Sangi's Food World

Cranberry Almond Brownie

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 21:07:00 +0000

This is a yummy chocolaty dense brownie recipe. Each bite of the brownie is loaded with bits of almonds and cranberry making it taste great. The crunchiness from almonds and the slight bitterness from the craisins makes it all come together in a brownie. I got this basic recipe for brownie from Smitten Kitchen

Things needed
All purpose flour - 1/2 Cup
Craisins/Dried cranberry - 1/3 Cup
Almonds - 1/3 Cup ( Roughly chopped)
Egg - 2 large
Vanilla extract - 1 Tsp
Salt - 1/4 Tsp
Cocoa Powder - 3/4 Cup
Sugar - 1 1/4 cups
Melted butter - 10 Tbsp ( 1 + 1/4 Stick)

Pre heat oven to 350 F. Sieve flour, salt, cocoa powder in a bowl. Add the craisins and almonds to the flour mixture. Beat eggs slightly in a separate bowl. To this add vanilla, butter, sugar and mix until the sugar dissolves in the mixture. Add in the wet mixture to dry ingredients and mix until there is no streaks of flour and the mixture gets uniform brown color.

Pour the mixture into a baking pan lined with aluminium foil. Bake the brownies for 40 minutes or until the tooth pick inserted comes out almost clean. Let the brownies cool on wire rack for about 1 hour and the slice into squares of desired size. Brownies can be enjoyed with vanilla ice cream and they stay good for 3 days at room temperature. This goes to Divya's Best Brownie event

Eggless Banana Marble Cake with Cream Cheese frosting

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 00:16:00 +0000

This is a simple, moist, delicious recipe for an egg less banana marble cake which I made yesterday for my friends and their family. I was really surprised to see how moist the cake even with no eggs. I just made a simple cream cheese frosting and decorated the cake with few chocolate chips and sprinkles. It was great to look and also to munch.

Things needed
All purpose flour - 1 1/4 Cups
Sugar - 1 cup
Baking soda -
Mashed banana - 1 Cup
Canola oil/ Melted butter - 1/4 + 1/8 cup
Vanilla essence - 1/4 Tsp
Pineapple essence - 1/4 Tsp
Buttermilk/whole milk - 3/4 Cup

Egg substitute used in this recipe ( This can be replaced with 2 large eggs if desired)
Cornstarch - 1 Tbsp
Water - 2 Tbsp
Vinegar - 1 Tbsp
Baking powder - 1 Tsp

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Sieve flour with baking soda in a bowl. To this add sugar and set aside. Mix in bananas, milk melted butter and essence into a separate bowl until well combined.

In a small cup mix cornstarch, vinegar with water and finally add in baking powder and let the mixture fizz.

Add the egg substitute along with the other wet ingredients to dry mixture and mix with wooden spoon until just combined and there is no streaks of flour.

Now take just 1 cup of the batter into a separate bowl and mix in 1 Tsp of cocoa powder to it. Mix in the cocoa powder until we achieve a uniform brown color.

Pour about 1/2 cup of white batter into the baking pan to start with. Then pour 1/4 cup of cocoa batter over the white batter and let it spread on its own weight. Repeat the same for alternating layers of white and brown batter to finish the cake. Use a tooth pick to make a mosaic effect on the top of the cake if desired. Bake for 30 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Let the cake cool for about 1 hour before frosting.

Things needed for Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream cheese - 8 oz ( At room temperature)
Powdered/ Confectioner's sugar - 3/4 Cup
Pineapple extract - 1/2 Tsp

Beat cream cheese with vanilla using a hand mixer until smooth and creamy. Then add in powered sugar and beat the mixture until smooth and fluffy for about 3-5 minutes on medium speed. Frost the cooled cake and top with sprinkles or chocolate chips. This simple and yummy cake goes to Crazy for cakes event by Priya's Now serving and to Rumana's Treat to eyes event at Spice ur senses

Here is the cute little hand of my two year old naughty guy, grabing the icing as I was getting the pics..

Banana Oats Walnut Bread

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 21:58:00 +0000

This is a simple and healthy quick bread I made few days back. I also shared it with few of my friends and happy to know that they enjoyed it. Its very easy to make and makes a perfect bread for breakfast or even with evening coffee. Oats added to it makes it really healthy and also gives a mild chewiness to the usual moist banana bread. I have added walnut, raisins and pecan to my bread. They can be substituted with any kind of nuts or dried fruits.

Things needed
All purpose flour - 1 1/4 Cups
Oats - 3/4 Cup
Baking powder - 1 Tbsp
Sugar - 1/2 Cup
Salt - 1/2 Tsp
Walnuts - 1/4 Cup ( Roughly chopped)
Raisins - 1/4 Cup ( Soaked in hot water for 10minutes and dried)
Mashed banana - 1 Cup
Yogurt - 1/4 Cup ( I used plain low fat yogurt)
Eggs - 2 large
Oil - 1/3 Cup ( I used canola oil. Can used melted butter for rich, moist bread)
Vanilla essence - 1 Tsp
Pecans - 1/8 Cup ( Finely chopped for topping)(Optional)

Sieve flour with baking soda, salt in a bowl. To this add oats, walnut and raisins. Mix in bananas, yogurt, eggs, oil and vanilla into a separate bowl until well combined. Add the wet ingredients to dry mixture and mix with wooden spoon until just combined and there is no streaks of flour. Transfer the contents to a greased loaf pan and top the bread batter with chopped pecans if desired. Bake for 45 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

Let the bread cool for at least 1 hour and slice. Moist, healthy and yummy bread is ready to be enjoyed with honey or Nutella. The bread also tastes great by itself with no toppings.

This can also be made into individual muffins. This recipe will yield around 12 medium sized muffins. This goes to Helen's Breakfast Club # 9

Banana Coconut Chocolate chip cookies (Eggless)

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 17:15:00 +0000

Here comes very simple and quick cookie recipe that I tried yesterday. It turned out to be really great. With just few ingredients and less fat, I was able to make soft and chewy cookies. Banana and chocolate flavors together made it a yummy combo and my kid enjoyed it for his snack.

Things needed
All purpose flour - 1/2 Cup
Cocoa powder - 1 Tbsp
Baking powder - 1/4 Tsp
Vegetable oil - 1/8 Cup
Mashed ripe Banana - 1/4 Cup
Brown sugar - 1/4 Cup
Milk - 1/8 Cup
Sweetened coconut flakes - 1/8 Cup
Chocolate/ Butterscotch chips - 1/8 Cup

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Sieve flour, cocoa powder and baking soda into a bowl. In a separate bowl mix in oil, mashed bananas, milk and sugar. Add the wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix together with a wooden spoon until everything is just combined. Finally add in the chocolate chips and coconut flakes. Now scoop the batter on to a greased baking sheet to form equal sized cookies. Make sure there is enough space between the cookies, to help them expand on baking. Bake for 10 minutes or until the cookies turn golden brown.

Soft, chewy cookies are ready to be enjoyed. The cookie can also be made by replacing chocolate chips and coconut flakes with nuts or any dried fruit of our choice.

These yummy cookies go to Akheela's Food Palette series- brown event

No Yeast Cinnamon Rolls

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 20:53:00 +0000

It has been more than a week since I posted something in my blog. Also things here were really busy and I couldn't even drop by my fellow blogger and also seem to have missed a lot of recipes. Will try to stay connected with everyone as much as possible. Till May I think it will be like this because we have also planned for our vacation to India next month. After I get back from my vacation and settle down with things here I will get back to my blog regularly. Here I am with simple cinnamon rolls.

Today I have got a very simple and yummy recipe for cinnamon rolls, that calls for no yeast, no waiting time, can be made just in 15 minutes. This simple recipe is perfect to make quick cinnamon rolls when we are craving for something sweet and also make a perfect warm dessert for family get together . These rolls are really soft, moist filled with cinnamon flavor and have a slight flaky texture. They just miss the chewiness that we get from the original cinnamon rolls. But these are really worth for their taste and the simple process.

Things needed
All purpose flour - 1 Cup
Sugar - 1Tbsp
Baking powder - 2 Tsp
Salt - 1/4 Tsp
Butter - 1/8 Cup ( At room temperature)
Milk - 1/4 + 1/8 Cup

For filling
Butter - 1/6 Cup ( At room temperature)
Brown sugar - 1/2 Cup ( Firmly packed)
Cinnamon - 1 Tbsp

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter until the mixture gets a coarse sand like texture. Finally add in the milk and make it into a soft and slightly sticky dough. If the dough is too sticky we can add in few tbsp of flour, only if needed. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead it for couple of times and let it rest for just 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling by mixing butter, cinnamon and sugar. Now roll the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Spread the filling evenly over the dough leaving the edges. Roll the dough into a log. Divide the log into 6 medium sized rolls. Place the rolls on to a baking pan with at least 1 inch space between each roll, so as to enable puffing up of rolls during baking.

Bake the rolls in a oven pre-heated to 350 F for 20 minutes or until the rolls become golden brown. As the rolls bake, entire home will be filled with yummy flavors of cinnamon and melting butter. Yummy delicious cinnamon rolls are ready to be enjoyed warm or cold.

We can also top the cinnamon rolls with simple icing. Icing can be made by mixing confectioner's sugar with milk/heavy cream until smooth. This goes Akheela's Food Palette series - brown event.

Spicy Plum Jam

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 00:08:00 +0000

I got some red plums last week from the farmer's market. It was not that sweet. So I decided to make it into a jam. Then thought of adding some spiciness to it and it turned into a great spicy jam/ chutney. The preserve was really great and we enjoy it with bread or chapathi. Me enjoyed the jam with dosa and also used it as a dip for the pretzel sticks.. :) Just with simple ingredients we could make delicious preserve at our home with the fresh fruits.

Things needed
Plum puree - 2 Cup ( I pureed the fruit with skin)
Sugar - 1/2 Cup
Red Chilly powder - 1/4 Tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 Tsp

Chaat masala - 1/4 Tsp
Lemon juice - 1 Tbsp

Heat plum puree, sugar in a pan and cook the the mixture for about 20 minutes or until it starts to thicken.

Add chilly powder, cumin powder, chaat masala and lemon juice and cook the mixture for another 5 minutes. Yummy spicy plum preserve is ready to be enjoyed.

This goes to Smita's Cooking with fruits event.

Tres Leches Cake - Three milk Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 23:29:00 +0000

Yesterday being our 3rd wedding anniversary, I decide to make the Tres Leches cake which my hubby has been asking me to make at home for a very long time. The cake turned out really great and my husband is enjoying it a lot.. :) Along with this I also made some rasmalai and gulab jamuns, which are his favorite sweets. They turned out perfect and more than my hubby my son is enjoying it.. :) Of course I am enjoying watching them eat it.. :D Here are few pics of the rasmalai and gulab jamuns I made for them.

Rasmalai Gulab jamuns

Coming to the cake, its a simple sponge cake that gets soaked in three kind of milks, namely condensed milk, evaporated milk and heavy cream. In Spanish Tres Leches means 'Three milk'. This is a very popular cake in Mexico and Latin America. There are also of variations to this cake like few soak it in coconut milk, while others soak it in rum/brandy. Whatever may be the variation, the base cake remains the same simple sponge cake. The cake is usually served with heavy cream frosting and topped with fresh fruits of our choice.

I got this recipe from The Pioneer Woman website, which is a great website loaded with many yummy cakes and other recipes. I followed here recipe exactly and the result was a soft, spongy, melt in mouth kind of cake. I also shared the cake with few of my friends and they too enjoyed it.

Things needed

1 cup All-purpose Flour
1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt
5 whole Eggs
1 cup Sugar, Divided
1 teaspoon Vanilla
⅓ cups Milk
1 can Evaporated Milk
1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
¼ cups Heavy Cream

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease the baking pan and set aside.

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Separate eggs.

Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.

Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks are formed. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.

Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and bake for around 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.

Meanwhile combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a measuring cup. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle the milk mixture evenly over the cake. Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes.

Refrigerated the cake and serve chilled. If desired the cake can be topped with heavy cream frosting. I topped my cake with heavy cream frosting and some chopped fresh strawberries.

Yummy, soft, moist cake is ready to be enjoyed. It was so good that we couldn't stop eating it.

Lima Beans and Spinach Pakoda Curry

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 22:15:00 +0000

This is a simple and yummy including lot of nutritive values from spinach and legumes added to it. I tried this curry when I had some left over masala vadai/ bengal gram dal fritters batter. I tossed in some chopped spinach into the vadai batter and it turned into yummy pakodas. Later on added these crispy pakodas with the Lima beans curry and the combo tasted great. I made it like a dry curry. We can also make it with gravy to go with rice. This may sound something similar to vada curry with lot more veggies added to it..

Things needed for pakoda

Bengal gram/ Kadalai paruppu - 1 Cup ( Soaked for 1-2hours)

Spinach - 1 Cup ( Finely chopped)Green chilly - 3 nos. ( Finely chopped, Can be adjusted according to taste)
Curry leaf - Few nos. ( Roughly chopped)
Coriander/ Kothamalli/ Cilantro - 1/8 Cup ( Roughly chopped)
Fennel seeds/ Saunf/ Sombu - 1 Tbsp
Ginger - 1 Tsp ( Finely grated)
Onions - 1 medium sized ( Roughly chopped)
Salt - To taste
Oil - For deep frying

To make pakodas

Grind Bengal gram with salt and very little water if needed into a coarse paste. Add onions, curry leaves, fennel seeds, coriander, green chilly, ginger, spinach to the ground paste and mix well. Drop the batter with a spoon into the hot oil and deep fry until golden brown. The pakodas can of be of any shape but of bite size. Its better to cook the pakodas just 3/4th so as to that they can easily absorb the gravy and get soft.

Things needed for Curry
Onions - 1 no. medium sized ( Finely chopped)
Tomato - 1 no small sized ( Finely chopped)
Lima beans - 1 Cup ( I used frozen)
Coconut - 1Tbsp ( Grated)
Fennel seeds - 1 Tsp
Ginger - 1 inch thick piece
Garlic pearls - 3 nos.
Green chilly - 3 nos.
Cardamon - 1 no.
Oil - 1 Tsp
Red chilly powder - 1/2 Tsp
Tumeric powder - a pinch
Curry leaf - Few nos.
Coriander/ Kothamalli - For garnishing
Cumin seeds - 1/2 Tsp
Cloves - 2 nos.
Cinnamon stick - Small piece
Salt - Taste

Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds, curry leaf ,cloves, cinnamon and let the seeds sizzle. Add onion, tomatoes and cook until the mixture turns mushy. Meanwhile grind coconut, ginger, garlic, fennel seeds, green chilly, cardamon into a smooth paste with water. Add the ground paste to the pan and fry mixture for 5 minutes or until the raw flavors of coconut leaves the mixture. Add tumeric, salt, red chilly powder, lima beans and pressure cook the curry for 2 whistles. Finally add in the pakodas and adjust for the consistency of the curry.

This will be a great side dish for chapathi, dosa and rice. This yummy curry goes to MLLA 32 event by Susan guest hosted by Sandhya and to Healing food - Ginger and Garlic event by Siri guest hosted by Sara's corner.

Surakkai Pachai paruppu kootu/ Bottlegourd Kootu

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 22:23:00 +0000

Dals are usually part of our daily meal. In that way I keep adding some or the other vegetable to the dals and make them into kootu, so as to sneak some veggies into my kid's meal. So comes the simple and healthy bottle gourd kootu. This kootu is seasoned with grated coconut and ginger fried in little bit of ghee, which makes it really appetizing and rich in flavors.

Bottle gourd - 1 no. medium sized (chopped)
Pachai paruppu/Moong dal - 1/2Cup
Onion - 1 medium sized (chopped)
Tomato - 1 medium sized (chopped)
Garlic pearls - 3nos.
Tumeric powder - a pinch
Mustard seeds - 1/2 TspJeera/Cumin seeds - 1/2 Tsp
Grated Coconut - 2tbsp
Dry red chillies - 2nos.
Hing/ Perungayam - 1tbsp
Grated Ginger - 1/2 Tsp
Oil/ Ghee - 1 Tsp
Curry leaf - 3 nos.Salt - to taste

Soak pachai paruppu in warm water for about 15minutes. Add onions, tomatoes, garlic, bottle gourd, tumeric to the dal and pressure cook for 4 whistles or until the dal turns mushy. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, jeera, curry leaf, hing, red chilly, ginger, coconut and fry until the coconut turns golden brown. Finally add this to the cooked dal and adjust for salt. Yummy kootu is ready to be enjoyed with rice or chapathi.

This kootu can also be made with toor dal or bengal gram dal. This dal goes to MLLA 32 event by Susan guest hosted by Sandhya and to Healing food-ginger and garlic event by Siri guest hosted by Sara's Corner.

Avocado Muffin

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 23:13:00 +0000

Here comes a yummy and simple muffin which I tried to make for my kid's breakfast and evening snack. My son though is just 22 months old, gets bored with the routine food menu. So I keep thinking something new and fancy that would encourage him to eat. So came these avocado muffins. Avocados have lot of health benefits and its sometimes called as nature's butter. This recipe uses no butter or oil and also calls for less sugar than the regular muffins. The muffins were really moist and soft because of the sour cream and mashed avocados added to them. They have the light green color from avocados added to them. I just topped them with few chocolate chips to make it attractive for my kid.

Things needed
All purpose flour - 1 Cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Salt - 1/4 Tsp
Baking powder - 1Tsp
Egg - 1 large
Sour cream - 1/3 Cup
Vanilla essence - 1/2 Tsp
Mashed avocado - 1/4 Cup
Chocolate chips - For topping ( Optional)

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Sift together flour, sugar, salt and baking powder into a bowl. Combine egg, sour cream, vanilla, avocado into another bowl until completely mixed. Add the wet ingredients into dry mixture and mix until just combined, like 3-5 strokes. Do not over mix. Over mixing will tend to produce tougher muffins. Divide the batter equally among 6 cupcake moulds lined with cupcake liner. Bake until done or the tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

This goes to Smita's Cooking with fruits event and Charitha's B for Breakfast event

Red Velvet Cupcake with Cream cheese Frosting - My 100th post!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 08:02:00 +0000

Here comes a yummy, delicious, moist and cute looking red velvet cake recipe.. This is my hubby's favorite cake which I having been trying to make it right and please him. :) I at last got this wonderful recipe and my hubby really loved this cake.. To mention he almost ate 3 cupcakes out of 6 that were made.. :) I happened to make this cake for valentine's day. But sorry for the delayed posting.. Now a days I my kid is keeping me really busy and I feel that I couldn't make much about my blog. I have been missing many events recently and today's post also happens to be my 100th post and very happy to share this happy moment with you all.. From now on I would like to keep posting regularly and also stay connected with all my blogger friends by visiting their blogs..

I got this recipe for red velvet cake from Joy of Baking. This is one my favorite and best website where I find lots of recipes and in fact after finding this website only I have got lot more interest in baking. As a result now a days I keep baking something or the other everyday.. :)

Things needed for cake

Cake flour - 1 + 1/4 Cups

Baking soda - 1/2 Tsp

Salt - 1/4 Tsp

Sugar -3/4 Cup

Cocoa powder - 1 Tbsp

Butter - 1/4 cup ( At room temperature)

Egg - 1 large ( At room temperature)

Vanilla extract - 1/2 Tsp

Buttermilk - 1/2 Cup

Distilled Vinegar - 1/2 Tsp

Red food color - 1 Tbsp

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place the cupcake liners in the muffin tray and set aside.

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, salt and set aside. With a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft for about 1-2 minutes. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy for about 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs, vanilla and beat well.

In a measuring cup mix buttermilk with the red food coloring. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter. Divide the batter equally among 12 cupcake molds. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Let the cakes cool on wire rack for about 30 minutes before frosting.

Things needed for Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream cheese - 4 oz ( At room temperature)
Powdered/ Confectioner's sugar - 1/2 Cup
Butter - 1/8 Cup ( At room temperature)
Vanilla extract - 1/2 Tsp

Beat cream cheese, butter with vanilla using a hand mixer until smooth and creamy. Then add in powered sugar and beat the mixture until smooth and fluffy for about 3-5 minutes on medium speed. Frost the cooled cupcakes and top with sprinkles or the cake crumbles if desired.

Yummy, moist red velvet cake is ready to be enjoyed. This recipe yields 12 cupcakes and they stay good upto 3 days when refrigerated.

This goes to Champa's Bake off event

Spinach and Peas Pasta

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 22:20:00 +0000

This is one of my kids favorite dish, into which I can sneak in a lot of spinach and peas. We can also try adding any kind of veggies to this pasta dish and it will taste great. With little bit of cheese added to it, it tasted great and my kid enjoyed it for his dinner.

Things needed
Any kind of Pasta - 2 Cup ( I used spiral pasta)
Peas - 1/4 Cup ( I used frozen peas)
Spinach - 1/2 Cup ( Finely chopped)
Tomato sauce - 1/4 Cup
Pepper - 1/4 Tsp
Salt - To taste
Butter - 1 Tsp
Onion - 1 no. small sized ( Finely chopped)
Cheese - 1/4 Cup ( I used shredded Colby jack cheese)
Heavy cream/ Milk - 1/4 Cup

Cook pasta as per package instructions and set aside. Heat butter in a pan, add onion and cook until they turn pink. Then add peas, spinach, pepper, salt and cook until they are 3/4 done and still retaining the color. Now add tomato sauce, cooked pasta and stir the mixture for few minutes. Finally add the heavy cream and turn off the heat.

Now place the pasta into a baking dish and top it with shredded cheese. Bake the pasta in the oven pre-heated to 375F until the cheese melts and forms a golden brown top. This took me 5-10 minutes. Simple and yummy pasta is ready to be enjoyed.

This goes to Food palette series-green event at Torview

Oats Almond White Chocolate Chip Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 00:09:00 +0000

Now a days, I am getting more interested to bake something or the other everyday. So came these cookies, which were really rich with buttery and nutty flavors from almonds. These were soft cookies and my hubby like the taste of it not these textures. Its because he likes just crispier and chewy cookies.

Things needed
Butter - 1/2 Cup or 1 stick (Room temperature)
Sugar - 1/2 Cup
Brown sugar - 1/4 Cup (Firmly packed)
Egg - 1
Vanilla extract - 1/2 Tsp
Quick cooking oats - 1 + 1/4 Cups
All purpose flour - 1 Cup
Baking powder - 1/2 Tsp
Baking soda - 1/2 Tsp
Salt - 1/4 Tsp
White chocolate chips - 1 Cup
Whole almond - 3/4 Cup ( Roughly chopped)

Pre-heat the oven to 350F. First grind oats into a fine powder. Add flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder to the ground oats and stir in the dry ingredients together. Beat butter with sugar, brown sugar until light and fluffy. Then add egg, vanilla essence and beat for couple of minutes. Add the dry ingredients mixture to the butter mix and beat on low speed until just mixed. Make sure not to over mix it. Finally add in the chocolate chips, chopped almonds into the mixture.

Scoop 2 Tbsp of cookie mixture into foiled cookie sheet with atleast 3inches space between each cookie. Bake the cookies for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown and crunchy. Yummy almond rich cookies are ready to be enjoyed.

Cabbage Koftas

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 18:13:00 +0000

Thinking what to make for evening snack... Here comes the simple and yummy cabbage kofta that can be made in few minutes and enjoyed with tea or coffee.. I used a combo of cabbage, potatoes for this kofta. We can also trying making this with other veggies like carrots, peas, spinach, zucchini. Left over koftas can also be made into kofta curry or kofta Manchurian.

Things needed
Cabbage - 3 Cup ( Finely chopped)
Potato - 1 Large no. ( Peeled)
Red chilly powder - 1 Tsp
Tumeric powder - a pinch
Hing/Perungayam - a pinch
Garam masala powder - 1/2 Tsp
Salt - To taste
Corinader leaves - 1/4 ( Finely chopped)
Curry leaf - 10 no. ( Roughly chopped)
Ginger garlic paste - 1 Tsp
Onion - 1 Large no. ( Finely chopped)
Oil - For deep frying

Pressure cook potato and cabbage for 3 whistles or 10 minutes. Drain off the excess water from cooked cabbage. Now mash the boiled potato into cabbage. Add rest of the ingredients except for oil and make it into a soft dough. If the dough seems to be sticky try adding few teaspoons of corn starch or rice flour.

Divide the dough into small lime sized balls and deep until golden brown in color. Enjoy hot with chutney or ketchup. These yummy koftas goes to Radhika's Deep fried snacks event and to Charitha's A for Appetizers event

Kothavarangai Poriyal/ Long beans stir fry

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 23:23:00 +0000

Another simple and yummy poriyal, great to be enjoyed with sambar, rasam or curd. For non-vegetarian version we can even try adding prawns or eggs.

Things needed
Long beans/Kothavaranga - 2 Cups ( Cleaned and chopped)
Onion - 1 no. medium sized ( Finely chopped)
Tomato - 1 no. small sized ( Finely chopped)Garlic ginger paste - 1 Tsp
Dry red chilly - 1 no.
Mustard seeds - 1/2 Tsp
Jeera/ Cumin seeds - 1 Tsp
Chilly powder - 1/2 Tsp
Tumeric powder - a pinch
Salt - To taste
Oil - 1 Tsp
Coriander leaves/ Cilantro - For garnishing

Boil the long beans until 3/4 done or pressure cook for just 2 whistles. Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard, cumin seeds, red chilly, tumeric, ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw flavor of garlic vanishes. Add cooked long beans, salt, chilly powder and cook covered for 15 minutes. Finish off with coriander leaves. Simple and quick poriyal is ready to be enjoyed.

Oats Almond Pear Laddus

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 17:27:00 +0000

This is a simple soft chewy laddu, that I make for my kid for his breakfast. Its a simple and healthy dish that can be made with the fruits of our choice. The sweetness for these laddus comes from the ripe fruit puree. The same dish can also be made using apple, banana or even carrots. If we wish to add little bit more sweetness, we can try adding a Tbsp of honey or grated jaggery. My kid enjoyed these soft laddus and I was happy that he was eating something healthy... :)

Things needed
Oats - 1/4 Cup
Almonds - 10-15 nos.
Ripe pear - 1 no. medium sized ( Peeled and pureed)
Milk - 1 Cup
Food color - a pinch ( If desired)

Grind oats and almonds into a fine powder. Boil milk in a pan, to this add the pear puree, food color and cook the mixture for 5 minutes on a medium flame. Finally add in the oats almond mixture and cook for 5 minutes or until the mixture tends to have the halwa consistency. Turn off the heat and let it cool. Divide the mixture into small balls and top them with sliced almonds. Yummy healthy oats almond laddus are ready.

This can be served either as the laddus to the kids or in the form of porridge.

Simple Kozhukattai/ Steamed rice flour dumplings

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 22:51:00 +0000

Kozhukattais are very simple and elegant sweet that form a versatile part in offerings made to Lord Ganesh during Pillayar chathurthi. Apart from that kozhukattai are also made during karthigai deepam, maattu pongal and also during Sankatahara Chathurthi.

Chathurthi is a day of importance for Lord Ganesh and is considered auspicious to initiate with any new endeavour on that day. This occurs twice every month during growing moon period and waning moon period. The Sadhurthi which falls during the growing moon period is considered as Sankatahara Chathurthi. Its a normal practise to fast on that day and perform pooja to Pillayar with some offerings and flowers. For last month's Chathurthi I have made these yummy kozhukattais and took it to temple. I was happy that they were offered to God and enjoyed by many others as part of prasadam.

Things needed
Rice flour - 1 Cup
Jaggery - 1/2 Cup ( Grated)
Cardamon powder - 1/2 Tsp
Coconut - 1/4 Cup (Grated)
Water - 2 Tbsp

Melt jaggery with water on a medium heat. Add cardamon, coconut to rice flour and make a soft dough with the jaggery water. Let the dough sit covered for 5-10 minutes. Then divide the dough into small balls and make smooth kozhukattai without applying more pressure.

Once the entire dough is made into small dumplings, steam the kozhukattais in cooker for 10 minutes on a medium flame. Kozhukattai can be steamed by placing them in idli plates topped with thin kitchen towel.

Use of kitchen towel over the idli plate will help to absorb the water drops from cooker lid during steaming and hence prevent the dumplings from getting sticky.This goes to Celebrate sweets - Sugarless event by Nivedita

Sesame Brittle

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 00:19:00 +0000

This is a very simple and yummy sweet that can be made in few minutes and will be great for munching. There is a slight difference between sesame laddu and brittle. Laddu is made by using a soft jaggery syrup whereas these brittle are made by using a thicker jaggery syrup, resulting in a crispy and crunchy brittle.
Things needed
Sesame seeds - 1/4 Cup ( Dry roasted until golden brown)
Jaggery - 1/4 Cup ( Grated)
Cardamon powder - 1/4 Tsp
Ginger powder/ Sukku powder - 1/4 Tsp ( Optional)
Water - 1 Tbsp

Melt jaggery with water in a pan and let it boil to form a one string consistency syrup(kambi patham). Now add sesame seeds, cardamon, ginger powder and cook the mixture for couple of minutes. Grease a plate with ghee and spread the sesame mixture into a thin sheet. Let it cool for 30 minutes and break it into desired sizes. Yummy brittle are ready to be enjoyed.

This goes to Celebrate sweets - Sugarless event hosted by Sara's corner event by Nivedita

Happy New Year/ Won Manjula's Kitchen December event and 13th Mediterranean event

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 19:48:00 +0000

Wish you all a very Happy, Healthy, Wealthy n Prosperous new year... :):)

At this moment I am very happy to share with u few awards I have won during the month of December.. I have won the second place in Manjula's Kitchen December contest with a 25 $ Amazon gift card. Its a great pleasure to have won this award from such an amazing and wonderful blogger. Here is my recipe for Almond poli with Walnut khoya filling posted in Manjula's blog.

Next is the Julia child's Mastering the art of French cooking book which I have won from the 13th Mediterranean cooking event from Tobias cooks blog. Tobias Cooks is a wonderful blog filled with simple and yummy Mediterranean dishes. I am loving this Julia Child book which provides a detailed step by step figures for baking and useful for a armature baker like me.

Ribbon Pakoda

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 23:51:00 +0000

It has been raining here for the past few days... My mind was thinking about something to munch.. Crunchy and spicy.. Then came the idea of ribbon pakodas that are very simple to make and taste really great. Its a very easy snack to make at home in just few minutes. But the only requirement is to have the mould to get the desired ribbon shape for the snack as its name suggests.

Things needed
Gram flour/Kadalai maavu - 1 Cup
Rice flour/Pachai arisi maavu - 2 Tbsp
Hot oil/ Butter - 1 Tbsp
Salt - to taste
Red chilly powder - 1 Tsp
Red chilly flakes - 1/4 Tsp (Optional)
Cumin seeds/Jeera - 1/4 Tsp
Carmon seeds/ Ajwani/Omam - 1/4 Tsp ( Optional)
Tumeric - a pinch
Water - to make a smooth, sticky dough ( Roughly i needed about 1/4 Cup of water)

Mix in all the above ingredients to make a smooth dough with no lumps. This dough will be sticky. Divide the dough into small portions and place it in the mould. Press the pakodas directly into hot oil and fry until crispy golden brown.

Crunchy ribbon pakodas are ready to be enjoyed. This goes to MLLA - 30 event by Susan guest hosted by Priya

Com Sot Ca Chua - Vietnamese Red Rice

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 00:18:00 +0000

Bored with the usual fried rice.. Then here comes the red fried rice with a mild tomato flavor added to the usual fried rice. It is said that this rice tastes better with leftover refrigerated rice. Here I am presenting the recipe for vegetarian red fried rice. To the same recipe we can add in any non vegetaran flavors of our choice, like egg, chicken, shrimp or even crab.

Things needed
Rice - 1 Cup
Mixed vegetables( Beans, Cabbage, Carrot, Peas,Capsicum) - 1 Cup (Finely chopped)
Tomato paste - 2 TbspSoy sauce - 2 tsp
Black pepper powder - 2 tbsp
Garlic - 1 Tbsp ( Finely chopped)Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 tbsp
Spring onions - 1/4 Cup (Chopped)

First cook rice by adding salt and 1tsp of oil to the boiling water. Adding oil will prevent rice from sticking to each other. While cooking the rice make sure that its not cooked completely. Just cook it to 80%, since rice texture should be crunchier for fried rice and not soft. Transfer the cooked rice to a large plate and let it cool.

Now heat 1/2 tbsp of oil in a pan, add the vegetables to it. Fry the veggies on high flame by adding salt, pepper,1 tsp of soy sauce and tomato paste. Frying should be done on very high flame, so as to get the light smoky flavor like fast food fried rice. Cook the vegetables, still maintaining their crunchiness and color. Transfer the vegetables to a plate.

Now heat the remaining oil in a pan, add garlic, cooked rice to it. Fry the rice on high flame by adding 1tsp of soy sauce, pepper. Then add the cooked vegetables and fry the mixture for 2 minutes. Add chopped spring onions and turn off the heat.

Yummy red rice is ready to be served. This goes to AWED-Vietnam event by DK guest hosted by Priya

Suzhiyzam

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 00:22:00 +0000

These little sweet dumplings are made with bengal gram/kadalai paruppu mashed with coconut and grated jaggery. They are commonly referred to as suzhiyam or suzhiyan in Tamil. There are one of the traditional dishes that are made during Diwali nombu as part of offerings to God. But never mind to enjoy them with warm with a hot cup of tea, that too when its raining and cold outside.. :)

Things needed for filling
Bengal gram/Kadalai paruppu - 1/2 Cup ( Rinsed and soaked for 2hrs)
Jaggery - 1/2 Cup ( Grated)
Coconut - 1/4 Cup ( Grated)
Cardamon powder - 1 Tsp

Things needed for outer covering
All purpose flour - 1 Cup
Rice flour - 1 Tbsp
Salt - a pinch
Water - 1 Cup

Pressure cook Bengal gram with just 2 Tbsp of water for 2 whistles or until its just 3/4th cook. Make sure not to let the dal turn mushy. When the dal is still hot add in the grated jaggery, coconut, cardamon and mix together to form a soft dough. Divide the dough into small balls and set aside.

For outer covering, mix in flour, salt and water to form a loose batter similar to dosa batter. Dip the prepared dal balls into the batter to form a thin covering and immediately drop them into hot oil. Fry until the balls to get a light golden brown color. Repeat the same with rest of the balls. Yummy, sweet suzhiyams are ready to be enjoyed warm.

Note

This recipe makes about 12- 15 small suzhyiams
For healthier version instead of deep frying, suzhiyams can be made using the kuzhi paniyaram pan with no difference in taste.
If the dal filling turn mushy or loose, try adding little bit of rice flour or cornstarch to make it dry.

This goes to Celebrate sweets - Sugarless event by Nivedita and to MLLA 30 event by Susan hosted by Priya

Tofu Spinach Cutlet

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 00:05:00 +0000

Now a days cooking has to been based on what my picky 20 month old son will eat. So came this recipe of tofu spinach cutlet. I know he will like tofu, so just wanted to pack lot more nutrition to it I add spinach and made it into a yummy cutlet which he really liked. I just shallow fried these cutlets with some bread crumbs on them. For lot more richness, the cutlets can be deep fried.

Things needed
Tofu - 2 Cups ( Cut into bite size pieces)
Spinach - 2 Cups ( Finely chopped)
Onion - 1 no. medium sized ( Finely chopped)
Cilantro - 1/4 Cup ( Finely chopped)
Tumeric powder - 1/2 Tsp
Potato - 1 no. large sized ( Peeled and roughly chopped)
Chilly powder - 1 Tbsp
Garam masala powder - 1 Tsp
Salt - To taste
Ginger garlic paste - 1 Tsp
Bread crumbs - For coating the cutlets

Pressure cook tofu, spinach, potato with salt for 3 whistles or around 10 minutes. Let it cool and drain off the excess water from cooked mixture. Now add onions, cilantro, masala powders, ginger garlic paste to the tofu mixture and smash the potatoes to get a soft dough. Divide the mixture into small balls and make patties. Coat the patties with bread crumbs and fry in a hot pan with few drops of oil.

Enjoy warm with ketchup. Healthy, creamy tofu spinach cutlet are ready to be enjoyed with meal or for snack or even these cutlets can be used as veggie patties to make a veggie burger. These yummy cutlets go to Only greens event guest hosted by Sara's corner started by Pari

Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate chips Cupcake with Peanut butter frosting( Eggless version)

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 22:42:00 +0000

Here comes a simple and yummy cake that can be made with the ripe bananas sitting in our freezers waiting to be used in some way. I have been looking for various recipes with ripe bananas recently. Though there were many banana bread recipes, this yummy cake recipe caught my eyes. These turned out really soft, moist and tasted great with the simple peanut butter frosting. I was happy to share these cuties with one of my friend on her birthday and was happy to know that their 18 month old daughter, my son's playmate enjoyed it... :)

Its a very easy to make cake. We just need two bowls and a wooden spoon. Mix in all the ingredients and bake them either a single cake or individual cupcakes, yummy cupcake filled with banana flavors and molten choco chips are ready in less than 20 minutes.

Things needed for cake
All purpose flour - 1/2 Cup
Baking powder - 1/4 Tsp
Baking soda - 1/8 Tsp
Sugar - 1/4 Cup
Salt - 1/8 Tsp
Vanilla extract - 1/4 Tsp
Peanut butter - 1 Tbsp ( Heaped) ( I used crunchy peanut butter)
Oil - 1/8 Cup
Chocolate chips - 1/4 Cup
Bananas - 1 no. large sized ( Smashed)
Egg substitute - 1/2 Tsp Baking powder + 1/2 Tbsp water + 3/4 Tsp oil ( This can be replaced with 1/2 Large egg when baking with egg)
Milk - 1/8 Cup

Things needed for frosting
Peanut butter - 2 Tbsp
Butter - 1/2 Tbsp
Confectioner's sugar - 1/4 Cup

Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Sift flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda into a bowl. In another bowl, add peanut butter, bananas, egg substitute, oil, sugar, milk and mix until well combined.
Now add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet ingredients bowl and fold until everything is uniformly mixed. Don't over mix the mixture.
Line the cupcake mold with paper cups and divide the batter evenly among 6-7 cups.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the toothpick inserted into the cake come out clean. Transfer the cupcakes to wire rack and let them cool for at least 30minutes before frosting.

For frosting combine peanut butter, butter into a bowl and beat the mixture with a electric beater for about 10 minutes on a medium speed until light and creamy. Finally add the sugar and beat for few more minutes until the sugar is well blender with the mixture without any lumps.

Spread the frosting on the cupcakes evenly and finish it with few chocolate sprinkles if desired. Refrigerate the cake for few minutes before serving for the frosting to set. Yummy banana cake filled with chocolate chips and mild peanut butter frosting is ready to be enjoyed.

Note
The cake was really light and moist and tastes sweet enough even without the frosting.

The egg substitute I have used here made the cake soft and as of now this seems to be a better egg replacement to me compared to others.

The same recipe can be modified for same amount of any mashed fruit. This recipe yields about 6 cupcakes.

This goes to Veggi/Fruit- Banana event hosted by Aipi started by Priya

Kung Pao Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Sangi) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:10:00 +0000

Hi all.. Its long since I posted my recipes here. My kid is keeping me really busy these days and just trying to get back to the blogging routine. Also I was unable to visit any of your blogs and I looking at my dashboard its like I have so many yummy recipes.. Hope to catch up with you all sooner. Today I am here with the recipe for Kung Pao chicken. This is one our favorite Chinese chicken dish.. Whenever we go to Panda express, one of our entree will be kung pao chicken. I wanted to try this recipe at home and did a google search. I landed up with this blogchef.net site and it said that the recipe is almost a copy cat of Panda express recipe.

The picture was really great and tempting and I immediately tried it out. But my hubby was not happy with the results, because it was not spicier enough and also he said that the sauce I made was not like Panda express. Later on I read from few other sites and made some changes in the sauce proportions and landed up with this perfect and simple kung pao chicken which my hubby says is very near to the Panda express dish. I was really happy to hear it from him. It took me about 5 trials to get with this yummy recipe.

I usually use chicken breast for this recipe. But use of chicken thighs will also make the dish taste great, with adding further more fat to it.. :D

Things needed
Chicken breast pieces - 1/2 lbs ( Cut into bite size pieces)
Onion - 1no. medium sized ( Roughly chopped)
Capsicum - 1 no. medium sized ( Roughly chopped)
Zucchini - 1 no. medium sized ( Roughly chopped)Garlic pearls - 3 nos. ( Finely chopped)
Spring onions - 1 Tbsp ( Finely chopped)
Dry red chilly - 3 nos.
Red chilly flakes - 1/2 Tsp
Peanuts - 1/8 Cup
Oil - 2 Tbsp

For marinade
Corn flour - 1/8 Cup
Soy sauce - 1/2 Tbsp
Salt - 1 Tsp

For sauce
Oyster sauce - 1 Tbsp
Rice vinegar - 1 Tsp
Soy sauce - 1 Tsp
Water - 2 Tbsp

Mix all the ingredients listed under 'For marinade' to the chicken and let it stand for 1-2 hours. Heat oil in a pan and fry the chicken pieces on a high flame until cooked and slightly browned. Remove the chicken and let them drain on paper towel.

Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in the same pan. Add spring onions, red chilly, chilly flakes, peanuts, garlic and fry until garlic turns into golden brown. Add onions, capsicum, zucchini and fry until they are cooked still staying crunchy.

Finally mix all the ingredients listed under 'for sauce' and add to the veggies in the pan. Let the sauce boil for 5 minutes or until it thicken. Now add the fried chicken and mix it with the sauce. Turn off the heat.

Serve hot topped with more roasted peanuts and spring onions if needed. Its a prefect combo for fried rice or noodles.

This yummy chicken goes to Sameena's Chicken recipe event along with

Simple Spicy Chicken kuzhambhu

Simple Spicy chilly chicken

Chicken Puttu

Hyderabadi Chicken briyani