Vegetarian Tastebuds

Choco Coffee Cake ~ A Guest Post For Grishma At Zaika Zabardast

2012-02-13T08:43:00.000+04:00

Some time back, I saw a Facebook message from Grishma of Zaika Zabardast where she invited me to write a guest post for her wonderful blog, and I did not even think twice as there are two strong reasons for it....first that it's my first guest post and I was really honoured and secondly Grishma is a lovely person. Most of you must be familiar with her blog Zaika Zabardast. I remember stumbling to her site and the first thing which attracted me was her site's name, so catchy and I loved her recipe and fabulous pictures. She is a lacto vegetarian like me and is a pretty girl who seems to have so much of energy.

I am sharing a super easy and vegan choco coffee cake which can be made in a jiffy. Check out Grishma's space for the recipe and do say hi to her. Also visit her Facebook page and tweets @zaikazabardast for beautiful pictures and yum recipes.

And I am linking this cake to Priya's Healthy Diet Event~Baked Goodies hosted by me.

Healthy Diet Event ~ Baked Goodies

2012-02-10T22:47:00.000+04:00

This month Priya's new healthy diet event has come to Vegetarian Tastebuds, and I have chosen baked goodies as this month's theme. Thanks Priya for letting me host this event.

I know that most of us are obsessed with baking and we always find some excuse to turn on the oven and put on baking gloves. So this month put on your baker's hat....take out your baking trays, muffin pans, cookie cutters and all the required equipments to bake some really delish but healthy goodies. Kindly go through the rules of the event and link in your entries using the linky tool given below.

Event Rules-

1)Bake any healthy VEGETARIAN ( eggs allowed) sweet or savoury goodies . Entries are allowed from 11th February- 11th March.

2)Post as many baked goodies as you can in your blog ..many entries per person are allowed..

3)Link back your entry to this Healthy Diet~ Baked Goodies event and also to Priya's host line up page.

4)I'll accept the old entries, if they are reposted with this and Priya's page link..

5)Using Logo is very much appreciated..

6)Please take care to send all your delicious entries by 11th March 2012..

7) If you do not have a blog, no problem..pls do send your entries to my mail address including a picture to vegetariantastebuds@gmail.com, i'll include them while doing the roundup..

Onion And Garlic Focaccia

2012-02-06T23:50:00.000+04:00

" This is the best thing you ever made ".......... this is what my husband said after having this Focaccia bread. And I said , then what about all those dishes which I made during past 8 years of married life ? He did not answer this, and I too left the conversation at that point. Some times, some things are better left unspoken...right?

And now coming to the bone of contention I.e the Focaccia, I got the basic olive oil dough recipe from the book Artisan Bread In Five Minutes A Day. This is the first recipe I tried from this book and enjoyed a lot. There is no kneading required and the result is one delicious bread. Serve it for breakfast or stir up some soup and enjoy your dinner.

Ingredients:

Basic Olive Oil Dough Recipe: ( This is the original proportion for the dough but I have halved the ingredients while making the recipe) :

Lukewarm Water- 2 3/4 Cup

Instant Yeast- 1 1/2 Tablespoon

Salt- 1 1/2 Tablespoon

Sugar- 1 Tablespoon

Olive Oil- 1/4 Cup

All Purpose Flour- 6 1/2 Cups

Other Ingredients which I added in the dough:

Chopped Spring Onions- 3 Tablespoons

Garlic- 3 Cloves (Pounded)

Green Chillies- 2 or 3 (Crushed)

For Topping:

Olive Oil- 2 Tablespoon + 1 Tablespoon for greasing

Red Onions- 1/4th of small onion ( Thinly Sliced)

Italian Seasoning- 1 Teaspoon

Coarse Sea Salt- For Sprinkling On Top

Procedure:

In a food container which has lid add in luke warm water, yeast, salt, sugar, spring onions, garlic, green chillies and olive oil together so that everything is mixed well.
Then in that mix in the flour without kneading, using a spoon. If the dough is too sticky, use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour.
Cover (not airtight), and allow to rest at room temperature until dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top) approximately 2 hours.
The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise but I refrigerated the dough overnight as it is easier to handle cold dough.
Twenty minutes before baking pre heat the oven to 425 Degrees F with an empty broiler tray on any shelf.
Grease the baking tray with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and set aside.
Take out the dough from the refrigerator and with the help of little flour shape it into a ball. Now place the ball in the prepared baking tray and with the help of hands press the dough from all sides, flatten it as thin as required. Keep it covered with a damp cloth for resting for about half an hour.
Meanwhile heat 2 Tablespoon of olive oil in a small pan. Add in onions and sauté until softened but not browned. Keep it aside.
Now after the dough has rested make some indentations with thumb in the dough. Sprinkle the sautéed onions along with its oil sparingly over the surface of the dough. Do not add lot of onions else the surface may not brown attractively.
Sprinkle Italian seasoning, coarse sea salt on top of the dough.
Now before keeping the tray inside the oven, pour 1 cup of hot water in the empty broiler tray which is already inside the oven. Place the baking tray inside the oven and quickly shut the oven door.
Bake for about 25- 30 minutes or till the crust if golden brown in colour. Baking time may vary according to the thickness of the focaccia.

Serve warm.

Linking this to Vardhini's Bake Fest hosted at Tomato Blues.

Round Up Of Veggie/Fruit A Month Event ~ Bottle Gourd

2012-02-02T15:17:00.000+04:00

The world is divided into two kinds of people, one kind who hates bottle gourd and other kind who do not love bottle gourd. Keeping this fact in my mind I was really apprehensive as to whether I will even get a single entry from fellow bloggers, and thought that my event will be doomed, but my lovely blogger friends did not fail to amaze me and sent some really wonderful entries. I am really thankful to all of you for taking out your time and mailing your entries to me. Special thanks to our lovely Priya who sent me 5 entries, she is a real inspiration.

So here is the round up of the event in the order I received the entries.

Very first entry is from Prajusha of iCookiPost who sent this superb bottle gourd halwa. Look at the awesome colour...this is a must make winter sweet.

Next entry comes from my friend Priya Sreeram of Bon Appetit. She sent me two entries, first one is Herbed Bottle Gourd Dosa. What an innovative way to sneak this veggie in kids meal.

Second entry from Priya Sreeram is Bottle Gourd Green Peas Khichdi. Khichdi is a treat in winters and makes a great comfort food.

Another dear friend Sangee of Spicy Treats sent in her Bottle Gourd Red Chori Kara Kuzhambu. Her spicy treat and lovely picture made me drool and drool.

Another entry from Sangee is Bottle Gourd Onion Rasam...this is a super innovative dish which is sure to keep us warm in winters.

Gayathri of Gayathri's Cook Spot sent in her Lauki Kofta Curry. I know that most of the people like koftas and this one with all the spices is a real treat.

Amy of Food Corner sent in Bottle Gourd Curry, she tried this vegetable for first time and this will go very well with rice.

Sravani of Srav's Culinary Concepts sent in Sorakaya Pulusu, this sweet, spicy and tangy dish will add zing to lunch.

Kalyani of Sizzling Tastebuds sent in Palak-Doodhi Muthia. Muthias are very healthy and this one with the addition of spinach is more so healthy.

Harini Of Tamalpaku sent in Bottle Gourd Lentil Curry, one simple but flavourful curry which will be loved by kids as well.

Rajani of My Kitchen Trials sent her Handvo, I was really amazed at the beautiful crust. And it is one of my favourite dish.

Saraniya of Sara's Tasty Buds sent her Lauki Patties. This is a real innovation and a wonderful tea time snack.

Next Neetu of Tips And Deals sent in Lauki Chana Daal Curry. Very healthy and hearty dish and the garnishing of green chillies is a lovely sight.

Madhuram aka the eggless baking queen sent in Low Carb Bottle Gourd And Cauliflower Soup from her blog Veg Corner. The soup is a comfort in this chill weather and her pictures are amazing.

Nisha from Nisha's Kitchen sent me Bottle Gourd Adai, south Indian style pancakes which is rich with lentils and makes a great breakfast or dinner.

Hema of Aromatic Cooking sent in Bottle Gourd in Peanut Sauce. Mmm..it looked super delicious with lots of peanuts and spices.

Kaveri of Palakkad Chamayal sent Lauki Kheer. She made this to celebrate her kiddos birthday, indeed a sweet treat to celebrate a very sweet and special day.

Shireen of Ruchik Randhap sent Eggless Chocolate & Bottle Gourd Cake. This was one moist and superb looking cake with beautiful strawberries on top, which I was glad she tried from my blog :)and got to say that her pictures are beautiful. Thanks Shireen :)

Suma of Veggie Platter sent in Bottle Gourd Tomato Chutney, this is a unique chutney, with superb flavours and wonderful garnishing.

Now comes in entries from Priya of Priya's Easy & Tasty Recipes. First is Bottle Gourd And Drumstick Leaves Daal, this is one innovative recipe with healthy ingredients.

Then Priya sent her Bottle Gourd, Chickpeas And Sesame Rice. This one pot meal is complete in itself with veggie and lentil. All in all a superb recipe.

Next is her Bottle Gourd And Chickpeas In Yoghurt Gravy. This dish is a leftover magic..leftover chickpeas and bottle gourd has been transformed into one super dish.

And the next is Bottle Gourd Roasted Moong Daal Podi Stir Fry. This is a nutritious curry and makes great lunchbox menu.

Priya's final contribution is Bottle Gourd Moong Daal Sambhar, which goes very well with dosa, idlis and needless to say it looks really yummmmmmm.

Now finally my own contribution to the event. First is Bottle Gourd Chocolate Cake.

Next is Lauki Muthia or Bottle Gourd Steamed And Seasoned Cake.

Then comes in Lauki Muthia Curry or Bottle Gourd Steamed Cake Curry

Last of my contribution is Handvo or Savoury Lentil And Vegetable Cake.

Hopefully you all will enjoy this round up and bottle gourd will be less hated or more loved by everybody. Thanks again to all the contributors. To err is human and to forgive is divine, so folks if I have not included your entry in the round up kindly mail me, and I will rectify the error.

Handvo/ Savoury Lentil And Vegetable Cake

2012-01-29T10:18:00.000+04:00

I am very fond of Gujarati dishes, one such dish which is very much liked by me and my family is Handvo or Ondhwa. This is a baked savoury cake made with combination of rice with lentils and vegetables. This is very healthy and ideal for breakfast. Even my daughter who rarely eats anything apart from bread for breakfast, enjoyed this a lot. This recipe is from my dear friend Meghana's blog.

I have used store bought Handvo flour for this, but this should not be confused with readymade Handvo mix.

Those who cannot get this flour, look out my notes at the bottom of this post.

Ingredients:

Handvo Flour- 2 Cups

Grated Bottlegourd- 2 Cups

Fenugreek Leaves- 2/3 Cup (Chopped)

Corn- 1/4 Cup

Onion- 2 Medium Sized (Chopped)

Ginger-1 1/2 Inch Piece and Green Chillies- 2 ( Make a paste out of it)

Jaggery- 1 Tbsp

Turmeric- 1 Tsp

Red Chilli Powder- 1/2 Tsp

Salt- To Taste

Yoghurt- 1/2 Cup (Well Beaten)

Canola Oil- 2 Tbsp

Baking Soda- 1/2 Tsp

For Tempering:

Oil- 2Tbsp

Mustard Seeds- 1 Tsp

Cumin Seeds- 1/2 Tsp

Whole Red Chillies- 2

Asafoetida- A Pinch

Sesame Seeds- 1Tsp + 3 Tbsp for sprinkling on top

Procedure:

In a mixing bowl mix together all the ingredients except baking soda and tempering. Make a medium consistency batter with some water and let the batter rest overnight.
In the morning check seasoning and consistency, if required add little more water.
Preheat the oven at 190 Degree C. Grease a baking dish with oil and keep aside.
Prepare the tempering by heating oil in a pan. After the oil gets hot add in asafoetida, mustard seeds and cumin seeds, once they splutter add in red chillies and 1 Tsp of sesame seed.
Mix this tempering with the batter and now add in baking soda. Mix well.
Pour this batter in the baking dish and sprinkle generously with sesame seeds.
Place in the pre heated oven and bake for about 45- 50 minutes. Bake until the corners turn slight brown and a toothpick inserted should come out clean.
Now broil for another 5 minutes to get a crispy crust.
Remove the dish from the oven and let it cool for around 15 minutes before cutting into slices.

Serve warm with green chutney and/or ketchup.

Notes:

These can be made vegan as well by omitting yoghurt and adding vegan buttermilk and juice of 1 lime.
Those who cannot get handvo flour can use this combination instead- 1 Cup of rice + 1/4 Cup- Pigeon peas+2 Tbsp- split bengal gram +2 tbsp- split green gram +1Tbsp -split black gram. Soak the rice and lentils overnight and grind them in a smooth batter in the morning using little water. Now mix other given ingredients except tempering and soda. Add little water in the batter if required. Now keep this mix for about an hour and proceed as per point 3 in the procedure written above.

Sending this to my own event Veggie/ Fruit A Month- Bottlegourd which was started by Priya of Mharo Rajastan.

Sweet Cinnamon Roasted Chickpeas

2012-01-22T14:49:00.000+04:00

I am so much hooked to Pinterest these days, its a great place to pin and categorize all things which we like. There are great resources out there ranging from photography to yum recipes, and I am loving it. I came across this recipe in Pinterest which is from The Pastry Affair and I knew that this is one of the recipe which is easy to make, healthy and quite addictive. Apart from the baking time, this requires just a few minutes of assembling.

Ingredients:

Chickpeas/ Garbanzo Beans- 2 Cups cooked or one 15 ounce can

Cinnamon Powder- 1 Teaspoon

Granulated Sugar- 1.5 Tablespoon

Canola Oil- 3 Teaspoons

Maple Syrup/ Honey- 1 Tablespoon

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 190 Degrees C. Drain and rinse the chickpeas and keep aside. In a small bowl mix together oil, cinnamon and sugar. Now mix this paste with chickpeas so that beans is evenly coated. Spread the chickpeas on baking sheet and bake for 45-50 minutes, shake the tray in between for one or two times. After 45 minutes check for the crispiness. If more crispiness is required then bake for few more minutes.

After the beans are baked take them out of the oven and pour maple syrup/ honey on it while it is still hot. Evenly coat the beans with the syrup and let dry for sometime. Store in an airtight container, but mine never made it to the container, the beans were devoured within the first hour of baking :)

Sending this to Priya's CWS event held at Saffron Streaks.
Also linking this to Priya Mahadevan's Fast Food Not Fat Food event hosted at Priya Sreeram's Bon Appetit.

Baingan Ka Bharta ( Smoked And Mashed Eggplant)

2012-01-18T15:05:00.000+04:00

For me eggplant is synonymous to bharta, I like my eggplant smoked and mashed with lots of garlic and spices. Smoking of the eggplant on fire imparts a wonderful flavour to the dish. Long back in India we had a neighbour, who made this bharta with mustard oil and served with baati. I am not used to eating food cooked in mustard oil but enjoyed that rare treat by our wonderful neighbour, still that taste of bharta with baati soaked in ghee lingers on my tongue. And this bharta tastes wonderful with any Indian bread like naan and parathas.

The most important thing to remember is to buy a good quality of eggplant without any holes and to char the skin completely, so that the inside are cooked thoroughly and the eggplant gets tender and juicy.

When I was removing the charred skin of eggplant, my daughter who just entered the kitchen stood on the door for a while and watched me curiously. After I had cut open the smoked eggplant, she seemed to be horrified and asked me..."mumma have we started eating non vegetarian food, is this some kind of fish? " . But when I explained her that this is eggplant she was relieved but still refused to eat the final dish...so I made some potato fry for her. I hope that when she grows up she will start liking this dish.

Ingredients:

Eggplant- 1 Large

Onions- 2 Medium (finely chopped)

Ginger- 1 Inch Piece

Garlic- 4 Cloves

Green Chillies-2 ( chopped)

Tomatoes- 2 Medium (finely chopped)

Green Peas- 1/4 Cup

Mustard Seeds- 1/2 tsp

Cumin Seeds- 1/2 tsp

Turmeric Powder- 1/4 tsp

Red Chilli Powder- 1/4 tsp

Coriander Powder- 1 tsp

Salt- To Taste

Oil- 1 tsp + 3 tbsp

Coriander Leaves- To Garnish

Fried Garlic slices- To garnish

Procedure:

Wash the eggplant and pat dry. Now rub 1 tsp of oil on the skin. Switch on the gas in medium flame and keep the eggplant directly on the fire. Let the skin char, keep turning the eggplant from all sides so that whole skin is charred and the eggplant is cooked from inside.
Once the eggplant is charred keep it aside on a plate to cool down for about 10 minutes. Then peel of the skin and remove its crown. Cut the eggplant and mash it thoroughly with help of a fork.
Pound ginger and garlic together in a mortar and keep aside.
Heat the 3 tbsp of oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot add in mustard and cumin seeds. When the seeds start crackling add in green chillies, chopped onions and pounded ginger and garlic.
Once the onions turn brown add in chopped tomatoes, green peas along with turmeric, red chillies, salt and coriander powder. Let the mixture cook on a medium flame till the spices are cooked and the mixture starts leaving oil from the sides.
Now at this stage add in the mashed eggplant and mix everything together. Keep on cooking the mixture till a nice aroma comes say for about 7-8 minutes.
Now switch off the gas and garnish with chopped coriander leaves and some fried garlic slices.
Serve super hot.

Linking this to Dish it out- Brinjal and Garlic Event started by Vardhini and hosted by Sangee.

Also linking this to Hot & Spicy Treats event at Amy's space Foodssrilanka.

Sending this black and white picture to Susan's Black And White Wednesday.

Lauki Muthia Curry / Bottle Gourd Steamed Cake Curry

2012-01-11T13:00:00.001+04:00

As I am hosting January's Veggie/ Fruit A Month- Bottle gourd event, I am sharing third bottle gourd recipe of this month..we all are having lots of bottle gourd in one form or the other and no body is complaining..what a relief. I have been making different kinds of dishes with bottle gourd and my DH and daughter are relishing them. In most of the dishes I have disguised bottle gourd and its working..yay.

After making bottle gourd steamed cakes I was left with lots of leftovers so I made a curry with yoghurt gravy, something like gatte ki subzi ( check for that recipe at mharo rajasthan). I made the curry with loads of spring onions and it was super delicious.

Ingredients:

Leftover bottle gourd steamed cake/ lauki muthia- Around 15 pieces

Yoghurt- 1/2 Cup beaten

Spring Onions- 3

Tomatoes- 2 big (grind and make a paste)

Paste of 2 green chillies and 1 inch ginger piece

Oil- 2 Tbsp

Mustard Seeds- 1/2 tsp

Cumin Seeds- 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida- A pinch

Red Chilli powder- 1/4 tsp

Turmeric Powder- 1/4 tsp

Coriander Powder- 1 Tsp

Salt- To Taste

Water- 1 1/2 Cup

Procedure:

Heat oil in a wok and add asafoetida, mustard and cumin seeds. Once the seeds splutter add in spring onions, ginger and green chilli paste and sauté. Now add in tomato paste along with turmeric powder, salt, red chilli powder, coriander powder and fry till the mixture is cooked nicely. Now add in well beaten curd and keep stirring till the mixture comes to a boil. Add in water and bring mixture to boil. Keep Check seasoning and add in the muthias/ steamed cakes and let it boil again so that all the flavours are soaked in by the steamed cakes. If the curry is too thick then little more water can be added to thin the gravy. Serve the curry hot with any Indian flat bread like naan, rotis or parathas.

Sending this to my own event veggie/ fruit a month- bottlegourd, brainchild of Priya.
Linking to Cooking with leftovers- kitchen chronicles, an event by Kalyani hosted by Veena.
Also linking to Let's cook with leftovers at Simply Food.

Lauki Muthia / Bottle Gourd Steamed And Seasoned Cake

2012-01-06T11:22:00.003+04:00

Bottle gourd is not a favourite vegetable of many but as it has got mild flavour, it can be disguised in many forms. One such form is muthia or steamed cake. This is a Gujarati dish which is very healthy and at the same time too delicious. My mother used to make this and this was the tastiest and healthiest recipe of bottle gourd.

My mother is very fond of gardening and she grows a number of veggies like sponge gourd, bottle gourd, okras, potatoes and even cauliflower in her kitchen garden. Bottle gourd used to grow in abundance and even after distributing some to curious neighbours we were left with plenty so much that we were almost forced to consume it every day in some form or the other. I have to admit that I was quite not happy with it at that time, but now after so many years when organic is the choice for healthy living and it being so heavily priced I miss my mummy's home grown organic bottle gourd.

This time when I went to India for vacations I enjoyed eating home grown veggies and now appreciate its goodness. The below picture is from my mom's kitchen garden..look at the fresh bottle gourd and sponge gourd.

Ingredients:

For the Steamed Cake-

Bottle Gourd- 2 Cups grated
Gram Flour (Besan)- 1/2 Cup
Whole Wheat Flour- 1/2 Cup
Semolina- 2 Tbsps
Pearl Millet Flour (Bajra Aata)- 2 Tbsps
Corn Meal ( Makkai Aata)- 2 Tbsps
Rice Flour- 1 Tbsp
Ginger- 1 Inch Piece
Green Chillies- 2 or 3
Coriander Leaves- 2 Tbsp chopped
Turmeric Powder- 1/4 Tsp
Dry Mango Powder( Amchoor)- 1/4 Tsp or Juice of 1 lemon
Sugar- 2 Tsp
Soda- Bi- Carbonate- 1/4 Tsp
Oil- 1 Tbsp
Salt- To Taste

For Tempering-

Canola Oil- 2 Tbsp
Mustard Seeds- 1 Tsp
Cumin Seeds- 1 Tsp
Sesame- 2 Tsps
Curry Leaves- 10
Asafoetida- 2 Pinches
Lemon Juice- 1 Tsp

Coriander leaves- For Garnishing

Procedure-

Make a paste of ginger, green chillies and coriander leaves and keep aside.
Squeeze water from the bottle gourd and then add in all the flours, paste as made above and other ingredients as mentioned in the ingredients list for the steamed cake.
Mix everything together nicely so that a soft dough is formed. The dough will be little sticky, but if the dough is too sticky or wet then more gram flour can be added.
Keep the dough aside for 10-15 minutes.
Apply little oil in your hands and take out small portions of the dough and roll them into thick cylinder shapes. Similarly make all the cylinders. For this quantity you will get atleast 7 cylinders of about 1 1/2 inch thickness.
Place these cylinders in a steamer and steam them for about half an hour or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Let the muthias cool for sometime and then cut them into round discs of about 1/2 inch thickness.
Prepare the tempering by adding oil in a wok and once oil gets hot add in asafoetida, mustard, cumin and once they splutter add in sesame and curry leaves.
Now put in the muthias and fry them in medium flame for 4-5 minutes taking care not to over stir the muthias as they may break. Switch off the gas and garnish with coriander leaves.
Serve hot with coriander chutney.

I had some muthias left over after snacking. To know what I did with them stay tuned for my next post.

Sending this to my own event Veggie/Fruit A Month- Bottle Gourd which was started by Priya of Mharo Rajasthan.

Fast Food Not Fat Food Event of Priya Mahadevan hosted currently at my dear friend Priya Sreeram's space.

Walk through Memory Lane at Gayathri's space.

Vardhini's New U event.

Bottle Gourd Chocolate Cake

2012-01-03T11:57:00.000+04:00

New Year...new outlook towards life...new resolutions...and a new you...is what we all have in our minds. But do we need excuse of new year to start something which is good for us...No... Each day is a new day which brings lots of hopes, promises and good things in life, and the resolutions are meant to be broken..so do not make resolutions but make good choices and take decisions which have positive effect in life.

I used to make resolutions every year but now have stopped making them cause I know I will not be able to stick on even a single of those. But I have promised myself to try to live each day to its fullest, to spend more quality time with my DH, play lot more with my daughter and make more new friends but cherish the old ones for ever :)

I am a big fan of veggies in baked goodies, earlier I have made a beet bundt, carrot muffins and even a savoury pumpkin scone, so now this time I sneaked bottle gourd in chocolate cake. The cake turned out to be super moist and no body could guess that bottle gourd was in it..hehe (evil smile).

I dressed up the cake with chocolate sauce and it was divine.

( Recipe inspired from goshthatssovegan)

Ingredients:

For the Cake-

All Purpose Flour- 1 Cup

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder- 6 Tbsps

Sugar- 1/2 Cup + 2 Tbsps

Baking Soda-1 Tsp

Instant Coffee Powder- 1 Tsp

Salt- 1/8 Tsp

Canola Oil- 1/4 Cup

White Distilled Vinegar- 1 Tsp

Vanilla Extract- 1 Tsp

Water- 3/4 Cup (Approx)

Bottle Gourd- 1 Cup grated and packed

For Chocolate Sauce-

Sugar- 1/2 Cup

Soy Milk or Dairy Milk- 1/2 Cup

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder- 1/2 Tbsp

Salt- A Pinch

Vanilla extract- 1/4 Tsp

All Purpose Flour- 2 Tsp

Procedure:

For The Cake-

Preheat the oven at 180 Degrees C for 10-15 minutes.
Grease a cake tin with oil and line up with a parchment paper then grease the top of the paper with oil and keep aside.
Grate the bottle gourd and measure 1 cup packed and keep separate.
Sift all the dry ingredients ( flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, coffee, salt) together in a large bowl.
Make a well in the centre and pour the wet ingredients ( oil, vinegar, vanilla, water) in it.
Mix all the ingredients together.
Squeeze out water from the gourd and mix the grated gourd in the prepared cake mixture. Stir gently till everything is combined.
Pour the batter in prepared cake tin. Choose a cake tin so that batter is more than 1/2 in the tin.
Bake the cake in the preheated oven at 180 Degrees for 35-38 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. I baked the last 10 minutes with the top of the cake covered with aluminium foil.

For Chocolate Sauce-

Combine all the ingredients together in a saucepan and mix well so that there are no lumps. Boil the sauce for

about 2 minutes in slow heat. Remove from heat. The sauce thickens as it cools. If the sauce gets too thick then add in more milk and heat it up a bit.

Pour the sauce on the cake and serve warm.

Sending this cake to Veggie/ Fruit A Month- Bottle Gourd which is a brainchild of Priya of Mharo Rajasthan and currently being hosted at my space.

Also linking this to Cooking Concept's Chocolate Fest.

Vardhini's Bake Fest #3 hosted at Pumpkin Farm.

Srivalli's Chocolate Mela

Vardhini's NewU event

Suma at Veggie Platter's Cook Eat Delicious Desserts event.

Announcing Veggie/ Fruit A Month Event- Bottle Gourd

2011-12-31T22:37:00.000+04:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I take utmost pleasure in announcing that in this New Year the very popular Veggie/ Fruit A Month Event created by Priya of Mharo Rajasthan is being hosted at Vegetarian Tastebuds . I have chosen 'Bottle Gourd' as the star vegetable for this month.

Bottle gourd is known by various names like Opo Squash, Long Melon or Calabash in English and as Lauki, Ghiya, Doodhi in hindi and as Suraikkaii in Tamil. Bottle gourd is a treasure chest of goodness. Let me list some health benefits of bottle gourd-

Bottle gourd comprises of 96% of water so it is very good for kids and people with digestive disorders as it is very light on stomach and relieves constipation.
It has got only 12 calories per 100 grams so it is ideal for weight watchers.
It is very high in sodium and potassium and is helpful for people with hypertension.

Now coming back to the event there are some rules for this event-

"Bottle Gourd" has to be the star ingredient in the dish.
Prepare a vegetarian recipe (eggs are allowed).
The recipe can be for breakfast, lunch, dinner, starters, entrées, side dishes, snacks, desserts and beverages.
Recipe has to be NEW. Archived entries are NOT allowed. I know you all are very creative so put on your thinking caps.
Use of the logo is mandatory to help spread the word about the event.
Link your post to this announcement and to Priya's event page.
Non bloggers are also welcome just send me your name, recipe and a picture and I will include it in the round up.
Please send me your entries between Jan'01 to Jan'31 at vegetariantastebuds@gmail.com with 'bottle gourd' as the subject. Your details must include-

Your Name
Name of the blog
Recipe Name
Recipe URL
Photograph of your dish. Please ensure the picture is not large.

Round up will be posted in first week of February. Thanks to dear Priya for letting me host this event. Blogger buddies do send me your creative dishes. This is my first event and please help me make it a success.

Currently the Veggie/ Fruit Event- Cucumber is being hosted at Ambrosia till Jan'15th, so send in your cucumber entries as well to Ambrosia.

Thekua ~ Indian Cookies For Indian Cooking Challenge

2011-12-23T23:26:00.000+04:00

This month for the Indian Cooking Challenge, Srivalli challenged us to prepare traditional Indian cookies from the state of Bihar and these are called as Thekua or Khajur. These are crispy biscuits which are deep fried in oil and makes perfect tea time snack.

I had been too busy this month and am very late to post this but still happy that I am able to join in the gang at ICC.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour- 2 Cups
Semolina- 4 Tablespoons
Powdered Sugar- 8 Tablespoons
Grated Dry Coconut- 4 Teaspoons
Cardamom Powder- 1/8 Teaspoon
Oil/ Ghee- 8 Teaspoons + More for deep frying
Water- To make a dough

Procedure:

Mix flour, sugar, coconut, semolina and cardamom together and add in 8 teaspoons of oil. Using water bring everything together to form a crumbly dough. Meanwhile keep the oil to heat in a deep frying pan at medium heat.

Roll out the dough to about 3-4 mm thickness, then using a cookie cutter cut out the shapes. Gather the trimmed edges and again repeat the rolling and cutting procedure till all the dough is used up.

Prick the cookies with a fork to prevent them from puffing. Deep fry these cookies in hot oil on medium heat till they turn golden brown in colour. Remove the cookies from oil and place them on kitchen paper to remove excess oil.

Once cool store these cookies in an airtight container, these stay good for about 2 weeks.

Thinner cookies are more crisper than the thick ones and next time I would increase the sugar little bit more as my family has got sweet tooth.

Eggless Rosette Cookies

2011-12-08T22:14:00.001+04:00

Christmas is around the corner and these Rosette cookies or Achappam as they call in Kerala ( Southern Indian State) are traditionally made around this festive time. To know more about their origin I took help of Wikipedia and it seems that these cookies originated in the Scandinavia.

These cookies are made using special mould which is made of iron and has intricate design with wooden handle. The mould is dipped in hot oil and then immersed in the batter which is then fried to get these delicious treats.

I made these rossette for the first time and almost all the recipes call for eggs but since we don't take eggs I was little sceptical as how these would turn out, but these turned out super good and were a real treat.

Ingredients:

Fine Rice Flour- 3/4 Cup ( Make sure to use non roasted flour)

All Purpose Flour- 1/2 Cup

Sugar- 1/2 Cup

Banana Purée- 1 tbsp

Thick Coconut Milk- 1/2 Cup

Cardamom Powder- 1/2 Tsp

Black Sesame Seeds- 1 Tbsp

Water- To make the batter

Salt- A Pinch

Oil - To Deep Fry

Procedure:

Heat oil in a frying pan and keep the rosette mould immersed in hot oil.
Prepare the batter by mixing rice flour, all purpose flour, sugar, banana purée, coconut milk, cardamom powder, black sesame seeds, salt together and add water to make a smooth, lump free batter of neither too thin nor too thick but of flowing consistency.
When the oil is hot enough take out the mould from it and immediately immerse the mould upto 3/4th in the prepared batter. Take care not to fully immerse the mould in the batter else the cookies will not come out of the mould.
Take out the mould from the batter and immediately immerse it in the hot oil.
Let the batter fry for 20-30 seconds in medium heat along with the mould.
Now gently tap the mould to release the cookie in the oil. If the cookie doesn't come out on it own then use a skewer to remove the cookie. However with practise these cookies come out perfectly.
Fry on both sides till the cookies turn slight golden.
Make sure to fry only a couple of these at a time, since these turn dark very quickly.
Also the mould has to be hot each time before being dipped into the batter. If the mould is not hot then the batter won't come off in hot oil.

Linking these to #cookielove blog hop co hosted by me along with other wonderful bloggers. Do check them here.

Vegetarian Tastebuds in thekitchn

2011-12-06T17:44:00.001+04:00

I am delighted to see my Cornmeal Dumplings Stir Fry post feature as delicious link in "thekitchn.com".

Delicious links for 12.05.2011

Pumpkin butter made in the slow cooker, and a rich and hearty Italian soup, plus fried cornmeal dumplings, Indian-style.

Today's Delicious Links

• Italian Chicken, Bean, & Tomato Soup - Erin's Food Files.

• Quince muffins - In Erika's Kitchen.

• Crock Pot Pumpkin Butter - Taste for Adventure

• Cornmeal Dumplings Stir Fry - Vegetarian Tastebuds.

Cookielove~ Savoury Cookies~ Mathri

2011-11-30T13:18:00.001+04:00

This is the time for love blog hop and the theme for this month is cookie...so get ready for some cookielove. My family loves cookies and I always keep my cookie jar full, my DH and daughter have got sweet tooth and always prefer sweet cookies but I like to munch on savoury ones with my cup of tea. These spiced cookies are called Mathri in India and are generally deep fried. These cookies are very crunchy and flaky, the more the amount of fat used the more crunchy these will be.

Instead of deep frying I have baked these cookies and to make them vegan I have used canola oil instead of ghee (clarified butter).

I have used dried fenugreek leaves (Kasuri methi) to flavour these cookies.

Another spice which I have used is Black pepper..really adds a pep to these cookies. But these spices are optional and can be adjusted according to the tastebuds.

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Flour- 1 Cup

All Purpose Flour- 1/2 Cup

Gram Flour (Besan)- 1/2 Cup

Semolina- 2 tbsp

Turmeric Powder- A pinch

Raw Sugar- 1 tsp

Dried Fenugreek Leaves ( Kasuri Methi)- 1 tbsp

Black Pepper Powder- 1 tsp

Cumin Coarsely Crushed- 1/4 tsp

Salt- To Taste

Oil/ Clarified Butter- 1/2 Cup (hot)

Warm Water- 1/2 Cup to make the dough

Procedure:

Preheat the oven at 200 Degrees C.
In a large bowl mix together all the ingredients except oil and water.
Add hot oil to the flour mix little by little and mix everything together with a spoon.
Now add warm little by little and bring the dough together. Do not knead.
Now transfer the dough on a clean surface and roll with a rolling pin. The dough will not be sticky because of the presence of fat.
Roll the dough to the desired thickness and cut into round shapes with the help of cookie cutter.
Arrange in a baking tray and bake on the top rack for about 10 minutes, after 10 minutes turn over the cookies and let them bake for another 10 minutes.
Keep a close eye on these as they brown very quickly.
Let the cookies cool and store them in an airtight container. These cookies have shelf life of almost a week.

On another important note we celebrated UAE National Day on 2nd December. UAE turned 40 this year. This is a country which has provided good opportunities to many in all the fields along with being a safe and multicultural nation.

And the kids celebrated the National Day in school with great joy and my daughter came back home singing "Let's salute the UAE on 2nd of December...."

And on this day I am celebrating my first blog anniversary. It had been a fun year filled with lots of good experiences...I got to know so many wonderful bloggers without whom this journey of mine would not have been possible.

From being Raji who was only a mother and a wife I transitioned into being Raji At Vegetarian Tastebuds and truly cherished each and every day of blogging. Each new post brought me close to new friends. I came to know people from different countries and learnt about their food cultures, I tried my hands on various cuisines which I never thought I would try, I stepped towards a healthy life and I started socializing on social network sites like Facebook and Twitter...what more can I ask?

I sincerely want to thank each and every reader of mine who has taken time out to read my posts and drop in their comments.A big big thank you.

Sending these cookies to Vardhini's Bake Fest event hosted by Sangeetha at Spicy Treats and to Radhika's Let's Cook #10 event.

Now Coming to the Cookielove..I am co hosting this blog hop along with-

Badger Girl Learns to Cook/ Kimberly Aime/ @BdgerGrl

Baking and Cooking, A Tale of Two Loves/ Becky Higgins

BigFatBaker/ Erin Meyer/ @BigFatBaker

Bloc de recetas/ Salomé/ @Blocderecetas

Bon a croquer /Valerie/ @Valouth

CafeTerraBlog/ Terra Baltosiewich / @CafeTerraBlog

Cake Duchess/ Lora/ @cakeduchess

Creative Cooking Corner/ Karriann Graf/ @KarriannGraf

Easily Good Eats/ Three-Cookies

Georgiecakes /Georgie Kubarych /@georgiecakes

Hobby And More / Richa/ @betit19

knitstamatic / Deb/ @knitstamatic

Mike's Baking / Mike R./ @mikesbaking

Mis Pensamientos / Junia/ @juniakk

No One Likes Crumbley Cookies / T.R./ @TRCrumbley

Oh Cake / Jessica Hose/ @jesshose

Queen's Notebook /Elizabeth Quirino/ @Mango_Queen

Savoring Every Bite /Linda Geiler/ @Spicegirlfla

Simply Reem / Reem /@simplyreem

Soni's Food for Thought / Soni/ @sonisfood

Teaspoon of Spice /Deanna Segrave-Daly/ @tspbasil

That Skinny Chick Can Bake!!!/ Liz / @Thatskinnychick

The Art of Cooking Real Food / Laura /@TAofCRF

The Spicy RD / EA Stewart /@thespicyrd

The Wimpy Vegetarian /Susan Pridmore /@chezsuzanne

Vegan Yack Attack! /Jackie Sobon/ @veganyackattack

December is #cookielove month!

Please join in on the #cookielove fun by linking up any cookie recipe from the month of December 2011. Don't forget to link back to this post, so that your readers know to come stop by the #cookielove event! The twitter hashtag is #cookielove

Vegan Carrot And Cranberry Breakfast Muffins

2011-11-23T18:58:00.001+04:00

Muffins for breakfast...mmm...who would not love them and they are great for lazy and cool weekend mornings when I wake up late and drag myself to the kitchen to make my cuppa and then again curl on the couch trying to steal some more minutes of sleep. On the other hand my DH wakes up at 6 even on weekends and is already finished with his gym and tea even before I get out of my dreams, then he looks at me with a smile expecting to get breakfast soon and I set off to the kitchen to whip up something quick for him. To save my husband from the misery of waiting for his breakfast on weekend, I made these muffins a day before and refrigerated them to be used for next mornings breakfast.

So the result...a happy husband and a happy me.

When I was clicking the pictures my daughter came back from school and wanted to lend her hands for the shot resulting in this picture.

These muffins stay good for 2-3 days when stored in refrigerator. Just microwave them for a minute and they will be ready for tasty breakfast.

I was inspired by Sukaina of Sips And Spoonfuls to create recipe card.

Click on the recipe card to print the recipe

Cornmeal Dumplings Stir Fry/ Cornmeal Kozhukattai

2011-11-23T07:53:00.000+04:00

Giving something healthy and at the same time nothing very heavy to my kiddo as evening snacks is a daily challenge for me. Store bought chips and other snacks are a big no no and I like to make something quick for her.

I usually make dumplings with rice ( ammini kozhukkatai) but this time I tried with cornmeal after seeing the recipe here. Instead of stir frying, these dumplings can be steamed and then seasoned for a more healthier version.

Ingredients:

For Dumplings-

Water- 1 Cup
Oil- 2 tsp
Turmeric Powder- A pinch
Salt- 1/4 tsp
Fine Cornmeal- 1/2 Cup

For Seasoning-

Oil- 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds- 1/2 tsp
Split Black Gram- 1/2 tsp
Green Chilly- 1 (chopped)
Dried Red Chilli- 1 (broken)
Curry Leaves- 6-8
Fresh Coconut Grated- 1tbsp

Procedure:

In a pan heat water and and add oil, turmeric powder and salt. Let the water boil.
Reduce the heat and add cornmeal into the water. Stir the mixture so that there are no lumps.
Cook until all the water is absorbed. Switch off the gas and remove the mixture onto a plate.
Once the mixture is cool enough to handle, pinch out small portions out of the dough and make marble sized balls. Keep the balls aside in a plate.
Now heat oil in a wide frying pan and add mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds splutter add in split black gram. When the gram turns little golden brown add in both green and red chilli and curry leaves.
Now gently add in the cornmeal dumplings and cook in medium heat. Do not turn or toss the dumplings at this stage as they may break.
After 3-4 minutes gently toss the pan and let the dumplings cook again for 2-3 minutes.
Switch off the gas and season with fresh grated coconut.

Vegan Beet Bundt

2011-11-16T11:11:00.000+04:00

Since I took the vegan challenge I had not made any dessert or sweet as most of the Indian sweets I make are made with ghee and milk. But when I saw this vegan bundt cake at Food Librarian's space I was amazed at it's texture and since I had all the ingredients handy, I immediately put on my baking gloves.

The cake turned out to be super moist and had rich flavour. Beetroot gives this cake a wonderful red colour and softness.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour- 1 Cup

Beetroot Puree- 1 Cup ( Steam 2 medium beets and purée in a blender)

Canola Oil- 1/4 Cup + 1 Tbsp

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder- 4 tbsp

Vanilla Extract- 1/2 tsp

Packed Brown Sugar- 3/4 Cup

Baking Powder- 1 tsp

Salt- 1/8 tsp

Confectioner's Sugar- For dusting (optional)

Procedure:

Preheat the oven at 190 degrees C and grease the bundt pan and keep aside.
In a bowl cream together oil and brown sugar. Add in the beet purée, cocoa powder, vanilla extract and mix together.
In another bowl sieve all purpose flour, salt and baking powder together.
Add this dry mixture to the wet beet mixture and mix everything together just until combined.
Pour the mixture in the prepared bundt pan and bake for 35- 40 minutes or till done. If a screwer inserted in the centre of the bundt comes out clean, the bundt is done.
Wait for the bundt cake to cool and then invert in a plate.

My husband and daughter liked their cake with generous dusting of confectioner's sugar and I enjoyed mine plain.

Note-Instead of cocoa powder 1/4 cup of any non dairy choco chip can be substituted .And dairy choco chip can be substituted for a non vegan version.

Sending this bundt to National Bundt day at Mary- The Food Librarian's space.

Also linking this to Srivalli's Kid's Delight Event hosted at Cooks Hideout space.

Daal Banjari

2011-11-12T11:24:00.000+04:00

I am completing first week of my Vegan challenge and till now have been successful in sticking to the vegan diet. I have replaced my milk tea to soy milk masala tea and now loving it. The breakfast is mostly semolina upma or oats with a dash of soy milk and some fruits or brown rice poha and even Vegan french toasts.

Lunch comprises of lentils with roti or any tofu dish with rotis/ parathas and dinner is mostly dosas/ idlis/ roti subzi. I made these lentils for our lunch and it was super good. This daal belongs from Indian State of Rajasthan. The recipe is adapted from Sanjeev Kapoor's tasty eating for healthy living book, earlier I have tried this Daal Lucknowi from that book.

Ingredients:

Whole Black Gram with Skin( Urad daal)- 2/3 Cup (soaked)

Split Bengal Gram- 1/3 Cup (soaked)

Turmeric Powder- 1/4 tsp

Salt- to taste

Onions- 2 Small chopped

Cloves- 2

Cinnamon Stick- 1 Inch

Dry Red Chillies- 2

Ginger- 1 Inch Piece (crushed in mortar)

Garlic- 2 cloves (crushed in mortar)

Coriander Powder- 1 tsp

Green Chilly- 1

Black Pepper Powder- 1/4 tsp

Coriander Leaves- to garnish

Oil- 1 tbsp

Procedure:

Pressure cook both grams together with turmeric powder, salt and 3 cups of water till 4-5 whistles.
Heat oil in a pan, add cloves, cinnamon, onions, crushed ginger and garlic with dried red chillies and green chilly and sautè till onions turn golden brown.
Add the cooked grams, black pepper powder and coriander powder. Boil for 5-10 minutes. Check seasoning.
Transfer to a bowl and garnish with coriander leaves.

Lauki Ka Kofta

2011-11-05T23:58:00.000+04:00

I have been a Lacto Vegetarian all my life and now slowly trying transitioning into being Vegan. This is going to be very very difficult for me as I love my masala chai , paneer dishes and all the ghee laden Indian sweets like mysore pak to its core. So to give myself a boost I have joined 21 Days Vegan Kickstart India challenge and hope I can stick to it.

Most of our Indian gravies and curries are vegan, that is if we don't add ladles and ladles of cream or ghee tadka to make it rich. One such gravy dish which is my favourite is Lauki Ka Kofta. I love those kofta balls floating in delicious gravy. I have made the kofta balls in non stick aebleskiver pan ( appam pan) with very less oil and have not added any cream in the gravy, thus it's completely vegan.

Ingredients:

For the kofta balls-

Bottle Gourd/ Lauki/ Opo Squash- 2 Cups grated

Chick Pea Flour( Besan)- 1/2 Cup

Salt- To taste

Red Chilli Powder- As per taste

Amchoor (Dry Mango Powder)- 1/4tsp

Green Chillies- 2( Optional)

Canola Oil- To shallow fry in aebleskiever pan

For the gravy-

Onion- 1 Large

Ginger- 1 Inch Piece

Garlic- 2 or 3 Cloves

Tomatoes- 3 Medium Sized ( ground)

Whole Dry Red Chillies- 2

Green Chilly- 1(optional)

Salt- To Taste

Red Chilli Powder-1/2 tsp

Coriander Powder- 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder- 1/2 tsp

Garam Masala Powder- 1/2 tsp

Canola Oil- 2 Tbsp

Procedure:

Add salt in the grated bottle gourd and keep aside for few minutes, then squeeze out the water.
Mix with it chick pea flour, red chilli powder, dry mango powder and make a dough out of it.
Make 12 equal balls of the dough. In the appam pan put few drops of oil in each section and then put the kofta balls for shallow frying.
Keep the pan covered and once the bottom side turns light brown turn it over and cook covered the other side as well.
Take out the kofta balls from the pan and keep aside.
For the gravy grind onions, ginger, garlic and red chillies together.
Heat oil in a deep pan and once hot add in the onion paste and fry till raw smell disappears.
Add in the tomato paste along with turmeric powder, coriander powder, green chilly, salt and red chilly powder. Fry till the mixture starts leaving oil from the side.
Add in 2-3 cups of water and bring to boil. Now keep the gravy in simmer for another 5 minutes.
Add in garam masala and switch off the gas.

Before serving add the kofta balls in the gravy and heat it for another minute or so. Serve hot with rotis or parathas.

Linking this to Squashlove blog hop

Oats And Honey Bread

2011-11-02T11:23:00.001+04:00

After devouring all the Diwali sweets and snacks I have developed an aversion to sweets....but I know it's going to be temporary and soon I will again enjoy sweet treats.

So for a change I baked this bread and I was really impressed by it. It has got beautiful crust and soft insides and tastes excellent with either honey or even butter. My kiddo enjoyed this with spoonfuls of honey and has ordered me to make this more frequently. I was quite surprised at her request since the only bread she eats is white milk bread. And this bread is now going to feature regularly in my kitchen.

Recipe Source: Allrecipes

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour- 3 Cups

Rolled Oats- 1/2 Cup + little more for sprinkling on top

Honey- 3 tbsp

Unsalted Butter- 2 tbsp (at room temperature)

Salt- 1 tsp

Active Dry Yeast- 1 1/2 tsp

Warm Water- 1 1/4 Cup

Milk- For brushing the top

Dried Melon Seeds, Sunflower Seeds- little for sprinkling (optional)

Procedure:

Combine flour, oats and salt in a large bowl and keep aside.
In the warm water add in butter, honey and yeast. Mix till dissolved and leave aside for a couple of minutes till the yeast turns frothy.
Add the yeast mixture to the bowl containing the dry ingredients and mix.
Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes till the dough turns smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to another bowl and cover the bowl with a greased cling film. Leave the dough to rise for about an hour.
Punch back the dough and knead for a couple of minutes.
Divide the dough into 12 equal parts and roll each piece in a ball. Arrange the balls in a greased baking dish and cover again with cling film. Leave it to rise for another 45 minutes.
Remove the cling film and brush the top with milk and sprinkle oats and seeds on top.
Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C for 10 minutes. Bake the bread for 35-40 minutes or till the crust turns golden brown.

Serve the bread warm with honey....it tastes divine.

Sending these to Radhika's Winter Carnival and Vardhini's Bake Fest#1

Malai Laddoo/ Cottage Cheese Sweet - Think Pink

2011-10-19T18:54:00.000+04:00

Before few days I got an invite from Arva of I live in a frying pan to join the Fooderati Arabia group...can't tell you how excited I was. I immediately accepted the invite and was happy to be a part of the group consisting of talented bloggers from UAE...these guys have wonderful blogs and I was amazed at how active they were in the group. They meet regularly, organize many monthly events, outings and they are a great support group.

Through this group I came to know about Breast Cancer Awareness event. October is Breast Cancer awareness month and I am contributing by making a pink post. For people residing in Dubai~ our two fellow FIA members Rajani And Lin are donating 10% of their sales to the Safe & Sound- Breast Cancer Awareness Programme. Visit them at their FB page to know more.

Do support the breast cancer campaign by liking Safe & Sound.

Ingredients:

Cottage Cheese( Paneer)- 250 grams

Condensed Milk- 3/4 Cup

Cardamom Powder- A pinch

Beetroot Purée- 1 tsp ( or few drops of red food colour)

Clarified Butter( ghee)- 2 tsp

Procedure:

Grate and mash the cottage cheese.
In a non stick pan add in the clarified butter along with cottage cheese and condensed milk and cook on low heat.
When the mixture starts thickening and leaving the sides of pan add in the cardamom powder and turn of the heat.
Transfer the mixture in a plate and divide it in two parts.
In one part add in the beetroot purée/ food colour and mix it nicely. The mixture will turn pink in colour.
Once the mixture cools take out a portion out of the white part and roll it in a small marble size round and keep aside.
Then take the pink colour dough and take out a big portion out of it. Roll it in a little big round and then with thumb make an impression in the centre, keep the white coloured small marble inside it and then seal all the sides and make a round ball.
Repeat the process with other balls as well.
I made some with white centre and some with pink centre.

This is how the laddoos looked from inside.

These are best when served fresh but can also be kept in refrigerator for 2 days.

Do check out what our other FIA members have posted for this event-

The Pink Ribbon - According To Dina
Pink Ribbon Salad- Life in the food lane
Strawberry & Fig Tartlet- Eaternal Zest
Raspberry Melting Moments/ Orange Blossom Fig Torte- La Me`re Culinaire
Super Foods And Cancer- Irina Savva
Chicken Curry Spring Rolls- Ginger & Scotch
Going Pink- Devina Divecha

Mysore Pak/ Gram Flour Fudge

2011-10-15T14:31:00.000+04:00

Mysore Pak aka Gram Flour Fudge is a sinfully rich sweet with only three ingredients...a bite of it will make you crave for more and more...and if eaten without moderation it is sure to make us pull out fat pants from the closet. I was wondering about its name origin...and there came Wikipedia at my rescue. Mysore pak seems to be originated in the kitchen of royal palace of Mysore and hence got it's name.

Mysore Pak is of two kinds...one is a bit hard with crumbly texture and the other has soft and smooth texture and just melts in the mouth. Our family is fond of the softer one so I made this. I saw this recipe in Sharmi's space and immediately bookmarked it. Thanks for this wonderful recipe Sharmi...it's just so perfect.

Ingredients: ( Recipe Source- Sharmispassions)

Besan/ Gram Flour- 1 Cup

Ghee/ Clarified Butter- 1 Cup ( 3/4 Cup in flour and 1/4 Cup while stirring)

Sugar- 1 Cup

Water- 1/4 Cup

Procedure:

Roast the gram flour in a non stick pan with 1 tsp of ghee. Roast in low heat by continuous stirring till the raw smell of flour disappears.
Sieve the flour so that there are no lumps.
In a bowl put the flour and add the 3/4 Cup of ghee. Mix well without any lumps. Keep the paste aside for 15 minutes.
Grease a plate with ghee and keep aside.
Meanwhile mix together sugar and water in a non stick pan and keep on medium heat with occasional stirring till single thread consistency is achieved.
Keep the remaining 1/4 Cup of ghee to heat in low flame.
Now reduce the gas flame to low and add the flour paste slowly by slowly in the sugar syrup while continuously stirring it with another hand.
Now start adding to it the hot 1/4th Cup of ghee slowly by slowly in intervals. Keep stirring.
Slowly the mixture will start leaving the sides and it will start coming together without sticking to the pan.
At this stage pour the mixture in the greased plate. It will spread itself smoothly.
When little cool cut it into desired shapes.

Garlic And Sesame Sticks

2011-10-13T00:26:00.000+04:00

Though garlic is known for its medicinal benefits but it's a big no no at my mother's and MIL's place. During festivals and good days it is completely banned in their kitchen. But me and my DH have always been garlic lovers. Till I moved to Dubai I was unaware of garlic bread but once I tasted it there was no going back. I like to add garlic to most of my gravy dishes.

My DH eats raw garlic to control cholesterol and I always stock ~~big~~ mouthwash bottle for him :)

Long back I saw this recipe in RC's blog and since have made it quite often. These are so addictive that I was left with only few of these to photograph.

Ingredients:

Oats- 1/2 Cup

All Purpose Flour- 1 Cup

Butter- 4tbsps

Sesame Seeds- 1/4 Cup

Garlic Powder- 2 tsp

Chilli Flakes- 1 tsp

Baking Powder- 1/2 tsp

Sugar- 1 tsp

Salt- To taste

Water- To Knead

Procedure:

Coarsely grind oats and mix it with all the dry ingredients together in a big bowl.
Melt the butter and add it in the flour mix. The flour mix will attain bread crumbs like texture.
Add water little by little and knead the flour to form a stiff dough.
Cover the dough with a plastic wrap and keep aside for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile preheat the oven at 190 degrees C.
Take large portion of the dough and roll it ( the dough will not be sticky and will easily roll without use of any flour) in a square shape.
Using a knife cut 1 inch wide and 4-5 inches long strips out of it. Arrange the strips on a greased baking sheet.
Repeat the process with remaining dough.
Bake for 15 minutes and then turn them over and bake for another 15 minutes. Keep an eye during the last minutes.

Allow them to cool and while these are hot resist yourself hard to stop from eating these crunchy munchy sticks.

Oats And Carrot Kheer

2011-10-06T10:40:00.000+04:00

Happy Dussehra....celebrate the festival with this heart friendly but at the same time delicious kheer. My family enjoyed this kheer a lot and it's not very time consuming to make.

I have used only saffron and cardamom for the flavouring. Nuts can be added to make the kheer more rich and flavourful.

Ingredients:

Milk- 3 Cups ( I have used half cream milk)

Carrot- 1 medium (grated)

Oats- 2 tbsp

Sugar- 4 tbsp( or more)

Saffron- A pinch soaked in a tbsp of warm milk

Cardamom Powder- A pinch

Procedure:

Dry roast the oats for 2-3 minutes. Keep aside.
Boil the milk in a pan and add the grated carrots.
Once the carrots get cooked add in the oats.
Continue boiling and keep stirring in between.
The oats will cook in around 5 minutes.
Once the oats have cooked add in the sugar and soaked saffron. Boil for another 5 minutes and add in the cardamom powder.
Remove from heat and serve hot.

Sending this kheer to Diwali Special-Sweets & Savouries, Serve it- Festival Potluck, Diwali Sweet Recipes- Festival recipes-Indian sweet recipes, Diwali- Festival of Lights, My Diwali My Way

Also sending this to Pari's Only-Sweets and Dessert event hosted by Gayathri.

Moong Daal Khichdi With Okra Raita

2011-10-04T09:37:00.000+04:00

Sometimes simple and comfort food is what we crave for and what can be more simpler than a khichdi (rice with lentils), and when served with okra raita it makes a complete satisfying meal.

Ingredients: For the khichdi

Rice- 1 Cup

Yellow moong daal- 1/2 Cup

Tomato- 2 ( ground)

Salt- To taste

Turmeric Powder- 1/4 tsp

Whole Black Pepper- 1tsp

Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp

Ghee- 1 tbsp

Procedure:

Wash and soak rice and daal together for an hour.
Dry roast black pepper and cumin till aromatic and coarsely grind them.
Heat a pressure cooker and add the ghee. Once hot add in the ground spices, tomato and stir.
Add in the soaked and drained rice and daal and mix well.
Pour in 4 cups of water and add salt and turmeric powder.
Put in the lid of the pressure cooker and keep for cooking till 4-5 whistles comes.
Serve it hot with a big dollop of ghee and the raita.

Ingredients:

Curd- 2 Cups ( Well beaten)

Salt- To taste

Roasted Cumin Powder- 1/2 Tsp

Red Chilli Powder- To Taste

Black Salt- A Pinch

Okra/ Lady's Finger- 6-7

Oil - To fry the okras

Procedure:

Cut the okras in approximately half inch wide rounds and fry in hot oil till they become soft but they should not loose their colour. Drain and keep them aside.
In the beaten curd add all the spices, salt then mix well and keep it chilled in the fridge.
Add in the fried okras just before serving, else they may become very soggy.

Sending this to CWS- Rice event originally started by Priya and hosted this month at Reva's space.

Multigrain Chakli/ Murukku

2011-09-28T15:44:00.000+04:00

Each day evening at around 6:30 my brain stops working, the reason being my husband.....stop..don't take me wrong...but that's actually a fact. He comes back from office and asks me something to eat along with his cuppa...and I am always short of ideas for light and little bit healthy snacks, which can keep him filled till dinner time.

I came across this recipe in some magazine..sorry..don't remember the name...neither the exact recipe. But finally I was able to make these delicious chaklis which can be made really easily and in no time.

And these chaklis surely pleased my husband..and I too was tension free till the chakli box was empty.

Ingredients: ( Yields around 15 chaklis)

Oats- 1/4 Cup

Raagi Flour- 1/4 Cup

Wheat Flour- 1/4 Cup

Rice Flour- 1/4 Cup

Urad Daal Flour- 2 tbsp ( Dry roast and grind the daal to a fine powder)

Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp

Green Chillies- 2

Ginger- 1 Inch piece

Salt- to taste

Oil- 1 tbsp+ more for frying

Procedure:

Grind chillies and ginger together into a fine paste. Keep aside.
Dry roast oats in a pan for 3-4 minutes. Cool and then powder fine in a mixer.
Mix all the flours and sieve them together.
Add salt, cumin seeds, ginger and chilli paste to the flour.
Heat 1 tbsp of oil and add it in the flour.
With required water knead the flour into a soft dough.
Keep the dough to rest for about 1/2 an hour.
Heat oil in a frying pan.
Make the shape of chaklis using the chakli maker and fry them in medium heat in the oil till they are cooked and turn dark golden brown in colour.
Remove the chaklis from oil and drain in an absorbent paper.

Store in an airtight container and relish the murukkus. And these will also be perfect to serve the guests in the coming Diwali.

Sending these to Diwali Special- Sweets and Savouries, Diwali- Festival of Lights, My Diwali My Way.

Jalebi For Indian Cooking Challenge

2011-09-21T17:49:00.001+04:00

For us Indians any celebration or festival is incomplete without sweets. During festivals almost all the Indian kitchens have same scene~mother's and grandmother's standing for hours, sweating profusely but still making amazing sweets to feed all the greedy tummies. Jalebi is one sweet which was never made in my home, but on many weekends my dad used to treat us with the jalebi ,samosa and poha from the famous sweet shop in town. There was always a long queue in that shop..and the jalebi's used to vanish in no time.

When I saw Srivalli's Indian Cooking Challenge this time, I was holidaying and could not take part, but the jalebi's were daily floating in my dreams :) So after returning I made these. The process was very simple and the result was crisp finger licking good Jalebi's.

Ingredients:

For the batter:

All Purpose Flour- 100 grams

Cornflour- 30 grams

Curd- 1 cup

Lime Juice- 1 tsp

Hot Oil- 1 tbsp

Saffron Colour- a pinch

For the sugar syrup:

Sugar- 1 Cup

Water- 1/2 Cup

Lime Juice- 1/2 tsp

Saffron- few strands

Cardamom Powder- a pinch

Oil to fry the jalebis

Procedure:

In a bowl mix together all the ingredients of the batter. Whisk everything together so that there are no lumps. Set aside overnight for fermentation.
Make Sugar syrup by mixing sugar and water and boil it till light syrup consistency is achieved. Add in saffron, cardamom powder and lime juice. Keep the syrup warm.
Heat oil on medium flame.
In a squeezy ketchup bottle transfer the batter.
Once the oil is hot squeeze the batter directly in the hot oil in the shape of spirals. Keep the temperature of the oil medium hot.
Once the jalebis are fried , drop the hot jalebis in warm sugar syrup. Take out the jalebis in a minute out of the syrup.
Serve the jalebis hot.

Notes:

Keep the batter thick.
The oil should be medium hot.
Make thin jalebis so that they stay crisp.
Jalebis can be served with hot milk or rabri.

Karonda Murabba / Natal Plum Sweet Preserve

2011-08-19T17:50:00.000+04:00

It seems like ages since I updated my blog. I am still holidaying and enjoying my stay with parents. Still some more days are left for the schools to start in Dubai and till the time I go back I want to cherish each and every day of my India stay. I have been pestering my mother to make my favourite dishes and just relishing eating.

My mother makes best pickles and murabbas. And this one is my favourite. This preserve or murabba is made with karonda or natal plum and tastes yum. Natal Plum is tart but has goodness of Vitamin C, calcium and magnesium. When combined with sugar and transformed into preserve it tastes superb...khatta and meetha.

Even birds love this fruit...and we had some parrots fighting over these.

Ingredients:

Karonda/ Natal Plum- 250 gms
Sugar- 1 1/2 Cups
Water- 1 Cup

Procedure:

Wash the natal plum thoroughly and keep aside. Slit the natal plum in half and take out the seeds.
Steam the natal plum for 10-12 minutes in a steamer or till cooked.
Meanwhile make a sugar syrup by mixing sugar and water and keep it in medium heat till one string consistency is achieved.
Once sugar syrup is made transfer the steamed plum in it and let it cook for sometime till the consistency thickens.
Cool completely and transfer it in a air tight container.

Store the murabba at room temperature and consume within 2 weeks.

Caramel Mango Pudding

2011-07-06T09:38:00.000+04:00

Holidays are here and my daughter is at home keeping me on my toes throughout the day, I am bending down to meet all her requests and giving her company to play as well. Also I am counting days to leave for India...yippee...I am just so much excited to see everybody.

My DH loves pudding so I thought of making pudding with mangoes and caramelised sugar for additional sweet punch. This eggless pudding was a great hit with my folks. The recipe is loosely adapted from Anushruti's space.

I hope to post next something from my mil's and my mom's kitchen. I have been enjoying seeing all my fellow bloggers wonderful posts and I hope I will be able to keep in touch with all once I return from vacations. Till then do drop in at my space and forget me not.

Ingredients:

Whole Milk- 2 Cups
Pulp of 1 large Alphonso Mango
Cream- 1/4 Cup
Sugar- 4 tbsp
Cornstarch- 3 tsp
Agar Agar Flakes- 5gms
Water- 1/2 Cup
Butter- 2 tbsp

For Almond Praline:

Sugar- 3 tbsp
Almonds- 3 tbsp( Chopped)

Procedure:

Out of the 2 cups of milk take 1/4 cup of milk and mix cornstarch in it and keep aside.
Meanwhile tear agar agar in small bits and soak it in 1/2 cup water for 1/2 an hour to soften it.
Blend milk, cream and mango pulp together and keep aside.
Heat butter and add sugar together in a pan in medium heat and don't stir the pan, the sugar will start to caramelize and turn golden brown in colour.
Add in the blended milk and mango mix and stir to combine everything nicely. Keep it for boiling.
While the milk is boiling in a separate pan take agar agar along with the soaked water and keep it to heat on medium flame and cook until agar agar melts.
Once the milk comes to boil stir in the cornstarch and cook till mixture thickens.. Now add in the melted agar agar and stir.
Cook for another 3-4 minutes and switch off the gas.
Pour the mix in a dish and allow it to come to room temperature. Once the mixture is cool transfer the dish to the refrigerator and chill for at least 3-4 hours before serving.

Almond Praline:

Line a baking sheet with aluminium foil and keep aside. Heat the sugar in a pan along with 1 tbsp of water and let the sugar caramelize without stirring the pan. Once the sugar turns golden brown in colour immediately add in the chopped almonds and stir. Transfer the mixture to the lined baking sheet and spread as much as thin as possible. Once the mixture is cool break the praline into small pieces.

Serve the chilled pudding topped with praline.

Sending this to my dear friend Meghna's Healthy Cooking Challenge Event- Desserts, originally started by Smita
Also sending this to Priya and Aipi's bookmarked recipes every tuesday event

Steamed Semolina and Carrot Cake

2011-06-28T07:26:00.001+04:00

This is the time of the year when I pack my bags and anxiously count the days to go to India and meet my family. Though I visit India every year but still each time its the same experience...nostalgic. And it's the same for them also...my parents, brother and my in- laws all anxiously wait for us to arrive and spend some days with their beloved grand child. My daughter will be spoilt with all the love, affection and how to forget..so many gifts as well. After coming back it becomes a great task for me to arrange her cupboard with the goodies she gets from her thathas, paatis and maama.

And before going I have to do multitude of tasks...shopping, packing and cleaning my pantry, cupboards etc, and again I am finding myself short of time. I am also not able to feed my blog baby regularly and the cooking is also minimal in my kitchen, just using up what all is left in my pantry and still trying to eat healthy.

I had some semolina left and I was looking for some different way to use it up...just a bit fed up of eating upma....have to say~sorry dear upma but I need a change. I came across this recipe in Anjali's blog and was instantly hooked on it. I made very few changes to the original recipe and within 30 minutes I had delicious slices of healthy and sweet steamed semolina and carrot cake...absolutely ~ guilt free.

Ingredients:

Semolina- 1/2 Cup
Carrot - 1 medium ( Grated)
Yoghurt- 1/2 Cup
Milk- 2 Tbsp
Sugar- 1/3 Cup or little more
Baking Powder- 1/2 Tsp
Cardamom Powder- 1/2 Tsp
Almonds- Chopped 7-8
Ghee- 1 Tsp to grease the dish

Procedure:

Grease a round dish with 1 tsp ghee to steam the cake and keep aside.
Dry roast semolina in low heat till slight golden brown in colour. Set aside to cool.
In another big bowl combine all the ingredients and whisk till the sugar dissolves.
Transfer the batter to the greased dish and steam on high in a pressure cooker ( without the whistle) for 20-25 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Once cool invert the cake onto a plate, and serve by cutting in slices.

Linking this to Ayeesha's Any One Can Cook Series- 23
Priya and Aipi's Every Tuesday- Bookmark event

Grilled Sprouts Sandwich

2011-06-23T14:56:00.001+04:00

Sprouts feature regularly in my breakfast now a days, I usually eat the sprouts raw but these sandwiches have become my favourite. Even my fussy kiddo likes to have this sandwich, so in the end I am a happy mom as I can disguise the sprouts in her favourite sandwich. I was so glad to see her lunchbox fully polished off :)

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Large Bread Slices- 4

Potato- 1 medium (boiled and mashed)

Onion- 1 small chopped finely

Moong Sprouts- 1/2 Cup

Tomato- 2 tbsp chopped finely

Salt, Chaat Masala, Black Pepper Powder- To Taste

Green Chutney

Cheese Grated- Optional

Ghee or Butter Softened - To Spread ( Optional)

Procedure:

Mix potato, onions, sprouts, salt, chaat masala and black pepper powder together and keep aside. Apply ghee or butter on one side of a bread slice and keep the buttered side facing down on the grill or sandwich maker. Apply a thin layer of green chutney on the unbuttered side, spread the potato and sprout mixture above the chutney layer. Now place the chopped tomatoes on top of the mixture. At this stage grated cheese can be sprinkled on top. Close the sandwich with another bread slice and apply butter on the side of the bread facing up. Grill till done. Serve with tomato ketchup.

( The little one anxiously waiting to eat her favourite sandwich)

Sending this sandwich to Srivalli's Sandwich Mela

Sobha's Proteinicious Event

Radhika's Let's Cook : Break Time Snacks Event

MLLA#36 brainchild of Susan and hosted at Served With Love
Also sending this to Quick and Easy Recipe Mela at Spicy Tasty

Thandai Icecream

2011-06-20T10:21:00.001+04:00

The sun is shining too bright outside and all I want is to be confined in the comforts of my home with my AC doing overtime and running almost 24 hrs a day...and I am just wondering how much my electric bill will be this month...so Mr H if the bill is too high then just understand that its not me but its the sun which has forced me to forget about the AC running.

The idea of making this ice cream turned in my mind when I saw my thandai masala sitting in my refrigerator, so if you want a twist in your ice cream this recipe would be just perfect. The thandai masala infuses wonderful taste of spices in this ice cream and can make the guests wonder about the ingredients in it.

Ingredients:

Ground Thandai Masala- 1 tbsp
Badam Milk Powder- 2 tsp( optional- I used MTR)
Whole Milk- 2 1/2 Cups + 1/2 Cup
Cornflour- 3 tsp
Sugar- 1/4 Cup
Condensed Milk- 1/2 Cup
Cream- 1/4 Cup

Procedure:

Keep the 2 1/2 Cup milk for boiling, and while the milk is boiling mix in the cornflour with other 1/2 cup of cold milk and keep aside.
When the milk comes to boil add in the sugar and condensed milk. Now add the cornflour milk and keep on stirring for some time. The milk will start to thicken.
Once the milk is little thick add in the thandai masala and badam milk powder. Stir so that everything mixes nicely without any lumps.
Switch off the gas and now add in the nicely beaten cream and mix. Let the mix cool at room temperature.
Once the mixture is cool strain it using a strainer- this is optional.
Keep the mixture in a closed container in the freezer.
Then follow the steps here to make the ice cream without the ice cream maker.

I garnished the ice cream with some tutti frutti and dried rose petals.

Sending this to Serve it- Chilled event by Denny at Oh Tate N See and to Pari's 'Only'- Icecream event hosted by Reva at Kaarasaaram

Khara Biscuits For Indian Cooking Challenge

2011-06-15T10:15:00.000+04:00

It's not very long since I started baking but each time I bake something I enjoy the experience thoroughly. Kneading, rolling, shaping gives me lots of relaxation. And the joy of seeing the perfectly baked goodies out of the oven is priceless for me. I had not baked anything since last month..you know..trying to loose weight before my vacations... but still each time I saw any baked goodies in my fav blogs I was so tempted to bake..I only know how much will power it required to stop myself from baking anything sinful.

And while I was trying not to indulge in baking anything Srivalli announced the Indian Cooking Challenge for this month...I have to confess..I got so happy when I saw the challenge...baking...wow..that too savoury biscuits. Since I had missed last months challenge I was determined not to miss this months. The challenge was to make Karnataka special..Iyengar bakery khara biscuits...recipe to be referred was that of Champa's. And champa does not require any introduction. Her baking recipes are always fool proof...so I had even more reasons to be happy...yippee...these biscuits does not require loads of butter and moreover these are savoury ones....these are really so addictive and vanished in no time.

I did very few changes in the original recipe. Added sesame seeds and ground ginger, green chillies and coriander instead of chopping them. I have convection oven so I baked these at 180 degrees.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour- 250 gms

Butter- 1/3 Cup

Sugar- 4 tsp

Salt- 1 tsp

Green Chillies- 5

Coriander Leaves- 3 tbsp

Ginger- 1 Inch Piece

White Sesame- 1 tbsp

Yoghurt- 3 tbsp

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 180 Degrees C.
Line the baking sheets with slightly greased aluminium foil and set aside.
Grind coriander, chillies and ginger together and keep it aside.
Sift flour and salt together and keep aside.
With the help of beater cream butter and sugar till smooth and creamy.
Now in the creamed butter and sugar mixture add in the flour and salt mix along with ground green paste and sesame.
Make a dough using yoghurt...add little by little and make a stiff dough. Don't over knead the dough. The dough should not be very wet.
Roll out the dough in 1/4 inch thickness and with the help of desired cookie cutter cut into shapes.
Bake in the pre heated oven for around 23 minutes.
The biscuits will be soft when done but will firm up on cooling.
When cool transfer these biscuits in an air tight container.

Enjoy these with a cup of hot tea.

Badi / Vadi Ki Subzi

2011-06-13T14:40:00.002+04:00

Sometimes when I am short of dinner ideas I like to make this badi subzi, this subzi is quick to make and tastes very delicious. Badi is made using daals like moong, urad, chawli. The daal are soaked overnight and ground using heeng, salt and chillies, then small marbled sized amount of batter is dropped and dried in the sun. The dried badis can be stored in an air tight container and used as and when required. To know more about how badis can be made please check here.

I have used store bought chawli badis. I prepare all the different kinds of badi subzis the same way.

Ingredients:

Dried badis- 100 gms
Potato- 1 ( Cut in big chunks)
Onion- 1 Large ( Chopped Finely)
Ginger- 1 Inch Piece( Chopped)
Garlic- 2 Cloves( Minced)
Tomatoes- 2 Big (Ground)
Mustard Seeds- 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder- 1/4 tsp
Salt, Red Chilli Powder, Coriander Powder, Amchoor- To Taste
Oil- 2 tbsp + more to fry the badis
Coriander Leaves- To garnish

Procedure:

Heat the oil in a kadhai and fry the badis till they turn brown in colour. Take out and keep separate.
In a small pressure cooker pour the 2 tbsp of oil and add mustard and cumin. When they start spluttering add in the ginger, garlic and chopped onions.
Fry till the onions turns translucent. Add in tomato paste along with all the spices and fry till the raw aroma disappears.
Add in the potatoes, fried badis and stir. Pour in around 2-3 cups of water and mix everything. Close the lid of the cooker and cook in medium flame till 3-4 whistles come up.
Switch off the gas and when the pressure of the cooker drops down open the lid and garnish with chopped coriander.

Serve hot with phulkas.

Update: Vadis are also known as mangodis in Rajasthan and is a speciality dish there. Thanks to Sonu for pointing this out. I am sending this to her event Flavours of Rajasthan originally started by Nayna.

Sabz Bagh

2011-06-07T22:35:00.001+04:00

Oh...how much I wish each minute had 120 seconds..so that I can claim 48 hrs each day. So many things to do and so less time at disposal. I really salute those super powered ladies who manage both office and their house efficiently...and not to forget ..how they manage more than 1 child. I really wonder if I could ever be that much efficient. I am always short of time no matter how fast I complete my chores.

I have not been able to visit my friends blogs as much as I would love to visit them. So all my dear friends I hope I would be able to catch up with your enthusiastic posts soon.

Sharing today an extremely healthy medley of veggies baked in orange juice. This is a very simple recipe and all the required veggies can be added. Saw this recipe long time back in Sanjeev Kapoor's show, but had not exactly noted the ingredients. So here is my version of Sabz Bagh ( which when translated means garden of veggies)

Ingredients:

Orange Juice- 1 Cup ( Preferably fresh home squeezed)
Par Boiled Mixed Veggies Cut in Big Chunks- 2 to 2 1/2 Cups ( I used a mix of cauliflower, broccoli, beans, baby carrots, green peas and baby corns)
Tomato Ketchup- 2 tbsp
Salt and Red Chilli Powder- For Taste

Procedure:

Heat a skillet and add orange juice. Once it gets little warm add in the par boiled vegetables.
Let the veggies cook in the orange juice for some time.
Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180 Degrees C.
Add in salt, tomato ketchup and red chilli powder.
Transfer the veggies along with remaining juice to a baking dish and bake in the pre heated oven for around 40 minutes.

Serve the veggies with hot rotis or parathas.

Linking this to Priya and Aipi's Bookmarked Recipes- Every Tuesday Event.

Veggie/ Fruit A Month- Orange Event of Priya and hosted by Savitha

Mango Vermicelli Halwa

2011-06-05T10:53:00.002+04:00

With mango season in full bloom I am getting to see many wonderful mango related posts in the blogosphere. And how long could I have stayed away from making a mango based sweet. My daughter liked this a lot and I am sure I will be making this again for few more times till the mangoes keep arriving.

Ingredients:

Vermicelli- 1 Cup

Mango Pulp- 1/2 Cup( I used fresh Alphonso mango pulp)

Milk- 1 1/4 Cup

Granulated Sugar- 1/4 Cup- 1/3 Cup( depending on sweetness required)

Ghee- 3 tsp divided

Almonds- To Garnish

Procedure:

Heat a skillet/ kadhai and add 1 tsp of ghee. Add the vermicelli and roast till golden brown. Take out on a plate and keep aside.
In same kadhai add milk and keep for boiling. Once milk comes to boil add the roasted vermicelli and cook covered till vermicelli cooks completely.
Add the mango pulp and sugar and cook until sugar dissolves.
Add the remaining 2 tsp of ghee and cook for some more time.
Garnish with almonds.

Serve hot.

Gazpacho

2011-06-02T10:26:00.001+04:00

Gazpacho is a cold Spanish tomato based soup which is ideal for summers due to its being cold and acidic in nature. And as I am trying to eat healthy I was browsing for some good soup recipe and came across Gazpacho...this soup perfectly suited us and it has lot of scope for variations. This soup is rich in Vitamin C, is low in calories and trans fats.

Ingredients:

Bread( White or Brown)- 2-3 slices

Tomatoes- 4 Large quartered

Cucumber- 1sliced

Capsicum- 1 medium diced

Garlic- 2-3 cloves

Vinegar or lime juice- 2 tbsp

Olive Oil- 1 tsp

Salt- to taste

Procedure:

Soak the bread in little water and squeeze out the excess water.
Add all the ingredients in the blender along with soaked bread slices and process till every thing is ground.

Strain the soup and keep in the refrigerator. Serve chilled and garnish with bread cubes, chopped tomatoes and capsicum.

Variations: Tomatoes and bread can be replaced with either Avocados, watermelon, grapes. Onion can also be added and cucumber may be omitted.

Baked Falafel Sandwich With Home Made Hummus, Tahini And Whole Wheat Oats Pita Bread

2011-05-26T23:45:00.015+04:00

Crispy and crunchy brown croquettes known as Falafels are a world wide sensation. People love to indulge in these scrumptious fried goodies, and I am among one of those who can devour many of these easily without even thinking twice about the amount of extra calories these come loaded with.

When fried these falafels loose all their nutritional qualities and become just fat balls. And since few days I have been eating healthy diet and trying to reduce the consumption of fat, so decided to bake these and made a wholesome meal out of falafels. I served these with whole wheat and oats flour pita bread along with some hummus and tahini sauce.

This was my first attempt at making pita pockets at home and to make them healthy I made these combining whole wheat flour and oats along with some Italian seasoning. Though the All purpose flour pitas taste more good, these come without guilt. Initially I baked these pita pockets but I got really mad after seeing papad like pitas...then I remembered seeing these at Priya's space where she makes them like rotis. I too used that technique and voila I had some soft and delicious pita pockets.

Would like to thank my new buddy Meghna who sparked the idea of healthy eating in me.

Leaning Tower Of Falafel

Baked Falafel: (Yields around 13)

Ingredients:

Chick Peas Soaked Overnight- 2 Cups ( Soaked Chick Peas)

Garlic- 2 Cloves

Onion- 1 Big

Coriander Leaves- 1/2 Bunch
Bread Crumbs- 2 tbsp

Coriander Powder- 1 tsp

Roasted Cumin Powder- 1 tsp

Red Chilli Powder- 1/2 tsp or more

Salt- To Taste

Lemon Juice- 2 tsp

Baking Powder- 1/4 tsp

Baking Soda- 1/4 tsp

Olive Oil- To Brush the falafels

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 230 degrees C.
Rinse the soaked chick peas with ample fresh water and drain. Grind the drained chick peas in a food processor or mixie coarsely without adding any water and empty in a big bowl.
Now dry grind the coriander leaves along with onion and garlic and add it in bowl along with chick peas.
Add in bread crumbs, salt, coriander powder, cumin powder,red chilli powder, baking powder, baking soda and lemon juice to the chick peas mixture.
Mix evenly all the ingredients and shape it in balls and flatten them little like patties.
Brush with olive oil on both sides of the balls.
Arrange them in the baking tray and bake for around 50 minutes turning the falafels once in between till they brown from outside and become crunchy.

Tahini:

Ingredients:

White Sesame- 1/4 Cup

Lemon Juice- 1 to 2 tbsp

Olive Oil- 1 tsp

Water As Required

Salt- To Taste

Procedure:

Dry roast the sesame seeds in a pan or kadhai till they very slightly change their colour and release the aroma. Keep aside to cool.
Add the sesame seeds and other ingredients in the mixer jar and grind till a smooth paste is obtained. Adjust the thickness as required by adding more or less water.

Hummus

Hummus:

Ingredients:

Chick Peas Soaked Overnight And Pressure Cooked- 1 Cup (Cooked Chick Peas)

Tahini- 1 tbsp

Garlic- 2 Cloves

Lemon Juice- 2 -3 tbsp

Mint Leaves- 3 or 4

Salt- To Taste

Olive Oil- 1 tbsp

Water

Procedure:

Add all the ingredients in the mixer except oil and grind to make a smooth paste. Transfer the ground hummus in a bowl and pour olive oil on top.

Pita Bread:

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Flour- 1 1/2 Cup

Ground Oats Flour- 1/2 Cup

Instant Yeast- 1 1/2 tsp

Salt- 1/2 tsp

Sugar- 1/2 tsp

Italian Seasoning- 1 tsp

Luke warm Water- Around 200 ml

Procedure:

In a large bowl add whole wheat flour, oats flour along with yeast, salt, sugar and Italian seasoning.
Combine everything nicely and start kneading in a dough using the luke warm water.
Knead for 5-10 minutes till the dough turns smooth and soft.
Keep the dough in a greased bowl and cover with a greased plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise for about an hour.
After the dough has risen pinch out balls just like when making rotis. Roll the dough using little flour into desired size and cook on heat on a flat skillet or tava allowing the pitas to puff up.

Assembling The Sandwich:

Take some shredded and chopped vegetables of your choice and spread it on the pita, then top it up with falafel, some hummus, tahini and wrap it in a foil. Serve immediately else it may become soggy.

Linking this to Fast Food Not Fat Food Event hosted by Priya of Bon Appetit brain child of Priya of Now Serving.

Kala Chana Salad

2011-05-23T10:04:00.003+04:00

Black chana is also known as desi chana or kala chana. And it has high fibre content as compared to the kabuli chana or the garbanzo beans. These chanas are a healthy source of carbohydrates and is good for people with diabetes since it has low glycemic index.

Since salad can be made with variable proportions of ingredients I am just listing the ingredients without the quantities.

Ingredients:

Kala Chana- Soaked overnight and then pressure cooked for 5-6 whistles or till it's done

Onions- Chopped

Tomatoes- Chopped

Green Chillies- Chopped Finely

Coriander- Chopped Finely

Salt or Black Salt to taste

Roasted Cumin Powder

Red Chilli Powder ( Optional)

Lemon Juice

Amchur or Dry Mango Powder

Procedure:

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and toss nicely. Serve immediately.

Variation:

In place of kala chana, green chana or kabuli chana can be used.
Chopped cucumber, green mango can be added to make it more good.
To make it like chaat add green chutney and sweet and sour tamarind chutney.

Linking this to MLLA# 35 hosted by Kannada Cuisine event of Susan

For a tongue tickling chole chaat check out the space of Grishma at Zaika Zabardast.

Raisins And Oats Praline Ice Cream

2011-05-19T22:52:00.009+04:00

We are beating the super hot and humid climate by indulging in variety of homemade ice cream. If my Roasted Banana Ice Cream was yum then this one is not far behind. Again adapted from the same book by David Lebovitz..and I am in love with that book. I have done changes in the original recipe to make it Lacto Vegetarian.

The base of the ice cream is vanilla and the mix is bits of crunchy oats praline and soft raisins.

Ingredients:

For the base:

Whipping Cream- 1 Cup
Whole Milk- 1 Cup
Condensed Milk- 1/2 Cup
Powdered White Sugar- 1/4 Cup ( Can be replaced with brown sugar)
Vanilla Extract- 1/2 tsp

For Raisin Mix:

Raisins- 1/2 Cup
Granulated Sugar- 2 tbsp
Water- 1/4 Cup

For Oats Praline:

Granulated Sugar- 1/2 Cup
Oats- 3/4 Cup
Pinch of coarse salt ( which I forgot)

Procedure:

Add all the ingredients of the base ice cream in a blender and blend till everything mixes well. Keep for freezing.
In case of having an ice cream machine use it according to the manufacturer's instructions or keep for freezing in a container. After 45 minutes take out the container and with the help of hand held blender or whisk beat the mixture vigorously. keep it back in the freezer.
Keep repeating the same process after every hour for at least another 3 to 4 times.
Raisins and oats praline must be added at the last stage that is just after the last whipping.
Make raisins mix by heating water in a saucepan. Add in sugar and raisins. Keep on stirring in between till only about 2 tbsp of water is left. Keep aside to cool down.
For making oats praline heat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line the baking sheet with foil. Spread oats on the sheet evenly and let it toast for about 10 minutes stirring just once in between. Remove in a plate and keep aside. Keep aside the baking sheet with foil.
Heat sugar in a heavy bottomed skillet and cook it on medium heat without stirring. Once bubbles start emerging from the side tilt the pan and stir it gently so that all the sugar gets melted and caramel begins to form. Once the caramel has reached dark amber colour off the heat.
Immediately add in the toasted oats and stir gently so that all the oats is coated with the caramel.
Transfer to the lined baking sheet and spread the mixture as evenly as possible. Sprinkle the salt on top. Let it cool completely.
Take off the praline from the sheet and break the praline in small pieces either by pulsing it in the food processor or with the help of a rolling pin. This praline can be stored in an air tight container for about a week.
Now after the last whipping add in raisins and oats praline to the ice cream mixture. Add as much oats praline as needed. After the ice cream is ready some of the praline can be sprinkled on top.

Enjoy the cool Ice Cream.

Linking this to Jay's Letz Relish Ice Cream Event
Radhika's Fun N Sun Event
Srivalli's Kids Delight Event hosted by PJ

Oh Taste N See's Serve it Chilled Event

Monkey Bread

2011-05-17T10:25:00.001+04:00

Ever wondered how Monkey Bread got it's name... well...there are some theories to that...one being that the act of several people pulling at this bread is reminiscent of monkey behaviour....quite interesting isn't it :)

And we did liked pulling the bread apart behaving like some bunch of uncivilized monkeys. This sticky, gooey bread is usually served for breakfast but we enjoyed this even in the evening with our cuppa.

The bread tastes best when warm so it can be stored in the refrigerator and warmed up in the microwave before being devoured.

(Recipe Source- Brown Eyed Baker)
Ingredients:

For The Dough:

All Purpose Flour- 3 1/4 Cup + Little extra for work surface
Unsalted Butter- 2 tbsp Melted
Warm Milk- 1 Cup
Warm Water- 1/3 Cup
Granulated Sugar- 1/4 Cup
Salt- 2 tsp
Instant Yeast- 1 Package

For Brown Sugar Coating:

Light Brown Sugar- 1 Cup
Cinnamon Powder- 2 tsp
Unsalted Butter- 8 tbsp ( 1 Stick) melted

For the Glaze:

Confectioner's Sugar- 1 Cup
Milk- 2 tbsp

For Smearing in the Bundt Pan:

Unsalted Butter- 2 tbsp Softened

Procedure:

Smear the bundt pan with the softened butter and keep aside.

In a large measuring cup mix together milk, water, melted butter, sugar and yeast.

Mix together flour and salt in a big bowl.

If you have a standing mixer or even hand mixer with dough attachment then turn on the machine at low and start pouring the milk mixture in the flour mix slowly. After everything is incorporated then increase the speed of the machine and keep kneading for further 5-6 minutes or until the dough is shiny and smooth.

In case of not having the stand mixer then the dough can be kneaded with hand as well... the dough needs to be kneaded for at least 10 minutes or till dough becomes smooth.

Place the dough in a well greased bowl and cover the top with greased plastic wrap.

Keep the dough aside for rising for about 50- 60 minutes.

While the dough is rising keep the brown sugar coating ready by mixing brown sugar and cinnamon together.

Keep the melted butter separately in one bowl.

After the dough has raised and doubled in size then remove it from the bowl and place in a floured work surface.

Pat the dough into a rough 8 inch square. Using a knife or bench scrapper or even a pizza cutter cut the dough into 64 pieces.

Roll each dough into a ball.

One at a time take each ball and dip it into the melted butter, allowing the excess butter to drip off. Then roll the ball in brown sugar mixture and keep on placing the balls in the greased bundt pan one on top of another and keep on making layers till all the balls are placed in the pan.

If left with some extra butter and sugar mixture then pour it on top of the balls.

Cover the pan with greased plastic wrap and keep for rising for 50 -60 minutes or until the dough balls have raised 1-2 inches from top of pan.

In the meanwhile preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

( Ready to go inside the oven)

After the dough has raised then unwrap the pan and keep it to bake for around 30-40 minutes or till the top has browned and caramel starts bubbling around the edges.

After taking out from the oven let the bread cool in the pan for about 5 minutes and after inverting in a plate let the bread cool for further 10 minutes.

While the bread is cooling prepare the glaze by whisking together sugar and milk until there are no lumps.

Drizzle the glaze on top of the bread letting it run over the top and down the sides of bread.

Serve the bread warm.

Linking this to Priya and Aipi's Bookmarked Recipes- Every Tuesday Event.
Srivalli's Breakfast Mela
Hearth And Soul Blog Hop Weekly Event co hosted by Kankana

Roasted Banana Ice Cream

2011-05-14T11:35:00.002+04:00

How often can we hear our kids screaming for ice cream in the summers? Well..mine screams each time she sees them in supermarket...but I don't buy it as many times she would like me to.

Now a days there are N numbers of various brands and flavours available in the market and I bet they all taste like heaven... always love the ice cream in fresh hot cone from baskin robbins...the aroma always makes me to crave for it and it gets so tough to decide that which wacky flavour we want to try and how to forget the all natural ice creams...we are spoiled for choices.

I came across this recipe in David Lebovitz's "The Perfect Scoop".... liked it at first site. Simple to make and with very less ingredients this ice cream was a sure hit in my house. If you have an ice cream maker then it becomes even more easy.... but since I don't possess one and neither have any inclination to buy ,I had to go an extra step to make the ice cream smooth and creamy just like the store bought ones.

The technique of making perfect Ice Cream without the maker can be found here.

Ingredients:

Banana- 3 Big peeled

Firmly Packed Brown Sugar- 1/3 Cup

Unsalted Butter- 1 tbsp (Cut into small pieces)

Whole Milk- 1 1/2 Cup

Granulated Sugar- 3 tbsp (original recipe uses 2 tbsp)

Vanilla Extract- 1/2 tsp

Freshly squeezed lemon juice- 1 tsp ( original recipe uses 1 1/2 tsp)

Coarse Salt- 1/4 tsp

Chocolate Chips- A handful ( optional...not in the original recipe)

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.
Slice the bananas in 1/2 inch round pieces and toss them with brown sugar and butter in a baking dish.
Bake for 40 minutes, stirring just once in between until the bananas are cooked and browned through.
Scrape the bananas and the thick syrup in the dish into the blender. Add the milk, granulated sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and salt and puree until smooth.
Pour this mixture in a plastic container and stir in the chocolate chips.
Keep for freezing. After 45 minutes take out the mixture and with the help of hand held mixture blend the mixture for sometime. Instead of hand held blender you can also stir it vigorously with whisk or spatula as well.
Keep the mixture back in the freezer. Again check the mixture after another 45 minutes or so...and repeat the same process. Do like this for another 2 times.
The ice cream will be ready and will be soft and smooth.

Serve as it is or with some chocolate syrup or nutella.

Linking this to Jay's Letz Relish Ice cream Event

Radhika's Fun N Sun Event

Srivalli's Kid Delight Event hosted by PJ

Chole Bhature

2011-05-10T11:03:00.001+04:00

Chole bhature is among one of the most popular street foods in India. This combination of spicy chick peas with fried bread known as bhatura is a must feature in most of the Indian restaurants every where. Chole bhature also remains as one of the deeply relished food in college campuses. Bhatura as big as the size of the plate served with a bowl full of spicy chole accompanied with cut onions and tangy mango pickle is sure to brighten up some faces during hungry hours in the college canteen.

Usually chole is made with lots of spices including whole spices but my mother makes this in a very simple way creating a magical platter which we used to polish off in no time. I remember my mom making fluffy bhatura one by one and my brother eating so many of them and becoming a target of my constant nagging, and did I enjoy nagging him...yes yes...I can be a mean sister at times, and that too being an elder one I am supposed to have some privileges..isn't it?

Recipe Source: Mom

Ingredients:

For the Bhaturas:

All Purpose Flour (Maida)- 2 1/2 Cup

Semolina- 2 tbsp

Yoghurt- 3 tbsp

Oil- 2 tbsp

Instant Dry yeast- 1/4 tsp

Salt- 1/2 tsp

Sugar- 1 1/2 tsp

Luke warm water- To knead the dough

Oil- For deep frying

Little maida for dusting

Procedure:

Take APF, semolina, salt, sugar and yeast in a wide bowl. Add in oil and yoghurt and mix thoroughly. Make a soft dough using luke warm water and set aside covering the dough with a damp cloth for 4 to 6 hours.

After the dough has risen punch it back and take lemon sized balls out of the dough and roll it using maida according to the desired size. Deep fry in hot oil till they puff up. Drain on an absorbent paper.

Ingredients:

For Chole-

Chick Peas- 1 1/2 Cups( Soaked overnight)

Onions- 2 Large

Ginger- 1 Inch piece

Garlic- 3 Cloves

Tomatoes- 3 Large

Mustard- 1/2 tsp

Cumin- 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder- 1/2 tsp

Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder- 1 tsp or more according to the spiciness required

Salt- To Taste

Chole Masala- 2 tsp( I used catch brand)

Oil- 4 tbsp

Procedure:

In a pressure cooker add the soaked and washed chickpeas along with enough water and little salt and pressure cooks for 5-6 whistle or till the chickpeas gets cooked but not mashed.
After the cooker has cooled drain the chick peas and take out around 1/2 cup of the cooked chick peas and grind it in the mixie and keep it aside along with remaining chick peas. I grind some chick peas to make the gravy thicker but this it optional.
Grind onions, ginger and garlic together and keep aside.
Grind the tomatoes and keep that aside too.
In a kadhai heat oil and mustard and cumin seeds. Once they start spluttering add in onion paste and cook till the paste turns brown in colour.
Add in the tomato paste along with turmeric, red chilli powder, salt and chole masala and cook by stirring in between till the oil starts separating and there is no longer raw smell of the masalas.
Add in the cooked chick peas and the ground chickpeas along with some water and cook in medium heat along with stirring in between till everything is combined nicely.
Keep boiling the chole for another 5-6 minutes and switch off the gas. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve this chole along with fluffy bhatura combined with some onions and khatti meethi dates and tamarind chutney.

Linking this delicious platter to Priya and Aipi's Bookmarked Recipes- Every Tuesday Event

MLLA# 35 hosted by Smitha of Kannada Cuisine brainchild event of Susan

Hearth and Soul Blog Hop co hosted by Kankana

Update: Sending this to Srivalli's Breakfast Mela

Green Peas Kheer And An Ode To All Mothers

2011-05-06T23:46:00.003+04:00

" Most of all other beautiful things in life come by twos and threes, by dozens and hundreds. Plenty of roses, stars, sunsets, rainbows, brothers and sisters, aunts and cousins, but only one mother in the whole world "

Kate Douglas Wiggin

On mother's day we all remember our mother who has been selfless, compassionate and our best pal...with whom we can share everything and always lean on. I came across this article in Chicken Soup for women's soul and wanted to share it with all you wonderful mothers.

Help Wanted- The Ideal Mother

A job description for the kind of mother who would be an ideal mother for a baby might read like-

Wanted- Easygoing, relaxed, loving type to care for infant. Should enjoy rocking, cuddling, be able to hold baby patiently for 20 minutes feeding every three to four hours without fidgeting. Light sleeper, early riser. No degree necessary. Must take all shifts, seven day week. No vacation unless can arrange own mother as temporary substitute. No opportunity to advance.

A year and half later job description would read like-

Wanted- Athlete in top condition to safeguard tireless toddler. Needs quick reflexes, boundless energy, infinite patience. Knowledge of first aid essential. Must be able to drive, cook, phone, work despite constant distractions. Workday 15 hours. No coffee or lunch breaks unless child naps. Would consider paediatric nurse with Olympic background.

In another 18 months same mother should be able to meet these qualifications-

Position open- Expert in early childhood education to provide stimulating, loving, creative, individualized learning environment for preschooler. Should have experience in art, music, recreation, be able to speak one foreign language. Training in Linguistics, psychology and Montessori desirable. Two hours off five days a week and when nursery school is in session and child is well.

Between 6-12 years these qualifications has to be met-

Good Opportunity- For expert in recreation, camping, Indian arts, all sports. Should be able to referee. Must be willing to be den mother, room mother, block mother. Public relation skills essential. Should be able to deal effectively with teachers, PTA officers, other parents. Knowledge of sex education, new math required. Must have no objections to mud, insect collections, pets, neighbour's kids.

For 13-14 these requirements must be met-

Job Available- For specialist in adolescent psychology, with experience in large quantity cooking. Tolerance is chief requirement. Slight hearing loss helpful or must provide own ear plugs. Must be unflappable. Should be able to sense when presence is embarrassing to child and disappear.

After 18 years as a working mother, a woman is qualified for only one more job-

Urgently Needed- Financier to provide money, clothes, music, wheel to collegian. No advice necessary. Position may last indefinitely. Ample time left to take income- producing work.

So to my mom and all the mother's out there wishing a very Happy Mother's Day. We are perfect candidates for all the positions mentioned above...enjoy the day and treat yourself for we all are special.

Sharing today a sweet kheer made with green peas..unique and special .

Ingredients:

Green Peas- 1/2 Cup (I used frozen)

Whole Milk- 3 Cup

Sugar- 1/4 Cup

Ghee- 2 tbsp
Cardamom Powder- 1/4 tsp
Cashew nuts- Roasted For Garnishing

Procedure:

Boil the green peas till soft. Drain and cool. Once cool grind the peas in mixie fine and keep aside.

In one vessel keep the milk for boiling. Reduce till the milk thickens a bit. In another pan heat ghee and roast the ground green peas till raw smell reduces. Add in the thickened milk and add sugar. Stir and boil for sometime. Add in sugar and keep stirring till the kheer thickens a bit. No need to boil the kheer for long as the kheer will thicken once cool. Switch off the gas and add cardamom powder. Add in cashew nuts. Serve either hot or cool..both ways it tastes great.

Sending this kheer to MLLA# 35 brainchild of Susan and hosted by kannada Cuisine

Peanut Butter And Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-05-03T19:01:00.002+04:00

Melt in the mouth goodness is what these cookies are. Though I am not a very big fan of peanut butter but I cherished these cookies till the last bite...even reached for second helping...some scrumptious bites they were. The cookies were not overtly sweet. Had a great time making these with my daughter who was very enthusiastic to help me in dropping the dough.

The original recipe here called for 1 egg but I conveniently replaced that with flaxseed...also used only 1/2 cup of chocolate chips as otherwise 1 cup mentioned in the recipe. I used an ice cream scooper to drop the dough so got big sized cookies. Without further ado let me come straight to the recipe.

Recipe Source: (Brown Eyed Baker)

Ingredients: (Yields 16 big cookies)

All Purpose Flour- 1 Cup

Salt- 1/4 tsp

Baking Soda- 1 tsp

Oats- 1/2 Cup

Unsalted Butter- 1/2 Cup (At room temperature)

Creamy Peanut Butter- 1/2 Cup

Granulated Sugar- 1/2 Cup

Light Brown Sugar- 1/3 Cup

Vanilla Extract- 1/2 tsp

Chocolate Chips- 1/2 Cup

Ground Flaxseed- 1 tbsp

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Sift together APF, Salt and Soda together and set aside.
In small mixer jar add ground flaxseed along with 3 tablespoons of water and run for some time till the liquid gets frothy. Set aside.
Using hand mixer cream together butter, peanut butter, both sugars and vanilla extract at medium speed for about 3 minutes.
Add in flaxseed liquid and keep beating.
Add in the flour mixture, oats and chocolate chips and beat till just combined.
Using an ice cream scooper drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet about 2.5 inches apart.
Though the original recipe calls about 10 minutes baking time but it took 22 minutes in my oven to get the cookies golden.
Cool completely in the baking sheet and then store in airtight container.

Linking these to Priya and Aipi's boomarked recipes- Every Tuesday Event

Sending these to Hearth and Soul Blog Hop co hosted by Kankana.

Osaman/ Clear Lentil Soup

2011-04-30T12:51:00.000+04:00

Osaman is a very thin and easily digestible soup mostly made by Gujrati's. This is a very healthy and tasty soup. The soup is made by using green mung beans. The mung beans needs to be soaked overnight and then cooked in water till soft but not mushy. The water should be drained from the beans and that water is what is used to make this soup. I used the cooked beans to make sundal.

This soup is now a regular in my kitchen. Earlier I used to discard the bean stock but now this is used to make this very tasty and tangy soup.

(Recipe Source: You Tube)

Ingredients:

Mung Beans- 1 Cup ( Soaked overnight or at least 8 hours)

Asafoetida (Heeng)- A pinch

Mustard Seeds- 1/4 tsp

Cumin Seeds- 1/4 tsp

Cloves- 2

Cinnamon- 1/2 inch stick

Whole Black Pepper- 5

Oil- 2 tsp

Ginger and Green Chilli Paste- 1 tsp

Salt- to taste

Turmeric Powder- 1/4 tsp

Jaggery Powdered- 1 tbsp

Curry Leaves- 6-7 leaves

Coriander Leaves finely chopped- 1 tbsp

Lemon Juice- 1 tbsp

Procedure:

Drain the soaked beans and cook in an open vessel with atleast 4 cups of water so that beans gets cooked thoroughly but does not get mushy.
Once cooked drain the water in a pot from the beans and keep the beans separate to be used for any other dish. The water drained is what we require to make the soup.
The above quantity of ingredients is for 2 cups of mung bean water. If the water drained from the beans is less then some more plain water can be added to dilute it and make 2 cups.
In a pan add the oil and once heated add asafoetida, mustard and cumin seeds.
Once the seeds splutter add in cloves, cinnamon, black pepper and curry leaves.
Add in ginger and green chilli paste and sauté for a minute. Finally add in the mung bean water and keep on boiling.
Once the soup starts boiling and in salt and turmeric powder and continue boiling.
Add in jaggery and coriander leaves and boil till the jaggery has melted. Add in the lemon juice.

Switch off the gas and serve the soup hot.

Linking this soup to MLLA- 34 brainchild of Susan and hosted by Desisoccermom.

Chocolatey Oats And Honey Slices

2011-04-27T22:22:00.003+04:00

It has been quite some time since I baked any thing and this was brought to my notice by my daughter N. Suddenly after coming back from school she said "mummy it's long since you made me any muffins or cake ...why don't you make me some".

After she said this I thought of baking some thing and in the mean while I got a call from my mom. Since I started blogging ,most of the times the conversation topic between myself and my mother happens to be FOOD and when I told mom that N wants to eat some baked goodies she immediately gave me this recipe. My mom has been watching food channels lately and she had noted this recipe for me.

I was too happy as this recipe is very quick and I had all the ingredients handy. The whole process hardly takes 30 mins and I had a very happy daughter. The loaf came out very soft.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour- 1 Cup

Oats- 1/2 Cup ( I used quaker)

Honey- 1/2 Cup

Brown Sugar- 1/2 Cup ( Firmly packed)

Chocolate Chips- 1/4 Cup

Baking Soda- 1/4 tsp

Salt- a pinch

Vanilla Extract- 1/4 tsp

Oil- 1/2 Cup( I used Canola Oil)

Procedure:

Pre heat the oven at 170 degree C.
Sift together APF, Baking Soda and Salt together.
Add in other ingredients and mix well.
Put the mixture in a greased loaf tin and press down the mixture with hands to make it even.
Bake in the pre heated oven for 22-25 minutes or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Cool before taking out from the tin and cut in slices.
Notes:

The loaf was very sweet. Sugar may be reduced to 1/4 cup.
I baked in 2lb loaf tin so got very thin loaf. In case of using 1 lb loaf tin the loaf will be thicker but the time of baking has to be increased accordingly.

Also sharing today are some lovely awards which I got from my lovely fellow bloggers

Malar of Kitchen Tantra

Suja of Kitchen Corner

Ammu Mohan from Rasi's Veg Bites

Lots of heartfelt thanks dearies...really appreciate your friendly gesture.

To keep the ball rolling I am passing these to some lovely bloggers:

Watermelon Yoghurt Drink

2011-04-25T10:00:00.005+04:00

I have been practically living on cool beverages to keep myself hydrated. So made this super cool drink combining watermelon and yoghurt. The drink was super tasty and satisfying too.

Ingredients: ( Makes 2 tall glasses)

Thick Hung Yoghurt- 1 Cup

Watermelon- 1 Cup( De seeded and cubed in small pieces)

Honey- 3 tbsp

Fresh Mint- 10 Leaves

Rock Salt- 1/4 tsp

Crushed Ice- 1 Cup

Procedure:

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend well. Check for sweetness. If required add little more honey. Serve chilled.

Linking this to Torview's Food Palette Series Pink Event

Kurinji's HRH- Healthy Summer Event

Radhika tickling palates Fun N Sun Event

Saffron Streaks Seasonal Indulgence- Series Summer Cooler

Aam Ka Panna/ Green Mango Cooler

2011-04-21T23:24:00.002+04:00

The sun has been shining very bright here, mercury is rising very fast and soon it will be 48-49 degrees temperature. During supermarket trips my shopping basket is being full of juices and soft drinks too , but I think nothing can quench thirst much better other than our Indian drinks like Lassi, panagam, jal jeera, lemon juice, thandai and aam ka panna.

This green mango cooler or aam ka panna is made in different ways in different parts of our country. Some people make it plain with only sugar and salt, others make it with spices, some with herbs and even some with both spices and herbs. I make mine with both spices and herb like mint.

The spices like cumin, carom have got excellent digestive properties and mint has got cooling qualities. Aam ka panna is very helpful in case of heat stroke. I used slightly ripe green mango which gave excellent colour to the drink.

Ingredients:

Raw Green Mango- 2 Big

Water- 4 Big Glasses

Sugar- 1/2 cup or according to the sourness of the mangoes

Rock Salt- 1/4 tsp

Salt- According to taste

Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp( Roasted and ground)

Black Peppercorns- 10 (Roasted and ground)

Carom Seeds (Ajwain)- 1/2tsp (Roasted and ground)

Mint- 2-3 sprigs

Ginger- 1 Inch piece chopped

Procedure:

Pressure cook the mangoes with some water for 4-5 whistles or till they turn very soft .
Once the mangoes have cooled down peel off the skin and squeeze out the entire pulp in a big saucepan.
Add in water in the pulp and add sugar. Keep the saucepan on heat and stir till the sugar is dissolved.
Once the sugar is dissolved add in other ingredients and keep on heat for another 3-4 minutes. Switch off the gas.
Strain the panna and allow to cool to room temperature.
Once cooled keep in the refrigerator and serve chilled with ice.

Sending this refreshing cooler and also my thandai and strawberry lassi to Kurinji's HRH-Healthy Summer Event

Radhika tickling palates Fun N Sun Event

Saffron Streaks Seasonal Indulgence- Series Summer Coolers

Chocolate and Pistachio Slices

2011-04-19T09:30:00.001+04:00

This is a recipe which I had kept since quite some time but it was hiding inside my diary and was long forgotten. Yesterday while I was going through my diary, this recipe paper fell out and my daughter got hold of it. The paper was wrapper of of nestle's condensed milk. When my daughter saw the recipe picture she told mummy you should be making this...this looks so yummy. And as I had all the required ingredients I decided to make this.

The chocolate and pistachio slices were very good. Crispy in the bottom with gooey middle and crunchy on the top from the pistachios.

(Recipe Source: Nestle)

Ingredients:

For the crust-

Plain Digestive/Marie biscuits- 200gms crumbled

Unsalted Butter- 150gms melted

For the topping-

Sweetened Condensed Milk- 1 tin(395 gms)

Butter- 50 gms

Brown Sugar- 50 gms

Cooking Chocolate- 200gms (chopped)

Pistachios- 1/2 cup( chopped)

Procedure:

For the crust combine biscuits and butter then press the dough into a rectangular cake tin and bake in a pre heated oven at 190 degrees C for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
Place butter, sugar, condensed milk in a non stick saucepan. Cook with stirring over low heat for 5-6 minutes or until the caramel is light golden colour and thick.
Remove from heat and pour the caramel over the crust in the tin. Set aside to cool completely.
Melt the chocolate in microwave and stir in the pistachios. Spread the melted chocolate over the caramel topping and allow to set completely in the refrigerator.
Cut into desired shapes to serve.

Sending these to Priya and Aipi's Bookmarked Event- Every Tuesday

And also to Hearth and Soul Blog Hop co hosted by Kankana

Vattayappam for ICC

2011-04-15T11:46:00.003+04:00

This month Srivalli challenged us to make a unique dish from Kerala known as Vatteppam or Vattayappam. Initially I thought of skipping this challenge as I was really taken aback by seeing the long recipe, but after reading the recipe for 2-3 times and seeing comments from fellow bloggers who already made this..I decided to give this a try. And after seeing and tasting the end result I was really happy that I tried this.

Thanks to Srivalli who gave this wonderful challenge and also to Shn whose recipe we followed.

Ingredients:

Raw Rice- 1 Cup (soaked for 6 to 8 hours)

Cooked Rice- 2 tbsp

Grated fresh Coconut- 3/4th cup

Thari Kurukku (Porridge)- 4 tbsp

Instant Dry Yeast- 1/4 tsp

Sugar- 3/4th Cup

Cardamom- 1tsp

Cashewnuts- Broken and Roasted in ghee

Raisins- Puffed in ghee

Procedure:

Grind the soaked rice in a mixer adding very little water and when it is little coarse remove 2 tbsp of it for making thari kurukku.
After removing 2 tbsp of coarse paste add grated fresh coconut to the remaining paste and grind it till fine consistency is achieved. Use very little water to grind the paste.
Add the cooked rice to the batter and grind again. Set aside with the jar to cool.
To make thari kurukku- In a pan combine the 2tbsp of coarse paste with 1/2 cup of water and cook it on medium flame stirring continuously till it reaches a thick porridge consistency. Switch off the gas and keep the paste aside.
Add 4 tbsp of this thari kurukku mixture to the ground batter and grind again in the mixer.
Add the instant dry yeast to this mixture and pulse 2-3 times for everything to blend well.
Transfer the final batter to a big steel utensil and allow to ferment for 6 hours or overnight.
When the batter is fermented add 3/4 th cup of sugar and mix gently. Keep to rest for 2 hours.
Before steaming add the cardamom powder and mix in nuts in the batter.
Pour the batter in a greased round cake tin and keep it in the pressure cooker filled with water without whistle to steam for 30 minutes or till done.
After removing the cake tin from the pressure cooker allow the vatteppam to cool completely before taking it out.

Transfer it to a serving plate and cut in wedges. Serve and enjoy.

Potato And Coriander Tikkis

2011-04-13T11:47:00.000+04:00

It has been raining here since last 2-3 days and as rains are very rare here , we are enjoying the beautiful weather...just hoping that this beautiful weather will stay for some more days. Today I am sharing potato and coriander tikkis... we enjoyed these tikkis seeing the rain drops.

Ingredients:

Potatoes- 2 Large boiled and grated

Coriander Leaves- 1/2 Cup chopped

Cornflour- 2 tbsp

Cheddar Cheese- 2 tbsp grated

Salt- to taste

Red Chilli Powder-1/2 tsp

Amchoor- 1/2 tsp

Cashewnuts- 10 broken

Oil- to shallow fry

Procedure:

Mix all the ingredients except oil and knead in a dough. Take small balls out of the dough and flatten them little in between the palms. Heat a non stick tava and shallow fry these tikkis in little oil turning both sides till they turn golden brown. Serve hot with chutney or tomato ketchup.

Sending these tikkis to Herbs and Flowers in my Platter- Coriander Leaves event hosted by krithi originally started by PJ.

Daal Lucknowi

2011-04-10T22:45:00.003+04:00

Daal Chawal is the most comforting food for me. And since daal has got proteins it is good for kids too. And sometimes when I am too lazy to cook a great meal, daal chawal is always there as my saviour. So I always keep on trying various varieties of daal. Recently my husband gave me Sanjeev kapoor's Tasty Eating for Healthy Living book set as a gift...quite a surprise for me...as he does not believe in giving surprise gifts:( so this came as a pleasant shock to me. And while going through the daals and kadhi's book volume 4 , I came across this easy recipe of daal lucknowi.

I have never added milk in my daal before so I was not sure as to how the taste would be...but to my surprise the daal was very smooth, creamy and delicious. And adding lots of garlic was another special feature of this recipe...overall we had a delicious lunch with this daal, rice and my favourite mango pickle.

Ingredients:

Spilt Pigeon Peas( toor daal)- 1 Cup ( Soaked for about an hour)
Green Chillies- 2 Chopped
Turmeric Powder- 1/4 tsp
Salt- to taste
Ghee- 1 tbsp
Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp
Red Chillies- 3 broken
Garlic Cloves- 4 Chopped
Asafoetida- a Pinch
Milk- 1 Cup ( I used skimmed)

Procedure:

Wash the soaked daal and pressure Cook the daal and green chillies with 2 cups of water in a pressure cook till 2 whistles. When the pressure is reduced completely open the lid and add turmeric powder and salt and simmer on low heat.
Heat the ghee and add cumin seeds, red chillies, garlic and asafoetida for tempering. Saute till garlic gets cooked . Pour the tempering in the daal and mix well.
Add 1 cup of milk and water as per required thickness and continue to simmer it for further 5 minutes.

Serve hot with steamed rice or roti.

Sending this daal to Cooking With Whole Foods- LB-Toor Daal event started by Kiran and hosted by Suma of Veggie Platter

Vanilla Cinnamon Toasts

2011-04-07T09:32:00.001+04:00

It is good to indulge once a while in dishes that we normally would consider not soooo ....healthy....isn't it? One of such breakfast dish where I can satisfy my sweet tooth along with satisfying craving for my favourite spice -cinnamon is this toast. This toast gets ready in very less time and would satisfy all sweet cravings for sure.

I had this toast along with green tea mainly to negate all the calories....well...not really...hehe.

The toast can be made with whole wheat bread to make it little healthy...I made this toast with white milk bread ....my daughter hates every other bread apart from her favourite white milk bread...so had to make it with that.

Ingredients:

Bread Slices- 2

Unsalted Butter- 1 tbsp ( At room temperature) or more if you wish

Light Brown Sugar- 1 tbsp

Fresh Ground Cinnamon- 1/4 tsp

Vanilla Extract- Few drops

Procedure:

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees C. Mix together butter, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla extract. Beat it nicely with the help of a spoon. Apply this mixture on the bread slices evenly. Bake this in the oven for 10- 12 minutes and grill it further for 1 minute watching closely so that it doesn't burn.

Slice the bread and serve hot.

Caramel Coffee Milkshake

2011-04-03T22:24:00.003+04:00

Delicious, Yummylicious, Uberlicious...that's what this milkshake is. Milkshake packed with wonderful flavours of coffee and caramel sauce makes me go ga ga for this. My friend S suggested that I should be posting some cool drinks to beat hot summer...and me being a coffeeholic I could only think of coffee...so came up with this milkshake. The caramel sauce adds a toffee kind of flavour to the shake and now I am addicted to this too.

The caramel sauce can be stored in refrigerator and should be warmed up before use. The sauce itself is so addictive that I found myself licking it shamelessly...and needless to say that shake was so good that I was through 1/4 th of the glass before realising that I have to take the photo.

Ingredients:

Chilled Whole Milk- 1 Glass

Caramel Sauce- 2 tbsp

Powdered Sugar- 1 tsp

Instant Coffee Powder- 1/2 tsp

For Caramel Sauce:

Sugar- 1/2 Cup

Water- 2 tbsp

Butter- 2 tbsp

Whipping Cream- 1/4 Cup

Procedure:

For making caramel sauce take a heavy bottomed pan and add sugar and water to it. In medium heat let the sugar melt and stir it. Once it starts boiling stop stirring and let the sugar caramelise. The pan can be swirled in between but too much stirring may cause the sugar to form lumps.
Once the caramelised sugar turns to a dark amber colour add in butter and whisk till butter melts completely.
Switch off the gas and add cream and whisk till everything is incorporated and a smooth caramel sauce is obtained.
Let the sauce cool and store it in a glass jar.
For the milkshake mix in all the ingredients in a blender and blend once.
Serve chilled. Add in ice cubes if required and this shake can also be topped with ice cream.

Sending this to Hearth and Soul Blog Hop event co hosted by kankana of Sunshine and Smile.

Nutella Rice Pudding

2011-03-30T13:41:00.006+04:00

Nutella is my family favourite... we can never say no to this delicious spread. So I made this delicious rice pudding which gets ready in very less time and tastes yummilicious.

Ingredients:

Whole Milk- 1 Cup

Condensed Milk- 2 tbsp

Fresh Cream- 1 tbsp + little more for topping

Sugar- 2 or 3 tbsp

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder- 1 tbsp

Nutella- 2 tbsp

Cooked Rice- 1 Cup

Cardamom Powder- 1/4 tsp

Procedure:

Combine everything except rice and cardamom powder and bring to boil. Once a boil comes then add the cooked rice and continue to cook till most of the milk is absorbed and a thick consistency is achieved. Add cardamom powder and mix well then switch off the gas.

Serve with a dollop of fresh cream.

Sending this to Pari's- ONLY Original Recipe event hosted by Nivedita of Nivedita's Kitchen.

Torview's Food Palette Series- Brown event.

Daal Makhani

2011-03-28T22:24:00.002+04:00

Daal Makhani is one of my favourite daals. The rich and thick daal is a treat to be eaten with parathas, roti but tastes best with hot steamed white rice. The daal is cooked in simmer for a long time and made with butter and garnished with cream.

Ingredients:

Black Daal( Whole Urad)- 1 Cup

Red Rajma- 1/4 Cup

Onion- 1 Big

Ginger- 2 inch piece

Garlic- 2 or 3 Cloves

Tomatoes- 3 Big

Heeng- 1/4 tsp

Salt- to taste

Mustard Seeds- 1/2 tsp

Cumin Seeds- 1/2 tsp

Spices:

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Coriander powder- 1/2 tsp

Red Chilli powder- 1/2 tsp

Daal Makhani Masala- 2 tsp ( I use catch brand) or Garam Masala- 1 tsp

Butter - 2tbsp + 1 tbsp for garnishing

Fresh Cream- 1/4 Cup

Coriander leaves- For garnishing

Procedure:

Soak black daal and rajma together for overnight.
Wash the daals and add it in pressure cooker along with 5 cups of water, heeng and a tsp of salt.
Pressure cook in medium high for 2 whistles and then keep the gas in simmer and let the daals cook for further 40- 45 minutes. Once cooked let the cooker cool down and then open the cooker and mash the daals little with the back of ladle.
Meanwhile grind onions, ginger and garlic together and keep separate.
Grind the tomatoes also and keep separate.
In a deep kadhai heat 2 tbsp of butter and add mustard and cumin and let them splutter.
Once spluttered add the onion paste and saute till the paste turns golden brown.
Add the tomatoes paste, salt and all the spices and cook till the paste starts leaving oil from side.
Add the cooked daal and mix everything nicely. Keep the daal for simmering for atleast 1/2 an hour stirring in between.
Add in remaining 1 tbsp of butter, fresh cream and coriander leaves and switch off the gas.

Serve hot with rice or rotis.

Sending this daal to hearth and soul blog hop event co hosted by my dear friend kankana.

Also to A.W.E.D started by DK and hosted by Ayeesha of Taste of Pearl City

Chocolate and Coffee Muffins

2011-03-26T23:04:00.002+04:00

So continuing with my muffin mania these are the latest ones which I made...I love coffee and my princess loves chocolate, so these muffins perfectly suited both our taste buds. They were absolutely yummy and chocolatey.

Adapted from here

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour- 1 1/2 Cup

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder- 1/4 Cup ( I used Hershey's)

Sugar- 1 Cup

Instant Coffee Powder- 2 tsp ( I used Bru)

Baking Powder- 2 1/2 tsp

Salt- 1/2 tsp

Whole Milk- 1 Cup

Curd- 2 tbsp

Oil- 1/2 Cup ( I used Canola Oil)

Vanilla Extract- 1/2 tsp

Chocolate Chips- 1/2 Cup

Procedure-

Sift together All purpose flour, Cocoa powder, Sugar, Coffee powder, Baking powder and Salt in a big bowl.
Separately whisk together Milk, Curd, Oil and Vanilla extract till everything blends well.
Pour wet ingredients into dry and combine well till everything is mixed. Add in the chocolate chips.
Pour the mixture in lined muffin tray till top and bake in preheated oven at 190 degrees C for around 20 minutes or till toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
I got around 12 mini muffins and 4 big muffins.

I enjoyed these warm with my cup of coffee.

Happy Moment

2011-03-22T22:38:00.005+04:00

Dear friends....Johanna Bailey a food columnist from Jerusalem Post featured my dish "Thandai" for World of Mouth- Holi festival. Here's the link in JPOST.

Eggless Cashewnuts and Banana Muffins

2011-03-22T09:50:00.003+04:00

Lately my princess has been demanding of more and more muffins....and since she is at home enjoying small school break( that's why I have not been getting enough time to blog hop) I had to honour her demands :) So as soon as I made up my mind to make muffins, my first blog stop was at Anushruti's. She has got such a wonderful blog..I absolutely love all her recipes, photographs and the way she writes. Anushruti has taken egg less baking to a divine level indeed.

I did little modifications to her original recipe by substituting buckwheat flour with APF, but still got amazingly soft and delicious muffins. It didn't take much time also and I had a happy daughter with happy tummy. So lots of thanks to Anushruti for this wonderful recipe.

Ingredients:

APF- 225 gms
Bananas- 4 ripe
Dark Muscavado Sugar- 200 gms
Curd- 125 gms
Cashewnuts- 3/4 Cup (Chopped finely)
Unsalted Butter- 100 gms
Baking Soda- 1 tsp
Baking Powder- 1 1/4 tsp

Procedure:

Sieve APF, baking soda and baking powder together and keep aside.

Melt the butter in microwave for 30-40 seconds and keep aside.

In a mixer grind together the bananas, sugar, curd and melted butter till the mixture is smooth.

Gently mix together the flour mixture with the banana mixture and chopped cashewnuts until every thing is just combined.

Fill the mixture 3/4 th in the muffin tray and bake in the pre heated oven at 180 degree C for 25-30 minutes or till done. Mine were done in 27 minutes. I got 12 big muffins.

Sending these gorgeous muffins to Priya and Aipi's Bookmarked event- Every Tuesday.

Gujiya - Sweet Treat for Holi

2011-03-18T22:10:00.006+04:00

होली आई , होली आई,

रंग बिरंगी होली आई ,

धूम मचाती होली आई ,
घर घर में खुशियाँ लायी ,
बच्चों की यह टोली आई ,
हाथ में पिचकारी लायी ,
रंग गुलाल उडाती आई ,
होली आई होली आई !!!

This is the poem which we used to read in our books in school. The colourful holi brings lots of happiness in everybody's heart and home. The festival is a delight for the kids who love to play with lots of colours and water. A big bucket of coloured water will be kept ready and no one will be spared. It's a day to take blessings of the elders as well.

And how can we forget all the special treats for holi...poori, malpua, thandai and gujiya. So today I am going to share gujiya recipe.

Ingredients:

For the Crust-

APF- 2 Cups
Salt- A PinchGhee - 2 tbsp (Hot)

For the Filling-

Mawa- 300 gms
Dessicated Coconut - 1/2 Cup
Powdered Sugar- 1 Cup
Semolina- 1 tbsp
Poppy Seeds- 1 tbspCashew Nuts- 1/2 Cup ( Coarsely powder in mixer)
Almonds- 1/2 Cup ( Coarsely powder in mixer)
Cardamom Powder- 1/2 tsp

Milk - 2 tbsp to seal the dough

Oil/ Ghee to fry

Procedure-

Prepare the dough for outer crust by mixing APF, Salt and Ghee. Knead by adding warm water little by little till the dough is soft and smooth. Set aside by covering the dough for 15 minutes.

Prepare the filling by roasting mawa, till the raw smell goes and golden brown colour is achieved. Set aside to cool.

Once the mawa is cooled add the semolina, coconut, powdered sugar, powdered nuts, poppy seeds, cardamom powder. Mix everything nicely.
Take a small portion of the dough and roll it in a thin round of about 5-6 cms diameter and place the thin puri in the gujiya mould and place about 1-1 1/2 tbsp of the filling in the centre.

Dip finger in the milk and apply it on the edges of the mould to seal it and close the mould ensuring that there is no filling coming in the sealed edges.

Make all the gujiyas like wise.

Heat oil in a deep kadhai/ wok and fry the gujiya's in low to medium heat till the crust turns light golden brown from outside. Take out and drain on an absorbent paper. Once cooled store the gujiya's in air tight container.

Enjoy flaky and sweet gujiya's with your friends and family and wishing everybody "Happy Holi'

Strawberry Lassi

2011-03-16T11:50:00.003+04:00

With summers approaching fast we are always looking at so many alternatives to quench our thirst...ranging from lemonades to ice creams to soft drinks. But Lassi happens to be one of my favourites.

When we were kids mom used to give lassi after our lunch..loaded with lots of curd, ice and sugar, and we used to polish off our glasses very soon. I had a box full of strawberries lying in my refrigerator so decided to make lassi with strawberries. Mmmm...it tasted so delicious that my DH is demanding me to make it more often.

Ingredients : (Makes 2 glasses)

Strawberries - 1 Cup ( Cut in pieces)

Curd - 1 Cup ( I used whole milk curd)

Powdered Sugar - 2 tbsp

Honey - 2 tbsp

Water - 1 Glass

Cardamom Powder - 1/4 tsp

Ice Cubes ( Optional)

Procedure:

In blender puree together the strawberries, sugar and honey. Now add in curd, water, ice cubes, cardamom powder and blend it again nicely.

The thickness of the lassi can be adjusted by adding more or less curd/ water.

Serve chilled.

Update: Sending this to Saffronstreaks Seasonal Indulgence- Series Summer Cooler Event.

Suruttai Poli for Indian Cooking Challenge

2011-03-15T08:44:00.001+04:00

This month Srivalli challenged us to make Suruttai Poli which is a traditional Tamil Nadu dish originating from Southern States of Tamil Nadu. I had never heard about nor seen this dish so it was a real challenge to attempt this one. But I am happy that I did attempt this challenge and was able to bring out a delicious outcome out of this.

Thanks to Nithya and her mother for suggesting this dish. Since I was making this for first time I followed the recipe to the T.

Ingredients:

For the Filling -

Chutney Daal/ Pottu Kadlai/ Roasted Gram - 1 Cup

Sugar - 1 Cup

Cashews - 20 -25 broken in very small pieces

Fresh Scrapped Coconut - 1 tbsp

Cardamom Powder - 1 tsp

Ghee - 1 tsp

Powdered Sugar - little for dusting

For the Appalams-

APF - 1 Cup

Salt - A Pinch

Oil - For Deep Frying

Procedure-

Mix APF, salt and knead into a stiff dough by adding water little by little. Set aside the dough to rest for half an hour.
Meanwhile make the filling by grinding roasted gram and sugar together. Heat ghee and fry the chopped cashews, as soon as they turn golden add the grated coconut and immediately turn off the gas.
Mix all the ingredients of the filling together. Keep aside the prepared filling.
Take small balls out of the dough and roll them in very thin applam like circles. Spread these in paper and set aside for 10 minutes.
Heat oil in kadhai and deep fry the applam till its just cooked and is still flexible. The applams should not fluff up like pooris. Immediately take out of the oil and spread the filling inside and roll it tight keeping the seem side facing down.
The real challenge is spread the filling and roll the polis fast as they will turn crisp and will start breaking once cool.

I dusted the polis with powdered sugar as it was shown in Pavithra's post.

Rainbow Cookies

2011-03-12T18:25:00.000+04:00

My family is never tired of cookies. They are always happy to try out any kind of these buttered goodies...and I am always happy to see them smile. The reason I made cookies was to send these to my daughter's class party, the kids had their last day at lower kindergarten class and they will be going to upper kindergarten from next month...that's really a proud day for them..and my daughter insisted on some home made goodies for her friends.

I used shortbread dough for these cookies and added some colour sprinkles to give these rainbow effect. And I had one proud daughter who was so happy to share her mamma made cookies.

Ingredients:

APF- 2 Cups

Corn Flour - 1/2 Cup

Butter - 1 Cup (Room Temperature)

Castor Sugar - 3/4 Cup ( Since I was making for kids I used 3/4th cup but 1/2 cup will do)

Vanilla Essence - 1/2 tsp

Rainbow Sugar Sprinkles - 3 tbsp

Procedure:

Beat the butter in a bowl with electric beater for about a minute and then add sugar and beat in medium speed for around 3-4 minutes till it turns creamy.
Add in vanilla essence and beat again till just mixed.
Add APF , Corn flour and Rainbow Sprinkles. Mix everything together and bring the mixture to form a ball of dough.
Keep the dough wrapped in cling film to chill in the refrigerator for about half an hour.
Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Take out the dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface to about 3-4 mm in thickness.
Cut the desire shapes with a cookie cutter and bake them in an ungreased baking tray in the pre heated oven for about 13- 15 minutes or till its very slightly golden around the edges.
The cookies will be soft and crumbly as soon as they come out of the oven but they will harden once they cool.
Cool them on a wired rack completely before storing them in air tight container.

Sending these cookies to Champa's bake off.