Eating made easy

In the fast-food era, quick made recipes prove to be good for health too, if done with a little care and love. All you do is bring some twist to the everyday ingredients. Financial adviser Rema Secar, also a passionate chef, picks a few.

Beetroot Puri

Ingredients
Wheat flour - 2 cups
Rawa (semolina) -2tbsp
Beetroot - 2 to 3
Ajwain
Salt - to taste,  
Asafoetida  powder - a pinch
Fresh coriander leaves - finely chopped,
Oil - to fry

METHOD
Wash the beetroot remove skin & grate it.
Cook it with just enough water.
Keep it to cool.
In a vessel add all the other ingredients .
Add the beetroot. Knead to make a dough .
Remove excess water if any before adding to the flour.
Prepare the dough as for puri.
Can set aside the dough for 5-10 mins.
Make small balls.
Roll into Puris.
Deep fry in oil.
Once the oil is hot, keep it on medium flame.

Tips: Red chili powder or garam masala can be added to the dough according to taste. One can also pressure cook the beetroot and then grate it. Mixing little rawa to the puri dough prevents it from absorbing oil. It can be had as a snack with homemade sweet pickle or sweet dates chutney or as main meal  with raita. This is a good way of getting the nutritional benefits of beetroot for those who don't like it the raw form.

Cucumber and Sweet Corn Raita

(Ideal for summer)

Ingredients
Thick yogurt - One cup
Cucumber - 1/2
Green chili - 1
Sweet corn kernels - 1/2 cup
Coriander leaves - finely chopped
Roasted jeera (cumin) powder - as required
Salt - to taste.

METHOD
Fine chop peeled cucumber.
Slit the green chili.
Add all ingredients to the yogurt except jeera  powder and coriander leaves. Mix well.
Sprinkle the jeera powder on top.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Tips: Fresh sweet corn tastes better. Use fresh ones. Pressure cook the corn for the kernels to come off easily. Raita tastes good even if chilled.

Ragi Laddoo

Ingredients
Ragi powder - 1 cup
Jaggery powder - 3/4 cup
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Melted ghee - 1/4 cup or as required.

METHOD
Put the pan in low heat and roast ragi powder till the raw taste disappears.
Remove from fire.
Add the jaggery powder to it. Mix well.
Add cardamom powder .
Add ghee.
Mix and make into laddoo shape.
The Ragi mixture doesn't have to be hot to make laddoos.
Easy to make one can stock these laddoo for healthy binging. Remains good for a week.