The Healthiest Granola Ever: No Sugar: No Butter: No Apple Sauce

Having a healthy breakfast is a necessity for us. All unhealthy breakfast like Aloo Parathas or Aloo Puri we keep for our cheat days which is once a month. For other days we stick to healthy options like Bombay Kanda Poha, ­­­­Masala Veggies Omelette, Sprouts Dosa -Indian items. But there are days infact weeks when I have no time in hands and that’s when I look for muesli, granola or cornflakes. I mean what can be quicker then these cereals, right?? Just mix in fruits, yogurt or milk and there you have a healthy and filling breakfast ready.

I did try many brands of granola but I never checked the label, the calories, the sugar that goes in the so called ‘low fat’ granola packs. 2 months back I started repenting my mistake and begin making my own homemade granola. This is the best and the healthiest granola/muesli recipe ever. It is no sugar, no apple sauce, no butter and no candied dry fruits granola recipe. It consists of rolled oats, lots of nuts, raw honey, coconut oil and my favorite flax meal.

Flax meal is so important and every one must have it in some form, for ideas see my post on How to include flax seeds in your diet. I used sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and cashews, but feel free to use any nuts that you like. Anyone who loves to eat healthy, this recipe is a keeper-period. Forget market ones and make your own healthy granola, so as to have guilt free breakfast or evening snack.

Ingredients:

1 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup cashews
2 tablespoon flax seeds powder

2 tablespoon raw honey

1 tablespoon coconut oil

Method:

Preheat the oven 175C

In a large mixing bowl add oats, flax seeds powder, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and cashews. Mix everything together.

Heat raw honey and coconut oil in microwave for 10 seconds. Mix them in the granola and nuts mix.

Toss everything together well.

Line a sheet with baking/parchment or grease proof paper. Grease with little oil if needed.

Spread a very thin layer of the granola on it. Bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes give granola a mix and spread again. Bake for 12 minutes or till granola turns golden brown.

Let the granola cool down completely. Store in Ziploc or airtight container.

Notes:

I used this raw honey. If you want you can replace it with any honey.

Good quality coconut oil is what you are looking for, I used this one. Feel free to use butter instead.

As said above, use any nuts or seeds of your choice.
You can also use dried berries or fruits.

Stays well in airtight container for 3 weeks.

Serving suggestions:

I love with cold milk and lots of fruits.

Can be served with yogurt-both plain and flavored.

For a heavier snack serve with sweetened whipped cream.

For some crunch top it on cake or pudding.

Low Fat Gajar Ka Halwa. No Khoya/Condensed Milk. Happy Holi

Happy Holi everyone :-) Missing India? I am totally missing spending time with family and friends-those long chats, fun and laughter. Oh yes, the good food too. My mom makes gunjiya (traditional Indian sweet) and kachori and aloo ki subji-oh man, my mouth is watering. This is like her fixed menu on the Holi festival. Once playing with gulaal (powdered colours) and water was over, we had quick baths and just hog on the tasty food. Festivals I tell you, means lot of memories and flashbacks, but I think some feelings you just can’t describe in words :)

If my non-Indian readers are wondering what this festival is about, read here. For us, Holi is bidding goodbye to winter, it’s like winter is officially over (not possible in London though ;). And thus it is the time to cook all the wintery food for the last time in the year. Be it bajre ki roti, makke ki roti, roasted winter soups or very famous Gajar Ka Halwa.

Gajar Ka Halva is a north Indian specialty but it is cooked and relished all over India throughout the winters. Fresh, sweet carrots are washed and pealed, later grated into thin laces. In it goes lot of ghee and khoya (evaporated condensed milk) and nuts. Now here is the thing, unlike sooji ka halwa, gajar ka halva is not prepared quickly. You need lot of time and patience to make the perfect halwa; slow cooking is a must here. So, plan to prepare this sweet only when you have good amount of time in your hands :-)

Low fat, low calorie Gajar Ka Halwa, is what I promised to bring before you. Wait, whaaaaaat? Low fat gajar ka halwa, how is that possible? How can one make healthy gajar ka halwa, well well well worry not-you can, yes you can! To prove it, I prepared a video tutorial, so that you can see for yourself.

So, here is what I did. Traditional gajar ka halwa is cooked with atleast 5 tablespoons of ghee, I used only 1. You need khoya/mava/condensed milk for a richer taste, but this recipe is without any of these fat loaded things. Ideally you roast/fry dry fruits in the ghee for the halwa, guess what? I omitted this step as well. Lastly I made use of just 2 spoons of sugar. So, here is the halwa that you can eat daily (well almost), as it contains little ghee and sugar and no use of khoya or condensed milk either.

Ingredients:

3 large carrots/gajar

1 cup milk/doodh

1 tablespoon butter/ghee

1 glass hot water

2 tablespoons sugar/chinni

1 tablespoon cashews/kaju

5 raisins/kismis

1/4 teaspoon cardamom seeds/elyachi

Video Tutorial:

Method:

Wash and peal the carrots. Grate using fine grater.

Chop cashews and keep aside.

In non stick pan, add ghee. When ghee is hot add grated carrots. Turn the flame to medium-slow.

Add hot water. Mix. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.

When water is evaporated, add in cashews, raisins and cardamom. Mix.

Add sugar and mix again.

Pour the milk in the pan. Mix. Cover and cook for 10 minutes on medium heat.

After 10 minutes, turn the flame to medium-high and cook uncovered for 8 minutes.

Keep mixing till halwa becomes thick and no water is visible.

Serve hot.

Notes:

You know the halwa is ready when it sticks to the spoon.

Feel free to use red carrots as well.

I dont like to powder the cardamom seeds, but you can.

Use almonds, walnuts if you want to.

Serving suggestions:

Serve hot with chopped nuts.

This goes well with vanilla icecream as well. Just reheat the halva and serve with chilled icecream.

Lauki Kofta In Tomato Gravy, 1 Tablespoon Oil Subji

What’s there in a name?? Lauki, ghiya, doodhi or bottle gourd whatever you name it, the fact that it is a very healthy vegetable and no name can change this feature.  Digestion problems, want to lose weight, need good skin and hair consume bottle gourd-period!! So once a week no matter what I make use of lauki, be it lauki theplas, or dahi vali lauki ki subji or lauki muffins. 

Today’s post is lauki kofta in tomato gravy. Just a week back I posted low fat lauki kofta recipe, the same koftas are used dunked in tomato curry. This curry is very Punjabi and north Indian style as this contains lot of spices, ginger and garlic. All these spices are cooked on low heat with onion and ginger garlic paste, and finally tomato is added followed by handful of Indian spices-the result is rich and flavorful curry.

Also, it has just 1 tablespoon of oil in this recipe, I mean why use more oil when you are actually are making use low fat zero oil koftas. So indeed this is a healthy curry, with no compromise in texture and taste.

Before I move ahead and share the recipe, please see the low fat lauki kofta recipe.

Ingredients:

1 medium onion chopped

1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste

1 large tomato chopped

1 tablespoon oil

Pinch asafoetida/hing

1 bay leaf/tej patta

1 black cardamom/badi elaychi

1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds/jeera

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder/haldi

1/4 teaspoon garam massala powder

1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder

Salt to taste

1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves

Method:

Heat oil in wok/kadai. When hot add in cumin seeds, asafoetida, bay leaf and black cardamom.

Then add ginger garlic paste and chopped onion. Add 1/2 cup of water and cook on medium heat till onions are cooked.

Add chopped tomatoes and all the spices. Add another 1/2 cup of water and turn down heat to low. Cook covered for 10 minutes or till tomatoes are done.

Let this cool down. In the grinder add 1/2 cup of water and above mixture and blend everything together into smooth gravy.

Heat the wok again and boil the gravy. Add more water if needed. Finally mix in chopped coriander leaves.

Add koftas just before serving.

Notes:

I used less oil and thus I kept adding water, you can use more oil and less water :)

If the gravy is not thick enough, dilute 1/2 teaspoon of corn flour in 1 tablespoon of water and add when you boil the gravy.

You can use the same gravy for paneer koftas or cabbage koftas.

Garam massala is available in any Indian grocery store, if you want the recipe, see here.

Serving suggestions.

Serve with any Indian bread-parathas, puri or theplas.

Serve as a side with rice, biryani or pulav.

You can make the complete Punjabi thali, add  in with-  dal makhani, jeera rice and kulchas.

For rajasthani thali pair it with  marwadi lehsun ki chutney and marwadi methi daal.

For gujarati thali, serve it with aloo tamatar nu shaak, khamman dhokla and keri nu ras.

Strawberry Chocolate Ice-Cream, Without Ice-cream Machine, Eggs And Sugar

Who will not like the recipes that is not elaborate, doesn't have tons of steps to follow? Well I am that kind of a person who tries to stay far from complicated recipes. Ice cream is one such dessert that needs lot of preparation, too many ingredients and an expensive ice cream machine.  I have made eggless chocolate cookies ice cream before that too without ice cream machine, but this one is more special as it is-

• Sugar Free- no added sugar, jam, honey or condensed milk.
• Eggless- no double boiler method to cook yolks
• Contains raw fruits- fibers, endless choices and healthy
• Needs just 2 ingredients-yogurt and fruit.
• Easy and quick- no churning, no cooking, no ice cream machine.

Do you believe it? Yes, now you can make creamy ice-cream at your home, without fancy machine.  This is fantastic for those who are looking for healthy dessert recipes. The only important thing to note is to have thick yogurt (I used Yeo Valley Greek Style Natural Yogurt). That’s it. Rest all is super trouble-free, no rocket science at all.

I used strawberry as it is the seasonal fruit now, though I cannot wait to try mangoes in the summers ;). Now, I am a big chocolate fan when it comes to the desserts, so I did added 1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder, but it is totally up to you. You can add nuts, coconut, chocolate chips, dried fruits...anything and everything you are fond of. The best component is that it has homely feel to it. *happy dance*

Cannot convince more, I have done my part- Make this and you can thank me later.

Ingredients:

4 cups strawberries
1 cup plain whole Greek yogurt

1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (optional)
1 tablespoon rum (optional)

Method:

Wash strawberries and remove the green cap. Freeze strawberries in the Ziploc bag for 2 hours.

Next, in the blender, blend yogurt and all the rest ingredients till it becomes creamy.

Freeze in the freezer safe container for at least 6 hours.

Notes:

Due to cocoa powder; the ice cream doesn't look that pink.

If you are not conscious you can add sugar or condensed milk.

Using lime juice, rum and cocoa powder is absolutely optional.

Take out of the freezer 10 minutes before serving, this gives creamy consistency.

Use fruits like mango, pineapple, cherries, banana and berries. Or make simple vanilla one with vanilla essence (you might need sugar here).

Do not blend nuts, chocolate chips or dried fruits with fruits and yogurt, instead mix with the blended mixture and freeze.

Taste:

Tangy, semi-sweet and creamy