Missi roti (Low glycemic index chapati made with besan and wheat flour)

Whole wheat rotis are consumed pretty regularly in Indian households.  I've not been able to get definitive GI and GL values for rotis, but I think if you eat 3 phulkas (small indian flat bread made of wheat. No fat added in cooking), you get about 270 calories and a glycemic load all put together of about 20-25.

In terms of calories consumed, this is not bad. Unless, you eat it with something else that is really heavy. But the glycemic load is pretty high and one way of fixing this is to switch to a misi roti, which is made of one part atta (wheat flour) and one part besan (chickpea flour). Besan is much lower than atta on the glycemic index, so the average of the two will give you a better GI value. Also, besan is more filling, so you'll probably end up eating fewer rotis. So all in all, it's a great idea. Here's the data.

Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load Food Chapatti, wheat Category Chapatti Glycemic Index 66 ± 9 (medium) Glycemic Load 21.12 (high) Available carbohydrate 32 (g) Serving size 60 (g)

Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load Food Chapatti, baisen Category Chapatti Glycemic Index 27 (low) Glycemic Load 14 (medium) Available carbohydrate NA Serving size 60(g)

However, even if you combine both flours, you still get a glycemic load of about 18 (remember the ideal is 10). So the best thing would be to either eat just two rotis or eat three rotis, but add some vegetables to the mix.

The downside is that if you like your roti all soft and fluffy, you won't get that with misi roti, but it's truly a small price to pay. So, here's the recipe for vegetable misi roti (you can omit the vegetables if you like).

Ingredients (Good for about 8-12 rotis depending on the size)

1. 1 cup besan
2. 1 cup flour
3. 1 carrot grated really fine (any other vegetable like radish, or spinach will also be just perfect. No potatoes however)
4. 1 onion chopped very fine
5. 1 tbsp kasuri methi(dried fenugreek leaves)
6. 1 tsp chili powder or 1 chopped green chili
7. A pinch of turmeric
8. Salt to taste (add very little salt if you are going to eat the rotis with some other salted item)

Method

Mix all the ingredients and add boiling hot water slowly. Mix the dough with a spoon until it it makes a hard dough. Then you can let it cool down a bit and then knead it with your hands using a little lukewarm water at a time until you get softer dough that you can roll out. Remember that this should not get too wet, or it will stick all over the place.

Roll out the rotis using a rolling pin. You can use wholewheat flour to roll it out. 

Then cook the rotis on a preheated skillet. It is better to cook them quickly on a high flame on both sides. Take them off the skillet and apply just a little ghee if you like. 

Eat them with any vegetable in gravy, but eat them right off the stove, otherwise they'll lose their softness and become tough and chewy.

Tip: Changing over from chapati to misi roti is a good permanent change to make. 

Low Glycemix Index Noodles Recipe

Maggi is one of my favorite foods. Whenever I am lost for ideas or plain lazy, it's the first thing I reach for. Junk food? Oh yes. But the good news is that this much-maligned childhood favorite is actually not too high on the glycemic index charts.

For those who demand evidence, these are the values from Rick Mendosa's GI lists. The GI is roughly fifty and the GL is about 11. Just for comparison's sake, the glycemic load of a similar amount of white rice -which no one considers junk food- is about 30 (that my friends, is high GL). 

	Instant noodles
	Instant 'two-minute' noodles, Maggi®	46±5		11
	(Nestlé, Australia) (1995)
	Instant 'two-minute' noodles, Maggi®	48±8		12
	(Nestlé, Auckland, New Zealand)
	Instant 'two-minute' noodles, Maggi®, all flavors	52±7		13
	(Nestlé Australia) (2005)

Now, 11 is not a terrible glycemic load value, but there are two things to keep in mind. One, the ideal GL value for a meal is 10 or less and two, Maggi is just maida. Yucky, zero-nutrition, intestine clogging maida.

So how to eat the beloved maggi, get the desired low GL and neutralize the anti-nutritive effects of maida? The answer is simple. Plenty of wonderful veggies. So here's my recipe for veggie maggi. It's hardly rocket science, but the USP of this recipe is that it is very quick and very low effort. So here goes.

Ingredients

1 packet maggi noodles (top ramen or foodles or anything of that nature will do just fine)
1 carrot (peeled and grated)
1 green/red/yellow bell pepper aka capsicum (chopped into little pieces)
1 tomato (grated)
1 onion (chopped finely)
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp red chili powder (entirely optional. Works for me because I like to feel the food burning its way down into my stomach)
Salt to taste

Method

Heat two teaspoons of oil in a wok (kadhai). Add the chopped onions and fry for a couple of minutes. Add all the remaining chopped and grated vegetables and stir fry until the carrot changes color and becomes kinda soft.

Pour in about one and a half glasses of water, add the maggi masala and the pepper powder and the red chili powder (if you so wish) and bring the water to boil. Break up the maggi and add it to the boiling water. Lower the heat, cover the wok with a lid and let the noodles cook for 5-7 minutes. If it looks like the noodles are getting too dry or of you like soupy noodles, you can add a little extra water.

Check to see if the noodles are cooked and switch off the flame. Add as much extra salt as you like. It will need a little extra salt, because the salt in the maggi masala won't be enough for the vegetables.

This way two people can eat one packet of maggi and get lots of vegetables and I'm guessing the glycemic load of this recipe should be quite low because of the added fibre and the small amount of oil we used to fry the veggies.

So there you go. No need to feel guilty about eating maggi ever again.

Guggillu (Vegetarian and Low Glycemic Index snack made of chana dal)

Ingredients:

Chana Dal  - 100 gms
Red Chili/Green Chili - 2 whole (cut into small pieces)
Black small mustard seeds (Avalu or Rai in Hindi) - 1 teaspoon
Onions - 2 (chopped into very small pieces)
Curry leaves (optional) - 3-4
Asofetida - a pinch
Red chili powder (optional) - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Servings (2-3)

Method:

Wash the dal and put it in a pressure cooker with 3 cups of water. Let the whistle blow once on a high flame and then turn the heat down and cook for a further 15 minutes. If you don't have a pressure cooker, boil the dal using some of the methods given here http://www.mendosa.com/chanadal.html.

No matter which method you use, the important thing is to ensure that after cooking, the dal is soft enough to chew and yet, retains its shape.

In the time it takes the dal to cook, you can prepare the seasoning. To do this, heat up the oil in a wok. Add the mustard seeds, the chilis (red or green) and the curry leaves. When the mustard seeds start to splutter, add the onions and stir fry them until they become soft. Add the asofetida and the red chili powder and stir fry for a minute.

Add the cooked dal to this mixture and add salt to taste. You can also add some finely chopped cilantro (coriander) leaves to the dal if you like the flavor of cilantro.

This is a wonderfully filling snack and it is ultra low glycemic index.

As per Rick Mendosa's GI Lists page, the gi and glycemic load values for chana dal are ridiculously low :). For 150 gms of boiled chana dal, the Glycemic load is just 3. So I am guessing one serving of this snack should be really low glycemic load wise.

If you try it out, tell me how it turns out.