“Gudia, I would like to eat our simple and traditional food” informed my paternal aunt during her first visit at my home. The very popular rustic treats from rural India Daal Baati and Lapsi (couscous dessert) are on her menu for most of the days. “But both the recipes are way too simple, your small Gudia of yesteryear knows to cook many varieties now, aunty” I tempted her with many food choices. “Some other day, this time lets keep it simple” and she changed the topic of conversation. Huh..of all the exotic desserts I know she opted for Lapsi, a simple 3 ingredient recipe!

To impress her with my cooking skills, I tweaked the traditional couscous dessert Lapsi and gave it a makeover. The recipe is slightly inspired by Chef Bobby Chin’s cooking show on TV on Middle East cuisine. The following dessert is cooked in orange juice with loads of dates and berries in it and served with Passion fruit sauce.

This tropical fruit with sticky crunchy seeds inside and surrounded by sweet & sour viscous juice has strong floral aroma. I got the yellow variety of Passion fruit here which are more acidic & sour than the sweet and aromatic purple variety.

The fusion dessert is very filling, yummy and healthy with zero oil or butter in it.

Traditional Couscous Dessert – Lapsi

Ingredients;

• 1 cup of broken wheat/couscous
• 2 cups of hot water
• ½ cup of jaggery
• ½ cup of ghee
• 1 tsp cardamom powder
• Handful of nuts (almonds/cashew)

Method; Heat 1/2 cup of ghee in a thick bottom kadai or wok and dry roast the couscous (Dalia) in it. Keep the flame low and continue roasting till the couscous turn light brown in color for about 7-10 minutes.

Though roasting the couscous before cooking gives a wonderful flavor, my mom sometimes avoid this step. She says that roasting the couscous gives a slightly chewy and hard textured dessert.

Add hot water to the roasted couscous and stir it to mix well. Cover the wok with a lid and let it cook for about 10 minutes on low heat. Do not stir.

Grate the jaggery and chop all the nuts coarsely, add them to the couscous in the wok and mix thoroughly. Take off the dessert from heat.

Let the cooked couscous dessert stand for 5 minutes.

Serve the couscous dessert Lapsi in individual bowl sprinkled with more nuts and melted ghee.

Orange Flavored Couscous Dessert with Passion Fruit Sauce

Ingredients to go in...

Ingredients;

(serve 2)

• ½ cup couscous
• 1 ½ cups of water
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 1 tbsp. honey
• 3 tbsp. organic palm sugar
• 1 tsp. orange rind/zest
• 1 small cinnamon stick
• 2 tbsp. Dried fruits
• A pinch of salt

Passion fruit sauce

• ½ cup passion fruit pulp
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup sugar

Method; Mix honey and palm sugar in half a cup of water and bring to a boil. Add chopped apricot, Goji berries, raisins, cinnamon stick and other dried fruits of your choice. Simmer for 10 minutes and take off from heat. Let it cool, pour orange juice in it.

Boil 1 cup of water, add couscous and a pinch of salt in it. Cover the vessel and cook for 4-5 minutes. Pour the above orange and palm sugar liquid in the couscous and cook for another 2 minutes.

Take off the heat and let it stand for 5 minutes.

Remove the lid and fluff cooked couscous with a fork.

Passion fruit sauce; Boil sugar in water for 5 minutes and add passion fruit pulp to it. Keep boiling for another 5 minutes and take off the heat. To take out the juice from Passion fruit, take out the pulp from the fruit and mash it with hands or just blend the whole pulp for a second in a blender. Let it cool.

Serve the orange couscous pudding in individual bowls and serve with Passion fruit sauce.

The sticky seeds of Passion fruit gives the dessert a sweet floral tart flavor and crunchy bites.

And for being on the safer side I made both the versions of dessert, the traditional Lapsi and the fusion orange flavored couscous recipe with Passion fruit sauce.

Any guesses on which dessert was the hot favorite of the day?

Notes;

1. The cooking time for couscous will vary depending upon the variety used in the recipe. Some couscous variety is very fine and will cook faster.
2. Replace cardamom powder with fennel powder in Lapsi recipe and enjoy another scrumptious variation.
3. Shredded coconut added to the Lapsi recipe gives it a wonderful taste.
4. The more ghee (clarified butter) you add to the Lapsi recipe the more tasty the dessert would be.
5. You could add white sugar in place of jaggery in Lapsi recipe. Jaggery gives a wonderful fruity aroma to the recipe.
6. Add cranberries, raisins, cherries, dates or blueberries to the couscous pudding.
7. A dash of lemon juice added to the passion fruit sauce would give a wonderful flavor.
8. Replace palm sugar with plain white sugar or brown sugar.

....

Whole wheat buns/Baatis and Litti Chokha – the two most rustic regional recipes from Indian invoke a mixed emotion in me. If the later brings back the memory of my carefree days the former reminds me of the insecurity I felt during my childhood. Unable to cope up with the work pressure and childcare my working parents arranged for a 60 something nanny to baby sit me. The most prominent features I could remember about her is her wrinkled face, bony rough hands and the white muslin Potli (pouch) she used to bring daily from her home for her lunch.

She brought these unevenly round whole-wheat buns/baatis neatly packed in a white muslin cloth or potli every day. Hand pound wheat flour to make the buns, firewood used to cook them and fresh ghee smeared over those baatis revealed the hard life of villagers. I used to get scared when she lifted me with her wrinkled hands but loved to bite on those savory buns she brought. The feeling of insecurity of taken care by a stranger was somewhat subsided with these delicacies she brought each day.

Those smoky buns made with hand pound wheat and smothered with fresh Ghee (clarified butter) is hard to forget. I may not have noticed all these features in those buns/baatis then as I was just a toddler. But now when I bake mine I could relate to the same feeling as my Baatis are devoid of these distinct features.

Though these delicacies are referred as ‘poor man’s food’, Dal Baati and Litti Chokha is a very filling & healthy meal for hard working people. The former is a popular meal in the state of Rajasthan and the later is more common in Bihar and other states of India. Both the recipes make a staple food for those working in field and other kind of labour oriented works. Both the meals do not require any modern day cookware or sophisticated methods of cooking.

The buns/baatis and the veggies (for Chokha) are baked together under the firewood, while the lentils are cooked in earthenware over the fire. More about this in the other post here.

Normally Litti is made with just wholewheat flour, but I wanted to differentiate between Baati and Litti and added spinach puree to it. The Littis look very pretty and tasted great with spinach puree.

Spinach Baked Buns or Litti

Ingredients to go in...

For Litti

Ingredients;

• 2 cups Whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup spinach puree
• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil + 1 tbsp.
• 1/2 tsp. onion seeds (Kalonji)
• Salt as desired
• A pinch of baking soda

Filling for Litti

Ingredients;

• 1 cup Chickpea flour/besan
• 2 green chilies
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves
• 2 tbsp. diced onion
• 1/2 tsp. chopped ginger
• 1/2 tsp. chopped garlic
• Salt as desired

Method; Wash and grind a bunch of spinach leaves to make one cup of puree. Take a large bowl and mix flour, baking soda, salt and onion seeds in it. Add 2 tbsp. oil and keep adding spinach puree in small quantity to get soft dough. Dough for Litti should be slightly softer than that of whole wheat buns or baati.

Roast the chickpea flour on medium heat for 5-6 minutes. Peel and slice onion into very fine pieces. Grate ginger, chop fresh coriander leaves and 3-4 small garlic pearls.

Mix all the ingredients for filling. Sprinkle a few drops of water just to bind the filling, do not make it too liquid. You could avoid water and use the dry filling also.

Take small dough of Litti about the size of a tennis ball and make a round. Flatten it a slightly and fill 2 teaspoons of the chickpea flour filling in it. Bring all the sides together and close the circle completely, roll in to make a round ball and flatten it slightly. Make all the Littis in a similar way.

You can use the following two ways to cook these Littis;

1. Pan fry; Heat a girdle and sprinkle a little oil over it, place a few Littis in the pan and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Turn to other side and cook for another 5 minutes till it becomes golden brown from outside.

2. Oven bake; Brush all the prepared Littis in a large baking tray and brush them with butter or ghee. Bake them at 200°C for 20-25 minutes, rotating them after every 10 minutes for even baking.

These Littis are served with brinjal or potato chokha or any chutney. Crush the Littis slightly keeping in between palm and place them in a serving dish. Pour melted butter or ghee as you desire and serve with Brinjal or Potato chokha.

Wholewheat Savory Buns or Baati

 Ingredients;

• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• ½ cup semolina
• 2 tbsp. butter/ghee
• ½ tsp. carom seeds or ajwain
• ¼ tsp. baking powder
• 1 cup or less warm water
• Salt as desired

Method; Mix whole wheat flour, semolina (suji/rawa), salt, baking powder, carom seeds in a large bowl. Add butter or ghee and rub it into the dry ingredients with finger tips.

Add warm water little by little to bind all the ingredients together into a hard dough. Cover it with a plate and keep aside for 30 minutes.

Make small rounds of the size of tennis balls from the dough. You can use two ways to cook the buns or baatis;

1. Boil and roast; Place a large vessel fill with about one liter of water on the stove and let it boil. Add all the buns into the boiling water and cook for 10-12 minutes. Take out the buns from the hot water and keep them in a flat plate. You can slice each bun into two and shallow fry them in oil, or bake all the buns at 200°C for 15 minutes in an oven.
2. Baked buns; Brush all the prepared buns in a large baking tray and brush them with butter or ghee. Bake them at 200°C for 30 minutes, rotating them after every 10 minutes for even baking.

To serve these baked buns or baatis, crush each bun slightly using both the palms such that the buns do not break completely but hold the shape. Place the crushed bun in a plate and pour melted butter or ghee over it. Serve it with mixed Lentil, Brinjal or Potato chokha or pickle.

Baati & Litti with Chokha and mixed Daal

My grandmom used to soak the baked buns/Baatis in a large bowl of ghee for an hour before serving …I can see many eyes popping through my screen

Serve these scrumptious savory buns/ Baati and Littis with mixed lentil, brinjla chokha or potato chokha.

Notes;

1. Avoid baking powder in the recipe if you are using the boiling method for making the Buns or baatis.
2. Homemade wheat flour gives the best results, the Buns/baatis come out more crisp and crumbly.
3. Use boiled and mashed potatoes as the filling for Litti.

....

This regional recipe of Litti Cokha from India brings back the memory of my carefree childhood days. After living in a secured colony of central government quarters for many years, mom wanted to live in her own house and she bought a ground near a picturesque place in Udaipur. The place was very near to where we were currently staying and me and my brother used to visit the site every evening after school hours to  monitor the activities in the construction area.

Each day as soon as the clock struck 5 PM, all the workers would stop working, gather at a common place and begin their evening activities of fun and cooking food together. After freshening up with the water stored in a small tank, men folks cut wood to light the fire for cooking and the women share the work of kneading the dough for Litti and prepping for the Brinjal Chokha.

We would make sure that mom was not around, and anxiously wait for the workers to finish cooking and offer us those hot ash smeared Littis straight from the firewood. Hygiene, hand wash, and the likes were certainly not in my agenda then…what mattered the most was to get those scrumptious creations each day from some of the most wonderful chefs in my life

Brinjal Chokha

Brinjal Chokha

Ingredients;

• 1 large brinjal 250 gms
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 tbsp. Olive oil/vegetable oil
• 2 green chillies
• 2 tbsp. chopped fresh coriander
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1 tsp. chopped garlic
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• Salt as desired

Method; Poke the Brinjal and tomatoes with skewers or a fork separately and roast them directly on the flame till the outer skin turns black.

Let it cool slightly and then peel off the charred skin of brinjal & tomatoes. Mash the smoked veggies roughly with a fork or by hand.

Peel and slice onion thinly, chop green chillies, 2-3 garlic pearls and grate a small ginger piece.

Mix all the ingredients listed above in a bowl and garnish with chopped fresh coriander leaves.

Serve the Brinjal Chokha with hot Buns/Baatis or Spinach Littis.

Potato Chokha

Potato Chokha

Ingredients;

• 1 large potato
• 2 medium red tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 green chilly
• 1 tbsp. Olive oil
• 1 tsp. chopped garlic
• 1 tsp. grated ginger
• Fresh coriander leaves for garnish
• Salt as desired

Method; Half boil the potato and poke the tomatoes and the half boiled potato with skewers or a fork and roast them directly on the flame till the outer skin turns black.

Let them cool slightly and then peel off the charred skin from them. Mash the smoked tomatoes and potato roughly with a fork or by hand.

Peel and slice onion thinly, chop 2-3 garlic pearls and grate a small ginger piece.

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and garnish with chopped fresh coriander leaves.

Serve the Potato Chokha with hot Buns/Baatis or Spinach Littis.

Mixed Lentil or Indian Daal

Mixed Lentil or Indian Daal

Ingredients;

• 1 cup mixed lentil*
• 1 onion
• 1 tsp. grated ginger
• 1 tsp. + 1 tbsp. of vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 liter of plain Water
• 1 tsp. lemon juice

Spices

• 2 tsp. coriander powder
• 1 tsp. red chilly powder
• 1/2 tsp. cumin powder
• Salt as desired

Method;

*Mixed lentils; A mix of black gram (whole urad dal), green gram (moong dal), red lentil (masoor dal), Bengal gram (channa dal) and pegion pea (toovar dal).

Traditionally the proportion of whole black gram is more than all the other grams as it is suppose to be more energetic, filling and healthier than the rest. You could choose any proportion that you like. More whole lentils will make the recipe much healthier.

Wash and soak all the pulses together for an hour. Boil all the soaked pulses in a liter of water with a tsp. of oil and ½ tsp of turmeric powder for 20-30 minutes. Pressure cooking the grams take less time and is much healthier option than cooking in an open vessel. Mash the cooked grams slightly with the back of a ladle.

Peel and chop the onion into thin slices. Wash and grate the ginger.

Heat 1 tbsp. of oil in a wok and add chopped onion, grated ginger, all the spices and sauté for a few minutes.

Pour this tempering over the cooked lentils and boil it for 3-4 minutes.

Litti Chokha

Add lemon juice and garnish the mixed Lentil curry with fresh chopped coriander leaves. Serve it with hot whole wheat buns/baatis or Spinach Littis or Paanya.

Litti Chokha and Daal Baati

Brinjal Chokha is almost similar to Baba Ganoush a vegetarian dip cooked with roasted brinjal in middle east countries except the Tahini used in the Baba Ganoush recipe. 

Serve these curries with another specialty from Rajasthan – A baked savory bun in leaves called Paanya. 

Notes;

1. Normally potatoes are also roasted directly in the firewood for about 20-30 minutes, you could grill or bake them to get a better result. Firewood baked potatoes have crumbly texture and wonderful earthy aroma.
2. Boiling the potatoes first and then directly roasting them in flame saves time, but you might miss out on the smoky flavor of the firewood in the recipe.
3. Traditionally the proportion of whole black gram is more than all the other grams and lentils as it is suppose to be more energetic and healthier than the rest. You could choose any proportion that you like. More whole lentils will make the recipe filling and healthy.
4. Try making the Daal with just the whole black gram which is the authentic recipe to savor Daal Bati with in rural parts of Rajasthan.

....

Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it. ~ Russel Baker. Am sure many would be one to love summer for a good reason – Ice Creams! There was a time when the very word ‘Ice-cream‘ was banned in my house. Recurrent cough & cold and instructions from the music teacher to avoid anything cold for the children made sure that ice cream cease to exist in our house. For good long years both of us also avoided ice creams served during any party or functions lest our children will get tempted.

But now that they are grown up and have better immunity power the ban has been partially lifted. They are allowed to eat ice creams but have to gulp warm water immediately to reduce the effect of cold. Does this sound too cruel…Well, I have heard such weird stories from many possessive & protective parents. And I willingly admit that I am one among them

The magic of my baton is reducing exceedingly each day with my son entering into his teens. The rebellion teen in him feels it is utter crime to stop them from eating junk food and ice creams. So there I was on an ice cream spree last week to please my children…just in case..

Mango and watermelon with the gorgeous color and wonderful texture top the foodie chart of my family while coffee ice cream is a pure indulgence I would love to dig in again and again. Sapodilla or chikoo fancies only my hubby and thus the Sapodilla ice cream was left for him with pleasure

1. Light Mango Ice Cream with Custard Powder

Ingredients;

• 1 cup mango puree
• 2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup sugar/honey
• 4 tsp. custard powder/milk powder
• A Few Goji berries/any other dried fruit

Method; Use mangoes which are sweet with dark colred pulp to make ice cream, this gives a lovely color to the ice cream and you will need less sugar in the recipe. Peel the mangoes and puree in a blender, leave a few mango slices for garnishing.

Boil milk, dissolve custard powder in 2 tbsp of cold water or milk. Add the custard powder mix in the boiling milk and keep stirring for one minute. Take out from flame and let it cool.

Add mango puree, small mango pieces, sugar/honey and Goji berries/raisins/crushed nuts or anything you fancy into the above custard and mix well.

Pour the ice cream mix in a food grade plastic and keep it in freezer to set. Take it out after 3-4 hours, blend it again and pour in the container to set. This process is to make sure there are less ice crystals in the ice cream, if you don’t have an ice cream maker.

Let the Mango ice cream set completely overnight before serving.

2. Sapodilla or Chikoo Ice Cream with Cottage Cheese

Ingredients;

• 1 cup sapodilla/chikoo fruit puree
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup fresh cottage cheese
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp. cream
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. vanilla essence

Method; Peel 4 medium size Sapodilla/chikoo fruits and remove the large black seed from inside. Puree the sliced fruit in a blender with sugar, milk and cottage cheese.

Beat cream with a fork for a few minutes. Add the beaten cream, lemon juice, vanilla essence  to the above fruit mix.

Pour the Sapodilla ice cream mix in a food grade plastic and keep it in freezer to set. Take it out after 3-4 hours, blend it again and pour in the container to set. This process is to make sure there are less ice crystals in the ice cream, if you don’t have an ice cream maker.

Let the Sapodilla ice cream set completely overnight before serving.

3. Watermelon Yogurt Ice Cream with Hung Yogurt/Curd

Ingredients; 

• 2 cups Watermelon juice
• 1 cup fresh hung yogurt/curd
• 2/3 cup sugar/honey
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• ½ tsp. lemon zest

Method; Blend bite size cubes of watermelon to make 2 cups of juice. Set fresh yogurt with full cream milk. Hung it in a muslin cloth and place it in refrigerator overnight to drain the water completely. Use Greek yogurt for better texture.

Take out the hung curd, it resembles a mass of soft ball almost like homemade cottage cheese.

Blend all the ingredients together in a blender for 3 minutes and pour in a plastic container. Freeze the watermelon ice cream till set. Take it out after 3-4 hours, blend it again and pour in the container to set. This process is to make sure there are less ice crystals in the ice cream, if you don’t have an ice cream maker.

Watermelon puree changes its color from bright red to lovely pink when yogurt is mixed in it.

Serve the watermelon ice cream in a tall glass with cubes of watermelon in it.

4. Creamy Coffee Ice Cream

Ingredients;

• 1 cup cream
• ½ cup warm milk
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tbsp. instant coffee powder
• 1 tbsp. corn flour

Method; Beat the cream for a few minutes with a fork or egg beater. Dissolve the corn flour in a tbsp of cold milk and pour in the warm milk. Boil the milk over low heat stirring constantly, the milk will thicken in a few minutes.

Take off the flame, add coffee powder and sugar in it and stir it to dissolve completely.

Mix in the beaten cream and pour in a food grade plastic container to set in the freezer.

Take out the partially set coffee ice cream and beat it in a blender or with a fork to break the ice crystals. Set it again. Sprinkle chocolate chips or sprinkles over the coffee ice cream and serve.

Lick till the last drop..

My favorite dessert from the above list of ice creams is Mango, coffee, watermelon and sapodilla…in the same order.

Notes;

1. Add a tsp. of lemon juice to the ice cream mix if the fruits are very sweet.
2. You can always alter the combinations to make different flavors of ice creams.
3. Try the cottage cheese combo with mango ice cream and yogurt with Sapodilla ice cream recipe.
4. Avoid serving coffee ice cream to children.
5. Replace the milk in mango ice cream with coconut milk and enjoy a scrumptious flavor.

....

Ahaa.. finally its here – the Summer Holidays, time we all look forward to year after year! Trip to home town, loads of  ‘me time’ to relax and also to complete all the pending tasks I have been procrastinating the whole year wearing the shield of ‘no time’

My euphoria is but short lived, the very next day of the holiday and the mom is busier than ever. Library, cricket coaching, dance classes, piano lessons…and repeat. Well, as a good mother I also need to keep my children engaged and make their holiday more productive. Till then..’me time’ can wait.

Baking cookies, cup cakes and making easy bite size snacks is one another way I keep them occupied during the steamy hot afternoons. They love to mess up their hands with the sticky dough, make shapes and wait eagerly to see the outcome of their kitchen stint. This time they helped me in rolling out these spinach rolls, promised to clean the kitchen and eat whatever they roll out.

Khandvi and Khaman Dhokla are the two very popular tea time snacks in the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan inIndia. Made with chickpea flour the recipes are a savior for those days when guests drop in uninformed and you wish to entertain them and also impress them with your cooking prowess. The recipes have very few ingredients and could be made within a few minutes with a little practice. These recipes are also shared on Open Kitchen , a wonderful online magazine run by my foodie friend Nicoletta and her friends.

Indian tea time snack ‘Khandvi’ is a very healthy steamed lentil rolls. My twist to the recipe is to add Spinach in the batter which not only increase the health quotient but imparts a wonderful color to the recipe. It takes a lot of patience to roll out a perfect Khandvi, the  batter has to have the correct consistency to do the same. Try with half the quantity of the recipe to get the feel of the whole process. I will not reveal my ‘number of attempts’ for getting a perfect Khandvi…in case..

Healthy Spinach Rolls or Khandvi

Ingredients to go in...

Ingredients;

Serving; 12- 15 roils

Preparation time; 15 minutes

• 1 cup chickpea flour/green gram flour
• 1 cup yogurt/curd
• ½ cup chopped spinach leaves
• 1 ½ cups of water
• ½ tsp. red chilly powder
• ½ tsp. sugar
• ½ tsp. salt
• A pinch of assafoetida powder (optional)

Tempering;

• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 2 tsp. sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp. grated coconut
• ½ tsp. lemon juice

Spinach roll stuffed with seasoned grated carrots..

Method; Add all the ingredients (except the ingredients for tempering) in a blender and grind into a very fine paste.

Take a thick bottom pan/non-stick vessel and pour the batter in it. Heat the batter for 10-12 minutes on slow flame stirring continuously to avoid lumps.

The batter will start leaving the sides of the vessel. Take off the flame and pour it immediately over the kitchen counter (stone/marble) or in a large flat plate.

Spread it with a spatula in a thin sheet and leave it for 5 minutes to let it cool.

Cut into broad strips using a knife. Roll each strip into spiral shaped rolls. Slice each roll into smaller roundels of about 2-3’ length and place them in a serving dish.

Heat oil in a wok and crackle sesame seeds for a few seconds and add lemon juice in it. Pour this tempering over the sliced Spinach rolls and garnish with grated fresh coconut.

Stuffed Spinach rolls; Grate cucumber, carrots and raw mango. Add salt, black pepper and fill a little of this filling before rolling the stripes. Green coriander and mint chutney, garlic mayonnaise and tomato sauce are some other filling options.

Instant Savory Cake or Khaman Dhokla – A Popular Indian snack

Indian delicacy ‘Khaman Dhoklas’  are seasoned spongy Lentil flour savory cakes which are easy and quick to cook and serve as a delicious tea time snack.

Ingredients to go in...

Ingredients;

Serving; makes 10-12 pieces

Cooking time; 15 minutes

(Makes about 10-12 small pieces)

• 1 cup chickpea flour
• 1 tbsp. semolina
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tbsp. oil
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. Eno (fruit salt)
• ½ tsp. Salt
• Pinch of asofoetida powder (optional)

For tempering;

• 1 tbsp. sesame seeds
• 2 small green chilies
• 2 tbsp. oil
• 1 tbsp. water
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Juice of one lemon
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 2-3 tbsp. Chopped coriander leaves

Method; Take a large vessel and add all the ingredients except the ENO fruit salt. Mix all the ingredients well so that there remain no lumps in the batter.

Add ENO fruit salt in the above chickpea flour batter. It will start to bubble and make a frothy batter. Steam the batter for about 6-7 minutes on high flame. You can use a normal vessel as steamer for the same.

Heat one cup of water in a large vessel, you should be able to place the greased baking tray or the plate in that vessel easily. Pour the batter immediately in the greased baking tray or a large plate. Put a small inverted steel bowl inside hot water vessel.

Place the baking tray or the plate of batter over the inverted bowl and cover it with a lid. Steam it for about 6-7 minutes. Take out the plate of steamed savory cake from the steamer and let it cool little.

Heat oil in a wok and crackle mustard seeds. Add sesame seeds and chopped green chilies. Take the wok off the flame. Mix lemon juice, sugar and water in a small bowl and pour it in the tempering.

Pour the tempering over the cooked savory cake and let it soak for 5 minutes.

Slice the ‘Khaman Dhoklas’ into squares and serve with green chutney or tomato sauce. These istant lentil flour savory cakes make a wonderful tea time healthy snack.

Notes;

• The best tip for these recipes is to dry roast the chickpea flour for a few minutes on slow flame before cooking to get rid of raw smell. This step will also reduce the time you cook the batter.
• Clean your kitchen counter top (preferably granite or marble) to pour the batter for rolls.
• Aluminum foil is also a good choice to spread the batter of rolls for a mess free kitchen later.
• You need to work faster once the batter for the rolls is taken off flame as it will start getting lumpy.
• Try the first recipe with half the ingredients first to master the technique of mixing and spreading the rolls.
• Do not make the rolls with any stuffing inside if you are trying the recipe for the first time, it makes the rolls break easily which is quite disappointing in the beginning.
• ENO has a combination of citric acid and baking soda in it. Citric acid gives a tangy flavor to the recipe while baking soda helps in making the cake spongy.
• The combo of citric acid and baking soda release carbon dioxide when mixed with water and helps create instant bubbles in the batter making it light and fluffy.
• Microwave the instant savory cake recipe for 3-4 minutes on high.
• The savory cake recipe could be tried by soaking dry lentils and grinding it into batter with other ingredients. You can replace ENO with baking soda in the same.
• These recipes are make an excellent tea time snack, a healthy appetizer and a light refreshing breakfast with almost zero fat content (except the tempering which you can avoid if you wish).

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If being stupid, selfish, and having good health are the three requirements for happiness then I must admit that I am a mix of all the three! Let me unveil it for you…the recent after effects of the Indonesian earthquake in India had a mild effect on the properties but caught many people unaware. I was sitting on my dinning table with one hand on my laptop and the other hand holding a tea cup when the incident occurred. Suddenly I felt my heart pumping faster and I could hear my heart beat clearly. I started to sweat and my hand was trembling with the tea cup in it. It did not occur to me that this could be due to an earthquake. I started relating the symptoms with my 40 plus status and all the medical ailments that could remember at that time. I was paying attention to all the minute details of what was happening to me so that I could explain the same to my doctor….phew.  Yes, I was scared out of my wits.

A phone call from Hubby to inquire if I felt the earth quake relieved me and I screamed ” What, an earthquake, thank God”. Confused and a bit startled to comprehend my insane statement, he cut the line.  Being selfish is not a bad thing if it makes you happy without hurting others

I made this instant no bake dessert the same night to celebrate life and keeping fit  for another year. The Cheesecake is very light with subtle citrus flavors of orange. Cardamom and orange zest gives a freshness to this cheesecake while the cottage cheese makes it lighter and slightly healthier version than the usual cream cheesecakes. Cornflakes base give the extra crunch to the cheesecake.

Ingredients to go in...

Ingredients;

(serve 4)

• 1 1/2 cup crumbled fresh Cottage Cheese
• 2 tbsp. condensed milk
• Juice of one orange
• 1 tsp orange zest
• 1/2 tsp. cardamom powder
• 1 tsp. Agar-agar powder

For the base;

• 1 cup crushed cornflakes
• 2 tbsp powder sugar
• 2 tbsp. all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp. melted butter or oil

Cheesecake in individual servings...

Method; Make cottage cheese (paneer) from skimmed milk and drain all the whey. Grate the peel of an orange to get one tsp. of zest and squeeze the fruit to take out the juice from it.

Soak agar-agar powder in orange juice and leave it for a few minutes. Warm the mixture slightly to help dissolve the agar-agar evenly.

Pour this agar-agar mix into the cottage cheese mixture above.

Add cottage cheese, condensed milk, orange zest and cardamom powder in a blender and blend it to make a paste.

Base; Crush cornflakes coarsely and add rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Grease individual small baking pans with oil and add about two tablespoons of cornflakes mixture in it. Press the base gently with the back of a ladle on all sides.

Pour about 2 tablespoons of cottage cheese mixture over the corn flake base in each individual pan and refrigerate all the pans for 4-5 hours till the cheesecake is set.

The orangy cottage cheese cheesecake is extremely crumble and flavorful.

Setting my desserts in individual bowls help me kill two birds with one idea..it makes serving easy and gives a feeling of eating the dessert whole without sharing

Notes;

1. Replace orange zest and juice with that of lemon for a tangy cheesecake recipe.
2. You could make this recipe in a single serving baking pan also.
3. As I avoided sugar in the cheesecake filling the recipe is sweetened with milkmaid only. Add extra sugar if you wish to have more sweet.

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A pickle is to any meal what a smile is to a beautiful woman, both enhance the subject perfectly! If you happen to be in the colorful state of Rajasthan in India, your meal is incomplete without extra spoonfuls of ghee (clarified butter) and a dash of spicy pickle served by your generous host. Not to forget the yummy ghee laden sweets to wind up your hearty meal.

Pickled fenugreek seeds, Ker Sangari, Gum Berry, Athana green chilly, fresh whole green peas and the list of such unusual ingredients to make pickles is endless. Each pickle is unique for the spice mix that goes in it, by the way it is prepared or for the ingredients used to make it. Some of the food ingredients used to make these pickles are indigenous to Rajasthan and is difficult to get in other parts of India.

Pickle making is a close guarded family secret and the recipe is meticulously transferred from one generation to another by the elders. The way raw ingredients are treated before adding them to the pickle, a blend of spices and the time of setting determine the quality of a good pickle.

If Gum berries are steamed in some recipes before adding to the pickle, using raw berries is the most important pointer for others. Like wise when making a fresh turmeric pickle many would add grated ginger and cook strictly in mustard oil.

These are the few pickle recipes my mom follows and I have grown eating for years as long as I remember. Now that I reside in a city where Gum berry is hard to find, I make sure to bring my jar of Gum berry pickle during my yearly visit to my mom’s place.

Turmeric rhizomes are in abundance here during winter season and I sow the ripened turmeric roots to get a fresh produce from my backyard every year.

1. Gum Berry or Gunda Berry Pickle 

See the sticky fluid oozing from the berry..

Ingredients;

• 500 gms Gum berry/gunda
• 1 cup red chilly powder
• 1 cup oil
• 3/4 cup mustard seeds (rai)
• 1/2 cup fenugreek seeds (methidana)
• 1/2 cup salt (preferable rock salt)
• 2 tbsp. fennel seeds (saunf)
• 2 tsp. Turmeric powder

Method; Wash Gum berries in water and wipe them clean. Heat 1 tbsp. of oil in a large wok and add all the gum berries. Cover with tight lid and cook for just about 2 minutes stirring in between.

This process makes sure that the gum inside these berries gets set and will not make a sticky pickle.

Take out all the berries in a plate and remove the stalks and the large seeds from inside.

Grind mustard, fenugreek and fennel seeds into a coarse powder. Empty the coarse powder in a bowl and add salt, red chilly powder, turmeric powder and a pinch of asafetida (optional). Mix well.

Add 1-2 tbsp. of oil in the above spice mix. Fill this spice mix in each Gum berry. Place all the filled berries in clean glass jar.

Heat the remaining oil till it is slightly warm. Pour it over the jar filled with stuffed Gum berries.

Use half of Gum berries and half of raw mango to make this pickle, the combination is a winner.

Keep the pickle in sun light for about 10 days before serving.

2. Fresh Turmeric Root Pickle

Fresh turmeric pickle

Ingredients;

• 1 cup diced Fresh turmeric roots
• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 4 green chilies
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. salt

• 1 tsp. Nigella seeds (Kalonji/onion seeds)
• 1 tsp. aniseeds (saunf)
• 1 tsp. Mustard seeds
• ½ tsp. fenugreek seeds
• A pinch of asafetida powder

Fresh produce from my backyard..

These are the fresh produce from the semi dried turmeric roots I sowed last year at my backyard. I use them frequently in all my Indian curries and for making turmeric milk.

Method; Wash the roots thoroughly with clean water and wipe them clean with a kitchen towel. Scrape the skin of turmeric roots with a peeler.

Dice the roots into very small pieces of grate it with a grater. Chop green chillies finely.

Heat oil in a wok, crackle mustard seeds and then add fenugreek seeds, aniseeds, and Nigella seeds. Fry the dry spices just for a few seconds and add diced turmeric pieces. Cook for 4-5 minutes on low heat and take off the flame and let it cool a bit.

Add diced green chillies, asafetida powder, salt and lemon juice to the spices.

Fill the fresh turmeric pickle in clean glass jar and refrigerate. This pickle stays good for about a month. Use more warm vegetable oil and fill the jar to increase the shelf life of this pickle upto one year.

More about turmeric;

Wiki-turmeric

Turn to Turmeric

Notes;

1. Many like to remove the large single seed before making the gum berry pickle to avoid the sticky viscous liquid. But I keep the seeds intact. Steaming or quick frying for a few seconds helps in making the berries free from the sticky glue.
2. Add extra oil in both the pickle recipes if you wish to store it for longer time. The pickle should be fully immersed in a layer of oil to increase the shelf life.
3. Diced raw mango slices are also added to the Gum berry pickle to give a tangy flavor.
4. Add Amchoor or dry mango powder to the recipe if you can’t get fresh raw mangoes.
5. You could use the same process and spice mix to make pickles using other berries and fruits.
6. Make this fresh turmeric root pickle and enjoy the health benefits of the spice whole year.

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“Try the dual flavor vanilla & chocolate cereal or this new variety of cereal in the shape of Planet & stars…and this one….” Phew..shopping for children’ food could be  so distracting than compelling due to endless choices in the same. These myriad choices do make life easy for busy moms with almost no cooking, quick & fuss free breakfast options in the market. But in the bargain I feel we loose on the natural and healthier foods and food products which were available a few years back.

Cereal was certainly not our bowl of breakfast in the growing years during late 60s and early 70’s. And then when plain cornflakes was first introduced in India it became a fashion statement and was welcomed with open hearts in many homes.

I still enjoy a bowl of sugar free crunchy corn flakes with nuts and fruits on a lazy weekend. The same corn flakes (sugar free) is unwelcome at my home, now that my children have more tempting options to choose from. Thanks to the sugary chocolaty cereals the big bag of cornflakes I purchased a few months back is still lying untouched in my pantry.

But my Corn flakes and oat cookies gave me the reason to smile again  And I am loving the new more healthy and yummy way to enjoy the good old corn flakes. The sweet and sour berries, extra crunch of cornflakes…I like how simple, quick and easy some of the delicious and healthy foods could be.

Ingredients to go in...

Ingredients;

(makes 10-12 cookies)

• 1 cup crushed cornflakes
• 1/4 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup powder sugar
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries & black currants
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil/melted butter
• 1 tbsp. honey
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• A pinch of salt

Method; Preheat oven to 180°C and grease a baking tray with butter paper. Dry roast cornflakes and oats in a shallow wok for a a few minutes. Cool it a bit and crush cornflakes and oats coarsely by rubbing in between your palm.

Add salt, cinnamon powder, baking powder, all purpose flour, cranberries and mix well.

Take another vessel and add powder sugar, oil/melted butter and whisk well, pour it into the dry cornflake mixture.

Bind all the ingredients and bring them together to form a ball. At this stage you can add a little of honey or yogurt to hold all the ingredients together. Do not add more than one tablespoon of honey else the cookies will turn chewy and not very crisp.

Make small balls from the cookie dough and flatten them slightly. Place all the cookies on the greased baking paper leaving a gap of an inch.

Bake the cookies at 180°C for about 15-20 minutes or till they turn golden brown on top. Cookies will become crisp after cooling down a bit.

Replace sugar with honey and enjoy more healthier version of these cookies. If you plan to add honey you may not require any binding agent to hold the dough. 

To keep the expectation of something scrumptious coming out from my oven constant, I always make small batches of these goodies. Which gives two reasons to smile, first a satisfaction to see everyone fighting to grab the last piece and second motivation to bake again  Cranberries and black currants in these crunchy Corn flake cookies give that slight sweet & sour taste in every bite.

Notes;

1. Replace honey with curd if you wish to bind the dough.
2. Substitute cranberries with any other dried fruit of your choice.
3. The cookies stay good for more than ten days, and they remain crisp and crunchy too.
4. Make small batches of cookies to retain the freshness of ingredients, it hardly takes any time so you can make it more often.
5. You could even skip the all purpose flour (maida) from the recipe and make the cookies with just corn flakes and oats.
6. Pack these healthy cookies in the snack box of your children for a quick energy bite.

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Versatile dips & spreads which could be made quickly and peps up a meal instantly are my all time favorite. Ubiquitous green chutney with fresh coriander & mint leaves in my refrigerator tops the chart by all means. Yes, I eat it with my flat breads, use as sandwich spread, on crackers, tarts, Khatti rolls, pizza topping…and so on.. Hummus is one another favorite of mine, a refreshing & healthy dip prepared with chickpeas or Garbanzo beans. The recipe is often twisted & tweaked to come up with yummy surprises..well..almost always

The bland taste of boiled Chickpeas in Hummus gets its flavors from the spices, herbs and various aromatic ingredients used in the recipe. For a change I wanted to alter the base of Hummus (chickpeas) this time and substitute it with another lentil. Sprouted green gram and vibrant red bell pepper from my refrigerator wanted to be game this time.

I avoided boiling or steaming the green gram in the recipe and also roasted the red bell pepper before adding to the Hummus. Roasting the bell pepper gives a wonderful smoky flavor to the Hummus.

I kept the consistency of my Hummus slightly chunky to feel the taste of lentils and the veggies in it. The raw taste of sprouts is totally overpowered by the wonderful and slightly sweet tasting roasted red bell pepper.  I must try to steam the sprouted green gram next time and see the difference it makes to the Hummus recipe. But for now here are the two flavorful crunchy and yummy Hummus recipes for you;

1. Orange Flavored Chickpea Hummus with Homemade Corn Tortillas

sesame, orange zest and ground chickpeas..

This chickpea hummus recipe is flavored with orange juice and orange zest and served with homemade cornmeal tortilla chips and is a favorite of my children. The dressing is always kept simple to suit the palate of my children, I serve the same with steamed veggie sticks and deep fried tortilla chips. You could add a sprig of fresh mint and sprinkle paprika and cumin powder before serving the Hummus.

Ingredients;

(Serve 2)

• 1 cup soaked & boiled chickpeas
• ¼ cup Tahini
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp. Olive oil
• 2 tbsp. orange juice
• ½ tsp. orange zest
• Salt as desired
• Paprika (optional)
• Pine buts (optional)

Method; Wash and soak chickpeas overnight. Drain and boil it in 2 cups of water in a pressure cooker for about 6-7 whistle on high heat. If you are using normal vessel for cooking it will take 60-70 minutes for the chickpeas to get cooked.

Orange flavored chickpea hummus with homemade Tortillas specially for kids..

Take out and add the chickpeas in a food processor with a little of the water in which it was boiled. Grind it into a smooth paste. Add rest of the ingredients except nuts, paprika and olive oil and grind again till all the ingredients are mixed well.

If the Hummus is thick add the boiled water in which chickpeas were boiled.

Serve the Hummus in a serving dish make a well in the centre and pour Olive oil in it  and garnish with paprika/sliced red bell pepper or orange zest and serve with whole-wheat crackers or vegetable sticks.

Tahini; Grind sesame seeds and olive oil into a fine paste and store. This makes the basic recipe for Tahini. Add a few herbs and garlic to the same paste and makes another version of a scrumptious spread.

Cornmeal Tortillas‘; Mix 1 cup of fine cornmeal with 1/4 cup of all purpose flour and knead with cold water. Roll into very thin sheets, cut int strips and deep fry or bake the Tortillas.

2. Sprouted Green Gram & Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummus with Easy Bread Canapes

Roasted Red bell pepper

Ingredients;

(serve 2)

• 1 cup sprouted green gram
• 1 cup roasted and chopped red pepper
• 4 garlic pearls
• 1 tsp whole black pepper
• 1 tbsp. sesame seeds
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• ½ tsp. crushed black pepper
• ½ tsp. roasted cumin powder
• ½ tsp. salt

Ingredients to go in..

Method;  Washand soak whole green gram for 4-5 hours. Drain the water and tie it in a clean muslin cloth. Hang the muslin cloth in warm and damp place for one or two days. Sprinkle water every 4-5 hours to keep the gram moist.

Pierce red pepper with a fork and roast it on direct flame on stove top. This is easy and quick method to roast the bell pepper, you could also bake the same for about 20-25 minutes.

Peel the charred skin from the bell pepper and chop it into fine pieces.

Roast sesame in a little ghee or any vegetable oil (ghee or butter gives a nice aroma to the Tahini).

Creamy delight...

Grind all the ingredients except olive oil into a fine paste.

Serve the Hummus in a serving dish make a well in the centre and pour Olive oil in it. Garnish the hummus with a few pieces of chopped bell pepper and sprouted green gram.

Served with easy bread canapes

Bread canapes; Remove the sides from 4 slices of breads. Dip the bread slices in a bowl of water just for a second and take out. Avoid this step if the bread is fresh and very soft.

Fold the bread slices to fit into the muffin moulds in the form of cups. Bake it at 200°C for about 10 minutes till the canapés turn light brown in color. Take out and let it cool.

The aroma of roasted bell pepper is heavenly..

Perfect starters...wholewheat crackers served with Hummus

Bread canapés are easy to make and is a wonderful way to serve this yummy Hummus, it looks appetizing and makes a healthy fun food for children as well. Make homemade Tortillas as explained above to serve with Hummus. Another good option is to steam or grill veggie sticks such as carrots, cucumber and serve along with Hummus.

Notes;

1. In authentic hummus pepper or paprika is not added, since I wanted my hummus to be slightly spicy I added the same.
2. To make the chickpeas very soft add a teaspoon of baking soda while soaking them in water. Wash and then grind to a paste to make hummus.
3. I kept the sesame paste slightly chunky and coarse, you could grind it into fine paste also.
4. For the first recipe I avoided making Tahini and added roasted sesame (in butter/ghee) instead.
5. The sprouted green gram in this recipe is used in its raw form, boil or steam the same if you are not comfortable with raw taste.

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There are times when I prefer & rely more on my ‘quick fixes’ in cooking over the original recipes. The handy ‘quick fixes’ I invented for my convenience during the last 20 years in my kitchen are easy and more fun do with whatever is available at that particular day in my kitchen. And this Cocoa Brownie is one such recipe when I run out of chocolates…well, not exactly run out, but am raided of…want to know how?

Cozy family weekend when everyone crave for a scrumptious dessert and there is no signs of the chocolate bars I hide in refrigerator for a surprise Sunday dessert. Yes, this happens quite often at home, my two naughty pirates never get tired of raiding my refrigerator of all that is ‘Chocolate‘..chocltae chips, chocolate sprinkles and even the dark unsweetened chocolate cooking bars!

So here is my alternative ‘quick fix’ to the authentic chocolate brownie recipe when I don’t have enough chocolate bars to bake the same. It tastes yum and I bet you will never miss out on chocolate part in these Cocoa Brownies, except the gooeyness of the chocolate brownies.

The cocoa butter present in the cooking chocolate bars give the gooey texture to the chocolate brownies. While cocoa brownies baked with just cocoa powder are dense but lack the gooey texture. You could add some amount (about 50 gms) of chopped dark chocolate bars in the same recipe to get a gooey chocolate brownie.

I tried baking Pearl Millet brownies which are denser than the cocoa brownies and taste more like fudge. These millet brownies certainly need an acquired taste to enjoy the overpowering somewhat grassy taste of the whole grain.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup melted butter/oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp. yogurt/curd
• 2 tbsp. milk
• 2 tbsp. chopped nuts
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• A pinch of salt
• ½ tsp. vanilla essence

Method; Preheat oven at 190°. Take a rectangular baking tray and cut out a butter- paper to the exact size and line it inside. This will make it easy to un mould the Brownie after it is baked.

Sift whole wheat flour, salt and baking powder in a large vessel. Chop nuts into fine pieces.

Heat butter in a medium pan and add sugar in it. Let the sugar melt completely. Cool it a bit and add chopped nuts, vanilla essence, milk and yogurt and stir well.

Pour this liquid content in the dry content and mix lightly.

Pour the batter in the lined baking tray and bake it for 20-25 minutes at 180°C or till the skewer comes out clean when inserted in the brownie.

Cool it completely before slicing the Brownies

Take out the baked brownie with the butter paper and keep it on a flat surface. Slice it into squares or diamonds and serve.

Millet Brownie

More dense and fudgy Millet Brownies

Ingredients;

• 1/4 cup Pearl millet flour (Bajra)
• 1/2 cup All purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp. cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup oil/melted butter
• 1 tbsp. yogurt/curd
• ½ cup milk
• 2 tbsp. chopped nuts
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla essence
• A pinch of salt

Method; ; Preheat oven at 190°. Take a rectangular baking tray and cut out a butter- paper to the exact size and line it inside. This will make it easy to un mould the Brownie after it is baked.

Sift the flours, cocoa, salt in a large bowl. Whisk butter/oil and sugar till sugar dissolves. Add chopped nuts, vanilla essence, milk, and yogurt and mix well.

Pour the liquid ingredients in the dry ingredients and gently fold the batter.

Pour the batter in the lined baking tray and bake it for 20-25 minutes at 180°C or till the skewer comes out clean when inserted in the brownie.

Cool it completely before slicing the Brownies

Take out the baked brownie with the butter paper and keep it on a flat surface. Slice it into squares or diamonds and serve.

These millet brownies will be denser than the cocoa brownies.

This is the first time I tried adding Millet in my baking after my vegan friend Harini baked a cake with Pearl millet here and I like the dense and more fudge like brownies I got from baking with millet. One another recipe I am waiting to try is this fudgy olive oil brownie from another foodie friend Chin’s space here .

I need to become more adventurous in my baking to come close to a perfect brownie with various wholegrain. Baking a simple brownie I feel is the easiest among cakes, breads and cookies. You hardly need to check the exact proportion of the leavening agents (as it is used in very little quantity) and the long waiting hours for your dough to rise. All that you need to check in a Cocoa brownie is more sugar, butter/oil and  cocoa to the flour ratio in the recipe than what you use in a normal cake. And you have your sinfully scrumptious Cocoa brownie..nom..nom..

Notes;

1. Add roughly chopped dark cooking chocolate to the recipe, the Brownies will come out more chocolaty and gooey. Remember to increase the liquid content accordingly.
2. The amount of liquid absorption by whole grain flour differ according to the variety of grain used and thus the recipe has to adjusted with adequate amount of liquid in it.
3. Cocoa brownies will come out dense and cakey unlike the chocolate brownies which get the typical gooey texture due to the cocoa butter and extra sugar in the dark chocolate added in the recipe.
4. Whole wheat in the cocoa brownie recipe makes it slightly denser, you can replace the same with all purpose flour (maida) for a lighter version.

PS: The hunt for a good Millet Brownie is still on….all suggestions are welcome..
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