Carrot Halwa/ Gaajar ka Halwa; quick and healthy version

Happy New Year to all of you. To start off the year on a sweet note, I rustled up together some carrot Halwa or gaajar ka Halwa as it is popularly known. This is akin to a pudding where in shredded carrot is cooked with milk or milk solids, sugar and clarified butter. This is a winter delicacy. I remember the last time which was basically my first time making carrot halwa. It was almost 25 years ago on New Year’s eve, where I spent half the night cooking the carrots, waiting for it to reduce. You guys know that I am not a person for long drawn process. I never ventured to make it again until now. This time I used a quick technique which was basically a trial and error which worked out well. I bought shredded carrots which I pressure cooked with condensed milk which I then cooked on stovetop for a few minutes and reduced the liquid. Add in some raisins , nuts and clarified butter and Viola! Gaajar ka Halwa is ready!

You must try this technique to see the ease of making it. You will never use any other methods.

Servings: 3-4

Prep time: 5 minutesCook time: 45 minutesTotal time: 50-60 minutes

Ingredients:

Shredded carrots: 4 cups

Condensed milk: 1 can

Clarified butter/ghee: 2 tbsp 

Cardamom powder: 1/8 tsp

Raisins: 2 tbsp

Nuts: 2 tbsp, chopped. ( I used slivered almonds)

Method:

In a pot take the shredded carrots and condensed milk. Cook this in a pressure cooker. It takes about 15-20 minutes. Turn off the pressure cooker. Open only after the steam is completely released.

Now cook on medium high on stove top, stirring intermittently until the liquid is almost gone. Reduce flame to low. 

When the carrots are cooking, lightly toast the raisins and nuts in 1 tsp clarified butter. Add this to the above pot with the remaining clarified butter. Mix well. Add the cardamom powder. Stir. Turn off the flame. 

Garnish with pieces of nuts. 

Stays fresh for upto 1 week in the refrigerator.

Serve warm as is or with ice cream!

Enjoy!

Cooking made easy:

Regular milk/evaporated milk or heavy cream can also be used. You can also pressure cook using water and then add milk solids such as mava.

Tip for healthy living:

Desserts are best eaten in small quantities just enough to satisfy your sweet tooth and prevent you from craving it.

Food for thought:

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, to have the life that is waiting for us. E.M. Foster

Please do share your thoughts. Your opinion matters!

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Pancakes with varied toppings

Mother's Day is this weekend!!

You don't have to make anything complicated or expensive for your mom on Mother's Day! You could make her a simple but delicious breakfast! Something as simple as pancakes!

The good thing about pancakes is their versatility! You could make them with fruits like berries or bananas, nuts like walnuts or pecans, flavors like vanilla or cinnamon or chocolate chips! 

If you don't like any of that in your pancake, you can top the pancake with a variety of toppings: sliced bananas, strawberries, berries, chocolate chip,chocolate syrup, maple syrup, honey.. Pretty much anything one wants. I would however stick to the healthier options.

Here is a simple recipe that you can use to make the pancakes.

Servings: makes 8-10 medium sized pancakes

Prep time: 10 minsCook time: 15 minsTotal time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Milk: 1/2 cup
Egg: 1
Melted Butter/ oil: 2 tbsp
Flour: 1 cup
Baking powder: 1 tsp
Salt: 1/4 tsp
Sugar: 1 tbsp
Butter/oil: for greasing the griddle.

Method:

Whisk the egg and the milk.
Add the melted butter/ oil and mix well.
Now add the sugar, salt and stir.
Mix the baking powder with the flour.
Add this flour mix to the egg and milk mixture.
Stir the mixture so that there are no lumps. Do not over mix. If the batter is too thick, add a little more milk.
Keep it aside for 10-15 mins. The batter will thicken.

Heat the griddle.
Add 1/2 tsp of butter/oil to the pan.
Pour 1/4 cup of batter into the center of the pan. Using a ladle, gently spread it in circular motions. Don't spread it too thin.
Let it cook on low flame for 2 mins. You will see bubbling on top. Try to release the edges of the pancake from the pan. If it releases easily, flip the pancake.
Cook from the other side for 1 more minute.

Remove from the griddle and place it on a serving plate.
Top it with bananas,  berries, chocolate chip or nuts. Pour maple syrup/honey or regular syrup on top.

Serve hot.

Enjoy! I am bringing this to Angie's Fiesta Friday#171.

Cooking made easy:

If you wish you can mix chopped nuts of your choice in the batter.
You can add banana slices on top of the pancake, once you have poured the batter on the pan and it starts bubbling!

Tip for healthy living:

It is much healthier to use butter as opposed to butter substitutes or hydrogenated oils.

Food for thought:

I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen. Ernest Hemingway.

Please do share your thoughts. Your opinion matters!

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Banana Split, dairy free; Independance Day Special

It is rightly said that you can take an Indian out of India but you can never take India out of an Indian! Today marks 70th Anniversary of the  Indian Independence Day!  To mark this occasion, I decided to make something tricolor: orange, white and green ; the colors of the Indian Flag. 

Happy Independence Day to all Indians!

The past week has been super-hot here in New York. I wanted to make something to help cool down. I have been meaning to make this sorbet for the longest.. I decided to make it but in tricolor! I used cantaloupe for  orange, banana for white ( which well, turned brownish!) and honeydew for green. These fruit sorbets are super-simple & easy to make! Simply cut the fruits, freeze them, blend them, freeze them again and then serve!! It is dairy free, therefore those who are lactose intolerant can also enjoy it!

Let us know check out the recipe in detail:

Prep time: 30 minsCook time/freeze time: 7 hours

Servings: 4-6

Ingredients:

Cantaloupe :1/4 medium sized
Honeydew: 1/4 medium sized
Bananas: 4 ripe
Lemon juice:  2 tbsp
Honey: 4 tbsp ( can be adjusted as per individual taste.) If you have no honey, you can use regular sugar.
Water: 1 cup
Almond milk: 1/2 cup ( can use regular milk if not allergic and don't have almond milk).
Vanilla essence: 1/2 tsp
Banana: ripe, but firm 1 per person.
Chocolate syrup: to drizzle
Walnut pieces: 1 tbsp, for garnish ( optional)

Method:

Wash, peel and cut the fruits into bite size pieces. Lay them on a baking tray and freeze them for 4-5 hours.

Take the cantaloupe out. Add it to a blender with  2 tbsp honey , 1 tbsp lemon juice and 1/2 cup water. Blend it. Put it in a container. Cover it with  cling-wrap  and freeze it for 1-2 hours.

Repeat the same with the honeydew.

Next, take the frozen bananas, add them to the blender with 1/2 cup almond milk and 1/2 tsp vanilla essence and blend. Pour it into a loaf pan or plastic tub-like container. Cover with cling-wrap and freeze it for 1-2 hours.

To assemble the banana split:

Slit one single banana lengthwise. Arrange it on a serving plate/ bowl.
Using a ice cream scoop, scoop one scoop each of cantaloupe, banana and honeydew sorbet, in that order. Arrange it on the serving plate/bowl as shown in the picture.

Drizzle the bananas with chocolate syrup. Sprinkle with chopped nuts.

Serve immediately!

Enjoy!

I am sharing the skinny, healthy, dairy-free Banana Split with my friends at Throwback Thursday #50, Fiesta Friday #132 and Saucy Saturday#57! Angie's co-hosts this week are Sandhya @ Indfused and Nancy @ Feasting With Friends

Cooking made easy:

While freezing ice cream, the use of cling-wrap, helps prevents the formation of ice crystals.

To scoop ice cream cleanly and in a perfect circle, dip your ice cream scoop in warm water before use and in between scoops.

Tip for healthy living:

To help reduce the use of sugar in your diet, you can substitute it with natural sweeteners like honey or natural sugars like palm sugar, coconut sugar or jaggery.

Food for thought:

Your beliefs become your thoughts, your thoughts become words, your words become actions, your actions become habits, your habits become values, your values become your destiny. Mahatma Gandhi

Please do share your thoughts. Your opinion matters!

Sandwiches for your kid's lunchbox

When Sonal announced her lunchbox collective, I could only think of what I go through with my kids. I have a 7-year old and a 4-year old who are picky eaters and therefore lunch is a big issue. While there are several things that could be sent to kids, when it comes to my children these are the issues I face:
1. They are picky
2. They don't eat messy food by themselves.
3. They don't want food that has sauce/ gravy as it may spill.
4. The food has to be in good condition by lunchtime.

I am might have forgotten a few more issues..😉

Anyways, the solution for most of these problems is SANDWICH!! Yes, sandwiches .. The possibilities are endless.. Most people / kids like sandwiches unless you are someone like me, who actually doesn't like them!😌 Don't get me wrong, I will eat them in a pinch, but for be most part I avoid them. Enough about me, coming back to lunch.. Sandwiches work for my kids and my husband too for his lunch!

Like I said earlier, there are endless possibilities for sandwiches! I am going to share with you some of them and ways to make sandwiches appealing to kids. Children don't like CRUST!! That is a big turn-off to them. If you are someone like me who thinks that throwing the crust is wasting food, then you better reconcile with it. Save the crust to make bread crumbs/ croutons or feed it to the birds/ducks.

So once you have taken off the crust, try to make it appealing by cutting the sandwich into different shapes. I use shape cutters to do them. They are inexpensive and easily available. If you don't have them, just use a regular knife to shape the sandwiches. Much as kids like hearts and trains, they also like little triangles and squares and circles. For little kids, keep the sandwiches simple. I like to make my kids' meals as balanced as possible, so I use whole grain or wheat bread, some protein in the sandwich and fruit on the side. The protein could be nut butter like Nutella, almond butter, peanut butter  or cheese. You could pair the nut butter with sliced apple or banana. You could pair the cream cheese with sliced cucumbers tomatoes or just plain. You could also make an olive oil and tomato sandwich .  For the slightly older kids you could use a layer of coriander-mint chutney with tahini or hummus.

Now let us look at some of the very basic options!

Servings : makes one sandwich of each kind

Ingredients:

Whole grain wheat/ white bread slices: 2 slices -per sandwich

For butter and jelly sandwich:

Butter/ nut butter: 1 tablespoon per sandwich. ( can adjust as per individual preferance)
Fruit preserve/jam: 1 tbsp

For the cucumber/ tomato sandwich:

Cream cheese: 1 tablespoon per sandwich. ( can adjust as per individual preferance)
Butter: 1 tsp
Cucumber slices: 3-4, depending on the size of the cucumber.
Tomato slices: 2-4, depending on the size of the tomato.
Coriander/mint chutney: 1 tbsp

Method:

For butter and jelly sandwich:

Apply butter/nut butter on one bread slice. 

Apply fruit preserve on the other slice.

Place it on top of each other. 

Place the desired shape sandwich cutter on the bread and cut into desired shape. I used a train-shaped cutter and a heart-shaped cutter. 

Pack it in your child's favorite lunch-box.

For the cucumber/tomato sandwich:

Using a serrated knife cut off the crust from the bread slices.

Apply butter on one bread slice. 

Apply coriander-mint chutney on top of the butter. 

Place the cucumber and tomato slice on each other in layers . 

Drizzle with some more coriander-mint chutney.

Apply cream cheese to the other slice. Place on top.

Slice it into two rectangles in the middle and then each rectangle into tow triangles.

You can use toothpicks to secure the sandwich.

Pack in lunch boxes with a side of desired fruit, cut into bite size pieces!

I am  bringing these lunchbox ideas to Throwback Thursday #50, Fiesta Friday #132 and Saucy Saturday#57! Angie's co-hosts this week are Sandhya @ Indfused and Nancy @ Feasting With Friends

Cooking made easy:

The above sandwiches can be altered in many different ways depending on what you have on hand.
You could make only cheese sandwich, or stack with more veggies like sweet bell peppers, grilled tofu or paneer. You could also add ketchup or serve it on the side. Use your imagination!

Tip for healthy living:

It is recommended that every meal be a balanced meal to meet the daily requirements of nutrients. The best way to attain this is by making your meals colorful.  You can read more in the references below.

References:
https://www.choosemyplate.gov/MyPlate
https://www.choosemyplate.gov/fruit
http://www.dartmouth.edu/wellness/docs/fruitvegservingsizes.pdf

Food for thought:

It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. Frederick Douglass

Please do share your thoughts. Your opinion matters!

Jhatpat Sevai Kheer/Sheer kurma/ Sheer Khorma ( Easy Vermicilli Pudding)

Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the 30 days of fasting during the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims. The culmination of Ramadan is celebrated as Eid. Eid is celebrated with a lot of pomp worldwide. Families and friends come together, gifts are exchanged and there is lot of feasting! One of the main dishes that is cooked to mark the celebration is Sevai Kheer or Sheer Kurma/ Sheer Khorma. The word literally means "Sweetened Milk".

The difference between sevai kheer and sheer khurma is one key ingredient that is dates. When chopped dates is added to Sevai kheer, it becomes Sheer Khorma or Sheer kurma.

Every year, my Bangladeshi neighbor brings me a big bowl of Sheer Kurma on Eid Day. This year, she has gone to Canada to celebrate it with her newly married husband. My kids were missing the Sheer Kurma. I decided to quickly put together a Sevai kheer for them. This one was ready in less than 10 mins !! You have to make it to believe it!

Prep time: 2 minutes
Cook time: 5-7 mins

Total time: 7-9 minutes

Servings: 6-8 people

Ingredients:

Condensed milk: 1 can ( 14 oz)
Whole milk: 2 cups
Roasted Vermicelli : 2 cups
Cardamom powder: 1/8th spoon
Saffron strands: 2-3
Cashew nut bits: 1 tbsp
Slivered almonds: 1 tbsp
Raisins: 1 tbsp
Ghee ( clarified butter): 1 tsp
Salt: a pinch

Method:

Add 1 can condensed milk and 2 cups whole milk to a saucepan/ pot. Bring this mixture to a boil.

Add roasted vermicelli, cardamom powder and saffron strands to the above pot. Mix well.
Turn off the flame. Cover the pot. Keep it covered for 5 mins.

While the vermicelli is being cooked in the hot milk, get the garnishing ready.

Heat ghee ( clarified butter) in a small pan. Add the cashew bits and slivered almonds and sauté for a couple of mins until it just turns golden. Be careful not to burn it.
Now add the raisins to it. Sauté for 10 seconds. Turn off the flame.

Add this to the above pot.

Serve hot or cold!!

Enjoy!! I am bringing this to Throwback Thursday #46, Fiesta Friday #127  and Saucy Saturday #52. Angie's co-hosts this week are Suzanne @ apuginthekitchen and Jess @ Cooking Is My Sport.

Cooking made easy:

If roasted vermicelli is not available in your area, you can roast it yourself in a little bit of clarified butter. You can roast a big batch and store it in an airtight container.

If you don't have vermicelli at all, you can use grated apples or cooked rice.  It will then become apple pudding or rice pudding, respectively!:)

Tip for healthy living:

This Sevai kheer can be made healthier by using regular milk instead of condensed milk. Instead of additional sugar, add chopped dates or maple syrup/ coconut sugar or even honey.

If you want a vegan version, use almond milk instead of regular milk and cooking oil ( preferably coconut)to toast the nuts.

Food for thought:

You are confined only by the walls you build yourself. Unknown

Please do share your thoughts. Your opinion matters!