May 26, 2011 - Posted by sarika - Comments Off
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Tofu Veggie Wrap
Tofu is an good source of protein for vegetrians like me.Today,I tried this yummy,quick lunch. This is a good lunch for office goers or if you want to have a light dinner.This healthy wrap definitely will keep you full for hours because of Tofu.
Ingredients:-
1.Tofu chunks – 1/4 cup
2.Whole wheat Tortilla – 2
3.Roasted garlic Hummus-1tbls
4.Chopped veggies 1/2″-Green bell pepper,tomotoes-1/3 cup
5.Left over Cauliflower peas potato curry-2 tbls(optional)
6.Thousand Island dressing -2tsp
7.salt for taste
8.Pepper powder as per taste
9.Grated cheese-1tsp
Method:-
1.Roast Tortilla on heated griddle until brown spots appear on both sides
2.Spread roasted garlic hummus on tortilla
3.In the center of tortilla, vertically put all veggies and add few drops of thousand island dressing on the veggies
4.From one side roll tortilla 1/4 way and then fold the other two sides like an envelope.
5.You may cut into two halves and may serve with Tomoto ketchup
Tip:-
1.You can replace tortilla with wheat chappatti/roti and tofu with cottage cheese/paneer chunks.
2.You can replace dressing with cream and Roasted Garlic Hummus with Mint chuntey.
3.You can put any left over vegetable curry if you have any.
Note:Hummus is made with cheakpeas/kabuli chana and other spices .
May 26, 2011 - Posted by sarika - Comments Off
Pancakes with Strawberry Jam
Pancakes is considered to be very common breakfast in western countries. You will find different healthy versions of Pancake powder/mixture readily available in stores. Usually Pancakes are served with sweet maple syrup. I thought to try something new for my Chakku.:) Chakku is not a fan of pancake but this version of Pancake worked on her:)
Ingredients:-
Pancake powder – 3tbls
Milk- 1-2tsp
Sugar-11/2tsp
Strawberry Jam- 2tsp
Chopped nuts(almonds,walnuts,cashews)-1tbls
Elachi powder/Cardamom powder – a pinch(optional)
Cuties/Darling Orange -1 cut into wedges
Method:-
1.Add sugar and milk as needed to the Pancake powder and make Pancake batter
2.Put some butter on an heated Pan/tava and put one 1/2 laddle of batter 3″ size of Pancake
3.At a time 3 pancakes can be cooked simultaneously
4.When Pancake turns golden color,on one side, flip it to the other side.
5.When both sides of the pancake are cooked, put on a serving plate
6.Apply Strawberyy jam when hot and sprinkle chopped nuts and Cardamom powder
7.Serve Pancakes hot with Orange wedges
Tip: Pancake powder can be made at home by mixing 3/4 portion of wheat flour and 1/4 portion of Oatmeal flour or Nachini/Ragi Flour and 1 pinch of soda. Add milk and sugar and keep it aside for 15mins and then start making pancakes.
May 26, 2011 - Posted by sarika - Comments Off
When different colours come together, doesn’t it please your eyes.Thinking of my 3-1/2yr daughter(Chakku), she likes all different colors, so thought to make something colorful for her to eat. Tiranga Triangles is a colorful sandwich using two veggies and cheese. Your kids will love these and ofcourse you will also not resist to eat one of these:)
Ingredients:-
1.Brown Bread- 4 slices
2.Tomoto- 1 medium size chopped and seeds removed
3.Spinach- 3 tbls chopped
4.Cheese- 2tbls
5.Butter- 1tbl
6.Pepper powder-1/2tsp
7.Salt as per taste
Method:-
1.Mix all the ingredients except bread slices in a bowl
2.Apply little butter on one side of the each bread slices.
3.Stuff mixture in between two bread slices with butter side on the outer side
4.Grill or Roast Sandwich on Griddle/Tava until both sides of bread slices turn golden brown
5.Serve Sandwich with Tomoto Ketchup
May 25, 2011 - Posted by sarika - Comments Off
Rava Idli with Chutney,Sambhar and Idli Karam Pudi
Did you forget to soak Udad dal and rice to make Idli for next day, no problem go for this yummy,easy and instant Rava idli. Tonight I thought to go with south-Indian so prepared Rava Idli, Sambhar and Chutney..! Rava are given different names Sooji/Semolina Idli.Not to forget,I am thankful to my friend for sharing her recipe.
Ingredients:-
1.Rava/Sooji/Semolina- 2cups
2.Yoghurt/Curd- 3/4 cup( as needed use this measure)
3.Onion,Capsicum(green bell pepper),carrots, peas-1 cup finely chopped
4.salt to taste
5.Boiled water as required
6.oil -1tbl
7.Mustard seeds-1/2tsp
Method:-
1.Roast Semolina/rava/sooji on medium heat till it has light tint golden color.
2.Take oil in a heated pan, when oil is hot add mustard seeds and when mustard seeds crackle add udad dal.
3.Stir fry udad dal till it is light golden color, add curry leaves and onions.
4.Stir chopped onions till it becomes light golden color and then add finely chopped veggies.
5.Cook these veggies for 2 mins and then add sooji to this mixture.
6.Add salt for taste,yoghurt and water.
7.Cook for few minutes and keep aside to cool for few mins
8.Now put one laddle of idli mixture on pre-applied oil, Idli plates/stand
9.Steam these idlis, for 20mins,in 3″water filled cooker with whistle removed
10.Serve Rava Idlis with hot Sambhar and Chutney.:)
Tip:
After adding yoghurt see to that rava mixture should not be soft as Upma because during steaming Idlis, it is possible that,Idlis can break. Adjust yoghurt accordingly as you may need more or less than given above measurements.
May 18, 2011 - Posted by sarika - Comments Off
Ingredients:-
1/2 cup- Yoghurt /Curd/Dahi/Masooru/Peraguu
2-3 tbl- Rajgeera flour
1/2″ grated ginger
2-3 chopped green chillies
salt to taste
1/4 tsp- jeera/cumin seeds
oil/ghee- 2tsp
Method:-
1.Whisk curd and rajgeera powder for couple of minutes, add little water
2.Add grated ginger and salt to taste
3.In a heated pot add ghee, when ghee is hot enough add jeera.
4.When jeera crackles, add chopped green chillies and finally add curd mixture
5.Keep on stirring the mixture and boil for 5-10 mins until Kadhi becomes thicker
6. Serve Upvaas Kadhi hot with Bhagar/Vrat- ke -chawal/Samo seeds upma
May 18, 2011 - Posted by sarika - 2 Comments
Upvaas Cutlet is a tasty appteizer sure to satisy your taste buds. You surely will like it and you will forget that you are on fast and eat more than 2. If you are diet cautious, then, this cutlet is worth a try as it replaces the oily
Sabudana vada..
Ingredients:-
1. 2 Cups- Sabudana/Tapioca/Sagoo beeyam
2. 3 grated potatoes
3. Rajgeera powder- 1/4 cup
4. 1tbl- green chillie paste
5. 1tbl- grated ginger
6. 1 tbl- finely chopped Mint leaves/Pudina
7. 2tbl-cilantro/coriander leaves chopped
8.Salt for taste
9.Oil for shallow fry
Method:-
1.Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
2.Take the mixture and give a shape of a ping pong ball and press it to make a flat cutlet
3.If the pattie is breaking add further little rajgeera powder.
4. In a heated pan take 2 tbls oil and shallow fry cutlet from one side till it is golden brown.
5.Flip the cutlets to shallow fry the other side.
6.Serve hot with Upvaas Peanut Chutney
May 16, 2011 - Posted by sarika - Comments Off
Potato Salad is prepared in a creamy dressing along with fresh herb Dill leaves(Shepu in marathi,soyi aaku kura in telugu) and cooked potatoes. I am sure you and your kids will take a second serving..!
Ingredients:-
Baby Potatoes – 25 half cut
Dressing:-
Horse radish sauce – 2 tbl(optional)
Soya Mayonnaise – 1/4 cup
Pepper powder – 1 tbl
Dill leaves- 2 tbl
salt to taste
Method:-
1.In a pot, boil water with little salt, when water boils add half cut potatoes
2. Cook the potatoes until they are 3/4th cook.
3. Whisk all the ingredients of dressing while the pototoes are cooking
4. Drain the potatoes when they are cooked and let them cool for few mins
5. Add the dressing to potatoes and mix well.
6.Serve Chill or at room temperature.
Tip:
1. You can make this salad more creamy by adding heavy cream
2. To save time, you can make this salad one day before and refrigerate
3. Soya Mayonnaise can be replaced with any other Mayonnaise.
May 16, 2011 - Posted by sarika - Comments Off
Citrus Spring Salad is mixture of different vegetables in an citrus dressing.The crunchiness and colors of the vegetables will surely tempt you to give it a try…!
All vegetables are finely chopped
Ingredients:-
1/4 cup – Celery stalks
1/4 cup- Red bell pepper
1/2 cup – English cucumber
1/4 cup- Red onion
1/2 cup- Roma Tomotoes
1/4 cup- Broccoli
Dressing:-
1 tsp- lemon rind
1 tsp- orange rind
2tbl -lemon juice
2 tsp- chopped mint leaves
1 tsp- Black Pepper powder
2 tbl- olive oil
2 tbl- Almonds and peanuts crushed(optional)
salt to taste
Method:-
1. Chop vegetables finely and refrigerate atleast for 20 mins
2. Take all ingredients of the dressing in a bowl and start whisking while adding oil little by little
3. Remove chopped vegetables from refrigerator and add the dressing to the chopped veggies
4.Mix the salad with two spoons throughly for 5 mins
5. Add crushed nuts and salt and pepper powder further if required
6.Serve chill.
Tip
1. You can chop vegetables one day before and refrigerate.
2. Rind is prepared by grating the outer skin part of the lemon and the orange.
December 25, 2010 - Posted by sarika - Comments Off
Merry Christmas! Hurray another year to end very soon. On occasion of Christmas I made yummy Gulab Jamun.
It can also be called as milk solids sweet dumplings in sugar syrup. Gulab Jamun can be made using different ingredients like Milk solids or mawa or Khoyya in Hindi, Khova in Marathi. Now a days, you also get Ready mix Gulab Jamun packets in any grocery stores easy to make. Ricotta cheese is another ingredient which can be used to make these Gulab Jamuns.
I was in a hurry, so I made using ready mix Gulab Jamun Packet,thinking that my job will be easier but that was not the case. I tried twice or thrice to make these but always Gulab Jamun was cracking open while frying. So finally, I decided to add maida (all purpose flour).
Ingredients:-
Instant Gulab Jamun mix – 1 packet
Maida / all purpose flour- 3 tblspn
Milk – as needed to knead dough
Oil – For frying
Sugar- 5 cups of sugar
water – 5 cups
Elachi powder/cardamom powder – 1 tspn
Rose water – optional
Method :-
Step:1 Mix Gulab Jamun mix , maida/all purpose flour and add milk little by little to make a soft dough. Dough should be like wheat flour dough(neither too stiff nor too soft). Apply little oil to dough and keep aside 5 mins
Step:2 Heat oil in frying pan to fry Gulab Jamuns (on medium temperature)
Step:3 Make small balls of the dough, taking care that there are no cracks on the balls.
Step:4 Simultaneously make sugar syrup by mixing water and sugar and boil this syrup to 15 mins. Add elachi powder at the end. Keep sugar syrup hot.
Step:5 Now fry only 2-3 Gulab Jamuns on medium heat to check if they are cracking. If they are, then, add 1 -2 tsp all purpose flour more and fry remaining
Step:6 Fry all Gulab Jamuns golden brown color and add in hot sugar syrup.
Step: 7 Keep in sugar syrup for 8-10 hours for proper absorption of sugar syrup into Gulab Jamuns, so that they will be tasty and soft.
Tip: Make Gulab Jamuns in the night before bedtime, so you don’t tempt to eat those before it is completed absorbed in sugar syrup:), enjoy these at lunch.
The moment I made these Gulab Jamuns ,Chakku asked me: Aai, Can you give me Brown Laddo( Laddu):)
December 21, 2010 - Posted by sarika - Comments Off
Hi! I am so excited to write my post. Today it is exciting for two reasons, one is my birthday(Dec 21,2010) and second is my new blog.
Stay Fresh! Be Fresh. I with my family had been to the Fresh Choice, a restaurant packed with all healthy and nutritional organic food. The occasion is my birthday celebration. Chakku, my 3 year old daughter, is always excited when she hears the word Birthday Party:) She starts singing Haaaaaaaapppppy Birthdddddddddday Cake..!
Fresh Choice has a variety of salads, dressings, pastas & desserts. We picked up Aunt Almond salad, Couscous salad, Basil Pesto pasta, Creamy Potato with dill salad, Pita bread and finally for dessert Chocolate Pudding and cake. Of course not to forget Chakku had her favorite Cheese Pizza 
Do visit Fresh choice! when you get a chance Stay Fresh! Be Fresh!
