Masala Upma

If there is one dish that I wish to eat at any time of the day, it is Upma. I was not a big fan of it before but it has become my favourite dish from the moment I tasted it in SN refreshments.
I have tried to prepare it that way but not succeeded yet. I will keep trying anyway and will post it once I get it right.

Here is the thing about this upma recipe. This one does not taste like the normal plain upma at all. Many people hate upma so I want to turn them and I am sure this awesome recipe will impress those upma haters too.

Do try this recipe and let me know if I was able to turn you into an upma fan like me!! :P :)

Nutritional Information  (Approx)
(per serving)
Energy	260		Calories
Fat	5		%
Carbohydrate	16		%
Dietary Fiber	15		%
Sodium	7		%
Vitamin A	11		%
Vitamin C	8		%
Calcium	2		%
Iron	17		%
Protein	8.8		Grams
Sugar	1.5		Grams

Ingredients
Sooji/Rawa (Semolina)	1 cup
Onion chopped	1
Ginger garlic paste	1 tsp
Green chillies chopped	2
chilli powder	1 tsp
Garam masala powder	1/2 tsp
Turmeric	a pinch
Lemon juice	1 tsp
Water	2 cups
Salt	to taste
Coriander leaves chopped	for garnish

To Temper Oil  1 &1/2 tbsp Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp Bay Leaf 1

In a pan, add 1/2 tbsp of oil and wait till it gets hot. Add Rava and roast till a sweet aroma starts filling up and the colour of rava turns slightly brown. Keep the roasted rava aside.

In the same pan, add the rest of the oil  and the ingredients listed under "To Temper" and fry for 2 minutes. Add onion, Ginger garlic paste and green chillies and fry till it gets transparent.

Add water.

Add salt, chilli powder, rasam powder and lemon juice and mix.

Bring the mixture to boil.

Simmer the flame and sprinkle Rava as you stir it slowly.

Close the lid and cook for 10 - 15 minutes under low flame. 

Stir every 3 minutes so that it will not stick to the bottom of the pan.

Serve hot with coconut chutney or just coffee.

• You can also add Urad dal and chana dal if you like it the plain upma way.
• You can use any kind of Rava.
• If you like it more spicy, you can add green chillies or increase the quantity of chilli powder.
• Also, you can add any other veggies if you want like carrot, capsicum, peas or beans

Soya chunks masala

When I saw soya chunks for the first time, I was reluctant to taste it because of it's chicken like looks. My friends even said that it kinda tasted like meat.

I always look for benefits in food before I eat so I googled about soya chunks and got to know from Wikipedia that it has protein content equal to that of meat.

I was on my weight loss regime so I quickly added this to my diet list. It is easy to cook, tasty to eat and if you are a vegetarian, you can get a lot of protein from this low calorie, versatile ingredient.

This is the first recipe I tried on my own and I like it this way very much. I hope you like it too! :)

Nutritional Information  (Approx)
(per serving)
Energy	114		Calories
Fat	5		%
Carbohydrate	5		%
Dietary Fiber	9		%
Sodium	4		%
Vitamin A	23		%
Vitamin C	13		%
Calcium	2		%
Iron	6		%
Protein	6.2		Grams
Sugar	1.7		Grams

Ingredients
Soya chunks(Small even sized)	1 cup
Onion chopped	1
Tomatoes chopped	2
Salt	to taste
Sambar powder	1 tsp
Chilli powder	1/2 tsp
Turmeric	a pinch
Water	1/2 cup

To Temper
Oil	2 tsps
Mustard seeds	1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds	1/2 tsp
Fennel seeds	1/4 tsp

Boil a pot of water with little salt. Add Soya chunks to the boiling water, cook until soya chunks are soft and drain the water.

Wash the cooked soya chunks, squeeze the water out of it and keep it aside.

In a pan, add oil and wait till it gets hot. Add the ingredients listed under "To Temper" and fry for 2 minutes. Add onion and fry till it gets transparent.

Add chopped tomatoes, turmeric and water and cook it with closed lid.  Once the tomatoes are cooked and soft, add Sambar powder, Chilli powder and salt. Boil the mixture and add soya chunks.

Fry for few minutes and serve hot. It can be served with hot Rotis or rice.

You can add ginger garlic paste and garam masala for stronger flavour.

Wheat flour Dosa

Yes, I know everybody knows how to prepare dosa. But trust me, this is easier then buying a dosa batter. :P

It is really difficult for working women to soak the rice overnight, grind it and then make dosa. Forget dosa batter, for lazy me its difficult to even make chapathis/rotis though am not a working woman. So, I found a recipe which is as good as rotis and also quick to prepare and I call it Quick dosa!! :D

Nutritional Information  (Approx)
(per serving)
Energy	149		Calories
Fat	8		%
Carbohydrate	7		%
Dietary Fiber	4		%
Sodium	7		%
Vitamin A	1		%
Vitamin C	2		%
Calcium	2		%
Iron	11		%
Protein	3.1		Grams
Sugar	0.1		Grams

Ingredients
Wheat flour	2 cups
Salt	A pinch
Cumin	1/2 tsp
Onion finely chopped	1/4 cup (Optional)
Water	4 cups

Mix all the above ingredients and make a thin batter. The batter should be a little runny but thick enough to get cooked.

Heat the dosa pan/griddle, grease oil on the pan if required and spread a ladle of batter on the hot pan. 

Spread it evenly with the base of the ladle. Let it cook in open for few minutes and flip it over to cook the other side.

Serve it hot with chutney. This dosa tastes almost like Neer dosa so it tastes even better with veg or non-veg gravies.

Home-made Bread

First of all, this recipe is not too easy and it takes quite some time to prepare. After wasting a lot of raw ingredients and trying many recipes, I narrowed it down to this one.

So, if you want to bake breads regularly, you can try with a small one for the first time. If you feel confident enough, then you can go for the bigger ones.

Nutritional Information  (Approx)
(per serving)
Energy	128		Calories
Fat	4		%
Carbohydrate	8		%
Dietary Fiber	11		%
Sodium	7		%
Vitamin A	0		%
Vitamin C	0		%
Calcium	2		%
Iron	8		%
Protein	3.9		Grams
Sugar	1.8		Grams

Ingredients
Wheat flour	2 Cups
Maida	1/2 cup (optional)
Dry active yeast	2 tsps
Salt	A pinch
Sugar	1 tsp
Water
Oil	1 tbsp

Dissolve sugar in 1/4 cup of warm water and add yeast. Keep it aside for 10 to 15 minutes for the yeast to become active.

In a bowl, add wheat flour, maida, salt, active yeast mixture and mix with water to make it a dough. Add oil and knead the dough for few minutes.

Leave the dough in a dry warm place for 2 hours to rise. After 2 hours, knead the dough again and place it in the oven container (oiled inside) in which you wish to bake the bread.

Leave the dough again for an hour in a dry warm place. The dough will rise and fit in the container.

Preheat your oven for 10 minutes at 150 degrees. Place the container with dough in the oven and bake it for 40-45 minutes at 180 degrees.

Every oven is different so you need to check if the bread is baked after 30 minutes by sticking a fork or a toothpick. If the fork or toothpick comes out clean, then the bread is baked.

Remove the container, allow it to cool and enjoy your handmade bread with your family and friends!

You can also comment here to let me know how it come out for you :)

Quick Pasta

Sometimes, when am too tired or lazy to cook, the one thing that comes to my rescue is Pasta. You may have heard that Pastas are not good for health when eaten regularly. That is not 100% true if you know how to choose Pasta.

Make sure you buy Pasta by checking the Ingredients. It should be either "Whole wheat flour" or "whole Durum wheat Semolina" and not "Refined Durum wheat Semolina".

Both "Whole wheat flour" and "whole Durum wheat Semolina" are high in protein. So, Pasta is healthy and this recipe is easy to cook and tasty too.

I have kept it simple and basic but you can add Mushrooms, carrots, peas , green beans and any Veggies you want. Now, for this dish, we are not adding any cheese so that it can be low in calories, easy to digest and satisfy our Indian taste buds too. Bon appétit !!! :)

Nutritional Information (Approx)
Energy	290		Calories
Fat	11		%
Carbohydrate	40		Grams
Dietary Fiber	3		Grams
Sodium	432		Mg
Vitamin A	7		%
Vitamin C	4		%
Calcium	13		%
Iron	26		%
Protein	11		Grams
Sugar	5		Grams

Ingredients
Pasta (Any)	2 Cups
Onion sliced	1 Small
Cauliflower/Broccoli florets	1/2cup
Capsicum	1/2 cup
Tomatoes sliced	1/4 cup (Optional)
Pepper powder	1/2 tsp
Garlic grated	5 cloves
Cumin	1/2 tsp
Yogurt	2 tbsp
Salt	to taste
Water	1/4 cup
Oil	1 tbsp

Boil a large pot of water with little salt. Add Pasta to the boiling water. Cook the pasta until tender and drain hot water and keep it aside. Make sure the pasta is not overcooked cos nothing is as bad as an overcooked pasta.

In a large pan, heat oil and add cumin seeds, onlion, garlic and fry. Once the onion is cooked, add Capsicum, Cauliflower/Broccoli and tomatoes and Mix. Cook for 2 minutes with closed lid.

Add Yogurt, Pepper powder, salt and water and Mix well. Once the mixture starts boiling, Add pasta and stir to cover the pasta with the mixture and Serve hot.

Veg Russian Salad

 This is the tastiest salad I have ever prepared. I am sure you will love it too because it hardly tastes like a salad. It tastes just as yummy as any dessert and easy to prepare too!!

Russian salad is usually prepared with either ham, salami or eggs but it really doesn't matter if you skip the non-veg part.

Nutritional Information (Approx)
Energy	44		Calories
Fat	5		%
Carbohydrate	1		%
Dietary Fiber	4		%
Sodium	2		%
Vitamin A	721		%
Vitamin C	1166		%
Calcium	26		%
Iron	38		%
Protein	0.77		Grams
Sugar	1.79		Grams

Ingredients
Chopped Carrots	1 cup
Chopped Green Beans	1 cup
Chopped Apple/pineapple	1 cup
Cooked and chopped potatoes	1/4 cup
Fresh peas	1/4 cup

For dressing
Mayonnaise	3 Tbsp
Cream or yoghurt	2 Tbsp
Salt	to taste

* Cook chopped carrots, green beans , potatoes and peas in boiling water for 6-7 minutes. Make sure the vegetables don't get cooked until they are very soft and mushy.

* Mix all the ingredients under "For dressing" in a bowl and keep it aside. 

* Mix the cooked Vegetables and apple in a bowl. Pour the dressing over it and mix lightly. Refrigerate it for few hours and serve.

*You can garnish it with coriander leaves while serving. You can also add fresh corn to the mixture.

Muesli

Muesli is a great breakfast to start with and if you have a sweet tooth, then you have many options with Muesli.

It is very easy to make Muesli at home and you can store it in an air tight container for a long time. You can add as many kinds of nuts you like but I have given what I usually add to my breakfast. So, here it is.

Nutritional Information (Approx)
Energy	220		Calories
Fat	27		%
Carbohydrate	13		%
Dietary Fiber	24		%
Sodium	1		%
Vitamin A	0		%
Vitamin C	0		%
Calcium	6		%
Iron	15		%
Protein	7		Grams
Sugar	8		Grams

Ingredients
Rolled/flaked Barley	1 cup
Rolled/flaked Oats	1 cup
Rolled/flaked wheat (optional)	1 cup
Corn flakes (plain)	1 cup
Flax seeds	1/2 cup
Sunflower seeds (Optional)	1/2 cup
Chopped Almonds	1/4 cup
Raisins (Optional)	1/4 cup
mixture of dried fruits of your choice	1/4 cup

You can mix all the above ingredients and store it in an air tight container. You can add your choice of fresh fruits to your breakfast bowl with Muesli and have it with either milk or yoghurt.

Vegetable Rice

My first post Finally!! I cannot start my blog with a better post than this. This Vegetable rice is my family's favorite.

It is a myth that you have to stop eating rice to lose weight. You can indulge in rice dishes even when you are on diet as long as you choose the right dish. Here is a rice recipe which will satisfy your cravings for rice and also is of less calories.

I usually prefer having such dishes as dinner since I get a Good night's sleep after a hearty meal. You can try it sometime and if you like it, you can bookmark it for future.

Nutritional Information
Energy	200		Calories
Fat	4		%
Carbohydrate	11		%
Dietary Fiber	14		%
Sodium	22		%
Vitamin A	0		%
Vitamin C	15		%
Calcium	3		%
Iron	9		%
Protein	4.37		Grams
Sugar	2.49		Grams

Ingredients
Carrots chopped	2
Onion chopped	1
Green Beans chopped	1/2 cup
Egg Plant chopped	1 whole
Any other Veggies of your choice	1 cup
Garlic Minced	4-5
Green Chillies chopped	4
Jasmine Rice (Or any rice)	Half cup
Chilli Powder	1 tsp
Coriander Powder (Optional)	1 tsp
Garam masala (Optional)	1/2 tsp
Tumeric Powder	A pinch
Salt	to taste
To Temper
Cumin seeds	1/2 tsp
Fennel seeds	1/2 tsp
Cloves	3-4
Cardamom	2
Bay Leaf	1
Oil	2 tsps

• Cut the vegetables and keep aside. In a cooker or a pot, add oil and wait till it gets hot. 
• Once the oil is hot, add the ingredients listed under "To Temper" and fry for 2 minutes. 
• Once the aroma of the spices develop, add the onions and green chillies and fry till the onion looks transparent.
• Add all the veggies and garlic and fry for another 2 minutes. 
• Add chilli powder and tumeric powder and mix well. You can also add Garam masala and Coriander powder for rich taste.
• Add 3/4 cup of water and salt to taste. 
• Once the mixture starts boiling, add Rice, mix and close the lid. 
• If you are using a pressure cooker, You can take it down after 1 whistle and if you are using a pot, you can check if the rice is cooked after 15 minutes.

Serve hot with cucumber raita.