Eggless Pistachios Tutti Frutti & Orange Flower Water Biscotti

Most of us now very well about the famous biscottis, a twice baked biscuits usually served with a cup of coffee, these biscuits are from Italy and i love these twice baked biscuits very much, eventhough i dont bake them often.For this month's Eggless Baking Group, Gayathri choosed this wonderful biscotti from Baking Obsession, i immediately tried making this biscott.I went for tutti frutti pieces instead of dried apricots and used quarter cup of pistachios instead of a cup of pistachios the original recipe went for. I replaced the eggs with yogurt and flaxseed meal else i followed everything as per the original recipe. We do get orange flower water here easily in Moroccon stores and i have already used them in my cooking here. We enjoyed thoroughly this fantastic biscuits and we simply loved it.

1cup Sugar
2tbsp Orange Zest
2cups All-purpose flour
1+1/4tsp Baking powder
1/2tsp Salt
1/4cup Unsalted butter(room temperature)
1tsp Orange flower water
1tsp Vanilla extract
1/4cup Yogurt
1tbsp Flaxseed meal
1/4cup Pistachio nuts
1/2cup Tutti frutti

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a baking tray with a baking sheet and keep aside.

Mix together the sugar and orange zest in a small bowl until the sugar gets moist.

Meanwhile sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl.

Beat the butter and the sugar mixture in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in the orange flower water,yogurt,flaxseed meal and vanilla extract.

Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture and beat just until combined. Stir in the pistachios and tutti frutti with a wooden spoon.

Divide the dough into two balls and place both on the prepared baking sheet.

Form each ball into a medium sized long log, and place them with enough space between them,slightly flatten the logs with the dampened fingers.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until the logs are golden brown and firm to the touch.

Remove it from the oven and cool it for 15minutes. On a cutting board, cut the cooked dough diagonally as cookies and arrange them again over baking sheets.

Bake again for 15-20 minutes by turning the baking sheet midway during baking, until the cookies turns firm and dry.

Cool the biscottis completely and store them in an airtightened box and enjoy.

These biscottis stays prefect for a week.

Honey & Chocolate Chunks Oatmeal Cookies

Sometimes i wish to start my day with a quick and healthy fresh bakes along with a cup of coffee, two days back i prepared this healthy oatmeal cookies with honey and chocolate chunks quickly for our breakfast. These cookies suits super prefect for busy morning breakfast, even more better for snacks, i enjoyed thoroughly having these healthy beauties. They are super chewy and extremely addictive and super healthy as i used both wheat flour and oatmeal for making these cookies.Instead of using chocolate chips, i used bittersweet chocolate bar and chopped them roughly as chocolate chunks. These cookies will definitely satisfy your tastebuds and you will realize that they are super addictive when somehow a dozen cookies have disappeared from the cooking rack.Sending this delicious cookies to Srivalli's Kid's Delight-Anniversary Potluck Party.

1cup Wheat flour
1cup Quick cooking oats
1/2cup Sugar
1/2cup Honey
200grms Bittersweet chocolate bar (chopped)
1no Egg
1/2cup Butter
1/2tsp Cinnamon powder
1/2tsp Baking powder
1/2tsp Baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350F, mix together the flour,oats,baking powder,baking soda and cinnamon powder and keep aside.

Beat the butter,sugar,honey together until they turn soft, now add the egg and beat again for few minutes.

Now add the flour mixture,roughly chopped chocolate chunks,mix everything well as a dough.

Scoop the cookie dough over a baking sheet with enough spaces between them.

Bake for 15-20minutes until the crust turns lightly brown. Cool them completely.

Serve with warm coffee or milk.

Red Rice String Hopper/Idiyappam

Finally i prepared my favourite steamed food string hopper with some leftover red rice flour, its been a while i want to make this idiyappams with red rice flour but somehow i couldnt able to make them. Yesterday i prepared this string hopper and enjoyed thoroughly with sugar and fresh grated coconut, definitely a quick,easy,healthy and definitely a filling food.

If you dont like to have with sugar and grated coconut, you can very well go for a stew or you can temper them simply with spices and enjoy it as a savoury version.You can very well start your day with this healthy steamed food or else you can have for dinner. But i love them for my snacks, sending to my own event Healthy Dish-Steamed Foods guest hosted by Jaleela of Cookbookjaleela.

2cups Red rice flour (roasted)
1tbsp Oil
Salt
1cup Water
Sugar (as per need)
1cup Grated coconut
Cardamom powder (optional)

Bring boil the water with a pinch of salt and oil, gradually add the roasted red rice flour and cook until the dough get off from the vessel,keep aside and let them cool completely.

Grease the murukku press, use the string hoppers nozzle. Take enough dough from the already prepared red rice flour dough.

Drop it into the presser and press gently over a greased plate.

Steam cook for 10minutes and transfer the cooked string hoppers to a bowl.Continue the same process with the remaining dough.

Immediately add the sugar, cardamom powder and enough grated coconut and mix everything well.

Enjoy warm.

Prawn Fritters/Eral Bhaji/Prawn Kavappu

Bhaji with prawns, thats a quick, easy as well as tasty appetizier,they are really simply addictive and prefect to serve while sudden guests visit your home..With simple ingredients, this prawn bhajis will be ready within few minutes.Kids will love them for the sure and definitely a real feast for sea food lovers like me.

Since two days, its raining like anything and obviously we love to have deep fried beauties, immediately i opened my freezer and thawed few prawns and prepared this super crispy prawn bhajis.Enjoyed having this crispy fritters for our yesterday's evening snacks with some coffee.Sending this crispy prawn fritters to Usha's Seafood Feast.

25nos Prawns (cleaned and washed with tails intact)
1/2cup Gram flour
1/4cup Corn flour
1/4cup Rice flour
1/2tsp Ginger garlic paste
1/2tsp Fennel seed powder
1tsp Red chilly powder
1/4tsp Baking powder
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
Salt
Oil

Mix the gram flour, corn flour, rice flour, ginger garlic paste,fennel seed powder, red chilly powder, baking powder,turmeric powder, salt, gradually add water and turn as thick batter.

Heat the oil for deep frying, dip the cleaned prawns to the prepared batter and deep fry them until they turns golden brown..

Fry them in batches and serve simply with tomato ketchup.

Breakfast Multigrain Porridge

I do prepare quite often porridge with oats, but recently i tried a multigrain porridge with bulgar,quinoa,foxtail millet and rolled oats. For my surprise this mixed grains porridge turned out extremely fabulous,super filling and satisfying. This healthy porridge gets ready really very quickly as i used pressure cooker for preparing this breakfast healthy porridge.

While serving i drizzled honey and cinnamon powder, i enjoyed this porridge for my breakfast very much. You can also add more vegetables or else chopped fruits to this healthy porridge.This is our last day of blogging marathon, as i choosed this low fat breakfast  this healthy multigrains porridge suits seriously super prefect to the theme i choosed to run for this week.Check out the other marathoners running this 20th edition here.

1/2cup Multigrains (bulgar,quinoa,rolled oats and foxtail millet)

1cup Low fat milk

1cup Water

Honey (as per need)

Cinnamon powder

Bring boil the water in a pressure cooker,meanwhile wash the multigrains thoroughly and keep aside.

Now add the washed multigrains to the boiling water,cook upto a whistle.

Once the steam gets released, add the milk to the cooked porridge,stir well.

While serving, drizzle the honey as per need, springle the cinnamon powder and serve.

Enjoy this warm breakfast porridge.

Oats Sambhar Bhath

I love to add oats in my diet quite often, i can start my day easily with a bowl of oats porridge.Yep anything with oats will definitely satisfy my tastebuds completely.Two days back, i quickly prepared this healthy and super comforting sambhar bath quickly with rolled oats, cooked dal and with usual sambhar powder. I just went for tomatoes and onion instead of mixed veggies for making this sambhar bath, i enjoyed thoroughly this healthy and super filling oats sambhar bath for my breakfast.

As i told earlier,my theme for this week's blogging marathon is low fat breakfast, this oats sambhar bath suits prefectly for the theme. If you are bored of usual porridge,dosas or idlis with oats,give a try this super comforting food low fat breakfast.Check out the other marathoners running this 20th edition here.

2cups Rolled oats (dry roasted)
1/2cup Toor dal (cooked)
Salt
1tsp Oil
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1/2tsp Urad dal
2nos Dry red chillies
A pinch Asafoetida powder
Few curry leaves
1no Onion (chopped finely)
2nos Tomatoes (chopped)
1tsp Sambhar powder
1tsp Lemon juice
Few chopped coriander leaves

Heat enough oil in a pressure cooker,let splutters the mustard seeds,urad dal and add the asafoetida powder,dry red chillies, curry leaves,fry them.

Now add the chopped onions,chopped tomatoes,cook until the onions turns transculent and tomatoes turns mushy.

Immediately add the sambhar powder,cooked toor dal and three cups of water, cook everything for few minutes..

Stir in the rolled oats,close the pressure cooker and cook for upto a whistle.

Once the steam gets released add the chopped coriander leaves,lemon juice to the oats sambhar bath and give a stir.

Enjoy this healthy dish simply with a paruppu thogayal.

Palak Dhokla

Khaman dhokla is quite a famous Gujarati dish,this dhokla is prepared usually with gram flour and can be eaten for breakfast,as main dish , as side dish and also as snacks. I love this yummy spongy dhoklas with green chutney,usually i make this dhokla with gram flour,curd along with few spices. But this time for a change, as a healthy treat i went for making dhoklas with spinach puree. This palak dhokla came out extremely delicious, very light with wonderful spongy texture, obviously its a low caloric steamed food can be enjoyed anytime of the day.I served this healthy green dhoklas for our breakfast with spicy chutney, we simply enjoyed it thoroughly.

This week its our fourth week of blogging marathon, this week i choosed low fat breakfast as theme,obviously i'll be posting for the next two days healthy and delicious low fat breakfast.This healthy palak dhokla goes for low fat yoghurt and a teaspoon of oil for tempering, an excellent light food to kick start a day.

1cup Gram flour /Besan
1/2cup Low fat curd
1/2cup Spinach puree
1/2tsp Green chilly paste
1/2tsp Sugar
1tbsp Lemon juice
Salt
1tsp Eno fruit salt
1tsp Oil
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1tsp Sesame seeds
Coriander leaves (chopped)

Mix the spinach puree,curd,chilly paste,sugar,lemon juice,salt together in a bowl.

Now add the gram flour and whisk everything well, keep aside for an hour.

Pour this batter in a greased vessel and place gently into the pressure cooker.Close the cooker and cook in high flame..

Steam cook this batter until the steam comes and put the flame in simmer, cook again for 10minutes.

Remove the lid and insert a toothpick to check whether they get cooked well.

Meanwhile heat a pan with oil, fry the sesame seeds, mustard seeds and pour over the cooked dhoklas.

Cut them as cubes and serve along with chopped coriander leaves..

Enjoy this dhoklas warm with spicy green chutney.

Ajwain Red Rice Murukku

Two days back, it was raining like anything and obviously everyone at home want something crispy to munch for their snacks, so i quickly prepared this flavourful crispy murukkus. These crispy murukkus go for usual ingredients except ajwain aka omam seeds, yep these murukkus tastes almost like sev aka ompodi and also like murukku. An excellent snack to munch anytime of the day,definitely kids will simply love having this crispy murukku. Seriously ajwain gives a wonderful flavour to this murukku, am sending this crispy beauties to Srivalli's Kid's Delight-Anniversary Potluck Party.

2cups Gram flour
1+1/2cups  Red Rice flour
1/2cup Fried gram/Pottukadalai flour
1tbsp Butter (room temperature)
2tbsp Sesame seeds
1/2tsp Asafoetida powder
Salt
Oil for deep frying
1tbsp Ajwain seeds

Soak the ajwain seeds in hot water for half an hour, then grind it as fine paste with the soaked water and keep aside.

Take the gram flour,red rice flour,fried gram flour,butter, sesame seeds, asafoetida powder and salt in a large bowl, mix everything for a while,now add ajwain water to turn them as soft and smooth dough..

Take the murukku press with your choice of nozzle,meanwhile heat the oil for deepfrying,squeeze out directly the murukku dough to the hot oil, fry until the bubbles gets off.

Drain the murukkus with paper towel,store them in an air tightened box.

Enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee..

Mango Ginger & Chickpeas Lemon Rice

Bought some fresh mango ginger pieces during my recent visit to Indian grocery. Back home i prepared thokku with it and this wonderful looking lemon rice with grated mango ginger aka manga inji or maa inji and cooked chickpeas. Its an excellent lunch box dish, gets ready very much easily and quite flavourful,obviously healthy too. This mango ginger is a family of ginger, they tastes like raw mango and looks almost like fresh turmeric.

Ususally we make some fingerlicking kuzhambu, thokku and pickle with this mango ginger, but i want to make something different thats y i went for a quick,easy breezy rice dish with it.This mango ginger have loads of medicinal values and its quite often used various forms in most of the cosmetics, beverages and pharmaceutical products.Sending this rice to my own event CWS-Chickpeas hosted by Kavi.

1/4cup Fresh lemon juice
2cups Cooked rice
1/2cup Cooked chickpeas
Salt

For tempering:
1/4tp Mustard seeds
1/4tsp Urad dal
1/4tsp Channa dal
3tbsp Mango Ginger pieces (minced finely)
2nos Green chillies (slit opened)
3nos Dry red chillies
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
Few Peanuts
Few Curry leaves
3tbsp Oil
1/2tsp Turmeric powder

Mix the already cooked rice,cooked chickpeas with lemon juice and salt, (add lemon juice as ur need).

Now heat the oil and add all the ingredients from the list one by one for tempering except turmeric powder to the hot oil and fry until everything turns brown, add finally the turmeric powder, take care not to burn the turmeric powder.

Add this tempered spices to the rice,toss everything well until the rice and chickpeas gets well mixed.

Steamed Onion & Chickpeas Savoury Balls/Vengaya Kondakadalai Uppu Kozhukattai

Hope you all had a fabulous ganesh chathurthi celebrations, mine went well and we had a fantastic feast yesterday with our favourite foods. Coming to this yummy savoury balls, i prepared them quickly before yesterday's pooja, as i want something savoury for prasadams. This uppu kozhukattais take hardly less than half an hour to get ready and they tastes super delicious. Onions and chickpeas gives a wonderful flavour and taste to this easy breezy kozhukattais.With Ragi Paal Kozhukattais,Red Rice Ammini Kozhukattais and this onion chickpeas savoury balls we celebrated our favourite god Ganesha's birthday yesterday and enjoyed this healthy foods thoroughly..Sending to my own event Healthy Dish-Steamed Foods guest hosted by Jaleela of Cookbookjaleela,my own event CWS-Chickpeas guest hosted by Kavi of Foodmania and to Priti's Festive Food Ganesh Chaturthi.

1cup Rice flour
2cups Water
1no Onions (large and chopped)
1/2cup Chickpeas (cooked & mashed slightly)
2tbsp Grated coconut
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1/2tsp Urad dal
1/2tsp Channadal
2nos Dry red chillies (broken)
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
Oil
Salt
Few curry leaves

Heat enough oil, let splutters the mustard seeds,urad dal,channadal, add the broken red chillues,asafoetida powder and curry leaves, fry until the chillies turns brown.

Now add the chopped onions, saute until they turns transculent, add immediately the water, grated coconut and bring everything to boil.

Once the water starts boiling, add the mashed chickpeas,cook for few more seconds.

Add the rice flour to the cooking water and put the flame in simmer,stir well until the rice flour gets well cooked and turn as a thick dough.

Keep aside and let them cool completely.

Knead the cooked spiced rice flour dough and make medium sized balls out of it.

Steam cook for 10-15minutes and enjoy warm.

Instant Eggless Strawberry Icecream

You dont have ice cream maker, you dont have enough time to prepare icecream before a day, you want to serve a quick and easy breezy icecream, if so this icecream is definitely for you. Actually, this recipe goes for frozen strawberries, sweetened condensed milk and chilled milk, thats it. Your icecream is ready just with three ingredients, you just blend everything in a blender and your instant icecream is ready to relish.

You can make variety of this quick icecream with a variety of frozen berries or simply with frozen fruit chunks, you can mix and match as you desire and your quick eggless icecream are ready to serve. As you all know i choosed kid's delight-Anniversary special as this week's blogging marathon, am posting this easy breezy,quick,instant and delicious strawberry icecream today,coz this icecream gets ready easily and quickly also they suits prefectly for a party menu or for a kid's get together. An excellent icecream to relish without any hesitation and it was big hit at home, my kids enjoyed relishing this icecream topped with some sugar pearls and corn flakes. Check out the other marathoners running this 20th edition of blogging marathon here.Sending this delicious icecream to Srivalli's Kid's Delight-Anniversary Potluck Party.

2cups Frozen strawberries

1/2cup Sweetened condensed milk

1cup Chilled Milk

Take the frozen strawberries,sweetened condensed milk and chilled milk together in a blender, blend them slowly together as a smooth paste.

Serve immediately this instant icecream with sugar pearls and cornflakes.

Notes: 

Indian mixies works out wonder for making this instant icecream, sometimes it will be hard to blend, just add chilled water or milk to grind.

Once blended,you can transfer this icecream to a stainless steel box and arrange them in freezer for later use.

You can serve this ice cream topped with candies, nuts or else simply with chocolate sauce.

Ragi Paal Kozhukattai

                                         Happy Vinayagar/Ganesh Chathurthi to you all!!

This year am celebrating this fabulous festival with healthy kozhukattais with ragi, actually i want to make some modaks but somehow i feel like making some paal kozhukattais with ragi flour..Paal kozhukattai can be prepared either with milk,coconut milk and sugar or else with jaggery syrup and coconut milk..This time i went for jaggery syrup and coconut milk, this healthy ragi paal kozhukattais turned out super delicious.

For my surprise even my kids enjoyed thoroughly this healthy delicious cute dumplings,personally i felt really happy to see my ragi paal kozhukattais vanished very much quickly.These kozhukattais can be served chilled or warm,eventhough i love slightly warm kozhukattais..I prepared this kozhukattais with ragi flour combined with rice flour,even its time consuming its worth to make this fabulous delicious paal kozhukattais.Sending  to Priti's Festive Food Ganesh Chaturthi.

3/4cup Ragi flour (roasted)
1/4cup Rice flour (roasted)
Salt (a pinch)
1tbsp Oil
3cups Coconut milk
1cup Jaggery syrup
1tsp Cardamom powder

Heat a cup of water with salt and oil, take the ragi flour and rice flour in a large bowl,add gradually this hot water and knead the flour as a stiff dough.

Make small balls from this dough and keep aside..

Meanwhile bring to boil the coconut milk and jaggery syrup together, add now the rolled balls to the boiling coconut milk-jaggery syrup, put the flame in simmer and cook for 10-15minutes.

Once the cooked balls starts floating,put off the flame and add the cardamom powder, give a stir..

Serve warm..

Red Rice Ammini Kozhukattais/Red Rice Savoury Steamed Balls

Tomorrow is the most popular and famous Ganesh chathurthi, wish i live in India during this festival. Seriously am missing these festivals here, coz we dont have that much fun as we have in India, its a working day tomorrow to everyone and i'll be alone at home making foods and poojas. Coming to this cute looking red rice mani kozhukattais aka ammini kozhukattais, i prepared them yesterday to give a try with red rice flour,for my surprise they came out extremely delicious,tasty and prefect for the celebration. Give a try to this healthy and colourful steamed balls.

Usually ammini kozhukattai's or mani kozhukattai's are made out of leftover dough of the kozhukattais we make during this festivals.This is the most tastiest of the kozhukattais for me so i'll be waiting to make some mini kozhukattais with the leftover dough after every vinagayar chathurthi festival. Even its time consuming to make those mini balls, its really worth to try them.Sending to my own event Healthy Dish-Steamed Foods guest hosted by Jaleela of Cookbookjaleela and to Priti's Festive Food Ganesh Chaturthi.

1cup Red rice flour (roasted)
1cup Water
1/2tsp Salt
1tbsp Oil
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1tsp Urad dal
Few Curryleaves
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
2nos Dry red chillies
3tbsp Grated coconut
1tbsp Sesame seeds
Oil for tempering


In a bowl, boil water with salt and oil. When the water starts boiling add red rice flour and stir well until rice flour mixed with water. Keep aside for 10 minutes.

Knead again to a soft dough, roll them tiny mini balls,transfer them to a greased idly plate and steam cook for 10minutes in a steamer.

Grind the dry red chillies,grated coconut and sesame seeds as coarse paste and keep aside.

Heat enough oil for tempering, let splutters the mustard seeds,urad dal, add the curry leaves and asafoetida powder.

Add immediately the steamed cooked ammini kozhukattais, grounded paste and cook until the balls gets well tossed with the spices.

Serve hot.

Macarons With Chocolate Ganache

Macarons is one of the famous and most popular small and sweet meringue based cookies like confectionary made with egg whites,almond powder, icing sugar and sugar with food colouring. I tasted my first macarons after a week i landed in Paris, it was more than 17years now. Obviously i want to make those addictive and irresistible macarons since a long. Here is my first macarons i tried few days back at home, i went through many sites to get an idea about making this cuties.

You doesnt need much experience in making them, just you have to follow exactly the measurements and macaronage where you will mix the almond powder and icing sugar mixture to the beaten egg whites, this part is very important for making macarons else your macarons wont get their feet properly.

My first trial turned out seriously prefect, just i couldnt able to get super prefect macarons as i didnt used macaron templates to get correct size, else my macarons was a big hit at home. Beware of these yummy confectionary, if you make them you wont keep urself away from them. As i choosed Kid's delight-Anniversary special for this week's blogging marathon, am posting this popular macarons coz my kids didnt stopped themselves having them.A fantastic confectionary to serve for a special occasions,definitely these macarons are kid's favourite anytime..Check out the other marathoners running this 20th edition of blogging marathon here.Sending this addictive macarons to Srivalli's Kid's Delight-Anniversary Potluck Party.

2nos Large egg whites (keep in room temperature for 24hours)
1cup Confectioner's sugar
3/4cup Almond flour
1/4cup Superfine sugar
pinch Salt
1/4tsp Green food colour powder

For Chocolate Ganache:
200grms Dark chocolate bar (chopped)
1/2cup Heavy cream
1tbsp Butter (unsalted)

Take the confectioner's sugar and almond flour in a food processor and pulse it until well combined, sift the mixture twice with the food colour and keep aside.

Whisk the whites with salt with a beater on medium speed until soft peaks form, reduce the speed to low and add the superfine sugar gradually.

Increase the speed to high and whisk until stiff peaks form (approximately 8 minutes). Add the flour-sugar mixture over the whites, fold until the mixture turns shiny and smooth (this is called macaronage, if you take the batter with a spatula, the batter of the macaron should fall like a ribbon)

Now transfer to a pastry bag filled with a plain round tip. Meanwhile line baking sheets over two baking trays, now pipe out small rounds with enough spaces between them on the line baking sheets, until the batter gets finished.

Tap the bottom of the baking try to the release the air from the piped batter and let them sit in room temperature for 30minutes to allow the skins to form(if you touch the top of the piped macarons, you can feel the top is hard and no batter will stick your finger)

Preheat the oven to 300F,bake the macarons for 20minutes, rotate the baking sheet half way for even baking, remover from oven and transfer to a cooling rack.

Chocolate Ganache:
Bring boil the heavy cream,add immediately the chopped dark chocolate pieces,,mix well and until you get a shiny thick chocolate sauce, remove it from the flame.

Whisk for a while,now add the butter and mix well, arrange this ganache in fridge for atleast an hour.

Assembling the macarons:
Take a macaron,fill it with half a teaspoon of chocolate ganache and close it with an another macaron. Arrange them in a box and conserve it in fridge atleast for a day.

Enjoy with your favourite drink.

Notes:
Use always food colours in powder form or gel food colouring, dont use liquid food colouring, this will spoil the macaron batter.

Piped macaron should sit in room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.

Soyachunks & Chickpeas Vada

Here starts again a week of blogging marathon, this week's theme is going to be Kid's delight-Anniversary special, actually Srivalli proposed this theme coz her Spice your life is celebrating its 4th blog anniversary. Congrats Srivalli, way to go. Wishing you many more beautiful years in this blogsphere. For the first day of blogging marathon, am posting this wonderful and very interesting masal vadas i prepared few days back for our snacks. Dont get shock on reading this post title,yep this vadas goes for cooked soya chunks aka meal maker with soaked and grounded chickpeas.

Actually i want to make some crispy vadas with soya chunks since a long, but finally i tried this vadas along with chickpeas instead of channadal, oh boy these crispy beauties are super addictive. Kids at home simply enjoyed having this yummy vadas and seriously we couldnt able to stop with one. They were super addictive, serve these vadas with a cup of tea for your snacks also as a starter.Check out the other marathoners running this 20th edition of blogging marathon here.Sending this addictive crispy vadas to Srivalli's Kid's Delight-Anniversary Potluck Party and to my own event CWS-Chickpeas guest hosted by Kavi of Foodmania, to Priti's Festive Food Ganesh Chaturthi.

2cups Chickpeas (soaked overnite)
1/2cup Soyachunks/Meal maker
1no Onion (chopped)
3nos Green chillies (chopped)
1tsp Ginger (chopped)
2nos Garlic cloves (crushed)
1/2tsp Fennel seeds (crushed)
Few Curry leaves
Few Coriander leaves (chopped)
Salt
Oil for deepfrying

Cook the soyachunks in hot water and drain the excess of water, squeeze out the water and keep aside.

Grind the chickpeas without adding water, if its too hard to grind just springle few drops of water, finally add the cooked soya chunks and grind as a bit coarse paste.

Now add the chopped onions, chopped green chillies, ginger pieces, crushed garlic,curry leaves, chopped coriander leaves, crushed fennel seeds and salt to the grounded batter..

Heat the oil for deepfrying..make small balls from the vada batter and flatten them..drop gently the flattened vadas to the hot oil and fry until they turns golden brown.

Serve with a cup of tea of simply with coconut chutney.

Ultimate Chocolate Cream Cheese Cookies

As i told earlier for Baking Partner's Challenge, we got three cookie recipes to bake as we can choose and bake any cookies out of them. One among those three cookies i baked two cookies,i have already posted Cornflakes Cookies and here comes one more irresistible cookies i baked two days back for this baking partner's challenge. This ultimate chocolate cream cheese cookies was suggested by Tina of Pinay In Texas Cooking Corner from Food & Wine Best of the Best Cookbook Recipes Vol. 14. This fantastic cookies are fabulous and am damn sure you wont stop munching them if you make them at home. These cookies are truly awesome and definitely a real feast for chocoholic persons like me. Thanks to Tina and Swathi for suggesting this scrumptious cookies.Sending this yummy cookies to Srivalli's Kid's Delight-Anniversary Potluck Party.

2+1/4cups All purpose flour
1/4cup Unsweetened cocoa powder
2tsp Baking soda
1/2tsp Salt
225g Unsalted butter(softened slightly)
113g Cream Cheese(room temperature)
1cup Granulated sugar
1/2cup Dark brown sugar
2nos Eggs
2tbsp Heavy cream
1tsp Pure vanilla extract
85g Bittersweet chocolate(melted and cooled)
225g Semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, sift the flour with the cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. In a bowl ,beat together the butter, cream cheese, granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the eggs, heavy cream and vanilla until blended. Slowly add the dry ingredients.

Add the melted chocolate and chocolate chips and beat just until incorporated.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for at least 15 minutes or up to 2 hours.

Scoop heaping tablespoons of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them two inches apart.

Bake for 12 minutes until the cookies are just set; shift the baking sheets for top to bottom and front to back half way through.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.

The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Cornflakes Cookies

Baking is a kind of timepass for me, so obviously i'll be always a part of any baking groups in this virtual world. Before two month's Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen launched an incredible group of home bakers,obviously am a part of it. We Baking Partners will be baking different bakes every month and will be posting every 15th of the month. Last month, we baked Reine de Saba, an fabulous cake of Julia child's as a tribute on her birthday, we enjoyed thoroughly and seriously am loving to be a part of this fantastic baking group. This month we baked some cookies, once we posted our last month's bake, i got a mail from Swathi asking me to share a cookies recipe from either a book or from a site. Immediately i went through my book shelf and choosed this irresistible super crunchy cornflakes cookies from Baking: Commonsense guide by Mudroch Books which i won before few years ago for participating in an event in this blogsphere.

Eventhough we have three different cookies recipes to try for this month's bakes, i choosed this cornflakes cookies suggested by me and cream cheese chocolate cookies suggested by Tina of Pinay In Texas Cooking Corner from Food & Wine Best of the Best Cookbook Recipes Vol. 14. I'll be posting soon those addictive and ultimate cream cheese chocolate cookies. Coming to this cornflakes cookies, they goes for very easy breezy preparation with cornflakes. This recipe is a keeper and i'll be making quite often as everyone at home simply enjoyed munching them.Sending this yummy cookies to Srivalli's Kid's Delight-Anniversary Potluck Party.

125grams Softened unsalted butter
3/4cup Sugar
2nos Eggs (lightly beaten)
1teaspoon Vanilla extract
2tablespoons Golden or black raisins
1+1/2cupsDessicated coconut
1/2teasponn Baking soda
1/2teasponn Baking Powder
2cups All purpose flour
2cups Crushed Cornflakes

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F, line two baking trays with baking paper.Sieve the flour with baking soda and baking powder.

Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl,using electric beaters until they turns light and fluffy.

Gradually add the egg, beating thoroughly after each addition, add the vanilla and beat until combined.

Now add the raisins,coconut, give a stir. Fold the flour mixture with a metal spoon and stir until the mixture is almost smooth.

Put the crushed cornflakes in a shallow dish, then drop tablespoon of this cookie mixture onto the cornflakes and roll into balls.

Arrange on the trays, bake for 15-20minutes or until they turns golden.

Cool completely and arrange it in an air tightened box.

Besan Ki Masala Roti~~IC Challenge

Every part of India have their own style of flat breads with their authentic touch. I was eagerly waiting to try this besan ki masala rotis for this month's Indian Cooking Challenge choosed by Srivalli and finally prepared them last week for our dinner. Thanks to Valli for proposing this super interesting,flavourful and very delicious masala roti with gram flour and wheat flour for this month challenge eventhough i wanted to try the bajra aloo roti she choosed along with this masala roti. Valli choosed this fantastic besan ki masala roti from the famous Indian chef Sanjeev kapoor's space, obviously i know that this rotis will definitely tastes fabulous and its gonna be our favourite. I wasnt wrong, i prepared almost 6 rotis and they vanished super quickly, since this roti goes for a simple masala filling they dont even need any side dish to enjoy with. We simply loved these rotis.

2cups Gram flour

1cup Wheat flour

Salt

2tbsp Ghee

For masala filling:

2tsp Cumin powder

1tsp Coriander powder

1/2tsp Turmeric powder

1no Green chilli (chopped)

1/2tsp Dry mango powder

2tbsp Ghee

Salt

Combine all the spice powders given under the list 'masala filling' in a bowl with the ghee and salt as a paste.

Now take the gram flour,wheat flour,salt and ghee in a bowl, with enough water knead everything as a soft and stiff dough, keep aside for half an hour.

Divide the dough as eight portions and make a balls, roll them as a disc, spread the already prepared masala over the rolled disc.

Fold into half and then again in half to make a triangle. Roll out gently as a triangular roti, finish the remaining balls.

Heat a tawa, drop gently the roti,drizzle the ghee and cook on both side until they turns golden brown.

Apply little ghee and press it gently between your plams, serve immediately.

Bhindi & Channa Masala Rice

I know how most of us will breaking our heads to come out a simple,quick and prefect lunch box dishes to our lil ones. But fortunately i dont need to pack foods for my lil one, instead of it i have to pack foods for my better half as he dont like to have his lunch in his office canteen. Obviously i have to cook almost everyday to pack him some healthy,quick,easy lunch dishes with veggies definitely. Two days back, i quickly prepared this yummy masala rice simply with bhindis and cooked channa aka chickpeas, trust me this combo works out wonder and my H happily carried this flavourful masala rice for his lunch and enjoyed thoroughly.Sending this delicious rice to my own event CWS-Chickpeas guest hosted by Kavi of Foodmania.

2cups Cooked rice
1no Onion (chopped)
12nos Bhindis/Lady's finger (chopped)
1cup Cooked chickpeas
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1/2tsp Urad dal
Few curry leaves
Oil
Salt

To Grind:
1tsp Cumin seeds
1tsp Channa dal
1tsp Peppercorns
1inch Cinnamon stick
2nos Cloves
2tsp Coriander seeds
3nos Dry red chillies

Heat few drops of oil, roast all the ingredients given in the list 'To grind',one by one until they turns golden brown, grind them as fine powder and keep aside.

Meanwhile heat few drops of oil in a pan, fry the chopped bhindis until they turn soft.

Heat enough oil, lets splutter the mustard seeds,urad dal, curry leaves, add immediately the chopped onions, saute for few minutes with salt until they turns soft..

Add the chickpeas, grounded powder and saute again for few seconds, now add the cooked rice,already cooked bhindis, toss gently everything until the rice get well mixed.

Serve hot with papads.

Pumpkin Pappu

Sometimes we doesnt need a fabulous spread of irresistible dishes to fulfil our craving for foods.Even a simple dal can satisfy your tastebuds,once a while i do dals with veggies just to feed easily everyone at home. Apart from me, none at home like stir fries with pumpkin so if i make stir fries, i have to finish them alone even my better half wont help me to finish pumpkin stir fry, i know when i bought a huge slice of pumpkin, i'll be making some pappu with them.

Yesterday i quickly prepared this super comforting pappu for our lunch and served with a spicy potato roast,everyone enjoyed having this easy breezy pappu,seriously this mildly sweet pappu is one of our recent family favourite. Sending this fingerlicking pappu to Kalyani's Magic Mingle.

2cups Pumpkin (cubed)
1cup Toor dal
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1/2tsp Urad dal
2nos Green chillies (slit opened)
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
Curry leaves
Ghee

Pressure the cubed pumpkin pieces,toordal with turmeric powder upto three whistles.

Meanwhile heat enough ghee, add the mustard seeds,urad dal,slit opened green chillies,asafoetida powder and curry leaves and fry for few seconds.

Now open the pressure cooker,mash the cooked dal and pumpkin nicely add the tempered spices and salt as per need.

Bring boil and put off the stove.

Serve hot with rice.

Channa & Quinoa Pesarattu

Mostly i love instant versions of dosas or idlies,but sometimes i dont bother to soak lentils and dals to make non fermented dosas or idlis with them. My family love whole moongdal pesarattu, few days back i combined whole green grams,quinoa and white chickpeas together to make this nutritious and healthy pesarattu. Actually pesarattus is a famous Andhra savoury crepes prepared usually with yellow moongdal or whole moongdal with rice and few spices, these crepes are usually served with ginger chutney stuffed with upma.

My version of pesarattu here goes for white chickpeas,quinoa and rice along with whole green grams, this combination works out wonder and tastes absolutely incredible when served simply with spicy coconut chutney.If you want to give a twist to your usual pesarattus give a try to this version.Sending this pesarattus to my own event CWS-Chickpeas guest hosted by Kavi of Foodmania.

1cup Green gram/Whole Moongdal
1/2cup White chickpeas/Channa
1/2cup Quinoa
1/4cup Rice
2nos Green chillies
1no Dry red chilly
1tbsp Ginger (grated)
Salt
Oil

Soak the greengrams and chickpeas overnite together.

Next day soak the quinoa and rice together in a bowl for three hours.

Take the soaked greengrams,chickpeas,quinoa,rice in a blender with green chillies,dry red chilly,grated ginger and grind as fine paste with salt and water.

Keep for an hour in room temperature.

Now heat a non stick tawa, grease it and pour a ladle of this batter, spread it as medium sized thin circle, drizzle enough oil and cook for few minutes.

Flip the other side and cook until the dosa turns crispy and brown.

Serve with spicy chutneys.

You can sprinkle some chopped onions over the pesarattu, but its completely optional.

For making an Andhra style pesarattu, serve this nutritious pesarattu with upma and ginger chutney.

Paneer & Eggplant Channa Masala

Usually we dont have rice for our dinner, so i need to make simple foods like rotis,salads,sandwiches or soups. As sunday lunch was bit rich with meats and all, i finished my dinner with some simple chappathis along with this incredible channa masala. Actually my daughter love anything with channa, she kindly requested me to make some channa masala with paneer, but i added some eggplants cubes along with paneer and cooked channa to make this channa masala as i was bit curious to know how baingan will taste in channa masala.

Trust me, you wont get disappointed with this channa masala dish,yep  this combo rocks. With simple rotis, this yummy chole tastes marvellous and we enjoyed thoroughly our dinner.This is my third post for this week's blogging marathon, as my theme of this week's goes for delicious dals. Check out the other marathoners running this 20th edition here.Sending this chole to my own event CWS-Chickpeas guest hosted by Kavi of Foodmania.

1cup Cooked Channa/Chickpeas
1cup Paneer cubes
1cup Eggplants (cubed)
1/2tsp Red chilly powder
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
1tbsp Coriander powder
1/2tsp Fennel seeds
Chopped coriander leaves
Oil
Salt

To grind:
1no Onion (large & cubed)
1no Tomato (chopped)
2nos Green chillies
1/4cup Coriander leaves
1tsp Ginger (chopped)
5nos Garlic cloves
1inch Cinnamon stick
1no Clove

Grind all the ingredients given under the list 'to grind' as bit coarse paste.

Heat few drops of oil  and fry the paneer cubes for a while,add this fried paneer cubes to warm water and keep aside.Also grind 3-4 tablespoons of the cooked channa as fine paste.

Heat the oil in a pan, fry the fennel seeds and add immediately the coarse grounded paste, cook in medium flame until a nice aroma comes out.

Immediately add the cubed eggplants, cook for few minutes until they turns soft.

Add the coriander powder,turmeric powder, red chilly powder and salt cook everything in simmer.

Add the cooked channa,fried paneer cubes, grounded channa paste and add enough water,bring it to boil  and cook everything again in simmer for a few minutes..

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves, serve hot with rotis.

Zucchini Channadal

My second post with dals for this blogging marathon goes for this quick and easy breezy zucchini channadal, this dal goes awesome simply along with rice as well as side dish for rotis. This zucchini and channadal based gravy goes for a quick preparation as the whole cooking process goes for pressure cooking.Am showcasing today channadal as i choosed delicious dals as theme for this week's blogging marathon.Simple dal will definitely satisfy your tastebuds and  tastes even more delicious when served with some toasted breads, yep i love this kind of thick dal for my dinner simply with toasted bread slices,if you are like me this dal is for you.Check out the other bloggers running this 20th edition of blogging marathon here.

1cup Channadal

1/4tsp Turmeric powder
2nos Zucchini (chopped as small cubes)
1no Onion(chopped)
1no Tomato (big & juicy)
1tsp Sambhar powder
1/2cup Garam masala powder
Salt
Oil
1tsp Mustard seeds+urad dal
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
2nos Dry red chillies
Few curry leaves

Wash and cook the channadal with turmeric powder in pressure cooker upto 3 hisses.

Heat enough oil in a kadai,let splutters the mustard seeds,urad dal and asafoetida powder, add immediately the chopped onions,chopped tomatoes,curry leaves and saute until the veggies get cooked.

Now add the cubed zucchinis,salt and saute for few minutes,add the cooked dal,garam masala powder,sambhar powder,bring everything to boil.

Cook until the veggies gets well cooked and put off the stove..

Serve hot with rice or either with idlis or rotis.

Snakegourd & Green Gram Curry

I try to include lentils and dals twice a week in our menu either as curries,sundals or else as dal based dosas. When i saw the themes for this 20th edition of blogging marathon, i went immediately to two interesting themes for the first two weeks eventhough my themes for third and fourth weeks are also gonna be very interesting this themes.For the first week, i choosed cooking with onions and this week's theme is gonna be delicious dals, the main aim of this week's theme is to showcase a dal or lentils. My today's post, i choosed whole green grams and cooked along with snakegourd. This curry goes excellent as side dish for rotis or with a bowl of hot steaming rice and papads. Simply loved this healthy,nutritious and wholesome curry with our rotis for our dinner yesterday. Check out the other marathoners running this 20th edition of blogging marathon here.

2cups Snakegourd (chopped)
1cup Greengram (pressure cooked)
1tsp Ginger-garlic paste
1tsp Pav bhaji masala
1tsp Coriander powder
1no Onion (big & chopped)
Few curryleaves
1tsp Mustard,cumin seeds & urad dal
2nos Dry red chillies
Salt
Oil

To grind:
1/4cup Grated coconut
1tbsp Fennel seeds

Heat oil in a kadai, fry the mustard seeds,urad dal,cumin seeds and dry red chillies until they turns brown, now add the finely chopped onions,curry leaves and ginger garlic paste,cook until raw smell goes away as well as the veggies get well cooked.

Add the snakegourd to the veggies,saute for few minutes.

Meanwhile grind the coconut and fennel seeds in a blender as fine paste with enough water.

Add the already cooked moongdal to the veggies with cooked water, also add the pav bhaji masala,coriander powder,bring them to boil.

Once the curry starts boiling,add the grounded spices to it and cook with lid closed until the snakegourd gets cooked well stir them occasionally.

Put off the stove. Serve hot with rotis or rice.

Chocolate Cake With Strawberry Mousse

Yesterday was our marriage anniversary, obviously i was quite busy in cooking,preparing cake and all. Usually i'll go for simple vanilla-yogurt based cakes for any celebrations at home, but nowadays i want to give a try to different cakes. I know i'll be making chocolate yogurt cake for the occasion, first i thought of making a buttercream frosting, but the weather here yesterday was too hot and felt like making something light and refreshing. Since i had some frozen strawberries i quickly went for making a strawberry mousse with low fat cream,condensed milk and agar agar powder.

I simply prepared a chocolate yogurt cake as usual for the cake and went for a delicious,super light mousse. Finally i decorated my cake with some chocolate pieces, i was really happy when everyone was surprised to see this celebration cake. I truly enjoyed making this cake and everyone at home simply  relished each and every spoon of this yummy cake.

An excellent cake for celebration, eventhough the recipe seems to be long its quite easier and totally yummy when compared to the cream frosted cakes. You can also go for raspberries or else even for a chocolate mousse if you dont fruit mousse.

1cup Yogurt (We need the yogurt cup for measuring)
2cups Sugar
2cups All purpose flour
1cup Corn flour
3nos Eggs
1cup Oil
1tsp Baking powder
1/2cup Chocolate powder

Preheat the oven to 350F...Transfer the yogurt in a bowl and wash the yogurt cup..Keep aside,we need it for measuring the other ingredients.

Mix both the flours and baking powder and keep aside..

Add the eggs, sugar and beat until they turns soft, now add the oil and yogurt to the sugar-egg mixture and beat again everything for a while.

Now add the flours, chocolate powder and stir well until everything get well mixed.

Pour this batter into a greased baking spring form pan and bake for 35-40minutes in middle rack, put off the oven and transfer the cake to the wire rack.

Let the cake gets cool completely.

For strawberry mousse:
2cups Strawberries (frozen and slightly thawed)
3cups Low fat cream
1cup Sweetened condensed milk
3tbsp Agar agar powder

Blend the frozen strawberries, cream and condensed milk together as fine paste, check for sugar in case if you need sugar, add as you desire.

Meanwhile heat 1/2cup water in a pan, once the water starts boiling, add the agar agar powder, and stir well until they gets well dissolved.

Add this agar agar mixture to the blended strawberry mixture and blend for few seconds. Keep aside.

For Assembling:

Trim the top of the cake, transfer it again to the spring form pan, pour the already prepared agar agar-strawberry creamy mixture over the cake.

Close the pan with an aluminium foil and arrange it in fridge.

Dont disturb the cake atleast for two-three hours.

For decoration:
1/2cup Chocolate chips

Melt the chocolate chips with few spoons of water in microwave oven. stir well until you get a shiny ganache.

Transfer this melted chocolate to a baking sheet, spread it thinly as possible and keep in freezer for 15minutes.

Take out the chilled chocolate and break it as small pieces.

Decorate the mousse cake with this broken chocolate pieces as you desire or simply springle some chocolate powder on the top of the mousse.

Onion Kose/Vengaya Kose

Are you really bored of usual chutneys,kurmas and sambars to serve along with your soft idlies or crispy dosas?? You should give a try to this super flavourful chettinad famous vengaya kose. Vengaya kose aka onion gravy is quite often prepared in every chettinad homes usually for breakfast to serve along with idlies or dosas. This simple but yet a delicious side dish goes for simple ingredients and gets ready very quickly. If you serve this side dish with idlies, am sure that you have to prepare more idlies than usual coz this vengaya kose will definitely pull everyone to eat more idlies.

2nos Onions (chopped lengthwise)

3nos Tomatoes (chopped finely)

1no Potato (large and diced thinly)

1no Green chilliy (slit opened)

1/2tsp Fennel seeds

1inch Cinnamon stick

Few curry leaves

Salt

Oil

To grind:

4nos Dry red chillies

2tbsp Fried channa dal/Pottukadalai or 5nos Cashews

3tbsp Grated coconut

1tsp Fennel seeds

1tbsp Poppy seeds

Grind the ingredients given under the list 'to grind' as fine paste with enough water and keep aside.

Heat enough oil,fry the fennel seeds and cinnamon stick until they turns brown,add immediately the slit opened green chilly,curry leaves, fry for few more minutes.

Add the sliced onions,chopped tomatoes, cook for few minutes until the onions and tomatoes gets cooked well.

Now add the diced  potatoes to the veggies and cook for few more minutes.

Add the masala paste to the veggies,cook for few seconds. Finally add enough water, cook everything in medium flame until the gravy gets thicken.

Serve hot with idlies or dosas.

Nutella Almond Biscotti

I love biscottis and i wanted to make them since a long, somehow i couldnt able to make them often as i do with the cookies and cakes. Biscotti comes from a word biscoctus which means twice baked.They were baked twice to remove the moisture so that they can stay longer. Biscotti with a fabulous crunchy texture can stay prefect for more than a week if they are conserved properly, an incredible accompaniment to coffee or tea. Just dip them into the hot coffee and enjoy it. When i finally decided to make biscottis, i wanted to make them something with nuts and chocolates, so i used some unsweetened cocoa powder, nutella spread and silvered almonds in this biscotti. They turned out simply awesome with a wonderful nutty flavour in it.This delicious biscottis goes directly to Dorian's Only Nutella.

1cup All purpose flour
1cup Wheat flour
1/2cup Unsweetened cocoa powder
3tbsp Nutella spread
1tsp Baking powder
2tbsp Butter(room temperature)
2nos Eggs (room temperature)
1cup Sugar
1tsp Vanilla extract
1/2tsp Almond extract
1/2cup Silvered Almonds

Preheat the oven to 350F.Line a baking sheet over a baking tray and keep aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter,eggs,sugar,vanilla and almond extract together until the mixture turns smooth, meanwhile sift together the flours,cocoa powder, baking powder and keep aside.

Now gradually add the dry ingredients, nutella and half of the silvered almonds to the wet ingredients and mix until its turns as a dough.

Divide the dough and roll them as two logs over a slightly floured surface. Transfer the logs to the baking sheet, arrange with enough space.

Now springle the remaining nuts on the top and bake for 20-25minutes.

Remover it from the oven and cool it for 15minutes. On a cutting board, cut the cooked dough diagonally as cookies and arrange them again over baking sheets.

Bake again for 15-20 minutes by turning the baking sheet midway during baking, until the cookies turns firm.

Cool the biscottis completely and store them in an airtightened box and enjoy.

These biscottis stays prefect for more than a week.

Spiced Tuna Hash/Tuna Puttu

Canned foods, i avoid them as possible but sometime i get canned tuna fish for making fish cutlet and rarely this tuna puttu. While going through my recipe index, i noticed that i havent posted this tuna puttu, to be frank you just need canned tuna fish, chopped onions,ginger and garlic, few spice powders to make this easy breezy puttu. This puttu goes awesome as side dish with hot steaming rice and rasam. Sending this tuna puttu to Usha's Seafood Feast.

2cans Tuna fish

2nos Onions (chopped finely)
1inch Ginger (chopped finely)
5nos Garlic (chopped finely)
3nos Green chillies (chopped finely)
1/2tsp Pepper powder
1/2tsp Turmeric powder
1tsp Fennel seed powder
1/2cup Coconut (grated)
1tsp Cumin seed powder
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1/2tsp Urad dal
2tbsp Coriander leaves (chopped)
Salt
Oil

Open the can and drain the canned water from the tuna fish,squeeze the excess water and smash the fish well.

Add the pepper powder, cumin seed powder,remaining turmeric powder, fennel seed powder, salt and mix everything well until everything get well mixed..

Heat enough oil and let splutters the mustard seeds and urad dal, add the chopped ginger,chopped green chillies and chopped garlic pieces to the seeds and fry until they turns slight brown.

Add immediately the chopped onions and cook everything until they turns transculent..now add the fish and toss everything gently, cook everything in simmer until they turns dry and get well fried..

Finally add the chopped coriander leaves and grated coconut to the puttu, cook for few minutes and put off the stove.

Serve as side dish with rice and gravies...

Mini Nutella Pull Apart Bread

Nutella, my pantry will always have definitely a whole bottle of 850grms of this wonderful chocolate spread. My kids love to have this spread even everyday with their bread slices for their breakfast, but somehow i restrict them. Pull apart bread was is in my to do list since a long and today finally i decided to make them with nutella instead of usual cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Instead of making a large pull apart loaf, i choosed my mini loaf pan for making this mini nutella pull apart bread. I love baking breads myself at home,so that i can mix and match the ingredients as my mind goes for, today for making this bread, i halfed all purpose flour with Aashirvaad atta and prepared this somehow healthy pull apart bread. This is bread is definitely very easy to prepare and everyone at home enjoyed this mini pull apart bread for their snacks.This delicious and irresistible bread goes directly to Dorian's Only Nutella.

2cups Bread flour/ Maida
1cup Atta flour/Wheat flour
1/2cup Butter (room temperature)
1cup Milk (luke warm)
1no Egg
2tbsp Sugar
1tsp Salt
1tbsp Active dry yeast
4tbsp Nutella spread

Add the active dry yeast to the luke warm milk with sugar and salt, mix everything well and let them sit in a warm place for 5 minutes until the yeast turns foamy.

Add the butter,egg and foamy yeast to the flours and knead for few minutes until everything turns as a soft and stiff dough.

Grease a bowl with some butter and place the dough, let this dough sit for an hour in a warm place until the dough double the volume.


After an hour, punch down the dough and roll the dough as large rectangular dish, spread the nutella over the rolled disc, slice the dough as medium sized square.

Place them one over an another square and stack them, i got 6 mini pull apart loaves.

Arrange the stacked dough to a greased mini loaf pan, let the dough sit again an hour in a warm place, closed with a towel..

Preheat the oven to 350F and arrange the baking  pan in the middle rack, bake for 25-30minutes or until the crust turns brown.

Let them get cool completely. Enjoy with a cup of tea for your snacks or breakfast.

Onion & Baby Potato Roast

I have seen rarely peoples especially Indians says 'no' to super spicy potato roast with loads of onions, especially this kind of onion potato roast will have their important place in our lunch during festivals. I love this spicy onion potato roast with hot steaming rice topped with ghee and sambhar. Eventhough i have varieties of potato roast, this baby potato and onion roast was somewat different from them, coz of the spice powder is specially prepared for it.

Usually i'll go for chilly powder, fennel powder and coriander powder with cushed garlic cloves, for making this onion baby potato roast, i prepared myself a spice powder with few spices instead of using already prepared spice powder. Since i choosed cooking with onions for this week's blogging marathon, i used red onions for making this fingerlicking potato roast,check out the other marathoners running this 20th edition of blogging marathon here.

1/2kg Baby potatoes
3nos Onions (large & chopped)
4nos Garlic cloves (crushed)
Few curryleaves
1tsp Cumin seeds
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
Salt
Oil

Roast & grind:
4nos Dry red chillies
10nos Black peppers
1tsp Fennel seeds
2tbsp Coriander seeds
1/2tsp Flax seeds
2tbsp Rolled oats
1inch Cinnamon stick

Dry roast all the spices given under the list 'roast and grind' one by one, take everything in a mixie jar and grind as fine powder, keep aside.

Meanwhile cook the baby potatoes in water with salt until they get well cooked, peel the skin and keep aside.

Heat enough oil, fry the cumin seed, crushed garlic cloves until a nice aroma comes from, add immediately the chopped onions,curry leaves, saute until the onions turns transculent.

Now add the already cooked potatoes,turmeric powder and salt, cook everything in medium flame for few minutes.

Finally add the grounded spice powder as per need, cook the potatoes in simmer until they gets well coated with the spice powder and oil gets separates.

Serve hot with rice and your favourite dal.

Scallion Pancakes

Flaky,savoury scallion pancakes are very much famous here in Chinese restaurants,but somehow i never wanted to taste them there, coz they looks exactly like our maida parottas. This pan fried bread goes for simple preparation and they are really easy to make at home. As i choosed cooking with onions as this week's blogging marathon, i used scallions aka green spring onions for making this super delicious pancakes. In case if you dont have spring onions, you can used shallots also yellow or red onions for making this pancakes. So may use even garlic chives for making this pancakes, so the choice is yours to mix and match according to your tastebuds.Check out the other marathoners running this 20th edition of blogging marathon here.

2cups Maida/All purpose flour
1/4cup Boiling water
10nos Green spring onions (trimmed & sliced thinly)
Salt
Cold water (as per need)
1/4cup Oil
Cornstarch (for dusting)

Take the flour,salt in a medium bowl, pour the boiling water and mix it with a wooden spatula, now add cold water and two tablespoons of oil, knead the dough as soft dough.

Dust a clean surface,drop the dough and with your hands knead again for few more minutes and let it sit for 15minutes covered with a towel.

Divide the dough as 5-6 equal balls, roll the ball as a medium size circle, brush the dough with few drops of oil.

Sprinkle the chopped green spring onions as per need over the dough and roll the dough as cylinder, coil the dough cylinder into round .

Lightly dust the surface with cornstarch and flatten the dough into circle with the rolling pin. Repeat the same process with the remaining dough.

Heat a thick skillet on medium high flame,drop the rolled pancakes to the hot skillet, drizzle a tablespoon of oil and pan fry the pancakes until they gets well cooked.

Serve warm with a dipping sauce or simply with sweet chilly sauce.

Ulli Theeyal/Shallots in Tangy Roasted Coconut Gravy

I was planning to make this super fingerlicking famous Kerala's ulli theeyal since a long, when Srivalli announced this month's blogging marathon themes, she proposed a variety of very interesting themes as usual. While going through her themes, i know i'll go immediately to the theme 'cooking with onions'. Coz i cant imagine cooking my foods without onions, my onion basket will always have white onions,shallots and also i'll get quite often spring onions from farmer's market. So the next three days will be dishes with onions as star ingredient for this week of blogging marathon.

Theeyal is a typical Kerala dish prepared with a roasted coconut and few spices by roasting the coconut until it turns golden brown. Actually theeyal means burnt dish, its quite a long i wanted to make this ulli theeyal. Recently i picked shallots just to make this famous ulli theeyal and oh god i dont have words to explain how tasty this fingerlicking gravy is. Serve this gravy with rice and papads, i can have this yummy gravy even everyday.Check out the other marathoners running this 20th edition of blogging marathon here.

20nos Shallots
2cups Tamarind extract
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
Salt
Few curryleaves
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
2nos Dry red chillies (broken)
1/4tsp Fenugreek seeds
Oil

Roast & grind:
1/2cup Grated coconut
1tbsp Coriander seeds
3nos Dry red chillies

Heat a teaspoon of oil, roast the grated coconut in medium flame, stir continously and roast until its turns dark brown, add the coriander seeds, dry red chillies to the roasted coconut and fry until the spices gets well roasted.

Take this roasted coconut and spices in a mixie jar,grind as fine paste with enough water and keep aside.

Heat the oil,saute the shallots for few minutes, add the tamarind extract,turmeric powder, salt and curry leaves and cook until the shallots turns tender.

Now add this already grounded paste and cook everything for few minutes, dont let it boil and put off the stove.

Heat oil for tempering, fry the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and broken chillies until brown, remove the tempered spices and add to the cooked theeyal.

Serve hot with rice and papads or boiled eggs

Spicy Cheesy Pumpkin Focaccia

When Kalyani announced this month's Magic mingle's magic ingredients pumpkin and chillies, initially i want to go for a simple dal based curry or a stir fry. But finally i decided to make a fantastic flavourful,spicy and super cheesy focaccia with frozen pumpkin chunks. Usually when its peak season of pumpkin here, i'll get them and back home, i'll clean them immediately and chop them as small cubes, i'll freeze them in individual ziplock bags for further use. This method is quite handy, very useful whenever you feel like making dishes like  soups,curries or simple stir fries with them.

I quickly pressure cooked those frozen pumpkin chunks without water upto 3whistles and used them in this focaccia by mashing with my fingers instead of grinding as fine puree. I spiced this super colourful focaccia with chopped red chillies, few crushed garlic cloves, chopped coriander leaves and topped with grated cheese. Needless to say this cheesy flavourful focaccia vanished very much easily and we enjoyed having them simply with grilled meats and salad for our dinner.

2cups All purpose flour
1cup Wheat flour
1/2cup Oats (grounded as fine powder)
1tbsp Active dry yeast
1tsp Salt
1/2tsp Sugar
1no Red chilly (chopped) or 1tsp red chilly flakes
3nos Garlic cloves
1/2cup Cooked & mashed pumpkin chunks
1/4cup Luke warm water
5tbsp Olive Oil (shaping,greasing)
3tbsp Coriander leaves (chopped)
1/2cup Cheese (grated)

Mix the sugar, salt and yeast in luke warm wate, let them sit for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile take the flours,grounded oats in a mixing bowl, add the mashed pumpkin chunks, chopped red chilly or red chilly flakes,crushed garlic cloves,gradually add the foaming yeast and olive oil, mix everything well.

It will be stickly at this point, transfer them to lightly floured surface n knead for few minutes, until they turn soft dough..

Coat a deep bowl with olive oil, place the soft dough and brush with more oil, cover it and let it sit for 1 hour in a warm place.

After an hour,punch down and grease few drops of oil to the baking square pan, press the dough to flatten them, springle the chopped coriander leaves over the dough and let them sit again for 1 hour.

The dough will again rise,double in sizen now springle the grated cheese over the dough..

Preheat the oven to 350F, place the baking pan in middle rack,bake for 20-25 minutes or until the crust turns brown..

Serve them with grilled meats, salads.