Ragi Idli with Vegetables

A well liked recipe from a friend. Ragi is rich in Calcium and consuming it in the steamed form with vegetables makes it more palatable for those who are not used to its taste. This recipe does not use Ulundu / Urad dal.

Serves 4 people

Ingredients
 Whole Ragi 250 gms
Ladies finger 125 gms.
Parboiled Red rice aka Idli rice 50 gms
Fenugreek or Vendhayam seeds 10 gms or Two Tsps 
Grated vegetables of carrot, cabbage, capsicum etc -  75 gms
Sprouted peanuts (optional) 50 gms
Rock salt 2 tsp

Method
Soak everything except bhindi separately for 5 hours.
Use little or no water and grind ragi into a thick paste.
Grind rice and fenugreek seeds into a thick paste.
Slice ladies fingers into thin circles and grind it into a smooth paste without adding water.
Add salt.
Blend everything together.
Set aside for 4 hours.
Add vegetable gratings and sprouted peanuts
Pour out small sized idlis on idli plates.
Steam in medium flame for 20 mins
Switch off, remove idli plates and make sure they are cooked.
Wait for 5 minutes to cool off .
Scoop and serve with Cbutney.

Sun Cooked Salads - Formula

I use this formula for the raw veggie salad.
1 part = 50 gms

Base:

• 1 part sprouts
• 2 parts of a creeper or climber variety vegetable. Grated or very finely chopped. This would be typically, anything that ends in a 'gourd' -   (bitter gourd is an exception :) Bottle gourd and Snake gourd taste good. So do Chayote/Chow-chow and Flat beans. All these veggies are alkaline and provide a good amount of fiber. Pick your favorite.
• 1 part of one of these - grated or finely chopped.
  
• carrots
• beans
• beets 
• turnips
• cabbage
• broccoli
• baby corns
  

Seasoning:
A combination of 

• Finely chopped cilantro or basil to taste
• Finely chopped tomatoes - 2 medium sized per person may be a good start
• Fresh coconut gratings or a dash of lime but not both
• One tea spoon of ginger juice per person

The Mix: 

Mix the seasoning to the base. Gently press the surface with a spoon to make it compact. Close with a lid and let it sit for 10 minutes. The juices from seasoning ingredients will get soaked up by the vegetables.

No need to add salt or pepper.

First few times, everyone makes the mistake of making more quantity than needed because adding just one carrot, for example, looks less. Since we them raw, we need to chew them a lot more than cooked food and hence very less quantity of each ingredient is enough.

Variations:

• Adding 2 Table spoons of grated radish per person will perk up the salad.
• Those who have access to gooseberry can add it for a more salty flavour.
• Instead of sprouts, you can add a third vegetable or greens or fresh peas to the base.
• In summer,  adding cucumber to the seasoning makes the salad more juicy.
• In winter, finely chopped onions can be added if you like that flavor.

Soups

 Clear Soup

This is an instant, light soup.
 

Ingredients:

Small cubes of beans
Shredded carrotShredded cabbage
Fresh peas
Adequate amount of water

Method:

Boil vegetables in water.  Add corriander leaves, salt and pepper to taste. Serve

Pumpkin Chick Peas Soup

Serves 4
Ingredients:
Half a small pumpkin cut into small cubes without skin
2 cups of pre-soaked and sprouted Chick Peas
6 Tomatoes
1 Potato
2 inch piece of ginger
1 Large Onion (optional)
2 Table Spoons of Omam (Ajwain / Carom)

Method:
Steam pumpkins, potatoes and chick peas together for 10 minutes (10 minutes after steam begins to come out)
After cooling, take roughly half of the steamed contents and mash it in a blender or manually.
Cut onions and tomatoes into small pieces.
Grate ginger.
In a pot, saute onions by adding a little salt. No oil is needed.
Add Omam/Carom to onions.
Add grated ginger.
Add cut tomatoes. Saute.
Add some water, cover and let the mix simmer for 3 mins.
Add mashed veggies and let it simmer for 2 mins
Add rest of the pumpkins, potatoes and chick peas.
Add salt to taste and simmer for 5 mins.

Cucumber Tomato Soup

Serves 4 cups

Ingredients:
1.5 cups Cucumber juice (blended without using water)
1 cup Tomato juice (again, no water)
2.5 cups of Water
2 Table Spoons of roasted, powdered Jeera
Cut corriander leaves
Salt to taste

Method:
In a pot, heat cucumber juice for 2 minutes.
Add tomato juice and simmer for 3 minutes.
Add water and simmer till bubbles appear.
Add Jeera powder, salt and corriander leaves.
Switch off the stove after 1 minute.

Stew Recipes

A couple of stew recipes.

Stew 1
Chow Chow - 1 medium piece
White pumpkin - 150gms
Sprouts - one handful
Carrot - 1 medium
Potato - 2 medium
Tomato - 3-4
Coconut - Handful
Coriander leaves - handful
Cumin - 1tsp
Green Chillies - for taste
Salt - for taste

Cut the chow chow, white pumpkin, carrot, potatoes into small pieces (1 cm cubes), steam along with sprouts.
Grind the tomato, coriander, cumin, green chillies, and coconut and add to the steamed vegetables.
Add salt to taste.
Splutter mustard seeds and urad dal, add to the mixture, sprinkle some curry leaves on the top and enjoy with rice or chappati

Stew 2
Carrot - 1 piece
Ridge gourd - 1 medium
Broad Beans/Sprouts - a generous Handful
Toor dal - 1 tsp
Coriander - 1 tsp
Coriander leaves - handful
Coconut - handful
Cumin - 1/2 tsp
Green chillies - for taste
salt for taste
Mustard seeds and urad dal for seasoning
Curry leaves - a few

Peel the ridge gourd and keep its skin aside. Cut the ridge gourd and carrot into 1 cm cubes. Steam along with sprouts/broad beans. Roast the toor dal, coriander, ridge gourd peels for about 4 mins on low flame. Grind it into a paste along with coconut, coriander leaves, cumin, green chillies. Add this paste to the steamed vegetables and add salt to taste. Add mustard and urad seasoning, sprinkle some curry leaves and enjoy this yummy green stew with rice or chappati.

Dry Vegetables as Side Dish

Candidate Vegetables:
● Banana Flower
● Banana Stem
● Beans
● Beets
● Bittergourd
● Cabbage
● Carrots
● Cauliflower
● Cluster Beans
● Flat Beans
● Greens
● Potatoes
● Raw Papaya.
● Red Radish
● Red Pumpkin
● Snake Gourd

● Beans + Carrots - more beans, less carrots
● Beets + Cauliflower - in equal measure, cut into small cubes and florets
● Cabbage + Carrots + Fresh Peas - more cabbage, carrots and peas in equal measure

Method:
1. Cut veggies into small cubes or thin shreds or florets. Or grate them if you like.
2. Load them on a steamer and steam for 10-15 minutes. (For small quantities, 7 mins should be enough)
   When cooking cruciferous veggies (like cabbage, cauliflower etc), it is good to add some grated ginger.
3. Heat a Kadai and smear its bottom with a quarter tsp of oil.
4. Add your favourite seasoning. ( I do 1/2 a tsp of mustard and upon its
popping, add 1 tsp of channa dal, 2 tsp of urad dal, 1 red chili, a pinch of
hing, a pinch of turmeric, and lots of curry leaves).
5. Add the vegetables, mix in and immediately switch of the stove.
6. Add salt to taste, preferably sea salt or rock salt.
8. Switch off the flame and after 5 minutes of cooling, add a cup of grated
coconut if you like.

Colourful Rotis

Best to avoid adding salt or ghee or oil while mixing dough.

Beets Roti (1 kg of beets can provide juice for 1.5 kgs of wheat flour)
● Cut or shred one medium sized beetroot into small pieces.
● Extract juice using a blender and filter it.
● Blend dough by adding only this juice to wheat flour.
● The dough should be a little harder than usual to make it easy to roll it out.
● Roll into small rotis and cook both sides without oil or ghee.

Greens Roti
● Take a bunch of greens like Palak and cut them into smaller pieces. (AVOID
mint, coriander and methi since they have a very strong smell/taste.)
● Extract juice by adding a little bit of water.
● The rest of the steps are the same as Beets Roti.

Banana Roti (mainly. for kids since it is a Carb-Carb combination)
● Take one small ripe banana and mash it.
● Blend it with enough wheat dough by kneading it in.
● Roll into small rotis and cook both sides without oil /ghee.

Mixed Vegetable Roti● Prepare very fine shreds of mint, coriander, moringa leaf, carrots, radish,
cabbage.
● Add these vegetables to wheat flour.
● Add a pinch of hing and turmeric.
● Add water, knead dough, roll out and cook both sides without oil/ghee.

Raw Food - Veggie Salad Recipes

Thank you Archana for sharing  some raw food salad recipes from practical session by Arun Sharma

Quantities mentioned are for One person 
Add ginger juice if you like it hot. 
Grated Gooseberry can be added instead of salt.


1. Capsicum-Cauliflower Salad
    Capsicum 100gms
    Cauliflower 200gms
    Tomato 100gms
    Grated coconut 50gms
    Chopped corriander leaves 50gms

2. Carrot-Cabbage wtih Sprouts Salad
 Carrot 1 portion chopped
 Cabbage 2 portions, nicely chopped
 Sprouts  1 handful 
 Grated coconut  2 handfuls
 Corriander leaves chopped, 1 handful