Crispy lentil fritters - Healthy Masala Vadai

Dieting... We have all been there, done that.
Diets alone don't work. A healthy lifestyle combines a good balanced diet (when I say diet it means, a sane quantity of vegetables, whole grains, fruits, proteins, carbs, and fat) with a good amount of physical activity and is the key to a fit and healthy body. I am not going to go to the "mind" (as in body and mind) part here... it gets way too complicated.

I would ideally like to follow the "everything in moderation" theory, but sometimes it just doesn't happen, and binges do happen every now and then. But mostly that is the way to satiate every cravings that come your way. A little of everything.

Lentils in general are low in fat and have a very high protein and fiber content. These split yellow gram lentils used in this recipe have a very low glycemic index and supposedly have almost no effect on the blood sugar level. And hence recommended for people with diabetes. If you need more information on the different type of lentils, this is a good place to start.

Crispy lentil fritters (basically our good old vadai) are fried and served as a snack during Tea time, or made during special occasions in India.
Remember those hot set of vadais right out from the frying pan served on a newspaper or a plantain leaf along with cup of tea? Makes my mouth drool even today.
Since I always try to substitute the fried goodies with an healthier option and that is what this whole blog is about: "healthy food and living", I am very excited to share these baked fritters today. I felt that there was little or no compromise on the taste compared to the fried ones.
This is one of the best things that has undergone a successful transformation in my kitchen. I hope it will at your kitchen too.
Like Paula Deen says "I send you best dishes from my kitchen to yours".
God, I feel old now!

Crispy lentil fritters - Healthy Masala Vadai

Channa Dal (Split bengal gram/lentil) - 2 cups (If you don't have access to an Indian store to get this, then try "Bob's Red Mill" brand lentils)
Curry leaves - 10 leaves
Ginger - An inch
Garlic - 4 cloves
Red onion - 1 small finely chopped
Green chillies - 1 or 2 small
Rice flour - 2 tbsp
Cornstarch - 1 tbsp
Salt - To taste
Black pepper - 1/4 tsp
Cilantro - 1/4 cup finely chopped
Asafoetida (Hing) - An inch
Olive oil - 2 tbsp

Method:

Soak the lentils in water for about 2-3 hrs.

Preheat oven to 400F

Grind the ginger, garlic, hing, salt, pepper, and half the curry leaves till smooth.

Drain the water and add the lentils into the blender with no or very few drops of water and grind till coarse. I would "not" recommend grinding it to a smooth paste.

Add the red onions, rice flour, cornstarch, oil, green chillies, the remaining curry leaves (chopped) and cilantro and mix well. The batter should not be too thick or thin. At this point you can taste the batter to see if the salt and spice level is right.

Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray and spoon batter onto the sheet into little rounds as shown in the picture. It should be able to hold its shape, if it doesn't then it means you have added too much water.



Bake for about 15 min, flip it and bake for another 10-15 min. It should be golden brown and crispy.



Let it rest for about 5 min and serve hot with chutney or relish it just like it is with a hot cup of chai/coffee.
The fritters are upside down in the picture, I don't know what I was thinking!



This goes to Divya's Diet foods event, Srivalli's Festival treats event, EC's WYF: Salad/Starter/Soups Event, Lore's Original recipe event, Hima's Sunday snacks event and Pallavi's Yummy Festival Feast - Diwali event

Eggplant in coco-peanut curry

Many thanks to Curry Leaf for passing me the "Good job" award. I deeply appreciate it. And yes, I am passing it on today after a long time. And I am doing it in style! :p
I have written a one (well maybe two!) lines about the person who I am passing on the award to. I hope to follow this tradition each time I pass an award (don't beat me up if I don't!). I think it makes it more meaningful. What say?
So, if you are looking for the awards, scroll right down to the end of the post. But before that, may I interest you in my recipe? Please? Remember, I write a food blog? Hello?

This recipe landed from a picnic table onto my kitchen. I like gravies and curries, a lot, but sadly I don't make them as much as I would like to. One of my friends made it for a potluck picnic and all I heard was everybody rave about it. Now, I had to taste it myself to give it my verdict.
After spending a few minutes walking around the table and a few greedy glances later I ended up with my mouth stuffed with it, it was the best curry I had tasted in a long time. It was not that spicy and the medley of coconut and peanuts makes it one of the best curries I had discovered. My friend was gracious enough to share the recipe with me promptly, and many thanks to that, I am able to share it with you now.
What is more refreshing is that... it doesn't have that tomato base which graces every Indian curry/masala. Now, that is what I call a welcome change.

Eggplant in coco-peanut curry

Ingredients:

To saute Eggplants:
Eggplants/Brinjal - 6-8 medium
Salt - To taste
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Olive oil - 1 tbsp

For the curry:
Red onions - 2 medium
Red chillies - 4-5 depending on the heat level you prefer
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tbsp
Blanched peanuts - 2 cups
Grated fresh coconut - 1/2 cup
Sesame seeds - 3 tbsp
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Chilly powder - If you need more heat, add 1/2 tsp
Salt - To taste
Olive oil - 2 tbsp

Method:

Roast the eggplant in oil, as it starts to become tender, add the salt, turmeric and saute well. Set aside when done.

In the same pan, add oil, then add the cumin seeds.
Now add the red chillies, and the onions and saute till onions are translucent.
Set this aside as well.

Again, in the same pan, add peanuts to a tad bit of oil and saute till lightly golden.



Now the assembly part.

In a blender, add the sauteed onion & red chillies, peanuts (cooled), coconut, sesame seeds and a pinch of salt and grind with a little water till it reaches a paste-like consistency.



Take a tablespoon of oil in a pan, and add the paste and fry for about 5 to 10 min, just until it all comes together as one flavor.
Add turmeric and chilly powder to it, and saute for another couple of minutes.

Then add the eggplant, cover and let it cook on very low heat for about 10 minutes.

Your Eggplant in peanut and coconut curry is ready! It goes really well with plain rice or maybe even Mint chutney rotis.



Now, lets talk some "awards", shall we?



I would love to pass on the "Good Job" award to a few of my amazing fellow bloggers, in no particular order:

Suma Rajesh of Suma's Cuisine - I did try your microwave banana halwa. It was yum'o. It wasn't as pretty as yours as I did not shape them, but you get two thumbs up for ease and taste. Your recipe rocks!

Priya of Akshayapatram - You are one of the first blogs (what seems like so long ago) I came across and have looked up to when I was thinking of starting one of my own, I think I have mentioned this to you, haven't I? ;)

Rajeswari of Rak's Kitchen - I admire her way of clearly presenting the recipe. She lists every little procedure step-wise with pictures. Now, that is a lot of work, and she does it well.

Pearlsoffeast - I am still drooling over your chewy apricot and oats cookies. You did a great job with it, and the pictures in all of your posts is just incredible.

Madhuram of Eggless Cooking - She was the first blogger (apart from friends) who tried one of my recipes and gave me an encouraging feedback for it. Coming from her (being an awesome cook), I spent the rest of my day reeling in happiness.

Srikar's Kitchen - She is one of the first people to give a feedback on all of my posts most of the time, and I really appreciate it. That puts some pressure on you now, doesn't it? That is exactly what I am aiming for! He he he.

Rachel of Tangerine's kitchen- We happened to discover each other's blog only recently, but she has just inspired me with some really good dishes which I hope to make justice to some day :)

Oven-roasted Garlic Potato wedges - Vaccuming woes

One thing I desist doing is vacuuming. It is just a boring monotonous job and takes up so much time.
There are some of my friends who "actually", believe me... who like to vacuum the house. Yeah, they get pretty excited! Unfortunately I don't fall into that category.
Then the discovery of iRobot's "Roomba" happened, and named her (it???) "Nancy" (LOL) and it has been bliss ever since.
I would like to point out that I am not marketing this or any other product on my blog, I have been using this product for a couple of years and it just makes life so much more easier, so I decided to share the information here.
When there is a gadget out there that can actually make life simpler, why not use it.
It is available at all stores that carry good vacuum cleaners, I think even Costco carries it. They have different versions in the carpet cleaning robot, which is called the "Roomba", and the hardwood/tile cleaning robot is called the "Scooba" which actually preps, washes, scrubs and squeegees the floor. It even docks itself into the charger once it is done cleaning the house.
They have a lot more models, but my guess is that these are the commonly used household models. As usual, please do your research before considering any product. You can check out the iRobot website for more details.

To see the Roomba in action (videos):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo5lPlG1Khw&feature=related
http://www.irobot.com/sp.cfm?pageid=122 (Click on "Watch Video" on your right)

As you go through the physically daunting task of imagining your home getting cleaned by the robot, I baked up a batch of Oven roasted potato wedges, my answer to those deep fried starchy wonders.
Why fry them when I can bake 'em?

Oven-roasted Garlic infused Potato wedges

Ingredients:

Russet baking potatoes - 4 large cut into wedges with skin (that is the part that gets really crispy)
Olive oil - 3-4 tsp
Garlic cloves - 4 halved
Black pepper - 1/4 tsp
Chilly powder - 1/4 tsp
Dried oregano - 1/4 tsp
Salt - To taste

Method:

Preheat oven to 425F.

In a large pot, add cold water and soak the potatoes with a little salt. (It is important to start the potatoes in cold water)

Bring it to a rolling boil. Turn down the heat to a simmer for 3-4 minutes. Not more than that.

Drain water and set potatoes aside.

In another pan, heat the olive oil, add the garlic and let it turn slightly brown. Remove garlic from the oil. Now add the black pepper, chilly powder, oregano, salt and turn off heat.

Add the partially boiled potatoes into the oil and toss well till coated with oil and spices.

Grease a baking sheet, and place potatoes in a single layer and bake at 425F for about 30 minutes or till golden brown and crispy.

Serve with tomato sauce, or light mayo.



Off to Hima's Sunday snack event

Chocolate chip Whole Wheat Pretzels - A plate to call my own

Wondering why I would call that plate my own? Because I made it... yes, I made the cute looking yellow dinner plate myself at a crafts center. Unfortunately, it is not something one can make at home. I would have filled the house with plates if only I could.

It basically involves some basic stuff, like the "slip" (which is liquid clay), I could have used the pottery wheel, but I am not an expert at it, so decided to go with liquid clay.
The slip is poured into a mold, as you clearly can see I used a square dinner plate model. And it sits for about two days in the mold.
Then the third day, the plate is unmolded, it is still slightly wet, and then it is fired under very high temperature.
Next comes the paint, I chose lemon yellow.
You see... I was working on a theme here with lemon, lime and cantaloupe colors (basically light yellow, lime green and light orange) for a dinner set.
So after painting with the desired color, it is again fired to set the colors, then glazed (to give that glossy finish to the plate) and again fired. Lot of repetitions, yes...
It is a long process, but it sure is satisfying to eat from a plate that you made with your own hands. To call it your very own.

Slight shift in focus, away from the plate, and to what is on it today. Chocolate chip good-for-you pretzels made with white whole wheat flour. I like the regular cinnamon sugar pretzels a lot, but what fun would it be to make the same at home?
So I deviated a little from sugar to chocolate, still keeping it in the sweet category though! It is best eaten hot from the oven. So big batches are not advisable. I have given a little note about the yeast used in the ingredient list. So, keep an eye out for it. Other than that, we are all set to dive into the recipe.

Chocolate chip Whole Wheat Pretzels

Ingredients:

Method:

White Whole wheat flour - 1 1/2 cups
Butter - 2 tbsp at room temperature
Instant Yeast - 1 tsp (I used the rapid rise, highly active kind), this did not require adding water to activate it. If you are using the normal yeast, then you may have to let it sit in warm water for a few minutes before kneading it in with the flour, or follow package instructions.)
Sugar - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Water - To knead
Chocolate chips - A handful
Water - 4 cups
Baking soda - 2 tsp

Method:

Preheat oven to 400F.

Mix the flour with the yeast, butter, salt and sugar and knead with just enough water to form a elastic ball. You may have to knead for at least 10-15 minutes or until smooth.

Cover with a cloth and let it rise for an hour or two, till it doubles in size.

Once it has doubled, then punch down and knead again for another 5 minutes. Make 8-10 equal sized balls and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring the 4 cups of water and the 2 tsp of baking soda to a boil in a pot.
Then turn down to medium heat.

Then take one ball of dough and form it into a rope using the palm of your hands, in a rubbing motion.
Form into a long rope, at least 15 inches in length, and shape into a pretzel knot.
Make pretzel shapes with all the remaining dough.



Grease a baking sheet and set aside.

Drop the pretzels, two to three at a time gently into the hot water on medium heat. Let them boil for one minute on each side.



Gently transfer onto the baking sheet one by one.

Now insert the chocolate chips around the pretzel and gently press in so it does not fall apart.



Bake for 10-15 minutes at 400F or until lightly browned on top.

Remove and let cool for about a couple of minutes on a cooling rack.

Top with chocolate sauce and serve hot. Cold pretzels don't taste good in my opinion. So enjoy them fresh and hot from the oven.