Cheesy Kiwi Canapes

When Kalyani announced this month's Magic Mingle with kiwi and basil leaves after a small break, i was breaking my head how to make out dishes with these two incredible ingredients since the announcement, finally i took a step forward and prepared some super cheesy kiwi canapes,simply with spiced and herbed cream cheese along with thick slices of kiwi. Trust me, this combo rocks even i was quite skeptical about this canape before tasting, but finally i got hooked to this fantastic canapes and couldnt stop myself with one.

Serve them chilled while the weather is hot, honestly this canapes will makes an interesting and quite a creative starter, you can very well mix and match with the fruits in case if you dont like Kiwi.Thanks to Kalyani for giving this tremendous magical ingredients, else i wont ever try my hands in making this cheesy kiwi canapes. I spiced the cream cheese with dry basil leaves, pepper powder and a pinch of nutmeg powder. My lil one who loves kiwi fruits very much,loved seriously this mildly spicy and sweet canapes.Sending this cuppies to Guru's Giveaway - Kid's Special.

3nos Kiwi (peeled and sliced as thick slices)
4tbsp Cream cheese
a pinch Nutmeg powder
2pinch Pepper powder
1/2tsp Dry basil leaves

Take the cream cheese,nutmeg powder,pepper powder and dry basil leaves together in a bowl and mix well (usually cream cheese will have salt in it,so no need to add salt).

Tranfer this mixture in a piping bag or a ziploc bag (if you are using a ziploc bag,cut the tip to squeeze)

Over a kiwi slice,just squeeze out this herbed cheese and cover it with an another slices as like sandwich.

And squeeze gently again the herbed cheese over the sandwich kiwi slices.

Serve chilled.

Eggless Brown Rice & Peach Pancakes

Who will say no to warm pancakes drizzled with chocolate sauce for their breakfast??,definitely not me..Everyone love pancakes with anything, this time i tried my hands in making a super healthy eggless brown rice pancakes. I love bakes with brown rice flour and i never forget to pick a packet of this healthy flour from the usual organic shop. Coming to this beautiful pancakes, i quickly prepared these beauties with whole wheat flour,brown rice flour,honey along with chopped peaches as eggless pancakes. They turned out extremely fluffy,soft and super filling. Its completely eggless,butterless and sugarless,a prefect breakfast to kick start a day.

These pancakes goes directly to Kalyani's Magic Mingle, eventhough our this month's magic ingredients are watermelon and rice, Kalyani,the brain child of this event kindly allowed me to cook with the available seasonal fruits and i picked peaches, its not peach season too but thank god we have some canned peaches here.

1cup Wholewheat flour
1/2cup Brown rice flour
1/2cup Chopped peaches (mini bites)
1/2cup Honey
1tsp Baking powder
1/4tsp Baking soda
1cup Yogurt
Water as per need

Mix the honey,yogurt, peach chunks in a bowl, meanwhile sieve the flours with baking powder,baking soda.

Gradually add the flour to the wet ingredients, add enough water to make a thick batter.


Heat a non stick pan,gently drop enough batter for pancakes,drizzle oil or butter if needed.

Cook on both sides until they get well cooked..

Serve warm with maple syrup,chocolate syrup or nutella spread..

Peach Rice Kheer/Peach Paal Payasam

Rice kheer, my daughter's favourite. She loves it that much and she can have it even everyday. Obviously i do prepare kheer with rice quite often as they gets ready easily. This kheer suits prefectly for poojas and to serve for sudden guest. Coming to this peach rice kheer, i tried this kheer today for our lunch, as my daughter was asking her favourite rice kheer since a long.Needless to say how delicious this kheer tastes, the picture itself will speaks a lot.

Our this month's Magic Mingle, an event by Kalyani goes for rice and watermelon, as per rules of this event we have to cook anything with these both ingredients. Its neither summer here nor watermelon season, so i mailed Kalyani asking whether i can skip this challenge or else to use any other alternative fruits. She replied me to use either peach,pear or melons, i chosed peach eventhough its not peach season here, but i can find atleast in tinned one. So picked a peach in sugar syrup tin yesterday from the supermarket and prepared this easy breezy kheer today.If you dont feel like adding peaches as cubes,you can grind them as puree and add it while cooking the kheer.I skipped ghee,nuts in this recipe, if you want you can add them as per your need,eventhough this kheer tastes marvellous with mild peach flavor.

1/2cup Basmati rice
2cups Milk
1cup Water
1/2cup Sweetened condensed milk
1/2cup Peaches (chopped as small cubes)
1/2tsp Cardamom powder


Cook the basmati rice in pressure cooker along with water and  milk for 3 whistles.

Once the steam get released, add the sweetened condensed milk,peach cubes,cardamom powder and cook everything until the kheer gets bit thickens..

Serve warm topped with some peach cubes.

Eggless Lemon Tea & Pistachio Chocolate Cake

I love challenges, especially food challenges, they will definitely pull you to bring out our creativity and obviously your creative mind will dish out many fabulous dishes. Here comes my one creative bake aka cake with lemon tea and pistachio for our this month's Magic Mingle Challenge, when Kalyani announced this combo i never thought that my fellow bloggers who are all part of this challenge will bring out this much varieties foods with these combination. I can guess very much that even Kalyani might be astonished to see the foods they are dishing out.

Coming to this chocolate cake, i quickly prepared this cake for our evening snacks when it was snowing here, lemon tea gives a wonderful aroma to this usual chocolate cake and needless to say about the nuttiness by pistachios in this cake. This cake takes very less time to get ready and they also get vanished very much easily if you have chocolate lovers at home. Recently while doing an another challenge, i came to know that we can add boiling water to the chocolate cake batter to make them soft and moist, i used the same techinic here and replaced the boiling water with boiling lemon tea. If you love citrus bakes, this cake is for you.

1+3/4cup All purpose flour
2cups Sugar
1/2cup Vegetable oil
1cup Yoghurt
1cup Boiling lemon tea waer
2tbsp Flaxseed meal
3/4cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1+1/2tsp Baking soda
1+1/2tsp Baking powder
1tbsp Vanilla essence
1/4tsp Salt
1/2cup Chopped pistachios

Heat the oven to 350F, grease a round pan and keep aside.

Stir together the sugar,flour,cocao powder,baking powder,baking soda,flax seed meal and salt in a bowl.

Meanwhile take together the yoghurt,vegetabke oil an vanilla in an another bowl, make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients.

Gradually add the wet ingredients,boiling lemon tea to the dry ingredients,mix it well.

Fold in gently the chopped pistachios.

Pour the batter to the prepared pan, sprinkle some nuts on the top and bake for 20-25minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Remove the pan from the oven and let them cool completely.

Cut the cake as you desire and serve with a chocolate sauce or dust the cake with confectioner's sugar.

Mint Tea & Pistachios Chocolate Fudge

Some of the food events are really challenging and they will pull you definitely to think beyond your limit, our this month's Kalyani's Magic Mingle was one among this, she gave us Tea and pistachios as this month"s secret ingredients. Initially i dunno know wat to cook or bake with this very different and challenging ingredients coz as per this challenge we have to combine these both ingredients in our dish. I love tea and pistachios separately but never had anything with them together.

After a long hestiation, i finally baked some muffins and everyone at home especially my lil loved this combo,so with full enthu i tried again this tea and pistachios combo in a fudge. As i told earlier, my kids are in vacation and obviously i have to prepare some bakes or snacks to them everyday,so i tried my hands in making a fudge with mint tea and pistachios,trust me this combination works out wonder in fudges and this dark chocolate fudge was a big hit among my kids and they just loved having them. I used the mint tea without making an infusion or grinding them as fine powder in this fudge,i just added some tablespoon of mint tea and sprinkled some on the top of the fudge.

1cup Sweetened condensed milk
1cup Dark chocolate pieces (chopped roughly)
2tbsp Mint tea leaves & few to sprinkle on the top
1/2cup Pistachio nuts
1tbsp Butter

In a heavy sauce pan, melt the dark chocolate pieces,butter,condensed milk,mint tea and stir continously.

Once this mixture gets thicken,remove the pan.

Add the pistachios nuts and spread the mixture over a baking sheet lined over a rectangular pan.

Sprinkle some tea leaves on the top of the fudge and keep aside until the mixture get cooled.

Arrange them in fridge for atleast 2 hours or until firm.

Cut into squares and enjoy it.

Eggless,Butterless Peppermint Tea & Pistachios Muffins

During my last weekend in London, i have completely fallen in love with peppermint tea, you may think how about peppermint tea in Paris. Yea we do have varieties of tea but they are simply flavoured with mint,but peppermint tea i never noticed it here. Obviously i picked two medium sized boxes from there, back home am having this tea  for my evening usual coffe time and i completely skipped drinking coffee now.

When Kalyani announced Tea and Pistachios for this month's Magic Mingle Challenge i know i'll be baking something with my recent favourite peppermint tea. Finally a baked some fantastic muffins few days back, both peppermint tea and pistachios combo works out wonder in bakes and these eggless,butterless muffins vanished very much quickly once they came out of the oven. These muffins turns out super spongy,light and simply nutty with a wonderful mint flavour.Thanks Kalyani for choosing this combo,else i wont ever tried this combo in bakes. Keep on pulling us like this.I opened a tea bag and used the peppermint tea directly, its works wonder in bakes, no need to prepare them as an infusion nor grind them as fine powder.

1cup All purpose flour
1/2cup Sugar
1cup Yogurt
1/2cup Cooking oil
1tsp Baking powder
1/4tsp Baking soda
1/2tsp Vanilla essence
1tbsp Peppermint tea
1/4cup Pistachios (chopped)
Pinch salt

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

Whisk together the sugar,yogurt,oil until the sugar gets dissolved.

Add now the baking powder,baking sode to the wet ingredients,give a stir and keep aside for few minutes or until you see some bubbles.

Now add the flour,peppermint tea, vanilla essence and mix it gently with a spatula,dont overmix.

Gently fold the chopped pistachios to the batter.

Pour enough batter to the already prepared muffin pans and bake for 20-25minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Turai Urad Dal

You might have cooked turai aka the famous ridge gourd atleast once in your kitchen, but have you tried cooking this wonderful Indian vegetable with split urad dal?, if not you wont hesitate a second to give a try after seeing this post. Turai urad dal is my last and favourite creation for our this month's Magic Mingle an event by Kalyani, our this month's magic ingredients is both urad dal and lemon. Omg, wat an incredible choice na, when i saw these two magic ingredients,my mind was blank and i dunno wat to cook with it.

But finally while going through my fridge, i finally decided to cook both ridge gourd and split urad dal together as this beautiful dish. This dal goes simply awesome as an excellent side dish with rotis also very well with rice. I served this dal with fried chicken and everyone at home enjoyed this dal and we loved it.

1/4cup Split white urad dal
1/4cup Masoor dal
1no Ridgegourd (medium size & chopped)
1no Onion (chopped)
1no Tomato (chopped)
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
1tbsp Lemon juice
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1/2tsp Urad dal
2nos Dry red chillies
Few curry leaves
Oil
Salt

To roast & grind:
2tbsp Coriander seeds
2nos Dry red chillies
1/2tsp Asafoetida powder
1/4tsp Fenugreek seeds
3tbsp Coconut (grated)

Take the washed urad dal,masoor dal,chopped ridgegourd,chopped onions,chopped tomatoes with turmeric powder,salt and enough water in pressure cooker.

Close the cooker with lid and pressure cook for 3 whistles.

Meanwhile dry roast the ingredients under the list 'to roast & grind' as fine powder.

Once the steam gets released, smash the cooked veggies and dal with a spatula.

Now add the grounded roasted spice powder to the dal and cook everything in simmer.

Adjust the thickness of the dal with enough water.

Heat the oil in a pan, lets splutter the mustard seeds,urad dal, add the dry red chillies,curry leaves and fry them.

Add this tempered spices,lemon juice to the dal and give a stir.

Serve hot with rice.

Eggless Chocolate,Cucumber & Walnut Muffins

As i told earlier, i can feed everyone at home easily anything with chocolates, for this month's of Magic Mingle Challenge Kalyani chosed both cucumber and walnuts as magic ingredients. The first recipe came to mind is a simple salad i do quite often with cucumber and nuts. After a long hesitation and discussion with my daughter finally prepared this muffins with cocoa powder yesterday for our evening snacks.

Grated cucumber in this muffins gives a wonderful super moist texture and none will notice the addition of cucumber in this muffins. With loads of walnuts, we just enjoyed munching these cuties,obviously these muffins vanished very quickly and my kids enjoyed even for their breakfast with their hot chocolate.Sending to my own event CWS-Oats guest hosted by Amruta Pore and Siri's Celebrating First Anniversary.

1/4cup All purpose flour

1/2cup Oats flour

1+1/4cups Wheat flour

3/4cup Sugar

1/2cup Yogurt

1cup Oil

1tbsp Flaxseed meal

1/2cup Finely grated cucumber

1/4cup Finely chopped walnuts

1tsp Baking powder

1/2tsp Baking soda

1/2cup Cocao powder

Preheat the oven to 350F.Grease the muffin moulds and keep aside.

Sieve together the flours,baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder and keep aside.

Mix the flaxseed meal with 3tablespoons of luke warm water and keep aside.

Whisk the yogurt,oil and sugar together until the sugar gets dissolves,now add in the flax seed meal mixture, grated cucumber and mix for few minutes.No need to drain the water from the grated cucumber and add them directly.

Add gradually the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix gently with a spatula,dont overmix.

Fold in the chopped walnuts gently to the muffin batter and divde equally to the already greased muffins mould and bake for 15-20minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Enjoy this super moist muffins anytime of the day.

Eggless Apple & Carrot Breakfast Chocolate Muffins

As i told earlier, my kids dont like to have their breakfast and sometime i have to compel them to have atleast a cup of warm milk with cereal bars. I know very well that i can feed them very much easily if i bake muffins with chocolate especially for their breakfast. Obviously i'll try to add maximum fruits or veggies in their chocolate muffins so that they wont even notice the addition of fruits or veggies.For me, these breakfast muffins are quite an easy breezy way to feed them with the fruits or veggies.

For my second day of blogging marathon, with eggless cupcakes or muffins with chocolate as theme, i quickly prepared this wonderful muffins  and tried adding some finely grated apple and grated carrot to this muffins. Both apple and carrot turned out this muffins super moist and simply delicious. None at home noticed the addition of apple and carrot and they simply enjoyed having their muffins with a cup of warm milk for their breakfast. Check out the other bloggers running this 23rd edition of blogging marathon here.Sending these muffins to Kalyani's Magic Mingle with fruits and chocolate as this month's secret ingredient and to my event Healthy Diet-Fast & Quick Healthy Dish guest hosted by Kalpana and to 60days of Christmas hosted by Priya and Divya.

2cups Whole wheat pastry flour
1/2cup Brown sugar
1/4cup Apple sauce (unsweetened)
1/2cup Dark chocolate (chopped roughly)
1/4cup Grated carrot
1/4cup Grated apple
1cup Yogurt
1/2cup Oil
1tsp Baking powder
1/2tsp Baking soda
1tsp Cinnamon powder
1/4tsp Salt

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Meanwhile melt the chocolate with few spoons of water in microwave oven and mix it until you get a ganache.

In  a bowl, mix together the apple sauce,brown sugar, yogurt,oil and whisk until the sugar gets dissolved.

Add now the melted chocolate to the wet ingredients and beat well.

Meanwhile take together the flour,baking powder,baking soda ,cinnamon powder,salt and sieve it.

Add gradually the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients,mix with a spatula. dont over mix.

Finally fold gently the grated carrot and apples.

Pour enough batter to the greased muffin mould and bake for 15-20minutes until a skewer inserted comes ot clean.

Enjoy with a cup of warm milk.

Eggless Chocolate Persimmon Muffins

Once the cold weather starts, we can get this persimmon fruits everywhere here with cheap rates. Love this fruit and i never failed to bake with them if i get them abundant. Today am starting my first week of blogging marathon and this is my 2nd day of Bake-a thon,so obviously am posting an eggless muffins. For this week's blogging marathon, i choose eggless muffins or cupcakes with chocolate in it. If its chocolate based bakes, definitely am in. As everyone at home love chocolates in any form, i can feed them easily with anything.

Coming to this persimmon muffins, i prepared this muffins last week for our breakfast and went for homemade persimmon puree with whole wheat flour and usual baking ingredients. If you are in hurry and dont have enough time to make your breakfast, prepare this muffins a day before and just enjoy to kick start your day. With a bowl of warm milk or a cup of coffee, this muffins will definitely goes for a satisfying breakfast or a snack.Do check Champa, Srivalli, Sumana Deepak,Veena and Preeti Deo wat they baked for the second day of bake-a-thon. Also check out the other bloggers running this 23rd edition of blogging marathon here.Am sending this incredible persimmon muffins to this month's Magic Mingle with fruits and chocolate as this month's secret ingredients.Thanks Kalyani for choosing this combo,i just love it.Sending to 60days of Christmas hosted by Priya and Divya.

1cup Whole wheat flour
1/2cup All purpose flour
1cup Persimmon puree
1/2cup Sugar
1tsp Baking powder
1tsp Baking soda
1/4cup Butter
1/4cup Canola oil
1/2cup Dark chocolate (chopped roughly)
1tbsp Lemon juice
1/2tsp Nutmeg powder
1/4tsp Cinnamon powder

Beat together the butter and sugar for few minutes, add now the persimmon puree,canola oil,lemon juice,nutmeg powder,cinnamon powder and keep aside.

Meanwhile melt the chocolate with few spoons of water in microwave oven and mix it until you get a ganache.Add this melted chocolate to the wet ingredients and beat for few seconds.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Mix together the whole wheat flour,all purpose flour,baking powder and baking soda in a bowl.

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until the flour get mixed,but dont overmix.

Pour the batter in a greased muffin moulds and arrange over a baking tray..

Bake for 20-25minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Cool it completely and enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea.

Pan Roasted Spicy Baby Potatoes

Anything roasted in pan is one of my lil one's favourite, if its roasted baby potatoes he is the happiest person in the world. Two days back, since i had some leftover cooked baby potatoes after making poori masala,i quicked prepared this super delicious,spicy pan roasted yummy baby potatoes for his snacks as he love potatoes in any form anytime of the day.

This quick pan roasted baby potatoes doesnt go for neither onions nor garlic, just chilly powder,salt,cumin powder and roasted gram flour is enough to make this yummy dish. If you have cooked potatoes, this dish takes hardly less than 15minutes and obviously this pan roasted cuties will vanish very quickly too.This dish is going to this month's Magic Mingle#11 as the magic ingredients for this month's is potatoes and cumin seeds.Even you can serve this delicious potatoes as starter, a fantastic crowd pleaser.Sending to my own event Healthy Diet- Healthy Finger Food guest hosted by Preeti of Isingcakes.

20nos Baby potatoes (cooked)

1tsp Red chilly powder

1/2tsp Cumin powder

2tbsp Roasted gram flour/pottukadalai maavu

Few curry leaves

Salt

Oil

Heat oil,fry the curry leaves,meanwhile prick the cooked baby potatoes with a fork.

Add now the pricked potatoes to the hot oil, fry for few seconds, add immediately the red chilly powder,cumin powder and salt.

Cook everything for few minutes in simmer until the potatoes gets well coated with the spice powder.

Finally add the roasted gram flour, toss gently everything until the potatoes gets well coated with the flour.

Put off the stove and enjoy warm.

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.

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.

Lotus Root & Fenugreek Sambhar

I was planning to make a flavourful dal based curry called sambhar with lotus root, obviously i went to chinese store and picked them from frozen section. Yesterday we got a mail from Vaishali about our this month's Magi Mingle challenge with fenugreek and coconut as magic ingredients, first thing came to my mind is to make some sambhar with lotus root and fenugreek. I love fenugreek in sambhar and i do add everytime while making the tempering for sambhar, this time i used fenugreek seeds in both my tempering and in my spice powder i prepared specially for this sambhar.

Yep instead of using sambhar powder, i prepared a spice powder with coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, dessicated coconut,dry red chillies along with asafoetida powder. This sambhar tastes simply awesome when served along with hot steaming rice topped with ghee and fried papads. We had a fabulous and slightly bitter lunch yesterday, since bitter is better to health its really wonderful to have this kind of dishes once in a while in your diet.

1cup Cooked toordal

1no Onion (chopped)

1no Tomato(chopped)

1cup Lotus root

1/4tsp Turmeric powder

1tsp Mustard seeds+urad dal

1tbsp Fenugreek seeds

1/4tsp Cumin seeds

2nos Dry red chillies

Few Curry leaves

Salt

1tsp Lemon juice

Oil

Roast & grind:

2tbsp Coriander seeds

1/2tsp Fenugreek seeds

3nos Dry red chillies

1/4tsp Asafoetida powder

3tbsp Dessicated coconut

Dry roast the ingredients given in the list 'Roast & grind' one by one and grind as fine powder, keep aside.

Heat enough oil in a pressure cooker, let splutters the mustard seeds, urad dal, fry the fenugreek seeds,cumin seeds and dry red chillies,add now the chopped onions,chopped tomatoes,curry leaves,cook for few minutes until the veggies get cooked.

Now add the lotus roots cook for few minutes, add enough grounded spice powder,turmeric powder along with salt,cook everything in simmer for few minutes..

Finally add the cooked dal and enough water to the veggies, cook everything in medium flame with lid closed until the gravy gets thickens.

Add the lemon juice and put off the stove.

Serve hot with rice and 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.

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.

Cornmeal Shakkarpara/ Cornmeal Jaggery Biscuits

Its been a while i have prepared my snacks as deep fried, when i saw these biscuits at Jag's space i couldnt stop myself making these beauties with a combination of cornmeal and whole wheat flour.These biscuits are highly addictive,delicious and super crispy. These shakkarparas are very quick to make and definitely one of the easy breezy Indian snacks we have.Eventhough these biscuits are deep fried, they are somewat healthy coz of the addition of wholewheat flour,cornmeal and the roasted grounded sesame seeds in it.

I prepared a medium box of these addictive jaggery biscuits, needless to say that they vanished within few minutes. If you make them at home, am damn sure that you wont stop munching them urselves,yep they are dangerously addictive.These biscuits goes to Kalyani's Magic Mingle#8.

1cup Whole wheat flour
1/2cup Yellow cornmeal (fine quality)
1/3cup Roasted sesame seeds (grounded as coarse powder)
1cup Grated jaggery
1tsp Cardamom powder
1/4tsp Baking soda
Oil
All purpose flour (for dusting)

Make a thick syrup with grated jaggery and water by heating them together, strain this syrup and keep aside.

Now take the whole wheat flour,yellow cornmeal,grounded sesame seeds,cardamom powder, baking soda together in a bowl, add gradually the jaggery syrup and turn them as stiff and soft dough.

Dust the dough with enough flour and roll as medium thick circles. Cut this rolled dough as diamond shaped medium sized pieces with a knife.Repeat until the dough gets finished.

Meanwhile heat the oil for deep frying. Once the oil gets hot,put the flame in simmer, drop gently the diamond shaped biscuits and fry them until they gets brown.

Enjoy it with your favourite drink for your evening snacks.

Sesame & Flax Seeds Brittle

Sorry guys am bit busy with household stuffs and i couldnt able to bloghop quite often as before, once i get finished of them,sure i'll promise you all that i'll definitely visit your spaces. Thanks a lot to my buddies for their continous support and encouraging words. Coming to this brittles, i quickly prepared them for our weekend trip for munching while driving as we travelled for almost 700kms this weekend, these healthy brittles with loads of sesame seeds and flax seeds satisfy prefectly our sweet tooth.Needless to say how healthy both sesame and flax seeds,so we dont have any reason to keep us away from these healthy brittles. We enjoyed having them, these brittles stay prefectly more than a week in room temperature.These brittles goes directly to Kalyani's Magic Mingle#8..

3/4cup Sesame seeds
1cup Jaggery
1/2tsp Cardamom powder
2tbsp Flax seeds
1tsp Ghee

Grease a plate with ghee and keep aside.

Dry roast the sesame seeds, flax seeds together until a nice aroma comes out. Meanwhile heat the jaggery with half a cup of water.

Strain this jaggery syrup and bring it boil, cook in medium flame for few minutes,if you drop few drops of this jaggery syrup in a cold water, you should able to roll it as ball, at this stage add the roasted seeds and cardamom powder to the jaggery syrup.

Cook until this mixture for few more seconds until the mixture turns thick, pour immediately to the greased plate,mark the pieces when its still warm and let them cool completely.

Store it in air tightened box and enjoy.

Multigrain Sweet Dumplings

Healthy foods have their own place in our daily menu, i never failed to cook up our dishes with a new grain or flours. I usually go twice a month to the nearby organic shop to get some healthy flours like seigle,rye,quinoa etc, i'll add them quite often in our dishes to feed my family with it either by cooking them as savouries or sweets. This time i simply prepared this multigrain sweet dumplings with a combination of healthy flours like whole wheat, rye,barley,brown rice and oats along with jaggery syrup and sesame seeds. You can have this healthy dumplings with a cup of masala tea for your snacks also these dumplings gets ready very easily.

I prepared this multigrain flour myself, just by combining a variety of flours. In case if you dont want to make urself your multigrain flour at home, you can go very well for storebought multigrain flour. An excellent healthy cute paniyarams to enjoy without any hesitation, everyone at home just enjoyed it when they were still warm. Sending to Kalyani's Magic Mingle and to my own event CWS-Rye or Millet guest hosted by Simona.

2tbsp Whole wheat flour
2tbsp Rye flour
2tbsp Spelt flour
2tbsp Rolled oats
3tbsp Brown rice flour
1/2tsp Baking soda
1/2cup Jaggery syrup
1tbsp Sesame seeds
1/2tsp Cardamom powder
Oil for cooking

Take the flours,oats,baking soda, jaggery syrup,sesame seeds, cardamom powder in a bowl, mix everything well, add enough water to turn everything as a thick batter.

Heat the paniyaram pan,pour few drops of oil, once the oil gets hot, pour enough batter and cook on both sides in medium flame until they gets well cooked.

Enjoy warm with a cup of tea.

Oats,Almonds & Sesame Laddoos

Have you ever combined rolled oats,almonds and sesame for making quick laddoos with powdered jaggery, if not you guys have to give a try to this incredible addictive laddoos. When Kalyani announced sesame and jaggery for this month's Magic Mingle,the first thing came to mind is laddoos, immediately i prepared this irresistible droolworthy laddoos yesterday. These laddoos gets ready very much quickly and easily with less ingredients, this yummy laddoos suits prefect to serve when you have sudden guests at home too. As i used oats, sesame and almonds, this cute laddoos are definitely super healthy.Sending to my own event Healthy Diet-Cooking with Wholegrains guest hosted by Jaya.

1cup Rolled oats
1/2cup White Sesame seeds
10nos Almonds
3/4cup Powdered jaggery
3nos Cardamom
1/4cup Melted ghee

Dry roast the rolled oats until a nice aroma comes out,keep aside. Dry roast the sesame seeds until a nice aroma comes out.

Dry roast the almonds for few minutes.

Take the roasted almonds, oats, sesame seeds with powdered jaggery,cardamom in a mixie jar, grind everything well as fine powder or bit coarse powder. Transfer it in a plate.

Gradually add the melted ghee to the grounded powder and make as medium sized balls.

Conserve it in an air tightened box and enjoy.