Whole Wheat Bruschetta Pizza Bread

Easy snack, with all ingredients from your store cupboard.

Ingredients:

1. Whole Wheat  Bread - 4-6 pieces
2. Cheddar Cheese - 2 small blocks - 50 gm altogether, grated
3. Tomatoes - 2 , de-seeded, chopped rather finely
4. bell peppers - 1, green/yellow chopped finely
5. red/pink - 1 small, chopped into half rings (onion is optional)
6. tomato sauce - 60 ml
7. Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 20 ml 
8. Salt 
9. Pepper

Procedure:

Preheat your oven to  200C

1. In a roasting tray, place your bread slices, and brush them with olive oil.
2. Roast them in the oven for around 5-6 min, till almost brown, but not completely.  (bottom rack)
3. Take them out, spread 1-2 tspns of tomato sauce on each slice
4. next, sprinkle enough chopped bell peppers, tomatoes and the onion onto the slices
5. add the grated cheese.
6. now place the slices back into the oven and roast till the cheese melts (bottom rack)

Serve Hot !! 

Easy Fruit Jam

Ingredients:

1. Red Apples - 3 - medium sized
2. strawberries - 3 
3. Green Apples - 1 - medium sized
4. Pineapple - 1/2 a fruit
5. Juice of 1 lemon
6. Vanilla Caster Sugar - 300 gm
7. Cinnamon - a pinch or two

Procedure:

1. chop all the fruits roughly
2. Add them all to a heavy bottomed dish. Place the dish on heat. 
3. Let the fruits cook for about 4-6 min, till they start to give out all their juices and become tender.
4. Add in the vanilla sugar and stir till it is combined properly
5. Add in the lemon juice and stir again
6. When the fruits are all soft and tender and mashed up and their color changes to a red-brown considerably, add in the cinnamon and stir a little, till it is all mixed in. 
7. Take it off heat and pour in the mixture while it is still hot into clean jars. 
8. Close the lid and let it rest. 

Eat when you feel like, with what you feel like ! ;-)

Strawberry and Apricot Wheat Rolls

Ingredients:

1. Strawberries - 6-8, hulled and sliced thinly
2. Apricots - 6- chopped roughly
3. Unsalted Butter - 1 tbspn
4. Honey - 2 squirts
5. Dark Brown Sugar - 2 tbspns
6. Flat breads made of whole wheat - 2

Procedure:

1. In a dish, heat butter until it melts and add the dark brown sugar. Let it cook for about 3 min
2. add in the apricots and cook till they soften
3. then add in the strawberries and cook for another 1-2 min
4. add the honey, stir and take the mixture off the heat. Close and let it just cook on its own. 
5. take a flat bread, and place some mixture in the center and make rolls. 

You will find some juices released from the strawberries combined with the sugar and honey. You can add this too in small quantities to the flat bread while making rolls; Or use it as a syrup right then, or refrigerate and use later.

Pudina Vada

Ingredients

Thuar Dhal - 1.5 cups
Urad Dhal - 0.75 cup
Red Gram Dhal - 0.25 cup
Dehusked green gram dhal - 0.25 cup
Green chillies - 5 to 6
Mint Leaves - 1 small bunch
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few
Salt
Oil

1. Soak all dhal for one hour.
2. Drain execess water and grind with other ingredients except salt coarsely. The batter should not be smooth.
3. Add little water while grinding. But be careful that the batter does not become watery.
4. Then add salt and mix well.
5. In a kadai add oil for deep frying and heat it. Check whether its hot by adding a drop of the batter to the oil. If it sizzles immediately then it is ready.
6. Take small quantities of the batter and pat in your palm (wet your palm) and make a hole in the center.
7. Then take this and drop it in the oil. Fry well. Drain execess oil. Serve hot.

Paneer on Skewers

This is one dish that helps give the taste of Tandoor  - AT HOME!

Ingredients:

1. Paneer - 300 gm, or 1 and a half packets
2. Yogurt - 2 tbspns
3. Salt
4. Chilli powder - 2 tspn
5. Dry Mango Powder - 1 tspn
6. Garlic Cloves - 3-4, made into a fine paste
7. Veg Oil - 2 tbspn
8. Cumin Powder - 1 tspn
9. Corn Starch - 1 tbspn

Procedure:

Preheat your oven to 200 C, for about 10-15 min

Marination:

1.  Make a marinade out of the yogurt, cumin powder, chilli powder, dry mango powder, garlic, salt and oil. 
2. Cut the Paneer into squares and dust them with some of the corn flour, to prevent them from disintegrating. 
3. now dip them the marinade and coat them consistently with the marinade. Leave them to marinate in it for about 30 min.
4. after it marinates, dust them with the remaining corn flour.
5. Now take your skewers and carefully insert your marinated paneer into them. For medium sized skewers, about 4 pieces can be on one. For larger ones, I insert about 6 in one. 
6. Take a roasting tray, and place your skewed paneer on it. 
7. Place in the oven and roast for about 20-30 min, till the edges start going from brown to dark brown. 

Serve Hot , with green chutney! Goes down very well with hot Roast Tomato Soup! 

Extra Virgin Corn Kebabs !

I made these last week, and forgot to CLICK !! Sorry about that .. :)

Ingredients:

1. Sweet Corn - 200 gm, coarsely mashed (about 85% mashed, I'd say)
2. Paneer - 75 gm, crumbled or grated
3. onion - 1/2 onion - very finely chopped
4. Fresh Red chillies - 3 - finely chopped
5. Garlic and ginger pastes - 1 tspn each
6. Chat masala - 1 tspn
7. Yogurt - 2-3 tbspn
8. Butter - 1/2 tbspn
9. Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 2 tbspn
10. Corn Starch - 50-100 gm
11. Salt
12. Turmeric
13. Pepper/Paprika

Procedure

1. Take a big mixing bowl and add your mashed corn, onion, paneer, garlic ginger pastes, and everything else except yogurt.
2. Mix well till everything is combined
3. add in the yogurt to make a batter dough that can be rolled into balls or pattys.
4. heat up a pan on the stove and add butter and then oil.
5. let the butter melt and oil heat up till it starts almost smoking
6. make small flat balls of your batter dough and place them in the oil
7. cook them for about 2-3 min on one side and another 2 min on the other side.

serve hot with tamarind and mint chutneys !

A great dish as dinner, or a starter!

Rawa Kesari

Ingredients
Rawa - 1 cup
Sugar – 1 ½ cup
Water – 2 ½ cups
Ghee - 5 tsp.
Cashew nuts - 10
Raisins - 10
Elachi powder - 1/ 2 tsp.
Pinch of kesari colour

Method:

1. In a kadai add ½ tsp ghee fry cashew nuts & raisins, then keep separate.
2. On the same ghee fry the rawa and keep aside.
3. Now in a kadai add 2 ½ cups water and allow it to boil. Add kesari colour and then roasted rawa, to avoid lump keep stirring till it cook.
4. When rawa cooked completely then add 1 ½ cup sugar. After adding sugar this mixture will become watery. Add ghee side by side. Keep on stirring till all the water evobrates.
5. Before switching off the stove add elachi powder and remove from fire.
6. Finally add fried cashew nuts and raisins to garnish.

Cream Cheese Cucumber Finger Sandwiches

This recipe is my niece's idea of the ultimate healthy evening snack.

Ingredients:

Cream Cheese – 200 gm

Whole Wheat bread – 4 slices

Cucumber – 1, sliced into very thin fingers – remove the seeds

pepper

Procedure:

1.    Take your whole wheat bread slices and start making the sandwich.

2.    Slather on the cream cheese on one side and place your cucumber slices on it.

3.    Next, grind some pepper and place the other slice on top

4.    Now cut the sanwich into 4 pieces.

Easy finger sandwiches !!

Vada Pav

Pav Buns

Aloo Bonda
For Chutney
Coriander leaves
Green Chillies
Grated Coconut
Salt

1. Grind the chutney ingredients to thick paste.
2. In the batter prepared for the aloo bonda, dip green chilly and deep fry them. Keep it separately.
3. Cut in bun in the middle. Apply the chutney in the middle of the pav. Place one hot aloo bonda in the middle.
4. Serve with tomato sauce and green chutney and fried green chilly.

If you like more spicy, u can apply the chutney to both the pieces of the bun.

Aloo Bonda

Ingredients

Potato – ¼ Kg

Onions – 2 medium sized
Green Chillies – 3
Turmeric
Salt
Lemon
Gram Flour
Kesari Color – a pinch
Chilli powder – ½ to 1 tsp

For the Filling

• Boil, peel and mash potatoes.
• Chop onions, green chillies and fry them in a kadai.
• Once onions are transparent, add mashed potato, salt, turmeric powder and fry well.
• At the end add lemon juice mix well and remove from fire.
• Cool them.

For the Batter

• Mix gram flour, pinch of kesari color, salt and chilli powder.
• Add water and make a thick batter like done for bajjis. Be cautious for consistency.
• Make small balls of the potato mixture.

1. In a kadai heat oil required for deep frying the balls.
2. Dip each potato ball in the batter and put them in the oil. Fry them and drain excess oil.

Quick Bytes With Puffed Rice

Want to munch something when bored with impacting ur health.... Puffed Rice is one of the best options...

• Puffed Rice and Dhal Powder (Paruppu Podi)

Soak puffed rice in water for few minutes. Squeeze the puffed rice and drain the water. To that add dhal powder and little oil. Mix well and relish.

Variation: In a kadai, season with mustard, curry leaves, urad dhal and add this mixture. Fry for few minutes and remove from fire.

• Masala Puffed Rice

To a bowl of puffed rice add salt, chilli powder and little ghee. Mix well. (If needed u can add few fried garlic pods.)

Puffed Rice Salad

To a bowl of puffed rice add finely cut onions, fried gram dhal, salt, lemon juice and chilli powder or Moor milagai (Chillies soaked in buttermilk, dried under the sun. This could be fried in little oil when needed.). Mix well.

• Puffed Rice Upma

Soak puffed rice in water for few minutes. Squeeze the puffed rice and drain the water.
In a kadai, add little oil, chopped onions and tomatoes and fry well.
Add the squeezed puffed rice, salt, garam masala and chilli powder to it. Fry for few minutes and remove from fire.

Tamarind Poha

Ingredients

Poha (not Nylon) - 1.5 cup
Tamarind - Lemon sized
Onion - 1 medium size
Green Chillies - two
Sambhar Powder - 2 tbsp
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Jaggery - little (optional)
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt
Mustard, Urad Dhal and Jeera for seasoning

Procedure

• Soak tamrind, salt  and jaggery in water. Extract the juice.
• Clean and wash poha well.
• Add tamarind juice to poha. It should be enough to cover the poha.
• Let it rest for 30 mins to 1 hr. It will become almost dry.
• In a kadai, add oil, season, add cut chillies and onions and fry well.
• Then add soaked poha, turmeric powder and sambhar powder and mix well.
• Add little sugar.
• Fry for few minutes till everything mixes well and gets cooked.

Dahi Murukku

Ingredients

Rice Flour
Sour Curd
Chilli Powder
Salt
Oil For Deep Frying

1. Mix rice flour, salt and chilli powder.
2. Add sour curd in small quantities and mix well to make a thick dough
3. Heat oil in a kadai, take the flour in the murukku laddle and press directly in oil in cicular motion to form murukku...
4. Fry them well till its golden brown.
5. Store them in air tight containers and relish whenever u feel like.....

Cinnamon Buns

And ladies, I am back!! :)

Ingredients:

1. All Purpose Flour - 300 gm
2. Sugar - Superfine caster - 50 gm
3. a pinch of salt
4. dry yeast - 12.5 gm
5. Veg Oil - 50 gm
6. Milk @ room temp - 200 gm
7. Egg - 1
8. Butter - unsalted - 75-100gm
9. Sugar - 100 gm C
10. Cinnamon powder - 2 tbspns

Procedure:

1. Put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. In another bowl, whisk int he wet ingredients till they combine.
3. Now add wet ingredients to the dry
4. slowly combine and then use your hands to make a soft dough
5. Let it rest and rise for about 30-40 min.
6. Preheat oven @ 230C
7. Punch it down and roll out into rolls, but taking small portions of the dough. (2/3rd of the dough)
8. Now melt the butter, let it cool and add in the sugar and cinnamon. And brush it on these rolls inside, before rolling.
9. with the rest 1/3rd, roll it out onto your baking tray that is greased, and then place these rolls on the doughy surface.
10. Let them rise again for about 10 min.
11. Bake for about 20-25 min, till they appear golden on the outside .

Pluck them and eat!

Rava Dhokala

Time taken: 30-35mins

Ingredients:

For Dhokala:

Suji/Rava : 1 cup(100g)

Sour curd : 3/4 cup

ENO(regular) : 3/4 sachet

Salt to taste

For Frying:

Oil : 2tbsp

Mustard seeds :1/4tsp

Seasame seed : 1/2tsp

Curry leaves : few

Grated coconut: 2tbsp

Oninon finely chopped :1

Tomato finely chopped :1

Garlic finelly chopped :12-15 cloves

Green chillies choppped :2-3

Turmeric powder : pinch

Salt to taste

Coriander leaves for garnishing

Method:

1.Take sour curd in bowl and knead it well. Add suji to it and make a smooth thick batter.Add water if required. Add salt to taste.

2.Take heavy bottom kadai and pour a glass of water. Take one plate and greese it with ghee.

3.Add ENO to the batter jus before pouring it into plate. mix batter well and pour it in plate. keep the plate into kadai.

4.Keep the kadai on medium flame and cook for about 10-15 mins covering it with lid.

5.After 15 mins open the lid and check if its done by putting knife into it.If knife comes out clean then its done, otherwise cook for 5 more mins.

6.When done take plate out and make it to cool for about 10 mins.Cut into square shapes of dhokala.

7.Take nonstick kadai and put oil and mustard seeds. Add seasame seeds, curry leaves, garlic and green chillies. Saute for minute.

8.Add onion and tomato and fry for 2 mins.Add turmeric pwd and salt.Now add cut pieces of dhokala and mix well.

9.Garnish with coriander leaves and sprinkle grated coconut.Serve hot with tamarind chutney.

Tips:

If sour curd is not available then batter can be prepared 30mins before with normal curd but make sure to add sufficient water as rava tends to pull more water if batter kept for long.

Peanut Butter - Olive Oil Breakfast Muffins For Instant Gratification

Ingredients:

1. 125 g - All Purpose Flour
2. 125 g - Super fine caster sugar
3. 75 g - Olive oil
4. 50 g - Crunchy Peanut Butter
5. 1 tspn - baking powder
6. 2 tbspns - Golden Syrup
7. 2 - eggs
8. 2 tbpsns - Milk (Room Temp)
9. 1 tspn - Vanilla Essence

Procedure:

Preheat oven @ 200C

1. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl
2. In another bowl whisk all wet ingredients till they are combined
3. Combine Wet into Dry, till a lumpy batter in formed. Don't mix too much though
4. Now add the milk
5. Bake for 25-30 min

Serve Warm with a cup of milk ! These are excellent breakfast treats. But can be enjoyed anytime of the day

Chocolate Anniversary Cake

Cake:
Ingredients:
1. Flour – 200 gm
2. Caster Sugar – 200 gm
3. Vegetable Oil – 175 gm
4. Baking powder – 1 ½ tspn
5. Cocoa powder – 2 tbspns
6. Eggs – 2
7. 1 tspn – vanilla extract
8. Sour cream – 150 ml
Process:
1. Preheat the oven @ 180 C , and butter and line 2 tins with parchment paper.
2. Put all the ingredients in your processor and blitz.
3. Now divide your batter equally in the 2 tins
4. Bake for 35 min.
5. Allow the cakes to cool for about 10 min, and turn them over to peel off the parchment paper.
6. Turn one cake upside down, and leave the other as it is.
Icing
Ingredients:
1. Unsalted butter – 75 gm
2. Dark chocolate chips – 175 gm
3. Icing sugar – 300gm or a little less
4. Sour cream – 125 ml
5. Golden syrup - 1 tbspn
6. Vanilla essence – 1 tspn
Process:
1. Melt the chocolate (and butter) on a bowl of simmering water. Let it cool completely
2. In your food processor, blitz the icing sugar once to remove any possible lumps.
3. Into the cooled melted chocolate add in the golden syrup, sour cream and vanilla essence. Fold in and whisk
4. Add the mixture to the icing sugar, process till everything combines.
Your icing is ready!
When the cakes cool completely, sandwich them, spread some cream in between them and on top and decorate with more chocolate, or other toppings!

Mocha Cake

This is actually more of a muffin recipe than a cake recipe. But, what the heck! Anything that is tasty and eatable can be made at any time, any day. It comes as a closely made cake that is so tasty and even a tiny bit chewy. The biscuit crumbs as a topping gives a very crunchy bite that is really enjoyable!
Ingredients:
1. All-purpose-flour – 125 gm
2. Caster Sugar – 100 gm
3. Dark Brown Sugar (Demerera Sugar) – 25 gm
4. Unsalted Butter – 125 gm
5. 2 tbspns of Milk (Room Temperature)
6. 2 eggs
7. Baking Soda – 2 tspns
8. 2 tspns instant coffee powder
9. 2 tspns cocoa powder
10. Vanilla Essence – 2 tspns
11. Chocolate Biscuit crumbs – of 2 biscuits

Procedure:
1. Preheat the oven to 200C.
2. Put everything in the processor – except the milk, and blitz.
3. While blitzing pour in the milk and continue blitzing till everything mixes up thoroughly.
4. Fold in some of the biscuit crumbs and scatter some on top of the cake when you pour into a greased cake tin.
5. Bake at 200C, for about 20-30 min, till a cake-tester comes out clean.
Best delicious when eaten warm!

Buttercream Chocolate Birthday Cake

I made this for K's birthday - April 13th, 2010. It came out awesome!!

Cake:
Ingredients:

Plain Flour - 200 gm
Castor Sugar - 200 gm
Vegetable Oil - 225 gm
4 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Butterscotch Extract
3 tbsp - Custard powder
2- 3 tbspns milk at room temp.

Procedure:

Preheat your oven at 180C

1. Put all ingredients except the milk in your food processor. When
2. When the batter combines, add in milk through the funnel so that the cake batter becomes of dropping consistency.
3. Grease and Line two cake tins and divide the batter into two equal parts.
4. Bake for about 20-30 min.
5. Let them cool for about 10 min and then invert them and peel off the paper.

Let them cool further.

Butter Cream Icing:

Ingredients:

125 gm Icing sugar
4 tspn custard powder
75 gm butter
1 1/2 tspn boiling water

Procedure:

Combine the sugar and custard powder in your mixer, and then add in the butter. To make it spread-able add in the boiling water.

You need to spread this butter cream icing in between the two sandwiched cakes.

Chocolate Icing:

100 gm - Chocolate chunks or chips
60 ml water
125 gm castor sugar. I use a little less, as I prefer a slightly non-sugary icing.
2 tbspn golden syrup- I use more than 2 big squirts!
1 - 2 tbspn of edible glitter or chocolate wormies

Combine the water, Golden syrup and sugar - let it come to a boil. Take it off the heat.

Now add in the chocolate chunks and swirl but dont stir at this point.

Let it all melt and let it cool for about 20 min. By this time the chocolate icing is thick and ready to spread over your lovely cake.
Whisk you icing in the end, to combine all together. Spread it over.

Stick in candles, sing and EAT!!

Simple Sweet and Salt Cut-out Cookies

This is one saver in times when you doubt yourself about baking. This recipe assures you again and again that you are GOOD at baking! :)

These are simple sweet and salt cookies, and they taste good in whatever color they turn out - So, don't really worry if they turn out a little more than golden. Its perfectly fine. They are COOKIES, come on! They are supposed to be homely. Eat them when they

The best thing I like about cookies though, is the smell of baking that wafts through my home. I made these on Tuesday and even shared them wit my sweet neighbors, and in like 2 minutes I got a message from them that they were awesome! :D So, what can I say.. I love them so much -- I mean I love my cookies! :)

Ingredients:

1. 2 1/4 cups (295 gm) - All purpose flour
2. 1 cup (226 gm) - Unsalted butter
3. 2/3 cups (135 gm) - Castor sugar
4. 1 egg (Sorry Sushu.. Cant help but use 1 egg! The texture is not good otherwise:) )
5. Vanilla essence - 1 tspn
6. Lemon essence - 1 tspn
7. Lemon zest - of 1 lemon
8. 1/4 tspn - salt
9. 1/4 tspn - baking powder / bicarb

Procedure:

1. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl, till pale and soft.

This may sound a little more tedious than usual, or my other cake recipes, but trust me, it helps.

2. Add in the egg, vanilla essence, lemon essence and lemon zest in this mixture. Stir well till they combine.

3. In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients - flour, salt and baking powder.

4. Add dry ingredients to wet ones.

5. Make a good dough - add little more flour if you feel the dough is really falling apart.

6. Wrap the dough in cling and store it in the fridge for about an hour.

7. Take it out and roll in into a disc about 1/2 inch thick. Cut it out into different beautiful shapes with your cookie cutters

8. Grease a cookie tray with butter, preheat the oven at 200C and bake for 15-20 min.

9. Cool on a wire rack till cool and hard

10. EAT !

Pictures will follow - as I am making them again this week :)