Healthy Potato Poha recipe

The most nutritious of all breakfast eats is the Potato poha, which is filling and delicious! Children will not make a fuss to eat this breakfast meal! And the very Indian breakfast, the local produce which is the best for taste and health! In my humble opinion, we must eat local, not processed food like in the West where the sun does not shine all through the year and fresh food is not available round the year! They have to depend on processed/preserved food but we need not, we have fresh seasonal vegetables and fruits available!

Ingredients:

Large onions: 2 (Chop fine)

Tomato: 1 (chopped into small pieces)

Potato: 1 medium size cooked and peeled, and cut to small peieces

Green chillies: 5 slit vertically

Curry leaves: 2 sprigs

Jeera: 1 tsp

Mustard: 1tsp

Urad dal: 1 tsp

Cooking oil: 3 TBSp

Coriander leaves chopped: 2 TBSp

Medium thickness poha (beaten rice): 3 cups (200ml cup) 

Salt: to taste

Procedure:

1) Keep the poha in a large strainer, run water gently over it stirring the poha. Keep aside for 15 minutes to drain fully. Transfer the poha to a large plate, sprinkle salt and gently mix with your fingers so that the salt is evenly distributed

2) Add oil to the pan, when hot add mustard, when mustard splutters, add urad dal and fry till golden. Now add jeera and stir for a minute, urad dal should not get burnt.

Next, add curry leaves, saute, then add onions, saute, add chopped tomato, and some salt for this masala. When tomato is cooked add the potato bits and saute well. Add the chopped coriander leaves and mix well.

3) Transfer the wet and salted poha to the masala in the pan and stir gently so that the masala is mixed well with the poha, if necessary sprinkle a little water, mix well, cover and cook for a few minutes, stirring gently with a flat spatula.

Serve hot! It is ideal for lunch boxes of kids too!

Try it out and let me know in comments how it came out!

Potato Cheese Roast

Ingredients:
Potatoes: 1/2 kg
Butter: 2 Tbsps
Grated Cheese: 100 gms
Red Chilli Powder: 1 tsp or less
Salt to taste

Procedure:
Cook potatoes (not too soft, grateable so to say!) peel and grate, add salt and mix well with a fork.
Heat butter in a flat non-stick fry pan (not Tawa)on the stove and when butter melts spread it all over the insides of the pan by lightly shaking it from side to side. Put the scraped potato in the pan and press down with a flat spoon to make it like a thick pancake. Keep on low fire till the underside becomes golden brown. Now carefully turn it over without breaking it, in one piece. Sprinkle the chilli powder (or flakes)and top it with the grated cheese. Cover the pan and let cook on a low fire for 5 to 10 minutes till the cheese melts. Top it up with pizza seasoning if preferred. Cut into pieces and serve hot. 

Moong dal Halwa

My friend Pushpa Sriram is an awesome cook and makes delicious sweets and she shared this with me, one of her mother's recipe, a halwa made with moong dal which is very nutritous:

Ingredients :  1 Cup Moongdal ; 

                       1 cup sugar; 

                       1 cup ghee; 

                       1/2 cup milk; cardamom  powdered for taste; a pinch of clove powder; 

                       a pinch of nutmeg powder;

                       saffron few strands. 

                       Khova - optional

Garnishing:  slivered almonds, pistas, roasted cashew and raisins.

Soak moong dal for 4 hours. Soak saffron in a little warm milk. Drain water from

soaked moongdal and wash it well.  It has to be washed well many times so that

the raw smell goes away. Grind the soaked moongdal coarsly without adding

water. Heat 1/2 cup of ghee in nonstick pan or heavy bottomed dekchi, add the

ground moong dal, and roast on low heat.  Be careful not to allow to form lumps.

If required add a little milk to make it easier. The moong dal has to be roasted on

low heat. It takes time and patience, keep adding ghee slowly little by little and

as the ghee starts separating, add the sugar and a little more milk and cook well

to halva consistency and add khova (2-3 spoons) .  

Add cardomom powder, clove powder, nutmeg powder and soaked saffron and mix well. 

When cooked well to golden colour remove from flame. Garnish with almonds, pistas, 

cashew and raisins. 

This can be stored in fridge and when heating for serving add little milk and heat, so it 

does not dry out. If required sugar can be increased to suit your taste.