Roasted chickpeas would have been the favourite buddy for most Indians during their childhood days. It is a healthy alternative to the oily, storebought chips of any sort. And it satisfies your salty craving on a rainy day too. I have never thought that this could be made at home by any means until I came across a site last week. I tried my hands on it and it came out perfect in the first attempt.Hope you would like it too.
Ingredients :
1. Chick peas - 1 cup
2. Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
3. Red chilli powder - 1- 2 tsp
4. Garam masala - 1 tsp
5. Salt - As required
6. Olive oil - 1-2 tsp
Method :
1. Soak chick peas in water for atleast 2 hours.
2. Pressure cook and strain chick peas and press them with a tissue paper to remove water.
3. Then take a pan and pour oil into it . Add the chick peas.
4. And then add all the specified spice powders along with salt.
5. Toss it to give a nice coat to the chickpeas.
6. Preheat oven to 400 F and then line an aluminium pan with parchment paper .
7. Roast the chick peas for 45 min-1 hr.(Checking them and tossing them every 20 minutes.)
8. Allow them to cool in a cooling rack.
9. Store them in an airtight container .
I read in a book that "Idli along with sambar" is the best ever healthiest food on this planet. As Idli has carbo and sambar
( with any dhal) along with veggies is loaded with protein and all the other nutrients required for a human being. When we stop and look at our ancient food habits, rice has emerged only in the recent 4 decades. And to no surprise, millets were the dominating ones in history and they gave extra ordinary strength and capability to our senior citizens. Today let us go back to that era and make a healthy millet meal.
Ingredients :
1. Jowar - 2 cups(1 cup = 250 ml)
2. Idli rice - 1 cup
3. Whole Ural - 3/4 th cup
4.Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
Method :
1. Wash and soak all the ingredients together for 3 hours.
2. Grind them together in a grinder/blender with enough water.
3. Leave it for atleast 12 hrs to rest. You can see the batter doubles at a certain period.
4. Make idlis at this stage and store in refrigerator for further use. Serve with mint chutney/sambar.
Soya chunks cooked in a rich coconut-cashew ground mixture along with the onion- tomato spice mix. Chapathi along with soya chunks gravy is like a marriage made in heaven .I prefer mini chunks as there is no need to cut it again after pressure cooking.As soya chunks has good nutritive value,I like to include it either in gravy or in soya chunks biryani(I will post that soon!!)or as an appetizer. This post is specifically posted now (during navrathri) to help fight with your non - veg cravings. Here is a glimpse of the recipe.
Ingredients :
1.Soya chunks - 1 cup(1 cup= 250 ml)
2.Big onion(medium sized) - 1
3.Tomato (medium sized) - 2
4.Ginger - 1 inch
5.Garlic - 4 cloves
6.Chilli powder - 1 tsp
7.Coriander powder - 1 tsp
8. Garam masala - 1 tsp
9.Green chilli - 2
10.Bay leaves - 1
11. Kasoori methi - 1 tbsp
To grind :
1.Coconut (grated) - 2 to 3 Tbsp
2.Cashew nuts - 5 to 6
3.Roasted gram - 1 - 2 Tbsp
4.Coriander seeds - 1 Tbsp
5.Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
Method :
1. Pressure cook soya chunks with water and little salt for just one whistle.
2. Wash it in cold water. Squeeze out the water gently from the soya chunks and keep it aside.
3. Meanwhile, take a pan and pour oil into it.
4. Then add chopped onion, ginger and garlic and fry for a while until the onion turns translucent.
5. Then add tomatoes and fry them till the tomatoes turn mushy.
6. Add chilli powder, coriander powder and garam masala to it. Fry for just 1 min.
7. Switch off the stove and allow them to cool.
8. Meanwhile, blend the items given under "To grind" for just 5 seconds.
9. Add the fried onion -tomato mixture to the blender and blend everything together.
10. Now take a pressure cooker and add 1 tsp oil to it.
11. Add the bay leaf and green chilli to it.
12. Then add the ground masala to it and fry for 2- 5 minutes.
13. Then add kasoori methi to it.
14. Finally add soya chunks and enough water and salt. Pressure cook this for 1 or 2 whistles.
15. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with chapathi/roti.
