My favorite snack these days

It's tough to find satisfying snacks when you have as many diet restrictions as I do. Following recipe is perfect, it's super healthy, mildly sweet (even without added sugar), and filling. It's easy to pack for a snack in office the next day.

In a mason jar, add a Tablespoon of chia seeds, some pecans, some sunflower seeds, raisins, fresh pomegranate seeds, elaichi (cardamom seeds) and some dried coconut. Add some coconut milk kefir to this and leave it in the fridge.

I usually put this in the fridge the night before, in the morning the chia seeds are nice and big.

Every bite is yummy. It's mildly sweet because the coconut milk is naturally a little sweet, and with elaichi this satisfies like a proper dessert. Makes for a perfect snack between lunch and dinner. I am yet to try its variations (like switching the fruits, or nuts or flavors) because I am way too happy with this combination.

Saturday comfort lunch

I love butternut squash and I love one pot recipes. I soaked chickpeas for a few hours - and then put it in slow cooker overnight - with some spices - cloves, badi elaichi/ black cardamom, few cloves, black pepper and ginger. After breakfast, I added the following in a small pan on stove - one spoon of coconut oil, and jeera, and onions and tomato and some curry powder - coated the butternut squash pieces with this in the pan and then added all of this into the slow cooker. Let it cook on high for 2-3 hours. Topped it with lots of cilantro, home grown mint (:)), and 1 dollop of home made ghee! Ate it with quinoa and millet blend. Yum!! I was lucky I had all ingredients organic today. What a no hassle lunch!

 

Black sticky rice pudding (slow cooker)

Yesterday I made this for the first time and absolutely loved it! This has become my favorite dessert lately. I don't want to eat a huge portion - but a small portion almost every day!! We went to Uwwajimaya to get black glutinous rice (no other rice should be used for this recipe - I gathered from the blogs)
The recipe is simple - Take 1.5 cups of rice and 4 cups of water. Boil it for 2 min on stove - and then add 0.5 cup coconut sugar and 1 tbsp vanilla extract - pour it in the slow cooker - 4 hours on high - or 8 on low. I did try to stir 2-3 times - mostly because I was too excited. Add 0.75 cup of coconut milk in the end. You can top it with toasted coconut if you have it handy.
The dish came out pretty authentic - and I took it to my son's school's potluck - and it got all used up :) I have a feeling I will take this to a lot more potlucks, and I will stop making a one dish order to go in thai restaurants for my cravings ;)

Home made organic ghee - slow cooked

I looked this up online and found this on some blogs - loved how easy it is. Just find organic butter (unsalted) - a regular butter packet with 4 big cubes yielded this jar of ghee. Put the butter in the slow cooker at a setting of low - leave it for 7 hours, with the lid slightly ajar. Thats it - strain it straight into the jar using the usual strainer for chai. Jar of home made organic ghee (for a price at which you would probably get the non-organic ghee in store).

Beetroot sabzi - in slow cooker

Super healthy and exciting recipe. Chop few beet roots (4-5 medium six) into cubes. Chop some onions and one large tomato. In a pan, take one spoon of olive oil.  Add 1 dried tej patta, 3-4 cloves, 3-4 whole black pepper, add onions - let it become golden. Add about 1 inch cinnamon stick; add the chopped tomatoes and add it to the pan. Add some grated ginger. After 1-2 min, add about one cup of water (or even less than that). Put this "gravy" and the beetroots in the slow cooker. Keep it on high for 4 hours. The dish came out so good. I used mostly all organic ingredients and that must have helped too. Milosh loved it also!
I served it methi dal and quinoa/ millet mix.

Kulfi (without any cooking)

1 (16oz) cup heavy cream

1 (14 oz) can of evaporated milk. If you want you can use low fat.

1 (14 oz) can of condensed milk

8-10 strands of saffron

5-6 cardamom pods

2 tbsp sugar

1 16 oz box of cool whipped topping (fat free)

1/2 cup coarsely crushed nuts (pistas)almonds, cashews.
Grind together sugar, saffron and cardamom seeds.

In a large mixing bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream.

Using a whisk gently mix everything together.

Add in saffron, sugar, cardamom mixture and coarsely crushed nuts. Mix well.

Pour mixture into plastic cups and cover with plastic or aluminum wrap. Or pour it all in a bowl or a deep dish and cover it with a plastic wrap.

Freeze Kulfi for at least 4 – 6 hours, preferably overnight.

Mushroom Capsicum Curry - served with Pita Bread

• Cut capsicum (1 large) and mushroom (6-7 large white) into pieces - not too small
• Create a puree by grinding tomatoes (1-1.5), dry coconut, red chillis, cloves (4-5), cinnamon sticks (1-2), ginger and garlic. You can add onions to this for more body.
• Fry some chopped onions. After they turn golden, add the puree. Add a tsp of tomoato paste (adds good color and look and feel to the dish.
• Side by side - saute capsicum and mushroom.
• When the masala is kinda cooked, add the veggies. Let it cook for a few minutes.
• Add a cup of water and cover and let it simmer for a while.
• Garnish with cilantro. Serve with warm pita bread.