Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Healthy Bite



The groundwork of all happiness is health
~~ James Leigh Hunt, an English critic, essayist, poet and writer

“Healthy” is a word of this century. You hear it almost everyday from who ever you meet & greet. It seems as though everyone is trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
It made me think what exactly it means to me & how can I be one. There are some inevitable things that we can’t control so leaving them behind here are some things I want to follow myself.
  1.    Including fruits, Vegies & grains in my diet
  2.    Consuming minimum 8 glasses of water
  3.    A 1-hour workout daily or 5days a week.
  4.    Keeping calm & quiet even when you feel like sharing a piece of your mind with others.
A simple equation can define as
Good food habits + Work out + self-care = Healthy.



Coming to the event it concentrates on recipes, which are healthy & nutritious. The food that has less saturated fat, trans fat & sugars are the least welcome recipes to the event.
  1. Vegan & vegetarian recipes only.
  2. Post it in your blog and link back the recipe to my event.
  3. Use of logo is appreciated.
  4. Can link in multiple entries.
  5. Event ends on 31 August 2013.
  6. For any queries you can just leave a comment on my facebook page Ammaji Recipes or do mail me. 

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Kattu Pongal with Quinoa | Khara Pongal with Keenwah | Quinoa Ven Pongal

Ven pongl is a well know break fast dish in south India.It's a combination of rice & moong dal with a kick of black pepper to it.I'm gonna share a little healthy version of pongal made of quinoa & dal here.The texture looks dry & you can change it to a creamy one by adding a little extra water while cooking. 


2 Servings 
Ingredients
1 Cup dry quinoa
1/2 Cup moong dal 
1/2 Cup coconut powder
1&1/2 Cup water 
Salt 
Seasoning
1 Tbs mustard seeds 
1 Tbs Jeera
2 Tbs ghee or butter
1 Tbs chopped or grated ginger
2 Tbs black pepper powder
2 Red chili's 
2 Tbs peanuts
Few curry leaves 


In a pressure cooker take quinoa, dal, coconut & salt with 1& 1/2 cups of water. Cook it for 2 whistles & switch off heat.
Heat a pan with butter. To that add peanuts and fry them for few seconds & to that add mustard seeds, jeera, ginger, pepper powder red chilis & curry leaves. Fry them till mustard starts jumping & off heat.
Now transfer the contents directly to pan while it is hot & mix well with the seasoning.
Allow it to sit for ten minutes & serve with chutney.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Non-fat Yogurt Mango Parfait

Yogurt, which is also an Indian staple, is loaded with calcium, protein & vitamins. It’s nutritious & filled with health benefits. In India it's also believed that consuming yogurt drinks on hot summer days will cool your body temps. 
This recipe is made of non-fat yogurt, which is also believed that consuming a non-fat yogurt will help in your weight loss. So with this little intro I'm getting to the recipe, which I'm here to share.


Ingredients 
Serves:2
2 Ripe mangos pulp
2 Cups non-fat yogurt 
2 Tbs sliced almonds
Few mango pieces for garnish


Arranging parfait is very easy. In first step take a bowl or a glass first lay the mango pulp as base then on top off it with yogurt. Sprinkle few almonds, which will give a nice crunch for the yogurt & repeat the process till the bowl or glass filled.




Once you have arranged your parfait add the mango pieces & sprinkle the almonds on top. Now refrigerate it & serve it chill. 


Note:
For full flavor you can replace non-fat with a full fat yogurt.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Paneer Mutter Sabji | Paneer Peas Curry

This is a easy to go recipe for busy mornings & lazy evenings. The pressure cook method reduces the minimum time to about 15 mins & also assured that it's done perfectly.


Ingredients
1 Medium onion diced
2 Tomatoes chopped
1/2 Cup green peas/mutter
10 Cubes paneer 
2 Cloves 
1 Elachi / Cardamon 
Small pies of Cinnamon
1 Tbs ginger garlic
1 Tsp red chili powder
1 Tsp garam masala
Pinch of turmeric
1 Tbs butter 
1/2 cup water 
1/2 Tsp mustard seeds
1 Tsp sugar (optional)
Pressure cooker


Heat a pressure cooker with butter. Add in mustard,cloves,cinnamon & elachi. Next add ginger garlic paste & onions. Fry that for 1min & next comes tomatoes & mutter. Top them with garam masala powder, turmeric, chili powder, salt & water.Close cooker with a lid & cook for 2 whistles.Switch off heat & allow it to cool for 5 mins.
Mean while fry paneer in a nonstick pan till lite crisp (that way you don't have to add some more oil to it).Now remove the lid of cooker & add paneer & sugar to it. Cook for 2 mins on low heat & switch off heat. 


Note : 
1. You can avoid frying paneer & save some time there. 
2. Adding sugar is totally to balance the taste. So it's optional.