Rise and Shine Papaya Breakfast - Vegan

Papaya is a buttery sweet tropical fruit. I have developed this craze for the fruit lately. I made this awesome Tropical Detox Smoothie which is just amazing - super tasty and super healthy. Do give it a try. The next day I went ahead and made this for breakfast and it was just out of the world. Try it, you will love it. This is not so much a recipe, it is more a combination that I wanted to suggest you try :-)



Ingredients

Papaya 1 cup Chopped (used half a small papaya)
Flavoured Yogurt 1 cup (had pear yogurt, so used that) - use Vegan yogurt or Regular yogurt.
Granola 2 tbsp (Homemade Granola Recipe here. or use store bought)

Method of Preparation

1. Make a paste of papaya in a blender. Add sugar if needed. Mine was sweet and so I did not add any. Transfer to the cup.

2. Add a layer of the yogurt.

3. Top it with Granola. Make sure it has some fruits, nuts and seeds. It will give a nice crunch

4. Drizzle some honey/maple syrup or chocolate syrup if you like. Mine does not have any. Dig in!!

You can prepare this ahead of time in a jar and keep in fridge and grab as you run out of the door. Will make a super filling breakfast!

Masala Oats Toast

Eating oats for breakfast may be a thing that you enjoy. But I know quite a few people who like something spicy and savoury for their breakfast. This is one interesting way of incorporating oats in your breakfast without eating the porridge. You will fall in love with this!

Oats Pesarattu - Oats and Green Moong Dal Crepes

Pesarattu is a crepe made with Green Moong Dal. Check the Original Recipe here. Today's version of it is a healthier version of it with the addition of Oats. A power packed, tasty, and healthy breakfast to give your day a head start.



We love Oats in our house. So it is not surprising that my blog is loaded with Oats Recipes. Do Check out some of these lovely recipes and try them at home.

Oats Pongal
Oats Idli
Oats Adai
Apple Raisin Oatmeal
Vegan Chocolate Banana Oatshake
Classic Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Homemade Granola with Fruits and Nuts



Ingredients

Green Moong Dal 3/4 cup
Oats 1.5 cups
Green Chilli 1 or 2
Ginger 1 inch bit
Salt to taste
Oil to cook the dosa

Method of Preparation

1. Soak the moong dal overnight. Drain water and grind to a smooth paste by adding a little water along with the green chillies and ginger.

2. Heat a pan and add the oats. Toast it till a nice aroma comes. Cool and powder it. Add to the dal batter.

3. Add enough water to make a thick batter.

4. Heat a tawa and pour a laddle of batter and make dosa (Spread it). Add a little oil to cook it.

5. Cook on one side and flip and cook on the other side.

6. Repeat for the rest of the batter. Serve with Chutney of your choice.

After cooking with Legumes and making Salads, Anu, Radhika and I (my recipes) are making Dosa Varieties this month. Stay tuned for more dosa varieties from all of us. 

Granola Trifle

Last week I made some Homemade Granola. You will not believe how easy it is to put together a Granola at home. Once you make it, you will never buy again. After a couple of days of eating the Granola with milk, my mind wandered in search of something new to do with the Granola. So here you go. Super Simple Trifle. You can eat this as breakfast or you can even serve this as healthy dessert!

Don't want to make your own Granola? No worries, just use a store bought one.



Ingredients

Granola 3/4 cup (Homemade Granola recipe here)
Flavoured Yogurt 1 cup (I used blueberry yogurt)
Berries of choice (I did not have have any that day)

Method of Preparation

1. Take the serving cup and start with a layer of Granola 1/4 cup.

2. Add Half the yogurt.

3. Add some more granola (1/4 cup)

4. Add the rest of the yogurt.

5. Top with the rest of the granola.

6. Finish off with a layer of berries (As I said, I did not have any that day). But berries add to a freshness to the Trifle. So don't miss it.

Don't forget to check the Homemade Granola!

Homemade Granola with Fruits and Nuts

Granola is a popular breakfast food made of oats. It usually has some oil/butter in it and is sweetened with some honey, maple syrup or golden syrup. You can add a choice of spices to it. And of course some nuts, seeds and dry fruits. The combination of all these is a super healthy breakfast that no one can resist.



Eating cereal as part of breakfast became a habit when I moved to US, though I have eaten it a few times in India as well. Then along the line came Oats. I would be lying if I told you that I fell in love with it instantly. Over the years I have learned to love it. Oats, some Soy Milk and Raisins is how I like my oats.



Then came the era of Muesli and Granola. My first experience was with a Muesli. Well, you might at this point ask what is the difference. If you do not know, Muesli is basically uncooked oats mixed with fruit and nut. So it is more like toss everything and it is ready to go! But there comes the problem. I am not a uncooked oats kind of person. Plus did I tell you Muesli usually does not have much added sweeteners to it. Well, that is not good either for my taste buds, is it? I tried it a few times and quit. I was told last weekend by someone how she likes to eat her muesli which has been soaked overnight in milk. That kind of sounds interesting. I have to say I am tempted to try.



Well, anyways during those days of not liking Muesli and looking for something different we found Granola. As with a lot of things those days, we did find him in the isles of Costco. We loved it instantly. And we did eat it for a long time and lost him somewhere during our move to UK. I again stumbled upon him (you know Mr.Granola) recently. This time, I am a home cook and a baker. So I knew I had to try it at home.



We do not get the nice thick oats here. All we get is the Scottish Porridge Oats. Its not as thin as the instant ones, but not quite thick as well. Looking for thicker oats ended in a failure. I was almost about to give up when someone told me that they make Granola with Scottish Porridge Oats. And when Avant Garde Cookies decided to make something with the letter G - I knew G is for Granola!!!



Ingredients

Oats 3 cups

Nuts, Seeds and Fruits
Almond 1/2 cup
Sunflower seeds 1/2 cup
Pumpkin seeds 1/2 cup
Dry Fruits (Raisins, Cherries, Orange peel, pineapple etc) 2 cups

Spices
Ginger Powder 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon Powder 1/2 tsp
Salt 1/4 tsp

Wet Ingredients
Golden Syrup 1/2 cup
Oil 2 tbsp
Vanilla Extract 1 tsp

Method of Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 165 C. Brush a baking pan with some oil (use a little of the oil used in the recipe).

2. In a bowl add Oats, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, salt, ginger powder and cinnamon powder. Give it a nice toss.

3. Mix the golden syrup, oil and vanilla extract in a small bowl.

4. Add this to the oats mix. Mix everything together till the oats are coated with the syrup mix.

5. Transfer to the baking tray.

6. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Bake till the oats are nicely browned, without burning it.

7. It will not be too crunchy when it comes out of the oven. Let it cool and then it will get crunchier.

8.Mix the dried fruits. I felt that the granola had a little too much fruits. Next time I will add only 1 cup of dried fruits.

Check out the other AGC thoughout this week 
Anusha, Jayanthi, Kavitha, Priya M, Radhika, Priya S

Classic Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Growing up I have eaten only biscuits. Cookies is something that had for the first time when I lived in US. The famous Chocolate Chip Cookies did not interest me much. My love affair with cookies started when I ate Oatmeal Raisin Cookies! The Crisp outer layer and the chewy inside with it melt in the mouth taste, the sweetness from the raisin and the goodness of oats. What's not to like.



There is a restaurant in US called the Panera Bread. They have an array of amazing soups, bread and ofcourse, cookies. They do a catering box with soup, 1/2 sandwich and a cookie. We used order that a lot when we ordered lunch as a group in office. And my favourite was the Oatmeal Raisin Cookie. Those cookies are not the small ones that I have made. They were slightly bigger than the size of our palm. They were pretty amazing considering it comes from the kitchen of a chain restaurant. I usually do not go ga ga over mass produced stuff.





My son and I have been doing all our baking experiments together. As it does not involve any gas flame and hot pans/pots I am more comfortable letting him work with me. I measure out ingredients and he keeps count of the cups and then adds them to the bowl. Does most of the mixing etc. I let him do as much as a little one of 4 yrs can do. You get the idea right! So we don our aprons. No, not figuratively. We actually do. One rainy afternoon last week, we baked these cookies and enjoyed it warm afterwards.





Ingredients (makes about 2 dozen small cookies)

Butter 6 tbsp
Brown Sugar 1/2 cup
Sugar 1/4 cup
Milk 2 tbsp
Egg 1/2
Vanilla Extract 1/2 tsp

All Purpose Flour 1/2 cup
Cinnamon 1/2 tsp
Baking soda 1/4 tsp
Salt 1/8 tsp

Oats 1.5 cups
Raisins 1/2 cup
Chopped Almonds (or peacans or any nut of your choice) 1/2 cup - optional





Method of Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 190 C (375 F). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. Sift the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

3. Beat the butter, sugars, milk, egg and vanilla in a large bowl till light and fluffy

4. Add the flour mix to this mixing well.

5. Stir in oats, raisins and nuts.

6. Drop tablespoon full of dough to the sheet. Don't worry if they are not perfect in shape or anything. It will just be lumpy. And will shape up while baking.

7. Bake for 12-15 min. For softer cookie bake for less time and more time for a crispier cookie. I baked mine for about 13 min.

8. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 10-15 minutes. Note that the cookie will be very soft when it comes out of the oven. It will become harder as it cools down.

Enjoy!

Vegan Chocolate Banana Oatshake

Breaky Shaky is theme for this weeks AGC. We decided to pick this just because we all fell in love with the name Priya suggested :-)

Though I enjoy milk shakes and yogurt based shakes, I rarely make it for breakfast. I feel it will not fill me up as a bowl of oats or a bowl of cereal will.

Made this Vegan Breakfast shake and we all enjoyed an indulgent breakfast. To be honest neither my husband nor I are still sure if we can swap this for our regular breakfast :-)



Ingredients (makes 2 cups)

Oats 1 cup
Soy Milk (or regular milk) 2 cups
Boost (or cocoa powder) 2 tbsp
Cardamom 1/4 tsp
Banana 1 big

Method of Preparation

1. Mix oats, soy milk, boost and cardamom powder and keep in fridge overnight.

2. Add banana pieces to a mixie and pulse to make paste.

3. Add the oats mix and pulse again.

Enjoy a healthy breaky shaky!!

Check out the other AGC thoughout this week 
Anusha, Jayanthi, Kavitha, Priya M, Radhika, Veena, Priya S

Oats Adai

Basking on the success of Oats Idli, I made the Oats Adai the very next day. This was our thought process. Husband asked me - can you made adai tomorrow. I said sure. and then - can you suggest a variation to the regular adai so that I can post in my blog. He had just finished eating Oats Idli and so to tease me he said - why not add oats. Little did he know that it is an actual recipe and I will make it...

It tasted quite like the normal adai. Did not find much difference. The only thing that we found different was the graininess of rice that you find in adai was missing. So imagine while making regular adai, you by mistake make a fine paste instead of the 'kara kara' paste. Something like that. Tasty never the less. Will be making this often.



Makes about 15 adai

Ingredients

Oats  2 cups
Toor Dal 1/2 cup
Urad Dal 1/2 cup
Channa Dal 1/4 cup
Onion 1 finely chopped
Red Chilli 1 (Add more for spicy adai)
Curry Leaves few
Hing
Salt

Optional (I did not add this time. But I usually add for adai)
Coconut, green chilli, coriander leaves

Method of Preparation

1. Soak the dal overnight or atleast 5-6 hours.

2. Toast the oats in a pan. Powder it.

3. Drain water from the dal. Add red chilli, hing and salt. Also add green chilli, curry leaf and coriander leaf if using. Grind into a coarse paste with enough water.

4. Transfer to a vessel. Add the oats as well. Add more water if needed.

5. Mix in the chopped onions as well.

6. Make dosas as you will with normal adai.

Enjoy with chutney or molaga podi



Linking this to EP Herbs and Spices - Curry Leaf and Red Chilli Event by Julie hosted by Poonam

Oats Idli

Oats are quite popular in our house. We eat it as a porridge and we all love it. Making savoury with oats was not a popular thing in our house. I somehow convinced my husband a few weeks ago for a Magic Mingle event and made Oats Pongal. Though it is a popular dish in the internet, it was not a hit in our family.

When I saw Radhika post the recipe for Oats Idli, I was attracted to it from the click. She described it as a family favourite. I told my husband it is a sure hit. He was not too sure. He asked me "Are you sure she said it was a hit and not that she got hit". But I trust Radhika completely. Never failed with any of her recipes. So I made it.

I am soooo glad I tried it. We all loved it sooo much. Even made some mini idlis for my little one with it. This recipe is a keeper.



Indredients (Makes about 20 idlis)

Oats 2 cups
Rava/Semolina 1 cup
Yogurt 1 cup
Water 1.5 cups
Eno Fruit Salt 1 tsp
Mustard 1/2 tsp
Urad dal 1 tsp
Channa Dal 1 tsp
Hing a little
Grated carrots 4
Oil and Salt to taste



Method of Preparation

1. Heat a pan and toast the oats for a couple of minutes. Cool and powder it.

2. In the same pan, heat a little oil. Add mustard.

3, When it sputters, add urad dal and channa dal. When it browns, add carrots and saute for a couple of minutes. You can optionally add some green chillies, curry leaves and coriander leaves. I did not today.

4. Add the rava and saute for 2 more minutes.

5. Add to a bowl. Add the oats and salt. Mix well.

6. Add yogurt and required water and mix to form a batter.

7. Grease the idli moulds. Add fruit salt to the batter. Mix and pour to the moulds.

8. Steam for about 15 minutes (after the steam starts coming from the cooker). Take out and cool for a couple of minutes.

Serve with chutney.

Oats Pongal

It was quite interesting for me to make Oats Pongal. We eat oats quite often in our home. We cook oats, mix with some soya milk and raisins and enjoy a warm porridge. Occasionally, I add some apples or bananas to the oats. I love eating Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (my fav cookies, yet to make it- some day soon) and oatmeal bar. But never made or tasted anything savoury with oats.

When I told my husband I wanted to try making Oats Pongal for the Magic Mingle event, he gave me a look. It took me a week to convince him to let me make it.

Do you ever get scared of adding sugar to a curry or salt to your tea. I always keep them in different kinds of bottle and double check before adding. Today my hands were shaking when I was adding salt to oats. Something felt wrong.

Verdict - My little one refused to eat it. I said try it first and then if you don't like it you don't need to eat it. He tried a couple of spoons and then said a No. I first felt it was no different from the regular pongal. But as I kept eating it, I was not too sure :-) Husband felt it was ok and said he would not mind if I made again. So I guess though there are people out there who love oats in Indian savoury breakfast, it is not for our family.

I was not sure if I wanted to post this. But then I thought, it tasted as it should and it is a recipe. Just cause I don't like something is not a reason for not posting. :-) So here you go. Do let me know if you have ever tried making Indian tiffin with oats and how your family likes it



Ingredients

Oats 1 cup
Moong Dal 1/2 cup
Pepper 1.5 tsp
Cumin 1 tsp
Cashews few
Ginger a small piece finely chopped
Ghee 1 tbsp

Method of Preparation

1. Pressure cook the moong dal with enough water.

2. Heat 2 cups of water in a pot. Add the oats when the water comes to a boil. Cook till the oats is almost done.

3. Add the cooked moong dal and some salt. Cook till it starts to come together. Switch off.

4. Crush 1 tsp of pepper and the cumin in a mixie to a coarse paste. In a separate pan, heat some ghee. Add the cashews. When they start to roast, add the ginger and cumin-pepper powder and the rest of the whole peppers. Add to the oats and mix well.

Serve with some chutney or sambar.


Linking this to Magic Mingle #7
Linking this to Show me your hits - lentils and legumes. Event by Sangee, hosted by Nalini

Apple Raisin Oatmeal

The trip to India actually brought back memories of our first week together. Ours was an arranged marriage. Though we knew each other for almost a year before we got married, it was weird at first. I moved into a house he had been living for 3+ years. I felt like I was in his territory. Even today I remind him that he told me 'Don't touch my things' (Though he did not, atleast not in that sense). Then I went on a shopping spree, changing things here and there starting with the kitchen. That is when I felt like it was my home, our home.

After coming home after 2 months, I was feeling really weird. Things were not as they were supposed to be. The first week of us being back, my husband had to travel for 3 days :-( Then we had a 4 day Easter break. This weekend we went and bought some grocery. Yes the house was nearly devoid of anything useful. So it was like I had to go to the Indian store and buy the store. Luckily for him, I did not plan on redoing anything in the house. But then, to be fair to him, he did let me do a lot (I mean A LOT) of shopping in India. When we were driving home, I told him I was feeling weird the last week and now I feel like I am in charge. He remarked  - like when we got married....

I am lucky to have you in my life.. We celebrated our 6th Anniversary with a trip to Wyanad in India. Looking forward to more fun years with you....

In those initial years of marriage, he introduced me to Oats and Soya Milk. I used to eat my oats and cereal with regular milk and he with Soya milk. Then eventually I also switched to Soya Milk.. Now neither of us can eat our cereal or oats with regular milk. We do consume regular milk with every thing else. Just a question of habit :-)

Now off to the recipe for today.... I was browsing thru Harini's blog to find a recipe for Bloghop. I have been following her for a little while now after I found her during one of the bloghop weeks. She has a huge collection... I am going to try a lot of her recipes... I have them bookmarked. When I saw the recipe for Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal, I knew I had to try it. I did make some small changes to the recipe. Here is my version of the oatmeal



Ingredients : Serves 2

Oats 1 cup
Apple 1 Peeled and chopped into small bits
MTR Badam Powder 2 tbsp
Raisins 1/4 cup
Milk or Soy Milk for Serving

Method of Preparation

1. Boil 2 cups of water in a pan.

2. Add the Oats and Apple to it and cook till it is done and most water is absorbed.

3. Transfer to 2 cups. Add a tbsp of Badam Powder to the cup. I love the taste of the badam powder. You can add some saffron and cardamom while cooking the oats. Or you can use cinnamon like Harini did.

4. Add the raisins.

5. Mix with enough milk or soya milk till you get the desired consistency.

Enjoy a warm filling breakfast.

Sending this to Blog Hop Wednesday





Sending this to the Toddler Healthy Breakfast/Dinner (Nithu's event) hosted by me this month.