Gajar Ka Halwa | Carrot Halwa (Lite Version)

Happy Ganesh Chaturdi to All. Hope you all had a fun filled festival this year. Here is a glimpse of our little ganesha. 

On the occasion festival here I'm sharing a sweet delicacy "Gajar Ka Halwa". The specialty of this recipe is it consumes very less time in making & a yummy sweet will be ready soon.

Source : Tarla dalal
Yields : 2 Servings
Ingredients
2 Cup grated carrot
4 Tbs. coconut mik
1/4 Cup water
3 Tbs. sugar
3 Tbs khoa/khova (Optional)
2 Tbs. olive butter
1 Tsp. elachi/cardamon powder
1 Tbs. chopped almond
5 Cashew nuts (optional)

-In a pressure cooker add 1 Tbs. butter & to that add carrot. 

- Sauté it on low heat for 5mins. This will help in removing the raw smell of carrot. 

- Now add milk & water to carrots. Pressure cook for one whistle & switch off heat. 

- Allow the pressure to release before opening the cooker. 

- Heat a pan with butter. To that add almonds & cashew nuts to it. 

- Fry them till they change to light brown color. Now remove them on to a plate. 

- Now transfer the carrot mixture to pan along with sugar. Cook on medium heat. 

- Allow halwa to come together. It takes 5 to 7Mins to that. Add cardamon powder to halwa & switch off heat. 

- Now mix the fried nut to halwa. Allow it to cool before serving.

Serve warm along with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

Note: 
1. Adjust the sweet according to your requirement. 
2. Adding khova/Khoa is optional. I didn't use it in my recipe.

Tofu Omelette | Vegan Omelette

Breakfast is made very simple at my home. We have 2 slices of bread along with fresh juice. So there is never a big preparation for it. Most of the time the south indian tiffins end up becoming our dinner.
I came across this vegan omelette recipe & decided making it as a lunch side. I'm not vegan, I love eggs & love anything made with them. I can never imagine replacing egg omelette with anything. But this recipe just won my heart & undoubtedly with no hesitation I loved it. I did a lot of googling for a perfect recipe & in process of making it made a lot of blunders too. The taste was similar to omelette & was just yum. All I want to say is that give it a try you will love it.

Ingredients

½ Pack silken tofu

3 Tbs chickpea flour / Besan

2 Tbs coconut milk

1 Tbs cornstarch

½ Tsp minced garlic

2 Tsp red chili

1 Tbs soya sauce 

2 Tsp sesame oil

Pinch of turmeric

Salt

Filling 

Few sundried tomatoes

½ Cup grilled onions

1 Tbs basil leaves

In a bowl mix all the ingredients to a smooth batter leaving few chunks of tofu. Leave the filling behind which we will use it later.

Heat a non-stick pan with oil. First pour the batter on the skillet & in circular motion spread the batter. Let it cook in medium heat. You can see some small hole in between. Once the edges starts browning carefully lift the omelet & reverse it.

Check for the edges to be brown. Now spread the filling one by one on the omelet & close it half way. Cook it in low heat for 2mins to 3mins & switch off heat. Serve it warm.

Below is the tofu scramble. Buy adding another ½ cup of tofu to the above recipe you can get a scramble. I avoided tomatoes to the dish & went a head with onions & basil for scramble.

Enjoy this healthy dish as a breakfast or along with lunch as a side dish.

Kattu Pongal with Quinoa | Khara Pongal with Keenwah | Quinoa Ven Pongal

Ven pongl is a well know break fast dish in south India.It's a combination of rice & moong dal with a kick of black pepper to it.I'm gonna share a little healthy version of pongal made of quinoa & dal here.The texture looks dry & you can change it to a creamy one by adding a little extra water while cooking. 

2 Servings 
Ingredients
1 Cup dry quinoa
1/2 Cup moong dal 
1/2 Cup coconut powder
1&1/2 Cup water 
Salt 
Seasoning
1 Tbs mustard seeds 
1 Tbs Jeera
2 Tbs ghee or butter
1 Tbs chopped or grated ginger
2 Tbs black pepper powder
2 Red chili's 
2 Tbs peanuts
Few curry leaves 

In a pressure cooker take quinoa, dal, coconut & salt with 1& 1/2 cups of water. Cook it for 2 whistles & switch off heat.

Heat a pan with butter. To that add peanuts and fry them for few seconds & to that add mustard seeds, jeera, ginger, pepper powder red chilis & curry leaves. Fry them till mustard starts jumping & off heat.

Now transfer the contents directly to pan while it is hot & mix well with the seasoning.

Allow it to sit for ten minutes & serve with chutney.