Turmeric Lemonade

Ingredients
•    4 cups cold filtered/sparkling water
•    1 tsp. freshly grated/powdered turmeric
•    3 tbsp. 100% maple syrup/honey (or stevia to avoid sugar)
•    Juice of 1 organic lemon or 2 limes
•    Juice of 1 or 2 blood oranges or regular oranges

Directions
Mix all the ingredients into a small pitcher. Stir them well and serve with a slice of lemon. Add ice as you wish. Drink down your refreshing and therapeutic beverage.

This is supposed to be anti-depression drink. For health benefits of turmeric, kindly see my cancersupportinida.blogspot.com . Thanks.

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Turmeric Milk

Ingredients for two servings:

•    1 cup milk (for a vegan option, use ½ cup coconut milk and ½ cup almond milk, instead)
•    1 tsp turmeric
•    A pinch of ginger powder
•    A pinch of black pepper
•    ¼ tsp cinnamon powder (or a single cinnamon stick)
•    1 tsp honey or maple syrup
•    For the vegan option, add ½ tbsp coconut oil

Instructions:

Add all of the ingredients in a saucepan, whisk and simmer for roughly 15 minutes, occasionally stirring, taking care not to bring to a boil. It’s as easy as that.

ps-I add 3 pearls garlic finely chopped with turmeric and  simmer with milk for 20 minutes, adding little sugar, drink it warm, it gives relief from cough and wheezing.

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Fox millet / thinai spicy paniyarram / appam ( gluten free)

 Now people are getting more health conscious and are going back to eating millets coming to know its various health benefits. Then, people also wonder as to what can be made with millets, well right from idli, dosa, appam, pancakes, one can use one's imagination to use it to make cookies too. I've used millets to make cakes and it has come out really good.

INGREDIENTS
thinai / fox millet  1 cup
rice flour 2-3 tbsp
beetroot grated  1/2 cup
jaggery 1 tbsp
salt to taste
green chilies to taste
ginger 1 " chopped
ghee to cook
sesame seeds  1 tbsp

METHOD
wash and soak thinai for 4 hours, drain and grind with chilies and ginger to a coarse paste, then add beetroot, jaggery and grind to a fine paste, if need be add water in which it was soaked.
pour the mixture in a bowl, add rice flour salt, sesame seeds mix well.
Heat an appam pan/ poaching pan, add little ghee in each little hole, pour a ladle full of batter in each, starting from the sides then put the centre one last, as it gets cooked fast. Cover and cook in medium flame till it is light brown down, flip them all, cover and cook till done. 
Serve hot with coconut chutney or any other chutney of your choice.
This is a very healthy snack, can be served for breakfast or evening tea time.

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Dharwar / Mawa Peda

Most ladies feel it is really hard to buy mawa / khoya and also, some may be skeptical like me about buying khoya from a shop, as we're not aware of its purity. Now, without buying khoya, you can easily make this peda. Good luck, as I, for one, love desserts, but it shouldn't be too sweet not have too much fat !

INGREDIENTS
milk powder  1 cup
milk 5-6 tbsp
brown sugar  1/2 cup
ghee 1 tbsp
cardamom pdr.  1/2 tsp
desiccated coconut  1/4 cup ( optional)

METHOD
 In a heavy / non-stick pan, heat butter, add milk powder, keep stirring in low flame adding 2 tbsp milk, once the milk is absorbed, add another 2 tbsp milk, keep stirring, till the mixture turns light brown, remove and cool.
Once cool, powder it in a mixie, add it back to the pan, now adding sugar and 2 tbsp milk, keep stirring till sugar dissolves and all the milk is absorbed and the mixture starts bubbling and leaving the sides of the pan. 
Remove, cool little, grease your palms with ghee, while still warm make small balls, roll in desiccated coconut which you can spread on a plate. 

NOTE
Be sure to roll into balls when still warm, or you may not be able to do once it cools down completely.
If you don't have or want to roll in desiccated coconut, fine, you may put a piece of nut of your choice on top and press it down. 


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Moong dal cheela

Ingredients
moong dal   1 cup
water  for soaking and grinding
turmeric pdr/  1/4 tsp
green chilies to taste
hing little
coriander leaves chopped 2-3 tbsp
onion 1 big finely chopped ( those who don't eat onion, you may add cabbage finely chopped)
ginger 1" finely chopped
salt to taste
oil to cook

Method
rinse dal well, soak in water for 3-4 hours
discard the water, put the dal in the mixer jat along with green chilies and ginger, add little water to grind smoothly.
Remove the batter in a bowl, add turmeric pdr., hing, salt mix well.
add chopped onion and coriander leaves, mix well, rest the batter for half an hour.
if the batter is too thick, add little water, the batter should be neither too thick nor too thin.
Heat a tawa or non-stick pan, grease lightly
add a big ladleful of batter, the batter will spread on its own, if not, spread it evenly, cook on medium heat for a minute till light brown and crisp, flip over, cook till brown.
Make all chilas in the same way, serve hot with chutney of your choice.


For stuffed chila
Note- you can stuff with paneer, you may add cabbage finely chopped instead of onion., you may add some finely grated carrot and chopped capsicum too, if you want, you may saute the veges in little oil with spices of your choice, then once chila is cooked, spread one one-half some stuffing, fold and serve hot with chutney / ketchup.

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Moong dal idli

Ingredients

urad dal split 1/3 cup
moong dal   1/3 cup
ginger  1 " chop
green chilies 2 or as per taste
turmeric pdr.  1/2 tsp
salt to taste
hing little

Method
wash and soak dals separately.
grind urad dal to a smooth paste adding water, remove in a bowl
grind moong dal with ginger and chilies adding water to a smooth paste
mix both the dal paste, let it ferment overnight or at least for 6 hours
add salt, turmeric and hing, mix well
grease idli plates, keep in hot idli maker/ cooker, steam for 10 minutes
remove, serve hot with chutney of your choice.

ps- It is a very healthy, protein rich snack, easily digestible, as it is steamed, vitamins are enhanced as it is fermented. Ginger aids in digestion, turmeric has antioxidant and many more benefits. It can be eaten as a snack at any time.

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Coconut Oil is Great for Cooking With

Coconut Oil is Great for Cooking With

Coconut oil contains saturated fat and because of that, you can cook safely with it at high temperatures.

Researchers say that fats and oils with a smoke point below 392 °F (200 °C) release volatile aldehydes which can be toxic. Research also shows that polyunsaturated oils are more harmful to cook with than oils rich in saturated fatty acids. 

For deep frying, use refined coconut oil as this has a higher smoke point. You can also use it for baking – In fact, it can be used in almost all recipes instead of butter, oils, and other fats.

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How to Cook Rice to BURN More Fat and Absorb HALF the Calories

Coconut oil has such a wide usage, right from cooking to baking to making your deodorant ! Now, there is even another reason to love it. When used in a certain way, coconut oil can make a bowl of white rice into a much healthier meal. In fact, this unique cooking method means that your body will be able to absorb half of the calories in rice with the added benefit of decreasing body fat accumulation.


It’s true that white rice is a highly processed grain and has a high glycemic index. But, the effect food has on your blood sugar can be altered depending on what you eat it with.

Researchers from Sri Lanka might have uncovered a Holy Grail of rice cooking that could shake the way we view and prepare rice. They presented their preliminary findings at the National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

Research on Coconut Oil and White Rice

Authors of the research, tested 8 different recipes on 38 varieties of rice. The cooking method that proved to be the best at increasing the rice’s healthiness included adding coconut oil to boiling water, before stirring in raw rice. The rice was then cooled down in the refrigerator and consumed after 12 hours.

When the least healthy of all rice types was prepared in such way, its calories were reduced by 10 to 12 percent. The two scientists, conducting their research at the College of Chemical Sciences in Colombo, claim that further caloric reduction is possible. They predict that if the right variety of rice is prepared with coconut oil, the calories could be cut by about 50 to 60 percent.

Why does this Cooking Method Cut the Calories?

Intuitively, many cultures prepare food in a way to make it healthier. Some schools of nutrition, too, have believed all along that mixing certain fats with food rich in carbohydrates (such as rice) could lower the meal’s blood sugar raising effect.

The method of cooking rice with coconut oil and then chilling the rice cuts the calories by changing the rice’s chemical composition. Digestible starch turns into indigestible starch (or resistant starch), so the rice doesn’t get readily metabolized into glucose – if not used, glucose eventually converts into body fat and contributes to weight gain. So this cooking method could help to prevent body fat accumulation. In that respect, it’s worth noting that the researchers found that consumption of resistant starch “could decrease fat accumulation in the long-term.”

One cup of medium grain white rice usually contains about 246 calories. With this method, the calorie count goes down to as little as 147.

What’s more, resistant starch is considered a prebiotic and compliments the function of probiotic foods. It feeds the good bacteria in your gut and aids your immunity and digestive processes.

Recipe for Cooked Rice that Cuts the Calories in Half

1. Boil 2 cups of water and add a tablespoon of coconut oil (always opt for organic virgin coconut oil)
2. Stir in 1 cup of rice.
3. Cook for about 20 minutes, until the rice is cooked.
4. Put in the fridge for 12 hours.
5. Use cold or re-heat it – according to the Sri Lankan research, the rice maintains its newly acquired benefits even after heating it again.

The white rice might become healthier when the above method is applied. Still, you shouldn’t now eat it in unlimited amounts. Also, consider using brown rice instead. Brown rice doesn’t have the germ and bran removed, so it’s a better option as it retains the bulk of its vitamins, minerals, essential fats and fiber. You can also try consuming purple rice which has many health benefits and is cooked the same as brown rice.

Home cooked meals makes you live longer !

Home sweet home, in the same way, nothing is better than home cooked meals, as they're prepared with so much love, care and according to your needs and above all hygienically prepared.  

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Cauliflower dipped in BBQ sauce healthy !

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Healthy replacements for meat

Little by little, people are starting to internalize what has been common knowledge for a long time now: processed and red meats are bad for us. Eating a lot of deli meat and steaks can increase your odds of developing heart disease, diverticulitis, Alzheimer's and bowel cancer. But, as in all things, old habits die hard, and many of us have gotten accustomed to juicy red meat and hot dogs.

Luckily, we are living in an era of unparalleled food technology and innovation, and plant-based meat substitutes that appeal to the palates of meat addicts have never been as readily-available. And just in case you’re thinking of a bland vegetable patty, we’re talking protein rich, juicy and savory products that taste just like the real thing.

1. Mock meat

One of the fastest-rising food industries is mock meat, manufactured by companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods. Their popular burgers are based on plant-protein and are lab-engineered to have many of the same qualities of real beef patties, including texture, succulence and taste. Imitation burgers are cholesterol free, are rich in protein and vitamins and are 100% meat free. Numerous restaurant chains now offer mock meat options, and various retail stores either already have these products or will have them in the near future. Soya granules or chunks are good options to replace meat.

2. Tofu

Tofu is probably the most famous meat substitute and one that has the longest history, as it was invented for that purpose around 2,000 years ago in China. Extra-firm tofu, if treated with rub or marinade can make for a great replacement for chicken or even steak, and can be a delicious centerpiece for a healthy version of a hoagie.

3. Legumes

Legumes are savory, chock-full of proteins and vitamins and are actually really good for your heart. As such, they’re a great candidate for meat replacement and can easily be ground up into delicious hamburger patties. All you need are some cooked grains, bread crumbs and eggs, and you’ve got a wonderful burger. For a vegan patty, replace the egg with flax meal or chia seeds.

4. Carrots

Carrot dogs are different to other meat replacements in that they don’t try to be something they aren’t. Carrots aren’t anything like highly-processed hot dogs, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t preferable. A roasted and seasoned carrot is great in a bun with mustard and sauerkraut, and has none of the health downsides of a real frankfurter.

5. Jackfruit

This relatively obscure fruit is about the size of a very large watermelon and is native to South Asia. Its flesh is soft and sweet when ripe, but when unripe, it is meaty, with a milder taste and is often locally used in curry. As such, young jackfruit is great as a replacement for pulled pork recipes or gyros/shawarma.

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Energizing and Guilt-free Morning Drink

Finally, a delicious morning drink that will make a positive change to your well-being is here. The matcha latte is becoming ever more popular, and for good reason, as it has all the beneficial effects of coffee minus the harmful ones. In fact, you’ve probably seen it on the menu of some coffee shop or restaurant, but have you ever wondered what it is? In this article, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know to make the ultimate matcha latte, and more.

Unlike the traditional coffee drink, a matcha latte is actually a milk tea. Why, then, would it be called a latte? Most likely, this is attributed to its effect, as very much like a latte, it will wake you up in no time while comforting you with its silkiness and warmth.

The History and Production of Matcha

The key ingredient in a matcha latte is matcha, which is an incredible type of Japanese tea traditionally used in tea ceremonies. Japanese tea ceremonies were conducted as early as the 9th century by Buddhist monks. Known for lasting for hours at a time, these elaborately choreographed ceremonies were elevated to an art form and a spiritual practice in Japan. They are truly a signature feature of Japanese tradition and culture, featuring matcha tea as an essential element.
 

The use of matcha today, however, is not limited to tea ceremonies, as both in Japan and all around the world, matcha has become an essential ingredient in different drinks and desserts, such as ice cream, cheesecake, and perhaps most significantly, the matcha latte.
 

Unlike most teas, matcha is a fine powder, which is made of the finest tea leaves that were dried and de-veined before stone-grinding. This means that when drinking matcha you are essentially consuming the plant instead of brewing and discarding the pulp as you do with most teas. This type of preparation ensures that you are able to absorb significantly more nutrients.
 

Another crucial step in the production process is that the tea plants used for matcha are grown in the shade during the last few months before harvest. This technique gives matcha its distinctive bright green color. Also, it urges the plant to produce more caffeine and theanine, which are the compounds that make matcha so energizing and nutrient-rich.

The Health Benefits of Matcha

Although we have already written about the benefits of matcha tea in a previous article, it’s worth reminding you of the main ones: 

• Matcha is rich in compounds that promote brain and immune health. 
• Recent studies suggest that the amino acids contained in matcha may protect you from cancer.
• Matcha contains as much caffeine and more antioxidants than coffee.
• One of the antioxidants it contains called EGCG is proven to help both weight loss and weight maintenance.
• It is also important to note that matcha is safe for people who feel anxious, jittery, and/or tired shortly after drinking coffee.

How to Choose a Matcha Powder

Generally speaking, matcha is on the pricier side. Note, however, that you will use much less of it than other teas or coffee because it is very concentrated, so it’s well worth the high price tag. Matcha comes in two different varieties, or grades: culinary and ceremonial.

Culinary grade matcha is the affordable type and it is usually used in cooking, hence the name. However, many people favor it in drinks because of its more pronounced taste. Some of the better culinary options are practically indistinguishable from the ceremonial varieties, especially by a newbie. Look for keywords such as café, kitchen, classic, premium and ingredient grade to spot culinary matcha, and don’t be fooled, even culinary grade matcha should have a vibrant green color and pleasant aroma, so avoid yellow or brown notes and/or a strong bitter smell.
If you decide to buy a culinary grade product, my advice is not to aim for the cheapest variety and look for fresh, possibly certified matcha that lists Japan as its place of origin.

        Perfect for: desserts and lattes
        Price range: $5-15 per ounce

Ceremonial grade matcha is the crème de la crème of Japanese tea. The quality of this product is regulated in Japan, so we recommend buying ceremonial grade matcha that is certified. The powder should be smooth and bright green in color, and the smell should be a bit sweet and not very grassy. It should be sold in a tin container that is not transparent and sealed.

       When choosing matcha, don’t forget to check the production date. The fresher it is, the healthier and tastier it will be because the anti-oxidants tend to degrade over time.

Matcha Latte Recipe

If we convinced you to give the matcha latte a go, check out this easy and versatile recipe and whisk away.

Equipment

A bamboo matcha whisk (like the one on the picture above) or a handheld milk frother (as the one used in the video following the recipe) is imperative for making a matcha latte. Some articles suggest that it is possible to shake the matcha and water in a tightly-sealed thermos, but the results I got when using this method were disappointing: bitter clumps of matcha formed and rendered my drink terrible. And besides, both the whisk and the milk frother are inexpensive and easy to find in stores or online.

To make 1 serving of matcha latte, you will need:
Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon of matcha powder
• about 2 tablespoons of hot, but NOT boiling water (around 80°C/175°F
• ½ cup of hot milk of your choice (I take mine with soy milk)
• sweetener of your choice (optional)

Preparation
To prepare our matcha latte, first, measure out 1 tsp. of matcha powder and place it into a heatproof cup. If you’re using culinary-grade matcha, it can be stronger, so I recommend adding a bit less the first time you make it and then adjusting the correct amount to your liking. 

Take your handy bamboo whisk or milk frother and whisk in about 2 tablespoons of hot water until no lumps remain. Use fast zigzag motions to dissolve the clumps that may form and fluff up the mixture. DO NOT use boiling hot water because that will make your matcha bitter.
 
Now you can add the milk, and at this point, you have 2 options depending on how fluffy you prefer your lattes: 
1. For just a little cloud of foam on top, slowly add the milk while constantly whisking to fluff up the milk.
2. If you like your latte extra foamy, however, you will need a milk frother, which you will use to foam up the milk before adding it to the matcha mixture.
Sweeten your photo-worthy latte with sugar, honey, agave syrup or any sweetener of your choice (or skip it) and enjoy! 

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Bournvita-milk balls

Ingredients
Bournvita 1/2 cup
milk 1 litre
sugar  1/2 cup
cornflour 2 tsp
suji  2 tbsp
ghee 1 tbsp
nut pieces 1-2 tbsp

Method
in a heavy pan or non-stick, add about 1/2 litre milk, let it boil and reduce a little, keep adding rest of the milk little at a time,( saving little to mix with cornflour) till milk reduces roughly to half.
add Bournvita, sugar, cornflour mixed with milk to a fine paste and suji, keep stirring till it leaves the sides of the pan, just before removing add a tbsp of ghee, mix well, remove, cool, once you can handle, make small balls stuffing some nut pieces in the centre and on top if desired.

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