Welcome Uthra - my new partner in crime :)

Hi guys,
I am so happy that uthra decided to come on board as my co-blogger for this site. I have known her for let's seeee :) wayyyy too many years and I'm excited about her deciding to blog here.
-Kanch

Tawa Pulao

This recipe was taken from a blog called Chef In You.(http://chefinyou.com/)

Ingredients:
1. Onions - 1, cut into small pieces.
2. Tomatoes -  4, cut into small pieces.
3. Peas - 1 cup (I used the frozen one)
4. Red and green bell pepper - 1/2 each. (if you do not have red you can just use 1 green bell pepper), cut   into small pieces.
5. Ginger - grated
6. Garlic - 2 cloves (chopped fine)
7. Green chilies - 2 (chopped fine)
7. Cumin seeds, Fennel seeds
8. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp, Red chili powder - 1 tsp (for some extra spice; optional); Paav bhaji masala (I used the sanjeev kapoor's masala) - 1 spoon
7. Butter and oil
8. Salt to taste
9. Cilantro for garnishing.
10. Cooked rice - 2 cups.

Method:
1. In a pan heat some butter and oil.
2. Add the fennel and cumin seeds.
3. When it starts to sizzle, saute the green chilies, garlic and ginger for 2 mins.
4. Add the onions and saute till they become transparent.
5. Add the tomatoes and saute till they become a little mushy.
6. Add bell peppers and saute for 2 mins. Add a little water and cook till the raw smell for the mixture disappears.
7. Add turmeric and paav bhaji masala powder and salt.
8. When all this comes together , add the rice and peas.
9. Mix well and garnish with cilantro and serve hot.

I think this goes well with onion raita and potato chips. I sauteed the onions in oil before adding the yogurt since I don't like the taste of raw onions.

Trail-mix oat bars

Hi all,
Yesterday I baked the walnut-dates cake (again!!!!) but this time from a different recipe.
While I was baking that it stuck me that I could something else with the "dates paste." Something marginally healthier than the cake and this bar was born.

Ingredients
Oats (Quaker Quick) - 4 cups
Dates - 20
Raisins - 1/2 cup
Cranberries - 1/4 cup
Walnuts -  chopped 1/4 cup
Almonds - chopped 1/4 cup
Dark chocolate chips + Butter scotch chips - 2/3rds cup
Water - 3/4 cup
Method
1) Cook the water, dates, raisins  in the microwave for 2 min and then let it sit for about 3-4 minutes and grind to a fine paste
2) Toast the chopped walnuts and almonds in a 400 degree oven until golden brown
3) Toast the oats in a 400 degree oven for about 5 minutes
4) Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.
5) Pat it down into a 9 inch square pan. Make sure that it is tightly packed.
6) Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes (or until the top looks golden brown)

PS: The key is to make sure that the pan is tightly packed and so modify the measurements depending on the pan size.

Pictures...Sorry, I forgot to take pictures when it was in the pan

Buttermilk scones

I am a big fan of scones and always wanted to give it a try.
So I tried the Chocolate chip buttermilk scones from here
Pictures:

Indo-chinese Fried Rice with Chili Tofu

I got the Indo-chinese fried rice recipe from here.

The changes I made were as follows:
1) Used whatever celery was available in my local market
2) Use this tomato chili sauce (see here) and not chili and tomato sauce separately

I got my Chili Tofu recipe idea from here.

The changes I made were as follows:

1) Use this tomato chili sauce (see here) and not chili and tomato sauce separately
2) Used tofu instead of paneer
3) Did not marinate and fry tofu instead I  cut tofu into pieces and placed them in a colander for an hour to drain out the water. Once I was done with frying my veggies for the fried rice and before I mixed in the rice, I removed the veggie mixture from the non-stick pan and placed these tofu pieces and continued to cook on high till they browned. Turned them from time to time to allow even browning on all sides.
4) I had to use up my celery stalks and so cut up three long stalks into tiny pieces and added the pieces along with the onions and bell peppers.
5) Did not add tomato paster but added 3 fresh tomatoes cut into tiny pieces right before adding all the sauces.


Tip for chili tofu: If you are okay with eating food from a previous day/night, I would suggest you allow the flavors to develop overnight. It makes a lot of difference.

Pictures:

Brown Rice Brown Sugar Pongal

Brown Rice - 1/2 cup
Moong Dal - 1/4 cup
Dark Brown Sugar - 3/4 cup
Almond Milk - 1 cup
Water - 1/4 cup
Raisins - 1/4 cup
Ghee - 2 tsp

Method
1) Pressure cook Brown rice and Moong Dal using milk and water until it gets mushy (5-6 whistles)
2) Add Sugar and water to a pan and bring to boil and stir from time to time until you get a thick syrup
3) Add the raisins to the syrup and boil for a couple of minutes
4) Add the cooked rice+dal mixture and bring to boil
5) Finish by adding ghee and serve hot

Picture:

Channa Daal with Zucchini, Whole Moong Dal Gravy, Cabbage Peas Gravy

Today was my lucky day. I hit upon three awesome recipes :)

1. Channa Daal with Zucchini from here.
2. Whole Moong Dal Gravy from here.
3. Cabbage Peas Gravy from here (I substituted Almonds for Coconut).

 

Khaman Dhokla - Did not know it was this easy :)

The crazy cookie is back :) and this time with a dhokla recipe from here.

Of course there are some things I had to change.

1. 1 tsp of oil instead of the 1 Tbl sp
2. 3 tsp of sugar instead of the 3 Tbl sp
3. After some research gathered that Eno fruit salt is 60:40 ratio of baking soda and citric acid and so I substituted it with approx 1 and 1/4 tsp of baking soda and a little more than 3/4 tsp of lemon juice (from the yellow bottle :))

Pictures:

PS:

1. The inner side of the dhoklas turned out to be red colored. Of course, I had to go back and research and found out from here and here, that tumeric in contact with baking soda causes the change in color. Suggestions were to increase the amount of citric acid or reduce the amount of turmeric. I will give both of these a try in the future.
2. I decided not to add any tadka to avoid that extra bit of oil :) It tastes great as is and I have store bought sweet and green chutney to go with it.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chickpeas, Avocado, and Applesauce

Note: My sister tried the recipe and said she had difficulty getting it out of the pan. Will try to make it again and see If I can replicate my previous trial. Hopefully, I did not add some ingredient that I have forgotten to take account.

This recipe is adapted from here and here. Of course, it has my additions and omissions :)

You did read the title right. Before you raise an eyebrow skeptically, I would urge you to give it a try. :)

Ingredients
Chickpeas - 1 can
Cocoa Powder - 1/2 cup
Brown sugar - 1/4 cup packed
Applesauce - 2 Tbl sp (as a substitute for the Oil)
Avocado - 0.5 medium size (as a substitute for Eggs)
Baking powder - 1 tsp
 Water - 1/3 cup ( I infused it with coffee. Alas! The coffee flavor refuses to show up in my final product.)

Method:
1. Puree chickpeas, water, applesauce, and avocado.
2. Take this puree in a mixing bowl and sift in the cocoa powder and baking powder. Mix well.
3. Add in the brown sugar. Mix well. The batter will feel light and airy.
4. Scoop into 10 muffin tins and bake at 350 degree until tooth pick comes out clean (I baked for around 35 minutes).

PS:
1. Increase the amount of sugar or add chocolate chips or use sweetened cocoa powder, if sugar levels have to be increased. I love the  bitterness of the cocoa but it is not everyone's cup of tea :)
2. In the future I would fill the cupcake tins up to the top. These cupcakes do not puff up as much as the regular cupcakes do and mine look flatter than most regular cupcakes :). Probably has to do something with the substitutions.
3. Why am I baking and cooking this much? I'm not sure. This baking thingy has turned into an obsession :) Hopefully, with school beginning Monday, I will be out of it :)
4. In the future, would definitely use cupcake liners.
5. Traditionally, they ask you not to substitute all of the butter or oil but I did and cupcakes tasted fine :)
6. Do not tell your kids what's in it because they won't find out if you don't tell :)
7. Did I mention its Vegan??
8. In the future, will add 1 tsp of baking soda as well to help my cupcakes puff up more.



Pictures:

Semolina Muffins with Onion Sambar

Semolina muffins - I found this super interesting recipe from here. I avoided the addition of shredded paneer.

Onion Sambar - Made it with MTR Madras Sambar powder, Masoor Dal, Frozen Red Onions, and cup of frozen Peas&Carrot

White Chocolate Oatmeal Raisen Cookie

I got this wonderful recipe from this website. To which I added some white chocolate chips. Also, I used the instant oats I had instead of the rolled oats.

I Googled and found out that typically rolled oats can be substituted for instant oats but not the other way around. However, my cookies came out just the way the recipe says it would, crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. So, I guess the substitution is recipe specific.

Triple Chip Cookies

I was totally taken in by this  recipe  for triple chocolate chip cookies but I did not have three kinds of chocolate, only two kinds. I added butterscotch chips to make up for the third chip.

I made the recipe with white, dark, and butterscotch chips and reduced amount of sugar to 1/2 cup of  light brown sugar.

For future, will reduce the sugar further- maybe only use 1/4 cup because the butterscotch chips add a significant amount of sweetness.

Chocolate Chip Coffee Date and Walnut Cake

Hi all,
I have been in love with this recipe ever since my sister introduced it to me several months ago. This year for the holidays I decided to bake some and send it across for my sister and brother-in-law but I wanted to modify it to include my all time second favorite flavor (first being mint :)) "coffee."

I made the exact same recipe with the following modifications.

1) I added 1 and 1/2 tsp of instant coffee to about 1/2 cup boiling water and soaked the dates in that water.
2) Added about a 1/4 cup of white chocolate chips

Result?
The cake overall tastes good:) Somehow the addition of coffee seems to have lessened the sweetness which is great!!!
Flip side -  I only get a mild coffee flavor (I expected a stronger one -  will increase amount of coffee next time ) and the white chocolate chips completely melted into oblivion - I guess its not sturdy enough to withstand 50 minutes of baking - will search of other options.

Red Kidney Beans in Beetroot Gravy

Ingredients

Red Kidney Beans -  1 cup (soak overnight and pressure cook)
Beetroot - 2 large (pressure cook and grind to paste)
Onion - 1 large (finely chopped)
Tomato - 2-3 (finely chopped)
Garlic - 4-5 clove (roughly chopped)
Ginger - 1 inch piece (finely chopped)
Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
Green Coriander - 1/4 bunch chopped
Chilli powder -1/4 tsp
Dal Makhani masala - 2 tsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Water - 1/4 cup

Method
1) Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds and wait until spluttering subsides
2) Add the chopped ginger and garlic and fry for a minute
3) Add the chopped onions and fry until golden brown
4) Add salt, dal makhani, and chilli powder and fry for 1-2 minutes
5) Add chopped tomatoes and cook until tomatoes turn tender
6) Now add the beetroot paste and mix well with masala and cook for 2 minutes
7) Add cooked kidney beans and 1/4 cup water, mix well and allow to simmer for 5 minutes
8) Garnish with coriander and server with rice/chapathi


 

Veggie Quiche

I think I am officially going to the start the "How to clean out your fridge of soon expiring ingredients :)" section

Ingredients
Cheese - I used shredded mozerella 2-3 Tblsp and 1 slice of Swiss
Eggs - 3
Onion, tomato, green peppers, spinach, garlic - to taste ( you can omit any of them)
Betty crocker pie crust dough - I use half a pack and got 5 cupcake size mini quiches
Salt
Pepper
Italian seasoning
Milk - 1/3 cup
Method
1) Fry onions, garlic, tomato, spinach garlic with some salt and pepper in 1 tsp of olive oil until the veggies are tender.
2) Beat eggs + milk in a bowl. Mix in the shredded chesse. Add the fried veggies and mix well.
3) Prepare and roll out the pie dough as instructed and cut into circles and press down onto cup cake tins (of course you could roll out the pie dough onto an 8" round pie tin - which I did not have and so I just made it in a cupcake tin)
4) Preheat the oven to 400 degree and throw in the pie-cupcakes to cook for about 10 minutes. It does not have to be browned but it should look semi cooked.
5) Laddle in the egg+veggie mixture until it fills up to the top.
6) Cut the swiss cheese into rectangular pieces and place a couple of pieces on top of each quiche.
7) Bake for about 25 - 30 minutes or until a fork comes out clean.

Guess what?  Here is a picture of the final product :)

Super cheesy bread lasagna

You heard it right. I did say super cheesy :) It is one of those recipes I probably won't repeat often or not at all unless I had the same unique situation or I am cooking for guests. What's the situation you ask?
Well, I had 3/4 pack of grated mozzarella cheese, 4 slices of swiss chesse, 6 slices of bread and 1/2 bottle of alfredo sauce - all needed to be used within the next week. This forced me to come up with a  recipe and "Bread lasagna was born."  Of course, I plan to give away at least half of what I baked :)

Here goes...

Layer 1 -  Chunky Tomato Sauce:
Tomatoes 6 small chopped, onions - 1 big chopped, garlic- 6 pods roughly chopped, spinach - frozen 1/2 cup, Italian seasoning, bell pepper 1/3 chopped and salt

Fry onions and garlic till golden brown in 1 tsp of oilve oil. Add bell pepper and cook for 1-2 min. Add the salt and seasoning and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add tomatoes and spinach. Mix well and close with lid. Allow to cook for about 6-7 minutes. 

Layer 2 (Pasta):

Elbow macaroni - 1/2 cup, broccoli - 1/2 cup frozen chopped, peas & carrot mix - 1/2 cup frozen, salt - to taste, alfredo sauce - 1/2 bottle

Cook the pasta in about 4 cups of water. Once cooked add salt and veggies and cook for about 5-6 minutes and remove from gas. Drain and add the Alfredo sauce and mix well and set aside.

Layer 3 (Bread):
Toast 6 slices of bread on both sides

Layering:
1. Take a 9"  square baking pan. Place 2 bread slices and 2 halves of a bread slice on the bottom until it more or less covers the base. 
2. Place 4 slices of swiss cheese on top
3. Spread a layer of the chunky tomato sauce
4. Spread the pasta on top
5.  Spread 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese
6. Spread a second layer of the chunky tomato sauce

7. Place the other 2 slices and 2 halves of the bread on top
8. Cover with the remaining mozerella cheese
9. Bake in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Rava Upma

I've had some pretty superb Rava Upma versions (courtsey Vidhya (sister) and Harini (sister's sister-in-law) and this one ranks right among them.
http://vegetarian-planet.blogspot.com/2009/08/ravasooji-khichadisemolina-khichadi.html

One alteration I made was substitute the the cloves, cinnamon, etc for 1 tbs of  pulav masala (I did not have the ingredients on hand.)

Half Mint Half Dulche De leche Mocha Brownie

The basic recipe I used was from here and the  idea for mint came from here  and dulche de leche brownie came from here

What I used ( Apart from the other ingredients in the recipe)
Dark Chocolate Pearson's Mint Patties - 10
Dulche de leche (From previous post) - 2 Tbls
Mocha Expresso - 1 tbsp- prepared using 1/3 cup of water
Light Brown Sugar ( instead of white sugar)

Changes:
1) Added the prepared expresso right after adding the coco powder ( made no other change to proportions)
2) Initially filled the 9" pan with 2/3 of the mix
3)  Lined the 10 patties on on half of the 9" tin. Added dollops of the dulche de leche on the other half.  The Dulche can be mixed in gently using a knife (do not overmix)
4) Add the rest of the batter on top and bake for about 25 minutes.
5) Let it completely cool and chill in fridge for  hour. Cut into pieces and freeze.
PS: I am coffee lover and the next time I bake these brownies, I would up the expresso level to about 2 tbsp.

Dal Makhan-less

Ingredients
Butter - 1 Tbl
Dal Makhani Masala (MDH) - 2 Tbl
Whole Black Urad Dal - 1cup
Rajma (Kidney Beans) - 1/3 cup
Channa Dal  - 1/4 cup
Tomato - 5 small ( Blanched and pureed)
Onion - 1 (Pureed)
Ginger-Garlic paste - 2 Tbl
Almond Milk - 1/4 to 1/2 cup
Salt - to taste
Cumin seeds - 1 Tbl
 Olive Oil - 1 tsp
Coriander - 1/2 bunch chopped
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp

Method
1) Soak the dals together overnight. Cook in pressure cooker with tumeric, half the chopped coriander and salt. Mash half the the cooked dal.
2) In a kadai, heat olive oil
3) Add cumin seeds and wait until it splutters
4) Add onion puree and ginger garlic paste and fry for about 5 min
5) Add the masala and butter and fry for about 3-4 min
6) Add tomoato puree and cook for about 5 min
7) Add the cooked dals and boil for about 5 min
8) Add the milk and cook for about 1-2 min.
9) Remove from stove and garnish with coriander.
10) Serve with Chapathi or Rice

The buttery texture comes for the mashed portion of the dal, you do not have to add too much butter to get the texture. Dal makhani recipes on the web recommend anywhere between 1/2 stick to 1 stick of butter and 1/2 to 1 cup heavy cream. I'm fairly sure that those recipes would taste wonderful. However, 1 Tbl butter with 1/4 cup almond milk tasted really really good as well :)

P.S: I have always noticed eating a dish after a few hours (or even leaving overnight) helps marinate the flavors better.

Dulche de leche - from divya's blog

Link: http://www.divyascookbook.com/2011/02/how-to-make-dulce-de-leche.html

Can it get easier than this?