When the going gets tough...blow some bubbles

Today was a horrible day. My little one had just one decent meal...half of her lunch. No breakfast and no dinner. Her milk intake was also just half of the usual daily dose. Sigh! While my husband put her to sleep, I decided to blow some soapy bubbles that I bought for my daughter at a recent trip to the bookstore and placed my hopes on tomorrow.

Easy-to-make rasmalais (or hiding the milk)

Recently, my daughter has reduced her milk intake, partly due to the fact that she no longer gets the bottle. I have in turn been tossing and turning to try and figure out how I can make her drink more milk albeit in a different form. To make it worse, she's got another bout of cold and her appetite is down. This also means that she will eat in installments, which means I have to double my efforts to feed her. So I crossed my fingers and prepared this milky snack for her. Rasmalais are easier to make than gulab jamuns and far more healthier.

Rasmalai (makes four small rasmalais)

Ingredients:
2 cups of milk
Juice of half a lemon or a 1/4 teaspoon of vinegar
1 tablespoon of milk masala (I used MTR's badam mix, which has sugar in it)
2 teaspoons of sugar
2 cups of water
A pinch of flour

Method:
Bring 1 cup of milk to boil and add the lemon juice or vinegar to it. The milk will break down into fats and whey. Drain out the liquid with a muslin cloth so that you just have just the paneer left in the muslin cloth. Transfer the paneer to a small bowl, add a pinch of flour and knead well. Make four small balls with a smooth, crack-less surface. Bring 2 cups of water to boil in a saucepan after adding two teaspoons of sugar to it. Add the balls to the sugar-water, place a lid on the saucepan and let the cheeseballs cook for about 15 to 20 minutes. Let the cheeseballs cool and then squeeze out the water.
Add the flavored milk powder to the second glass of milk and warm the mixture. Drop the cheeseballs in the mixture. Let it soak in the flavors and then place the rasmalais in the fridge. Serve them to your little one slightly cool, if not chill.

Variations of punch and dosa that went down well

After the success of Oatmeal dosa, I also tried adding a tablespoon of soya flour to six tablespoons of dosa batter. The dosas turned out well and browned nicely. More importantly, my daughter embraced my experiments without a suspicion.
I also decided to try out a watermelon variation of the punch. So I mixed together watermelon juice, pomegranate juice and lemon juice for a yummy refreshing drink, which my sweetypie loved.

Oatmeal dosa....yummy!!

Okay, now oatmeal dosa may not sound terribly yummy but it really isn't as bad as it sounds. My daughter used to eat oatmeal religiously everyday for breakfast until she started playschool recently. There just isn't enough time in the morning to cajole, distract and gently prod her to finish her bowl of oatmeal. Dosas, however, are an easy meal. Even if she is running around I can shove it into her mouth and what's more, she really likes dosa, which makes the job all the more easier. Yesterday, I had a flash of an idea. Why not add oatmeal powder to the dosa batter, eh?

Oatmeal dosa

Ingredients: (Makes 1 dosa)
1 tablespoon of oatmeal (ground finely in the chutney grinder or coffee grinder)
4 tablespoons of dosa batter

Method:
Add the oatmeal powder to the dosa batter and mix well. Pour it onto a hot gridle and spread to make a dosa.

NOTE:

Dosa batter recipe

Ingredients:
3 cups boiled rice
1 cup raw rice
1 cup urad dal
1 tablespoon methi (fenugreek) seeds

Method:
Soak the rice, urad dal and methi overnight (or 5-6 hours) in water in separate vessels. The next day morning drain off the water and grind the rice (boiled and raw rice) first and after transfering the rice batter into a vessel, grind the urad dal with the methi seeds. Mix the two batters and add desired amount of salt. Leave it overnight in a warm spot to ferment.

Pom-citrus punch

My daughter loves pomegranates and oranges. So it didn't require any serious meditation to squeeze out this punch recipe.

Citrus punch with a dash of pomegranate juice

Ingredients:
1 pomegranate
1 orange
1 lemon
1 sweet lime
1 tablespoon honey (if the juice is not sweet enough)

Method:
Remove the pomegranate arils (the beautiful rubies inside the fruit) and pound it in a sieve to extract the juice. Squeeze in the lemon, orange and sweet lime juice. Add a dash of honey if the punch is not sweet enough. Cheers!

A non-spicy rasam

I have to thank my mother in law for introducing rasam to my daughter. Until rasam came into her life, my darling refused to eat rice and dal. The mix was too dry for her taste. Here's a toast to rasam.

Ingredients:
1 bruised garlic pod
A few curry leaves
A few corriander leaves
1 teaspoon of ghee
A cup of dal water (optional)
1/2 teaspoon of cumin powder
A small piece of tamarind
1/2 a medium-sized tomato
Some asofoetida (hing)
Salt to taste

Method:
Soak the tamarind in a cup of hot water and squeeze out the juice after the water cools down. Put a teaspoon of ghee in a saucepan and add chunks of half a tomato and place a lid. A few minutes later the tomato will turn soft and squishy. Crush it with a spoon to eek out the juice and add the curry leaves, garlic, corriander leaves, dal water, cumin powder, hing and salt. Let the mixture come to a boil and use it as a moisturiser for the dal and rice. Occasionally, I also use it as a dip to camouflage the dryness of idlis.

Mixed sprouts pessarattu

I always run out of ideas for increasing the protein intake of my daughter. My oft repeated gameplan for now is to create dosa-like dishes for easy acceptance since dosas are her favorite food. So when I came across a pack of mixed sprouts at the grocery store my mind began to run wild with vivid visions of her slurping down a mixed sprouts dosa or pessarattu (yeah right!) Well, well, always worth a try.

Ingredients:
A small pack of mixed sprouts
A couple of coriander leaves
A pinch of asofoetida (hing)
Salt to taste
A spoon of freshly ground coconut (optional)

Method:
Coarse grind the ingredients in a blender. The batter should be thick (not pourable but spreadable -- makes sense?) Heat the griddle and take a spoonful and spread it like a dosa but make sure not to spread it thin. Leave it to cook on a medium flame after spreading a few drops of oil around and in the center. Each side of the pessarattu takes longer to cook than a dosa. Flip it over and cook the other side and then you know what to do -- pray hard that your little one accepts this humble, tasty and nutritious offering.

Pineapple honey jam

I've been mulling a no-sugar jam for a while. My husband's aunt is a fantastic cook and she came over once to make us a mixed-fruit jam, which my little girl loved. But the amount of sugar that went into the fruit pulp along with the food flavoring and coloring made me really sad because the delicious tastes of the fruit were exterminated by the flavoring and what remained was mere texture.
Given that pineapples are in season, I decided to blend my daughter's love for jam with my penchant for honey. Unable to rein my imagination, I ran to the vegetable and fruit shop to pick up a pre-cut pack of pineapples soon after lunch to make this delicious spread for her. A google search later, I found this easy recipe on cooks.com that fit my bill. I used my own estimates of the quantity though...here goes.

Pineapple Honey Jam

Ingredients:
6-7 small pineapple slices
4 tablespoons of honey
juice of half a lemon

Method:
Finely chop the pineapple, add the lemon juice to it and transfer to a saucepan. Let the mixture simmer for about 10 minutes under a lid on a low flame. After the pineapple is cooked, add the honey to it and cook for another 10 minutes. That's it, the jam's ready. I used an empty jam bottle as a container after sterilizing it. I didn't put it in a water bath etc. as most jam makers do because I intend to use it within a week.

Vitamin C

I hate it when my girl gets a leaky nose and itchy throat. Crankiness, loss of appetite and sleep -- not a very pleasant scenario. That is why I like to get the vitamin C into her food in various ways. Here are some great non-citric sources:

Mango: If you child is less than a year old mangoes are a great source of vitamin C. Use it with oatmeal or even with a chapathi. Add some milk to mango pulp along with a hint of cardamom and you will watch the contents of the bowl disappear in no time.

Broccoli: No vegetable can beat its anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-cancer properties. To top it, it is a great source of vitamin C. Try and include it in your child's diet as early as possible. Once he or she develops a taste for it, you can pat yourself on your back for getting her to like this elixir of life.

Gooseberry (Nellikai, Amla): This berry is a another important source of vitamin C. Grate and sprinkle it in any kinds of food you offer your kid. Include it in chapathi, rice, dosa and idle batter.

(No) sugar sugar, (only) honey, honey

Here's a tip to reduce the intake of refined sugar by your kids.

Honey or dates syrup: Honey and dates syrup are great to use in oatmeal. My standard practice is to put a spoon of honey or dates syrup in oatmeal coupled with a small mashed banana. I also use it on bread and sometimes with dosas, chapathi, idli, you name it I try to replace refined sugar with these substitutes whenever possible.

Jaggery and ghee too work well with dosas, chapathis and idlis.

Fruit pulp: You can also use fruit pulps in oatmeal and to go along with other kinds of breads and pancakes. Apple pulp, pear pulp (made of steamed apples and steamed pear), banana pulp, mango pulp (my daughter's favorite.)