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Winner of the Giveaway for July’s -‘Only’ Microwave Cooking


Hello all!!
Last month I enjoyed using my microwave to the fullest and cooking many recipes in it. Though I did not receive many recipes for the event, I was happy to read that many of the bloggers attempted cooking in the microwave especially for the event. I’m so glad, finally what matters is that the purpose is solved. Even if a few bloggers tried but at least they tried cooking in the microwave.
There are total of 15entries and out of the 13Indian entries sent to me, I will now pick the winner of the giveaway, but before that go through the round up….

Indian Entries

 
1. Chocolate Flavoured Instant Coffee by Lubna Karim

2. Strawberry Crunch Cookies!! by Nandita Pai

3. Jain Style Stuffed Eggplant by Pari

4. Microwave Masala Peanuts by Denny

5. Minute Barfi by Shobha

6. Moong Dal Palak (Microwave Version) by Shobha

7. Dahi Vada by Julie

8. White Pumpkin Milk Kootu by Kavitha

9. Bundt Garlic Parmesan Pull Apart Bread by Pari

10. Eggless Choco banana Coffee Cake by Pari

11. Curry Leaves Chutney by Archana

12. Oats Cookies-Biscuits by Kurinji

13. Chickpea Flour Cigars by Pari

Other Countries

1. Instant Khaman Dhokla by Shweta

2. Tangy Tomato Chutney by Gauri Shirke

The winner of the cookbook giveaway is No.8, Kavitha of Kavi’s Kitchen. Congrats dear. Please mail me your complete address with a proper landmark, pin code and your cell/landline number to cookingoodfood@gmail.com within two days, else I’ll have no choice but to pick a new winner.





























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Assemblée Générale 2012

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Assemblée Générale 2012

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Chayote Raitha


          Chayote, also known as chow-chow or vegetable pear, belongs to the gourd family. It's used widely in Indian cooking, cooked either with lentils (dal or kootu) or as a curry or even in salads and raithas. Usually when I make parathas, I serve it with some raitha ( a vegetable and yogurt preparation) and some spicy pickle. Last week when I made beet-root parathas (recipe coming soon), I made this raitha with chayote,  it tasted delicious, a very simple dish that anybody can do..

Need To Have
  • Chayote - 1 grated
  • Green Chilly - 1 sliced lengthwise
  • Mustard Seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
  • Urad Dal (Black Gram) - 1/2 teaspoon
  • Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
  • Curry Leaves - 5 to 10
  • Yogurt (Curd) - 1 cup

Method
          The grated chayote came to about one cup. Heat oil, add the urad dal and mustard seeds, when it starts spluttering, add the asafoetida, green chilly and curry leaves, followed by the grated chayote and salt. Saute well, till the vegetable is half cooked and becomes dry, remove and cool. Beat the yogurt slightly and add it to the vegetable and mix well. Serve it as a side to rotis or any pilaf or briyani.

Note
Can also add some chopped chillies at the end for extra spiciness.
Can also add some grated ginger while sauteing for extra flavor.      
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Potato Capsicum Curry


         Most of us like potatoes, especially the potato fry, very few kids (adults too) can stay away from French Fries. It is a very versatile vegetable that can be used in many kinds of dishes, be it a dry curry, a kurma or fritters and also combines well with other vegetables. For today's curry I have combined potatoes with capsicum or green bell peppers, once again a very yummy combo, goes well as a side with rice and dal or also with rotis..

Need To Have
  • Potatoes, peeled and cubed - 1 + 1/4 cup
  • Capsicum - 1/2 cup chopped
  • Turmeric Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
  • Mustard Seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
  • Cumin Seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
For The Spice Powder
  • Coriander Seeds - 1 teaspoon
  • Black Pepper - 1/2 teaspoon
  • Cumin Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
  • Fenugreek Seeds - 1/4 teaspoon


Method
          Make a powder with all the ingredients given under 'Spice Powder'. Heat oil, add the mustard and cumin seeds, when it starts spluttering, add the potatoes, turmeric and salt. Saute it uncovered for 5 to 7 minutes, till it's 3/4 th cooked, then add the capsicum, saute for a minute, then cover and cook for 3 or 4 minutes. Finally add the spice powder, mix everything together for 2 or 3 minutes. Remove and serve it warm with rice or rotis.


Note
You can also add some grated coconut at the end.
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Watermelon Rind Thalipeeth..a treat for fasting days

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Hi.

In a traditional Maharashtrian family fasting is quite regular. fasting on Ekadashi, Chaturthi is quite common, apart from that some people do fast on Tuesdays/Mangalwar or Thursdays/Guruwar or any one day of the week. On such days they stick to fasting food i.e no grains are eaten and only satvik food is eaten like sabudana, bhagar, potatoes, sweet potatoes. Even salt used is not the common salt but sendha namak is used. In these months, many people fast for Shravan Somvaar  i.e. the Mondays of Monsoon and a few few fast on Fridays too.

Today’s recipe is for people who are fasting. During fasting the food can get very monotonous and one needs a change. This thalipeeth is definitely a change from the regular sabudana, variche tandool/mordhan, sabudana vada, batatyache kees etc. It needs very basic ingredients which are normally present in the kitchen during the fasting days. Moreover, it makes use of the part of the fruit which is normally discarded.

I have already mentioned in my post of Watermelon Rind’s Jhunka, the benefits of the rind, it’s flavor. This is yet another post which makes good use of the rind in a very tasty and healthy way. This is an effort from my side to make best out of usually considered a waste. If you have more suggestions on how to make best out waste, do pass it on to me. I’m all ears..

This preparation is not only useful during fasting days, it is a great lunch box item and can also be served for breakfast  as it is quite filling.

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Watermelon Rind’s Thalipeeth

Preparation Time:20mins

Cooking Time:5mins per thalipeeth

Serves:3

Makes:7-8

 

Ingredients

1cup watermelon rind (grated)

1tsp cumin

3-4 green chilies, finely chopped

2tbsp curds

2-3tbsp coriander stems, finely chopped

1/2cup coarsely ground peanuts

3/4 cup rajgeera atta/ Amaranthus flour

3tbsp- sago flour

1/4cup Singhada atta/ water chestnut flour

1/4cup samo rice atta/ mordhan flour

salt to taste

oil/ghee for cooking

Method

Take the rind in a mixing bowl add cumin, green chilies and coriander stems.

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Add salt to taste. Adding salt in the beginning, helps release water from the rind and which can be later used for binding the flours.

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Add the peanuts.

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Add all the flours and curds, mix to form a dough. If required add a little water for binding.

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Smear oil or ghee on a non stick pan or griddle. Take a plum size dough and using wet fingers, pat it into 6-7inch disc of 1/4th inch thickness. This patting is to be done on a cold pan and not a hot pan unless you are very comfortable with hot pans. The other method to make this is to pat the thalipeeth on moist cloth or greased polythene sheet and then transfer it over the pan. I personally use very less oil for roasting (about 1tsp) but one is free to use more.

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Once transferred, puncture it at three four places in the center and spread more oil/ghee. Roast it over a medium flame till you get roasting spots on either side. Preferably cover it while roasting, this fastens the process of cooking.

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Serve it hot with a lemon pickle for fasting or green chutney without garlic-ginger and curds.

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Also, reposting two of my old recipes which were made in the Royal Kitchen of Nizams, Dum Arvi and Hyderabadi Baghare Baingan for my event ‘Only’ Recipes From The Royal Kitchens, guest hosted by Divya.

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Eggless Chocolate Lamingtons


          Lamingtons - Australian dessert, this was the challenge chosen for the Eggless Baking Group, this month. It could either be the chocolate version or the lemon version, as my daughter loves chocolate, I chose the former. After coming to India, I 've started using the convection oven for baking, still in the process of learning, in fact this is my first proper bake. And about these lamingtons, they came out absolutely gorgeous, thanks Gayathri for choosing it, this is my version, if you love chocolate (if not too, my niece who is not a big fan of chocolate desserts liked this), then this is for you..

Need To Have
For The Cake

  • All Purpose Flour Or Maida - 1 cup
  • Condensed Milk - 1/2 cup
  • Butter - 2 tablespoons
  • Oil - 2 tablespoons
  • Baking Powder - 1 +1/4 teaspoon
  • Baking Soda - 1/2 teaspoon
  • Vanilla Essence - 1 teaspoon
  • Salt - 1/4 teaspoon
  • Water - 2 + 1/2 oz

For The Icing

  • Nutella - 3 tablespoons
  • Milk - 3 tablespoons
  • Cocoa Powder - 3 tablespoons
  • Castor (Powdered) Sugar - 8 tablespoons
  • Melted Butter - 1 tablespoon
  • Grated Coconut - 1 cup



Method
          Sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Beat the melted butter, condensed milk, oil, vanilla essence, water and salt. To this add the sifted dry ingredients, mix well, pour into a greased pan, I used a square pan. Bake at 200C (390F) for 10 minutes, then reduce to 150C (300F) for another 10 minutes. Cool and remove it from the pan. You can either slice the cake horizontally into two or cut it into half and place one half on top of the other with icing in between, I did the latter.

          For the icing, beat everything together, it may not be as stiff as the regular icing, apply it between the cake layers and cut it into small cake pieces. Now add a tablespoon of warm water to the icing and mix it well. Then take each piece of the cake, dip it in the icing, coating on all sides, roll it in the coconut and keep, repeat for all the pieces. You can eat it as such or leave it in the fridge for a slightly stiffer cake.
Final Verdict : Absolutely delicious, would be doing this again and again.

Note
Oven timings vary, you can do your own version of the basic sponge cake and follow the rest of the steps.
I ran out of regular chocolate, so I used Nutella ( no regrets on that, I love Nutella).
Refrigerate the leftover pieces (it contains coconut), just leave them out for sometime before serving.
I used fresh coconut for rolling the cake, you can use the dry dessicated coconut too.
If you want a stiffer icing add some corn starch powder.
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