Stuffed Bitter gourd

Here comes the dreaded karela.
Well, not really.  I love the karela the way mom used to make it.  Sliced in rounds, steamed and then drizzled with coconut oil and fried.  The catch is, it does not taste well without the generous drizzle of coconut oil!

Scouting for a recipe, which can be converted into a no oil version, I came upon this.

Ingredients:
Half a kg of Bitter gourd/karela

for filling:
1 tbspn besan/gram flour
1 tbspn dried coconut powder
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp rock salt
1/2 powdered jaggery
1 tsp dry mango powder.

Process:
Clean the karela.
Cut off the ends.
Slit it lengthwise.

Mix all the stuffing ingredients together.
Stuff it into the karela using your fingers.  While doing so seperate the seeds and push them along with the stuffing. They remain detached from the walls but still inside the karela.

Carefully place them into the steaming vessel, making sure to face the slit sides upwards.  If needed one can use a thread to wrap the karela.  But the besan makes sure it holds well even without the thread.
Steam them for about 5 to 10 minutes, checking to make sure they dont get too soggy.

Makes a good side dish.
Or for karela lovers, this is a snack in itself!

Dal Palak

This is my favorite palak recipe.
 I try and limit the spinach intake to not more than twice a week, alternate weeks, either in smoothie form or otherwise.

 Ingredients:
1 bunch palak/spinach.
1 cup of moong dal/ green gram without skin.
1/2 inch ginger
1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
2 to 4 green chillies
1 tsp turmeric
rock salt or sea salt to taste.

 Process:
Clean and chop the spinach leaves, along with the clean part of the stems.
Boil it with the ginger, the green chillies and a few garlic cloves (Optional) with minimum water. If you keep the lid closed, the water from the spinach will be enough to boil the vegetables.
Once boiled and cooled, put it through the mixie to make a smooth blend.
Boil the dal separately with 1 1/2 cups of water and 1/2 tsp turmeric.

 Heat a thick bottomed pan.  Add the mustard, cumin seeds.  when they splutter add the rest of the turmeric and then immediately add the boiled dal.  Mash it with a ladle.

 Add in the palak mix.  Add in the salt.

 And it is ready to serve.

Goes well with brown rice, or chaptis, or bhakris.
Can add more water to the recipe to make it into a spinach/lentil soup.

Vegan cheese cracker

Well, though I have named this cracker, it tastes more like the Monaco, without the oil, milk solids and preservatives!

Recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup roasted peanuts
1 cup dry coconut powder
1 to 2 cups of wholewheat flour
1 small onion, finely sliced (can use onion powder if available)
1 tsp rock salt (or as per taste)
1 tbp black pepper
1/2 tsp yeast slightly heated to make inactive. ( Can use nutritional yeast instead.)
1/2 tsp cane syrup or date syrup (optional)

Procedure:

1.  In a mixie jar, grind together the peanuts and the sliced onion.  Add water as needed to make smooth paste.  Then add the yeast.

 2. Slightly grind the pepper pods.

 Measure the dry coconut powder and keep it ready.

3.  Add the pepper, salt, and coconut to the earlier mix.

4.  Grind all of them together.  Then add in the flour to make a soft dough.  Beat it well.

Then make small balls and roll out the dough.

 5.  Use a fancy cutter to cut out beautiful shapes.  I have used a playdough cutter which we had lying around!

 Makes beautiful flowery shapes.

6.  Preheat the oven at 250 degrees for 15 minutes.
Place the flowers on a baking tray.  I do not use aluminum sheets.  These have enough oil from the peanuts and coconut to prevent sticking.  But if your dough is too sticky you may dust the tray with flour or peanut powder, or sesame seeds before placing the crackers in.

7.  Bake the crackers for 15 minutes or till slightly brown.

The crackers have a cute center formed due to raising while baking!  Didnt see that coming!
What a pleasant surprise!

And the remaining dough I made into a few rectangles.

Such a beautiful looking treat!

Okay, now I am just going overboard with the snaps and my admiration.  Hahaha.

Makes an excellent school snack, or after school snack.
Stays for a week or more.
Have used all organic ingredients, and not a drop of oil.

Excellent taste, and healthy as well! What else do we want!

Variations:
Those allergic to peanuts, may use two cups of dry coconut and skip the peanuts.
Those not wanting to use onions can skip that, or can try ginger or grated carrot instead. Havent tried that. If you do, let me now how that turned out.
Can flavor with ajwain (carom seeds) as well.  I love that flavor too, will try this next time!