure cooker and cook it.

Seasoning:
Ingredients:
I generally have all of these things so I add them. But feel free to use whatever you have. All of these definitely make it perfect. But most of them are not show stopper.

Butter / ghee - 1 teaspoon ( more or less is your choice)
Fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds -1 tea spoon (whatever you have)
Asofoetida - A pinch (if you have - they say it takes care of your stomach.)
Tomatoes - 4
Curry leaves - A handful
Cilantro - As much as u like
Ginger - 1/2 inch ( as much as u like more or less)
Green chillies - 6 ( don't dare if you can't take it so go by your taste)
Fenugreek leaves (dry or fresh if you have it)
Red chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon (adjust according to your taste)
Cumin powder (1 teaspoon if you have it)
Sambhar masala  (A must)  - 1 tea spoon or more if you like.

(Most of the indian grocery store carry it for a dollar) Amazon has it for $10. One pack will last you forever.

Add tomato, ginger, most of the curry leaves (keep 4-5 aside), cilantro (keep few aside to garnish), green chillies to blender or food processor and puree it. Few pieces are ok.

Add Butter / ghee in a pan. Let it heat.
Add Fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds.
Add the remaining curry leaves. Be careful. It will sputter.
Add Asofoetida
Let it simmer for 30 seconds or so.
Add tomato paste.
Add red chilli powder.
Add sambhar masala.
Let it simmer for few minutes on low heat (5-7 minutes)
Once you think that it is cooked. Add it to lentil base prepared above.
Adjust salt.
Let everything simmer for few minutes.

It is not that difficult. Once you will know what you are doing you can do it quickly.

You can eat it with rice, idli, uthhapam, dosa, daliya, etc etc.

Lot of PROTIEN.

ENJOY !!!!

Sooji utthapam (semolina pancake)

One of my aunt's introduced our family to this quick n yummy idea.

Ingredients:

Yoghurt - 2 cups
Sooji (semolina) - 2 cups
Salt to taste
Finely chopped Green chillies (if you can take it)
Ginger paste (1/2 tea spoon)
Grated cabbage (optional)
Finely chopped tomatoes (optional)
Any of your favorite vegetable chopped (optional)
Peas(optional)

Mix yoghurt, sooji (semolina) and salt. Add water to adjust consistency to pour. Let it sit overnight or more in refrigerator or outside. The idea is to let it get little sour. I generally use the mix over a period of 3-5 days.

When you are ready to cook add any of the veggies you prefer in the amount you prefer. I generally cook it plain and eat it just like that or with sambhar (a little spicy and tangy lentil soup).

Sometimes I add green chillies, ginger, cabbage and tomato to the mix.

Process:

Heat the nonstick pan. Pour the mix and cook it on one side like pancakes. Flip it over. Apply butter if you want. I sometimes apply lil butter and sometimes not. I like it crispy so I cook it little longer on low flame and  add small amount of butter.

ENJOY !!!!!!

Dalia (wheat porridge)

I hated it when my mom made me eat this for breakfast while growing up. But now I kind of like it. P.S. no one ever tells mom about that.

The basic dalia is simple. 

Ingredients: 

1) Cracked Wheat - 1/2 cup

2) Split  Moong dal - 1/2 cup (It is a a lentil green in color) 

3) Brown rice - 1/4 cup or less

4) A pinch of turmeric powder (optional)

5) Salt to taste.

6) Water - 4 cups (you might want more or less depending on consistency that you prefer) I generally add more.

Add all the ingredients in pressure cooker and cook according to pressure cookers instructions. 

I use 

http://www.amazon.com/Futura-Hawkins-Anodized-Pressure-Cooker/dp/B000GR7776/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1348459700&sr=8-6&keywords=prestige+pressure+cooker

15 mins and done. It comes out like oat meal.

You can eat it directly like this for breakfast or lunch. 

Me being me .. don't like such bland food. So, I generally eat it with soups (sambhar, a lentil based soup or kadhi, a yoghurt based soup. I will add them to the blog as well). 

If I don't have time for making soups then I just season the porridge well enough. I have listed one of the seasoning here: 

http://healthy-n-quick-food.blogspot.com/2012/03/namkeen-khichadi-brown-rice-lentil.html

There are tonnes of other ways to season it. My mom adds vegetables like tomato, peas etc while preparing the seasoning. 

10 mins Palak Paneer (healthy way)

I love palak paneer. So, I make it often for dinner. Hence, I have mastered the way to do it in 10 mins approx.

Ingredients:

1) A block of Paneer

2) Approximately 3 pounds of Spinach (palak) or 3 packs of Dole spinach

3) Spices (Red chilli powder, turmeric powder, cumin seeds, salt, green chilli 4-5, coriander powder)

4) 3 Tomatoes

5) 1/2 inch ginger 

6) 1table spoon Olive oil 

Put the paneer block in boiling water.

Boil spinach in big pot with less than half a cup of water. Try to use even lesser water. 

In the mean time put tomato, green chilli and ginger in the blender and puree it.

Heat oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot add cumin seeds and seconds later add turmeric powder and then tomato paste. Add other spices.

Cook it well (few mins on low flame) 

In the mean time add the boiled spinach to grinder and grind it.

Now add the spinach to the tomato paste. and let it simmer.

Now dry the block of Paneer with paper towel. Cut it in cubes and add it to spinach.

Simmer for few mins.

Lots of Iron + Calcium + fringe necessary minerals + etc

Enjoy with Roti. You can also do naan but roti is the healthier option.

Roti (Indian Flat Bread)

I am one of those who finds the entire process of making Roti little difficult. Kneading the dough, rolling out chappattis / rotis and then roasting them. Few things that worked for me.

I make the dough in stand mixer
I put 2 cups of whole wheat flour (aata) in the bowl. Salt to taste. And lil less than a cup of water.
I scoop out the flour unlike baking instructions.
Then, dough hook on the stand mixer. And I let it on for 7-8 mins. I have a perfect ball of dough to work with.

For Roi maker, the dough should be softer. I put lil ghee on roti maker, and small dough ball smaller than  golf ball - flattened. Press the roti maker few times. DONE !!

Roast the roti on the girdle (tawa).

Ghee on it ..and ENJOY with any curry !!

Getting over addiction of bad food

Different people have different ways to get over something. Recently, I have noticed that my will power is very weak when it comes to salty or sugary things. I would just munch on them non stop until they are taken away from me.

Now I found a new way to get over these junk food. Cook them yourself. Make it from scratch. Yes, it helps.
I love chocolate chip cookies and I can munch them non-stop. So what happens when you make it yourself.

You put two sticks of butter and then two cups of sugar... misery doesn't even end there ..then you put 2 cups chocolate chips as well.. Putting all of these together by hand ..and then the image stays in your brain. It just makes brain think what are you doing to you body. This is nothing but just CRAP. And you don't torture your body with it.

Yes, I think about butter and sugar and that image when I see cookies now. And Can't eat more than half.

Namkeen Khichadi (Brown Rice + Lentil Porridge)

I love khichadi but then this food has no fiber and I start feeling hungry in few hours. And I am too lazy to eat again and again. As they say laziness is the mother of all invention. This is not exactly an invention but you get the gist ;)

1 cup brown rice

1/2- 2/3 cup moong dal (green lentil)

1 pinch of turmeric

Salt to taste

Add to rice cooker that can handle brown rice. Those who have experimented with brown rice know the importance of right cooking medium for brown rice. Otherwise be prepared to stay hungry with a mess of half cooked rice in swimming pool of water. 

So, next question is why rice cooker and not pressure cooker? Answer is simple, I want my food ready when I come from office otherwise I eat whatever comes in the range of my eyes. So, before leaving for work I can time it to keep my dinner ready by the time I am back. Got to love micro controllers for that :). 

This khicadi is way too bland so seasoning is required. These days I am in south Indian avataar so:

1 spoon mustard seeds + 1 fist of roasted peanuts + 2-3 spoon of grated coconut + few green chillies ground finely.

1 table spoon of ghee, heat it add jira, few curry leaves, red chilli powder

In a bit add the ground paste. Let it cook for few mins on low heat.

Add the seasoning to khichadi... enjoy the hot Meal with almost no effort! 

Compliment it with papad or buttermilk if you like :)

When I am in mood I complement plain khichadi with  kadhi.. not today though :)

Carbs + Fiber+ Protein in full stock

P.S. I am a firm believer of right tools. Either the utensils should be dishwasher safe or the pot should be such a nice non stick that even porridge shouldn't stick to it. Non efficient tools are waste of time and beats the whole purpose of quick and effortless food during busy hours.