New beginning

 It’s almost three years that I updated my blog. Every time I think of starting, I take pictures (bought dslr only for food blogging) and then I don’t do it. Every month I buy memory for my iPad to store my food pictures. In spite of all this I don’t blog.

I have been diagnosed with pre-diabetic it’s not new, but for me it’s a wake Up call. I am quite active by going to gym and counting my steps. Almost everyday I used to take 8000 to 9000 steps. Even during the lockdown I used to walk in the house for alteast 90 minutes. But why I am getting closer to be a diabetic ??

It’s the food. Since working from home and kids at home have been cooking a lot of dishes with white flour or maida and eating deserts. I was so dumb in thinking that jaggery is way better than sugar and no control in eating jaggery. Now the reality has hit me hard and I HAVE to make changes to my eating habits to avoid diabetic medication.  

First thing I did was downloaded a heath app which shows how much I should eat and how much each food items has calories,carbs,fat and fiber.

I stopped eating anything white other than panner,yogurt and milk.

I completely stopped taking tea,replaced it with green tea.

Yoga for one hour 5 to 6 times a week.

Replaced rice with millets. Will be doing posts on that.

And planning to document here what I eat everyday. I have given myself 3 months. It’s been one and a half month and with all these changes I am feeling light. I have reduced a bit but not disclosing here as I want to keep this as suspense until I achieve My ideal weight. For me the most important is reducing my sugar levels and with that I may loose some fat too. 

Bye for now.

Kakarakaya Karam

I love Kakarakaya (bitter gourd) in a form. Be it fry, pulusu or this karam.  I like to eat this karam with hot rice and ghee.

Ingredients:-

Kakarikaya 7-8. Chopped into small rounds

Udad dal 1 tbsp

Channa dal 1tbsp

Coriander seeds 1/2 tbsp

Tamarind small pc

Garlic 2-3 pcs

Dry red chillies 6-8

Dry roast all the ingredients except kakarikaya and tamarind.

In a pan take 7-8 tbsp of oil. Fry kakarikaya in hot oil till kakarikaya turns crispy. Now take out kakarikaya from oil and along with dry ingredients,tamarind and salt, grind into coarse powder.

Red chillies and tamarind can be adjusted according to once taste buds. First grind dry ingredients and add kakarikaya to get the kakarikaya crumbs.

Masala buns

I have been  making this big bun since a while. And every time I make I change few ingredients. Sometimes it's just plain buns and sometime it's a desi twist or  Italian twist. Today I am posting desi and Italian buns. The adds on like the oregano,jalapeños etc can be added according to once taste. Readers can play around with the ingredients. Here is the receipe.

Ingredients

Butter 4 tbsp
Egg 1
Milk 2 tbsp
1.5 cup water
All purpose flour 5 cups
Instant yeast 3/4 tsp
Salt 1 tbsp
Sugar 3 tbsp

Additional ingredients:-
Jalapeños few
Chilly flakes 1 tbsp
Oregano 1 tbsp
Thyme 1 tbsp
Basil 1 tbsp
Cumin 1 tbsp

How to make the buns ?

Mix water with butter,egg and milk.

Mix dry ingredients, flour, yeast, salt and sugar. And also add additional ingredients.

Now mix the wet and dry ingredients. Knead the dough well and let it rest for one hour.

Wrap a wet towel on the bowl and keep in a warm place in the kitchen.

After one hour again knead the dough. Make small balls and arrange them on a creased baking tray

with gap of 2 inches between each balls.

Now again cover it with a wet cloth for another one hour.

After one hour, apply melted butter and bake in preheat oven for 12 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Yummy buns are ready. I love to eat my buns with hot cup of tea and my kids like to apply little butter.