Quinoa Salad - Quick, healthy and fulfilling breakfast/supper

What's Quinoa ?

Quinoa (pronounced "keen-wah") is a grain-like crop grown for its edible seeds. It's a highly nutritious carbohydrate, that helps you to stay lean as well as maximize your energy levels at the same time. Its nutritional profile is similar to that of brown rice, but quinoa is higher in protein. Quinoa is great for cardio-vascular health, boosts your anti-oxidant levels, reduces the risk of gallstones, full of fiber and could help lower migraine. It's gluten-free and cholesterol-free! Most importantly, it's delicious!

How to cook Quinoa ?

First, it is essential to rinse quinoa atleast 3 times by changing water, in order to get rid of the bitter taste from the saponin coating. It's cooked much like rice, with twice the volume of water (or slightly less). It can be cooked in a closed pan or a rice cooker or a microwave. When cooked, quinoa is fluffy, crunchy and a little creamy!


Here's a simple salad with veggies, fruits and nuts added to cooked quinoa. This is one of the quick ones I make whenever I want to stay away from Indian masalas, yet eat something tasty. Feel free to add or deduct veggies, fruits and nuts to suit your family's taste buds! :-)

Nutritious & delicious Quinoa salad - So easy to make!

Yield - 2 people

Prep time + cooking time - 25 mins

What I Used for the Salad-

Quinoa - 1 cup (rinsed)
Water - 1 and 3/4 cup
Olive Oil - 1 tsp


Onions - 2 (chopped)
Garlic -  4 pods, finely chopped
Carrot - 2 medium (cubed)
Cucumber - 1 (chopped)
Tomatoes - 3 (chopped)
Fresh Coriander leaves - a small bunch, finely chopped


Apple - 2, cubed
Raisins - about 50 grams
Cashewnuts - a handful
Hazelnuts - 2 handfuls

Salt - to taste
Pepper - 1 tsp
Asafoetida - 2 drizzles

Add ons :

Pine nuts - toasted
Peanuts - roasted
Strawberries - fresh!
Feta cheese! 

How To -

• Boil water with a drop of oil in a pan. Meanwhile, rinse quinoa about 3 times to get rid of the foamy saponins. This step is important, else you'll end up with bitter-tasting quinoa. Add rinsed quinoa to boiled water and close the pan. In 12 to 15 minutes, it's fully cooked (all the water is absorbed) and looks fluffy with thin white rings around. Let the cooked quinoa cool for atleast 10 minutes.

 

Quinoa, rinsed with water

Cooked quinoa

• Heat about 1 tsp of olive oil and fry garlic and onions slightly. Don't brown them. 

• Toast the nuts on an oven or a tava without any oil.

• Peel the veggies and chop them ready. Cube apples.
  

• Take a big salad bowl, add the slightly fried onions, garlic and all the chopped veggies, apples, nuts, raisins and sprinkle required salt, pepper and a little asafoetida. Toss everything gently. Squeeze some lemon juice if desired.

Healthy n tasty Quinoa salad

Enjoy this sumptuous salad for breakfast or dinner!

Maddur Vada - Karnataka specialty

Maddur Vade/Vada is a popular Karnataka specialty and you'd have definitely had it if you have ever been on the Bangalore-Mysore train route. This one is a crispy crunchy snack that adults and kids alike will love to munch on! I had the opportunity to discover Kalyani's blog as part of my participation in Blog Hop Wednesdays event. I picked this recipe as I wanted to try a dish unique to a particular region. Kalyani has a beautiful blog with diverse recipes and tempting food pictures and I found her stories prior to every recipe to be very interesting!

I made Maddur Vade in about 30 minutes and it was finger-lickin' good! :)

Maddur Vade

You 'll Need -

Maida - 1 cup

Semolina / Rawa - 1/2 cup

Rice flour - 2 tbsp

Onion, finely chopped - 1/2 cup

Fresh coriander and some curry leaves, chopped  - 1/4 cup

Green chillies-  2 nos (or adjust to suit your taste)

Salt - to taste

Hot oil - 1/4 cup (to make the dough)

Water (preferably warm)- 2 tbsp (approx) - to make the dough

Some more oil - to deep fry the vadas

How To -

• Mix Maida, rawa and rice flour together in a bowl. Add chopped onions and salt and sprinkle little water to get some moisture. 
• After 5 mins, add chopped coriander, curry leaves, green chillies and pour hot oil and mix well to get a soft, pliable dough. Be careful and DONT use your hand because its HOT OIL (I burnt my fingers the first time I made Maa Laadu and learnt the lesson!) Use a stainless steel spoon instead!
•  Add warm water, a few drops at a time to get the dough done. Let sit for 10 minutes.
•  Grease your hands with oil (or use a baking sheet as suggested by Kalyani) and flatten a small ball (roughly of 1 inch diameter or slightly more) of the dough and make a disc (approx 3 inch dia).
• This is now ready to be deep-fried in pre-heated oil and then the Vada is ready to be devoured!

Simply use your palm! That's mehendi design on my hands, btw!

• Repeat the same step of making (kinda thick) discs with the dough and deep fry in batches of 2 or 3 depending on the capacity of your frying pan. I could fry just one at a time, as I used very little oil and the smallest pan I had (this is to reduce left-over oil that remains to be re-used!)
• Check for temperature of oil before frying, by dropping 1/2 tsp of mustard or jeera into it; they should pop up and sizzle. If the oil is not hot enough, the vadas will absorb more oil than necessary and will be soggy! 
• Keep in medium flame and fry the vadas, to ensure the dough gets cooked sufficiently. High flame will blacken the outside and leave the inside uncooked!
• Flip sides when it turns slightly golden colored and let the other side get crisp.

• Drain excess oil on kitchen tissues and enjoy these lovely Maddur Vadas with a cuppa hot masala chai! :-)

Crispy Maddur Vadas

Crispy Maddur Vadas on their way to BHW event!

And to MidWeek Fiesta @FoodCorner

Medhu Vada / Ulundu Vadai (Spicy Indian Doughnut) - With Tips for Beginners!

This is the classic vada that Indians make frequently. It is softer than its protein packed counterpart , the Masala Vadai and hence can easily be transformed into Dahi vada or Sambar Vada.

Vada and Pongal is a classic breakfast set combination found in most South-Indian restaurants.

Medhu vadai is made along with payasam aka kheer on many festive occasions for a grand feast at home! 

Medhu Vada / Ulundu Vadai

Dedicating this post to my sister, who is a fanatic Vada fan and can survive on just Vadas!

Ok, lemme get to the recipe now...

Ingredients -

• Urad dal (Ulundu/ உளுந்து) - 2 cups
• Green chillies - 7 or 8 (adjust to your taste)
• Ginger - 2 tbsp (finely chopped)
• Curry leaves - 2 stalks
• Hing/ Asafoetida (பெருங்காயம்) - a pinch or two (optional)
• Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
• Oil - to fry

Method -

• Wash and rinse Urad dal in water twice, remove impurities, if any and then soak dal for atleast an hour.
• Strain off water and then grind the dal with salt into a fine paste.
• Mix in finely chopped ginger and green chillies. Tear curry leaves and add to the paste. Add asafoetida, if you like.
• Take a Ziplock bag or any such material and apply oil on the surface. Traditionally, amma uses banana-leaf :)
• Then, take some dough and make it doughnut-shaped and carefully, slid it into a kadai with hot oil.

• Tip :

  Drop a spoonful of dough into hot oil and then, make a hole using the back of a stainless steel spoon/fork and rotating it for 30 seconds in oil to make a hole :) That works well for beginners :)
• Once the vadai turns golden colored, remove it with a slotted spoon and drain the excess oil on kitchen-tissues. 

Vadai and Pal Payasam

Relish your vadais hot with any chutney :)

Raw Banana Fritters (Vazhakkai Bajji)

This is yet another popular evening snack in South India. Raw banana (green in color) is coated in spiced besan (chick pea flour) and rice flour batter and deep fried and enjoyed with masala chai (tea). Bajji is quite simple to make and does not require any special equipment nor skills :) I spent just about 20 minutes in the kitchen and then we had yummy வாழக்காய் பஜ்ஜி (Raw Banana Fritters in Tamil) at tea-time. 

What You Need -

Raw Banana - 1 No.

Oil- for frying

For the Batter -

Besan (கடலை மாவு / Bengal gram dal flour) - 1/2 cup

Rice flour - 1/2 cup

ஓமம்/ Kalonji - 1/2 tsp  (can substitute with Jeera/Cumin powder)

Asafoetida /Hing - a little

Baking soda - a pinch

Red chilli powder - 3/4 tsp

Salt - 3/4 tsp 

Turmeric powder/ Haldi - 1/4 tsp

How To -

• First, chop off the ends of raw banana, with a sharp knife.  Using a peeler, remove the skin completely, until you see the white colored flesh.

• Prepare the batter by mixing together all ingredients, adding water little by little, until you get a thick consistency.

Bajji Batter

• Cut raw banana longitudinally into 0.5 cm thick slices.

• Dip the pieces one by one into the prepared batter and make sure it is fully coated. 

• Slide them gently into a kadai with hot oil. Make sure the oil is hot enough before you start frying. 
• You can heat oil while you cut the raw banana and thus save time. 

• When you see golden color, turn sides over and make sure the other side is fried well too. Keep the flame setting on "Medium". This ensures that the veggie is cooked well inside.

• Drain on paper tissues to remove excess oil and limit your intake of bad cholesterol! 
• I've started using olive oil where sunflower oil or vegetable oil is not mandated .

Devour them as such or with any sauce/chutney :) Try out this vegetable chutney for a change!

Masal Vadai (Paruppu Vadai / Aama vadai / Dal vada) - Step-by-Step Recipe

Any festive feast in South India is incomplete without Vadai. It also makes a great evening tiffin with coffee/tea, especially on a chilly, rainy day! Paruppu Vadai, as the name says, is packed with the protein power of dals(lentils) of various types. We transform it into Masal vadai by adding onions and some spice powders. I find it yummier than the traditional ulundu vadai because masal vadai is crispier and at the same time, so filling!

Here is a step-by-step demonstration of how I make Masal Vadais. It is very simple and can be made in 45 minutes.

Ingredients:

Basics for Paruppu Vadai -

Channa Dal (kadala pruppu) - 80 g
Urad dal (ulundu) - 50 g
Toor dal (thuvaram paruppu) - 50 g
Moong dal (pasi paruppu) - 50 g

Green chillies - 4
Curry leaves - a few
Ginger - 1" piece
Salt - to taste
Baking soda - a pinch (optional)
Rice flour - 2 tsp - for crispness
Besan (kadala maavu) - 4 tsp - for binding everything together

Oil - for frying

Add-ons for Masal Vadai

Chopped onions - 1 cup
Jeera - 2 tsp
Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp
Fennel powder (Sombu powdered) -1/2 tsp
Pepper powder from 8 corns
Cilantro (for fragrance )- optional

Method:

• Wash and rinse the dals thrice. Soak them together in water for 30-45 minutes.
• Drain off the water completely. Keeping a handful aside, grind the rest of them into a semi-coarse (semi-fine) paste, like this. Add salt and ginger while grinding. You can choose to grind the green chillies as well, if you don't want them to be seen.

• Add chopped onions, curry leaves, baking soda, jeera, cinnamon powder, fennel powder, pepper powder. Don't worry if you're out of stock on any of these spices.

• Mix everything together and add rice flour and besan at this point.

• Make patties in your hand. They can be 4 cm in diameter and 1" thickness.

• Heat oil in a deep pan. Do not go until it smokes. Keep flame on 'Low-Medium'. This allows the lentils to get well-cooked inside. Gently, slip in the patties into the hot oil.

• Flip sides, once the vadais turn golden-color.

• Once done on both sides, drain them from oil using a straining laddle (preferably stainless steel) and transfer the hot vadais to a plate lined with kitchen roll (paper towel).

• Serve hot with tomato chutney, tomato thokku,  onion chutney or vegetable chutney! :)

Tip:  You can also add shredded carrots to the mixture and call it "vegetable vadai"  :)