Yeast Free Bread

When I start GFCF diet for Tanishk, first question was in my mind, what will he eat in his breakfast? As he loved his non-GFCF toast very much, I was having a tough time to give him breakfast. I started to give him GFCF Cereals and boiled egg. I make cheelas or pancakes for him. But whenever he sees anybody eating toast, he asked for the toast. Then I thought, we should try GFCF bread.

We tried different types of bread - brown rice flour bread, white rice flour bread, tapioca flour bread etc. but all breads were having yeast. Tanishk wasn't having any allergies so I kept giving him the breads. In all breads - we found "Food For Life" brown rice flour bread best for toast and after that I didn't try any other bread.

I tried to find out Yeast Free GFCF Bread, but couldn't. If I got, it was so much expensive to buy. I thought I should bake it for myself. That was also a tough task for me. I didn't bake any bread before, so I didn't know the basics. I was totally new to GFCF and baking the GFCF bread & cakes for me was start of new study.

Yeast Free Brown Rice Flour Bread

I searched on internet, and got several recipes. I got few books from the library and read them. I tried few recipes but failed. Some were very moist, very tasteless, some were very hard, some were sticky and some were very soft & crumbly.

Then I got a book written by Lisa Lewis - Special Diets For Special People from the library. I tried the yeast free bread recipe from the book. The bread was very much moist but it was OK for taste. Tanishk ate it but I wasn't sure whether he likes it or not. I kept trying other recipes too, but Tanishk wasn't comfortable with other breads. Then, again I used the same recipe and tried to make it edible & less moistened. I tried to increase / decrease ingredients to make it perfect. Finally, I got it perfect. It was a major achievement for me. :)

jowaar Aloo Parantha

Spicy Jowaar Aloo Parantha

Ingredients:

1.5 cup Sorghum flour
2 medium size Boiled Potatoes, grated
1 small of piece Ginger grated
1 clove Garlic grated
few chopped Coriander Leaves
1 tsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Dry Mango Powder
1 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Parsley Flakes
1 pinch Asafoetida Powder
Salt according to taste
Olive oil for cooking

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients in the mixing bowl. If dough is dry, add some more olive oil. Don’t add water.
2. Cover the dough with damp towel for ½ an hour.
3. Take a straight plastic and put some oil on it. Make one small ball from dough and roll it on the plastic. Oil will prevent it to stick on the plastic. Roll it like chapatti.
4. Heat the non-stick pan and put it on the pan.
5. After 1 min. turn it and put some oil on both sides. Cook it until both sides are light brown.
6. Serve hot with chutney, dip, curry, curd, pickle or you can eat it without anything.

Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup Brown Rice Flour
1 cup Buckwheat Flour
¼ cup Tapioca Flour
1½ tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 cup Canola Oil
¾ cup granulated Sugar
¾ cup Brown Sugar (packed)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
½ tsp Water
2 Eggs
12 oz package (2 cups) Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup of Chopped Nuts

Method:

1. Sift together (or stir very well) all the flours, baking powder, and salt: set aside.
2. Combine the oil, sugars, vanilla and water and beat until creamy. Add the eggs into the creamed mixture; beat until well blended.
3. Gradually add the dry ingredients, mixing well. Stir in semi-sweet chocolate chips and any optional chopped nuts.
4. You can mix with an electric mixer or by hand. Dough will be thick. Roll between hands forming roughly 1-inch balls, or drop by spoonfuls, onto a greased cookie sheet.
5. Bake at 375 degrees F for 10-12 minutes. May be done in 10 minutes or less depending on oven and type of cookie sheet. Cookies will be light brown on bottom and top. Loosen with spatula when warm out of the oven (cookies will be soft).
6. Cookies become more hard and crunchy once they cool. Keep well in a covered container. Can also be frozen.

Hidden Greens

Tanishk doesn't eat vegetables so I have to hide them in his food. So, I usually puree all the vegetables and mix them in dough / batter / cakes etc. In this recipe, I have pureed collard greens and carrots, and used it to make pancakes. They were very yummy and he couldn't guess that there are vegetables hidden inside.

Hara Meetha Cheela (Green Pancake)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Brown Rice Flour

1/4 cup Moong Daal Flour

1/4 cup Green Veg Puree

1/4 cup Milk (Any dairy free milk)

1-1/2 tbsp Sugar

1 large Egg

1/2 tsp Vanilla

1/2 tsp Oil

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients except oil till smooth batter. Add some water if needed.
2. Heat the tawa and place 1 spoon batter on tawa & spread it like dosa. Use oil to cook it.
3. Cook it until both sides are brown.
4. Serve warm with any jam, jelly or syrup. Makes 4 pancakes.

Note: You can use any green vegetables - collared greens, kale, cabbage, spinach, etc.

Collard Greens are packed with nutrition. It has anti-cancer properties. They offer an excellent source of vitamins B6 and C, carotenes, chlorophyll, and manganese. One cup of collard greens provides more than 70 percent of the RDA for Vitamin C. Collard Greens are also a very good source of fiber, and several minerals, including iron, copper, and calcium. They also offer a good source of vitamins B1, B2, and E.

Beans Parantha

Today,  I am going to start sharing my recipes. These recipes are developed by me. Everyday, I have a fight with my son Tanishk for food and I just try different ways to get him to eat food with nutrition. Here is the beans parantha (indian flat bread stuffed with beans). It was so yummy that Tanishk couldn't resist.

Beans Parantha

Ingredients:

1 cup Sorghum Flour

3/4 cup Cooked Beans

1 tbsp Garlic-Ginger-Onion paste

1 tsp dry Mango Powder

Salt for taste

1 tsp oil for cooking

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients except oil. Knead the dough until it is smooth. Add some water if needed.
2. Divide the dough into 4 balls.
3. Take one ball and place the ball into 2 plastic sheets. Roll it by rolling pin like chapati.
4. Heat the tawa and cook it until both sides are brown.
5. Serve warm with any curry, pickle or curd.

Note: You can use any dry beans (chickpea, kidney beans, black beans, etc...), I used black eyed peas (Lobia). To cook, first you need to soak the beans for about 8 hours. Then cook the beans in the cooker or pan as you cook normally. For saving the nutrients, use the same water you have soaked the beans in. After cooking, strain the extra water and use beans for making dough. You can mash the beans or blend them in the blender. If needed, you can use same water for adding in dough.

Black-eyed peas (Lobia) are an excellent source of calcium (211 mg in a 1 cup serving), folate (209mcg), and vitamin A (1,305 IU), among other nutrients.

My Special Rasoi

When Tanishk was diagnosed on ASD spectrum, we met the parents of other kids on spectrum. They told us that most of them are following a special diet - GFCF diet. I was wondering what is the GFCF diet and how it can help in autism. Tanishk was not having any kind of allergy. He was good in eating but was constipated. We thought that we don't need any special diet for him.

After few months, I learned that GFCF diet is not only for allergic people, it affects the behavior also. My husband told me that we should try it once. If it is too difficult and there is no change in the behavior, we won't continue. After GFCF diet, Tanishk's constipation problem was solved. And also he became calmer and we saw few behavior changes. I won't say that we saw very drastic changes. But these small changes made him learn more easily, so we continued his GFCF diet.

Yes, it was difficult for me as I wasn't good in the regular cooking. It took so much time to understand the ingredients what we shouldn't use and how to use new ingredients which we have never used or tasted. Still I am in learning process.

I did a lot of research on GFCF food. I read so many books, and I also searched on internet. I became a part of several Yahoo and Facebook groups. I also became a fan of several Facebook pages related to GFCF diet. Still I am not perfect.

I preferably cook Indian food and there was very less guidance on Indian GFCF food. But I want to share my experiences on this journey.