Kids food - Sweet Potato Muffins

Most of us do not use sweet potato as much as we use potatoes. This wonderful root is a rich source of several vitamins, antioxidants as well as fibre. In one of the recent articles that I read , was quite surprised to see that this humble vegetable being one of the seven food that kids should have on a regular basis, among the other foods like yogurt, salmon(or any other food rich in omega 3 fatty acid) , spinach, walnuts and almonds, berries and avacado.

While making oven roasted fries is an option, baking muffins with them is another easiest way to include this vegetable in the kids diet.

Here is a simple and easy recipe to impress the kids with sweet potato.


Ingredients:
1 cup Whole wheat flour
1 cup All purpose flour/Maida
11/2 tsp baking powder
11/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup brown sugar or regular granulated sugar
3/4 cup sweet potato , cooked and mashed
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1 egg


Method:
Preheat oven to 350F / 180 C
Cook the sweet potatoes till soft , peel and mash them
Beat the egg seperatly in a small bowl
Combine all the dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and sugar in a large bowl .Mix well using a whisk
Add the milk, oil and egg to the dry ingredients and mix gently.
Stir in the sweet potatoes, combine until smooth


Fill in the muffin cups  and bake for 18 - 20 mins

Sending these healthy muffins to the "Show me your muffins " event by Divya at Dil-se

Spring At its Most Beautiful ! - The Blue Bells of Halle

Blue Bells in full bloom at the Halle forest (HallBros) Belgium. We spent a good 4 hours of trekking through the forest. It was a magical experience to see the forest covered in a blue carpet. A visual treat to the eyes.
Missed my SLR though :(  (Well  I lost it during my trip in Barcelona). Have to live with the Sony cybershot for some time :)

Here are some pictures for you all to enjoy :) Have a nice weekend.

Kadalaimaavu Paniyaram / Besan Kasuri Methi Paniyaram

Here's a quick and easy snack that can be made in about 20 mins. Since the non-stick paniyaram kal is used very little amount of oil goes into this, making it a healthy low fat snack. 

Ingredients:
1 cup Kadalai maavu /Besan
1/4 cup Rice flour
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Baking soda (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Chilli powder/ chopped green chilllies
1 tblsp Kasuri Methi
1 cup thinly sliced Onions
1/2 tsp  hing/Asoefotida
11/2 cup water


Method:
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well using a whisk for about 2 mins.
Then add the onions and mix well with about a cup  and half of water. 
The consistency should be slightly thicker than Idly batter. 
Allow the batter to rest for atleast 10 mins
Heat up the paniyaram pan or the appe pan  add 1/4 tsp of oil in each mould.
Add a tblsp full of the batter in each of the mould and cook covered for a minute in medium heat.
Remove the lid and flip the paniyarams gently to the other side.
Cook till golden brown.
Serve with any chutney or sauce.

Notes:
Resting the batter for atleast 10 mins results in soft and fluffy paniyarams.
You can increase or decrease the spice level as per your taste.
Baking soda is absolutely optional, the result is good even without using it.
If you don't have a paniyaram kal, use the same ingredients(except the baking powder) to make soft pakoda's deep fried in oil, comes out really good.

Bakes from other blogs - Posts from the archives

Today I was sincerely organizing and clearing up my folders with pictures, it turned turned out to be a humongous task..really. 
How do u all  keep track of your 'blogged' and 'to be blogged' posts and pictures. Any tips on that would be greatly appreciated.
Anyways I came across some delicious cakes that I baked when my kid was a year old. Can you believe, it was about two years back. Better late than never - is what I say to myself :). The recipes were from Sunita's world. Her blog inspired me to venture out into the world of baking, until then it was just banana bread for me :)


Lemon Coconut Cake


Absolutely delicious cake. I followed the recipe with minor changes such as only 4 eggs and no cashew nuts.

Banana Chocolate Almond Cake

Have a Great Weekend :)

Semiya Kichadi - In the memory of my Brother

I made and pictured this dish long back but never get to post it, as I thought that the picture was not so good. But today somehow I felt like blogging about this dish as this was my Brother's favorite breakfast item. As a matter of fact he would have this any time of the day. He had asked me couple of times about why I have not blogged this recipe for which I answered that 'there's nobody out there who would be interested in this one other than you'....

Much to the irony, he left home having Semiya Kichadi (Amma made this on his request) as breakfast on the day fate took him away from us.

I did'nt even name the picture properly while storing, so had to spent almost an hour digging through all the folder in my archives and was so happy to have found it atlast.

So here goes the recipe...in the memory of my dear brother....

Ingredients:

1 cup Semiya/Vermicelli

1 large onion

4 pods of garlic

1inch ginger

2 green chillies

handful of mint (optional)

1 cup mixed vegetables (carrots, peas, beans, potatoes)

oil and salt to taste.

Method.

Dice the vegetables to small cubes

Crush the garlic and ginger.

Slit the green chillies and thinly slice the onions

Roast the semiya/vermicelli in about a tblsp of oil under medium flame, till slightly brown.Keep aside

In the same pan add 2 tblsp of oil. Add the crushed garlic and ginger, sliced onions, green chillies,mint  and curry leaves. Saute till the onions wilt and turn translucent.

Add the chopped veggies and salt. Stir well for about 3 mins.

Now add 1 1/2 (one and half) cup of water and close with a lid.

When the water starts to boil add the roasted vermicelli and cook till all the water is absorbed.