Okra subzi chaat

Chaat is popular all over India. Oftentimes, however, chaat is not made of healthy bases. Today I’m going to show you how to make a healthier chaat.

Ingredients:

  1. 2 cups of okra, chopped (and with the heads removed).
  2. 1/2 tablespoon of chili powder
  3. 1 tablespoon of cumin powder
  4. 2 teaspoons of tumeric
  5. 1/2 tablespoon of garlic powder
  6. 2 tablespoons of avocado oil
  7. 1 cup of sev
  8. 1/4 cup of cilantro leaves
  9. 1/4 cup of tomatoes, chopped
  10. 1 onion, chopped
  11. 1/4 cup of yogurt
  12. 2 tablespoons of amchur (mango powder)
  13. 1 tablespoon of black salt
  14. 3 spoons of sweet chutney (see my recipe for that if needed)
  15. 3 spoons of green chutney (see my recipe for that if needed
  16. 1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Instructions:

  1. Heat a pan with the avocado oil.
  2. Once the pan is heated enough add the chopped okra, tumeric, chili powder, onion, cumin powder, lemon juice tumeric, and garlic powder. Cook this for about 7 to 10 minuets or longer if needed (you should have the okra and the onion really infused with all those spices and the lemon as well as the okra and onion to become softer thanks to the heat).
  3. Let the okra and onion mixture (that you just made in step 2), cool for about a minuet or two before proceeding to the next step.
  4. Put your onion okra mixture on a plate.
  5. Add the amchur powder and black salt to the okra/onion mixture.
  6. Now add your tomatoes and cilantro leaves to the plate ( its the plate with the with the amchur powder, black salt, and okra/onion mxiture)
  7. Now add a layer of your yogurt on top of what you have for your chaat so far.
  8. Add the rest of the ingredients to your okra chaat.
  9. Serve!

Healthy indian cucumber/mango juice

Ingredients:

  1. 1 to 2 cucumbers, peeled and chopped
  2. 1/4 cup of raw mango chunks
  3. 1 tablespoons of black salt
  4. 2 tablespoons of amchur (mango) powder
  5. 2 tablespoons of lemon juice

Instructions:

  1. Blend the cucumber and raw mango
  2. Strain the blended cucumber/ raw mango mixture (well be using the juice from the cucumber/ mango mixture in this recipe).
  3. Take the cucumber/mango juice (that you got from straining the cucumber/mango mixture) and add the black salt, lemon juice, and amchur powder to it. Mix those in to the juice well.
  4. Now serve the juice.

Jamun smoothie recipe

Jamun (Black dry plum fruit) is a popular Indian fruit that is used in sweets, smoothies, and savory dishes in India. However, you can access it some parts in the United States or buy jamuns (that were exported to the US from India) in the United States.

  1. 1 cup of frozen jamuns that are seedless and are already chopped
  2. 1 cup of almond milk
  3. 1 tablespoon of black salt
  4. 2 tablespoons of rose syrup (my little twist)
  5. 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
  6. 2 tablespoons of kiwi syrup (another little twist)

Instructions:

  1. Put all the ingredients in a blender
  2. Blend into a smoothie
  3. Serve

Healthy Indian guava smoothie

Ingredients:

  1. 1 Guava, without seeds
  2. 1 cup of cashew milk
  3. 1 tablespoon of black salt
  4. 2 tablespoons of coconut sugar
  5. 2 tablespoons of orange juice (that’s my twist)
  6. 1 tablespoon of chili powder

Instructions (note: If you already have frozen gauva peices, skip steps 1 to 2 and go from step 3 onward directly):

  1. Cut and peel off the guava skin and chop the flesh into peices (we’ll be using the flesh for the sake of this recipe).
  2. Freeze you guava peices for 5 hours to a day.
  3. Put our frozen guava peices and the other ingredients (that are used in this recipe) in a blender and blend until you have a smoothie like texture.
  4. Serve and sip!

Indian vegan rose mango smoothie

Ingredients:

  1. 1/2 cup of frozen mango chunks
  2. 4 tablespoons of rose powder
  3. 4 tablespoons of rose syrup
  4. 1 cup of vegan almond milk
  5. 2 tablespoons of cardamom powder
  6. 2 teaspoons of salt
  7. Rose petals (optional)
  8. 2 teaspoons of lemon juice

Instructions:

  1. Toss all the ingredients expect for the rose petals in the blender.
  2. Blend until you have a smoothie like texture.
  3. Serve and garnish with rose petals

My mom’s easy sweet tamarind chutney for chats

Story:

My mom’s trick to making this super tasty chutney is to use Kimes apple butter that you get from Whole Foods, but any apple butter will do.

Ingredients:

  1. 1/2 a cup of Kimes apple butter
  2. 1 teaspoon of roasted cumin powder
  3. 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder
  4. 2 to 3 teaspoons of tamarind paste (per your taste)
  5. 1/4 cup of coconut sugar
  6. 1/4 cup of water
  7. 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
  8. 1/4 ground cinnamon
  9. 1/2 teaspoon of salt (per your taste)
  10. A pinch of black salt (called “khaala namak” in hindi)

Instructions:

  1. Put all the ingredients in a glass jar.
  2. Now, secure of the lid of the glass jar (in which you put your ingredients).
  3. Shake your jar thoroughly until all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed into each other.
  4. Taste and make any adjustments to the taste if needed.
  5. Enjoy!!

Naina Aunty’s green chutney

The story:

My grand aunt’s friend, Naina Aunty, makes the world’s best chutney. Everytime, I visit Naina Aunty’s house I always make this chutney with her and we have it with amazing Indian snacks.

Ingredients:

  1. 1 bunch of cilantro (with the leaves and the stems), washed
  2. 1/2 a cup of raw mango
  3. 1 tart granny smith apple, pitted and chopped
  4. 3 thai green chilies (or 1 serano chilly)
  5. 1 pod of garlic
  6. 1 teaspoon of salt (adjust to taste at the end)
  7. 1/2 cup of water
  8. The green parts of spring onions (optional)

Instructions:

  1. Put all the ingredients in a blender.
  2. Blend into a puree (when its fully in the form of puree stop blending).
  3. Serve with crackers, steamed sprouts, on toast breads, or in sandwiches with a slice of good quality cheese (yum!)

Easy and healthy indian mango pickle

Ingredients:

  1. 1 raw mango (use a tart mango, DO NOT use a sweet mango)
  2. 6 tablespoons of chili powder
  3. 1 tablespoon of cane sugar
  4. 3 teaspoons of mustard seeds
  5. 2 chilis, chopped (and don’t include the head of the chilis for the purpose of this recipe)
  6. 3 teaspoons of fennel seeds
  7. 4 tablespoons of mustard oil
  8. 2 tablespoons of salt
  9. 1 garlic, that is peeled (throw out the skin after its peeled, don’t include it in the recipe) and chopped into small pieces (1 to 2 in cubes is what I would recommenced).

Instrucitons:

  1. Before actually making the pickle, lets do some prep work for our mango to get it ready for our pickle.
    • a. Peel the skin of your raw mango (and throw the skin out or use the skin in another recipe).
    • b. Chop your mango in a way such that you can throw out the seed in the center of it but keep every other part of the mango (if you are not comfortable doing so, please see a video on how to do this).
    • c. Now chop the remnants of the mango (except for that seed that you threw out), into bite sized cube pieces.
    • d. Keep the “mango cubes” aside in a bowl for now.
  2. Now heat your mustard oil in a pan for about a minute or two.
  3. Then add you mustard and fennel seeds into the pan and wait for them to sizzles.
  4. Once the mustard and fennel seeds start to sizzle, add the chili powder, chopped garlic pieces, and the chilis to the pan (give that a little stir and cook for about a minuet to two).
  5. Now add your cane sugar and salt to the pan and let the mixture (in the pan) and let it cook for two more minuets.
  6. Pour your mixture (that was cooked in the pan) onto your mangoes. After you have poured your mixture onto the mangoes, mix it into the mangoes well (use your hand for this, try not to use a spoon).
  7. Put the pickle into the fridge for about two to three hours to allow the mixture to marinate into the pickle before serving.
  8. Serve the pickle!
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