Papaya Smoothie

Come summer we look forward to feast on chilled nutritious and delicious juices and smoothies (are ice-cream healthy? ;)) My fellow foodie blogger friends have already flagged off the smoothie indulgence season. So I too put my blender to work as well. The March issue of Prevention had some super cool smoothie recipes. I asked S to take his pick and he chose the Papaya Smoothie. Great! I made a few minor changes to the recipe. I replaced pineapple with banana as S is allergic to pineapple. Papaya smoothie minus the pineapple tasted awesome and was reeeeeeeeeea…..lly filling.

Here's the Smoothie Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup papaya chunks
• ½ cup pineapple chunks ( I didn’t use it)
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• ½ cup banana, sliced (replacement for pineapple)
• ½ cup crushed ice
• ½ tsp vanilla essence (opt)
• 1 tsp flax seeds powder
• Honey, as per taste
• 1 tsp dates syrup for garnish (opt)

Method:

Put papaya, banana, yogurt, crushed ice, flax seed powder, honey, vanilla essence in a blender. Blend until smooth. Garnish with dates syrup and serve chilled immediately.

Enjoy your Weekend! TC

Low Fat - Yogurt Cake

Over the last two months I'm enjoying my cooking time even more :) as I'm quite thrilled with the baking experiences I've had so far. This time I wanted to bake something which was quick and easy. So while going through my recipe collection I came across this one. It read low fat- yogurt cake, and that got me interested! I was a bit doubtful how it would turn out. It came out really well and the best part was that S and I didn’t feel guilty gorging on it.

Smitha of http://saffronapron.blogspot.com/ has been very generous to pass me the 'friends' award. It's my second time..yippeeeee! Thanks for the award Smitha :) I would like all my foodie blogger friends to take this award (from MY AWARDS section), as each one of you are special and I love you all for being extremely warm and supportive.

Here’s the recipe for the cake.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup yogurt (dahi)
• 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar (I used 1 cup)
• 1 1/3 cups maida
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 5 tbsp oil
• 1 tbsp vanilla essence
• a pinch of nutmeg (opt)

Method:

STEP- 1

Sift the flour and baking powderBeat the eggs, oil, vanilla essence in a separate bowl, set it aside. Beat the sugar with yogurt in another bowl.

STEP -2

Add the egg mixture to the flour and beat well. Next pour the sugar and yogurt mixture into it and beat well till smooth and well blended. Pour the mixture into a greased cake tin. Bake for 35- 45 minutes (or till done) in a preheated oven at 180*C/350* F. Once the cake is done, cool it completely and cut into desired shape and serve with a drizzle of honey.

Recipe courtesy: Nita Mehta's Oven Recipes.

Before I sign off I'd like to make a special mention of the Tomato Kurma I made yesterday following the recipe from Asha’s blog. Click on the link for the recipe - http://foodieshope.blogspot.com/2009/03/tomato-kurma-dill-dabeli-masala.html

It tasted fantastic. Thanks Asha :)

A Simple Meal plan

What can be more blissful than a simple meal. Such meals turn out to be really special and extra delicious :) as they are sought after getting bored with the elaborate recipes.I love it coz simple dishes with very basic ingredients turn out finger lickingly yummy....Here goes my meal plan.

Menu:

1. Thili (plain) Rasam
2. Lauki sabzi / bottle gourd stir fry

For the Thili (plain) Rasam:

Ingredients:

2 tomatoes, quartered
1 tbsp rasam powder
¼ tsp asafoetida/hing
Salt as per taste
½ tsp sugar
3 tbsp tamarind pulp
2 -3 bowls of water
1-2 tbsp coriander leaves, finely chopped

Tempering:

1 tsp oil/ghee
1 tsp mustard
¼ tsp asafoetida/hing
5-6 curry leaves

Method:

1. In a vessel put water, tomatoes and pressure cook it for 2 whistles.
2. Once it cools, mash the cooked tomatoes using your fingers, make it into a thin tomato pulp (if necessary add little more water).
3. Add rasam powder, tamarind pulp, sugar and salt to the tomato pulp,
4. Mix the contents and heat on a low flame, stir occasionally.
5. Prepare for the tempering on the other hand.

6. For the tempering:

> Heat oil/ghee in a small pan
> Add mustard and curry leaves, when it starts to splutter add asafoetida/hing

7. Remove from the flame and add it to the Rasam, stir well.
8. Bring the rasam to boiling point and switch off the flame.
9. Garnish with coriander just before serving.

10. Serve hot with rice.

Lauki Sabzi/ Bottle gourd stir fry

Ingredients:

1 cup – bottle gourd, chopped and cooked

1tsp – aamchur powder (dry mango powder) / lime juice
½ tsp – jeera seeds (cumin) ½ tsp – turmeric powder
1 tsp - oil
1 dry chilli, broken into halves
A pinch of asafoetida/hing
Salt as per taste

Method

1. Heat oil in a vessel, add mustard after it splutters add jeera (cumin)seeds, asafoetida/hing, red chilli, turmeric powder.
2. Immediately add the cooked bottle gourd (this gives a brighter colour to the sabzi) and mix the contents of the vessel gently.
3. Lastly add sugar, aamchur powder (dry mango powder)/lime juice,and salt.
4. Mix well again, so that the vegetable blends well with the spices.
5. Simmer on low flame for 2-3 minutes with lid closed.
6. Take it off the flame and garnish with chopped coriander.

7. Serve hot with rice or roti.

Relish your simple and healthy meal :)