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Thursday, April 28, 2011

Eggless Whole wheat Oats and Dates Muffins

Ingredients:
Quick Oats/Rolled Oats: 1 cup
Whole wheat flour/Atta: 1 cup
Chopped Dates: 1 cup
Milk: 1 cup
Sugar: 1/2 cup
Butter: 1/2 cup (1 stick)
Salt: 1/4 tsp
Baking powder: 1 tsp
Baking soda: 1/2 tsp
Apple sauce with cinnamon flavour: 1/2 cup (4 oz)
Vanilla extract: 1/2 tsp
Walnuts:1/4 cup




Procedure:
Step1:
Boil milk and soak the dates in it for 30 minutes


Step2:
Mix all the dry ingredients together


Step3:
Add all the wet ingredients and mix only until it is blended. Do not overmix. Hardly 20 seconds of mixing would do.Otherwise the muffins may turn out hard


Step4:
Gently fold in the walnuts


Step5:
Pour into muffin pans and bake in a preheated oven at 375 F for 25 minutes


Yields 12 muffins


Sending this to Show me your muffins event by Divya
show+me+your+muffin.JPG (400×300)

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

7 Cup Burfi - Seven cup cake

This is one of the foolproof burfi that will never disappoint you.
It is quite easy to prepare and also the measurements are easy to remember.


Ingredients
Besan flour: 1 cup
Grated coconut: 1 cup
Milk: 1 cup
Ghee: 1 cup
Sugar: 3 cups


I cut the measurements by half and illustrated below. Yields around 10 burfis

Procedure:
Step1:
Roast the besan in 1 tsp of ghee in a heavy bottom pan until a nice aroma comes (takes 3 - 4 minutes)

Step2:
Add grated coconut and fry for 3 more minutes

Step3:
Now add sugar and milk and stir well without lumps


Step4:
Add ghee and keep on stirring until a hard mass is formed and comes off the sides of the pan

Step5:
Pour into greased plate and cut to desired shapes when it is still warm


Monday, April 25, 2011

Jangiri

I have bookmarked this recipe from Raks kitchen some time back and finally made it today.
I assumed Jangiri's can only be made by professionals until I saw Raks and Gayathri's blog.
Gayathri has also uploaded a video on piping jangiris.I know my piping is not perfect. Hope to get it better when I make it the next time



Ingredients
Urad dhal: 3/4 cup
Salt: a pinch
Kesar color: as desired
Sugar: 3/4 cup
Water:1/2 cup
Cardomom powder: 1/2 tsp
Lime juice: 1/2 tsp


The above quantity yields more than 20 jangiris
Procedure:
Step1:
Soak Urad dhal in enough water for 2 hrs and grind it as a smooth paste
The consistency should be like that of a butter


Step2:
Add salt and kesar color and mix well


Step3:
Prepare sugar syrup by boiling sugar and water.When one string consistency is reached, add lime juice.This is to avoid the syrup getting caramelized. Add the cardomom powder as well


Step4:
Heat oil in a kadai and pipe the jangiris in medium heat. Fry them and drain in paper towel. Do not over fry


Step5:
Dip the jangiris in sugar syrup for one or 2 minutes and arrange them.Let it stand for half an hour before serving


 

Notes:
1. I did not have grinder.Used Preethi mixer for grinding.It still came out good
2. Soaked the dhal for 1.5 hours and refrigerated for 1 hour so that the mixer does not get heated while grinding
3. Used Wilton Round tip for piping
4. The consistency of the batter should be similar to butter cream icing


Sending this to Bookmarked recipes by Mharo Rajasthan's Recipes

Thursday, April 21, 2011

RAVA KESARI

Kesari is a very common sweet in South India. It can be prepared in a jiffy.There is no girl seeing ceremony in Tamil Nadu without this sweet. Bajji and Sojji (Kesari) goes together in all those events.My mom prepares this often and I have a special liking for this easy breezy sweet


Rava Kesari


Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients

Rava/Sooji1/2 cup
Sugar1 cup
Water1.5 cups
Ghee1/4 cup
Cashew nuts6
Saffrona pinch
Warm Milk1 tsp
Cardomom powder1/8 tsp
Kesar food colora pinch

Procedure:
Step1 :
Take 1 tsp of ghee and roast the cashewnuts.Soak the saffron in 1 tsp of warm milk (optional)

Step 2
Heat 2 tsp of ghee in a pan and roast the rava until it turns pink in low - medium flame.A nices aroma comes out at this stage.Transfer it to a separate bowl and keep this aside

Step3:
Boil 1.5 cups of water.Now add roasted rava slowly with constantly stirring so that no lumps are formed. Switch off the flame and leave it for 5 minutes so that all the water is absorbed

Step4:
The rava would be now cooked in the hot water. Switch on the flame and add sugar and kesar color.The mixture will dilute at this stage. Stir it continuously to avoid lumps


Step5:
Add the remaining ghee little by little until the mixture thickens.Also add the cardamom powder & soaked saffron. Switch off the flame once the required consistency is reached

Note that the consistency will get thicker after some time.So switch off the flame just before the required consistency is reached

Step5:
Garnish with fried cashews
Rava Kesari


Notes:

  • Though this a very easy sweet to prepare some of the beginners might have some difficulty in getting the right texture without forming lumps.There are 2 stages where we need to be careful.When adding rava to boiling water and while adding sugar. At both these stages continuous stirring is required
  • The rava has to be roasted in ghee until a nice aroma comes out.If not the kesari will be sticky and hard.
  • Make sure that the water is boiled well before adding rava
  • Make sure rava is cooked well in water before adding sugar. All the water should have been absorbed.If not cook for a couple of minutes in a very low flame until all the water is drained.After adding sugar, the rava does not get cooked
  • I have followed rava:sugar ratio of 1:2.I have a very sweet tooth. This can also be reduced to 1: 1.5
  • Raisins can also be fried and added for garnishing
  • Instead of 1.5 cups of water, 1 cup of water and 1/2 cup of milk can also be added which gives a rich taste.
Checkout Microwave Rava Kesari that can be prepared with much ease.




Tuesday, April 19, 2011

MICROWAVE KALAKAND WITH RICOTTA CHEESE

Kalakand or Milk burfi is a milk based sweet traditionally prepared using milk.It takes long hours to prepare this.I cam across a very simplified version here.This is one of the easiest methods to prepare Kalakand with just two ingredients, ricotta cheese and condensed milk .The taste was really good and very similar to the milk halwa that we get is sweet shops.

Kalakand


Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Serves: 16 medium size pieces

Ingredients:
Ricotta cheese: 15 oz can
Sweetened condensed milk: 14 oz can
Cardomom powder: 1/2 tsp
Ghee: 1 tsp
Sliced pistachios and almonds


Procedure:
1) Take a microwave safe bowl and mix together condensed milk and ricotta cheese
2) Use a whisk and blend well without any lumps
3) Microwave this in open bowl for 5 minutes in High
4) Take out and mix well and microwave for 3 more minutes uncovered
5) Mix well and microwave for 2 minutes covered (This mixture will splatter at this stage)
6) Mix well and again microwave for 2 minutes half covered
7) Microwave for another 6 minutes half covered. Take out and mix for every 2 minutes
8) Allow 2 minutes standing time
9) Add the cardamom powder and mix well
10) Transfer to a square bowl/7" cake pan and press the mixture gently
11) Garnish with chopped pistachios and almonds
12) Refrigerate for around 2 hours and then slice into desired shapes

Notes:

  1. I used the microwave in high power
  2. Saffron can also be used for garnishing if required
  3. If the kalakand does not set after 2 hours microwave for couple of more minutes and allow to set.Check for every 30 seconds to make sure it is not burnt
  4. I lined the pan with parchment paper so that the burfis could be taken out easily


Step by Step pictures
Kalakand
Condensed milk and Ricotta cheese

Kalakand
Mix both of them well with a whisk

Kalakand
Microwave covered for 5 min

Kalakand
At different stages

Kalakand
Transfer to square pan and garnish with almonds/pistachios

Friday, April 15, 2011

Vatteppam/Vattayappam for ICC

This is my first entry for Indian Cooking Challenge.
For this month challenge Srivalli has chosen Vattayappam, an authentic rice cake from Kerala
The recipe looked really challenging for me as I have not used yeast much (except for croissants) and the procedure seemed bit lengthy.However after I started making this, I realized that it is not much different than our traditional idlis. And the way Shn has explained it was so detailed, that I got it right the first time itself.
Recipe Source:  Shn's Mishmash





Ingredients
Raw rice: 1 cup
Coconut:3/4 cup
Water: to soak
Active yeast:1/2 tsp
Water: 1/2 cup
Sugar: 1/2 cup
Cardomom: 4 or 5
Cashew nuts/raisins - as desired
Ghee: 1 tsp


Procedure:
Step1:
Soak raw rice for 6 - 8 hrs in water


Step2:
Grind the rice in a mixer/blender. When it is almost ground take 2 tablespoon of the batter and keep it aside


Step3:
Now add the grated coconut to the batter and blend together well. Let the batter cool over the counter


Step4:
Meanwhile mix yeast with 1/2 cup of warm water and 2 tsp of sugar.Let it sit undisturbed for 15 minutes. The mixture will start frothing


Step5:
Take 2 tablespoon of batter taken from step2 and mix with 1/2 cup of water


Step6:
In a sauce pan cook the batter in medium heat until it reaches the consistency of porridge


Step7:
Once the porridge is cooled, add this to the previously ground batter. Also add the yeast and blend everything well using the blender


Step8:
Pour the batter in a steel or glass container and let it ferment for 6-8 hrs (Make sure that the container you use is large enough as the batter will double)


Step9:
Once the batter has risen add 1/2 cup of sugar and mix well and let it to rise again for 1.5 to 2 hrs


Step10:
This time the batter would has risen well and when you taste it, it will be little sour.Now add crushed cardomoms and cashews fried in ghee.


Step11:
Pour the batter in cake tin/round plate and steam cook it for about 20 minutes.Can also use idli moulds for mini vatteppam


Step12:
When the batter is half cooked, add cashews and raisins on top (optional)

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Eggless Carrot Coconut Muffins

This is one of the soft and moist muffins that I baked so far.Carrot, apple and coconuts was a wonderful combination and tastes delicious. This is a variation of the carrot cake I tried before with the addition of apple and coconut and with the added benefit of wheat





Ingredients
Wheat flour (Atta): 1.5 cups
Carrot grated: 1/2 cup
Apple grated - 1 medium sized
Sugar: 3/4 cup
Coconut: 1/2 cup
Baking soda: 1 tsp
Baking powder: 1.5 tsp
Salt: 1/4 tsp
Cardomom powder: 1 tsp
Curd: 1.25 cup
Oil: 1/2 cup


Procedure:


Step1:
Mix all the dry ingredients (wheat flour,baking powder, baking soda,sugar and salt)


Step2:
Mix all the wet ingredients (Oil & Curd )


Step3:
To the dry ingredients add grated carrot and apple and mix


Step4:
Then add the wet ingredients and mix only until the ingredients are combined.Do not overmix.Otherwise the muffins will turn hard




Step5:
Finally fold in the walnuts and grated coconut


Step6:
Pour into muffin pans


Step7:
Sprinkle some grated coconut on top (optional)


Step8:
Bake in a preheated oven of 350F for 25 - 30 minutes





Sunday, April 10, 2011

Eggless Wheat Brownie

Almost all the kids love brownies and my kids are no exception.I just came up with this version using wheat flour so that it makes up a healthy dessert.

Ingredients
Wheat flour: 1.25 cups
Condensed Milk: 1 can (14 oz)
Chocolate Chips: 1/2 cup
Milk: 1/4 cup
Chopped Walnuts: 2 tablespoons
Baking soda: 1.5 tsp
Baking powder: 1 tsp
Vanilla extract: 1/2 tsp
Butter: 1/2 cup (1 stick)
Cocoa powder: 2 tablespoons

Procedure:
Step1:
Melt the chocolate chips in milk in  medium flame in a heavy pan

Step2:
Slightly melt the butter and mix it with chocolate and stir well

Step3:
Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and cocoa powder together

Step4:
Add the wet ingredients and vanilla extract and mix well

Step5:
Add walnuts and fold them gently

Step6:
Pour the batter in a greased 9" square pan and bake for around 35 to 40  min at 350 F

Step7:
Cool for 10 min in a wire rack