Paneer Tikka

Very simple recipe :)

 

Ingredients

250 gms paneer (cubes)
1 cup tomato & capsicum squares roasted
1 cup hung curds
2 tsp everest tandoori chicken masala (vegetarian)
Salt & red chilli powder according to taste

Method
Mix masala in curds & marinate paneer for 2 hrs (keep refrigerated).

Shallow fry on a non stick pan with very little oil.

Sprinkle amchoor powder n pudina powder.

Arrange on a tooth pick & serve hot.

Soya For Well Being

There is no denying that soy has many health benefits, which are coming form the quality of the soy proteins and from health promoting phytochemicals, such as isoflavones, phytates, saponins and polyphenols.

Health Benefits

·         Protection Against Heart Disease

·         Protection against Bone Loss: Soybeans protect against bone loss in menopausal women.

·         Good source of Fibre

·         Important source of Protein: contain all eight essential amino acids, the building blocks of proteins.

·         Antioxidants: Soya contains isoflavones, which may prevent breast cancer.

·         Other Nutrients: vitamin C, vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, and B6, as well as traces of B12 and E. Also minerals, including calcium, magnesium, potassium, and zinc, and a number of protective phytochemicals.

Ways to Enjoy Soya

·         Soya beans can be used as whole soya beans, soya sprouts, or processed as soya milk, tofu, tempeh, soya sauce or miso.

·         Soya milk can be used in baking.

·         Soya flour can replace wheat flour for its thickening properties or added in small proportion in dough for chapattis. 

·         Tofu, which has a neutral taste, can be added to many dishes and will assume the flavour of the other ingredients.

·         Soya nuggets can be used for cooking different dishes.

·         There are many products on the market that contain soya, such as protein bars, snacks, nuts and smoothies.

Kiwi & Cucumber Cooler

Very cooling drink for warm summers..

Ingredients

1 cup cucumber juice

½ cup kiwi pieces

1 tsp chat masala

2 tbsp khus syrup

Kiwi slices to garnish

Method

Blend everything together in a blender.

Pour in glasses & garnish.

Serve chilled with ice cubes.

Black Currant Delight

Beat that heat :)

Ingredients

2 cups fresh black grapes juice

1 cup vanilla ice-cream

½ tsp black salt

2 tsp sugar

½ cup water

Few ice cubes

Garnish for each glass

1 small scoop vanilla ice-cream

2 spoons grape juice

Method

Blend everything in blender & pour in glasses, leaving space for garnish.

Slowly add a scoop of ice-cream in each glass. (Makes about 2-3 glasses)

Slowly spoon the juice along the walls of glass.

Serve immediately.

Ice-Creams in Chocolate Biscuits Crust Pie

An Innovative & tasty way of presenting ice-creams :)

Ingredients

16 chocolate sandwich cookies

3-4 tbsp melted butter

Ice-cream of your choice

Garnish according to Ice-cream

Method

Add cookies to your food processor & blend till they resemble fine crumbs.

Pour the crumbs into a bowl, add half the melted butter & mix.

Continue to add more butter till the crumbs are moist and will hold together.

Press the crumb mixture into the pie tin, using back of a spoon.

Bake the crust for about 15 minutes or until you can smell chocolate, at 180◦C.

Cool the crust completely and very carefully remove the crust from tin & put it on the dish you want to serve.

Take ice-cream, churn it a bit and fill the pie.

Here I used fresh strawberries with vanilla ice-cream in one & Roasted Almond with Choco-chips in other.

Garnish and freeze for at least 4 hours.

Serve either full or cut into slices.

Tips

Include the cream filling of the sandwich cookies in crumbs while blending, for added flavor & texture.

Refrigerate crust pie before filling ice-cream, to make it more firm.

If adding fresh fruits to ice-cream, make sure to consume ice-cream same day, as fruits will freeze & can become too hard.

Oats For Well Being

What better way to gain the strength and energy to carry you through a hectic morning schedule than with a steaming bowl of freshly cooked oatmeal.

Health Benefits:

·         Lowers cholesterol  

·         Reduces high blood sugar

·         Boosts Immune system due to Selenium, Vitamin E & Zinc present in Oats.

·         Reduces weight

·         Good source of Protein: 100 gm of oats have around 17 gm of protein.

·         Improves digestion & cure constipation.

·         Reduces the risk of cancer: Lignan, a type of phytochemical has been linked to decreased risk of breast cancer & colon cancer.

·         Stronger bones as Oats are rich in calcium, phosphorus & magnesium.

·         Excellent for Pregnancy: Good source of folic acid, thiamin, riboflavin, & niacin.

·         Good for skin: Oatmeal bath helps heal dry & flaky skin, eczema and other skin conditions. Skin rashes and insect bites are also healed with mashed oats. Oatmeal scrubs exfoliate your skin and are very beneficial to oily skin.

·         Reduces stress & boosts concentration.

·         Energy booster: Nutrients like Phosphorus, vitamin B, magnesium and iron help in energy production.

Ways to Enjoy Oats

·         Smoothies: make your favourite smoothie, thickening it with a tablespoon of instant oats.

·         Pancakes: make oat pancakes using some or all oat flour instead of wheat flour.

·         Granola: a quick and easy granola is made with quick oats, coconut, sunflower seeds and nuts, whizzed together in the blender, and mixed with fruit, before baking in a low oven.

·         Cakes and muffins: substitute some or most of the flour with quick or instant oats for a different flavour and texture.

·         Substitute oats in recipes that call for bread crumbs.

·         Add oats to soups and stews.

I take my Oats as porridge & sometimes add them to pancakes & muffins.

Use your imagination to include oats in a variety of recipes.

Experiment for health and goodness. Enjoy!

Soya Tikki

Healthy tikkies :)

Ingredients

1 cup Soya chunks or granules

2 boiled & mashed potatoes

1 medium carrot grated (& squeezed)

½ cup boiled & mashed peas

½ tsp green chillies

2 tbsp cornflour

1 tbsp coriander

Salt & pepper to taste

Oil for shallow fry

Method

Boil soya granules or chunks in salted water for about 10 minutes.

Wash them in enough cold water & squeeze them. Churn them in mixer.

Mix all other ingredients with soya and make small tikkies.

Shallow fry them on a non stick griddle (tava), turning them in between till it’s well done on both sides.

Serve hot with green chutney.

Tips

Do squeeze carrot after grating otherwise it will be difficult to bind tikkies.

You can replace cornflour with besan (gram flour).

Can increase the quantity of soya & replace or completely leave potatoes.

You can use these tikkies in your burgers.

Coleslaw With Fruits

According to my husband this is ‘The Best Coleslaw’ he ever had ;). It’s bright, colourful & very easy to make.

Ingredients

1 small cabbage, shredded

2 medium carrots, grated

1 small pineapple, cubed (reserve the juice if any)

1 large green apple, cubed (or any other apple)

½ cup chopped celery

1 tbsp dried cranberries

¾ cup light mayonnaise

½ cup curd

1½ tbsp white vinegar

Method

Blend together the mayonnaise, vinegar, curds and reserved pineapple juice. Keep aside.

Combine together cabbage, carrot, pineapple, apple, celery and cranberries in a large bowl. Mix well.

Pour mayonnaise mixture over the coleslaw mixture and toss gently to mix it well.

Cover & chill for an hour.

Serve chilled.

Tips

In Coleslaw we use only mayonnaise but to make it little less fattening I reduced the quantity of mayo & replaced it with curd.

Green Tea For Well Being

It's difficult not to gush about green tea. The secret of green tea lies in the fact it is rich in catechin polyphenols, particularly epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). EGCG is a powerful anti-oxidant: besides inhibiting the growth of cancer cells, it kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissue.
More than a decade's worth of research about green tea's health benefits -- particularly its potential to fight cancer and heart disease -- has been more than intriguing, as have limited studies about green tea's role in lowering cholesterol, burning fat, preventing diabetes and stroke, and staving off dementia.

Health Benefits:

·         Lowers Total Cholesterol.

·         Inhibits abnormal formation of blood clots, thus prevents heart attacks & stroke.

·         Decreases blood pressure.

·         Prevents tooth decay.

·         Helps in lowering sugar levels in body.

·         Helps in rheumatoid arthritis.

·         The polyphenols enhance fat oxidation thus helps in burning fat and increasing metabolism.

Harmful Effects?

To date, the only negative side effect reported from drinking green tea is insomnia due to the fact that it contains caffeine. However, green tea contains less caffeine than coffee: there are approximately 30 to 60 mg. of caffeine in 6 - 8 ounces of tea, compared to over 100 mg. in 8 ounces of coffee.

How to Brew a Cup of Green Tea:

General Way -

·         Fill a kettle with cold water & bring it to boil.

·         Unplug the kettle & allow it to stand for few seconds.

·         Put your green tea bag (or 1 tsp of loose leaves) in a cup of this water & allow it to steep for upto 3 minutes. (Steeping green tea too hot or too long will result in a bitter, astringent brew).

·         Remove the tea bag & sip your tea full of health.

My Way –

·         Boil water along with lemon grass & mint leaves. Cover the vessel to keep the flavours in.

·         Put the flame off & allow it to stand for few seconds.

·         Put your green tea bag (or 1 tsp of loose leaves) in a cup of this water, cover & allow it to steep for upto 3 minutes.

·         Remove tea bag & add ¼ tsp of lemon juice & ¼ tsp of honey. Enjoy :)

[I read somewhere that lemon in green tea helps in better absorption of its antioxidants & it tastes much better ;)]

Flax Seeds For Well Being

Flax seed is very high in Lignans, alpha linolenic acid, & is a key player in the fight against cancer, particularly breast and colon cancer.

Flax seed is the richest source of Omega 3 fatty acids.

Flax seed is also very good source of fibre. It is high in both soluble and insoluble fibre. One ounce of flax provides 32% of the USDA’s reference daily intake of fibre.

Health Benefits:

·         Fights cholesterol.

·         Decreases blood sugar levels.

·         Prevents & decreases risk of cancer.

·         Prevents constipation.

·         Fights inflammation. Omega 3 fatty acids have anti-inflammatory properties thus helps patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

·         Fights menopausal symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats and irritability. Flax is a phytoestrogen, an estrogen like substance found in plants.

·         Fights heart diseases. It reduces total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides.

·         Builds immunity.

·         Fights “The Blues”. Flax has Docosahexanoic acid (DHA), which is a mood boosting compound, thus helps in fighting depression.

·         My friends say it’s good for hair growth & skin too :)

Ways to get Flax into Your Diet:

·         Sprinkle on your yogurt, salad, fruits, smoothies & shakes etc.

·         Mix it into pancake or muffin batter, or other baked goods (you'll probably need to add a little more water).

·         Take ½ a tsp in the morning with water. (that’s what I do).

·         Light roast it & mix with your After Mints.

 Remember Flax seed is very high in fibre. Drink lots of fluid while eating flax.