Broccoli dal

I have come to love broccoli as it cooks very fast & is quite tasty with just afew spices.So for a  lazy person like me ,it is a boon !

I have tried a broccoli dish earlier from Sangeeta Khanna's blog & today I tried one more of her broccoli dishes.Her broccoli lentil soup came out very well.The original recipe by Sangeeta Khanna is here .

I changed some ingredients.I skipped using celery & garlic.I used green chillies instead of red chilly powder.Moreover ,I cooked long enough for broccoli to lose its crunchiness.

Ingredients : 1 tbsp whole masoor,1 tbsp split green mung dal,300 gm broccoli washed & cut into florets, 2 small tomatoes chopped,1 medium sized onion chopped fine, 2 green chillies chopped, 1/2 tsp ginger washed & grated,1/2 tsp cumin seeds,1 tsp ghee,1/4 tsp haldi,salt to taste.

Method : Pressure cook the dals with onions,green chillies,grated ginger & haldi.Add the broccoli stalks which have chopped fine in the pressure cooker with the dals. I pressure cooked for 2 whistles & then lowered the flame & cooked for 5 minutes before turning off the gas.After the pressure has eased,take out the cooked stew & keep aside.

Meanwhile ,heat gheee in a kadhai.Add cumin seedsWhen they splutter ,add broccoli florets & stir fry for 5 minutes.Add salt.Mix nicely.Now add chopped tomatoes & cook for another five minutes.Add the dal stew to this broccoli tomato mix & bring to a boil.Add more water if dal type consistency is needed.Put off the gas & serve with chaptis and or rice.

I loved the simple flavours.Mine was thick stew.It was unlike soup .Yet ,it is dal veggie combo which spells nutrition !

Vegan red velvet cup cakes

I have tried this before .I forgot to note down the recipe.Hence, was unable to post it earlier.
I tweaked  the eggless  red velvet cup cake recipe from Divine Taste  a little.I made it into a vegan recipe.

Ingredients :  1 cup multigrain atta ( I used Pillsbury ) ,1/2 cup beet puree,1/2 cup brown sugar,1/4 cup oil,2 tsp chocolate powder ( I used  drinking chocolate powder which was available at home ),1 1/8 tsp( 1tsp +1/8 tsp ) baking powder,11/2 ( 1.5 ) tbsps apple cider vinegar,1/2 tsp vanilla essence,a pinch of salt.

Method :
Pressure cook 2 small  beetroots  for 3 whistles.Let the cooker cool.Take out the beets.Peel them.Cut into big pieces.Puree them in blender or mixer.Add vanilla essence,oil & vinegar to the beet puree.Mix nicely.Keep aside.

Take all dry ingredients ....atta,sugar,baking powder,chocolate powder & salt .Mix thoroughly with fork or spoon many times.Keep aside.

Now add the wet mix to the dry mix .Mix both nicely so that no lumps remain.Now line silicone cup cake moulds with butter paper.With a table spoon fill 2/3 of the cup cake moulds with the cake batter.Bake them in microwave for 1.5 to 2 minutes.Put off microwave.Let it cool. After five minutes,cup cakes can be tested with fork to see if they have been baked by poking a fork.If the teeth fork come out clean ,it is done.Otherwise,bake for another 10-15 seconds.Cool. After 10 minutes,take out the cup cakes.Let them cool outside for another 10 minutes.Carefully & slowly remove the butter paper lining the silicone cup cake moulds.The cup cakes are ready !

I garnished them with titbits of white chocolate that I had at home.The cup cakes had no taste of beet,They were moist & sweet.Not very sweet. The quantity stated made seven small cup cakes & 6 slightly larger cup cakes.