What healthy meal did I eat today

Yet another healthy dosa with the wonder grain Quinoa. I read this in a blog and made some modifications.

Quinoa Dosa:

Quinoa - 2 cups
Apple cider vinegar - 1 tbsp ( you can use yogurt too) (I read that this is added for some phyto chemical reaction - not sure what exactly that it).
Urad Flour - 1/4 to 1/2 cup
Fruit salt - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste

Soak quinoa with apple cider vinegar for water 2 hours. You could soak it for less time also but make sure you see quinoa sprouting.

Grind it to a fine paste.

Add urad flour to it and mix well. This is optional. the original recipe didn't require this. But I found adding urad flour made it better.

Add salt as required.

Add Fruit salt. This is optional too. I add this to get a soft dosa. Otherwise this dosa will be like like wheat flour dosa little dense and sticky.

do not ferment the batter and make dosas immediately.

Quinoa has nutty flavor and I felt the best combo would be some spicy chutney - Onion chutney and Red Bell pepper chutney are my picks.

 

I am not sure how basmati would work for this. I always thought basmati rice was not for any tiffins. Don't know why though. You can try and let us know.

I think the only thing that matters is whether it fermented or not. Usually I leave it overnight. So, thats why I said 8 hrs. Btw, how do you make it ferment quicker? Tell me the trick too.

Aswini

 

Thanks Aswini. I've already left the thing to soak at home, so lets see how it turns out.

To help it ferment, I leave it in a preheated oven, add some fruit salt, a small piece of bread, or add some dry yeast etc because its hard to get it to ferment enough on its own in 8 hours in the cold weather.

A friend of mine swears by leaving it beside plants in the sunlight etc LOL - her theory is that helps fermenting because there are more yeast around plants :crazy. Another actually uses the green chillies that are sorta blackening their skin (gasp!), she dips the blackening green chilli into the batter saying its "inducing natural yeast colonies" :crazy. Not sure I'd try either of them, but they both make the best dosas ever.

 

could u please tell what quinoa is?I have never heard this word before.kudos to u for inspiring we Ilites to shed weight.I am also making up my mind to practice restrain in my intake of food.I am a great foodie andI want to reduce my weight.right now I am on vacation & I am going to follow in your footsteps if i can once i get back home.
thanks
deep2008

 

Dear Shiva,Have any idea where you get to buy quinoa in abudhabi?I have heard apple cider vinegar helps to lose weight.Any idea on this?Liked your aloo gobi recipe.Can you tell me the approx amount of masalas used.I am a South indian .I really love North indian curries and sabjis.I always have North indian thaali when eating out as I can taste various North indian dishes.Now I have restricted eating out to once a month.Please give recipes for healthy dal makhni,rajma etc.What are the subji's you usually make?Is the method the same for all?Do you just change the combinations of vegetable?.Your help will be greatly appreciated.sorry for asking so many questions.

 

shiva,
u have started another thread .........gud yaar.ur sabji looks delicious.i like all type of northindian sabjis.thnx a lot.btw what masala u use?readymade ones,if so pls tell me the brand.
dh was telling me that in the veg market they dip cauliflower in bleach to retain its freshness,i mean in most parts of our country..........so everyone,if ur not doing this,keep the cauliflower,infact all the veggies nd fruits in salt water atleast 15-30 mins before cooking/eating.

 

No Shiva. It doesn't get sour since we just add a tablespoon of vinegar. And yes, drain the soaked water after soaking it for an hour or so and then grind. You can try omitting it and just soaking it in water. As I said, I read that it was for some kind of chemical reaction.

You can get as innovative as you want. sometimes, I add oats to it and make Oats-Quinoa dosa. Some times I add regular leftover dosa batter. As I had mentioned, I love anything in the form of dosas. So I make some crazy combos. Try it and make your own modification as you like.

Love you aloo gobhi sabji.

Aswini

 

Aswini,

Your brown-rice dosa recipe (though with the basmati-brown because that's what I had at home LOL) was a hit last night! They were the best, crispiest dosas ever, and nutritious; also, I was somehow able to make them without a drop of oil, yet they remained crispy. Thanks for the inspiration.

I wanted to post some pictures of them, LOL, but we were so hungry last night, we gobbled them up before we realized there were none left to take pictures of! :rotfl

When you add oats, how do you do it? Could please write a small post about the combos you make? I'd love to try some.

P.S. Apologies about bugging you like this, but this sounds very good and nutritious, so I'd love to learn something!! Thanks to this thread, we're making a conscious choice at eating healthier every meal.