Sweet potato parathas

Ingredients: - For 7 small parathas

Sweet potatoes - 2 big, boiled, peeled and mashed(250 gms)

Sugar   - ¾ cup

Water   - 3 tbsps

Cardamom powder      - ½ tsp

Wheat flour      - 150 gms

Ghee

Method:

Knead every thing together into smooth dough and make parathas. Serve with ghee.

Recipe: Courtesy Dr. Anisha Goel

Lauki (bottle gourd) kheer

Lauki or dudhi is 90% water and is easy to digest. It has a calming and cooling effect. Lauki juice reduces blood pressure and keeps the heart healthy. According to Ayurveda, it reduces liver inflammation.

Ingredients:

Lauki   - 500 gms

Sugar  - ½ cup

Milk     - 1 liter

Ghee   - 1 tbsp

Cardamom powder  - ¼ tsp

Nutmeg powder         - ¼ tsp

Cashew nuts

Raisins

Method:

Heat the milk with some malai and let it simmer and thicken. Peel and grate the lauki. Heat a pan, add 1 tablespoon ghee and toss in the grated lauki. Reduce the flame and stir the lauki. Cover and let it cook.

By the time the lauki is cooked, the milk will be thickened. Take it off the flame and mix in the lauki. Keep on low flame and add the sugar, raisins, cardamom and nutmeg powder. Simmer for another five minutes and add cashew nuts fried in a little ghee. It is a delicious, low calorie sweet dish

Mung dal (green gram dal) halwa

Ingredients;

Mung dal        - 1 cup

Sugar  - 1 cup

Water  - 4 cups

Cardamom powder  - ½ tsp

Raisins           - 1 tbsp

Cashew nuts  -1 tbsp

Ghee   - ¾ cup

Method;

Powder the mung dal in mixer. 

Heat ghee in a pan, add the powdered mung dal and reduce the flame. 

Keep stirring till the color changes to light brown. 

Add sugar, stir for a while and add the water and raisins. 

Cover and let it cook on low flame, occasionally stirring it. When it is quite thick, add cardamom powder, stir well and remove from fire. The cashew nuts can be fried in a little ghee and mixed in.

Jowar dosa

Jowar is the Indian name for sorghum (white millet), a cereal grain native to Africa.  It has a higher content of calcium when compared to rice and wheat, .Jowar is a gluten-free, high-protein, cholesterol-free source of a variety of essential nutrients, including dietary fiber, iron, phosphorus and thiamine. It is considered a weight loss food item.

Ingredients;

Jowar  - 1 cup

Udad dal        - ¼ cup

Rice rava        -3/4 cup

Salt to taste

Water

Method:

Soak jowar and udad dal for 12 hours and grind. Just before grinding, soak rice rava in water.

After grinding the jowar and udad dal, add salt and the drained rice rava into the mixer. Run the mixer just to blend the rice rava well into the jowar dal mix. Don’t do it for long time.

Leave overnight for fermentation. Mix well, add water if necessary to make into a thick batter. Make dosas and serve with coconut chutney.

Puttu

Puttu is a very popular breakfast in Kerala. It takes very little time and attention to prepare. My mother was a working woman, so throughout our childhood, we had puttu for breakfast on working days. Week ends were for dosa or appam. In spite of eating it on every single working day for many years, it is still a favorite dish of mine, so much so that my husband calls me fondly ‘Puttu swami.’

This is a very versatile dish too; you can make puttu with rice flour, wheat flour, semolina, ragi flour, and maize flour. Each has its own distinct flavor! You can have puttu with ghee, sugar & plantains, or green gram boiled and seasoned (add papadams too), or black chana (kadala)curry.

Ingredients:

 Rice flour         - 11/2 cup

 Freshly scraped coconut          - ½ cup (you may substitute it with desiccated coconut filings)

 Salt                                         - to taste

 Hot water                                - roughly 1/4 cup

Method:

Mix the rice flour well with salt and ¼ cup coconut scrapings. Add water little by little, keep on mixing this into the flour with finger tips till you get a crumbly texture. The flour should get moistened uniformly, but should not get sticky. To check the consistency, take a pinch of the flour between your thumb and fore finger and press it. It should hold a flattened shape, but again crumble down when you roll it between the thumb and forefinger.

You should have a puttu steamer to cook.

Put the pot and steamer on fire and when the water boils and steam starts coming out, reduce the flame, take out the steamer, sprinkle coconut scrapings inside to form the bottom layer. Add ladlefuls of the prepared flour halfway through. Now add another layer of coconut scrapings, again flour. Finally, add another layer of coconut. Put the lid on and replace the steamer over the pot and increase the flame. When the steam starts coming out through the top of the steamer, reduce the flame and let it cook for ten minutes.

 Unmould puttu by pressing through the mould gently using the stem of a spatula.

Maize puttu with green gram:

10 April 2020
There was American corn at home today. Grated this and added to the maize flour while making puttu. It blended beautifully and imparted a nice aroma to the puttu.