Bisi Bele Bhath (BBB)

My version is a quick fix meal. One pot. 30 minutes. Ready to eat.

So here's what I do - a meal (or probably 2 meals!) for a family of 3.

Chop whatever veggies you have handy. I had: beans, potatoes, carrots, onion, broad beans, and green pepper. Large chunks are preferred. 

Wash and soak 2 small cups of rice. If you're not a fan of white rice, you may use broken wheat (lapsi / Godi nuchchu) / millets (pearl millets / foxtail millets). Set aside for about 20 minutes or so, if you have this planned out. Else, if this is a last minute quick fix,  wash and use immediately. 

My Masala mix: I also use a ready mix sambar powder**. 1 Tbsp of this sambar powder mix. To this I add 1 tbsp of regular BBB powder, 1 tsp dhania powder, 1 tsp jeera powder, a small piece of jaggery, 1/4 tsp garam masala.

In the rice cooker, heat oil, add a tsp of mustard and let it splutter. Then add jeera, turmeric and asafoetida (hing). Then toss in all the chopped veggies, the washed rice, the masala mix and water*. At this point, you may also add a lot of chopped / whole curry leaves. And let it cook away.

Keep stirring in between so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the vessel. Just as it is getting ready, after about 25 minutes, when you see that the rice and the veggies are cooked well, add 1.5 tsp of tamaring paste and give it a good stir. Top it with coconut milk or dessicated fresh coconut.

 In about 30 minutes, your BBB will be ready to eat.

If using a pressure cooker, the same procedure applies, then allow it to cook for 3- 4 whilstles. In this case, add the tamarind paste after opening the cooker and cook for a few more minutes till it gets incorporated.  

A lot of people prefer adding the tadka after the BBB is ready. You may do that too. I find it tedious and it's not really a 'one-pot' dish if I have to use a tadka pan ;)


*The usual proportion of water for my sona masoori raw rice is 3 cups of water to 1 cup rice. For BBB, i usually add 2 -3 extra cups of water in the end. 
**If this is not available, replace with 1 cup of uncooked and soaked tur dal + an additional spoon of regular BBB powder. 

Accompaniments: You can make this tastier by including khara boondi / bombay mixture / Sandige (traditional south Indian fryums)/ fried Balaka chillies / papad / potato chips. Anything fried is a good accompaniment :). Also a raita - boondi / onion-tomato raita goes well with BBB. 

Overall: Tess than 1 tbsp oil. a good serving of veggies. A full meal in itself. Can easily subsitute rice with broken wheat / millets. 

Enjoy!

Walnut and flaxseed savory cookies

Today has been a particularly lazy and boring day. Though its just 11 am, I already feel live we've been through the day several times over. So breakfast was a fuss free onion and tomato upma.

Lunch has been planned and I dont feel like attending to any of my daily chores. So I decided to bake cookies and keep myself constructively occupied.  I didn't plan this one and neither did I follow a recipe. I just wanted to make something that the husband can eat without thinking twice.

So it means - no sugar, no maida, no ghee / butter. What's good for controlling bad cholesterol - walnuts,  flaxseeds, garlic. So I just tried a recipe and its turned out quite well. :) all measures are approximate. .as I just went about with this intuitively.

1.5 cups wholewheat flour
About 3/4 cup pure olive oil
2-3 tbsp flaxseeds - lightly toasted
A fistful of walnuts - lightly toasted
A generous sprinkling of ajwain
A pinch of garam masala
1 tsp red chilli powder
A generous sprinkling of roasted garlic flakes.
Salt to taste
A pinch each of baking soda and baking powder
A little milk to bring the dough together

Put the toasted walnuts and flaxseeds into a mixie and pulse till coarsely ground. Mix with all other ingredients and make a smooth dough.

Cover and let it rest while you preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Then roll out the dough into a thick sheet and cut it into any shape you like. Lay it neatly on a greased baking tray and nake at 180 degrees for about 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

Allow it to cool and store in an airtight container.

Rava idli with Bombay Sagu

I'm not a huge fan of idlis. They're always a go to breakfast in most homes I know.  They are the preferred choice if you are ordering breakfast from outside, given the crazy number of darshinis around my home. They arr a saviour on days when you just don't want to cook. .but even on those days, I'd rather cook than eat idlis.

My husband and the kid totally <3 idlis. They can eat idlis all year long. Their love for idlis is somewhat like my love for noodles.  So I end up making idlis AT LEAST once a week an we always have a big dabba of batter in my fridge.  Just in case idli craving strikes at odd times.

Today, for a change, I decided to cook an elaborate breakfast. Complete with a fitting side dish. Rava idlis with Bombay sagu.

While the thought of ig seemed elaborate, it's pretty simple to make. And I prefer to take an easier way out.

The Rava idlis wete a no brainer as I used a ready mix and followed instructions on the pack. I prefer to add some salt, finely chopped green chillies and curry leaves to the ready mix. I like them spicy and so do the husband and kid. Steamed them in a pressure cooker on the 'idli' setting on my induction cooktop for exactly 12 minutes. After that, they need to rest for at least 5 more minutes before prying them off the idli plates.

The Bombay Sagu (potato and onion gravy) is also just as simple. I made enough for 4 adults with some to be eaten with lunch or dinner. Here's what I used:

4 large potatoes boiled, peeled and roughly mashed
4 large onions, thinly sliced into half moons
A fistful of boiled green gram (heserakalu) just because I had them handy. This is optional.
An inch long piece of ginger, julienned
Juice of 1 lime
A pinch of garam masala
Salt and sugar to taste
4 roughly chopped green chillies
For the tempering: a tsp of oil, mustard, ajwain, curry leaves, jeera and a pinch of asafoetida (hing)
A handful of finely chopped coriander

In a deep pan, heat oil, add mustard seeds.  Once the mustard is done with the crazy drama, add in other items mentioned to the tempering.  Add   chopped ginger, green chillies and onions and sauté till the onions turn pink annd start to wilt. Then add the mashed potatoes, boiled green gram, 1 cup of water, salt, sugar and garam masala.  Stir well and allow it to simmer for a few minutes on a low flame. Add the chopped coriander and lime juice and mix well.

If the sagu is too watery for your liking, here's a little trick. Mix a tsp of whole wheat flour in some water to make a thick paste. Add this to the simmering curry and stir well immediately.  Within a few minutes you'll notice the watery sagu turning into a deliciously thick gravy. OR add just enough water and not a whole green cup and resort to damage control later!!! :p

Serve hot idlis with a generous dollop of ghee and watch it melt. A bowl of hot sagu next to the idlis completes the picture.  Enjoy!!

Rice noodles - with an Italian twist

My 3 year old loves noodles. Just like his mom. Both of us can eat noodles 365 days. I love maggi but I dont trust it enough to give it to my son. So we have south Indian maggi - akki shavige / rice noodles. :) I've managed to convince him that this is the real maggi! :p

I know it won't be long before he figures that akki shavige and maggi are not the same thing...but till then, this is what he's going to get every time he asks for maggi.
A local brands of roasted akki shavige (anil) is what I use. They also have a ragi shavige which is a regular in my kid's snack box. And its so versatile. ..it goes with any flavor, seasoning or gravy. And takes 3-5 minutes to make.

Today the wanted to eat pasta (yea he's born to foodie parents!) And we'd run out of pasta at home. So akki shavige came to the rescue.  And one more trick..I boiled it in milk instead of water so he had his share of milk as well! You've got to be clever with kids.

1 cup milk
Salt to taste
Chilli flakes
Any veggies that you may want to add (I didn't add any)
A pinch of garam masala
Any herbs that you might want to add
1.5 cups roasted akki shavige
A blob of butter

Put milk in a pan, add salt and and other ingredients and allow to come to a boil. Then add the rice noodles and allow it to simmer. After a minute , turn off the stove, add butter and cover with a lid. Let it rest for a few minutes befor serving.

My son enjoys spicy food. You can omit the chilli flakes and garam masala if you wish.

Note that the liquid should just cover the noodles so that you get separate strings. If theres too much water, it'll just be sticky and will look like one large ball of something.  Not noodles, for sure.

You can add shredded spinach and corn or peas or geated carrot to this right in the beginning. 

My son loved the twist and wasnt sure if he was eating pasta or noodles! :) served the purpose for me!

What do your kids enjoy eating?

Mint tomato & Flaxseed chutney

One more to my list of coconut free chutneys.

2 tbsp dry roasted chana dal
1 handful mint leaves - roasted
3 small tomatoes - roughly cut
1 onion roughly cut and slightly sautéed
1 small sized ball of tamarind / 1 tsp tamarind paste
1/2 tsp sugar / jaggery
1 tbsp dry roasted flaxseeds
Salt to taste

Ghee, hing, mustard and curry leaves for tempering.

Put all the ingredients in a mixie and buzz it till It becomes a smooth paste.  Transfer into a bowl and add the tempering.
Can be had with dosas, idlis, chapati, and as a bread spread. Ek teer, kaee nishaan ;) One chutney, many uses!

Note : In my house most chutneys are made in batches and excess put in the fridge immediately.  They stay for up to a week. I dont add the tempering to the batch that goes into the fridge as I like the mustard seeds to be fresh and crunchy.

Home style veggie tawa pizza

Ever since the husband has been put in the high risk category for heart problems, I've been trying to cook meals that not only appeal to his peculiar taste buds but also do his health some good. So last night, instead of making the same old dry phulkas and subzi, I made pizzas. :)

The dough: this is entirely an experiment that I didn't regret. With some pointers from Gordon Ramsay in his show on TLC, I just did my own thing.

1 tsp Active dry yeast in about 2tbsp luke warm water with sugar. Leave it  alone while mixing the dough. 1 cup regular chapatti atta (my atta also has flaxseed, 1 tbsp roasted fine semolina and methi meal mixed in it), 2tsp olive oil, salt to taste. Knead into a soft sticky dough, adding water as you need.

By this time the Yeast should be activated. .frothy and bubbly. Just incorporate it into tge doygh..lightly. Then, smear your hands with oil and roll the dough aroubd coating it lightly with oil. Grease a container and place the oiled ball of dough in it. Cover tightly with cling film and tuck it away into a warm spot for about 2 hours allowing it to rise.  I warmed my oven and let it sit in the oven for 2 whole hours.

Toppings: I used whatever I had in my fridge. Luck was on my side as I'd replenished my stock of herbs and vegetables just that morning.  So I used a tomato pasta sauce as the base sauce. Red and yellow bell peppers, shallots, spring onion greens, black olives, and lemon basil. The idea was to have a thin crust and load it with toppings. I also used mixed spice, tabasco sauce and chilli flakes for heat.

When the dough was fluffy and rwady, I didn't bothet to knead it a second time. Just brushed my regular chapatti tawa with oil, pulled a ball of dough into a thin round base, poked it several times with a fork and loaded the toppings. 

The trick is to put it on high heat for a few minutes till the base starts cooking.  Then reduce the flame, cover with a glass lid and let it cook for approximately 10 minutes. .or until the toppings are tender and the base crisp and golden. :) just before serving, I drizzled abput a tsp if cold pressed flaxseed oil and roasted garlic flakes for an extra punch. Yummmmmm.. they were so light that we had sbout 3 pizzas each!

My pizzas were the size of small phulkas and loaded with veggies with very little oil and no cheese. So I didn't feel guilty after polishing off 2 pizzas all by myself. :)

I was so busy experimenting that I took just one picture. ..here it is. This one was for my brother... The only one who can afford to eat cheese snd is struggling to put ob weight!

Gulpaote (gul- pao-tay)

This has been a favourite ever since I can remember eating sweets. And I like the one my grandmother makes.. none of the other versions even come close.  So this time, when she visited us, I got her to teach me how to make it. And its so simple. Took less than 20 minutes in all!

You need

1 measure fine sooji
1 measure dessicated fresh coconut
3/4 to 1 measure powdered jaggery (depending on how sweet you like it)
A little milk (to moisten sooji)
Ghee 1 cup

Heat ghee in a non stick pan. Add rooji and roast till it turns golden brown. Take it off the flame and det aside to cool.

Then heat jaggery ober a low flame, stirring constantly. Once it turns into a syrup, check for any impurities and strain if necessary.  While still on the flame, add the dessicated coconut to thw jaggwry syrup and allow it to cook in the syrup for a few minutes. 

In the meanwhile, thw sooji should have cooled down.  Add about 2 tbsp of milk (at room temperature) to the sooji and mix well. Allow it to rest for a max. Of 5 minutes.  By this time the coconut and jaggery mixture should have turned a beautiful golden brown and wonderfully fragrant. Add the moistend sooji to it and keep stirring to avoid any lumps.

Let it sit on a low flame, remembering to stir all the while, till the sooji soaks up all the jaggery and coconut syrup. Once done, it will start leaving the sides of the pan.  Take it off the heat, top it with a generous amount of ghee, mix well and let ut cool.

You can then made small laddoos or scoop it into a bowl and enjoy it.

Note:
1. I prefer using a deep nonstick kadhai as it tends to get messy.
2. You may add dry fruits and cardamom if you like it. I like the plain version the best.

If you tried it...tell me how it turned out!