Thursday, February 11, 2010

My Diet

Hi all, thought of having a seperate Blog to follow My Weight Loss Progress. Will Keep Posting regularly. Planning to post some Healthy Dishes, which can be had without guilt while on Diet. :)))

Now the Past 2 days, i m following the No Rice Regime, which is working fine so far. Hoping to continue it till the weekend. I Keep on Telling my self, Not to  Feast during weekends, thats Hardest Part for me, Everybody @ home and you cook, i m a bit non-resistant there!!!!

My Meal Plan has been Oats Porridge/upma for Breakfast, Rotis for Lunch and Dinner with Veg Curries and a bowl Veg Salad before Lunch. I snack on a Apple/Orange/Nectarine.
So far so good.

Planing to Weigh after 10 days. Hope the Scales are kind towards me.




Mixed Veggie Halwa - MicroWave Version

Weekend is Here!!! My Fridge Says it,  before the Calendar. yeah its almost empty, except for Milk and Yogurt. Had some Carrots and Beetroot waiting to attain its Pirantha Payan. So, Mixed them all together to get this Mixed Veggie Halwa, Tasted Good. My Veggies got used and Weekend Treat is also Ready :))))) And you can call it Healthy too!!!!!

Ingredients
Carrots, Beetroot,
and  Sweet Potato all mixed - 2 cups, finely shredded
Sugar - 3/4 cup
ghee - 3 tbsp
Milk - 1 cup
Cardamom, Cinnamon - each a pinch
Nuts for Garnishing


Method
In a Microwave Safe Bowl Mix the veggies and Ghee and Microwave High for 8 mins, Stir in between. Add Milk and Microwave High for 8-10 mins or until the milk dries up a bit. Add sugar and Stir and Microwave High for 5 mins. Add Cinnamon, cardamom and MW high for 5 mins. Garnish with nuts and MW high for 3 mins.



Enjoy it Hot/Cold.  Try itcold with a dollop of Vanilla Ice-Cream, mm yum yum :)))

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Vazhakkai Podimas ~ Cooked and grated plantain stir fry

Vazhakkai /raw plantain is a regular vegetable at home. It is usually made into a thoran (stir fry seasoned with coconut and green chilly)or a mezhukuperatti ( a medley of veggies cooked and sauted in oil). Its after marriage, I was introduced to this podimas. I guess this is a tamil way of cooking. I learnt this from my MIL. According to MIL, the ponthan variety of vazhakkai is usually used for this and it gives the best results. And I have not tried with any other kind. May be other varieties might also give good results. The ponthan variety is generally used for making bajjis. Though the preparation of podimas is simple, the taste is marvellous. This is a favorite of my husband and I make it often. It goes very well with sambhar/ vethakozhambu or any tangy gravy.





You need



Vazhakkai/Raw plantain - 2 nos

Salt

To season

Oil - a tblspn

mustard seeds - 1 tspn

chana dal - 1 tblspn

red chilly- 1 nos

green chilly - 3 nos

curry leaves

hing - 1/2 tspn


To garnish

 
Grated coconut - 2 tblspn


Method


Chop both the ends of the bananas. Cut them into two or three pieces depending on the size with the skin on. Cook them in enough water with salt in it. Its done when you can see cracks on the skin. Drain the water. Cool. Remove the skin. Grate the cooked bananas. Be gentle when u grate so that it doesn't turn mushy.

Matured bananas are used for this so that it retains shape when grated.



Heat a kadai with oil. Add mustard seeds. When seeds crackle, add chana dal, broken red chilly, slit green chillies, curry leaves and hing. slowly add the grated banana and give a gentle stir to mix everything. Check the salt and cook for a minute or two for the flavors to steep in. Garnish with grated coconut.


Some prefer to add turmeric to get a yellow color and also a tablespoon for lemon juice for a tangy taste.