Tuesday, January 31, 2012

French Pancakes (Crêpes) With Banana & Chocolate Ganache

Weekend, i prepared some french pancakes called crêpes after a long for our snacks..This time i simply served this pancakes with sliced bananas and some leftover chocolate ganache, my teddies enjoyed thoroughly this yummy chocolatey pancakes for their snacks..In France,every february 2nd of the year,french peoples celebrates 'Fête la Chandeleur', a festival where they do prepare many sorts of french pancakes..French pancakes can be served either with savoury fillings or with sweet fillings..My teddies favourite is nutella stuffed french pancakes, they never says no to them..You can store this pancakes for two or three days in fridge, while having just heat them in microwave and enjoy with your favourite fillings..Sending to Akheela's Teatime Snacks..


10nos Crêpes (French Pancakes)
2nos Bananas (sliced)
Chocolate ganache

Take the already prepared crêpes, gently spread the chocolate ganache over the warm crêpes, fold them as u desire, serve topped with sliced bananas,drizzle the chocolate ganache and sprinkle chocolate powder as per need..Enjoy immediately.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Kaya Mezhukkupuratti

An easy and quick stir fry prepared with simple spices and chopped veggies is usually called as mezhukkupuratti by Keralites, this kaya mezhukkupuratti a wonderful side dish for rice is prepared with raw banana aka plaintain pieces spiced up with chilly powder and salt along with a simple tempering...Usually these stir fries goes for quick preparation and coconut is not used in this recipe..A delicious side dish to enjoy with rice served along with any kind of gravies...Sending to Kerala Kitchen hosted by Kaveri..


2cups Raw banana/plantains (sliced lengthwise)
1no Onion (large & chopped)
1tsp Mustard seeds+urad dal
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
1tsp Red chilly powder
Few curry leaves
Salt
Oil

Cook the plaintain pieces with turmeric powder and water,until they turns soft, put off the stove,strain the water and keep aside..

Heat enough oil, let splutters the mustard seeds,urad dal and curry leaves, add the chopped onions,fry until they turns transculent, add now the cooked plaintain pieces,red chilly powder,salt and cook everything together in simmer with lid closed until the veggies get well coated with the spices..Put off the stove..

Serve with rice..

Cherupayar Thoran

Sometimes we dont need a heavy food to satisfy our tastebuds for your lunch, even a simple stir fry with protein packed green grams can suits prefect with a simple dal and hot piping rasam for your lunch..This thoran goes for a quick,simple and easy preparation..Cherupayar thoran goes for cooked whole green moongs sauteed along with chopped onions,grated ginger and crushed garlic, finally cooked with a grounded coconut,cumin seeds and green chillies paste..Keralites love to have this healthy thoran with rice porridge well known as kanji..Sending to Kerala Kitchen hosted by Kaveri..


1cup Whole greengrams
1no Onion (chopped)
3nos Garlic cloves (crushed)
1tsp Ginger (grated)
1/2tsp Turmeric powder
2nos Green chillies
1/2cup Grated coconut
1/2tsp Cumin seeds
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
Salt
Oil
Few curry leaves

Soak the whole greengrams overnite, next day cook them in a heavy bottomed pan with salt and turmeric powder..drain the excess of water and keep aside..

Heat enough oil in a pan, let splutters the mustard seeds, curry leaves..add the chopped onions,crushed garlic and grated ginger until the onions turns transculent, meanwhile grind the grated coconut,cumin seeds and green chillies as coarse paste..

Now add the cooked greengrams to the cooking veggies and finally add the grounded coarse paste to them..cook for few minutes and put off the stove..Serve hot with rice..

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Vegan Dates & Chocolate Cake

Yesterday my better half celebrated his birthday, we (myself & my teddies) together prepared a small surprise birthday party for him, this time i wanted to make something without eggless as well as completely vegan, thats y i prepared this vegan dates chocolate cake and decorated simply with a chocolate ganache..Professional bakers just forgive me for the way i decorated the cake, am still a novice when its comes decorating a cake, am trying my best since a long but still am having hard time  and just trying to learn everytime regarding the prefect decoration skills..Fortunately everyone at home just loved and enjoyed having this vegan cake, even my hubby was surprised and he enjoyed thoroughly his birthday party..


You can just skip the decoration part and have this super spongy yummy vegan cake for your snacks, since i prepared this cake for my hubby's birthday i went for some chocolate ganache and butter cream so obviously both ganache and butter cream have low fat cream and butter in their preparation,if you want to make some vegan ganache,just go for chocolate and water instead of low fat cream while for butter cream you can go very well  for shortening or vegan butter...This cake is a prefect tea time snack to enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee, a wonderful way to sneak the most healthy dry fruits called 'the dates' especially to feed our kids...Do check out the other marathoners running blogging marathon with me here..Sending this cake pops to Kid's Delight -Something Sweet guest hosted by Kavi,event by Srivalli,Akheela's Teatime Snacks..Srivalli's Chocolate Mela.




1+1/2cups All purpose flour
1/2cup Oil
1/2cup Chocolate chunks
1/4cup Sugar
1/2cup Dates puree
1tsp Baking powder
1/2tsp Baking soda
1/2cup Silken tofu

Dates Puree:
Soak a cup of pitted dates in hot water for half an hour, grind them as fine puree and use them as per ur need..

Preheat the oven to 350F, sieve the all purpose flour with baking powder, baking soda and keep aside..Meanwhile, heat the chocolate chunks with enough water in microwave oven until they turns as thick chocolate sauce..Beat the oil,silken tofu,sugar for few minutes, finally add the dates puree and chocolate sauce, beat everything well..

Gradually add the sieved flour  to the wet ingredients, mix gently with a spatula,dont overmix the batter, pour the batter to the already greased mould and bake for 20-25minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean..Let the cake get cool completely..

Chocolate Ganache:
1cup Chocolate chips
1/2cup Low fat cream 



Warm the cream, add the chocolate chips and mix everything well...let them cool and arrange in fridge atleast for an hour..

Buttercream:
1cup Confectioner's sugar
1/4cup Butter
1tsp Vanilla extract
Green food colour


Beat the butter, the confectioner's sugar,vanilla extract ,food colour and turn everything as a smooth buttercream, arrange this buttercream in fridge for atleast two hours..
While decorating, spread generously the chocolate ganache over the baked cake..take the buttercream in a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe out as u desire..


Enjoy!!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Eggless White Chocolate & Peanut Butter Blondies

Dunno how to describe the taste of this wonderful looking eggless blondies, these blondies are simply addictive,super moist,chewy and wonderfully flavourful..I skipped completely the eggs and useful flax seed meal as egg subsitute for making this yummy blondies..Also as i love nutty touch in my blondies i simply prepared this super duper delicious blondies with my most favourite peanut butter...Both white chocolate and peanut butter both works out wonder together and this blondies turned out absolutely divine..We couldnt stop having them for our snacks even my teddies had these blondies for their breakfast,they just love it a lot.


1cup All purpose flour
1tbsp Cornflour
1/2cup Sugar
4tbsp Creamy Peanut Butter
1/2cup Hot water
1/4cup Olive oil
1tsp Baking powder
2tbsp Flax seeds meal (grind the flax seeds as fine powder)
6tbsp Hot water 
150grms White chocolate bar (chopped)

Sift together the baking powder and flours..Beat together the olive oil,sugar and whisk until the sugar gets dissolved, meanwhile heat together the chopped white chocolate pieces and peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl for a minute in high power, stir them together..Add this to the already whisked oil-sugar mixture..

Meanwhile mix together the 6tablespoons of hot water and flax seed meal,make a paste and add this to the wet ingredients..Gradually add the flour  to the wet ingredients by adding the hot water a little bit at a time till the flour  and hot water is used up..

Grease a mould and pour the batter and bake for 20-25minutes in middle rack until a skewer inserted comes out clean..

Friday, January 27, 2012

Bottlegourd & Moongdal Sambhar

Bottlegourd and moongdal sambar is quite an easy, quick and delicious gravy which goes awesome with hot steaming rice or with rotis or idlies,pongal and to any other dishes, even i like to  have with some toasted breads along with these sort of gravies...To enhance the flavour of this delicious gravy, i prepared a spice powder using fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds,asafoetida powder and dry red chillies, cooked everything with already cooked yellow split moongdal, yes this gravy sounds quite similar like a gravy between sambar and kootu, no need of sambar powder or chilly powder coz the spice powder we are preparing for this gravy itself  gives enough spiciness..Definitely a delicious gravy to enjoy with any sort of breakfast or dinner dishes..Sending to  A Veggie for a month - Bottlegourd guest hosted by Raji,event by Priya& Sudha's Love for Lentils & Jyoti's Healthy & Hearty ....


1nos Bottlegourd (medium size & chopped)
1cup Yellow split moong dal (cooked)
1no Onion (chopped)
1no Tomato (chopped)
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1/2tsp Urad dal
2nos Dry red chillies
Salt
Oil
2tbsp Coriander leaves
1tsp Lemon juice

Spice powder:
1tbsp Fenugreek seeds
2tbsp Coriander seeds
5nos Red chillies
1tsp Cumin seeds
1/2tsp Asafeotida powder

Fry the seeds given in the list for spice powder one by one in simmer until they turns golden brown...Grind everything as fine powder and keep aside..

Heat enough oil and let splutter the mustard seeds,dry red chillies and urad dal...add the chopped onions and chopped tomatoes and cook everything until the onions turns transculent, add immediately the chopped bottle gourd ,turmeric powder with enough salt and saute for few minutes...Add the cooked dal to the cooking veggies..bring everything to boil, now add the spice powder as per need and cook the gravy until the veggies get well cooked, finally add the lemon juice,chopped coriander leaves and put off the stove..

Serve hot with rice or rotis...

Chocolate Cake Pops

When i saw few cute cake pops at many of my few blogger's space, i could stop myself to make some at home,my buddies just pulled me to try them..Its was a big hit among my teddies, they couldnt stopped themselves having these yummy pops for their yesterday snacks..I used some leftover chocolate cake,i prepared two days back for our snacks for making this damn cute cake pops,my lil one helped me while making this cake pops,he just loved to sprinkle the sugar balls to the chocolate coated cake pops,we had loads of fun while making this cake pops..Few days back, i watched a french tv show, a french mom prepared this quick and easy breezy cake pops using some sponge cake and warm milk, later she used milk chocolate to coat the cake pops and decorated simply with some chocolate vermicellis..Seriously i loved the way she prepared,finally yesterday i prepared them at home..An excellent cake pops to enjoy without any hesitation,obviously a kid's friendly snacks...Sending this cake pops toKid's Delight -Something Sweet guest hosted by Kavi,event by Srivalli,Cooking With Leftovers guest hosted by Veena,event by Kalyani, Ramya's ABC-Desserts Srivalli's Chocolate Mela..Do check out the other marathoners running blogging marathon with me here..


2cups Chocolate cake (crumbled)
Warm milk (as per need)
100grms Milk chocolate
1tbsp Butter
Chocolate vermicellis or sugar balls (for decroating the cake pops)

Grind the crumbled chocolate cake in a food processor,add the warm milk as per need to the grounded cake mixture and turn as stiff dough, take enough mixture and roll them as tiny balls, arrange over a plate and keep in fridge for an hour..

Take the milk chocolate,butter in a microwave safe bowl,heat for a minute in high power, mix the melted chocolate and butter to make a silky chocolate sauce..Dip the edge of the lollipop stick to the already chocolate sauce,insert immediately to the prepared cake balls, dip them now gently to the chocolate sauce,let the excess of chocolate drain back to the bowl..dip immediately the cake pops to the sugar balls..

Arrange the cake pops in a piece of foam and let them get cooled or arrange them in fridge for few minutes..Enjoy!!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Peppered Brinjal & Peanut Butter Curry


Have you ever tried adding peanut butter in your brinjal curry??,if not just give a trial friends..Am sure if you love peanuts in your curry,this curry is for you..Yesterday for our lunch,i prepared this quick and simple curry to serve along with hot piping rasam,both together turned out our lunch super comforting and satisfying..I used freshly grounded pepper powder and peanut butter to spice up this brinjal curry with few garlic cloves..You can also serve this curry along with rotis or with a bowl of hot steaming rice..Even my teddies enjoyed this curry and loved the addition of peanut butter..Sending to Dish out-Brinjal & Garlic guest hosted by Sangee,event by Vardhini..



1/2kg Brinjals (chopped lengthwise)
2tbsp Peanut butter
1no Onion (large & chopped)
1no Tomato (large & chopped)
7nos Garlic cloves
1tsp Pepper  powder
1tsp Coriander powder
Salt
Few curry leaves
Salt
1tsp Mustard seeds+Cumin seeds
Oil

Heat enough oil,lets crack the mustard seeds and cumin seeds with curry leaves, add the chopped onions,chopped tomatoes,crushed garlic cloves and saute until the veggies turns mushy..Now add the chopped brinjals,salt and saute for few minutes, finally add the coriander powder,pepper powder,springle some water and cook with lid for 5 minutes, remove the lid,add the peanut butter and cook for another few minutes until the oil gets separates..

Serve hot with rice..

Nutella & Apple Sandwich

A kid's friendly sandwich, will definitely suits prefect for a quick and super filling snacks, i prepared this delicious and easy breezy sandwich for my kid when he came back from this football match, he just loved it and enjoyed thoroughly, as apple is his favourite fruit i simply sliced them thinly and served as sandwich along with nutella spread and toasted bread slices..You can make the same sandwich with your kid's favourite fruits and their favourite spread, this combination works out wonder...If your kid love peanut butter or honey,just spread them over toasted bread slices along with their favourite fruit slices.




4nos Bread slices
Few Red Apple slices
Nutella spread (as per need)
Butter (as per need)


Melt the butter in a pan, toast the bread slices on both sides, spread the enough nutella spread over the toasted bread slices, now arrange the sliced apples,cover them with an another toasted bread slice and give a press..


Serve with a cup of warm milk for snacks..

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Zucchini & Sprouted Greengram Soup

I never stopped making soups for our dinner with the famous low caloric vegetable zucchinis..This time since i had some leftover green gram sprouts, i just added them along with zucchinis for making this simple,quick and easy breezy soup for our yesterday dinner, serve this warm and super filling nutritious soup with a simple sandwich prepared either with meats or with fresh vegetables,am damn sure you will have a super satisfying dinner...A super comforting soup to enjoy without any hesitation while its chilled and rainy outside..Sending to my own event Healthy Diet-Warm SoupsFFNFF guest hosted by Priya Sreeram,event by Priya & Sudha's Love for Lentils..


3cups Zucchini (chopped)
1cup Sprouted green grams
1no Onions (big & chopped)
3cups Vegetable stock water
Salt
Pepper powder
1tsp Dry parsley leaves
Olive oil

Heat enough oil in a pan, add immediately the chopped onions,saute until they turns transculent, add immediately the chopped zucchinis,sprouted green grams, saute everything for few minutes, finally add the vegetable stock water,water (if needed) with enough salt, dry parsley leaves,pepper powder  and bring everything to boil..

Cook in simmer until the veggies get well cooked,put off the stove...Serve warm with a sandwich..

Mixed Nuts,Chocolate & Peanut Butter Fudge

Who will not love this wonderful looking dark chocolate,peanut butter and mixed nuts fudge, definitely not me..I simply prepared this quick,easy breezy and quite addictive fudge with a combination of mixed nuts like walnuts,cashews,pistachios and almonds, the best fudge i ever made...Adding these four nuts to this simple silky fudge gives a super crunchy and nutty texture with mild peanut flavour, since my little one dont like cashews i simply grounded coarsely all those nuts and added them while making this fudge..A prefect dessert or snack to munch along with a cup of hot warm milk or a spiced tea..We had a great time munching these super nutty fudge for our evening snacks, an incredible fudge for a chocoholic person like me..We just loved it.



1cup Sweetened condensed milk
1cup Dark chocolate chips
5tbsp Creamy Peanut butter
1/2cup Mixed nuts (grounded coarsely)

In a heavy sauce pan, melt the chocolate chips,condensed milk,peanut butter and stir continously..remove the pan and add the coarsely grounded mixed nuts.

Spread the mixture over a baking sheet lined over a rectangular pan and keep aside until the mixture get cooled, arrange them in fridge for atleast 2 hours or until firm..Cut into squares and enjoy it..


Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Paneer & Chickpeas Pulao

I was planning to prepare some easy pulao with paneer cubes which i picked when we went to Indian groceries before a week...I really felt that store bought paneer packets are quiet easy and handy for making out any gravies or any other dishes when we are really craving for paneer dishs..I was bit lazy to prepare paneer at home,fortunately i can buy paneer packets here which wasnt that much easy before few years ago, i can definitely say that i can get any Indian spices or any other Indian veggies very much easily in Paris itself when compared few years back..Coming to the super flavourful paneer and chickpeas pulao, this flavourful one pot meal is very simple, quiet easy to prepare and delicious when served along with any sorts of raita...This paneer pulao suits incredibly for any get together or any parties and also as simple lunch box dish..This pulao is definitely very worth to try and we loved it...Sending to my own event CWS-Chickpeas guest hosted by Sukanya of Saffronstreaks & Radhika's Let's Cook-Rice..




2cups Basmati rice (cooked)
1cup Paneer cubes
1cup Cooked chickpeas
1tsp Shah jeera
1no Onion (chopped lengthwise)
3nos Green chillies (slit opened)
1tsp Garam masala powder
1/2tsp Cumin powder
1/2tsp Pepper powder
Salt
1/2cup Mint leaves (chopped)
Oil

Heat enough oil in a large pan, add the shah jeera,let them crack..add immediately the chopped onions and stir until they turns transculent, now add the slit opened green chillies and chopped mint leaves, saute until the mint leaves shrinks.


Meanwhile heat few drops of oil and fry the paneer pieces on both sides until they turns golden brown, keep aside....Add the garam masala powder, cumin powder, pepper powder to the cooking veggies and toss until the spice powders get well mixed...now add the already cooked basmati rice,fried paneer pieces  to the spice and toss everything gently..

Serve hot with any spicy side dish..

Orange Kheer

Orange kheer also well known as kamla kheer is quite famous in most of the Bengali home..This kheer is quite easy to make and definitely a super delicious yummy kheer to enjoy either warm or chilled..If you are bored of eating your oranges as salads or in bakes, just give a try to this super irresistible kheer, even kids will love this orange kheer..Yep this kheer was quite a big hit at home,my teddies just enjoyed having this delicious kheer for their dessert after their lunch, wat an incredible way to enjoy this vitamin rich fruits na!!!


4cups Milk
1cup Sweetened Condensed Milk
5nos Cardamom pods (crushed)
Few Saffron strands
2cups Orange (peeled,segments and deseeded)
Few nuts for garnishing

Heat together the milk, sweetened condensed milk, crushed cardamom pods in a large pan and cook until they turns bit thick.

Add the saffron strands to the milk mixture and cook again for 2-3minutes..take off the bowl and let them cool..

Add the deseeded & segmented orange pieces to the milk and arrange in fridge for an hour..Serve chilled topped with nuts.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Kappa Thoran

Kappa thoran, a super delicious and flavourful simple curry prepared with cooked tapioca chunks spiced  with grated ginger,grated coconut and slit opened green chillies..We simply had this yummy thoran with hot piping rasam rice for our lunch today..Kappa/tapioca is quite a staple food for every common  man of Kerala..Many different dishes are prepared with this famous tapioca in Kerala, mashed tapioca are served often along with meen curry while some enjoy with hot onion & chilly chutney even Mallu makes a delicious briyani with kappas too..Coming to this thoran,if you like to have boiled tapioca in a different form do try out this simple and super flavourful thoran..Sending to Kerala Kitchen hosted by Kaveri..


1no Tapioca (Cut as bite size &cooked)
1no Onion (large & chopped)
3nos Green chilles (slit opened)
1tsp Ginger (grated)
3tbsp Grated coconut
1tsp Mustard seeds
1/2tsp Urad dal
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
Salt
Curry leaves
Coconut oil/Oil

Heat enough coconut oil,let splutters the mustard seeds,urad dal..add the chopped onions,slit opened green chillies,grated ginger,curry leaves and cook until the onions turns transculent, now add the already cooked tapioca chunks,turmeric powder and salt,cook everything in simmer until the tapioca chunks gets well coated with the spices,finally add the grated coconut,give a stir and put off the stove..

Enjoy with a bowl of rice.

No Bake Nutella Covered Cornflakes Cookies

Am starting one more week of Blogging Marathon with kid's delight-something sweet as theme, so obviously this week is gonna be an another week of sweets and desserts..Each and every recipe of this week will be definitely a kid's friendly recipes..

Sorry guys, i know its again a chocolate based post am posting today, yep i couldnt stop myself and these no bake cookies ressembles quite like my milk chocolate clusters, but this yummy and super crunchy cookies goes for nutella spread,white chocolate chips,vanilla essence and cornflakes..Seriously its our recent family favourite, everyone at home simply love this super addictive cookies which doesnt go for baking, with an adult help even a kid can prepare this super tempting cornflakes cookies.



1cup White chocolate chips
4tbsp Nutella spread
2cups Cornflakes
1tsp Vanilla essence
Few sugar balls

Take the chocolate chips,nutella spread,vanilla essence in a microwave safe bowl,cook for 1-2minutes in high power,stir well,add immediately the cornflakes,mix everything well..

Drop gently enough nutella covered cornflakes in a muffin paper cups and sprinkle few sugar balls over them,let them cool completely, arrange in fridge for half an hour..

Serve with a cup of tea...

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Eggless Chocolate Melting Moments

Most of my readers will definitely know about my love for chocolates, its my weakness..I cant live without chocolates, for our last day of blogging marathon i wanted to make some delicious and quite addictive melting moments, these super delicious biscuits are my most favourite..Since ever i had them, i have completely fallen in love with this biscuits, they are well named coz they are very soft and super light, they are also deeply chocolately and quite addictive..Its also an easy recipe for a baking beginners, you can very well make this cookies without chocolates, but i wanted mine as chocolate version..A super light biscuits to enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee for our snacks...Do check out the other marathoners running blogging marathon with me here..Sending to  Srivalli's Chocolate Mela,Bake Fest#3 guest hosted by Pradnya,event by Vardhini  & to Srav's Chocolate Fest..


100grms Butter
3/4cup All purpose flour
1/4cup Cornflour
1/4cup Icing sugar
2tbsp Cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 350F..Beat the butter and sugar until they turns light and fluffy, meanwhile sift the flour,cornflour and icing sugar together, add them to the butter-sugar mixture,make small balls from the dough (dont flatten them) and place them with enough spaces between them over a baking sheet lined over a baking tray..

Bake the biscuits for 15-18minutes,(while these biscuits were still warm, i just made some impressions with a fork,its optional),  allow the biscuits to cool completely..dust the top of the biscuits with icing sugar and enjoy with a cup of tea...

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Cappuccino Muffins

I heard rarely people saying 'no' to coffee flavoured bakes, i wont even hesitate a minute to have them anytime of the day,just love coffee flavoured bakes..Here comes one of my fav cappuccino muffins i prepared two days back for our snacks, this cappuccino muffins tastes absolutely divine when they were still warm and obviously these muffins are quite addictive..Apart from my lil one, everyone at home just enjoyed this yummy,super spongy muffins for their snacks, i used white chocolate chips for making this muffins instead of dark chocolate chips also i made a simple ganache to frost these super delicious muffins...Do check out the other marathoners running blogging marathon with me here..Sending to  Srivalli's Chocolate Mela,Bake Fest#3 guest hosted by Pradnya,event by Vardhini  & to Srav's Chocolate Fest..




2cups flour
1/2cup Sugar
1tsp Baking powder
2tsps Instant coffee powder
1/2tsp Cinnamon powder
1no Egg (large)
1cup Milk 
1/2cup Butter(melted and cooled)
1tsp Vanilla extract
3/4cup White chocolate chips


Preheat the oven to 350F, grease the muffins moulds and keep aside..In a bowl,mix together the flour,sugar,baking powder,expresso powder,cinnamon powder and keep aside..


In an another bowl,whisk together the egg,milk,butter,vanilla extract...Add gradually the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients,stir until everything get well mixed,fold gently the white chocolate chips..


Pour the batter to the already prepared the mould and bake for 20-25minutes or until the skewer inserted comes out clean..


Chocolate Ganache:
1cup Chocolate chips
1cup Low fat cream



Warm the cream, add the chocolate chips and mix everything well...let them cool and arrange in fridge..While serving, spread enough ganache on the top of muffins,sprinkle few sugar balls and enjoy..

Friday, January 20, 2012

Creamy Leek & Butternut Squash Soup

Do you trash the green part of the leeks??, if so this soup is definitely for you..I never trash anything that much easily,i'll also find some other way to finish anything best out of those waste..Here comes a super delicious,flavourful soup i prepared using the green part of the leeks which most of the people trash them as they always use the white part of the leeks..I tried making this creamy soup along with butternut squash chunks and few carrot chunks just to feed easily my teddies, for my surprise those green part of the leeks works out wonder in soup along with carrot and butternut squash chunks..Needless to say that this soup is definitely filling,super satisfying and also comforting..Serve it with a simple sandwich or with grilled meats,am sure you guys will have a delicious dinner..Sending to my own event Healthy Diet-Warm Soups FFNFF guest hosted by Priya Sreeram,event by Priya..


2cups Leeks (green parts only)
1cup Butternut squash (cubed)
1/2cup Carrots (chopped)
1no Onion (large& chopped)
2cups Vegetable stock
Water
1cup Milk
2tbsp Cornflour
Pepper powder
Salt
Olive oil

Heat enough olive oil, saute the chopped onions until they turns transculent, add immediately the cubed butternut squash,chopped carrots and chopped leeks,salt and cook for few minutes, add now the vegetable stock,water with pepper powder and bring to boil..meanwhile make a thick paste with cornflour and water and keep aside..


Cook in simmer until the veggies get well cooked,add the milk and the cornflour paste,mix well,bring to boil and put off the stove ..serve warm with toasted breads..

Cinnamon Flavoured Dark Chocolate Butter Cookies

If you love cinnamon flavoured cookies, this cookies is for you..Beware, coz these cookies are quite addictive and definitely super buttery...If you dont care or mind about the few pounds you may gain coz of this cookies, well you can prepare them very much quickly.... I just prepared them yesterday evening for my teddies snacks, needless to say my two batches of these eggless cookies vanished very much quickly..These cookies were very much flavourful,buttery,super addictive and will definitely satisfy your sweet tooth..Just dip them in warm milk and have them, these cookies tastes absolutely divine..I had hard time to take a picture of these cookies, coz few hands were waiting impatiently to pick and have them..To be honest, i just got a cookie to taste, everyone at home just loved it.


1+1/2cups All purpose flour
1cup Sugar
1cup Butter (room temperature)
1/4cup Dark chocolate (chopped roughly)
1tsp Cinnamon powder
A pinch salt

Beat the butter until they turns soft, add the sugar to the butter,beat for few minutes..now add gradually the flour, cinnamon powder,roughly chopped dark chocolate chunks and turns a dough.

Preheat the oven to 350F, arrange a baking sheet over a baking tray..Make a small balls from the dough, flat them in ur palms and arrange over the baking sheet..bake in middle rack for 10-15minutes or until the top turns firm.

Keep aside and let them cool..

Enjoy with a cup of coffee..

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Brinjal & Field Beans In Tangy Gravy/Kathirikkai Mochai Kaara Kuzhambu

The name of the dish itself tempts me a lot, i can survive for many days with this super tangy,delicious gravy prepared basically in tamarind extract and with other spices...My mom's signature dish, she also used to add drumsticks and potatoes incase if she run out brinjals in this mouthwater tangy gravy..Its been a quite long i prepared this fingerlicking gravy at home and finally i decided to make some yesterday which is simply served with fried papads for our lunch..Been born and brought up in Pondicherry, my mom's cuisine goes for a ultimate combination of wonderful South Indian cuisines together..This gravy looks and sounds exactly like the tamarind based gravy prepared in chettinad cuisine..This gravy can stay for many days and tastes much more better the next day than the day they are prepared..Sending to CWS-Hyacinth Beans guest hosted by Siri.


6nos Brinjals (medium & sliced lengthwise)
1cup Field beans/Vella mochai (cooked)
2cups Tamarind extract
15nos Shallots (diced)
2nos Tomatoes (chopped)
10nos Garlic cloves
1/4cup Gingelly oil
1/2tsp  Mustard seeds
1tsp Fenugreek seeds
Few curry leaves
1tbsp Coriander powder
1tsp Chilly powder
1tsp Cumin powder
1/2tsp Pepper powder
Salt

Heat the gingelly oil, fry the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves, add the shallots,garlic cloves and chopped tomatoes and saute everything for few minutes until the shallots gets partially cooked..

Add the sliced brinjals,saute for few minutes again, now add the tamarind extract with salt, coriander powder, chilly powder,cumin powder and pepper powder, cook in medium flame..

Add now the cooked field beans to the cooking gravy and cook until the gravy turns thick and the oil gets separates..

Serve warm with hot steaming rice and papads...

Zucchini & Chocolate Muffins

Its been a while i havent baked anything with zucchini, an incredible versatile vegetable quite known for its low calories..Whenever i bought this low caloric vegetable, i'll prepare either dals or rotis with them,somehow my sweet tooth was craving for some bakes with chocolate since few days..Finally i prepared some super spongy muffins with finely grated zucchini and dark chocolate with eggs and usual ingredients..My teddies just loved these cute looking muffins for both their breakfast and for their snacks, none noticed the 'secret ingredient" until i told them that these pretty looking muffins are prepared with zucchini..Wat a simple way to sneak these veggies na..Do check out the other marathoners running blogging marathon with me here..Sending to  Srivalli's Chocolate Mela,Cooking For Kids-Zucchini guest hosted by Anusha,event by Kalyani,Bake Fest#3 guest hosted by Pradnya,event by Vardhini, Ramya's ABC-Desserts  and finally to CEDD guest hosted by Suma,event by Raven& to Srav's Chocolate Fest...



2cups All purpose flour
1/2cup Cocao powder
3/4cup Zucchini (grated)
1tsp Baking powder
2nos Eggs (beaten)
100grs Butter (room temperature)
3/4cup Sugar

Preheat the oven to 350F, grease a muffins mould and line them with muffin papers.. Sift the flour,cocao powder and baking powder in a large bowl ..Cream the butter and sugar in a another vessel,add the beaten eggs and beat until they turns soft and creamy,add the grated zucchinis and give a stir..Pour the wet ingredients to the flour and stir quickly, dont overmix....

Pour the mixture in the greased muffins mould and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the muffins turns golden or skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean..

Serve warm!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Bottlegourd & Chickpeas in Yogurt Gravy

Its quite hard to finish out if you have some leftover bottlegourd chunks and some cooked chickpeas sitting sadly in your fridge since few days,no problem here comes a super delicious gravy to finish those leftovers... I just combined those leftovers together to prepare this great looking yogurt gravy..I simply cooked both bottlegourd chunks and cooked chickpeas together and finally cooked them in a yogurt based spiced gravy,which is quite now as mor kuzhambu among Tamilians..We had a fabulous lunch with this super comforting mor kuzhambu served simply along with a spicy potato roast,needless to say we had an incredible lunch today..Sending to my own event CWS-Chickpeas guest hosted by Sukanya of Saffronstreaks,  FFNFF guest hosted by Priya Sreeram,event by Priya &  A Veggie for a month - Bottlegourd guest hosted by Raji,event by Priya....


1cup Bottlegourd (chopped)
1/2cup Cooked chickpeas
2cups Yogurt
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
Oil
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1no Dry red chillies
Few curry leaves

To  grind:
1tbsp Rice
3tbsp Toordal
2nos Green chillies
1/2tsp Cumin seeds
1tsp Coriander seeds
2tbsp Grated coconut

Soak the toordal,rice,coriander seeds,cumin seeds in water for half an hour, grind it along with green chillies,coconut as fine paste and churn the yogurt with turmeric powder,grounded paste and salt..


Meanwhile, let splutters the mustard seeds in enough oil,followed by dry red chillies and curry leaves,now add the chopped bottlegourd,cooked chickpeas and salt,cook everything in simmer until the veggies gets well cooked,finally add the yogurt mixture and bring to boil..put off the stove..

Serve hot with rice along with any spicy side dish..