Carrot Cake Breakfast Smoothie

Carrots are famously known for beta-carotene and vitamin A, which promote good eye sight. My mom would randomly drop in while I was studying and shake a carrot in front of me (literally) and say snack on this, your eye sight will be good. You see I was the only one with glasses in the family. :o)

And then there was a time when I was in high school I was very skinny and was getting tired all the time. My blood count showed that I had low level hemoglobin. My dad had taken me to an old Ayurvedic doctor during this period. One look at me and he said, she needs to eat more carrots. He asked me to just blend one carrot every day and drink it up in the morning. "If you follow this for a month, your cheeks will be of carrot's color!", is what he said. :o) I did that for few days, but I totally hated it. Since all I was putting in was carrots!

Last few years I have been juicing, carrot has been integral part of it. I just pop in a few in many of my smoothies. But recently I added few additional things when I saw a carrot cake smoothie on one of the raw veggies sites. It was really yummy. Almost like having a carrot cake but hey with hardly any calories compared to the real one. 

Prep Time : 5 min | Makes : 8 oz glass

Ingredients:

Carrot - 1 large
Banana - 1
Quick Oats - 1/2 Cup
Protein Powder - 1 tbsp. (optional)
Cinnamon - 1/4 tsp.
Vanilla Essence 1/2 tsp.
Almond/ Coconut Milk - 3/4 Cup
Water - 1/2 Cup
Coconut Shavings and/ or Almond slices - Few to top (optional)

Method of Preparation:

~ Peel and cut chunks of carrot.
~ Place all the ingredients (except the toppings) in a blender and blend it until smooth.
~ Top it with coconut shavings and almond slices and enjoy the heavenly goodness at your fingertips.

Celery Cilantro Chutney/ Spread

Chutney made of Celery. Yeah right! I would have never imagined even trying with it. So when Krithi linked this Celery Cilantro Chutney to one of my Bon-Vivant events, I was intrigued to try it. And boy we all loved the outcome. This can be used as a side dish for Idli, Roti or Dosa. Can be used as a spread on a toast or for a sandwich.

Prep Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Makes : About 2 Cups

Ingredients:

Celery - 2 cups
Coriander/ Cilantro leaves - 2 Cups 
Onion - 1 cup
Tomato - 1/2 cup
Walnuts - 1/2 cup
Green chilli -  3
Ginger - small piece
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste

Tempering:
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad Daal - 1 tsp.
Hing/ Asefoetedia - 2 pinch

Method of Preparation:

~ Dry roast walnuts for few minutes and keep it aside to cool
~ In a pan, heat little oil and add onion, celery, ginger and green chilies.
~ Once onion and celery are almost cooked, add tomato and salt to taste. Cook until tomatoes are done. 
~ Powder the walnuts coarsely in a dry grinder. 
~ Add the celery onion mixture along with coriander leaves. Grind until fine paste.
~ For tempering, heat oil in a small kadai. Add mustard seeds, once it crackles add urad daal and hing. Take it out of heat and temper on top of chutney.

Rava Idli - Steamed Semolina pancakes

This is one of the basic recipes of Indian cooking. Well, I have to admit that my normal idli does not come as fluffy as the rava idli's. So most of the time I prefer to do Rava Idli's. This is my mom's version of idli's that's my kids favorite. Any time of the day Idli or Dosa, they are ready to have them. 

Ingredients:

Urad Daal / Black Lentil - 1 Cup
Fenugreek or Methi Seeds - 1 tsp.
Idli Rava/ Thick Semolina - 2 Cup
Salt - 1 tsp.

Batter in the mold, ready to get steamed

Method of Preparation:

~ Wash and Soak Urad dal and Fenugreek seeds overnight or for 4 to 6 hours.
~ Discard the water and rinse them again. Grind them smooth using a grinder or a blender with minimal water. The batter should be thicker than for dosa or pancake batter.
~ Leave it to ferment in a warm place for 4 to 6 hours.
~ When ready to do the idli, soak idli rava in water (just to get it wet and soft) for 15 to 20 minutes.
~ Mix this with urad batter, add salt.
~ Lightly oil the idli molds, bring water to boil in a pressure cooker (with lid open)
~ Pour little batter in all the molds, and place it in the cooker. Cover with lid. DO NOT put the whistle on.
~ Once the steam starts coming out, continue to cook on high for 7 minutes.
~ Switch the gas off, once you are able to handle, remove the lid and take out the molds.
~ Once molds are cooled, using a spoon take out the idli's.
~ Serve it hot with chutney and sambhar.

Note:
- Split urad dal is white in color. But when they are whole bean it's black. Hence the name black Lentil.
- Urad daal increases in volume once soaked, so choose a bigger vessel to soak it in and also add more water.
- It's important to throw the soaked in water. This will make sure the idli's won't trouble the gastric person.