Hello friends! Hope you had a wonderful Diwali. May the festival of lights bring you peace and happiness.

I had a nice weekend with friends and lots of good (read heavy) food. So, as you can imagine, begins my guilt trip. Sure, I can starve myself for a couple of days, wear out the treadmill and get back in shape. But I don’t think my family is ready to put up with my crabbiness in the meanwhile.

The solution..….a very tasty but healthful Barley & Garbanzo salad.

Things You’ll Need

· Cooked barley (3 cups)

· Garbanzo beans (1 can)

· 1 Red bell pepper, finely chopped

· ½ Red onion, finely chopped

· 1 English cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped

· 1 medium tomato, chopped

· ¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

· Salt (to taste)

· Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

· Olive oil (1/8 cup)

· Lime juice (2 small limes)

How To Make

Drain the garbanzo beans from the can and wash them well. In a large bowl, toss all the ingredients. Drizzle with the olive oil and lime juice. Season with salt and pepper. Serves 4 people.

Tips

1) Cook the barley in a pressure cooker with minimum amount of water. Alternately, use a slow cooker

2) For a variation, use kidney beans or a mix of garbanzo and kidney beans

3) Make extra salad and refrigerate in an air-tight container. Stays well for 3 to 4 days. The more it marinates, the tastier it gets.

Make it a meal

Serve with a warm pita bread drizzled with garlic butter and mango shake.

Till next Monday, ciao and happy eating! Be sure to share your experiences, recipes, tips and tricks via comments on this page.

 Ingredients

1 cup or 100 grams sabudana (Tapioca)

½ cup ground roasted peanut powder (roast the peanuts and then grind them in food processor)

½ cup potatoes chopped and diced in one inch cubes

2 green chillies cut half inch long

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

3 tablespoon ghee or oil

1 teaspoon sugar

Salt to taste

3 tablespoon shredded wet coconut to garnish

Wash the sabudana in a vessel that can hold at least 3-4 times the quantity of sabudana taken.

Remove most of the water. Keep about one quarter inch or less of water.

Cover the vessel with a lid and let the sabudana soak for at least 4-6 hours. In warmer climates like India it may take only about 30 minutes to soak, but in colder climates give a good 4-6 hours.

When the sabudana is soaked, fluff is with a spoon,

Add the peanut powder, salt and sugar and mix well.

Heat the ghee or oil in a Kadai or Wok.

Pop the cumin seeds and add the cut green chillies or jalapenos.

Roast the green chillies until they are white, usually takes only a few minutes.

Add the sabudana-peanut powder mixture and mix well.

Cover with a lid and reduce heat. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the sabudana turns colorless from bright white.

Remove from the heat and garnish with shredded wet coconut (optional)

Ingredients

2-3 worm candies

4-5 Parle G or Graham Crackers

1-2 chocolate Oreos without cream

1 cup vanilla pudding

Crumble the Parle G or the Graham crackers and the chocolate Oreos with hand in a plate.

Take 1 spoonful of vanilla pudding and roll in the graham.

Add the worm candies and shape it like a rock.

Place the rock with the worms on the bed of sand made of crumbled Graham Crackers.

Tip: Substitute the pudding with yogurt or cottage cheese.

A very widely held belief is that Egg is the ‘Perfect Food’. Not sure what that really means but it is certainly filling, versatile and healthful. That is, if you can avoid too much yolk. Not to mention, it’s quick and easy to cook.

So the ‘perfectionist’ in me started looking for the ‘perfect’ egg recipe. Many searches later, it suddenly dawned on me that the good old Egg Bhurji (Indian scrambled eggs) was what I was looking for. As a popular Hndi song goes – ‘Aao sikhaun tumhe main ande ka funda……yeh nahi pyare koi maamuli bandaa….’

Things You’ll Need

·         8 egg whites with 4 yolks

·         1 medium onion, finely chopped

·         1 small jalapeno, finely chopped

·         Vegetable/Canola oil – 3 tablespoons

·         Jeera/Cumin seeds – ¼ teaspoon

·         Hing/Asafoetida – 1 pinch

·         Haldi/Turmeric – ¼ teaspoon

·         Jeera/Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon (up to 1 ½ tsp for spicier bhurji)

·         Red chilli powder – ¼ teaspoon

·         2 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

·         Salt (to taste)

·         Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

How To Make

Beat the egg whites and yolks together and set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok (kadai), and add cumin seeds, hing and turmeric. Add the finely chopped onions and shallow fry until golden brown. Add the chopped jalapeno, jeera powder and red chilli powder and sauté for a couple of minutes.

Add the beaten egg mixture, salt and pepper. Stir continuously to incorporate the egg and onion mixture, until the egg is well scrambled. Avoid large chunks as bhurji is meant to be in small bits.

Make it a meal

Serve with whole wheat bread and hot soup such as Tomato Carrot soup (see article ‘Mother of Invention’ for the soup recipe).

Till the next time, wishing y’all ‘Perfect’ health!