Protein parfait bowl with a twist!

That feeling when you can barely walk straight, your body is shaking and the stomach has cramps- does this feeling sound familiar? It's the feeling after an hour of intense strength training work-out and the hunger pangs that ensue after! It's easy to give in to that most natural instinct to dig into something from the pantry. But if you can curb it for an extra 5 minutes, you are sure to be rewarded with this bowl of intense pleasure and health! This sums up the birth of my parfait bowl this morning!

The base is inspired by "Deliciously Ella's" protein shake recipe. Freezing ripe bananas is a fairly recent but consistent habit in my kitchen ever since I discovered how it lends the creaminess to shakes/smoothies sans the richness of some of the dairy products.

Ingredients 

Smoothie/shake

1 frozen banana chopped

1 ripe mango

Handful of spinach leaves

3/4 cup unsweetened cold Almond milk

1 tbsp Almond butter

1 tbsp vanilla flavored whey protein powder

2-3 ice cubes

Mix-ins

4 large strawberries

1 tbsp sunflower seeds

1/2 cup good quality muesli or granola

Serves-2 

Method

Put all the shake ingredients in a high power blender (I use Breville Boss, my most used kitchen appliance after the stove/microwave!). Pour it into individual bowls and top with the "mix-ins". Enjoy the parfait smoothie/shake bowl right away and feel even better about that work-out you just did!

Rava-Oats idli with Zucchini-tomato rasam and cilantro-coconut chutney

Sunday dinners ought to be quick and enjoyable, the former because you are probably tired from the weekend activities and have to get things ready for a busy week ahead and later because it's an effective technique to combat the upcoming "work-week Blues"!! 

The lone zucchini kept staring at me when I opened the fridge for inspiration as if it was pleading to be used before it aged to the point of no-return! And those handful of cherry tomatoes were wondering if they could pair up with the green zucchini and keep it company! "Sure enough, be my guests!" I thought! And the rasam idea below was born. As for the Idlis, there was no prior prep with grinding/fermenting the batter so it had to be instant. I make Rava-vermicelli Idlis sometimes but thought of making it super nutritious with oats. Grinding the oats took under 30 seconds in the small blender (Ninja/Magic Bullet or what have you!). Sooji Idlis often tend to be dry and adding oats seemed to have eliminated that little flaw from these fluffy moist Idlis!

Rava (Sooji)-Oats Idli

Ingredients 

Sooji- 1 cup

Steel cut or any oats ground into flour-3/4 cup

Plain yogurt- 3/4 cup

Salt to taste

Eno (or other fruit-salt)- 2 tsp

Non-stick cooking spray 

Warm water- 1 cup or more for the right consistency 

Prep time- 5-10 minutes

Cook time-10-12 minutes

Makes 15-17 Idlis. 

Method:

Mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and until the desired thick consistency of the batter is achieved. It keeps getting thicker on standing as both Sooji and Oats absorb water, so more water may be needed. Add Eno right before steaming. Put water in the idli steamer and spray the idli trays with non-stick cooking spray. Pour the batter into the mound and steam the Idlis for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the trays and enjoy steaming soft Idlis with Rasam/sambhar and chutney!

Zucchini-tomato rasam

Ingredients:

Toor daal - 1/3 cup

Zucchini diced into small cubes-2/3 cup

Cherry tomatoes halved- 1/2 cup (can substitute with regular tomatoes.

Garlic chopped- 3 cloves

Cilantro chopped- 1 tbsp

Rasam powder - 1tbsp (or more per taste), I use MTR brand 

Tamarind paste- 1 tbsp

Turmeric - a pinch 

Salt to taste 

Water- about 4-5 cups for the thin consistency 

Tempering 

Canola oil- 2 tsp + Ghee-1 tsp

Mustard seeds- 1 tsp

Urad daal- 2 tsp

Curry leaves 8-10

Whole red chilly- 1-2

Asofetida- 1/2 tsp

Prep time- 10 min

Cook time-20-25 min

Serves 4

Method:

Soak the toor daal in water for an hour or two before pressure cooking with salt and turmeric.

Add water and mix it well with the hand blender till it is smooth and evenly blended. Heat the oil + ghee in a sauce pan on medium high heat and add the all the tempering ingredients except the asofetida. When the mustard seeds begin to crackle, lower the heat and add the asofetida followed by the garlic, zucchini and the tomatoes. Saute the veggies for about 2 minutes and add the tamarind paste and the rasam powder. 

Add half a laddle of the daal mixture so that all the veggies and flavors come together and do not stick at the bottom of the pan. Cook for 2-3 more minutes and add the thinned out daal mixture. Add salt and let it simmer on low flame once it reaches a boil for about 10-15 minutes.  Add chopped cilantro for garnish and serve hot. 

Coconut Cilantro chutney

I always like to have some kind of cilantro based chutney in my refrigerator and often use it as a base to make other chutney variations depending on what I am cooking. 

This versatile chutney is great for South Indian dishes and can also be used with Gujju dishes like Handwa, Muthiya or spread onto the bread for a delicious veggie-cheese sandwich. Believe it or not, I have even used it to make salad dressing and I promise I will post that yummy salad recipe soon!  I did not temper this one but you can temper it with ghee and the usual temperings if you prefer. 

Ingredients:

Cilantro washed and rough chopped- 1 bunch

Fresh or frozen coconut- 3/4 cup

Tamarind- 1 tbsp

Daaliya or chana or peanuts- 1/4 cup

Sugar or jaggery- 1-2 tsp

Green chilly- 1

Salt to taste

Water- as little as needed to grind

Prep time- 5 minutes

Makes about 1.5 cups of chutney 

Method:

Put all the ingredients in a high functioning blender and grind. Remove and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. I add some water and thin it before using as needed.