Mix Vegetables and Rice Casserole

As per me Casserole are the perfect comfort food. When you are not in a mood to cook a complete meal with different variety of veggies, proteins, carbs etc. and still want to eat something light and healthy at home while sitting in front of a TV, it does wonders.

One such comfortable yet healthy recipe is mixed veg and rice casserole. In the recipe shared below I am using fresh lentils (daal), but you can easily substitute this with any leftover daal from previous day.

Ingredients:

1.       Rice, washed and soaked for upto 1 hour -  1 cup

2.       Arhar/Tur dal (yellow lentils or any other as per your choice), washed and soaked upto 1 ½ hour – 1 cup

3.       Curry leaves – 5-6

4.       Cumin seeds – ½ tea spoon

5.       Medium size onion – 1

6.       Peas – 2 Serving spoons

7.       Carrot chopped finely – 1

8.       Capsicum chopped finely – 1

9.       Beans chopped in small either small pieces of diagonal slits – 8-10

10.   Cauliflower flowerets – 6-8

11.   Green chilies sliced – 2

12.   Optional vegetables like mushrooms, eggplant etc can be added

13.   Turmeric powder – ½ tea spoon

14.   Red chilli powder – ¼ tea spoon or as per taste

15.   Garam masala – ¼ tea spoon

16.   Dry mango powder/ Amchoor – ½ tea spoon

17.   Sambhar powder – 1 tea spoon (use this with arhar daal. If you decide to use any other daal just omit this masala)

18.   Clarified butter or desi ghee – 1 serving spoon

Method:

1.       Wash the rice and daal separately and soak them for a couple of hours.

2.       In a pressure cooker add ghee and let it heat.

3.       Add cumin seeds and wait for them to splutter. Add green chilies and curry leaves after that and stir for 30 seconds.

4.       Thinly slice the onions and add them to the pot. Sauté till onions turn translucent.

5.       Add remaining vegetables one by one, stirring each one of them for a minute or so after adding. Add capsicum as the last vegetable as it cooks quite quickly.

6.       Let the vegetables fry for about 2-3 minutes and then add all the dry spices except for salt. Stir for another minute.

7.       Drain water from daal and add it to the pot. Mix and stir for 1-2 mins.

8.       Remove water from rice and add to the pot. Mix well.

9.       Add about 3 cups of water and salt to the pot. Close the lid of pressure cooker and cook on high flame.

10.   Cook on low flame for about 5-8 mins after the first whistle.

11.   You can cook this in an open pot as well. In this case the water to be added will be around 5 cups. You can adjust the water as per the consistency you like your casserole to be in.

The best thing about this dish is that there are no rules. You can add any leftover daal or veggies to it. Many times I am confronted with a situation where I have just one carrot, half a cauliflower, a lonely piece of capsicum lying about in my fridge demanding attention. In such cases such casserole recipes comes to my rescue.

So do not ponder over the leftovers now and enjoy this simple meal.

Atta Chocolate Cake

It is every alternate day that my little three years old keeps on requesting me to bake a black cake for him so that he can celebrate his birthday. Black cake does not mean that I burn the cake; it simply is a dark chocolate cake as he is still not able to clearly draw the line between black and dark brown.

I am more than happy to fulfill his demand as he is a fussy eater and cake is one thing he enjoys. But baking a cake with refined flour was what made me worried. Hence, I thought about experimenting with whole wheat flour to make a cake that is both healthy and yummy and will give a balance of carbs and proteins to my little one.

I succeeded in first attempt and here is my recipe to bake a quickie atta (whole wheat flour) cake.

Ingredients:

1.       Whole wheat flour (atta) : 1 cup

2.       Refined oil/unsalted butter: A little more than one cup but less than 1 ¼

3.       Eggs: 3

4.       Brown sugar/grounded white sugar : 1 cup (you can use a little more if it is brown sugar)

5.       Chocolate powder: 2-3 spoons (If you want a dark chocolate cake then increase this as well as sugar content)

6.       Vanilla essence :  1 tea spoon

7.       Baking Powder: 1 level tea spoon

8.       Assorted nuts chopped – ½ bowl

9.       Milk – About half cup

Method:

1.       Sieve wheat flour and mix baking soda with it. Mix well and keep aside.

2.       Grind the sugar finely and add it to a blender.

3.       Add butter or refined oil to this and mix for about 3-4 mins in blender

4.       One by one add all three eggs. Churn the blender for about a minute after adding each egg.

5.       Add vanilla essence and mix well.

6.       Add the chocolate powder to the sieved flour and mix with a spoon.

7.       Slowly add this flour mixture to the blender. Do not put the entire flour in one go. Add a little and blend and so on.

8.       If the mixture is too thick then add some milk and mix well. The final consistency should be a thick layer of batter falling freely from your spoon. If batter falls in thick chunks then add some more milk. (generally a little less than half cup milk is sufficient for these measurements)

9.       Add half of the chopped nuts and give it a good mix.

10.   Grease a baking dish with some oil and pour the batter in it. Top it with remaining nuts.

11.   Set the microwave on convection at 220 degrees.

12.   Ones the desired temperature is reached put the baking dish in for 10 mins.

13.   After convection 10 mins are over, microwave for another 4 mins.

14.   Check the cake with a knife. If it comes out clean your cake is done.

15.   You can top is with some icing sugar to make it pretty for your little one or add some colorful candies.

There can be many variations to this cake. You can do it without chocolate and with only nuts. You can also add a couple of mashed bananas to the batter to make a banana cake. Any other fruit like tinned pineapple or dried plums can be added for a little tangy flavor as per the taste buds of you children. The sugar can be replaced with brown sugar or even jaggery in same amounts. 

Hope you enjoy this healthy variation of the cake. Do share your variations in this cake.

Masala Fries

French fries are and will always be a favorite snack among kids. As we are moving one step closer to a more comfortable lifestyle each day, making French fries on request of you kids have become super easy. Just open that packet of frozen fries and put them in the wok to deep fry. Voila; you are ready with a tempting looking plate of fires.

As easy as it seems, that frozen packet comes with a baggage of doubts. They are a boon when an unexpected guest lands at your house expecting to be served tea with some hot snacks but a big No-No option as everyday snack for kids, especially for mothers like me who are always conscious to give fresh food little ones.

I try to make evening snacks as healthy as possible but once in a while indulge into French fries also. Here I am quoting a variation on those regular fries and they are called the masala fries.

Ingredients:

1.  2 large potatoes
2.  2-3 serving spoon of besan (gram flour)
3. Salt to taste
4. Chaat masala – ½ tea spoon
5. Chilli flakes – ¼ spoon (optional)
6. Oil to fry

Method:

1. Peel the potatoes and wash them thoroughly.
2. Par boil them so that they are a little soft but not cooked completely.
3. Cut them in long fingers and try to make those fries equal in size.
4.  Put the potatoes in a bowl and add besan, salt chaat masala and chilli flakes to this. Mix well so that besan coat the potatoes evenly.
5. Fry them in medium hot oil on low flame till they are crisp.

So next time you kids want some French fries, go for these masala fries as it will have some proteins added along with the carbs. Optionally you can cook them in an oven to avoid frying but I do not care about frying with kids.

Ice Cream Cake

This recipe is a variation to our normal cake and ice cream combination, that we often serve as a desert. In this recipe I have used a chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream but you can experiment with various flavors of cake and ice cream both.

Chocolate Cake in Microwave:

Ingredients

1. 1 cup all purpose flour
2. Breakfast sugar - 1 cup
3. Unsalted butter/refined oil - i cup
4. Fresh cream or malai - 2-3 serving spoon
5. Chocolate powder - 1/2-3/4 cup depending on how dark you want your cake to be 
   
6. Eggs - 3/4
7. Vanilla essence - 1 tea spoon
8. Baking powder -  1 level tea spoon

Method

1. Mix flour and baking powder in a dish.
2. Add cocoa/chocolate powder to this dish and keep aside.
3. In cake beater or food processor add breakfast sugar and butter/oil. Give it a good beat for 2-3 mins.
4. One by one add the eggs and beat for 2 mins after every egg.
5. Add vanilla essence and beat for another 2 mins.
6. Now add malai/cream to this and beat for 1 mins.
7. Add the flour and coco powder mix to the processor 3-4 serving spoons at a time and beat for 1-2 mins after every addition.
8. If the cake mixture is too thick then add some milk and beat. The final mixture should fall in thick layer from your spoon  but not like thick drops.
9. Grease the baking dish and pour this mixture into it. Optionally you can add some chopped walnuts or almonds to this.
10. Set you microwave in convection mode and pre heat it to 220 degrees.
11. Once the oven reaches the designated temperature put the baking dish in convection mode for 10 mins.
12. After 10 mins put it for another 4 mins in microwave mode.
13. Check with a knife to see if the cake is done.
14. Let the cake cool.

The Ice Cream Cake

1. Keep the vanilla ice cream out of the fridge till it is completely soft.
2. Beat the ice cream with a beater and keep aside.
3. Take the cake on a chopping board and cut it in half from center horizontaly so that we have two layers of cake (top and bottom).
4. First take the botton layer and cover it completely with the beaten ice cream. You can experiment here by adding some tinned cherries or pineapples or some crunchy nuts.
5. Put the top half layer on this and place the cake in a deep dish.
6. Now coat the entire cake with remaining ice cream. We take this in deep dish because ice cream is molten and will drip from every where.
7. You can decorate the cake as you want. I have used some gems and chocolate sauce for marble effect.
8. Marble effect: Pour chocolate sauce on the cake and spread it with the help of a toot pick thus creating a marble pattern.
9. Now deep freeze this cake dish for 4-6 hours before serving. 

Curd Rice with a Twist

Curd Rice is famous recipe from southern parts of India and is normally consumed at the end of a meal. This recipe is authentically cooked sans any spices and hence is very light on stomach.

Here I am presenting a little twisted version of it and hope you will enjoy it as an option when you feel like eating light on stomach khichdi.

Ingredients:

1. Rice - 1 cup
   
2. 1 cup boiled american corns 
3. 2 capsicums finely chopped
4. curry leaves - 6-8
5. chana daal - 2 spoon
6. urad daal (white) - 2 spoons
7. Ginger finely chopped or grated - 1 spoon
8. 2 green chilies finely chopped
9. 2 cup curd
10. salt to taste
11. black pepper to taste
12. mustard seeds - 1 spoon

Serves : 2 people

Method:

1. Cook rice by boiling them in more that double the amount of water. We need rice to be a little over cooked for this recipe .
2. When rice is done, then drain them by removing access water and let them cool.
3. Heat a pan and add 1 spoon oil to it.
4. When oil is hot add mustard seeds and let them splutter.
5. Add urad daal and chana daal to this and let it cook for 2-3 mins.
6. Add green chilies, curry leaves and ginger to the pan and give a good stir for another 2 mins
7. Now add boiled corns and capsicum to the pan and stir well. Let this cook for 2 mins and then turn off the flame as we do not want the vegetables to over cook.
8. Whisk the curd and add it to the rice bowl. Stir well while mashing the rice with spoon.
9. Add some salt and pepper according to your taste to this and mix again.
10. Now add the prepared vegetable tampering to the bowl and give one final stir.
11. This can be consumed as it is or chilled with some chutney or home made pickle.

Bhindi Masala

Ingredients:

1. Bhindi or Okra - 1/2 Kg

2. Medium size onions - 4

3. Red chilly powder - 1/2 tbl spoon

4. Coriander powder - 2 tbl spoon

5. Amchoor/dry mango powder - 1/2 tbl spoon

6. Chatt masala - 1/2 tbl spoon

7. Chana masala - 1 tbl spoon

8. Salt to taste
9. Mustard oil - 3 spoon

Serves - 3-4 people

Method:

1. Wash bhindi/okra and dry it properly with a cloth. It should be dried very properly otherwise it secrets a transparent sticky material.

2. Chop dried bhindi in round psc.

3. Chop 4 onions roughly in thick psc.

4. Heat a flat botton pan and add mustard oil to it. Let the oil burn for 3-4 mins or till the time it releases its smell.

5. Add Onions to the oil and cook for 2-3 mins on slow flame.
6. Add bhindi tho this and let it cook on slow flame for 10-12 mins. Keep stirring in between.
7. Once the bhindi is a little tender add all the dry spices except salt and mix well. Let it cook for another 3-5 mins.

8. Add salt and cook for 2-3 mins on slow flame. Then serve hot with chapatis.

Tips to cook okra :

1. Do not put water in okra.

3. Dry it properly before chopping.

4. Okra is not good for people with kidney stones.

Okra Nutrition (half-cup cooked okra)

• Calories = 25
• Dietary Fiber = 2 grams
• Protein = 1.5 grams
• Carbohydrates = 5.8 grams
• Vitamin A = 460 IU
• Vitamin C = 13 mg
• Folic acid = 36.5 micrograms
• Calcium = 50 mg
• Iron = 0.4 mg
• Potassium = 256 mg  
• Magnesium = 46 mg

Microwave Eggs in Cup

What better way to start a day with a filling breakfast of eggs and toast. Egg is a major source of protein and a quick and easy choice for those who have a busy and hectic lifestyle.

Eggs can be consumed in multiple ways boiled, half cooked, scrambled, microwaved etc.

Ingredients:

1. Eggs - 4
2. Small size Onion - 1
3. Medium size tomato - 1
4. 1 small capsicum
5. Button mushrooms - 4-5
6. Coriander leaves
7. Salt - 1/4  tbl spoon or to taste
8. Black pepper - 1/4 tbl spoon
9. Oregano - 1/4 tbl spoon
10. Grated processed cheese - 2 spoons
11. 1 spoon oil to cook

Serves: 4 people

Method:

1. Chop all the vegetables onions, tomatoes, capsicum and mushrooms finely.
2. Take a pan and heat some oil in it.
3. Once oil is hot add chopped onions and saute for 1 min on low flame.
4. Once onions have turned translucent add half of the capsicum and all mushrooms to it and cook for another 2 mins.
5. Add chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper and cook for 2 mins while stirring.
6. Switch off the flame and add oregano and fresh chopped coriander to the pan. Mix well.
7. Take 4 small bowls and add 1-2 spoons of this mixture to each.
8. Break one egg each on every bowl.
9. Add the remaining capsicum and some chopped tomatoes on top of eggs in each bowl..
10. Sprinkle some cheese in every bowl.
11. Microwave each for 1 min 30 seconds. (More if you like your egg completely cooked)
12. Take out and serve hot with Garlic bread.