How to make Ragi Malt at Home | Step By Step Recipe | Diabetes Diet Food

Ragi / Finger Millet has always been common at our home since we used to grow this in our lands. Well that was years ago, still it somehow remains so very clear, the memories of my granny bringing home those fresh Ragi, Bajra from our crops.

Most frequent dish was of course the Mudda we make with Ragi. Then it used to be Ganji that is made by mixing in Ragi with water, boiling it and then mixing it with curds.

Malt is a process wherein the grains are sprouted, then ground to be made as a drink. Well sprouting is not something that's strange at our home. That's what Athamma does with most ingredients that she thinks of. I was telling her that we should prepare some Diabetic Friendly recipes. Ragi Malt is part of the series that we planned. 

Follow the procedure to sprout

We made a soup, porridge and this Malt. Though I told others who are doing one theme a day for the BM#6, they can choose to do two dishes for Different ways to use an Ingredient. Even when I was saying that I was not liking the idea as I have come long way to realize I don't' like crowding a post with more than one recipe, unless until it really requires.

So will be posting the Soup recipe later and hope my BM friends won't bump me for doing this..:)

We have made this drink even healthier by adding Jaggary which is a good source of iron and completely avoided sugar.

Sprouted Finger Millet

Ragi Malt - Healthy Drink made with Sprouted Finger Millet

For sprouting
Sprouted Ragi / Finger Millet - 1 cup

To make the Ragi Malt

Ragi powder - 2 tsp
Milk - 1 cup
Jaggary, powdered - 1 tsp

Method to prepare

To sprout the Ragi

Soak ragi for a day, after about 8 - 9 hours, drain the grains and tie in a cloth. It will sprout over the night.

Shade dry and powder the Ragi fine.

To get more shelf life for the flour plus make it more aromatic, dry roast the powder over hot pan. Once it's cooled you can store the flour in an air tight container.

To make the malt.

Take required amount of Ragi flour, add little water and get a lump less mix. Heat it in a pan, add the jaggary and bring to boil. slowly add milk and boil for couple of mins.

Serve hot / warm depending on who's drinking this.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#6

Jowar Drink | Diabetes Diet Food

One of first thing you get to hear from any doctor about planning a diet, will be about how important your breakfast is. There are couple different opinions on whether one should eat heavy or light for their breakfast. Breakfast means exactly what it says, breaking the fast that one takes from the dinner to the next day morning, which is about 7 - 8 hours.

It must be some 15 years back when I this dietitian, who prescribed to the fact that breakfast should not be heavy. The only that was allowed was Tomato juice. The reasons she cited was, since you already enforced a fast on the body, the moment you introduce food, body tends to accumulate and store maximum calorie possible. The tomato juice was supposed to be drunk over a 15 minutes period, making sure the body gets used to the sudden supply of nourishment.

The same dietitian whom I met again recently has changed her views and now advises one to eat some sprouts along with the juice. The food has to be light and yet filling.

This Jowar Drink that Athamma makes is very filling. It takes time to break down to glucose and tastes great too.

Ingredients Needed:

Whole Jonna/ Jowar - 1 cup
Salt to taste
Curds - 2 tbsp

Method to prepare:

Wash and soak the jonna in water for a day. Then shade dry the jowar. Grind it in a mixer to a coarse grains. This is more like rava.

This can be stored and used when required.

Take required amount of rava and add 2 times it's water and bring to boil.

Curds or Milk can be added to this for drinking. Adding curds with salt makes this a great way to start the morning.

You won't feel the hungry pangs for quite a while.

Diabetes Diet/Management: Srivalli, Champa, Harini, PJ  
Kid Friendly Recipes: Kalyani, Shylaja, Veena  
Seven Days of Soup:Usha, Sowmya  
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Suresh  
Seven days of Cakes:  Anusha

Healthy Moong Dal Roti

After blogging non stop for 30 days, I had real problem on the last day. It is such an irony! But I was saved by this Roti I had made for dinner as a health diet but never got around posting as I was busy with the many cakes that were getting experimented. This healthy rotis had to take a back seat. See how it came to save the day for me!

These were made the regular way as I do with Pesarattu. Except no rice was added nor was it diluted as a Dosa batter. Instead the batter was stored as a thick paste. Just before making the dinner, we had all the chopped vegetables added to the paste, patted down on a plastic sheet and cooked on a hot tawa on both sides.

I will come back to write the proper recipe as I am having internet connectivity problem. Please enjoy the pictures until them.

Check out my Blogging Marathon buddies in action! Priya Suresh, Jay, Gayathri, Monika, PJ, Priya Vaasu, Azeema, Reva, Ayeesha, Veena, Usha & Soumya.

Health Aspects for Vegetarian Diet

Planning a diet is very important. A diet is not just for loosing weight but it is also something that one has to follow when being a vegetarian. One has to pay attention and plan ahead on what really needs to be consumed if they need a balanced diet which includes all the required protein, minerals and vitamins.

I have been reading up a lot on how to plan an ideal Vegetarian diet. From various sources and research off internet, below are the notes I dotted down.

Below are few things that impress one right away. This will be a series of notes on various aspects. For starters, I will be talking only about these for now.

To get required Proteins, an Indian Vegetarian's diet is predominantly based on Dals (pulses). So in this case, it is again recommended to have a variety in the dals used so as to include all types of dals in one's diet. Individually, dals are supposed to have only 30% proteins content and some missing amino acids. So to compensate this one can add tofu as it is partially fermented and therefore has better digestibility. Besides Tofu is a complete protein.

Then comes the Calcium. Vegetarian and in particular women should follow a diet that has food rich in calcium. If you are Lactose intolerant then food such as soya, turnip, broccoli, ragi etc will be ideal, for rest they can consume milk, curd, cheese and paneer are sufficient

When I looked upon Iron, lot of information came up from which I took only what was applicable to my diet.

Do refer this article for more details on specific food that is rich in Iron.

The following are iron rich foods :Cereals & Grains: barley (Bajra), Rice flakes, rice bran , corn flakes, oats , ragi .
Pulses & Beans: Cow pea, Lobia (black-eye beans), Lentils, Soybean, peas.
Vegetables: Beetroot greens, Mint, Parsley, Turnip greens, all green leafy vegetables coriander leaves.
Vegetables like broccoli are rich in iron. These vegetables are high iron and also high in vitamin C
Spices: Turmeric
Fruits: Dried dates, Watermelon, Raisins,almonds , walnuts, watermelon, papaya, pomegranate.
In case of lemon , orange , amla , sweet lime Vitamin C increases absorption of their iron content.

So based on this information we need to plan for menu to include these requirement.

Do share your thoughts on how  and what you do to plan your healthy menu. I will be writing menu based on what I plan.

Disclaimer: All the notes and thoughts are what has been written and expressed in the articles off internet. I have only tried to paraphrase them in a easier lingo for myself to understand and follow better. 

Check out my Blogging Marathon buddies in action! Priya Suresh, Jay, Gayathri, Monika, PJ, Priya Vaasu, Azeema, Reva, Ayeesha, Veena, Usha & Soumya.

Mochai Sundal | Hyacinth Bean or Field bean Salad

Since having started back on a diet, thought having some salads in the evening will help. A while ago father in law had got these dried Anapa kayalu and its been with us. We normally make a kurma with it for Dosas. Athamma had soaked these in hopes of making something with it. Finally she said a salad will be much more better for the evening.

So this is how it ended up. With simple saute of onions, tomatoes, it can surely elevate to a different level! Best part being that this is liked by the boys too. Then enjoy eating these lentils provided we remove all other things that go in. Well to gain some you got to lose some!

Mochai Sundal | Hyacinth Bean or Field bean Salad 

Mochai - 1 cup

Onions - 1 medium
Tomato - 1 medium
Green Chili - 2 medium, chopped into fine pieces
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few
Mustard seeds, Urad dal - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil - 1 tsp

Method to prepare:

Wash and soak the dried dal overnight. Pressure cook with very little water till soft.

Drain the water, keep it aside

Heat a non stick pan with oil. Add mustard seeds, Urad dal, curry leaves and onions. Saute will till the onions turn colour.

Then add chopped tomatoes, saute for 2 mins. Then add the cooked beans. Stir every thing well.

simmer with lid covered for couple of minutes.

Garnish with coriander leaves.

Remove and serve hot.

What other dishes do you make with Mochai?

Channa Dal Brown Rice | Healthy Diet

With a quest to try different rice varieties, Amma got herself a bag of brown Rice. Then she searched for recipes that can be made with Brown Rice. This dish was something she made couple of weeks before and we tried it again. 

Brown Rice is supposed to be healthier than the white rice and takes longer time to cook. So you really have to plan for it ahead. Plus the fact that digestion of this takes a bit longer time, it should be an ideal rice for diabetes. 

Cook this in different ways and plan for a variety in menu.

Ingredients Needed

Brown Rice - 1 cup
Channa Dal - 1/2 cup
Whole Ground nuts - 1 tsp
Ginger - 1", finely chopped
Garlic - 1-2 cloves finely chopped
Onion - 1 Medium
Mustard - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - 4-5 nos
Pepper corns - 1/2 tsp
Red chilies - 3-4
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 tsp







Method  to prepare

Soak Channa dal for 5 hrs or overnight. Soak Brown rice for 2 hours.

Heat a pressure cooker with oil, add curry leaves, onions, ginger and garlic, Peppercorns, Ground nuts, Red Chillis. Fry well. 

Drain the water from Channa dal, add to the pan. Fry well. Then add the drained Brown rice. Mix well.


Add 2 & 1/2 cups of water or more if you want it little soft. Pressure cook for 4 -5 whistles.

Serve hot.

Multi Grain Paratha with Spinach and Yellow Moong Dal ~ Diabetes Diet Food!

This posted waited pretty long to get finally published! I was procrastinating every time I think this should be next. Well here I am finally with this wonderful paratha that Athamma made for herself. It is very healthy as the parathas are made with Multi grain flour.

The flour has Ragi, Wheat, Soya, Bajra etc. And with added effect of spinach and Yellow moong dal. This new Multi grain flour is our new discovery and I mostly make this for Athamma as she prefers this. Even when we grind the wheat flour at home, we add some soya, bajra to make it more fibrous and healthy.

Multi Grain Paratha with Spinach and yellow moong dal for a healthy and light dinner!

Ingredients Needed

Multi grain flour - 1 cup
Spinach - handful
Yellow Moong dal - 3 tsp
Salt to taste
Green Chilis - 1 medium
Oil for frying.


Method to prepare:

Wash and finely chop the spinach. soak the yellow moong dal for 10 - 15 mins.

In a bowl, take the flour along with salt. Squeeze out the water from spinach and yellow moong dal. Add to the flour. Mix well.

Slowly add enough water to made a soft dough. Divide into balls. Roll out as paratha and cook on a hot tawa on both sides.


===================================================================
Earlier on Diabetes:

General Notes on Diabetes
Introduction to Diabetes ~ What Is Diabetes?
Why Early Diagnosis Is Important?
Diagnosing Diabetes ~ Different Types Of Diabetes
Dietary aspects in the management of diabetes

Diabetes Diet:

Appey or Paniyaram with Jowar Four
Healthly Snack with Chickpea Salad
Gooseberry Rice
Guava ~ the Wonder Fruit
=================================================================

Pesarattu with Yellow Moong dal | Ideas for Healthy Diet Lunch | Diet Program Updates

I am back with my weekly updates on the Diet program. I know I haven't been very strict with the diet the whole of last week. Well I had lot of excuses. With Athamma not being in town and no help with the household work, I was stressed beyond words. I needed energy to just move about or so I said to myself! This forced me to eat the regular food that was cooked.

Anyway I tried compensating at least one meal. Tough times won't last long, so here I am in a much better situation, being able to manage things to an extent. In fact I have gone back to my diet regime. The major dish that helped me in this aspect was the Goduma Dosa, when rolling out or even cooking those rotis sounded tough, these quick doses came as a big help.

If plain goduma dosa bores you, then spice it up by mixing in Green chili paste, or add vegetables or even onions would really help. When you are on diet there is no need to eat boring stuffs right.

So here is the plan, when rolling out Phulkas sound like a herculean task, try these Dosas with Wheat flour

1. Plain Goduma Dosa
2. Spiced Goduma Dosa with either Red chili powder or Green Chili paste
3. Vegetable Goduma Dosa
4. Goduma Uthapam with Onions.

Similarly you can make Dosas or Adais with Channa Dal/ Bengal Gram dal. Spilt Yellow Moong Dal.

The famous Andhra Pesarattu is made with Whole Moong Dal. When we don't add the rice flour, the dosas/ pesarattus comes out soft. But as a replacement for nutrition, it is really good.

With the Vada Pappu I offered as prasadam on Sri Rama Navami, I didn't want to make the salad with the whole lot. Instead ground it to make dosas for the lunch.

Pesara pappu Dosa / Pesarattu / Split Yellow Moong Dal Dosa

Yellow Split Moong Dal - 1 cup
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 -3 tsp
Cumin Seeds - for garnish
Onions (opt)
Grated Ginger (opt)

Method to prepare:

Wash and soak yellow moong dal for 30 - 40 mins. Drain and grind to a smooth paste. Add salt.

Heat a tawa and grease with oil.  Pour one ladleful of batter and spread as you would a regular dosa.

Sprinkle the cumin seeds, Onions and ginger if you are using on the top. Sprinkle little oil. Cook on medium flame to ensure it gets cooked well.

Then flip to the other side and cook again.

With one cup, you would get about 4 medium sized dosas.

Serve with Chutney or Dal.

Well I clicked a photo with groundnut chutney. But since I should not eat, I again took it with the Gongura Dal that I took for Lunch. I wouldn't say these were the best of combos, but then it was one healthy lunch. You can serve this with Sambar or other regular Dals.

How is everybody's diet going on?

The Diet Plan!

I am really glad that my Diet program was welcomed so wholehearted. That really encourages me so much. As I said before, this is purely a diet based on Indian food, especially South Indian. Not to say it won't work for the rest who follow other Indian Cuisine. I say this assuming Rice is the staple food of your diet.

As much as I don't prefer to eat rice, that's the most convenient thing to make in the mornings. So planning to make phulkas in the rush hour really takes lot of planning.

So first I will list out what I did in my first stint. Then will update how my day was. What has to be understood is, you got to first five a shock or break the practice your body has got used too. So stop or change what you have been regularly eating.

First and foremost important thing to remember is to drink lot of liquid. You can include 3 glasses of Buttermilk, 2 glasses of Lemon juice, 1 glass of Tender coconut milk plus about 4 glasses of water. Yes you will be paying lot of visits to restroom, but believe me that helps. Else you will end up having headaches.

List below are the different options one can have. It doesn't mean you have to eat everything on the specified time.

Early morning, (6 - 6.30 am) 1 Tsp of Ajwain/ Omam & Methi Seeds. This is to aid constipation and help slow absorption.

7 am - Warm water / Coffee with Sugar Free

9 am Breakfast - Multi grain / whole wheat 2-3 slices with mint or tomato chutney with cucumber. 

Or Papaya 1 bowl/ Oats with buttermilk with sprouts small cup 

Or 1 Moong Dal dosa or Pesarattu.(this is made without rice, it comes out soft but tastes great) with some chutney not coconut of course. Plus fresh Tomato Juice

After a period I started having Bread with Veg soups in the morning also. It worked perfectly fine.

11 am Tender coconut/ Butter milk or Pomegranate (if eating that)

1 pm Lunch :

Vegetable Salad

Cooked vegetable

Green Leafy Vegetable

Dal

Rasam

Toasted Papad

Chapati/ Phulka -2

4 pm - Lemon juice (You can have tea if you drink it)

5. 30 - 6 pm: Any of the below can be taken

1 cup of boiled sundals or Apple or Guava or Paneer tikkas (not the usual ones..:))

7 pm  - 1 bowl of Soup

8 pm - Two slices of brown bread / Veg salads/ 1 Pessarattu / Chapati with Salad and Fruit

Fruits : Guava is the only fruit that can be had every day. Apple or Pomegranate can be had twice in a week.

Milk: I normally use a low fat milk. It is 3 or 4% fat and moreover I double boil the milk. Remove the whey both from milk and curds/ Yogurt.

My work scheduled never allowed me to have this. So I used to drink my soup along with Bread and some fresh salad between 8 - 8.30 pm

The above list was what I wrote down for myself. It varied on day to day basis. Most important aspect being I understood what my daily calorie requirement was. I ensured I wasn't getting fatigued. If you are not sure how to calculate it, just follow a low fat, no sugar avoiding rice. That should mostly work out.

Most important. 40 - 1 hr of physical exercise everyday. Atleast 30 mins is a must.

Now we come to the most exciting part. Since you diet on 6 days, on Sunday you can cheat. Meaning you can eat rice. But you may again avoid heavy breakfast.

Over the months I have made modification to this diet. But since the first few months I was following this to the T, I have listed it exactly.

My next task will be to link the recipes that I follow.

My schedule today was this

6.15 am - 6.30 Warm ups (Was trying hard to bend..:))

6.30 am Coffee with milk bikes

10 am 3 slices of brown bread

11 am Buttermilk with a pinch of salt

2.30 pm 3 phulkas with Gongura pappu, Cluster beans with Channa dal. Butter milk

4.30 pm 1/2 cup papaya and banana

5.45 pm 1 small orange

8 pm Moong dal salad

I know my diet today wasn't what I have listed above. But I am not yet fully ready for the diet. Meaning to make it more strict.

I have written whatever I have been following. I might be changing what I think needs based on the requirement.

For starters, I am going to follow this very strictly for 2 weeks. I have about 10 people who have said they wanted to join me. If you like you can update your daily journal on your blog. Or change the pattern. There is no strict rule for this.

Will try to put the pal in a table tomorrow, it is really very late today.
All the best to everybody!

Pearl Millet Sprouts with Sesame Seeds and Jaggary Salad

I have always known these as Saddalu but after Internet and interacting with others, I came to know that Pearl Millit is referred as Sajjalu. The name doesn't really matter if you ask me. My first memories of this was when I was 6 years old. I vividly remember eating this at my paternal grandparents home, in our own cultivated land. I think even at that young age, I could feel the pride of growing something and eating it. Even though I hardly contributed to growing it myself.

The first memory reminds me of burnt millets directly on the coal. They taste awesome! Then of course Amma used to make the Roti with the Sadda flour, those mixed with onions, green chilies and served with peanut chutney. These were my evening snacks when I came back home. Imagine coming home to these heavenly smells. I wish my kids eat these. Of course I haven't introduced them to it anyways. But you know right that they may not like it. Maybe I should try it sometimes.

Coming to this raw sprouts, I have known Amma sprouting these when she gets it fresh. Then I have seen Athamma doing it. She specially asks me for whole ones. So when I got this, she ends up sprouting them.

These make a great snack or a quick snack for breakfast.

Translation:

Sadda/ Sajja - Pearl Millet

There is really no recipe for this. Wash and keep the Millet in a muslin cloth overnight. Sprouts come out.

Then add grated jaggary and sesame seeds. Toss together and just eat.

The sprouted millet are very nutritious and when combined with jaggary, is a good source of iron, plus makes it a complete meal for breakfast.

Sesame seeds adds great taste to the overall effect.