Kutti

Made this healthy breakfast / filler a while ago.. Its a traditional 'prasad' in Sindhis and Punjabis..

I'm sending this one to Microwave Easy cooking Potluck Party



Ingredients:
350 gms whole wheat flour (ladu atta consistency is better)
4 tbsp ghee
150 gms sugar (or to taste)
8-10 chopped almonds
6-8 crushed cardomom

Mix the wheat flour and the ghee. Roast in a pan for 10-15 mins, stirring continuously, till it gives a pleasant aroma and gets brown.
Let it cool and add the remaining ingredients. The sugar is meant to be whole, and not ground.
This time, I'd made it in the mircowave. Micowaved the wheat flour and the ghee on high for 5 mins. After every minute or less, stop and stir.
In short, its like a 'ladu chura', that low fat, low on ghee, and healthy...
You can keep it for several days (just like ladu), need not store in the fridge, and its good to beat hungry pangs at odd hours :)

- Naina

Lemon grass cooler

This is a wonderful thai beverage which i very recently tasted in Malaysia..it is easy to make,refreshing,cooling and would go with thai dishes like Thai Curry..

Ingredients..

Lemon grass

Lime slice

Sugar

Sprite

Take some lemon grass in water .Add some sugarand boil it for 15-20 mins till you get the flavour of lemon grass in water.Now put it in fridge and let it cool for approx 4-5 hours

Now take the chilled lemongrass water,add some lime juice ,Sprite and put it in the blender.Add ice cubes and let it blend in the blender.Serve chilled.Decorate it in a martini glass with slice of lime.

You will get the flavour of South east Asia!!

Chef's tip: Optionally add fresh coconut cream if you like in the drink..

Bon Appetit

Ash

Healthy Wheat Cake

Guess what.. I actually managed to complete one task from of my try out list..
I took the wheat cake recipe from Sunitabhuyan (really good site) and used 1/2 the proportions (since I was not sure.. what I'd be like.. )
It actually turned out quite like the pic shows in the recipe I followed..

Here are my pics..



Ingredients (its for full recipe.. I took 1/2 proportions):
1 and 1/2 Cup of whole wheat flour (atta)
5-6 tblsp powdered sugar
2 tsp baking powder
6 tblsp sunflower oil (I used the normal cooking oil.. which doesn't have any aroma)
1tsp vanilla essence
1 Cup water (as much needed for the consistency.. actually)

Procedure (this is what I did as I was in a hurry, I bit different from the original..) -
Pre heat the oven at 170 deg C. Grease a baking dish with oil/butter.
In a bowl, sieve the flour, sugar and baking powder 2-3 times.
Mix together the water, oil and vanilla in another bowl.
Mix into this the flour mixture slowly. I used my hands to mix it well :)
Put the mixture into the baking dish, and smooth the top.
Place the dish in the pre heated oven and bake for about 20 minutes or till the edges begin to brown slightly, and the cake passes the toothpick test..
Mine with done in under 10 mins, as it was just half the quantity. The entire thing was done within 1/2 an hr.. I never believed cakes could be so quick..
Everyone of us (the Le-Bouffe team) tasted it today, and it was not bad for low fat wheat cake.. It still tasted like cake :)
Next time I may try it out with milk instead of water, and may be some butter in place of oil..
-Naina

Salad In Just 2 mins

Ingredients
Carrot, cucumbers, tomatoes, capsicum,
3 tbsp of Vinegar
2 tbsp of sugar
Salt to taste
½ teaspoon of powdered black pepper
11/2 teaspoons of Salad Oil

Preparation
Take a bowl; add Vinegar, sugar, salt to taste, black pepper and mix till the sugar is melted completely add all the above vegetables which should be cut in a longish manner and mix well . Lastly add the salad oil and mix well

Tip: Just before serving, add the syrup into the salad. If you add it, earlier the vegetables leave water, which may spoil the taste.

Suzanne

Bread Poha

My mom in law makes awsome bread poha.. Its so simple, and yet so amazing.. Palak specially loves it..




This one goes to the Sunday Snacks event (bread) by Priya




Ingredients:
8 -10 bread slides (cut into 6 pieces each)
1 tsp mustard seeds
6-8 curry leaves
1 green chilli chopped
2 tbsp Curd (beaten with very little water if needed)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste

Soak the bread slides in the beaten curd. It shouldn't get soggy, just damp. To this, add some salt and turmeric and mix well
In a kadhai, heat some oil, add mustard seeds, curry leaves and chillies.
Add the bread mix to the kadhai, mix evenly, and spread on the kadhai. With a flat spoon, press the bread all over, cover and cook. After 2 mins, press the bread pieces again, turn over the bread pieces, and cook this side for 2 mins. Again press to make it a bit crispy, and yummy..
- Naina

Eggless Milkmaid Cake

Yippee... I decided to try out baking a cake independently for the 1st time.. Searched over google, and found this recipe at Ashwita

Here are some pics, not too good.. took them in a hurry

Some recent pics are here and here





I followed the recipe exactly, but since I'd never baked before, I took 1/4th the quantity. Here's the recipe for the full quantity:
Ingredients:
400g Milkmaid or Sweetened Condensed Milk
200gm Maida
100gm Butter (I used the normal salted butter, though unsalted is better)
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Sodabicarbonate
150 ml Aerated soda OR Sprite OR 7up
½ tsp Vanilla Essence

Method:
Grease the baking dish with butter. Pre heat the oven to 170°C.
Sieve the maida, baking powder and soda bicarbonate (2-3 times for better aeration).
Soften the butter (don't melt). Add the sweetened Condensed Milk to the butter, and beat well. I just mixed it up using my hands, as the quantity was very small. Add the vanilla essence.
Add maida mixture and aerated soda alternately to the batter till all the maida and soda are used up.
Pour the batter into the baking dish, and bake in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes or till the tooth pick / knife inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Remove from oven, cool , cut and serve..
Believe me, it looked like cake, and tasted like cake :)

-Naina

Sol Kadhi

This is a very nice cooling beverage, that goes particularly well with fish
Ingredients:
4-5 kokam pieces soaked in water (for an hr) OR Kokam syrup (unsweetened)
Coconut Milk (2 glasses)
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 green chilli
Salt to taste

To make the coconut milk, grind fresh (not tender) coconut. The add a glass of water to it. Grind and strain it. To the remaining coconut residue, add another glass water, grind and strain. This will give you a good consistency of coconut milk.
As an alternative, you get coconut milk powder.. and you could use that! The instructions are usually on the packet.

If you are making your own coconut milk, add the garlic and chilli to the coconut itself. Else grind them separately, and add to the coconut milk.

Squish the kokam pieces using a tea strainer lightly (or use the unsweetened kokam syrup), and add it to the spicy coconut milk.

Chill the drink and serve! Its a nice pink coloured drink, and you can garnish with coriander leaves

-Naina