Butterfly Pea Tea (Blue Tea)

Butterfly pea flower tea is an herbal drink made from dried butterfly pea flowers. Comes from a plant called clitoria ternatea that’s native to Southeast Asia.

Image courtesy: cookingwithnart

The flowers are deep blue in color with a tinge of purple that colors and flavors the water. This bright beverage has a mesmerizing color and has an extortionary ability to change color from blue to purple when the pH level changes. Adding something acidic like lemon juice changes the color.

Blue tea health benefits:

• Weight Loss
• Contain Antioxidants
• All Natural Paracetamol
• Combats effects of Diabetes
• Zero Caffeine
• Good for Heat Health
• Anti Aging Properties
• Combats Hair Loss
• Effective against Stress, Anxiety and Depression
• Overall Brain Health
• Anti Inflammatory Properties

Ingredients:
4/5 - Dried butterfly pea flowers
1 Cup - Hot water
Lemon juice from 1/2 lemon
Honey to taste
Ice cubes

Method:

1. Place 4 dried Butterfly Pea flowers in a coffee mug.
2. Add hot water to the mug. Let steep for 5 minutes. You will see a the water steeped to a beautiful blue color.
3. Then add a few drops of fresh lemon juice, you will notice the change in hue from blue to a deep purple color. 

For Cold Blue Tea: Add two spoons of honey and a hand full of ice cubes. 

Blueberry Jam - Just 3 ingredients!

Ingredients:
600 grams - Fresh Blueberries
400 grams - Sugar
1 tablespoon - Lemon juice

Method:

• Wash the blueberries well.
• Add the blueberries, sugar and lemon juice into a heavy bottom pan.
• Place the pan over a gentle heat to slowly dissolve the sugar crystals, stirring with a wooden spoon from time to time.
• As the sugar starts to melt and the fruit warms up, mash the blueberries in the pan.
• Once the sugar has completely dissolved turn up the heat and bring the pan to boil and time for 15 minutes, stirring all the while (to prevent the sugar burning on the base).
• Take the pan off the heat and test a few drops of the jam on a frozen saucer and place in the fridge for a minute. If when you push your finger through it the jam forms a crinkle and is gel like then it’s ready. Otherwise boil for another couple of minutes and repeat process until ready.
• Store the jam in a glass jar.

Recipe inspired by fabfood4all.

Rose Gulkand Modagam

Happy Vinayaka Chaturthi! - May Lord Ganesha bestow you power, destroy your sorrow and enhance happiness in your life.

This year I made the ever so trending turmeric pillayar. Below is my version of the eco-friendly pillayar. As for the modagams, I used to love this gulkand milkshake that we used to have back in India. I was missing it so much during these covid times, so I incorporated the gulkand flavour to our modagams this year. Scroll down for the recipe.

Yields: 25 small modagams

Ingredients:

1 cup – Fresh Grated Coconut
½ cup – Rose Gulkand
1 cup - Rice Flour
Few drops of Rose Syrup (depends on the brand of syrup used)
1 teaspoon – Rose water
Poppy Seeds – 2 teaspoons (Optional, I used White sesame seeds instead)
1 teaspoon - Salt
1 cup or more – Water
1 tsp + 2 tsp - Ghee

Method:

1. Heat 2 teaspoons of ghee in a pan. Add the sesame seeds and roast it briefly.
2. Add the fresh grated coconut to the pan and fry for a few minutes on medium flame. Now add the gulkand, mix and sauté for 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat. Gulkand stuffing is ready.
3. For the outer layer: In a pan, heat about 1 cup water along with 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon ghee.
4. As the water begins to boil add the rice flour and keep stirring. Make sure there are no big lumps.
5. Switch off the flame and cover the pan and let it rest for 5 minutes.
6. Now transfer the rice flour to a bowl and add the rose water and rose syrup.
7. While the mixture is hot, crumble and knead well to form a soft dough. Sprinkle some water if the dough is too hard.
8. Divide the dough into small portions and make the outer layer, add in the stuffing and crimp the edges together to form the modagam shape. If using a modagam mould: Grease your mould with ghee. Close the mould and place a dough ball inside, press down the sides of the mould to make space in the center. Fill in the coconut stuffing and with a small portion of the dough, cover the base of the modagam. Gently unmould the modagam and repeat with the rest of the dough.
9. Steam the prepared modagams for 10 minutes. Rose gulkand modagam is ready.

 

Recipe adapted from sakhisolutions.com.

Ragi ladoo

Ingredients:

1 cup -  Ragi flour

1/2 cup - Sugar (I used unrefined cane sugar)

1/4 cup - Ghee

1 and 1/2 tbsp - Cashews

1/4 tsp - Cardamom powder

Yeilds: About 10 ladoos

Directions:

• In a pan, heat half of the ghee (1/8 cup) and roast the cashews till golden brown. Remove and set aside.
• Add ragi flour to the same pan and roast it until it gives out a nice aroma. It will become sandy in texture.
• Roast in low flame for 5-7 mins, keep stirring so as not to burn the flour. 
• After the roasted flour has cooled down, add in the sugar, cashews, cardamon powder and the remaining 1/8 cup of ghee.
• Mix well so that it is evenly mixed, and then shape the mixture into ladoos. 
• Store in a dry container. Keeps well for more than a week.

 Notes:

Let the mixture cool down before adding in the sugar. If you add sugar to hot mixture it might turn gooey. You can add any sweetener of your choice, white sugar, jaggery or cane sugar. 

Recipe adapted from: sharmispassions.com 

Falafel Pita Pocket

Falafel is a deep-fried ball or patty made from ground chickpeas. It is a traditional Middle Eastern food, commonly served in a pita, which acts as a pocket, or wrapped in a flatbread. I made two versions of the falafel, fried and baked.  these tender falafels are perfect for tucking inside fluffy pita pockets or piled high on a salad.

Yeilds: 25 small falafel

Ingredients to make the falafel:

1 cup - dry chickpea 

1 onion - chopped

1 cup - loosely packed coriander leaves

3 cloves - garlic

1 tsp - coriander powder

1 tsp -  cumin powder

½ tsp -  chili powder

½ tsp - pepper, crushed

1 tbsp - lemon juice

2 tbsp -  plain flour / maida

¼ tsp baking soda

oil for deep frying

salt to taste

Directions: 

• Soak the chickpea overnight with enough water.
• Drain the chickpeas and add them to a food processor along with the coriander, onion, garlic, salt, coriander powder, cumin powder, chili powder, pepper, lemon juice and baking powder. 
• Process the mixture without adding any water, just until the ingredients are minced but not pureed, scraping down the sides as needed. 
• Roll the ground mixture into small balls. If the dough is watery in consistency add a tbsp of maida and mix well.
• Deep fry the balls in hot oil over medium heat.
• Once the falafel turns golden brown, drain off on to the kitchen paper.
• Serve falafel hot with hummus or stuffed in pita pockets.
• Do not over-process the mixture or the falafel will be too loose. 

Baking Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Squeeze the falafel mixture into 1.5-inch balls then flatten them slightly so they are the shape of patties. Arrange the falafel on the lined baking sheet and brush the tops of them with the some olive oil. Bake the falafel for 15 minutes, flip them once then bake them an additional 10 minutes until they are golden brown. 

Serving suggestions:
Serve the falafel in pita bread with tahini sauce and veggies, or add them to a salad as a healthy, protein-packed topping. I used store bought wholemeal pita bread and toasted them. For the stuffing I used tahini sauce, some chipotle Tabasco, yogurt, feta cheese, mixed veggies and fresh coriander. Served with hummus on the side. 

Recipe adapted from hebbarskitchen and justataste.

Eggless Mango Semolina Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup - Mango Puree 
1 cup - Semolina (Suji) 
1/2 cup - Sugar 
1/4 cup - Oil (I used coconut oil) 
1 tbsp - Curd  
1 tsp - Baking Powder 
1/2 tsp - Baking Soda  
1 tbsp - Milk
Slivered almonds and pistachios (for garnishing - optional) 

Directions:

• In a bowl, add in all the ingredients except baking powder and soda. Mix well and let the batter rest for 20 min.
• Add the baking powder and soda to the resting batter and mix well. If the batter is too thick, then add 1 tbsp milk.
• Transfer the prepared batter to baking dish, lined with parchment paper.
• Sprinkle sliced almonds nuts on top.
• Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for 30-35 mins.
• Once ready check with tooth prick stick. If it comes out clean, then cake is ready to serve. 

Recipe adapted from healthykadai.com.

Eggless Ragi Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• ½ cup - Ragi flour / finger millet
• ½ cup - Wheat flour
• ¾ cup - Mashed bananas 
• 1 and ½ tsp - Baking powder
  
• ¼ tsp - Baking soda
• ¼ tsp - Salt
• 1 tsp - Vanilla 
• 1 tsp - Nutmeg powder (optional)
• ¼ cup - Honey
• ½ cup - Yogurt
• ¼ cup - Olive oil

Directions:

• Sieve ragi and wheat flour. Add salt, baking soda, baking powder and nutmeg powder. Keep it aside.
• Blend together curd, honey, olive oil and mashed banana.
• Add this wet mixture to dry mixture and combine everything well. Grease loaf pan with little oil. Pour batter into the pan and tap it.
• In a preheated oven, Bake at 180 degree C for 30-40 mins. Once the upper crust turns light brown, insert a toothpick at the center and it should come out clean.

Recipe based on jopreetskitchen.com

3 Ingredient Aval Kozhukattai

This 3 ingredient kozhukattai is perfect for a healthy hot breakfast or evening snack.

You can follow the recipe here https://youtu.be/2ZvVVkDpBPA. 

I powdered 1.5 cups of aval and used ¾ cup of Nattu Sakkarai instead of vellam. 

This yielded 18 kozhukattais. 

I then steamed the kozhukattais in the rice cooker steam setting for 10 mins.

Cilantro Pesto Pasta

Ingredients

Cilantro pesto
300 g - Pasta (uncooked)
½ cup - Chopped tomato
½ cup - Capsicum
½ cup - Sliced mushrooms
1 tsp - Olive Oil 

Directions

• Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain the cooked pasta and set aside.
• Saute the vegetables in olive oil over medium heat and cook for 5-6 minutes till vegetables are cooked.
• Add the cooked pasta to the pan in along with the vegetables and toss them well.
• Add the pesto to the pan and toss it nicely.
• Sprinkle some crushed pepper corns and parmesan cheese on top and serve it hot.

Cilantro Pesto

           Yields: 1.5 cups of pesto

Ingredients

½ cup - Mint leaves
2 Cups - Fresh cilantro
1 oz - Parmesan cheese
3 Tbsp - Extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup - Walnuts
1/4 Tsp  - Salt
2 - Red Chilies 
2 Tsp - Ginger Garlic paste

Directions

• In a food processor drop all ingredients except olive oil and process it.
• Scrape the sides down and drizzle olive oil, pulse the machine till all the oil is well     
  incorporated.
• Spoon it out and use as required. 

Note: This stays good for a week in the refrigerator and freezes well in case you decide to make it in large quantities.

Fluffy Lemon Ricotta Waffles

Yields: 10 small waffles

Ingredients:

1½ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp fresh lemon zest
⅓ cup unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
½ cup ricotta cheese
¾ cup milk

Directions:

• Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
• In a bowl whisk together butter, lemon, sugar, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, ricotta, and milk. 
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Do not over mix the batter.  A few lumps remaining is fine.
• Heat you waffle iron according to the manufacturer’s instructions spraying with cooking spray if needed.
• Dollop ¼ cup of batter into the waffle iron and cook until golden brown.  
• Serve immediately with what whatever topping you would like. I served mine with a dollop of whipped cream, maple syrup, almond slivers for some crunch and topped it  off with blueberry preserve.
• These waffles can also be individually wrapped and frozen. They are great heated up in the toaster or in the oven

Recipe from oliveandmango.com