Parama 'Quinoa' , Sweet quinoa with lentils and milk

Hi Everyone!! I am back again with the Blogging Marathon # 4.
It was fun doing it the last two times and I couldn't miss doing it again this time!
Blogging Marathon is a creation of Srivalli of Spicing your Life Blog. I really appreciate the patience and effort she puts in all she does and has done for her blogs and the help she has done with starting this Blogging Marathon!!.. Thanks Srivalli!! :)

Disclaimer: Everything written on Diabetes is written by me and how I see it in my everyday life. Its written in lay man's language. Nothing is by the book! Its my knowledge of being a diabetic and management. Any mistakes or wrong perception, please let me know and I will correct myself! :)

So coming to my theme, this time around I decided to blog about Diabetes Diet Management.
Diabetes is very common in Indians as well as Americans. We all come from a line of high carbohydrates  and sugars eating ancestors and forefathers. Don't you think so??...
So what are carbs or carbohydrates? This is the main culprit in causing or the underlying cause of Diabetes. Many people don't know or think that sugar is the cause, but sugar is also a form of a carbohydrate.
Whatever we eat is broken down into sugars and carbohydrates. That's where checking of the nutrition label becomes important. That is to see what are we eating? how many carbs and how many sugars. This is an important part to diet management when you are a diabetic!
An enzyme called insulin is required in the body, its produced by your pancreas, a small organ next to your liver. Insulin acts or breaks down these sugars or carbs to be absorbed by your body. The problem comes when you body isn't producing enough insulin to break down all the carbs that are entering into your body. That's when you become a "DIABETIC".
This can be managed by taking medications, taking insulin externally, by diet management and exercises.
Increasing the metabolic rate of your body is important for the medication and insulin to act effectively. This can only be done by exercise!!
...I know I know, Not everyone has the time to exercise because of many other aversions and distractions (I fall into this category), that's when diet management becomes very important!!
Its more about how much you eat and what you eat!! Avoiding carbs and sugars as much as possible.
So when high Carbs are eliminated from your diet, what left??
Fats, Proteins and freebies!!
Carbs are important, you cannot eliminate them all together, well you can if you are on a carb-free diet (like South Beach Diet), but otherwise, eating some like about 40 carbs per lunch or dinner is a minimal good start.
Fats should be taken in minimal amounts.
Proteins are, you know, meats, lentils, whole grains like Quinoa etc.,.
Freebies are all veggies and fruit. Few nuts also fall into this category.
That's why reading the nutrition label is that very important!!

So with all this in mind, here is a sweet I made for Ugadi, Parama 'Quinoa' just like Paramaannam, just with out the rice, using quinoa instead.
Quinoa is not a carb-free grain. Not any lentils or grains are carb-free. They do contain a good amount of carbs but on the other hand are very rich in proteins. That's where this grain is important to us!!
The main quality of proteins is to make you feel full when you eat only little of it. This is useful to us in dieting right!! :)
For that reason eating quinoa or protein rich foods is important for diabetics.
A third of a cup of quinoa has about 34g of carbs. And a third of a cup of quinoa makes a lot too. So eating a 1/3 cup of quinoa, keeps you under 40g of required carbs and gives a protein rich meal! So its good for you. :)
To make this sweet I used few split peas or channa daal and used splenda (artificial sweetener) for sweetening.



Ingredients:

1 cup cooked quinoa
1 tbsp cooked channa daal, split peas, chanaga pappu ( pesar pappu can also be used instead)
1/4 cup of milk ( use more if needed)
Splenda for sweetening ( I use 3 packets)
pinch of cardamom, elaichi powder
1 tbsp cashews and raisins, sauteed in couple of drop of ghee

Method to cook Quinoa:

Wash Quinoa in water 3-4 times. Drain all the water and keep aside for 10 min.
Bring about 1 1/4 cup of water to a rapid boil.
Add the drained Quinoa. Set the flame low, cover and let cook until all the water is absorbed. Remove from heat and fluff. Keep covered for another 10 minutes.
This way you get soft separated quinoa.

Method for parama quinoa:

Cook Quinoa and Changa pappu separately.
Bring milk to a boil and add the quinoa and chanaga pappu.
Add a pinch of cardamom powder.
Add the sauteed cashews and raisins.
I also added a pinch of food color.
For topping, I added few grated coconut pieces and kesar or saffron flowers.
Serve warm. Enjoy after giving Naivedyam to GOD!!!! :)))

So tho you made a whole cup of Quinoa, don't eat the whole cup of cooken quinoa, eat little and save the rest :)

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me



Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli



Sending this to WWC-Quinoa for Dinner @ Oh Taste n See