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Cereal chivda

Cereal chivda or corn flakes chivda is a healthy alternative to deep fried namkeen available in the market. At times we all want to munch on crispy, crunchy, salty snacks but are afraid of putting on weight or their adverse effects on health. So, this is my kind of guilt free snacking. Try it!

Recipe of healthy cereal chivda

150 gms murmura (kurmura/ mamra/ puffed rice/ moodhi)

50 gms bhuna chana (roasted chickpeas)

50 gms peanuts (moongphali)

Few curry leaves

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

2 tsp salt or to taste

75 gms corn flakes or rice flakes (unflavored)

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

2 tbsp oil

1. Heat oil in a big kadhai/wok. Add mustard seeds and when they pop, add curry leaves and cook till they crisp out.

2. Add peanuts and bhuna chana. Roast till they change color but don’t burn them.

3. Add salt, turmeric and red chilli powders. Cook for few seconds.

4. Add murmura and corn flakes. Mix them really well and on medium heat, keep mixing them for 2-3 minutes till murmura turns crisp. Turn off the heat.

5. Let the cereal chivda cool down completely before storing it in an airtight container.

Note- You can use Kellogg’s corn flakes or rice flakes or any other unflavored variety.
Earlier I also blogged about poha chivda, another guilt free snack. You can also check it out.

chana murmura

Roasted chana murmura

Feel like munching in between meals, especially with evening tea or coffee. Well, I have a low calorie snack which will satiate those hunger pangs without adding to your waistline, roasted chana murmura or roasted chickpea and puffed rice.

Recipe of roasted chana murmura

150 gms bhuna chana (roasted chickpeas without skin)

200 gms murmura (puffed rice/mamra/kurmura/borugulu)

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Few curry leaves

1 tsp chaat masala

2 tbsp oil

1. Heat oil in a big kadhai or a vessel. Add curry leaves and sauté them for 1 minute till they crisp out.

2. Add chana, salt and all the spices. Roast on a medium heat till chana turns slightly darker (but not too dark) stirring constantly.

3. Add murmura and mix everything well. Roast, stirring till murmura turns crisp (you can check a few grains of murmura).

4. Turn off the heat and take out chana murmura out of the kadhai and let it cool down completely before storing in an airtight container. Your low calorie snack is ready which will last you for days.

Pesarattu

Pesarattu or green gram pancake is a famous breakfast item from Andhra Pradesh. Pesarattu is not just tasty but it is also very healthy and nutritious since we are using whole moong beans.

Recipe of pesarattu/green gram dosa

1 cup sabut moong dal (whole green gram)

3 green chillies

1 inch piece ginger

Salt to taste

6-7 curry leaves

1 medium onion

1/4 cup fresh coriander leaves

Oil to shallow fry

1. Wash and soak moong dal for 3 hours. Chop onion and green chillies roughly. Chop coriander leaves and curry leaves.

2. Drain mung dal and discard the water. Grind moong dal with onion and green chillies. Add salt, curry leaves and coriander leaves.

3. Heat a dosa tava or any non-stick tava (griddle) and smear oil on it. Pour a ladleful of batter in the center of tava and spread it in outward circular motion with the back of the ladle (karchhi). Spread it thinly.

4. Drizzle oil along the edges of pesarattu, cover with a lid of some height. Cook on a medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Remove lid.

5. Turn over and applying oil, cook from other side also till golden and crisp. Make rest of the pesarattu with remaining batter. Serve hot pesarattu with chutney.

peanut sundal

Peanut sundal is a street food of South India. It is famous on the beach of Chennai. I love peanut in any form and find it very filling. Peanuts are full of proteins and healthy fatty acids. Try this peanut sundal, I am sure you will like it.

Recipe of peanut sundal

2 cups raw peanuts (groundnuts/moongphali)

4-5 curry leaves

A pinch of hing (asafoetida)

2-3 green chillies- chopped

Salt to taste

1 onion - chopped

1 tbsp oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp rai (small mustard seeds)

1. Pressure cook peanuts to 2 whistles. Drain and set aside.

2. Heat oil in a kadhai/wok. Add rai and curry leaves. Fry for 1/2 a minute.

3. Add hing, green chillies and onion and fry for 1 minute.

4. Add peanuts, salt and lemon juice. Stir-fry for 2 minutes. Serve peanut sundal hot.

khaman dhokla

Khaman dhokla is a famous Gujarati snack which is steamed; therefore it contains very less oil. It’s a good snack for not just calorie conscious people but for everyone since dhokla is very very tasty.

Recipe of khaman dhokla

1 cup besan (gram flour/chickpea flour)

2/3 cup of water

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ginger-green chilli paste

1 tbsp lemon juice (juice of 2 lemons)

1 tsp Eno fruit salt

1 tsp oil

Tempering (tadka)

1 tbsp oil

100 ml water (1 small cup)

1 tsp mustard seeds (kali sarson)

1 tsp lemon juice

2-3 green chillies- slit vertically

1 tsp sugar

Finely chopped coriander leaves- for garnish

1. Take besan in a bowl and add water little by little mixing with other hand so as to prepare a lump free batter.

2. Add salt, turmeric powder to the batter and let it rest, covered, for 20 minutes.

3. Grease a thali (platter) in which dhokla is to be steamed. Pour 1 glass of water in an outer container and put it on heat. Let it come to rolling boil.

4. In the meanwhile, add ginger-green chilli paste to the batter. In a small bowl, take lemon juice and mix 1 tsp oil and eno fruit salt. Pour this over dhokla batter and mix.

5. Immediately pour this batter on a greased thali. Put a stand or an inverted small bowl in the outer container containing boiling water and place this thali over it. Cover the container with a plate.

6. Let the dhokla steam for 5-7 minutes undisturbed over full flame. Then let it steam for another 15 minutes that is 20 minutes in total. The heat should be high so that lot of steam gets formed. Check by inserting the tip of a clean knife. If nothing sticks to it, dhokla is ready otherwise steam some more.

7. Take out the dhokla containing thali from the container and let it cool for 2-3 minutes. Take out the dhokla from the thali to another plate. Let it cool down, and then cut it in squares or diamonds.

8. For the tadka, heat oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds and when they pop, add green chillies. After few seconds, add water and sugar. Let it come to boil, turn off heat and add lemon juice.

9. Pour this tadka over dhokla pieces and put the dhokla in the fridge. Let the tempering containing water gets absorbed turning the dhokla soft. Garnish the khaman dhokla with chopped coriander leaves.

Note- 1.The batter should not sit for long after adding Eno fruit salt otherwise dhokla will not rise.

2. Mix eno in the lemon juice first and not directly in the batter.

3. The gas stove should be on high heat or full flame for steaming the dhokla.

4. You can also make dhokla in an idli stand.

5. The tempering should contain water for soft dhokla.

6. The outer container could be a vessel or a kadhai/wok.

7. You can also steam in a pressure cooker with weight (whistle) removed.

8. The dhokla batter should neither be too thick nor thin otherwise dhokla won’t come out right.

masala peanuts in microwave

These masala peanuts are great guilt free munchies. There is another option of deep frying them but this one is healthier and has far less calories than fried ones. Besides microwave, these masala peanuts can also be made in OTG.

Recipe of masala peanuts in microwave

1 cup raw peanuts (moongphali)

1/2 cup besan (gram flour/ chickpea flour)

Salt to taste

1/4 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp chaat masala

Oil to grease

1. In a bowl, mix together besan, salt, red chilli powder and chaat masala.

2. Add few teaspoons of water to besan mixture so that it forms a very thick paste which should not drip.

3. Add peanuts to this paste and mix with your hands so that each peanut is well coated with besan.

4. Spread peanuts on a microwave safe plate separating each peanut. The plate should be greased with oil before spreading peanuts. Drizzle few drops of oil on the peanuts.

5. Microwave them on a High for 4 minutes. Take out and let them stand for 5 minutes. Let the peanuts cool down completely. Store the masala peanuts in an airtight jar.

poha chivda

Poha chivda or chivda or chidwa is a snack made in many parts of India but it’s very popular in Maharashtra. You need a thin variety of poha for this healthy snack. It’s an anytime snack or namkeen. You can also have it as a tea time munchie without bothering about the calories as it is not fried and does not use too much oil. You can store the chivda in an airtight container as it remains fresh for about a month.

Recipe of poha chivda/ chidwa

6 cups thin poha (beaten rice/ flattened rice)

2 tsp mustard seeds

4 tbsp peanuts

4 tbsp dalia (roasted chana dal)

3 tbsp oil

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

7-8 curry leaves

Green chillies (finely chopped) or red chilli powder

1. Put poha in a microwave safe bowl and microwave it for 2 minutes uncovered, stirring after 1 minute. Check if the poha has become crisp, if not cook for 1 more minute.

2. In a mortar using pestle, grind the salt into thin powder.

3. Heat oil in a kadhai/wok. Add mustard seeds. When they pop, add green chillies and curry leaves. Cook for a minute.

4. Add peanuts and dalia. When they turn somewhat brown, add turmeric powder and salt.

5. Add poha and mix quickly. Keep mixing it for 3-4 minutes. Turn off the heat.

6. Cool the chivda and store in an airtight container.

Matar ghugni

There are types of ghugni like chana (chickpea) ghugni and matar ghugni. Earlier I made a blogpost of chana ghugni. This is my version of matar ghoogni. For those of you who don’t know about it, it’s a favorite evening snack in Bengal, Bihar, Assam and Orissa. Ghugni is also a chaat item in Eastern India.

Recipe of matar ghugni

2 cups matar (green peas)

1 onion- chopped

1 tomato- diced

1 inch ginger- grated

1 tsp fennel seeds (saunf)

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp black pepper powder

1/4 tsp garam masala powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

2 tsp lemon juice

1 tbsp oil

1. Heat oil in a kadhai/wok or a pan. Add fennel seeds and after few seconds add onion.

2. Fry onion till light pink. Add ginger and all the spices and salt. Fry for 2 minutes.

3. Add tomato and cook till tomato pulp out and softens.

4. Add matar and give it a mix. Cook stirring till matar begins to shine.

5. Lower heat, sprinkle some water and cook covered till matar is tender.

6. Uncover and increase heat so that all moisture evaporates. Turn off heat, add lime juice and garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve matar ghoogni hot with either puri or luchi. You can even enjoy a bowlful as a snack.

Healthy Bytes (Nutrition Info.) - Matar or green peas are a good source of vitamin K thus they are important in maintaining bone health. Matar support energy producing systems of the body thus help you if are often sluggish and fatigued.

Adai

Adai is a type of dal dosa and a popular Tamilian breakfast. It’s very nutritious and protein packed since it uses so many dals (lentils). It’s healthy, tasty as well as filling and the best part is, you don’t have to ferment the adai batter. To make it tastier, you can also add finely chopped onion or cabbage or both to the adai batter.

Recipe of adai (dal dosa)

1/2 cup rice

1/4 cup toor dal (arhar dal/ red gram)

1/4 cup dhuli urad dal (split, skinless black gram)

1/4 cup chana dal (Bengal gram)

1/4 cup dhuli moong dal (split, skinless green gram)

2 green chillies

Salt to taste

A pinch of hing (asafoetida)

Few curry leaves

Oil to shallow fry

1. Wash and soak rice and dals for 2-3 hours. Drain.

2. Grind dals and rice in a blender adding little water into a coarse paste. Remember not to add too much water as the batter for adai is usually thick.

3. Add salt, hing and curry leaves to the batter. Beat the batter well.

4. Heat a non-stick tava (griddle). Grease it and wipe off the excess oil. Pour a ladleful of batter in the center of the tava.

5. Spread it in the circular motion to make a round. Drizzle some oil around the edges and on top of the adai.

6. When the underside is cooked, turn over and cook from other side also till brownish. Similarly make other adai from rest of the batter. Serve adai hot with chutney or chutney powder.

Ghugni

Ghugni is a Bengali version of chole or ragda. Here I have used chickpeas but green peas or matar is also used for making ghugni. In Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Assam, ghugni is usually eaten as an evening snack. It is also a popular chaat and street food.

Recipe of ghugni/ ghoogni

1 cup kabuli chana (chickpeas/ garbanzo beans)

1 onion- chopped

1 tomato- chopped

1 bay leaf (tej patta)

1 black cardamom

1 green cardamom

2-3 cloves (laung)

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp ginger-garlic paste

1 1/2 tbsp oil

Salt to taste

1 onion- cut into rings for garnish

1. Soak the kabuli chana overnight. Drain.

2. Pressure cook chana with water for 25-30 minutes.

3. Heat oil in a kadhai/ wok. Add bay leaf, cloves, cumin seeds and cardamoms. Let them splutter.

4. Add onion and sauté till light brown.

5. Add ginger-garlic paste and sauté for 1 minute.

6. Add tomato and rest of the spices and salt. Cook till oil begins to separate.

7. Crush a handful of chana and add along with rest of the boiled chana.

8. Boil on a high heat for 3-4 minutes. Lower heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Cook till you get the desired gravy consistency.

9.  Garnish with onion rings and serve ghugni hot with either roti, luchi, poori or rice.