SEMOLINA VEGETABLES FINGER

A JOURNEY TOWARDS HEALTHY SNACKS IS WISDOM!

On several occasions; I have mentioned in the blog how our family loves snacks. The senior loves but fears to have. He eats them only if served at dinner. I mean, he hardly wants to have an extra session of snacks unless there are guests at home or we go to other home as guests. In these cases too; he would go too slow! Being an extreme case of a foodie, I fail to understand how one can leave a kebab or a fry on his plate for hours and talk non-stop about boring topics like office, economics and politics. I have told him on several occasions the rest present in the party may not be interested in talking about office and just want to relax & unwind; but he won't listen to me. FOOD rules my life; whilst the rest talk, exchange greetings in a party; I keep myself busy eating. I have noticed; our son too eats a lot of snacks in a party and would have less of the mains & sides for dinner. Mumma could not stop eating snacks after the son left home; she tries to opt for healthier ones.

POTATO IS A LOVE; BEETROOT, CARROT ARE DREADFUL! 

My food habits are not healthy; neither my food choices are. I do not like beetroot and carrot as a vegetable but enjoy a vegetable chop / a Bengali Snack made of it; I love a beetroot-carrot-potato stir fry our mother used to prepare during the winters and serve with porota; I immensely loved a breakfast she made only for me during my examination study leaves; a fried rice with carrot-beetroot-potatoes-green peas & left-over rice. I was more interested in it than my studies; ate a bowlful of it and doze off. Wish, I could rewind the scenes and get sincere with my studies. Although, carrot & beetroot are root vegetables and I am a diabetic; we cannot deny the benefits of these vegetables. My doctors always say whatever we eat, we must eat in moderation! Even the healthiest of food stuffs should not be over eaten. These days, I use them to make stuffs we can eat; using less oil to cook! This is an achievement for me!

WHAT IS A SEMOLINA VEGETABLES FINGER? A HEALTHY, YUMMY SNACK!

Semolina is a very favourite ingredient of mine and I use it a lot in my cooking. I specially prepare cakes & snacks with it. The idea of preparing an OVEN-COOKED SNACK with SEMOLINA-BEETROOT-CARROT-POTATO-COCONUT was impromptu and I took no time to turn them onto a reality. We loved it so much that I have decided to share the RECIPE in the blog! My first attempt at it was fine, it tasted what was expected; but it felt the coating of semolina was not required. The use of semolina in the cooked dough already gave it the necessary texture! Last week, on that day, I had prepared a customised dinner of green peas stuffed puffed bread / koraishutir kochuri; a fruit salad & this snack; SEMOLINA VEGETABLES FINGER. We did enjoy our dinner.

The next day; I felt, the coating is not required! Because I cooked it in Microwave+Grill mode, the semolina may not have browned. Within 48 hours, I decided to do the same stuff again without the coating. What we got looks better; tasted wow. My evening tea-time was passing by; the kitchen light turned off all of a sudden and I did a quick photo session, not so satisfactory! It is such a good snack option that I am really in a hurry to share it with my readers!

INGREDIENTS : 

BEETROOT : 1 MEDIUM SIZED

CARROT : 1 MEDIUM SIZED

POTATO : 1 MEDIUM SIZED

SEMOLINA : 2-3 TBSP

CHOPPED COCONUT : 1 TBSP

CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 1 TSP

TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2 TSP

CUMIN SEED : 1/4 TSP

CUMIN POWDER : 1/2 TSP

CORIANDER POWDER : 1/2 TSP

DRY MANGO POWDER : 1 TSP

CHAAT MASALA : 1/2 TSP

CRUSHED BLACK PEPPER : 1/4 TSP

SUGAR : 1 TSP

SALT : AS REQUIRED

OIL : 2 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

We will peel and cut the carrot, beetroot, potato and wash them well. We will take the vegetable pieces in a cooker, add 2 coffee mugs of water, a bit of salt & the turmeric. We will close the lid of the cooker and pressure cook at minimal heat up to 3 whistles.

Once cool; the lid would open and we will take the vegetables in a bowl; mash well. Those are Cristine's hands at work; she is very fair. We will not dispose the very healthy boiled water. We can store it to prepare a soup later or add to the curries or atta dough instead of water.

We will also chop and wash the coconut pieces and green chillies. We need to keep the cumin seeds near the kitchen top!

We will heat 2 tbsp of oil in a wok and temper it with the cumin seeds.

We will give a stir; add the washed, chopped coconut & green chillies; stir cook for 3-4 minutes until they get toasted well.

We will add the vegetables mash and the powdered spices like cumin, coriander, dry mango powder, chaat masala, crushed black pepper.

We will fold in well and stir cook at low heat for 4-5 minutes.

We will add the semolina now and fold in well. We will keep stirring the mixture at minimal heat for 3-4 minutes.

We will add the sugar and stir cook for a minute.

We will transfer it to a plate and let it cool a bit.

We will knead the cooked dough a bit.

We will tear off smaller portions and shape them finger like.

We will grease an oven proof plate with a bit of oil and place the uncooked snacks on it.

Mine is a convection mode microwave oven. I had placed the low wired stool inside the oven; placed the oven proof plate atop.

I had cooked them in Microwave+Grill option for about 10 minutes at 300 temperature. Each oven is different. The time taken for cooking may be different.

We will enjoy them fresh & hot with our share of tea / coffee!