Radish Curry

I saw this recipe on the net and wanted to try it for quite sometime. Radish always ends up in sambar for me. So never bothered to try this unless the “right” time came.

1 medium radish, peeled, finely chopped
Radish greens, washed and finely chopped (Just pick the leaves and trash the stem)
1/4 cup moong dal, washed, soaked, cooked until half done (Do not cook it mushy. We want it to be crunchy)
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp each of mustard seeds, urad dal
Pinch of hing
Pinch of turmeric
4 dry red chilli
2 tbsp grated coconut
1 tsp lemon juice (optional)

Method:
1. Add oil to the pan and when hot add mustard seeds and allow to crack. Then add urad dal, hing, red chilli and fry for a minute.
2. Add the radish greens and saute until it wilts out.
3. Then add radish, turmeric, salt and cook covered for about 5 minutes.
4. Add moong dal and mix well. Cover and cook on medium flame for another 5 minutes.
5. Garnish with coconut and lemon juice. Serve with roti or rice.

Turnip Curry

All measurements are to serve 1 or max 2 person.

1 medium turnip, peeled chopped finely (like onions)
1 Carrot peeled, grated
1/2 bunch turnip greens or any spinach, washed and chopped
2 tbsp grated/shredded coconut
1/4 cup boiled black chana
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp each of mustard seeds, urad dal
Pinch of hing
Pinch of turmeric
5 dried red chilli
Salt to taste

Method:
1. Add oil to pan and when hot add mustard seeds and when they crack add urad dal, hing, red chilli and saute for few second.
2. Add chopped turnip, pinch of turmeric and saute. Sprinkle some water and cook covered for 2 minutes.
3. Add grated carrots, salt, greens, chana and saute well. Cook covered on low flame for about 5 minutes stirring in between and sprinkling some water once.
4. Garnish with coconut and serve with rice or roti.

I used to have about 1/2 cup of this veggie and it might be about 1 carb serving or less. Only carb content in this is chana, some oil and probably veggies together.

Eggless Fruit Cake

Actually there is a long list of posts pending before this one could even sneak into my blog! But Alas!!! The richness, amazing flavor and versatility of this cake bowled me over! Frankly, I tried the traditional Christmas Plum Cake with alcohol, eggs, caramalized sugar and had some dried fruits left over. Also, I wanted to try something w/o eggs and alcohol so that my parents can also hog over! So after a lot of search I stumbled upon the original recipe at this website Aayi’s Recipe . But it so happened that, I was not in a mood to prepare a detailed caramalized sugar. I didn’t have orange juice or even a fresh orange to squeeze from! And then, I wanted to use whole wheat flour instead of AP and Olive oil instead of butter, apple sauce instead of jam and ended up totally changing the recipe. When I mixed everything, for the first time ever, I wanted to taste the batter, which I never do! But this time, since the whole recipe was something totally different from the original, I HAD TO do a TASTE TESTING! And man!!!! I was at a loss for words to describe how good it tasted. And it took way less time to bake, and so can I call this my original recipe?!?!?!?!?!?!

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, clove, all spice powder
1 tblsp vanilla extract
3 cups of chopped dry fruits and nuts (I used dates, prunes, raisins, cherry, cashew and badam)
1 medium apple, peeled, cubed, microwaved for about 10 mins on power 6
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup warm milk
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup white granulated sugar

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 350 deg F

1. Chop dry fruits and nuts.
2. Microwave and mash apples.
3. Add the chopped nuts/fruit mixture. Add about 1/3 cup water and milk, honey and maple syrup. MW for another 2 minutes until dry fruits turn soft. Let it cool.
4. Add oil and mix well.
5. Add salt, baking powder, spice powders, vanilla extract, lemon juice, sugar and mix well.
6. Add flour in parts to this mixture and blend well. The whole batter will not be like a normal cake batter of pouring or a ribbon consistency. It will be a little thick like a muffin batter. If its too dry or way too thick, sprinkle some warm water and mix well.
7. Grease baking tray and place a parchment paper at the bottom alone. This will prevent the cake/dry fruits from sticking to the pan. Spread evenly and cook on a pre heated oven for 30 minutes until skewer comes out clean.