Red Chard (Palebhaji)

Are these beautiful greens missing from your diet? The way to get them on your plate is easier than you think.

 Here is what you will need-:

1. Red Chard chopped-  A bunch.
2. Chopped Onions- 1 medium
3. Chopped tomato- 1 medium
4. Minced Garlic- 3 large cloves
5. Salt to taste
6. Turmeric powder
7. Red chili powder
8. Peanut oil/ canola oil
9. Cumin seeds
10. Mustard seeds

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard and cumin seeds. Wait until they splutter. Add garlic, saute them until the raw smell of garlic goes away. Then add onions, saute them for 2-3 minutes and add turmeric powder .Add tomatoes. Saute tomatoes until soft. Time to add the red chard. mix well. Cover with lid, and let it cook for about 5- 7minutes or so. The leaves should start wilting down. Add red chili powder  and salt to taste. Mix well and add a pinch of sugar, just to bring out all the good flavors. Cover and cook few more minutes if needed.
Ready to indulge..:)

Usually leafy vegetables do not take much time to cook, so watch out, make sure you don't overcook. Overcooking takes away all the nutrients that these colorful leaves have in them. So enjoy this homemade goodness of red chard with a bhakri/ chapati (poli) . You can also stuff the vegetable inside the bread and make a sandwich if you like.

Sauteed Red Chard with Jowar Bhakri

I usually use spinach in place of red chard. Using red chard is just a variation I came up with, and it turned out to be a great one...:) 

Blogoversary!!

My blog is 3 years old Today!!!! Yipeeeeee :)

Looking forward to the next year..:)

Baked sweet potato fries

Delicious evening snack for my little one! Sweet potato, cut in to wedges and roasted in the oven to the perfection!

Here is my little bunny, all ready with the sweet potato.

Ingredients-:

Sweet Potato
Olive Oil
Salt

Skin the sweet potato and cut it in to wedges. Make the wedges thin if you want the fries to be crispy. Thick wedges does not get the crunch that is usually expected from the fries. I make them thick so that they are easier on the little teeth.

Line a baking pan with the aluminium foil and spread some Olive oil on the foil. They need a very little oil. Arrange the wedges on the foil and sprinkle salt. Toss them together.You can also season them with other spices as per your taste like, pepper, basil, oregano, cumin powder, garlic powder, red chili powder etc.

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Roast the wedges for about 25 minutes. Turn them over after 15 minutes.
Enjoy..:)

Soya starter

Back to back recipe of Soya as a main ingredient! I just love it's versatility, and the meaty texture.
It's a great appetizer recipe, needless to say healthy. Throw in any veggies you have on hand. I am sure it will taste just as delicious. Read on for few simple ingredients with few simple steps.

Ingredients-:
Soya chunks- A handful
Green and red bell peppers- cut lengthwise
Onion- sliced
Green onion- white part
Green onion- couple of springs, green part only
Soy sauce- 2 tsp
Hot and sour sauce - 2 tsp
salt to taste.

This is how you do it-:

• Boil the salted water and add the soy chunks. Let them play around for about 10-15 minutes. Drain, give them a squeeze and set aside.
• Add some olive oil in to the pan, and add sliced onions and the white part of the green onions, saute them for a minute, then add the bell peppers. Saute for couple more minutes and add the soy chunks along with the sauces.
• Season with salt and top them off with green onions.

Soy cutlets/ Soya patties

Easy to make, yummy to taste, and loaded with proteins! Just right for kids, adults, great for pregnant women, especially vegetarians, who often worry about their protein intake during pregnancy.

Read on for the ingredients and the recipe.

Ingredients-:
Soya Granuals- Couple of handfuls
Cut and boiled vegetables- Carrots, peas, corn, green beans, onions.
Potato- boiled, peeled and mashed- 1 small
Ginger garlic paste- 2 tbsp
red chilly powder
cumin powder
coriander powder
garam masala - about 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Wheat flour- couple of tbsp for binding
Breadcrumbs- whole wheat
olive oil for shallow frying.

Recipe-:
Boil the granules in the salted water for 3-4 minutes. Drain the water and set the granuals aside.
Mix all veggies, mashed potato, ginger garlic paste, red chilly powder, cumin and coriander powder, salt as per taste in to the soya granules. Add the wheat flour just enough to bind everything together and make round shaped patties out of it.

Cover the patties with the breadcrumbs, and shallow fry them over the non-stick skillet on a medium heat, until they are golden brown in color.

Serve with your favorite chutney or just tomato ketchup / sauce.

Yumm.........:)

Blueberry Smoothie

Holidays are in the air. Everyone is talking about cookies and cakes, pies and puddings, roasted turkey and roasted veggies!

Let me share with you my recent favorite dessert, which you might prefer this holiday, if you are on a weight loss spree like me.

Less ingredients, less calories,  and super easy to make. It takes less than 10 minutes. It's a great choice to include in your breakfast.

All you need is-:

• Frozen whole blueberries - 1/2 cup
• 1% milk/ soy milk - about 2 cups
• Non-fat yogurt- 1/4 cup
• honey - to taste

Mix all above in a grinder and beat to a smooth consistency. That's it. Pour in to the glasses and enjoy!!

oh.... and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Scallion / Spring onions/ green onion pancakes with guacamole dip

I was being really lazy to post this one. This one was made sometime in September. 

Scallions/ green onions/spring onions are not a common item in my grocery shopping.  We went to the Pike Place Market, and found a big bunch of scallions just for a couple of bucks. Grabbed them immediately..:)

Scallion Pancakes

The recipe I followed- http://www.loveandoliveoil.com/2010/07/scallion-pancakes.html

 I made some changes in the dough. First off, I used whole grain wheat flour instead of all purpose and I added some Indian spices in the dough to make it more tastier. 

Using the wheat, I think affects the elasticity, all purpose might have made them taste better and why not!!

So here is what I used to make these tempting pancakes-:

• whole grain wheat flour
• cumin powder
• chili powder
• turmeric powder
• Ajwain seeds
• salt
• canola oil
• warm water to kneed the dough
• and lots of chopped scallions.

Just eyeballed the ingredients. 

Kneaded the dough with warm water and all the spices, with salt and some oil. Dividing them into small balls, rolled them, sprinkled the scallions and rolled them again to make nice round shapes. Shallow fried them over the stove top on a skillet. Served hot with homemade guacamole dip.

Here is the procedure with the step - by- step pictures. Hope it helps.

Guacamole dip

• Avocados
• Cumin Powder
• Lemon
• Salt 
• Cilantro spring

Cut the avocados in to cubes, add salt, cumin powder, chopped cilantro, and then squeeze some lemon juice on top. Mash the avocados and mix everything together. 

I didn't add garlic and tomatoes, which traditional recipe usually asks for. I thought I will keep it simple. It still tasted great.
Make the wedges out of pancakes and use the guacamole as a dip or simply eat it like paratha with guacamole as a chutney. So try this great combination and leave a comment if you like it.

I am sending this entry to Only Greens Event hosted by Sara's Corner and Foodelicious. What a great event!

Rice with soy chunks

One more healthy yet tasty post!!
No specifics, it's a very versatile rice preparation, which gives enormous opportunities to your creativity. I made just some additions to the the traditional jeera rice and came up with the name Rice with soy chunks.
Soy chunks being extremely nutritious and meaty in texture is a good substitute for someone who wants to shift to a vegetarian diet.

This is what you will need-:

Mushrooms

Diced ginger

Diced green bell pepper

Scallions

Soy Chunks

Oh... and Cumin seeds..and olive oil ...and rice....a picture of which is I think waste of space..:P

Heat some Olive oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. As they splutter, add ginger, saute for a minute and then add mushrooms. The washed rice goes next, saute for another couple minutes and add the water. The rice, water proportion is 1:2. Bring water to a boil and then lower down the heat to low, add the salt and let it simmer for about 10-12 minutes. Keep checking in between. Time to add the cooked soy chunks (cook the soy chunks by adding some water and salt and boiling the soy chunks for about 10 minutes, squeeze the excess water and drain the chunks) and the scallions. No need to cook the scallions. Turn the heat off as soon as you mix everything together.

This is the end result-:

Give it a try and let me know...:)

Kale and Chickpea (garbanzo beans) stew

My palate recently found that one of delicious tasting greens is Kale.  Kale has a tremendous nutritional value. I steam kale at least twice a week because it's a very easy preparation and it has great cholesterol lowering benefits. I am going to reserve steamed kale as one of my future posts. Let me move on with Kale and chickpea stew.

Stews are my all time favorite. This one in particular, has veggies, protein, fiber and carbs all in one pot. It takes less than 30 minutes to prepare, if you happened to have canned chickpeas on hand.


Makes 4 servings (and by 4, I mean really big servings.)


You are going to need :

• 3/4 bunch of kale 
• 1 1/2 cups of chickpeas/garbanzo beans (soaked overnight, pressure cooked to 3 whistles next morning or a canned variety would work just fine)
• EVOO- about 1 tbsp

• Vegetables- 

Add any veggies you want and in whatever quantities you like. I always make stews when I want to empty my refrigerator. I almost put everything in there. Saturdays are usually planned for stews, because it's a farmers market day. I clean my refrigerator in order to have room for some fresh produce. 

So coming back to the stew. 

Here is a sample of veggies that I added for this stew. 

          Tomatoes

          Mushrooms

          Celery

          Onions

          Green Bell peppers

          Spring Onions

          Potato

          Carrots

          garlic-4 to 5 cloves

          Ginger - few chopped pieces

• Seasoning

         Freshly ground black pepper, 
         Italian seasoning, 
         cumin powder, 
         coriander powder, 
         crushed red chilli flakes 
         Salt to taste.

• Juice of half of lemon and a lemon wedge for garnishing.

Add EVOO to a big pot, and stir in garlic and onions. Add mushroom and tomatoes and sauté them for a couple of minutes. After this point, add all the veggies one by one. The vegetable that takes longer time  to cook will go in first, of course. Add dash of water in between, if you think the veggies are becoming too dry. Cook them for about 5 minutes and then add the chickpeas and then the chopped kale. Add seasonings as per your taste. At this point add black pepper, Italian seasoning, cumin powder, coriander powder, crushed red chilli flakes and last but not the least add some chopped ginger to the pot for some heat. Add salt to taste. 


Add water to the desired consistency. Bring everything to a nice boil and let it simmer for 15- 20 minutes. The longer it sits the better it tastes. Add some lemon juice at the last minute to enhance the flavor. Since I am trying to cut down on grains, this is a perfect stew for me, because it doesn't really need any bread on side. The heartiness from the chickpeas makes the trick..:)


Serve it with a lemon wedge.
Enjoy..:)

Baked Mung (mugachi / Yellow Split lentil dumplings) Bhaji

In Seattle, it rains half of  the time of the year, and the remaining half is covered with clouds. Although I don't have any complaints, as I am the one who don't like the Calif weather at all.. Too much sunshine for me..:) I am better off with less sunlight and so this is perfect for me, except I definitely crave for a cup of hot tea and some bhajis to enjoy this kind of weather to the fullest.

It's been more than a couple of years that I gave up on the traditional Indian black tea for hot Green tea, simply for it's enormous benefits. I don't crave for black tea anymore. Speaking about bhajjis, as much as I want to have deep fried bhajis that tastes delicious, I feel guilty about eating them for next few days. In order to avoid this guilt forever, I came up with baked bhajis.

Traditionally, a hot black tea goes well with onion bhajis. I tried making Moong bhanjis, just because I was cravings for them. Mung daal  in itself has so many wonderful benefits. Why not include mung daal in to your diet on a regular basis?

All you need is:-

Soaked Mung daal- 1 cup
Ginger- 1/2 inch
Garlic- 2 to 3 cloves
Green chillies- 1to 2 depending on how hot they are.
Cumin seeds- A pinch,  just for flavor
Cilantro- chopped.
EVOO
Salt to taste

Soak the mung daal in water for about 4 hours. Drain all the water and grind the daal. Do not make it too smooth, leave it a little bite coarser. Make a past out of ginger, garlic, green chillies and cumin seeds in to a mortar and pestle( khalbatta in marathi). Mix the paste in to the mung daal batter. Add the chopped cilantro. Mix well. Grease a baking sheet with EVOO and spoon the batter on to the sheet. Toss some EVOO on top.

Bake the oven to 375F and bake these little buddies for about 20 minutes. Less or more time might be required as per your oven. Turn them once and bake  for 5-10 minutes. They should be golden brown in color.

Just like these-:

Enjoy them with your favorite dipping sauce or just with a cup of  tea (Green Tea??)

Oh... and I am sending this recipe to My Legume Love Affair 27, hosted by The Well Seasoned Cook. I love MLLA event and as always it is so much fun to enter in to.Thanks Susan for hosting.