Ragi/nachini Nul puttu/noodles.

 The nul puttu is one of my personal favorites for breakfast, served with steaming kadala curry or masala curry.  One would have it with steamed kerala bananas as well.

 In the quest to add more grains to the diet, wanted to do something with nachini or ragi/the finger millet.
 Tried this recipe out and came out quite fine.

Coconut chutney

No south indian breakfast is truly complete without the coconut chutney!

Ingredients:
1 cup coconut, grated.
3-4 twigs of curry leaves.
1 tbp roasted chana/gram
1 dry red chilli
1 tsp mustard.
Salt to taste

Grind all of them together except the mustard seeds.


Now is the interesting part! The tempering without oil!  The same method is used in the sambhar and many other recipes.
Heat a small thick bottom pan.

When sufficiently hot, add the mustard seeds.
Keep stirring, till they splutter.

Make the gas low and add the chilli

and the curry leaves.

Stirr just a bit and then pour over the chutney mix.

Serve with hot red rice idlis!

Red rice Idli

The Idli is a well-known breakfast preparation, healthy and fat free.
Can it be made more healthy?
Yes!
White rice used in the popular idli or dosa batter is equivalent to maida or white flour.
Now you know why we can and need to make this staple breakfast item even more healthier.
And it infact makes it even more tastier!

Ingredients:
1 cup whole udad/black gram
3 cups red rice.
Salt to taste.

Soak separately for around 5 hours.

Grind the udad first.

Then in the same jar, grind the rice.

Mix the rice batter into the udad batter.

Close lightly and let it stay overnight.
It would have risen a bit.
Stir it once again, adding salt in.

Prepare the idli moulds by sprinkling a little cold water.

Meanwhile, keep the bottom vessel with water on the stove.

Pour spoonfuls of batter into each idli mould with just enough space for it to rice.

Place into the steamer.
Let steam for about 10 to 15 min.
Check in between to see if it ready. Can use a spoon to prick through to see if it comes out clean.

The idlis are ready, they would have risen a bit and the spoon would be coming out clean.

Use the blunt end of the spoon to scoop the idlis out.

Serve with Sambhar and chutney.

You may dunk them in the sambhar as well!!  If dunking, make sure the sambhar has more water added while boiling.

Dill, mint, curry leaves green smoothie

 Another in the series of wholesome goodness for the morning.
A green smoothie with Dill leaves.
Normally I dont like dill leaves in cooked form, but wanted to try in  raw form.

Ingredients:
handful of dill leaves, fresh and green.
three twigs of curry leaves.
half a handful of mint leaves.
three bananas.

Blend together, adding one ingredient at a time.
Makes two glassfuls.

The healthy Nutella

Who does not love nutella!
But did you know that the brand nutella is filled with preservatives and milk and pus cells!
Yuk!

Worry not, we have a healthy version just for your children and for the child within you!

 Ingredients:

2 cups of cashewnuts
1/2 cup to 1 cup deseeded dates depending on how sweet you want it to be.
2 tsp of cocoa powder. (I had cadbury's cocoa powder with me, so used that one.  The richer the cocoa powder, the better the nutella.)
a pinch of salt if desired.
About 1/2 a cup of water or less for grinding.

 Process:

Roast the cashewnuts in a thickbottom pan till they turn slightly  golden.
Mash up the dates with hand to make it smooth and doughy.

Blend all the ingredients in a  blender.
The more powerful the blender the smoother the nutella!
Mine came out a bit lumpy.

If the blender is smooth you might not need any water at all!
If not then add water as required, checking for consistency.

Enjoy!

Lentils pancake/crepe or adai.

 A south indian breakfast or tiffin item, made wholesome and healthy.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup soy beans
1/2 cup chana or chana dal (Bengal gram)
1/2 cup whole moong (green gram)
1/2 cup whole chowli (black eye peas/cowpea)
1/2 cup brown rice.

For grinding:
1 large onion
1 bunch of curry leaves
2 red chillies--dried (can use green chillies if preferred )
A pinch of hing (asafoetida)
Rock salt or sea salt as per taste.

Procedure:
Soak all the legumes and rice together, overnight.

 


Grind them together with the onion, curry leaves, salt, chillies and asafoetida.

Heat up a thick iron tava/pan.  When hot enough, pour a tablespoon full and make into a dosa/crepe/pancake.

Cover with a lid.  The steam will make sure the dosa/adai doesnt stick.

Flip and roast the other side till slightly brown.
Serve with coconut chutney.

Recipe for the chutney shown here:
Ingredients:
1/2 a coconut shredded.
1/2 cup roasted chana (bengal gram without the skin)
1 red chilli
pinch of salt
1/2 inch of ginger

Grind them together with a bit of water.  (I skipped the water to make a drier version of the chutney as this was to be packed for school tiffin)

This is a high-protein, gluten-free and oil free vegan snack.  Can be had as breakfast as well.
Since all the ingredients used are organic and whole, the fiber content makes it more satiating and the nutrients get released in a sustainable fashion into the blood stream. 
Safe for diabetics, those with hormone imbalances, and cholesterol issues.

Easy Peanut laddoo

The easy Peanut Laddoo:

With schools about to reopen, the question of the school snack puts many a mommie brain into overdrive.

This is what mine came up with.  True to its style, it picks up all the easy, yet yummy and healthy ideas!

Ingredients:
2 cups roasted peanuts with the thin skin intact.
1 cup dates- deseeded and cut into small pieces.
1/2 tsp dry ginger powder
4 cardamom.

Procedure:
1.  Powder the peanuts.
2. Add the cardamon (with skin) and dry ginger powder.  Blend.

3. Blend the dates in a separate jar.
4.  Add in the peanut powder mix and blend in.
5. Shape into laddoos.

Stays without refrigeration for about a week.