A Quick & Healthy Breakfast!!!

I have always love cooking but the worst part of the whole process is deciding what to cook especially when it comes to breakfast. Though we have various options to cook but time is something which we are always short of. So here I come with a recipe of a quick and very healthy breakfast.

Ingredients

Serves two people

Cooking & Preparation time 15-20 mins

Half bowl Yellow Moong ki dal (as in pic)

1 drop of oil

1 teaspoon Jeera

A pinch of Asafoetida (hing)

Garam Masala Powder (to taste)

Salt to taste.

For Garnishing

1 small onion - Chopped finely

1 small tomato - Chopped finely

1 teaspoon of lemon juice

Chopped Green Chilly’s (to taste)

1 teaspoon chopped green coriander leaves

1/4th cucumber (optional)

Wash the Moong ki dal thoroughly and drain the water out. Put the vessel on the gas, put the oil & add the Jeera, heeng & garam masala to it. As the jeera starts spluttering add the washed Moong ki dal and salt to taste.

Add water & the quantity should be such that it covers the daal, as the water comes to a boil slow down the gas, cover the vessel but remember to leave half an inch space open & let the daal cook. After some 10 mins check the state of water & daal; in case you feel that daal is not cooked you can add a bit of water. It would take some 15 mins for the thing to get cooked. Once that it is done switch off the gas and let the thing cool down. You need to remember that too much water spoils the whole thing and gives it a look of khicdhi so be cautious on that front.

Serve the daal and garnish it with onion, tomato, chilly, coriander & lemon juice. You can even add some namkeen to add taste to it!

Alternatively you can also soak the daal for half an hour but then when you cook it would need less water.

This is my favorite breakfast for the days when I am in a hurry, the fact that it is healthy is an added advantage!

White Bean Soup

Too many soups? Well, I'm trying to cook healthy and I love soups, because they're tasty, pack a nutritional punch and best of all are so easy to make. Pair them with a salad/sandwich or even a simple entree and you have a fabulous weekday dinner.

I tried a new recipe this week, made with the versatile cannellini or white beans, it's creamy texturally because of the pureed beans and milk and very satisfying. I used a pressure cooker to cook the beans since they take a long time to cook (>30 mins on the stovetop in Ina's recipe), but you can definitely use canned beans to save time. I used whole peppercorns and if you dont like getting one in your mouth, substitute with the powder or use a bouquet garni. I liked this version a lot because I think the original might be a bit bland for my tastes.

Though I do feel like I might be desifying all my recipes a bit much, will make a conscious effort not to use cumin/curry powder in the next soup I try :)

White Bean Soup
Adapted from Ina Garten's recipe

Ingredients
1 and three quarter teacups dried white (cannellini) beans (1 teacup ~125 ml)
1 quart (4 cups) vegetable broth
half cup low-fat milk (other options: cream, half and half)
water if needed
1 heaped tablespoon ground cumin
1 tsp red pepper flakes
6-7 pepper corns
1 bay leaf
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 large cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tsp. italian seasoning
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method
Soak the white beans overnight.

Next day, drain the beans and put in the pressure cooker. Add the bay leaf, peppercorns and enough broth (I used 2 cups) to cook the beans. It took 6 whistles with my pressure cooker. Keep them aside, dont throw away the cooking liquid.

In a stock pot, heat some oil and add the red pepper flakes. Once it becomes aromatic, add the onions and stir them on medium heat until they become transparent.

Add the garlic, cumin powder, italian seasoning (crush in hand a little bit) or fresh rosemary as the original recipe states, a little salt and pepper if needed and cook until the garlic becomes soft. Add some of the cooking liquid from the cooked beans if the cumin powder starts burning.

Add the beans, rest of the liquids and simmer for about 5-10 mins.

Fish out the bay leaf (and any other herbs), then puree the mixture to the desired consistency, and check the seasoning. If you like the soup thinner, add more broth/water.

Serve hot.

Butternut Squash Soup

Since I'm on a diet, I wanted a simple to make, hearty, low-fat vegetable soup for lunch or dinner. The idea was to use butternut squash as base. Butternut squash is sweet by itself (I'd say it tastes the same but is a bit sweeter than the pumpkin) and the recipe I wanted to make had honey added into it. Knowing I wouldn't be able to tolerate a sweetish soup I decided to add some vegetables and a dash of my favorite instant kicker-upper, a habanero chilli. The half a habanero is quite enough to spice up the soup, if you want a kick you could add more though I cant say I will be responsible for the effects. My principle with the habanero is to err on the side of caution. Coming back to the soup, I made a huge batch to freeze, I would say this would generate about 7-8 or more servings. The soup was really tasty -a tad sweetish, more savoury- I'm sure I'll be making this recipe again.

Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients
4 lb butternut squash, chopped into 1" cubes
5 stalks celery , chopped into 1" pieces
1 big leek, slice the light-green and white parts
half small head napa cabbage, chopped
5-6 pieces garlic, minced
half a habanero chilli, minced
2 tbsp curry powder
1 and a half tsp cumin powder
pinch nutmeg
salt and black pepper to taste
32 oz vegetable broth

Method
Heat some oil in a large pot. Add the garlic and leeks and fry till they become soft.

Add the rest of the vegetables + spice powders + broth. If the vegetables aren't covered with the broth, add water until they are covered.

Let boil, then simmer for 15-20 mins until the squash becomes soft. Add salt and about half a tsp of black pepper, adjust to taste. Puree to a smooth paste.

Serve hot w. a dollop of non-fat yogurt/sour cream/croutons/chopped cilantro/chopped parsley.

Ragi Dosa

Evening tiffin is a much anitcipated mandatory weekend routine in my parents' home. It was a challenging task though, for my mom. But she had the able guidance of my granny, who had bequeathed her with myriad recipes. Ragi Dosa was one of them

Sweet Ragi Dosa:
The good news is you don't need sugar for this!
Ingredients :
Ragi Flour (millet) - 1 cup
Rice Flour - 1 Tablespoon
Jaggery - 1 cup
Cardamom - 4/5 pods
Desiccated coconut - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 1 teaspoon

Method :-
Heat some water in a pan and dissolve the jaggery in it. It would be advisable to distil it after the jaggery is fully dissolved to do away with impurities if any. Add ragi and rice flour to it. Add powdered cardamom as well. Coconut and ghee are optional and I always avoid them in this dish, as sans that ragi dosa is a healthy tiffin.

Heat a pan, and rub an oiled cloth on it. You can make dosas by just rubbing the cloth after each dosa, i/o sprinkling oil. With the iron content in jaggery and the energy that you could gain from ragi, this really becomes a good tiffin. Can be had without any side dish for either b/f or dinner... or a nice evening tiffin like how I used to relish during my childhood days!

Spicy Ragi Dosa :-
Ingredients:
Ragi Flour - 1 cup
Rice Flour - 1 tablespoon
salt- as per taste (about a spoon would do)
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Cumin seeds - 1 spoon
Corriander leaves - 1/2 a bunch, finely chopped
Grated ginger, asafoetida

Method:
Mix all the above and add water little by little to make batter with such a consistency that if you pour one ladle of it on the sides of the pan and gently move the pan, it should spread to form a fine dosa.

Bread Poha

Though I love cooking but every now and then I get bucked up when am short of choices for breakfast. And in such times Bread Poha comes as a savior.

It comes with twin benefits, as in it is easy to make and it also polishes off the uff so boring old bread in a whiff.

Here is the recipe for Bread Poha/ Upma

Ingredients
Bread Slices – 6-7 (preferably a day or two old)
1 Teaspoon Oil
Rai (Mustard Seeds) – ½ teaspoon
Curry Leaves (Kadi Patta) – 4-5
Onion – 1 (finely cut)
Potato – 1 (Cut into small pieces)
Tomato – 1 (Cut into small pieces)
Green Chilly – 1-2 (Cut into small pieces)
Salt as per taste
Red Chilly Powder as per taste
Lemon Juice – 1 teaspoon

Take out the bread from refrigerator and let it be for ½ an hour.
Cut off the thick sides of the bread and taking them two at a time rub them against each other making a fine powder of it. (As in pic)

Heat the pan; put the curry leaves & rai after 3-4 seconds put the onions. Once the onions are semi transparent put the potato and cover the pan.

Once the potato is cooked add the tomato & green chilly and let them cook.

After all the veggies are cooked add the refined bread and all the spices. Sprinkle a little water on it and cover it with pan for 5 mins. Open the pan after 5 mins, sprinkle the lemon juice & a little bit of sugar. Cook it for few more min
utes and it is ready to be served.


Peas can be added if available & the dish can be garnished with coriander leaves.

It takes just 15 mins to cook the whole thing and it tastes very good. I have been using brown bread to make it and it only makes it healthier.