Veggie Dip

Atlast got time to post this one..pictured it long time back! Made 2 kinds of dips.
1. Hummus - Soaked, boiled chick peas, g.chilli, salt, roasted sesame seeds - grind into paste (optional - roasted garlic)
2. Greek yoghurt dip - Greek yoghurt, cottage cheese (grind), few spoons cilantro chutney - mix all well.

Greek yoghurt dip was my favorite dip! Use it with tortilla chips or steamed broccoli, steamed asparagus or raw veggies like carrot, zuchini, cucumber. Few more pictures..Veggie Dip

Quinoa Payasam! (kheer)

Was tempted to try this based on my friend's mom's recipe, turned out really yummy. I liked it for the fact that it is made out of jaggery rather than sugar. Quick recipe..it is just similar to semia or almond kheer.

* Cook Quinoa in pressure cooker

* Boil milk in a pan and then add cooked quinoa

* Add little saffron, elachi and melted jaggery. Boil for few minutes and turn it off.

I just used random ratios!  Few more pictures...Quinoa Payasam

I know people in US know this grain, for others here is what Quinoa looks like

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa#Overview

Dates Milkshake

A quick and easy health drink...Dates Milkshake Just mix few chopped dates in milk and blend it in hand blender or mixie.

Kollu Rasam (Horse gram)

Havent used this lentil in many years now, recently heard a lot of health benefits. So thought will try some recipes. Easiest is to substitute your regular rasam's toor dhaal with Horse gram (Kollu). Just few pictures...Kollu Rasam. This dhaal needs longer cooking time and also I used the hand blender and mashed the kollu and tomato, so rasam was well blended and yummy!
For details on the rasam recipe, please check out my earlier posting...Rasam Recipe

Sweet Poha (Aval)

Sweet poha..quick and easy sweet. Here is the recipe..
* 2 cups thick poha, soak few mins depending on the poha you buy. Strain the water.
* Add few spoons coconut, little elachi
* Melt 1 cup or less jaggery with very little water and mix it in the above.
* Initially it will be wet and after an hr it will split.
More pictures...Sweet Aval

Flax Seed Podi

Goes well with rice/idli/dosa. Easy way to use flax seeds in an Indian way! Have been wanting to post this for the past 2weeks, was running short of ingredients. Atlast made it this weekend and used it the same day for my guests. And it turned out good! Here are the pictures...Flax Seed Podi

Strawberry+Apple+Banana Smoothie

Most refreshing drink...I just loved it! Tried with greek yoghurt, sugar, apple, strawberry, banana...just blend it and drink right away. You could alternate yoghurt with milk. You could substitute sugar with agave nectar or honey. Try to use over ripe bananas, that adds sweetness, Enjoy! Few more pictures...Smoothie

For those of you in the US, check out Trader Joes or Whole Foods or any food store for Greek Yoghurt and see the protein content, it is way high compared to the regular yoghurts we buy. It goes well with some veggies in raita or fruits in smoothies. Somehow I dint enjoy the taste of greek yoghurt by itself.