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.

Sugarless Mango shake

I loved mango shake as a kid.Hence,during this mango season ,I made mango milkshake with happus mango & asked my kid to have a sip.She loved it !

Mango milk shake is full of fibre,energy ,vitamin A -total nutrition.
Ingredients : 1 mango ,1/3 cup milk.This makes only 1 glass milk shake.

Method : I used Kesar mango ( shown in the snap ).Even happus,dussehari or any mango( on the sweeter side ) can be used.

Peel the mango & take out the flesh of the mango .Puree the flesh in a juicer or mixer.Take milk & try to squeeze remaining fruit pulp from the mango peel .Take the mango seed ( guthli in Hindi ) & try to remove whatever mango flesh is sticking to the seed .Mix all this fruit flesh in the milk.Add this milk to the mango puree in the mixer or juicer.Put the juicer or mixer on & blend the mango puree & milk into one uniform mix.

Pour into a glass .Add ice cubes  to the shake.This shake was sufficiently sweet.For extra sweetness,one may have to add sugar.

Eggless Bournvita banana cake

I read about this cake @http://www.egglesscooking.com/2011/05/03/chocolate-banana-bread/.I made some changes & the cake turned out quite well.

Ingredients : 1/2 cup  whole wheat flour,1/2 cup ragi flour, 1/4 tsp baking soda,3/4 tsp baking powder,1/2 tbsp Bournvita powder ( I did not have cocoa & so I used Bournvita ),salt to taste.

3 medium sized ripe bananas-all mashed  & pureed,1/2 cup jaggery sugar( this is almost chocolate colour - ordinary white sugar can be used),1/4 cup yoghurt,2 tbsp oil,1 tbsp vinegar.

Method :In a bowl,mix  banana puree,oil,sugar & yoghurt nicely till sugar dissolves.Add vinegar & mix nicely.Keep aside.

In another bowl, mix all dry ingredients by sifting the flours ,Bournvita powder baking powder & baking soda.Make a well in the dry ingredient mix & slowly pour the banana puree oil-vinegar-sugar mix .Mix nicely into a batter so that no lumps remain.Add water, if batter is too thick.It must have drop down consistency.Keep aside.

Take a  microwaveavble vessel & line the bottom with butter paper.Pour  the cake batter into this vessel.Microwave for 7-8 minutes till a toothpik inserted comes out clean.

Let the vessel be in microwave for 10 minutes.Then take it out from microwave.Cool outside the microwave for another 10 minutes.Put the vessel upside down on to a plate.It will take some time before the cake drops down on to the plate.Then cut it into desired shapes & serve.

My cake turned out very moist & the wonderful aroma of bananas.Sugar content was just right.Jaggery sugar is very sweet -hence I used only 1/2 cup.It can be increased if more sweetness is needed.

Veg Frankie

My kid loves rotis.I am constantly tensed up thinking about her tiffin box- she must eat nutritious food & she abstains from eating upma, lemon rice,dahi rice etal.She suggested frankie one day & I said that I must try this.

I googled & realised that rotis can be made of atta ,maida or a mixture of both.I took the easy way out.I made use of left over rotis.Her school is very early for me to prepare rotis as also the frankie filling in the morning.Of course ,those of you who are very enthusiasitic may do this & more .I am lazy & often opt for such solutuons !

Ingredients for the frankie roll: 3 or 4 Leftover chappatis,or rotis or plain parathas,3-4 tsps butter ( I used Amul butter - you can use any butter or even ghee )

Ingredients for frankie filling : 2-3 medium sized boiled potatoes,1 medium sized onion -finely chopped,1 small capsicum -finely chopped,1/4 inch ginger - grated,1/4 tsp haldi,a pinch of hing,1/2 tsp red chilli powder,1/4 tsp dhana jeera powder,a dash of lemon juice, 1tbsp oil & salt to taste.

Method : In a kadhai, saute chopped onion in oil.Add grated ginger & saute again.Add chopped capsicum & mix nicely.Cook for 2-3 minutes by covering with a lid.Add haldi & hing.Mix nicely.Break the boiled potataoes into chunks & add to the kadhai.Mix all nicely.Add dhana jeera powder & red chilli powder.Mix nicely.Cook for 1-2 minutes by covering with a lid.Now put off the gas.After a minute or two add a dash of lemon juice & mix to give the filling a tangy taste.

Take a roti & warm it on the tawa.Take a tsp of butter & spread the butter on the whole of the roti.After the warming for 1 minute ,take a generous amount of the tangy filling & put it in the middle of the roti .Now roll both the ends of roti one over the other so that the filling is covered.The roll must look like masala dosa roll.Remove this from the tawa .The roll can be turned upside down on the tawa to make it crisp on both the sides.

Repeat similarly for the remaining rotis.I cut the frankie in the middle, so that my kid can just shove each frankie piece into her mouth.

One can use amchur powder or tomatoes instead of lemon juice.Chat powder can be sprinkled on the filling to give more tangy taste.

Mango Ice cream.

I love ice creams except chocolate ice cream.I amke it apoint to eat an ice cream whenever I go out to the market.I am especially fond of Amul Ice creams.Gelato is a new favourite.

I always felt that ice creams will never turn out the way they are in the Ice cream parlours as the freezers are very important & we do not have access to those types of freezers.Our refrigerators are opened every now & then.This affects the freezing & obviously the ice cream.

I was inspired to try this ice cream by Kavi @(http://myedibles.blogspot.in/2012/06/mango-ice-cream.html & Veg Inspirations who shared the 2 ingredient ice cream recipe @http://www.veginspirations.com/2012/06/simple-2-ingredient-nutella-icecream.html

I would like to clarify that I used all approximate measurements as I was very skeptical of the results.So if you want to try ,please be careful.All measurements are approximate except the jaggery sugar & cream.

Ingredients : 200-225 ml milk,1/2 cup jaggery sugar, Mango pulp of 1 medium sized mango ( I used Kesar ).Happus ,Dussehari or any other sweet variety can be used,1 tbsp cream,any dry fruit for garnishing ( I used almonds ).

Method : I boiled milk for 20-25 minutes.I beat the mango pulp & cream in a mixie along with the sugar.Now added this pulp-cream sugar mix to boiled milk & mixed nicely.Allow it to cool.Now take an airtight container  & put the milk-cream-pulp sugar mixture into it.The mixture must come upto three fourths level in the container & not more.It can be less than that.This is because after cooling ,there will be expansion & there must be room for that.Keep the container in the freezer.

I did this in the night.I took the container from the freezer in the morning.The ice cream had set.I mixed the contents of the container with the spoon  after it had warmed up a little bit as it had been kept out of the freezer.Then I kept it in the freezer again.After every hour ,the container has to be taken out from thr freezer & mixed again & set in the freezer.This prevents to some extent the ice crystals which get formed.I repeated this in & out of the freezer some 5 -6 times.

You may notice from the snap below that my ice cream is not that creamy as it has more water content than it should have.I am posting this  as my first attempt has turned out better than my expectations ! Next time around,I plan to use more cream & boil the milk for a longer time.

I scooped out 3scoops with a ladle & put it into a bowl.I garnished it with chopped almonds.

Tip : Dussehari has a watery pulp.Kesar &Happus  have thicker mango pulp. Hence ,I feel Happus & Kesar are good for mango ice cream.Any other variety of mango can also be used. Jaggery sugar has a brownish almost chocolate colour.My ice cream therefore has a darker colour.Ordinary white sugar can be used.I use jaggery sugar as it is healthier- I believe so as it is not as refined as ordinary white sugar.Jaggery sugar is more sweet than ordinary sugar is my opinion-so I use less than what others may have used.

The milk I used is  low fat milk.The cream I used is malai of the milk which I boiled.I have already started collecting malai in the freezer for my next ice cream !

Healthy bread pakoras.

My kid is always yearning for pakoras.. Potato & bread pakoras are her favourites .I am petrified of frying & so I avoid making pakoras.I came across this shallow frying of bread pakoras at Priya's versatile recipes.I tried it & my kid just loved it.I made some changes.

Ingredients :1 cup besan,1/2 cup dahi,4 tbsp oil,1/2 tsp red chilli powder,1/2 tsp ajwain,1/4 tsp hing,1/4 tsp haldi,salt to taste,a pinch of baking soda,1 tbsp rava or sooji, 1tsp flaxseed powder ( optional ) , 4 bread slices,water to make batter consistency appropriate.

Method : I used brown bread slices.Even white bread can be used.Cut each bread slice diagonally into 4.Keep aside all  cut bread slices.

Take besan .Add sooji, flaxseed powder , red chilli powder,ajwain ,haldi,hing ,salt & mix .Now add dahi to make batter.If batter is not drop down consistency,more water or dahi can be added.Mix batter nicely till no lumps remain.

Take a shallow tawa or non stick tawa & put oil on it.Spread the oil on the tawa so that the whole surface of tawa gets coated with oil.Heat the tawa with oil in it.As the oil gets heated up ,dip bread slices in the besan mix & put them on the tawa.Fry the slice on one side.Turn it upside down after some time & fry the reverse side.Take it off from the tawa.Repeat with other bread slices.

Serve with tomato ketchup  or any chutni.