Roz Ka Khana

I was introduced to muesli or at least the correct way to eat it, during our last vacation to Europe. I’ve bought store brand “Muesli” packages in the past and the Ikea variety but never really knew the right way to enjoy it. I used to just add milk and eat it like cereal. Our recent trip to Bali got us eating muesli everyday for breakfast at the hotel and it was a welcome change from the usual. I realized this was not only easy to make but could be a huge time saver during those busy mornings. You can actually soak the oats in juice and/or milk overnight and have it ready for the next day. I tried it this morning and my food critic, Nikhil loved it.

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)
Any granola (I prefer the granola since it has nuts and dry fruits already mixed in but you can also try rolled oats) – 1 cup
Milk – 1 1/2 – 2 cups
Yoghurt – 1-2 tbsp (I used greek yoghurt for added protein but you can use either plain or vanilla yoghurt)
Orange juice – 1/4 cup – optional
red apple, chopped into fine pieces – 1/2
Banana, chopped into small pieces – 1/2
Chopped raisins and pecans (optional) – 1 tsp each
Honey or agave syrup – 1 tsp

Method:
1. Soak the granola in the milk. You may also soak it in orange juice as a first step. This is entirely optional.
2. Add the yoghurt to this. (I used greek yoghurt with honey)
3. Add the chopped fruits, raisins and nuts.
4. Soak this mixture for about an hour to 8 hours. You can store this overnight in the fridge and enjoy cold the next morning.

I just love, LOVE my Vitamix. It’s one of those complete kitchen machines – it juices, crushes, minces, chops, powders, grinds and did I mention, blends?:) And cleanup is a cinch. I know I sound like I’m a Vitamix infomercial and if they’re listening, they may just as well pay me for this:)
I’ve been making this smoothie for those crazy mornings and as a post workout pick me up so wanted to share my all time favorite smoothie recipe. I got this from their website so most of this is the original Vitamix recipe with a few tweaks.

Apple Pie In A Glass

6 ounces of 100% Apple Juice concentrate (thawed) or 10 oz regular apple juice
6 ounces of vanilla Soy Milk
1 fresh Fuji apple (quartered)
2 full sheets (4 crackers connected) of lowfat graham crackers
4 to 5 baby carrots
1/4” of cabbage (CAREFUL – small slice – more than an ounce but less than 2 ounces)
1/2 cup of non fat dried milk
3 or 4 shakes of ground cinnamon
1 cap of pure vanilla extract
Squirt of honey or agave nectar
3 cups of ice

Place all contents in the container. Put the lid on firmly and turn the machine on high speed for 1 minute or until you see the contents circulating downward toward the blades consistently. Enjoy!

From the Vitamix recipes site – When making thick drinks in the Vita-mix®, a good rule of thumb is to have a 50/50 ratio – 50% of the ingredients are frozen, and 50% of the ingredients are not frozen. Also, a trick of the trade is to use the tamper to help reduce air-pockets or frozen pockets, and better the flow of the contents in to the blades. When your drink is extremely thick, take the tamper and insert it through the lid and move it in an up and down and left and right motion. What you are trying to do is help the thicker (lower section of the container) portion of the drink rotate out of the way, therefore allowing all the remaining contents that you are blending to vortex (go up the sides, across the top, and then funnel back down through the center toward the blades)

I know…surprise, surprise! Two posts in two days? Rather, three if you count the fact that I finally clicked “publish” to the Kothu Parotta post from almost two months ago;) Yes, I have slacked, but I’ve also set the bar so low that anything looks good now:) 

This Banana Bread French Toast is inspired from this breakfast place we went to a a few months ago. “Bread Winner’s Cafe” is a popular restaurant in the DFW area and , in my opinion has the best pancakes and french toasts . Easy recipe, and not sure why I didn’t think of it before, but that’s why I don’t call myself a cook…my recipes are all inspired. Its made with my favorite ingredient…bananas so I couldnt resist sharing it here.

Ingredients:

4 slices banana bread (recipe link here)

2 eggs beaten lightly

1 tbsp maple syrup

Banana slices and pecans/walnuts for garnish

Method:

Beat the eggs in a bowl. Soak a slice of banana bread for about a minute on each side till completely coated.

In the meantime, melt some butter in a skillet (or use oil/butter spray). Add the egg-coated slice of banana bread and cook each side till done and browned.

Serve the french toast with banana slices, pecans or walnuts, whipped cream and of course, a drizzle of maple syrup.

As you can see here, I went a little overboard on the syrup and cream, making this look like a scrumptious ice cream instead, but you get the idea!

You would think that 2 whole weeks of being at home during the winter holidays would have resulted in many culinary experiments for Roz Ka Khana. In my case, it’s sadly the opposite. Crazed school day mornings, busy swim and basketball class evenings leave me rushed and stressed but I feel like I always find the time to squeeze in that pistachio cookie or banana-nut muffin as a means to de-stress at that unearthly night hour. I know, it’s quite crazy. But when I had 2 weeks of late, lazy mornings and nothing planned for the day, cooking was the last thing on my mind. And so, when Uma, my good friend, offered to try one of her signature recipes and also offered to come home to make it for us, it was a perfect solution to get me out of my lethargy. Thanks Uma, for the recipe and for snapping us all out of it with your scrumptious brunch recipe.

The bright idea of making this Kerala delicacy came from my husband, Girish, who mentioned it to Uma one afternoon, since we were, as usual, talking about food. We were, actually talking about rare South Indian delicacies, rare, because there is a dearth of South Indian restaurants in Dallas, specifically. So we make do with just talking about it, and craving for it;) Girish was talking about this dish that he had in Toronto, round white lacy, spongy pancakes with a vegetable gravy like dish. You could tell he was reminiscing every little detail though he didn’t remember the name of the restaurant.

Uma is from Palghat or Palakkad, a town in the state of Kerala in South India, that connects Kerala to Tamil Nadu. When she heard about this Aappam craving, she generously suggested that she made it often and would love to make it for him one day. We were shameless enough to keep reminding her about it, so within a week, Uma was home to make it for us and for Roz Ka Khana.

Aappam (Kerala Rice Pancakes)

2 cups idli rice or parboiled rice (available in Indian stores)

2 cups raw rice (Ponni rice or Sona Masoori rice or any kind)

1/2 cup urad dal (skinned black gram – split or whole)

Soak the above for 4-6 hours. Grind to a smooth paste in a grinder or blender. Make sure to keep the batter thick, so don’t add too much water while grinding. Keep the batter in a warm place overnight, to help it ferment. (You can keep it in a warm oven – preheat to 200F and then turn off the oven – and keep the batter in the oven overnight). You can store this fermented batter in the fridge till you want to make hot, fresh, aappams.

On the day of making the aappam, take about 4 big serving spoons of batter in a saucepan, add about 1/8 tsp of baking powder and 1/4 cup coconut milk. You may also add a little water till the batter is of a slightly thin, pouring consistency.

You will need to use a round, deep, preferably non stick vessel to make the appams, like the picture below. Using a dab of oil on a paper towel, wipe the vessel so it is coated with a thin coating of oil.

When the vessel is hot, pour the dough slowly, from the rim all around, until the vessel is completely coated with the dough. You may also swing the vessel in a circular motion so is gets completely coated.

Cover with a lid and leave for a minute or two. When the aappam is cooked completely, the edges get a little golden and it starts to leave the sides of the pan. When you hold the vessel sideways, the completely cooked aappam will just slide off on its own. Serve with hot vegetable stew.

Vegetable stew (to serve 8 )

Potatoes – 2, sliced lengthwise

Onions – 1 1/2, sliced lengthwise

Carrots – 2 or about 6-8 baby carrots, julienne cut

French beans – 12, julienne cut

Zucchini – 1 , chopped into small lengthwise bits

Ginger – 2″, grated

Green chilies – 6-8, sliced lengthwise

Coconut milk – 1 can

1. Heat a kadai or heavy bottomed vessel. Add 1 tbsp oil.

2. Add crushed ginger and green chilies and saute for 2 minutes

3. Add onions and saute again for about a minute or two. Make sure not to brown the onions, it has to just cook until glazed.

4. Now add the carrots, beans, potatoes and zucchini. Add about a cup water, some turmeric and salt. Cover with a lid and let boil until the vegetables are just cooked. Make sure not to overcook.

5. Lastly add the can of coconut milk to the stew. Simmer for a few minutes and then turn off the stove.

6. Garnish with chopped curry leaves. Serve hot with aappam.

Another staple Amma’s recipe. This dish brings back memories of school, when Amma would make this piping hot for breakfast and I would love it so much that I would take the same dish for lunch! There are many ways to make this “upma” and most recipes I know have onion and/or tomato, but I prefer it without, the bread is a little more “crispier” and I absolutely love the mustard/urad dal combination and eat it plain after I’m done snacking on all the bread!

Ingredients:

Sourdough bread (1/2 loaf). (You can also use plain white bread that’s a couple of days old). I haven’t tried it with whole wheat bread or rye bread, which you could use for a little more nutritious boost.

Yoghurt – 1/4 cup

Chutney powder (also called dosai mulagai podi in Tamil) – 2 tsp, or to taste

Curry leaves – a sprig

Mustard seeds – 2 tsp

Urad dal – 2 tsp

Salt to taste

Dry red chilies – 3

Oil – 1 tbsp

1. Break the bread into small bite size pieces or cubes. Add the yoghurt mixed with the curry powder to the bread. Let the bread soak in the yoghurt mixture for a few minutes till it gets soft.

2. Heat the oil in a wok or skillet. Add the mustard seeds, urad dal.

3. After this crackles, add the curry leaves and dry red chilies.

4. Now add the bread to the hot oil and mix with the mustard seeds /urad dal tadka.

5. Heat on a low flame for about 5 minutes till the bread starts to look a little “fried”, while stirring occasionally.

6. Enjoy piping hot!

Did I mention that this is one of Nikhil’s (my son) favorites too? He has obviously imbibed my taste buds…Bread Upma is one of his lunch box staples and his Paatti (grandma) makes it for him at least once a week or once every two weeks! Like mom, like son!