Baked Vegetable Manchurian

I have become a little more conscious about eating fried food these days. They are not completely cut off but avoided whenever possible. This posed a challenge to me when I had plans for making vegetable fried rice this week. Knowing that hubby dear prefers eating his rice with a side dish or gravy (never understood this as I always prefer it on its own). 

with my new found love for the oven which otherwise until last year was used as an extra shelf in the kitchen, I decided to put it to good use.
The first batch was a wreck so I gave it another shot this time correcting the recipe to meet the exact requirements.

Anjeer Fig Icecream Eggless

When I successfully made the icecream at home I was tempted to make more. But with the onset of winter there were not many takers in the family of 2.5 for icecream although 0.5 always said he is ok with the idea but his perennial sneezing and coughing put off the project. Then mom came to rescue, she said who says icecreams are not good, make one using the winter fruits (non citric). Remember to drink a glass of warm water or milk + turmeric after that, you should be fine.


So here I am with another icecream recipe

Milagai Podi / microwave

The next few days are very exciting. There is so much happening on my calendar to keep me on my toes. The brain that has been categorized as hyperactive is now functioning overtime. 
I have to make a farewell gift for my kid's pre-preschool before he joins the real school. There is a major competition where I am in charge for quiet a few things - menu planning for the food served later tops the list of interest. 
Coming back to the recipe for the day, there were so many things that I had planned as part of the microwave based theme. Contemplating on which one to use for the last day, I felt that atleast the last six dishes covered the different range of techniques 
- Gravy - Palak Soya Gravy
- Baking - Pizza under 30 min
- Poaching - Sunny side up - No runny eggs
- Rice - Green Peas Pulav
- Recycling - Vegetable Stock
-Snacks - Dhokla in a cup

Most of you know that we can easily dry roast ingredients. The toughest challenges for roasting are the grains and pulses. I picked the most popular powder/podi or chutney to demonstrate the same.

Sunny side up/ microwave poached eggs

Being a big fan of eggs and omelettes and yet it is ironic that I can't stand the smell of raw eggs. This is a combination of 2 facts, dad was a huge egg fan and mom always made egg based dishes such a way that they never smelled eggy. She had her own tried and tasted techniques like, using turmeric, ghee to camouflage the odour.


This also means that I could never gather courage to consume any thing that contains raw eggs. Almost! Tiramisu and mousses were consumed for the flavor by pushing them on the back of the tongue and gulping it as quickly as possible. 


Alas, there was one dish that I was intrigued but thought it was not made for me. Sunny side up, the most popular breakfast especially when you are put on a high protein diet looks so pretty and inviting until you touch it with a fork. It turns into runny side down.


I tried poaching eggs in microwave and that's when it struck me that I could actually get around making sunny side up without making it runny.


Check out, does it not look pretty. This has worked with most kids 

Home made vegetable stock / microwave vegetable stock

Every kitchen has a lot of scrap that can be put to good use. Sample a few mentioned below and let me know whether you disagree

• Scrapings of cucumber, carrots
•  Stems of cauliflower, broccoli, spinach
•  Veins of cabbage
•  Edges of leeks, spring onions, onions

Most of this is good source of nutrition and taste. You can collect them in a freezer bag over the period of few days. Stash it in the freezer until they make up a sizable chunk.

On a day with some leisure, you can throw them in a pot of water along with some other staples. Bring it to boil and let it stand for an hour

For those of you who have microwave at home ,life is lot simpler.

Palak Soya Chunks Gravy / Instant microwave

I have been harping enough advantages of microwave already. Whilst I was busy with this, DH said, Yea I know it is good and all, but what about the real food, can I use it when I am hungry for real food? 


He calls dal, chawal, roti sabzi as real food. Everything else are fillers. Anyway back to the topic of conversation, ofcourse you can was my answer. But I had to kill the challenge in his tone with an evidence. 


Thats how this super delicious recipe was created in a microwave in flat 11 min.

Mug Dhokla/ savory muffin in minutes

Move on from the mug cakes to savory muffins if you crave for a sweet tangy or sour & spicy snack in the evenings. Making dhoklas in microwave is very easy but when you are making in large quantities it is better to follow the instructions provided along with the dishes provided for steaming.

For smaller or individual cups you can easily stick to the recipe below

Microwave Pizza from scratch under 30 min

Placing an order for a quick home delivery and waiting anxiously for the pizzas to arrive can prove futile for few reasons.

- Pizzas may not be the very fresh out of oven steaming hot.

- The amount of money you need to shell out for something that ends as soon as it arrives

- It makes you feel guilty for the fat proportions which otherwise could be very well controlled , had you been cooking

Fret no more, I have been making these easy peasy pizzas , with no compromise on flavors many times off late. The only reason I make the laborious baked pizzas otherwise is when I have time on hand and would like to fill the house with aromas of baked goodies.

Green Peas Pulav

Living a superwoman’s life is a pressure too difficult to handle especially when you are determined to bestow all towards making it a reality. Microwave was invented particularly to help me live this being. Ha ha! If you would have asked me to talk about it during the last few semesters of my engineering days, I would have given you a far different opinion. Opportunely those days are behind letting me now enjoy the benefits.

It is difficult not getting addicted to microwave cooking for the sheer convenience it provides for urban chics (ahem ladies) especially.
I am not advocating its practice daily but those days when you are in real hurry or do not want to settle for a basic dal chawal or bread butter dinner you got to put use your friend.

Like the other day, when I reached home, well past the dinner time to learn that cooking activity was left to my skillful hands. I was not in a mood to eat anything ordinary by my standards. DH suggested pulav , raita and papad

Butterscotch cupcakes with butterscotch sauce or frosting

For my sister's  birthday, I made small sized cakes insead of the regular iced large cake. The idea was to create some fancy looking well decorated cake initially. But I settled for better taste instead.
Butterscotch flavored cakes available commercially are loaded with butterscotch chips or heavy frosting covered in nuts. They taste good no doubt, but the cake carrying it does not really have the essence most of the times.


I made these cup cakes with a recipe given by a friend. This is the most common recipe found to make the cakes and it worked very well for me.


Note that, instead of icing/ frosting, I preferred to drizzle the cake with the sauce which was more tastier but less guilt laden. You can very well make the frosting instead by mixing the sauce with powdered or icing sugar as needed

Blueberry Parfait

By now you know I made the blue berry filling and also am on an agenda to use it up before 3 weeks, so you have to bear or rather enjoy another delicious berry based dessert. This can be done with fresh fruits, preserves or jams of your choice.
Yogurt and berry combination works beautifully in any form. In finland, the breakfasts usually consists of berry relishes, jams, preserves served with sweet yogurt or porridge. This is the place Ofcourse, they do not eat blue berries, but the reason, I mentioned this here is due to the fact that I used to enjoy the various parfaits for morning breakfasts when I lived there for few  days. Every day, there was a new combination. The canteen cook took fancy to the idea of cooking for visitors so much that she ensured that she did not repeat any of her dish more than once in 2 weeks.
The lingonberries, cloud berries, rasberries were all freshly picked daily from the canteen's garden. The preserves were made fresh probably hours before we rose.
I am not sure whether I can recreate the magic but I mad an attempt the moment I laid hands on the berries. This is also a big hit with my little son who is now allowed to eat curd based foods (was allergic for some time).

Ingredients (for 2 servings)
1 cup greek style yogurt/ hung curd
1 tbsp icing sugar/ powdered sugar (prefer icing as it helps hold shape)
1/2 cup berry preserve/ fresh berries
2 tbsp muesli/ corn flakes + nuts
Method
1) Beat the yogurt and sugar together.
2) In a the serving glass or bowl, pour some yogurt.
3) Next pour the berry preserves or jam or fruits such that the layer is distinctly visible.
4) Repeat the yogurt and berry layers until you reach the top.
5) On the top, make a layer of muesli
6) Refrigerate for 10 min or so and serve

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Chocolate Walnut Brownie

For the new year’s eve, I made this delicious brownies. They were an instant hit. I was asked to make a batch again by a few friends who tasted it. I was more than delighted. This time, I deliberately decided to repeat the steps exactly the way I made it earlier, just to reconfirm the recipe was full proof and the weather and festive surrounding had nothing to contribute.

Voila , it was the magic of indeed my recipe. Haha, my little one also happily gobbled a few pieces. I think all kids like it.

Source - Adapted from Mary Berry Cake recipe cook book
Ingredients
75 gms dark chocolate grated or chopped
50 gms milk chocolate grated or chopped

you can use 125 gms of dark chocolate instead 
50 gms cocoa powder
100 gms All purpose flour
375 gms caster sugar (I used only 350 gms)
50 gms crushed walnuts
4 eggs
2 tbsp baking powder
½ tspn baking soda
275 gm butter/ oil

Method
1) In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking powder, & soda) and set aside
2) Melt the dark and milk chocolate together using a microwave or double boiler
3) Add the eggs , sugar, softened butter to the chocolate mixture and mix well>
4) Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture along with the walnuts and mix well.
5) Preheat the oven at 180 c for 5 min.
6) Grease a 9 inch baking pan , pour the batter and tap it to spread it evenly.
7) Bake for 35 min. watch after this point to check whether the brownie has cooked in the centre.
8) When done, cool it completely.
9) Dust some icing sugar on top and drizzle with chocolate sauce.
Enjoy. The crusty layer on top and goey inside

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Also Linking to
-  Kid's Delight hosted by Edible Entertainment
- Ramya's ABC Desserts
- Amy's Midweek Fiesta #12 event

- Bake fest event hosted at my space for Vardhini
- Srivalli's Chocolate Mela
- Srav's Chocolate Fest

Chocolate Meringues

I tried making this for the first time around during a lazy weekend as a quick fix for a high tea with the  most pampered member in my home - my little imp. 
It indeed turned out to be a food for a royal's tea visit. It is so elegant and pretty looking cookie that I was actually savoring every moment of it while it melted in mouth.


The baking can be tricky of you have not tasted it ever as it could turn out sticky and chewy.
You need to bake it as long as it takes to change the color slightly pale.

Ingredients (for 15-20 large individual pieces)
2 egg whites
1/2 cup castor sugar (make it 3/4 for slightly sweeter)
1 tspn of cocoa powder
1 cup whipped cream (with icing sugar for filling)
Method
1) In a bowl, whisk the egg whites using a hand beater or electric beater along with sugar until it is glossy. About 4-5 min with electric & 7-8 min with hand whisk.
2) Add the cocoa powder and beat again.
3) Preheat the  oven at the lowest temperature. For me it was about 150c.
4) Spray some oil or butter on the baking sheet.
5) Pipe the mixture or use a spoon to create small dollops.
6) Bake for about 10 -12 min or until they change the color slightly. 
7)Let them cool.
8) Sandwich 2 meringues with some whipped cream.


Tip* - If the meringues appear soft do not panic as it will become stiff as it starts cooling down.
- Store in air tight box and refrigerate for later eating

Check out the Blogging Marathon page  for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#12


Also Linking to
-  Kid's Delight hosted by Edible Entertainment
-Ramya's ABC Desserts
- Amy's Midweek Fiesta #12 event

- Bake fest event hosted at my space for Vardhini
- Srivalli's Chocolate Mela

- Srav's Chocolate Fest

Swiss roll / Roulade

So where was the recipe hiding all this while when I was looking for a low cal option in baking.

Something about this dish made me feel that this was probably the last thing to bake and try especially when you have not grown up baking or do not hold a degree in baking.

The fear was so deeply rooted in my sub conscious mind that I often flipped past the pages in my favorite Mary Berry Cake book that spoke about any roulades or swiss rolls recipe. This was until, I wanted to put use to my newly created preserves in a better way.
I finally gave in and decided to read the recipe on the blueberry roulade. Woho! I rubbed my eyes again to check whether I read it right, just 3 ingredients besides the preserve to make this magic

Considering my initial jitters, I wanted to stick to small scale. 

recipe Source – Mary Berry Cake Book
Ingredients
1 egg
25 gms caster sugar
25 gms All purpose flour + pinch of baking soda / Cake Flour
¼ tspn baking powder(optional- I added because I like my cakes spongy)
¼ tspn vanilla extract
for filling1/2 cup Blue berry filling / jam 

1/4 cup whipped cream

Method
1) Separate the egg white and yolk in two separate bowls.
2) Distribute the sugar equally between the bowls.
3) Using the electric hand held beater, beat the egg white until stiff peaks are formed – about 8-10 minutes. Ensure that the bowl used for this is very clean and grease free.
4) Now beat the egg yolk for 3-4 min. Add the flour and vanilla essence to the yolk mixture and mix again.
5) Now gently fold in the yolk mixture with the egg whites.
6) Preheat the oven at 200c for 5 min
7) Line a swiss roll tin (I used the bread tin / half of it blocked with a rolled aluminium foil as the quantity was very less.
8) Spread the mixture evenly and pop in the oven for 6-7 min. Watch it as the cake cooks superfast. When it starts leaving the edges and springs back when pressed it is ready.
9) On a flat surface place a cling film firmly secured at the edges with a heavy object and sprinkle some castor sugar on it.
10) Flip the roll on top it and remove the butter paper underneath it gently.
11) Spread the preserve/ filling evenly. Next spread a generous amount of whipped cream.
12) Using the cling film at the based start rolling the cake to form a pin wheel. The fillings will spill out (Wipe off with a spoon straight in your mouth)
13) Lock using the cling film both the ends. Place in refrigerator for 10-20 min to set.
14) Remove the cling film and cut in small discs or as one single roll.
You can sprinkle sugar, whipped cream of buttercream icing of your choice.

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Small Pie-lets with blueberry filling

Making things small in size does not mean that their significance, role or presence gets reduced. However, it allows the flexibility to pick the items in the quantities you wish to use. While I say this , do very well know that it is not applicable for all things. One thing that allows you to make this choice are my little pielets. You can eat 1 at a time.

Ingredients (for 8 pie-lets)
for the dough
2 cups Wheat flour/ All purpose Flour
2 tbsp butter (cold)
chilled water as needed
for the filling
2 cups blue berry filling/ any fruit filling
1 tspn nutmeg powder
2 tbsp melted butter
Method
1) For the dough, cut the butter and rub it in the flour to make a grainy flour texture. 
2) Add the water little a time to make a stiff dough.
3) Put this in refrigerator for 15-20 min.
4) Prepare the filling as instructed here. You can also fill in custard, chopped fruits.

5) Add a pinch of nutmeg powder to the filling and set aside.
6) Preheat the oven at 180c for 5 min.
7) Take the dough and roll 8 large( 6 inches) and 8 small (4 inches) discs.

8) Prepare the muffin or cup cake tray by applying some butter and flour or line it using cup cake liners. 
9)Put the large discs in each section and push them until it sticks to all sides.

10) Spoon the filling in each, fill upto 2/3 rd leaving some space for the filling to rise. while boiling.
11) Using the small disc, cover each pie. You can create basket weaving pattern if you like.
12) Make small holes to puncture the pie and for the steam to escape.
13) Repeat for all. Place the tray in the hot oven for 12-15 min.
13) Serve individually with an icecream or fresh cream

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-  Kid's Delight hosted by Edible Entertainment
- Suma's CEDD  hosted for Raven
-Ramya's ABC Desserts
- Amy's Midweek Fiesta #12 event
- Bake fest event hosted at my space for Vardhini

Blueberry filling /Berry fillings for pie

Blueberries are not a common sight in Mumbai. We have to eat these mostly in form of jam or preserve. A friend said that we get these at some places (crawford market, hypercity etc.) during fag end of monsoons. But the quality is not always up to the mark. I mean they never taste ripe and juicy, they are either tart or too powdery.
Well, I am yet to taste the fresh batch in mumbai, but in the mean time, have found a place that stocks the frozen berry's. These were stored in some thick syrupy water. 
It could have been just sugar syrup or maybe corn syrup, dont know. But if you are lucky to find fresh berries, then simply follow the recipe below to get your nicest filling ready.
Else, like me if you are working with frozen then simply reduce the sugar to 50% below and check for the corn starch as well.

Ingredients

2 cups of frozen / fresh blueberries

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup of sugar

1 tspn of lemon juice

2 tbsp corn starch

Method

1) In a heavy saucepan, mix the berries, sugar and lemon juice and let it cook until the mixture starts boiling.

2)Mix the water and corn starch together. Add this to the blueberry mixture in a steady stream.

3) Stir constantly until it reaches the desired consistency. 

4) Store it in a nice jar. 

Keeps well in  refrigerator for about 2-3 weeks.

You can also use this recipe for other berries.

Apple Crumble

I liked this when I ate it for the first time. I appreciated the taste then and now I like the fact that it is also easy to make at home.

Give it a try especially during the cold winter days. I make this often now as my little one thinks this is cake served with jam and kheer. All his favorite dishes clubbed in one.

It is very easy to make. This is often served along with cream, custard or vanilla icecream. Either ways it is good.  

Ingredients
3 Granny Smith Apples finely chopped
4-5 strawberries finely chopped
2 tbsp Raisins
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tspn cinnamon powder
2 tbsp corn flour/ All purpose flour
for the crumble
1 cup All purpose flour
1/2 cup  sugar
1/2 cup cold butter
Method
1) In the baking tray, mix the fruits, raisins , sugar and corn flour and mix well. Let it stand so the juices start oozing out. Preheat the oven at 180c for 5 min.
2) In another bowl, take the flour for crumble and butter (chopped in small pieces). Using your finger tips, rub the flour with the butter until the flour becomes bread crumbs like.
3) Now add sugar to the flour mixture.
4) Spread the crumble mixture on top of the fruits to cover the fruits, It does not need to be even.
5) Now bake this for about 15 min or until the crumble is cooked.
6) Serve hot with fresh cream or custard.

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Also Linking to
-  Kid's Delight hosted by Edible Entertainment
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- Amy's Midweek Fiesta #11 event