Whole Wheat Date & Nut Cake(Eggless)

Baking is definitely therapeutic, if you love to bake you know what I am talking about. I used to bake a lot few years back when gluten was still a part of our diet. It is definitely lot of fun and very easy to bake with flours containing gluten. So I seriously look forward for opportunities to bake with wheat and make it for people who include them. My Parents include wheat in their diet and I baked these cup cakes few months back and sent it to them. This recipe I saw in a magazine  few years back and the recipe was for making the cake in Microwave. This is such a simple recipe and a definite keeper. I have changed the recipe slightly replaced the all purpose flour with whole wheat,  added more dates, as I had ton of them and cut...

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Black Chick Pea Snack(Kala Channa Chat)

Black chick peas are a good source of protein and Iron and of course complex carbohydrates.  They are nutritionally superior than the light colored garbanzo beans. As a quick snack I prepare sundal a traditional South Indian seasoned and stir fried snack with grated coconut. When I was half way making this dish, my elder one said asked me if, I can make something else instead of sundal.  After a little thinking I changed the supposed to be Sundal in to a much healthier snack by adding veggies and coconut and spiced it up with the sweet and spicy chutney.If you are looking for a low carb snack you should definitely try this, the veggies like cucumber, tomato, onion are safe for people who count carbs in their diet. Coconut is good...

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Mixed Bean & Vegetable Rice Flakes(Aval/Poha)

Of late my week ends are becoming more hectic than the week days. Especially Saturdays with too many activities for the kids, the day is very busy and exhausting too. So Sunday morning, I  try to relax from the previous hectic day/week, wake up little late than usual.  Every body is hungry including me and I open the refrigerator and have a little bit  of different vegetables and don’t have any kind of batter to come up with a quick breakfast. With pretty much no options and some left over veggies and boiled beans in my refrigerator I came up with this quick and well balanced breakfast. I always have some kind of boiled beans kept  either in the refrigerator or freezer to whip up some thing quick on un-predictable days...

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Dahi Bhalla/Bhalle (White Lentil dumplings in yogurt sauce – not deep fried)

Which do you think is the challenging meal of the day? I think it is snacks that too when you have to make a different snack every day for hungry kids back from school and at the same time not to indulge on sinful ones. In my quest to make not so sinful snacks, I modify some of the recipes and try to make it little guilt free and this is one such one. If you are familiar with Indian cuisine, this bhalla/bhalle is a slightly jazzed up version of the South Indian Thayir vadai. If you are not familiar with Indian cuisine Soaked and ground white lentil dumplings are deep fried and soaked in yogurt pepped up with red chili powder, tangy and sweet chutneys. Even though I seriously don’t have anything against fried snacks, I normally stay away from...

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Quinoa Pulao(Pilaf)

If you are in quest to adapt a low carbohydrate and high protein vegetarian diet, then you should definitely try quinoa. Quinoa is a protein rich pseudo grain, meaning a seed actually used as grain and is of South American origin. With a slightly crunchy texture and a nutty flavor this can be substituted in place of rice in most of the dishes. You can buy Quinoa in your local health food store or you can order online and ordering in bulk works out much cheaper than buying it in store in pounds. When you use quinoa take care to soak and rinse it thoroughly because some of the bitter saponin covering on the grain can still be present even though most quinoa is washed before being sold, you should thoroughly rinse the dry grain until the water...

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Ragi, Green Mung, Kala Channa Sweet Puttu using Coconut Palm Sugar(Finger Millet & Bean flour steamed sweet)

Ragi or Finger Millet is a staple in the part of the Country I am coming from. Ragi porridge is one of the first semi solid food an infant is introduced to in our house holds.  This healthy and cheap pseudo grain is a rich source of Calcium, Iron, Protein, Fiber and other minerals. The cereal has low fat content and contains mainly unsaturated fat. It is easy to digest and does not contain gluten; people who are sensitive to gluten can easily consume Finger Millet.  The break fast porridge using ragi was one of the time tested one in lot of house holds in the Southern districts of India. Unfortunately now I see lot of house holds are replacing this with Oats. Oats surely is healthy, but ragi is much much more superior in terms of...

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Green Apple, Cucumber, Onion Salad/Chat

What do you think is good combination Banana with peanut butter or Apple with Almond Butter. Even though I like the second one much better than the first one, I was totally getting bored with the sight of loads of green apple lying in my refrigerator and snacking on them with nut butters. I some times make pickle out of these tart apples and for a change and as a easy and healthy snack tried this green apple, cucumber, onion salad spiced up with red chili powder. I wanted to give it a little more twist and  added little bit of black salt and chat masala which you can get in the Indian grocery stores with a dash of lemon. The result was a very interesting and healthy snack. Next time make sure to pick some tart green apples and try this...

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