Carrot Juice

First thing comes to my mind when I see Carrot is its benefits for eyesight.Having lots of vitamin A Carrot has a special place in my kitchen as it is used  almost every day in my dishes be it upma ,poha, pulao, simple bhaja or all time favourite desert gajar halwa.

But this year in Summer the most of the time I have decided to go for Carrot juice which is yummy as well as thirst quencher.As this year I am still getting the red varieties of indian carrots my refrigerator is always packed with them.I have a little bit inclination towards the red varieties than the orange one which we get all year round. So now coming to our drink.....

Ingredients:

2 big size carrots

1/2 Lemon 

1/2 tsp Kala namak

Blend all the ingredients together with water. Then strain the juice and enjoy the summer with a glass of freshly made carrot juice.

Sending this to priyaeasyntastyrecipes-healthy-diet-diabetic

Banana Dosa

Banana Dosa is fast and easy if you have Dosa batter at home.It is a different flavoured Dosa for breakfast  for a fussy kid.

Ingredients:
2 cups of Dosa Batter
1 ripe Banana
2 tbsp Jaggery
A pinch of Cardamom Powder
Ghee(or any oil of your choice)

How to make Dosa batter:
Soak 3 cups of Rice and 1 Cup of Urad Dal separately for 8-10 hours. Blend urad dal and rice  and mix together. Leave it to ferment for a day.

For Banana Dosa :
Mash banana and add Dosa batter,jaggery,cardamom powder and mix all together.Put little ghee on tawa or Pan. Pour one ladle full of batter and flip when one side is done.

Pana for Pana Sankranti

Maha Vishuva Sankranti also known as Pana Sankranti is the beginning of the Odia  New Year.This generally falls on April 14 or 15 every year.
On this particular day a pot with a hole from bottom is filled with pana or a sweet drink is hung over Tulsi(Basil) plant. Pana made of chatua(horsegram flour),curd, cottage cheese ,banana, jaggery is offered to God and then consumed by everyone.

Ingredients:
5-6 Tbsp Chatua(Horsegram flour)
2 Tbsp Jaggery
1 banana mashed
2 Tbsp Chenna(Cottage cheese)
1 Tsp Chopped Ginger
1 Tbsp Chopped Raw Mango
1 cup Yoghurt

Mix all the things together and Offer it to God.

Odia Poda Pitha in Pressure cooker

This is a famous Pitha made in Odisha. Poda means burnt and Pitha is one type of cake. Mostly made during festivals but it has a special place during Raja festival which is celebrated in Odisha in the mid month of june for three days.

Ingredients:

1cup Urad dal
1/2 cup Rice
1/2 grated coconut
15-20 pieces chopped coconut
Handful of Raisins
15 - 20 cashewnuts halved
7-8 Tbsp Brown sugar
1/2 Tsp cardamom powder
1/2 Tsp Black pepper powder
2 Tbsp Ghee

Soak Urad dal and rice together for 8 hours. Blend it together to a thick smooth paste.Mix in all the ingredients together except ghee.
Take a pressure cooker put ghee to it and heat. Add the batter to it and slow the flame to minimum. Close the lid of pressure cooker without the whistle(do not put the whistle on the pressure cooker).
cook for an hour on slow flame. cut it once it is cooled.

Chenna Poda (Cheese Cake)

Chenna poda is an authentic Odia dish relished by every one.It literally means burnt cheese in odia.
It is made from home made cottage cheese and flavoured with sugar , nuts and raisins .When we go to our home town it is in our menu every day as it is readily available from local sweet shops.

Here we crave to eat those authentic sweets so try to make our own way.so coming to recipe:

Ingredients:
1 kg Cottage cheese(Home made paneer )(Can use store bought ricotta cheese)
1/2 cup suji (semolina)
2 cups of sugar
1/2 tsp of cardamom powder
1/2 cup chopped cashews and raisins

knead everything with your hand till it is well blended and smooth except nuts and raisins.
Then add cashews and raisins to it. Grease a baking tin and pour the mixture. Bake in an pre heated oven for 1 hour at 180 c. Take out and let it cool for 2-3 hours. Then cut and serve.It stays fresh for a week in refrigerator.

Blueberry and Strawberry Smoothie

Waiting for summer is very long this year. Although chilling winds are still blowing sometimes sun rays come through the glass windows and I feel summer is on its way.
Lots of fruits , drinks  and Barbeque comes to my mind when summer will finally come. But for now its this very Berry Smoothie.

Ingredients:

2 cups Low fat yoghurt
10-15 blueberries
5-6 Strawberries
3 Tbsp condensed milk
1Tbsp Rose syrup

Blend all the Ingredients and enjoy a summery drink.
You can also add some oats to it for a more healthy oatie drink.

Gramflour Sesame Cookies....Easter and Holi special

When its come to baking I can only think about the heavenly aroma filling the kitchen and whole house.....Although I am not that good with yeast sometimes:) but I think it needs a lot more practice.So for me cookies are always handy than baking bread.
Sometimes I crave for a sweet treat and what can be better than a homemade cookie from an airtight jar.  It is hardly kept in an airtight jar at my home....as soon as cookies are baked and cooled, it finishes in an hour.
This cookie is a healthier version as I am using gramflour and not normal plain flour and brown sugar gives it a chocolate flavour.

So now quickly coming to the recipe with so less ingredients:

1cup Gramflour
3/4 cup Brown sugar
2 tbsp crushed Sesame seeds
1/2 cup room temperature butter

Mix  all the ingredients to make a stiff dough.let it rest for 10-15 minutes.Make small rounds and flatten a little bit and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top. Place on a baking tray in a preheated oven at 180c for 10-15 minutes. Time varies from oven to oven so check for a golden colour to come. yummm for Tea time.