Blueberry Banana Smoothie

When I want to eat healthy, however, I am not in the mood of seeing a green smoothie (especially those grumpy mornings!), I usually go for this BB smoothie. Not only it has some vibrant color, it is sweet and tastes good. After all, we all eat to taste and feel good !!

Following recipe is so easy and makes one serving.

All you need is:

Banana - 1/2

Blueberries - handful

Date - 1 or (I used a dried fig once, it was equally successful !)

Almond milk - 2/3 - 3/4 cup (Adjust it according to how thick or thin you want the smoothie to be!)

Add all the ingredients in a blender or magic bullet and blend away! 

It is delicious!

Enjoy,

Anjana

Panna Cotta with Strawberry Sauce

Greetings internet !!
I have been waiting to try out Panna cotta, since forever. This is such a simple and elegant looking dessert, and tastes delicious! This recipe needs only few ingredients, but I am going to fancy it up by making a chocolate-nut garnish.

Ingredients:
This recipe makes 4 servings as shown in the pictures
For the panna cotta:

Milk - 1/2 cup
Cream - 1 cup
Sourcream - 1/2 cup
Gelatin - 1/2 packet
Sugar - 5 tablespoons
Salt - a very small pinch
Vanilla - 1/2 tsp

Heat the milk in a pan, once it is steaming sprinkle gelatin. Let it stand for sometime until the gelatin softens, it takes a good 5 minutes (I took the pan off from stove, after sprinkling gelatin). Next, mix well until smooth and stir in sugar, cream, salt and vanilla, on medium heat. Once the mixture is steaming (not boiling, careful there!), take it off from stove. Take the sour cream in a bowl, whisk it a few times, and slowly add the milk-cream mixture, making it uniform. This process is very similar to the way you make pudding, more relaxed. When ready, pour it into four dessert glasses. Keep them in refrigerator for 4-6 hours. Mine took closely 4 hours.

Sauce: 
Straw berry - 1 cup
Sugar - 3 tablespoon
lemon juice - 1 teaspoon

Rough chop straw berries and add sugar and lemon juice. heat it until you get a syrupy texture. Blend it if you like a smooth sauce, or use it without blending. Easy peasy!!

Chocolate-nut garnish
Baking chocolate - 3 oz.
Nuts, crushed - 2 tablespoons

Melt the chocolate in a microwave, spread it on to a parchment paper and sprinkle with crushed nuts. Keep in it refrigerator until it cools down. Cut it into shapes or just crush it into big fragments. Once the panna cotta tops are firm to touch (after 4 hours or so), pour the syrup on to the top and garnish with the chocolate pieces. Keep it in the refrigerator, until ready to serve. Leftover chocolate strips can be eaten as a snack or give it to kids, they will appreciate that!!

The texture is more like a firm pudding and sour cream adds a nice layer to that.

Enjoy and Happy Easter to all !
Anjana

Appam and Beef Curry from God's Own Country

Appam ("yeasted pancakes made with rice" is the closest English term I can think of) and curry is a staple breakfast in a Kerala (God's own country, a small state in south of India) household. Growing up, appam was  one of my favorite breakfasts. As I was a vegetarian back then, I always paired this with some potato stew or tomato curry. There are several kinds of appams to think of, this one is my favorite and my mom used to make it frequently as our breakfast. This is a thick appam when compared to palappam.

Recipe source: My mom

Ingredients:
Long grain white rice (preferably Sona masoori or idli rice) - 1 cup
Grated coconut (fresh or frozen) - handful
cooked rice - handful
yeast - 1/4 teaspoon
sugar - 1 tablespoon
salt - 1/2 teaspoon
water - 1 cup + enough to grind

Soak one cup rice in water for at least 6 hours. Add all the ingredients in the blender and grind well. it should be a smooth batter, thinner than idli batter or pancake batter, but not too watery. Keep the batter in a warm place and let it rise. I usually let it rise over night, but  sometimes batter will be ready in 4-6 hours, depending on the climate. When the batter has risen, heat a pan on medium, and pour one ladle ( or 1/4 cup approximately) full of batter and cook it covered. I do not use oil as I use a non-stick pan. If you touch the top of appam with a spoon on spatula, it should not stick, then you know appam is ready. Transfer to a plate and enjoy with a curry.

Now for the curry, here is the recipe for a simple beef curry.

You will need:

Beef (any cut, chopped into cubes or stew meat) - roughly 2 pounds
One large red onion sliced
Ginger - 1 tablespoon fine chopped
Garlic - 1 tablespoon fine chopped
Coriander powder - 3 tablespoons
turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Chilli powder - 1 teaspoon/ adjust to your taste (this is minimum requirement!)
Garam masala - 1/2 teaspoon
oil - 2-3 tablespoons
mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon (optional)
salt - add according to your taste
curry leaves - optional as much as you need (I like a lot!)

Heat a thick bottomed pan. when oil is hot,  fry mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add ginger and garlic, fry it a little. once the edge of garlic turns a little brown, add in the sliced onions. Fry it until golden brown. Now, it is the turn for all the powders to go in, except garam  masala. Fry the powders until it looks like dark brown, but not burnt. it might take 1-2 minutes on medium heat. Add the marinated beef along with 1 cup of water. Cook well. You could use a pressure cooker if available. When the curry is ready, if the gravy is too runny, heat it up until the gravy thickens. Add the curry leaves before you switch off the heat. Enjoy with appam! The curry goes well with pretty much everything, like rice or whole grain bread.

Cheers,
Anjana

Note: Key for non-sticky appams, is using the right kind of rice. I have success only with sona masoori or idli rice.

Spaghetti Squash Pasta A.K.A Carb-less pasta !

First of all, let me tell ya'll, no pasta is like the real pasta. But, let me tell you this as well, no pasta is like carb-less pasta !! Who doesn't love some guilt free treats?? I know I do. I always looked spaghetti squash sitting at the grocery store, and never bothered to pick that up. And then one fine day, I decided to get out of my comfort zone and here I am. I have to say, I really loved this pasta. So buckle up people, today we are gonna make some spaghetti, from a squash!

Ingredients:

Spaghetti squash - 1/2 of medium size

Ground beef -  1 cup (not pictured in this post), if you don't like beef, go for any lean meat.

Parsley - 1/4 cup, chopped

Garlic - 1 big clove, fine chopped

Red onion  - 2-3 tablespoon, chopped

Pasta sauce - 1 and 1/2 cup

Fresh Mozzarella cheese - 4-5 slices

Grated Parmesan cheese - 1/2 cup

Salt -  to taste

Oil - 1 tablespoon

First, cut your squash in half and scoop out the seeds and strings. Make small slits on the skin of the squash.

Rub the inside with some salt, pepper and oil. Preheat the oven to 400 degree Farenheit, and bake the squash keeping it upside down. This would take anywhere from 45 mins to 1 hour. Meanwhile fine chop garlic, onion and parsley and keep it aside. Once the squash is ready, scoop out the flesh, it will come out in strings just like spaghetti, or angel hair pasta. 

Heat a pan and add oil. Once it is hot, add garlic and onions to fry until translucent. Add the ground beef and cook. Add salt and pepper to your taste. Once beef is cooked well, add spaghetti and pasta sauce. Mix well. Transfer to a baking dish, top it with grated Parmesan and fresh Mozzarella cheese. This can be cooked with out cheese, but I wouldn't recommend without Parmesan. Anyway, I love me some cheese, always. And if you like more cheese, add in some Romano as well. Bake for 15 mins or until cheese is melted. Serve hot. 

Enjoy,

Anjana