Masoor Dal /Matar Dal Dhokla

I'm going to try this recipe out by replacing besan flour with masoor dal or matar dal.

Ingredients:
* Besan (chickpea flour) 1 cup - -- REPLACE WITH MASOOR or MATAR
* Water 1 cup
* Lime juice 3 tbsp
* Oil 1 tbsp. plus one tsp. (3 tbsp. in the original recipe)
* Eno Fruit Salt 1 tsp
* Mustard Seeds 1 tsp
* Green Chillies 2 finely sliced
* Curry Leaves - 4 to 5
* Sugar 1 tbsp (2 tbsp in original recipe)
* Salt

Procedure:
Mix together besan, salt, 1 tbsp oil, 1 tbsp lime juice, green chillies and water. Start with 3/4 cup water. It should be a thick batter that goes drip drip drip from the spatula rather than of a pouring consistency.

Put a large vessel or pressure cooker with about 3 cups water on the stovetop to heat. Grease a round pan or pressure cooker insert vessel, (we like a round of parchment at the bottom as additional insurance).

Add the Eno to the batter, put into the vessel, and steam. Do not use the weight if using a pressure cooker.

Keep it for 7 minutes after you get a forceful jet of steam. Turn off the flame, let it rest for 2 minutes, and test with a toothpick. If using a regular steaming contraption with a wire mesh and pan, cover and check after 15 minutes or so.

For Seasoning:
Heat remaining oil, add mustard seeds and curry leaves. When the mustard seeds pop, turn off the flame.

Let the dhokla rest for 3 minutes after steaming, then take it out and cut it into pieces.

Mix together 2 tbsps. HOT water, sugar and lime juice until the sugar dissolves. Pour into the seasoning.

Pour it over the dhoklas.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Spinach Crackers

1 bag of baby spinach (pre-washed)
3/4 cup almond flour
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 Tbs ghee (or butter or oil) you need this much to
make them crispy
1 Tbs water
salt to taste

Pre-heat the oven to 350F
1. In a frying pan melt ghee
2. Add spinach, garlic, water and salt. Cover and
cook till wilted and the water is evaporated
3. Take from the heat and mix in almond flour
4. Spread on a cookie sheet lined with parchment
paper. It should be very thin, about 1/8"
5. Bake for 25 min.
6. Remove from the oven and carefully cut into small
squares without lifting it from the sheet.
7. Lower the oven to 170F and bake (dry) for about
60-80 min.

They are very crispy and hold well together.

Update: Tried this out and it worked out very well, the crackers are crumbly. I also squeezed all the water out of the spinach after i cooked it.

I tried this out with freshly chopped cilantro and grated carrots, but this was a flop - it completely crumbled and I was left with cilantro-carrot flavored almond flour. I don't know where i went wrong, perhaps I needed to cook the cilantro-carrot mixture...

Ground Chicken/Turkey Curry

The crockpot recipe came and went. We've finally settled down on this basic recipe for Sanjay. The bonus is that his brother loves it too!
I use the entire 1 lb that we buy from Whole Foods. This lasts for two days = 4 meals, 2 boys.

1 lb ground chicken thigh or 1 lb ground turkey

Masala:
in about 3-4 tbsp light olive oil saute finely chopped onions till translucent. Add 2 finely chopped tomatoes. Separately in a food processor, chop 5 cloves garlic, 1-2 chillies, 1 small pc ginger. Add these ingredients to the onion-tomato mixture. When the oil begins to separate, add the ground meat. cook well for 10-11 minutes.

SCD Sandwich Bread

After using and paying $$$ for coarsely ground almond flour i decided to go ahead and order 10 lbs of almond flour from Lucy's Kitchen Shop. She was prompt, and I got two 5 lb bags. The flour is much finer and is much better for baking.

I tried my hand at a non-sweet bread to make sandwiches with. This one worked for me. I put it in a cake pan rather than the loaf pan, because I have found that the loaf pan seems to be too deep. The bread is brown on the outside and completely uncooked in the center.

3 1/2 cups almond flour

3 eggs

1/4 cup melted butter

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup goat yogurt

1/4 teaspoon salt

I added a generous sprinkling of cumin seeds. Next time, I will try ajwain.

Mix together & bake at 350 F for about 45 minutes.
Sanjay likes sandwiches made with this bread, goat cheese pesto and cucumber and tomatoes.

Masoor Dal Idlis

We are now down to trying out meat once a week. The resulting increase in ammonia made Sanjay a little lethargic (not sure whether it was the meat or the alpha-keto-glutaric acid we were giving him).
Thanks to the goat yoghurt, I tried out idlis with masoor dal. They came out great and were a hit with Sanjay.
Here's how:

Masoor Dal "Instant Idli" Mix
soak masoor dal for 8-10 hrs
dry (i spread it out on a cheesecloth and sun-dried it)
powder the dried dal (i used a coffee grinder)

Making the idlis:
roast the powder in a little bit of ghee seasoned with cumin/mustard seeds
add salt, grated coconut, goat yoghurt till you get a batter-like consistency (you can add veggies as well)
add about 1/2 tsp baking soda
steam in an idli steamer

The mini idli moulds worked out better than the bigger moulds. Primarily because the resulting idli is crumbly and falls apart. I should probably experiment with a little almond flour the next time...