whole wheat

Lemon Tart with Healthy Flour:

April 19, 2020

Lemon tarts are a real pleasure to have. When I have homemade lemon curd, usually I make it a point to use it in my baking and enjoy the tangy taste. Usually first preference would be Lemon thumb print cookies by using healthy flours. Then comes the Braided bread and lastly, lemon tart, which my daughters just love to have and this time, one of my daughters tried to bake it and she enjoyed the healthy baking process. At first, we did try by using Oats and whole wheat together and second batch with only whole wheat flour. Both the trials worked out just fine. Oats and whole wheat tart shell was more like a cookie with added flaky texture and whole wheat shell was like any normal tart shell.

We normally like mini cup cake size of lemon tart, due to its tangy and sweet taste. So, giving the measurements for 12 – 14 mini tarts.

This is an Egg-less version and I will update both the versions.

How we did:

Ingredients:

Flour – ¾ cup

Salt – ¼ tsp

Cold butter – 50 grams

Brown sugar – ¼ cup

Cold water – as needed.

Lemon curd – As needed

Method:

-If you are taking whole wheat flour, take ¾ cup. If you want to mix oats or any other flours of your choice, go ahead and use half the quantity of oats flour (by grinding ) or any other flour and half whole wheat flour.

-Now, take flour of your choice, salt and dry mix nicely. Add sugar powder and mix thoroughly.

-Add cold butter by cutting into chunks. Mix everything by using hand or processor. Until mixture looks crumbly.

-Now add couple of tablespoons of chilled water and make a dough. Keep it in an airtight box and allow to rest under refrigeration for 45 minutes.

-Pre heat oven at 170°C . Remove dough and roll the dough by using flour dusted platform.

-Take a cookie cutter, lay those circles in greased mini muffin pan. Bake for 10 minutes.

-Remove, fill with lemon curd, once again keep it in the oven and continue baking for 5 more minutes.

-Remove, cool and enjoy sweet and tangy/ lemony treat.

Whole wheat Jaggery Tea Cake:

June 23, 2019

It is a “Hot milk cake” which I have tried by adding Whole wheat, Jaggery powder, dried blackberries (optional) with added cardamom flavour. It turned out to be really soft, mild in sweet and was perfect with a hot cup of coffee or tea. It is a perfect choice for kids snack boxes or as a healthy eggless bake.

How I made-

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour – 1 cup

Cardamom powder – ½ tsp

Baking powder – 1 tsp

Salt – ¼ tsp

Dried Black currant – 2 tablespoons (optional)

Milk – ½ litre

Jaggery powder – ¾ to 1 cup ( I have added ¾ cup)

Butter – 50 grams

Method:

-Heat milk and reduce into almost half by boiling it in a low flame.

-When it is done, remove from the flame, add in butter.

-When butter melts, add in jaggery powder and mix thoroughly and keep aside. It is our wet mixture.

-Now, take one dry bowl, mix all the dry ingredients- whole wheat flour, salt, baking powder, cardamom powder, and dry whisk by using whisker or sieve couple of times.

-To this dry flour, add in dried black berries and mix. Add this dry ingredient to wet mixture and fold everything well and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180°C for 30 to 40 minutes or until done.

Walnut – Chocolate chip Coffee Cake:

January 27, 2018

Coffee flavoured cake happened by chance. I had some unused Nescafe instant coffee and wanted to finish it ASAP. So, I thought of baking a cake. It is made up of healthy flour and a very good option as a snack.

While getting ready to assemble everything, I thought of adding chocolate chip and walnut as an attraction to kids and it worked out very well with finger millet or Ragi flour as well. Now we will see how I proceeded with the ingredients.

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Ingredients:

Whole wheat Flour – 1 cup

Ragi/ Finger millet flour – 1 cup

Baking soda – ½ tea spoon

Baking powder – ½ tea spoon

Salt – ¼ tea spoon

Walnuts – ½ cup

Choco chip – ½ cup

Butter – 100 grams

Eggs – 2

Sugar – 1 ½ cup

Hot milk – 1 cup

Instant Coffee powder – 1 to 1 ½ table spoon

Hot water – ¼ cup (you can take little less than ¼ cup)

Method:

-Pre heat oven at 180°C, line a baking tray with the butter paper.

-Take one bowl and mix all the dry ingredients like, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, walnuts and Choco -chips.

-In another bowl, beat melted butter, eggs, sugar, milk by adding one by one respectively.

Ribbet collage 1

-Make dark coffee by mixing powder and water. Mix in the liquid and beat.

-Now wet mix is also ready.

-Pour this wet mixture to dry ingredients and fold the batter by using any spatula.

-Pour the batter in lined baking tray and keep this for baking until done.

Ribbet collage 2

-It takes anywhere between 40 to 50 minutes.

-Before removing, check with a knife by inserting, in the baked cake.

-Knife should come out clean.

-Remove the cake, cool before cutting, and serve.

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Note: For the Eggless Version, use 1/2 cup of flax gel and you can refer my earlier post for the preparation.

Protein rich Millet Health Mix:

January 25, 2018

Millet health mix is a wholesome breakfast solution for people who leave their home very early in the morning and yet they can get goodness of wholefood by preparing quick porridge. Once the powder is ready, it is super easy and quick to prepare and consume. One can even prepare this drink and carry it in their bag and have it at their convenience as well.

Health benefits of millets and sprouts are numerous. They are filled with nutrients, vitamins and minerals. It really boosts immune system and overall health of human body.

I prepare this porridge specially for my husband, who started following Naturopathic diet after staying and enjoying this simple diet in a Naturopathic centre. Gradually my niece who leaves home by 6:45 AM from home, started carrying this drink as her mid-morning “meal”. It is very tasty, and at the same time, healthy, filling and nutritious too.

At first, we will prepare the powder and the procedure goes like this-

Ingredients to sprouts and Roast:

Whole wheat – 500 grams

Finger millet / Ragi – 500 grams

Pearl millet/ Bajra – 100 to 150 grams

Green gram / whole moong – 250 grams

Black Chana – 250 grams

Ingredients Only to roast:

Fox tail millet – 50 grams

Sorghum / Jowar – 50 grams

Organic Red rice – 50 – 100 grams

Sago – 100 grams

Roasted Chana – 50 to 100 grams

Almonds – 100 grams

Flax seed – 25 grams

Other ingredients:

Cardamom – 10 (whole)

Method:

-First wash all the ingredients under “Ingredients to sprouts” one by one.

-Soak all these for 6 to 8 hours or Overnight.

-Drain and keep it covered to germinate.

-Next day morning, spread these on a clean cloth separately, and dry under partial or direct sunlight.

-It takes 2 to 3 days to perfectly dry.

-Now you can start roasting all these dried items one by one, as well as ingredients under “Only to roast”.

-After roasting each ingredient, spread this on a newspaper or clean cloth and cool.

-Add cardamom.

– Powder this mixture in a flour mill.

-Store this ready flour in an air tight container and use as needed.

How to make the porridge:

I make it in two ways. One is plain and another one is with oats.

For the plain one:

Take 4 spoons of porridge powder, add 450 ml of water, or as much as you want, according to the required consistency, and boil until it is cooked properly.

At that time, mixture will become glossy.

My husband likes this porridge with a little rock salt and a tinge of sweet (usually I add sugar free Natura)

You can either add plain sugar or Jaggery or brown unrefined sugar as well.

With Oats:

Take 2 spoons of porridge powder, 2 spoons of Oats and proceed with the above procedure.

Radish Thepla/Paratha:

January 3, 2018

Thepla is a Guajarati word. It is an easy form of paratha. Enjoyment without much work 😉 Yes!!! There is no need to prepare stuffing separately. Put everything together, knead and make.

Radish is not liked by many, let alone be in their list of favourite vegetables. But it ranks very high in nutrition and health benefits. You can make raw salads, sambar or add them in any veggie recipes. If you don’t like the pungent taste, add couple of carrots, tone down the taste and enjoy.

Winter is the time when we get fresh juicy radishes in India. When It is home grown, the joy doubles. I wish to use every edible part without any wastage and without any usage of pesticide. Thus, it is healthy as well.

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Ingredients:

Radish and its greens – one small bunch

Coriander – 1 tea spoon

Cumin – ½ tea spoon

Carom seeds – ½ tea spoon

Garlic – 3-4 cloves

Green chilli – 1

Coriander leaves – 1 table spoon (chopped)

Curd – 2 table spoons

Salt- to taste

Whole wheat powder – as required

Oil – to cook

Method:

-Wash radish as well as green leaves.

-Grate the radish and chop the greens. Sprinkle salt.

Ribbet collage 1

-Crush coriander and cumin, add.

-Dry grind green chilli and garlic, add.

-Add carom seeds, chopped coriander and curd as well.

-Mix everything, make a firm dough by using required amount of whole wheat flour.

Ribbet collage 2

-Now take lemon sized chapati dough in hand, roll this ball by using a roller, like regular chapati.

-Cook both the sides by using either oil, ghee or butter.

-Serve with sweetened curd or pickle.

Manni / Porridge-Initial Baby Food:

November 23, 2017

Regarding baby food lots and lots of notions are there. What to feed, when to start solids, which age is ideal etc. According to me, each situation or each baby is different than the other. In my condition, it was twin babies and almost 20 days pre-mature too.

With two babies, breast feeding was not sufficient, and I started this porridge in a very diluted form (For 200 ml of water, I used to use 1 tsp of powder) as early as 40 days of their birth. Yes, my father who is a doctor himself, advised me to start this instead of any packaged milk powder or cow’s milk. I used to feed them this a couple of times in a day (100ml at a time) as a top food to suffice their needs.

Jaggery is very good for infants and this is the only way they get their iron supplement, if they are on top food. This is what our paediatrician told me. According to her suggestion, I used to add tiny jaggery piece while preparing porridge.

When days passed by I did increased the quantity of porridge powder and when they became 4 to 5 months old, I started feeding them one small bowl of porridge by using spoon.

If you are raising your brows while reading this, Yes!!! My daughters are healthy grown up teenagers now. I personally never ever recommend readymade food over natural food.

How to Prepare Porridge Powder:

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Ingredients:

Finger millet / Ragi – 500 gms

Whole wheat – 500 gms

Almonds- 100 gms

Method:

Clean Ragi and whole wheat by rinsing couple of times with water.
Drain water completely.
Spread this on a clean cloth and dry in the shade.
When it is dry, take little by little and dry roast for a couple of minutes to remove any remaining moisture.
You can use almond by roasting or without as well.
Cool this by spreading it again.
Take a mixer jar and powder it, sieve it and collect the fine powder and proceed.
Cool this and store this powder in an air tight container.
If you want to store this for too long, keep it in a fridge.

How to prepare porridge:

Take water according to your requirement, add powder and mix thoroughly.

Ribbet collage 2

If you are feeding for two to three-month-old, by using feeding bottle, take ½ to 1 tsp of powder,100 ml of water and boil. (adjust according to the requirement)
If you want a little thicker consistency, take 2 tsp of powder and 100 ml of water and boil.

Ribbet collage 3

Add jaggery or rock candy (kallu sakkare)
Boil this by stirring in a low flame, when it is cooked, it becomes a little shiny and transparent (top becomes glossy).
Remove from the fire. If you are okay with addition of milk, add couple of spoons of milk and adjust the consistency, or adjust with water and feed the baby either by feeding bottle or spoon.

Choco Almond Biscuits:

October 29, 2017

These are melt- in- the -mouth and loved by all, kind of cookies or biscuits. Added to all that, it is rich with all the healthy stuff. I got an opportunity to taste this goodie at “RAGA” Mangalore and it was prepared by Nalini akka who is a super talented and down to earth person. Our acquaintance started in 2012 through a Facebook group named “FOODIE” and I got to know her through her hubby Sadashiva Rao Mailankodi, who started our group and has shared this recipe on the group long ago. It was in my “to try” list and after tasting these cookies at their residence, I couldn’t wait much and prepared it immediately. I am posting it over here by thanking Nalini akka for this wonderful recipe.

Ingredient:

Whole wheat flour – 3 cups

Almond – ½ cup

Cocoa powder – ¼ cup

Powdered sugar – 3 cups

Ghee – 1 ½ cup

Butter – 3 table spoons

Cooking soda – ½ tea spoon

Salt – a pinch

Method:

-Roughly Crush almonds.

-Mix all the dry ingredients like flour, cocoa powder, cooking soda and salt.

Ribbet collage 1

-Sieve couple of times or use dry wire whisk to combine uniformly.

-Now beat ghee, butter and sugar by hand or food processor.

-When it becomes like a cream, add flour and make a dough.

-Add in crushed almonds, mix well. Dough will be little crumbly and will not be like a smooth dough.

-Now shape these dough into whichever shape you like.

-Keep in a lined cookie tray and bake in a pre-heated oven at 170°C for 10 to 12 minutes.

– I have exactly followed her method to give shape by using bigger steel spoon. It was a cute oblong shape.

-After baking, cool and store it in an air tight container.

How to cook Vermicelli:

December 7, 2016

Initial days of cooking are very challenging. We face lots of hardships at the kitchen. Generally in south Indian cooking, the quantity of water used, is crucial and the end result is depends on that. So, if we know the requirement of water for cooking that particular ingredient, half the battle is won.

Usually I get a query in my message box regarding some doubts or the other from my near and dear ones. In one such query’s person had asked me, why she can’t cook perfect vermicelli Upma? Further she said, her preparation becomes little soggy each time she makes vermicelli upma. That day, while answering her query, I thought of making one separate category for learners in my future blog and today here I am, writing my first post, dedicated to cooking learners.

Here, I will guide you to make simple Vermicelli Upma –

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Ingredients:

Vermicelli – 2 cups

Onion – 2 medium

Green chillies -2

Salt

Grated coconut – 1 table sp

Lemon – 1/2

For seasoning –

Mustard – 1 teaspoon

Urad dal – 1teaspoon

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Cumin- ½ teaspoon

Red chilli -1

Oil /ghee – 2 table spoon.

Method:

-First, Chop the onions, chillies and measure vermicelli and keep aside.

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Keep one small bowl of water for boiling.

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In another burner, keep thick bottomed kadai; do seasoning by heating ghee or oil, or mix of both. When it is hot, add mustard. When the mustard splutters add urad dal. After it becomes light brown add red chilli, cumin, curry leaves.
After this add chopped onion, green chillies and fry for a while.

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If you wish to add turmeric, you can add it now.
Add little salt and fry onion until it is light brown.
Add vermicelli and fry for a while.
How to check if oil is sufficient or not: while mixing vermicelli, if oil coats vermicelli and becomes wet and shiny, oil content is perfect for this upma. If you feel vermicelli is dry and it is not holding together, add little more oil or ghee.

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Next- how much roasting or frying is needed? After frying it for a couple of minutes on a low flame, you will see the colour change and each strand will becomes whitish and crispy. It is now time to add boiling water.(refer to this above picture)

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How much quantity of water? Please refer to the picture. While pouring, Water should be just above the vermicelli. Mix the mixture and check for the salt. If salt is needed add and cover the kadai with a lid and cook it in a low flame.

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After a couple of minutes, open the lid, if water is evaporated and top part of the layer appears cooked, that is it. If you find, it is yet to cook, sprinkle little water and keep it covered for couple of minutes.

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If you like to garnish with coconut, add coconut and add lemon juice and mix.

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Serve this upma with a cup of coffee or tea.

Choco chip cookie with M&M:

November 28, 2016

Who can resist Choco chips and m&m? My kids just love this combination and it works really well as a birthday party treat too.

If u have leftover m&m’s at home which you totally forgot about? This is a yummy way to use them up! Every crumb tastes so delicious; you wouldn’t want to put it down!

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour -1 cup

All-purpose flour – 1 ½ cup

Baking powder – ¾ tea spoon

Cooking soda – ¾ tsp

Demerara sugar – 1 cup

White sugar – ½ cup

Butter – 200 Grams (I have used 100 gms butter + 100 gms sunflower oil)

Eggs – 2

Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

Choco chip – ¾ cup

m&m chocolates – to decorate.

Method:

– Pre heat oven to 170º C, grease cookie tray and line with butter paper.

-Add all the dry ingredients (flours + baking powder + cooking soda).

-Take a bowl, put butter and beat nicely. Add both the sugars, vanilla essence and once again beat until it becomes soft and airy. Now add eggs and beat. Add all the dry ingredients and mix using a spatula .While mixing add Choco chip. Now using an ice cream scooper, drop the dough into the cookie tray .

-If you have m&m s, you can press it on to the center.

– Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until knife comes out clean.

When it’s done, take it out and cool. After it cools completely store it in an air tight container.