Ven Pongal

Ven Pongal is a special dish made especially on Pongal (Sankranti).This is the south-indian kind of khichdi. It is best when served with sambar , Vadai and coconut chutney . Please check my next post to get the recipe for Vadai ( both urud dal and masala vadai).



Ingredients:

Rice (uncooked): 1 cup

Moong dal: 1cup

Cooking oil: 1 teaspoon

Ghee: 1 teaspoon (optional)

Chopped cashews: 1 teaspoon

Black pepper powder*: ½ teaspoon

Cumin powder*: ½ teaspoon

Asafoetida (hing): a pinch

Curry Leaves: a few


*I use the black pepper and cumin powders as it helps me to control the spice level better and the pongal is evenly spiced. Traditionally, whole black peppers and cumin seeds are used. If you like the bite of whole black pepper, you may use whole spices instead.


Method:

1. Pressure cook rice and dal in a pressure cooker with about 5 cups of water, salt and some turmeric.
2. In a large, heavy-bottomed vessel, heat the oil and ghee. When well heated, add the cashews and fry.
3. When the cashews are slightly browned, add curry leaves.
4. When they are slightly roasted, add asafoetida, black pepper powder, and cumin powder.
5. When the cashews are nicely browned, add the rice and dal mixture.
6. The pongal should be a nice mushy mass. Else you can add some water to it and stir well on a low flame until it becomes a mushy mass.Serve hot with some curry leaves and black peppercorns on top of it.

Fresh start

I think i have shed few kids recipes here which are slightly different with some nutritional value. Im sure many of you would have enjoyed it. I would like to ask u to leave all your comments in the comments form , related to each post, as i have been recieving all the comments to my email id. Thanks for your support once again. Will start again with our regular recipes....

Kids recipe - Episode 7 - Beetroot veggie

Ingredients :

Beetroot 2 small size – slice each beetroot into 4 portions

1 carrot (about 150g) – cut into chunks

1/4 cup of sweetcorn or baby corns (Optional)

1 small onion – chopped coarsely

Garlic - grated - a pinch

12-15 red dates - remove seeds

200g meat (checken or goat or fish or crab)– cut into chunks (boiled or stir fried and made tender for toddlers) or grounded.

Low sodium - chicken or meat stock(Home-made is better)

Salt to taste

Preparation :

Stir fry onions, beetroot, carrot , with some olive oil and ass grated garlic for flavour. Now add meat to this and fry until tender. Add some chicken or meat stock to it with some salt according to the taste and allow it to get cooked well. You can also pressure cook these contents . You can either make it to soupy consistency or a gravy consistency according to your taste.

Serve hot with some cheese or crem on top .

Nutritional facts :

Beetroot is a rich source of carbohydrates, a good source of protein, and has high levels of important vitamins, minerals and micronutrients. It’s an excellent source of folic acid and is therefore recommended to women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant.
A number of different antioxidants are found in fruits and vegetables. These are important to human health because they prevent the oxidative processes that are thought to be the cause of many diseases. Betalins are a type of antioxidant found in beetroot in fairly large quantities. You don’t need to eat much beetroot to take in a beneficial amount of betalin.
Beetroot is a useful source of folate, with 100g of beetroot cooked in natural juices containing 42mcg (micrograms). Three baby beets (about 80g) contain approximately 17% of the Recommended Daily Allowance. Beetroot is also a good source of potassium and magnesium.

HeartBeetroot contains soluble fibre, which can help reduce blood cholesterol. It also contains ‘carotenoids’ and ‘flavonoids’, which help prevent LDL or ‘bad’ cholesterol from being oxidised and deposited in the arteries.
Recent research has shown that beetroot can have a beneficial effect in lowering blood pressure. However you should be aware that the research was based on drinking ½ litre of (raw) beetroot juice a day, which may be a little extreme even for beetroot enthusiasts.
Brain, heart, bones
Cooked beetroot is a great source of folate that can protect you against high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s and dementia. It is also crucial to the development of a baby’s spinal cord during the first three months of pregnancy, so a good intake of folate is important to prevent spinal cord defects such as spina bifida.
WaistlineBeetroot is virtually fat free and low in calories. Although it has a ‘medium’ GI (Glycaemic Index) of 64, it has an extremely low GL (Glycaemic Load) of 2.9 which means it’s converted into sugars very slowly and therefore helps to keep blood sugar levels stable – which is good for the blood.

Kids recipe - Episode 6 - Pasta with avacado

Ingredients :

Pasta - about a bowl (well cooked)
Tomato puree ( or one quarter of a 15 ounce can of tomato sause)
Garlic - frated - a pinch
salt to taste
Avacado - riped (mashed)

Preparation :

Take a pan and heat it up with some olive oil. Add some mustard, and then add cooked pasta to it, saute them for a minute. Add tomato puree and cook well, or add the tomato sause and cook them well. Now remove it from fire and add mashes avacado to it.

Nutritional fact :

Low sugar
Contains fibre
Salt free
Contains vitamin A
Contains thiamin
Contains riboflavin
Good source of niacin
Good source of vitamin C
Contains magnesium
One cup of avocado provides one serve of vegetables

Kids recipe - Episode 5 - Steamed Cauliflower with Spinach

Steamed Cauliflower with Spinach:

Steam cauliflower until soft and make sure to press out all the liquid(Or you may even stir fry cauliflower first & add some water to boil it until soft). Drop a little raw spinach into boiling water for 15 - 20 seconds and drain. Stir it into the cauliflower. For extra flavor, you can add a little minced garlic and/or just a pinch of nutmeg.You can even add ricotta cheese to this.

This is a fantastic recipe for adults as well, if you want something low-carb to replace the mashed potatoes!

Nutritional fact :

Cauliflower: is an awesome vegetable, which is low in fat and calories, high in fiber, folacin, potassium, water and vitamin C, have a very high nutritional density.

Spinach :best method for eating this super green, leafy veggie is, frozen spinach might just be more nutritious than fresh. Has health-boosting carotenoids and the folate (a B vitamin) in spinach.

Ricotta cheese : has more calcium than other varities.

Kids recipe - Episode 4 - Chinese Corn and Crab Soup

Ingredients:

3 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) low-sodium chicken broth 2 cans (14 3/4 ounces each) no-salt-added,

cream-style corn1 can (6 ounces)

crabmeat1 teaspoon

grated ginger root or 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

4 large egg whites, lightly beaten

1/3 cup finely-chopped green onions

Preparation:

Put the chicken broth, corn, crabmeat, ginger, and pepper in a large saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Fold in the egg whites, and remove from the heat. Continue to stir gently until the egg white sets. Garnish with the green onions

Nutriton fact:

Crab meat is very healthy, good protein, low fat, very tasty. Also rich in Omega-3 fatty acids

Kids Recipe - Episode 3 - Maryland Crab Soup

Ingredients:

Extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 large potato, chopped
A pinch of sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1-2 tablespoons of Old Bay Seasoning (Note: More if you prefer spicy, less if you don't.)
2 - 14.5 ounce cans of diced tomatoes, drained
1- 15 ounce can of tomato sauce
1/2 of a 16 ounce package of frozen peas (Note: Normally lima beans are used for MCS)
1/2 of a 16 ounce package of frozen corn kernels2 cups of water1 pound of crab meat, rinsed and picked over for shells .

Preparation:
In a large stock pot sauté onions and potatoes with a little sea salt and some freshly ground black pepper until onions are tender and both onions and potatoes are slightly browned.
Next add Old Bay Seasoning and stir to coat.
Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, frozen peas and frozen corn, along with water and bring to a quick boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes until potatoes are fork tender.
Once potatoes are tender add crab and cook for 5 minutes to heat through. Serve immediately.

Notes: This soup is extremely easy to make and has a bit of a wow factor to it too. It is also very healthy, so that is always an added plus. You could use lima beans in place of the peas .

Nutitin facts:

Crab meat is very healthy, good protein, low fat, very tasty. Also rich in Omega-3 fatty acids.

Kids Recipe - Episode 2 -Halim

Halim is another Muslim's dish whichi learned through my friends Aliya & Maria. This dish is very nuitritious since it has many saoked whole grains and meat in it. I have slightly customised this recipe for kids. But generally this dish consumes a lot of cooking time if it has to be done authentically.

Ingredients :

Black gram/Urad Dal - 5 Tbsp

Bengal Gram/Channa Dal - 5 Tbsp

Split red gram/Toor Dal - 5 Tbsp

Split green gram/Moong Dal - 5 Tbsp

Meat or chicken - 1/2 Cup

Prep:

1. Soak all the grains/dal in seperately for about 3 hours. And pressure cook until extremely cooked say for about 10 to 12 whistles.

2.Now pressure cook the meat/chicken seperately until extremely cooked say for about 10 to 12 whistles.

3. Mash them both together to form a thick paste. And add salt and turmeric and let it cook for another 5 mins.

4. Saute the mixture with some splittered Lavan/Patta/2 Cardomom.

This dish is very nutritious so kids can only eat half or 3/4 of their usual quantity of this food.

Nutrition facts :
High in protein - helps in overall metabolism and building muscles.

Kids Recipe- Episode 1- Peas-Carrot-Fish Mashed

It might sound familiar or even simple but we might run out of choice for making varieties of food for kid or even ourselves. So i thought of starting new episodes just for Kids . Most of my Kids recipes would be suitable for small kids age between 6 months to 3 years, as my recipes are based on what i do for my little one aged 16 month as of now!
This is a very simple recipe to start with so lets get into it.

Peas-Carrot-Fish : (age starting from 11 or 12 months)



Ingredients:
Peas and carrot - 1 cup diced
(Either fresh ones or
Frozen)

Fish Fillet (Either fresh ones or frozen entries
from any retail store) - 2 to 4 tsps (depending on age)

Oil /Ghee - 1 tbsp
Garlic - 1
Salt - 1/4 to 1/2 tsp

Preparation :

Either boil or steam or pressure cook the vegetables. The frozen fish fillets can be microwaved. Now put all the ingredients together in a blender and add some water and blend it according to the age of the kid (Fine paste for younger kids and coarsely for older kids ).
Take a pan and add some ghee or oil and add the garlic (crushed) and add the paste into the pan and leave it for few minutes.
Can store this mixture in a container in refrigerator and can be used within 2 days.



Nutritional Fact about fish in toddlers diet:
Despite of the fact the fish contains mercury and is not safe for kids until the age 12 months, many researches and studies proved that fish has many constructive benefits for the children's brain development.

All over the world , the pediatric association recommends adding fish to your toddler’s diet after a year of age. There is a lot of different fish to choose from, but you may not know which ones are safe. Two easy ones to remember are: Wild pacific salmon (not farmed) and canned light tuna (not albacore) to start with.

Oily fish is a good source of omega 3 fats - responsible for the development of brain. Examples of oily fish include salmon, mackerel, trout, sardines, pilchards, eel and fresh tuna. You can offer your toddler oily fish once or twice a week. Many toddlers will enjoy oily fish in home-made fish cakes, or fish and potato pie, made with a mixture of oily and white fish.

Starting New Episode Of Recipes For Kids

Sometimes we might run out of choice for making varieties of food for kids or even ourselves. This idea for starting new episodes just for Kids basically emerged becoz i kind of felt hard to maintain routine for my kid when my mom left after her stay with us . I usually give him the same usual kind of food. With my daily & busy schedule i found hard to even think of a new one. But later i managed myself to give my kid some varities as they have to get used to diff kinds of food. No wonder we will eventually become a pro.
Based on my personal experience i planned to compile all the recipes that suits Kids (mostly indian kids). Most of them are my mom's recipe, and some of them are personalised from tv and books. All these Kids recipes would be suitable for small kids age between 6 months to 3 years.

Although we need to train them and start giving them the usual food that we cook regularly for ourselves just with less spice and salt, i have shedded a few ideas which you can try if you bored of trying you usual stuff. Have fun and hope u all enjoy the recipes.
Stay tuned for my next post..........