Peanut Ladoo/Sweet Balls

Here's another addition to my Toddler Treat Series and Toddler Lunchbox Series! Becoming a mother has made me delve even deeper into the wealth of information that's out there in books, the Internet, magazines, people, television, etc...Peanuts/groundnuts are something I've had all my life and known are a high source of protein, but it's only now that I went deeper into it and discovered the following facts-they are higher in antioxidants than fruits like strawberries and vegetables like carrots and beetroots, have a very high content of niacin which is good for brain health, are high in fiber and vitamin E, and have more than 30 nutrients in them! And did you know that roasting them increases the antioxidant level by more than 20%?! Of course, there's no use rattling off all this to a 2+ year old toddler! My son doesn't like peanuts and so I had to find ways to include them in his diet. I first tried the obvious choice-peanut butter, which he rejected outright....I was looking around for other ways when I found this recipe on a popular TV show (Lakshmi Nair's Magic Oven). This seems to have hit all the sweet spots with my son, who gobbles them up with glee, much to his mom's relief and delight! So now that I've got one more nutritious and delicious snack/sweet to include in his school snackbox, I'm sharing this here hoping it might be of help to some other moms out there. Even if you don't have any toddlers to feed, I can assure you that this will be a winner with adults too! So here goes....

Multigrain power-packed dosa

In a continuation of my Toddler Treat series and Toddler Lunchbox Series, this recipe is one of my son's and my personal favorites. If your child is a little older and doesn't like to experiment with new tastes, it might get a little rough to have this included in her/his diet, but it's still worth the effort! I have been giving this to my son since he was almost a year and a half, so he's kind of used to the taste now (which I personally find delicious anyway!). This truly is a powerhouse of all the goodies that you would want your little one to have. The clincher is that it doesn't require any overnight fermentation or heavy grinding like conventional dosas and can be called "instant". This is a combination of carbohydrates (from rice flour), calcium and vitamin E (from soy flour), once again calcium and carbohydrates plus proteins (from ragi flour), again vitamin E, vitamin B and folic acid (from almonds) and did I mention the addition of yoghurt too? So you get an extra dose of calcium and proteins and vitamins B6 and B12! What more do you need now? So here's the recipe!

Pachadi with a Tomato Twist

Did you know that the humble "pachadi" has a Wikipedia entry of its own? Well, I didn't and was pleasantly surprised to see it come up when I googled it just for larks. I learnt quite a few things that I didn't know....like the fact that pachadi simply means "food which has been pounded"? For most of us South Indians, a pachadi is simply a delicious side dish, somewhat like the North Indian raitha, but with fried vegetables or boiled vegetables. The vegetables most commonly used are ladies' finger, pumpkin, cucumber, green papaya, etc. A fashionable entry into the wedding sadya menu has been the pineapple pachadi-one of my favorites!

The recipe I have here today for you is one that my mom often makes for my son to take to school and which he loves (so you could add this to your list of "Toddler Treats!).  It's one of the recipes I've "bookmarked" from her and hope to make myself someday. It is different from the usual pachadi and yet familiarly comforting. Of course, it has the trademark of all the recipes featured on this blog-it's healthy, super easy, super quick and delicious!