Sprouted Ground Nut Salad

Including sprouted cereals in your meal provides all the essential vitamins and minerals that you need for leading a healthy life.

All edible grains, seeds and legumes can be sprouted except for some grains and seeds may take longer time to sprout.

While sprouting, the contents of vitamins, minerals and protein in the seed increase substantially while the caloric value and carbohydrate content decrease.

Here I have used organic ground nut and allowed them to sprout. This salad can be taken with tea as an evening snack.

Ingredients:

• One cup of sprouted ground nut
• One onion
• 1/2 capsicum
• 1/2 cucumber
• One piece of raw mango
• One tomato
• One small carrot
• One small cup of pomegranate pearls
• One tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp pepper powder
• One tsp lemon juice
• Salt  as required

For Garnishing

• Few coriander leaves

Method

1. Cook sprouted ground nut with enough salt and water till it becomes soft.
2. Allow it to cool and strain the excess water and keep it aside.
3. Cut onion, capsicum, cucumber, raw mango, carrot and tomato into thin strips.
4. In a  large bowl, mix cooked ground nut, all the vegetables, pomegranate pearls, chilli powder, pepper powder, lemon juice and salt.
5. Mix well and garnish with coriander leaves.
6. Serve with tea or coffee as an evening snack.

JFI August Entry 2: Senna Auriculata ( Avaram flower) Extract

This my second entry to Jhiva for this month.

Senna auriculata/Avaram flower(Tamil equivalent) is an evergreen Indian shrub with bright yellow flowers.You can find this flower in the market after rainy season( in the month of December). The flowers and buds are used as a substitute  for tea in case of diabetes.

The dried flowers can be preserved and can be used  through out the year.

Drinking this flower extract daily on an empty stomach will help to control  blood sugar level.

Method for making the extract

1. In a bowl, take 11/2 glass of water.
2. Add the hand full of flowers.
3. Let it boil in a high flame for 10 minutes.
4. Allow it to cool and using strainer, extract the juice of the flower.
5. Drink on an empty stomach in the morning daily.

JFI August Entry1 :Power Syrup

This my first entry to Jhiva for this month. I thank Rachna for hosting and I admire the idea of choosing edible flowers as an ingredient.

Many flowers are edible. But proper identification is essential in choosing the flowers.

Hibiscus plant is one of the most famous plant found everywhere. The flowers come in different colours and have lot of medicinal values. The chemicals in a Hibiscus flower helps for hair growth. It reduces dandruff and restores your hair colour. Moreover it gives coolant effect to the body. The juice from these leaves and flowers can regularize the menstrual cycle for women. This flower improves digestion. Tea brewed with hibiscus flowers is said to help in  controlling nausea.

Here I prepared this juice using red colour hibiscus flower and lemon.

Ingredient for making syrup

• 10 Hibiscus flowers
• 4 lemon
• 1tsp sugar free powder
• 1/4 tsp Black salt

Method for making the extract

1. Remove the petals from the Hibiscus flower and wash thoroughly.
2. Cut the petals into small pieces.
3. Take an extract of lemon
4. In a bowl, soak the petal pieces in lemon juice.
5. Keep it in the sunlight for 3 to 4 hours.
6. After taking from the sunlight, keep it in the fridge
7. The next day strain the  mixture using strainer.
8. Store the extract in a bottle in the fridge.

Preparation of Power syrup

1. Take a glass of cold water.
2. Add 1 to 2 tsp of extract according to the taste.
3. Add 3/4 tsp sugarfree powder.
4. Add 1/4 tsp black salt.
5. Stir well and serve chilled.

Note: For non-diabetics, sugar syrup can be used for making the juice.

Ragi Spaghetti in Garlic Sauce

Ragi spaghetti is an ideal dish to be taken during breakfast. It is easily digestable and very simple to make. As I already mentioned  earlier, Ragi is highly nutritious and rich in iron, calcium and protein.

Spaghetti is a kind of pasta popular in Italian cuisine. It is a long, thin, cylindrical pasta made of semolina and water. My American neigbour and friend got this ragi spaghetti from Auroville. I used garlic sauce to go with ragi spaghetti. It turned out well and tastes yummy.

Those who are on diet and diabetic patients, can be taken ragi spaghetti once in 15 days.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 150 gms of Ragi spaghetti
• One medium sized onion (finely chopped)
• 10 to 12 flakes of garlic (finely chopped0
• one small cup of tomato puree
• 1 tsp chilli sauce
• 2 tsp soya sauce
• 1 tsp white pepper powder
• 1 tsp garam masala powder
• 1 tsp Vinegar
• 2 tsp olive oil
• Salt as required

How to cook spaghetti

1. In a kadai, put enough water, salt and one tsp oil.
2. When water starts boiling, add spaghetti.
3. Cook till it becomes soft.
4. Rinse the cooked spaghetti in the cold water to remove starch.
5. Strain the water and keep the spaghetti in the strainer for 15 minutes ( the water should be drained completely).

Now the spaghetti is ready.

Preparation of Garlic sauce

1. In a frying pan, heat 2 tsps of oil.
2. Add chopped onion and garlic
3. Fry till the onion becomes soft.
4. Add tomato puree and fry  for 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Add soya sauce and chilli sauce and fry for a while.
6. Add vinegar, garam masala powder, pepper powder and salt and fry for a minute.

Now the sauce is ready.

Method for making the dish

1. In a frying pan, heat one tsp oil.
2. Add cooked spaghetti, garlic sauce and salt ( if needed).
3. Mix well and serve hot.

Note: Take care that the sauce is not too dilute. Otherwise  the spaghetti becomes soggy  when you add the sauce.

Chow chow(Chayote Squash) Bhaji

Ingredients

• One cup of chopped chow chow
• One finely chopped onion
• One tomato
• One green chilli
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp daniya powder
• 1/2 tsp asafoetida
• 1tsp cooking oil
• Salt to taste

For seasoning

• 1/2 tsp mustard
• 1/2 tsp jeera
• Few curry leaves

For Garnishing

• Few coriander leaves

Method

1. In a kadai, put one tsp oil.
2. Add mustard and jeera. Let it splutter.
3. Add chopped onion and curry leaves and fry till the onion becomes soft.
4. Add the chopped chow chow,turmeric powder,asafoetida, salt and enough water.
5. Cover the kadai with a lid till the chow chow gets completely cooked.
6. Add daniya powder and fry for a while.
7. Grind tomato and green chilli and add the ground mixture to the cooked chow chow.
8. Fry till the raw smell of tomato disappears.
9. Garnish with coriander leaves.
10. Serve hot with rotis.

Quinoa Delight

Last week my American neighbour, got me quinoa and suggested that I make some dish using this.  I googled a lot for quinoa and found interesting information and recipes on the web.

I got to know that Quinoa is rich in protein and complex carbohydrates, low in fat, rich in vitamins and minerals than any other grain. It is highly nutritious and can supply us with all of the body requirements. 

I wanted to cook Quinoa in such a way that it would suit our palate. So what I did was I cooked Quinoa just as I cook rice, added a combination of vegetables and tossed it with olive oil, salt, pepper and soya sauce.

Before I give you the recipe, here is a short note on how to cook Quinoa.

How to cook Quinoa

In a bowl, soak Quinoa for 15 minutes. If you dont have time for soaking, soak in a hot water for 5 minutes. Rinse Quinoa two or three times, until the rinse water is clear.

For one cup of Quinoa, add 2 cups of water. Pressure cook the Quinoa just you make rice.Allow the whistle to come and sim it for 10 minutes. Fluff gently with a flat spoon so that it wont stick together.

Now comes the recipe for you.

Ingredients

• One cup of Quinoa
• One finely chopped onion
• One finely chopped capsicum
• One small cup of broccoli florets
• One piece of shredded purple cabbage
• One chopped carrot
• 6or 7 chopped beans
• One small cup of peas
• One slit green chilli
• 2 tsp soya sauce
• 1/2 tsp pepper powder
• 11/2 tsp olive oil
• Salt to taste

Method

1. In a pressure cooker cook quinoa with enough water.
2. Remove the weight after the pressure gets released.
3. Fluff gently with a flat spoon and keep it aside.
4. Cook vegetables like carrot, beans, peas and broccoli with enough salt and water till it gets half cooked.
5. In a frying pan, heat oil.
6. Add chopped onion and green chilli and stir fry for 2 minutes.
7. Add the cabbage, capsicum and fry in a high flame for 5 minutes.
8. Add the cooked vegetables and continue stir fry for 2 to 3 minutes.
9. Add soya sauce, salt and pepper powder.
10. Add the cooked quinoa and mix well.
11. Serve hot with any spicy vegetable side dish.