“Love yourself enough to live a healthy lifestyle.”
To juice or not to juice is often the question, and it’s a tough one to crack. Having given it a good thought, as old school as I may be, I think a juicer is a boon for people who live fast paced lives, have demanding schedules, fussy kids, love clear juice and fancy the idea of making the most of seasonal produce. For me, usually fussy kids who shy away from fruits are the ones will benefit most.Nothing can be better than knowing what goes into your glass of juice and serving it fresh, like a farm to table feel! It’s also real fun to have kids make their own juice. Once they get involved, see them enjoy the fruits of their labour, or virtual labour since their work is cut out. They can use a whole lot of combinations. Ideas after juicing – have as is, make mocktails, popsicles, granita, sorbet, slad dressings. The juice is also a great base for cocktails for adults!Then again, it’s quite fascinating watching fresh, clear colourful juice pour out into a jug, then bottle it up and enjoy it! The Tefal Juice Extractor allows you just that. Points to remember are that the quantity of juice pushed out depends on the water content of the produce. For eg 2 large mangoes and about 1/2 a pineapple will yield 2 glasses of juice. Since pineapple has a high liquid content, the juice output is higher. In season, sweet lime or orange juice is a great add. Also all pips, stones etc must be removed before fruit is put in.Produce like beetroot and spinach yield a small quantity of juice due to the dense nature of beets and that spinach leaves have little water. It’s best to combine them with a fruit or vegetable with a high liquid content. I like adding seedless black grapes to beet juice as it enhances the natural sweetness of beets. You could always add beet greens to the juicer as well if you are lucky to get a nice organic supplier, or are lucky to grow some at home. If you’d like to cut back on sugar, add cucumber instead of grapes. Throw in some celery, add a squeeze of lime.The possibilities are endless. I did three juices and it took all of 30 minutes. I think prepping the veggies takes far longer. The juicer is intuitive, easy to use and has a very smooth dial in front with 2 settings. Love the bright blue light that shines in front while juicing is in progress. There is also a generous jug to collect the juice quite neatly, and yet another larger jug to collect the pulp.If you are like me, where I don’t like wastage, then the thought will definitely creep into your head “What to do with all this pulp?“. Wastage feels bad and you can’t just throw out the pulp. The mango and pineapple pulp I just happily ate, but you can add it to your breakfast bowl, top with granola, some yogurt if you like.Stir it through a bowl of yogurt maybe, or add to that favourite smoothie.A quick search online adds to some thoughts I already had while juicing. There’s so much you can do with the pulp, that you should be happy to have the juice extractor on your shelf!! Here are a few ideas to set you off…
Add it to stock or soup
Up the fibre in a burger patties
Throw it into a smoothie
Deydrate it, grind to a flour. Bake with it
Blend it and use as a soup/gravy thickener
Make a dip using pulp as a base
Use it in pancakes
Make a iced tea. Steep with water, maybe tea leaves or tisae, strain, drink
Add it to nuggets
Use in pet feed as is, or make doggie treats
Freeze into ice cubes, and add to meaballs, or pasta sauce, or curries
A juicer is a boon for people who live fast paced lives, have demanding schedules, fussy kids, love clear juice and fancy the idea of making the most of seasonal produce. Here are 3 quick and fun juices to make in your Tefal Juice Extractor.
Prep Time 5 minutesminutes
Total Time 5 minutesminutes
Servings 2people
Ingredients
Beetroot Grape Spinach Juice
3beetsscrubbed well, quartered
1black grapesbig bunch
2cupsspinach leaves
Peach Cherry Juice
6peachespitted, halved
2cupsof cherriespitted
Mango Pineapple Juice
1large mangodiced
1/2a pineapplecubed
Instructions
Feed the fruit/vegetables through the tube of the Tefal Juice Extractor. Turn on the machine to speed 1, then speed 2.
“If you wait for the mango fruits to fall, you’d be wasting your time while others are learning how to climb the tree”
Michael Bassey Johnson
Mango Coconut Pudding …when you can’t get enough of the mango season, and you can’t stop yourself from bringing together favourite flavours! These were everything they look like and more … delicious, delicate, flavourful, smooth, satisfying, elegant, sublime. I think it’s just one of those puddings that were meant to be …The better halves office in Bombay sent him a box of the most delicious Alphonsos. This variety of mangoes is possibly the most famous one across the globe, and most coveted. It is also most pursued by lovers of the fruit for the very short season that it shows up for.How better to explain Alphonsos than in Sejal Sukhadwala’s poetic and charming words as he writes in The Guardian “As anyone who’s tasted an Alphonso mango knows, its short season, from now until the end of June, is a major cause for celebration. Often making an appearance on “1,000 things to eat before you die”-type lists, this Indian variety has become more and more popular in the UK. It’s easy to see why. Alphonso’s voluptuous shape and sunshine-yellow skin reveals succulent saffron-coloured flesh that’s smooth and buttery: imagine a cross between peach, nectarine, apricot and melon with notes of honey and citrus. But better.”And I’m one of those people who find it hard to leave good enough alone. That mango was phenomenal but I wanted to do a dessert with it. Being summer, more of my fruit based desserts are quick and simple, often light puddings or a panna cotta. I did a series of desserts with mango juice not so long ago. Take a look!IMHO, if there are mangoes, it calls for a celebration. The good thing about the king of fruits is that it is so versatile. You can practically enjoy it at every meal. Our mornings and sometimes evenings are spent lazily sipping a Mango Fresh Turmeric Buttermilk Lassi these days. What’s not to love about fruit in season? More importantly, what’s not to love about mangoes? My entire childhood was spent climbing mango trees and eating mangoes!Aam ki chutney or a quick mango pickle also rule the roost. Aam panna or a Mango Cooler is one of the best things ever to keep the heat at bay. There’s no end to how versatile this fruit can be. For today, let me share my current favourite Mango Coconut Pudding. Like all good things in life, there is a small story behind how they came to be.
The Mango Coconut Pudding inspired by a popular dessert in Hong Kong, the Chinese Mango Pudding. The pudding is said to have Indian origins, and it seemed apt since the better halves company is Hong Kong based. This is my take on it, topped also with phalsas {a native Indian summer berry, drewia asiatica} and fresh mint.And before I leave you with the recipe, just sharing the announcement for my 7th Food Styling & Photography Workshop with Darter at Dirty Apron, New Delhi. All details can be found here, or click the image below.
Mango Coconut Pudding ...when you can't get enough of the mango season, and you can't stop yourself from bringing together favourite flavours! These were everything they look like and more ... delicious, delicate, flavourful, smooth, satisfying, elegant, sublime. I think it's just one of those puddings that were meant to be.
Prep Time 5 minutesminutes
Cook Time 10 minutesminutes
Total Time 4 hourshours15 minutesminutes
Servings 6
Ingredients
Mango Coconut Pudding
400gmangofrom 4-5 Alphonsos
250gsingle cream
400mlcoconut milk
4tspgelatin
1/2cupraw sugar
Topping
1mangodiced
1/4cupphalsa berry
Few sprigs fresh mint
Instructions
Sprinkle the gelatin over 100ml coconut milk, and leave to soften. Stir.
Place mango and 200ml coconut milk in a blender. Blend to a smooth puree.
Place remaining coconut milk plus cream with sugar in a heavy bottom pan. Simmer until small bubbles appear at the edges. Stir in the gelatin, then mango puree.
Stand until it becomes slightly cool, then strain into glasses. Leave to set for a few hours or overnight.
Top with unsweetened cream, diced mango, phalsa berries and fresh mint. {Can be made 2-3 days in advance}
“Breakfast is everything. The beginning, the first thing. It is the mouthful that is the commitment to a new day, a continuing life.”
A. A. Gill
Kesari Halwa … another one in my breakfast series, and this one is probably the fastest one I’ve made to date. Least work too, or rather, nothing to it! Halwa is a very popular breakfast include in India, and almost every region has its own variation. The variation runs across meal courses too. Either which way, this is a much loved preparation, nostalgic too often.Up in North India, sooji ka halwa has always been popular on the breakfast menu. Eaten on it’s own, yet sometimes served with crisp puris, this semolina prep holds a special place. There are many ways to make halwa and kesari halwa is a popular rendition with an orangish colour brought on by the addition of saffron. Every house has a their own little recipe which is more often than never roasting the semolina/ suji, making a sugar syrup, then cooking the roasted suji together with the syrup until done. It is a little time consuming, needs you to stand and stir, and gives you a bunch of dirty dishes!Here’s a great alternative for those who crave a sweet breakfast, which has the natural goodness of grains, no preservatives, tastes good AND is ready in minutes. I’m talking about the Kesari Halwa from the MTR 3 Minute Breakfast Range. Importantly, there’s barely any cooking involved. None actually if you boil water in a kettle. As simple as putting the dry mix into a bowl, pouring hot water over it, giving it a good stir, then leaving covered for 3 minutes. Voila! You have halwa. That is it!! How good is this for busy mornings? Almost a magical preparation for breakfast in a hurry or on the go. Completely fuss free, and, honestly, the same consistency time and again! And the good thing is that you can eat it everyday!I made a simple video to show you just how simple making this Kesari Halwa is. Also, because it left me so much time, I thought I’d show you how to creatively present it. Breakfast and fruit is a firm favourite, so I served the halwa over pureed mango sauce {no added sugar}, with some seasonal phalsa berries, rose petals and mint from the garden. To finish, a scattering of saffron because it is Kesari Halwa after all, where kesar is the hindi term for saffron!
Try the breakfast for yourself and see how easy and yum it is. It’s available in cups as well for on the go consumption. I love plating and serving breakfast in fun sunshine bright colours to make one feel refreshed and active, ready for the day! And if you fancy something savoury alongside, then MTR offers a wide variety of savoury 3 minute breakfasts as well. Think Poha, Khatta Meetha Poha, Vegetable Upma, Magic Masala Upma, Oats Homestyle Masala…
“Summertime is always the best of what might be.”
Charles Bowden
When summer hits you splat in the face before time, with temperatures over 40C already kissing you in early April and May, it’s only summer fruits you can turn to. These days I’m mesmerized by watermelons. They’re available in plenty {read falling off carts, piled high on roadsides, rolling off shelves} and are great to chomp on summer through. Use them simply as nibbling off the rind, or get a little creative with them. It’s a real fun fruit to play with, and you can do so much and more with them.
Here are a few very simple ways to enjoy natures bounty. My most recent and fun way was with this watermelon pizza inspired by @curlew_and_dragons post on Instagram. One look at it a few days ago, and that’s just all I wanted to do.Here’s what I did – Cut horizontal 1/2″ slices/circles, then cut them into pie slices. I had some left over whipped mascarpone that I added chia seeds to, and plumped it up. I piped it on to make things look fun. I used a melon baller on a few kiwis, threw on some diced mangoes, used some very precious foraged mulberries, and some fresh mint. That’s the only herb that seems to be surviving happily in this heat. I did this again with with mangoes, melons balls, phalsa berries, litchis and goat cheese. A drizzle of maple syrup too!
Served on the side was a watermelon kiwi lime cooler – watermelon {seeds included}, all the leftover kiwi, a dash of lime, some rock salt, a little brown sugar. Chilled and yum! Use a powerful blender like the Thermomix or Artisan Power Plus Blender with Thermal Control Jar from KitchenAid {my new favourite helper in the kitchen}, and life is a breeze!
Once you get the hang of the spiralizer, you are going to want to get all your vegetables in a twirl, quite literally. It’s really addictive and such a pretty way to serve salads. Once you figure it out, salads will never be the same again. I loved the way this one turned out, or rather twirled out. The flavor combination was great and it looked so pretty. Recipe follows.
Set up the KitchenAid Stand Mixer with the spiralizer attachment with the medium sized noodle blade fitting.
Put the zucchini through it, followed by the cucumber. You could even do 2 cucumbers instead.
Place in a large bowl with remaining ingredients except feta, pour over salad dressing and toss gently to mix. Adjust seasoning if required. Scatter over with crumbled feta and fresh mint.
hill for an hour before serving to allow the flavors to mature.
Dressing
Place everything in a bowl, and whisk to mix with a fork. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
The above picture says it all. Put everything one by one into the tube of the Kitchen Aid cold press juicer, and wait for the magic to happen! Watermelon Kiwi Ginger Mint Cooler
1 small watermelon
2 kiwis
Juice of 2 limes
2″ piece mango ginger {or 1/2 ” piece plain ginger}
Handful of fresh mint leaves
Chop up the watermelon and kiwi to 1″ pieces. Scrub the ginger well, and roughly break up.
Gradually feed through chute of the KitchenAid Slow Juicer Attachment with mint, running the KitchenAid Stand Mixer at speed Once the juice is extracted, stir lime into it. Add a dash of honey and black rock salt if desired. Chill well before serving.
“There is not a thing that is more positive than bread.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Walnut Garlic Coriander Wholewheat Bread, another favourite artisan bread. It’s 100% wholegrain, the dough is beautiful, the bread tastes as good as ever… and it uses a beautiful new wholewheat flour mix from Aashirvaad that we’ve have used at home forever! For those who know me and follow me, I am still pretty obsessed with my #makehalfyourgrainswhole passion. I win some, I lose some, yet I LOVE experimenting.As you can see above, I bake a whole lot with wholewheat flour. So when this new variant of wholewheat flour, Aashirvaad Sugar Release Control Atta showed up at home I was pretty excited. We’ve used Aashirvaad Atta at home forever and ever. A lot of folk I talk to get their own grains and have them milled with a mix of lentils, fenugreek seeds etc. I tried that once but I found it difficult to sustain. We do use a lot of wholegrain flour at home.This new variant from makes me happy. The day it came, I baked bread! It was a 60% wholegrain loaf that turned out yum! Pretty too! It tasted just like what we use normally, so a little surprising that a stepped up variant is so within reach now. The GI value of the grain mix is 53, and the blend contains a portion of lentils, fenugreek and oats too!Nothing better than fresh home baked bread, and the success of the 60% bread made me bold enough to try a 100% wholewheat version. It didn’t disappoint. At all. Of course I like added flavour to my breads so in went some omega-3 rich walnuts, loads of fresh coriander, and a drizzle of fine quality extra virgin olive oil. That’s all a good bread needs in our home! Fresh herbs, nuts and olive oil and a wholegrain base!This Walnut Garlic Coriander Wholewheat Bread is bursting with goodness of the new wholewheat flour. Use herbs and nuts of your choice, play around with ingredients, but do make this. It’s healthy, it’s addictive, and bread baking is therapeutic. Above all, it’s so good for a 100% whole grain bread!! This is my new favourite wholegrain flour, and I’m loving it!There is so much and more you can do with it. Maybe wholewheat pita bread. All you need is falafals and hummus, a crisp salad, and you have a healthy balanced delicious meal! Or maybe bake wholegrain crackers! So YUM!! Serve them with some fun home made dips and you’re good to go!What would you make with a flour like this? I mean other than including it as an everyday pantry staple of course! I’ve used it quite a bit the last week or so. As basic dough for chapatis/flatbread, also for stuffed tandoori parathas. It behaves and tastes just like the regular flour. That it’s even healthier is a bonus. The low GI makes it diabetic friendly and an ideal pantry staple! I’m next thinking wholegrain chocolate chip cookies or cheese crackers.Oh, and did I tell you I baked a batch of Wholewheat Dark Chocolate After Eight Mint Cupcakes with the same flour mix two days ago? It’s a one bowl no brainer recipe filled with wholegrain goodness that I carried to the “Facebook: A Place to Connect” event at New Delhi. I was speaking there on Facebook Live, and you can catch me and my Aashirvaad Sugar Release Control Atta cupcakes on the link here!I’ll share that recipe soon as a WHOLE lot of folk have been asking me for it. Until then, here’s another peep into how good and moist the cupcakes were.
Now time for the Walnut Garlic Coriander Wholewheat Bread. This is just a new way of thinking food, or rather #EkNayiAadat with #Aashirvaad!
Nothing better than fresh home baked bread, and this Walnut Garlic Coriander Wholewheat Bread is bursting with goodness of this new wholewheat flour . It has great flavour. Use herbs and nuts of your choice, play around with ingredients, but do make this. It's healthy, it's addictive, bread baking is therapeutic and above all it's so good for a 100% whole grain bread!!
Prep Time 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time 30 minutesminutes
Total Time 1 hourhour40 minutesminutes
Servings 1loaf
Ingredients
Walnut Garlic Coriander Dough
2cupsAashirvaad Sugar Release Control Atta
1tspyeast
1/2salt
1tsphoney
2tbspextra virgin olive oil
1cupwater {approximately}
1tspgarlic powder {or 4 cloves minced}
1cupfresh coriander, finely chopped
1/2cupwalnuts, finely chopped
Topping
4-5walnut halves
Few sprigs fresh coriander
Himalayan pink rock salt
Extra virgin olive oil to drizzle over
Instructions
Walnut Garlic Coriander Dough
Add the wholewheat flour/Aashirvaad Sugar Release Control Atta, yeast, salt,garlic powder, honey and extra virgin olive oil to bowl of your stand mixer fitted with dough hook.
Stir to mix on speed 2, then knead for 5-7 minutes on speed 4 until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Add a few spoons of wholewheat flour if the dough is too wet, or a tbsp or two of water if too dense. We're looking for a soft dough.
Make a smooth ball, drizzle over some olive oil, and cover the bowl with cling-wrap or a damp kitchen towel. Place in a warm, draft free place for an hour or two until the dough doubles in size.
Form into a ball, drizzle over with a little olive oil, cover the stand mixer bowl with cling-wrap or a wet kitchen towel. Leave to rise in a warm, draft free place for an hour or two until doubled.
Preheat oven to 200C.
Take off the cling wrap or kitchen towel, add the finely chopped fresh coriander and walnuts to the same bowl and knead again briefly to mix.
Form into a loaf and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Topping
Paint top gently with damp fingers and sprinkle over some Himalayan rock salt and finely sliced garlic, push in walnut halves, and maybe add a sprig of fresh coriander.
Leave covered with a kitchen towel until the oven preheats to 200C. {20 minutes}
Bake for approximately 30-35 minutes until golden brown and done. Serve warm or at room temperature.
“Remember, there are cookies waiting here for you.”
Dean Koontz
Eggless Wholegrain Buckwheat Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies. These are cookies that come together in a matter of minutes, are fuss free and absolutely delicious. That they are 100% wholegrain makes them a winner. Swap the chocolate chips for raisins, maybe add some walnuts, or make them coffee chocolate chip cookies. Either way, these will disappear before you know it! This is pure comfort food.
While I shared the making of the eggless version in an instastory there the next day, I never really got down to sharing the recipe as I got busy with this & that. To cut a long story short, here you are – Eggless Wholegrain Buckwheat Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies! #healthy #indulgent #glutenfree
I love using buckwheat flour or “kuttu ka aata” while baking at home when fresh flour is available in the market. Often when the fasting season is on, the local market is flooded with freshly ground flour. Since buckwheat flour gets rancid easily, especially in warm temperatures, I buy a few bags and keep them in the freezer. A little goes a long way, and it’s always fun to experiment!
That this experiment also worked out quite well put me in a happy space. In any case, an eggless cookie experiment always behaves better than an eggless cake experiment! Often, using yogurt/dahi or flaxseeds work quite well.
Eggless Wholegrain Buckwheat Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Eggless Wholegrain Buckwheat Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies. These are cookies that come together in a matter of minutes, are fuss free and absolutely delicious. That they are 100% wholegrain makes them a winner. Swap the chocolate chips for raisins, maybe add some walnuts, or make them coffee chocolate chip cookies. Either way, these will disappear before you know it! This is pure comfort food.
Prep Time 5 minutesminutes
Cook Time 15 minutesminutes
Total Time 20 minutesminutes
Servings 20cookies
Ingredients
Dry Mix
75gquick cooking oats
75gbuckwheat flour {kuttu ka aata}
3/4tspbaking soda
pinchsalt
100gdark chocolate chips
Wet Mix
115gunsalted butter, room temperature
115gjaggery granules
15mlhoney
1tbspyogurt
1/2tspvanilla bean paste {or vanilla extract}
Instructions
Dry Mix
Place all the dry mix ingredients in a large bowl and stir to mix.
Wet Mix
Place all the wet mix ingredients in bowl of stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, and process for 2 minutes on speed 3.
Add the dry mix and stir with paddle attachment on slowest speed for 30 seconds.
Let the mixture stand/rest while you preheat the oven to 180C {15-20 minutes}
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Use good quality heavy duty cookie trays, else use 2 trays at a time for even baking.
Place scoops of cookie dough on the parchment, 2 inches apart, 12 on each sheet. Flatten gently with the tines of a fork. {Sprinkle over a few more chocolate chips if you are feeling particularly indulgent}
Bake for approximately 15 minutes, until the edges are done, light golden brown, and the centre is still a little soft. {Bake further 5 minutes if you like crisp cookies}. Watch closely towards the end so they don't get burnt.
Remove tray from oven, allow to stand for 5 minutes, then cool the cookies completely on the rack. Best eaten in a day or two.
