Love and Calories!!

The dish "Rat-a-too-ee" grabbed my attention only after watching the culinary adventures of Remy the rat in the movie "Ratatouille". Until then it was just any other French word to me. Though it was a light-hearted animated  movie, it inspired me in many ways as to how you must use your sense of touch, taste & smell in whatever you cook. one should not just eat to live but get to know the gastronomy of cooking.  "Ratatouille Nicoise" pronounced as "Rat-a too-ee Neesua" is a roasted vegetable stew originated from the place called Nice in France. The basic ingredient of the stew is tomato & the main vegetables used in this dish are zuchinni/courgette, eggplant & bell pepper.   Ratatouille is mainly served as a side to any pasta or bread but here I have combined both together to bring out a single main dish. This is a very healthy meal as it has no fat content & also packed with nutrients. This recipe is a simpler & q...

Some Carbs & Greens coming your way this time and both these dishes are great as an accompaniment to any meat or vegetarian main meal. Stir Fry Greens are the easiest, quickest & the most healthiest dish you can make. You don't have to sweat it out in the kitchen & at the same time you give your body a complete pack of nutrients. This recipe can be made with any kind of edible greens like spinach, brussells sprouts, kale or leaves of any root vegetables like beets, carrots or radishes.  Stir Fry Greens: Ingredients: 500 gm greens (you can use spinach, kale, brussels sprouts, or any other edible mixed greens)  4 green chillies (slit into half) 1/2 tsp mustard seeds 1/2 tsp cumin seeds 1 inch ginger ( finely chopped) 2-3 cloves of garlic (finely chopped) 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 1/2 tsp lime juice 1 tbsp oil 1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas (optional) 1 tbsp fresh or desiccated coconut (optional) salt to taste Method: Wash...

Now before introducing this dish to all of you, I must admit, I had no idea that such a dish exists. Until I tried "Khattu Mag" in two of my Gujrati Thali sessions. For those of you who are not familiar of what a THALI is, it is a selection of various dishes (number goes from 4- 12) of a particular region served in small steel bowls on a big round steel plate. So if you are visiting India for the first time, I suggest you to try out Thalis of different regions in order to get familiarized with the native delicacies. :) So "Khattu Mag" was one of the veggie dishes which I very much relished in my Gujrathi Thali. It was a combination of a dal & kadhi gravy. I usually had them both as two different dishes. Ths was two in one. I immediately thought of making this at home and post it in my blog for my vegetarian friends. "Khattu" means Sour & "Mag" means Moong beans. So as the name suggests, it is a simple gravy but a lot of flavours will...