Vallarai(Indian pennywort) Paratha

My daughter is a very fuzzy eater. I need to be innovative to get her eating properly. I can take care of breakfast and dinner. But lunch? That is the biggest headache to me. Whatever I send other than bread butter jam or chappathi with jam, it comes back with some beautiful reasons. But what nutrition she will get? :( So I decided to give lunch for breakfast and bread and jam for lunch. Still I was not happy to give bread again and again. I got an idea when Prabu bought pennywort leaves yesterday. I decided to make parathas and roll it with jam for lunch and with nutella for breakfast. Moreover it is an easy job to me ;) I made Vallarai Paratha today and she had two with nutella in the morning :D Mission successful. I am planning to explore more varieties. I am sure she wouldn't have eaten vallarai if I made chutney.

Please try this recipe and let me know the results. Trust me, it tastes like a normal paratha, no bitter taste in it.

Ingredients:

Indian Pennywort leaves(Vallarai Keerai) - 1 bunch
Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
Oil - 2 tbsp
Red chilli powder - 2 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Ajwain seeds - 1/4 tsp
Sesame seeds - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Pick the leaves separately and wash them
2. Saute vallarai in a kadai still it shrinks completely
3. Once it is cooled down, add some water and grind it to a smooth paste
4. Mix all the ingredients together well and then add the puree to it
5. Add enough water and make a smooth dough
6. Now make chappathis out of it
7. Apply some oil or ghee before taking out of the tawa
8. Serve it to the Lord
9. Enjoy with yogurt dip

Yogurt Dip: 1 cup yogurt, 1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder and salt. Mix all together and beat well till you get smooth paste without lumps. You can mix mashed avacado to it for variation.

Dal Kichdi for Babies

When I started solids for Hari I did not have an idea what to give him for lunch. I was planning to start with a simple lentil rice. I used same amount of rice and lentils as I wanted to give him more lentils for protein. I used to add few cumin seeds and whole pepper corns while making dal and so I added them to Hari's rice too. One day Hari's day carer told me Hari feels difficult to swallow the cumin seeds and whole pepper corns and advised me not to add them. She suggested me to add powders instead. I tried it and yes, it made wonders :-) It gave nice taste and flavor to the rice. Hari loves my final version of kichdi with the good amount of lentils, veggies, spice powders and ghee :-)

I would suggest you not to grind the food for the babies. If they get used to it, then you will find it very hard to change them to normal food. Please use Dal masher instead. You can mix mashed avacado to the kichdi, it is very healthy and enhances the taste too. Or you can keep it for a variation ;)

Most of the days I substitute millets for rice. Millets are good source of protein and fiber. It is better than rice and wheat. I use kodu millet(Varagu), foxtail millet(Thinai) and little millet(Samai).

Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

Rice/Millets - 2 tbsp
Dal - 2 tbsp (toor dal/moong dal/masoor dal)
Cumin Powder - 2-3 pinches
Pepper Powder - 2 pinches
Turmeric Powder - 1 pinch
Asafoetida - a pinch
Vegetables of your choice - 3 tbsp(broccoli/carrots/beets/beans/ridge gourd/bottle gourd)
Ghee - 3 tsp (or as you like :-))
Salt - as needed
Water - 1 cup

Method:

1. Wash rice and dal
2. Add water
3. Add a tsp of ghee, cumin powder, black pepper powder, turmeric powder, asafoetida and chopped veggies
5. Pressure cook for 5-6 whistles
6. Once the pressure is released, mash the kichdi nicely with the dal masher to a smooth paste
7. Add salt and ghee and mix well
8. Offer it to the Lord

Now the prasadam is ready to be fed to the little wonder :-)