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!

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THE KHAIK - Chocolate Truffle

Chocolate Truffle Cake (CTC)

Few days ago, my little one completed 3! How time flies blah blah....but the amazing part is he is slow in speaking yet firm in his decisions! He was very sure of what his cake should be, ever since his sis turned 4 and got a Barbie Princess cake done by amateur me! He went on and on since November 08 ..  'Amma, Banee Khaik ..Kaatik' and stuck to it! (Amma,  Barney Cake for Kartik) :D :D

 

 

This was from La Baguette store-  sugar paste print of Beach Party -Barney theme.

I have loved to bake eversince I started blogging, no stories on my love for baking , piping, frosting, decorating cakes, though I have long way to go, yet many encouragements from fellow bloggers makes me attempt varieties and more! :D TKS for encouraging! 

Ummmmm... coming back to,  from where I digressed, any occassion to be celebrated is now B.A.K.I.N.G  for me, poor 'Payasams' are now shown the door or rather made on lesser occassions! Yep..so cutting the crap, coming to the story, I did pester Meera to give me ideas, which she did, such a sweetheart, but I had no confidence of executing the carved/sculpted cakes nor did I have the right colors...so my pestering set off to Namratha of Finger Licking Food, here..chk for yourself the final comments...:D :D and settled for something within my capacity, her yummy CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE CAKE from me for my son, who enjoyed it thoroughly!  

Here's a slice ..Vertical Section CTC

I was not able to get a good looking pic, had to click superfast b4 it was taken! :D Also had piped the cake with whipped cream and done the sides with chocolate gratings- fine one..not shavings.

A dense yet flavorful cake with Ganache lending a unique flavor, quite a hit amidst chocolate lovers, rightfully!  Thanks Namratha, thanks Meera!

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Mumbai Style Pav Making... I Am Getting There! Matkichi Usal N Malai Cookies

I have been craving for the pav that tastes exactly like the ones we get in Mumbai but in vain..so started baking from my fellow bloggers, as addictive as baking can be, I was no stranger to this bakodiction, got my measures to suit our tastes after several attempts! 

I stick to the measures below . 

Makes 15 pav ... Total time taken.. (15 mins for yeast + 15 mins kneading+ 2 hours rising time+ 25mins rising time + 12 mins baking)

Please adjust time 3 hrs ahead,  the time you  wish to have pav ready on table! 
Ingredients..
Active dry yeast : 1 1/2 tsp
250 ml warm water (mw on high for 40-50 secs)1 tbsp sugar (any would do..white granulated / brown demerara etc)
4 cups maida (all purpose flour) divided into 3 1/2 cups + 1/2 cup
2 tbspn extr.virgin olive oil
1-2 tsp salt (as per ur liking -this will turn out like mumbai pav in saltiness)

Method :

 Step 1. In a double sized bowl(capacity 500ml ) , combine sugar and yeast- pour the warm water over it, mix well with a spoon. Keep aside till it doubles up in volume, happens in around 10 mins -the more it foams, the better.

Step 2. In a big bowl, add 3 cups flour, add salt, extra virgin olive oil, combine well. Make a well in center, pour the yeast mixture, take some flour frm the sides n make a pasty mix with spoon. Then mix in the rest of the 3 cups flour along the sides into the paste and keep kneading, add the balance 1/2 cup, knead, then the rest 1/2C add little water if needed or even

 a tbspn of milk would do.

Step 3. Knead for ten mins till the dough is soft, smooth and pliable. Shape it round, apply some olive oil to the base n sides of the bowl, place this dough in center, apply little oil on surface of dough, cover with a kitchen towel or cling wrap..leave to rise in a warm area for 2 hours

Step 4. Once the dough has risen n is doubled up in size, hit it down, keep kneading till the bubbles n air has been punched out. Apply little oil on palms for this. Then divide into 14-15 round portions, golf ball sized.

 Step 5. Line a 12x5 tray, wth parchment paper, place the rounded dough touching each other, in a row, cover with towl n let it rest for approx 15-25 mins till it doubles up in volume. 

Step 6. Preheat the oven to 200C for 10 mins, (do this along with Step 5. to save on time)  reduce the temp to 180C and place this tray in for 10-12 mins, keep checking towards the end as oven temp varies. If you find the surface golden brown, its ready, or bake until it is.  

Step 7. Take it out, apply butter on top for glaze. Remove to wire rack and eat hot or cool it.
TIP : THE MORE THE DOUGH RISES IN STEP 5, THE BETTER IT BAKES GIVING A
SOFT N COTTON LIKE TEXTURE, PLUS IT MELTS IN MOUTH! SERVE WITH ANY OF YOUR FAVE CURRIES!

 These pavs got  a lovely height of almost 2" plus, as it rose for around 30 mins. Remember to keep it covered though.

This time it was with Matkichi Usal- Gravy Form, (needed for bread) from here.  

(Jayashree Mudaliar's@Sinful Indulgence)

I hv grown up with Usal as staple in breakfast for weekends, hence carrying forward the  tradition of weekend brunch with home made pav and usal!  Here is another variety of Usal with Whole Moong.

Try it with chapatis for dinner, gives a different taste altogether!  Thanks for sharing this simple and yet aromatic usal Jayashree.

Finally a sweet, this time around, MALAI COOKIES, the Oooh so yum n flavorsome from Divya's /Easy Cooking blog, inspired by Nita Mehta's book, which she made with home made collection of malai, and I lazily used the store tetra pack malai/Thick Cream.

Thanks Divu! Its best treat for kids!

Have a lovely weekend!! 

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~SPIRALLY RED~

CLICK RED.... 

 

STRAWBERRY FRAISE SPIRAL is my entry that goes to Jugalbandi. 

Had an option of the below one, found some flaws, found the above a bit better than second one, hence the one above  is being  sent across to CLICK.

An Apple A Day, Keeps the Doc Away, IF the Doc is Handsome, Put the Apple Away!

The pic above is of Chocoberry - Strawberry Shake, I blended a cup of frozen berries  with a tbspn of cream and sugar, topped with a layer of dark choc, whipped cream, dark chocolate shavings and piped the fraise on top. Initially I had wanted to send the entire glass full to CLICK, but didn't find it RED enough, so the topping was clicked. :) For all those comments who nudged me into giving the full pic n recipe...for you! (serves 2).

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A Quickie Breakfast, 3 min Garlic Bread MW Grill, MW Pedha

While thinking of a quick to assemble breakfast, this is the one that races mind. This recipe is from a friend of mine, Kavita. She had told us to try it few years ago, eversince its become a part of our breakfast when we need to come up with something very fast and less time consuming, yet filling. THANKYOU KAVI.

Ingredients :

Knorr Mayo-Chilli (Mayonnaise) (Its contains EGG )

Fresh Lettuce

Bread Slices of your choice (Multigrain, Brown, Normal Toast, Milk Bread etc)

Method :

Trim off the brown edges, spread mayo on each slice, sandwich the cut lettuce leaves in between.

Enjoyyyyyyyy!

(You can add regular veg/non-veg sandwich ingredients too --eg sliced tomatoes, onions, cucumber, boiled eggs/potatoes sliced etc.... all variations can be incorporated as per your taste!)

The second quickie appetiser/breakfast is THE famous GARLIC BREAD. No its not baked bread with garlic, its a French loaf bought from the store, cut diagnolly, then processed. Here goes the recipe from a friend again, Lalitha, who inspired the enthusiasm in cooking beyond what was already known! Thanks Lali.

The GRILL function of MW is used in the making of this dish.

Ingredients :

1 medium french loaf/ baguette

100 gms/1 stick salted butter (Amul) at room temperature

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 cloves crushed garlic(big)

1 tbspn parsely / coriander (finely chopped)

Mozerrella Cheese grated

Method :

Slice the loaf diagnolly, two inches each slice. In a bowl, take the softened (not melted) butter, mix pepper powder, crushed garlic and coriander leaves uniformly. Spread this mixture on both sides of the slice. Arrange it on the grill stand and sprinkle the grated moz. cheese as per your need. (If using salted butter, no need to add salt, if not..please check on salt)

Place the grill stand in MW carefully. Set the grill function and timer to 1 minute. Again set the time to 1 min. Lastly 20-30 secs, keep a close eye on the slices, the moz shd just melt and turn golden on top. DoNOT remove immediately, give some standing time, as the grill is hot and working. Take the grill out carefully after a minute, serve hot with sauce.

Once the time is set, for second round, remember to REDUCE the time, in my case, 2 minutes as the grill is very hot. The subsequent rounds are done faster.

We like to have this home made one as BREAKFAST over appetiser. :D

ENJOY with a dollop of sauce and do not forget to have hot tea/coffee alongside!

Thirdly, this yummy MW pedha, which my friend Kavita had first told me about around 2 1/2 years back. Since we made it several times, we got fed up..now its about after 2 years I have made these getting inspired by Usha@VegInspirations - HERE. We had prepared it in the same manner with those two basic ingredients. One has to remember only one point here, DONOT eat it fresh, it tends to be chewy/sticky, keep it refrigerated for upto 2 days(if the room temperature is below 25C, ie. its winter, then keep them in foil/clingwrap/ziplock outside) and then it would taste like shop wala pedha! :D I have used cookie mould to shape them in this picture. Got around 16 pieces.

Ingredients :

200 gms sweetened condensed milk

3/4th Cup fortified milk powder

1 pinch saffron

2 tsp cardamom powder

Method :

In a MW safe bowl (8" diameter, deep by 3 " - the mixture bubbles up and rises double its height), combine the condensed milk n milk powder along with saffron and elaichi powder. On HIGH power, set timer to 1 MIN, give a minute of standing time, mix, keep it back, again set for 1 min...check closely for bubbling . Set timer again to 20 seconds -30 secs, depending on your mw. It should not brown / burn.

Give standing time of 10 mins before taking it out. Cool or semi-cooled, you can easily shape it, further refrigerate/keep wrapped in foil or wrap or ziplock bag for two days, once completely cooled.

USHAS TIP : USE DOODH MASALA...terrific idea.

MEERA's MW Pedha a lovely different version, yet to try HERE.

ENJOY the yummy flavour after 2 days. It won't be sticky or chewy.

HAPPY BDAY MAHA(Eggless MW Chocolate Cake)

Mahalakshmi and I have been close friends ever since our college days, today is her Birthday hence a virtual cake which compliments your nature--

For you Maha...Cheers to you , Wish you the very Best in Life. HOPE U LIKE IT! 

Am posting this SUPERMOIST MW Cake for you to bake at home...and enjoy your day!

This is a cake from Divya/Easycooking which I loved completely, though the Mocha (coffee) icing is not liked by all, it can be skipped/substituted with cocoa powder. A yummy cake which my kids enjoyed thoroughly despite coffee :D. Thanks Divya for posting this! Would surely bake the cake again! 8 mins is all it takes! 

(The only change I did was to use 160 ml evaporated milk + 40 gms fine white sugar in place of condensed milk and skipped coke altogether. The mw deep dish needs good amount of greasing, which I did with butter flavored veg ghee instead of actual butter..THE CAKE STAYS SUPER MOIST EVEN THE FOLLOWING DAY! )

I used sprinkles in place of nuts as kids find it more attractive. THEY DID! 

HAVE A GREAT YEAR AHEAD MAHA! 

Ambyacha Sheera (Mango Sheera)

Sheera ...yum...something which being raised in Mumbai or Maharashtra can not overlook. 'Prasad' in many temples here seems incomplete without this delectable semolina dish, and versatile that it is can be made plain or with dry fruits or  uses up many fruits in combination like A Ripe Banana (For Prasad), Pineapple, Apple or Mango King-Alphonso too..the latter 3 being used for pure pleasure of having dessert! 

When I read at Anupama's Food-N-More blog, here, I was just smitten by the beauty of it depicted by her lens, her mould making it more scrumptious than ever, the directions so clear and was soon into the kitchen to fulfil that craving. This is the umpteenth time thereafter that I have made this using up mango pulp. (Previously had used the fresh pulp of Alphonso!)

Coming to this recipe, I have not used cup, but katori/vaati  as measure.

Ingredients :

1 vaati fine rava/semolina

2 vaati alphonso mango pulp (In this I used the thawed pulp of alphonso)

2 vaati milk (whole milk heated upto boiling temperature)

1 1/2 vaati fine sugar

1/4 vaati tup/ghee

2 tsp elaichi pud/ cardamom pwdr

1 big pinch / half tsp saffron (which I mixed in the hot milk)

Few sliced almonds for garnishing (optional) 

Method :

In a wide bottom kadhai,  melt ghee, add rava to it, roast on low flame constantly stirring till the rava changes color evenly and a beautiful aroma emanates. Alongside, heat the milk on low, once it boils put off the flame.  Once the rava is roasted, milk boiled, start pouring milk in the rava mixture while still stirring in circular motion so that the entire milk blends well with rava, see that no lumps are formed, also remember to take a tall spatula for safety of hands. Cover with lid and let it cook in its steam for around 5 minutes. Uncover and add sugar. Mix well. The sugar will dissolve, cover and let it cook for another few seconds. Put off the flame, add the mango pulp, cardamom powder in quick succession and combine well. Allow to cool. 

In my side of family,  a ghee-greased thaali is taken , the semi-cooled SHEERA is patted on the plate, with aid of flat spatula which again is greased with a bit of ghee so that sheera doesn't stick to it and scored with knife into diamond shape. It is served in this shape when its completely cooled. :D 

KINDLY COLLECT YOUR SHARE! 

(THIS is a special post for MEERA/ ENJOY INDIAN FOOD on COMPLETION OF 500+ YUMMY MEANINGFUL POSTS!! CHEERS MEERA! )

 

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HAPPY 2009!

WELCOME 2009

(Eggless Chocolate Cake,  Ganache filling, Whipped cream with Alphonso Puree Icing)

(Brownies with Vanilla Scoop) frm here

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL

Some Cakes n Sweets to welcome the New Year!

Microwaved Besan Laddoos - Frm 

Tee/ Bhaatukli

HAVE A WONDERFUL YEAR AHEAD, MAY ALL YOUR LOVELY WISHES COME TRUE!

(PS : Does anyone have problem with blogger during loading pics or placing them near right text or deleting them?I seem to be having difficulty since past few months. Any solutions, kindly do comment, would be of great help!)