ankita, Author at One Girl and her Thermie

Sambhar Masala

Leave a Comment / Basics, Noodle, Pasta & Rice, Soups, Vegan & Vegetarian

Sambhar, also spelled sambar or sambaar, and pronounced saambaar, is a lentil-based vegetable stew or chowder, originating from the Indian subcontinent, cooked with a tamarind broth. It is popular in South Indian and Sri Lankan cuisines. Sambhar in South India is the equivalent of dahl, in North India, miso soup in Japan or potatoes in the UK. The best way I can describe it is the best side dish that goes with all of the regions food.

The aromatic flavours of this traditional South Indian dish are truly irresistible. The speciality of this sambhar is that it is made with minimal oil and loads of vegetables which enhance its nutritive value. When served hot with nutritious Idlis or paper thin dosas, it makes a meal that is very hard to resist. Alternatively, relish this sambhar with steamed rice to make a wholesome meal.

As a North Indian, I would only really eat sambhar in restaurants until my housekeeper, Anitha came to work for us. She’s originally from the south and now this is a staple in our household. Anitha, using her many years of experience as a cook, kindly converted her home recipe for the Thermomix. And no, not for the Thermomix community or me in particular. She makes this dish so often that using the Thermomix, it reduces her time in the kitchen.

Please see my later post for Sambhar, but first I thought I’d share the recipe for the Sambhar Masala. Don’t be deterred by the preparation time, that’s mostly getting your spices out of the cupboard rather than cooking time.

Credit: A version of this recipe can also be found Indian cookbook produced by India when the they sold TM31. The Indian Chef, Shamim Ahmed worked at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi for 24 years as the Head of Mission Cook was instrumental in producing this book. I was convinced when my Mum’s cook made this dish. I thought she had taught him how to convert her recipe to the Thermomix and she said, “No, it’s in the basic book that was given to us when we bought the Thermomix”. When Vesta Appliances lost the distribution license in India for selling Thermomixes when the TM5 launched, I bought their stock and now sell them in my shop. The rest is history.

N.B. If you are a VIP One Girl Customer, you can also purchase a discounted version on my VIP Shop.

SW Coleslaw

Leave a Comment / Dairy, Salads, Snacks, Vegan & Vegetarian

Coleslaw is a classic dish to accompany many meals including BBQ, jacket potatoes and perfect both in the summer and winter. This Slimming World (SW) coleslaw is full of their ‘free’ food and therefore in SW-speak, syn-free.

I have to admit, I’ve recently joined Slimming World. My son is nearly 7 years old and I just haven’t haven’t lost the baby weight. It’s got to do with a combination of things; working too hard, eating all the recipes that I cook for my Thermomix business and way too many cakes/ desserts that my children love and not exercising as much as I need to, to keep the weight off. In fairness, I do go to the gym and a have a personal trainer and whilst I feel fitter and healthier, I feel big.

When we’re in our teens and twenties, losing weight is often as simple as turning down that extra scoop of ice cream or adding some occasional exercise to our routines. However, as our age increases, our metabolic rate has a tendency to plummet, turning what used to be an effective diet and exercise plan into a recipe for serious weight gain. For women in particular, hormonal changes after age 40, including menopause, can make it harder to lose weight and keep it off.

So I’ve decided to do something about this and whilst I make home cooked food daily, incorporating Slimming World (SW) recipes into my daily routine shouldn’t be so bad, should it? Well, having joined on a whim just this lunchtime, with BBQ ribs marinating for dinner, while the rest of the family enjoy ribs with fries, I’ll be having mine with delicious homemade SW coleslaw.

NOTE: Everyone really enjoyed this recipe, including my fussy Thermo-hubby. Syn-free but super tasty too.

Carrot Halwa (Gajrela)

4 Comments / Baking (Sweet), Dessert, Vegan & Vegetarian

I’m sharing one of my family favourites – carrot halwa, otherwise known as gajrela. This sticky Indian dessert is perfect for those with a sweet tooth and a very simple recipe to make in the Thermomix and one I’m delighted to share with you.

Eaten at any time of the year, but especially on Diwali we make this at home. Diwali is a golden opportunity to crack out a few regional specialities from around the subcontinent – syrup-soaked mung beans, Rajasthani cream fritters, rice flour doughnuts and many, many others – but halwa is a near-universal treat: a sweet, buttery pudding made with everything from mung beans to pineapples, but which is often carrot-based.

Carrots are grown in abundance in the UK and are cheap and healthy, so gajar ka halwa offers the perfect excuse to crack open the celebratory sugar and ghee. As Meera Sodha puts it in Fresh India: “If eating carrots as a pudding strikes you as odd, remember how good a spiced carrot cake is. This isn’t too distant a cousin.”

And just in case, you want to impress any of your Indian friends who celebrate Diwali, here’s a Diwali greeting for you too.

May you have all the joy your heart can hold, all the smiles a day can bring, all the blessings a life can unfold, May you get the world’s best in everything.

Chapati

Leave a Comment / Breads, Vegan & Vegetarian

Where do I start? Firstly, I think by naming it. Chapati (alternatively spelled chapatti, chappati, chapathi, or chappathi), also known as roti, safati, shabaati, phulka and (in the Maldives) roshi, is an unleavened flatbread from the Indian Subcontinent and staple in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, East Africa and the Caribbean.

Chapatis are made using a soft dough comprising atta flour, salt and water. Atta is made from hard gehun (Indian wheat). It is more finely ground than most western-style whole wheat flours. Traditionally, roti (and rice) are prepared without salt to provide a bland background to our highly flavoured main or side dishes.

Traditionally, chapati dough is typically prepared with atta, salt and water, kneaded with the knuckles of the handmade into a fist and left to proof for at least 10 or 15 minutes to an hour for the gluten in the dough to develop. This is where as a Thermomix owner, life gets easy. In just one and half minutes, all that needing is done.

Credit: This recipe is from the Indian cookbook produced by India when the they sold TM31. When they lost the distribution license I with the TM5 launched, I bought their stock and now sell them in my shop. The Indian Chef, Shamim Ahmed worked at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi for 24 years as the Head of Mission Cook was instrumental in producing this book. If you are a VIP One Girl Customer, you can also purchase a discounted version on my VIP Shop.

Asian Salad

Leave a Comment / Gluten Free, Salads, Starters, Vegan & Vegetarian

This Asian salad is one of my favourites. We used to make this recipe as one of our cooking class dishes and time after time, after a class, I’d come home and repeat it for the family. It has a fantastic fusion which is bold, fresh and crunchy that is perfect on it’s own or as an accompaniment to any meal.

Credit: This recipe is from our “First Class with a Thermomix” cooking class created by Thermomix UK. If you would like to attend this or any of the classes, I am involved in, please go to my Events section on my website.

Chocolate Guinness Cake

Coconut barfi

5 Comments / Baking (Sweet), Dairy, Dessert

No Diwali celebration is complete without platefuls of barfi, besan laddoo and halwa – and homemade sweets are the best. One of the most commonly made barfi recipe during festivals like Holi, Diwali, Navratri is this coconut barfi. Barfi, borfi or burfi is a dense milk based sweet confectionery from the Indian subcontinent, a type of mithai served all at times.

This Thermomix version is so easy to do and takes all the hard work away with the continued stirring and heating functions.

Jamie Oliver’s Lamb Koftas

Matcha Golden Turmeric Latte

Leave a Comment / Breakfast & Brunch, Dairy, Drinks

This recipe for matcha golden turmeric latter provides a double boost of healthiness, using both matcha green tea and turmeric.

Turmeric, a golden spice traditionally only seen in Indian curries. Turmeric is being revamped in the form of golden turmeric lattes and as a delicious aromatic tea that is sweeping the globe too.Turmeric is a great addition to your diet as it contains lots of antioxidants and is also great for fighting inflammation. Studies have also found that turmeric’s active ingredient, curcumin helps to prevent Alzheimer’s by reducing inflammation in the brain.

I particularly like this matcha golden turmeric version as it combination with matcha. Matcha is packed with antioxidants including the powerful EGCg, boosts metabolism and burns calories, detoxifies effectively and naturally and is rich in fiber, chlorophyll and vitamins. It provides vitamin C, selenium, chromium, zinc and magnesium and lowers cholesterol and blood sugar.

I love the taste of matcha having lived in Japan and can drink it one it’s own. But I’m very aware the taste is not for everyone so combining it with a golden turmeric latte and making it into a matcha golden turmeric latte, is truly the best of both worlds.

Try switching out one of your daily coffee’s for this latte as an added extra boost to your health. This recipe contains black pepper which helps the body to absorb the antioxidants in the turmeric. It is also the perfect drink to soothe a cold and to give you a boost of energy!