The Lean Veggie - Baked tofu tikkas

If you want to eat the best paneer tikkas in Madras, you should try and go to the Boat club. They grill marinated paneer cubes with slices of onion, and serve with green cilantro chutney. These tikkas are a tad oily, but perfectly cooked - charred and crispy on the outside, spongy and chewy on the inside.

Even though paneer is readily available in many Indian grocery stores, the fat content seems excessive. So, I tried making tikkas with high protein extra firm tofu instead. They tasted almost as good. This recipe is really versatile. I served these by themselves, as a side dish one day. I also made mattar paneer and substituted the paneer with these baked tofu cubes. I'm sure these would taste great as a replacement for paneer in the classic palak paneer dish.

Method -

1) In a big bowl, whisk together all the below ingredients for the marinade -
3/4 cup yoghurt

1 tsp lemon juice

salt to taste

black pepper - 1/4 tsp

channa masala - 1 tsp

coriander cumin powder (dhania jeera masala) - 1 tbsp

red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp

kasoori methi - 1 tsp

oil - 1 tbsp

grated ginger - 1 tsp

garlic - 1 clove grated

finely chopped cilantro - 1 tbsp

turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

2) Chop up some extra firm tofu into cubes - roughly about 1 inch in length, 1 inch in width and 1/3 inch thickness. For this recipe, I used about 1.5 cups. Combine the tofu cubes with the marinade. Each cube should be fully coated. If you think there is excess marinade, chop up some more tofu

3) Cover bowl with plastic wrap, refrigerate for 2 to 8 hours

4) Preheat oven to 475 degrees

5) Take a sheet of aluminium foil, place over a baking sheet. Grease the aluminum foil well

6) Arrange the tofu cubes in a single layer on the foil. If you have excess marinade in the bowl, spoon a little on each tofu cube.

7) Bake for about 15 minutes. As you are baking at very high temperatures, make sure you keep an eye on the oven. After 15 minutes, check on the tofu. If the edges are already browned, remove them from the oven. Otherwise, bake for another 5 to 10 minutes. Do not let it bake for too long, otherwise the tofu gets tough

Baking times could vary depending on the type of tofu you use. The easiest way to check is to cool and sample a cube (and yea, try not to finish them all)

The Lean Veggie - Salty and sweet nombu adais

We all have incredibly fond memories of the nombus and vrathams from our childhood days (especially when mom had to do all the cooking and i would make my grand entrance during the prasadam sampling stage of the poojas). My favorite was and still continues to be the Karadayan nombu, or to put in simple english - the valentine's day of vedic times.

The term "karadayan" simply means "flat cakes made with black eyed peas". Ofcourse, this festival has a lot more to it than its eponymous sweet and salty flat cakes. It celebrates the power of Savithri's love for her husband Sathyavan.
There was a lot of gal power in ancient India. And sassy Savithri is one such heroine. She definatly married the man she loved, prayed for his wellbeing, and then saved him from the God of death, not by wailing and pleading, but by beating him in a game of wits. The story is really cool. It goes something like this. Yama dharmaraja yanks Sathyavan's soul from his body, and starts traveling back to the netherworlds. Savithri doggedly follows him.

Lord Yama - Uh...lady... (stalker?) Can i help you?

Savirthi - I want my man back..

Lord Yama - If I say yes to that, doesnt my entire career become rather pointless then? I'll give you ANYTHING else that you ask for.

Savithri - Ok. I want to have many kids with Sathyavan then,

Lord Yama - Duh...Thats easy, you got it.

Savithri - Well, Sathyavan has to be like, ALIVE for that. Aha!!! Gotcha!

Lord Yama - Touche! May you both live happily everafter

Lazy sis and I enjoyed the spicy flat cakes and the free pass to eat all the butter we wanted to. Mystic Mom would get all misty eyed and chant a little old tamil phrase that translates into "i shall give thou some un-melted butter and a single flatcake...may you live for ever with me!!!" as she served dad.

K, my modern day Sathyavan grumbled over the countless carbs in the rice flour based cakes and the saturated fat in the generous blob of butter on his plate. After much emotional blackmailing, he finally sampled some, and actually pronounced it edible. These cakes have an incredibly simple taste - just the nuttiness of the roasted rice flour, the spice from the hing, and the sweetness from the jaggery. But they sure are fulfilling. Especially the salty ones.
So, here are the recipes. Enjoy!

Salty adais-

1 cup rice flour

2.5 cups water

1/2 cup cooked black eyed peas

1 tsp grated ginger

1 tbsp finely chopped green chilli

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp urad dhal

1 tbsp finely chopped curry leaves

2 pinches hing

1/4 cup shredded coconut (optional)

Salt to taste

Method

1) Dry roast the rice flour in a non stick pan till it turns pinkish with a nice roasted aroma (dont let it burn)

2) In another pan, heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds

3) When the seeds splutter, add the urad seeds, chilli, curry leaves and ginger and stir fry for a few seconds

4) Pour in the water, add salt (about 1 tsp), 2 pinches hing, and cooked black eyed peas. Stir in the coconut at this stage if using

5) Sprinkle the rice flour, and stir well till all the water is absorbed and it becomes a pasty mass

6) Spread the mixture on a big plate, and let it cool till you can handle it

7) Shape into flat rounds (about the size of the palm of your hand). Make a hole in the center (like a vada). Steam on greased idli plates for about 15 minutes

8) When you open the cooker, and touch the cakes, if they seem wet, it then means they are ready. Cool them and the vadais will stay together. If you are worried about the cakes falling apart after steaming, then arrange on a plate and microwave for 4 minutes

9) Serve with butter

Sweet adais -

1 cup rice flour

1 cup shredded jaggery

1/2 cup cooked black eyed peas

3 cups water

1/2 tsp powdered cardomom

1) Dry roast the rice flour in a non stick pan till it turns pinkish with a nice roasted aroma (dont let it burn)

2) In another pan, boil the water and add the jaggery. When it dissolved fully, add the black eyed peas

3) When the water comes to a boil, add the rice flour and stir well till combined without lumps, and all the water has been absorbed

4) Mix in the cardamom powder well

Perform steps 6 to 9 as described in the above salt adai recipe

Skinny Fat Girl - The why

Even skinny people get fat.

I used to be one of those lucky skinny people - I could eat like a cow and not worry about a single pound. This was till I turned 18.

I then spent the next 10 years messing around with my weight - Starting with indiscriminate eating during my college years (think potato chips at three in the morning, and 2 dinners everyday), I reached an unnecessary high as a newly married bride at 24, goaded by my family who equated slight obesity with good health for some reason.

Then, at 26, I started losing weight, without even really trying (i was commuting and working a little too hard). At first it felt good. But as my BMI dipped well into the underweight zone, I ran into some practical difficulties - I could not go clothes shopping anymore (juniors section clothing is not exactly corporate power dressing); I looked like a skeleton with skin draped on bones and weirdly big hair; There was nothing pretty about my face anymore; My family looked at me and thought I was suffering from emotional troubles (i wasn't really) and blamed themselves, and my colleagues tried stuffing me with every cookie and cake they could lay their hands on (which got a little tiring after a while).

Finally, my downward spiral stopped thanks to an embarrassing incident in my new workplace. I passed out in the middle of the warehouse that I was giving a visitor a tour of. The visitor, incidentally, was an insurance guy, in charge of ensuring my workplace was offering comfortable working conditions to the employees. So, me passing out was not a good thing at all. I realized I had to eat well so that my employers would not have to dial 911 at inopportune moments.

My calorie intake was balanced by all the walking around that I did in the shop floor. I steadily gained weight - and it was good. I could look at my photos once more without cringing, I could go clothes shopping without being directed to the little girls' section, and my family started talking to me about topics other than my weight.

I wish I could say I lived happily ever after. Unfortunately no.

Last October, I made certain massive lifestyle changes, which, though good for my personal life, were certainly bad for my BMI. In November, looking at my slightly plump face, I told myself I was looking well rested and happy. In January, I attributed my ill-fitting shirts to a "little extra holiday weight". Last week, after I could not fit into my well worn jeans, I realized it was time to stop kidding myself.

I have gained 20 pounds over the past 2 years. 10 of these were the good pounds which helped me get back into a health BMI. But 10 of these pounds are simply excess weight. And I gained these 10 pounds in the past 4 months. Sure, I am still well within the normal weight range for my height. But, if this trend continues, I will gain another 20 pounds before the end of this year, making me overweight. And obviously, I do not want to get there.

As a petite and formerly skinny person, it feels like its a bit harder for me to achieve my healthy weight target. I get laughed at, and my concerns are simply brushed aside as being a figment of my imagination. Well, all I can say is, my jeans cannot lie. It is easier for me to lose the 10 extra pounds now, as opposed to getting obviously overweight later this year and THEN trying to lose 30 pounds.

I hate going to the gym, and I enjoy food way too much to diet. After much reading and research (unscientific of course), I have made 10 simple rules for myself. I wrote them up on Monday, but, do not want to publish it here, till I am able to live by them for at least 2 days. My goal? Lose a modest pound a week, and then just maintain my ideal weight after that.

I'm hoping my blog will help me stay on track. If you look at me, you may think I'm nuts. But, skinny people do get fat. That's true. My favorite pair of jeans would agree.

The long and short of it

EXTREME MAKEOVER. That is what i am up to these days. Though, I never really intended to go down this path. To cut a long story short (pun entirely intended), I am still recovering from a hair-styling disaster. Why do I call it as such? Well....I was initially inspired by my idol Carrie Bradshaw.

So I bravely decided to get my locks styled like this.......

But finally, ended up with, well, THIS..........................

So you get the picture. When I secretly hoped to look like an Oscar winner, I was thinking Julia Roberts and Halle Berry. Not Javier Bardem.

K looked at me, tried very hard to suppress his broad grin and remarked "awww, you look just like....err...a little boy....oops..no,no,....i swear i meant little girl". Hmmpphh...speaking of Freudian slips...

The bright side of all this is, K's affections are comfortingly unchanged. I guess this is what they mean by true love then. Loyal mom of course loved it (Loyal Mom is a free spirit at heart, and I suspect she vicariously lives out some of her long suppressed desires through me)

Anyways,trying to make the best of a bad situation, I decided to upgrade my entire look, aiming to do the whole cute sporty girl thing. Only problem is, the rest of me is ANYTHING but sporty. So, this has inspired me to launch yet another (no please don't groan already) new self improvement endeavor (and blog series): The Skinny fat girl. Watch this space!