Healthy diet for children: Camouflaged fibre

Here are three recipes that are not just rich in fibre but yummy too.

 

Strawberry basil popsicle

 

Ingredients
500 gm fresh strawberry (you can use any berry of your choice)
75 gm honey
250 gm yoghurt
10 basil leaves
1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Method
Chop the fresh strawberries and set aside. In a bowl, combine the strawberries with honey and balsamic vinegar and let it stand for 15 minutes. Blend the strawberries (you can blend it coarsely) with yoghurt and 10 basil leaves, just make sure the yoghurt is combined well. Pour the mixture into a popsicle mould and freeze until firm, about four hours. Demould the popsicle. Keep it in a chilled glass and serve.

Chocolate bran bites

Chocolate bran bites

Ajith, Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre

Ingredients
50 gm butter
50 gm cocoa powder
50 gm brown sugar
100 gm oats
25 gm roasted wheat bran
20 gm honey
30 gm chocolate chips (optional)

Method
In a bowl, mix melted butter, cocoa powder, and brown sugar until combined. Add honey and mix until a liquid-y paste forms. Pour over oats, wheat bran and mix until moistened. Place in a non-stick tray, and bake at 180ºC for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle chocolate chips. The chocolate chips will stick, creating clusters. Serve when cooled.

Quinoa crust pizza

Quinoa crust pizza

Prashanthi, food blogger yummilyyours.com

Ingredients
½ cup quinoa
1½ cup water (for cooking the quinoa)
1 large egg (you can substitute the egg with a paste made of flax seeds)
½ tsp mixed dried herbs / Italian
seasoning
¼ tsp garlic salt
¼ cup shredded cheese
Pizza sauce
Toppings of your  choice

Method
Add quinoa to water, bring the pan to a boil; cover and cook till all the water is absorbed and the quinoa becomes fluffy. Add the dried herbs, garlic salt and shredded cheese. Mix well. It will reach an almost-dough like texture. Beat the whole egg; add it in and mix. Now the dough like quinoa mixture becomes spreadable.

Line a pan with some parchment foil and spray some cooking oil on it. Take the quinoa mixture in hand and shape it into a ball. Place it on the cookie sheet and spread it. It almost spreads evenly by itself. Just use your hand to guide it make sure that one side is not much thicker compared to the other.

Place the pan in a preheated oven for 10-13 minutes at 180°C. Take it out of the oven. Let it cool for a minute. Spread the pizza sauce on top. Layer the toppings and cheese and bake for another 10 minutes until the cheese melts and the sides start to turn golden. Cool it for a minute before serving so that the crust holds together.

Here are a few hacks to make cooking a dream

Meaty problems
Very often cutting frozen meat can be a problem. Here is one way to deal with that. Before freezing the meat, cut it into smaller portions. That way, when you need to use it, you can just pick a piece out and use it.

Vacuum-seal food storage bags
Vegetables like green peas, beans etc. can be frozen and stored for future use. But, there is always an issue of keeping it fresh and vacuum-sealed boxes or bags can be quite expensive. So here is a cheap alternative for that. Get a good quality zip-bag and store the vegetables in that. Seal the bag and just leave enough space for a straw to go in. Then, suck out all the air from the bag and quickly pull out the straw and seal the bag. The vegetables will stay fresh this way.

Chill alcohol in less that ten minutes
If you need to chill a bottle of alcohol in a few minutes here is what you need to do. While stashing the bottle in ice and icy water, make sure you add salt to that mixture. This helps in cooling the water faster. The ice will cool the water down and the salt will allow the water temperature to drop below 0°C. Thus cooling the bottle very quickly.

A simple way to slice onions
If you need to chop onions really finely for a recipe and can’t chop them up, here is an easier way to do so. Use a vegetable peeler and peel the onions. You’ll have to just chop it into half and start peeling.