We had tried once before as listed here and had turned out ok back then.  We amended a few things this time and turned out great. We still followed the recipe listed as in previous scope with some twists

3 cups of all purpose flour with 2 teaspoons of cumin seeds (jeera), olive oil, yeast, and some flavored chutney as prep’d as follows’:

Green chutney
a bunch of coriander leaves
a bunch of mint leaves
2-3 green chillies
few slices of onion
Jeera
grated ginger

blend all the above in a mixer grinder. add 1-2 table spoons  of this paste to the dough. Mix well as indicated recipe in previous post.

Place the kneeded dough warm for over an hour. I kept it in our cooking range oven. It would look like this at the end of an hour

Roll it to the the pizza pan. I didn’t use the Rolling pin this time, rather stretched by hands.

Used part of the dough to make little buns, but they didn’t really turn out great, though the inside texture turned out great but the exterior was crunchy and not as soft as bun. but Tasted great though. we realized, if added ajwain, would have tasted like om-biscuits as we called in our childhood in Bangalore.

Tomato sauce:

Prepared Tomato sauce at home. Method:

start with 2-tablespoons of olive oil in a vessel heated on cooking range. add mustard seeds, jeera, Onions, 1-2 green chillies, 3-4 tomatoes thoroughly fried. add few cloves and black pepper for that spicy feeling, a bit of chilli powder, if requird. Salt according to taste. No, we didn’t add salt at all. get them to boil. cool and blend in mixer grinder.

Bake the crust slightly so it would be easier to apply the ketchup / tomato sauce and add toppings. Apply ketchup / tomato sauce and add toppings.

Now bake for 15 to20 minutes at 425 deg.

throwing in a few almonds on top wouldn’t hurt, I think.  Feels good to bite those almonds with pizza

Make slices as appropriate and relish hot. add crushed red chillies and anything else you would prefer for toppings. It turned out to be think crispy crust pizza with great number of vegetable toppings. No, we didn’t add the cheese. Couldn’t find a cheese with no Sodium content in it, and hence skipped it.

….. an experimentation for not being able to eat pizza outside being on Sodium diet  

I do not know the calories this would add, but I am good to eat the entire pie of this size

Ingredients and method:

green gram dal (lentils) – 2 cups
green chillies – (cut – 1 teaspoon)
ginger – shredded (1 teaspoon)
mustard, cumin seeds, etc for tadka
lemon – medium half
coriander leaves – nicely cut.
shredded fresh coconut – 2 tblpoons
salt – according to taste

soak the lentils for 3 to 4 hours
cut cucumber into small slices
Prepare tadka – place a skillet on stove / cooking range. drop a tblspoon of Olive oil. let it heat up. put few seeds of mustard seeds and cumin seeds upon mustards start split up.
add cut green chillies and fry few minutes
add some Hing (asafoetida) – a pinch for flavor.

now drain out all the water from soaked dal. add cut cucumber into the bowl containing dal. add the tadka into it. add shredded Ginger.  No,  heating / boiling dal and cucumber is not required. add a pinch of salt according to your taste. mix well. top it off with cut coriander leaves and squeeze the lemon.

Serve by itself or with the meals.

A quick bite in the morning – perhaps thats the amount of time most of us be able to find on busy days. Instead of hitting those restaurants to grab some junk Chips and high calorie burgers… and even compared to Oily Dosa or curries, though in the name of Vegetables we take lots of oily calories, and most nutrients would have evaporated in FULLY  cooked vegetable curries anyway…

I prepared it this morning and pretty much ate that for my brunch today. It was delicious, yummy and filling too… Here is how it goes

Ingredients:

Apple #1 (medium to large sized)
almonds – about 6 to 10 (literally, a handful)
rolled oats – 4 to 5 tbl spoons
Honey – 2 tbl spoons
Jaggery – 1 tbl spoon (if available)
Banana – 1
Cardamom – 1 (for added flavor)

Preparation:

Cut the Apple into pieces (cubes?) –really, doesn’t matter but cut into smaller pieces and lay them on a ceramic plate. If you choose, you may prepare in a microwave oven bowl too, i just chose a plate.
spread the oats on top of the apple pieces.
cut the banana into pieces as well and spread the cut banana on top of oats.
Now, pour / spread Honey and / or Jaggery.
and sprinkle powdered cardamom for additional flavor

Place it in the Microwave oven or a conventional oven at 250 deg. I used a microwave oven and kept it for about 4 to 6 minutes with occasional check and stir for each 2 minute interval. Just look for Oats being mixed / cooked well. Oats absorbs the moisture from Apples at the bottom and the banana at the top, and hence becomes softer.

Apple becomes so soft, and I have heard, heated apples would reduce the vaatha  in your body. Banana would have completely melted and mixed into the powdered/rolled oats.

now take out the plate from the oven, and add more almonds or any kind of nuts you like, it gives a cruncy feeling when you eat.

Relish when it is warm. It tastes  better when it is warm of course.

Benefits:

Oats, Apples and Banana: they all add Fiber to your body
These are not cooked and the nutrients stay.
as fresh fruits do not add required calories, perhaps Almonds would cover that.
Honey replaces the artificial Sugar, and hence less calories. Although do watch out for the amount of Honey, use less.

You’ve got to try it out…

Actually, it turned out awesome.. much much better than the McDonalds Apple Pie.

To prepare pakoras:

Ingredients:
Besan – chick peas flour – 1cups
Rice flour – 1/4th cup
Onion – 1 small/medium – chopped into small pieces
spring onions – (optional) – 2 to 3
green chilli – 1 or two
cilantro (kotthambari soppu / ) – 3 or 4 strands
curry leaves – 2 or 3 leaves
salt – as required (optional)
Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
Jeera – 1 tsp
asafoetida (hing) – a pinch
Olive Oil (optional) – 1 tblspoon
water – 1 cup or a little more

Process:
Chop Onion, green chillies, cilantro, curry leaves into small pieces. you may choose to add any other vegetables like potatoes, beans, peas, etc
Mix flour, chopped vegetables, salt, hing, jeera, red chilli powder, olive oil together in a bowl. Add water a little at a time till you get to a consistency of paste – not too watery and not to think either – but paste consistency towards the thicker side would be ideal.

Get a oven tray (either non-stick metal  or made of aluminum foil), spray/smear a little oil / butter around the sides. scoup the batter into the tray.

Pre-heat oven to 400 deg F. place the tray for about 30 to 40 minutes or till pakoras get golden brown. you may have to turn them around to ensure they are baked on both sides. Attached snapshot shows two on right side turned upside down.

while pakoras being baked, start preparing for Khadi.

To Prepare Khadi:

Ingredients:
Yogurt – 1 to 2 cups
besan – chick peas flour – a quarter cup
turmeric – half tsp
mustard seeds – 1 tsp
jeera – 1 tsp
red chilli powder – a pinch
salt – as required (optional)
cilantro – 3 strands
curry leaves – 2 to 3
olive oil – 1 teaspoon

Process:
pour a cup of plain yogurt in a bowl. add a pinch of red chilli powder, a half tsp of turmeric powder, besan flour, salt (optional) and mix well. Prepare a tadka in another bowl. To prepare tadka, place a skillet / bowl on cooking range on a medium flame, pour a tsp of olive oil and allow it to heat up. add a tsp of mustard seeds and wait for it to sizzle. add a tsp of dal (chana + urad), chopped chili if rquired, and curry leaves. add a pinch of hing (asafoetida) for flavor, and a teaspoon of jeera. now add the yogurt mix that was prepared in another bowl into tadka vessel. allow it to warm up for few minutes on a low/medium flame. and keep it aside. garnish with chopped cilantro, curry leaves, grated ginger, if you prefer.

Check the pakoras in oven, intermittently so it doesn’t get charred.

once ready, serve warm – put a pakora in a bowl and add khadi (yogurt prepared above).

Pakoras turned out crisp and it was a great combination to eat ‘em with khadi. the only drawback was it took a little longer in oven compared to what it would have taken if deep fried in oil on stove top

Any suggestions? please write your comment below

We noticed these raw ones at local stores near by so being nostalgic, wanted try them out again. Initially, we used to fry them in Oil, but then a few days ago, just realized of making something different with these bOti (ಬೋಟಿ). Off late we fry them in microwave instead of deep oil and it turns out great and also quick enough that we don’t have to have a mess with oil, skillet etc.

Ingredients:
raw bOti (i don’t know the English term, but you find these in Asian Indian stores in Papad section.
tomato ketchup
boiled smashed Potato  – 1 cup
frozen Peas – 1/4 cup
curry powder – 1 teaspoon

Prepare Stuffing:
Heat the skillet on a stove on a medium flame, put a spoon of olive oil, and a pinch of jeera. now add mashed potato and frozen peas and top it off with a tspn of curry powder, and cook for about 5 to 10 minutes.

Prepare / microwave raw bOti in microwave – we usually arrange them on a paper/ceramic plate and place in microwave for about a minute. you may choose to deep fry in oil if you choose to, but it is not required.

take ‘em out of the microwave, and fill in the prepared potato stuffing in bOti. Serve with Ketchup or with date/tamarind chutney (available in grocery stores in chaat section) if you have it.

i am not sure about adults, but Kids love it the most, well, I love it too