Sprouts rasam

We are a family of rasam lovers and it is very rare to find a day without rasam in our menu. Though I have learnt from mom and grand-moms different types of rasam, this sprouts rasam is the one that we make almost 4 times a week. Sprouted green gram (pachai payiru) is loaded with health benefits and replacing the usual dal in the rasam with these sprouts, gives a unique flavor to it!

INGREDIENTS:

• Sprouted green gram * - 1/4 cup heaped
• Tomato - 1
• Rasam powder - 1 heaped Tsp
• Amchur powder ** - 1 heaped Tsp
• Jaggery - 1/2 Tsp
• Asafoetida - a small piece or 1/4 Tsp if using powdered
• Salt - as required
• Water - as required (approximately 2.5 - 3 cups totally)
• Curry leaves - 6
• Coriander leaves - 2 Tbsp, finely chopped

To Temper:

• Mustard seeds - 1/2 Tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 Tsp
• Ghee - 1/2 Tsp

METHOD:

1. Pressure cook the sprouts and tomato together (add a pinch of turmeric powder to this) for 3 whistles. You could also keep it along with rice, using a separator plate in a pressure cooker
2. Blend the cooked sprouts and tomato together with 1 cup of water and keep aside
3. In a vessel in which you are going to prepare the rasam, add rasam powder, jaggery, asafoetida, salt and amchur powder (or tamarind extract). Add very little water to this and mix well. Keep aside for a 2 minutes so that the mixture dilutes in water
4. Add half a cup of water to this diluted mixture and cook on a medium flame
5. Once it starts boiling, add half of the cooked and blended sprouts 
6. When this starts boiling, add the remaining sprouts
7. Add curry leaves
8. Add water if required 
9. When it becomes frothy and starts boiling, switch off the flame
10. Temper with the ingredients mentioned under "To temper" and garnish with coriander leaves

Serve hot and enjoy this healthy rasam with rice and any curry/chips/pappad of your choice!

NOTES:

* Soak the whole green gram over night. Drain all the water and store it in a closed vessel for a few hours. Once they are sprouted, store it in an air-tight container, refrigerate and use as and when required

** We generally try to reduce the intake of tamarind in our diet. Amchur/dry mango powder is used as a substitute to tamarind in rasam. You could also use tamarind extract as required

Eggless wholewheat blueberry muffin

This weekend's healthy snack - Eggless wholewheat blueberry muffins!!! If you don't have blueberries, then no worries at all, you can replace it with any dry fruit of your choice like raisins, apricots etc. I could find so many recipes for blueberry muffins and I adapted the healthy aspects from all the recipes that I came across. I have used whole wheat flour, light brown sugar and very little sunflower oil and added to these, blueberries make these cute little muffins absolutely healthy! It turned out to be so soft and spongy and everyone at home loved the combination of tangy blueberries with the sweet muffin. So, as I always say, eating healthy can be tasty too :)

INGREDIENTS: (makes 5 medium sized muffins)

• Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
• Salt - 1/4 tsp
• Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
• Baking powder - 1 tsp
• Light brown sugar - 85 g (approximately half of 3/4th cup - Measure it first and then powder it. You can use white sugar too)
• Oil - 38 ml (I used sunflower oil, you can use rice bran or vegetable oil too)
• Milk - 65 ml (approximately a little more than 1/4 cup)
• Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
• Fresh or frozen blueberries - 1/2 cup (can be replaced by 1/2 cup of any dry fruits)

METHOD:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C for 10 minutes
2. Wash and pat dry the blueberries/dry fruits and coat them with 2 to 3 Tbsp of flour (This is to avoid them from getting burnt while baking). Keep aside
3. Sieve together the dry ingredients - Whole wheat flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Keep aside
4. In another bowl, beat milk, sugar, oil and vanilla extract well until the sugar is dissolved and no lumps are left
5. Make a well in the center of the bowl containing the mixture of dry ingredients
6. Pour in the wet mixture in the middle and gently mix the batter (DO NOT over mix)
7. The batter should not be runny. If it is too thick or dry then add 1-2 Tbsp of milk to it
8. Now add the flour coated blueberries/dry fruits and fold into the batter very gently
9. Grease and dust the the muffin moulds or line them with paper liners
10. Spoon in the batter to 3/4th of each mould and bake in the pre-heated oven for 15-20 mins
11. Keep a check after 12 minutes. Insert a toothpick in the middle and if it comes out clean, then muffins are ready!! 
12. Cool them on a wire rack and serve them when they are mildly warm. You could serve them as a tea time snack or have them as breakfast with banana milkshake/fresh fruit juice to kick start your day with full power!!!

See you soon with yet another interesting recipe. Cheers!

Oats - Peanut butter lava muffin

Where there can be a choco lava cake, why not peanut butter lava cake??!! I know all chocolate lovers out there are not gonna agree with me. But I too am a very big chocolate lover and trust me, this dish is as interesting as the name I've given to it! I came across this recipe long back on YouTube and had bookmarked it but what was holding me back from trying it was that it used egg whites. I do eat egg cakes but when it comes to myself trying it out, I try to avoid eggs as I do not like the raw smell of it. But the peanut butter lying in my kitchen shelf tempted me a lot to try this out and I came up with my own eggless version by substituting egg whites with yoghurt! The best part is the entire preparation and baking was done within 20 minutes! So all peanut butter lovers... Here you go!!!!

INGREDIENTS (Makes 3 medium sized muffins)

• Oats - 1/2 cup heaped
• Banana - 1 medium sized (make sure it is very ripe)
• Yoghurt - 1/2 cup
• Cinnamon powder - 1/2 Tsp
• Vanilla essence - 1 Tsp
• Sugar/honey/any sweetener - This is optional, add as you need depending on how sweet you want the muffin to be (I just added a tsp of brown sugar. If you want it to be sweet, then I'd suggest you to add more)
• Peanut butter - 3 Tbsp

METHOD

1. Blend together all ingredients except the peanut butter into a smooth thick batter
2. Taste the batter and add more sweetener of your choice according to your taste (honey would be the best combo with oats)
3. Make sure the batter is thick and of soft dropping consistency (similar to vada batter)
4. Pre-heat the oven to 180C
5. Line muffin tray with paper liners or grease the muffin tray
6. Fill quarter of the muffin moulds with the batter
7. Now add a Tbsp of peanut butter in the centre and again pour the oats batter till 3/4th of the muffin mould
8. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes (Keep an eye after 10 minutes as the time would vary for each oven. Pricking the tooth pick to check if it is done will not work for this cake as the molten peanut butter would be in the center. So a better way to check would be to gently touch the center of the muffin with three fingers. If it bounces back, then it is done!!)
9. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes and dig in! As the cake cools more, the peanut butter would also become firm, so if you want the lava effect, then just before eating, microwave it for 15 seconds and then enjoy 

Eating healthy, can be tasty too :) 

NOTES:

• Peanut butter can be substituted with Nutella too
• Make sure the banana is very ripe. This will enhance the taste and texture of the muffin
• You could top the muffin with raisins/nuts of your choice

Sending this recipe to the following event:

• Cook's joy
• Anitha's Kitchen

Baked Bhakarwadi

Bhakarwadi is a Gujarati snack which is traditionally made with the combination of chickpea flour (besan/kadala maavu) and Maida and is deep fried. As always, the health freak in me makes me try out all ways in which a dish can be made healthier! So here I present the traditional snack recipe with a healthy twist - Yes, I've replaced maida with whole wheat flour and these cute bhakarwadis are baked and NOT deep fried J

INGREDIENTS For the dough Whole wheat flour Chickpea flour (Besan) Turmeric Powder Baking Powder Salt Oil Water Tamarind Pulp/paste Lemon Juice For the filling Coconut Sesame Seeds Coriander Leaves Green Chillies Ginger Cumin Powder Sugar Salt Fennel Seeds (Saunf) Water

3/4th cup 3/4th cup 1/2 tsp 1 tsp 1/2 tsp 2 tbsp a little less than 1/2 a cup 3 tbsp 2 tsp 1/2 cup, grated 1/4th cup 1 tbsp, finely chopped 2 - 3, finely chopped 1 tsp, grated 1.5 tsp 2 tbsp 1 tsp 1.5 tsp to grind it to a coarse paste (about 3-4 Tbsp)

RECIPE

1. In a large mixing bowl, sift together whole wheat flour, besan, salt, turmeric powder and baking powder and make sure that there are no lumps
2. Add 2 tbsp of oil, mix well. Add water little at a time and make a stiff dough. The dough should be stiffer than poori dough.  Cover and allow it to rest for at least 30 minutes.
3. Mix the tamarind paste and lemon juice
4. Blend together all the ingredients mentioned under “for the filling” and grind them coarsely using about 3-4 tbsp of water
5. Pre-heat the oven to 190 C
6. Divide the dough into 2 big balls. Spread a little oil on the dough ball and roll out to a thin rectangular sheet of about 3mm thickness. Cut of the edges into straight lines if they are not in a level
7. Now spread 2 tbsp of the tamarind-lemon paste over the roti
   
8. Place the filling in the centre of the roti and spread it around, leaving a little gap on the edges
   
9. Start rolling the roti very slowly and keep pressing it gently after every roll to make sure it is tightly rolled. The tamarind paste will help in binding the roti and finally it should resemble a flute
   
10. With the help of a knife, gently cut off the edges, and slice them into cylindrical shapes of 1.5 inches thickness
    
11. Place them on a greased baking tray, and bake for 15 - 20 minutes. Half way through, about 10 minutes from the start of baking, turn over the bhakarwadis so that they baked and lightly browned evenly on both sides
    
12. Allow them to cool on a wire rack
    
13. Once they are completely cooled, they can be stored in air tight container and they would stay good for 4-5 days

Enjoy the healthy snack with a hot cup of tea J

Note: The filling can be varied according to your choice. You could add ajwain/omam or add more spices/garam masala. For a sweet filling, a mixture of coconut, jaggery, cardamom powder can be used.

Baby corn and Capsicum masala

What do I do when there are some baby corns left over in the refrigerator? Mix all ingredients of my choice and come up with an interesting gravy!!

Now what do I do when this gravy turned out to be a good side dish to rotis or peas pulao/ghee rice?? Share it with all in my blog :) So here goes the recipe.....

INGREDIENTS: (Serves 2)

• Baby corns - 5 to 6
• Capsicum - 1
• Onion - 1 big + 2 Tbsp of finely chopped onions
• Tomato - 1 big
• Cashewnuts or Badam - 4 to 5 (optional)
• Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds powder - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Garam masala - 1/4 tsp
• Kasoori Methi - a pinch
• Turmeric powder
• Oil - 1 Tbsp
• Salt - as required

METHOD:

1. Cut the onion into large pieces. Heat a tsp of oil in a kadai and fry the onions till they are transperent and light brown. Remove from fire and let it cool for a while
2. Cut baby corns into half inch pieces and boil them for 10 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and turmeric powder to the water while boiling the baby corns
3. In a mixer, blend together the following ingredients into a smooth paste: fried and cooled onions, tomato, red chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, kasoori methi, cashewnuts or badam (this is optional, just for a rich texture, I added 3 chasewnuts and 3 badam)
4. In a kadai, heat 2 tsp of oil and fry the finely chopped onions and capsicum for a few minutes and keep the onion and capsicum aside
5. In the same oil, add cumin seeds. Once they crackle, add the ground paste and fry for 2 to 3 minutes
6. Once it starts to boil, add the baby corns, onions and capsicum. Add little water if the gravy is too thick
7. Add salt, garam masala and cook for 5 minutes in medium flame
8. Serve hot with rotis or ghee rice/peas pulao