Namaste, children. I hope you tried out my last five recipes to make your child's bones stronger. Did they like it? Children always like anything new. But we do not have the time to make them interesting food all the time. How can we? In the morning, they will not get up at all. You have to keep waking them up every five minutes, so how you cannot even be in the kitchen then. Only when they finally go to the bathroom you will have time. But before you can finish the preparations for your chole or paratha, the school bus is already pressing the horn in front of your gate.
Do not worry.
1.
Channa sundal:
Ingredients
·
½ cup channa or chickpeas
·
2.5 to 3 cups water for pressure cooking the channa
·
¾ tsp black mustard seeds
·
¾ tsp urad dal/spilt & skinned black gram
·
1 green chili, chopped
·
1 dry red chili, kept whole or halved & deseeded
·
a pinch of asafoetida/hing (optional)
·
1 to 2 tbsp grated fresh coconut
·
10 to 12 curry leaves/kadi patta
·
few drops of lemon juice (optional)
·
1 tbsp coconut oil or peanut oil
·
rock salt as required
Procedure
1.
Soak the channa overnight.
2.
Next day, add salt into the same soaked water, and cook the channa in a pressure cooker.
3.
Strain and keep aside.
4.
Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds and urad dal. Let the mustard seeds crackle and the urad dal brown.
5.
Immediately, add the curry leaves, red chilies and asafoetida. Fry for 10-15 seconds.
6.
Now, add the cooked channa and salt. Saute for 4-5 minutes on a low to medium flame.
7.
Switch off the flame and add the coconut. Sprinkle the lemon juice. Stir well.
8.
Pack with chapatis.
2.
Ven Pongal:
Main ingredients
·
½ cup regular (not basmati) rice, 100 grams
·
¼ cup moong dal, 60 grams
·
½ tsp cumin seeds, lightly crushed
·
⅛ tsp asafeotida/hing
·
1 inch ginger, chopped or 1 tsp heaped chopped ginger
·
3 to 3.25 cups water or add as required
·
salt as required
For tempering
·
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
·
1 tsp black pepper, whole or crushed
·
1 sprig curry leaves/kadi patta
·
10 to 12 cashews, whole or halved
·
2 to 3 tbsp ghee
Procedure
Cooking rice & moong lentils:
1.
Heat a small pan or a small kadai and add the moong lentils. Stir on low flame. Don't brown. Set aside after it becomes aromatic.
2.
Add ½ cup rice in the bowl containing the roasted moong dal.
3.
Rinse both rice and roasted moong dal a couple of times with water.
4.
Drain well and then add them in a pressure cooker.
5.
Now add the following ingredients - ½ tsp cumin seeds, ⅛ tsp asafeotida/hing, 1 tsp heaped chopped ginger. Also add salt to taste. Crush the cumin seeds in the palms of your hands and then add.
6.
Pour 3 to 3.25 cups water.
7.
Pressure cook on a medium to high flame for 7 to 8 whistles or 11 to 12 minutes.
8.
Let the pressure settle. Remove lid to check consistency. If the pongal has a consistency like that of pulao, then add ½ to 1 cup hot water and mix well. Both the rice and the moong dal should be cooked. if
9.
Cover with the lid and keep aside.
Tempering:
1.
In another small pan, heat 2 to 3 tbsp ghee.
2.
Add 1 tsp cumin seeds. Let them splutter.
3.
Then add 10 to 12 cashews and fry till they become light golden.
4.
Add 1 tsp black pepper and 10 to 12 curry leaves.
5.
Fry till the curry leaves become crisp.
6.
Now pour this entire tempering onto the pongal.
7.
Mix well.
8.
Cover with the lid and keep aside for 5 to 6 minutes. This allows the tempering flavors to infuse with the pongal and the aroma to stay in.
3.
Milk poha
Ingredients
·
⅓ cup thick or thin poha
·
1 to 2 tablespoons chopped or grated organic jaggery or jaggery powder
·
1 small to medium banana, chopped
·
⅓ cup warm milk
·
1 tablespoon grated coconut
Procedure
1.
In a strainer, rinse ⅓ cup poha in water a couple of times. Strain well and keep aside.
2.
Now peel and slice 1 banana into a small bowl.
3.
Add 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped or crumbled/grated jiggery over it.
4.
Add the poha.
5.
Pack ⅓ cup warm milk in a Tupperware dabba. Tell your child to pour it on poha just before eating.
4.
Idli upma
Ingredients
·
5 to 6 idlis, crumbled
·
1 tablespoon oil
·
½ teaspoon mustard seeds/rai
·
½ teaspoon cumin seeds/jeera
·
½ teaspoon urad dal/split husked bengal gram
·
5 to 6 curry leaves/kadi patta, chopped or kept whole
·
½ teaspoon finely chopped ginger/adrak
·
1 green chili, chopped
·
1 dry red chili
·
a pinch of asafoetida/hing, optional
·
1 small onion, chopped
·
salt as required
·
1 to 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves/dhania patta
Procedure
1.
Crumble 5 to 6 idlis and keep aside.
2.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan. Add ½ teaspoon mustard seeds and let it crackle.
3.
Add ½ teaspoon urad dal & ½ teaspoon cumin seeds. Saute till the urad dal turns golden.
4.
Add 5 to 6 curry leaves (chopped or kept whole), ½ teaspoon finely chopped ginger, 1 dry red chilli, 1 green chili (chopped) and a pinch of asafoetida.
5.
Stir and then add ¼ cup chopped onion. Saute till it turns translucent.
6.
Add the crumbled idli and some salt.
7.
Saute for a minute or two.
8.
Switch off the flame. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves and some grated coconut.
9.
Mix again.
5.
Cabbage poriyal
Ingredients
·
4 cups tightly packed chopped or shredded cabbage
·
2 tbsp sesame oil
·
6 to 7 pearl onions or shallots
·
1 to 2 green chilies, chopped
·
10 to 12 curry leaves/kadi patta
·
½ tsp mustard seeds
·
1 tsp urad dal/husked split black gram
·
¼ tsp turmeric powder/haldi
·
a pinch of asafoetida/hing
·
¼ cup water or as required
·
3 to 4 tbsp grated fresh coconut
·
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves/dhania patta
·
salt as required
Procedure
1.
Heat 2 tbsp sesame oil or any oil (sunflower, peanut or safflower oil) in a shallow pan. Lower the flame and add ½ tsp mustard seeds and crackle them.
2.
Add 1 tsp urad dal/husked split black gram. And saute till it starts changing color.
3.
Then add ¼ cup sliced pearl onions (sambar onions) or shallots, 10 to 12 curry leaves and 1 to 2 green chilies, chopped. Saute for a minute.
4.
Then add ¼ tsp turmeric powder and a pinch of asafoetida. Stir well.
5.
Add the shredded cabbage and salt to taste. Stir well.
6.
Add ¼ cup water and stir again.
7.
Then, cover the pan with a tight lid. On a low flame simmer the cabbage till it is cooked. Stir every 5 to 6 minutes.
8.
If the water has dried up and the cabbage is not cooked, sprinkle some more water. Cover and continue to cook till cabbage becomes tender the water evaporates.
9.
Then, add 3 tbsp grated coconut, 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves. Stir and pack with chapatis.
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