Healthy vegetable pancake

Ingredients

onion  2 either finely chopped/ grated

carrot 2 grated

chopped spinach 1 cupful

wheat flour 2-3 cups

salt to taste

chilli pdr. or green chillies finely cut to taste

fresh Coriander leaves finely chopped 2 tbsp

ajwain/carom seeds 1/2 tsp

oil little for shallow frying

hing little

Method

mix the vegetables, with flour, salt, chillies/chilli pdr, hing, ajwain well.

then add enough water to make a batter, which shouldn't be too thick/ thin.

heat a pan/ tawa, once hot, smear little oil, make as thin pancake as possible

put little oil all around, once well done, turn over & cook till it gets little crisp/ brown.

serve hot with any chutney of your choice.

ps- this makes a complete meal, very healthy, as it has enough fibre, carbohydrates, vitamins, fat to give you enough calories to work through the day. It is very filling.

spinach has iron, when combined with green chillies & coriander, helps to absorb the iron from it.

carrot has Vitamin A, good for the eyes.

ajwain/carom seeds are good for digestion.

Sago pudding with custard

Ingredients for sago pudding

sago/sabudana 1/2 cup washed & soaked overnight

roasted semolina/suji ( rava) 2 heaped tbsp

roasted fine semia 2 heaped 2 tbsp

molasses  3 tbsp

water to cook

almond essence 1 tsp

Method

to the soaked sago, add the roasted semolina & semia, add more water if needed, mix well.

microwave on high power for 1 1/2 minutes.

stir well, again micro high for another 1 1/2- 2 minutes, when you'll see that the sago has turned fully transparent, then add molasses, mix well

micro high again for 2 minutes, by now it will be only solid mass, if you've added just enough water.

add almond essence, cool & refrigerate to set

Ingredients for custard

milk 1/2 l.

corn flour  1 1/2 tbsp

sugar 2-3 tbsp

strawberry essence 1 tsp

Method

mix the cornflour with little milk well

boil rest of the milk, then add the corn flour mixture, mix well, keep stirring till it thickens, add sugar & cook till it has dissolved.

remove, add essence, cool.

Pour carefully the custard over the set pudding, set it in the fridge till set. 

Serve cold, either plain or with some fruits if preferred.

vegetable chutney

Ingredients

onion 1 big
tomatoes 4
carrot 1 big
fresh coriander leaves  1 big bunch
green chillies 3-4, depending on how spicy it is
tamarind  2 tbsp
ginger 2"
garlic 3-4 pearls
salt to taste
mustard seeds 2 tsp
udad dal  2 tbsp
oil 4 tsp
hing little

Method
heat 1 tsp of oil in a kadai/ pan,  add mustard seeds, once it crackles, add dal, fry well, add hing, tamarind & remove.
in the same pan/ kadai, add 3 tsp,  add chopped ginger, garlic, fry little, add chopped onion, wee bit salt, once onion is slightly pink, add tomatoes, carrot finely chopped, saute till cooked.
cool, add chopped coriander leaves.,
grind the dal & tamarind first, then add the vegetable, salt & grind, if need be add little water.

This chutney will go well with dosa, uttapam, idli, bread, roti, pancakes.

It is very healthy, as it has Vitamin A from carrot, C from chillies & coriander,  tomatoes are rich in lycopene, antioxidants, tamarind has lots of medicinal values too. ginger has so many good properties, right from digestion, daily taken reduces arthritis to name a few, garlic too has anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory properties, good for digestion to name a few.

Banana Oats Bread

Ingredients

banana 1 ripe mashed well
oats  1 cup
butter 3 tbsp
eggs 2
curd  1/2 cup
wheat flour 2 cups appro.
walnuts 3-4 tbsp or more if you like
raisins  3-4 tbsp
baking pdr. 1 level tsp
vanilla essence 1 tsp
molasses
salt 1/4 tsp

Method

melt butter, beat eggs well along with molasses, add banana, curd, then add flour, baking pdr., mix well, but don't beat too much. fold in oats, nuts, raisins & vanilla.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 deg. C. for approximately 30 minutes or till baked well, i.e. when a clean knife is inserted in the middle, comes out clean.

This is a very healthy bread, as it has wheat flour, oats, molasses, very less butter. walnuts are good source of Omega- 3 fatty acids, good for heart & brain. what more can one ask for !

crochet trivets

Ring trivet, my first attempt, hasn't come out as expected.




8 sided trivet, smaller version of what I had made earlier, but this is my own, joined with the different motif in the centre. This is for my daughter.

Baked Sabudana Vadai

 

Ingredients

sabudana 1 cup soaked for 20-30 minutes, then drained
potatoes  4 big boiled, peeled & mashed
onion 2 big chopped fine
green chillies 4-5 acc. to taste
fresh coriander leaves chopped fine 6 tbsp 
roasted & crushed peanuts  1/2 cup
salt to taste
oil little

Method

Mix all the ingredients well. Make small vadais or flatten them, keep on greased baking tray, if you don't have tray, no problem, keep on foil. Then put 1-2 drops of oil on them, bake at 180 deg. C pre-heated oven till one side gets little cooked, then turn them all, cook on the other side putting again 1-2 drops of oil, or if you've cooking spray, nothing like it, spray little cooking oil, let them turn light brown, then turn again to cook. Once they get quite brown on both sides, they're ready to eat !

Healthy vadais, taste wasn't bad, so need of worrying about  extra calories.

crochet trivet

.

this is my own design of smaller trivet with just 8 petals

crochet trivet wall hangar

crochet trivet wall hangar

the basic trivet design isn't mine, but the idea of making it by joining them is mine, it took a great deal of thought as to how to join them, as each had 10 petals & I had one trivet for the centre, made with slightly different combination of colours & 6 of same combo. My daughter-in-law wanted me to use all of them. So, it was a challenge, as to join them after great deal of thought, then it was hung in their dining area.

Molasses- Ginger cookies

Ingredients

egg  1
molasses  4 tbsp
sugar   50 gm
butter melted 75 gm
baking soda  1/4 tsp
cinnamon pdr  1/2 tsp
ginger pdr.  3/4 tsp
whole meal flour/ atta/ wheat flour   150 gm

Method

mix the first 4 ingredients well, esp. after adding egg, beat well.
mix all the dry ingredients well
add slowly dry ingredients to the wet one.
let it rest for 30 minutes.
bake in pre-heated oven for 10-12 minutes at 180 deg. C or gas 320 deg. F
once done, remove to cool.
while baking,  I took small balls of the dough, flattened with my hands & kept them at least 2" apart as they swell while baking.

sadly as I didn't have anything to measure, I just took all the ing. according to what I felt would the right proportion, by God's grace, it came out fine. I think it came just around 20 cookies & were finished almost in a jiffy, as my daughter-in-law, who had given me the test of making it as good as one of her friends, said it was as good, except that mine were slightly crisper than her friend's.