Whole-grain Quinoa Adai/Crepe

Are you someone like me who hoards whole grains and other healthy ingredients in your pantry? I often get grains like steel cut oats, wheat bran, wheat berries and quinoa with an enthusiasm to cook healthy wholesome meals. But after using the ingredients in a recipe or two, the bag lies somewhere behind in my pantry, begging to be looked upon again! When I saw this adai recipe, I knew I can use up all those lurking ingredients in my pantry to make up a wholesome adai.

This adai is wholly made of wholesome ingredients and would make a great addition to a diet. It is very filling and can be had for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Ingredients
Recipe Source: Veg Inspirations

Brown Rice - 1/2 cup
Pearl Barley - 1/2 cup
Steel Cut Oats - 1/2 cup (can be replaced by rolled oats)
Quinoa - 1/2 cup
Urad dal(whole black gram dal) - 1/3 cup
Toor dal (split pigeon peas) - 1/3 cup
Mung Dal (Green gram dal) - 1/3 cup

Green chillies - 4
Dry red chillies - 4
Asafoetida/Hing - 1 pinch
Sesame oil / Any vegetable oil - to cook the adai
Salt to taste

Instructions

1. Soak the first seven ingredients in enough water for about 3 to 4 hours. Then drain the water.
2. Grind together the soaked grains with the green chillies, red chillies, asafoetida and salt in a mixie/blender into a smooth batter adding a little water if required. The batter should be in a consistency similar to the regular dosa batter.
3. In a tawa or griddle, pour a ladle full of the batter in the center and slowly spread the batter in circles.
4. Drizzle some oil around the adai and allow it to cook for about 2 minutes until it gets golden brown in color.
5. Flip with the help of a spatula and cook on the other side as well.
6. Serve warm with a chutney or podi of your choice.

Raw banana(plantain) fry/ Vazhakkai poriyal

I always pick up raw plantain during our trip to the Indian store. Our favorite way to have this raw banana is in the form of banana chips or as bajji. I occasionally make this stir fry with simple spices and this makes a great accompaniment to dal and rice and also with rotis and chapatis as a dry curry.

Ingredients
Raw plantain / Vazhakkai - 1
Onion - 1/2 medium sized
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
All-Purpose curry powder/Sambar powder/Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Oil - 1 teaspoon
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Urad dahl - 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Salt to taste

Directions
Peel the raw plantain and chop the plantain into small cubes.
In a wide saucepan, heat the oil and do the tempering with mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves.
Once everything starts spluttering, add the chopped onions and saute until it turns translucent.
Then add the chopped raw plantain and the spice powder (all-purpose curry powder/chilli powder/sambar powder), turmeric powder and salt.
Mix everything together and add half a cup of water. Cover and cook for about two minutes.
Remove the lid and stir everything together again. Allow the plantain to roast and turn crispy and golden brown for about five minutes.
Remove from heat and serve warm with rice and any curry or dal.

Savory Bombay French Toast

I like to have eggs for breakfast. It is healthy and nutritious to have a wholesome and filling breakfast. Eggs are filled with protein and vitamins and make a great start to the day!

I usually make anaheim scramble, desi omelette, veggie egg scramble, egg salsa dosai or egg cheese sandwich. When I saw these spicy bombay toast at Siri's place, I new I had to make it. I made this french toast when I had to make breakfast just for myself. Cooking for one can be monotonous and boring. I made this toast with one slice of bread and one egg and accompanied it with a mug of chamomile tea making it a great start to the day!!

Ingredients
Bread - 1 slice
Egg - 1
Milk - 1 tablespoon
Onion - 1 tablespoon finely chopped
Hot sauce - 1/2 teaspoon
Cilantro/Parsley - 1 teaspoon chopped
Salt to taste

Instructions
In a shallow bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, chopped onions, hot sauce, cilantro and salt.

Also, cut the bread into two halves.

Heat a saucepan and drizzle with some oil. Dip the cut bread into the egg mixture so that it coats well on both sides.

Allow the bread to cook on both sides until it browns evenly.

Serve warm with ketchup or hot sauce or just by itself!

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