Healthy Oats and Nuts Granola Bar

 Today am making something that you have seen a lot in most of the stores under various names like Energy Bar, Protein Bar, Granola Bar, Oats bar and so it goes. So while you compare the nutritional value and price for them like me, nothing stops you from trying it at home.
I keep one pack in the car always so that whenever you are outside or coming from office and stuck in traffic and get hungry, it comes handy. I made them for Raj but I am the one eating it more.
First time when i made them i felt it might be costly but with the ingredients i bought, i was able to make 3 times. So price wise i think its with us.
Coming to the nutritional value, we know what goes in this so you can tweak them however you wish

I got this recipe from Food Network which is really catching upto me as i find myself trying their recipes a lot :-)
So if its good enough why not share them with you and persuade to try them.
I have made some changes in this recipe as the original recipe called for Coconut and i traded them with some more extra nuts

If you are someone who is concerned about the nutritional value of the food that you eat, let me assure you that this is way far better than the store brought ones. The only trade off will be the Sugar in them but it mostly comes from the Dried fruit and dates so i dont think you have to worry too much on that

Ingredients Makes 24 bars
Rolled Oats - 2 cups
Almonds - 1 cup
Cashew - 1/2 cup
Hazelnut - 1/2 cup

Wheat Germ  - 1/2 cup
Butter - 3 tbsp
Honey - 3/4 cup
Brown Sugar - 1/4 cup
Vanilla Extract- 1 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp

Dates - 1/2 cup
Mixed Dried Berries - 1/2 cup

Preheat the oven to 350 degree F
Chop the nuts to half or quarter size of them

Mix the Oats with Almonds, cashews and Hazelnut and spread on a baking sheet.
Bake it for 10 - 12 mins. Take care not to brown them :-)

Reduce the Temperature to 300 degree F

Butter or spray oil to a Baking dish (I used 9 * 12 inch dish ) and line with parchment paper.

Heat the butter in a saucepan and add the Honey, Brown sugar and salt
Once its mixed, take it off heat and add the Vanilla Extract.

Mix the toasted nuts with wheat germ in a big bowl.
Now add in the heated wet mixture and mix them well.

Add the chopped dates and dried berries into this and mix well.

Now spread them into the prepared dish
Wet your hands and gently press them to form an even layer.
Bake them in 300 Degree F Oven for 20-25 mins.

Let it cool off in the baking pan itself for 2-3 hours.
After that take them out and cut them into bars of your choice of size.

It makes 24 of them if you decide to cut them to the weight of the store brought ones.

Notes:

• Please dont forget to reduce the Oven temperature in between
• Oil the measuring cup before measuring Honey and the honey will slide off easily
• Wetting your hands will help you to spread the Granola Mixture easily
• You can add your choice of nuts and Dried Berries.
• I Made it without Vanilla at first and it did come out well too, so no worries if you dont have Vanilla Extract handy
• It remains fresh for more than a week in Room temperature
• Freezing them and thawing out in room temperature will last them longer
• I pack them in Ziplocs as shown above or plastic Cling Wraps

I have tried my max to make the pictures perfect but as you see its a bit tough for me now as i have a wagging tail behind me always :-)

Isnt he cute? He is our 6 month Labrador, our sweet puppy who loves to hang out in the kitchen. So he is my new "Little Chef"

So Happy Cooking and Trying new Recipes Guys!!

Potato / Aloo Bonda

A favorite tea time snack , doesnt need any introduction ryt? This was my favorite when i was in college. Everyday i used to have atleast one from our College canteen :-)

Ingredients - Makes 11 medium sized Bondas
For filling
Potato - 250 gms
Onion - 40 gms
Green Chilly - 3 nos
Ginger - a very small piece minced
Turmeric - a pinch
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard - 1/4 tsp
Urad dal - 1/4 tsp
Curry Leaves - few
Cilantro - few chopped

For Batter
Besan - 1/4 cup
Rice Powder - 1/8 cup
Hing - a small pinch
Turmeric - a small pinh
Cooking Soda - a small pinch
Salt
Red Chilly Pdr - 1/4 tsp
Water - 6 tbsp

Oil - for frying

Pressure cook the potato with little water for 2-3 whistles and keep aside.
Once cooled, peel and mash it

Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard, add urad dal and let it brown
Add Onion,salt, green chilly, curry leaves,ginger and saute it.
Now add turmeric and mix it well.
Add the mashed potato and mix it well and let it heat through.

Once this mixture cools off, make small balls out of them and keep aside.

Now mix all the ingredients under 'For Batter' and keep aside

Heat oil in a deep bottomed pan and once its hot enough for frying, dip each potato balls in the batter and fry till they get a golden brown color.

Serve hot with Coconut Chutney and tea :-)

Happy Snacking Guys!!!

Chickpeas Sundal

Well to start off, i must say that till today morning i didn't know that this dish is known as Sundal. My mother used to make this for breakfast some days and i loved it. I never asked her what is this known as, neither did she tell me. I used to call it 'Kadala Upperi'
If something tastes good, seriously why do you want to know the name for? ;-)

Today morning when i was checking Facebook, i happened to see a photo posted by my friend with title 'Spicy Sundal'. It intrigued me. I did a Google search and was surprised to see that it is the same thing that i have been eating.

When i was working in Bangalore, me and my friend Anu used to go to a Ganapathy temple every weekend. Yes i did pray but the main intention was to eat the 'Prasadam' that we got there. We use to get this along with many other tasty items.

It serves as a breakfast or a snack.

Ingredients (Serves 3)
Chickpeas - 1 cup
Salt
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Green Chilly - 3 nos
Dry Red Chilly - 3 nos
Grated coconut - 4-5 tbsp

Soak the Chickpeas overnight I soaked it for 5-6 hours and it worked fine
Pressure cook chickpeas with water (just enough to reach a bit more than chickpeas) and salt for 3 -4 whistles
Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard. Now add the curry leaves, dry red chillies and green chilly and saute for 30 secs
Now add the cooked chickpeas and mix it well.
Let it cook for 1-2 mins till the spicy oil coats the chickpeas.
Now add the grated coconut and mix well.

Serve hot with a steaming cup of coffee :-)

Happy Snacking!!!

Veg Cutlet

This is the first recipe that i learned to make other than rice. Its from my friend Tahsneem's  home that i first had homemade cutlets.Her mother was a good cook and she knew many recipes to make and i loved eating them. I learned her recipe and even tried them at my home, it was a huge success.But now 10 years later i forgot the exact ingredients. This is how i make it nowadays and it comes out good even thought not good as the ones i had from Thasni's house.

Ingredients Makes 12 Cutlets
Potato - 2 medium ones
Carrot grated - 1 medium (100 gms)
Peas - 50 gms (If fresh, cook them separately)
Onion chopped - a small piece
Green chilly chopped finely - 5 gms
Ginger chopped finely - 5 gms
garlic chopped finely - 5 gms
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Amchur - 1/4 tsp
Rusk powdered- 5-6  (You can use bread crumbs also)
Egg whisked- 1
Salt
Oil - 1 tbsp + for frying

Pressure cook the potatoes - max 2 whistles
Peel and mash the potatoes well
Heat oil in a pan and add green chilly, ginger, garlic and onion one by one.
Add the peas and carrot and let it get cooked (frozen ones get cooked within 5 mins)
Now add the garam masala, salt and amchur and let it get cooked.
Once the veggies are cooked well, add the mashed potato and mix well into the spice and veggies mixture.
Make 12 balls out of this mixture and keep aside.

You can either deep fry or shallow fry the cutlet
Heat oil for frying in the pan.
Dip one ball in the whisked egg and roll it in the rusk powder and fry it till it gets a dark brown color (Take care not to burn it)
Do the same with rest of the mixture
You can add any type of vegetables for this. As i had used potato the most, my cutlets were very soft inside.

Serve hot with ketchup

Happy Eating!!!

Kozhukatta Spicy

Its a 4 PM snack item in most of the Kerala households. This is not a sweet Kozhukatta but a spicy one which makes it a good choice for Breakfast too.
When i looked, i didnt find a recipe for this type of Kozhukatta available, so thought of posting it. Who doesnt like a twist, ryt?
We usually add lots of small onions and mustard, eating each 'kozhukatta' with a little bit of onion and mustard is the perfect way to have them :-)

Ingredients (Serves 3)
Rice powder - 1 1/2 cup
Grated coconut - 1/2 - 3/4 cup (the more the merrier)
Cumin seed - 1 tsp
Salt
Water - 1 1/4 cups

For Temepering
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard Seed- 1 tbsp
Curry Leaves - few
Dry Red Chilly - 5-6
Small Onion chopped - 15 nos

Dry roast the rice powder with cumin seeds for 10 mins in medium heat. Keep stirring.
Add the salt and mix it into this powder. Take care not to add more salt as you will get the salt taste only after adding water
 Add the grated coconut and now add the water slowly and start mixing it till you get a consistency of that of a chapati dough.
Now make small balls of the dough and steam them till its cooked well.
The smaller, the tastier they are
Mine took about 20 mins in medium heat
Once the steam starts coming out, i reduce the heat to low- medium and allow it to cook.

Once the kozhukatta is cooled enough to handle, start with the tempering
Heat oil in pan and splutter the mustard seeds. Then add the curry leaves and dry red chillies.
Now add the onion and saute them till it gets a brown color. Take care not to burn them
Toss the Kozhukatta along with the tempering and let it stay in low heat for 5 mins.
Yay...Its done

Eat Kozhukatta along with the mustard and onion. It tastes better that way :-)

Happy Eating

Aval Nanachathu

Aval Nanachathu

4 PM snack back at home. I have not made this for a long time, so thought why not enjoy something that was missing for a long time. So i prepared this.Got it from my mother in law. In my home we usually make it with milk and sugar. In this recipe we will be using Jaggery instead of sugar.
I must say i felt bad for not making this sooner

Ingredients (Serves 2)
Aval - 11/2 cup
Grated Coconut - 1 cup
Water - 1/4 - 1/2 cup
Jaggery - 1 piece around 200 gms
Milk - 4 tbspns
Few Banana Slices

Melt the jaggery along with the water in a pan.
Add the grated coconut and mix the aval into it.
Keep mixing it till everything is mixed well.
Add the banana pieces now and give a small toss.
Now let it stand for 20-30 mins so that the aval soaks everything and becomes soft. If it still is hard, add few tablespoons of milk.
I felt that the milk enhanced the sweetness overall.

Happy munching!!!!

Banana Nuggets for those li'l ones

Pazham Pori

Banana Nuggets - does that sound too much for you? well let me make it simple for you. Its 'Pazham Pori' but not the usual ones. These are just apt for those small ones running around you. Its so perfect sized that you will love cooking and them eating it
Earlier i didn't like Pazham Pori because it was always so much of oil, that i hated it for sure.

1 year back, when we were in Wagamon, it was evening and we all were hungry after a long walk through 3 mountains to just see a Suicide Point. 'Who will walk all these ways to suicide'
But i must say the view over there was really worth those long walks.
Anyone who sees that will want to live more at least to see those views

So story in short, we were hungry and theer was only this shop and they had only Pazham Pori with them. As i didnt like them, i passed it even after the person there asked me twice.
As my stomach disapproved, i had a small bite from my husband's and i just felt so stupid that i missed it. I would have cried on my loss. My pride didnt allow me to ask that man, so i made my husband do it cos i didnt want to miss it. It was that tasty.
After that i started checking on why it was so tasty and i found that its just the banana that counts
taste = ripeness
When my mother in law came to live with me, most of the days when i was returning
from office, i would buy one banana which will be the blackest in that shop leaving the shopkeeper wondering whats wrong with me   :-)
Now to the recipe

Ingredients                                                                  
Ripe Banana - 1
Maida/ All Purpose Four - 3/4 cup
Turmeric pdr - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 2 tsp (as per your taste level)
Salt - a pinch
Water - 1/2-3/4 cup
Oil

Cut the banana into small rounds and keep aside
Mix the Maida, turmeric pdr, sugar,salt and the water to make the batter
Now heat the oil in a pan
Once the oil is hot, dip the banana pieces into the batter and into the oil it goes.
Once its done , flip over and cook the other side
Serve them hot with your coffee
Am sure you will love it

Note: Its good if you can deep fry them, it will cook fast or else you can cook it in a pan by flipping over. While cooking in a pan
If you still feel its not sweet enough, just sprinkle some sugar on top of them.
You can make shapes with the leftover batter :-)

Try and let me know how it went for you
Happy Eating!!!

Ela Ada with Jaggery

Steamed Ela Ada

Even if Ela Ada is a common snack in Kerala, its a breakfast item for us.

We really missed it when we moved to US. It was a real surprise when we found banana leaves in a local Chinese Store. And now, this is a weekend breakfast

We can make it with Sugar or Jaggery. This is the Jaggery version of the same

It can be either steamed or cooked in a tawa. Steamed one is my husband's favorite whereas i like the other one (seen below)

Ingredients

For Ada

Plantain Leaves

Rice Powder - 1 cup

Cumin Seeds - a pinch

Salt

Water

For the Filling

Grated Coconut - 1 cup

Jaggery - 125 gms

Melt the Jaggery and strain it. Add the grated coconut to this, mix well and keep aside

Roast the rice powder along with the cumin seeds and salt in a tawa for 2-3 mins

Add water to this slowly and mix till you get a consistency of that of chapati dough

Keep some water aside to use while pressing the dough

Take a plantain leaf, and press the dough with your hands to form a thin layer on it. You can dab your hands with little water so it will not stick in your hands

Add little filling mixture (as per your taste level) in the middle of the layer and spread it to one half of the dough layer.

Now carefully close the other half on top of this (You can see horizontal lines in the leaf, Always close to its opposite direction. Otherwise the leaf will tear off)

Do the same with the remaining leaves and dough mixture

Steaming

 Steam the ada for 15-20 mins

If the leaf comes out cleanly from the ada, then its cooked else steam it for some more time

On Tawa

Place a tawa and keep it in medium heat

Place one Ada and close it, let it cook for 2-3 mins. Then flip it to the other side. Check if the Leaf comes out cleanly. Otherwise cook for some more time

Repeat the same for the remaining Adas

Note:

The steamed one will be very moist whereas the tawa cooked one will be dry

Try both to see which one you like better

Try and let me know how it went for you

Happy Eating....