DOUBLE PROTEIN BESAN CHEELAS WITH SWISS CHARD

WISHING YOU ALL VERY HAPPY NAVRATRAS!

I totally disliked besan cheelas as a child, reason being mom used to make tasteless big blobs of cheelas, seemingly uncooked in spots and serve them for breakfast, they used to kill my appetite on the spot....Don't get me wrong, my mom cooks up some superb fare but sadly for some things she completely succeeded in putting them off for life for me.
Until I recreated and re tasted these...
Now first let me explain what cheelas or pooras are, they are thin pancakes or crepe like, primarily made of besan(chickpea flour) to which a variety of seasonings and fillings can be added.In this recipe I have combined the benefit of Bengal gram with chickpea flour crepes and swiss chard plucked fresh from my garden.I suppose this recipe is good for Vegans and all those following the South beach diet and looking for a new recipe.


INGREDIENTS-

• FOR THE PANCAKES
• Chickpea flour(besan)-1/2 cup
• Ginger+garlic paste-1/2 tspGreen chillies chopped-1
• Coriander- few leaves, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Ajwain seeds-1/4 tsp

FOR THE FILLING

• Bengal gram(chana dal)-1/2 cup
• Ginger+garlic paste-1/2 tsp
• Swiss chard-1/2 bunch (substitute with spinach if unavailable)
  
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Turmeric-1/4 tsp
• Garam masala-1/2 tsp

METHOD-

1. Prepare the filling first-Combine half of the swiss chard and the chana dal well as the rest of the ingredients listed under filling.
2. Add about 1/2 cup-3/4 cup water and give 5-6 whistles in the pressure cooker or till Bengal gram is tender, dry up any remaining water by keeping on low flame, keep aside.
3. In a large bowl combine all the ingredients for the cheelas or crepes, add just enough water to make a pancake like consistency.
4. In a nonstick pan smear very little oil and spread out the batter like dosas, cook till brown on both sides, make pancakes like this out of all the batter.

TO ASSEMBLE-
Take a cheela and spread out the chana dal mixture on it, layer with some more fresh Swiss chard, roll up, cut and serve with mint chutney and tomato ketchup.Enjoy!

Read more...

CAULIFLOWER DAL WITH PANCH PHORAN ~ ALWAYS TRIED AND TESTED!

"Sometimes a recipe comes along that's so spectacular that you feel compelled to climb your way up to the top of the nearest alp and sing like Julie Andrews, giddy and overflowing with such love for the world that the power of your emotions threatens to send you skidding down the mountain on the backside of your lederhosen.

"Or you could just blog about it.


Either way, this is one of those recipes:


apt words of Susan of the Fat free Vegan kitchen, I could not have described it any better...

Panch phoran (Bengali: পাঁচ ফোড়ন) (also known as panch puran, panch phutana (Oriya), or five-spice mix) is an Indian-Bengal, Assamese and Oriya spice blend typically consisting of five whole spices in equal measure, as defined below. In Axomiya or Bengali, panch phoran, and in Oriya, panch phutana, literally mean "five spices".(Source-Wikipedia)

The recipe is from Susan's blog and can be found here

I relished the delicious dal with freshly boiled rice, roasted poppadums and green chilli pickle, just thinking about it makes me drool...believe me it was so amazingly fabulous!

This wonderful traditional recipe is off to Vaishali for her Tried and tested event started by the lovely Zlamushka

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HEALTHY VEGAN CHOCOLATE GINGER COOKIES

The recipe for these cookies is adapted from Jugalbandi's Smart Sweets:Vegan Ginger-Chocolate Chip Cookies, do read up their post which highlights the numerous health benefits of these cookies before making these so that you feel really great, just like I did!.

I used the following ingredients( you can include or omit according to your preference and availability) I however omitted chocolate chips altogether since I was making this for a diabetic, they turned out very, very good...

Ingredients-

• All purpose Flour-1 cup


• Wholewheat flour-1 cup


• Quick cooking Oats (ground to a powder in a coffee blender)-1/2 cup


• Molasses-1/2 cup crushed


• Baking soda-1 and 1/2 tsp


• Cocoa-1 tbsp


• Cinnamon-1/4 tsp


• Fresh ginger- 1/2 tsp grated


• Salt-1/2 tsp


• Water-2-4 tbsp


• Refined oil-1/3 cup

Method- Exactly the same as here

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PEACH UPSIDE DOWN VEGAN CAKE~TRIED AND TESTED

The minute I saw this cake I knew I HAD to make it and fast, I don't think I need any accompanying stories, introductions or declare my love for peaches, the pictures and the gorgeous cake says it all...

I made this the exact same way as Susan of Fat free Vegan kitchen had in her gem of a recipe which can be found here, Lolo of Vegan yumyum made it too and had taken it a notch up with a tutorial on how to cleanly peel and slice peaches, you can find her post here, a must read... so go ahead make this simple, low calorie delight, you will not be disappointed, I promise!

This fab cake is on it's way to please Vaishali of Holy Cow who is hosting Tried and Tested, an event started by the lovely Zlamushka.

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