Tomato Gojju

One of the food blogs that I  follow is Saffron Trail by Nandita Iyer.She is  a doctor by profession. The other day, she had posted tomato gojju recipe.I was tempted top make it as shes stated that this recipe is from Karnataka.I did make the recipe after asking my mom for the recipe.

The recipe became possible as there were quite a few small ( lemon sized ) tomatoes in the refrigerator.

Ingredients : 5/6 tomatoes  chopped  roughly, 1 tbsp chickpea flour or besan 1 tbsp oil, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds,1/ 4 tsp fenugreek or methi seeds,   1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp hing, 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1-2 byadgi mirchi broken into 2-3 pieces each, 1-2  green chillies chopped,  a few curry leaves, 1 tsp jaggery, optional : 1 tsp or less of sambar or rasam powder or any everyday curry powder ( being used for making daily vegetable ) , salt to taste.

Method : Heat oil in a kdahai.Add mustard seeds.After they splutter add methi seeds.After they pop up , add jeera.Next add curry leaves & byadgi mirchi followed by turmeric & hing.Add tomatoes & mix all ingredients in kadhai.Keep cooking on slow gas flame. After 10-15 minutes, tomatoes will become mushy.Take care that the tomatoes do not stick to kadhai bottom.Add salt  to taste.This will make tomatoes all the more mushy. Add jaggery. Mix nicely.After five minutes, add the curry powder or sambar or rasam powder or combination of all three powders . Mix. Take 1tbsp besan & mix it with little water & make apste with no lumps in it.Add it to tomato spice mix in the kadhai constantly mixing with the spoon as it is being added to the kadhai. Keep stirring the spoon in the kadhai till the besan paste has become one with the tomato spice mix.Add more water if consistency is too thick. Bring the mix to a boil Put off gas. Serve with rotis and or rice.


This is  very tangy dish.And very easy & quick dish to make.Besan is added to make it thick.In other versions, soaked chana dal- tur dal mix is ground with coconut to make the gojju thick in place of besan.

I added more curry leaves as I had many of them in stock. One can add more chillies and even more curry powder as per  taste.Or it can be without curry powder .Or it can be with curry powder & no green chillies. Instead red chilli powder can be used.

Date oats energy bars or cake ? !

I wanted to use date paste which has been in my freezer.I thought, why not try some energy bars. I googled & liked this recipe of banana oats bars.And yet,I felt, that it became a cake .Rather, I would love to, hear, what you, my readers, think about this recipe ? Is it a cake or an energy bar  ?  You decide & comment.

Ingredients : 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup atta or whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup jaggery sugar, 1/4 cup maida, 1/2 cup date paste ( 1/3  cup tightly dates which have been soaked in water can be pureed & 1/2 cup of this paste can be used),  1/4 cup apple sauce, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, a pinch of salt,1tbsp unpolished white seasame seeds or til,  1/4 cup toasted walnuts ( toasted them in microwave by breaking them into smaller bits & warming them on high power for 1 minutes...repeated this  5-6 times ), 2 tbsp oil , water to adjust batter consistency.

Method : Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade for 10 minutes.

Mix all dry ingredients ...that is mix atta, oats, maida, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon Mix all these with afork or whisk many times over so that al;l become one. Keep aside.

Mix all wet ingredients  that is date paste, oil & apple sauce.I had to sue mixer to mix all these as date paste is very thick & does not blend easily by spoon or whisk etc.Add jaggery sugar.Jaggery sugar is added to wet mix as it is quite moist & it will make fruit paste like applesauce exude water. All this helps in making batter easily.

Make well in dry mix & put in the wet mix. Mix nicely. Since the wet mix was insufficient to get a batter, I added water ( nearly 1/2 cup ) .Mix all nicely to get a batter.Add the roasted walnut bits into the batter mix nicely.Add 1/2 tbsp seasame seeds.

Take baking vessel & line it on the inside with butter paper. Pour the cake batter into the baking vessel on the butter paper. Sprinkle top of the batter thus et in the baking vessel with the remaining 1/2 tbsp sesame seeds. Bake in oven at 180 degrees for half an hour .Insert atoothpick to check if cake ids done. Otherwise bake for 5-10 minutes more.

As has become my habit, I bake in microwave mode for 10 minutes after the convection baking time is over for any cake or bread recipe. Put off oven.Let it cool./Cool cake outside for more than half an hour. Put it upside down on a plate. Remove the butter paper sticking to the bottom of cake .Cut into desired pieces & distribute to  your loved ones !

The cake or energy bars were delicious. All loved them. I used Quaker brand oats as it is.I did not powder them even a bit.The dater paste remained in lumps n it showed up when slices of the cake or energy bar was cut .That gave it a lovely shaded  texture as well !

Khandvi

Khandvi , a popular dish from Gujarat is something that just melts in the mouth. It can simply be gulped down. Its that tasty !

I made this today, under my mother's supervision & control.I had made it earlier sans her supervision.

Ingredients : 3/4 cup besan , 3 cups chaas ( yoghurt diluted with water ) , 2 tbsp oil, 1/4 tsp haldi, 1/4 tsp  hing,1/4 cup ( loosely packed ) cleaned &  chopped fresh coriander, 1/4 cup ( loosely packed ) fresh dessicated coconut, 2/3 finely chopped green chillies , 1 tsp grated ginger, a few curry leaves, 1tsp white unpolished til seeds, 1/2 tsp jeera,1/2 tsp mustard ,salt to taste.

Method : Mix the besan & chaas slowly in a vessel so that no lumps remain. .Add oil, grated ginger, chillies,haldi , hing, 1 tbsp oil & salt to taste. Mix all ingredients nicely.

Put this mixture into a kadhai & put it on gas stove. My mom told me ,gas stove must be on high flame. Start stirring with a spoon immediately as soon as the kadhai with the khandvi mix is on the gas. Keep stirring continuously till it starts thickening. Now, lower the faklme & cook on slow flame. Keep stirring till it gets real thick & starts sticking to sides.Cover the kadahai & let it cook for 4-5 minutes on low gas. Put off gas.Immediately , spread the khandvi mix on plates.4-5 plates were needed today to spread the cooked mixture. Spread over the whole plate in a very thin layer. Let all the plates cool. Take a knife & make vertical  strip cuts on the spread khandvi mix on the plates. Take one end of the cut strip & start rolling with hand till the other end of the strip gets rolled. Make similar rolls of the remaining strips from all the plates.

Take a small kadhai or vagar vessel & make vagar. Add oil.Heat it up.Add mustard.After they pop up add jeera.Add til seeds. Then add curry leaves. Put off gas.Pour this vagar mixture over the rolled strips.Mix the freshly chopped dhania & fresh dessicated coconut. Garnish with fresh dessicated coconut & dhania mix.

Serve. And watch it disappear in minutes !

Tip : I use powdered hing always in all dishes unless specified .

The rolls were not evenly spread out. Some rolls were thick strips.With practice, thin strips can be made. And remember, to spread the mix when it is hot on to the plate.That helps in spreading it thinly.

Step by step method can be seen at Veg recipes of India.That recipe is somewhat different though basics remain the same.

Jeera rice

I have made jeera rice earlier & it turned out mushy. This time around , I was determined to make a  a better version. I wanted to use the pressure cooker method. I have no patience trying to cook rice in an open pan.I checked a few recipes like Nithya's Nalabagam & Veg recipes of India.

And believe me, my version of jeera rice turned out real good though it can be made better next time.

Ingredients : 3/4 cup rice, 1/2 ts jeera, 2 cloves slightly crushed , 1-2 bay leaves, 1/2-1 inch cinnamon stick, 1tbsp ghee,

Method : In a vessel, heat ghee. Add bay leaves, crushed cloves, cinnamon stick & jeera or cumin. After they all get aromatic, add rice & mix all nicely.Roast for 2-3 minutes. Add salt Add 1 1/4 cup water. Pressure cook upto 2 whistles .Put off gas.After cooker cools, remove lid of pressure cooker. Jeera rice is ready ! This can be served with aloo matar or whole masoor or chhole or rajma or any other side dish of choice.

I think ,i need to add more cumin seeds. Next time around, I must improve on that.

Vegan Banana cake with peanut butter topping .

It was my birthday & I wanted to bake a cake. I had some ripe bananas ( 4 medium or maybe small ) & some leftover gulab jamun syrup. I decided to make a banana cake. I thought about using only baking powder & no baking soda .This was the way to keep colour of the cake non brown. I wanted to do some frosting & googled & got this peanut butter frosting idea.I used just peanut butter without any cream or sugar. I like the peanut butter taste .Moreover, I recycled leftover gulab jamun syrup into the cake recipe. Skipped using sugar other than the left over syrup.

Ingredients  : 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup maida, 4-5 small bananas ( not elaichi bananas ) , 1/2 cup gulab jamun syrup, 1 tbsp of assorted  sun dried  fruits like cranberries & blueberries ( optional )   1 tbsp oil,1-2 tbsp peanut butter, 1 tbsp sugar strand sprinkles( optional ) , 1.5 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp cardamom powder,a pinch of salt.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.

Method : Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Mix the atta, maida, baking powder, cardamom powder , salt  with a fork or a whisk many times over till all get mixed nicely with one another. This is the dry mix .Keep aside.

Peel & mash the bananas into a pulp.Add oil & the leftover gulab jamun syrup.Mix all nicely. thsi is the wet mix.Keep   aside.

Make a well in the dry mix .Pour the wet mix into the well & start mixing with a whisk.Mix till no lumps remain.Add water drop by drop if the dough is too dry or has lumps in it. The dough must have no lumps. Add in the assorted sun dried berries. Alternatively , chopped walnuts or almonds or raisins can be added as well.

Line the inside of baking vessel with butter paper. Pour the cake dough into the lined baking vessel. Bake at 180 degrees centigrade for 40-45 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. I always bake it in microwave mode for five minutes after this 45 minutes baking just to make sure that no part of cake remains uncooked.

Initially, bake the cake by covering the cake with aluminium foil.Towards the end that is after 29-30 minutes of baking are over, put off oven.Remove the aluminum foil & bake the remaining 15 minutes. This is to prevent burning of cake top .Caketop may get burnt if left uncovered.The last 15 minutes of baking are done by uncovering top to ensure browning of cake .This browning gives a nice crust to the cake.After 45 minutes baking, bake in microwave mode for five minutes to prevent any part of cake from remaining cooked.

Let the cake remain in the oven. After fifteen minutes or more, take out cake & cool it outside for 35 -45 minutes. It must be at room temperature to add the peanut butter topping. Put the cake vessel upside down on to a plate. Remove the butter paper from the bottom. Now put the cake with the bottom side up on the plate.

Start smearing the cake top with peanut butter by a spoon or a butter knife.I spread a thin layer. Then tried to sprinkle some coloured sugar strands in a pattern on the cake. As I tried to sprinkle, the sugar strands , the sugar strands got powdered unevenly.This can be noticed in the snaps of the cake. Satisfied, I cut the cake into desired shapes. This is my first attempt at any topping on cake & I am proud of it !

The cake felt somewhat dry.My neighbour remarked that my cakes were getting better & better at each attempt. That's the best compliment I have received !

To improve, the moistness of cake, it would be advisable to add some more oil maybe half -1 tbsp more.Alternatively, add one more ripe peeled & mashed banana.

Kiwi flavoured rasgullas.

Kiwis are in season. I had got them in my refrigerator too. So , just had an idea. Why not try rasgullas flavored with a kiwi ? And my mom's b'day was approaching too ! I googled for the recipe & drew a blank. I went ahead & made them .Method is similar to strawberry or mango rasgullas which I have posted earlier.

Ingredients : 1/2 litre low fat milk , 1/2 lemon , 1/2 cup sugar, 1 kiwi fruit washed & depeeled.

Method : Puree the kiwi in the mixer .Stain the pulp & keep aside. Please collect the watery liquid as well. Add more water to the pulp & stain it again after mixing pulp & water. Do this two three times.
Keep aside the pulp & the strained liquid separately in two vessels.

Heat  1/2 litre of milk in a vessel on the gas. When the malai starts forming on the milk being heated, add the kiwi pulp.Mix. Put off gas. The milk solids will separate & yet not much. Start squeezing the lemon into the milk .Keep mixing the milk & lemon juice. After a few minutes, all milk solids would have separated giving a clear slightly greenish grey water.Strain the liquid along with the milk solids on to a thin cloth. The water which gets collected can be used for making roti dough. Water can be added to rice while cooking as well.Wash the milk solids which have collected in the cloth 3-4 times to completely remove the smell of lemon .These milk solids form a lump called chenna or soft paneer.Tie the ends of the cloth into tight knot to remove excess water from the chenna. To facilitate this, put some heavy vessel on the cloth knot containing chenna & leave it for half an hour.

Meanwhile, put the pressure pan or any  wide vessel on the gas .Add one cup water to it. Add sugar .Put on the gas on slow mode. Very soon ,all sugar will have dissolved. Put off gas.Add the kiwi pulp strained water to this  syrup in the vessel or pressure pan.

After half an hour, untie the knots of the cloth & remove the chenna lump. It will be slightly green with black dots ( because kiwi pulp has been added ) .Knead this lump for fifteen to twenty minutes with your hands . This is to make the chenna softer & softer. Grease palms with a little ghee & start making small balls of the chenna.I got 12 small chenna balls. Drop these chenna balls into the kiwi water sugar syrup .Pressure cook these chenna balls in sugar syrup till 1 whistle. After the  whistle blows, lower the gas flame to slow. Keep it on slow flame for 8-10 minutes Then put off gas. After the cooker has cooled off ( generally 15-20 minutes ) , remove the whistle. Take off the lid. The kiwi rasgullas are ready !

The black dots seen in the kiwi rasgullas are the black seasame type seeds found in kiwis. They have a crunch too !

My rasgullas were a little hard. Perhaps, in a hurry, I had kneaded chenna just for ten minutes. Nrext time on , I will knead it for more than fifteen minutes so that the rasgullas turn out softer.

Kiwi top cake

I had a kiwi in the refrigerator.It was ripe & firm as well.So decided to google a recipe for kiwi cake.

I saw this recipe for an eggless kiwi cake.I tweaked it a little & made a vegan kiwi top cake.

Ingredients, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup maida, 1 tbsp flaxseed meal , 1/2 cup applesauce, 1/2 cup jaggery  sugar, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder, a kiwi , 3-4 tsps white sugar for sprinkling on kiwi slices .

Method : Pre  heat oven to 180 degrees centigrade.

.Mix whole wheat flour, maida, baking soda & baking powder nicely many times over .Keep aside.

Make apple sauce by pressure cooking an apple.Peel the apple. Remove the seeds.The apple can be cut into 4 slices or more.  Pressure cook it upto one whistle. Mash the apple pieces by hand or pav bhaji masher or mixer . Keep aside.

Alternatively, simply cut the apple into pieces. Pressure cook to 1 whistle. After it cools, de peel the apple pieces & de seed them.Mash the apples by hand or mixer or pav bhaji masher.

Soak flaxseed meal in 1/ 4 cup warm water for 15 minutes Keep aside.

Mix apple sauce, flaxseed meal soaked in water together. Add brown sugar.Mix all nicely.

Make a well in the dry ingredients mix & pour the wet mix into it. Blend all, such that,
no lumps remain in the cake batter.I had to add 1/4 cup water as the liquid content was less. Even 1 tbsp oil ( optional ) can be added & then some water drop by drop.Batter consistency must be liked idli batter.

Line a baking vessel with butter paper. Pour the cake batter into the baking vessel.Smoothen top of the cake batter with backside of spoon. Arrange kiwi slices on the top of the cake batter.Sprinkle white sugar generously  on the kiwi slices. Bake at 180 degrees centigrade for 45 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

I bake in microwave mode for 5-10 minutes after the aforesaid convection baking of 45 minutes.

Cools the cake for 45 minutes-( 15 minutes in the oven ) & later outside the oven.Turn the baking vessel upside down on to a plate. Remove the butter paper sticking to the bottom & sides of the cake gently.Then turn the cake up. Cut into desired shapes & serve.



My cake turned out good.The texture was good. Sugar was just apt. Kiwi pieces taste tangy & it gives a nice flavour to the sweetness of the cake.