Banana Sandwitch

I guess you are wondering that I'm so fixed about bananas!
But in the afternoon, when my son is hungry, I like to give him half a banana (these south American ones are usually so huge that half is really enough), as it is a fruit, i.e., has vitamins and minerals, is sweet (a very important factor for my son!) and has calories (starch) too (important for the mom, as his weight is really on the margin). I may sound like one of those worrying mothers always complaining about how little their child eats, but just can't help it. So, I find it a good thing for an afternoon snack.
Now that he was getting bored of eating a banana which I had already cut into slices for him. He asked for it but then did not want to eat it, once it was on the table. Hhhhhhmmm....
So, I had to think up of something. Always eating away his leftovers is not doing me any good (Need I explain?!).
And this is how he enjoyed eating it, atleast half of it and then he was not hungry anymore, but that's OK! :
Whole wheat bread with a layer of a haselnut nougat creme (one famous brand is Nutella)
and banans over it.

Bananas playing Hide and Seek

This is yoghurt with banana and honey. I have done this post earlier, but toda it is a little different. In this picture you don't see bananas. 'cause they are hiding!
That is how I made my 3 year old son eat his yoghurt the first time. And now he himself askes for it.
"Versteckte Bananen" is how I called it in German, to make it a game for him. I guess in Hindi I would call it " केला खेले छुपन छुपाई".

Aalo-Palak Parantha

This again is nothing too different. But may be I want to post it for myself as I keep forgetting my options for Aryan's food :-P


Ingredients

Spinach/Palak - 1 Bunch
Wheat Flour - 1 cup
Potato - 1 or 2 , boiled
Coriander leaves - (optional), washed and chopped
Onion - 1 small, fine chopped
Coriander powder - 1tsp
Mango Powder - 1 pinch
Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp (only for adults)
Salt to taste

Steps :

Dough
1. Wash and pressure cook palak for 2-3 whistles
2. Grind it into the paste
3. Mix the paste with the flour and add little salt.
4. Make the dough just as you make for chapatis. Use all the palak and the water that remains when you pressure cook.
(Extra water may be added)


Filling
1. Grate the potatos and mix onion and coriander leaves.
2. Mix all the masalas

Process
1. Take a small ball of the dough and roll it using a rolling pin.
2. Keep a handful of the filling and close the edges.
3. Roll the parantha
4. Make the paranth on the non-stick tava , using little oil.

Serve it with curd or just like that.

Just another way to feed them with the greens :-)

Bread Poha

I made bread poha today morning for breakfast. Its a quick and easy snack. Everyone in our family likes it. plus feel its a nice change from regular poha or eating bread toast.


Ingredients:

1. 6-7 Bread slices (white or brown)
2. 2 tomatoes
   
3. 1 big onion (or take 2 small ones)
4. Salt
5. Garam masala
6. Red chilli powder
7. Coriander powder
8. Kadhi Patta
9. Rye/Mustard seeds
10. Fresh Coriander
11. 1 tbsp oil
12. 1/4 cup milk (optional)

Steps:

1. Dice onions and tomatoes finely and keep them separate.
2. Dice bread slices into small squares. You can decide the size as per your liking. I usually dice them into very small squares.
   
3. Wash and clean the kadhi patta and either use it whole or dice it thin. (I dice it thin because my son doesn't like whole leaves coming into his mouth)
4. In a kadhai/wok, put the 1 tbsp oil.
5. When oil has become hot, add the rye seeds and let them splutter.
6. Add diced kadhi patta and onions. Saute them till translucent.
7. Add coriander powder, garam masala and red chilli powder.
8. Add tomatoes and salt. Saute it for a minute.
9. Add bread slices and diced fresh coriander. Mix well on low to medium flame.
10. Add the milk and mix.

Variations:

1. You can add vegetables in it as well. Use grated carrot, diced capsicum, green peas and saute them with onion before adding the diced tomatoes.
2. You can add fried peanuts or cashews.
3. I sometimes grate cheese over the serving and microwave it so that cheese kind of melts up. Betu likes it that way a lot.
   

Quick Macroni

I am not sure if you would want to call it pasta , so I called it Quick Macroni.

Ingredients :

Macroni - 1 cup
Onion - 1 Big , fine chopped
Tomato - 1 Big , fine chopped
Salt - To taste
Chilli powder / Pepper powder - To taste
Oregano /Italian Seasoning (Optional)
Cheese - 1 Cube (Optional)
Oil - 1 tsp



Steps
1. Boil and drain macroni and keep it aside.
2. Heat the oil and saute Onion for few minutes.
3. Add Tomato , Salt and Chilli powder and saute for few more minutes.
4. Add cheese and let that melt.
5. Add the macroni and mix well.
6. Garnish with Itatian Seasoning.

I'm not sure what to call this dish..

..I made it this weekend for the Nooster. During the week, she gets to eat stuff that my mom makes for her so over the weekends, I like to try my hand at making something fresh and healthy and ofcourse edible for her. This weekend, I tried this kichdi-cum-chicken pulao and Noo loved it. God, I was on cloud 9 for most of the day. No acheivement's felt better than this one.
Enough babble, on to the recipe.

Ingredients
1 tsp orange lentils (masoor)
1 tsp yellow lentils (tuvar)
2-3 tbsp rice
Ginger and garlic paste
Onion paste
Tomato puree
Salt to taste
Chicken stock
Left-over chicken

Method
Add a quarter of a chicken stock cube to half a glass of hot water and keep aside.
Heat a one tsp of oil, butter or ghee. Add a quarter tsp of onion paste and a quarter tsp of ginger-and-garlic paste and about a tsp of puree. When the mixture's started to brown, add the lentils. Add salt to taste. Add rice and stir well. Add the chicken-stock-water and cover and cook.

If you're going to add already cooked chicken, mash a cube with your hands, and add just as the last bit of water in the rice is drying up.

I served this with yogurt and Noo obsolutely loved it.

Maybe next week, I'm going to add potatoes and either a spoonful of zucchini or spinach to add to the flavor and fool Noo's tastebuds into thinking that this is a new dish.

Vegetable - Cheese Sandwich

When ~nm posted her favourite sandwich , I realized that I have missed mine.This has been everyone's favourite ever since I made it first time after my wedding. Its one of my mummy's easy simple recipe and I just love it.

Ingredients
Cheese - 1 cube grated.
Finely Chopped :
Onion - 1
Tomato - 1
Capsicum - 1/2
Cabbage - handful
Carrot - 1

Salt
Pepper /Red chilli powder
(Husband is allergic to pepper , so I use red chilli powder , Mom used pepper)
Oil - 1 tsp

Heat the oil and saute the onion. Add the remaining vegetables and saute for 5 mins. Add salt and pepper. Add grated cheese and mix well. Sim and leave till the cheese is melted and mixed well with the vegetables. If the vegetables leave excess water , roast till its gone.
Let the filling cool off for few minutes. And then fill the same between slices and grill /roast them on tava.

Variations :
1. Cottage Cheese (Paneer) can be used in place of cheese. Thats tastes yummy as well.
2. Finely chopped Cucumber can be added to the mixture , just before filling between the slices.

Aryan has started loving this recently. And I think its quite healthy. This should be given to kids after they start chewing properly.

Tomato - Onion Sandwich

This is a very simple sandwich variation which I usually make on the tawa/girdle but can be made in the toast makers as well.

Ingredients:

1. Tomato
2. Onion
3. Dhaniya/Coriander leaves (optional)
4. Salt
5. Red chilli powder (optional)

Steps:

1. Finely dice the tomato and onions.
   
2. Mix them together in a bowl and add salt and chilli powder.
   
3. Butter up one side of the slice and put the buttered side down on the tawa.
4. Spread the mixture with a spoon and put one slice of bread over it and press it with your palms or a flat ladle as you feel comfortable.
5. When its almost done on one side, apply butter on the upper slice and flip it.
   
6. Once done, cut it into 2 halves. I cut it into 4 squares for Betu as it makes it easier for him to eat that way. Eat it with Ketchup or plain as you like it.
   

Variations:

1. Add grated cheese into the mixture as mentioned above.
2. You can use mashed boiled potatoes roasted with cumin(zeera) and onions as a filling.
3. You can make mixed veggie sandwich by finely chopping the veggies and saute them in butter

What is probiotic yoghurt?

A good question (put up by Suki in my previous post): what is probiotic yoghurt?
Well, it is also the yoghurt that you make yourself at home. Yes!
This word is important only for those who buy readymade yoghurt from the market. Because, with the non-probiotic ones which you buy in the market, they do a heat-treatment which kills a large portion of the bacteria, to make their shelf-life longer. The bacteria are still there, but in trace amounts which isn't really as beneficial for the body as the untreated yoghurt. The probiotic ones are a lot of times made with special bacterial strains, which are good for the body, but are commonly found and also present in your yoghurt. I remember that from my practicals we did with home made yoghurt at the university during my Masters.
The word probiotic is used for bacterial starins which are beneficial for the body.
Here is one wikipedia link, if you want to know more.
Another interesting read in daily mail about the real facts about probiotic yoghurt.

Yoghurt with Banana

I think this is the quickest recipe posted here. Yoghurt with banana. I use probiotic yoghurt for this. I slice one banana into one cup (150g) of yoghurt. If needed add some honey and that's it.
For toddlers who still do not have teeth or no molars one can puree any kind of fruit or grate them and mix with yoghurt. Try out first what your child likes. They usually love it.
My son used to love eating plain yoghurt, without anything. But since a couple of weeks he has learned really fast to demand for honey. He has become a big honey fan (anything with sugar is great!) By mistake, I bought vanilla yoghurt this time, which, of course, also has some sugar in it (but it was mildly sweet). He loved it with banana.

Sooji Dhokla

Ingredients:

1. Suji/Rava/Semolina - 1 Cup (not roasted)
2. Dahi/Curd - 1/2 cup (preferably slightly sour)
3. Baking Soda - 1 tsp
4. Salt to taste
5. 1 tbsp Oil
6. Water
   

Tadka:

1. Rayee/Sarson (Mustard seeds) for tadka
2. Curry leaves (optional)
3. 1 tbsp Oil
4. Red chili powder (optional)
   

Steps:

1. Whip curd in a bowl
2. Add 1 cup water in it.
3. Mix salt in dry Suji/Semolina.
4. Add the curd and water mixture in the Suji/Semolina.
5. Leave it for 5-7 minutes. The texture of the batter should be of dripping consistency. If required add more water.
6. Add baking soda and mix it well.
7. Line a microwave dish with little oil.
8. Pour the batter in it and try that the the batter layer is not more than 1.5 inches in depth.
9. Microwave it for 2 mins at high.
10. Leave it for 5 mins to cool and then cut pieces of the desired sizes.

For tadka:

1. Put a pan on the gas and add 1 tbsp of rayee/sarson/mustard seeds in it.
2. When they have spluttered add curry leaves(optional)
3. Then add dhokla pieces in it and add coriander and red chilli powder.
4. Stir it on medium flame for 2 mins and take them off the gas.
5. Serve them with tomato ketchup or have them plain!

Variations:

1. If you have time you can have some variations to the above recipe. In the batter add shredded ginger, and roasted kaju (cashew), finely diced red chillies and roasted chana daal before microwaving it.
2. You can also layer the bottom of the microwave dish with slices of tomato and then pour batter over it. So when its done and you upturn it, you can see the rings of red tomato on the cooked dhokla.

The pictures:

Sooji

Batter after adding curd, water, salt to Sooji

Dhokla ready to be eaten :)

spinach and corn sandwich

Ok! This is the first time I am putting across a recipe (am not much of a cook anyway), so I really dont think I can put measures like you women! :( But experienced Mommy's and cooks that you are, am sure your andaaza will work just fine! :)

Kabir still doesn't have teeth, but that doesnt stop him from tasting everything we eat! :)

So here goes!

Ingredients
Palak (you know how less palak becomes after being cooked, so take quantity accordingly)
Sweet Corn - Fresh/frozen - a small handful.
Mayonnaise - I use Fun Foods garlic Mayo.
Salt to taste

What Next?
Finely chop the washed Palak leaves and pressure cook with little water for approx 2 whistles. Keep the sweet corn in warm water for 5 mins to thaw and soften naturally (this applies to frozen corn, never used fresh).

Drain excess water from palak, add a spoonful of mayo, sweet corn and salt to taste and mix well. Toast brown bread as per your liking and spread the filling between 2 slices of bread.

Your palak and corn sandwich is ready! Ketchup not reccoed unless you can't eat sandwich without it! :)

Sprouts Pulav

Before you read further, let me tell you thats its just a normal vegetable pulav with sprouts :-)



Rice - 1/2 cup
Water - 1 cup
Moong sprouts - 1 tbsp
corn kernals - 1 tbsp
Green peas - Handful
Grated Carrots - 1 tbsp
Onion - 1 small , finely chopped
Tomato - 1/2 small , finely chopped
Cauliflower - 1 floret , finely chopped
Beans - 1,finely chopped
Oil/Ghee - 1 tsp ( I use Ghee)
Salt - to taste
Coriander power - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/4 tsp


1. Heat the ghee in a pressure cooker
2. Saute onions for 2-3 seconds
3. Add all the veggies, corn and sprouts and saute for few seconds
4. Add salt , coriander powder and garam masala
5. Add water and rice and pressure cook for 2 whistles



This is usually the monday lunch for Aryan , since my fridge is full of vegetables on mondays.The ingredients vary with availability :-)

**Sorry about the picture quality , you know it was monday morning ;-) **

Eggless Chocolate Cake (Microwave)

I baked this cake on Saturday and it came out really nice. Below is the original recipe that I had found over the net but somehow just cannot trace it back to its origin.

Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 cups Flour
2. 3 tbsp Cocoa Powder
3. 1 tsp Baking Soda
4. 1 cup Powdered Sugar
5. 5 tbsp Oil
6. 1 tsp Vanilla Essence
7. 1 tbsp White Vinegar
8. 1 cup Milk

Steps

1. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, backing soda and powdered sugar together.
2. Add milk and vanilla essence to the flour mixture. Then add oil and white vinegar.
3. Mix well.
4. Pour into a greased microwave safe bowl and microwave on high(900W) for 5-7 minutes.
5. Allow to stand for 10 minutes.

Personal Notes:

1. I added extra bit of milk as the batter seemed too thick.
2. I baked for 1.5 minutes since my microwave's highest power is of 1300W

Moong Sprouts Cheela

Aryan does not like sprouts. So what do I do ? Make something out of sprouts :D Here is what we had in breakfast yesterday :





Green gram (Whole Moong) : 1 cup
Chopped Onion : 1 tbsp
Grated Carrorts : 1 tbsp (not mandatory)
salt : to taste
Chilli powder : to taste
Coriander powder : 1/2 tsp
Mango powder : 1 pinch
Oil : 1 tsp

Sprouts :
Soak Green gram overnight.
Drain the water and keep for 24 hours in a covered container.
Your sprouts are ready.
You can alternatively buy sprouts from any super market or use any sprout maker.


Cheela/Dosa :

Grind the sprouts into smooth paste.
Add all the spices and carrots.
Heat oil on a nonstick tava and spread the mixture as a dosa.
Sprinkle fine chopped onion.
Roast on both sides.

Serve with Sauce /Green Coriander chutney. Some even like this with raita.

Quick Thalipeth

Inspired by one of the food blog , I tried a variation for Aryan. I love this one , for its super quick , needs nothing thats not at home all the time, completely healthy and even I love the taste. I can serve it for breakfast or pack it for snacks , its an all time favourite.

Here we go !

Wheat Flour - 1 tbsp
Gram Flour(Besan) - 1 tbsp
Finely Chopped Onion - 1tsp
Finely Chopped Tomato - 1/2 small size
Finely grated Carrot - 1 tbsp
A Pinch of salt
Chilli power - If the kid likes
Chopped Coriander leaves (Subject to availability)
Oil - 1 tsp

1. Mix wheat and gram flour in water to make a smooth paste.
2. Add salt ,coriander leaves and carrots.
3. Heat little oil on a non-stick tava and spread the paste like a dosa.
4. Sprinkle onion and tomato and roast on both sides.

An instant healthy breakfast is ready!

Broccoli Parantha with Raita

This is a healthy recipe for children and adults alike. It demands a bit of preparation in advance, otherwise it is easy.

Raita shown in the picture here is nothing but stirred yoghurt with some salt (kala namak) and roasted cumin powder (bhuna jeera). You can add chopped coriander leaves and fresh or dried mint leaves to it. Or make any of the endless variants you like.

Broccoli Parantha:
Dough:
Atta (chapati flour),
1/2 Broccoli cut into small pieces, or left over brokkoli sabzi (vegetable) from the day before(or even better brokkoli soup),
salt and Spices for the dough (e.g. ajwain, salt, chilli, dhania powder, fennel seed powder, etc.),
1 tsp. lemon/lime juice.

Filling:
2-3 large Boiled potatoes (boiled with skin and peeled-can be done a day before and kept in the fridge),
Spices for the filling (e.g., chilli, 1/2" ginger-grated, dhania powder, fennel seed powder, kala namak /black salt),
Coriander leaves (cilantro),
Mustard oil for frying/baking (very healthy - rich in unsaturated fatty acids, especially omega 3 fatty acids).

Steps:
1. Either use the leftover broccoli sabzi from the day before, or steam half a broccoli in half a cup of water till tender but still fresh green. Add lemon juice and puree it with a (hand-) mixer.
2. Knead a soft dough with the broccoli, salt and spices as per desire.
3. Mash potatoes with salt and spices. Add coriander leaves.
4. Roll out paranthas with the potato filling. Here is one link if you want to know how.
5. Fry them in mustard oil on a cast iron tawa (griddle).
6. Serve with Raita.

Tips:
1. Wash the cooked Broccoli with cold water to prevent it from cooking further and loosing its fresh green colour.
2. Cook potatoes in the skin (healthier) a day before. Can be done for the broccoli as well, just add some fresh lime/lemon juice to it. Store in the fridge.

Egg parantha

Whoever likes egg, it can be one yummy and easy to make dish. Its a favorite with all of us i.e me, hubby and Betu. Wile I was making it yesterday night, I thought I can post it here. So I quickly grabbed my phone and clicked pictures of it while I was at it. So here are the steps.

You need:

1. 1 Egg
2. Dough/Atta for one parantha
3. 2 tbsp Oil
4. Salt to taste
5. Red Chilli powder (optional)
6. Coriander leaves (optional)

1. Roll out a parantha and put little bit of oil/ghee between layers. I somehow always make the triangular shaped ones as it gives me good layers.

2. Put it on the tawa/girdle and let if cook on medium flame.

3. In a small bowl, break the egg, add salt to taste, red chilli powder if you like it and whip it for 10 seconds.

4. When one side is done, flip it and apply bit of oil/ghee to the side which is partially done.

5. Tenderly open the layer using the chimta/tongs till the end. But be careful that it should not tear the layer away completely from the base.

6. Pour the egg mixture in this open layer as shown in the pic.

7. Close the opened layer back over the egg mixture.
8. Slowly flip the parantha by holding it from the end you had opened the layer. If the egg mixture spills slightly don't worry. It will in fact taste better.
9. Pat it lightly with a ladle .
10. Flip it back once you feel it has cooked well from that side and let it cook little more from the other side.

Your yummy egg parantha is ready to be eaten. Enjoy it with cheese or tomato ketchup or pickle as per your liking.