The Brave Cook

Khandvi - A Gujarati snack

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 19:59:00 +0000

We are hungry. There is nothing that proves this more than the fact that I havent been able to click a single photograph of a dish before wolfing it down over the past months. Blogging requires discipline and blogging about food requires restraint both of which have been happily absent in my world for some time now. My little boy is 7 months old and time flew like the blink of an eye. My sweet daughter is nearly 7 years old and is discerning when it comes to food. But to my delight, she is imbibing tolerance in her approach to home cooked food. For her nothing compares to home cooked food which is a boon but can be a pain on days when I want to take off. I love her and love cooking for her. She is my biggest cheer leader when it comes to making new dishes. But she is not the worst critic since she will only procrastinate eating anything she doesnt like by looks or taste.

Yesterday I made a nice little snack for those after school hunger pangs. It was in her favourite colour too!
Khandvi is a gujarati snack made out of besan (chickpea flour) and butter milk mainly. Thin rolls of the cooked flour served seasoned, with or without a delicious filling. I thinned home made yogurt to obtain butter milk. Since bland or sweet tastes are not appreciated in my house, I spiced up the dish with heat from green chillies.

The only decision point in this dish is when the flour is ready to spread. And the other important note to remember is to use ungreased surface for spreading. I went through a few blogs which said the surface has to be greased but with that I could not roll at all. I wasted atleast 10-15 mins thinking the batter was not ready for the spread. But as soon as I wiped off the grease and spread, I could roll easily. Hence a word of warning.
Stuffing in khandvi is optional and can be left plain. Folks at my house did not relish it without the stuffing so I didnt have much of a choice but to add filling. I personally liked either.
I have also provided some pictures of the stages of the batter while cooking. Spreading and rolling pictures are also provided. Hope that helps.

Khandvi

Recipe adapted from here
Servings: 16 - 18 rolls (2 inches in width)
Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients

1 cup Besan (Chick pea flour)
3/4 cup thick Yogurt
2 1/4 cup Water
2 tsp Lime juice
1/2 - 1 tsp Turmeric
Pinch of Hing
1/2 tsp Salt or to taste

Grind

3- 4 Green chillies
1/2 inch Ginger

Stuff

1 cup Coriander (cut fine)
1/4 cup grated Coconut (optional)

Season

3 tsp Oil
2 tsp Mustard seeds
2 Green chillies (cut very fine)
20 Curry leaves (cut very fine)

Instructions

Coarse grind green chillies and ginger with a couple of spoons of water.
Mix coriander and coconut required for the suffing
Keep the flat spreading surface ready. I used backs of steel thali plates as well as aluminium foil and both worked very well. Do not grease them.
Add water to the yogurt and mix well using a wire whisk or a fork.
To this add the ginger chilli paste, turmeric, hing and salt and mix well.
Now add the besan in while stirring and ensure that there are no lumps formed. Whisk till it is a smooth batter. Atlernately use an electric beater to make life easier.
Cook this batter in a heavy bottomed vessel, on low heat, while continously stirring. The batter should not become lumpy or stick to the bottom of the vessel.
Continue to stir and cook while the batter becomes thick.
The readiness of the batter can be checked by spread a spoonful on a plate. Wait for around five minutes for it to cool and then roll from the edge. If it rolls it is ready else cook some more.
When the batter is ready, work fast to spread it on the surfaces. The batter should not become overtly thick since it becomes difficult to spread. Ofcourse we do have a window of 5-10 mins. I took that much time to spread it on all available surfaces and the batter had not become thicker or harder.
Take a blob of the batter and spread it using a spatula on to the flat surface. Spread it thin.
Leave it to cool for nearly 10 mins.
If making a stuffed khandvi, then spread the stuffing evenly on top of the cooled batter.
Slice the spread batter into long strips, around 2 inches wide.
Pick up the end of the strip, at the shorter end and start rolling.
Place all the rolls onto a serving plate.
Now prepare the seasoning by heating oil in a heavy bottomed vessel, add in mustard seeds.
When the seeds crackle, add in finely cut green chillies and curry leaves.
Spoon the filling onto the rolls.
Serve Khandvi warm.
Khandvi can also be prepared ahead of time. Refridgerate the rolls, warm (I used microwave oven) and season before serving.

Spiced Mini Apple Pies

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 22:04:00 +0000

It is the beginning of fall here and the weather is absolutely lovely. Warm days compliment cooler nights. Happiness compliments the rash of colours in the nature around us. But the icing on the cake is that Deepavali compliments Halloween! Indian houses here in the US are beautifully decorated with fall adornments and halloween spooks and the entranceways are bathed perfectly in the light emanating from Deepavali diyas.
Such joy to share the festival of lights with all the pumpkins and "Mohabbatein" leaves!
Most of all, this is the first Deepavali for our two month old sonny boy. I simply could not allow the festival to roll by without celebrating to the maximum extent possible amidst all the newborn chores and chaos.

My dear family esp the hubby abhors sweet food in any form. Except for the occasional Mysore Pak. The darling dotzy has only now begun to relish sweets but mostly prefers baked goods to the traditional Indian fare. Hence I decided to kick start the Deepavali food fest with the Apple pie. It falls easy on the pallette and is so warm that it automatically fills you with love. Adding a twist to the classic and making it less sweet suits our tastes. Baking a pie is like an experience. The whole house is awash with the wonderful smell, the taste buds thank us and is appetizing to look at. I love the crusty flaky exterior of a pie so much that I could eat just the crust and be very happy. Given a choice of a 9 inch pie/cake or muffin sized portions I always tend to choose the latter since its easier to store and gets consumed real fast. Size is inversely proportional to the want in our house. That is how we ended up with mini spiced apple pies!

The pie dough recipe in this post is a keeper. It is extremely flaky and has a nice crust without being hard. It can be used as the go-to dough for all kinds of filling- spicy,veggie, sweet, salty. The recipe makes enough for a 9 inch pie base and the pie topper. Alternately it makes enough for 12 mini pie bases and their tops.

Spiced Mini Apple Pies

Servings: 12 mini pies (standard muffin size)
Prep Time: 45 mins (including cooling time) Cook Time: 35 mins

Ingredients

For the Pie Dough

2 cups All Purpose Flour (or substitute half Whole Wheat flour, I have done this and it remains delicious)
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/8 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 cup Chilled Yogurt (replaces 1 egg)
3/4 cup Chilled butter cut into cubes (can be reduced to 1/2 cup if desired)
2 tbsp Sugar (increase to 5 tbsp if a sweet crust beckons)
2 tbsp Chilled Water
Pinch of Salt

For the Apple Pie filling

2 Gala Apples (the apple really held up well and did not get mushy when baked for 35 mins)
3-4 tsp Lemon Juice
1/4 tsp Cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp Nutmeg powder
1/3 cup Sugar

Instructions

For the Pie Dough

Mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar
Drop in the chilled butter cubes and lightly mix it into the flour till the mixture is crumbly. I used my fingers for this and it took around 5 minutes.
Add in the chilled yogurt and mix. The dough should start coming around.
If required mix in the chilled water one tbsp at a time till a ball of dough is formed.
Do not knead the mix. Merely collect the dough to form a ball.
Cling wrap the dough and refrigerate for 30 mins.
If refrigerated for more time the dough becomes harder. Allow dough to rest on the counter till it is pliable before using.

For the Apple pie filling

Toss all the ingredients for the filling together.
Do not mix it a lot in advance since the juice from the apples oozes out which could make the pie soggy.

Making the Pie

Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease a muffin tray lightly.
I use a trick to make it easier to get the pies out after they are done - Place strips of foil in the muffin cup with ends hanging out. The pies can later be pulled out using the over hanging tabs.
Roll out the pie dough between two sheets of parchment (to make cleaning simpler) to a thin sheet. I kept it at 1/5 inch thick but it could be made thicker upto 1/4 inch.
To make mini pies, cut out rounds from the dough sheet around an inch bigger than the size of the muffin cup.
Insert it into the muffin cup and lightly press against the walls of the cup to make a pie base. (It is easier to close the pie if the pie base juts out of the muffin cup.)
Put in one and half tbsp of the filling into the pie base
Cut out another round of dough which is slightly smaller than the first one.
Cover the pie with this and press all around to seal the pie.
At the point you could make the edges fluted or press all around the edge using a fork.
With a knife make small slits on the pie top to help bake the filling nicely.
Brush the top with some milk to prevent dryness while baking
Bake at 350 F for 30 - 35 minutes till the top has browned and you can see the filling bubbling inside. Mostly you could go by the heavenly smell and know its done!
Serve warm or cold. We like both ways.

Vegan Banana Nut Bread

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 04:10:00 +0000

In the recent weeks there hasnt been a situation of over ripe bananas in our house. But last week we went on a camping trip to Arkansas where I had carried a bunch of bananas but half a dozen remained uneaten given the variety of food we had there. We were an enthusiastic group making upma and bhelpuri among other delectables, at the camp. It was a lovely time beside the river. The river itself was shallow at the camp site and there were innumerable small size fishes swimming around our legs. The whole gang enjoyed playing in the water and swimming with the fishes.

By the time we came back home, due to the heat, the bananas were all over ripe and I had to find a way to use them without throwing out the whole lot. I mentioned banana bread and to my surprise my daughter was overjoyed. I have no idea what caused the change of heart in the non-sweet eater but I wasnt going to let this chance get away. I baked the bread that very night and as is always the case with banana baked goods, it came out very well. We all enjoyed a healthy dessert that night and it lasted well for the next four days with refreidgeration.

Vegan Banana Nut Bread

Servings: One 4*8 loaf
Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 35 - 45 mins

Ingredients

4 very ripe bananas
1 cup Whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup All purpose flour
1/2 cup Vegetable oil
1/2 cup Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla essence
1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup nuts (walnuts, almonds)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F
Grease a 4*8 loaf tin with a little oil or line it with parchment paper
Mash the bananas to fine and add in oil and sugar and mix well. Add in the vanilla extract and mix well.
Sieve the flours, baking soda and baking powder and mix well and keep aside
Add salt to the flour and mix well
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix till it comes together. Do not overmix.
Fold in the nuts
Pour the mix into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 35 - 45 mins till a skewer inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. (My oven took 45 mins)
Slice it up and serve warm.
It also tastes good as a base to a trifle or with ice-cream.

Bean and Oat Veggie Burger

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 03:13:00 +0000

When the need of the hour is to make your little one eat nutritious food without much fuss, the Burger is the way to go. Simple, easy to make and extra delicious. Put a large dollop of tomato sauce inside the burger, for the kiddies and it goes in faster!

This burger is high in protein what with all the beans, lentils and oats. I used a combination of red kidney beans, black eyed beans, green channa dal, yellow channa dal, double beans, some other variety of bean that I dont recognise and green moong beans. The burger can also be made with very little oil and I mainly used oil to shallow fry the patty.
These burgers can be extra filling because of the beans. I served them with a portion of coleslaw instead of fries to round it off as a healthy efficient meal.

Bean and Oat Veggie Burger

Servings: 9 Patties
Prep Time: Cook Time:

Ingredients

1 cup Mixed beans
1/2 cup Green Moong beans
2 small Potatoes (optional)
1 small onion (cut in rings or jullienne)
1 tomato cut in slices
1 cucumber cut in slices
1/4 cup Oats flour
2 tsp Red Chilli powder
1/2 tsp Garam Masala
1/4 tsp Aamchoor (Dried Mango powder)
1/2 tsp Cumin Coriander powder
1/2 cup Coriander Chutney (optional)
1/2 cup Tomato sauce (optional)
9 tsp Oil
Salt to taste

Instructions

Pressure cook soaked beans along with potatoes upto 3 whistles
Mash the cooked beans and potatoes
Add in all the spices and salt and mix well
Add in the oats flour and mix well.If the mixture is still having a paste like consistency add in more flour to make it drier
Take an onion sized piece of the patty mixture and pat it to a flat round of 2 1/2 inch diameter and 1/2 inch thickness
Shallow fry on a heated skillet by drizzling a little oil around it
Let it fry for a couple of minutes on medium-low flame, flip it and shallow fry the other side with a little bit of oil
Once its nicely done, remove from skillet and keep aside
Repeat the preparation of patty with the rest of the mixture.

To assemble the burger

Slice a burger in half and toast it in the toaster for a minute to get it nice and crisp. Alternately roast the inside of the bun on a hot skillet with some butter lathered on
Spread the inside of the bottom half with coriander chutney
Top it with onion slices
Place the burger patty on top of the onion, spread a little tomato sauce and top it off with tomato and cucumber slices
Place the upper half of the bun right on top

Quick soak for beans

Wash the mixed beans a couple of times in water
Place it in a vessel and cover with water upto 2 inches over the beans
Boil the water and then remove vessel from stove, cover and leave to soak for an hour
The beans would have softened and are ready to be cooked further. Wash and ready to use.
Soaking decreases the cooking time of the beans

Spiced Whoopie Pies

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 04:23:00 +0000

It is with absolute pleasure that I write this post. I am hosting the Feb '14 episode of the Home Bakers Challenge, another brain child of the ever so creative Priya Suresh.
In keeping with the occurence of Valentine's day I presented a variety of "to-bake" items to all those who were willing to participate. The underlying theme was to bake stuff which were different from the regular V-day fare including
1) French Macaroons
2) Whoopie Pies
3) Neapolitan Cakes
4) Cheesecake Cupcakes
The main reason for choosing the list above were because I wanted to try out eggless versions of all of these. For various reasons my baking has become few and far between, therefore I managed to concoct only one bake. I had to choose the easiest recipe, for reasons strong, and since I cannot eat cheese at the moment I chose Whoopie Pies!

Before I ventured out to make a red velvet whoopie pie or any other sweet whoopie pie, I took a vote and my family unanimously chose a spicy fare. So I twisted the ingredients around to get a spicy cookie halves and even used onion-chive cream cheese filling for one. It turned out delicious. This was really a rare case of having only a few minutes before all the cookies and whoopie pies were cleaned off the plate! My joy knew no bounds! The aroma of ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg is exactly what you need in your house on a cold winter's day and mine was snowing to boot.

Spiced Whoopie Pies

Servings: 20 cookies or 10 Whoopie pies
Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 12 mins

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
3/4 cup Cane Sugar (Or 1/2 cup Cane Sugar and 1/2 cup dark molasses)
3 tsp grated fresh Ginger (or 2 tsp Ground ginger)
1 tsp ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 tsp Salt
1/3 cup Vegetable Oil
1/4 cup Yogurt
1/3 cup Boiling water

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 deg F.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper
Combine flour, sugar, (molasses if used), ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, baking soda in a bowl
Mix in oil, yogurt until well combined
Pour in boiling water and mix until smooth
Drop dough in balls on prepared cookie sheet with 1 inch space between each
Bake in oven for about 12 mins untill slightly puffy and golden
The cookies will be soft when removed from the oven and will continue to harden a bit.
Cool on the cookie sheet for 5-7 mins before cooling completely on a rack
Once the cookies have cooled completely apply filling on the bottom of a cookie and place another similar sized cookie on top of the filling.
Chill it for 10 mins in the fridge if its gets a little runny or is a warm day
I used store bought cream cheese and Nutella for the filling. The sweet of the chocolate and then tang of the cream cheese blended perfectly with the spiced cookies!

CWS Event - Cooking with Seeds - Avarekaalu/Hyacinth Bean

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 01 Mar 2014 13:31:00 +0000

I am excited to announce my first event as a guest host! I am hosting the CWS (Cooking with Seeds) event for the month of March '14. This event, or should I call it tradition, was started by Priya Suresh of Priya's Versatile Recipes and anyone who looks for recipes online knows this website only too well. As the name suggests she has the most versatile spread of delectables on her blog!

The seed I choose for the event is the "Avarekalu". Also known as the Hyacinth Bean, it is one of the tastiest seeds and can be incorporated into a variety of everyday recipes. The seeds can be used as is or the skin can be removed to use the soft flesh parts inside. The most common recipes include Sambhar, Upma, Pongal, Curry, Masala. All we need to do is cook using the seed and our imagination and link your entry to this post.

(Thanks to Priya Suresh for the logo)

The event rules are as follows…

The event runs from 1 to 31 March 2014.

You can cook anything from. It can be a starter, main dish, side dish, dessert or any other recipes.

Bloggers, please link your recipes using the linky tool below.

Recipe must be linked to this page and CWS event announcement which is mandatory.

Usage of logo is appreciated for all entries as it would help spread the word.

I would request linking Vegetarian recipes only since my blog is strictly vegetarian.

You can submit as many recipes as you wish.

Archived recipes can also be submitted when updated with the event details.

Not mandatory, but will be highly appreciated if you can like us on Facebook for updates and recipes.

Non bloggers can send in their recipes to my email siriroop@gmail.com with following details: your name, recipe name and details.

An InLinkz Link-up

Vegan Jewish Apple Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 15 Dec 2013 21:38:00 +0000

Home Bakers Challenge presented a very interesting recipe of apple cake and it was to be Jewish. At the outset, the recipe did not present anything "different" to classify it as Jewish and I was intrigued. After going through a lot of forums, I gleaned that one of the rules of Kashrut (Jewish Dietary law) upon which Kosher foods are based, is that Meat and Dairy should not be mixed at a meal. This might explain why this cake is called so because it uses oil instead of butter and does not use any milk in it.

In my drive to make it Egg free, I have substituted the eggs simply with Ener-G replacer.
I have also substituted half the fat with applesauce making this a very healthy recipe. The cake keeps well in the refridgerator, in an air tight container, for atleast a week from personal experience.
I was overstocked with apples left over from a fruit salad made for a pot-luck, languishing in the fridge till this challenge came along to rescue them!

Vegan Jewish Apple Cake

Servings: 1 9-inch cake
Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time:

Ingredients

3-4 Medium sized Apples (I used Jonathan but granny smith or honey crisp should work very well too)
3 cups All Purpose Flour
2 tbsp Ener-G replacer + 8 tbs Warm Water (replaces 4 eggs)
1 1/2 cup Sugar (I used 1 cup since the apples were sweet)
2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder (If double acting baking powder use half the quantity)
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 Cup Oil
1/2 Cup Applesauce
1/4 tsp Cup Orange Juice (Tropicana works fine)
2 tsp Vanilla Essence

2 tsp Cinnamon
3 tbsp Confectioner's (Fine) Sugar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 F
Line a 9-inch round cake pan with parchment
Combine 2 tsp cinnamon and 3 tbsp of fine Sugar and keep aside
Peel, core and cut the apples into 1-inch pieces. I made the pieces smaller because my family wouldnt enjoy biting into soft big pieces of apple.
If cutting the apple before hand, drizzle 2 tsp of Lemon juice on coat the pieces with it. This will prevent browning.
Prepare the egg replacer as per instructions on the product. If using Ener-G then pour the powder in the warm water and stir till well combined. It should become creamy after mixing. Keep aside
Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a container.
Mix together the oil, applesauce. orange juice, egg replacer mix and vanilla essence.
Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix till just combined.
Pour half the batter into the prepared cake pan. Top with 1/2 the apple pieces and sprinkle half the cinnamon-sugar mixture on it.
Pour the rest of the batter into the pan and top with the remaining apple pieces and sprinkle the remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture on it.
Bake at 350 F for 60-80 minutes.

Hitikida Avare Sambhar (De-skinned Hyacinth beans Curry)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 15 Dec 2013 21:01:00 +0000

T will be proud to know that I figured out the botanical name of the delectable Avarekaalu - It is called the Dolichos Lablab!
While Bengaluru orignally got its name from the boiled beans served to a Hoysala king who had lost his way hunting, Benda-kaalu-ooru (boiled beans place) has gone on to become the Silicon Valley of India thereby sending a sizeable amount of its populace to distant lands where this vegetable is never grown. But, thanks to a lot of enterprise in the food sector catering to the Desi populace in said distant lands, frozen varieties of the beans are easily available in most of the Indian grocery stores. We can now find this tasty bean in the frozen foods section under the name Surti Lilva Papdi. It does come with a setback of extremely small sized beans which makes it tough to de-skin. I simply use the beans whole and skip the step of de-skinning it because it would leave behind not much of the beans. Nevertheless we plough on with vigour to create a dish which has been the hallmark of my mother-in-law's cooking repertoire. She is the queen of the kootu which I am going to describe here while (pardon me) salivating for a taste of it.

Hitikida Avare simply means beans whose skin has been removed. It does require soaking of the beans overnight to make the skin soft enough to be removed. So plan in advance.

Hitikida Avare Sambhar

Servings: 6 cups of Sambhar or Curry
Prep Time: 12 hrs including the shelling, overnight soak and de-skinning Cook Time: 30-40 mins

Ingredients

6 cups of Avarekayi (Beans with shells) or enough to get 2 cups of shelled beans
1 medium sized Tomato

To Grind

2 1/2 tsp Coriander seeds
1/2 tsp Channa dal
1/2 tsp Urad dal
1 tsp Cumin seeds
4 Red Chillies (adjust to taste)
2 tbsp Coconut
1/2 Onion
4 Garlic pods
1 inch Cinnamon stick
2-3 Cloves
1 Star Anise (masala hoovu)

Instructions

Prep-work

Shell the beans from the avarekayi pods (skip the step if using frozen shelled beans)
Soak the beans overnight or for 6 hours in water, with water reaching above the level of the beans
To remove skin - Hold the soaked bean between thumb and forefinger and gently apply pressure on it till the innards pop out of the skin. Discard the skin and save the de-skinned beans.
Tip : Aim the bean down towards a container so that the de-skinned beans pop right into it.
This step can be a family activity since it is a time consuming process. Kids will have a lot of fun with the beans flying all around them after popping out of the skin!
I will post pictures of it, the next time I am around in India when this is in progress.

Boil beans

Boil the shelled, de-skinned beans in water along with some salt till soft to the touch. Do not over cook it else it will all get mashed.
Keep the beans and the water aside.

Grind the Masala

Dry roast the coriander seeds, channa dal, urad dal and jeera in a heavy bottomed vessel and keep aside.
Dry roast the coconut till lightly browned and dry. Keep aside
To the same vessel, add a tsp of Oil (there will be some oil left over from the coconut) and shallow fry the onion, garlic, red chillies, cinnamon, cloves and star anise.
Once all the spices are cooled, grind them all together with 4 tbsp of boiled beans.

Bringing the Sambhar to life

Add the ground masala to the boiled beans and water and cook on medium heat for around 5 minutes till combined
Add the chopped tomato and allow the sambhar to boil for another 10 minutes. Add water to get the required consistency of sambhar. Do not make it too thick or too watery.
Adjust the salt
Temper with Mustard seeds and a pinch of asafoetida in a tsp of Oil
Serve hot with Rice or Ragi Mudde.
Personaly I like it with chapathi, dose also.

Ragi Mudde (Finger Millet Balls)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 15 Dec 2013 19:32:00 +0000

Ragi (Finger Millet) is that wonder grain to which peans ought to be written. It is the richest source of calcium and helps builds bone strength in our bodies and therefore essential for growing children and also in older adults. It is a wonderful source of anti-oxidants and has a good amount of dietary fiber which ensures that we feel fuller for a longer time thus reducing the chances of snacking in between meals or over-eating. The slow digestion aids in controlling blood sugar levels and therefore can be a staple in a diabetic's diet. It has a very small percentage of fat but even then its unsaturated fats.
Ragi is one of the best sources of protein providing many of the essential amino acids which should be reason enough to be incorporated into all vegetarian diets. It is one of the main sources of Methionine which helps reduce cholesterol, reduce fat inside the livers and help protect kidneys.
When sprouted, Ragi develops Vitamin C which helps in absorption of the Iron content in the grain.
Ragi can be prepared in many number of ways,as a ball, sweet or salty porridge, flatbreads, sweets especially with jaggery, each very tasty!
In this post I will talk about making the easiest preparation with Ragi called the Mudde. It is a staple in Karnataka especially among the rural folk. But I think it is about time that the urbanscape adopted this wonder grain into their diets and reap the benefits.

Ragi Mudde (Finger Millet Balls)

Servings: 4 balls
Prep Time: 5 mins Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Ragi Flour
3 1/2 cups Water
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp Oil (optional)

Instructions

Heat water in a vessel and along with salt, oil and 4 tbsp of Ragi flour.
When the water starts to boil (notice bubbles appearing through the flour) stir in the remaining flour.
Use a 1-inch thick wooden dowel or the back of a big wooden spoon (which wont break under pressure) to combine the flour well into the water.
Allow it to cook for 5 mins and remove from stove. By now the raw smell of ragi must be replaced by a cooked smell.
Let it cool for 2-3 mins (this step is optional but my hand cant take the heat)
Take a large blob of the mix and place on a slightly greased flat plate. (1/2 tsp of Oil)
Now wet your hands with water and shake off the excess.
Working quickly knead the dough a couple of times and then start to roll it into a ball.
You might have to dip your hand in water to prevent the dough from sticking to your hand. Optionally work with greased hands.
Roll the ball in your hands till the surface is smooth.
Repeat with the rest of the flour.
Serve hot with a side dish like Gojju, Sambhar or Hidakbele Saaru which have a watery consistency and not too thick.
To eat, pinch off a piece of the mudde from the ball, soak it in the side dish and pop it in your mouth. Ideally the mudde should be swallowed without chewing. although I must admit I havent mastered that yet.

Pumpkin Erissery (Kerala style curry)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 06:51:00 +0000

I made it for the first time many months ago and did not think much about posting the recipe. A month earlier I was routinely asking my daughter what she wants me to make for lunch. Its a question which comes up every now and then in my house when I am out of ideas on what to make. Imagine my surprise when she says "Amma, make that pumpkin thingy you made long back"! First of all I did not think she would remember a specific dish made once many months ago and second I did not have pumpkin in the refridgerator. So I took a rain check on it and made her favourite pulav instead.
In keeping with this week's Thanksgiving run-up I decided to bring the vegetable home and make her favorite curry today.

Pumpkin Errisery is really simple to make and turns out into a delicious dish. I think it would be a perfect side dish and looks awesome in the middle of a spread. So make it for a pot luck or party and get some kudos while taking it easy!

Pumpkin Errisery (Kerala Style Curry)

Servings: 3 cups
Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

To Boil

4 cups Pumpkin (cut into 1-inch cubes)
Salt to taste
A pinch of turmeric

To Grind

1 tsp Cumin seeds
3 Green Chillies
1/4 cup Coconut

To Temper

1/2 Medium onion or 4-5 Shallots
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Urad dal
2 Red Chillies
8-10 Curry leaves
3 tsp Oil

Garnish

2 tbsp Coconut

Instructions

Grind coconut, green chillies and cumin seeds to a coarse mix and keep aside.
Boil pumpkins in water till nearly soft along with turmeric and salt.
Add the ground paste to the pumpkins and continue to cook on simmer till pumpkins are well done.
Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel and add mustard seeds.
When the mustard seeds splutter, add red chillies and urad dal and saute for a couple of minutes.
Add in onion and saute till transluscent and then put in the curry leaves.
Mix well and pour the tempering on top of the cooked pumpkin
In the same heavy bottomed vessel fry 2 tbsp of coconut till they are crisp and mix it into the pumpkin curry.
Mix well and serve with hot rice or chapathi

Gori Manchurian

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 06:33:00 +0000

Yes, you read it right. There is no spelling mistake in the title of the post. I accidentally made an important discovery which will come in very handy to serve a vegetable which is inherently so dry that it usually gets relegated to second cousin status as compared to beans. Cluster Beans or Gori kayi as it is called in Kannada is a thin and dry variety of beans.
I used to be an extremely fussy eater as a kid and gori kayi was one of the many vegetables that I did not like to eat. Adding to my misery was the abundance of this vegetable in the local market in Hyderabad, thus finding its way to my plate more enough than I would have liked. My mom tried to encourage me in various ways to eat more... well lets just say eat. With gori kayi she found an ally in numbers.She always told me that eating gori kayi would make me really good at math! That was a good reason for me to eat it all up although I might say that 101/100 times I might have got my numbers mixed up! I did hallucinate about pieces of gori kayi making its way up my blood vessels to the math controlling part of my brain.
Coming back to the recipe, it was a fridge clean out session where i discovered a bag of gori kayi and pizza sauce left over from last weekend. The rest as they say is Manchuristory.

Gori Manchurian

Servings: 2 cups
Prep Time: 25 mins Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

2 cups of Cluster Beans (Gori Kayi in Kannada)
1/2 Medium sized Onion
1/2 cup Toor Dal
1/2 cup Pizza sauce
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
A pinch of turmeric
3 Green Chillies cut lengthwise
3 tsp Oil
Salt to taste

Instructions

Cut cluster beans and onion into small pieces.
Wash the toor dal under running water, atleast three times
Pressure cook toor dal and cluster beans and keep aside
Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel and add in mustard seeds.
When the mustard seeds splutter, add in green chillies and cumin seeds and saute for a minute
Add in onion and saute till transluscent.
To this, add the pizza sauce and fry for a few minutes till the raw smell of tomato has gone
Mix in the pressure cooked cluster beans and toor dal. Add salt and continue to cook for a few minutes till the first boil.
This curry tastes good with roti or chapathi or plain rice. I enjoyed eating it as is!

Instant Pizza sauce

Ingredients

2 Tomatoes / 5 heaped tsps of unfavoured natural tomato paste

2 garlic pods

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tsp Olive oil or Vegetable oil or Canola oil

Instructions

Grind all the ingredients together adding 1 tbsp of water if required

Pumpkin Soup Curry flavored

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 05:55:00 +0000

Here comes yet another post using the pumpkin puree that I made day before yesterday. After a tiring day pumpkin soup is something you could snack on to both relax and fill your tummy. It is wholesome and the curry flavour gives it an extra spicy kick. This soup can be made as sweet or spicy as desired.

Pumpkin Soup Curry flavored

Servings: 2
Prep Time: 5 mins Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

1 cup Pumpkin Puree
1 cup Water
1 tbsp Butter (or less) or 1 tbsp Oil
1 medium sized Onion
2 Garlic pods
1/2 inch piece Ginger grated
1/4 tsp Nutmeg powder
1/4 tsp Cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp Coriander powder
1/4 tsp Cumin powder
A pinch of turmeric
2 Cloves whole
2 tsp Red Chilli powder
Few coriander leaves cut fine
Salt to taste

Instructions

Cut onions and garlic fine
Heat the butter in a heavy bottomed wok and saute the onions till transluscent.
Add garlic and ginger and saute for a couple of minutes
Add in all the spices and saute for a couple of minutes
Pour the pumpkin puree along with water into the wok and continue to boil for a few minutes.
Add salt and simmer for five minutes.
Garnish with coriander or parsley
Serve the soup hot

Spiced Eggless Pumpkin Quick Bread

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 03:09:00 +0000

Pumpkin bread is the kind of food that you want to take with you when your mind wanders into nostalgia. It evokes a lot of emotions, most of all happiness. Done with the right spices, this wonder food, which is a big source of Vitamin A, can be relished as a snack any time of the day.

With my resolve to post a pumpkin recipe everyday of this week leading to Thanksgiving day, I made a list of all the dishes I wanted to prepare and this bread topped the list. It is an extremely simple quick bread which means there is no wait time required between making the batter and baking.

The pumpkin bread is symbolic of warmth. The recipe below does not make an overtly sweet bread. Its a sure-fire crowd pleaser and I am very happy to report that the two food critics in my house absolutely loved it! I recommend it as a kid friendly recipe and it can easily make its way into the school snack box.

Spiced Eggless Pumpkin Quick Bread

Recipe adapted from Gayathri's cookspot
Servings: 1 9-inch loaf
Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 60 mins

Ingredients

1 cup All purpose Flour
3/4 cup Whole Wheat Pastry flour
1 cup granulated Sugar
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Double acting Baking powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
2-3 Cloves (If using powder then 1/2 tsp)
1 cup Pumpkin Puree
1/2 cup Oil
3 tbsp Honey
3 tbsp Water
Chopped walnuts (handful to 1/2 cup)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Line a 9 inch loaf tin with parchment paper or grease with oil.
Sift together all purpose flour, whole wheat pastry flour. sugar, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves together in a bowl.
In another bowl mix together pumpkin puree, oil, water, honey
Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients to form a thick batter. Mix only till well combined, do not overmix.
Fold in the walnuts
Fill the loaf tin with the thick batter and lightly spread to be even topped
Bake at 350 deg F for 60 minutes till a skewer inserted comes out clean with no batter sticking to it. Check from 55 mins to see if it is done
Remove from oven and cool in the loaf tin for 5 minutes. Continue to cool on a wire rack.

Pumpkin Puree

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 05:29:00 +0000

'Ts the week where all of America is thinking about recipes. After all its the biggest culinary expedition of the year. Thanksgiving!
Vegetarians and Vegans have a lot of resources on the internet to ensure they dont have to forego joining in the celebration. Potatoes, Beans and Pumpkin are some of the vegetables that find their way to the dinner spread and creatively so. My take is that there is only so much you could stuff into a turkey so all the creativity gets unleashed on accompaniments and dessert. I have decided to dedicate this week to recipes which could easily adorn the Thanksgiving banquet.
What better way to do this than the rotund pumpkin.

As luck would have it I had a huge pumpkin leftover from the Halloween times which had failed to make it to a Jack-o-Lantern. I had to use it before it spoilt. Does a pumpkin spoil? I dont know but I wasnt going to find out today. I took it out of the refridgerator and what ensued after that was a 40-min ordeal to crack it open! The shell was extremely hard and I had never encountered a pumpkin with such a hard exterior. Armed with a sharp knife and gritting my teeth I started puncturing through the vegetable with T reminding me of the fact that I am a klutz and should be careful. I have a history of slicing right through my hands so I dont blame him for being worried. Once I had it open it took me an indecisive 5 minutes to resolve making a puree out of the whole thing instead of trying to skin it for a curry.
Pureeing a pumpkin is really simple as you will read later on. Once done, it could be frozen for a few months atleast and used whenever required. The puree could be used in baking recipes, soups, casseroles etc.

Pumpkin Puree

Servings: 4 cups from a pumpkin the size of a football.
Prep Time: 5 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 30 mins (includes waiting time)

Ingredients

1 Pumpkin (size of a football)

Instructions

Cut the pumpkin into quarters
Place it on baking tray
Bake at 350 deg F for an hour
Allow it to cool and then scrape the pulp out of the skin
Blend the pulp in a food processor or mixer to a paste. Use a couple of tbsp of water if required.
Store in an airtight container. Freeze for longevity.

Spooky Witches Fingers (Eggless)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 03:32:00 +0000

Its that time of the year where scary and spooky are mainstream. Halloween brings with it a carnival kind of atmosphere where everyone wants to pretend to be someone else. Going by the number of Halloween Express shops that open up in October, its a mad rush to get out of the skin of one's own life. Before my blog goes all philosophical and analytical on this top I will turn the focus back to food. Pumpkins are everywhere for halloween but not really as a dish. Jack-o-Lanterns adorn many lawns and door steps. Wildly imaginative cookies and cupcakes are also the norm.

I decided to bake the spooky witches fingers to celebrate the Halloween mood early and also as part of the Home Bakers Challenge. The recipe here is a keeper and gives consistent good results. My biggest tip while baking cookies is to chill the shaped dough for atleast 5 minutes before popping it into the oven. This slows down the spread and ensures you dont have to get it off the tray with a spatula.
My daughter refused to even come close to them in the beginning but enjoyed eating it after we demonstrated that they were really harmless. But the whole episode made me gloat with pride at such a life like creation! The hubby who, as my blog readers will know, hates sweets also devoured many many of these fingers.

Spooky Witches Fingers (Eggless)

Recipe Adapted from here
Servings: 30 pieces
Prep Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 25 mins per batch

Ingredients

1 1/3 cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Butter (softened)
1/2 cup Sugar
Ener-G Egg Replacer equivalent of 1/2 egg
1/2 tsp Vanilla essence
30 Whole Almonds with skin

Instructions

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Sieve and set aside.
Whisk the sugar and butter till well combined (whitish and fluffy). This took me around 3-4 minutes.
To this add the egg replacer and vanilla essence and whisk for another couple of minutes.
Add the dry mixture in parts to the wet mixture and mix till combined.
The whole thing comes together as a soft dough. Cover and refridgerate for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile preheat the oven to 325 F.
Remove small portion of the dough at a time from the fridge, shape into desired form and place an inch apart on a cookie tray.
Refridgerate the cookie tray for atleast 5 minutes and then bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Remove when base is lightly browned.
Leave the cookies to cool on the tray for 5 minutes and then cook on a wire rack.

To shape like a finger

Pinch of a small ball of dough and place on parchment paper.
Working quickly press and elongate to a log of around 4 inches long and 1/4 inch diameter.
Pinch the edge on one side to give a tapered look. That's the nail side
Pinch in the log along the length
Using a blunt knife (butter knife) make indentations cross-wise on the log to give it a natural look
Press a whole almond on the tapered edge

Vegetable Au Gratin

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 04:32:00 +0000

We had a French inspired dinner last Sunday with Croissants (store bought) and Vegetable Au Gratin on the side. A table laid outdoors, bare with no distractions of threads and cutlery, completed the experience. Soaking in the setting sun with a wonderfully tasty spread is something we all can never have enough of.
The french expression "au gratin" refers to anything grated on top of the dish. Very commonly cheese.
Although this dish looks very sophisticated and prim, its one of the easiest things to prepare. And guaranteed to turn heads at a luncheon or pot luck.

Again, its a great way to get those vegetables into kids' tummies. The recipe I have used is inspired from here. I used beans, carrots, kohlrabi, spinach(a lot) and potatoes for veggies but the options are limitless. Am sure shallow-fried onion would add a dash of intense flavour to the dish.

Vegetable Au Gratin

Servings: 2
Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 20-25 mins

Ingredients

1 cup Boiled Vegetables
1 cup Spinach cut washed and cooked
1 cup White Sauce
1 tbsp Cream Cheese (optional)
1/2 cup (or lesser) cheese (I used Mozzarella)
1 tsp Garlic powder (optional)
1 tsp Cumin powder (optional)
1 tsp Coriander powder (optional)
1 tsp Black pepper powder
Salt to taste

For 1 cup White Sauce

1 tbsp Butter
1 tsp All purpose Flour
3/4 cup Milk
1 tsp Black pepper powder
Salt to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 F
Keep a shallow baking dish (3 inches * 5 inches * 1 inch) ready
Mix cream cheese and 1 tbsp of mozzarella cheese to the white sauce.
Add in the spices, garlic powder and salt and mix well
Fold in the boiled vegetables and spinach
Pour this mixture into the baking dish, sprinkle the remaining mozzarella cheese on top
Bake at 400 F for 20-25 mins till the top has become golden brown.
Leave it in the oven with the door open for another few minutes (optional)
Remove from oven and allow to cool

How to make White Sauce

Heat butter in a heavy bottomed vessel, add all purpose flour and mix till it becomes frothy on low-medium heat
Add 3/4 cup Milk and stir continuously till the sauce thickens. Around 5 mins
Add in black pepper powder and salt to taste

Eggless Blueberry Coffee Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 03:54:00 +0000

At the outset let me share with you that I dint expect this to be a hit. But thats exactly what it turned out to be and more with my daughter lapping up every bit of it with gusto. This cake is a very simple preparation and I made it on a Saturday night while chatting with a friend which made it all the more enjoyable.
Coffee cakes are usually moist and tender and come out of the oven ready to eat. No frosting required. Although having a streusel on top or glaze or chocolate syrup drizzle are standard dress-ups for it, it can nevertheless be enjoyed without any of those.

I chose to not top it with anything and also chose to make it low calorie by substituting apple sauce for a lot of the butter. The taste of apple is hardly noticeable especially if its a fine paste. What I forgot to add in was nuts and I am going to do it the next time. Almonds would complement the blueberries very well, especially the shavings.

Its an easy way to get kids to eat fruits and nuts, trust me!

Eggless Blueberry Coffee Cake

Servings: 1 9-inch cake
Prep Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 40 - 50 mins

Ingredients

2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 cup Blueberries (if frozen do not thaw)
1/3 cup Butter
1/2 cup Applesauce
3/4 cup Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder (I used 1/2 tsp Double acting)
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1 cup Yogurt
1 tsp Vanilla extract (I accidentally put in nearly 2.5 tsp of extract and it was still very yummy)

Instructions

Line a 9-inch cake tin with parchment paper or grease it and keep aside
Preheat oven to 350 F
Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt in a bowl and set aside
Cream butter and sugar by hand or with a beater.
Add the applesauce and vanilla essence and continue to beat
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients alternating with yogurt.
Combine well using a whisk but refrain from mixing too much.
Add in the blueberries and fold in. Be gentle since they pop easily.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake it at 350 for 40-50 mins till a skewer inserted in comes out clean.
Remove from oven and cool it in the tin for 5 mins and then continue to cool it on a wire rack.

How to make Applesauce at home

Peel and core 2 medium sized apples, cut them into cubes and boil the pieces in 1/2 cup water till soft and mushy. About 10 mins.
Once cooled, grind the softened pieces into a paste or mash with a fork to get 1 cup Applesauce

Green Tomato Pachadi Andhra Style

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 05:41:00 +0000

One of my friends suggested that I should try a chutney using green tomatoes. Until then I had never really used green tomatoes to cook and I wasnt sure of the taste either. But having once tried the chutney I promptly bought more of it and made it again the next week. Its going to be one of my go to chutneys since its easy to put together and less on fat.
Green tomatoes impart a very tangy flavour which needs to be balanced. I used fenugreek seeds for that reason.

Green Tomato Pachadi Andhra Style

Servings: 1 cup
Prep Time: 5 mins Cook Time: 30 mins (including cooling time)

Ingredients

1 Big sized Green tomato
1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds
2 tsp Urad dal
3 Green chillies
2 Red chillies
4 tsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard seeds
Few Curry leaves
Salt to taste

Instructions

Heat 3 tsp oil in a heavy bottomed vessel or wok.
Add the fenugreek seeds and urad dal and fry till the urad dal gets lightly browned
To this add the cut tomatoes, salt, green chillies and red chillies and saute till the tomatoes turn mushy.
Once cooled, grind the cooked tomatoes but not to a fine paste.
Temper with mustard seeds and curry leaves.

Ragi Rotti (Finger Millet flatbread)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 05:08:00 +0000

If there is one thing which is quintessential Karnataka food it would have to be Ragi. Karnataka is one of the biggest producers of Ragi in India. And no wonder that almost every kannada household would stock it in their pantry to readily whip up Mudde (cooked Ragi ball) or Rotti (Ragi flat bread) best eaten with Bussaru or Chutney respectively.

I prefer the Rotti over Mudde and make it often at home. It is one of the best after school snacks for kids to restore their energy and to provide them with nutrition without fuss. I tend to flavour it with onion, green chillies, coriander leaves and optionally spices. It is easy to make and easy to eat and is one of the healthiest dishes to be had.

Ragi Rotti (Finger Millet flatbread)
Servings: 8 Rottis
Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 5 mins (for each Rotti)
Ingredients
2 Cups Ragi flour
1 Medium Onion
2-3 Green Chillies
A bunch of coriander leaves
1 cup Spinach leaves
1 cup Water
1 tsp Cumin powder (optional)
1 tsp Coriander powder (optional)
Salt to taste
Instructions
Cook the spinach leaves (Microwave or stove-top) and grind to a fine paste.
In a bowl mix together flour, salt and spices.
Add to this minced onion, green chillies, coriander leaves and mix well.
Add in spinach paste till crumbly.
Add water, a little at a time, to make a soft dough.
Keep aside covered for 30 mins if desired.
Wet a small piece of cloth (handkerchief) completely and squeeze to remove excess water
Spread it out on a flat surface.
Place a dough ball on the wet cloth and flatten it using fingers dipped into water
Slide the cloth along with the flattened dough and flip it onto a hot skillet
Drizzle oil around the flattened bread and cook on both sides.
Tip :- If the flour on any part of the bread shows up white, it isnt cooked. Spread a drop of oil or water and cook the spot.

Pumpkin Spiced Buttermilk Scones (Eggless)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 08 Sep 2013 02:33:00 +0000

It was a lazy weekend afternoon at our house and I was getting ready for a late afternoon snooze when the baker in me dragged me up and admonished me about wasting away a full day. I gave in and decided to bake something quick. Scones have been at the back of my mind for some time now. Today was the perfect occasion. I had a sliver of pumpkin left over from making Pumpkin Erissery. I had wanted to use it for baking and it provided me with an opportunity to make a savoury bake. I adapted the recipe from here adjusting it to suit our palate.

Its a great recipe and my scones turned out perfect. I cannot even begin to explain the sheer pleasure one derives upon a successful first-time bake!
The scones were a big hit with everyone going for seconds and the hubby even grabbing one right off my photograph!

Pumpkin Spiced Buttermilk Scones (Eggless)

Serrvings: 8 Scones
Prep Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

2 cups All purpose Flour + 1/4 cup as required while kneading the dough
1/3 cup white granulated sugar
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Cinammon powder
1/2 tsp Ginger (dry powder or fresh grated)
3/4 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Unsalted Butter (cold cubes)
1/3 cup Buttermilk
1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree (fresh or canned)
1 tsp Vanilla essence

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 deg F and line a baking tray with parchment paper
Whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinammon and ginger and set aside
Cut the cold butter into the flour using a knife and fork or two knives till a crumbly mixture is formed. It is alright to have a few big chunks of butter in the mixture.
If its
In another bowl whisk together the pumpkin puree, buttermilk and vanilla essence.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until the dough just comes together. Do not overmix as this can cause the scones to lose their airy composition
Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead lightly to form a lump. At this point sprinkle some flour on the dough to get it all together if required
Pat the dough into a circle of roughly 6-7 inches and about 1 1/2 inches thick
Cut this circle into 8 even sized pie shaped wedges using a knife (floured)
Carefully lift each wedge and place it on the baking sheet.
Lightly dab the butter wrapper on top of each scone to get a golden color once baked
I used a rectangular cake tin inverted as the "baking sheet" and hence did not fear the scones getting burnt at the bottom. But Stephanie does suggest placing the thin baking sheet inside another one to prevent burning.
Bake for about 20 mins till the scones are golden brown and a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Allow it to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy it warm with your favourite cup of coffee, tea or milk!

How to Puree Pumpkin

Wash and peel the tough skin off the pumpkin
Cut into even sized pieces
Boil in water for around 15-20 mins till soft
Let cool, drain the water and puree in a blender

How to make Buttermilk

Add 1 tbsp vinegar to 1 cup of Milk and let sit for 10 minutes.
The milk curdles to form buttermilk.

Eggless Pinwheel Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 20:43:00 +0000

My darling dotzy turned five last weekend and we had an amazing party at the park. Among the fun and frolic was great food including snacks made at home. I made Blueberry Vanilla Cupcakes, Chocolate cupcakes, pinwheel cookies, Nipattu and Pakoda all of which were well recieved and the boxes were nearly empty by the time we came back home. Its always very gratifying to have super success with your food!
Pinwheel cookies was part of the Home Bakers Challenge for June, a group which I have joined on FB. I had already made the Peanut Butter Cookies and now found the perfect opportunity to bake cookies in a house where the folks dont eat anything sweet!

One thing I must say about these cookies - they taste best till the next day once done. They get a cardboard-y taste after 2 days. So eating them fresh is the way to go according to me.
This recipe has been adapted from The Heritage Cook and adapted to make it eggless. It requires making two varieties of dough, one chocolate and one vanilla, and rolling it together.

Tips for making the process easier

1) The easiest way to handle this dough is to keep it cold. I refridgerated the dough quite a few times to be able to make it easily. After I kneaded it wrapped in cling wrap and also after I rolled it out and wedged between parchment paper, for 30 mins each time.
2) Flatten the dough in between layers of parchment paper to make it easier to roll out. Else it sticks to the rolling pin. Also cleaning up becomes a breeze!
3) It might be easier to press down on the dough with a heavy wooden spoon or rolling pin and push it outwards to flatten it rather than rolling on it using a pin.
4) While rolling the dough into a log, roll using the parchment halfway and then pull back the paper. Do this for every roll
5) Refridgerate dough log for atleast an hour before cutting it into cookies. This ensures the dough log is stiff and cutting it into cookie rounds makes it easier without the dough losing shape.
6) Last but not the least, dont get intimated by the length of the instructions. Its easier done than explained.

Eggless Pinwheel Cookies

Servings: 32 cookies
Prep Time: 2 hrs Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

All purpose flour – 1 ½ Cup
Baking powder – ½ Tsp
Salt – ¼ Tsp
Unsalted softened butter – ½ Cup
Granulated sugar – ¾ Cup
3/4 tbsp EnerG Egg Replacer
1 1/2 tbsp Warm water
Vanilla extract – 1 Tsp
Unsweetened cocoa powder – 2 Tbsp
Semi sweet chocolate chips – ¼ Cup
2 tsp Milk

Instructions

Vanilla Dough

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Whip the egg-replacer with warm water until it is gooey and set aside
In a mixing bowl beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg replacer and vanilla extract and beat again until blended.
Add the flour mixture slowly, beating just until combined.
Divide the dough into two parts
Refrigerate one part wrapped in cling wrap for 30 mins. That will be the vanilla dough.

Chocolate Dough

Melt the chocolate chips along with the milk in a microwave by heating it for 10 secs. Set aside to cool.
Add the cocoa and the cooled melted chocolate to the second half of the dough and mix till well incorporated.
Refrigerate this chocolate dough wrapped in cling wrap for 30 mins.

Making pinwheel Shape

Place the vanilla dough in between parchment sheets measuring 12 inches * 12 inches.
Flatten the dough in between the sheets to the dimension of the paper.
Repeat for the chocolate dough (use another set of parchment paper of size 12 inches * 12 inches)
Optionally refrigerate the two dough discs along with the parchment paper for 30 mins. This step is necessary if the weather is really hot and humid.
Set the vanilla disc on a counter and peel away the top paper. Do the same for the chocolate disc.
Now flip the chocolate disc and stack on top of the vanilla disc ensuring that the discs are again sandwiched between the remaining parchment paper. (Bottom parchment of Chocolate disc now becomes top parchment of the sandwich)
Roll lightly over the layers so that the dough adhere.
Remove the parchment paper on top.
Starting from one side, roll up the dough into one big log 12 inches long. Since the first couple of rolls will form the center of the cookie late ensure its firmly packed in. (I did falter here a bit and rolled it loose and you can see from the pics that the pinwheel shape at the center is not perfect)
Wrap the log in parchment and refrigerate it for upto an hour.

Making the cookies

In the meantime preheat the oven to 350 F
Carefully slice the log into ¼ inch thick cookies and place on a baking sheet 1 inch apart.
Bake it for 10-12 minutes. The cookies are done when you see the edges turning golden brown. They also harden on the cooling rack.
Cool it on wire rack.

Berry Healthy Smoothie

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 04:45:00 +0000

After a long hard tiring day picking blueberries, what better way to relax than to sip on ice cold berry smoothie!

Berry Healthy Smoothie

Servings: 4
Prep Time: 5 mins Cook Time: 5 mins

Ingredients

1 cup Blueberries
1 cup Strawberries
1/2 cup Milk
A few ice cubes
2 tbsp Vanilla Icecream (optional)

Instructions

Wash the berries thoroughly if using fresh, by running a stream of water over a colander of berries
No need to thaw the berries if using frozen.
I used both fresh
Blend the berries along with milk till smooth.
Drop in the ice cubes and give it a couple of churns
Add in the ice cream and whirr it again.
Serve straight from the blender or chill it some more

Healthy Vegan Vegetable Mini Pie

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 04:04:00 +0000

I have become a part of the Eggless Baking Challenge Group where we are given challenges every month to convert a egg filled delicacy to eggless. July's challenge was one of my favourites because not only was it something I wanted to try from a long time but the twist was that it was savoury. A welcome relief from all the sweet bakes that I have been doing.

I have been wanting to bake a pie from forever but the quantity of butter required and the sheer size of a pie was holding me back. When this challenge came up the first thing I did was to logon to Amazon to buy pie pans. After browsing through a lot of options, I couldnt make up my mind on the large pans vs the mini ones. I found that the mini pans were also 4.5 inches or more in diameter and felt it was a bit too big. I prefer individual portions than an overwhelming big size. And thats the same reason I prefer cupcakes to cakes. I then stumbled upon some images of pies being made in muffin pans and I had the tool I was looking for right in my kitchen.

I also found a recipe for making the pie crust without butter (which I cant seem to find again to link to) and adapted it further to incorporate whole grains into it by substituting half the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour.

My tips for a happy experience:

1) Use parchment strips/aluminium foil strips lining each cup in a way that lifting the strip would lift out the mini pie. Aluminium foils are easily pliable and can line the cups better. Ensure that both ends of the strip jut out of the muffin cavity.
2) I found it easier to flatten a ball of dough with my hand using my palm. Since the pie dough is usually hard it is tough to roll it out using a rolling pin even if sandwiched between sheets of parchment/wax paper. I flattened the dough to 1/5 inch thickness and used a round cutter to cut out the pie bottom and top.
3) Cooling the ingredients before mixing and mixing it barely ensures a flaky texture. No muscle power required.
4) If placing a top crust then brush with little oil to get a better taste before baking.

This pie crust is a keeper because its low calorie and really good.

Healthy Vegan Vegetable Mini Pie

Servings: 6 Mini Pies (2 inch wide)
Prep Time: 2 hrs Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

For the Pie Crust

3/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
3/4 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1/4 cup Oil (I used Canola)
1/4 cup Cold water
Salt to taste

For the savoury filling

1/2 Medium onion
1 Carrot
1/2 Capsicum
1/2 cup Corn
3 tsp Oil
1 tsp Cumin powder
1 tsp Coriander powder
1 tsp Black pepper powder
Salt to taste

Instructions

To make the savoury filling

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan and saute finely cut onions till transcluscent.
Add in the grated carrot, finely cut capsicum and corn and saute for a couple of minutes.
Mix in the spice powders and salt and saute for another couple of minutes till its done.
Set aside to cool.

To make Pie

Line the muffin cavities with aluminium foil strips such that the two ends of the strip jut out of the cavity.
Lightly grease the cups
Mix the all purpose flour and the whole wheat pastry flour in a bowl and freeze for 30 - 45 mins
Freeze the oil for the same amount of time
Mix salt into the chilled flour, add the oil and mix lightly.
The flour becomes crumbly and should remain that way with big clumps
Add water very little at a time to form a hard ball of dough. Do not add too much water and also ensure that the dough does not become soft and pliable.
Pinch off a golf ball sized dough and flatten it to form a 1/5 inch thick disc.
Cut the dough to a 3 inch diameter circle using a round cutter. (I used a container cap)
Push the circle into a muffin cup and lightly press against the walls of the cup to form a pastry shell.
Optionally, leave a little bit of the dough outlining the mouth of the cup especially if its an open pie
Spoon in a tablespoon of the filling into the shell, topping it with cheese optionally.
Cut out a 2 inch dough circle and place on top of the filling. Press a fork all around the top crust so that it seals the pie. Lightly brush oil on the top to aid browning.
Bake at 350 F for around 30 mins. The top may not brown all that much if using whole wheat flour. It is done when the dough gets crusty.
Serve warm optionally topped with cream cheese.

Easy Eggless Pad Thai Noodles with Vegetables

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 04:59:00 +0000

Pad literally means Stir fried. Noodles are the easiest thing to dish up on a busy week day or night.
I made this to impress my m-i-l and onlya fter laying it out on the table did I get to know that she doesnt eat noodles. Pasta is ok but Spaghetti is not. Well, I got to try out a new recipe so there. Pad thai is usually served with crushed peanuts as a garnish. But I decided to incorporate the peanut flavour in the sauce itself by using peanut butter. Since this is the vegetarian version no question of using fish oil or eggs. Also replaced the rice noodles which is used in the classic dish with its whole wheat cousin. The whole wheat version does make the dish heavier. Mung bean sprouts are an important element in the dish but I havent used it since I was out of it.

Easy Eggless Pad Thai Noodles with Stir Fried Vegetables

Servings: 4
Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

1/2 box of Whole Wheat Spaghetti Noodles
3 tbsp Peanut Butter
4 tsp Soy Sauce
1 tsp White Vinegar
1 tsp Lemon juice
2-3 tsp Maggi Hot and Sweet Tomato Chilli Sauce
2 tsp or more Red Chilli powder
2 tsp Garlic powder
1 tsp Black pepper powder
6 tsp Oil
1 Medium Onion julliened
1/2 cup Capsicum cut thin
1/2 cup Carrots cut thin
1/2 cup Mung Bean sprouts (I dint have it today)
Any other vegetables of choice
Salt to taste

Instructions

Boil a pot of water, add some salt and drop in the noodles. Cook them according to the package instructions to al-dente.
Drain the noodles and keep aside.
In a bowl, mix the peanut butter, soy sauce, vinegar, tomato sauce, lemon juice, garlic powder, red chilli powder, black pepper powder.
Heat the oil in a skillet, add in onions and saute till transluscent.
Tip in the capsicum, carrots and other veggies and stir fry.
Stir in the sauce mix and saute for a few more minutes. Adjust the salt.
Fork in the cooked noodles and give it a good mix.
Serve warm.

Khara Biscuit / Eggless Whole Wheat Savoury Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 03:02:00 +0000

The day before we have to leave for any trip, I have this last minute urge to make and take along a snack. I have made cookies in the past and some savoury bakes. I tend to make the non fried variety so that we can have guilt free indulgence. I, for one get very hungry when I step into a car for any journey greater than an hour.
Our trip to Chicago over the 4th of July weekend had a very hectic prep time because of work pressure during the week. Packing just came down to picking up a stack of ironed clothes off the cupboard and shoving it into the suitcase. I mention this especially because I am a light packer, never carrying any extras. There was a lot of prep work where food was concerned since we prefer to pack lunches for the day outings. So we packed a mini kitchen into two big bags complete with ground pulav masala!
Getting back to what I wanted to post about. Amidst all the crazy kitchen activity I made Khara Biscuit to take along for the ride. I made it with whole wheat pastry flour.

Khara biscuit conjures up memories of Butter Sponge visits when we were kids. Many of our Sundays would start with Sweet bun, Khara bun combo for breakfast and on some extra special occasions it would be accompanied by the Benne Biscuit, Khara Biscuit combo. Yummy!! For me the yard stick in judging a bakery's goods is the Benne Biscuit, Khara biscuit they make as compared to Butter Sponge Bakery in Gandhi Bazar. My attempt here was very close and even though they turned out extremely good, I cannot claim to have recreated the magic. The biscuits turned out delicious and were a huge hit. Its simple to make and easy to stow.

Khara Biscuit / Eggless Whole Wheat Savoury Cookies

Servings: 20 biscuits
Prep Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 20 - 25 mins

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1/2 cup Butter (softened on the counter)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Ginger paste
2 Green Chillies finely chopped
1 tsp Coriander leaves finely chopped
1/2 tsp Curry leaves finely chopped
1 tsp Salt (or to taste)
1 tsp Sugar
1/4 cup Yoghurt

Instructions

Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a bowl.
To this add the ginger paste, green chillies, coriander leaves, curry leaves and mix well.
Add the butter to this and mix to form a stiff dough. Do not overmix.
If the mix turns out crumbly add yoghurt very little at a time to get a stiff dough consistency.
Put the dough into a ziplock bag and refridgerate it for 30 mins to ensure that the butter does not stop melting while rolling the dough.
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it out to a 1 inch thick circle.
Cut out round shaped biscuits and place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Prick the biscuit with a fork to prevent it from puffing up. These are after all biscuits.
Continue to do this for the rest of the dough making sure to leave atleast 1 inch between each cookie.
Bake for 20 mins or till the biscuit feels a little firm.
Remove from the oven and cool in tray for 5 mins and further on a wire rack.
The biscuit firms a little more while cooling.
This biscuit stores well in an air tight container in the fridge for 5 days. .