Foodie Workz

1 cup steel cut oats 1/2 of an onion chopped fine 1 medium carrot 1/3 cup each of frozen beans and frozen peas 1-2 green chilies chopped small piece of ginger grated 1/2 tsp mustard seeds 1 tsp urad dal few curry leaves Heat up a spoon of oil or ghee and roast the oats till it changes color and you begin to get a nice aroma.  Keep it aside. Heat up a table spoon of oil and splutter the mustard seeds followed by urad dal.  Add the chilies and ginger and stir for 1/2 a minute.  Follow it with onions and saute it on high for a minute. Add the beans and add the carrot and peas after a minute.  Add salt just enough for the vegetables and cook covered on low to medium heat for 3 minutes.  In the meanwhile heat up about 2 cups of water and add it to the vegetables. Once it begins to bubble, add the oats and the needed salt and let it come to a nice boil.  Cover the pan with a lid and cook the oats on low heat.  It took about 20 minutes for the oats to be thoroughly cooked. 

Of late, I have been trying to incorporate avocados in my food just because it is high in mono unsaturated fats which are believed to reduce cholesterol. Other than that, it is also a good source of Vitamin E and Vitamin C. While looking on the net about this, I also discovered that they are an excellent remedy for dry skin. A 1/4 cup each of avocado puree and sour cream makes a good face mask. Got to try it in winter!! Having used quite a few times in salads, I decided to use it in smoothies....this is what I made with them.... 1 big ripe mango 1 small ripe avocado 1 cup of milk 1/4 cup buttermilk sugar optional Blend all the above ingredients and serve it chill.....so delicious and yummy without any sugar. I generally do not add any extra sweetener and like to drink it as it is. The mangoes lend enough sweetness to the drink. I do not remember the kind of mango that I bought, however it was very fibrous but juicy and sweet. 3 oz of blueberries 1/2 a ripe banana 12-15 oz mi

1 cup sprouted moth beans 1 medium potato boiled, peeled and coarsely mashed 1/2 cup of chopped frozen beans 1 medium carrot peeled and grated 1 tsp each of coriander and cumin powder 1/2 tsp garam masala powder 1/4 tsp chili powder salt to taste few sprigs of coriander leaves Cook the sprouts using very little water in the pressure cooker for 10 minutes if using the steam method or for two whistles.  Once the pressure is gone, remove and let it cool down.  Boil the potato as well along with the sprouts.  Peel and mash it up once it cools down and keep this aside. Take oil in a pan.  As soon as it becomes hot enough add the chopped beans first and saute it for a couple of minutes with a bit of salt.  Follow it with the grated carrot and cook covered on low heat for five minutes.  Once you are able to chop it up with the spatula, add the cooled sprouted moth to the vegetables.  Drain off  excess water if any before adding.  Add the spice powders and stir for a minute.  Cool

As mentioned in my other MAITRI post, I made these onion fritters and it came out really good....it was all gone in a few minutes!!! 1/2 cup besan/gramflour 1/4 cup corn flour 1 medium onion chopped into thin 1 inch slices 3/4 tsp chili powder 1/2 tsp salt pinch of baking soda, turmeric, hing and orange food colour water for the batter oil for frying Transfer the chopped onions into a bowl, add 1/4 tsp salt and set it aside.  I did this step in the beginning thinking I will do the crispy pakoda which uses almost no water.  Later I changed my mind to do the soft pakoda variety(which is liked by all of us at home).  So,  I added all the dry ingredients in a different bowl.  To this I added 1/2 cup water and made into a thick batter.  As the onions let out some water because of the addition of salt, I added 2 tablespoon of rice flour.  I then combined this with the batter and fried them in hot oil till golden and crispy. Drop the onions into the hot oil little by little ensur

This recipe goes towards MAITRI, a friendship chain created for food bloggers across N America.where a bogger sends a mystery ingredient to another blogger who then whips up something with it and blogs about it.  For more details on MAITRI, visit the blog site of Priya or Reshmi   who are behind this. As a part of this chain, I was matched with Shylaja who had sent me a packet of cornflour and a cute little bunch of decor grapes.  Eventhough I could tell right away, I made sure it was cornflour by tasting it and getting a confirmation from Shylaja.  The bunch of grapes are sitting along with my other artificial fruits on the center of the dining table. Well coming back to the food part,  I was not quite sure what to do with this flour as I am not a big fan of corn.  After about three days since I received the packet, I came upon with this idea of using them in a Dhokla.   As I decided to combine cornflour with some besan,  I was left with some extra flour.  I am planning to

As mentioned in my earlier post,  I successfully tried the watermelon dosa with some left over batter I had.  To make it even more nutritious, I added some milled flax seeds which I always keep in stock in my pantry.  I have added these to the dosa batter in the past and my kids have not realized that they were eating them. I got so overjoyed with my attempt that I soaked a small batch of rice over the weekend to make some more crispy dosas.   But this time, I decided to make these dosas using brown rice.  Below I have given the recipe for this as well and the recipe for the quick sambar that I made to go along with the dosas. 2 cups fermented idli batter 1 cup cubed watermelon rind 1 tablespoon  milled flax seeds Grind the watermelon rind into a puree and mix  this and the flax seeds with the batter and make dosas with this batter.  Very tasty and nutritious!! We enjoyed these Dosas with the Moong dal Sambar given below  Moong dal Sambar with Yellow Pumpkin and Capsicum

2 cups of boiled chana 1 big bunch of methi - trimmed, washed and chopped coarsely 1/2 cup of chopped onion 1/2 cup of chopped tomato 1 green chilli 3-4 garlic cloves 1/4 tsp turmeric powder 1/2 tsp chilli powder 1/2 tsp garam masala powder 1/2 tsp amchur powder salt to taste oil Cumin seeds Heat up the oil in a pan. When it gets hot enough, splutter the cumin seeds. Add the onions and saute them for sometime until it changes color slightly. Add the green chilli and garlic and toss them for an addition half a minute. Add the tomatoes and saute them for a couple of minutes adding chilli powder, garam masala and turmeric powder. Add the chopped methi leaves and continue to cook until the leaves wilt down. Add some salt just enough for the leaves. Remember the cooked chana has already salt in it. Once the leaves are cooked, add the chana and amchur powder give a good stir and cook covered on low heat for about five minutes. You can add little amount

1/4 cup sona masoori rice cooked and cooled 1 green apple peeled, cored and grated 1 green chili slit 1 small red chili 1 tsp ginger grated 2 tbsp roasted peanuts 1 tsp chana dal soaked curry leaves few drops of lemon juice chili powder as per taste salt to taste small pinch of hing and turmeric Soak the chana dal for half an hour and drain.  Take some oil in a pan and splutter the mustard and add the chana.  Let the water be absorbed and the dal begin to change color.  Add the ginger, green chili, red chili, curry leaves, hing and turmeric.  Add the peanuts and give a stir.  Add the chili powder and immediately add the grated green apple.  Add a pinch of salt and stir till the apple becomes soft.  Mix this with the cooled rice and add salt and lemon juice according to taste.  This rice is nice for a change!!!!

You must be wondering what is happening here....but, you have to believe!!! Yes, I made a dish using the white parts of the watermelon which we normally discard without even a second thought. If you have bought this huge full watermelon from the market, that is a lot of the edible portions which end up in the trash. With the intention to use these in the dosa, I saved the white portions when I was cutting up this huge water melon a couple of days back. But I learned from my mother that lot more was possible like kootu, subzi and chutney. After talking to her, I decided I will make a kootu with the watermelon rind. Last night I had soaked some adzuki beans with the intention to sprout them up. However, I remembered about the watermelons this morning and decided to combine these two and cook up a pitlai instead of using the traditional toor dal. My indecisiveness did not end there and after some deliberation decided to use some tomatoes instead of the tamarind as I planned on

Sometimes a simple dish makes a wholesome and fulfilling meal.  One such preparation is this Rasdar using the yellow crooked neck squash.  I also make this Rasdar with Lauki or Chayote Squash.  After coming to the US,  I began experimenting with other vegetables like zucchini and yellow squash.  This by itself with hot phulkas make a wonderful meal..Here is how it is done.... 2 long and big yellow squash(mine were like about 8 inches long) peeled lightly and cubed 1 medium onion 2 medium ripe tomatoes 1 medium potato peeled and cubed 1 full tsp each of grated ginger and garlic 1 green chili grated 1 tsp garam masala pinch of chilli powder 1/4 tsp turmeric powder few chopped coriander  leaves  2 tsp oil 1 tsp cumin seeds salt to taste Heat up the oil in a pan and splutter the cumin seeds.  Saute the onions for about 3 minutes and follow it with ginger, garlic and green chili.  After a minute, add the tomatoes, garam masala powder, chili powder and turmeric powder.  Le