Eggless Whole Wheat Pancakes with Palm Jaggery (Karuppatti Vellam)

Ingredients:

For the pancakes:
Whole wheat flour - 1 cup (I used Khazana Organic Whole Wheat Flour from Costco)
Milk - 1 cup
Baking powder - 1 tbsp
Vanilla extract - 1 tbsp
Coconut oil - 2 tbsp, melted  (you can substitute with olive or other oils as well)
Palm jaggery (karuppatti vellam) - 2 tbsp, for sweetening the pancakes
Water, 1/2-3/4 cups, optional, as needed

Strawberries - quartered - 1 cup (optional)
Butter - 1 tbsp (optional)
Chocolate chips - 1/2 cup (optional)

Syrup:
Palm jaggery (karuppatti vellam) - 4 tbsp

In a medium sized bowl, mix the whole wheat flour and baking powder well. Add milk, vanilla extract, coconut oil to it.
In a small sauce pan, add the palm jaggery and 1/2 cup of water. Heat to melt the jaggery. Once it is completely melted, filter and add to the whole wheat flour mixture.
Mix well until you get a slightly thick pouring consistency. If the batter is too thick, add some water or milk as needed. Consistency should be similar to idli batter or a thick dosa batter.

Grease a griddle with butter or coconut oil and pour a ladle of the above batter. You will see the batter cook. Optionally, add some chocolate chips. Cook on medium flame, until the top is more or less cooked.

Flip the pancake to slightly brown the other side. In about 10-15 seconds or when the pan side is cooked, remove from the pan. 

Repeat to make a few more pancakes.

Syrup:

In a small sauce pan, melt the palm jaggery in water, cook on medium flame. Bring to a boil. When the jaggery is fully melted and the syrup is of slightly thick consistency, turn off the stove, filter to remove impurities and save in a bowl. 

Strawberry topping:

Add 1-2 tbsp of the syrup to cut strawberries and mix well. 

Top the pancakes with the syrup, and optionally butter and strawberries, offer to Krishna and serve. 

Saatvik Pesto Pasta

Ingredients:

Fresh basil: 2 cups
Parmesan, grated:  1 cup
Pine nuts: 3/4 cup
Olive oil: 3/4 cup
Salt: 1/2 tsp

Cook pasta per package instructions.

For the pesto sauce, pick the basil leaves from the stem, wash, pat dry. Add it to a blender and give a quick blend, then add pine nuts, blend for a few minutes, add the parmesan and blend again. Add olive oil and mix well.

Add to cooked pasta and serve.

Pesto may oxidize to a dark green color. To avoid this, some chefs recommend blanching the basil leaves. I've never tried this method. The dark green color tastes just fine to us. 

Saatvik Panneer Butter Masala / Mattar Panneer

Ingredients

Tomatoes: 6-7 whole
Green chillies: 2-3, depending on desired spice level
Ginger: about the size of a large gooseberry, peeled and chopped.
Panneer: 1 cup cubed
Fresh cream: 2 tbsp
Butter: 1 tbsp
Spices:
Cumin 1 tbsp
Green cardamom 2-3
Black cardamom 1-2

Procedure:
Grind the tomatoes with green chillies and ginger smoothly, then in a thick bottom pan, add oil, cumin, cloves, green cardamom, black cardamom and sauté , then add the ground purée and start to cook, add butter while the purée starts boiling and cook until oil separates from the mixture. Then add chopped Panneer, and a few tablespoons of heavy whipping cream.

Let it come to a boil. Turn off in a few minutes.

For Mattar Panneer, cook the green peas separately in a cup of water. Once the sauce above is thickened, add the cooked peas and bring to a boil.

Offer to Krishna and enjoy.

Baked Pasta

Cook the pasta per instructions. For sauce, I use the Costco tomato paste. To the tomato paste, add lots of water (2-3 cups) and dilute it. Then in a thick bottom pan, add olive oil, Italian seasoning and the diluted paste, add salt, let it cook until you get the desired sauce consistency.

Add it to the cooked pasta then spread in a pan, add mozzarella cheese on top and either bake for 30-45 minutes at 395F until cheese browns or do a low broil for a few minutes