Banana Oat Cookies

Another twist to banana bread, these cookies are soft and banana bread like. They are healthy and you can grab them as a quick breakfast or can carry them along with you for a healthy snack.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup oat bran
• 1/2 cup milled flax seeds
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/4 tsp clove powder
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 3 ripe bananas mashed
• 1/4 cup canola/ vegetable oil

Directions:

• Preheat oven at 400 degree F.
• Mix together all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
• Add mashed bananas and oil and mix well.
• Take spoonfuls of the mixture and drop on a cookie sheet
• Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degree F.
• Cool and enjoy these healthy cookies.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

I had 2 very ripe almost black bananas on my counter. Neither was it tempting to eat those nor I had the heart to trash them. That is when I thought of baking them into banana bread. I looked for lot of recipes and finally made the needed adjustments and came up with the recipe below. It is a perfect solution if you are faced with a dilemma with over ripe bananas.

Banana Bread is almost cake like and you can enjoy it for breakfast or snack any time of the day. I used whole wheat to make it healthier. I have added a little bit of all purpose flour to get a better texture but you can use whole wheat flour completely to make it more healthy. I like it very mildly sweet with lot of banana flavor in it. The recipe goes below.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 2- 3 ripe bananas mashed(riper the better)
• 1/3 cup sugar (1/4 cup if you are using 3 bananas)
• 1 stick- 1/2 cup butter softened
• 2 eggs beaten lightly
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Directions:

• Combine flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon in a bowl sing a fork or whisk.
• In another bowl cream softened butter, add eggs, mashed bananas and sugar and mix well.
• Mix dry and wet ingredients together. Mix it really well so that there are no lumps.
• Fold in chopped walnuts.
• Pour in a greased baking pan. You can use an 8" cake pan, loaf pan or a bundt pan.
• Put it in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F. Bake for around 30 minutes till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• Cool for 15 minutes in the pan and then turn it over on wire rack. Let it cool completely and enjoy.

French Toast

French Toast is a quick way of having a delicious and filling breakfast. When I used to go to school my mom used to make something similar to it for my mid morning munch break. It was more on the savory side with bread being coated with a spicy egg mixture. I used to enjoy that too. 

French toast is mildly sweet and becomes sweeter when enjoyed with maple syrup or honey. Mostly breakfast for us is a savory affair. But occasionally we enjoy French toast, whole wheat pancakes/ waffles and bajil (a spicy sweet mangalorean snack) on the sweeter side. Let me share with you the recipe for French Toast, our occasional piece of morning sweetness.

Ingredients:

• 8 -1/4" to 1/2"slices of 2-3 day old bread (whole wheat, challah bread)
• 4 eggs
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• maple syrup to serve

Directions:

• In a bowl, beat eggs and milk till well blended. Do not over beat.
• Add salt and sugar and mix well.
• Dip each bread slice in the bowl for around 20 secs on each side and put it on a hot skillet on stove top.
• You can use butter to fry it on each side but if you use a non stick pan you can omit the butter.
• Fry well till both sides brown up and eggs are set well.
• You can serve French toast with butter, maple syrup or honey according to your preference.
• Enjoy it warm.

Cornflakes Chivda

Cornflakes chivda is a great way for enjoying the corn cereal especially for us Indians, I know many of us can't have cereal because it's bland! It is just like a regular chivda but only makes use of corn flakes giving it a healthier twist, omitting the regular fried corn chips. Chivda is basically a mixture of grain flakes fried or toasted with dry fruits and nuts and spices.

I have not added any salt and sugar to make it healthier. I feel the salt and sugar present already in cornflakes are enough  for the desired taste. Raisins also give a natural sweetness to it. You can make this and stock it in your house for guilt free snacking and can also be served as a quick snack to guests at tea time.

Ingredients:

• 5-6 cups corn flakes
• 2 tbsp canola/ olive oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 4-5 green chillies chopped
• 7-8 curry leaves
• 2 tbsp dalia dal
• 2 tbsp peanuts
• 2 tbsp cashew nuts broken
• 2 tbsp walnuts chopped
• 2 tbsp raisins
• 1 tsp turmeric powder

Directions:

• In a vessel take 2 tbsp oil, add mustard seeds and heat it.
• When mustard seeds crackle, add green chillies and curry leaves. Mix with oil.
• Add dalia dal, peanuts, cashew nuts and walnuts. Mix well and let them get fried on low flame till they get light brown in color.
• Add turmeric powder, mix well and soon add corn flakes and start mixing very lightly.
• Remove from heat and let the mixture cool.
• When it has cooled completely add raisins.
• Store it in an airtight container.
• Enjoy whenever you feel like.

The round ones are corn kix cereal, you can get creative and add your own ingredients

Vegetable Kofta Curry- Baked

Yesterday I wanted to make a special valentine's day dinner for my husband, something which I had never tried before. I also did not want to go for an out and out greasy and unhealthy dish considering that we have recently came back from a vacation loading ourselves. I browsed for recipes and came across one on a site called khanakhazana for vegetable kofta curry. The koftas were fried in that recipe I just baked them instead. I omitted the sugar from the original recipe and YUM it came out very delicious. Right amount of spice, sourness and creaminess.

I had one fiasco though, I prepared the gravy, baked the koftas (that went perfect too) and put the koftas in the gravy and when my husband came in an hour later I just went to heat my curry. To my disappointment the koftas became soft, too soft, in the gravy. Even the lightest touch of spoon disintegrated them and I ended with one thick curry with all the koftas disappearing one by one from the gravy. I saved few koftas to take a decent picture but it is not decent enough.

Veg Kofta curry shouldn't be looking like this....but it was yummy anyways

Got it pretty the second time

Lesson Learnt: Put the koftas in the gravy right before serving, especially if you bake it.

But the recipe is a keeper and I will definitely make it again, probably then I will have a good picture to share.

Ingredients:
For koftas:

• 5-6 potatoes cooked and mashed
• 3 carrots grated fine
• 1 cup green peas cooked
• few sprigs cilantro chopped
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 1/2 tsp amchur powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• salt as per taste

For gravy:

• 2 onions finely chopped
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 3 tomatoes blended into puree
• 1 cup cashew nut powdered
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1/4 cup cream 
• 1 cup yogurt
• few sprigs cilantro chopped
• salt as per taste
• 1-1/2 tbsp oil/ butter

Directions:

For koftas:

• In a vessel, take mashed potatoes, carrots and green peas and mix well.
• Add red chili powder, amchur powder, garam masala, salt, cilantro and mix well.
• Mix together and make small golf ball sized balls.
• Place the balls on a pan covered with aluminium foil sprayed with cooking oil.
• Bake in preheated oven at 375 degree F for 20 minutes. 
• Spray top of the balls with cooking oil and bake for another 10 minutes at 500 degrees F.
• Remove from  oven  and the balls should have golden brown color.
• The koftas are ready, keep aside to cool.

For gravy:

• Take oil in a pot and saute onions till they become soft and translucent
• Add ginger garlic paste and saute well.
• Add tomato puree and let it cook for a minute. Add yogurt and mix well.
• Add cashew nut powder, red chili powder, turmeric powder and garam masala. Mix them well.
• Add cream and mix well. Let the gravy simmer.
• If you think the gravy is too thick you can add water as needed. 
• Add salt and mix well. Let it simmer for more 5 minutes. At this stage adjust the spices in the gravy as per your taste. Add cilantro finally.
• Your gravy is ready

Finally, it is very important that you add the koftas in the gravy (you can warm it ) right before serving or you will just end up with one messed up gravy with no koftas.

Enjoy this yummy, simple yet rich dish that you can serve while entertaining.

Handvo- Savory Rice Lentil Cake

I tasted handvo (made by my mother in law) for the first time, after my marriage to my Gujarati husband. Coming from a South Indian household I just knew about dhokla and thepla as gujarati dishes. But now after tasting dishes like handvo, muthia, undhiyu I have fallen in love with them.

I like the fact that handvo is flavorful and a healthy snack. In fact you can have it as a light lunch or breakfast item too due to its goodness of grains, lentil and veggies. I like handvo more than dhoklas because of its spiciness and it's crisp outer crust. Traditionally it is made in deep vessel, hence the name handvo. However I like to bake it in oven.

I followed Tarla Dalal's recipe but tweaked it a bit. Here goes my recipe for handvo-

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rice
• 1 cup urad dal
• 1 cup toor dal
• 1/2 cup sour curd
• 1-1/2 cups shredded doodhi/ pumpkin/squash
• 4 tbsp oil
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 3 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 1-1/2 tbsp sugar
• salt to taste

For tempering:

• mustard seeds
• sesame seeds
• asafoetida
• 4 tbsp oil

Directions:

• Wash and soak rice and lentil with enough water for around 4-5 hours.
• Drain the water and grind into fine paste. Just ensure that you add very little water while grinding and do not add water directly from tap if you are in US. It has been my experience, due to the high chlorine content in tap water fermentation is affected. Use filtered water.
• Add sour curd and allow the mixture to ferment overnight. It won't rise too much like idli batter but you can get the sour smell and see the bubbles.
• Add shredded vegetable, oil, lemon juice, baking soda, chili powder, turmeric powder, ginger garlic paste, sugar and salt. Mix well. Be generous with the masalas and you can tweak proportions as per taste, depending upon your taste buds.
• Pour the mix into a greased cake pan of any shape or size. But see to it that you pour a thin layer of batter not more than 1-1/2 inch into the pan.
• Then take oil in a small vessel, add asafoetida, mustard seeds and sesame seeds. Temper them and pour over the batter in the pan.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degree F for 30 to 35 minutes.
• Sometimes instead of tempering I just add  sesame seeds on the top of the batter and just spray the top with cooking oil after 20 minutes. Then just bake for another 10-15 minutes.
• When done, enjoy your soft on the inside and crisp and brown on the outside handvo.

Note: Alternately you can also make handvo in a nonstick pan on stove top. Just grease pan with oil and pour batter in it. Top it with the tempering and cover and let it cook on medium flame. When you feel the bottom is done just flip it in the pan to let the other side get done. You will see a nice golden brown to black colored crust. I like it black because that means crispier edged handvo.

Whole Wheat Pav (Indian bread rolls)

I can very well relate pav to the city I grew up in. Pav is an accompaniment for lot of street food or fast food in Mumbai. Pav bhaji and vada pav are the two most popular street foods in Mumbai. My husband is a vada pav lover and can rattle the places where you get best vada pavs. While the vada or the bhaji makes or breaks the dishes, they are incomplete without the humble pav.

Pavs are made of all purpose flour or maida as it is called in India. Now that I have to get health into picture in most of my dishes, I tried out whole wheat pav. I did mix in all purpose flour too to get a soft texture. Here goes my recipe for the pav-

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 packet dry active yeast
• 2 cups warm water
• 1-1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp butter melted
• melted butter for brushing pav

Directions:

• In a small bowl take warm water, add sugar to it and mix well so that the sugar dissolves completely.
• Add yeast to the surface of this warm water and let it stand for around 15 minutes.
• The water will be frothy on the top.

• In a separate large bowl, mix together whole wheat, all purpose flour and salt with a dry whisk.
• Add the yeast water to the dry mix and start kneading into a soft pliable dough.
• Add melted butter and knead further.
• Keep this dough in a well greased large bowl loosely covered with cling wrap.
• Keep the bowl near a warm place and let it sit for around 1 hour.
• The dough will double in size.
• Divide the dough into lemon sized balls and roll the balls using your palm till they become smooth.
• Place the balls on a sheet covered with greased aluminium foil, close to each other. 
• Let them sit for around half an hour, loosely covered with cling wrap.
• The balls will have grown in size again.

• Put the sheet in a preheated oven (375 degrees)
• Let it bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and quickly brush it with melted butter all over the top surface.
• Bake it for another 5 minutes.
• Your hot pav is ready, let it sit for 2 minutes and enjoy it warm with bhaji, misal or piping hot vadas.

Pav with misal

Cracked Wheat Upma

I am just back from my trip to Puerto Rico. It is an amazing place. Wow the beaches are so relaxing and water so azure. Well it was a great trip but like every vacation I came back with the baggage of excess weight. Now with great difficulty as I am settling back into my routine, I am also figuring out ways to eat right to lose some pounds. So today while scouring my forgotten jars in the cabinet, I came across cracked wheat and whipped up an upma out of it. It turned out to be great tasting. The recipe for it goes as follows-

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups cracked wheat
• 1 large onion chopped
• 1 tomato chopped
• 1 red bell pepper seeded and chopped
• 3 green chillies chopped
• 5-6 curry leaves
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 3 tsp olive oil
• 1-1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 4 cups boiling water

Directions:

• In a pot, take 3 tsp olive oil. Add cumin seeds and let the oil heat.
• When the cumin seeds crackle, add green chillies and curry leaves. Saute well.
• Add onions and saute till translucent.
• Add tomatoes and let it cook till it gets mushy.
• Add red bell peppers and salt. Cook for a minute.
• Add cracked wheat and mix well. Reduce the flame and let it stay on heat for a minute or two, mixing occasionally.
• Add boiling water and lime juice.
• Let the cracked wheat cook till there is almost no water in the mixture, but it should be moist.
• Add pepper and mix.
• Turn off the gas and cover the pot for 5 minutes.
• Serve hot and enjoy.

Samosa Chaat- Healthy Way

Growing up in Mumbai, I have fond memories of chaats. During my college days while going back home I always enjoyed having bhel puri, sev puri or ragda patties with my friends. Samosa chaat is a yummy fast food from India. But it is loaded with calories since the samosa is a stuffed pastry which is deep fried. I just skipped the frying and used our regular whole wheat rotis to create the cover for potato stuffing.

To assemble the chaat we need:

• 4-5 large whole wheat rotis
• Potato stuffing
• Chhole curry
• Yogurt
• Green cilantro chutney
• Tamarind -date chutney
• Thin sev

To make Rotis-

Ingredients:

• 4 cups whole wheat flour
• Salt to taste
• 2 cups warm water (approximate)
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

• Add salt to the whole wheat flour. Add water one cup at a time and mix well.
• Add more water if you think the mixture is too dry, 1/4 cup at a time. Likewise if you think the mixture is too gooey you can add whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup at a time.
• Add olive oil and knead into a soft pliable dough.
• Keep aside for 15 minutes, well covered.
• Make large tennis ball sized balls from the dough.
• Roll them flat with a rolling pin about 1/8 inch thick on a smooth surface and cook well on both sides on a pan.

To make the Potato Stuffing-

Ingredients:

• 4-5 potatoes cooked and mashed roughly
• 1 cup green peas cooked
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp amchur powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• salt to taste

Directions:

• In a pan heat olive oil. Add cumin seeds and fennel seeds. When they start changing color add mashed potatoes and green peas. Mix well.
• Add chili powder, amchur, garam masala and salt. Mix everything together.
• You can adjust the spices as per your taste.
• The potato filling is ready.

To make the Chole curry-

Ingredients:

• 2 cups chickpeas/ garbanzo beans (soaked 5-6 hours and cooked)
• 2 large onions
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
• 1/4 tsp asafoetida
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 2 tsp garam masala
• Salt as per taste
• 1 tbsp cooking oil

Directions:

• Make a paste of 1-1/2 onions and tomatoes in a food processor.
• Chop the remaining half onion.
• Take oil in a pot and when it heats up add the chopped onion, asafoetida and ginger-garlic paste. Saute well.
• Add the onion and tomato paste and let it simmer let the raw smell goes off.
• Add chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and garam masala. Mix well.
• Add chickpeas/ garbanzo beans and salt. Simmer till the gravy thickens and gives out a nice aroma of spices.

Assembling Chaat-

• Preheat oven to 400 degree F.
• Put the potato stuffing in each roti and roll it.
• Place the filled rotis, in a greased rectangular baking pan, with its open side down.

• Spray cooking oil on top of the rotis and bake it for 15-20 minutes. The rotis should not be burnt but browned with crisp tops.

• Take each roll on a plate. Top it with chhole curry, yogurt, green chutney and tamarind-date chutney.

• Finally top off with sev and you can enjoy samosa chaat in a healthy way. 

Oatmeal Upma

Oats are healthy grains that provide essential fiber to you body. Well oats are not predominantly Indian but I have Indianized the usage of oats. Upma is a quintessential breakfast popular all over India, and making this breakfast with oats makes it all the more healthy. I know lot of Indians who are so used to our spicy food that oats cooked with water or milk does not go well with them. So this oats recipe is good for everyone, for those who want a twist to their regular oatmeal breakfast to those who can't have oats without spice in it.

This recipe also makes for a healthy quick meal on those lazy weekends or for those days when you are really busy and tied for elaborate cooking.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups oatmeal (quick/ old fashioned)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 green chillies chopped
• 6-7 curry leaves
• 1 inch ginger chopped fine
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1-1/2 cup mixed frozen vegetables/ corn/ peas/ bell peppers/ tomatoes
• 5-6 cups boiling water
• salt to taste
• 1 tbsp lime juice

Directions:

• Keep water, on stove, to boil
• In a large nonstick pot, take 1 tbsp oil and let it heat. Add mustard seeds and wait till it splutters.
• Add green chillies, ginger and curry leaves. Saute it.
• Add onions, saute it till translucent and add oatmeal.
• Add vegetables and let the oats get toasted on the stove on a low flame for 10-15 minutes. Keep stirring in between to prevent oats from getting burnt. 
• Add salt and boiling water.
• Add lime juice and stir to mix everything well.
• Simmer the mixture till  it becomes like a thick porridge.
• Oatmeal upma is ready to be served.

Tortilla Soup

I consider tortilla soup to be my comfort food especially during these cold winters it is heart and belly warming. The heat and the flavors in the soup are just right to set you in a good mood. My husband and I love Mexican food. I think it comes close to Indian cuisine with the addition of chili powder, cumin powder, etc.

The soup that I make is a hearty one with lot of ingredients going into it. It can be served as a filling entrée in itself. It is a complete one dish meal which is a good source of vitamins and proteins.

Here goes the recipe for tortilla soup-

Ingredients:

• 6-8 corn tortillas
• 1tbsp olive oil
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1 medium jalapeño pepper, seeded, veins removed and chopped fine
• 1 large onion chopped
• 2 tomatoes chopped
• 1 bell pepper chopped
• 1 cup corn
• 1 cup cooked Mexican beans (black, red, kidney or pinto)
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp cumin powder
• salt as per taste
• 4-6 cups water/ vegetable broth/ beans broth/ chicken broth
• few sprigs cilantro chopped
• 1 tbsp lime juice

Directions:

• Soak beans overnight or at least for 6 hours and cook it al dente.
• Cut corn tortillas in strips. Spread them on a baking sheet with aluminium foil. Spray cooking oil on it and put it in oven pre heated to 350 degree F.
• In 15-20 minutes the tortillas will become crisp and lightly brown. Remove and keep aside.
• In the meanwhile, in a cooking pot take a tablespoon of olive oil and heat it. Add garlic, jalapeño pepper and saute for  a minute. Add onions and saute well till onions become soft. Add tomatoes and let it become mushy. Add bell pepper and corn.
• Add chili powder, cumin powder and salt. Mix well.
• Add beans with water/ broth.
• Let it simmer for around 15 minutes.
• Add lime juice and cilantro and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Take soup in a bowl, top it with baked tortilla strips and serve hot.

Enjoy!

Homemade Whole wheat Pizza

Pizza is the most versatile dish in the world and it is a surprise to find anyone who would hate pizza. If given a chance I think kids would gorge on pizza everyday for every meal.

Growing up in Mumbai I have memories of the first pizza I had, it was a small pre-made base with onion, bell pepper and tomatoes, tomato ketchup and cheese topped on it. I still loved that. But then with the entry of Pizza hut, Dominoes and Smoking Joe's I realized what we used to have would be a pizza made by a kid. These new chains came with pizzas suitable for the Indian palate with tandoori chicken pizza, paneer tikka pizza and all. I think that is the beauty of pizza, you can get so creative with the toppings that really sky is the limit. So it can be enjoyed by people of all ethnicities and culture.

Again the pizza that you get in Italy (the land which gave us the pizza) is nowhere close to what you get in Pizza huts. I think the freshness of the ingredients makes the difference. But ultimately the taste and good ingredients matters. So I would like to share my recipe for the whole wheat pizza which tastes good and has healthy ingredients too.

Ingredients:

For the base

2-1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1-1/2 cups warm water

1 packet dry active yeast

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

For the sauce

5 tomatoes chopped roughly

3 tbsp tomato ketchup

1 tbsp olive oil

3 cloves garlic minced

1 small onion chopped fine

1-1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar/ honey

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp paprika

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425 degree F.

For the base

• Mix sugar in warm water and add yeast on top of the water. Let it sit for 15 minutes and the yeast will become frothy.
• Add salt to the frothy water and mix well.
• In a large bowl, take whole wheat and all purpose flour. Mix it with a whisk. Add the water mixture to the flour and mix well. Add more water, if you feel that the mixture is too dry, a tablespoon at a time.
• Add oil and knead the mixture into smooth and soft dough.
• Cover the dough with cling wrap loosely and let it rest for at least an hour. It will double in size.

For the sauce

• In a pan add olive oil and when it heats up saute garlic and onion for a minute.
• Add chopped tomatoes and salt.
• Let the tomatoes cook well and be all mushed up.
• Add tomato ketchup and sugar/ honey.
• Add the Italian seasoning and paprika. Let the mixture simmer for a minute or two.
• Remove from heat and the sauce is ready for use.

Assemble Pizza

• Remove the dough, it must have doubled in size. Punch it and knead once more and make two large balls out of it
• Roll each ball into pizza base. Roll it to a thickness of 1/2" to 1/4" according to your preference.

• Top the base with sauce, add mozzerella and any other cheese.
• Top it with your favorite veggies, meat, or even fruits like apple, pineapple, etc.
• Top off with mozerella and any cheese of your choice.
• My toppings were spinach, corn, onion and paneer (an Indian hard cottage cheese)

• Put it in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. The crust should be hard and golden brown in color.

Enjoy Pizza ;)

Marinara Sauce

My husband is not a pasta lover and he hates the bottled pasta sauces that we get at supermarkets, all the  more. Even I don't like it, but very rarely it works as a quick fix for us. I make my own marinara sauce whenever we want to relish our pasta. It is not very quick but it is definitely delicious. The taste of all the fresh ingredients gives it a refreshing taste. My husband too enjoys his pasta when the sauce is homemade.

The fresh tomatoes, carrots, celery and herbs, topped with bell peppers will make you feel like you have a garden on your plate. It is delicious and I would like to share it's recipe with you.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil 
• 1 large onion chopped
• 3 cloves garlic chopped
• 2 celery stalk chopped
• 2 carrots chopped
• ¼ cup parsley chopped
• 3 large tomatoes chopped
• ¼ cup tomato sauce
• 1 cup water
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 2 tbsp heavy cream

Directions:

• In a large saucepan, take olive oil. Let it heat up and then add garlic and onions. Saute it for a minute.
• Add celery, carrots and parsley. Add salt. Saute for another minute or two.
• Add tomatoes and let it get all cooked and mushy. Keep stirring in between.
• Add tomato sauce and water.
• Mix and let it cook well. 
• When the veggies are cooked, remove saucepan from heat and let it cool.
• When cool, put it in a blender and make a sauce out of it.
• Put this sauce in a saucepan and put it on stovetop.
• Add and adjust all seasonings like salt, pepper, chilli powder and italian seasoning.
• Add heavy cream and let the sauce simmer. You can add more water if you think the sauce is getting too thick. Just keep adjusting the seasonings as per your taste and simmer for sometime.
• The sauce is ready and you can pour it over your favorite pasta (cooked as per package directions) or you can cool it and put it in a jar, and refrigerate it for future use.

Mini meduvada muffins

I get nostalgic, when I think of medu vadas. I come from a traditional mangalorean family, so obviously my dad worked in the food business. I grew up watching my mom and dad, both cook in the kitchen. Whenever my dad was off from work, we had delicacies made by him. I distinctly remember when I used to wake up in the morning as a kid and the aroma of medu vadas were wafting through the house. I knew dad was home that day and we had piping hot, crisp medu vadas for breakfast, with coconut chutney, yum!

Medu vadas always beckon me, but these days I limit fried stuff a lot. So got this idea of baking them instead of frying. I baked the prepared medu vada batter in a muffin pan. I had to do without the traditional holes of the vada. Although I was skeptical, I was surprised at the end result, it came out pretty close to it's original fried version. The fried ones would definitely taste better any day, but this recipe will satisfy your craving without any guilts later.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups urad dal split
• 3-4 green chillies chopped fine
• 1-1/2 tsp crushed pepper corn
• 1 tsp ginger chopped fine
• 8-10 curry leaves chopped
• 1-1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp asafoetida
• 1 tsp baking powder
• salt as per taste
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp cooking oil

Directions:

• Wash urad dal well and soak it in enough water, so that it is well covered even when it enlarges, for 5-6 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Drain the water and grind the urad dal to a fine paste. Add water to it as needed, for grinding. 
  The paste will resemble thick cake batter.
• Add green chillies, crushed peppercorn, ginger, curry leaves, cumin powder, asafoetida, baking powder and salt. Mix well.
• Take 1 tsp lime juice and add 1/2 tsp baking soda to it. It will fizz and then add this to the batter. 
• Finally add 2 tbsp cooking oil and mix everything well.

• Spray cooking oil into each cup of the muffin pan. Pour this batter into the cups equally, so that they bake evenly.

• Place the pan in oven for around 15 minutes. Then spray the top of each medu muffin with cooking oil and at this point increase the temperature of the oven to the highest point. Bake at this temperature for around 5-10 minutes. Keep a check on the muffins at this high temperature.
• Finally do a skewer test and remove the pan from oven.
• Cool for 10 minutes and remove muffins from pan.
• Enjoy it with sambhar/ rasam and chutney.

Eggless Christmas Cake

I am an ardent lover of egg and chicken dishes. However being married to a Gujarati guy (although he has no problem eating eggs), I have to entertain lot of vegetarian guests. I do respect their beliefs and so have to incorporate it in the food I make for them as well. My daughter's second birthday cake (shown in my cake art page) was also an eggless cake. Making an eggless cake is not an easy task and I have realized it after 4 eggless cakes that went into the trash can. Eggs are chief ingredients that help in rising the cake, and when you miss that there should be something in the recipe which will give you the perfect cake which won't crumble, and is moist to taste as well.

Now, it is the Christmas week, the perfect time to make Christmas fruit cake! We will be having a Christmas get together with some friends (who are vegetarians). Because of my love for baking and as nothing screams more Christmas than a Fruit Cake, I wanted to make one for the occasion. However making an eggless cake still gives me the chills (after all my failed attempts). I looked for lot of recipes and settled down for one. I made some modifications, for the portion size, and things easily available in my pantry. Kept my fingers crossed, but voila it baked perfect and tastes amazing. Surprisingly I don't miss the eggs in it. I would make this cake over rich christmas cakes anytime. Also no hassle of making caramel. It's a keeper!


I have added flax seed powder to the original recipe because I felt that the cake is very delicious but very difficult to cut as it crumbles. 

Ingredients 

1. 1/2 cup light/ dark brown sugar, packed
2. 1/4 cup dried raisins
3. 1/4 cup dried cranberries
4. 1 cup dried mixed fruit, peel preserved
5. 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
6. 2 tbsp orange marmalade/ 1 tsp orange extract/ zest from one orange
7. 2/3 cup boiling water
8. 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, soft, in chunks
9. 1 tsp baking soda
10. 1 tsp vanilla
11. 2-1/2 tablespoons cooking oil
12. 1/4 cup dark rum or 1/4 cup orange juice 
13. 1 tsp cinnamon powder
14. 1 tsp nutmeg powder
15. 1 tsp clove powder
16. 2-1/2 tsp baking powder
17. 1 tbsp very dark cocoa powder (if you want that dark color to your cake)
18. 1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
19. 3/4 cup roughly chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds, cashews, pecans)
20. 2 tbsp flax seed powder (soaked in 6 tbsp warm water till it is gooey)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a saucepan, take ingredients from 1-7, including boiling water.
• Simmer the mixture for five minutes on stove top.

• Let it cool a little, then add butter to the mixture. Add the baking soda and the mixture will fizz. 

• Add vanilla, cooking oil and rum to the fizzed mixture. Pour this mixture in a large mixing bowl.
• In another bowl, add ingredients from 13-18. Slowly using a hand mixer, or you can use the standing mixer if you have one, add this dry mixture to the wet mixture.Scrape the sides and mix it well. Add the flax seed mix to the batter and mix well.

• Fold in the chopped nuts. 
• Pour the mixture in a well greased 8 or 9 inch pan.
• Put it in oven and let it bake for 40-50 minutes.
• Do a skewer test to check whether it is done
• Enjoy your cake

SOURCE:  Zurie's Christmas Fruit cake