Cucumber Spinach Pancake

Cucumber and Spinach Pancake

In the good old days we used to have Sanjeev Kapoor on TV, Khana Khazana was the program which we could watch to see live cooking recipes...used to like to watch that....but many times would miss it ....whereas now we have two channels now showing us a lot of recipes full time - Food Food channel and the erstwhile Khana K....so when we are free we can browse those channels and watch some new, old, desi(local) or international recipe....

On one of those shows I came upon this one....it reminded me of one of my own rice chilla which I have already blogged...this was a simpler version and I thought let me give it a try...

It turned out pretty good and amazingly simple & quick...so guess it is something which will be part of my repertoire in future....works good for breakfast or a snack...or even if guests drop in and you would like to have something more substantial than biscuits & chai to serve them...

So without further ado...let me get on with the actual recipe..here goes...

Ingredients:

1 medium cucumber grated
1/2 cup chopped spinach
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 tsp red chili powder ( can add more if you like it spicier)
1/2 cup rice flour
2 Tblspns rava
2 Tblspns yogurt(curd)
water to make a batter
oil for frying


Method:

1) Grate a cucumber - squeeze out the water and keep aside. Chop spinach leaves and add to the cucumber along with salt and red chili powder.

2)Add the rice flour, rava, yogurt and mix - then add water to make a batter - first add the cucumber water - and if required add additional water. Do not make it too thin. Keep aside for about 10 minutes. 
The flours absorb the water and the batter becomes a little thicker.
Then add some more water if required so as to have a batter which is as thick as a dosa batter.

3) Put a few drops of oil onto a non-stick pan, then take a ladle full of batter and spread onto the pan. Cover with lid and let it cook till some brown spots appear. Flip the pancake and cook the other side too. Cook on medium heat so as to cook evenly and thoroughly.

4) Serve hot with ketchup or green chutney.

Enjoy !!!

For such a simple recipe the taste was pretty awesome...and the prep. time is so little...so ahead and try it out yourself...would love to hear from you, what you think about it...

Eggless Ragi Banana Cake

Eggless Ragi Banana Cake

Recently, I met up with one of my very close friends(D had a great time with you) who was visiting India ( she lives in Dallas US )...and we got to discussing the various grains and cereals and what is good and healthy...and can be used in a lot of our day to day cooking, baking etc...

One of those was amaranth...and while trying to get the Indian name for it we mistakenly referred to it as ragi...then later realised that it is not so...the actual name is rajagira...which is supposed to be very good, considered a superfood.

All this bought to fore my desire to move on to new methods and ingredients in my baking in my quest for a more healthy sweet or dessert...since we have tried unsuccessfully many a time to resist the sweet temptations.

So while browsing for recipes got a few using ragi ( nachani ) flour and was very impressed with a couple of them - one was a chocolate cupcake and the other a banana cake...
The latter won the toss mainly cause I had 3 bananas on verge of going to the bin if not used immediately...but I also wanted to try an eggless version and use sweetened condensed milk which was part of the first recipe....confusing right ....nyways the end result was a combination of parts of both.

Ragi is a cereal which is very nutritious, it is rich in  calcium, has a lot of dietary fibre, has a lot of iron, is a natural relaxant, and a host of other properties...

So after reading the above recipes I was quite keen to try it out - though I was unsure how it would be received by all at home, generally I do not have much takers for my "healthy attempts" ...but this one turned out so amazing - it was soft, delish (even with the reduced sweetness) and one could not make out that it was made without the regular flours...

Spicy Curd....& Carrot Raita

I love curds in all it's forms...eaten plain or sweetened ( if thickened a bit it is like shrikand )  or made into chaas ( buttermilk ) which is  how we currently tend to have it ...just water and salt and all churned up (simple )...or sometimes we spice it up a bit with chillies or ginger or sometimes a pinch of chaat masala...

It is so versatile and we generally have it in some form of the other...sometimes I make a raita with either boondi or some veggie which could be potato, onion, spinach ( already posted ), cucumber, carrot...each one as delicious as the other...or sometimes I make curd rice...and had with pickles & or papad it can serves as a light meal.

T's cousin is the one who introduced us to spicy curd, it is so simple to make and yet it is like a good dip to use, we even have it with handwo ( which is another of her speciality, she is an awesome cook and also grows some veggies and herbs )...
I used the same to make my carrot raita and we thought it was just amazing...so decided just have to write this down...
So with big thanks to A for her handwo, spicy curd, brownies and loads of other yummy dishes, I am posting this....

Spinach Raita

I am always looking to use spinach in dishes...mainly hidden ...as in dhokla, handwo, soup ( blended ) or palak paneer etc...cause leaves in any dish by itself is not eaten at our place...even methi is used with flour to make methi thepla or parathas...though aloo methi is one of personal favourites...love the bitter taste of methi leaves..( though that brings me to  another whole story )....

Spinach Raita

I had been longing to make this dish (spinach raita) ever since I had eaten in at a cousin's place...but as I said was wary of the reaction to it....but I needn't have worried, this turned out so amazing..so creamy and smooth ...with sour, sweet and spicy flavours blending so well to turn into a dish which could be had as a side, as a raita, with the whole meal or actually just by itself with rotis, or parathas....


Ingredients:

1 cup spinach
1 cup curds
1 green chilli
2 garlic cloves
1/2 inch ginger
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 dry red chilli
salt to taste
1/4 roasted cumin powder
pinch of asafoetida (hing)
1/4 - 1/2 tsp of sugar - or to taste

Method :

1) Whisk the curds till smooth in a bowl and keep aside.

2) Wash the spinach leaves and chop it fine...take a pan, put about a teaspoon of oil and add ginger, green chilli chopped, fry for a bit and then add the chopped spinach, stir till it wilts about 5 mins...once done take out the spinach mixture and cool it totally before adding it to the curds...

3) In another pan for seasoning the raita -  take some oil, add cumin seeds, once it splutters, add chopped garlic  and the dry red chilli and pinch of asafoetida, stir for a minute and then add to the curds and spinach mixture along with salt to taste and roasted cumin powder and sugar and mix...you can adjust the seasonings according  to your personal tastes.

Serve this raita cold...the above proportions serve 2-3

This dish is both tasty and nutritous...and can be had with both rotis and rice.