Wish you all a very happy new year. Hope you all have a healthy, peaceful and prosperous year.
I am not going to make any promises on this blog, because I was not able to keep any of them in 2011! On the bright side, Pappa had his medical checkup last week and his results were better- which was such a big relief for us. Thank you for your prayers.
As much as I love the snow, I am totally enjoying the not-so-cold winter this year. We had temperatures in 60s yesterday. We could walk in light jackets(there was a slight windchill). We welcomed the new year at a friend’s place, with a potluck. It was fun.
For last few weeks, I have been making a conscious effort to prepare and eat healthy dishes. My idlis/dosas now have brown rice in them, I use whole grain bread, almost no butter/ghee in the dishes, more soups and fruits. Everyday I make an effort to look for new healthy dishes.
Here is one soup that I have been making for a while. I make these kind of soups once a week for lunch.
Ingredients: 1 cup soaked chickpeas(garbanzo beans) 1/2 cup barley 2 cups vegetables – corn, zucchini, carrot, green beans, green peas, celery 1 cup tomatoes 2 tbl spns coriander leaves 1/2 tea spn cumin powder 1/2 tea spn chilli powder 1 tea spn chopped garlic Salt
Method: Mix all the ingredients, add 2 cups of water (or vegetable/chicken stock). Pressure cook them for about 4 whistles till everything is cooked through. Once cooked slightly mash the contents with a spoon (optional step). Serve hot.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 30mins (if using pressure cooker)
PS: Most of the times I use rice cooker to make this. It comes out really well and you don’t have to keep an eye on it. Once done, I leave it on warm mode, so that we can enjoy warm soup whenever we want.
Pictorial:
In coastal Karnataka, we find Papaya trees in almost all the courtyards of the houses. We like ripe papaya fruit. It is full of A vitamin. As raw, it is used as a vegetable in many dishes.
We use the half ripe ones for preparing these khadis. My grandmother used to prepare these khadis very often and we liked them very much. I used to make them a lot when my children were small.
Ingredients: 2 cups grated papaya Sugar 1/2 tea spn cardamom powder Ghee
Method: In a thick bottomed pan, cook grated papaya with 2 – 3 tablespoon water. When papaya is cooked, measure it with a cup. Use quantity of sugar (If the cooked papaya is 1 cup, use 1 cup sugar) and continue cooking on a low flame. Keep stirring to avoid sticking to the bottom. Cook till the mixture becomes dry and the ends get whitish color. Take off the heat. Add cardamom powder. Grease a plate with ghee and spread the mixture with the help of a rolling pin (apply ghee to the rolling pin to avoid sticking) Allow the mixture to cool. Cut into desired shape and store in an airtight container.
Pictorial:
