Steel Cut Oats Upma

As we all know, whole grains are so important for a healthy lifestyle. They help reduce cholesterol, cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Steel cut oats are whole grains that are fully packed with many nutritional values. They are rich in proteins, fiber and vitamins.

Coming to the recipe today: Upma is a staple breakfast in many households. It is usually made using semolina. But these days there are many healthier options, where we can use whole grains like quinoa, oats etc. in place of semolina. Today's recipe is not only easy to prepare but loaded with tons of health and taste. I know the picture I posted for this recipe doesn't look that good. I was in a hurry when I was clicked the picture. I used my cell phone to click it. I will replace the picture with very good and clear picture soon.

Ingredients: (Serves 2) 1 cup Steel cut oats 2 cups Mixed vegetables (carrot + green beans + peas + corn) – I used frozen 1 small Onion, chopped 2 Green chillies, slit lengthwise or chopped A small piece of Ginger, peeled and chopped Salt 2 cups Water For Seasoning/Tempering: 1 tsp Mustard seeds 1 tbsp Bengal Gram (Pachi Senaga Pappu, Chana dal) 1 tbsp Black Gram (Minappappu, Urad dal) Few Curry leaves 1 tbsp Oil Preparation: Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large, deep skillet. Add mustard seeds. When they pop add urad dal + chana dal and curry leaves and roast well. Then add onion + green chillies + ginger. When onion becomes soft, add all the vegetables and sauté well. Then add water + salt to the vegetables and bring to a boil. Then add oats, and mix well. Cover and cook over a medium flame for some time. When the upma is done, the oats should become soft, but chewy. If the oats don't seem to be cooked well, pour some more water and mix well. Cover and cook again until the oats become soft. Enjoy the healthy and great tasting steel cut oats upma with desired chutney.

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Vegetable Upma

Hi friends, hope you all are doing well. I know it took a while for me to post a new recipe. Can you believe, I even forgot my blog's 4th birthday on January 16th? Belated birthday wishes to my dear blog.

Coming to the recipe today. this is a delicious upma recipe, a little variation to the regular upma.

Ingredients: 1 cup Semolina (ఉప్మా రవ్వ, Upma Rava) ½ cup mixed Vegetables (carrots, beans, green peas, corn) 1 small Onion, chopped fine 4 green Chilies, chopped fine 3 cups Water Salt For Seasoning/Tempering: 1 tsp Oil ½ tsp Mustard Seeds ¼ tsp Cumin Seeds ½ tsp Bengal Gram (పచ్చిశనగపప్పు, Chana Dal)  ½ tsp Black Gram (మినప్పప్పు, Urad Dal)  Few Curry Leaves (కరివేపాకు)  Preparation: Heat Oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When they pop, add cumin seeds + Dals + curry leaves and saute well. Then add the mixed vegetables and mix well. Pour water and add salt. When the water comes to a boil, pour the rava carefully and mix well so that no lumps are formed. Cover and leave for sometime on a low flame. Later, remove the cover and stir upma well and check if it is done and all the water is absorbed well. Then turn off the flame and allow upma stand for a while. Stir well and transfer to a serving bowl and enjoy with desired chutney.

 

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Cucumber Dosa

Great tasting Cucumber Dosa

This dosa variety is very famous in Karnataka. Traditional recipe uses white rice for this dosa, but I substituted white rice with brown rice. This is a super delicious dosa and everyone at our home loved it. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

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Green Noodles

A healthy way to eat noodles

Oodles of noodles!

I love noodles, do you?

Of course, it’s a known fact that noodles are the favorite food for any kid. My daughter loves noodles so much that she wants to eat it for lunch and also dinner. She loves Maggi Noodles. I don’t give her the noodles all the time, but when I make noodles for her I add mixed veggies, flax powder etc. to make them more nutritious.

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Quinoa Chapathis

Healthy Combo of Quinoa and Wheat

Yes, you heard right! I recently made chapathis with quinoa that turned out so delicious. Nobody could make out that I added quinoa to the regular chapathis. This is another way to incorporate quinoa in our daily recipes. Even if the kids don’t like quinoa for its texture or taste, they would definitely like these chapathis as they won’t even know that there is quinoa in the chapathi. If we really want our kids/family to eat healthy stuff like quinoa, we should do such tricks, do you agree?

OK then, read on to know how I made these healthy chapathis in a jiffy. 

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Mango – Spinach Rice

A delicious combo of mango and spinach

Optical Illusion.

Mystery.

Gravity.

Mystery Spot.

???

OK. I will tell you! Yesterday we visited a place called “Mystery Spot” in Santa Cruz, CA. It was awesome.  We were taken to a special cabin where the strange effects happened. There was a friendly guide who was making funny jokes showed us some tricks like balls rolling uphill and water flowing up the spout. We were like standing around in impossible angles defying gravity. I felt like I was riding a roller coaster and it was fun to lose control for some time, but not for long. Totally it was so fun.

OK. I am done! I won’t bore you much :)

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Quinoa – Besan Dosa (Crepes)

I feel Quinoa makes any dish healthy. These days I’ve been using Quinoa in many daily recipes. This is one such dish I prepared using cooked Quinoa. Dosa tasted so delicious and felt good. 

Ingredients: 1 cup cooked Quinoa 1 cup Chickpea Flour (సెనగపిండి, Besan) 1 tsp Cumin Seeds 1 ½ tsp Red Chili Powder Salt Oil or Non-stick spray  Preparation: Add quinoa + besan + cumin seeds + chili powder + salt in a bowl; pour some water and mix well to make a thin batter. Heat a non-stick pan. Then take a ladleful of batter, first pour around the edges of the pan in a circle and quickly fill in the circle to make it into a big circle.  Pour some oil or spray non-stick spray around the dosa and let the dosa cook for a while.  Then flip it over and pour some more oil (optional).  When it is cooked on both sides, remove from the pan and transfer to a serving plate. Repeat the same process with the remaining batter.  We enjoyed our dosas without any chutney as it tasted great alone.  These make a great breakfast with some juice on the side. Yummy!!

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Onion Masala Rice

This is a quick fix and filling rice item at times when we ran out of vegetables. It not only tastes great but also smells great. 

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Quinoa – Methi Pulao

Ingredients: (Serves 2)

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Quinoa Vermicelli Upma

I tried this delicious combo recently and it turned out so good. Nobody could tell that I added quinoa to Semya Upma. 

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Quinoa Cabbage Pulao

I did this yummy and healthy pulao replacing rice with quinoa. This pulao tasted so great with the addition of different spices and vegetables. 

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Colorful Chapathis for Christmas

These are delicious and colorful chapathis perfect for the Christmas.

Recipe and Picture by: Soujanya 

Ingredients: For Red Chapathis: 2 cups Wheat Flour 2 red Bell Peppers 1 tsp Olive Oil Salt to taste For Green Chapathis: 2 cups Wheat Flour Spinach Puree as required 1 tsp Olive Oil Salt to taste Preparation: Red Chapathis: Mix wheat flour, olive oil and salt.  Make puree of red bell peppers and add it to the wheat flour mixture.  Add water if necessary to make nice and smooth chapati dough.  Let it stand for an hour. Divide into lime size balls and roll out the chapatis.  Shallow fry them on a pan. Green Chapathis: Add spinach puree instead of bell peppers and follow the above recipe.

This recipe is reaching "Let's Cook For Christmas, Red and Green" event, hosted by Simply.Food. Thanks for the invitation Simply.Food!

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Quinoa Pongal

These days I’ve been trying to cook different dishes with Quinoa, a healthy grain. Recently I tried making pongal by substituting rice with quinoa and it turned out so yummy. 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Quinoa
• 1 cup Moong Dal (పెసరపప్పు)
• 1 tsp Black Pepper Powder (can be replaced with peppercorns)
• 4 or 5 Green Chilies, chopped
• 1 Tomato, chopped
• 5 cups Water (4 + 1 extra)
• Salt as needed

For Seasoning/Tempering:

• 1 tbsp Oil
• 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
• ½ tsp Cumin Seeds
• Few Curry Leaves
• Few Cashews
• 1 Red Chili

Preparation:

Wash quinoa + moong dal well and mix together. Place them in a bowl, add green chilies + black pepper powder + tomato + salt and pour water. Mix well with a spatula. 

Cover and place this bowl in a pressure cooker and cook for 3 whistles. Turn off the flame allow all the pressure go away. 

Later, heat oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds. When they pop, add cumin seeds + red chili + curry leaves + cashews and sauté well until cashews turn into golden brown in color. 

Pour this seasoning on top of the cooked pongal and mix well. Enjoy the steaming hot pongal with desired chutney. Yummy and healthy!!

I am linking this post to Kavi's Healthy Cooking Challenge - Healthy Lunch, an event initially started by Smitha. 

On a different note:

Kalyani of Kalyani’s Platter passed me some cute awards last week, but I forgot to mention it in my previous post. Thank you for sharing the awards Kalyani! So nice of you :)

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Brown Rice – Wheat Dosa

This is a very simple, yummy and instant dosa variety with brown rice. 

I previously posted 4 other versions of brown rice dosas. These dosa recipes can be found at the following links.

• Brown Rice Dosa – Version 1
• Brown Rice Dosa – Version 2
• Brown Rice – Quinoa Dosa
• Soy Beans - Brown Rice Dosa

Let’s see today’s recipe:

Ingredients: 2 cups Brown Rice 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour 1 tsp Cumin Seeds Some Chili Powder for spiciness (I didn’t add though) Salt Oil to pour around dosas (optional) Preparation: Dry roast brown rice in a pan until it turns golden brown in color. Keep aside for some time until it becomes little cold. Then add this rice to a blender and grind into a fine powder (a little coarse texture is OK).  Mix powdered brown rice with wheat flour + cumin seeds. Add salt and some water and mix well to make a smooth batter. The batter should be thin so that it can be poured easily on the pan. Heat a non-stick pan and pour a ladleful of dosa batter along the edge in a circular fashion. Then quickly fill in the circle with some more batter to make a big circular dosa.  Pour oil around the dosa if desired and allow it to cook for some time. Loosen the edges of dosa with a spatula and flip the dosa to allow cooking on the other side.  When dosa is done, remove it from the pan and place on a serving plate. Repeat the same process for as many dosas as you want.  Enjoy these healthy and yummy dosas with desired chutney.  Keep in mind that any dosas taste so better when hot.

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Brown Rice Rava Upma

This is a healthier version of upma made with brown rice. Here is how I prepared Rava with brown rice.

Wash brown rice well, drain all the water. Spread some newspapers on a flat surface, pour the well drained rice, spread loosely and allow the rice to dry well. It might take a day for this process. 

When the rice becomes completely dry, make it into a rough (flaky) powder (rava texture) with the help of a blender. Don’t make it too soft. That’s all! Brown Rice Rava is ready to use.

It might seem a lengthy process, but trust me it is not all a heavy work.

Now here is the recipe for Upma:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Brown Rice Rava
• ¼ cup Green Peas (Fresh or Frozen)
• 3 cups Water
• 1 small Onion, chopped lengthwise
• 1 or 2 Tomatoes, chopped
• 3 or 4 green Chilies, chopped
• Salt

For Seasoning/Tempering:

• 1 tbsp Oil
• ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
• ¼ tsp Cumin seeds
• ½ tsp Bengal Gram (పచ్చి శెనగపప్పు, Chana Dal)
• ½ tsp Black Gram (మినప్పప్పు, Urad Dal)
• Few Curry Leaves
• 1or 2 dry Red Chilies, broken

Preparation:

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When they pop, add cumin seeds + Bengal gram + black gram and sauté well. 

Then add red chilies + curry leaves + onions + tomatoes + green chilies + green peas. Sauté well and pour water. Add salt as required and mix well. Allow the water to boil and the contents cook well.

Meanwhile, in a different pan dry roast rava well till it turns light brown in color. Add this to the boiling water, stir well.

Leave the pan on medium flame for some time until all the water is absorbed and the contents are well cooked. 

Finally turn off the flame and transfer the steaming hot and delicious upma to a serving bowl.

Enjoy the healthy and yummy upma with desired chutney or sambar.

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Dhokla

This is another guest post from my cousin Soujanya. I previously posted one other yummy sweet recipe (7-cup Sweet) by her.

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Quinoa –Spinach Upma

Quinoa has become very popular these days due to its health benefits. I have seen lots of recipes with quinoa on the net. Even I had tried many recipes with this heavenly grain. Many foodies have already posted different varieties of quinoa upma. Here is my version of quinoa upma that I usually prepare at home.

Ingredients: (Serves 2)

• 1 cup Quinoa (Yields 3 cups cooked Quinoa)
• 1 cup Spinach, chopped
• ½ cup Mixed Vegetables (carrots, beans, corn, green peas)
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 or 3 green Chilies, chopped
• 2 or 3 Tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tsp Amchoor Powder (Dry Mango Powder)
• A pinch of Turmeric
• 1 or 2 tsp Oil
• ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
• ¼ tsp Cumin Seeds
• ½ tsp Bengal Gram (Chana Dal)
• ½ tsp Black Gram (Urad Dal)
• Few Curry Leaves
• Salt as required

Preparation:

Wash quinoa well and add to a bowl. Pour 2 cups water and allow the contents to boil. Turn the flame to a low setting and allow quinoa cook well for about 15 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. Small spirals (the germ) separating from and curling around the quinoa seeds can be seen when quinoa is fully cooked. Then completely turn the flame off and fluff with a fork to separate the grains (optional).

Note: You may also cook quinoa in a pressure cooker for 3 whistles. But I personally prefer to cook it on stovetop as I feel pressure cooking makes quinoa too mushy.  

Now to prepare Upma:

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When they pop, add cumin seeds + Black gram + Bengal gram and sauté until the dals turn golden brown in color.

Then add spinach + onion + chilies + tomatoes + mixed veggies + curry leaves, mix well and allow cooking for some time until they become soft.

Then add amchoor powder + turmeric and mix well. Finally add the cooked quinoa and mix well. Add salt as required.

Keep on low flame for some time and turn the flame off. Transfer the cooked quinoa upma to a serving bowl and enjoy with desired pickle/chutney.

This is not only super healthy but also super yummy!!

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Brown Rice – Quinoa Dosa

This is another dosa variety I recently tried and liked. My daughter who never liked any kind of dosas that much, said this dosa is super delicious and wanted more. This is a very simple recipe that doesn’t require fermenting.

Ingredients: 2 cups Brown Rice 1 cup Quinoa Salt to taste Oil Preparation: Wash and soak brown rice and quinoa in different bowls for about 6 to 8 hours. Later grind them together into a fine paste. Add some water to dilute it and make into batter of pouring consistency. Add salt as required and mix well. Keep aside. Note: This batter doesn’t require to be fermented. The batter can be used immediately for making dosas after you prepared it. Heat a non-stick pan. Take a ladleful of batter, drop in the center of the pan and quickly spread into a thin circle. Pour little oil around the dosa and allow cooking. Later flip it over and allow cooking on the other side too. Finally transfer to a serving plate. Repeat the same process with the remaining batter or until required amount of dosas are prepared. Enjoy these delicious and healthy dosas with desired chutney.

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Barley Upma

This is a healthy way to eat Upma and a tasty way too. But it tasted a little grainy to chew just like Quinoa.  Still if you feel like you are eating healthy food, it would taste so delicious, right? I don’t mean it doesn’t taste good, but only thing I want to make specific is that it takes a little time to chew (good for gums, isn't it?:)).

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Pearl Barley (Quick cooking Barley)
• A small Onion, finely chopped
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 or 2 Green Chilies, finely chopped
• A small piece of Ginger, peeled and chopped fine
• Few Curry Leaves
• ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
• ¼ tsp Cumin Seeds
• ¼ tsp Black Gram (Minapappu, Urad Dal)
• ¼ tsp Bengal Gram (Pachi Senagapappu, Chana Dal)
• 1 or 2 dry Red Chili
• 1 tsp Oil
• 4 cups Water
• Salt

Preparation:

Wash barley with plenty of water and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When they pop, add cumin seeds + black gram + Bengal gram + curry leaves + red chili and sauté well until the dals change color.

Now add onion + tomatoes + green chilies + ginger and mix well. Pour water, add salt and bring it to a boil. 

Check if onions are cooked and add barley and mix well. Cover and allow the barley to cook for some time.

Add more water if needed to allow barley to cook well. 

After all the water gets absorbed and barley gets cooked, turn off the flame and leave upma on stove for a while. Then transfer to a serving plate and enjoy steaming hot healthy upma.

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Whole Wheat – Soy Dosa

This is a yummy and healthy dosa and instant.

Ingredients: 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour 1 cup Soy Flour 1 cup Semolina (Upma Rava) 1 tsp Ginger Paste 1 tsp Coriander-Cumin Powder 1 tsp Flax Seed Powder 1 tsp Red Chili Powder Few Cilantro Leaves, finely chopped Salt Oil Preparation: Mix everything under ingredients except oil to form a thin batter by adding water as needed. Adjust salt. Heat a pan and pour a ladleful of batter and quickly spread into a thin circle. Pour little oil around it and allow dosa to cook for some time. Then flip it over and pour some more oil around it and again allow it to cook. Transfer the cooked dosa to a serving plate and enjoy with desired chutney. Repeat the same process with remaining batter. Enjoy these delicious and healthy dosas for breakfast/lunch/dinner. We had our dosas with Tomato Chutney.  Yummy!!

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