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Peasant Boule with Wheat Germ and Fresh Herbs

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:28:00 +0000

Hi everybody, I know I am in a baking spree...., actually I hadn't thought of baking anything as I had baked two breads already!, will post them soon, but you know how I get tempted when I see breads, I saw this post of sanjeeta's in my blogger. I was so interested and immediately baked this boule.

Abbey Dodge does a #Baketogether group and asks bloggers to bake with her and they are allowed to change it as they wish, I had book marked this page last time and I had completely forgotten about it.., as Sanjeeta of Lite bite says, I love my curry, rice and chapatis, but when it comes to baking bread, it is so theraupatic and thrilling for me when the dough rises and when baking I act like a kid and enjoy it so much..., how I can resist baking.., I usually use different flours to bake.., but decided this time not to do anything with the flour, as I thought this I will bake it as a loaf so my kids can use this for their Lunch box..., as the bread is is full of flavour and with cheese it will be great to taste.

Here is my version of Peasant Boule.... with Abby Dodge....

PEASANT BOULE WITH WHEAT BRAN AND HERBS

INGREDIENTS:

400 gms White Bread Flour

50 gms Wheat Germ

1 tbsp Rosemary

1 tbsp Parsley

1 tbsp thyme

2 tbsp of dried Peppers

1 Packet (around 2 and 1/2 tsp) active dried yeast

1 tbsp Sugar

1 and 1/2 tsp Salt

4 tbsp Olive oil

1 and 1/3 Cup warm water*

METHOD:

Take 1/3 cup of warm water to this add dried yeast and then sugar and just allow it stay in a warm place for 5 minutes.., I always do this even though it is an active dried yeast which doesn't require this necessarily, it is for me to assure myself or shall I say double check if my yeast is still active!

You can see little bubbles foaming up ! Yup! that means our yeast is active..

Next add salt, chopped fresh herbs and oil mix well to this add the measured flour and Wheat Germ with the help of a spatula start mixing it up by adding water, the water which has been indicated makes the dough a bit sticky not to worry,

With Lightly floured hands start kneading the dough for 10 minutes, I do not wish to you use more flour, so I did my hands in the flour what ever is stuck is fine this way you will not be using extra flour start kneading the dough this way the gluten will start working well.

Knead the dough for 10 minutes then oil the dough and place it in a bowl and cover it with a cling film which gives space for the dough to rise for around 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on the outside temperature.

Preheat the oven to to 190 degrees/Gas Mark 6 for 10 minutes

Once it is double the volume punch it down and knead it very lightly handle it carefully again and place it into the Loaf tin and allow it for the second rise.

Bake the loaf for half an hour to 40 minutes, until the bread is golden on the top, I check it out with a stick inserted to check if it is completely baked.

Take it out and leave it on the rack for 2 to 3 minutes then turn it over and remove it from the tin, If you leave it in the tin sometimes because of the heat of the tin they become soggy.., when you tap the bottom it sounds hollow that means your bread has been baked perfectly :)

Sometimes I put it back into the loaf tin inverted and bake for a further 2 to 3 minutes, and turn it out from the tin again, this way the whole bread gets a kind of crispiness.

Hope you enjoyed my Peasant boule, thanks to Abbey and to sanjeeta..., without her post I wouldn't have baked this bread. Check out Sanjeeta's healthy oatmeal honey Peasant boule.

Check out other bloggers who have baked with Abbey for bake together.....

Hopefully I will take some more photos of my bread tomorrow and update it again...

c u soon... take care....

Egg and Eggless Lemon and Honey Pound Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:59:00 +0000

Lemon is my favourite fruit, When I think of Lemon I think of Indian Rice Variety, a simple delicious, flavorful, authentic spicy Lemon Rice and the next thing I can think of Honey and Lemon Tea (Chai), Mmmm..., delicious healthy refreshing drink.
When the recipe to bake, called for Lemon - the first thing that came to mind was spicy flavorful Muffins, then I decided nope let me bake really delicious sweet Muffins.., with Honey in it.
Then as always my mind went to bake Eggless Muffins, but decided to try both ways and made both Egg and Eggless Muffins.... so here is how it goes....,

EGGLESS LEMON AND HONEY POUND MUFFINS

Recipe source: minimally adapted from Taste of Home

Makes 6 Muffins

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup Butter
1/4 cup Golden Brown Soft sugar
1/4 cup Honey
1 tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice* (see notes)
1/4 cup Yogurt/Hung curds
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 cup All purpose flour
1/4 + 2tbsp Ground Oats* (see notes)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
2 to 3 tbsp of Sweetened Coconut

To Glaze*:
1/2 cup Confectioner's sugar
1 and 1/2 tsp of Lemon Juice.

METHOD:
Keep all the ingredients ready and measured.
Line your Muffin tins ( 6 Muffin cases)
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5/190 degree Celsius ( Just 6 to 7 minutes before baking)
Sift all the Dry ingredients together (flours, BP, BS, salt) and keep aside.
In a large bowl take melted butter, sugar and honey, cream them together to this add vanilla extract then Fresh lemon juice and Hung Curds/Yogurt give a swift mix.
Immediately start incorporating the well sieved flour in parts so it is well combined.
Do not Over Mix the batter, as it is Eggless baking mix it swiftly in an even circular and cut motion quickly
Scoop in the batter into the Muffin cases and top them with sweetened coconut, give them a little press and bake them in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean.

FOR GLAZING*: You can glaze the muffins by mixing the ingredients in the glaze until smooth and nice and pipe them over the muffins and serve them ...

MY VERDICT:
* Actually I added 2 tbsp of Lemon Juice thinking that I will more lemony taste in it, was my little mistake I think, the muffins did not rise very well, as I always get my muffins well raised!, that was a bit of disappointment, but still it tasted great with that lemony taste in it, and I felt it was more sweeter..., If you have a sweet tooth you will love this...
*As I am using my new oven (GAS), I am a bit confused about the tempratures, the temperatures indicated in a recipe seems to be too much for my Gas oven, The actual recipe asks for you to bake at Gas Mark 6, I did not bake it at that temperature as all my baked turn golden brown quickly so I have little concern, so please do check your oven temperature while baking....
*The Oats which I have used in this recipe is porridge oats, I just simply Grind them to powder and use it in my baking.
* I did not glaze my muffins, I just skipped it as the Muffin itself was quite lemony, you can use some cream cheese frosting or butter cream or what ever you like to eat it with....
* The cake was delicious, there was this sweetness and tanginess in it, it wasn't too moist, when it was baking my daughter called out to me and said Mum it seems to go like a cookie, it is spreading out than going on top, that was when I thought I have used more Lemon Juice, so next time I will try it with just One tbsp if you try this please write to me and tell me how it turned out.
* As it was not too moist I thought you could increase the fat content a bit more, or I thought next time I will use 1 tbsp of Flax seed powder with 3 tbsp of hot water which will compensate on the fat content for the muffins.

LEMON AND HONEY MUFFINS WITH EGG and HERSHEY'S CHOCOLATE

Wow that looks Gorgeous isn't it ?
Once I made the Eggless once, I had to make these again, As I always cook or bake only in the night and I had only made 6 of them, I had a bit of a situation.., My friend who stayed with me over the weekend, who never likes eating anything sweet at all gave me a big surprise, I just gave a teneey weeney bit of my Eggless muffins to taste, ate the whole muffin instead and a few minutes later asked me If she can have an other one!, I was totally taken aback (she is pregnant, I thought may be that is the reason), as she doesn't like to eat eggs was very happy with my Eggless ones so the four left was eaten by my family. That's it all gone so I decided on baking more muffins this time with Eggs though, so here is my Muffins with Eggs, this time I shared with my neighbours..

Makes 6 Muffins:
INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup Butter
1/4 cup Sugar (soft Golden brown sugar)
1/4 cup Honey
1 tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice
1 Medium Egg
1/4 cup warm Milk
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
3/4th Cup + 2 tbsp All Purpose Flour/Maida
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
2 to 3 tbsp of Hershey's Chocolate broken into little pieces

METHOD:
Same as above method, Added one Egg with the liquid Ingredients gave a brisk whisk then added the Lemon Juice and Milk. Just added broken bits of Hershey's chocolate pieces and then Incorporated the flour into the wet mixture, poured them into the cups and baked them at the same oven temperature for 15 - 20 minutes or until the tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

The Muffins were soft and delicious.., My kids loved it, waiting for my neighbours verdict will update when received..., till then... take care....

Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.
Check out her blog for Many more variations and mouthwatering Muffins from my fellow blogger friends....

Eggless Mocha Muffins with Chocolate Chips and Pecans

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:30:00 +0000

Hello everybody, I was planning to post recipes which I made for Pongal festival, but then it is Monday today so I am back with baking for Monday Muffins, you must have noticed I love baking Muffins, simple versatile and quick to bake and my kids do enjoy them.
Baker street sent me the recipe to bake these delicious Mocha muffins, basically adapted from Bon Appe'tit.
I did not change the recipe too much, I just made it Eggless with a little twist with flour and sugar.
As my kids eat them ( hubby too.. can't stop him), I prefer to bake it a bit healthier, Baking has become an obsession, so I try to make it much more healthier, then don't ask me, why I can't use eggs, as Eggs are a good source of proteins.
Definitely, I can't say no, I have nothing against Eggs. Even though I can't become a vegan as I love milk and milk products, at least I can try omitting Eggs where ever I can, well, If a recipe calls for 6 eggs, I just have to go ahead and bake it as substituting 6 eggs would be a challenging job! or it may become a flop. So, whenever it is possible I try and bake it Eggless, and my kids don't complain at all.
They always turn out good and my kids do enjoy them very much.
Muffin Mondays is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. If you are interested drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat the glum Monday mornings week after week.

EGGLESS MOCHA MUFFINS WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS AND PECANS

adapted from Bon Appe'tit with minimal changes

INGREDIENTS:
2 tbsp Hot water
1/2 tbsp Instant espresso powder
1/4 Cup butter milk
1/4 Cup vegetable Oil
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 Cup All Purpose flour
1/4 + 2 tbsp Barley flour
1/4 Cup packed Golden Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Agave Nectar
1 and 1/2 tbsp Unsweetned cocoa powder
1 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
100 gms Milk Chocolate Chips
100 gms coarsely chopped pecans toasted

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees/Gas Mark 6.
Line 6 Muffin cups with Paper Liners
Sieve both the flours with Cocoa powder, Baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
Stir 2 tbsp of hot water and expresso powder in a medium bowl until the powder dissolves.
In a large bowl add buttermilk, oil, Sugar, Agave Nectar and vanilla, whisk well until well blended.
In parts incorporate the flour into the Liquid mixture until well combined, Mix in chocolate chips and pecans.
Divide the batter equally among the prepared muffin cases.

I baked my muffins 15 minutes in Gas Mark 6 then reduced it to Gas Mark 5, they got baked within 20 minutes.Bake Until the tester or tooth pick inserted into center of muffins comes out clean.
Transfer muffins to rack and cool.

My Verdict: Here I have Halved the recipe. So, if you want to make 12 Muffins just double the recipe and I would say if you are baking it Eggless then I would suggest you to add 1 tbsp of Flaxseed powder with 3 tbsp of very warm water and allow it to rest for 5 to 10 minutes and then blend them with other Liquid ingredients.
Even if you are baking 6 Muffins use 1/2 tbsp of Flaxseed powder, it gives a moist texture to the muffins and helps in replacing the fat content in the baking process, as the muffins were not too moist, they were soft though.

If you are planning to bake it in Vegan Version you can substitute buttermilk with soya milk and Cocoa powder with Carob powder and vegan Chocolate chips
These muffins are not too sweet if you have a sweet tooth, substitute Agave Nectar with Sugar, they are perfect for Breakfast with Tea or as an evening snack with Tea or coffee.
If you want to make it with Eggs then for the above recipe just add 1 Large Egg, you will get your Mocha Muffins perfectly, If doubled add 2 Large eggs!!

See you next week with an other muffin recipe....., check out her blog for the MM team members and their Lovely Muffins. Thanks Anu for these beautiful muffins which my family enjoyed.

Ellu - Bella / Ellu Beerodu - Recipe for making this Lovely mixture from Karnataka ( Sesame seeds and Jaggery Mixture)

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 02:48:00 +0000

Hi everybody, I am back again with my Home town recipe for making this Ellu - Bella (Sesame seeds - Jaggery Mixture). As I said in my earlier post People in Karnataka, Make this Lovely mixture with five Ingredients. Which they start preparing at least 2 weeks before and then with this we give Sakkare- Acchu (sugar candy) in different forms and sizes Acchu here refers as Mould, Literally translated as Sugar Moulds. So a packet of the Mixture, Sugar mould, Sugar cane and a fruit usually Banana.
These days people don't give them in plastic covers but give it in different gift boxes or little bags or in many more different varieties as they please.
This is called ''Ellu- Bella Beerodu'' that is giving this mixture to every body, near and dear, friends and family :).
This is how my Mom makes and how I make too, because I feel she makes the best Sankranti Mixture.

ELLU - BELLA / SANKRANTI MIXTURE (A Mixture of Sesame - Jaggery)

INGREDIENTS:
500 gms Jaggery (Acchu Bella)
500 gms Dry Copra/ Dry Coconut
500 gms Peanuts
500 gms Hurigadale/PottuKadalai/
50 gms White Sesame/Til Seeds

METHOD:
To make this Mixture Jaggery (Palm Sugar) must be an Acchu Bella, Just like this

Courtesy: http://www.towness.com/xcart/product.php?productid=40586

First for one day keep the Jaggery in the sun, Then with the help of Nut cracker cut the Jaggery into small cubes Every day once you cut them keep them in the sun to dry :). There might be some wastages as everytime you will not be able to cut them equal cubes, this needs a little practice.

Then Comes the Dry Coconut /Copra / Kobari

Courtesy: http://www.towness.com/xcart/product.php?productid=40436

You need to scrape the outer covering of this, which you can see from the photo, then cut them again into small cubes with the help of knife on a cutting board same as that of the Jaggery and keep them in the sun

Once these two are sorted out - that is you must dry them well in the sun, this helps them keep them for at least a month.

Next are the Peanuts, Roast fist ful of peanuts in a wok, lightly , don't burn them then once they are a bit cool not completely this way we can rub the skin of the peanuts quickly, put them in a cloth and rub between your palms or we have Mora ( a basket like thing made with bamboo) and rub on them. Once the skins are removed then pick up the peanuts and throw away the skin, Pick up lovely nice white ones no discoloured peanuts !!, then break open the peanuts.

Once when you split open the peanuts can you see the little nodes you must remove them, Mum says they give a bitter taste, so carefully with all the good ones picked up remove all the nodes and keep the peanuts separately. So that is one job done :)

Next comes the Dharia Dal / Chutney Dal / Pottukadalai

This is not too bad You just have to pick up nice round beautiful ones without any cracks.

Next are the White Sesame or Til seeds

In a low heat roast fistful of White Til seeds very slightly it should not change too much colour.

So Now everything is everyday, Now we can mix all of them together and Lo! your Sankranti Mixture is ready.
With this we need to give Karumbu/ Sugarcane stick, Banana, Elchae Hannu (This is fruit which has a sweet and sour taste in it) with it.
Elchane Hannu also called Indian Jujube / Indian plum / Ilanthi Pazham / Ber fruit
On this day we make little children in the house sit and we put the Sankranti Mixture, Elache Hannu and cut small pieces from the sugarcane and some coins in a Pav ( A kind of measurment used in olden days). We pour this on the head of the children and do Arati for them in the evening of Makara Sankranti.

In Karnataka People say : Yellu Bella thindu Olle Maathanaadu meaning eating Jaggery and sesame seeds say good words...

A wonderful festival with Lots to give and welcome the New year with happiness.........

Mum gave me a sari for this festival...

May the God Bless you all with all the prosperity, Wealth, health and Happiness.....

Happy Pongal and Makara Sankranti

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:56:00 +0000

Hi Everybody, Hope you are all doing well, I hope and wish you all had a lovely Christmas too..., And of course A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR and a Prosperous Happy Pongal too..., I know I am always late well thought better late than never saying it all :), Hope you all forgive me...to all my dear Friends and Family (especially who constantly remind me to get back to blogging :), Thanks to all of you who sent me wishes I feel so bad for not writing back to you.., Thank you very much for Once again for everything.

Christmas and New year has given me a new leash for life, Moving to a new house - Even though I am still in the process of setting it up. I still feel much better, lots of things to sort out (health wise) and lots of things happening in the midst of all these things I still had time to enjoy Christmas and baked some goodies, will post them sometime soon and enjoyed New year too.., with lots of family and friends in my new abode :).

''WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY PONGAL''

As we all Indians know what is Pongal ?, I would like to write a few words about this...thinking someday my kids would love to read what mum was doing on this occassion right ? as we all do right ?,

December 14th to January 14th was Marghazahi Maasam (Month of Marghazahi according to Tamil calender).., This is a month long ritual or Penance (Tapam/Tapasu) carried out by Andal during the month of winter, I have written about her here do check out if you are interested. In this cold weather she gets up so early morning for a month long period to awaken Vishnu and prays in such a way leading a austere life to attain his love, Her severe penance ends on the day of Kudaaravellum which fell on January 12th this year. From Dec 14th to Jan 12th, we in our community do not prepare any sweets, and make Ven Pongal (Savoury Rice) but on the 12th where Andal completes her Penance she makes Sweet Pongal to please Vishnu - I have written about this post here. Check it out.

Coming back to Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Makara Sankranti in Karnataka and Andhra, Lohri in Punjab, Magh Bihu in Assam etc., The dates of some festivals might change but this Festival has never changed dates, According to the Gregorian calendar January 13th-15th ie., form the last day of the Tamil month Maargazhi to the third day of Thai. I have taken few lines from Our Wikipedia, which describes in more detail about the more scientific reason behind this celebration.
Courtesy of wikipedia

The time of the festival is of great importance to all Hindus, as it corresponds to the solar equinox when the days begin to lengthen and the nights begin to wane. Sankranti, or the transition of the Sun from Dhanu rashi (Sagittarius) to Makara rashi (Capricorn).

For this purpose, the signs and houses of the zodiac are calculated using sidereal time, not tropical. As such it does not account for the Earth's precession. The festival therefore takes place around 21 days after the winter solstice (between December 20 and 23) that marks the starting of the phenomenon of 'northward apparent migration of the sun' or Uttarayana, literally meaning northward journey of Sun.

Considering the winter solstice marks the beginning of the gradual increase of the duration of the day. Scientifically, the shortest day of the year is around December 21–22 after which the days begin to get longer, hence actual Winter Solstice begins on December 21 or December 22 when the tropical sun enters Makara rashi. Hence actual Uttarayana is December 21. This was the actual date of Makar Sakranti too. But because of the Earth's tilt of 23.45 degrees and sliding of equinoxes, Ayanamsa occurs. This has caused Makara Sankranti to slide further over the ages. A thousand years ago, Makar Sankranti was on December 31 and is now on January 14. Five thousand years later, it shall be by the end of February, while in 9,000 years it shall come in June.^{[citation needed]}

While the traditional Indian Calendar is based on lunar positions, Sankranti is a solar event. So while dates of all Hindu festivals keep changing as per the Gregorian calendar, the date of Makar Sankranti remains constant over a long term, 14 January. Makar Sankranti is celebrated in the Hindu Calendar month of Magha.

Makar Sankranti is a major harvest festival celebrated in various parts of India. According to the lunar calendar, when the sun moves from the Tropic of Capricorn to the Tropic of Cancer or from Dakshinayana (south) to Uttarayana (North).

In Karnataka - the place I come from the kannadigas celebrate in a different way, Amma has adapted to both Tamil Nadu culture (as we being Iyengars and as we have been born and brought up in Karnataka) Amma has always seen to it that we enjoy both the festivals and traditions as much as possible.On this auspicious day even today Amma buys us new clothes to my kids and me!, Early in the morning having a good shower wearing new clothes we keep the pongal paane decorating it with Fresh Turneric stick in a thread applying Naamam to the vessel and saying Pongalo Pongal....

In our house we say this when the milk is starting to boil -

Pongalo Pongal Porandaath Kulandanvaalatum Pukkath Pongi vaalatum

meaning porandaath (the family I was born) Kulandan vaalatum (live peacefully) Pukkath (the family I have been give to - Husband's family) Pongi Vaalatum (flow with prosperity)

After the ritual done, The day before we would have packed Ellu-Bella and Sakkare Acchu in covers, Then she would ask us to take plates - place a cover/box of Ellu-bella (sesame seeds- Jaggery), Sakkare - Acchu ( sugar candy moulds in different shapes), sugar cane, Banana and some kind of gift. This ritual is called ''Ellu Beerodhu'', There is a saying in Kannada '' Ellu Bella Thindu Olle Maathadi ( which transplates to eat the mixture of sesame seeds and jaggery and speak only good). As sugarcane is grown in parts of this state.

In Karnataka newly married woman give away Bananas for a period of five years to married women

(muthaide Baagina ) from the first year of her marriage, and starts increasing the number of bananas in

multiples of five for their Husband's longetivity.

will continue this post tomorrow with other things which I follow and celebrate during this period.....

Orange and Ginger Cookies with Terry's Orange chocolate - Eggless

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 06:00:00 +0000

Hi Everybody, Hope you are all doing well, It's been about a month or so I posted anything in my blog!, I had completely deserted my blog, poor thing :(, my kids kept asking me, mom won't you post anything at all..., So here I am again..., I would have still postponed my coming back, If it wasn't for SRC, yes it's SRC time again, and I am sitting and typing this late in the night, as I did not want to orphan a blog, whenever I read a blog was orphaned because of some reason, I always keep reminding myself I will not let down our team, it's team spirit you see hahaha :).
Moving, cleaning, organizing, setting up Oh! yes been a hectic schedule from past one month...Yes I moved into a new home the beginning of December and I had no net connection and my house was not a home with things lying around everywhere and It's been so hectic, kids having their exams so help from their side was almost nil, so H and me had more share of work to do, Of course kids would bring in stuff when I packed everything, with this I had to sort out my kitchen so I could stir out something and eat, I did a bit of baking, I had a Electric cooker, I was scared to bake in it, but felt good when I baked, I thought baking much quicker than the Gas cooker, but my stove top cooking took long so last week I changed the cooker back to Gas. well, I am getting there.., sorting out everything.., tired long hours of hard work.
Oops let me stop here, I think you all know about SRC - The Secret Recipe Club by this time, started by Amanda now co-hosted by Jane, Tina, Angela and Tami.
I have been a good girl and promptly participating every month without missing..., I am in Group C and Angela of Big Bears wife being our hostess had assigned me to Josie's Kitchen, A very lovely blog, Josie - I liked the way she writes, so homely I thought, she writes and blogs about all the things about her family, food and the way she enjoys cooking, baking and even her mishaps which makes it more nice, I being a vegetarian had very few options in her kitchen, so I looked into her baking section (well I think you know by now I love baking, can't help it) the first thing which caught my attention was her Pumpkin flan, as I always If I am going to try anything from anybodies blog, I like to try their family recipe or their original recipes, and this she says is her family recipe, but the thing missing was the flan tin which I couldn't find it anywhere here (I only searched nearby my place! around 10 miles), then I loved her Rainbow cake it's beautiful with so many colours, hats of to her patience, she says she uses her Dominican Recipe for this cake, well, I never dared to venture that as I was short of time and above all patience.., So as you can see I made these Orange and Ginger cookies - funny thing, I seem to get stuck to orange all the time, I have to post a few of them which are in my draft, and did I regret nope, I baked them enjoyed every bit of it, so delicious they were, My kids first holiday cookies....Only I did make a few changes to the recipe not much but a tiny twist.
As it said Orange and I saw all these oranges lying around in my kitchen basket I just decided why not use the oranges so here is my recipe..., Please do not laugh at my photographs as it is very late in the night and I couldn't do anything better in my mobile phone camera, If you want to know the truth JUST BAKE IT....

ORANGE AND GINGER COOKIES - EGGLESS

Recipe Source: Josie's Kitchen adapted with minimal changes

INGREDIENTS:
4 oz butter
1 3/4th Cup Self Raising flour
2/3rd cup Sugar
1 tbsp Dried Ginger
Pinch of Salt
1/2 Cup Golden Syrup
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 Egg (which I omitted)
Orange Rind from One Orange
1 Orange
9 slices of Terry's Orange chocolate

ORANGE SYRUP
I made a Orange syrup Kind of I really don't know what to call this, I took one orange grated the rind then sliced of the white skin from the orange then sliced them into thin rounds. Took a thick vessel added one cup of sugar and one cup of water then added these Orange circles into it and boiled them for around 1/2 an hour in a low flame, and kept aside to cool.

METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 325 degree F/Gas mark 3
In a large bowl I took the grated rind of orange, sugar, Golden syrup, Dried Ginger, melted Butter, salt and Baking soda mixed them well together.
Then from the Orange syrup I took out the Orange segments added them into the bowl and mixed them thoroughly kind of mashed them not too much though.
Then chopped Terry's Orange chocolate added them to the bowl with the self raising flour, mixed them thoroughly
Lay a butter paper/Baking parchment on a Baking sheet and put a spoonful of the batter with giving 2 and 1/2'' apart as this spreads!
(The first time I baked I hadn't given not too much space and even spread them a bit, was a little mess, they spread so big)
Keep an eye on them bake around 8 to 10 minutes and take it out to cool down
Not to worry they peel out nicely., may be a little bit sticky, might be because of the fresh fruit in it, and the cookies were quite a bit on the softer side.
Next time I want to bake with whole wheat flour may be a bit extra flour and may be they might turn out harder, but nonetheless the cookies were damn good and with a Gorgeous smell.

I was careful the next time, just a dollop of the batter and baked them.... they came out cute.., but none was left when I came back to take photos!.
The biggest culprit was H, as it was more on the sweeter side, he couldn't resist, I know all of them would be gone by morning as they holidays and they are sitting and watching a movie..

Thanks Josie your Holiday cookies were enjoyed by family and friends hoping to make these soon and take it to my sis for christmas party.....

Here are a few of my favourite things baked my lovely blogging buddies from our team of SRC... check out...
c you soon with an other recipe soon.....

Banana Oat squares / Bars - Healthy and Eggless

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:00:00 +0000

BANANA OAT BARS

Hi everybody, hope you are all doing well, It's time for an SRC again :), I love this, don't you all too.., because that's what we do as Food bloggers, browsing through recipes.., and you get to browse through recipes in one particular blog for one whole month!, and then start Book Marking recipes, then the next step is pondering what shall I execute, then get confused with which one is the best... and yet again I prefer the Healthiest one, I simply can't resist making something much healthier for my kids than for blogging purposes. Totally mum in me wins in the end :(...., My kids don't appreciate.. this attitude.... at all..., well they have no other choice.

As you all know about The Secret Recipe Club which we bake or cook from each others blog, which we are secretly assigned to. This month I was paired with Sweet and Savoury Tooth of Heather's, was I happy - yes immensely, I loved her blog, she has beautiful recipes and absolutely delicious pick me up from the screen pictures..
As I said I have book marked a few of her recipes, which I would love to try out, she has made lots of cookies, cakes and bars.., The best thing I found was I could easily adapt them to make eggless one. I enjoyed her writing too.., Her baby and her hubby are so supportive and enjoy blogging with her. The cute post of her little girl dresses as a duck for Haloween was the best one :), and she rumbling through her sweet reminded me of my kids when they were small ( not too small as hers they were in their 5th form when I came here first :) ).
Coming back to this recipe.., Like Heather, I had loads of Banana at home, I have been very busy from past two months on the home front, as always blogging is the last thing I would like to do, I am on the move, changing houses is such a scary thing.., Hopefully by mid of December I will settle myself in my new abode :), as I said earlier my bananas needed to be taken care off, I don't freeze them, Heather says she freezes them, which I didn't know, that's something I learnt, I try using them up or my H will eat them or I end up baking something, When I saw this recipe I was really interested as I always I think about my eldest daughter who doesn't like eating anything in the morning, If you ask her she says she feels sick, tired, no time, and gives me hundreds of reasons, I get so tired, irritated listening to all this..., So now and then I make these bars which she likes to munch on going to school with a glass of milk. I loved this recipe because of Bananas. I thought she would have eaten a fruit too, I know you would think silly woman 2 bananas for the entire week, well actually no as we four are gobbling those little beauties.., It's just a simple satisfaction - as goes the saying - something is better than nothing :).
Let me come back to the topic, Yes - The bars I made them Eggless and made it more healthy too.., I get carried away when I am baking don't you ?, Lots of things go in my mind first I want to make it eggless then how can I make it much more healthier so my kids benefit from my fit for baking... so here goes the recipe with my changes to it....

BANANA OAT SQUARES/BARS - HEALTHY AND EGGLESS

Recipe adapted from Sweet and Savoury Tooth
Please do check out her blog for the original recipe and of course the photos, they look gorgeous than mine.
INGREDIENTS:
7 3/4th cup Old Fashioned Oats
1/2 Cup Wheat Germ
80 grams Butter
1/2 Cup Applesauce
200 gms Soft unrefined brown cane sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 (weighing 120 gms without skin) Mashed Bananas
260 gms Dry fruits (Raisins, Amonds, hazelnuts, Dates, Mango, Papaya, Walnuts, Pineapple )
1/4 cup Sweetened coconut
1/4 Cup Choco Chips

METHOD:
First of all I chopped all the nuts and Dried Fruits I was going to use. Then mixed both oats and Wheat Germ thoroughly and kept aside.
Then turn on the oven to 350 degree F/Gas mark 3
Then peel the skin of Bananas chop them and the apple sauce blend it the mixie and to make it into a nice smooth paste.
To this add Brown sugar and beat it well ( I just used my spatula - a hard one)

.

In a pan I had melted the Required quantity of butter to this I added my dry fruits and sauteed for a minute as the Dates I used were soft If you have dry dates you don't have to do this step, so the dates came apart and mixed well with the other dry fruits.
Then I poured this onto the the bowl, to this I added the oats mixture stir in well until everything is well incorporated.
Spread on to a Greased pan or use a butter paper for lining the pan and Bake it for almost an hour, cool it and cut it into bars.

NOTES:
I changed the original Recipe by not using an Egg and not just walnuts but I used lot of dried nuts and fruits, reduced the quantity of choco chips and my extra Ingredient was adding Wheat Germ. and added sweetened coconut, I made this in Large quantity as I have a family of five to feed :).

MY VERDICT:
Don't keep licking into the mixture now and then, try not to eat it before baking, the mixture before adding the Dried fruits reminded me of the Rasayana we make for the festival Prashadam, after licking a little promise very tiny bit I couldn't resist adding coconut then after adding the dry fruits it was heavenly. Mmmm.., it was so gorgeous the smell of banana was superb.
So Do you think I need to tell how it turned out..., Guess what ... ?, my daughter picked up 4 pieces to take it school :), I think I have to bake them again..., this rate it will not last for a week..
The only thing I felt bad was all my baking utensils had been transfered to my other house and I was left with only my Pizza tray so I had to bake in it ending up making thin slices than a bit thick ones...
You could reduce the sugar and omit coconut for a more healthier version.
Reduce the quntity to 40 grams of butter and in place use more apple sauce instead....
You can even use Eggs, I would say you can use 2 Eggs for this recipe as the quantity is large...
Totally this is a winner of a recipe and you can make it much more healthier.., look no further if you want to eat healthy bars than shop bought ones...
Heather thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe.., I enjoyed Baking it and eating it and my family too..., I am a very satisfied mom today....
Thanks Angie I love you..., for assigning me to this blog... and Amanda for this wonderful club and all the hosts who are making it a success. Looking forward to the next one..., If you like to join SRC, check out our website...

Fresh Cherries and Chocolate Muffins - Eggless and healthy

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 22:34:00 +0000

Life - is just a bowl of cherries - ?

proverb

Hi everybody hope you are all doing well, Had a very busy weekend, posting anything was out of question, Had a lovely time with my visiting family.
Coming back to this recipe, I have made this recipe many a times, My kids love it too..., Adding fresh fruits to my bakes is one crazy I keep trying, when I baked these I kept my fingers crossed as the original recipe calls for dried cherries.
I love fruits and I always try to add fruits in my baking, sometimes they click and bake very well, sometimes they flop (they are still tasty to eat but not look wise) and trying to bake an eggless one is an other obsession with my baking.
I wasn't planning to bake these muffins, that day I went with my daughter to a farmer's market nearby my place, and I saw these Gorgeous looking Cherries, I love them so much, I couldn't resist buying them, My daughter (special thanks to her for all these lovely photos from my iphone!!) said it was too expensive and was discouraging me from buying it, I kept arguing with her telling her I would certainly buy these as they keep buying chocolates which I don't eat, and this was a treat for me. And in the end I bought a bowl full of cherries and we started walking home, I just gave her one and insisted she should try one, slowly started liking it and started dipping her hand into the paper cover and Lo! needless to say by the time we reached home I had only a handful of them, I told her that she should not eat any more and it was mine, later in the evening when I was pondering through Deeba's recipe Index, I saw this recipe and got hooked to it, then my grey cells started working quickly and off I went to my kitchen and baked these lovely goodies. I was happy that they were healthy and kids had some fruits too... Again went back next day bought some more cherries and both of us sat and ate the whole bowl again :).
when I made this the first time it worked out so well, I couldn't believe myself, I was thinking oh! my God, what shall I do if it doesn't rise up..., but it's been perfect every time and adding fruit to it makes it more healthier.
First time I made these was for my own Tried and Tested event from Deeba's blog, I did not want to include it in that because I had changed few things from the original recipe, I used fresh cherries, made eggless and used oats and changed a few bits in it, I still have to try the original recipe, I will do it soon, as I have a tub of dried cherries with me.

FRESH CHERRIES AND CHOCOLATE MUFFINS - EGGLESS

Recipe source: Adapted minimally from Passionate About Baking
INGREDIENTS:
1 Cup APS/Maida/Plain Flour
1/2 Cup Whole wheat flour
1/4 Cup oats flour ( see notes)
2 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp Cocoa powder
3/4th Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Oil
1/4 Cup Chocolate chips
3/4 the Cup Fresh Cherries (chop and take out the seeds look at the photo)
1/2 Cup milk
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 Cup Hot water

METHOD:
Chop the cherries by four and slowly remove the seeds, if they are firm it is easy to handle and does not give out too much juice, the way you cut them the fruit will be more intact and the seeds just come out.
Preheat the oven to 200 degree Centigrade/ 400 degree F/ Gas mark 6
In a Large bowl mix all the dry Ingredients together that is sieve 3 to 4 times all the flours, BP, BS, salt and Cocoa powder and keep aside.
In an other bowl mix all the wet Ingredients together milk, oil, vanilla extract and add sugar and dissolve it ( rather beat it / or whisk it till most of the sugar is dissolved ) then add the hot water and whisk once again then add the chocolate chips and mix.
Then add the cherries and the dry ingredients in batches until everything is totally incorporated and forms a batter, if it becomes too thick add 1 to 2 tbsp of milk to loosen it up.

Pour this batter into the lined muffin tins till 3/4 th and bake for about 20 - 25 minutes depending upon your oven or a tooth pick inserted should comes out clean.
I topped each muffin with a dried cherry, just push it down a bit, I think this made the trick, the muffins tried to bake out from all the sides and gave a lovely look to it.

Notes: when baking eggless do not keep stirring the batter too much, make one round through the bowl with your spatula and bring it out again in the middle, this way air pockets will form, too much of handling the batter, we may loose that air pockets.
I baked these an other time without the cherry topping I felt it a bit more moist, I loved it with the cherry topping as the batter was trying to come out and I liked the baked look more this way.
Oats flour is I just get these Normal oats and powder them in my mixie and use it in my baking, you can try substituting with fine corn meal or Rye flour or Spelt flour I think.

I would love to send these to :
zesty palette - Bake Fest #1,
Sizzling taste buds - A 100 day Global food Festival

c u soon with an other recipe...

Yazdi Cup Cakes - Eggless

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:56:00 +0000

I love baking so much, I can't resist baking even for a day, but I need to remember myself is it alright to feed my family with loads of Baking powder, Baking soda, Yeast, Butter, oil etc.., When I was in India, even though I come from a family of bakers, I never used to buy Bakery stuff, it was always like a treat to my kids.
I always tried to cook everything from scratch at home. Never used to visit hotels, restaurants often, Baking became an obsession only after coming to UK.
Baking has brought me into lot of things I am learning - Come to think of it I should say people living in those climates need those particular kinds of diet I suppose, which is good for that kind of living environment, every country has its own Original recipes suitable to the climate probably, Ancestors might have thought and cooked food the way it was provided by the nature to them may be.
Only now we have changed to fast food and take aways always, for a fast life, sometimes a lazy life, that we don't want to do anything from scratch and try to take short cuts....
These food blogs and cookery shows have changed a lot of things in our outlook of healthy eating I think I love Jamie oliver's show, he is really trying hard to change the food habits of our future generation.
May be in India we don't get to see people doing lot of take always as for lots of reasons, basically living in a joint family where you have people helping in everybody's day to day living, having house hold help (maids), too many channels show casing about good food and healthy eating, lot of cookery shows, trying to get best out of everything even from waste ( I mean to say for example like using peels of vegetables etc..,!), sometimes we get people come and cook for us !, that's even better right ? I think its totally the social set up I suppose.
If we ate 2 to 3 days continuously in hotels or restaurants my parents would get upset and complain that we are consuming lot of soda, which is not good for health, they even said, people in hotels and take aways add BP,BS and loads of oil to make it much more tastier and for longer shelf life which is no good!, I was brought up with these concepts every day, Now I get confused and it concerns me, when I bake.
Once, long before my Hubby came home and said that they have banned using of Baking soda in cooking in his office canteen as it is bad for health, and causing health concerns for its employees!. Any way as always It is said in the end minimal use of anything and everything in consumption is not a big cause of concern I suppose.
Well, what ever I have said here is merely my thoughts, I am not offending anybody's food habits or cooking habits in particular.., so please don't take it in any wrong sense.
Sorry I don't know why I went away from the topic of baking these goodies!, I started with my cupcakes and drifted somewhere else!, well, coming back to this recipe, One day when I was googling about something I got hooked to this recipe.., well, you definitely would know why if you are a Indian by origin.., It's the spices of course.
I have come to know by googling and from books that lot of persian cuisine use spices just like us, or should I say we started using from them, as they came to India too..., anyway I am not deep into this subject again, as I am not an authority on these lines.. :).
I fell for this recipe completely.., Azita says this recipe takes its name after the city of Yazd, the capital city of Yazd province in central Iran.
This cup cake is so delicious in flavour you will fall for it, My daughter having one bite said it tastes something she knows, she kept telling me it's that sweet you make mum, I kept thinking too and suddenly it flashed - the round golden brown balls - Yup its tastes like Gulab Jamoons! only baked version!
She has adapted this recipe from a cook book by M.R.Ghanoonparvar's ''Colucheh Yazdi'' recipe in his first cookbook Persian Cuisine : Traditional, Regional and Modern foods, check out this link if you are interested.
I found an other website showcasing the same recipe but she has adapted from an other book by Najmieh Batmanglij from his cook book New food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian cooking and Ceremonies.
Once I got the recipe, I have to tweek it to my liking so I had to make it eggless, but I halved the recipe, that's all I did.. changed it into a Eggless cup cake.., I have already made it many a times and taken it with me to friends and family who fell for this lovely cake..

EGGLESS YAZDI CUP CAKES

INGREDIENTS:
1 Cup All Purpose flour/Maida
1/4 Cup Rice Flour
3/4th Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Plain Yogurt
1/4 Cup + 2 tbsp of Unsalted melted butter
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Baking soda
1/4 tsp Cardamom powder
1 tbsp Rose water
1/4 tsp Vanilla essence
2 tbsp finely chopped Pistachios
2 Eggs (optional - I just omitted)

METHOD:
Preheat heat the oven to 180 degrees/Gas Mark 4/350 d Fahrenheit.
Mix all the dry ingredients together, plain flour, Rice flour, Baking powder, Baking soda, powdered Cardamom and sieve them together at least twice
Then in a large bowl take the wet Ingredients together....
First of all take Sugar and a bit warm melted butter to this add vanilla essence, Rose water and beat it together the sugar dissolves (do not worry if not completely) for 2 minutes then add the yogurt mix well together with one tbsp of chopped pistachios and immediately add your sieved dry ingredients to it in batches.
Sometimes the butter might start to harden up may be because of the cold temperature here, so that's why I said to add yogurt in the end and then the sieved flour immediately in two or three batches as the quantity is very small it won't take too many batches, don't try mix too much, mix in circles and blend it in with no lumps.
Line cupcake trays and cupcake liners and spoon the mixture into them, fill them 3/4th and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or when a tooth pick inserted comes out clean
These cup cakes need not be frosted as they are lovely just as they are...

VARIATION:
You can add 2 Eggs with the above said recipe to make this cup cake with eggs.

The cake turned out perfectly with lots of flavours in it and as you can see it was soft and moist, it would crumble quickly if left for long (may be 2 days).

I am sending this to
Vardhini's Bake fest #1, Kalyani's 100 day global food festival, Srav's culinary concept - festive food.

Orange Rasgulla/Rasmalai

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:27:00 +0000

Hi everybody, hope you are all doing well, I made these during Diwali again and this time I took some photos , and believe it or not I made these already three times, I am making these as we have fallen in love with these little darlings, which gives such a wonderful Orange flavour, and me in particular been obsessed and fallen in love with them, as I keep telling everybody that I love Bengali sweets so much, I just can't resist them at all :). I Love all milk based sweets basically, otherwise you might have noticed that I don't have many sweet recipes in my blog, as the two people who loved sweets also have reduced the intake of sweets, anything savoury is fine with us, it goes down with no fuss at all....
May be my love for milk is so much I can never become a vegan I suppose :(, or may be some day.....
Coming back to this sweet, the first time I made these it was a real flop because I tried to cook it exactly like Ordinary Rasgullas, in the pressure cooker tried with one whistle I don't know what I did exactly now thinking about it I might have kept the cooker for a long period of time, it got dissolved and I didn't want to throw away so I made it into a kheer, so that's one recipe for you!, if disaster strikes!
Next time I was careful and did the job perfectly and made these little devils... aren't they cute...

ORANGE RASGULLA/ RASMALAI

Ingredients :
For Making Orange Chenna/ Paneer :
6 pints milk (approx 3.408L) Full fat 4%
2 Oranges
2 tbsp Vinegar/Lime Juice

Method :
Take Milk in a bowl (I usually put a small spoon immersed in it and allow it to boil, immersing a wooden spatula in it.
Meanwhile scrape out the zest of one orange and cut it half and squeeze out all the juice and keep it aside, with the other orange cut it again in any way you want, and take out the slices nicely with out any pith (the white portions between the wedges), and keep them aside.

As you can see once the milk starts to form a layer around , mix it with the ladle add Orange juice and one or two tbsp of Vinegar/Lime juice, grated zest of the orange and the chopped Orange slice to it, You can see in each step the how the milk starts curdling and gives out the whey to this point you can add a 1/4 tsp of Orange food colour, if you want. well it gives a lovely colour to the dish in the end.

Once the curdled milk separates out take a muslin cloth/cheese cloth or any cloth from which you can separate out the whey and chenna/paneer,
Tie this cloth around a bowl or just put this cloth in a strainer and keep this strainer in the bowl, which helps to hold the cloth firmly then pour this on it, the whey separates out and the chenna/paneer stays in the cloth, keep the paneer in cold running water for few seconds just to get rid of the lime/vinegar smell, Now tie this cloth tightly and keep a heavy something,( I kept my granite mortar and pestle on top of it), I remove the whey water from the vessel use an other vessel keep my strainer again on top of it, then I keep my tied paneer cloth on it and the heavy weight on top of it, so the left over water in the paneer and cloth should come out completely, leave it like that for 1 or 2 hours.

Here take a look at my Orange Paneer.... Looks gorgeous isn't it :)

with little specks of Orange segments peeping through :).....

well, coming back to the recipe...
So once your Chenna/Paneer is completely drained out, you have to make Rasgullas out of it so what you have to do is.....
Ingredients:
To make Orange Rasgullas:
Orange Chenna/Panner (recipe above)
1 tbsp Soji
1 tbsp Maida/APS ( I added a bit more )
1 tbsp sugar
To make Orange syrup for the Rasgullas
5 to 6 Cups of Water
3-4 cups of sugar (depending upon how much sweet you like)
1 tsp of Crushed cardamom
1/2 tsp of Saffron (pre-soaked in warm water)
1 tbsp Orange essence
1 tsp of Rose water

METHOD:
Now to this paneer and add the above said ingredients and knead till the dough is soft and smooth, you may add a bit more to get the right consistency, don't knead too hard as you can see that there are bits of orange segments.
Make small balls out of these they might not become too big as the normal Rasgullas do, but don't make the balls too big as they are going to expand when on cooking. Do make sure the balls are crack free.

Now on to make the Rasgullas ( sweet balls)
Take a wide bottom vessel/Pressure cooker/Stock pot, Add water and sugar, allow it to boil, until the sugar dissolves, keep stirring, so the sugar dissolves quickly and sugar water starts boiling to this add the rest of the Ingredients, and bring it to low flame.

Add the balls one at a time, you should not forget to keep the flame low and allow it cook for 40-45 minutes with a closed lid, check now and then, it is good you have a see through lid on :), just makes life easier!
If you are using a pressure cooker close the lid and put on the weight, keep it on a low flame and check every 15 minutes to be sure that they don't break up (remember because you have orange segments in them!).

you can see that they have grown big :), that's delightful isn't it...

Now lets make Rasmalai ( Juicy cream)
Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 to 2 lts milk (whole milk)
1 cup of the sugar syrup ( from the above recipe, In which you have soaked and cooked the Rasgullas)
1 cup of Sugar (because we have sweet tooth! increase or decrease as you like it)
2 to 3 tbsp of chopped almonds and pistachios ( I love nuts so the extra helpings )
1 tsp of Saffron (Pre-soaked in 2 tbsp of warm milk)

Method:

You can start making this when you drain and hung your paneer to completely drain, as Malai takes a little longer and more gas consumption :).
In a wide vessel boil milk ( I put a steel spoon just to make sure that it doesn't burn the bottom), put a ladle in too, allowing it to boil, stirring now and then as it keeps forming layer, the milk should get reduced to half and becomes more thicker that is the water content in the milk is gone.
Other wise to make the process much quicker you can add 2 to 3 cartons/tins of evaporated milk with 2 to 3 cups of milk and allow it to boil this becomes fairly quickly thicker, but I prefer my old method

You can see the malai in these clicks how much fat content it has!.
So Once the milk gets thicker, add the rest on the list of the Ingredients, and allow it to boil for few more minutes so that they all combine and give a lovely flavour to the milk.

Now take out the Rasgullas and squeeze out a bit ( try not to break it!) so the water content is gone ( or reduced), put these balls into the Malai that is the creamy milk and leave it an hour or so, you can even soak it overnight and place the container in the Refrigerator and serve this delicious, Gorgeous looking Orange Rasgullas ( try not to eat it when making it, I couldn't resist so gobbled a couple).
Hope you go and try them and tell me how it turned out... and I will be very thankful to you, if you left me a comment about it!
Here is one last look of my sweet little dumplings....

ORANGE RASGULLAS/RASMALAI FOR YOU ALL, A VIRTUAL TREAT FOR MY LOVELY FRIENDS....

verdict: If you love oranges just like me, you will love this sweet, my family and friends were very happy and loved it very much, the best was I had my old land lady Emma visiting me on Diwali day, and I had cooked my formula festive recipe and I couldn't give her anything to eat, except for some savouries, she is not fond of our sweets as they say our sweets are too sweet for them...., I thought let me give her this a try.., she was delighted at the orange flavour so much she emptied her bowl and gave it back to me!, she told me, I don't the how the original recipe tastes like, I like this Orangey flavour, stick to this I love it ..... :), hahaha .
She is my favourite, even though I don't live in her house anymore, she never forgets to come to my place when ever she is in town :), she is 10 yrs younger to me!, I love her to bits, she always tells me whenever I enter your house the curry smell makes me hungry, she eats my food (as it is difficult for her to eat spicy food) with the combos I give her to make it less spicy to consume!.
This time she even burst some crackers with us, and said as it was the first time ever in her life she was bursting crackers and she enjoyed it so much, she was ever so delighted....., Oh! bless her.., thanks Emma..., Love you always...

C u soon with an other recipe , take care.......

Blogger Marathon - 4th Sense Cooking

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 10:34:00 +0000

Hi everybody, Hope you all had a wonderful and safe Diwali, I am upset as I did not blog nor wish my dear friends here and on FB , who love me and encourage me so much, even when I disappear for days!, how I will be without you all...., I had been busy with moving houses and with festive and friends around.., I did cook a lot of things hope to post them all soon. I had completely forgotten about my Bloggers Marathon, I took this opportunity of this Celebration of Nitya's Marriage this month to give her a lovely visual treat from all of us Food Bloggers.
Nithi or should I say Nitya Rajashekaran will soon be Mrs. Nitya this month :), and for this lovely Occasion I would like to give this lovely gift to her on behalf from all us, as we cannot be physically be present there. So, why not give her a virtual treat as food bloggers, by cooking something from her blog and make her much more happier .....
Nitya has a beautiful space @ 4th Sense Cooking , and as we all know she is a very good photographer too.., has drool worthy photos, pick me up photos etc.., in her blog. She cooks from her traditional Regional cuisine to Indian cuisine and on to International cuisine..., So you can see lot of different recipes in her blog...
I would love all of you to participate in this event and make it a success and give her a virtual treat of her own cooking as a gift from all of us...... Hoping that you will all join me in this venture.......

Photo courtesy : free webs, pinkesh mistry, Treklens

RULES TO FOLLOW FOR THIS MARATHON:

Very Important : The recipes you try from her blog should be hers Only - means Only Her Original recipes, Recipes if she has tried from other bloggers is not allowed, Recipes if she has tried from books, family, friends (other than food bloggers), cookery shows are allowed.

I have a few rules for you to follow for this marathon and I have decided every month I will be keeping this rules with no changes and as it is easy for me to do this.

1. MANDATORY : Using of this logo is mandatory so we can spread the word around (as you people are good/regular bloggers unlike me! you can resize this logo as you wish, that doesn't matter to me)
2. Do not send me any of your entries at all
3. No Restrictions on Number of entries
4. Archived/old entries are welcome but linking back to this event announcement page is a must and use of the logo is Mandatory.
5. Submit all your entries to her Face book page , with the subject line as ''Bloggers Marathon # 4'' in your recipe heading after the name of the recipe :) , there is a small like button on her page you need to click that button so it will allow you to submit your recipe.
6. Please do not forget to leave a comment here and it is Mandatory, so I would know that you have participated and I would love to visit you to thank you for participating.
7. This event is held between November 1st to November 30th
8. Non-bloggers can also participate, you can send in your photo and details to me @ cookingisdivine@gmail.com, and I will post it for you...
9. If possible tweet and share this announcement......
10. First week of the next month I will gather all your clicks and make a round-up of your entries and post it.. here.

This is quite simple and delicious isn't it ?, No hassels of sending anything at all ....

take care and c u soon with all your entries..... hoping that Nitya will like this gift.....

Wishing Nitya on her big day a very wonderful time and Best wishes from all of us....

Eggless Marie-Helene's Apple cake from Dorie Greenspan

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Apples, Apples and apples.., Ooo this cake is full of the goodness of Apples, I had to settle with this cake in the last minute, A lovely blog with lovely recipes. Actually I had planned to make an other cake, and made the cake too and it tasted so nice .., but was a disaster as I have this stupid pan which is very thin and I have already had twice problem with it, and every time I bake something in it, it gets stuck to the pan, I had completely thrown it below of my baking equipments, I picked it up completely forgetting about the tin as it has a lovely shape and thought baking in this tin will look good and all the things I had planned to top it everything altered once I turned the cake to remove from the pan, It was all stuck on the top! but I am definitely going to try it again in an other pan and am going to post that recipe soon..., as I want to share it with you all, so as in change of plan I had to choose an other recipe and I got hooked by this one (I was hooked by an other three!, in the end I chose this!!), you know me, I always try to bake eggless and here I am with this one, you can bake this with eggs as is the original recipe calls for.
Ooo...., I did not tell you why I baked this cake right ?. this month I was assigned to The world in My kitchen by Mindy, what a beautiful name for a blog, I thought I should have kept that name! I seem to think like that to every name I come across and wonder at the creativity of my blogger friends, well not any more now though :(, A very beautiful blog she has and loads of recipes from various sources, beautiful clicks, made some book marks tried 3 of her recipes (tried eggless versions thought), even then it came out very well, My family liked it that is all what it matters to me, well consumed is very well done!
Well I seem to go off track always, yet again I will start - I was assigned by The Secret Recipe club of Amanda's now co-hosted by 4 lovely ladies who have taken the initiative to help her maintain this club as it has grown to a very big family now and my hostess the lovely Angela of Big bear's wife sent me an e-mail to try recipes from Mindy's blog and thanks to both of them which I did love going through her blog and tried 3 of the recipes, I will post the other two later on :(.
She says the talk of this cake was going around the blogosphere such a lot and she wanted to try this ASAP and because of this cake she was hooked by this book too.., and then on to her wish list Around my french table.

EGGLESS MARIE - HELENE'S APPLE CAKE FROM DORIE GREENSPAN
Recipe adapted from The world in my kitchen

INGREDIENTS:
3/4th Cup All purpose flour
3/4th tsp Baking powder ( I used 1 tsp )
salt a pinch
(1/2 tsp soda I used)
4 Large Apples ( I used 3 Royal gala apples Medium sized)
2 Large Eggs ( I used 1/2 cup hung curds)
3/4th cup sugar ( I used Granulated sugar)
3 tbsp Rum ( I used 3 tbsp Orange Juice)
1/2 tsp vanilla
8 tbsp butter
Turbido sugar to sprinkle ( I used Billington's Demerara sugar)

METHOD:
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/350 dF/ 180 dC
Take a 8'' Springform tin and line it with a baking parchment/silicon sheet
In a bowl take all the dry ingredients together and sieve or mix well together ( APS, salt, Baking Soda and Powder)
In an other bowl take all the wet Ingredients buttermilk, orange juice, vanilla extract, melted butter and mix well
To this above mixture I added sugar and mixed well thoroughly
To this batter I mixed the flour in batches and made it into a nice cake batter.
Now peel, core and chop the apples 2 of them and the other one in semi circles.
What I did was I poured the mixture to the tin as 1'' layer then layered the chopped apples on top of it then layered the left over cake batter on top of it then layered the remaining apples which I had cut in semi circles and sprinkled the sugar on top of it.

Please do check out her blog if you are using eggs and for the method in which she folds the apples for this cake

VERDICT:
As mindy says this cake is so forgiveable and you can use any kind of apple you want, the cake was very moist as she says.
My cake was very moist too, sweet and had a hint of orange. Don't fall for the look my cake, looks gorgeous, as I was making this eggless, I learnt a few things baking this cake next time,
-- what I do not want to do is - I would like to make a few more changes next time, by substituting with may be silken tofu, I will not arrange the apples like I have done now, just chop the apples and mix it with the batter as mindy has done, and reduce the quantity of apple to just two, the cake is very moist, and chopping and adding the apples to the batter should ensure you get it nicely blended with the cake batter, the apples on the top of cake some of them were crunchy some were (the white ones as you can see were partially cooked ), well, as they are apples it doesn't really matter, it was very sweet for my tooth, you can serve it Ice cream or warm custard or whipped cream I think.
If any of try this recipe do let me know (the eggless version of course!), not with the eggs as it is already talk of the town :)
Thanks to all the three of you on this assignment :)) c u soon with an other assignment next month and if you are interested to join contact here

Broccoli and peas in coriander Curry

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:38:00 +0000

Who doesn't love coriander :), well, when I started writing this I suddenly remembered yes, their might be few people who might not like right ?. One day I met this lady talking to her I found out that she doesn't like the smell of coriander and than this person he said he doesn't like coconuts :). I am so obssessed with these two that I felt odd that moment but later on I thought I am being silly, each and every body have their choice of what they like. Anyways I love them both and of course Broccoli.
You will be seeing my Blog skip wednesdays for an other two posts!, I made, I ate but never blogged, and my Blog Hop wednesday friends must be thinking Oh! my that is not at all nice on her part that she isn't doing anything from our blogs, but actually I am ahead of my schedule, I have already done my next blog hop too.., fingers crossed hope to post it right on time at least the next one :)
When Radhika of Tickling palates announced Blog Hop Wednesdays and assigned me to Schmetterling words, I found the name very intrigued me, I was talking to my daughter about the name and said it was so different, that's when she said to me it means butterfly! mom in German. Wow, I was thinking what a lovely name for a blog after that I noticed that she lives in Germany :) Mmm., that is good thinking right ? well, which never occurs to me.
She has lot of non-vegetarian recipes, and I did not want to do any baking, with lot of festivals I had so many sweets and savories at home, so I haven't done any baking at all, I wanted to try out something simple with everyday cooking. when the first time I opened her blog, she had this Broccoli Coriander curry, I thought look no further and go for it, as I was going to make Chapatis that day so, this would be perfect. well, I thought why not shuttle through the archives and see if I can find anything else, but Broccoli wouldn't go away from my mind, I love Broccoli so much and even my family loves it so much, I just decided let me go to the market and buy it, so straight to the market and came home with a big Broccoli flower, she says add any veggies you like, but as I had decided on this veggie I had to think what else can go with it and decided on peas.
I made it again don't remember which day it was, it was an Ekadasi or Amavasya or some thing I really can't remember so I did not use onion and garlic, so I omitted them to make this curry,In the end either way it turns out very well.
I did tweak it a little bit, not much you can see the original recipe here

BROCCOLI AND PEAS IN CORIANDER CURRY

INGREDIENTS:
To Grind:
1 bunch Coriander leaves
10 pieces of Cashews
1 big Onion
3 to 4 Green chillies (depending on spiciness you want)

To Temper:
2 to 3 tbsp of oil
2'' Cinnamon stick
3 piece Cardamom (I omitted but used 3 piece of cloves)
3 piece Garlic cloves
2 '' Ginger
400 gms Broccoli
250 gms of Peas (frozen)
3 tbsp Coconut milk ( I used fresh coconut and grinded it with the other grinding ingredients)
Salt as required

METHOD:
First of all Clean the Coriander bunch, chop into lovely nice 1/2'' pieces, I used the whole with stalk, chopping is necessary so it helps in grinding into a nice paste.
Soak Cashews in warm water so it softens, so is easy to grind.
Cut the broccoli into florets wash them and cook them with the frozen peas with very little water until cooked, be careful if it cooks too much it becomes too mushy, once it is 3/4th done, keep it aside draining the water (keeps this water for future use) Or you can cook the florets in a cooker, in a low flame for 6 to 7 minutes with the lid and weight on it, do not leave it in the cooker for too long it might become too mushy, Once you have switched it off, slowly start lifting the weight on the cooker in intervals of few seconds, the steam starts coming out and within 1 or 2 minutes it completes releases all the steam and you can lift the weight easily then you can open the lid and Lo!, your veggies are ready to be taken out.
Chop the onions, green chillies and garlic, grind them into a fine paste and keep aside
Then Grind coriander, cashews and coconut into a paste and keep aside.
In a large pan heat oil, once it is hot, bring it to a low flame, add cinnamon sticks, cardamom (if using), cloves once they start sizzling add the Onion paste and fry until it starts changing colour and the raw smell disappears now add the Coriander paste and fry for few minutes, do not fry for too long, I love the smell of coriander and I did not want it to disappear.
Now add the cooked Vegetables into it and 2 cups of water and required amount of salt close the lid and cook further for 8 to 10 minutes so the veggies absorb the masala and salt.
Remove the lid if you find it watery you can dissolve a tbsp/tsp of corn flour in little water add to it and cook for another 2 minutes and close the lid and switch it off.
That's it the curry is ready to be served with chapatis/pulkas/Nan's etc....

That was a lovely curry we all enjoyed it, thank you very much Ayaesha for this lovely recipe, thanks to Radhika too... :) and very sorry for posting it so late.

Sweet Corn Poli/Obattu/Boli for Thiruvaadi pooram

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:08:00 +0000

I made this for Andal's Birthday, this year it was on the 2nd August 2011 , don't get confused, Andal isn't my family or friend she is one of my favourite dieties I worship, she is one of the Alwars, Oh! my God I think I am going to confuse you more about the this topic, If you interested and to know more about this Goddess Check out this post I have described her in more detail, you can have a glance about it when you have time.
I have always celebrated this festival in Grand as my mom celebrates it in a very passionate way, I think it has rubbed on me, After I got married I got used to Aadi Maasam (17th July) and 3rd of August was Pathinettam perukku, which I usually do with a simple Pandigai Thaligai (festival formula foods as my BIL calls it!), But Thiruvadi pooram is my favourite day, Mum Keeps a big photo of Andal and lots of lights all over the house and calls neighbours for Vethallai paak (Beetel leaves and Areca nuts).
Sngs loads of songs on her and recites the paasharams [(I can't sing :( ], I sit and enjoy when she is singing she did her senior in music!, Oh! how much I miss her living so far away, Anyways coming back to the post, this is what I did for Thivaadi pooram, just for a change from same paruppu obattu.
About this recipe it was just like any other obattu now and then I could get the taste of sweet corn, It really wasn't giving too much of sweet corn flavour, I thought it was because of my Jaggery, This time my H bought this Jaggery which wasn't my favourite as it was too dark in colour and my obattus turned out too dark in colour :( and this Jaggery becomes to the ball consistency so quickly you won't even realise it!
My family loved it and enjoyed it....

SWEET CORN POLI/OBATTU/BOLI/BOBATTULU

INGREDIENTS:
For the poornam/filling:
2 Cups Sweet corn
100 gms coconut
250gms Jaggery
1/2 cup Tuvar Dal
1/2 cup Water
2tbsp water
Kanikalu or the outer covering:
1 Cup of Maida/All purpose flour
1/4 Cup Fine Semolina
1/4 tsp of Turmeric powder
A nice pinch of Salt
water as required to make a dough consistency
4 to 5 tbsp of oil

METHOD:
First you need to make your Outer covering/Kanikalu:
Mix Maida, semolina, turmeric powder and salt well together make into a nice dough, Use around a 4 to 5 tbsp of oil and knead it into it.
1.Some people soak this in a bowl of oil for 3 to 4 hours then start kneading it with oil and make it into a nice elastic kind of consistency (mum used to do it this way long back)
2.Some people soak it in water and after 3 to 4 hours take it out and start kneading it like a elastic adding oil little by little, this way it takes less oil than the first method
3. I make it into a dough and leave it in a plastic bag covered after 3 to 4 hours I start kneading it into a elastic like consistency using little by little oil, this way I use very little oil.
You must be wondering why kneading into a elastic consistency is needed, with this 1 and 1/4 cup of dough , you can make around 25 to 30 Obattu/poli.

Second you need to make your poornam/filling:
Cook Tuvar dal with 1/2 cup of water, you should be cooked nice and fluffy, not mushed up, actually I can say it should 3/4th cooked.
Grind Sweet corn Kernels with finely freshly grated coconut into a smooth paste without adding any water, I have used frozen and defrosted sweet corn, If you are using fresh corn, I think you can cook it with very little water and grind it into a smooth paste.
In a bowl take 1/4 cup of water to this add grated or crushed Jaggery and cook it until everything dissolved, then filter it so all the impurities are taken out.
Take a large thick Pan/Kadai, switch on the stove add the dissolved filtered Jaggery to this add the cooked Tuvar dal, and finely ground sweet corn Kernels and fresh coconut into a smooth paste.
Mix all of them together and keep stirring well, until all all the water evaporates and becomes thick like a ball, leaving the sides of pan.

when you touch it, it should be not sticking to your hand and you can make little round balls the size of lemon to make the polis
So that's it your Poornam/filling is ready

Now to assemble or make your Poli/Obattu:

METHOD
Heat a tawa/Girdle and keep this in a low flame,
Meanwhile it is getting heated up take a small sized ball (around Goosebery), spread a bit of oil/ghee on your palm, place this ball on it and spread it down into a small disc just covering your palm, as shown in the picture, then place your filling in the middle (size of plum/or may be a little bigger than that, if you like more poornam in your obattu than the covering!), Bring in all the sides of the covering/Kanikalu together to cover the poornam/filling close it well enough then place it on a plantain leaf which is coated with oil/ghee, I use the cover (Sachet packets) of Bournvita/Horlicks which is so good that it never sticks to the girdle/tawa when you turn it over.
You can see the photo of it, and it works out quite well. put it on the sheet spread it around with the help of your fingers into a nice around shape around a small chapati/pulka size with the help dipping your finger in ghee/oil
Now take this poli/obattu pre-prepared dough with filling and gently turn it over on the Tawa/girdle, and nicely peel of the sheet from above.
Now roast it on both the sides with ghee/oil flipping it in the process of cooking this way both the sides are well cooked with brown bits showing on top.
That's it your puran poli is ready to eat with a dollop of ghee.

I am linking this recipe to :
Raji of Rak's kitchen for celebrates sweets with fruits and veggies started by Nivedita
Radhika of Tickling palates - event - Diwali special -sweet and savouries
Denise of Oh taste and see - event - serve it -festive potluck started by Krithi
Saffron streaks event- Healing food coconut started by Siri
Dr.sameena pratap event - Diwali sweet recipes
Gayatri of Gayatri's cook spot - only sweets and desserts event strated by pari
Khusi of Yummy food event- My diwali my way
Anu's event - Diwali festival of lights
Veggie platter - MLLA 40

Carrot spice muffins - Muffin Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 21:51:00 +0000

Hi I am back, so soon don't wonder, I had to put up this post today morning, but never happened for n number of reasons, mainly I misread shall I say as always read between lines and been sick from past few days, slowly recovering.

CARROT SPICE MUFFINS FOR MUFFIN MONDAYS

I met this lady when I was Googling something which I totally forgot what it was anyways I got hooked looking at her blog, she has such a beautiful blog not cluttered with lots of things like mine!, when I looking through her blog I found out that she has a small club baking muffins and is called Muffin Mondays, I love baking Muffins rather than cup cakes so I don't have to decorate them :), so that's it, mailed her immediately and here I am with my first Muffin Monday, it is an initiative by Baker Street, A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week, If you want to join her drop in a quick line to her and on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday Mornings week after week.

I love baking muffins and my kids enjoy it too, I try my best to bake healthy ones too..., As Anuradha gives a free hand in baking these muffins I was looking at it and thinking as an Indian!, Carrot and spices, Hmm.., well that got me into a new world so I baked two different muffins and changed somethings from the original recipe.
This recipe is basically adapted from Whole foods for the whole family by Laleche League international cookbook.
Coming back to the recipe, I have halved the recipe for two different types of Muffins, If you are after the Original recipe I will give it you in italics.

CARROT SPICE SWEET MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS:
3/4th cup Whole wheat flour (Original Recipe calls for 1 and 1/2 cup Whole wheat Flour)
1/4 Cup Plain flour (I added)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8th tsp all spice
1/8th tsp of Ground Ginger
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar (Original recipe calls for 1/2 cup Brown sugar/honey, I used both!)
1/4 Cup Honey
1 Egg
1/4 Cup Buttermilk/Yogurt
1/4 Cup Butter ( Original recipe calls for 1/3 cup oil/butter/apple sauce)
1/2 tsp Vanilla essence
Pinch of Cardamom powder
3/4th Cup Grated Carrot ( Original recipe calls for 1 and 1/2 cup carrot)
1/4 Cup Sweetened dessicated Coconut (I added)
1/4 cup Raisins
1/4 Cup chopped Cashewnuts ( original recipe just says chopped nuts)
Used some Fudge Chunks to top it.

METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 400 dF/ Gas Mark 6/
Take all the Dry ingredients together in a bowl flour, soda, powder , salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and all spice, cardamom together and sieve.
In another bowl, mix together wet ingredients honey, brown sugar, buttermilk, Egg, vanilla essence, butter, carrots, raisins, coconut and cashew nuts together.
Now Gently fold in the dry Ingredients with the wet Ingredients together until well incorporated.
Then fill up the muffin cases and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

CARROT SPICE SAVOURY MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS:
1 Cup Whole wheat flour
1 tsp Baking soda
1tsp Baking powder
1 Egg
1 and 1/2 tsp Salt (Adjust salt according to your taste)
1/4 tsp sugar
1/8th tsp Ground Ginger
1/4 cup Buttermilk or Yogurt
2 and 1/2 tbsp Oil/butter/apple sauce (I used Oil)
1/2 tsp Lemon Juice
1/2 Cup Grated Carrot
2 Green chillies
1/4 cup Onion chopped finely
1 tbsp Coriander leaves
1/4 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp Coriander powder

METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 400 degree F/Gas mark 6/
In a large bowl take the flour, spices, salt (adjust salt to taste as this is going to be a spicy muffin), Baking soda, Baking powder Mix everything well together and keep aside
In an other bowl, take all the wet ingredients together Buttermilk/yogurt, oil/butter/apple sauce, lemon juice, Egg then add grated carrots, onion and coriander leaves, combine well together.
To this above mixture gently incorporate the dry ingredients until just moistened
Bake for about 20 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
That's it done
Enjoy this wonderful Indian spiced muffins as a breakfast or as an evening snack, My kids took one of each to school!.

NOTE: If you want it Eggless Just omit the eggs in the recipe and Lo! you get Eggless Sweet and Savoury Carrot Spice Muffins!
C u soon with an other recipe tomorrow...,

Eggless Apple, cinnamon and Oatmeal cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:17:00 +0000

EGGLESS APPLE, CINNAMON AND OATMEAL COOKIES

Hi everybody, how have you all been doing ?, I was down with fever, cough and cold just like the English weather, Drastically weather here has changed to a wet, cold days already, I feel so uncomfortable thinking of all those cold days ahead, but never thought so soon!. My plants do not know how to cope with this silly weather which keeps changing just makes me miserable.

This recipe I made is a last minute decision, I was still looking through her blog wondering what shall i bake, I loved her site and her writing, The first thing I thought about her was hats of to her, with three boys Oh! my God!, how does she manage, I have one son and he is so naughty, these boys don't seem to know how to sit quietly for just a minute. what else do you want to know about her ?, Her hubby is a Chef and they have a resturant which is already a talk of the town!, maybe someday I might visit them!, check it out here for full details and you would really enjoy, The couples are a gorgeous pair.

Bloggers of course you would definitely want to visit her, she has got lot of giveaways and lot of things happening in her little corner as she calls it.
I told lot of things about her, let me introduce you to her she is Cara from Boys made me do it , you must be wondering what is all this about, well, it is this Monday! SRC Reveal day, Oh! yes it's already a month!, Angela who is co-hostess of The secret Recipe Club assigned me to this blog. Amanda, the fabulous women started this club which has grown like a wild fire is not able to manage on her own has now got co-hosts to help her with this project, She is such a sweet heart, is ready for any help needed, I want to thank both of them to have allowed me to enjoy this lovely theme with them.

Coming back to the recipe, I chose this as my kids love cookies, and this was a healthy version except for the butter, and I love oatmeal, My kids wanted me to try this so here I am with this recipe...
I have halved the recipe, If you want to check the original recipe is here.
She adapted this cookies recipe from her friend Krystal who in turn adapted from Joy the Baker.

APPLE CINNAMON OATMEAL COOKIES EGGLESS

INGREDIENTS:
1 Cup Oats ( old fashioned quick cooking oats)
1/2 cup
2 tbsp Wheat Germ
1 Apple (I used Royal Gala)

1/2 Cup Brown sugar
1 tsp Vanilla essence
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon
a generous pinch of nutmeg
10 gms Walnuts
20 gms Chocolate chips
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
1/4 cup Butter
1 Egg ( I just omitted it)

METHOD:
preheat oven to 350 degrees/Gas mark 6
In a large take all the dry ingredients, baking powder, baking soda, salt, two flours, cinnamon, and nutmeg and mix well together.
In an other bowl, beat sugar and butter until fluffy and creamy,( If you are using egg add at this point and beat well together to light and fluffy and do not add lemon juice and apples at this stage add them at the end with nuts and chips but do not forget to add lemon juice to apple and set it aside until use), then add lemon juice and finely chopped 1 apple mix well together, this is important chop the apples and mix immediately so the apples don't loose colour!
Then to this mix add chopped walnuts and chocolate chips.
Line two baking sheets with butter paper and with a spoon spread the dough on to the sheet with space apart,
and bake them for 15 to 20 minutes I baked mine to 20 minutes as I wanted it to be bit on the crispy side. Even then it wasn't too crispy but tasted great.

VERDICT:
My kids loved it and I felt happy as they were healthy and I had used fresh fruit in it, What else do you need in it :)

Eggless One Bowl Coconut Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 00:17:00 +0000

Do you like Coconut then this is for you, the coconut just gives you such lovely taste, you wouldn't go without an other piece, This cake is basically made with Eggs, I just turned it into an Eggless version, I come from south of India, from Karnataka State, Like keralites, People in Karnataka also tend to use lot of coconut in their cooking. Born and brought up, like any other Kannadiga, I use coconut in my cooking a lot, which is minimised now a days :(.

Well. It's already wednesday, that means an other Blog Hop already, I was assigned by Radhika of Tickling Palates with Shireen of Ruchik Randhap, and guess what she is from my state - but comes from Mangalore, I have been to mangalore many a times, Mangaloreans use coconut a lot in their cooking and cashews, I still remember when I went there the first time I was in a school trip from seva dal stayed near Mangala Stadium, where we had all our programmes and activities, Mmm.., that's what I remember and bought Cashewnuts!. Now of course I have lot of friends and I love their cooking style too., so going through her blog was lovely, remembering my friends and the Mangalorean food!, she has such a lovely space, she talks about the place she comes from and writes a little story in every one of her delightful reicpes.., In her blog she has photos of some of the veggies and fruits which makes me think of home, and its been quite a long time I tasted them. I tried two of her dishes, this is one of them, the other one I will post when I post one of own recipes.
Bascially, when I go to a blog I look for original recipes, so I had to try out the other recipe first and then this one!, she has tried out this recipe from NZ's Favourite Recipe. Check out her space for this recipe, it's a real beauty, the clicks are so beautiful, unlike mine, you feel like picking it up.
I tweeked the recipe little bit as I was making this eggless and the recipe calls for 3 Eggs, so I had to change it a little bit to replace three eggs

EGGLESS ONE BOWL COCONUT CAKE

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup of Plain flour
1/2 cup Fine Corn meal
1/2 cup Dessicated Coconut
3/4 th cup Granulated sugar
1/4 cup Condensed milk
1/4 cup Milk
1/4 cup (+2tbsp) curds
1/4 cup Tutti-fruti
1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Baking soda
1/4 cup Coconut Oil
1 tsp Cardamom flavour
1/4 tsp salt

METHOD:

Preheat the oven 10 minutes before at 180 degrees/Gas Mark 5
Line an 9'' round cake tin
In a large bowl take both the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt mix well combined, then sift together twice and keep aside
In an other bowl mix all the wet Ingredients, condensed milk, milk, curds, cardamom flavour and sugar, mix well combined until the sugar is well dissolved then add the dessicated coconut and Tutti-fruti, to this add the sieved dry Ingredients until well incorporated into it in a nice circular motion, don't mix in too much, the air bubbles created will fall through other wise.

I added extra 2 tbsp of buttermilk to make it little more wet and to a dropping consistency, just have an extra 1/4 cup curds, use it according to your flour.

I took a 1/2 tbsp of cocoa powder and mixed with 2 tbsp of hot water then poured it on top of the cake and swirled it around the cake

Fold this wet batter into the cake pan and stick it in the oven for around 40 - 45 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean.

I had some friends over at dinner and they don't like to eat eggs, so this was perfect for the dessert, they loved it very much, well I couldn't keep my hands off it, I kept eating it, It was so lovely and delicious, thanks shireen for this lovely reicpe. you can see from the close up, how well it turned outl

This is my submission for Blop Hop wednesday you too make it and enjoy it..., as we all did...

Check out this link to see what others have been doing.... here

Chocolate Almond Biscotti - Healthy way !

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:14:00 +0000

Hi everybody, hope you are all doing well, I am quite happy too, I had a heavy rainfall just an hour back and suddenly I see sun shining in full galore now :), this is British weather !, When I came here first everybody would start talking to you with weather first!, I wondered and then I came to know why ?!, As my friend Emma said welcome to British weather, you can 4 different seasons in a day!, Oh! yes I did, yesterday it was so windy I thought I might fly off, It was such a ghastly, howling wind, when I got up in the morning it was pouring down, I was quite upset, now its replaced with sunshine and the wind. I really am talking too much about this right ?. let me stop and come to my recipe.
I had to post this 5 days back, basically I thought I will post it on the 8th which never happened, stuck with lot of things, to tell you the truth I had completely forgotten this team of bakers ''Sweet Punch'', it just happens isn't it, when your health keeps punching you often, I forget lot of things and priorities automatically change. when I saw the first post in my mail, I was very upset that I had forgotten and immediately set out to make this lovely biscotti, and decided I will post it the next day! and the next day slowly changed to 6 days!.
well, anyways here I am, I tweaked this recipe a little bit, just to make it more healthier, when ever I bake I try not to use plain flour as much as possible but not completely as because of its gluten content and use different flours as well, other wise recipe is just the same, If you have sweet tooth, I would suggest you can add more sugar, I really don't know if it works pretty well with plain flour, my kids said I could have added more sugar, but for me it was perfect.

Biscotti is an Italian cuisine : the Wiki gives you a detailed information on this....check out...

Biscotti (pronounced /bɪˈskɒti/, Italian pronunciation: [bisˈkɔtti]) more correctly known as biscotti di Prato (English: biscuits of Prato), also known as cantuccini(English: corners), are a twice-baked cake originating in the Italian city of Prato. The cakes are large almond biscuits, made dry and crunchy through cutting the loaf of dough while still hot and fresh from baking in the oven.

This is my first time with sweet punch and the september theme was ''Chocolate Almond Biscotti'' from Joy of baking, I had already made a biscotti with different flavours and eggless, I was into this as I love Joy of baking and my kids like these crunchy cakes and eat them as snacks when they come back from school. It's been quite sometime I made anything with egg, so I thought why not :)

CHOCOLATE ALMOND BISCOTTI

INGREDIENTS:
makes about 16 pieces
110 gms (3/4th Cup) Blanched whole Almonds
135 gms (2/3 cup) Sugar
2 Large Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
100 gms Plain flour
60 gms whole grain Rye flour
65 gms Oat flour ( Morn flake powdered in mixie)
100 gms Semi sweet chocolate

(Original recipe calls for 225gms/ 1 3/4th cup Plain flour)

My daughter clicked this close up from iphone!

METHOD:
As I had no ready made toasted almonds, I soaked almonds in hot water for 10 minutes, then peeled the skin off and spread it on a baking sheet set the oven to 180 degrees/Gas mark 5 and toasted it for 8-10 minutes until light golden and fragrant, and set aside. Once cool chop them into pieces
Take a baking sheet and line the parchment paper.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees/Gas mark 5/350 d F
In a bowl I took all the flours, salt and Baking powder and combined them well together and then sieved them twice, just to make sure they are well mixed.
In a large bowl, I whisked 2 Eggs and sugar until thick fluffy, the batter from the beater should fall in ribbons, at this point beat in vanilla extract.
Now add the flours, combine well then fold in chopped almonds and chocolate.
Transfer this dough on to the parchment lined baking sheet and form into a log, about 12'' long and 3 1/2'' wide, as you can see in my photo, I just dumped on to the sheet and with wet hands I pressed them down into that shape (that's what happens when you don't plan and bake late in the night!).
You have to dampen your hands to form a log as the dough is quite sticky!!
Bake for 25 minutes or until firm to touch, then remove it from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile Reduce your oven temperature to 165 degrees/Gas Mark 3/325 d F, Cut the baked log into 3/4'' slices on the diagonal. Place these biscotti cut side down, on the baking sheet and bake further for about 10 minutes then turn them over again and bake for another 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from oven and allow it cool and store it an air tight container

These are all the clicks my daughter took, I couldn't bin them as I told until you take photos no eating, she was so upset with me, she couldn't resist broke some pieces though, the smell was making them want to taste it :), they had no fat at all, such a guilt free recipe.
I had made a Biscotti long back, an eggless one, I will definitely post it soon check out...

Pasta, Pizza and Noodles Event - Round-up

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 14:30:00 +0000

Hi everybody, thank you for all your entries for this lovely ‘’Only Event’’ by Pari of Food delicious, I had wonderful and colourful entries for this event, some have out done with their creations, A Huge thank you to all my lovely girls who sent me this lovely entries and a big hug to you all. I am very delighted you all participated, and thanks for few of them who were kind enough to link some of their recipes to this event when I left a comment in their blog J.

FROM INDIA

1.Suvida of Suvidhas kitchen, sent me this entry with lot of veggies to tempt anybody’s taste buds

Recipe: Tomato Penne Pasta

2. Khushi from A Girl’s Diary, sent me this creamy pasta, that’s just like my kids would love.

Recipe: Pasta in White Sauce

3. Raksha Kamat of Raksha’s Kitchen, A very Desi touch to a Italian cuisine, which I should try some time

Recipe Name: Desi Pasta

4. Raksha Kamat of Raksha’s Kitchen, also sent a quick pizza, Any time pizza time

Recipe : Quick Crustless Pizza

5.PJ of Seduceurtastebuds, A perfect Italian cuisine, which we all love

Recipe: Tomato Basil Pasta

6. Sravani of Srav’s Culinary Concepts, Have a look at this, kids will love this, with a honey comb design!

Recipe Name: Thyme Pasta Frittata with Desi Touch

7. Siri P.of Cookingwith siri, A definite peak into her kitchen which you all should definitely should do as you would know something about olive oil and a wonderful simple recipe, you wouldn’t say no J

Recipe Name: Spaghetti Aglio Olio

8.Chandrani Banerjee, this is what we wouldn’t say no if you like your spices!

Recipe Name: Chilli Garlic Noodles

9.Vidya vardan of share the treasure, A quick simple twist from the long process of Pizza

Recipe Name Breadizza

10. Prathibha Garre of The Chef and Her Kitchen, Yup this is what I do almost every week!, I could have had her plate this week, with lot of veggies, A one pot meal.

Recipe Name: Chinese veg Hakka Noodles

11.Shilpa Dubey of Yummilicious food tummy, I never thought of making it this way, check out...

Recipe Name: Easy Pan Pizza

FROM UK

12. Nupur Mehra of UK- Rasoi, A quick and simple one, which nobody would mind right ?

Recipe: Tortilla Pizza

12. Nupur Mehra of UK- Rasoi, what else you want tomato and chilli pesto Mmm..., delicious

Recipe Name: Spaghetti in Tomato Chili Sauce

13. Nupur Mehra of UK-Rasoi, love ricotta and spinach what else do you want - A healthy irony touch!

Recipe Name: Pasta in Ricotta Cheese spinach Sauce

FROM US

14. Krithika Karthikeyan of Kriti’s Kitchen, Never tried this Rotella pasta, look at it what a beautiful shape and if you are like my kid you would love it with eggplant and Red pepper

Recipe Name: Rotella Pasta with Eggplant and red Pepper Pesto

15. Krithika Karthikeyan of Krithika’s Kitchen, must be tasting great with Roasted garlic and home made Marinara

Recipe Name: Spaghetti with Roasted Garlic and Homemade Marinara

16. Krithika Karthikeyan of Krithika’s Kitchen, here is the last one with the great sauce, that everybody likes!

Recipe Name: Pasta with White Sauce and Roasted Vegetables

17. Anu Shoj of Anuzhealthykitchen, Here is the one made from scratch, I made one and I know how it feels when you are making your own from scratch, check out.... what a colour and I need to try this too..

Recipe Name: Carrot Pasta with Carrot Ribbons

18. Anu Shoj of Anuzhealthykitchen, she got very carried away, now I have to make this too J, as it has Chocolate and Strawberry, what else do you want J J

Recipe Name: Eggless chocolate pasta with strawberry cream cheese and chocolate syrupJ

19. Anu Shoj of Anuzhealthykitchen, look at that lovely shapes!!

Recipe Name: Kids pasta car-train-bike-plain J

20.Anu Shoj of Anuzhealthykitchen, this is what I love, my favourite veggies, look at that so colourful and enchanting...

Recipe Name: Broccoli-green peas pizza

21. Denny D Nathan, of Ohtastensee , seems to going better and better, sun dried and almond!, that’s something I haven’t given a thought !

Recipe Name: Cappelletti with sundried tomatoes and Almond Pesto

22. Denny D.Nathan, of ohtastensee, look at that so beautiful, that is a must try, a very healthy one with sunflower seeds, this is on my Book Marked recipes as well J

Recipe Name: Pepita Pesto Pasta

23. Reva Madan of Kaarasaaram, I always loved her clicks, and of course the pasta she sent to, as one of my favourite veggie is Capsicum ( Peppers), the click has a rustic look ( the minute I saw I thought of all these chefs who come on TV - Jamie oliver/River bites etc..,, who cook in natures best place, out in the open air, on stones and in the midst of a forest or some lovely farm with Nature's reserves and the last shot would have been like this one right ?

Recipe Name: Pasta Capsicum Pockets

24. Vardhini Koushik of Vardhiniskitchen , an other eggplant with basil !!, try it out!

Recipe Name: Basil-pesto Egg plant pasta

25. Akhila from akilaskitchen, has completely given a new look to the Italian cuisine !!!!

Recipe Name: Pasta kheer

FROM SINGAPORE

26. Indrani of Recipe Junction, sent me one, two, three well no four Cheeses and baked veggies, My kids would be over the moon!

Recipe Name : Four cheese baked veg Pasta

27. Pari of Food delicious, sent me this healthy fusilli with two different sauces, as always she goes deep into her creations.

Recipe Name: Baked Fusilli in Marinara and Healthy Spinachy Bechamel sauce,

28. Pari of Food delicious sent me this cheesy yummy macaroni pasta, approved and stamped by her son, don’t we all go and stretch ourselves too much to please our kids and try our best to make them eat healthy food, so every food needs to be Tasted, approved by our kind hearted little Judges! and then blogged
Recipe Name: Restaurant style Cheese Macaroni J

Last by me, don't wonder if I made only one pasta dish for the whole month, life has been too good for me these days, By the time with everyday chores and by the end of the day, I always end of very tired, with health is on a roller coaster ride sometimes, I sometimes wonder what's happening, sometimes blogging takes a back stage and other things take priorities, totally my posting anything on the blog goes on as defintely one tomorrow to come some day.... so from tuesday the tomorrow ended to Saturday!.

Recipe Name: Peppers and onions with creamy Pasta

Thanks to Pari who gave me this lovely opportunity to guest host her event and I like to appreciate the will power of that lady, who has been very very busy, but still does stick to her commitments been very patient to me in her busy time she wrote to me about what I have done with my round up! :) (unlike me) is waiting for me to post my round-up so she can announce the winner of this event.

And a very many thanks to all my participants, meeting new friends along the way, and my best of luck to all of you, as pari will be announcing who has one the event giveaway.

Cheers and thanks, take care

Jayasri.

Peppers and Onions with Creamy Mascarpone cheese Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 22:19:00 +0000

Hi everybody, hope you all had a lovely weekend, you all must have been tired too like me, when you have festivals around, cooking, cleaning, etc.., Oooh!, me too, I too am soooo tired. I still have so many posts to catch, this is one from my draft, when I announced Parita's world, I was so disappointed I did not receive a single entry!, I love her blog so much and her as a person too., this creamy mascarpone cheese is one of her recipes my kids just love so much, I thank her for this recipe, I keep making this often. you try this and you will die for this too... If you are a pasta lover. I just tweeked the recipe a little bit to my kids taste.

Did you know something , Pasta cooked al dente has a lower Glycemic Index than the pasta cooked very soft so I found out googling!.

PEPPERS AND ONIONS WITH CREAMY MASCARPONE CHEESE SAUCE

INGREDIENTS:
2 Cups Spirally Pasta
1 tbsp of Basil leaves

FOR THE MASCARPONE CHEESE SAUCE:
2 tbsp Butter
2 tbsp plain Flour
1 Cup Milk
250 gms Mascarpone Cheese
1/2 cup Grated Cheddar cheese
Salt as required
1/2 tsp of Pepper

FOR THE VEGGIES:
2 tbsp Olive oil
2 Large Green Peppers
1 Medium sized onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp of Grated Ginger
1 tsp crushed chilli flakes

METHOD:
Cook Pasta as per instructions or until al dente ( it should be firm, not hard or not too soft).
In a wok or pan first heat 2 tbsp of Olive oil, add chopped Onion, Garlic and ginger and saute it for few minutes once they become transparent add chopped Green peppers and saute them in a high heat, they should not become soft but cooked crunchier. Just gives such a great a taste to the dish, then add salt as required and crushed chillies add it according to your taste if you don't want it you can omit it.
Take an other wok or pan heat 2 tbsp of butter once it melts Keep on low heat, add the flour and roast it for 3 to 4 minutes don't burn it , then start adding milk slowly until it gets well incorporated with no lumps keep on stirring continuously so that there are no lumps then add mascarpone cheese and mix it well until everything is combined properly, add required quantity of salt (remember you have already added some salt to your veggies) and pepper powder to taste, then add grated cheese and cook further for another 3 to 4 minutes until it reaches a saucy consistency,
Then to this sauce add the veggies mix well, pour this sauce over the cooked pasta, grate some more cheese and some torn Basil leaves for garnishing and serve it warm.
Mmm..., lovely, delicious Mum this is very nice.. was all the reaction I got from my kids!
Try it out tell if you liked it.... Check out some delicious recipes from her blog...

I am sending this to my own event only Pasta, pizza and noodles started by pari, guest hosted by me. sending this to herbs and flowers - Garlic by zesty palletes started by PJ.

Tawa Subzi

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 20:08:00 +0000

Hi everybody, I just disappeared again for a few days , struck with Headache, neck and back problems as usual, well, had to be back again, and posting late even though I cooked on time!, this of course is for Blog Hop Wednesdays of Radhika's of Tickling paletes, I was paired with Vaishali Sabnani of Ribbon's to Pasta's, A lovely blog with simple and beautiful recipes and some authentic punjabi Recipes, check out her blog.
Sorry Radhika for posting late, please do forgive me dear, First of all I need to thank Vaishali for this wonderful recipe, My kids told me to tell you that it was very good, for a good look of photos visit her blog please.
As you all know what Tawa is - Tawa is a Iron girdle for making chapatis, which you can see in my photo, that is my new Prestige Tawa, I bought it for making Dosas :), But the Tawa what vaishali talks about is a big flat one, for Tawa delicacies in Indian cooking for this photo again check her blog.
I got attracted to this recipe as I was looking some gravy to go with my chapati/pulkas, and this had loads of veggies, which was my great attraction., so I went ahead with this.., I just tweaked it a little bit...., here is the recipe, because as she says you can add any veggies and spices as you like.

TAWA SUBZI

INGREDIENTS:
FOR THE GRAVY PASTE:
800 to 900 gms of Tomatoes
3 Garlic Cloves
1 small Carrot
1 Bay leaf
5 to 6 Pepper corns
2 Medium sized onions
1'' Ginger
4 Green Chillies
3 Cloves/Lavung
a tiny tiny piece of star anise
1 tbsp Kasoori Methi
1/2 tsp of Cumin seeds
2 tbsp Oil
1 Cup of water

TO MARINATE VEGETABLES:
My tweaked version - for the original version check here
1 and 1/2 tbsp of Red chillies Powder
1/2 tbsp of Coriander powder
1/2 tbsp of Cumin powder
1 tbsp of Ginger-Garlic paste
1 tbsp Garam Masala powder
1 tsp Ajwain powder (cauliflower, Brinjal)
1 tsp Amchur powder ( Lady's finger/Bhindi)
3 to 4 tbsp of Curds
Almost 1/4 cup Besan flour/Chick pea flour

VEGETABLES:
I had around 3 to 4 cups of Vegetables
what I used in this Subzi were:
2 Green peppers
1 Yellow Pepper
1 Big Aubergine
1 Small Cauliflower head
Nearly 1 Kg of Bhindi/Lady's finger
5 to 6 Medium sized potatoes
150 gms of Paneer
Around 1/4 to 1/2 cup oil for cooking veggies

METHOD:
Cut the cauliflower into little florets (cook them in water with a bit of salt for 10 minutes), cut the capsicums (peppers) into slightly big chunks, Aubergines into big chunks too (once cut keep them in water until you use them), cut the Bhindi/Lady's finger into 2'' pieces and give it a slit in the middle, peel the skin of the potatoes, cut them into chunks (keep them in water until use).
Mix everything under Marinate well enough with a tsp of salt.
Drain water from the cauliflower florets and leave it for sometime so the water drains completely.
In a bowl take capsicums, potatoes and Brinjal/Aubergines chunks add 2 to 3 tbsp of the spice powder for marinating, mix well and keep aside, then do the same with all the veggies, just add Amchur powder to the Bhindis/Lady's finger.
Keep all these vegetables for 2 hours using up all the marinating spice completely. If left over add this to the Tomato gravy ( I had a bit left over I put it in the gravy and it helped in thickening the gravy too because of besan flour, just make sure about the spiciness but)
When the veggies are marinating in a wok, heat 2 tbsp of oil, add pepper corns, bay leaf, a tiny piece of star anise, Cumin seeds, ginger, garlic, chillies and onions then fry until they turn transparent then add chopped tomatoes and one carrot, with a cup of water close the lid and cook until well done in a low flame, check now and then that the curry doesn't dry out add some more water if needed ( I did not add any water as it was good to go).
Meanwhile while the Tomato gravy is in process, Take these marinated veggies, some of them like cauliflower and Baingan (aubergine) might have given out some water, you may add a bit more Besan flour to make it more stiff than gooey and fry them with 2 to 3 tbsp of oil, one by one, when you are cooking capsicum fry them in a high heat that gives a crunchiness, Add potatoes to the oil first fry for few minutes until it is semi cooked then add Aubergines mix well and close the lid with a tsp of salt and cook them in a low flame, mix now and then, until well done.
Now make the Tomato Gravy: when you are in the process with the veggies, Tomatoes would have got cooked really quickly, with everything in it, take it off the stove and allow it to cool. Using a blender/mixie, removing the Bay leaf blend everything well together into a smooth paste, filter and take the pith squeeze out all the juice and blend it again then add 1/4 cup of water and blend it again, filter again and throw away the left over pith.
Heat a pan with oil, Add this Tomato gravy to the wok taste it, adjust salt add Garam Masala, chilli powder and I added a tbsp of Pav bhaji masala for an extra kick to the dish, add finely chopped coriander leaves, mix well boil it for a few minutes, taste again for the right taste... Mmm..., that's delicious ready to go on the plate with all the roasted vegetables.

This is how you have to serve says Vaishali...
Arrange all the vegetables (Check out her blog for a good click of what she says) in a circle, pour the tomato gravy either on top of it or in the middle or in a bowl and when serving on your plate take the veggies and the gravy to top it and enjoy it with your choice of Naans, parathas, rotis or pulkas etc...
It was fabulous definitely give it a try..,
will see you soon with the next blog hop wednesday ( it's day after tomorrow!)

Hamantashen

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 00:26:00 +0000

I can’t believe it, it is already nearing the end of August and it is already the reveal day for SRC , I was not even ready for this as I wasn’t doing well from some days, I just made this yesterday night, Going through Kosher cooking for ordinary people quite an interesting journey, simple recipes with beautiful clicks, she has two blogs, check both of them when you have time, Lovely blog, lot of lovely baking too.., I have Bookmarked a few, I wanted to make something which was unique and something close to her home and heart, I came to know that she is a Jewish and this was traditional sweet during Purim, during Jewish festival.

The lovely things I enjoyed seeing in her blog was her kids enjoy making these and trying to bake with their little hands and smiling was much fun to see.

When I was googling I found a lot of things and different recipes and fillings for this pastry too...

This has a little story; it’s the celebration of good triumphing over evil, intelligence and courage trumping greed and oppression. It’s based on a story that took place some 2500 years ago, when evil Haman’s plan to annihilate the Persian Jews was foiled, he was hung on the gallows he himself had constructed.

During Purim there are many wonderful foods associated with it, Filled foods such as Hamantashen are typical, as they represent the intrigue associated with Queen Esther and Uncle Mordechai’s uncovering of Haman’s wicked plot. Sweet foods convey our wishes for a sweet future. Sephardic Jews eat cookies that are fried or baked in the shape of Haman’s ear, which was purported to be twisted and triangular in shape, Ashkenazi Jews enjoy fruit or nut filled triangular shaped cookies or pastries – a shape said to represent Haman’s hat, Haman’s pocket or alternatively the three patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

What fascinated me was the Poppy seeds in their traditional filling!, It’s been said that Poppy seeds were the popular ingredient in Purim confections, aside from their general widespread use in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, the seeds are said to be the only food Esther consumed during her three-day fast prior to revealing Haman’s plot to the king. Some say poppy seeds also symbolize the promise God made to Abraham to have offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sand of seashore- the antithesis of annihilation.

Mohn or poppy seed filling with a mixture of ground poppy seeds, milk, sugar or honey, raisins and nuts was popular addition to triangle cookies in medieval central Europe and the finished confections were known as Mohntashen or poppy seed pockets. Iti is said that because these cookies sounded like the name ‘’Haman’’, Hamantashen (or Haman’s pockets) thereby became adopted in the 11^th century as the first unofficial purim treat.

When I saw this filling I was so interested well, for our Indian sweets we use poppy seeds, that got me hooked and I decided i am going to try this recipe only thing was I substituted it with oil and made a quarter of this recipe. I rolled it out very thin, so it was a little crispy but I really got confused few sites said that need to be crispy but some said more like a cookie (softer version), anyways it turned out really well, I liked the poppy seed filling, but I made little ones with Nutella filling too.., just for my kids to enjoy.

Here is the recipe for this delightful dish...

This recipe is very flexible as she says you can add flour until it is non sticky I might have added around 180 grams of flour.

HAMANTASHEN - JEWISH COOKIE FOR PURIM

FOR THE DOUGH:

5 ½ - 7 Cups flour (I used 1 and 3/4^th Cup, I added little more to make it non sticky)

3 Eggs (plus one extra for egg wash if desired) ( I used only one egg)

2 sticks margarine (i used ½ Cup Oil)

1 cup sugar (1/4 cup sugar)

½ Orange juice (2 tbsp Orange Juice)

1 tsp vanilla extract (1/2 tsp vanilla extract)

1 tbsp Baking powder (1 tsp Baking powder)

FILLING:

½ Cup Evaporated milk

4 tbsp of Mapel syrup

I had around 2 cups of coarsely grated nuts such as pistachios, Almonds, cashews, poppy seeds, Pecans, Dates and I added some Raisins in it, but I had also added some sweetened coconuts too, so I really Can’t give exact measurements for this.

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 325 degree/Gas mark 4

Combine all the dough ingredients in the bowl as I have no stand mixer I had to mix by my spatula and then used my hand, if you have a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, start with 5 ½ cups and work your way up to 7 cups if needed, just use the flour until it is well combined and not sticky any more, I started with 160 gms and then kept on using extra flour until I reached that consistency so I used around 180-190grams of flour.

After I did the dough I rolled it in a plastic wrap and kept it in the fridge for 2 hours, when I was Googling I found that if you leave the dough overnight, it really works very well.

After 2 hours I took it out and with little balls I made small round discs put in the filling and folded it into a triangle, it is very important about the sealing, wet the circle with water, overlapping and pinching the ends seal the pastry case well, so when you are baking they don’t open up and become messey, check here for the folding techniques.

METHOD FOR THE FILLING:

In a pan I boiled ½ Cup of Evaporated milk with 4 tbsp of Maple syrup and I added 1 Cup of my chopped nuts and poppy seed mixture and in a low flame I kept stirring until it became thick like a halwa consistency.

Arrange these filled cookies on a Baking sheet with parchment paper for 15- 20 minutes, half way through turn the baking sheet, until it turn golden in colour (mine did not turn golden, but you would know that it is well done), If you give a Egg-wash it gives a lovely shine to the cookies, I just brushed it with milk.

Once completely baked remove them on to a cooling rack, and enjoy eating them.....

Here are a few links if you are interested

Cooking Hamantashen by Tina D. wasserman

Classicaly Kosher

Cup cake project

Thanks to Amanda and her team for this lovely concept and how I love to see the next one soon, If you want to see what others been doing in the Secret Recipe Club check out..., Thanks to Angela of Big Bear's wife for organizing our team, check out below what our team has done....

Baking Quark Mousse cake with Roasted Balsamic Strawberries from PAB

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:49:00 +0000

Hi everybody, I know I have been posting just cakes all the time!, as I want to finish my T and T project, I have to do this!, So soon I can post the round-up from PAB's blog, Did you read it right ?, Had a lovely time baking this cake and the drawings, It was fun spending time with the kids with this!, we all enjoyed baking and eating :), I had an eye on her signature from a very long time, and really wanted to try it out, and I did it. Only we wee bit got carried away and the left over we squeezed it all over the cake! :)
It's always just the weather makes me sore to do anything, well, by the way today, we have lot of sunshine, I have just decided I will enjoy it till it lasts. You need to check out her blog HERE for beautiful photos of this really yummy cake and of course her signature too...

BAKING QUARK MOUSSE CAKE WITH ROASTED BALSAMIC STRAWBERRIES

FOR THE SPONGE CAKE

Make 2 sponges (this recipe is for one 7.5’’ cake)

3 Eggs

½ Cup sugar

½ Vanilla Bean scrapped (I used 1 tsp vanilla extract)

½ Cup Plain Flour

METHOD:

Line 2 X 7.5’’ round tins with Baking parchment
preheat the oven to 180 °C/Gas mark 4

In a Clean large bowl beat the eggs with sugar and vanilla extract until thick and mousse like, then Gently fold in the flour in making sure you don’t lose volume, (she says she dumps the flour in one go, as she makes this so often like her basic cooking!, but I did not do like her as my baking mostly egglessJ, so I added the flour gradually, 2 tbsp at a time to make sure it mixes thoroughly and doesn’t lose volume).

When completely incorporated turn the batter gently into the prepared tin, and bake until done for about 20-25 minutes or until the tester comes out clean.
Once baked take it out of the oven, cool on racks for few minutes, then turn out from tins gently and allow it to cool completely before the filling.

This was another fabulous filling which she got inspired by BBC Good Food

QUARK MOUSSE FILLING Inspired by BBC Good Food

400gms quark Cheese

200 ml low fat cream (I used full fat)

½ cup powdered sugar

1 vanilla bean scraped (I used 1 tsp vanilla extract)

1 Cup Roasted Balsamic Strawberries (Recipe here)

METHOD:

Beat the quark cheese with powdered sugar and scraped vanilla bean until smooth, then taste and adjust sugar if required, whip the cream to soft peaks, and fold into the whipped quark cheese. Add the roasted balsamic strawberries (you can reserve ¼ cup for topping), and gently fold in to mix thoroughly.

Topping on the Cake

100ml low fat cream

2-3 tbsps powdered sugar

METHOD:

Whip cream with sugar to medium peaks

Lime-Sugar Syrup

¼ cup sugar

½ cup water

Juice of 1 Lime

METHOD:

Boil for 5 minutes till sugar melts. Add the lime juice. Allow to cool.

TO ASSEMBLE THE CAKE:

Slice the sponges horizontally into two. Brush each layer with lime-sugar syrup as you work. Sandwich the layers with the quark mousse, and cover the sides with it too.

And what did I do her Signature recipe adding Lace Border!!!, Wow it came out so well, my kids got carried away, they did not want to stop as it was chocolate, and we tasted it so that’s it J, we scribbled it all over the cake, that’s it you are not able to see the strawberry topping on it!!, or do as she has done, cover the top with whipped cream and top with some jellied roasted balsamic strawberries.

Finish the top and edges off with chocolate shavings or whatever you fancy

Chill well before serving so that the flavours mature and Mmmm.., tastes very good, which you will love!

MY VERDICT: of course my kids and family LOVED IT..... Mmm....., J J J hahahaha

They just loved it, and both the fillings in both the cakes were so very delicious!!

Thank you so much Deeba, for this wonderful recipe, and would I make it again Yay! YES OF COURSE..., I enjoyed your signature drawing so much, I am so pleased with myself that I tried.

Oops I forgot something, I made this for my own event - T and T - Passionate about baking, by kitchen chronicles and zlamushka and also to Anu's event - Berries - Strawberries, Hearth and soul, and to Priya and Aipi's Bookmarked recipes and also to Jacqueline and Ruth's Book Marked recipes

Baking Barbara's old fashioned chocolate cake with Balsamic strawberry & Cream filling - Eggless

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 22:02:00 +0000

Hi every body, how are you all doing J, It’s high time I posted my Tried and Tested , rather I should say tasted recipes, this was another one I baked from Deeba’s blog. This was an Eggless desert as the Title says and of course from whom it’s been adapted.

My Verdict: What a delightful cake, I was little wondering when it called for 2 cups of hot water and the cake dough was so watery!, But then I thought, One is avid Baker ( Barbara Bakes) and the other one is a passionate baker, twice tested and definitely would never fail. Have you seen what Deeba has written in left hand side column of her blog, which I always love reading every time I go to her blog, it says –

Blog bakers, blog bakers, bake as fast as you can, make it and bake it, Ice it and spice it and mark it with ‘B’, pop it on to the blog for Bakers and me

Isn’t it lovely ? J

Two blog bakers what can something go wrong, I made two cakes out of the same recipe, one I made Chocolate Based and the other one a plain one, as they were quite Big Cakes and I will have a hard time to finishing them off as too much sweet is not welcome at home. She asks you to prepare two cakes so you get four layers and the filling for each layer, pop into her blog for most beautiful photos and how she has done it or should I say created it, please do not compare with mine!

I did make the cake and then the frosting, but the decorating I had little helpers who helped themselves in decorating their own they wanted to try what deeba had done but it was in vain as my second daughter did something with beating the cream, well whatever it was the cream was so delicious and cake too....

I have copied the recipe to the tee...

Here is how it goes.....

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CHOCOLATE CAKE:

3 Cups All purpose flour

1 3/4^th cups of Sugar

½ Cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp Baking soda

1 tsp Salt

2 Cups hot water

3/4^th Cup Vegetable oil

2 tbsp distilled white vinegar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 180° C, line the bottom of 1 9" Spring form tin round cake pan.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, Baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.

Do not use a mixer.

Next combine water, oil, vinegar and vanilla in a large bowl. Add to the dry ingredients and whisk just until combined, try to have no lumps if you have its ok she says, but I saw to it that they don’t have any lumps.

Now put the batter into the prepared tins, then bake until a tooth pick inserted in the centre comes out clean, It really takes a long time so don’t panic it nearly took 50-60 minutes that’s my oven I suppose (her timing is 35-40 minutes for each cake.

Cool the cake on a rack for 15 minutes then invert them onto the rack, Leave the cake upside down (this helps in flattening the domed cakes) to cool completely.

I slice it into two layers and sandwich with Balsamic Strawberry and Cream filling recipe for this is below J

After the filling rest the cake in the fridge for about ½ an hour, and then frost with chocolate Ganache to which recipe follows below J

BALSAMIC STRAWBERRY AND CREAM FILLING:

INGREDIENTS:

300ml Low fat cream ( I just used Ordinary one)

200 gm strawberries, chopped

¼ Cup sugar ( I added a bit more after tasting it, as I thought my kids might it prefer more sweetness)

1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1-2 tbsp powdered sugar

METHOD:

Place strawberries, sugar and balsamic vinegar in a sauce pan, and simmer till it becomes thick and jam like, I added vanilla extract in the end, and let it simmer for few more minutes . The cool it completely, beat cream to medium stiff peaks and gently fold in cooled strawberry mixture, taking care not release the volume of the cream.

This one is super, my kids loved it, thanks Deeba for this lovely cream filling

CHOCOLATE GANACHE

200 gms dark chocolate, room temperature

150 ml low fat cream, room temperature

METHOD:

In a double boiler method I melted the chocolate and 100ml of cream or you can microwave 30-40 seconds in a heat proof bowl. Stir well to combine both into a smooth Ganache, give the cake one basic thin coating with this and reserve some for piping decorations. Add the remaining 50 ml cream and mix until smooth.

If you want to see the lovely Clicks log on to her website for the pleasant to heart, eyes and soul clicks of this beautiful cake here is the link http://www.passionateaboutbaking.com/2011/04/bakingbarbaras-old-fashioned-chocolate-cake-with-
balsamic-strawberry-cream-filling-eggless.html

I am sending this to my own event Tried and Tested from Deeba's Blog of Passionate about Baking event of zlamushka's taken care of Lakshmi of Kitchen Chronicles and also ''Only Baked'' event started by Pari of foodelicious and hosted by Harini of Tamalapaku. I am sending this to Anu's event Berries - Strawberries

Bloggers Marathon # 3 - Parita's World

noreply@blogger.com (Jayasri Ravi) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 14:33:00 +0000

Hi everybody, updated on August 26th:
As I haven't received a single entry for this event from Parita's world I have decided to extend the event till the 31st of August, Hope to see if anybody is willing to participate

Hi everybody, Just now I announced by Only Event of Pari, I am back with my own project of ''Bloggers Marathon'', which I had left unattended from few months, I want to start it back again so I could cover at lot of bloggers as much as possible, Looking at the blogs growning it seems light years for me to stop this event!!.

Coming back to the event, My own event and my favourite event and of course one of my favourite blogger, is a very happy thing, can you believe, I had kept this in my draft from April before I went to India!.

I love her blog, and her as a person, she has a fabulous blog, again like my T and T, She is a blogger who bakes a lot, and if you love to bake, here is one blog you will love. I love to say I baked my first cake from her blog and so immensely enjoyed by the whole family and did I tell you I made this cake twice and sent it to H's office who also enjoyed it so much and my H loved it so much, he kept saying it was Gorgeous, and I loved it so much because of the flavour and fruit in it, It is one my favourite cakes, I never posted this cake, but surely will make again and post it soon, at least for this event, I even tried my first Eggless cake from her blog, which gave me a boost to all my Eggless bakes, I love her blog and I hope you all love her blog too..., A pure vegetarian blog with lot of lovely recipes, try out some of her recipes and send it to me.

BLOGGERS MARATHON # 3 - PARITA of Parita's World

As always we have to follow little rules:

As you all know that this is a ''ONLY ORIGINAL RECIPE EVENT'' and you know what it means the recipes from her blog should be hers/her family members/books, But, the Recipes she has tried out from any other blogs are not allowed as you know I want to cover every blogger out there in this marathon, that is why I do not want recipes tried out from other bloggers.

I do not want any recipes to be tweaked, stick to the Original recipe as much as possible. Do not try to change unless you have problems finding Ingredients and also you can are allowed to change veggies or fruits in the recipes.

Send me any number of entries Fresh or Archieved, but just do not forget to Link the post to my Event Page, and the Logo displayed in the post is mandatory, which will help spreading the Event Announced.

Running the Marathon with Blogger : Parita of Parita's world (http://paritaskitchen.blogspot.com)

This is a fortnightly event : August 1st - August 15th

Please send me

Your Name

Your Blog's Name
URL link of the recipe post

Picture of the recipe (300px)

Only Vegetarian Recipes Accepted (well as parita's blog is Vegetarian blog no need to worry)

Egg allowed.

Non Bloggers can also participate, in which case you have to just mail me your recipe and a click of the same to cookingisdivine@gmail.com , I will post it for you on your behalf.

Please do not forget this is a ''ONLY ORIGINAL RECIPES EVENT''., any quires please contact me...

Hop on to her kitchen and browse through her blog for some wonderful recipes....

C u soon... take care.