Diwali Special - Anjeer Khajur Diyas

Sugar free sweet for health conscious foodies! :)


Ingredients
Khajur/ Dates (pitted) - 14-15 pieces
Anjeer/ figs - 7-8 pieces
Milk - 1/3 cup
Chopped almonds, walnuts etc -1/2 cup. I usually roast nuts on a dry skillet. It brings out all the wonderful flavours
Goond/ tree resin - 1 tbsp for garnishing; readily available in most Indian grocery stores. (Optional)
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Silver foil (optional)


Method

• Soak khajur/ dates and Anjeer/figs in milk for couple of hours.

• Crush the soaked dates and figs in a blender/ food processor.

Anjeer Khajur mixture - cooling in a plate

• Saute the mixture in ghee for a few minutes on medium heat till the milk evaporates.
• Let the mixture cool.

Shaped into diyas, and placed in mini cupcake liners

• Make small bowls or diyas (about the size of a quarter) out of the mixture. Its a lot of fun, much like playing with play doh! 
• If using silver foil, apply it on the outside of these small bowls.

• Fill with chopped nuts
• Fry the goond in 1 tbsp ghee. Let it cool, and garnish at the time of serving.

These are perfect for people who are watching what they eat!  It satisfies the sweet tooth, without any artificial sugar or flavours :)

Happy Diwali and Happy New Year! :)


Hetal from Houston

Oven Roasted Vegetables

Last week, I saw some yellow and orange organic beets at the Central Market. I just had to try them, so I bought them.  Both of us love roasted vegetables, so that was the easiest thing to whip up after a long day!
I used most of the root vegetables I had available, and then some other seasonal ones like acorn squash.
Since I had the oven already preheating at 400 F, I decided to have an oven roasted apple for dessert. So dinner and dessert were both ready together.
Here it goes:


Ingredients
Sweet Potato - 1 medium sized; peeled and diced in 1" cubes
Beet roots - 2 medium sized (I used one orange and one red); peeled and diced in 1" cubes
Onion - 1 small; peeled and diced in 1" cubes
Acorn squash - 1 small (sliced cross wise)
Cauliflower florets - 1 cup
Salt - to taste
Pepper - to taste
Olive oil - couple of drizzles
Herbs de Provence - 1 tsp
Garlic - few cloves; roughly chopped (optional)


Fuji Apple - 1 piece (cut in 1" cubes)
Cinnamon pwd - 1 pinch
Sugar - 1 pinch


Method

• Preheat oven to 400 F
• Line baking sheets with aluminum foil for easy cleaning. I used a separate one for the red beets since I didnt want the color to ooze into the remaining vegetables. 
• Place sweet potatoes, orange beet, onion, garlic and cauliflower florets on one baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt -pepper. Sprinkle the Herbs de Provence and toss so that all vegetables are coated and evenly seasoned.

• On another sheet, place the acorn squash and red beet (slightly apart so the colour doesnt ooze onto the squash). Drizzle olive oil and seasoning as above.

Red beets and Acorn squash

• In a separate small oven safe dish, place the chopped apples. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon powder, and toss.

Apple sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon

• Put all three trays into the oven and let the vegetables roast for 25-30 minutes or until fork tender. You might want to toss the vegetables once after 15 minutes or so, for even cooking. 
• Serve with bread, cous cous or just by itself.

Oven roasted vegetables - ready to serve

• Dont forget to enjoy the baked cinnamon apple :). It turned out so well, that I forgot to click a picture. :(

Bon Apetit!

Hetal from Houston

Palak Idlis

Spinach is one of my favourite leafy vegetable- nutritious and versatile. There are a gazillion recipes in various Indian cuisines. Here's my take on idlis with spinach.

 Ingredients

• 11/2 cup rice flour
• 2 tbsp Urad daal
• 2 tbsp Chana daal
• 2 tbsp Mung daal
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 cup frozen Palak /spinach (thawed). You can also use fresh spinach. Blanch it in hot water for five minutes and squeeze the excess water.
• 1 green chilli (optional)
• a pinch salt(optional)
• 1 tsp Eno/ fruit salt

Special equipment

Idli mould (available in any Indian grocery store)

Pressure cooker/ steamer.


Method

Rice-daal soaked in yogurt

• Grind the urad, chana and mung daal in a grinder into fine powder. I find a coffee grinder works best, but a regular grinder should also work. 
• Mix the ground daal into rice flour in a medium sized bowl, and soak it in yogurt. The consistency would be very dense. Add a little water if you feel the batter is still not moist. Let it soak for 4-5 hours.

Palak paste

• Grind the palak /spinach and green chilli with a pinch of salt to a smooth paste.

• Add palak paste to the Idli batter and mix gently.  

Rice-Daal batter and palak paste - before mixing

• Fill pressure cooker/ steamer with 1-2 inch water, and set on medium high heat.
• Add Eno into the batter, and mix gently. Tiny bubbles should form in the batter.

• Grease idli mould and pour 3/4th in each cavity of the mould.

Palak Idli batter in the idli mould

• Place the mould carefully in the steamer and cover. If using pressure cooker, do not use the whistle/ pressure. Steam for 10-12 minutes.
• Palak Idli is ready. Serve with coconut chutney. It is great as an appetizer or even a nice healthy lunch.

Bon Apetit!

Hetal from Houston

Palak Idlis