low cal

Instant Khichdi Mix:

January 20, 2024

Instant Khichdi Mix:

Instant Khichdi Mix is a delightful blend of flavours that combines the wholesome goodness of rice, lentils, and aromatic spices in a convenient package. My daughter loves adding readily available veggies, like peas and carrots, to enhance her nutritional intake.

This way, the Khichdi mix is like a culinary hug from home. It allows them to enjoy the comfort of a homemade meal even in a bustling hostel or PG environment.

How I make:

Ingredients:

Split green gram with skin – 2 cups.

Rice – 2 cups

Ghee or Oil – 2 Tbsp.

Cumin –2 tsp

Hing – a small peanut size

Bay leaf – 1 (broken)

Cinnamon – 2 “

Cloves – 2

Cashew bits – 2 Tbsp. (optional)

Salt, Jaggery (optional)

Turmeric – ½ tsp

Red chilli powder – As needed.

Garam masala – As needed.

Coriander leaves – 2 Tbsp. (dried)

Method:

-Take rice and dal, pour them onto a clean kitchen towel, and wipe the grains gently.

-Pulse the grain mix by putting it in a dry mixer jar. This action reduces the cooking time.

-Chop coriander leaves and air dry beforehand and keep it ready.

-Prepare seasoning, heat ghee/oil, fry cashew, cumin, hing, bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves. Add in pulsed dal-rice mixture and roast it for 2 to 3 minutes.

-Add salt, turmeric, red chilli powder, and garam masala; if you are adding jaggery, add that as well.

-Switch off the gas, add coriander leaves or Kasuri methi, mix well, cool the content and pack it in a zip lock pouch or an air-tight container.

How to Prepare the khichdi:

Take ½ cup of readily available khichdi mix; if you want to add vegetables, take chopped veggies, onion or whatever you want.

-If it is in a kettle/induction stove, boil 2 cups of water. Add chopped veggies (if you have them) and khichdi mix. Cook and have it with curd or as it is plain.

Raw /Green Tomato Chutney:

April 20, 2023

Green Tomatoes are firm, unripe and tangy compared to Ripened Red Tomato. Green tomatoes are rich in nutrition and antioxidants.

Raw/Green tomato Chutney makes a delicious accompaniment to South Indian breakfast and is easy to make. When I have homegrown tomatoes, it is a must condiment in our household. Today, I am sharing our favourite, much-loved recipe with you all.

Here is how to make it,

Ingredients:

Raw/ Green tomatoes – 4 to 6 (depending on the size)

Oil- 1tbl sp

Cumin – 1tsp

Garlic cloves – 10 to 12

Green chillies – 4 to 5

Puffed chana / Hurigadle/ Pappu – 1 tbl sp

Coconut – ½ cup

Coriander leaves – 2 tbl sps

Salt

Method:

-Take one tawa, heat one tbl sp of oil, then cumin, chopped green chillies, garlic and roast. Then add chopped tomatoes and fry until it wilts by adding salt.

-Switch off the gas when tomatoes wilts, add puffed chana and coconut and fry for 2 minutes. Cool the mixture.

-Grind this by adding coriander leaves. Enjoy with Dosa, Rotti or idli.

Avarekai Usli/Hyacinth beans:

December 25, 2022

Avarekalu or Avarekai is pure love for the people of Bangalore- Mysore region. These are seasonal beans available in and around Bengaluru between Nov and Jan., Also known as Hyacinth beans.

We relish Avarekai curry with dosey, a yearly affair at our home. Now, after tasting usli at our friends’ place, there is no looking back. I make it a point to prepare the same combo of vermicelli Uppittu and Avarekai usli.

Avarekai usli is versatile, and it can have it as a salad or with anything and everything.

To make a much-loved effortless dish, here is the method.

Ingredients:

Avarekai ( soaked and peeled one) – ¼ kg

Salt, turmeric

Coriander leaves – 1tbl sp (chopped)

Fresh coconut – 2tbl spoons

For seasoning:

Cold pressed oil – 1 tbl sp (as per your choice)

Mustard – 1tsp

Cumin- 1 tsp

Hing – one pinch

Green chilli – 1 (chopped)

Ginger – 1 tsp (juennile)

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Method:

-Cook Avarekai ( peeled dals) in water. When it froths, remove all the foam and discard. ( I would help to enhance the taste as well as to help to avoid bloating.

-When the dal becomes soft, switch off the gas and keep the vessel aside.

-Now, prepare the seasoning. Heat oil, splutter mustard, hing, cumin, green chillies, ginger, curry leaves, and turmeric and saute.

-Now, add the cooked dal with the remaining water. Add Salt and coconut and allow the flavour to seep by closing the lid. Garnish with coriander greens, and enjoy.

Sajjige idli/ Urad and Rava idli:

August 29, 2022

It is a no rice, fermented idli using ground urad dal and steamed rava. The outcome is pillowy soft idlies. We avoid rice before the main pooja, which is taboo in our customs. Hence, it is a default breakfast option in our family, especially in our community, on festival days or any auspicious day.

Here is the recipe, which we follow

Urad dal – 1 cup

Upma Rava / Bombay rava – 2 cups

Salt

Method:

-Wash urad dal and soak it for 3 to 4 hours.

-Grind soaked urad dal into fine paste by adding sufficient water.

-Now, take one cotton cloth, pour rava, and tie it like a potli/ packet.

-Take one idli steamer with water at the bottom. When water starts boiling, place the tied towel with rava and steam cook for 10 to 20 min in low heat.

-After 20 min, remove the towel, loosen the knot, spread the rava and cool it.

-Add cooled rava and required salt to urad dal paste and make a batter by mixing and adding sufficient water.

-Batter needs to be like regular idli batter and allow it to ferment acc to your climate.

-next day, prepare idli like regular idli or by using banana leaf or steel tumblers etc.

-If you are following the procedure like me, use wilted banana leaf, pour the batter and steam for 30 minutes or more, according to the thickness.

-Serve with chutney, thovve, sambar or menthe kodilu (methi sambar).

Thovve:

July 10, 2022

Our Thovve is nothing but dali thoye, a delicacy of the Konkani household. With Idli or buns,thovve is somewhat the most loved combo of my husband and his family. Over the years, even I have started to relish this combo as much as they do.

According to my father-in-law, tempering is the basis of any dish. Here, cooked toor dal is boiled and added with a liberal tempering. As we have now monsoon season, it is a most comforting and soothing meal option for us.

Ingredients:

Toor dal – 1 cup

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Green chillies – 2 (slit)

Salt

Hing – ¼ + ¼ tsp

Ghee or coconut oil – 1 tbl spoon

Mustard – 1 to 2 tsp

Red chillies – 1 or 2

Curry leaves

Method:

-I prefer to soak toor dal in advance to get a smooth texture. Wash the dal, add sufficient water, and collect and discard all the foamy froth which forms at the upper surface.

-Now, before closing the cooker lid, put turmeric, green chillies and a tsp of coconut oil or ghee and cook for 3 to 4 whistles with sufficient water.

-Mash the dal, and adjust the consistency by adding extra water. Add salt, ¼ tsp of hing and nicely boil.

-Now, do the tempering. Heat oil or ghee, crackle mustard, hing, red chillies, and curry leaves and pour over the boiled dal.

-Close the lid for some time and allow it to seep in all the flavours. Serve with Idli or buns.

NOTE:

-Soaking the dal and skimming (removing the foam) is optional. It does change the taste of the final product. Hence, I follow the process.

Overnight Poha flakes:

June 10, 2022

Overnight Poha flakes are our desi version of overnight oats with my personal touch to solve my daughter, who doesn’t like oats but stays in the hostel and prefers a quick breakfast option in busy mornings.

This recipe is forgiving and adaptable to however one wants to have it.

One can use available millet flakes, medium-thick rice flakes white or red or black and can be soaked in plain or vegan /plant-based milk, yoghurt, or mixture. Hence, according to one’s diet restriction, it can be made and consumed.

Let us see how I made them. It is ready to make a flaky overnight mixture as an instant mixture to replace plain oats.

Ingredients:

Medium-thick poha – 1 cup

Ragi poha / flakes – 1 cup

Jowar poha – 1 cup ( optional)

Puffed Amaranth – 1 cup ( optional)

Method:

-Dry grind Red poha ( what I have used) in a small mixer jar using “PULSE” mode.

-Pulsing the rice poha helps reduce the size, and it helps to match the size of other millet poha and puffed Amaranth.

-Now, take one dry bowl, mix everything properly and store it in an air-tight bottle.

As we all know how to make overnight oats, we use this poha flakes mix and proceed.

Take 2 to 4 tbl spoon of the above poha flakes in a glass bottle or bowl. Add chia seed, dry fruits etc

Pour cow’s milk or vegan plant-based milk. Close the lid and keep it overnight inside the fridge.

-Next morning, add chopped fruits and dates with/ without a prefered natural sweetener like honey, jaggery syrup or sugar.

Detoxifying Plantain stem and pomegranate juice:

May 20, 2022

Raw vegetable and fruit juices are helpful in the rejuvenation of all the organs of our body. These juices are beneficial in restoring health effectively. If one can include this juice in the early morning in your diet after working out or walking with an empty stomach, it helps to remove the toxins from our body.

You don’t need a high-end juicer or any exotic veggies/leaves to whip up these super healthy drinks. All you need is locally grown vegetables and a simple mixer grinder or blender.

Now we will see how I do this:

Ingredient:

Chopped plantain/banana stem – ½ cup

Pomegranate seeds – ¼ cup

Ginger powder – ½ tsp.

Water – 1 cup

Salt – ¼ tsp.

Basil or Pudina leaves–for garnishing (Optional)

Method:

-Remove the outer cover of the plantain/banana stem, cut 6 to 7 thin slices and chop.

-blend chopped plantain stem, pomegranate, water, ginger powder, and salt. If needed, add any form of sugar and grind nicely.

-Sieve this mixture and collect the juice, garnish with chopped basil leaves. Enjoy your nutrition-rich, power-packed juice is ready to kick start your day.

Badanekai Gojji Sambar/ Brinjal Dal :

March 18, 2022

Our Native Brinjal has its charm and a fan base. People who like it relish it in many ways. I have already shared the palya, and this dal is one more item, which is our family favourite and mild at the taste. Here, we use either Gulla or a native variety of big green brinjal.

It needs hardly any ingredient but tastes fantastic and soothing in the summer heat. It is No coconut, vegan curry.

Ingredients:

Brinjal – 1 ( big)

Toor dal – 1 cup ( cooked with turmeric and mashed)

Green chillies – 5 to 8 ( slit)

Salt – as per taste

Jaggery – as per taste

Roasted methi powder – ½ to 1 spoon

Tamarind – small lemon sized

coriander leaves – 2 tbl spoon (Chopped)

Seasoning: Coconut oil – 1 tbl spoon, Mustard – 1 tsp, Hing – peanut size ball, red chilli – 1, curry leaves – 1 spring.

Method:

-Here, we use full brinjal, even its stalk. So, the chopping procedure is, Halve the brinjal, even the stalk. Make four slits lengthwise. And dice it. Remove the inner woody part of the stalk and discard.

-Put those brinjal pieces in water and immerse.

-Now, take one vessel, Boil tamarind, 2 cups of water, salt, jaggery, slit green chillies. When it starts boiling, add brinjal pieces by draining the immersed water.

-When brinjal pieces turn soft, add mashed dal, roasted methi powder, adjust the salt and, jaggery and chillies according to your taste.

-Boil nicely, garnish with coriander. Do the seasoning by heating oil, splutter mustard, hing, red chilli and curry leaves.

-Enjoy with hot rice and papad.

NOTE: You can check the quantity of all the essential ingredients in the Above picture.

Omum and dry ginger Tambli:

February 26, 2022

Omum/ Ajwain/ carom seeds are the lesser-known spice of our Indian Kitchen. Our moms turn their hands whenever we complain about bloating or Indigestion and feed us Omum water by infusing it with water. It has been known for its benefits in treating bloating and diarrhoea due to intestinal inflammation for ages.

As we all know, Carom seeds have Anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antifungal properties. We are here, Combining Carom with dry ginger, which has the capacity of cleansing our digestive system and nourishing our body. The taste of the tambli is so refreshing and soothing.

—such a simple preparation.

I learnt this recipe from my Foodie friend, Lakshmi Akka.

Ingredients:

Carom seed/ omum – ½ tsp

Grated dry ginger – ¼ tsp

Ghee or coconut oil – ½ tsp

Grated Fresh Coconut – ½ cup

Buttermilk – 1 serving spoon

Method:

Take ½ tsp of ghee or oil, fry omum and dry ginger.

-Grind fried items, coconut, salt and water to make a smooth paste.

-Add buttermilk adjust the consistency by adding water.

-If you like seasoning on tambli like me, please go ahead and heat some ghee add cumin and curry leaves. Pour on Tambli and enjoy it as a soothing drink or with Hot Rice.

Buddha Bowl:

February 17, 2022

Buddha bowl is wholesome and rich in protein, fibre, and goodness.

When my daughter wanted to experience the dish’s taste, it was a real challenge to me. She had an idea about the final dish, what all should contain, a list of vegetables, how it should turn out everything in her mind and had given a list of her choices.

Dalia: Source of carbohydrate

She was not happy about the usage of rice. Hence, prepared the broken wheat precisely like how we cook rice for fried rice, by putting in a lot of water, oil, salt. Boil well, cook and strain. It tasted pretty well.

Then comes the Chana/Chickpea – Source of plant protein

– Soaked the Kabuli chana, sprouted, cooked in a cooker by adding salt two drops of oil. Drained and tossed with little tomato sauce, Soy sauce, and cooked for 2 minutes.

I follow one more method: heat oil, add ginger juvenile, hing, cooked chana, salt, coriander powder, cumin powder, a pinch of sugar.

Note Addition of oil while cooking high protein legumes helps to avoid bloating.

Next, Brinjal: Cut brinjal into 4 to 5 slices. Marinate with salt, crushed garlic, red chilli powder, Rasam powder, tamarind powder, little olive oil.

Roast it on a hot iron skillet by sprinkling little oil.

Tofu – Protein

Slice 4 pieces marinate with Sriracha sauce, Sweet chilli garlic sauce, four basil leaves (torn), olive oil.

Roast it in a hot iron skillet.

Tossed Veggies:

Veggies used here are – Cauliflower, Broccoli, Beans, Carrot (blanched)

green capsicum, red and yellow capsicum – half each

One onion – diced

I have used butter for tossing these veggies. At first, onion, then capsicum, then blanched veggies. Add garlic salt, pepper, red chilli flakes.

Sweetcorn:

Boil, drain, toss with salt, butter, pepper powder.

2 Sauces: Dressings

One sauce is: Add Sriracha sauce, Honey, little sesame oil and Soy Sauce (add according to your taste). Adjust the consistency by adding 1 or 2 spoons of water.

The second sauce is: Add Sriracha sauce, Veg Mayonnaise, Red chilli powder ¼ tsp, Sweet chilli sauce, Maple syrup (add according to your taste). Adjust the consistency by adding 1 or 2 spoons of water.