Mixed Dal /Mixed Lentil recipe

Lentils are rich source of protein. I always feed my baby some or the other lentils. I myself like it very much with rice and chapati. This is a quick and easy mixed lentil/dal recipe. I am using three commonly used lentils in this recipe. They are masoor dal, moong dal and arhar dal. Addition of vegetables like eggplant and tomato adds to the taste  and makes it an awesome finger licking Dal.

Oat meal Porridge-Healthy Breakfast Recipe Series

Oats are full of high energy, carbohydrates and fiber. It has low fat content and high protein content. Here we see that oats are highly nutritious cereal . It would be wonderful if we start our day with it. Here i have come up with a oat porridge recipe that is very simple yet delicious in taste. 

Pollock Baked(Seelachfillet Baked)

First time i came to Germany, i started looking for a fish that was common to the area. After sometime i found pollock/Seelachs. I tried to cook them in several ways , sometimes i tried to fry them, sometimes i steamed them but it was best only when i baked them. I tried baking it several ways and in this post i will describe one of the easiest , quick and tasty way to treat Pollocks before they are on your plate. My son (1.5 Years old) likes it very much. Am happy for his choice since this fish is extremely light and nutritious. I am posting this on the request of my friend who is in Mauritius and wants a fish recipe.

Fish Baked

Dal and Vegetable Soup(Lentil and vegetable soup)

Dal and Vegetable Soup(Lentil and vegetable soup) Dal soup is an excellent appetizer. Dal or lentil are rich source of protein. These are said to be beneficial for women specially lactating mothers and young females.  There are variety of Lentils available in the market. For this soup i chose arhar dal(Tur dal)(split pigeon peas) and masoor Dal. They help in making thick soup. Apart from lentils i have added carrot and tomatoes. Carrot is another power source of carbohydrates and vitamin. So all together this is highly nutritious, tasty soup and easy in preparation.

Serves: 4 people
Preparation:5 minutes
Cooking: 10 minutes
Level of difficulty- easy

Ingredients:

• Arhar dal- 100gms
• Masoor dal- 100gms
• Carrot- 2
• Tomato- 5 large size
• Onion- 1 small size
• Garlic cloves- 5 to 6 large cloves
• Green Chili- Depending on taste
• Salt as per taste
• Pepper powder or Freshly crushed pepper
•  Corn flour- 1 Tbsp
• Butter- 1 Tbsp
• Lemon juice- 1 Tbsp

Preparation:

• In a pressure cooker pan or in a boiling pot bring together everything except corn flour and butter.
• Add in 800ml of water and let it boil for 20 minutes in boiling pot and in pressure cooker wait for  4 whistle.
• After everything gets boiled let it cool for 5 minutes.
• Pour everything in a blender and blend into a fine paste.
• Heat 1tbsp of butter in a pan and fry the corn flour until its colour turns slight yellow.
• Add the pureed soup. Adjust the thickness of the soup by adding water.    

Your soup is absolutely ready to be served. Sprinkle lemon juice and serve it hot with Bread crumbs.

Enjoy and Happy cooking :-)

By Sushmita Pandit.

Vegetable Dalia Khichri (Vegetable Wheat Rice Khichri)

Dalia or Wheat rice are extremely light and highly nutritious . Addition of vegetable makes them super nutritious. Khichri means mixture of lentil , rice and vegetables. These are said to be easily digestable. My son , husband and Father-in-law love this dish. You can bring in any number of vegetable to this dish, no matter what it always taste great.

This Recipe will serve -4

Preparation- 10 minutes

Cooking- 5 minutes to 30 minutes.

Level of difficulty- easy

Ingredients:

• Dalia/ Wheat rice/ weizengrütze fein -200gms
• Lentil- 200gms
• Carrot- 1, chopped
• Zuchini- 1, chopped
• Cauliflower- 2 florets
• Potato- 2, chopped
• Salt
• Butter- 1 Tbsp
• Cumin seed- 1 Tsp
• Turmeric- 1 Tsp(optional)
• Tomato- 1 large, chopped
• Water- 600-800 ml of water

Preparation:

• In a pressure cooker pan, heat butter, add the cumin seed and let it crackle.
• Add in the wheat rice, fry until colour changes to little whitish.
• Now drop all the vegetables and washed lentil.
• Add water such that you cover 2/3rd of the vegetable layer.
• Season with salt and turmeric.
• Cover the pressure cooker and in low heat wait for three whistles.
• Turn off the heat and let the cooker cool up for 5 minutes.

Your Vegetable Dalia Khichri is absolutely ready to be Serve.

Serve hot with Papad ,Chips ,curd or pickle.

To cook without pressure cooker, after step 5 , cover the pan with a heavy lid and cook for 20 to 30 minutes until lentils are done.

Enjoy.

By- Sushmita Pandit

Mango Lassi

Waiting for Summer, No worries its almost approaching. You might have several plans to quench your thirst. Well, i had planned for having Mango Lassi , since summer is the season of fresh ripen mango, it would be an amazing Beverage to overcome high temperature. In India summer is the time when the Mango trees are all cladded with mouth watering mangoes. So people have found out several ways to Kill heat using Mangoes. they simply BBQ the raw mango and then make a hot drink with it which to ,much of our surprise keeps the body hydrated and cool. In my next post i will share with you the raw mango drink.
Well Mango lassi is quite easy in preparation and it also helps in digestion. Here's my Recipe of Mango Lassi. Hope u like it.

Serves: 4
Preparation Time :10-15 Minutes

Ingredients:

• Mango Pulp- 500 gram
• Yogurt/Curd- 500 gram
• Sugar- As per taste
• Milk(cold)- 200ml
• Dry fruits- For garnishing

Preparation:

• Bring together Milk and yogurt into a jar, Blend it with a blender, or if you don't have a blender you can churn it into a mixer grinder, or in a food processor .
• Once Milk and yogurt are churned well, add the mango pulp and churn again until you achieve a consistent liquid(Lassi).
• At this point of time , taste the Lassi, if you want it to be more sweet add sugar as per required and churn again until sugar gets dissolve in the Lassi.
• Your lassi is almost done, you can refrigerate it if you want it to be cold.
• Once done pour the lassi in a glass.
• Garnish the lassi with some dry fruits and enjoy!!!!

Your Mango Lassi is now ready to be served, Serve it cold...Enjoy

and happy cooking :-)

By -Sushmita pandit

Shrikhand Delight, The 2 Minute Recipe

Shrikhand delight, a delicacy of Maharastra(India) is an eye soothing and mouth watering Dish. This sweet dish is prepared by incorporating so many dry fruits. Its my husband's favorite dessert. The recipe that am demonstrating here is a very simple one. You can always customize this recipe the way you wish.

Preparation- 5 minutes

Serves- 2

Shrikhand

Ingredients:

                                    

• Hung Curd/ Strained yogurt- 250 gms . The one i used is the Ready made hung curd called as speise quark (Readily available in Germany).

• Cardamom- 1 Tsp, Crushed
• Sugar- 2 Tbsp
• Saffron strings- 1/2 Tsp
• Water- 1 Tbsp 
• Cashewnuts - 8 nuts, chopped.

Preparation:

• Hung curd or strained yogurt are easily available in the market these days. In case you wish to prepare it at home, you can simply strain the curd over a muslin curd, and leave it overnight to thicken under refrigeration .
• To the hung curd, add the sugar , crushed Cardamom and give it a gentle blend with a spoon.

• Now add the saffron string to the water, and you can gently crush this in a mortar.

• Add the crushed saffron along with the water to the curd. Mix well .

• For garnishing you can add cashew nuts to this or any dry fruit of your choice.

The Shrikhand delight is ready to be served, serve it cold or mild cold, it tastes awesome anyways.

Enjoy and keep cooking :)

By- Sushmita Pandit

Carrot & Potato Puree (Baby food)

With the teething of my baby i had to cook up many dishes for my baby.My primary concern was that the food should be nutritious. So i picked up carrot and  potato. 
My experiment was successful in the sense that my baby really enjoyed eating the puree, Here is the recipe that suits kids of 1 year age.

Ingredients:

• Potato -1 boiled
• Carrot -1 boiled
• quarter of medium sized onion - chopped thinly
• salt
• pepper
• butter or ghee- 1 TBSP

Recipe:

• Heat ghee or butter in a pan
• saute onions until they turn golden brown. Add little pepper if your kid likes little spicy food.Turn off the heat once done.
• Using a mixer grinder or blender make a puree of potato,sauted onions and carrot.Add little water to adjust the consistency.
• Take the puree in a bowl and add salt to adjust taste.

The puree is now ready to be served.

By: Sushmita Pandit

Dalia khichri/ Wheat Rice Khichri

In this very fast life, on coming to food we often end up eating fast food ,just to save time. To bring in notice there are so many healthy food which are quick and easy to prepare, nutritious and tasty as well.  It save one from damage to health and time too. One of them is the wheat rice.It is easily digestible food, contains fibers and lots of other nutrients. It can be consumed by a wide range of age group, Say 8 months infant to 90 years old. One way to consume this item is to prepare its khichri .
Here's the recipe:This will serve four

Ingredients:

• Wheat rice -1/2 cup
• Tur Dal/lentil-1/2 cup
• Butter(unsalted)-2 TSP
• Cumin seeds- 1/2 TSP
• Salt As per taste
• Turmeric powder-1 tea spoon
• Tomato- 1
• Green Chillies- 1 (optional)

 Method:

• In a deep vessel such as cooker, heat the butter.
• Once the butter has melted,add cumin seeds and allow it to crackle.
• Now add wheat rice, and fry it for 1 min.
• wash the dal/lentil ,and add it.
• Add salt, tomato, turmeric and 2 cups of water.
• Cover the lid of the cooker and on medium flame ,wait for 5 whistles.
• let the steam of the cooker settle. 
• Serve it hot with/without curd.

I have prepared it several times. Most of my friends and family members love it. Hope you enjoy it too. :-)

By: Sushmita Pandit

Spinach Soup Recipie(Palak ka Soup)

Hi, in this post u will learn how to prepare spinach soup. 
Spinach, along with other green leafy vegetables is considered to be a rich source of iron
Spinach is very nutritious and highly rich in Vitamin A ,Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Folic Acid.......and many more elements. It is very much liked by small babies aged 8 months to 1 year. Also its a perfect appetizer.

Cooking time -15 mins
This recipe will serve Four.

Ingredients:

• Spinach - 250Gms 
• Onion -1 medium in size (quaterly chopped)
• Garlic - 4 to 5 pcs
• Salt - as per taste
• Corn Flour - 1 tsp
• Clarified Butter(Ghee) - 1tsp
• Pepper - 1/2 tsp
• Green Chillies - 2 Pcs(optional)

Method:

• Wash the spinach thoroughly.
• Heat 2 cups of water in a Bowl.
•  Add the rinsed spinach in the boiling water . To this add chopped onion , garlic , green chillies and salt.
• Allow the mixture to boil for atleat 10 to 15 min such that spinach and onion turns tender.
• Now turn off the heat and allow the mixture to come to normal temperature.
• Now grind this mixture to fine semi-liquid paste.

once we have the mixture we will add some flavours to the mixture

• Heat one pan
• Add 1 tsp of ghee or clarified butter to the heated pan
• Once the ghee gets heated add the corn flour and fry it for 1 min in low heat
• Add pepper to this
• Now finally add the grinded spinach mixture to this and allow it to heat under low flame for next 2-3 min

Garnish it with some fresh cream and bread at the top.Your spinach soup is now ready to serve. 

Serve it Hot with some nice Dry Breads........................

Enjoy!!!!

Happy Cooking... :-) 

By: Sushmita Pandit