Oats dhokla.

There were some left over Quaker brand of oats. I needed to use them as  I hate wasting anything. I had tried oats dosas & they were not so great .So , I decided to try oats dhokla.

I googled & came across this oats dhokla recipe .I liked this version. I wanted to add some leftover besan or chana dal atta which was lying since a month in the referegerator.I googled again & got this quaker oats dhokla recipe which uses besan.

My version of oats dhokla uses besan, sooji or rava  & oats.

Ingredients : 1/2 cup curd, 1 cup oats powder, 1/2 cup rava, 1/4 cup besan, 1 green chilli finely chopped, 1 tsp grated ginger, a few curry leaves, 1 packet Eno fruit salt, 2tbsp + 1 tsp oil, 1 tsp mustard,1/4 tsp turmeric,  1/4 tsp  hing powder, 1/2 tsp unpolished white til or sesame,salt to taste.

Method : Dry roast the oats for 1-2 minutes. After they cool down, powder them.

In a bowl, add rava, besan & powdered oats, salt, 1 tbsp oil, 1 finely chopped green chilli, grated ginger & dahi. Mix all nicely. Add water to get a thick batter. It must have drop down consistency like idli batter.Keep aside for at least 1 hour. I kept it for nearly two hours as in the quaker oats dhokla , the soaking time for batter is written as 1 hour. In the other oats dhokla recipe , soaking time is less than half an hour. I wanted to be sure that the rava , besan & oats have soaked up really well & so soaked for a longer time.

After two hours, put on the steamer or cooker with water to steam. Grease a plate with oil. Keep aside. Mix Eno salt of a packet with 1-2  tbsp water . It will start bubbling up. Mix this bubbling Eno water mixture to the dhokla batter & pour it immediately into the greased plate. Keep the greased plate on atsnd in the midst of steaming water in cooker. Close the cooker lid ( without whistle ) & steam for 10-15 minutes or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

For the tadka, heat 1 tbsp oil. Add mustard seeds. When they pop up, add sesame seeds,  curry leaves. Put off gas. Add hing powder & haldi to the tadka. Mix tadka nicely. Pour it over the dhokla cake & spread the tadka all over the dhokla  cake.

Cut the dhokla cake into desired shapes & serve with chutni or as it is.

I was too hasty in cutting the dhokla & so the edges cut out roughly as can be seen from the snap. Yet, it was fluffy & tasty !!!!

I have added haldi to tadka. Haldi is optional. If you like more chillies or more ginger, that can be adjusted as per taste or choice. It goes without saying that any brand of oats can be used.

Vegan chocolate cake.

I wanted to make a chocolate cake after my friend posted her vegan chocolate cake on whatsapp.Her recipe used warm water & vinegar.I googled & came across this vegan chocolate cake recipe using applesauce. I thought, this was a brilliant idea to sneak in an apple into the cake !

I have posted an eggless chocolate cake which was baked in microwave, earlier on the blog.

I made just an alteration or two & my cake turned out super ! Except that it hardly tasted sweet.Because ,I used jaggery sugar & white sugar in 1 :1 ratio.So , I sprinkled powdered sugar on the cake & then rubbed fingers all over the sprinkled sugar.so it looks as if it is smeared over the cake.

Ingredients : 1 cup whole wheat atta, 1 tbsp maida ( In the original recipe,there was corn starch .I googled to learn that corn starch could be replaced by flour, flax seed meal etal ) ,1/2 cup sugar ( I used part jaggery sugar & part white sugar  as jaggery sugar got over) , 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/2 tsp Coffee powder, 1 tsp baking soda,1/3 cup apple sauce, 1/2 to 1  cup warm water ,a pinch of salt.

Method  Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade.

Meanwhile as oven pre heats, mix all dry ingredients that is whole wheat flour, maida,sugar, cocoa powder, coffee powder, 1 tsp baking soda & salt. Mix all ingredients many times over so that all are thoroughly mixed with each other. Keep aside.

Cut an apple into 4-5 pieces.Deseed them.Pressure cook to 1 whistle. Cool. Deskin the apple pieces & mash them up.This mashed up apple mix is unsweetened applesauce.

Make a well in the dry ingredients mix.Add the apple sauce & mix thoroughly.I found that applesauce was less. The batter was dry...in fact not all flour had got wet even.So , I warmed some water & added to dry ingredients applesauce mix till I got a cake batter. Add water drop by drop or rather spoonful by spoonful.Add water carefully so that the batter does not get runny. If apple sauce amount is enough for cake batter , then ,there is no need to add warm water. Cake batter must have idli batter like consistency.

Take a bake able dish & line the insides of the dish with butter paper. Pour the batter into the vessel on the butter paper. Bake in oven at 180 degrees centigrade for 30-40 minutes. My cake was baked in 30 minutes.

Do the toothpick test. If toothpick comes out wet, bake in microwave mode for 2 minutes. Let it cool for 10 minutes.Take out the cake & cool outside oven for 15-20 minutes. Cut into desired shapes & serve.

My cake was not sweet at all....so please add more sugar.If adding white sugar, maybe a little more than 1/2 cup sugar would suffice.In case brown sugar or jaggery sugar is used, 3/4 cup sugar may be needed. I think ,even amount of coffee powder should be reduced .Maybe 1/4 tsp coffee powder can be used. Coffee powder can be skipped as some recipes use it & some recipes don't.

Apple sauce cake

I have been thinking of getting back into baking since long. Yet ,with the Microwave convection oven that I have , I had failed many times.Sometimes, the baking soda & baking powder were not up to the mark.At other times, I had forgotten to pre heat the oven.This time around,I wanted to be careful as I baked the convection way.

I looked at cakes using applesauce, flaxseed & wholewheat flour.I did come across a few recipes using wholewheat flour, applesauce ,flaxseed etal.Yet,they used just one or two ingredients.So ,instead of atta, maida was used,I wanted to avoid it. Hence, used my experience & made my version of cake.

Ingredients : 1 cup wholewheat flour, 1 cup homemade applesauce,1/3 cup brown sugar, 1  tbsp flaxseed powder , 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, ,a pinch of salt, optional :some streusel topping

Method : Cut 2 apples into 4 pieces each.Pressure cook them up to 3 whistles.Let the cooker cool.Take out the apple pieces. Depeel & deseed them.Alternatively , the apples can be de seeded & de peeled before pressure cooking them.Make pureee of the cooked apple pieces in mixer. Keep aside. Soak 1tbsp flaxseed powder in 3 tbsp water for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile mix atta with baking , powder & baking soda nicely with a whisk many times.Add brown sugar & salt.Mix thoroughly again.

Mix flaxseed water mix with applesauce.nicely.Pour this mix into the atta sugar baking powder soda mixture. Mix such that no lumps remain. Line a baking dish with butter paper. Pour this cake mix into the dish over the butter paper. Sprinkle  top of cake mix with  streusel topping .Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Bake  in preheated oven at 180 degrees for 30-40 minutes or till a knife poked into cake comes out clean. If ,bottom of cake feels moist, bake in microwave mode for 3-4 minutes.

Cool.Put cake upside down .Cut into desired shapes .

The cake was very moist & dense. Next time around,while using flaxseed meal ,less flour needs to be used. I had streusel topping at home.It was leftover topping of ready made muffin mix. Powdered sugar can be sprinkled as a topping on cake or even shrikhand can be smeared as a topping ! This cake was just aptly sweet.Brown sugar is less sweeter than white sugar.

Masala peanuts.

I attended microwave cooking demo class this week.The chef taught masala peanuts .It was simply amazing as this recipes makes no use of oil.And as far as I know ,this is deep fried snack.I knew that I had to try this.

I tweaked the recipe as the chef had used water .I used chaas,The chef had omitted use of ajwain or carom seeds.I added that as well.

Ingredients : 1 cup peanuts, 1/4 cup besan ,1/4 cup chaas ( not very thin ) ,1/4 tsp ajwain ,1/2 tsp red chilli powder,1/4 tsp haldi,1/4 tsp hing,salt to taste.

Method : Mix all ingredients nicely.If you feel the mix is too dry,add some more chaas or drop by drop water.Mix.

Take a microwaveable vessel.Put the mix in that.Turn on the microwave at full power.Put timer for 5 minutes.Keep the microwaveable vessel with mix in microwave.Turn on microwave.After 1 minute,press pause button.Take out the vessel & with aspoon try to seperate out all peanuts from each other.They would be sticking in bunches.Again keep in microwave for 1 minute.Puase.Take out & try to separate out bunches.Repeat this till 5 minutes get over .By the end of this ,the vessel will be in & out 5 times.Put off microwave.Take out the vessel.Let it cool for 5 minutes.Take a peanut & taste.It will be crisp & crunchy.If it i soft ,keep vessel in microwave on full power for 1 more minute.Put off microwave.

The snack was just apt for my consumption .My mom who eats less salt now said it was a tad bit salty.My friend said that more red chilli & ajwain could have been added.Accordingly ,more chilli powder n ajwain can be added.Same for salt.

Moong sprouts salad

Sprouts are said to be super foods.And so ,I decided to include sprouts in my food at least on some days.

Moong sprouts : Soak whole moong in water for 4-5 hours.Then drain the water & use the sprout maker to get moong sprouts,the next day.In the alternative use a thin cotton cloth to grow sprouts.Tie the drain moong into a clean cloth .Leave it over night.Next day ,moong will have sprouted.Keep sprinkling the cloth with water drops every 2-3 hours.In winter,sprouting may be slow as compared to summers.

I soaked 1/4 cup whole moong to get sprouts which I used in this salad.Trust me ,it makes 1 whole cup of salad.

Ingredients : 1/4 cup   grated  carrot,1/4 cup grated cucumber,1/4 cup finely chopped onions,1 tsp lemon juice,moong sprouts ( 1/4 cup moong soaked & sprouted ) ,1/4 tsp grated  ginger, 1 green chilli finely chopped ( optional ) salt to taste.

Method : Mix all grated veggies & sprouts.Add salt & lemon juice & mix nicely.Add green chillies if that is needed.The salad is ready !

Actually,even grated  beetroot can be added.Even red, yellow bell peppers,shredded cabbage,etal.The possibilities are endless !

Vegan carrot cake

I am upbeat about baking cakes more than ever before because I have brought this microwave convection oven.I am dreaming about how perfectly browned my cakes will turn out !

I had quite a few carrots in my refrigerator & thought about making  a carrot  cake. This time ,I wanted to go vegan.Hence no curds or yoghurt.I decided to use apple sauce  as also apple cider vinegar to be the egg replacers in my vegan cake.

Ingredients : 3/4 cup multi grain atta ( Aashirwad or Pillsburry or any brand ) ,1/4 cup whole wheat flour,1/2 cup (tightly  packed)  grated carrot , 1/3 cup apple sauce,1tbsp apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup oil,1/2 cup brown sugar,1/2 tsp baking soda,1/2 tsp baking powder,1/4 tsp cinnamon,salt to taste.

Method : Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade.

I ran out of multigrain atta when I started measuring it out.So ,I added 1/4 cup whole wheat flour to 3/4 cup multigrain atta.To this flour add,brown sugar,baking powder & soda,salt & cinnamon.Mix it nicely with  whisk many times.This will help in getting a thoroughly mixed cake flour.Keep aside.

I made apple sauce by pressure cooking a diced apple till 1 whistle.When ,the cooker cools,take out the diced apple.Peel off skin & puree the apple or it can be simple mashed.Keep aside.

Mix oil,apple cider vinegar ,apple sauce & grated carrot in a vessel.Mix all nicely.Pour this mixture into a well made in the cake flour mix kept aside.Fold the wet & the dry mixes so that no lumps remain.If need be ,some water can be added.The cake batter is ready.

Line a baking vessel ( preferably glass or silicone ) with butter paper.Pour the batter on butter paper into the baking vessel.Bake in microwave convection mode at 180 degrees centigrade for 35-40 minutes.

Then put off the oven.Test with fork or knidfe.If the fork or knife comes out clean ,cake is done.Otherwise,bake for five more minutes.

THen put off oven.Let it cool in oven for 10-15 minutes.Take it out from oven.Let it cool outside oven for another 15 minutes.Put the baking vessel upside down on to a large plate.The cake will drop down on it.Peel the butter paper off the cake.Cut the cake into desired pieces & serve.

I used brown sugar.If while sugar is being used,a lesser amount would do.Brown sugar is unrefined & tends to have less sweetness.

My cake was breaking on the top...that is its crust was cracking up on the top.And I felt, that it was done.I put off the oven at 35 minutes.My cake was moist when it was cut .Spongy too.Yet,the next day,it was soggy.So ,next time around,I am going to bake it for 40 minutes.

I received a compliment too for this cake from my neighbour.She commented ,"Your cakes are getting better ."

Capsicum,carrot ,onion salad

I have been eating cooked food...I was craving for something raw ...raw carrots,etc.So decided to make a salad with whatever veggies I had at home.

Ingredients : 1 medium sized onion roughly chopped,1/2 capsicum roughly chopped & 1 small carrot cut into thin slices, 1/4 tsp chaat masala,1/2 tsp lemon juice,rock salt to taste.

Method : Mix all the chopped onion & capsicum pieces.Add the thinly sliced carrot pieces.Mix nicely.Add chaat masala powder followed by salt.Mix nicely so that  chaat masala & salt gets nicely blended with the veggies.Add lemon juice & blend it by tossing all the veggies.The oil free sald is ready !

Serve with pulao or rotis or eat it just like that !

Any salt can be used.If more spices are needed ,they can be added.I like mine with just a minimum of spices.Instead of chaat masla ,roasted pepper & jeera powder can  both be added.More raw veggies can be added.I prefer lemon juice instead of raw tomatoes.The possibilities are endless !And this salad can be eaten as a snack  by itself !

Methi cabbage onion salad

The other day ,my mom made this yummy salad ! It has just a few ingredients & tastes superb ! It gets ready in no time at all !

Ingredients :  1 cup methi leaves,cleaned & roughly chopped,1/3 cup  & cleaned finely chopped cabbage,1/3 cup finely chopped onion,1/2 lemon, salt to taste.

Method : Put all chopped veggies in a bowl.Squeeze lemon juice of half a lemon on to the veggie mix.Add salt to taste.Mix all nicely.the fresh salad is ready !

Tip : If the juice of half a lemon is too tangy,less can be added.

Laapsi porridge

This is a healthy dish as it has no milk .It can be called a water payasam.My mom makes this once in awhile for breakfast.It is quick & easy.Ingredients are few.

Ingredients : 1 cup laapsi rawa( use finer variety as it will cook faster ) ,1 tbsp ghee( optional ) ,1 cup jaggery, 1 /2 tsp cardamom powder,a few dry fruits  chopped  to garnish.

Method : Take a thick bottomed kadhai.Put the laapsi  & 3 cups  water in it.Mix nicely.Warm the kadhai by putting the gas on.Keep stirring with a spoon so that it does not stick to bottom.Always keep gas burner on slow mode.Slowly laapsi will get cooked.After 15 minutes or so add jaggery & mix nicely.Slowly jaggery will melt due to the heat.After Keep stirring with spoon so that no lumps of jaggery remain.After 10 minutes,all will have got alight brown colour.If you feel that it is very thick,add some water & mix nicely.Let it simmer for some more time.Put off gas.Add cardamom powder & mix nicely.Serve in bowls.Garnish with grated dry fruits like almonds ,cashews etc.

Add a tsp of spoon on the top if desired. If no ghee is added,this is a vegan dish.

Carrot salad

My mom is very partial to this salad or gajri ( Kannada for carrot ) kosambri ( salad ).Only a seasoning has to be added to grated carrots along with salt & it is ready ! Amma makes this as an accompaniment to methi theplas.

Ingredients : 3 medium sized carrots...peeled & grated,1 tbsp oil,1/4 tsp cumin,1/4 tsp mustard,1/8 tsp haldi,1/4 tsp hing,1 byadgi red chilli broken into 2-3 pieces,1 green chilli finely chopped, a few curry leaves,salt to taste.

For garnish : 2  tbsp cleaned,washed & chopped coriander leaves,2 tbsp fresh grated coconut( optional ).

Method : Take a kadhai & heat oil.Add mustard seeds.After mustard seeds pop up ,add cumin followed by urad dal.As urda dla turns golden brown in colour,add curry leaves & green chilli pieces.Put off gas.Add byadgi mirchi.Add hing & haldi.Mix all this with a spoon.Add this to grated carrots in a bowl.Mix nicely Add salt.Mix nicely so that salt gets evenly distributed.

Garnish with chopped dhania & fresh coconut.Serve with methi theplas and or any pulao,biryani, et al  !

Rasgullas

I simply love rasgullas ! Recently I learnt that rasgullas are full of protein ! Hence ,I am elated.Moreover ,the rasgulla syrup is less dense in sugar than that of gulabjamuns ! So many positive points ! No oil is used in making rasgullas ! So fat free,low sugar & protein rich !

I searched for recipes & came across two which I combined & made rasgullas.The two recipes I picked up are rasgulla recipe at LiteBite   & Divya's rasgulla recipe These  recipes are so easy that my love for rasgullas has multiplied many times over !

Ingredients : 1/2 litre low fat milk ( I get Amul Taaza Milky Milk with 3 % fat minimum & S.N.F.8.5% minimum ),1/2 cup sugar,2 -3 tbsp dahi,1/2 tsp cardamom powder( optional ), 1 tsp ghee to grease palms to make rasgulla loddoos.

Method :Open the milk packet & pour the milk into the container.Boil the milk.After it has boiled,slow the burner to sim or slow.Now add 2-3 tbsp dahi & keep stirring the milk.Milk will start curdling.Let it continue.Keep stirring & simmering the milk on the gas for 10 minutes.Switch off the gas.By this time ,the clear water ( whey ) of the milk & milk solids would have seperated.

Collect the milk solids onto a thin & large  cotton cloth piece.Collect all the milk solids on to the cloth.Then tie up the loose ends of the cloth into a knot tightly.This is to squeeze out all the remaining water from the milk solids. Hang the cloth from a hook .Better on the cloth knot,put some vessel which has weight so that it helps in squeezing out water.Rub some ice on the part of the cloth which contains the milk solids.Keep rubbing ice for 5 minutes.Keep aside the milk solids in the cloth knot for half an hour.

After half an hour,remove the milk solids which would have formed a mass of white colour from the cloth.This is cottage cheese or channa. Knead this mass nicely for about ten minutes till no lumps remain.It will become very soft after kneading for 10 minutes.Apply a little ghee to the palms & make small balls out of the channa. Repeat the process to make more balls till all channa gets over.Keep aside.

In a vessel take 1/2 cup sugar.Add 1 cup water .Boil till, all sugar dissolves. Cardammom powder can be added while it is boiling.Put off the gas.

Drop the channa balls into the sugar syrup.Take a pressure cooker & put the vessel containing channa balls in sugar syrup in the cooker.Pressure cook till 1 whistle.Then lower the gas & cook for 5 minutes on slow .Put off the gas.I released the pressure after this step by slowly lifting the whistle .Then after the cooker's whistle almost went away,I removed the whistle.

Then remove the lid of pressure cooker.Take out the vessel containing rasgullas & keep it in a bigger vessel containing some water to cool off.

After an hour or so ,one can relish the rasgullas !

Next time on ,I am just going to let the cooker cool on its own, without releasing the pressure by lifting up the whistle.It is so much effort ! Maybe ,rasgullas will become more juicy ,then !

Raw banana cutlets

Yesterday was Mother's day.I decided to make a nashta of raw banana cutlets for my mom & dad !

Ingredients : 3 raw bananas,2 medium carrots, a few kadi pattas ( curry leaves), 1 tbsp finely chopped hara dhania, 2 slices of brown bread ( even white bread is fine ) 1 tsp flax seed powder ( optional ),1 tsp finely chopped green chillies ( or use 1 tsp red chilli powder), 1 tbsp lemon juice ( in summers,1 tsp grated raw mango can be used ),1/4 tsp tureric,1/4 tsp hing, 2 tbsp oil,salt to taste.


Method : Clean & grate the carrots.Keep aside.Finely chop the kadi pattas after washing them.Mix them with the garted carrots,chopped green chillies & chopped coriander.Keep aside.

Pressure cook the raw bananas for 3 whistles.Let it cool.

Meanwhile crumble the bread slices into fine grainy powder in mixer.Roughly cut green chillies,kadi pattascorainder can be added to this in the mixer along with roughly broken bread slices to get an evenly mixed bread chilli-corainder-kadi patta mix !

Mix this bread crumble with grated carrots-chilli-corainder-kadi patta mix.Add salt ,lemon juice ( or grated raw mango ) ,flax seed powder,haldi & hing.Mix nicely.Keep aside. Peel the raw bananas & mash them.The mashed raw bananas are very dry.Mix the mashed bananas with the bread carrot mix.It is a going to be a very dry mix.A little water or curds can be added to make for a wet dough.I went along with the dry dough.

Grease palms with little oil & take a small amount of dough & pat it into a circular shape like a pedha though a bigger pedha.Repeat with the remaining dough & make circular pedhas.I made some 12 pedhas with the dough.

Warm a tawa on the gas.Smear the taw a with oil.Transfer the pedhas 5-6 at a time on to the tawa.Cover with lid.Let it cook for 5 minutes.Uncover & flip the pedhas over .They will hav e browned on the bottoms.Cover & cook for 2-3 minutes.Take them off from the tawa. They should have burned  brown a little or turned golden brown on the other side as well.If not ,cook for a minute more.

Now cook the remaining pedhas likewise.Serve with ketchup or any chutni of your choice !

Mixed vegetables poha

Poha is my favourite breakfast & snack.I can eat it daily.It gets ready in no time & it is very tasty & light.

Ingredients : 1 cup thick poha ( zada poha), 1 tbsp oil,1/2 tsp grated ginger, 1 small onion ,1 small capsicum,1 small tomato, 1 small potato,1-2 green chillies finely chopped,1/2 tsp urad dal,1/2 tsp mustard seeds,1/4 tsp hing,1/4 tsp haldi, a few curry leaves, salt to taste.

Method :Wash the poha 3 times in water so that all dirt goes away.Strain the water.Sprinkle some salt & haldi on the poha & mix.This is to assist in mixing of haldi & salt with the poha.Keep aside.

In a kadhai ,take 1 tbsp oil.Heat it up.Add mustard seeds.When muster seeds splutter,add urad dal.After the urad dal turns golden brown,add onions ,curry leaves  & grated ginger.Cover kadhai with a lid & let it cook for 2-3  minutes.Uncover lid .Add thin slices of potatoes ,haldi & hing.Cover with alid & cook.After this has cooked for 7-8 minutes,add capsicum.Mix.Cover with lid & let it cook for 2-3 minutes.Uncover lid & add tomatoes.Mix.Cover with lid & let it cook for 2-3 minutes.Uncover lid.Add salt -remember some salt has been added to poha earlier.Add the washed poha to the kadhai & mix so that all veggies are nicely mixed with poha.Cover with lid & cook for another 2 minutes.Put off the gas.After five minutes,remove lid & serve poha in bowls or plates -garnished with fresh chopped dhania and or fresh grated coconut.

Tip : If tomatoes are not liked,a piece of lemon can be squeezed before serving poha - not while it is getting cooked.Tomato or lemon gives a tangy taste to poha. Boiled peas can be added to poha while it is being cooked.

Carrot Tomato soup

I add carrots to many dishes- upma,vermicelli upma,pav bhaji,bread pizza,etal.I add carrots to gravies of chhole,rajma & other lentils as I feel carrots blend nicely with tomatoes.Moreover ,my daughter would eat carrots smuggled into the dishes which otherwise she would not.

Ingredients : 2 medium sized tomatoes,1 medium onion( optional ) ,1 small carrot,1/2 tsp pepper powder,1/2 inch grated ginger ,fresh coriander-a few sprigs, salt to taste.

Method : Chop tomatoes,onion & carrot into big chunks.Pressure cook them all.After the pressure cooked veggies cool to room temperature,blend all of them in a mixer or blender.

Take the blended paste or liquid into a thick bottomed vessel.Add water to make it thin -of soup consistency. Add grated ginger.Boil the liquid.Add salt & pepper powder.Mix properly.Take off the vessel from gas.

Serve in bowls -garnished with fresh coriander which has been cleaned,washed & chopped.

Mango peach salsa with a twist.

I came across this easy salsa @ http://anjali-cooklog.blogspot.in/2012/05/desi-chatpata-mango-salsa.html

As I had some peaches & mangoes at home,I decided to make my own version of  salsa inspired by the desi salsa of Anjali.

Ingredients : 1 small ripe mango ( I had Neelam mango -any sweet mango can be used ),1 peach,1 tomato ,2-3 spring onion bulbs ( since I had them -I used them -ordinary onions can also be used ),1/4 tsp pepper powder,1/4tsp jeera powder, 1 tbsp thin sev ( used to garnish bhel puri,sev puri etc ),salt  to taste.

Method :Peel the mango & peach.For peach ,put the peach in lukewarm water & let it remain in water for 10 minutes.This will help in peeling peach.

Cut the mango ,peach,tomato & onions into 1/2 inch pieces.Mix all the cut veggies.Sprinkle pepper & jeera powder.Add salt to taste & mix all together.Now garnish with sev & serve.

It tasted awesome ! I added lots of sev after I had taken this snap & devoured it ! I did not have any chips or papad handy to accompany the salsa.Hence, added sev generously & gobbled it up !

Tips : One can add boiled potatoes,boiled mung or chana as well.One can add cucumbers, radishes,carrots also.One can add red chilli powder or chilli flakes ,oregano etc.It was tangy enough for me -the peach being on the sour side.Mango provided the sweetness,pepper provided pungent flavours.Even lemon juice  can be added to make it more  tangy.Honey can be added for extra sweetness.The options are unlimited !

This is very healthy & full of fibre.What more can I ask for ? !

Soya cutlets with peanuts powder.

I had some soya chunks & did not find any use for them.I chanced upon this recipe @http://www.sharmispassions.com/2012/01/soya-chunks-cutlet-recipe.html.I wanted to try this out.I tried & they turned out quite nicely.I rolled the cutlets on peanut powder & put them on non stick tawa.The peanut powder release oil & the cutlets got cooked !I had read about this peanut powder technique in an interview by a nutritionist ,Ms.Venkat.

Ingredients : 3/4 cup soya chunks,2 medium sized poataoes,1 small carrot ,1 green chilli,1 sprig of curry leaves,1/2 inch ginger,1/2 tsp dhana jeera powder,1/4 tsp red chilli powder,1/4 tsp hing,1/4 tsp haldi,1 tsp lemon juice,salt to taste,4-5 tbsp peanut powder,1-2 tsp oil for greasing hands to make cutlets.

Method : Pressure cook potatoes & peel them.Keep aside.Pressure cook soya chunks for 1 whistle with 1 cup water.After cooling them a bit outside the pressure cooker,squeeze the soya chunks to remove excess water.Grate carrot & ginger.Chop finely the green chilly & curry leaves.

Mash potatoes,soya chunks nicely & mix.Add haldi,hing, finely chopped green chilly, grated ginger,carrot & thoroughly mix them.Now add lemon juice,red chilli powder ,dhana jeera powder & mix nicely.It will become a unified mass.

Grease hands with little oil & take abll of the mass & pat it into flat shape - round or oval.Roll it in peanut powder such that it is coated on all sides with it.Put it on a non stick tawa & shallow fry it.After 2-3 minutes ,turn it upside down & shallow fry on the other side.

Repeat till all the mass of potatoes,soya mix gets over.I was able to make 15-20 small cutlets.I liked the taste.

After pressure cooking soya chunks ,please run water on soya chunks to get rid of soya taste as per Sharmi of Sharmis Passions.

Eggless Pear Upside down cake

I wanted to make this cake from the day I glanced at  gluten free version of pear cake on  "My diverse kitchen" .I finally brought one single pear & made this cake a week ago.It turned out too good to my surprise !

I was inspired by http://priyaeasyntastyrecipes.blogspot.in/2011/01/eggless-pear-oats-upside-down-cake.html

I changed the recipe a bit.

Ingredients : 1/4 cup jowar atta,1/4 cup raagi atta,1/4 cup oats,a little less than 1/4 cup maida & another little less than 1/4 cup corn flour,1/2 tsp baking soda,1/2 tsp baking powder,a pinch of salt,1/2-3/4 cup jaggery sugar ( I have given this amount as little more than 1/2 cup was enough for my taste),1/2 cup dahi or curds,1/2 cup boiled water,1/4 cup oil,2tsp vinegar ( I used simple colouless vinegar as I don't have apple cider vinegar).

Method : Mix all the dry flours together in a bowl.Add baking soda ,baking powder & salt to the flour mix & mix nicely with spoon or fork many times.Keep aside.

Mix curds,oil,vinegar & sugar in another bowl..Dissolve sugar so that no lumps of sugar remain.Make aeell in the flour mix & pour the liquid mix of oil,vinegar & curds.Mix nicely.Now add boiled water till no lumps remain & a drop down consistency batter is obtained.Keep aside.

Take a microwaveable vessel & line it with butter paper.Place thinly cut slices of pear on the butter paper in any pattern that you like.Pour the batter over the pear slices.Bake in microwave for 8-9 minutes.My cake came out perfect in 8.5 minutes.

Let it cool in microwave for 10 minutes.Then take out the cake & let it cool for 15 minutes.Then put the microwaveable vessel with cake upside down on to a plate.The cake will drop down on plate.Check if the cake has cooled. Then cut into desired pieces &  serve.

My cake was little crumbly -so next time around ,I will put only 1 tbsp of corn atta.

Bread Pizza

This is a recipe, which was shared by a friend.My daughter insists that I make this each time ,we buy the bread.My daughter calls this Bread pizza.

Ingredients : 6 slices of bread ( brown or white ),1 medium potatoes, 1 small carrot,1/2  capsicum ,1 small onion,1 tbsp semolina or rava,1 small green chilly,1tsp lemon juice,1 tsp garam masala powder, 1/4 inch grated ginger,1/4 tsp haldi,1/4 tsp hing,2 tbsp oil ,salt to taste.

Method : Boil the potato & peel the skins.Mash the boiled potatoes.Add rava, to the mashed potato & mix.Keep aside.Grate carrot & onion.Finely chop the hari mirchi & capsicum.Add all these grated veggies along with grated ginger & capsicum &  green chilli to the potato rava mixture.Mix nicely.Add lemon juice.Add haldi,hing,garam masala & salt to the mixture & mix nicely with hands.Let no lumps remain.

Take a tawa & spead oil on it.Put on the gas.

Take a bread slice &  scoop out a spoonful of the potato-veggie rava mix & spread it on the bread slice on 1 side.Take another spoonful & spread on the same side till the side of bread is fully covered with the potato veggie rava paste.Now put the bare side bread slice on the tawa. After 1-2 minutes,turn the bread slice upside down.The bare side of the bread slice would have browned.After 2 minutes,take off the bread slice from the tawa. as the rava bata paste side would hav browned a little.Similarly make snacks with remaining bread slices.

Put one bread snack on another slice with pasted side up.Cut two slices together into four pieces each.Serve with ketchup or sauce. 

Lapsi upma

Lapsi is being increasingly used nowadays as it is more healthy than Bombay rava or semolina .I make upma from lapsi rava of finer variety.I buy lapsi rava & lightly dry roast till it changes colour slightly.Then I let it cool & put it away in air tight box.Whenever I have to make upma,I use this roasted lapsi so that I need not dry roast it at that time.It saves my time.

Ingredients :1 cup lapsi rava,3 cups  water , 1/4 -1/3 cup finely chopped cabbage ,1 capsicum- diced,1 carrot finely diced,2 tbsp peas,1-2 hari mirchi diced,1tsp grated ginger,1 red chilly,1 sprig kadi patta leaves,1 tsp urad dal,1tsp mustard seeds,1/4 tsp hing,2 tbsp oil,salt to taste.Fresh corainder & fresh dessicated coconut for garnish.

Method :Keep water for boiling, on gas in a container.On another gas burner ,take a kadhai with  oil & as it warms up ,put mustard seeds.When they splutter, add urad dal.They will turn golden brown.Add red chill & then all the veggies including hari mirchi & grated ginger .Roast in oil for 2-3 minutes.Then add lapsi rava.Roast it for 2 minutes along with veggies.Add the boiling water to this lapsi veggie mix .Add salt & mix everything.Cover with lid & cook .After 5 minutes,check, to see if all water has been absorbed.Mix with ladle .If the water has been fully absorbed,please put off gas.If not, keep cooking, covered with lid, till water is absorbed.

Garnish with fresh coriander & coconut when you serve.

Tips : Upma is my hubby's favorite breakfast & as he is off onions,I use only capsicums,carrots, cabbage  & peas in season.Only 2 vegetables or even 1 vegetable can be used as per ease, convenience or availability.One can add potatoes also.

Peas can be seperately boiled in water so that they are nicely cooked before adding to upma.One can also use diluted chaas to upma to give tanginess.Accordingly ,reduce the amount of water to be added.Alternatively, a piece of lemon, can be squeezed just before serving.

Basket puri -a recipe.

I prepared this today-got basket puris from a local grocery store.One packet has as many as 40-50 basket puris.

For 10 basket puris ingredients needed are- one small bowl chana,one medium sized onion,100gm sev ( from your local bhel wala or any namkeen sev).

For imli chutni-a small  cherry sized  ball of tamarind,two dates soaked in water,red chilli powder(this is optional-it can be avoided) quarter tea spoon & salt to taste.

 I pressure cooked  some brown chana .Got bhujia sev ( Haldi ram's),cut onions finely.

I also boiled some imli ( tamarind) in cooker.Then squeezed the imli pulp & strained it.I added date jam ( dates can be soaked in water & then added as well ).Then ,I added salt as also red chilli powder.Then I boiled this mixture to get a sweet sour chutni.The consistency of the chutni must be like that of a paste. This is as per Tarla Dalal recipe for chaat chutni.Another option is to boil dates,imli & add a small piece of  crushed sunt (   dried ginger ) with salt added to get chutni.You can use jaggery also if you so desire instead of dates.If you don't want a spicy chaat chutni you need not add red chilli powder.

Now,I arranged some boiled chana in the basket puri,then the bhujia sev followed by onions,followed by the chaat chutni.I found that my chutni had become too spicy as I seemed to have added more of red chilli powder.So I added little curd on top of all this to neutralise the spiciness.

Chana is the protein source ,curd provides calcium,onion gives minerals &  sev is again besan -so protein.Dates & imli give you iron.So quite a healthy &  tasty snack.