Healthy and Fun Indian Recipes for Adolescents!

When my oldest kid turned 10, I thought it was finally time to let go of that perfectly innocent, sweet child who would bring me flowers from the neighbour’s garden and tell me adorable things like ‘Mom, you’re such a good cook-er’.

So, when Himanshu finally became a true blue adolescent, the huge transition in his eating habits and his overall demeanour didn’t really come as a surprise to me! In fact, I was pretty much prepared to tackle any obstacles that might come in the way. 

I have to be honest, it is NOT an easy job keeping track of all nutritional elements in meals and making things interesting at the same time. However, my love for the little one and the urge to make him eat nothing but the best food kept me going and I spent countless hours researching about adolescents’ nutrition. I also started to experiment with a lot of recipes, substituted healthy ingredients and completely got rid of junk food for a while! Of course, the other kids in the house (including the husband) were not happy!

So, I decided to document all the recipes that Himanshu loves. If you have an adolescent kid at home, try these fun and healthy recipes. Not only are they super healthy and easy to put together, your kid might just surprise you by actually liking them.

Bread Upma

This was one of the first dishes I put together for Himanshu’s school lunch one day! He came back home with a completely empty lunchbox and I cannot describe in words how happy it made me. The recipe is simple and requires your basic kitchen ingredients.

Ingredients:

• Bread slices
• 2 tbsp of oil
• Mustard and cumin seeds (rai and jeera)
• Finely chopped tomatoes and onions
• Finely chopped curry leaves
• Finely chopped ginger
• Turmeric powder
• Salt to taste
• Coriander for garnishing

How to make:

• Before you begin heating the pan, chop the bread into bite-sized cubes. Once this is done, you can begin making bread upma.
• Heat the oil and throw in the cumin and mustard seeds.
• Once they begin spluttering, add the onions. Saute till the onions turn golden or translucent.
• Mix the curry leaves and chopped ginger in the next step. Add the tomatoes thereafter and saute till it becomes slightly soft and mushy and the raw smell of the ginger completely goes away.
• Add turmeric and salt. Mix thoroughly.
• When the mixture is almost done, put in the bread slices and sprinkle water on top of it. Cover the bread upma and let it cook for the next 4-6 minutes.
• You will get an enticing fragrance when the upma is done. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve!

Millet Masala Dosa

This dish has become a star in the Bharadwaj household! Although it is a little time-consuming if you want to make the batter at home, it is definitely worth all the effort and grind!

Ingredients for the dosa batter:

• 1 cup of millet
• 1/3rd cup of poha or pressed rice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4th cup urad dal
• 2 tbsp of refined or vegetable oil
• 2 cups of water

Ingredients for the filling:

• 3 boiled potatoes
• Mustard seeds
• 1 finely chopped onion
• Chopped green chillies and ginger
• Half a bowl of mixed chana (mixed Bengal gram)  and urad dal (split black gram)
• Salt and turmeric
• 6-7 curry leaves
• 2 tsp of vegetable oil

How to make:

• For the batter, wash the millet and soak it along with urad dal in lukewarm water for at least 5-6 hours. You will notice the mixture doubling up!
• Grinding this mixture is the next step prior to which you have to soak the poha for at least 25 minutes.
• Drain the water from both the mixture and the poha and grind together into a paste with fresh water. Take extra care about the proportion of water as you do not want the paste to be too liquidy in consistency! 
• You will observe a slight sour smell coming off of the mixture. Ferment this for at least 12 hours and add salt thereafter. Keep it aside.
• For the filling, soak both dals in water for 5 minutes and mash the potatoes into small lumps (do not make it too fine).
• Heat oil in a pan and temper with curry leaves, mustard seeds. Add the soaked dals and let them splutter. Add onion, chopped ginger and green chillies and mix well.
• When the mixture starts giving off a nice fragrance, throw in the mashed potatoes and mix well.
• Add salt and turmeric. Mix thoroughly.
• Make the dosa by heating a non-stick frying pan and greasing it with 2 tsp of oil.
• Spread the dosa batter evenly using the flat end of a bowl. Cook it for a while on simmered gas.
• When it is half done, fill it up with the potato mixture and let it stay for another minute or two.
• Fold it up and serve with some coconut chutney and sambar.

Vermicelli Upma

Another one of Himanshu’s favourites, this recipe has been in my family for generations and is a hand-me-down from my mother! The recipe can be put together in less than 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

• Roasted vermicelli
• Finely chopped vegetables – carrots, green chillies, onions, cauliflower, and tomatoes
• 1 tsp finely chopped ginger
• 2 tsp of mustard seeds, chana and urad dal (soak the dals for 3 minutes)
• A handful of cashews
• 2 tsp of vegetable oil
• 6-7 curry leaves
• Salt and turmeric
• Lemon juice (optional)

How to make:

• Heat the oil in a non-stick pan and temper with mustard seeds, curry leaves, and the soaked dals.
• Add the cashews and saute till they turn brown in colour.
• Next, add the curry leaves, chopped ginger and green chillies
• Add the chopped vegetables in the next step.
• Add turmeric and salt. Then, add some water to the mixture and cover with a lid.
• Once the water starts boiling, throw in the roasted vermicelli and simmer cook for another 7-8 minutes.
• Vermicelli takes very little time to cook, so make sure to constantly check on the mixture.
• Drizzle the lemon juice right before taking it off the gas stove.
• Serve hot with some green or coconut chutney!

Spinach Pooris

My family is simply incapable of resisting anything made of spinach! So, I tried these pooris one day and they were a huge hit instantly! The recipe is very simple and can be put together in 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of whole wheat flour
• 500 grams palak or spinach (thoroughly washed)
• 2-3 tsp of butter or ghee
• 1 tsp of green chilli paste
• 1 tsp of ginger paste
• ½ tsp of cumin seeds (Jeera)
• Oil (frying)
• Water
• Salt to taste

How to make:

• Finely chop the spinach and blanch it in boiling water. Drain the water, cool the spinach leaves, and grind into a paste.
• Take a deep dish, add wheat flour, the spinach paste, salt, green chilli paste, and ginger paste.
• Knead the dough with enough water to make it soft. There should not be any cracks on the dough.
• Add the butter or ghee in the dough and mix it well. This will give the pooris a nice flavour!
• Make small balls out of the dough and roll them into 5-inch diameter discs on a well-floured surface.
• Take a deep pan and add oil generously for frying.
• Make sure the oil is hot enough and slide in each roll.
• Fry the pooris adequately till they take on a nice golden colour.
• Serve hot with pudina (mint) or dhania (coriander) chutney

These quick and healthy recipes definitely hit a home run with my picky eater! Try them out and let me know which ones your child liked the most!