healthy breakfast recipe

Zucchini Bread

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Zucchini breadToday, I have posted a kind of healthy dessert variety that you don’t find normally in restaurants or bakeries. It is called as the Zucchini bread. As the name suggests it is made from zucchini, a relative to pumpkins πŸ™‚ Zucchini is also called as summer squash and is of European origin, mainly from Italy. You can make a number of dishes from zucchini like fritters, fries, as a topping in pizzas (it tastes yummy πŸ™‚ ) etc.

Zucchini BreadZucchini breadZucchini bread is a very easy to make bread variety and can be had as snack and for breakfast as well. Zucchini, as with all vegetables, is rich in nutrients especially vitamin A and very low in calories. I first had zucchini bread in a vegan restaurant and liked the taste so much. Believe me, you cannot identify that it is zucchini bread unless someone tells you that πŸ™‚

Zucchini breadZucchini bread, as said above, is a very good breakfast dish, especially for children who normally do not like to eat vegetables (which covers 95% of them :)). Try this tasty bread variety and let me know your comments.

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Zucchini Bread
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 1 9x5x3 inch loaf
 
Ingredients
  • 1 Β½ cups bread flour or all purpose flour
  • Β½ tsp salt
  • Β½ tsp baking soda
  • Β½ tsp baking powder
  • ΒΌ tsp ground cinnamon
  • Β½ cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • ΒΌ cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs, room temperature
  • 1 Β½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup grated zucchini
  • Β½ cup chopped walnuts (or any nuts of your choice)
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 180 degrees Celsius.
  2. Grease a loaf pan (9 x 5 x 3 inches) with butter or oil on the bottom and all four sides and line the bottom with parchment paper.
  3. Sieve all the dry ingredients together into a small bowl.
  5. Combine oil and sugars to the large bowl. Mix well until well combined.
  7. Add in the eggs and beat well until creamy consistency.
  9. Add and beat the vanilla extract.
  11. Now combine the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mix well without any lumps.
  13. Finally add in the grated zucchini and chopped walnuts into the mixture and mix well.
  15. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Shake the pan and even the batter on top using spatula.
  16. Bake in oven (preferably in the middle rack) for 55 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean – I covered the pan with aluminum foil after 35 minutes when it starts to brown on top.
  18. Turn out onto a wire rack and allow them to cool. Serve the yummy zucchini bread as hot or cold for a breakfast or brunch or as evening snack. Enjoy! 

Zucchini Bread

CHANNA MASALA / CHANNA / CHOLE

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ChannaChanna or Channa Masala is a very popular north Indian dish made from chick peas. You can find Channa Masala in almost all Indian restaurants, north Indian or south Indian. Channa is a very good source of protein and when cooked as a gravy it tastes yummy. In fact, it is one of my HB’s favorite dishes. We never fail to make Channa Masala at least once every two weeks.
008The main step in preparing Channa Masala is the amount of time that you soak the chick peas in water before cooking. The more it is soaked, the faster it gets cooked. As I said above, it is a good source of protein and I heard from my HB that back in India, he and his friends used leave Channa soaked in water overnight and have a handful before hitting the gym, sort of like an energy booster. There is also a black chickpea called as Kondaikadalai in my native tongue that can be cooked similar to Channa Masala. I have given the recipe for that here . There are days when we cook Channa without any masala, i.e., not in a gravy form and have it for dinner. This type is called a Sundal in Tamil. It is a popular Prashadam dish in temples back home.
ChannaChanna Masala is a very good side dish for Chappati, Bhature (Channa Bhature is another popular north Indian dish), Poori and rice as well. And here is the recipe for Channa Masala. Try it in your home and as always comment on your experience and thoughts πŸ™‚

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CHANNA / CHOLE
Recipe type: Lunch|Dinner
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2
 
Ingredients
  • Cooking or vegetable oil – 1 tbs
  • Cinnamon stick – 1 (2 inch)
  • Cardamom – 3
  • Cloves – 2
  • Bay leaf – 1
  • Cumin seeds – 1 tbs
  • Onion – 1
  • Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
  • Ginger & Garlic paste – 1 tbs
  • Green chillies, finely chopped – 1 no
  • Channa masala – 1 Β½ tbs
  • Channa or chickpeas – 1 cup
  • Lemon juice – 1 tbs
  • Salt as required
  • Coriander leaves – for garnishing
to make puree
  • Tomato - 1 no
  • green chilli - 1 no
Instructions
  1. Soak the channa/chickpeas overnight or for 8 hours.
  2. Pressure cook the channa with little water and a tsp of salt for 3 whistles - It should be cooked in such a way that you could smash the channa by your thumb and index fingers.
  3. Make a puree of tomato and green chilli in a blender and set aside.
  4. Heat a wide pan with a tbs of oil, add the whole spices mentioned above followed by cumin seeds.
  5. When cumin seeds start to splutter, add chopped onion and fry till they are softened and become translucent.
  6. Add turmeric powder and ginger-garlic paste. SautΓ© until the raw aroma of ginger-garlic disappears.
  7. Add the tomato puree and chopped green chilli. Saute for 2-3 minutes, stirring in between.
  8. Add channa masala powder and little salt . Mix well and saute until oil seperates.
  9. Add the cooked masala into boiled channa, mix well and pressure cook for another 2 whistles.
  10. Sprinkle few drops of lemon juice on top and garnish with coriander leaves.
  11. Serve hot channa masala with pooris, chapattis or steamed rice accompanied with lemon & onion slices.

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Kondakadalai Kurma

Kondaikadalai kurma

ADAI

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Adai dosaAdai is a dosa like dish synonymous to Tamilnadu (specifically from Chettinad cuisine, I believe) and is made using different varieties of Dal (Moong, Urad and Channa). It is a very healthy dish and usually eaten for breakfast and sometimes for dinner. I started making Adai mainly as an alternative to dosa. For dosa, as you know, the main ingredient to make the batter is rice and rice is rich in carbohydrates which in turn is one of the contributing factors in weight gain (if the intake is often, of course).
062My HB is very health conscious (and that has rubbed off on me as well, sometimes ;)) and so I started my search for a healthy and easy alternative for the usual fares that we have at our home. Then I came across this Adai from the web and found it to be the perfect alternative. Making the Adai batter does not involve fermentation. So the entire process of preparing the batter to cooking Adai is very quick. Also, you don’t need a grinder to prepare the batter. A blender will suffice.
068In our home, we normally have Adai with coconut chutney but by making the batter a little bit spicy (described in the cooking instructions below), you can have Adai without a side dish (how awesome is that!). In restaurants, Adai is often served with butter and Avial (another south Indian dish for which I will post the recipe sometime soon).
So try this very healthy and easy to make Adai in your home and let me know your comments.

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ADAI
Recipe type: Breakfast/Dinner
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 8
 
Adai is a dosa like dish synonymous to Tamilnadu (specifically from Chettinad cuisine, I believe) and is made using different varieties of Dal (Moong, Urad and Channa). It is a very healthy dish and usually eaten for breakfast and sometimes for dinner.
Ingredients
  • Toor dal - ¼cup
  • Moong dal -1/4 cup
  • Urad dal - ½ cup
  • Idli Rice or Raw Rice - ½ cup
  • Whole Red chillies - 6
  • Salt-as per taste
  • Shallots(small onions) – 2 (chopped)
  • Hing - 1 tsp
  • Cumin seeds - 1 tbs
  • Chopped Coriander leaves – ¼ cup
  • Water as required
  • Oil required to smear around adais
Instructions
  1. Wash and soak urad dal, moong dal, toor dal and rice together in water for 4 hours.
  2. Grind the soaked dals and rice, along with half a tsp cumin seeds, whole red chilli, salt and hing together until smooth. - like dosa batter.
  3. To the ground adai batter add chopped shallots, coriander leaves and little water.
  4. Mix well the batter, the consistency should be similar to dosa batter. Set aside the adai batter to rest for atleast 30 mins.
  5. Heat a dosa tawa, add a ladle full of adai batter to the center of tawa and start spreading the batter from center in circular motion like making dosa or pancakes.
  6. Smear 1 tsp oil around adai and cook on medium heat until both sides of adai are golden brown and crisp.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 2 to 3

Adai dosa