Event Announcement & Giveaway of April’12

Hi!

Being food bloggers we all are big time foodies and love to cook food. We all plan our menus well especially when we are expecting guests and to my understanding the best way to impress the guest is with the starters or entrée. If the starters are impressive half the battle is won.

So inviting all my fellow bloggers and readers to participate in April’s Event with the theme Snacks and Starters. The event is guest hosted by Raji of Vegetarian Tastebuds. The details and rules of the event can be checked there.

 
The giveaway is sponsored by www.tarladalal.com ,is a Cookbook, Snacks Under 10 Minutes.

It’s a book that we all can make good use of in today’s speedy world to eat healthy and interesting snacks.

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Eggless Chocolate Cornets

          This is my first month with the Eggless Baking Group at Gayathri's Cook Spot, and the challenge was chocolate cornets. At the beginning of the month, she had sent a link to a video on the youtube. The recipe requires specific molds called 'cream horn molds', I thought it would be available easily, so I kept putting it off until last week. Only then did I realize that these molds were not to be found so easily and I had to order online, now I didn't have the time to do that, but I didn't want to miss posting too. So I made the molds (deserves me right for being lazy), of course the video gave instructions for that too. So, finally I did everything yesterday, the result was good, I did six of them and the chocolate custard filling was too good with the coffee flavor. The process is pretty easy if you had your molds ready, I would definitely do this again but only after getting the molds..

Need To Have

• All Purpose Flour - 1 cup
• Dry Yeast - 1 teaspoon
• Mawa - 1 tablespoon
• Milk - 2 tablespoon + 1/4 cup
• Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
• Brown Sugar - 1 tablespoon
• Butter - 1 tablespoon

For The Chocolate Custard Filling

• Vanilla Custard Powder (Eggless) - 2 tablespoons
• Cocoa Powder - 1 tablespoon
• Sugar - 3 heaped tablespoons
• Milk - 200 ml + 1/4 cup
• Butter - 1/2 tablespoon
• Chocolate - 30 gm ( I used 1/3 of a 100 gm bar)
• Instant Coffee Powder - 1 teaspoon

For The Molds
Parchment paper, Aluminium Foil and a small stapler

Method
          Mix the yeast in 2 tablespoon warm milk and leave it for at least 5 mins or till you see the yeast has bubbled up. Melt the butter, add the brown sugar, salt, mix, then add the sifted flour, mawa, mix it, add yeast and make a dough by adding the 1/4 cup milk little by little. You'll have a tablespoon or more of the milk remaining, save it for glazing. Make a ball of the dough, cover it with a wrap and leave it in a warm place for an hour till it doubles up.
          In the meantime, mix the 2 tablespoon of custard powder and the coco powder in the 1/4 cup cold milk. Boil the remaining 200ml of milk with the sugar, remove from the heat and add the custard powder mixture, mix well and put it back on the stove and keep stirring till it becomes thick to custard consistency. Remove and while it is still hot, mix in the butter, coffee powder and the chocolate, keep it over some ice cubes, covered with a plastic wrap.

       
          Now, coming back to the dough, see if it has doubled up, take it, punch it down and divide it into six equal parts and leave for 5 mins. Then roll each one of them into a thin string of about a foot long, a little thick at one end. Take the thin side and press it on the cone mold, starting a little down from the tip, and roll the dough string on the mold and pinch the dough together at the end to hold it. Leave this to rise for another hour on a parchment paper lined baking tray. Then brush them with some milk and bake it for 10 to 12 mins at 390F. Remove and after 3 mins, wiggle out the mold and cool the cornets completely.
          Once cooled, fill a piping bag with the chocolate custard ( use the tip that is long and narrow, used for piping filling into cupcakes and pastries) and fill the cornets with it and serve them warm.
You can see the video here, it also gives you instructions for the molds, I used parchment paper instead of the kraft paper.

Sending it to Sizzling Tastebuds for Vardhini's Bake Fest event.
                to Sara's Corner for the Women's Day Celebration event,
                to Vegetarian Food And Me for I'm The Star event and
                to Food Corner for the Midweek Fiesta event.       

Note
Don't over bake the cornets, check after 10 mins. If you leave it longer, it'll become harder.
Can replace milk powder for mawa.

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Pasta with Kumato Tomatoes

          Ever since I read about these tomatoes in Priya's Now Serving, I had wanted to try them. Couple of weeks back when I saw them, I picked a whole pack of them.These tomatoes are a reddish brown in color and have a unique taste, not too sour and not too sweet. Well, I was thinking of ways to use it, of course not in the regular Indian way but where you can taste the tomatoes in the dish. I couldn't come up with anything, except for eating it raw, so I finally decided to use it in a pasta dish. It turned out to be really.. good, I had also added some roasted eggplants and asparagus to it. If you find these tomatoes at your grocer's, do give it a try, you will love it..

Need To Have

• Whole Grain Medium Shells Pasta - the full box (375g or approximately 5 cups)
• Kumato Tomatoes - 4 medium sized, chopped
• Asparagus - 1 + 1/2 cup chopped into 1" pieces
• Big Eggplant - 1/2 of it diced
• Chilli Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Dry Basil - 1 + 1/4 teaspoon
• Salt & Pepper - as per taste

Method
          Cook the pasta according to the instructions in the box. Mix the eggplant, asparagus, 1 teaspoon basil, salt and a dash of freshly ground pepper and spread in a oven proof dish and roast them for 20 mins at 400F, turning them in between. Once the pasta and the vegetables are done, you can put together the dish in a jiffy. Heat some olive oil, add the chopped tomatoes, saute till mushy, add the roasted vegetables and salt, mix, finally add the pasta and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon basil. Mix everything together, check for salt and pepper and serve it warm.

Sending it to Sara's Corner for the Women's Day Celebration event,
                to Shama's Easy2cook Recipes for Sara's Cooking With Love - Granddad Series event,
                to Vegetarian Food And Me for I'm The Star event,
                to Spicy Treats for the Show Me The Hits - Fiber Rich Foods event,
                to Sumee's Culinary Bites for the Bon Vivant event,
                 to Taste Of Pearl City for the Healthy Morsels - Pregnancy event,
                to Srav's Cooking Concepts for the Vegan Diet - Only Plant Based event and
                to Food Corner for the Midweek Fiesta event.

Note
Don't overcook the shells, you want the shells to be separate not sticking to each other.
Can drizzle some more olive oil in the end, before serving.

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Jhunka - Chapati..DH’s favourite breakfast, from Karnataka

Hi All!

Today again I’m sharing another favourite of S. This is easily the easiest way of making DH happy. He loves this preparation a lot and now me too.

When I tasted this preparation for the first time I had a major discussion with DH. When my MIL informed me that she was making Chapati-Jhunka for the breakfast, I had visualised roti and a dry besan curry, as in North and Central India chapati means the ‘basic phulka’ or ‘roti’ and Jhunka in Marathi means ‘dry besan curry’. Actually there’s always a confusion with those terms too, because in all Maharashtrian homes, Jhunka is dry besan (chickpea flour) curry and Pithala means a  thick curry with besan. But if you have ever visited a Jhunka-Bhakar Kendra in Maharashtra, they actually serve the Pithala (wet version) with Bhakari.

In all this confusion in my mind, I was extremely surprised, when the preparation was actually served to me,  as the Jhunka made was quite like the Maharashtrian Pithala (wet version and not dry) though very different in taste and Chapati was quite like the Paratha but the texture was very different. The Chapati, is much more softer and thinner than the regular Paratha. It is quite similar to ‘Ghadi chi Poli’ made in Maharashtra, though not quite the same as the layers (papudara) are not separated.

I loved the preparation to the core and it tastes best when served hot. I learnt the preparation when it was made the next time again and ever since then it frequents my kitchen. It can be served as a breakfast, lunch or dinner item. We are always eager to eat it, no matter when it’s served.

The soft Chapatis and the naturally flavoured Jhunka just compliment each other and together they play music in your mouth. It’s a preparation that anyone would love and it so happened that I sent it in S’s lunch box and the dish was liked by all. In fact  S was surprised that they had not heard of the dish and asked him how it was made..

I’m posting the recipe of Jhunka here, for understanding, how the Chapati is made, please check here in my other blog Kitchen-Basics.

JHUNKA

Preparation Time:10mins

Cooking Time:15mins

Serves:3

Ingredients

4-5tbsp oil

1tsp mustard seeds

1tbsp mix of urad-chana daal

4heaped tbsp besan (chickpea flour)

1/4tsp turmeric pwd

4green chillies finely chopped

1”piece ginger grated

2sprigs curry leaves, finely chopped

2tbsp coriander, finely chopped

3-4tbsp sour curds

about 2glasses water

salt to taste

Method

Heat oil and add mustard seeds, once they splutter, add the mixed daals and fry till golden in colour.
Add the green chillies, curry leaves and half the coriander, sauté.
Add the chickpea flour and turmeric and roast lightly.
Lower the flame and add curds.
Mix properly and add the water gradually, stirring continuously to avoid lumps.
Keep the curry a little thin as it thickens fast on cooking and further on cooling.
Add salt to taste and remaining coriander and bring it to a boil and simmer cook for 5mins.
Serve hot with Chapati.

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Cauliflower Lima Beans Fry

          Cauliflower is one vegetable I like to always have in the fridge, you can come up with so many curries with it, from simple stir fries, to kurmas and appetizers like pakoras or the most loved manchurian. I simply love this vegetable, my daughter would not agree with me on this, except might be when she gets her pakoras. Today's recipe is a simple fry, I also added some lima beans, which is also something that I always have in the freezer. It blends very well with the cauliflower and also makes the dish more wholesome..

Need To Have

• Cauliflower - 1 small
• Lima Beans - 3/4 cup
• Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
• Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Chilli Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Coriander Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Roasted cumin Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Black Pepper Powder - 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon
• Curry Leaves - 1 sprig
• Mustard Seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
• Cumin Seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
• Urad Dal - 1 teaspoon

Method
          Cut the cauliflower into medium size florets. Heat oil, add the urad dal, mustard and cumin seeds, once the spluttering stops, add  the curry leaves and the asafoetida, followed by the cauliflower, lima beans, turmeric powder and salt. Cover and cook till 3/4th done, add the chilli and coriander powder, reduce the heat and keep cooking till the cauliflower gets light brown spots. Finally, add the cumin and pepper powder, mix well and serve with some rice and dal.

Sending it to Sara's Corner for the Women's Day Celebration event,
                to Shama's Easy2cook Recipes for Sara's Cooking With Love - Granddad Series event,
                to Vegetarian Food And Me for I'm The Star event,
                to Spicy Treats for the Show Me The Hits - Fiber Rich Foods event,
                to Sumee's Culinary Bites for the Bon Vivant event,
                to Zesty Palette for Vidhya's Love Lock Series - Legumes event and
                to Srav's Cooking Concepts for the Vegan Diet - Only Plant Based event.

Note
Do not overcook the cauliflower, can replace lima beans with peas or other beans.
Can also add some crushed garlic, will give a nice flavor to the dish.
You can also do this in the oven.

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Parsley Dal (Lentils)

          Few weeks back, when I bought this big bunch of parsley, I didn't have a clue where to use it or how to use it, yet I got it, thanks to food blogging. But now, I think I can do at least a couple of dishes with it like the potato parsley parathas, parsley pilaf and now this dal. I used chana dal or bengal gram dal in this, which is very diabetic friendly because of its low glycemic index and also parsley is a good source of fiber. It tasted great, a nice combination with both rice or rotis..

Need To Have

• Chana Dal - 1 cup
• Chopped Parsley - 1/2 cup and some more to garnish
• Red Pepper Or Capsicum - 1 big chopped
• Onion - 1 chopped
• Garlic - 3 cloves chopped
• Tomato - 1 chopped
• Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Chilli Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Coriander Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Roasted Cumin Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Garam Masala - 1/2 teaspoon
• Cumin Seeds - 1 teaspoon
• Cloves - 2

Method

          Pressure cook the chana dal with the turmeric powder. Heat oil, add the cloves and cumin seeds, once the spluttering stops add the onion and garlic till the raw smell goes. Then add the tomatoes, saute for a couple of mins, add the capsicum and 1/2 cup parsley, saute for some more time. Add the chilli, coriander and the cumin powder, mix for some more time, add the cooked dal and some water. Simmer for 5 more mins and add the garam masala and the remaining parsley, mix and switch off. The dal was very flavorful, and went perfectly well with the rotis.

Sending it to Sara's Corner for the Women's Day Celebration event,
                to Shama's Easy2cook Recipes for Sara's Cooking With Love - Granddad Series event,
                to Vegetarian Food And Me for I'm The Star event,
                to Spicy Treats for the Show Me The Hits - Fiber Rich Foods event,
                to Sumee's Culinary Bites for the Bon Vivant event,
                to Zesty Palette for Vidhya's Love Lock Series - Legumes event,
                to Taste Of Pearl City for the Healthy Morsels - Pregnancy event,
                to Zesty South Indian Kitchen for the Hearth And Soul Blog Hop event and
                to Srav's Cooking Concepts for the Vegan Diet - Only Plant Based event.

Note

You can soak the chana dal for a couple of hours and cook it in a pot instead of pressure cooking. 

Can leave out the garlic and add ginger or use both.

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Vegan Banana Date Muffins

       
            Couple of days back, I had tried baking a vegan cake, but it flopped, it slightly stuck to the pan, but I was determined to try again. This time I made these muffins with bananas and dates, not only did I make them vegan but also, I didn't add any sugar and used only whole wheat flour. I was so happy and extremely satisfied with the result and couldn't wait to share it here..

Need To Have

• Whole Wheat Flour - 1 cup
• Ripe Bananas - 2 
• Chopped Dates - 1/2 cup
• Almond Milk - 1/2 cup + 6 tablespoons
• Oil - 1/4 cup
• Flax Seeds Powder - 2 tablespoons
• Baking Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Baking Soda - 1 teaspoon
• Cardamom Powder - 1 teaspoon

Method
          Soak the flax seed powder in the 6 tablespoons almond milk for 10 mins. Sift together the flour, baking soda and baking powder. Mash the bananas into a smooth mixture and mix the chopped dates with some sifted flour and keep. After 10 mins, beat the flax seed mixture till it becomes slightly fluffy, to it add the oil, remaining 1/2 cup almond milk, cardamom powder and the bananas, mix well. Now, mix in the flour little by little, finally blend in the dates. Pour into greased muffin pans and bake at 350F for 25 mins. Serve warm as such or with some maple syrup.

Sending it to Tickling Palates for the I Love Baking event,
                to Sizzling Tastebuds for Vardhini's Bake Fest event.
                to Sara's Corner for the Women's Day Celebration event,
                to Shama's Easy2cook Recipes for Sara's Cooking With Love - Granddad Series event,
                to Vegetarian Food And Me for I'm The Star event,
                to Spicy Treats for the Show Me The Hits - Fiber Rich Foods event,
                to Ramya's Recipe for the Fruit Fiesta event and
                to Srav's Cooking Concepts for the Vegan Diet - Only Plant Based event.

Note
I got 24 mini muffins, for some reason, the muffins that I did in the muffin liners stuck to the paper, but the ones that I did directly in the pan came out clean.
The muffins were sweet enough, but if you want it more sweeter, either mix in some maple syrup to the batter or as I mentioned earlier, serve it with the maple syrup.

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Aloo Gadde Hurda Uperi..Karnataka Style Stir Fried Potatoes

Scene1

It's her first day after marriage in her new home and she is midst a new family  where every one is trying to make her feel comfortable and saying nice things to her. There are kids playing in the house and MIL and her co-sister cooking breakfast in the kitchen assisted by her own co-sisters. FIL is watching news on TV and inspite of such normal activities happening around her she is feeling lost and left out. She sits in a corner observing everyone and suddenly notices that her younger brother in law is sitting on a sofa chair with a chopping board and knife and next to him are almost 6-7 kg of potatoes soaked in water. He would remove a potato, clean and wipe it and then meticulously cut thin slices. She wonders, why is he spending so much time cutting thin slices at such a slow pace with so much of patience. Hesitantly, she asks him why are you cutting them? The reply she gets was a simple sentence 'for making Hurda Uperi'.

She is not able to understand the word and with a confused face looks towards her MIL for an explanation, the explanation comes but from MIL's co-sister. The new bride is informed that the dish is a family favorite made using the potatoes and all family members fight, so that they get to cut the potatoes. The bride is satisfied to an extent but not completely. She relishes the preparation during lunch  along with rice and Jeerige Kattu and her husband explains her later on that Aloo Gadde means Potatoes, Hurda means fried and Uperi means slices in Kannda. After given an explanation, she keeps wondering, how difficult the preparation would be...?

Scene 2

It's about a month after her marriage, the new bride has been learning regularly the Karnataka cuisine to reach her husband's heart. She finally asks her MIL to teach the 'Uperi'. This is the only word that she is able to recollect and her MIL keeps wondering what the DIL is trying to say. The DIL then explains that it's the family favorite made with potatoes. The kind hearted MIL understands finally and tells the new DIL that the preparation is way too simple and can be made quickly, the only time consumed is in cutting the potato slices evenly and thin.

The DIL takes the challenge of cutting the slices and since she is still not adept with her knife skills, she fumbles many times while cutting but finally sails through. The MIL makes the preparation in front of her in the next fifteen minutes and the new DIL is delighted to see that the preparation is way too simple and yet the result is so very tasty.

Scene3

The husband gives his wife  a list of the items she must cook before she leaves for her Mom's place, and topping in the list is Aloo Gadde Hurda Uperi. The wife smiles, cooks all his favorites and refrigerates them before leaving for her husband to savour them later on in the coming week.

By this time I'm sure you must have realised that this DIL was none other than 'ME' and it is S's favourite preparation which I did cook before I left on vacation . 

It is now my turn to share this family favorite recipe with all of you. I can say that I've mastered this easy preparation in all these years and I cut the slices pretty fast now :). 

Aloo Gadde Hurda Uperi

Serves:3
Preparation Time:15mins
Cooking Time:15mins

Ingredients
about 500gms potatoes,sliced
3tbsp Saaru/rasam pudi
1tsp chilli pwd
3/4tsp turmeric pwd
salt to taste
1tsp mustard seeds
5-6tbsp oil

Method

Wash the potatoes and remove the dirt. Let them dry and then slice as thin as possible. I always use potatoes without peeling as the skin is rich in minerals, but if you want you can peel and use.

Heat oil and mustard seeds, once the seeds splutter, tip in a few slices of potatoes along with turmeric and chilli powders, this prevents burning of spices.

Add all the potato slices, salt and rasam pudi. Mix thoroughly and cook on a medium flame without covering the pan.

Cook till done. Serve hot with rice and Jeerige Kattu.

Tips:

This recipe needs more oil for cooking.

For making a good stir fry, ensure that the potatoes are dry and have no excess water.

This preparation tastes best when made a little spicy as it is to be mixed with rice.

Sending this to my event 'Only' South Indian hosted here.

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