Mung Sprouts Parantha

This is one variant of using mung sprouts which I had to improvise as my hubby protested about having to eat mung salad which I love to make, where I steam the mung sprouts for short with a pinch of turmeric, add my simple home made chaat masala, chopped onion, tomatoes, diced cucumber, some fresh cilantro, if I have it at home, and lemon juice. But NO! It was too healthy for him. I guess you might know what I am talking about.

So, here is a creation which wasn't bad at all. I steamed the sprouts like I mentioned above and I made the paranthas with rape seed oil (mustard), which added to the flavour a lot. I just mixed the sprouts to the usual dough while preparing it with atta (whole wheat chapati flour).
All you need is the atta, salt, spices of choice, mung sprouts steamed with turmeric and salt for 3-5 minutes with little water, if required.
I could not make these paranthas puff up so much, because of the sprouts, but they still tasted really good. If you want to know exact preparation method, here are two links: one at about.com, the other at Indian Foods link.

It can be eaten with yoghurt raita, daal or any vegetable preparation.

Brown Vs. White Bread

Did anyone tell you that white bread is more fattening/high in fat /has more calories than brown bread ????

Look at this chart.



After I see the chart I can say that brown bread is healthier than white but not less fattening. It has got equal amount of calories and more fat. But then it also has vitamins , minerals and protien in better quantity , so its healthier.

Also note that if you think, that the colour of the bread is brown , its whole wheat bread , then you are wrong. It can just be artificial colour.

If you don't believe me, read it here.

Strawberry smoothie

Call it a smoothie or a shake, this is how I often make a strawberry drink, earlier for me and my hubby and now more often for my 3 yr. old son. Like today!

Preparation time: 5 minutes
For 2 persons

Ingredients:

6-8 strawberries, washed and pat dried, cleaned of the green cap or any other blemishes
2 small tubs (300 g) Yoghurt
1 scoop of strawberry icecream (or any other)
1 tsp sugar (optional)
2 mint leaves, chopped finely (optional)
a mint leaf as garnish

Method:
Mix everything with a blener untill smooth and homogenous.
Pour in a glas and serve garnished with a mint leaf.

Tips:

• Substitute the strawberries with other fruits like raspberries, blueberries or blackberries.
• When using tropical fruits, like mango (delicious!) adjust the sugar accordingly.
  
• If it is too thick, just add some milk. Yes, you can replace yoghurt completely with milk too!
• For those living in hot climates, a few cubes of ice would be great too!
  

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.