Healthy Wheat Flattened Rice Bhel | Healthy Recipes for Diet | Step by Step Recipe

Next in the "No Fasting No Feasting" Diet Plan series, is this healthy Bhel that makes up for those hungry times in between meals. This is almost no oil in this healthy snack as I used just about 1/2 tsp of Olive oil. Surprise part of this Bhel is the fact that my kids loved this so much that, there wasn't much left for the adults at home.

Couple of days back when I was talking to my dietitian, she said she made this healthy Bhel. I wanted to try it right away but came around doing it this morning. She made with regular wheat, and was not sure if Samba Godhuma will behave the same way. I still have the most of the packet left, after making the Godhuma Halwa. I was planning to make the halwa again, but another alternate healthy recipe surely appeals more.

Other than the wheatgrain, rest of the ingredients are readily available in your pantry. You can just about improvise on this recipe and add whatever you want, just use your imagination.

This is suitable for Diabetics, you need not add peanuts to make sure it fits well.

Wheat Beaten Rice Healthy Bhel

Ingredients Needed:

Wheat - 1 cup

Beaten Rice / Thick Poha - 1 cup

Roasted Channa Dal / Dalia - 1/2 cup

Roasted Peanuts - 1/4

Seasoning:

Olive Oil - 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Curry leaves - few

Green Chilies - 2 medium

Red Chili powder - 1/2 tsp

How to make the Wheat Poha Bhel:

Heat a kadai, when it's hot add the wheat, keep tossing around. The thin hard wheat will expand or get bloated when it's cooked. Keep stirring for couple of minutes, remove to a plate.

Use the thick poha, next add the poha to the hot pan, keep stirring again. Cook for couple of minutes until the poha is lightly browned. Remove to the plate.

Then in the same pan, slightly toss the roasted channa dal, followed by roasted peanuts. Remove to the plate.

In the same pan, add olive oil, finely chopped green chilies, red chili powder, curry leaves. Toss well, then added the cooked grains. Toss everything well so that the spice powder gets mixed well with the grains.

Notes: For the kids, remove the green chilies, curry leaves and serve.

This makes a healthy bhel that you can snack anytime you feel hungry.

Sending this for Kid's Delight Party as this makes a wonderful starter, which is also healthy.

Godhuma Halwa - Tirunelveli Godhumai Halwa | Indian Cooking Challenge for July | How to make Wheat Halwa Step By Step Recipe!

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge we wanted to make a halwa. After traveling to punjab for a pickle, I wanted something entirely different. Though the Aam ka Achar was not a spicy one, it still was a pickle, so that calls for a sweet thing right.

Still I never realized I will end up deciding on what I finally did. I had asked Lataji to try out couple of them, meanwhile I happen to chat with Shalini. She said her mom makes a delicious Wheat halwa. I asked her if she can get the recipe. She made it right away and reading the measurement I realized that the measurement is almost the same as the one I posted but the method to make it surely differed.

I was then discussing the same with Lataji who suggested I have a look at Sowmya who also posted a Irutukadai halwa, which is famous from the place called Tirunelveli, a city down south of Tamil Nadu. I love Tirunelveli Halwa and surely wanted to try it again.

During our conversation, Lataji pointed out to couple of more links which all seemed too good. Finally we decided that I should give an average measurement. The amount of ghee and sugar depends on the wheat you use. If you use Samba Godhuma as suggested, you might have to use more sugar. Reason being samba godhuma yields more milk and hence you will have to increase the sugar.

So I decided that I will list out all the recipes for the members to check out and make one that they are comfortable with.

Here is the average:

Samba Godhuma / Wheat grains - 1 cup

Sugar - 2 & 1/2 cups

Ghee - 1 and 1/2 cups

Depending on how viscous the wheat is, you may need more ghee.

Please read through all the recipes and select one that you are comfortable.

These were the recipes given for the challenge

Shalini's Wheat halwa

Sowmya's Wheat Halwa

Lataji's Wheat Halwa

More details on Iruttukadai halwa and its history (shared by Lataji)

My post adapted Godhuma Halwa recipe from Lathamma.

I followed Sowmya's Wheat Halwa, as she had left the milk to ferment. I halved to 1 cup of Samba Godhuma. I adjusted the ratio of sugar and ghee accordingly, later realized that the average measurement I have listed should have worked out best.

Trust me when I say it was hard core work out of 45 - 50 mins of stirring non stop to get that glossy halwa. Also Amma said the halwa as a bit sour, so I must reduce the time I left the halwa to ferment.

You are wondering if I am going to make this again, you bet! Hubby dear was all praises for this halwa and said this is how they make in Adyar Ananda Bhavan. I said Tirunelveli Halwa will be even more loaded with ghee and slippery. He felt the halwa was perfect to his taste. So even if making the halwa is hard, I won't mind making it again but surely after couple of months!

I am listing out the measurement I used this time, but would surely recommend the above average if you want the other more sweeter version.

Step by Step Picture Recipe for Wheat Halwa

First Milk

Second Milk

Left out Scum

After fermenting for 10 hrs

Food colour

 

Getting the sugar syrup ready

Sugar Syrup of 1 thread consistency

After the pakam, add the wheat milk along with the colour

Starts boiling

Add roasted cashews

Add melted ghee slowly

End of 40 mins

After allowing it to rest for 15 mins.



Tirunelveli Godhuma Halwa

Ingredients Needed:

Samba Godhuma / Whole Wheat grains - 1 cup
Sugar - 2 cups
Ghee - 1+ cup (must be few tsp more)
Yellow colour few drops
Cardamom a pinch

How to make Wheat Halwa

I wanted to make this on Sunday, but completely forgot to soak them overnight. So I finally soaked them at 8 in the morning, and left it soaking till 12 midnight. I refrigerated it till 6 am next day, left it out till 8 am.

I changed water twice in between.

By this time the grains were very soft and starting letting out the milk by itself. Add 1 cup of water and blend to a smooth paste.

Strain it through steel strainer and extract the milk. The first batch is very thick. One other recipe gives a different method to do with three versions of milk that is extracted. But I finally added all three extracts together.

You will have to pulse the wheat couple of more times to get all the milk out of it. I allowed it to ferment for 12 hrs. Guess this can be reduced to max 4 -5 hrs, if you are not able to make the halwa right away, you can refrigerate.

When you are all set to prepare the halwa, make sure you have a thick bottom wok/Kadai. This is very helpful as you will have to keep stirring and a pressure cooker may or maybe be that helpful. Then have the sugar, ghee all ready.

When I checked the wheat milk, it was really foamy, and little water was found on top which I discarded.

Heat the kadai and add sugar along with 1 cup water. Bring it to boil and continue cooking till you get 1 thread consistency. As I have already mentioned, you will know the one thread consistency when you touch the sugar syrup between your thumb and index finger, try moving out. When a thread is formed, it means it's ready. Take care as the syrup will be hot.

Add the milk and keep stirring. It helps to have somebody help, esp. if you got to take pictures. But even otherwise a helping hand is really great.

Take a smaller pan, heat ghee, add the broken cashew nuts and roast them. This can be added at this stage to the simmering halwa, else you can add it finally too for a crispy nut.

The wheat milk will really coagulates fast, so you got to keep on stirring. After about 15 mins, you can add 1 cup of hot water, this will aid the cooking process plus makes sure that the milk gets cooked well before it becomes thickens.

After about 30 mins, the halwa will start to leave the sides, at this stage you can add the yellow colour. Keep stirring again. Slowly add the ghee in batches, while you continue stirring. Halwa will really eat up the ghee and you will wonder where it went off.

It took exactly 45 mins to start smelling heavenly. I continued cooking for another 5 mins, just to make sure.

Allow it to rest for 15 mins. Actually the halwa ended up having thicker consistency. If I had spread on a plate, I could have easily got pieces. But somehow I don't like Wheat halwa as pieces, more as a loose one. So microwave before serving.

I started with 3/4 cup of ghee, seeing it wasn't enough I must have added another 4 -5 tsps. So I am not sure how much it finally added up to. But I can say the actual Tirunelveli halwa will be even more glossy, sweeter and yes very heavy on calorie.

Plus I felt I had to increase the sugar, so the next time I make it will update the recipe.

During the entire cooking session, I must have used both the hands for clicking the pictures. It is really hard to keep stirring and also take pictures. So I must thank Athamma for stirring in between, Konda and Pavani for clicking some of the steps.

I know I make it sound extremely hard to do on your own, but the result of that final dish is all worth it, really!

To all my ICC members, please link your Wheat halwa post to Mr. Linky.

Wholesome Homemade Baby Food Recipes | Introducing Solids to Your Baby | Rice Porridge for 7 to 12 months babies

Preparing Baby Food at home is the best thing you can do. That is especially essential when you start thinking of introducing solid food to your baby. Wholesome homemade baby food is always advised. I still remember Amma making those Ragi Kanji, Rice Kanji apart from trying out with Dalia, and other lentils.

I get many emails asking for baby food ideas, especially wholesome baby food for infants. By the time I realized that many new mothers have lot of questions on how to make baby food, my twins crossed that stage. Yet I prepared some of those best baby food based on Indian diet.

Dal Tadka is one of the basic food used as introducing lentil to babies of 7 months and older. Then there were few other variations that we used to follow each introducing an ingredient in the way.  It has always been a challenge hitting on the correct menu and getting the babies eat them without making a fuss.

We recently visited my 14 months old niece who was so adorable and very sweet. For all I was told about her throwing tantrums for eating, she was so much better than my boys I felt. Or maybe she wanted to show her best behavior in front of us or she was entertained by our company. Or so I want to think.

When I saw my Aunt preparing the baby food, I immediately asked if I can take pictures of the food and also take notes on what she was preparing. I knew this diet coming from my Aunt who is a doctor, is mostly surely very balanced and nutritious. She gladly shared her recipe and half way after feeding my niece she gave it to me for taking pictures, while baby looked at us very keenly trying to understand what we were doing.

This food made with Rice, Lentils, Vegetables can be introduced when the baby is 7 months old. More complex lentil like Kidney Beans, Soya Bean can be introduced after 12 months.

Rice Porridge | Indian Baby Food | For age group from 7 months

Rice - 1/4 cup
Toor Dal - 3 tsp
Potato - 1 small
Radish - 3"
Beans - 4 medium
Carrot - 3"
Cumin Seeds
Salt to taste

Clear Rasam water

Method to prepare:

Wash and soak rice, dal for 15 mins. Prep the vegetables and cut into pieces.

In a pressure cooker add the rice, dal and all the vegetables along with salt and cumin seeds with times of water.

Once the pressure is off, run it in a mixer to get a smooth porridge. Adjust the salt if required.

Then add clear water you get from Rasam. Since Rasam will have Asafetida, garlic, it aids more as a digestive food for the baby.

Add 2 tsp of Ghee/ Clarified Butter to the porridge along with just enough of rasam water to make the porridge consistency easy for the baby to eat. It should not be very runny at the same time too thick.

Lentils to be introduced after 12 months:

To the same measurement given above, you can add about 4 Kidney Beans, 6 Soya Beans during pressure cooking. And follow the same process.

The menu that can be followed after 12 months

For Breakfast : Chapati, Idli, Upma, Pongal.

As babies are active, they need to be fed every 2 hours solid. If you are giving liquids/ fruits then give by 1 hour of gap.

The different food items can be like this.

For snack - 3 Threptin biscuits
Fruits can be Apple/ Pomegranate / Banana / Orange
Egg yolk.

After 13 months, you can start introducing non veg if you want to include in the baby's diet.

In India we are not very fussy about verifying if the vegetable introduced suits the baby or not. We normally introduce one at a time and check out if the baby likes the taste or not. But my cousin said she had to add  a small piece of the vegetable for 4 days in small quantities before adding more of it to the baby food. Though I understand the logic behind this rule, it is not followed so strictly in India. 

Verdict on the porridge: Baby mostly eats without complaining after couple of times, provided she has enough distraction to know she is even eating. Which I guess is very normal.

Disclaimer: Please always consult your baby’s pediatrician before introducing new foods to your baby.  I am sharing what we have given to our kids, but your pediatrician may have a different opinion.

Ragi Roti with Peas Stuffed | Indian Flat Bread Finger Millet Recipe

One really wishes things turn out perfect. When one wants to diet, one can and when want to indulge one can. How marvelous that will be right? Sadly it is not so perfect all the time. When you want to diet, you get tempted with so many delicious treats that either you are forced to make or get forced by others. You indulge in guilt, thinking all the time how the scale is going to shoot up the next time you torture it. One of the best jokes that I remember on the scale has been the all time funny one. When a chap stands on the scale, the poor scale pleads back, "One at a time please!" Imagine if that could happen real time!

I plead guilty of not following the strict diet that I wrote down here. The very reason why I published was hoping on declaring it out, I will follow it religiously. But then hey, what's fun if I follow it without any break. So here I am with all broken diets, still trying to have a grip on what might go in! Though I confess I try my level best to follow the diet. Actually as long as I was updating everyday I was following it so well. Only when I stopped it almost stopped being strict. Anyway it is another effort

Anyway I was happy that there was no increase but rather no loss too. Still it is a good sign. Coming to the recipe for today. This was one of those healthy breads that is good during dieting. I followed the same original way it is done, except made it even more healthy by adding mashed peas to the dough.

Athamma normally makes Ragi Roti by patting it down on a muslin cloth, as shown in the Ragi Roti Post.

But this time, she made it as the way she does Jonna Roti. Please check out the video we took on making Jonna Roti

Ingredients Needed:

Ragi / Millet Four - 1 cup
Salt to taste
Water

Peas stuffing

Fresh Peas / Cooked Peas - 3 tbsp
Salt to taste
Green Chili paste - 2 tsp
Coriander leaves

If you are using dried peas, pressure cook the peas and mash the peas. With fresh peas, just mash them with ladle and mix in the salt, chilli paste and coriander leaves together.

Mix this paste to the Ragi flour and proceed as how it is shown in Jonna Roti post.

So this was my lunch during the weekdays. Planning to make other breads with whole grains for lunch, instead of the usual Goduma dosa/ Wheat flour Dosa that I have been carrying.