Monthly Archives: October 2012
Steel Cut Oats Poridge
Friends, you have been asking me for warm and quick recipes with oats. So here it is. This recipe will come handy on a busy day. My family loves this warm breakfast on a cold morning.
I like steel cut oats nutty, chewy texture but they take more time to cook than rolled oats. Nutritional benefits are same in steel cut oats as rolled oats, but they vary in cook time and texture.
Brown Rice Pudding ~ Brown Rice Payasam
Payasam made with rice and jaggery is very common in India. After making whole grain prasadam for saddula bathukamma, I was still in a mood to do whole grain payasam on Dasara. So I wanted to make this quick and simple recipe. One of my aunt’s follows similar recipe with white rice, milk and sugar which is called pala padiyam (milk kheer) accompanied with makka garelu (corn vada). I got this idea from my aunt recipe.
In this recipe, I used brown rice instead of refined white rice, which is coarsely grinded and cooked in milk and combined with jaggery syrup.
Quinoa Pulihora
Quinoa (pronounced as keen-wah) is a pseudo-cereal which is not technically grain or cereal, but in general we consider it as a wholegrain. When compared with white rice, quinoa has very good amount of protein and less carbohydrates. The protein in quinoa is considered good protein since it has all nine amino acids. Quinoa is a very good source of protein and is gluten free and so it is a healthy option to consider for people who are intolerant of gluten.
Brown Rice Vegetable Pulav
Vegetables are integral part of our meal. It is recommended to have 2½ cups of vegetable serving per day for a person with a daily energy requirement of 2,000 calories. But as a south Indian I used to have lots of white rice with small amount of vegetable curry along with stew and yogurt. In my weight reduction program, I made it a habit of eating lots of vegetables with minimum carbohydrates and good amount of protein. In this recipe you can observe that I used equal measurements of cooked rice to vegetables.
Oats Daddojanam ~ Spiced Curd Oats
I use oats almost every day as hot cereal in my breakfast or oat bran in Wholegrain Roti , but using oats in Indian recipes is not common at my home. So, Yesterday I wanted to include this whole grain in Saddula Bathukamma prasadam and tried simple recipe with rolled oats, low fat yogurt and seasoned with Indian spices. Next time I will try more Indian tiffins with oats.
Bulgar Wheat Sweet Pongal ~ Goduma Rava Chakkara Pongali
When I considered Bulgar wheat as one of the options in 5 whole grains prasadam for Saddula Bathukamma, I immediately thought of doing sweet dish with it. But rather than making it regular Kesari with wheat rava, I wanted to use mung dal in this recipe similar to rice sweet pongal recipe. I was not sure about the outcome but when I tasted it, I decided to make this sweet pongal instead of rava kesari from now on. Adding Mung dal gave different flavor and taste and it was so Yummmm!!! It is FAT FREE as no ghee or oil are added in this recipe.
Barley Pongal ~ Barley Katte Pongali
When I was thinking of 5 whole grain prasadam , I remembered that I bought hulled barley recently. I made barley, sprouted moongdal soup couple of times, it goes well with beans/ dal’s in soups. From there I got the idea of semi solid savory pongal with mung dal.
After making this dish, I searched in web for Indian barley recipes and got few more interesting ideas . I will try those ideas and hopefully will come out with some interesting and healthy recipes with this high fiber ingredient.
Saddula Bathukamma
Bathukamma is a festival celebrated by Hindu women in Telangana Region of Andhra Pradesh for 8 to 10 days starting from Pitru Amavasya until Durgashtami. The Duration of the festival varies depending on the local tradition. At our village we celebrate the ritual for 9 days. Goddess “Parvathi” who is a lover of Flowers is worshipped by decorating flowers in a conical Structure. You can read more about Bathukamma here.
Carrot Chutney
Peanut and coconut chutnies are common to accompany Idly or Dosa. My husband and my daughter love peanut chutney but when thinking about fat in nuts and the lack of vegetable ingredients in breakfast made me think of a vegetable chutney when ever I make Idlies or Dosas. So the protein rich Idly or protein rich Dosa can now be accompanied with this carrot chutney made with vegetable and nuts providing your family necessary vegetable and unsaturated fat servings for breakfast.
Below is a simple process to prepare Carrot chutney with minimum ingredients.
Update: I replaced peanuts with walnuts, tastes good.
Wheat Rava (Ravva) Idly ~ Bulgar Wheat Idly
Low fat, steam cooked Idly is a famous breakfast option in most of the South Indian homes. Protien rich urad dal mixed with High Carb Rice rava get along very well to make fluffy white Idlies.
In my home we have reduced white rice intake and replaced with Quinoa, Wheat rava and Whole grains. I dont want to miss the enjoyment of having hot idlies just because I cant have white rice, so what options do I have then to replace Idly rava? Then I thought Why don’t I make idly with whole grain. Good Idea, Interesting and Healthy !!!!!!. Immediately soaked Urad dal and wheat rava for next day’s Lunch. Ok good with Idly then what options do I have for Chutney to stick to a healthy menu??? Quickly thought about Carrot Chutney. So finally today’s lunch came out to be High fiber, Protien rich Wheat Idly with carrot chutney and salad. Yummy and healthy ….