Health Fitness Food

kaddu raita  Kaddu was never a favorite this side. However, ever since I tasted kaddu sabzi (pumpkin curry) in a community kitchen in Khadur Saheb, I have developed special liking for pumpkin. Nevertheless I had never thought of trying kaddu ka raita unless I came across my dear friend Tanvee Sharda's heirloom kaduu raita recipe . Finally, I have given it a try and amazingly, the unique blend of pumpkin and curd tastes yum! I made my own adjustments to the recipe. Ingredients 1/4 pumpkin (sliced into small pieces) 1 cup- curd 1/2 tsp- mustard seeds 1/4 tsp- chana dal 1/4 tsp- urad dal black salt salt sugar- 1 big pinch green chilly coriander leaves roasted jeera powder (cumin seeds) flax meal (alsi powder) 1/4 tsp- oil Procedure dosa, kaddu chutney, bengal gram chutney and kaddu raita Boil pumpkin with little salt and turmeric for 20-30 minutes or until soft. Let it cool. Meanwhile, let's prepare the tempering. Put oil in a pain. Drop in mus

rice chakuli Whenever I visit Odisha, I make it a point to bring loads of dantikulu or chakli or rice flour spirals along with me to Delhi. It's not that I do not get them here, but I have always loved ethnic food made by traditional hands. Yes, before I land in Odisha, my mother in law makes sure she buys dantikulu in bulk so that her daughter in law can feast over them. But that does not mean I gulp down everything just like that. I have set my own limitations when it comes to food and eating and hardly eat more than 1 piece at a time. Anyway, so my love for chakuli motivated me to try my hands at this traditional snack, which is made with rice flour. In some areas, they include besan or gram flour or chickpea flour as well to rice flour to enhance the flavor. Shall try including gram flour next time. This time I have made chakuli with rice flour and oats. Unlike its traditional deep fried version, I have chosen to bake it. Of course, you all know the reason by now - I har

Aam papad has been a hot favorite since childhood. I do not remember how many times I have enjoyed these sweet & tangy mango sheets, though no one from my mom's side ever tried making them at home. After marriage, my mother in law, who is an awesome cook, made these savory & sweet mango pulp slices for me. I must tell that she makes the best mango pickle in the world - which is both sweet & sour. She made two buckets full for me after she found that I love aam achaar. instant aam sada papad odia recipe Who does not like sweet and tangy mango leather? Our generation has grown up relishing aam papad- wonder what all the present generation is missing out on! So this instant aam sada or papad recipe was born after my dear friend Poonam Bachhav had shared her aam papad post. Her post was the ultimate trigger for me to come up with my own instant Odia version. Poonam is the real Annapurna. I love the way she picks healthy ingredients to cook up deliciousness in the k

This is another of my experiments with baking with whole grains. Perhaps you have seen me experiment a lot with almonds. You have also seen my cookie experiments with almond butter. This time I have come up with an almond butter cake with whole wheat. If you have been wondering how to make eggless whole wheat cake with almond butter, then this recipe may come in handy. Since my almond butter banana ice cream experiment was a hit, my hands have been itching to include almond butter in my bakes. This was the perfect day for another experiment. almond butter cake with whole wheat flour The whole wheat cake without egg is going to be a hit in your family. We loved this eggless cake, bursting with almond butter flavor. I am sure the whole wheat cake recipe won't disappoint you either. The best thing about this baked beauty is that you can experiment with flavor - add either bournvita to tempt the taste buds of kids or include coffee for flavor for elders. All in al

baked besan sev Chickpea gluten free flour makes sumptuous snacks, agree? If you have any doubts, do give this besan sev a try. I have been madly in love with chaklis ever since I tasted them the first time in my hostel 10 years ago. A close friend from Tamil Nadu - granddaughter of the then chief minister M.Karunanidhi- was my hostel mate. She introduced me to these crispy bites and my love for these crunchy snacks has only grown with time, though the health freak  in me makes me think twice before trying the recipe out. My marriage in an odiya family has also guaranteed that I get a constant supply of chaklis to savor whenever I am in Odisha :) baked sev with besan, oatmeal Now since I have been trying to make everything healthier, I wanted to make chakli or sev for a long time. But never had the courage to do so. Today tried my hands at sev making for the first time. I am happy with the results, since I chose to bake the crispies instead of deep frying them. I

how to cook gingerbread cake Baking with whole grains can be addictive, especially if you love cakes. If you spice it up with ginger, you get a delicious spicy cake with atta. Oh yea - a ginger cake. This is a simple gur gingerbread cake with whole wheat. Call it atta cake or ginger cake, it is bursting with flavors from roasted nuts and spiced up with ginger juices. Yes, the cake does not use sugar, substituting it with jaggery powder. For a spicy twist, I have added ginger. It works as a tea cake. You may make a dense ginger cake with just 4 key ingredients - eliminate milk, curd, and oil from the recipe and replace them with clarified butter to make a dense tea cake that everyone will love. But mine is a healthier and lighter version of tea cake with ginger. eggless gingerbread cake with whole wheat Eggless Ginger Cake Ingredients wheat - 1 cup suji/semolina- 1 tbsp Oatmeal- 2 tbsp (optional) Ghee/butter- 2 tsp Oil-3 tsp (you may substitu

aloo methi sprouts I love methi (fenugreek) and enjoy aloo methi sabzi during winters, especially mom-made. After marriage, I hardly get a chance to relish the sabzi made by her. We miss aloo methi during summers. Of course, we do not find methi leaves during the hot season. Recently, I found Radha Natarajan - a friend and fellow blogger - share methi sprouts. Click here to see how to make methi sprouts. Immediately, I made sprouts and was wondering what to do with it. Today, I saw another post from Radha Natarajan, where she had used methi sprouts with potatoes. She shared the recipe with me and I made just a few adjustments and instantly went ahead with the recipe. Now that I have tried the super easy recipe and was amazed to see the results. It tastes just like methi aloo sabzi. Oh I am loving it. My summer cravings for methi aloo have an answer now. Wow! Ingredients for Aloo Methi Sprouts stir fry 1/4 cup - methi sprouts 4 boiled potatoes (you may take u

banana ice cream I love ice cream but try to avoid buying it outside, for the fear of adding calories. Who does not love creamy, butter ice cream? No one, I am sure. I try to make it at home, with minimal sugar and cream. Now I am presenting to you ice cream in a new avatar :) This scoop uses just 2 ingredients - almond butter and chilled banana! Now let's go to the recipe. Before making this super quick ice cream, we will need to make almond butter. banana ice cream feedback on 2-ingredient nana ice cream Let's make almond butter first. Ingredients Almonds- 18-20 Oil- 1/4 tsp (or I added a few drops) Cinnamon powder, elaichi (green cardamom) - you may increase the types of spices as per your choice Procedure It's super easy to churn out almond butter. Since I was making it for the first time, I took just a few almonds. You may increase the amount of almonds, as per the desired amount. Dry roast almonds for a few minutes. Keep

Baking with whole grains gives me a great deal of satisfaction. The happiness that I am choosing healthy ingredients has no match. My cookie experimentation spree continues, as I try to include healthy ingredients in my bakes. Yes, baking isn't the best option, but I can't have my tea without cookies, so here's my take on jowar-oats cookies. jowar cookies The result I have got with this variation of almond cookies is just awesome. eggless jowar cookies with sorghum flour Wondering how to make oatmeal delicious? This jowar cookie recipe with oatmeal can come in handy. Jowar Cookie Ingredients 1/2 cup- jowar flour (sorghum) 1/2 cup-wheat flour 1 cup- oatmeal (grind oats to powder) 1 cup- almond meal (check the procedure to make almond meal here ) 3 tbsp- desi ghee (clarified butter)/butter 3 tbsp- oil 2-3 tbsp- milk (to bind the dough) 2 tbsp- sugar powder (I take less sugar, you may add more) 1 tsp- fennel seeds (saunf) I like the aroma

cucumber lassi How to make buttermilk at home? Well, who does not like a refreshing glass on a hot summer day? We all love cucumber lassi.  Yes, cucumber buttermilk is a healthy, refreshing drink. The cooling summer drink can be savored during winters as well. At least, I can do that, for I love everything curd :) Cucumber is nature's gift for summers. It has cooling properties and helps bring down our body temperatures during summers. It is primarily eaten raw in salad form. In south India, they make cucumber pachadi as well, which I must say tastes yum. I plan to make it soon and shall post the recipe for you all. Let's get back to cucumber lassi. Ingredients 1 cucumber 1/2 cup- curd salt 1-1 1/2 cups of water roasted cumin powder (jeera) 2 pinches flax meal (optional) mint, coriander leaves pinch of sugar powder 1 small piece of ginger Procedure Add cucumber, ginger, coriander and mint leaves in a blender and whisk until smooth

daliya oats idli After a successful experiment with daliya (cracked wheat) and suji (semolina), I tried to include daliya with oatmeal. The result is droolworthy. Ingredients 1 cup- oat meal 1 cup- daliya 1 cup- curd 1/4-1/2 cup- water (for idli batter) salt 2 pinches of baking soda Procedure oats cracked wheat idli Dry roast daliya and grind them to powder. Daliya needs to be coarsely grounded. Let it cool. Mix daliya powder with oatmeal. Add curd, salt and keep aside for 30 minutes. Mix required amount of water for idli batter. Grease idli moulds. Add baking soda to the batter and mix. Steam for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy with mooli sambar or chutney of your choice. I relished it with tomato chutney and chana chutney.

The tasty & tangy tomato chutney tastes yummy with idlis and dosas.  It's a simple recipe, which is quick to churn out. Whether you are looking for a chutney for idlis, dosa,rice, or roti, you will love to sample this yummy tangy dip. Enjoy the tomato chutney with rice, dosa, or idlis. Ingredients 3 tomatoes 1/2 tsp- chana dal 1/2 tsp- urad dal 1/4 tsp- mustard seeds 1 small piece of ginger curry leaves 1/4 tsp oil salt, 1 dry red chilly or green chilly sugar- 2 fat pinches or little more 1 tbsp-curd How to make tomato chutney for idli, dosa, rice, roti Take oil in a pan. Heat on high flame. Add dry red chilly, chana dal, urad dal and mustard seeds. Next add curry leaves. Stir fry. Now add tomatoes. Switch off the flame. We do not want to heat tomatoes much. Grind the mixture with curd, salt, and sugar. Enjoy with oats idli, daliya idlis or any other idlis. Check for Bengal gram chutney recipe here .

raddish sambar Mooli sambar?I would have not believed my ears had I not seen somebody sharing this finger-licking recipe. Yes, mooli ki sabzi is still popular, but the word sambar did surprise me! I came across this recipe a few days back, shared by Karthik from ChinnisCorner . I have been in love with south Indian food ever since I met my hubby. No he is not from south India, but Odisha. However, there is some form of similarity in south Indian and Odiya cuisines. Let's get back to mooli sambar recipe. I was wondering whether we could put mooli to other uses, except salad. I thought why not experiment with raddish sambar. SO I looked for recipes online, which guaranteed that mooli can be used as a veggie for sambar. It was then that I added raddish along with other veggies to see how it tastes in sambar. Given the immense radish benefits for health, it is a must-include vegetable in our regular meal planning, though it is available in winters alone. Let's do a r

Broken wheat recipes for weight loss are getting widely popular.If you are here for a diabetes friendly recipe, then this one will come in handy. I love cracked wheat for its sheer range of health benefits. For a long time, I have been wanting to make idlis with dalia (broken wheat), but never had the courage. But my recent successful experiments with oats, ragi, and buckwheat idlis prompted me to go ahead with broken wheat as the main ingredient. So here I am with dalia idli - hubby simply loved these super soft, full of nutrition idlis. dalia idli Dalia /Broken Wheat As a rich source of fiber, cracked wheat aids in digestion. As a result, it aids in weight loss and weight management. It supplies your body with its regular dose of manganese. A rich source of protein and enzymes. dalia idlis for breakfast recipe healthy Cracked Wheat Benefits Whole grains, such as cracked wheat, are a holy grail for weight loss, helping you maintain a healthy body weight. Also