Oats Upma:

Ingredients:
1 cup Plain Oats ( Used Quaker whole grain )
1 cup veggies(carrot, onions, capsicum, beans..)
2 cups water
3 green chilies
1 tbs oil
1 tsp chana dal
4-5 curry leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp ginger( finely chopped)
1 tbs cashews (optional)
1 tbs cilantro(optional)
Salt
Directions:
1. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. Once it splatter, add chana, cashews. Fry for a
minute and add onions, green chilies, curry leaves. 
2. Once onions start getting soft, add veggies(carrots, capsicum, beans...).
3. Fry veggies till they get soft. Then add water and salt. Close the lid and bring it to boil.
4. Now add cilantro and oats, mix well and close the lid. 
5. Within 2 minutes oats upma should be ready.

Oats Dosa:

Oats is discovered as the only cereal with numerous health benefits for our lifestyle. But its boring to eat oats with milk which again has fat. I prefer a bit spicy breakfast. So thought of making healthy Indian tiffins. This is one of the creation from that thought. We usually have to plan the previous night to prepare dosas, but here its instant. Sounds good, right!;)

Ingredients:
1 cup plain oats (Used Quaker whole grain)
3/4 cup rice flour
1/4 cup sooji
2 green chilies
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp pepper powder
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 cup cilantro
salt
oil for dosa
onions & ginger (chopped very small)

Directions:

1. Add water to the mixture of oaks, rice flour and sooji, stir well and soak for about 10-15 min.

2. Add green chilies, cumin, pepper, ginger, cilantro, salt to oats mixture and grind all these ingredients into dosa batter consistency. 

3. Heat dosa pan. Take a ladle full of batter and spread to make dosa. Sprinkle some oil on the edges of dosa.

4. Sprinkle chopped onion and ginger on dosa. Once you feel its getting brown at the bottom, you can fold it and serve it. You need not turn it to other side. 

5. You can serve it just as pesarattu with ginger chutney or coconut chutney. 

Chow-Chow

Sounds like Chinese, isn't it! But I got this recipe from my sister-in-law who lives in Delhi. Of course made some changes to make it more healthy. This is the quick snack or sometimes breakfast I prepare very often. Nothing to shop for this recipe. Its all with ingredients from our refrigerator.  

Ingredients:
4 - Bread slices
2 eggs
2 green chilies
1 cup- veggies (carrot, capsicum, onions)
1tsp- oil
salt


Directions:
1. Take off brown edge of the bread slices and cut them into 1/2" cubes.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add veggies one by one- carrots, capsicum and onions. (You can sprinkle little salt on veggies to cook them fast). Then add green chilies. 
3. Once all the veggies are cooked soft, now add salt. 
4. Lower the heat, add egg, mix well with veggies and immediately add bread cubes. 
5. Now increase heat to medium and keep mixing bread cubes with egg. Within 2 minutes you see a dry mixture of bread chunks with egg coating. 
6. If you like, you can garnish with cilantro. 
7. For an extra richness, you can add cashews too. 

Vamu Anam / Ajwain Rice

Ajwain, also known as carom seeds contains thymol as the main essential oil which gives the seed a strong, dominant flavor and bitter taste which numbs the tongue when bitten. Ajwain is also used in vegetable dishes (for its distinctive taste) and pickles (for its preservative qualities). It also aids in digestion.
Ajwain rice is very simple and easy to make dish. This can be made with left over rice also. This is a very comforting food in case of cold, cough or acidity.
My Mom used to make this at home for breakfast usually with leftover rice. My sister likes this a lot that she cannot stop at one serving. I dont eat this rice much because of its strong pungent flavour.
Ajwain also has many medicinal properties. Below are a few home remedies using ajwain :
•As a digestive. Chew by itself or with a little sugar/salt to make it more palatable in its raw form.
•As a cure for diarrhoea, dysentry and indigestion. Boil a cup of water with 1 tbsp of Ajwain till the water is reduced to half its original volume. Drink this water.
•To relieve symptoms (like blocked nose, etc) of a cold. Add 1 tbsp of Ajwain to a bowl of boiling water and inhale the steam.

Ingredients : 
2 cups cooked rice
6 garlic cloves peeled and roughly chopped
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
4-5 dry red chilli
1 teaspoon urad dal
1 teaspoon chana dal
Few curry leaves
2 tablespoon carrom seeds (ajwain or vaamu)
Few fried cashews (optional)
1 tablespoon oil
1/4 teaspoon oil
salt to taste


Directions :
1. Add 1/4 teaspoon oil and little salt to cooked rice amd mix well with a fork. This prevents rice from sticking to each other.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan on medium heat.
3. Add garlic cloves and let them fry till golden brown.
4. Now, add urad dal and chana dal. Fry till urad gets slight colour. Then add cumin seeds, dry red chillis and curry leaves and fry for a minute.
5. Now add carrom seeds and fry for another minute.
6. Add little salt to oil and then add the rice and mix well. Mix slowly so that the rice does not break.
7. Check for salt and add more of required.
8. Let the rice fry for 2 to 3 minutes.
9. Remove from heat and serve hot.

Beetroot and Carrot poori

Ingredients :
4 Cups wheat flour , divided into 2 parts of 2 cups each
Salt according to taste
1/2 teaspoon Kalonji (black onion seeds)
1 medium beetroot
4 large carrots
1 tablespoon oil
Oil for deep frying


Directions : 
For Beetroot poori : 
1. Peel and roughly chop the beetroot.  Add the beetroot to a blender and blend into coarse paste.
2. Strain the juice using a strainer and also squeeze the juice from the pulp to get a clear liquid(we use a juicer which separates the juice and the pulp).
3. In a mixing bowl, add 2 cups of wheat flour,1/4th teaspoon salt,1/2 tablespoon oil,half of the kalonji seeds and mix well to incorporate all the oil into the flour.
4. Slowly add the beetroot juice and knead the dough. Add the juice slowly as you may not require all of it. The dough should not be very soft or very hard.
5. Once the dough is made, smear a couple of drops of oil and coat the dough. Oil will avoid the dough from becoming dry.
6. Cover and allow the dough to rest for 30minutes.


For Carrot poori : 
1. Peel and roughly chop the carrots and blend into a coarse paste.
2. Strain the juice using a strainer and also squeeze the juice from the pulp to get a clear liquid.
3. In a mixing bowl, add 2 cups of wheat flour,1/4th teaspoon salt,1/2 tablespoon oil,rest of the kalonji seeds and mix well to incorporate all the oil into the flour.
4. Knead the dough by slowly adding the carrot juice and make the dough similar to the one mentioned above.
5. Cover and allow the dough to rest for 30minutes.

To make the pooris : 
1. Knead the dough once again before making the pooris.
2. Heat oil for frying pooris on a medium flame. Allow the oil to heat very well.
3. Make small smooth balls of the dough of desired size.
4. Roll the pooris with a rolling pin.
5. Once the oil is hot, slowly drop the poori into the oil and once the poori floats on the oil, slightly press it with the ladle(this will help the poori to puff up).

6. Flip the puri and cook on the other side.

7. Remove the poori from oil and place it on a paper towel to remove excess oil. Repeat the process for all the pooris.
8. Serve hot with chole.


Note : Do not roll the poori very thin, they will not puff up. And, use very little flour to dust the pooris while rolling.
The making of poori is similar for both beetroot and carrot dough.