Baby Food: Moong Daal Chilla/ Lentil Pancake

Food is such an important part of our day to day lives. We finish one meal and I am already in my mind thinking of menu for the next. When I go for my grocery shopping, it’s always related to what I want to cook.

 With two kids(5 year old: Chatter Box, and 10 month old: Little Lady), full time work, busy family schedules, I really don’t get as much time as I would like for cooking. I more often than not, resort to my -quick Fixes, which HAVE to be healthy, presented well and above all delicious. I have three vegetarian foodies in my house already and the toothless Little Lady takes after us.

 Here is my 'Anytime protein rich Chilla's' , perfect for breakfast, snack, meal and oh yes: Finger Foods

 Ingredients

1. 2 cups Split Green Moong Daal soaked over night. (If you have not soaked them the night before, no worries, soak them in hot water for 30 minutes, or pressure cook them for 1 whistle)

2. Salt to taste

3. Grated Ginger: 1 teaspoon

4. Chilli Powder: Per taste (I tend to remove a part of the batter for Little Lady and then spice up the rest for us)

5. Cut Green Chilli: 2 (I tend to remove a part of the batter for Little Lady and then spice up the rest for us)

Process:

1. Grind the soaked daal with 1/2 cup water and all spices

2. Heat non-stick pan and make pancakes.

For my ChatterBox, I tend to make shapes using an assortment of cookie cutters I have gathered over the years.

For my Little Lady, it does not matter what shape it is, since it gets cut in tiny pieces anyways.

For Hubby and Me,  I spice it up and make thinner pan cakes (read crispy), top it off with Chaat Masala and enjoy with Green Chutney

I have made several variations of this pan-cake/ Chilla:

For Lunch: Grate Paneer with carrots and Cilantro. Adjust spice and make it like a filling to the pan cake.

For more wholesome meal: Feel free to add grated vegetables of choice. I have experimented with Kale, Brocolli, Carrots, Onions

In the batter, I have added other lentils but somehow, the most basic: Green Moong Daal has turned out the best so far.

Carrot Ginger Soup for A New Start

Aah how times have changed! From the pursuit of the next gourmet recipe to create, to now scouting the web for healthy food options for the baby! This new phase still allows me to experiment with my love for cooking, but now with a whole new audience! Baby A! I enjoyed this soup as much as the baby did.

Simple, easy carrot ginger soup

Ingredients:
Carrots - 4, peeled and diced into medium sized cubes
Onion - One large, chopped
Butter/ oil - 2 tbsp
Ginger - 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Water - 6 cups

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, add the butter and cumin seeds and roast till they splutter. Add the onions and fry till translucent. Don't brown them.  Add the carrots, ginger and water, cover and cook on medium heat for about 20 mins or till the carrots are tender. Take off the heat.

When cooled, use an emersion blender or transfer carrots to a blender and puree till smooth.

Enjoy soup with a little cream or as is.


 

Aloo Channa V's father's recipe

I love simple recipes, and this one makes the cut! So easy to prepare, and assemble! Perfect with bhatura, naan or chapati! Uncle served it with home made kachoris!

Sorry, no pictures, but it looks like channa masala

Ingredients:
Potatoes - 5
Garbanzo chickpeas cans - 2
Jeera seeds
Jeera powder -3 tsp
Coriander pwdr - 3 tsp
Red chilli pwdr - 2 tsp
Turmeric pwdr- 1 tsp
Pudina dhania masala MDH brand - 2 tsp (I substituted, see recipe)
(If you don't have this, have some cilantro, green chilli and mint leaves on hand)
Oil - 4 tbsp
Ghee - 1 tbsp

Cut potatoes into medium sized chunks and soak them in water. In a mixer, grind together 1/2 bunch cilantro, 2 green chillies and 3 mint leaves into a paste.

In a pan, heat the oil and ghee together till hot. Add the jeera seeds, and all the powders (except the pudina dhania masala) stirring so that they don't burn in the hot oil. When the powders smell fragrant, add the potatoes, empty the two cans of garbanzo beans with the water, and add the ground cilantro-mint masala. Add about 4 cups water, salt and cover and cook on a very low flame. Cooking time can be 1 hour. Let it simmer till the potatoes have cooked through, the garbanzo beans are disintegrating and the curry has started to thicken.

Enjoy!

G's Chicken Fry!

Hola - Happy New Year! It's been a very long time. The Summer of 2012 was the busiest of my life - what with the multiple farewells, baby showers, in-laws visits, babies and trips back home! I hope 2013 doubles the fun from last year, and halves the stress!

Here's a quick Chicken Fry recipe that has been made famous by my friend's husband -G. G is a fantastic cook, and I don't know anyone else who can make this recipe as awesome as it is.

Ingredients -

• Onions - red - 1.5 finely chopped
• Green chillies - 10 finely chopped (reduce number if you prefer the dish to be less spicy)
• Oil - 2 swirls of the pan
• Greek Yoghurt - 2 tbs
• Chopped cilantro for garnish

To Marinate - 2 hours

• Chicken - 1 lb - bone in. Chopped into bite sized pieces
• Coriander pwd - 2 tbs
• Cumin pwd - 2 tbs
• Chilli pwd - 1 tbs
• Turmeric pwd - 1/2 tsp
• Tandoori Chicken Masala - 1 tsp
• Ginger - Garlic paste - 2 tbs
• Salt to taste

Mix all the items under "To Marinate" section and marinate for a couple of hours. Do not add yoghurt at this step.

The secret behind this recipe is the size of the pan - use the WIDEST pan you have, even if you have to place it on multiple burners. The wider the pan, the crispier the chicken!

In your widest pan, heat oil and then saute onions and chillies until they are browned.

Then add the marinated chicken, spread the chicken out so that the pan is not crowded. Individual pieces need to cook and slowly brown - this will take some time

Add the greek yoghurt half way thru to add some body to the gravy. Then continue to let the chicken pieces brown.

Once you see them cooked through and look brownish/crispy-ish like in the picture, you are done!

Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot with rice/rotis!

Cheers!!