Cheesy Potato-Peas Masala Stuffed Rolls

When i posted Brioche Rolls with Strawberry Jam two days back,many of my readers asked me to post the stepwise pictures to show how i prepared the rolls, finally yesterday i prepared some savoury rolls with potato-peas masala and cheese with the same method. This time without any fail,i clicked the stepwise pictures just to share with my readers, please forgive me for the poor light else those pictures will be definitely helpful to everyone whoever want to give a try to this cute rolls.

This time i prepared the dough with wholewheat flour and an easy breezy potato-peas masala and baked along some cheese slices, apart from it these rolls are terribly addictive. An excellent evening snack to enjoy with your favourite drink.We enjoyed thoroughly these rolls when they were still warm and those melted cheese were simply awesome while having these rolls.These rolls suits prefect for this month's Magic Mingle#11 as this month's secret ingredients are potato and cumin seeds and to my own event Healthy Diet- Healthy Finger Food guest hosted by Preeti of Isingcakes and to 60days of Christmas hosted by Priya and Divya

2+1/2cups Whole wheat flour or Bread flour
1tbsp Active dry yeast
1/2cup Luke Warm water
1tsp Salt
1tsp Sugar
1/4cup Olive oil
Sliced cheese as per need

Potato-peas masala:
2nos Potatoes (cooked & cubed)
1/2cup Green peas
1no Onion (chopped)
2nos Green chillies (chopped)
1/2tsp Cumin seeds
1tsp Garam masala powder
Oil
Salt
Few curry leaves

Potato-peas masala:

Heat enough oil,let crack the cumin seeds and curry leaves, add the chopped onions,chopped green chillies,saute until the onions turns transculent.

Add the green peas,garam masala powder,salt and cook in medium flame, springle some water and cook until the peas gets partially cooked.

Finally add the cubed potatoes,cook for few more minutes until the masala gets well cooked.

Keep aside and let them cool.

For Rolls:
Mix the yeast,sugar and salt in a cup of  luke warm water and keep side for 5minutes until the yeast mixture turns foamy.

Take the whole wheat flour in a bowl,slowly add the foamy yeast,water if needed and olive oil and knead as a soft dough.

Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover the bowl with a towel and arrange in a warm place.

Let them sit for two hours until they double their volume.

After two hours, punch down the doubled dough and knead again, roll as 6-8medium sized balls.

Dust a ball with enough flour, roll it as a medium sized  rectangle disc, place the cheese slice and top it with the potato peas masala,cut the bottom part of the dough as small strips.

Roll the masala placed part gently and place the strips one by one over the rolled part of the disc.

Repeat the same process with the dough and keep the rolls over a baking sheet and let them sit in a warm place for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Bake them for 20-25minutes until the crust turns brown.

Finally brush the rolls with melted butter once its comes out of the oven.

Enjoy warm.

Garlic-Coriander Pull Apart Yeasted Muffins

Garlic and coriander combo works out wonder in yeasted breads, i prepared this yeasted muffins for Bread baking day,but somehow i couldnt able to post it on that event day. Better not late, am posting today as i dont have any recipe for today's post.Yes am getting lazy coz of the sudden chilled weather and i didnt prepared anything for today's post as i do quite often. Coming to this yeasted muffins, they are super flavourful with garlic and coriander, obviously very quick to prepared once your dough gets doubled in size.

You can serve very well this yeasted muffins with a bowl of warm soup or simply along with some dip either prepared with veggies or cream cheese. Love garlic flavoured breads,needless to say these muffins tastes exactly like them.You can replace the coriander leaves with your favourite herbs also you can prepare this muffins as a single loaf bread, but somehow this flavourful pull apart yeasted muffins will definitely attracts everyone specially the kids.Am sending this muffins to my own event Healthy Diet- Healthy Finger Food guest hosted by Preeti of Isingcakes and to 60days of Christmas hosted by Priya and Divya

2cups All purpose flour
1/2cup Wheat flour
1/4cup Coriander leaves (chopped)
1/2tsp Chilly flakes
5nos Garlic cloves (crushed)
3tbsp Olive Oil
1tbsp Active dry yeast
1tsp Salt
1/2tsp Sugar
3/4cup Luke warm water

Stir in the active dry yeast,salt,sugar in luke warm water, keep aside until the yeast turns foamy.

Meanwhile take the all purpose flour,wheatflour,crushed garlic cloves,coriander leaves,chilly flakes in a bowl, add gradually the foamy yeast, water,olive oil and turn as a soft dough.

Arrange this dough in a greased bowl and keep in warm place for two hours until the dough double their volume..

Grease the muffins moulds and keep aside.

Punch down the doubled dough, knead for a while with enough flour.

Roll the dough as a rectangular disc, cut a 5thick slices.

Place the slices one over another strip and stack them.

Cut those stacked dough as medium sized squares and place it in the already greased muffins tins.

Place them in a warm place for an hour until they double their volume. Preheat the oven to 350F.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until they crust turns brown.

Keep aside and let them cool completely..

Enjoy with any spread..

Eggless Butter Cake

Sometimes i dont prefer to prepare my cakes with butter, so alternatively i go for half quantity of butter along with oil,but for our this month's Eggless Baking Challenge Gayathri,the brain child of this monthly event shared this butter cake with eggs. As its an eggless baking challenge,obviously we have to prepare this cake without eggs. Eventhough this cake goes for butter, as main ingredient this cake was simply awesome, the final touch was the topping mixture prepared with cinnamon powder, brown sugar and butter spreaded over the baked the cake turned out this cake absolutely flavourful.

I used yogurt as the egg replacer, eventhough my first thought was to prepare this cake with condensed milk. This eggless butter cake turned out super spongy and buttery. We enjoyed having this cake warm with a cup of tea for our snacks but my lil one didnt liked the raisins in this cake,so he just removed the raisins and had his slice of cake happily.Kids are super smart na, that y i usually make a puree of the raisins while making my bakes with them,so that he wont notice the addition of this healthy raisins.Sending to 60days of Christmas hosted by Priya and Divya

1+2/3cup All purpose flour
1/2cup Sugar
1/2cup Butter (room temperature)
2tsp Baking powder
1cup Yogurt
1/2cup Milk
1/4cup Golden sultanas

For toppings:
3tbsp Butter (room temperature)
1tsp Cinnamon powder
2tbsp Light brown sugar

Grease a spring form tin with enough butter and keep aside.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Beat together the butter and sugar until they turns creamy, add the yogurt to this mixture and beat for few minutes.

Meanwhile sift the flour with baking powder and keep aside.

Now fold in the flour to the butter-yogurt mixture gently with a spatula, stir in the sultanas and milk.

Pour this cake batter to the prepared tin and bake for 20-25minutes.

Mix all the ingredients given under the list for toppings in a bowl and keep aside.

Once the cake gets baked,remove the cake from the oven.

Spread immediately the butter mixture prepared for toppings immediately over the cake.

Let it sit for few minutes.

Serve warm with a cup of tea or coffee.

Brioche Rolls with Strawberry Jam

Brioche, an incredible spongy bread highly light and super puffy with a rich and tender crumb. These bread are loaded with eggs and butter. Since ever i tried brioche with less butter, am making my brioche quite often at home with different filling. Recently i prepared this damn cute looking brioche rolls and we had this jam filled brioche rolls for our sunday's brunch.

With a cup of coffee these rolls are simply filling and an excellent breakfast rolls to enjoy without any hesitation. As brioche is often cooked with fruits or chocolate chips, i went for strawberry jam for the filling. A big hit among my kids and they simply love it, you can go for any other filling as you desire,my next brioche rolls is going to be filled either with nutella or cinnamon-chocolate chips. As jam filled brioche rolls are bit hit at home,do i need to say how everyone at home will love the nutella filled brioche rolls.Sending to 60days of Christmas hosted by Priya and Divya

3cups Bread flour or all purpose flour
1tbsp Active dry yeast
1/2cup Milk (luke warm)
3nos Egg yolks
1/4cup Sugar +1tsp Sugar
1tsp Salt
70grms Butter
1no egg yolk+1tsp Milk (for brushing)
Strawberry jam as per need

Mix the yeast,a teaspoon of sugar and salt to the luke warm milk, keep aside until the yeast turns foamy.

Meanwhile take the flour,egg yolks,sugar in a large bowl, add gradually the foamy yeast and turn everything as a soft dough, now add the butter and knead everything for 10minutes.

Arrange the dough in a bowl covered with a towel,keep aside for atleast for 2hours until they double their volume.

Knead the dough again for few minutes and divide the dough as 8-10medium sized balls.

Dust a ball with enough flour, roll it as a medium sized  rectangle disc, place a teaspoon of the jam and cut the bottom part of the dough as small strips.

Roll the jam placed part gently and place the strips one by one over the rolled part of the disc.

Repeat the same process with the dough and keep the rolls over a baking sheet and let them sit in a warm place for an hour.

 Preheat the oven to 350F.

Mix the egg yolk with milk for brushing together, now brush the uncooked brioche rolls generously and bake them for 20-25minutes until the crust turns brown.

Cool it completely on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Baked Tandoori Baby Potatoes

Baby potatoes are one of my weakness, i just love them. I never forget to pick atleast a kg everytime i go to farmer's market. These baby potatoes goes awesome with anything and i never stopped myself to add them in my gravies or curries. My recent favourite is this baked,guilt free and delicious starters with baby potatoes. If you have potato lovers around you these tiny baked beauties will definitely satisy their taste buds, i used store bought tandoori masala powder for making this tiny beauties.

Obviously this is one of the easiest and definitely a tastiest baked guilt free starters to enjoy without any hesitation.If you dont like baking, you can deep fry or shallow fry them and enjoy.This guilt free tandoori baby potatoes are going to Kid's Delight-Healthy Makeover guest hosted by Rasi, event by Srivalli and to my own event Healthy Diet- Healthy Finger Food guest hosted by Preeti of Isingcakes.

1/2kg Baby potatoes
3tbsp Yogurt
1tsp Lemon juice
1/2tsp Ginger garlic paste
1tsp Tandoori masala powder
1/4tsp Garam masala powder
1/4tsp Chaat masala
1tsp Paprika powder
1tbsp Oil
Salt

Cook the potatoes in boiling water until they get partially cooked. Peel and prick them with fork gently.

Meanwhile beat the yogurt till smooth, add the lemon juice,ginger garlic paste,tandoori masala powder,garam masala powder, chaat masala,paprika powder and salt,with oil and mix well.

Put in the potatoes and gently mix until they get well coated with the marination.

Keep atleast two hours in fridge or marinate overnite will works very well too.

Preheat the oven to 350F, grease a baking sheet with enough oil.

Arrange the marinated potatoes one by one and bake for 20-25minutes until the crust turns crispy.

Serve warm with ketchup.

Pumpkin Pistachio Pound Cake

Love nuts in bakes and i know i will be making a pumpkin pound cake for the weekend bake.Finally combined both the pumpkin puree and coarse pistachio nuts to make this spongy and super moist pound cakes. Pistachio nuts gives a wonderful and marvellous texture to this cake and you can enjoy thoroughly just along with a cup of tea or coffee for your evening snack or either for a quick breakfast.

I went for usual preparation of pound cake in which i have added pumpkin puree and pistachios else nothing is new in this cake, but the final result was simply tremendous. A super moist cake with a wonderful mild pumpkin flavour,  this mini pound cakes are quite addictive.Sending to 60days of Christmas hosted by Priya and Divya

2nos Eggs (large)
1+1/4cups All purpose flour
2tbsp Corn flour
3/4tsp Baking powder
3/4cup Sugar
1+1/2tsp Vanilla
2tbsp Yogurt
1/4tsp Salt
1/2cup  Butter (room temperature)
1/2cup Pumpkin puree
1/2cup Pistachio nuts (coarsely chopped)

Preheat the oven to 350F, grease the mini loaf pan and keep aside.

Lightly whisk the eggs,yogurt and vanilla in a medium bowl, meanwhile take the flours, sugar,salt in a large bowl,mix for few seconds.

Now whisk the softened butter,pumpkin puree and half of the egg mixture,add to the dry ingredients get moistened, beat in medium speed for a minutes,scrap down the sides..

Add the remaining egg mixture as two batches and beat again for few minutes,scrap down the sides.

Add the coarsely chopped pistachio nuts,give a quick stir and pour the batter into prepared pan, smooth the surface with a spatula.

Bake for 35-40minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean..

Let the cake gets cool completely and enjoy.

Bulgur & Moongdal Khichdi

After cooking moongdal as stuffed paratha, as evening snack, for the third day of blogging marathon i simply prepared moongdal along with Bulgur aka broken wheat as delicious khichdi as my theme goes for cooking with moongdal. Khichdi is definitely a comforting and soothing food which suits prefectly to anyone. Usually khichdi is prepared with rice,dals and with veggies. But i went for bulgur and yellow split moong dal to make them more healthier.

Everyone at home simply enjoyed this healthy food once i served hot,seriously this combination wonders out absolutely awesome.I skipped totally the addition of ghee in this recipe and prepared this healthy food through pressure cooker for quick cooking.This khichdi is definitely super filling,wholesome and a light meal so that you can have it very well anytime of the day. Check out the other marathoners running this 21st edition of blogging marathon here.

1cup Bulgur/Broken wheat
1/2cup Yellow split moongdal
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
1no Onion (chopped)
Few Curry leaves
1/2tsp Cumin seeds
2nos Bay leaves
2nos Green chillies (slit opened)
5nos Garlic cloves(crushed)
1tsp Ginger (chopped finely)
Salt
Oil

Take together the washed bulgur,washed yellow split moongdal,finely chopped ginger,turmeric powder, salt in a vessel, add 5cups of water and pressure cook them for 5 hisses as i love my khichdi bit mushy.

Heat the enough oil and fry the cumin seeds,slit opened green chillies, bay leaves,curryleaves.

Saute the chopped onions and crushed garlic cloves until the onions turns transculent.

Once the pressure get released,add this mixture to the tempered veggies to the cooked bulgur-dal mixture, stir for few minutes and put off the stove..

Serve hot with pickle or spicy side dishes.

Foxtail Millet, Moongdal & Sweet Corn Chops

Foxtail millet is one of the forgotten grains cooked earlier in some part of Tamilnadu and this is called as 'Thinai' in tamil, its offered to Lord Muruga as prasadam. Millet flour mixed with honey is often offered to this god. There is a wonderful story behind this offerings and its a custom to give this millet flour mixed with honey as prasadhams to the devotees.

Earlier this grain's flour is eaten for breakfast by the farmers before leaving to their work, but this grain is completely forgotten in our cuisine nowadays.Since i heard lot about this grain i coudnt stop myself getting them from the nearby organic store and started cooking once a week now.This grain is known as Korralu in Telugu, Kangni in Hindi and Navane in Kannada. Even now in some part of Andhra, people cooks this grain as like rice and have them with curries.This grain is completely versatile as like quinoa so that you can mix and cook as anything with anything.

For the second day of blogging marathon, as my theme is cooking with moongdal i quickly prepared this crispy chops with cooked millet,cooked yellow split moongdal and sweet corns as chops for evening snacks. You can also use this chops as koftas for making a delicious gravy. Serve this chops with ketchup,everyone at home will definitely enjoy this wonderful crispy beauties.I shallow fried my chops, if you want them more crispy you can deep fry them.Check out the other marathoners running this 21st edition of blogging marathon here.Am sending this chops to my own event Healthy Diet- Healthy Finger Food guest hosted by Preeti of Isingcakes.

1/2cup Foxtail millet (cooked))

1/2cup Yellow split moongdal (cooked)

3nos Potatoes (cooked & mashed)

1/4cup Sweet corn 

1no Onion (chopped)

2nos Green chillies (chopped)

1/2tsp Ginger garlic paste

1/2tsp Garam masala powder

1/4tsp Amchur powder

2tbsp Cornflour

Breadcrumbs (for crust)

Oil for deep frying

Take the cooked millet,cooked moongdal,sweetcorn,mashed potatoes, garam masala powder,amchur powder with enough salt in a bowl and mix everything well.

Meanwhile heat few drops of oil,saute the onions,green chillies together until the onions turns transculent.

Now add the ginger garlic paste and cook for few minutes until the raw smell goes away.

Add the sauteed onions to the millet-moongdal mixture and mix everything well.

Roll them as oval and keep side.

Make a paste with corn flour and water,dip the rolled chops to the cornflour paste and roll well over the bread crumbs.

Keep this chops in fridge for an hour..

Heat enough oil for shallow frying, fry the chops in small batches until they turns golden brown.

Enjoy with ketchup or any hot sauce..

Aloo Moongdal Paratha

As i told earlier most of our dinner goes for almost oil-less rotis, but sometime i manage to make some stuffed parathas with our favourite aloo stuffing. Here we start again three days of blogging marathon, so this week's theme is gonna be cooking with moongdal. Obviously next two day's recipes are going to be foods prepared either with whole green gram or with split yellow moongdal. For the first day of blogging marathon, i went for this delicious and super filling potato and whole green gram stuffed paratha.

I prepared the stuffing with cooked potatoes and cooked green grams which i spiced simply with onions,greenchillies,garam masala powder and chaat masala. This paratha doesnt even need any side dish to enjoy,the stuffing itself will replace the side dishes usually we make for rotis. Check out the other marathoners running this 21st edition of blogging marathon here.

2cups Whole wheat flour
1/2cup Warm water
1tbsp Oil
Salt

For stuffing:
2nos Potatoes (cooked & mashed)
1/2cup Whole greengram (cooked & mashed)
1nos Onion (chopped)
2nos Green chillies(chopped)
1tsp Garam masala powder
1/2tsp Chaat masala
Salt

Take the wheat flour,oil and salt together in a bowl,add the warm water and knead everything as a stiff and smooth dough,keep aside for half an hour..

Take the cooked potatoes,cooked greengram,chopped green chillies,garam masala powder,chaat masala and salt, mix everything well and keep aside.

Saute the chopped onions with enough oil and add it to the already prepared potato-greengram mixture,mix well.

Make medium sized balls from the dough, flatten them as small circles with the rolling pin, drop enough aloo-greengram masala and cover the masala by sealing the edges of the flatten dough.

Dust with flour and roll them gently as parathas.

Heat a tawa, drop this flattened paratha over the hot tawa, drizzle few drops of oil and cook until they get well cooked..

Serve hot..

Pumpkin & Red Rice Flakes Kheer~~My Guest Post For Aparna

                                           Happy Saraswathi Pooja to everyone friends.

Well, i think this is my seventh guest post for my blogger buddies, i prepared this super delicious kheer with pumpkin and red rice flakes for Aparna of Aps Kitchen. Few days she pinged me in FB and asked whether i could make a guest post for her, i accepted it immediately.We are friends since a long  through this virtual world and i love her Konkani cuisine very much. I know i'll be making something sweet for a sweet friend, since i prepared pumpkin puree for a bake and as there were some leftover i turned those leftover pumpkin puree as this wonderful kheer with red rice flakes.

Recently i bought this red rice flakes for making upmas and personally i got hooked with this healthy flakes than the usual white ones, i couldnt stop myself adding them in most of my dishes nowadays. Coming to this kheer, you will definitely love the addition of pumpkin puree in this kheer, both rice flakes and pumpkin puree works out wonder together.  Check out my guest post for Aparna here.

1cup Pumpkin puree
1/2cup Red rice flakes
2cups Milk
1/4cup Sweetened condensed milk
1/4cup Sugar
Few pistachio nuts
1tbsp Cardamom powder
2tsp Ghee

Bring boil both milk and sugar together cook until the milk get half reduced in low flame.

Meanwhile heat the ghee in a kadai and roast the red rice flakes and keep aside.

Now add the pumpkin puree, condensed milk to th boiled milk and bring again to boil, put the flame in simmer  and cook them for few minutes.

Add the roasted red rice flakes, keep the flame in medium high, cook until they gets cooked.

Finally add the cardamom powder to the kheer, stir them well before  and switch off the stove.

Serve warm topped with chopped pistachio nuts.

Yeasted Nutella-Cinnamon Wholewheat Muffins

I really want to bake some yeasted bread with nutella and cinnamon combination since a long, finally baked as yeasted muffins during this week end. Nutella and cinnamon combo works out wonder and this muffins turned out fabulously awesome. We started our sunday with these cuties with a cup of hot chocolate for our brunch. Since i used wholewheat flour making this yeasted muffins i can say that these muffins are healthy. These muffins are seriously very addictive, i prepared almost a dozen of muffins and none is leftover here. Needless to say its my lil one's favourite now and am gonna make some soon again for our next week's sunday brunch.Am sending this muffins to my own event Healthy Diet- Healthy Finger Food guest hosted by Preeti of Isingcakes.

2cups Whole wheat flour
2tbsp Melted butter
1tbsp Active dry yeast
1tbsp Sugar
1tsp Salt
1/2cup Luke warm water
4tbsp Nutella
1tsp Cinnamon powder
2tbsp Almond powder
2tsp Butter (room temperature)

In a small bowl, add the active yeast, sugar and salt in luke warm water , give a stir and keep aside, let it sit for 5 minutes until it turns foamy.

Take the wheat flour and melted butter in an another large bowl,gradually add the foamy yeast to the flour and knead as dough.

Dust the dough with enough flour and knead for few minutes until its turns soft..arrange the dough in a greased bowl , let it sit for an hour in a warm place.

Punch down the dough, springle few flour and knead again for few minutes, flatten the dough with a rolling pin.

Spread the nutella spread and springle the cinnamon powder,almond powder over the dough..roll the dough tightly as a loaf.

Slice the rolled loaf as medium sized pieces and arrange them in a greased muffin tray and keep it in a warm place until they double their volume.

Preheat the oven to 350F,arrange the muffin pan in the middle rack and bake the uncooked muffins for 20-25minutes until its turn golden brown.

Brush them immediately with butter and let them cool..

Enjoy with your favourite coffee,tea or hot chocolate.

Egg Dum Biriyani

Once a week, even a easy breezy,quick scrambled eggs can make me definitely comfort. Sunday lunch is something special always at our place that too when my betterhalf dont work on weekends. Obviously most of our sunday lunch will definitely goes for pulaos,briyanis or special one pot meals.Egg dum briyani was one of my DH's favourite, also its doesnt need any special side dish or any other gravy to accompany this super flavourful briyani as the eggs itself will definitely replace those side dishes or gravies, eventhough i served this briyani with my lil one's favourite carrot raita.

Give a try once friends, you will definitely fallen in love with this flavourful rice. Eventhough the ingredient list goes for a long list, the cooking process goes for an easy breezy preparation. If you forget to get your meats or fish for your sunday special lunch, dont worry you can make this yummy briyani with eggs.

For cooking rice:
3cups Basmati rice
3nos Cardamoms
4nos Cloves
1inch Cinnamon stick
Salt
1tsp Ghee

For Briyani:
6nos Eggs
2nos Onion (sliced lengthwise)
3nos Tomatoes (chopped finely)
2tsp Ginger garlic paste
4nos Green chillies (slit oepend)
1/2tsp Red chilly powder
1tsp Garam masala powder
1/2tsp Briyani masala powder (i used shakthi masala)
1cup Yogurt
1no Lemon (half)
1/2cup Mint leaves (chopped)
1/4cup Coriander leaves (chopped)
2nos Bayleaves
3tbsp Yellow food colour water
2tbsp Oil
2tbsp Ghee

Wash and soak the rice for 10minutes in enough water,keep aside.

Cook the eggs and peel the skin;poke it with a fork, heat few drops of oil and fry in medium flame until the eggs gets well fried and brown, keep aside.

Heat enough water with the spices given under the list 'for cooking rice', ghee and salt,add the rice and continue to cook until the rice get half cooked,drain the water.

Discard the spices from the rice and keep aside.

Meanwhile heat the oil and ghee in a wide open pan, fry the bay leaves until brown and fry onions until they turns pink, add now the chopped tomatoes,ginger garlic paste, mint leaves,slit opened green chillies and fry for few more minutes.

Now add the garam masala, briyani masala,red chilly powder and fry everything again for few minutes.

Add the fried eggs to the cooking spices, add now the yoghurt and saute until the oil separates.

For Dum:
Take a big pot with a lid, add the half of the egg-spice mixture to it, spread half of the cooked rice on the top.

Sprinkle some chopped coriander leaves,enough food colour water

Repeat the same process until everything get finished. Cover the pan with damp cloth and the lid.

Cook in low flame for 15-20minutes or bake in oven for 20minutes at 350F.

Serve this flavourful briyani with raita.

Eggless Lowfat Pumpkin & Dates Muffins

If you love having eggless muffins for our breakfast like me, this muffins are for you.I went for both pumpkin and dates puree  for making this wonderful looking muffins. Obviously its a wonderful way to sneak the famous iron rich healthy dates and none at home will definitely find out the famous 'secret ingredient'. I used cinnamon and nutmeg powder in this muffins,these both spice powders completely masked the smell of pumpkin and dates. Just have two of this muffins for your breakfast with a cup of coffee to kick start your day,these muffins will definitely satisfy you. Am sending this muffins to my own event Healthy Diet- Healthy Finger Food guest hosted by my wonderful friend Preeti of Isingcakes.

For making dates puree, just soak 10 or 15numbers of  deseeded dates in hot water,grind as smooth paste with enough soaked water, this is how i prepared my dates puree.You can use very well store bought purees or canned ones for this muffins but somehow i like to make these kind of purees with fruits myself at home. If you want you can also go for chopped dates instead of dates puree.

1+1/2cups Whole wheat flour
1/2cup All purpose flour
1/2tsp Baking soda
1tsp Baking powder
1tsp Cinnamon powder
1/4tsp Nutmeg powder
1/2tsp Salt
1cup Oil
3/4cup Sugar
1tsp Vanilla extract
1/4cup Dates puree
3/4cup Pumpkin puree

Preheat the oven to 350F, line the muffin cups with paper liners and keep aside.

Sift the flours,baking soda,baking powder, spice powders and salt and keep aside.

In an another bowl,whisk together the oil,sugar,dates puree and pumpkin puree,vanilla extract until the sugar gets well dissolved

Fold in the flour mixture gently and mix with a spatula,dont overmix.

Fill the muffin cups with this batter, bake in middle rack for 20 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Cool completely and enjoy with a cup of coffee.

Eggless Custard Thumbprint Jam Cookies

Making out cookies with custard powder is in my to do list since a long, finally i prepared some custard thumbprint cookies as eggless version last weekend. This cookies goes for simple ingredients and seriously very addictive, i baked almost two dozen of this cookies and i just had a chance to taste two cookies only. Yep they just vanished quickly,especially among the lil ones.

These cookies are super delicious and buttery, with strawberry jam i dont have words to say how yummy these cookies are.You can use any kind of preserves or else nutella spread to fill this easy breezy thumbprint cookies. My next try is gonna be surely a nutella filled thumbprint cookies, as these cookies are super duper hit among my kids.Sending to my own event Healthy Diet- Healthy Finger Food guest hosted by Preeti of Isingcakes.

2cups All purpose flour

1/2cup Custard powder

1cup Butter

1/2cup Confectioner's sugar

1tsp Vanilla extract

Strawberry jam (as per need)

Prheat the oven to 350F, line baking sheet over a baking tray and keep aside.

Sift together the all purpose flour and custard powder, add in the vanilla extract,keep aside.

Whisk the butter,confectioner's sugar together until they turns creamy, add immediately the flour-custard powder mixture and gently mix until they forms as a soft dough.

Shape the dough into small walnut sized balls and flatten them gently. Place them on the lined baking tray.

Make an indentation in the middle of the each cookie and bake for 15-20minutes.

Meanwhile heat enough strawberry jam in microwave oven for few seconds.

Once the cookies gets cooled, fill the cookies with the melted jam.

Enjoy with a cup of tea.

Potato & Spinach Sandwich

Sandwiches gets ready in a jiffy and they suits prefectly anytime of the day. I quickly prepared this yummy potato and spinach sandwich with an easy breezy potato and spinach filling.Love this kind of simple and healthy stuffed sandwiches for my lunch coz they are light,yet filling and definitely dont make you feel sleepy if you have loads of stuffs to do.

For this week's blogging marathon as i went for sandwich as this week's theme,my third post is this yummy and healthy potato and spinach sandwich. With a simple cucumber salad, this sandwich will definitely satisfy you.Seriously you can carry this sandwich easily to a picnic,just wrap them correctly and enjoy.Check out the other marathoners running this 21st edition of blogging marathon here.Sending to Vandana's Sandwiches and Burgers - Food Fun and to my own event Healthy Diet- Healthy Finger Food guest hosted by Preeti of Isingcakes.

1/2cup Spinach (chopped)
2nos Potatoes (cooked and cubed)
1no Onion (chopped)
1/4tsp Cumin seeds
1/2tsp Pepper powder
1/2tsp Garam masala powder
Salt
Oil

4nos Bread slices

Heat enough oil, fry the cumin seeds and add immediately the chopped onions and saute until the onions turns transculent.

Add immediately the chopped spinach, salt,cook for few minutes.

Now add the cubed potatoes,garam masala powder and pepper powder, cook everything in simmer until everything get well cooked,put off the stove.

Toast the bread slices, spread gently the already prepared potato-spinach mixture to a toasted bread slice and cover it with an another bread slice.

Serve with a cucumber salad.

Caramelized Apple & Nesquik Open Faced Sandwich

Open faced sandwich is prepared usually with a singe bread slice, you can make this quick and easy sandwich with any kind of veggies,fruits or simply with a spread. My open sandwich goes for apple chunks,honey and nesquik. Nesquik is a kind of chocolate powder flavouring mix quite popular here,obviously most of the french kids starts their day with this nesquik flavoured milk for their breakfast. This nesquik powder suits prefectly for making shakes,recently instead of nutella spread i just prepared a quick sandwich with just butter and this nesquik powder,it was a big hit among my kids.

When i chose sandwich for this week's theme,i know i'll be making the same nesquik sandwich with some fruit chunks. I choosed apple chunks which i caramelized quickly with honey and served warm with nesquik, seriously my lil one simply enjoyed having this incredible open faced sandwich for his snacks, now i know how to feed fruits easily to my lil one. You can mix and match any fruits for making this simple sandwich. 

4nos Bread slices

2nos Apples (sliced as big chunks)

1tbsp Butter

2tbsp Honey

Nesquik powder (as per need)

Heat the butter in a pan, add immediately the apple chunks,honey and cook in medium flame until those apple chunks gets well caramelized.

Arrange the caramelized apple chunks over a bread slice as per need and sprinkle generously the nesquik powder immediately.

Serve.

Cauliflower Mayonnaise Sandwich

I can eat everyday for my dinner a sandwich with any filling especially with loads of salads and  veggies. I can have even leftover stir fries with some toasted bread slices for my dinner as sandwich. For our third week of blogging marathon, its gonna be sandwich as theme which i choosed immediately as i loved this theme very much.

For the first day of this three day blogging marathon, i went for a easy breezy, healthy and delicious,super filling sandwich with cooked cauliflower florets and mayonnaise,both together works out wonder and even my picky eater enjoyed thoroughly as he loves mayonnaise very much. This sandwich is one of the easiest sandwich and obviously one of the best and better way to sneak this wonderful veggie cauliflower.Check out the other marathoners running this 21st edition of blogging marathon here.Sending to Jacqueline's No Croutons Required-Sandwich and to Vandana's Sandwiches and Burgers - Food Fun.

6nos Bread slices (toasted)
2cups Cauliflower florets (cooked and finely chopped)
2tbsp Mayonnaise

Mix the cooked cauliflower florets and mayonnaise together in a bowl, you can add finely chopped fresh herbs here.

Take the toasted bread slices, spread generously the already prepared cauliflower-mayonnaise spread and close it with an another bread slice.

Serve immediately.

Muttar Ki Kachori~~IC Challenge

Kachoris, the word itself makes me drool, i have already tried few varieties of kachoris. For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge, Srivalli aked us to choose any of the recipe from our earlier challenges. Since most of our challenges were very much related to Indian festivals and many of us didnt had a chance to make some challenges till now, its quite a fabulous opportunity to give a try to the challenges we havent finished yet.

So i choosed to make some muttar ki kachori she shared during our 2010th January challenge, actually i cooked Pyaz ki Kachori for that challenge eventhough i wanted to make some muttar ki kachori since a long. Obviously i used this opportunity to cook some yummy muttar ki kachori two days back for our snacks. They came out extremely yummy,flaky and super crispy, we simply enjoyed these crispy beauties for our snacks with a cup of coffee while its raining outside.

For Dough:
2cups All purpose flour
1/4cup Ghee
Salt

Mix the flour and salt, gradually add the ghee and turn the the flour as bread crumbs like texture, slowly add the water and make a soft dough, knead well.

Cover and keep aside for atleast half an hour..

For GreenPeas Filling:
2cups Greenpeas
1tsp Grated ginger
1tsp Nigella seeds
2tsp Fennel seeds
2nos Bay leaves
1no Green chillies (chopped finely)
1tsp Chilly powder
1tsp Garam masala
2tbsp Chopped coriander
2tsbsp Oil
Salt

Coarsely grind the green peas,green chillies and ginger and keep aside.

Heat the oil in a pan,add the nigella seeds, fennel seeds, bay leaves and fry.

Add the greenpeas mixture and saute in low flame few minutes.

Now add  the chilli powder, garam masala and salt and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes.Add the chopped coriander and mix well.

Remove the bay leaves and discard.

Allow the mixture to cool completely and divide into 12 equal portions and keep aside.


To make Kachoris:

Make a small ball from the dough...flatten the ball using your fingers having the center thick and sides little thin.

Place about 2 tsps of the greenpeas filling in the center of the rolled dough.

Cover the filling with the dough by slowly stretching it over the filling. Seal the ends and remove excess dough.

Repeat with all the balls and keep aside for 5 -7 mins.

Then using your palm, flatten the balls by lightly pressing it,keep aside covered.

Repeat with the remaining dough,meanwhile heat some oil for deep frying. The oil should not become smoking hot.

Fry the kachoris in small batches gently into the oil. It should rise up slowly.Cook for about 6 to 10 minutes till the side down gets a golden brown color.

Turn and cook the other side for another 6 minutes or till its golden brown in color.

Remove when done, cool and store in airtight container.

Enjoy with coriander or tamarind chutney.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chunks Muffins

 As i told earlier,being a member of Baking Partners we get three different recipes for our every month's challenge, obviously we can bake anything from those three recipes, i have already posted an incredible Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcake with orange cheese cream frosting suggested by Priya. Coming to this fabulous looking muffins, it was suggested by Reshmi of Easy Cook from Joy of Baking. Actually this muffins goes for all purpose flour,chocolate chips but i went for whole wheat flour and finely chopped dark chocolate bar.

These muffins came out extremely soft and quite addictive, chocolate chunks in this muffins brings a wonderful texture while having this muffins and obviously all the spice powder used in this muffins completely masked the smell of the pumpkin puree. I prepared my pumpkin puree myself, by cooking them in boiling water and pureed once they get cooled without any water. You can also use canned pumpkin puree for making this muffins, definitely you guys have to try this muffins atleast once.

2cups Whole wheat flour
1/2tsp Baking soda
1tsp Baking powder
1tsp Cinnamon powder
1/4tsp Ginger powder
1/4tsp Cloves powder
1/4tsp Nutmeg powder
1/2tsp Salt
1/2cup Butter (room temperature)
1cup Sugar
2nos Large eggs
3/4cup Pumpkin puree
1tsp Vanilla extract
1cup Finely chopped dark chocolate chunks

Preheat the oven to 350F, line the muffin cups with paper liners and keep aside.

Sift the flour,baking soda,baking powder, spice powders and salt and keep aside.

In an another bowl,beat the butter and sugar together until they turns fluffy, add the eggs one at a time and beat well.

Beat in the vanilla extract,pumpkin puree. Fold in the flour mixture,chocolate chunks gently and mix with a spatula,dont overmix.

Fill the muffin cups with this batter, bake in middle rack for 20minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Cool completely and enjoy with a cup of coffee.

Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcake With Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

We Baking Partners will be baking different bakes every month and will be posting every 15th of the month. This month challenge is cupcakes or muffins, this is our third challenge after a wonderful almond cake and cookies. Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen, the brain child of this fabulous baking event send us three interesting cupcake and muffin recipes.Three of our baking partners suggested us these beautiful recipes and i choosed to bake two among them,one is this super delicious,addictive chocolate pumpkin cupcake. When its comes a bake with chocolate, everyone at home will never hesitate a second to request me to make some.While going through the mail i recieved with this month's challenge, i know i'll be making this chocolate pumpkin cupcakes and gathered everything to make this incredible cupcakes during a weekend. My kids enjoyed thoroughly and even my lil one helped to squeeze out the frosting.Priya R of Cook Like Priya suggested this cupcake recipe from Country of Living.

2+1/2cups All purpose flour

2tbsp All purpose flour

4nos Eggs

1+1/2cups Sugar

1+1/2cups Pumpkin puree

2tsp Vanilla extract

2+1/4sticks Softened butter

1cup Cocoa powder

1tbsp Baking powder

1+1/2tsp Baking soda

2tsp Cinnamin powder

3/4tsp Nutmeg powder

3/4cup Buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 350F, line the cupcake moulds with cupcake papers, but i used my silicon moulds.

Sift the flour with cocoa powder,baking soda,cinnamon powder and nutmeg powder in a large bowl and keep aside.

Combine the buttermilk,pumpkin puree, vanilla extract in an another bowl and keep aside.

Beat the butter,sugar together in a bowl with a electroc mixer until the mixture turns fluffy, add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition.

Alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture,blending well after each addition.

Spoon out this batter to the already prepared cupcake moulds  and bake in middle rack for 20-25minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Keep aside and let them cool completely.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting:

1cup Cream cheese (softened)

1/4cup Softened unsalted butter

1tbsp Fresh orange juice

1tsp Orange zest (grated)

4cups Confectioner's sugar

1/2tsp Vanilla extract

2pinch Orange food colour

Blend the cream cheese,butter,orange juice,orange zest,vanilla in a large bowl using a electric mixture until smooth.

Slowly add the sugar and continue to beat until the mixture turns light and creamy.Arrange in fridge atleast for an hour before frosting.

Fill this chilled frosting in a pastry bag with your favourite nozzle or tip and squeeze gently to decorate.

Enjoy this cupcake with a cup of tea, beware that this cupcakes are pretty addictive.

Dindugul Thalapakattu Mutton Briyani

Making Dindugul famous thalapakattu briyani is quite like a dream for me, i tasted this flavourful briyani long back. Dindugal is a city in Tamilnadu state of Southern part of India,this city is famous for its fort, locks and steel safes, also very popular for thalapakattu or thalapakatti briyani. This briyani is quite special in taste as its goes for special rice called Seeraga samba rice and the slow cooking process.I was planning to make this mutton briyani since a long,finally i prepared them for our today's lunch.Thalapakattu briyani tastes surely different from other briyanis you have already tasted.

The secret of this briyani is to grind each ingredients and frying them until a nice aroma comes from. This briyani will definitely goes for a time consuming cooking process but i will definitely says that its worth to give a try this super flavourful,inviting briyani. You can prepared this briyani either with chicken or mutton, i went for mutton and used usual basmati rice as i dont get seeraga samba rice here.Sending to Asiya Omar's Feast of Sacrifice.

1kg Mutton (cut as medium size pieces)
2nos Onions
2nos Tomatoes
1tsp Ginger paste
1tsp Garlic paste
4nos Green chillies
1/2cup Mint leaves
1/4cup Coriander leaves
1/2cup Grated coconut
2nos Bayleaves
3nos Cloves
2nos Cinnamon sticks
1no Cardamom
1tsp Roasted cumin powder
3cups Basmati rice
Oil
Ghee
1/2 Lemon

For marination:
1cup Yogurt
1/2tsp Ginger garlic paste
2tsp Red chilly powder
2tsp Coriander powder
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
1tsp Garam masala powder
1tbsp Lemon juice
Salt

Marniate the mutton pieces with all the ingredients under the list 'for marination' and keep aside atleast for 2-3 hours, even more better if you prepared it overnite and keep in fridge.

Wash the basmati rice twice and soak with enough water for 15minutes.

Now grind the onions with green chillies,coriander leaves, mint leaves as coarse paste.

Grind the tomatoes as coarse paste and keep aside.

Grind the coconut as fine paste and extract 2cups of coconut milk and keep aside.

Pressure cook the marinated mutton pieces upto three whistles with a cup of water. Once the steam gets released, strain the stock from the cooked meat and keep the meat and the stock aside.

In a large vessel, heat the oil and ghee.. Fry the bayleaves, cloves,cardamom,cinnamon sticks until they turns brown, add immediately the coarse onion paste and fry for few minutes.

Add now the tomato paste, ginger garlic paste and fry everything until the raw smell goes away,finally add the cumin powder and fry againfor few minutes.

Now add the cooked mutton pieces and cook for few more minutes.

Meanwhile strain the excess water from the soaked rice, add this rice to the cooking meat mixture and cook covered for 5minutes in low flame.

Add the 2cups of coconut milk and cook for 5minutes, once its starts bubbling, add the 3cups of meat cooked stock water, salt (if needed) and cook in medium low flame.

Mine took 15minutes to get ready, once the rice cooked well, squeeze out the juice from half of the lemon and give a stir.

Serve hot with raita and hard boiled eggs.

Prawn Hash/Eral Puttu

If you are born and brought up with fresh sea foods, you will definitely miss them if you are not living in your home town,really i miss my home town especially for their super fresh seafoods. Nothing will beat those fresh seafoods, you have to compromise with the frozen ones if you live far away from your country as some of us will do.

We have to mix and match these available frozen seafoods here according to our tastebuds , before a month i prepared this tasty puttu aka hash with frozen tiny prawns for our lunch. I prepared this prawn hash quickly to serve along with a simple sambhar for our lunch, needless this delicious puttu tastes excellent with wonderful flavours and everyone at home simply loved it.Sending to Asiya Omar's Feast of Sacrifice.

3cups Prawns (tiny & frozen)
20nos Shallots or 2 nos 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

Cook the prawns with turmeric powder and water until they turns soft, smash the cooked prawn pieces.

Add the pepper powder, cumin seed powder, fennel seed powder, salt to the cooked mashed prawn pieces.

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 shallots or onions and cook everything until they turns transculent.

Now add the cooked and spiced prawns 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...

Foxtail Millet & Sweet Corn Upma

Since i heard lot about the nutritious value of foxtail millet, i couldnt stop myself to get them from organic stores. I prepared recently this healthy,nutritious,super filling and satisfying upma with sweet corn kernels and foxtail millet. An excellent food to enjoy without any guilt which gets ready very quickly if you cook your foxtail millet through pressure cooker apart from it, this dish goes for usual spices.

You can enjoy this healthy upma even without any side dish eventhough i loved it with  Urad dal chutney. This foxtail millet and sweet corn upma is my third day post of blogging marathon under the theme 'Upmas' i choosed for this second week of blogging marathon,check out the other marathoners running this 21st edition of blogging marathon here.

1cup Foxtail millet
1/2cup Sweet corn kernels
1no Onion (big & sliced finely)
1tsp Mustard seeds+urad dal
1/2tsp Channadal
3nos Dry red chillies
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
1/2tsp Pepper powder
Few Curry leaves
Oil
Salt

Wash the foxtail millet and pressure cook with 2cups of water upto 2hisses.

Keep aside and let them cool.

Heat enough oil, let splutters the mustard seeds, urad dal,channadal,dry red chillies,fry until they turns brown.

Add now the sliced onions,curry leaves and salt,saute until the onions turns transculent..

Add now the sweet corn kernels to the cooking onions, stir continously for few minutes, add immediately the cooked millet and pepper powder,cook for few more minutes,put off the stove.

Serve hot with chutney.

Mushroom & Red Rice Flakes Upma

Rice flakes aka aval is a must in my pantry, i love to cook with this rice flakes. I have already posted many variety of foods with these rice flakes in my space. When i choosed Upma for this week's blogging marathon,i know that i'll be surely making my favourite aval upma but definitely not the usual one. I grabbed a packet of red rice flakes during my last visit to Indian grocery.I used those healthy red rice flakes for making this wonderful looking upma with some chopped button mushrooms. This upma turned out awesome and we simply enjoyed with some coconut chutney.A wonderful,filling upma to enjoy either for breakfast or for dinner,check out the other marathoners running this 21st edition here.

1cup Red rice flakes/ Sivappu aval
1/4cup Button mushrooms (chopped)
1no Onion (big & chopped)
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1/2tsp Urad dal
1tsp Channa dal
1/2tsp Turmeric powder
2nos Dry red chillies
2nos Green chillies (chopped)
Few curry leaves
Salt
Oil

Soak the red rice flakes in water for few seconds and drain the water completely,keep aside.

Heat enough oil, let splutters mustard seeds, urad dal,channadal,dry red chillies,curry leaves, add immediately the chopped onions, chopped green chilies and cook until the onions turns transculent..

Now add the chopped mushroom, saute them for few seconds.

Finally add the turmeric powder, salt and add the already washed red rice flakes.

Cook everything in medium flame for few minutes and put off the stove..

Serve warm with some spicy coconut chutney...

Urad Dal Chutney

For our dinner, if am serving dosas or idlis i have to prepare atleast two different chutneys else my H will definitely wont enjoy his dinner, so obviously if i get to know a new variety of chutney i wont even hesitate a second to try and serve it to him. For this month's blog hop wednesdays, Radhika paired me with a wonderful blogger Nalini of Nalini's Kitchen. I love Nalini's space and visit her space frequently, if i get a chance to cook from her space do i need to say am a happiest person in the world. Immediately i went through her space to choose a recipe,omg its quite a hard task for me to choose.

Seriously i want to try all her recipes, they were authentic,irresistible and delicious. With her beautiful clicks, she rocks and you will definitely love her space very much.For bloghop wednesdays, i choosed her Urad Dal Chutney one of her mom's recipe and prepared it two days back to serve along with soft idlies. We just loved it,thanks Nalini for sharing this chutney its definitely a keeper and i'll make surely quite often this easy breezy chutney.

1/2cup Grated coconut
5tbso Deskinned urad dal
5nos Dry red chillies
1no Tamarind (blueberry size)
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
Few curryleaves
Oil
Salt

Heat enough oil, fry the grated coconut,red chillies, tamarind together until a nice aroma comes from, remove it and keep aside.

To the same pan, heat again a teaspoon of oil and fry the urad dal,asafoetida powder and curryleaves until the urad dal gets well roasted.

Once everything gets well cooled, grind everything together with enough water and salt as bit coarse paste.

Transfer it to a bowl and serve immediately.

This chutney doesnt need tempering.

Couscous Upma & My Guest Post For Siri

We start again a week of blogging marathon, for this second week of blogging marathon i choosed upmas as theme, so for the next two days i'll be posting variety upmas. For the frist day of blogging marathon, am posting a quick,easy,healthy and super filling upma with couscous. I simply used onions and usual spices to make this upma,you can very well go for mixed veggies while making this upma.

Coming to this couscous upma, even a bachelor can make this quick upma very much easily and definitely everyone at home will enjoy thoroughly this upma, i served this upma with a dash of chaat masala and we just loved it.Check out the other marathoners running this 21st edition here.

2cups Couscous
1no Onion (big n sliced finely)
2nos Green chillies (slit opened)
1tsp Ginger (minced)
1tsp Mustard seeds+urad dal
1/2tsp Channadal
3nos Dry red chillies
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
Few Curry leaves
Oil
Salt

Soak couscous for half an hour in 4 cups of water,drain the excess of water and keep aside.

Heat enough oil, let splutters the mustard seeds, urad dal,channadal,dry red chillies,fry until they turns brown.

Add now the sliced onions,grated ginger,curry leaves,salt and slit opened green chillies,saute until the onions turns transculent..

Add now the soaked couscous to the cooking veggies, stir continously until the couscous gets well cooked,put off the stove.

Serve topped with a dash of chaat masala and enjoy.

Do check out my guest post Oats & Badam Halwa Poli at Siri's Food Flavours.

Spicy Herbed Breadsticks~My Guestpost for Sangeetha

Doing guest post to a co-blogger is quite interesting, recently i got a message from Sangeetha of Recipe Excavator asking whether i can do a guest post for her. Who will say no to this great opportunity, immediately we chitchat through mail and she kindly asked me to make something baked for her with stepwise pictures. She was asking me from a long why am not posting stepwise pictures, as most of you know i have almost more than 2000posts in my space, coz of this space contraint i couldnt post stepwise pictures.

I truly used this opportunity to make a stepwise pictures of my guest post for Sangeetha. Initially i want to make some cake but finally i decided to make this excellent,super delicious spicy herbed breadsticks,they came out prefect. She was quite happy for getting her requested stepwise pictures from me and this breadsticks i prepared for specially for her.

2cups All purpose flour
1cup Whole wheat flour
1tbsp Active dry yeast
1tsp Sugar
1tsp Salt
1/2cup Luke warm milk
2tbsp Olive oil
2tbsp Coriander leaves (chopped)
1tsp Red chillyflakes
1/2tsp Dry Oregano
1/2tsp Dry Thymn leaves
1tbsp Butter (room temperature)

Add the yeast,sugar and salt to the luke warm water and keep aside until the yeast turns foamy.

Take the flours in a bowl with chopped coriander leaves,red chilly flakes,dry oregano and dry thymn leaves,add gradually the foamy yeast,olive oil and water.

Knead as a soft and smooth dough,cover the bowl and keep the dough in a warm place for two hours..

Once they doubled their size,punch down the dough,dust the dough with flour and roll them as a medium size long rope like strips.

Arrange the rolled breadsticks over a baking sheet lined over the baking tray.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Arrange the baking pan in middle rack of the oven and bake for 25-30minutes until the crust of the bread stick turns golden brown.

Brush immediately the bread sticks with the butter.

Serve warm with a bowl of soup.

Bhelpuri Chaat~~SNC Challenge

Being a South Indian, i would love to cook and eat North Indian foods, just i love their foods. Every month, if you get a chance to cook from this part of India, who will say no, definitely not me. When Divya of You Too Can Cook announced a monthly challenge between Southern and Northern part of India, i want to be a part of this group, immediately i joined this group.For this month's first challenge, Shruti of Shruti Rasoi challenged Bhelpuri chaat, a popular street food chaat from Mumbai to us (for the Southern group) while Divya of Divya's Culinary Journey challenged Mysore pak to the Northern group.As am  a part of Southern group, i have to prepare bhelpuri chaat for this month's challenge. Finally here is my bhelpuri chaat i prepared yesterday and enjoyed thoroughly. Thanks to Shruti for this incredible challenge, loved it.

1cup Puffed rice

5nos Papdi/Papri

1/4cup Fried peanuts

1no Potato (boiled & cubed)

2tbsp Onions (chopped)

3tbsp Cucumber (chopped)

3tbsp Tomato (chopped)

2tbsp Raw mango (grated)

2tbsp Green Chutney

2tbsp Sweet Tamarind Chutney

Lemon juice (as per need)

Salt

2tbsp Coriander leaves (chopped)

1/2cup Sev/Omapodi

Take a large bowl, crush the fried papdis and take them in a bowl, add now the puffed rice,sev, cubed potatoes, chopped onions,chopped cucumber,chopped tomatoes,grated raw mango, lemon juice,salt and give a stir.

Add immediately the green chutney and sweet tamarinf chutney and toss gently until everything gets well mixed.

Serve immediately wiith chopped coriander leaves and sev.

Papdi/Papri & Mint Chutney N Sweet Tamarind Chutney for Chaat

Papdi or papris are small round shaped deep fried biscuitss made with refined white flour and oil, with ajwain or kalonji seeds to enchance the flavour.Papris are usually served in North Indian fast foods called chaat, papri chaat is quite famous street food in Mumbai and this dish is often eaten in streets. This papdi or papri are very important for making bhelpuri chaat.

Some people may use gram flour and wheat flour along with white flour for making these papdis, but nothing will beat the taste of papdis prepared with maida flour.In India, we can get easily these papdi from stores, but here in Paris its quite a hard task to get them, thats why i prepared these crispy biscuits at home also at the same time i prepared some green mint chutney and sweet tamarind chutney. These chutneys are the most  essential chutneys used in almost every chaats served in Chaat food shops.

1cup All purpose flour/Maida
1/2tsp Ajwain seeds
1/4tsp Kalonji/Onion seeds
Salt
Oil for kneading
Oil for deepfrying

Take the maida,oil for kneading,kalonji seeds, ajwain seeds and mix well.

Now slowly add the water and make a smooth sough,keep aside closed with damp cloth for 15minutes.

Knead well the dough again,pinch the dough as two portion, roll a portion as a large circle and with a round cookie cutter make out small thin circles. Prick it with forks.

Heat enough oil for deep frying, once the oil gets hot, slowly drop the circles and allow to cook.

Flip it and cook on both sides until they turns golden brown, fry in small batches and drain the excess of oil in a paper towel.

Store this papdi in an air tight box and use when needed.

Green Chutney/Mint Chutney:

1cup Mint leaves
1/2cup Coriander leaves
1/4cup Raw mango (grated)
1no Green chilly
Salt
1tsp Lemon juice
1/4tsp Sugar

Blend the mint leaves, coriander leaves,grated raw mango,green chilly with salt,sugar and lemon juice as smooth paste.

Store in an air tight container and serve as per need.

Sweet Tamarind Chutney:

1no Small orange sized tamarind 'deseeded)
1/2cup Seedless dates
3/4cup Jaggery
1/2tsp Red chilly powder
1/2tsp Cumin powder
Water
Salt

Soak small orange sized tamarind in 2cups of warm water and bring it to boil and put off the heat.

Blend together this tamarind paste and seedless dates as smooth paste.Strain it through a sieve.

Transfer this paste to a pan and cook in medium flame with jaggery,red chilly powder, cumin powder and salt until the chutney turns thick.

Once cool, store it in an air tight box and refrigerate for further use.

Tangy Black-eyed Peas & Fenugreek Seeds Gravy With Coconut Paste/Karamani Kaara Kuzhambu

Our week menu will definitely have fingerlicking tangy gravies atleast once a week. I used to prepare this tangy gravies either with veggies or either with beans. For this week menu, i made this droolworthy,delicious gravy with cooked black-eyed peas and fenugreek seeds with coconut paste and a spice powder prepared with just coriander and fenugreek seeds.

This gravy tastes super delicious when served simply with a bowl of hot steaming rice and fried papads. They tastes even more delicious after a day and stay prefect for a week if they are conserved in fridge in an air-tightened box.Usually i dont add coconut paste in my gravies, but this time i prepared this gravy with coconut paste as our this month's Magic Mingle challenge's magic ingredients goes for fenugreek seeds and coconut. This gravy will satisfy your tastebuds and definitely one of the best way to sneak this bitter fenugreek seeds.

2cups Cooked black-eyed peas
1+1/2cups Tamarind extract
1tsp Red chilly powder
1no Onion( large & cubed)
1no Tomato (big & juicy)
5nos Garlic cloves (crushed)
1/2tsp Mustardseeds
1/4tsp Fenugreek seeds
1/2tsp Cumin seeds
Few curry leaves
1/4cup Gingelly oil
Salt

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

To roast & grind:

2tbsp Coriander seeds

1tsp Fenugreek seeds

Grind the coconut and fennel seeds together as fine paste and keep aside.

Meanwhile dry roast the coriander seeds and fenugreek seeds together and grind as fine powder,keep aside.

Heat the gingelly oil, let splutters the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds,curry leaves and cumin seeds, add immediately the cubed onions, crushed garlic cloves,curry leaves and chopped tomatoes,saute everything until the onions turns transculent.

Add the cooked beans to the veggies, cook for few minutes, now add the tamarind extract, red chilly powder along with salt and cook for few minutes with lid closed.

Finally add the coconut paste,grounded coriander-fenugreek powder and cook until the oil gets separates and put off the stove..

Serve along with rice and papads.