Bottle gourd / Calabash / long melon halwa - sweet tooth ;)

Bottle gourd, well known as calabash in west is a vegetable preferred in savories... The low calorie diet includes juices of the bottle gourd, but a suggestion to you is to grate it and use in a salad so that the rich fiber helps in further dissolution of fats in the body. With enormous health benefits, Chinese myth makes use of the dried fruit in the form of a container to store medicine as they believe the negative energy is warded off by it... Quite amazing, rich in folate and good for neuronal development of infants if consumed by a pregnant woman.

 

The culinary experiments with this vegetable has explored the delicious dessert in it... Be patient, slow cooking doubles the flavors of halwa... Enjoy the recipe :)

 

 

Microwave wheat cake (eggless)

Maida/ all purpose flour has to be always replaced by nutritious wheat flour.... How good if you can bake a cake using a healthy flour and in a Microwave oven!!  Follow the recipe and relish on wheat cake in few minutes. Trust me!! Preparation time is a few minutes....

Healthy steamed starter- Kothambari Vadi/ Cilantro patties

Aromatic herbs are often plated ON or IN the recipes and I incorporate cilantro (Spanish translation) or coriander leaves in a traditional Maharastrian cuisine- Kothambari Vadi... Often called the Great Cilantro Divide in culinary circles, people generally either love cilantro or they hate it... Why does cilantro taste superb to some but soap-like to others? Genetics play a role in liking or disliking the herb...  People who love coriander leaves are apparently able to smell a compound in the fragrant herb that haters cannot... Plus, those repulsed by cilantro can keenly smell the unsaturated aldehydes that give it that soapy scent.

 

Neer Dose / Pan polo : yet another coastal delicacy.

Rice is a rich source of carbohydrates and accumulation of it in the body results in fat deposition!!! And there lies a myth of replacing rice with broken wheat to stay slim!! Do not opt for the polished- shiny rice for your diet. Instead go with the one with slightly red stains on the cereal... This partially polished rice would contain broad range of amino acids, vitamins and minerals required for a every day diet. The fact is, the Amino acid Methionine in unpolished rice takes part in the fat metabolism happening in the liver. This brings down the building up of fat in the body. The counteraction of breaking down fat happens only with the reddish tinged rice. It can be very healthy and tasty as well. 

Follow the breakfast recipe of coastal Karnataka, very famous NEER DOSE (in Kannada) / pan polo (in Konkani). Use the unpolished rice and improve on the health benefits this cereal provides...

Nutritive dessert: Ragi manni

Ragi/ finger millet is a part of afternoon diet replacing rice in many parts of Karnataka, primarily Mandya!!! Ragi muddhe and mossap-saru (green leafy veggie curry) counters a savory ragi diet... To do with its high calcium content, a dessert would fetch you ample of all the essentials in it... Do follow the recipe and get benefited with a health crop of South Asia.

Ragi manni / ragi cake / ragi halwa can be tried at home, a simple dessert with loads of nutrition. It favors all age groups aiding healthy bone development in kids and elders too to combat osteoporosis...

POSU... a simple spoilt-milk dessert!

Health management to waste management!! Is it good to consume spoiled milk??!! The reason for spoiling matters though. We, a bunch of people from Karnataka have a habit of heating milk in the morning which will be consumed all day long along with tea & coffee... But, if you forget to reheat in the evening, it will spoil to curdle and leave whey apart in the night when you re-boil. If it was small volume you least care, but if it's liters together then manage waste with the recipe I share.

Milk might spoil for various reasons. Bacterial activity is a prime cause. If not, there might be some contaminated vessel you have used for boiling milk. Upon heating milk it doesn't spoil but spoils on re-heating later in the evening is quite safe to use in the dessert. Edible if it is white only!!

Steps to procure precipitated/coagulated edible solids/proteins from spoiled milk:

• When you observe milk spoiling upon heating, complete the heating procedure by further placing it on flame for about 5 more minutes.
• Add ice to the hot spoiled milk as you put off the flame.
• Allow it to cool for some time and pass entire content through a cloth (muslin cloth or any cotton cloth).
• Wash the milk solids collected, thoroughly under running water.
• Tie it with the same cloth and allow the water to drip completely. Squeeze out excess water and put that in a bowl and loosen softly with your fingers. It should appear like this!!

red-chilli-urad dal-papad in a side dish!!

Cooking is such an art and if you have to cook an immediate recipe, then opt for simple red chilli papad side dish. Goes well with rice-rasam/sambar/curds... Easy cooking with some health benefits sounds good too... One of my friend Priya, with the pox was wanting to eat tasty with restricted food intake... Loads of fluids will definitely help but put a hold on fried foods!! For the marks not to remain, consume what your grany says! It works anyways.

The calorific content of lentils/ urad dal/ black gram says it has proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, calcium, iron, folic acid, oxalic acid and phosphorous... It is soothing for your body and a good cooling agent. It is an aphrodisiac and nervine tonic. Excessive intake of lentils causes flatulence which can, however, be prevented by adding little asafoetida, pepper and ginger in the culinary preparations.

Here is a simple side dish, but try it n comment please.... :)