Anjali's Food Kaleidoscope

Baked spinach slice

What prompted me to come up with this recipe.Ok let me be honest with you. I have been reading this book by Rujuta Diwekar “Don't lose your mind, lose your weight”. The best thing about her diet is that firstly she promises you a zero figure like Kareena and secondly ,she not only lets you eat almost everything that you like but she lets you eat every two hours( of course there are some do’s and don’t’s there, but its fun).Now I said to myself that what can I eat in between as a healthy snack .Eureka ….Something like a baked slice which can be prepared in advance , kept in the fridge and warmed and eaten whenever the snack time comes.

       Now this recipe can be altered a bit , for example you could add a few mushrooms or boiled corn to give it an extra flavor.

I prefer using olive oil where it has to be used in abundance but you could use butter here. 

      Anyways, even if you follow the exact recipe I promise you a delicious and healthy snack time food.

This one is for strict vegetarians, I mean I haven't even put any eggs in it , though I will alter it a bit in a few days and bake with a few eggs and come up with the snaps soon.

     Well its also time that I explain to you how I make a thick spinach puree. The method that I follow seems the simplest and the least messy to me, thought the other methods of par boiling the spinach are equally good.

     All I do is that I wash a whole lot of spinach leaves in plenty of water and let the water drain off completely. Then I pile them up in the pressure cooker and give one whistle on medium flame. After the leaves come at room temperature I squeeze out all the liquid and keep it aside to either use in soups or dals. The squeezed out leaves I put into small steel containers and freeze .

So we are going to use this boiled spinach here.

Ingredients:

1.  One cup squeezed out spinach leaves 

2.   Two cups quick cooking quaker oats

3.   5 tablespoons tomato ketchup ( preferably the spicier one), I used the home made one here.

4.   Two tablespoons crushed garlic

5.    6 tablespoons olive oil

6.    One cup grated cheddar cheese.

7.    One teaspoon salt or to taste

8.    ¾ th teaspoon freshly gound black pepper

9.   Two generous pinches of grated nutmeg powder.

10.                 Two teaspoons sesame seeds

Method:

1.   Take olive oil in a pan and when it gets warm on the medium flame , add the crushed garlic and let it turn golden.

2.   Add the spinach and stir fry for about two- three minutes.

3.   Turn the gas off and add ¾ cup cheddar cheese and oats and the rest of the seasonings .

4.  Mix all the ingredients well and press the mixture into a greased loaf tin. Sprinkle the rest of the cheddar on top.

5.   Bake in a preheated oven at 180° for thirty minutes.

6.   Cool and slice and enjoy with tomato ketchup.