Spinach-Feta Puffs for 'Adaptation: Blog Bites #3'

Spinach Feta Puffs as Appetizers

Puffpastry squares ready to be filled-spinach feta mix alongside.

Squares ready with filling to be popped into the oven

Had made up my mind about taking part in the event hosted by Nupur of One Hot Stove, Blog Bites # 3 - ADAPTATION.

Most of us due to many reasons surely adapt a recipe from blog and for me, Blogs, ever since I have discovered them, have been my cooking bible - nothing hardly goes wrong from a tried and tested recipe.

This recipe below is from Asha of Foodies Hope/Aroma from one of her thousands of recipes! We had dined out and I was amazed at the use of Feta-Spinach in rolls which appealed to my kids, making me try this lovely Spinach and Feta Pockets by Asha (incase you feel lost, its at the end of the post, in the link alongside).

I have chosen this many times tried recipe because it fits Nupur's theme perfectly. Asha has used crescent whereas I have used puffpastry squares. My family loves the filling and daughter even has the filling with chapatis. Just a perfect recipe for me.

SPINACH N FETA PUFFS (click here for Asha's Recipe)

Yields : 12 pcs

Ingredients :

10-12 cubes of frozen spinach(approx one cup)

100gm Feta cheese (I used Almarai Full cream Feta Cheese)

3/4 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp Italian herbs

Tiny pinch of red chili flakes

1/4 tsp pepper powder

salt to taste

12 frozen squares of puff pastry (I used Sunbullah brand)

Method :

In a microwave (mw) safe dish, on high power, mw the frozen cubes for 5 minutes. (Mw till all the water has evaporated and spinach looks dried, take care not to burn it. Mw it for 10 seconds everytime and check if it has not got done in 5 minutes.)

Cool it. Add the garlic powder, herbs, flakes, pepper and salt, mix well.

Combine the cheese with a spoon in the spinach mixture.

Pre-heat the oven to 180C (that was as per instructions to bake on the puff pastry wrapper)

Line a roasting tray or baking tray with parchment. In each square, place a tablespoon of the mix and pinch the sides. (Remember: If the spinach filling is watery, it will make the puffs soggy, hence ensure a dry mixture.) I pinched the opposite edges of the square with light touch of water as in above image. Place with an inch of spacing on the prepared tray and bake for 10-12minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot.

Tips :

1. While making these, I experimented with mw to bring the frozen puff squares at a room temperature. I placed two squares from freezer on a plate and mw'd on a high for 10 seconds, one square for 5 seconds. It works fine if you have forgotten to thaw the squares.

2. Divide the filling to 12 portions or just place a tbspn each. If you have some spinach feta filling as left over, have it with chapatis, Chapati roll with spinach-feta : good lunch box idea for kids.

Enjoy these Puffs as Appetizers or even as Snacks.

Off the post goes to Nupur for Blogbites # 3, hope my entry is valid for your lovely event.

Apricot Tea Bread

This recipe comes from ' 200 Cakes n Bakes' by Sara Lewis incidently my first ever 'purchased' book on baking.

The use of tea decoction and using up my apricots made me go for this recipe.

APRICOT TEA BREAD

Preparation time : 25 mins, plus soaking

Baking Time : 1 hour

Ingredients :

100 gms ready-to-eat dried apricots

100 gms sultanas*

100 gms raisins*

150 gms caster sugar

300 ml of strong tea

275 gms self raising flour*

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 egg, beaten

Method :

Put the dried fruits and sugar in a mixing bowl, add hot tea and mix together. Soak for 4 hours or overnight.

Mix the flour, soda, cinnamon together, add to the soaked fruit with beaten egg, combine well.

Spoon into a greased 1 kg loaf tin, its base and 2 long sides lined with wax paper. Spread the surface level, bake in the centre of a pre-heated oven @ 160 C for about 1 hour or until well risen, the top should crack and skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then loosen along the edges and lift out of tin using the lining paper, transfer to a wire rack. Cool completely. Cut into slices and spread with little butter to serve. Store, unbuttered, in an airtight tin for upto 1 week.

* I used tutti-frutti in lace of raisins and sultanas. The bread tasted good when warmed.

Sliced Apricot-Tea Bread

Happy Baking to all my dear friends!

Rice Paper Wraps- Veggie Rolls

Vegetable Roll - Rice Paper Wrap

I was keen to try the Rolls Recipe, here long ago. I was thrilled to have found Blue Dragon brand of Rice Paper Wraps! I bought them, searched for video help on usage of the paper wraps, here and proceeded with my recipe which my family liked. Many Indian variations can be tried out on these rolls!

This is a good recipe for kids, mess free, their fave sabji and rice or any variation can be wrapped in and they can relish on it! :) It took me only half an hour, to put this together! Time saver and filling!

Serving Size : 8 wraps

Ingredients :

Rice Paper Wraps : 8 pcs

One dish of warm water

Boiled Rice Noodles - 200 gms package

Steamed Veggies - Carrot, Peas, Capsicum,Beans - 1 1/2 cup

Red Onion - 1 small minced

Garlic minced - 3-4 cloves

Olive Oil - 2 tsp

Pepper to taste

Salt to taste

Sauce of your choice (We had with sweet chili sauce)

Method :

Boil 500 ml of water, with bit of salt, add the noodles and lower the flame. Once its done, drain and keep aside.

Pass the veggies through food processor, grate mode, transfer to a mw safe bowl, sprinkle some water (maybe around 2-3 Tbspn) and on high, for 5-6 mins till wilted.

In a kadhai, take olive oil, warm it and sweat the onion garlic, followed with the veggies and on a medium high flame, sauté it . Put off the flame, add salt and pepper to taste.

Assemble the rolls :

Do this step when you are ready to eat.

Take a shallow pan with around a cup of water and let it get warm. Put the flame off. Dip the paper wrap each at a time till wet and take it on a clean surface or dish. Pat it with fingers so it gets wet evenly. Take some noodles on the damp wrap, place around a tablespoon or more of the sautééd veggies atop the noodles,wrap as per the video help. Framing the wrapping part in words, naaah .

Serve with sauce of choice, eat immediately! Enjoy!

Omelette (As In a Fatayer ), Dabeli N Milkmaid Sweet

Egg Omelette (Moz Cheese) Served With Rainbow Toast Bread for Kids.

Moz Cheese gets cooked inside and crisp on the outside.

Eating out is pleasure when kids start loving the 'healthy' food served there. One such Mid-eastern dish / form of pie is an Egg Fatayer. (Varieties of Fatayer such as Spinach, Cheese etc are available to choose from! ) Egg is beaten along with salt and pepper as we usually do for our simple omelettes and one lovely addition is made in the beaten egg, which is then poured over a pizza like base and baked in traditional oven for around ten minutes.

I thought of trying out the same at home, various times, having used sliced cheese, then the triangles and even the cream cheese :( ALL resulted in burnt omelette on a pan!

Then it struck..it should have been mozzarella! Tried it out, VOILA! ..and here goes the easy-peasy kiddo type of omelette , made on gas top, minus the base. Its filling and healthy for kids! Has to be served hot!

Egg Omelette-Fatayer Style.

Ingredients :

1 large egg

Salt as per taste

Pepper powder

1 Tbspn Mozzarella Shreds

1 Tbspn Vegetable Oil

Method :

Beat the egg along with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a pan-medium flame. When the egg is well beaten, add the shreds directly from the freezer around 1 Tbspn, and fold in well with the egg mix, do not beat, pour in the hot pan. One side done, flip and cook the other side, serve hot along with bread as a sandwich or with rotis. (Once it cools , the cheese becomes chewy, hence serve hot.)

One more variation is not to mix the cheese shreds in the egg mix, pour the egg mix in pan. When one side is done, sprinkle the frozen shreds on surface, and flip it carefully. When the omelette is done, the bottom side up, will have beautifully crisp cheese on top and soft omelette below. I do not have a photo of it. Children will scrape and eat the crisp cheese first :D

(Shall try to post picture of EGG FATAYER in few days time. )

Any other variation, do try it out, it is very filling any style you make !

More omelette details are here.

Treasure the sight of child eating with love! :D

Dabeli

Very popular street food of Mumbai, loved by one and all. Its available in two ways, the filling is sandwiched and given in a round bread or the bread is lightly toasted in butter and the filling is sandwiched. The tantalizing part is the crunch from nuts or dryfruits and sev. I love the toast version.

Couldn't resist making it from MEERA @ ENJOY INDIAN FOOD, link from Tarala Dalal, just perfect measure and too good in taste. Follow the exact recipe and enjoy the praises! :D

Thanks Meera!

MOM'S DELIGHT- Condensed Milk, Biscuit,Cocoa Treat!

Mom's Delight is a dessert that comes from Edible Garden by Nags.

Thanks to you and your mom for sharing such a wonderful dessert, flavored best on the next day! (Made it in a 9" sqaure pan. Used 10 Digestives rest all being same! )

Would post on a weekly basis atleast from now on! :D Thanks for your support dear friends!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO YOU ALL IN ADVANCE!

Beetroot Puris, Paratha & Koshimbir! Yummy Mousse!

     Beetroot Puris

This recipe is  a simple adaptation from  'Palak Puris' recipe. I have boiled beets, blended them with spices and added the puree derived thereby only as a source to bind the dough for poori. 

Ingredients :

1 big beet, chopped and boiled (pressure cooked in 2 cups water for 2 whistles)

1 tsp red chili powder

table salt (around 1 tsp or as per taste)

1 tsp cooking / vegetable oil

1/4 tsp ajwain

1 1/2 C whole wheat flour 

Method :

In a grinder, blend the boiled and cooled beet pieces to make a paste, use a tablespoon of beet boiled water if needed. It should not be watery but just sauce consistency. 

Take atta in a wide bowl, add salt, chili powder, oil and mix well. Add the ground paste of beetroot and knead well. Make balls, roll out to 2 inch discs and deep fry in hot oil. (I got 18

 puris) Serve hot with accompaniment of your choice, I served alongside Aloo Matar- Red Aloo Matar, the water used for boiling beet was used up in this curry, making it a good red match with the RED pooris! :)

Kids liked it as 'Red Puris' there was no beet taste at all making it a hit with kids and adults. 

Beet-Paneer Parathas

Ingredients :

Filling :

1 big beet ( grated-raw)

150 gms crumbled paneer

1 tsp ginger garlic paste

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt (as per taste)

1/4 tsp ajwain

1/2 tsp jeera powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/2 -1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp oil

Dough :

For 10 balls

3 cup atta/whole wheat flour

1 1/4 cup water

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp oil

Method : 

Make the dough and cover and keep for 30 minutes. 

Filling :-

In a kadhai, heat oil, add the grated beetroot and saute for 2-3 minutes on high flame, reduce the flame, cover and cook without water for 5 more minutes. Uncover, add paneer, mix well ginger garlic paste, ajwain, jeera- coriander and chili powders mix well add sugar and salt, let it  combine well, check for dry consistency and put off the flame. Check the flavour.

Let the filling cool completely.

Make 10 portions from the dough and roll out each to 3 inch discs, spoon a tablespoon of filling as in the picture above, seal the edges and roll out with minimum dredging into parathas. Heat tava, brush some oil, fry this on both sides till done.

Serve with plain curds or any veggie of your choice!

The filling if excess can be stored in an airtight container and refridgerated. My hubby loved this a lot, a rare thing ...:D He wanted me to make parathas next day as well. So from the leftover filling, I made 3 parathas, had around half cup of filling left, which I turned to bhaaji/subzi by heating a tsp oil, adding half a tsp rai, few curry leaves and sauteeing this filling , packed it as subzi with chapatis. 

The next one is a dish from http://konkanworld.blogspot.com/. Her tasty koshimbeer from beetroot was liked instantly! Thanks for this lovely Beetroot Koshimbeer recipe ....simple and tasty! THANK YOU MAYA!!

Kuch Meetha??? :D  Deeba, whose droololicious dishes n desserts and lovely writeup which extracts equal amounts of drools too, has an array to choose from! This lovely Strawberry Choco dessert comes from her!  I use hung yogurt to make my fave Shrikhand, but going one level up with that Shrikhand, as yogurt cheese appealed a lot to me! Glad it did! 

Thanks Deeba! I would truly take ages to do things you dish out with such grace and ease! Day after day, post after post! Oh yum!

CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRY HUNG-YOGURT MINI MOUSSE!

Ending March on this sweet note as  new  academic year begins for my preschoolers! :D 

Dorayaki (Japanese Dessert), Lemon Atta Cake, Sandstorm.

DORAYAKI (Japanese Dessert-Pancake with Sweet Bean Filling)

Watching too much of Kiddo-stuff can hit you at a spot where you are most sensitive...FOOD part of it..when you watch a Hindi dubbed Japanese cartoon ...you end up picking-up more about their food ! Especially when a character loves eating a sweet speciality..DORA CAKES..what happens when the name is hammered daily...well for me, ended up googling and not finding much results but this....sounded very easy..the hard task was finding Anko Azuki Beans/ Yude Azuki Beans which looks nothing but sweetened maroon Rajma seeds-like..please enlighten me on the 'beans' part foodie ladies! But found it here and was just dancing for joy..it tastes too good..the second pic is of the ready to use Can of sweet Azuki Bean.

    Yude Azuki Bean Can (125 gms nett) 

So here goes the recipe.. (Kindly click the link for recipe.)

Yield : 10 pancakes which have to be sandwiched so you get 5 DORA YAKI's .

The taste is subtle and sponge cake like and the filling is protien rich and sweet too!

I just had to follow instructions, cool the pancakes and fill each with two teaspoons of the paste.

It tasted yummy and alternately, even CUSTARD FILLING seems to go well with these! 

DON'T HAVE TO WAIT TO FIND BEAN FILLING..ANYTHING LIKE NUTELLA, CUSTARD GOES WELL WITH IT..ITS TOO HEAVY ON TUMMY TOO. :D

 The next in line was the lovely Lemon Flavored Cake made with ATTA..It was a super duper hit.. From Sunita's World...link here : Lemon Coconut Cake

My notes : I forgot the coconut she has sprinkled. I fell short of 4 tbsp cashews, which needed to be topped on the cake, so substitued with pistachio pcs. In my oven baked the cake at bottom rack - 180C @ 20mins , as I used 12 x 5" baking tray. It got beautiful golden color contrasting with the beautiful green pistachios. It was moist n fluffy, tasted mildly of the lemon and surely not eggy at all!! The yum pics below. Thanks so much Sunita!! This will be a regular feature in cakes henceforth!

HAVE A PIECE! :D

Lastly the delayed posting of an Orangy Sandstorm that blinded visibility throughout Kuwait on 11th of Feb, 2009.  Something to match the color of Lemon Cake! :D (Asha- FOR YOU! :D)

   View of Storm from my Flat

Have a great Weekend! 

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Magical Leaves- Dishes: Patholi & Pathrado HBJ

"Being raised in a Konkani family and married into a Keralite one, has its own culinary advantages!" 

- Purnima :D 

Some times readers should take quotes from us too! :) Deeba, hope u don't mind silly me!

Coming to this post title...my home has been a bhandaar of Konkani delicacies..food getting all the limelight every single day! The dishes I am sharing today involve the use of leaves, first dish is a sweet dish made using Turmeric Leaves the other one using Paatra or Colocasia Leaves.

'Patholi' is a sweet dish and has been blogged so beautifully by my fellow Konkani bloggers, but the gist of it is, a layer of ground rice+coconut, followed with a layer of 'Chuna' ie. wet grated coconut+jaggery mixture in center, steamed for ten minutes, after which the leaf is discarded and the steamed delicacy is devoured with a dollop of home made 'Toop' or clarified butter! Oh I love this heavenly sweet...yes..over any cakes too! :)  Flavors registered at childhood seldom leave the brains! :) Vee, thanks a lot !

Recipe Source : VEE @ Past Present and Me...The Patholi Pictorial ... HERE

Before steaming

Ready to eat! Wt dollop of Ghee -INDULGE!

'Pathrado' is taken as a snack or side dish of Manglorean Konkani cuisine which is either steamed, shallow fried or curried once steamed! This is TAL-la-Lo, as in fried one. Its again a bunch of leaves..Colocasia or Paatra leaves on which a ground spicy mixture is applied, using 8-10 layers of leaves and the ground paste as a binding and taste enhancing agent, rolled up as in swiss roll, steamed for 20 mins and savoured! Do check Shilpa's pictorial. THANKYOU SHILPA.

Recipe Source : Aayis Recipes , Pathrado ... HERE 

Shallow Fried after steaming and cooling

This post is being dedicated to another close and dear friend of mine, who stuck through thick and thin, throughout college days..Juby..HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUBS! (HBJ--that is what appears in my title! :D) Knowing how you love such regional specialities, here goes a sweet n spicy one in your name!! :) 

How can I end a Birthday post, without a sweet -- Ah.. nostalgic  5th Feb, makes me oops..Us!

EGGLESS BANANA WALNUT MUFFINS from DIVYA here. Thankyou Divu!

May GOD be with you JUBY in every endeavour you undertake, making you SUCCESSFUL, HAPPY, HEALTHY N WEALTHY!! HUGS!

.

Pav Bhaaji - Bombay Style, Rasmalai

Pav Bhaaji is one special dish which was devoured as a teenager on parties. Birthday parties, especially, were incomplete without the 'Shiv Sagar' Pav Bhaaji served in Borivili West. :D
Commenting behind a seated group, in a bid to procure seats for our group, was another recreation! :)

My mom and mil are thee thee best in making this yummy dish, recreating the magic at home!

This is the very first time I attempted making 'Pav' at home as well.
I yet have to bake Anjali's/Annaparabramha MUMBAI pav recipe.
(the links that I followed are Jugalbandi- here, A Whirl of Aromas -here ) .
From Vini, got a link to breadworld dot com, the recipe is here. Thats what I followed, the glaze I followed Vini's butter glaze tip.

So here is the recipe for Pao / Pav.

PAV/PAO

Ingredients :

2 1/2 cups maida /all-purpose flour 
2 tbspn sugar 
1 tsp salt 
1 sachet Instant Yeast (SAF-brand-11gms)
1/2 cup milk 
1/4 cup water 
2 tbsp soft butter 

soft butter for glazing

Method :
In the bowl with mixer attachment combine 1 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Heat the butter, milk, water until warm -temp 120-130F. Attach the hooks for kneading, add the liquid little by little and beat for 2 mintues on a medium speed, keep scraping the sides. (Donot skip the 'beat-4-2-mins' step-I found dough more elastic due to this step. ) Add the remaining flour (1 1/2 C) and knead for 8-10 minutes into soft dough. Cover with a damp cloth, resting time - 10-15 mins.
This would rise after the specified time. Line a sheet with parchment paper, divide the dough into 10 round balls, arrange with little space on the lined sheet, cover again with the damp cloth and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes to rise. The dough balls should be double in size, if not leave for some more time, instant yeast works fast. I got mine ready in 40 minutes.
Pre-heat oven to 400F for 10-12 minutes or till it browns lightly on top. (My setting, 180C/10 mins- then removed and brushed each of these with soft butter.)
Remove from baking sheet and IMMEDIATELY transfer to wire rack for cooling. (Anjali's tip - If you leave it on the baking sheet, the bread will sweat.)




We have lovely Pav here, mine got more tanned! :D But a very good experience and tasted good!

Served it with PAV BHAAJI- my mil's recipe.

Ingredients :

Vegetable Oil
3 medium onions
3 large tomatoes
2 green chillies
1 inch ginger chopped finely
2 large cloves of garlic chopped finely
2 Cups frozen mixed veggies(or 1/2 C peas, 1 big carrot, 100 gms french beans -topped,trimmed and broken to one inch length)
100 gm cauliflower
1 medium capsicum
2 large potatoes
2 tsp soft butter
salt
haldi/turmeric powder
1 tbspn Everest Pav Bhaaji Masala
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder (optional)
3 tbspn coriander leaves-garnishing
1 tsp butter per person (less or more for garnish/skip)

Method :
Wash and cook the potatoes, carrot, beans, peas,capsicum and cauliflower upto 3 whistles with quarter quantity of water, salt and haldi.
In a kadhai, heat oil, fry the sliced onions till transculent, cool, grind to paste, keep aside.
Add little oil, add chopped tomatoes, stir in between, till mushy and leaves the sides of pan. Cool, grind. Keep aside.
Take a heavy bottom kadhai, heat a tbspn of oil (or less) add the ginger garlic , saute till light brown, add green chilies, add the onion paste, saute for a minute or two, the tomato paste and mix in well. Add the pav bhaaji masala, red chili powder and garam masala and mix well. Allow to simmer. In the meanwhile, take the boiled veggies, drain excess water, they will be in shape, perfectly cooked. Mash them with the back of a spatula and add to the simmering paste, mix well. Let the entire mixture now simmer for around 4 -5 mins on a low flame. Add little soft Amul butter, salted version for that yum taste, garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with Amul butter roasted Pav. (Apply butter to the sliced pav, roast for around two minutes till it is bit crisp- Indulge n Enjooyyyyyy)

Mitha Ho Jaaye --

I had made Rasmalai from Namratha's blog - recipe here-- just love it every time I make it!

RASMALAI

This sweet and as I mentioned above the 'Birthday Party' treat is a "Special Birthday Wish" Post for a very very dear Food Blogger and friend of mine, MEERA-Enjoy Indian Food!

HAPPPPPPYYYY BIRTTTTHHHHHHDAYYYYYY MEEEEEEEEEERAAAAAAAAA!

HUGS, LUV N GOOD WISHES TO YOU N YOUR LOVELY BLOGS (480+ posts already in EIF and EWF -all healthy and nutritious!) WHICH TURNED ONE!!



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Baby Corn Manchurian, Veg Rice Chinese, Potato Bhajiyas, Coconut Laddoos

Baby Corn Manchurian (click on it for recipe)

Having picked up a lovely tray of cute little baby corn, got this wonderful recipe -easy and super delicious!! To go with it, made this rice, full of veggies on hand...truly complimented the dish! Made it from an old hand written stir fry recipe, and altered it a bit.



Vegetable Rice - Indo-Chinese style

Ingredients :
4 Cups boiled and cooled rice (any long grained white rice would do)
10 white button mushrooms sliced
4 spring onions, whites -chopped (save greens for garnishing)
1 carrot (cut lengthwise, thin, 2" long - 1/2 cup)
1 capsicum (de-seeded , chopped lengthwise-I used red bell pepper)
4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1 tbspn olive oil (extra virgin)
pinch of pepper powder
2 tbspn tomato ketchup
1 tsp garlic chilli sauce (increase qty for more heat)
1 tbspn soy (mild sweet) sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce (optional)
Salt to taste


Method :
Heat olive oil in a wok/kadhai. Add the garlic, saute it for about a minute. Add the chopped whites (approx 1/4 cup) of spring onion, add carrot, capsicum saute each for a minute or two, brown the mushrooms, add little salt and pepper. (Till this stage its normal stir fried veggies, you can have it hot as it is ...or proceed further )
Add the cooled rice and mix well. Add the sauces and mix well with spatula. Garnish with the spring onion greens. Check salt..some sauces do have salt content in them.

Serve along with Baby Corn Manchurian! Its lipsmacking tasty!!



Snack time!!! The potato bhajias that I have often savoured as kid 'Batatya Bajjo' in Konkani is the way my mother prepares these. ( My only addition is the garam masala!)
We indulged in this after many months! :D

Ingredients :
2 potatoes, washed clean , wiped and sliced a bit thickly than wafers
1/2 Cup besan (gram flour)
salt
1 tsp red chili powder
pinch of haldi
big pinch garam masala powder
1 tsp ajwain
water
Oil to deep fry

Method :
Take besan in a wide-mouth bowl. Add chili powder, haldi, garam masala, ajwain, salt. Add water to it little by little make it lump free and of sauce consistency. DONOT add too much water. If the paste looks watery, add more beasan and make it sauce consistency.
Heat the oil on medium flame, leave a tiny drop of this batter into the oil, if it rises the oil is ready for pakoras/bhajias. Dip the slices one by one in batter, coat them evenly and slide them carefully in the hot oil. Do not over crowd the oil kadhai. Fry in batches. Serve hot with sauce.

Enjoyyyyy with a steaming hot beverage!

Ending without meetha...impossible. I used to love the milkmaid coconut laddoos ad as a kid, also used to finish off these in matter of minutes! Mom had to hide these or chide me for over-indulging! :) These below are made from freshly scraped coconut which I had to finish off.


Coconut Laddoos

Ingredients :
1 cup scraped coconut
5 tbspn sweetened condensed milk
Elaichi / cardamom powder -a big pinch
Saffron a tiny pinch
yellow color two drops
1/2 tsp ghee

Method :
Heat a heavy bottom kadhai, add the coconut and condensed milk and keep stirring on a medium flame for 10 minutes or till the mixture comes together. Add the saffron, elaichi powder and color and mix it enough to combine uniformly.
After it cools a bit, say in 5 minutes, apply ghee to fingers and palms, roll into balls.
Garnish with your choice of dry fruits. I didn't, but yet these were tasty and yes...nothing goes wrong with coconut and condensed milk ! :D

Heavenly Bites the taste lingering for a loooooooooong time ....

--Missed Crusts! ~Rajma, Kofta , Eggless Cookies and Jamuns

MOZ PUFFS

15 mins bake time@180C, rolled out the frozen n thawed pastry sheets , cut into squares filled with shred mozerella cheese, pepper and fresh coriander leaves and baked.

I 'Clicked' but I missed the date!!! Aaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! How C(rusty) my brains are!
Those are one of the puffs I tried with shred moz and pepper for filling for kids. They gobbled on it! Well with the amazing crisp taste and kid-friendly filling, its surprising if they wouldn't! :D
Sorry Bee -- on missing out !

RAJMA MASALA.

A yummy Rajma-masala made with simple recipe from Chef Sanjay Thumma - Vahrehvah.com.. which went on well with chapatis/rotis.


The next dish is also from the same Chef, MALAI KOFTA ...was very tasty indeed!

Step 1 : All boiled veggies to be rolled into balls - dipped in cornflour and deepfried.

Step 2 : Make gravy and add these to them.

Step 3 : HOOOGGGGGGGGG! :D
You truly can't stop, these are soooo tasteful!

** I used Moz shred cheese instead of paneer.




Thanks Mr. Sanjay Thumma, your techiques are surely bringing in better reviews from the better half n kids!









Few cookies which went wrong in shape but great to taste...if you can guess with a glance at them:


Eggless Walnut Cookies and Thumbprint (???) Jam Cookies with them!
I wish to rename mine as PAW print cookies! :D No one in the blog world must have goofed up on this lovely cookie, I let the butter go too soft and got this shape as a consequence!
Nevertheless, they tasted gooodddddddd!
The jam I used was from IKEA food, Blueberry extra jam. Recipe from our sweet Mansi - here.
Thanks Mansi@ Fun-n-Food!!

GULAB JAMUNS - WITH MILK POWDER

This one comes from Kamala @ Moms Recipes here, unique thing is I made GJ first time with milk powder instead of a mix! Thanks Kamala -these tasted too good, plus addition of rose water gives a lovely scent of 'GULAB' to jamuns!
The first time I made Gits GJ was way back in my 8th std, the insides being raw! :D This must be the only thing besides chapati making that I tried my hands at during my teenage.. I envy u Meera for trying out chicken! :D

HAPPY NAVARATRI TO ALL OF YOU --am missing my Mumbai Dandias!!!!!!!!

RV Cake - CC Frosting ~ Egg Puffs ~Vegetable Pulao

Constructed a Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting which was appealing to me since loooooong... the toppings are semi sweet chocolate chips frm Hershey's, few cherries and sprinkles on the sides.

Resource : From here.

Made some Egg Puffs for evening , which did a disappearing act the moment they were out of oven :D

Source : Vahrehvah dot com. Chef : Sanjay Thumma.



This simple recipe took only ten mins preparation time, baked at 180C / 13 mins.

Lastly our Dinner was from Sanjay Thumma's technique: Vegetable Pulao, was instantly over!!

Vegetable Pulao with Dahi Raita and Paapad.

The occassion -

Some days are simply special, especially if its the day you were born on! :D




Blogger Gal's B'day! Have a slice!!

A Zebra Striped Cake N Few Food Pics

Zebra Stripes Cake welcoming new month, September 2008, and a nice way to feed my blog what it loves the best...'FOOD' - has been pretty loooooooooong since I last posted an entry!

This cake comes from Farida, posted by her in Feb '08 and bookmarked and forgotten, until Deeba, Divya baked n blogged :) Its butter free, moist and tastes great, for people with liking towards bittersweet delicacies, its just right. For those who want it more sweet can add half-a cup of extra sugar.

Thanks Farida for sharing and updating minute details every time you bake it! Pretty useful for bake-lovers like us!

One Common Breakfast, Upma, turned into a Veggie Delight by combing Vermicellis with frozen veggies (corn+peas+carrot+beans)

The precious tiny hands, which demand macaroni with tomato sauce!

What to do with the excess boiled and cooled Elbow Macaronis??

Turn them to ' Mac-Pakoras' and Kissi Ko Pata Nahi Chalega!

Sanjay Thumma of Vahrehvah.com fame with his cookery videos on Youtube has simplified the dishes and I had prepared few of the common dishes with his techniques and must say that they tasted absolutely heavenly. The cooking time is reduced incredibly with the shortcuts that he advises.

I have no pictures, but made 'Paneer Butter Masala', ST's way, thrice in the same week on demand by family members! Its absolute must if you are a paneer lover!

Matar Paneer : Made from fresh - 'Melts in mouth' Paneer for lunch

Corn Pakodi : A fast snack, great treat!

And lastly to end the post, the very best of cakes that I keep baking over and over again-

Deeba's (Passionate About Baking)- Vanilla Muffins...this time topped with Whipped cream, decorated with M&M's..mmmmmm yummm

And also Shilpa (Aayis Recipes) Eggless Dates Cake topped with almonds.

(sorry, but displaying the only pic which shook...as much as the taste of this cake shook the family members! )

Both these cakes were absolutely loved by my folks back in my homeland, on my vacation.

Thanks Deeba and Shilpa for blogging about and sharing these absolute crazed over n always in demand recipe for cake!!

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