Beet Icecream

Today is the final day of tenth edition of Blogging Marathon. I am posting under the theme Deceptively Delicious. I want to try out recipes incorporating beet. Though my daughter loves the poriyal, I want to make her some variety of dishes. Yesterday I tried this ice cream which my daughter loved. The colour was so lovely. We are suffering from unscheduled power cuts which lasts for nearly 5-6hours a day. In this condition it is bad to try preparing ice cream. Even then I prepared it. The ice cream was left to set for the whole night. Today morning I took the snap before shut down. It is very rich and delicious.

Ingredients:
Milk-1cup
Beetroot-1small
Condensed Milk-200ml
Fresh Cream-300ml
Vanilla extract-1tsp


Procedure:
1. Peel skin and grate the beetroot.
2. Boil milk and add the grated beet root to it.
3. Let it boil on low flame until the beetroot is completely cooked. 
4. Grind this in a mixer grinder to a smooth paste.
5. Pass the paste through a metal sieve to get a smoothe paste. Heat this again
6. Add the condensed milk and stir until it dissolves.
7. Bring it to boil and switch off stove.
8. Add the extract and allow it to cool.
9. When cool, add the fresh cream and beat it with a hand mixer until frothy.
10. Pour the mix into a plastic box and keep it in freezer.
11. After one hour, remove box from freezer and beat the mix with a hand mixer for 2minutes.
12. Place it in freezer. Repeat the above step at one hour intervals for 4 more times.
13. Place the box in freezer and allow it to set for 4hours or overnight.
14. Scoop out portions and serve.


i am sending this to Kid's Delight-Deceptively Delicious hosted by Pavani and started by Srivalli.

Coffee Milk Shake

Today I prepared a frothy milk shake for my daughter. Kids those who don't drink milk will drink milk shake. I used instant coffee for flavoring and mixed in condensed milk and cream for extra richness. She just loved it. Today is the sixth day of Blogging Marathon#10. I am sending this to Kid's Delight-Deceptively Delicious hosted by Pavani and started by Srivalli.

Ingredients:
Milk-1 1/2cups
Condensed Milk-200ml
Fresh Cream-200ml
Instant Coffee Powder-2 1/2tsp


Procedure:
1. Bring milk to boil. Switch off stove and add the coffee powder and condensed milk.
2. Mix it well. Allow it to cool.
3. Add the fresh cream and beat it using a hand mixer until frothy.
4. Transfer to a plastic container and chill in fridge for 3hours.
5. At the time of serving, beat it again to make it frothy and serve immediately.

Tofu and Mushroom Pulao

I prepared this delicious pulao yesterday for lunch. My hubby loved it very much, especially the tiny tofu pieces. This is a nice way of making children eat tofu. Button mushrooms also add some goodness to the pulao. I used coconut milk for the pulao instead of water and it turned out rich and nice. Today is the fifth day of Blogging Marathon#10 and I am posting under the theme Deceptively Delicious. I am also sending this as an entry to Kid's Delight- Deceptively Delicious hosted by Pavani and started by Srivalli. We enjoyed it with cucumber pieces and thakkali kurma. 

Ingredients:
Basmathi Rice-1 1/2cups
Tofu-200gm
Button Mushroom-150gm
Green Peas-3/4cup
Coconut Milk-3cups
Water-1 1/2cups
Green Chilly-5
Garlic-7-8pods
Ginger- a small piece
Cinnamon-a small piece
Clove-2
Fennel-1tsp
Salt-to taste
Ghee-3tbs
Turmeric Powder-1/2tsp
Onion-2
Olive Oil-4tbs


Procedure:
1. Wash and soak basmathi rice for 30minutes.
2. Heat 3tbs oil and splutter fennel, clove and cinnamon.
3. Add onion and saute till golden.
4. Crush green chilly, garlic and ginger in a mortar and pestle into a coarse paste.
5. Add this to the onions and saute till the raw smell is gone.
6. In a non stick tawa heat a tbs oil and add small cubes of tofu and saute till golden.
7. Keep it aside and in the same pan add mushrooms. Saute till it is cooked.
8. Add the green peas to the mushrooms and saute on low flame.
9. Cover and cook the peas on low flame till done. 
10. Add the tofu and mix well. Remove from flame and add this to the onion.
11. Drain water from rice and add the rice to onion and vegetables.
12. Saute till the rice becomes dry and starts sticking to the pan.
13. Add coconut milk, water, salt, turmeric powder and mix well.
14. When it starts boiling stir it at regular intervals until 80% cooked.
15. Add the ghee and mix well.
16. Cover the pan with foil and the lid on top. Reduce flame to low and let it cook for 2-3minutes.
17. Meanwhile keep an iron tawa and heat it.
18. Reduce flame to medium and place the pan on the tawa. 
19. Keep this arrangement on flame for 10minutes.
20. Switch off stove and serve hot with cucumber slices and kurma.

Eggless Bibingka -Filipino Rice Cake

For this month's DB challenge Catherine Enfield of Munchie Musings introduced us to two Filipino desserts. Sans Rival which means without rival and a rice cake named Bibingka. As sans rival is completely based on eggs, I decided to do an eggless version of bibingka. Catherine's recipe asked for glutinous rice flour. As I don't get it here I substituted it with all purpose flour/maida. I also halved the recipe. It has coconut as the main ingredients and the finished dish tasted like our South Indian Puttu. But it very rich because of the butter and coconut milk. IT was very delicious and we enjoyed it a lot.

Ingredients:

Rice Flour-1cup

Maida-1/4cup

Baking Powder-1/2tbs

Sugar-2/3cup

Curd/Yogurt-1/2cup

Coconut milk-1cup

Butter-1/6cup

Banana Leaf-1

For Topping:

Butter-2tbs

Sugar-1tbs

Grated Coconut-3tbs

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 180C.

2. Beat together butter and curd. Add the coconut milk and blend well.

3. Mix all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

4. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Whisk to get a smooth batter.

5. Line a round 8" cake tin with banana leaf and grease it with butter.

6. Pour the batter into it and bake for 20minutes.

7. When a tooth pick inserted comes out clean, remove the cake from oven.

8. Flip it onto a serving dish.

9. Remove the banana leaves and brush with butter given for topping.

10. Sprinkle sugar and grated coconut and serve warm.

Mix all the dry ingredients

Cream together butter, coconut milk and curd

Add the dry ingredients to wet ingredients and prepare the cake batter

Line a tin with banana leaf and brush with butter

Pour the batter into the prepared tin

Bake for 20minutes

Flip onto a serving plate

Remove the leaf and brush with butter and sprinkle sugar and grated fresh coconut

Slice it up and serve

Sending this to Bake Fest by Vardhini.

Mullu Murungai Poori

I had a cup of mullu murungai leaves and didin't know what to do with it to please my daughter. This is a medicinal plant and I wanted to include it in Sruti's diet. She loves pooris and so I prepared these colourful pooris and she was so happy to eat it. She also helped me in cutting out the shapes after I rolled out the pooris. Today is the fourth day Blogging Marathon#10 and I am posting under the theme Deceptively Delicious. I am sending this as an entry to Srivalli's Kid's Delight under the same theme guest hosted by Pavani.

Ingredients:
Mullu Murungai leaves-1cup (click on the link to know about cleaning the leaves)
Wheat Flour-1cup
Maida-1cup
Salt-to taste
Oil-To deep fry


Procedure:
1. Wash the mullu murungai leaves and grind to make a smooth paste.
2. Add salt to the flours and mix well.
3. Add the paste to the flour and mix well.
4. Add required amount of water to make a stiff dough. 
5. Knead for 5 minutes to make it pliable. This is an important step in poori making. This will ensure the pooris don't absorb oil and puff up nicely.
5. Divide the dough into small portions. Roll each portion into a disc and cut out shapes using cookie cutter.
6. Deep fry in hot oil and serve along with kurma or masala of your choice.

How to Clean Mullu Murungai Leaves

This post is for those who doesn't know about mullu murungai leaves. I learnt it from my neighbour recently. This is a medicinal plant and when added in dishes it tastes great.

These are the mullu murungai leaves. This comes as a bunch.

First separate the leaves from the bunch.

Remove the central vein from the leaf.

Then remove all the small veins by tearing the leaf.  If you don't remove all the veins then the dish will have fibres sticking out of them and it is not at all welcome. So prepare these leaves the previous day and refrigerate them for future use.

The prepared mullu murungai leaves. Though it is a lenghty preparation, the final result will be delicious. So enjoy!

Multi Grain Bajji With Cauliflower And Broccoli

It is raining outside and the climate is extremely cool. Any hot snack will be suitable for the day. I had broccoli and cauliflower in fridge. So I went ahead to make bajjis. I ran out of besan which is the key ingredient of bajji. So I did tweak the recipe by adding different kinds of flours and the bajji came out very crispy and delicious. My daughter liked the cauliflower bajjis and I liked the broccoli ones. My hubby is yet to come.  Today is the third day of week long Blogging Marathon#10-group 2. This bajji is perfect for the theme I have chosen-Deceptively Delicious. I am also sending this as an entry to Srivalli's Kid's Delight-Deceptively Delicious guest hosted by Pavani.

Ingredients:
Cauliflower-10small florets
Brocolli-10small florets
Kambu Flour-3tbs
Raagi Flour-3tbs
Multigrain Atta-3tbs
Maida-3tbs
Rice Flour-3tbs
Baking Powder-1/2tsp
Salt-to taste
Red Chilly Powder-1tsp
Orange Red Colour-a few drops
Oil-To deep fry


Procedure:
1. Mix all the dry ingredients. Add water and prepare a batter slightly thinner than the dosa batter.
2. Add the food colour and mix well.
3. Heat oil in a pan.
4. Dip the brocolli into the batter one by one and drop into hot oil.
5. Fry until golden brown.
6. Serve hot with tomato ketchup.
7. If the vegetables are over and the batter remains, cut onion into thin slices, drop into the batter. Transfer this to the oil and deep fry. This tastes divine..

A closer look at the delicious treat!

Moong Sprouts Roll

This is one of the roll which appears frequently on my plate. There are no other takers at home. But I like it very much and it is delicious too. If you love uncooked sprouts then this one is for you. This is a great diet recipe and it makes you feel full the entire morning.

Ingredients:
Whole Wheat Roti-2
Moong Sprouts-1cup
Curd-4tbs
Salt-to taste
Olive Oil-1/2tsp
Pepper powder-to taste
Carrot-1
Radish-1
Beetroot-1
Coriander Leaves-4tbs(finely chopped)
Onion-1(sliced into rounds)


Procedure:
1. Mix moong sprouts, curd and salt to taste. Keep it aside.
2. Heat 1/2tsp olive oil in a pan and add carrot, beetroot and radish. Add salt and pepper powder and mix well.
3. Saute till the mixture becomes dry.
4. Place a roti on a plate. Place half of the carrot ixture in the middle.
5. Place half the sprouts mixture on the carrot mixture.
6. Sprinkle coriander.
7. Fold both sides to the centre to form a roll and secure ends with two cloves.
8. Repeat for the other roti.
9. Serve along with sliced onions.
Sending this to Priya's CWS-Moong beans.

Beetroot and Apple Smoothie

Today is the second day of Blogging Marathon#10-Group2. I have taken the theme Deceptively Delicious and am sending this as an entry to Kid's Delight with the same theme guest hosted by Pavani and started by Srivalli. This is a power packed smoothie best served chilled. The colour is very inviting and kids will surely love it. Even those who run away from beetroot will also like it. It is very filling and nutritious smoothie. The snap was taken before refrigeration. After cool the colour was darker and it looked gorgeous.

Ingredients:
Beet root-1
Carrot-1
Apple-1
Honey-2tbs
Milk-1/3cup


Procedure:
1. Wrap the beetroot and carrot in a foil and bake it in oven for one hour on maximum heat.
2. Cool the vegetables and peel the skin off.
3. Cut into small chunks and transfer them to a juicer jar.
4. Add peeled and chopped apple cubes, honey and milk.
5. Run the mixer on juicer speed till completely blended.
6. Pour into tall glasses and serve it chilled.

Murungai Keerai / Drum Stick Leaves Adai

Drumstick leaves are so nutritious but you can never make children eat it because of its bitter taste. When I was a kid, my mom used to prepare adai with these leaves which is so delicious and we used to relish it with out complaining. This is a great way of sneaking drumstick leaves in the menu. Today is the first day of second week in the tenth edition of Blogging Marathon. I have chosen Deceptively Delicious Treats For Kids as the theme. This adai is very tasty when you use some extra oil and cook it on low flame. This goes very well with sambar and chutney. I love to have it as it is because adai itself has red chilly in it. This also has coconut pieces which gives a nice crunch when you bite into it.

Ingredients:
Par Boiled Rice-1/4cup
Raw rice-1/4cup
Toor Dhal-1/4cup
Channa Dhal-1/4cup
Urad Dhal-3tbs
Methi Seeds-1/2tsp
Red Chilly-8
Curry Leaves-2sprigs
Drumstick Leaves-1cup
Salt-to taste
Cumin Seeds-1/2tsp
Coconut(cut into small pieces)-1/2cup


Procedure:
1. Soak toor dhal and channa dhal together. Soak both the rice together with methi seeds and urad dhal. Let them soak overnight.
2. Grind red chilly and cumin to a coarse paste.
3. In a wet grinder, grind the rice first to a smooth batter. Add the dhals to the rice batter and grind to a coarse mixture. Transfer to a bowl.
4. Add the red chilly paste and salt.
5. Heat a tsp oil and splutter mustard and urad dhal along with curry leaves.
6. Pour this into the batter.
7. Add the cleaned drumstick leaves and mix well.
8. This batter needs no fermentation. 
9. Heat a tawa and spread a ladle full of batter into a disc. Drizzle oil along the edges.
10. Cook on medium flame. Flip the adai and cook the other side also.
11. Drizzle some more oil to the edges.
12. Go on flipping at regular intervals until the adai is crispy.
13. Serve hot along with sambar and chutney.


Sending this to Kid's Delight- Deceptively Delicious hosted by Pavani and started by Srivalli.

Nei Kadalai (Baked)

For the final day of week long Blogging Marathon#10, I decided to convert a deep fried recipe to a baked one using very little oil to make it a guilt free snack. I have already posted the recipe for Nei kadalai. This recipe is the baked version of the original recipe. IT was so crunchy and delicious and I didn't miss the fried version at all. This is a completely guilt free snack perfect with a cup of coffee.

Ingredients:
Channa Dhal-1cup
Salt-to taste
Black Pepper Powder-To taste
Olive Oil-1tsp


Procedure:
1. Wash and soak channa dhal for 2hours.
2. Drain water and spread it out on a kitchen towel to absorb the moisture.
3. When dry, transfer to a bowl, drizzle oil and sprinkle salt and pepper. Mix well.
4. Line a baking tray with foil. Spread the prepared channa dhal on the foil.
5. Preheat oven to 200C.
6. Bake the dhal until golden brown. It may take around 10-12minutes. Keep a watch on the oven so that you don't burn the dhal.
7. When it comes out of oven it may look soft but after cooling it will become crunchy.
8. Serve along with a cup of coffee.

Black Sesame Balls

I tried it out for the sixth day of Blogging Marathon. It is very easy to prepare and satisfies my craving for sweets. As jaggery is used as the sweetener it is good for health too.

Ingredients:
Black Sesame Seeds-1/2cup
Jaggery / Karuppatty Grated-1/4cup
Honey-1tbs


Procedure:
1. Roast sesame until it starts spluttering.
2. Grind it while hot along with grated jaggery.
3. Mix honey and rub it well until it forms crumbs.
4. Shape into small balls and enjoy. It is little hard to shape. Press it tight to shape.

How To Sprout Grains With Sprouter

When I bought a sprouter , I was totally confused about using it. The specifications accompanying sprouter was incomplete and unclear. I searched the web and got different methods of using it. Again it left me confused. So I did a little experimenting and with many trial and errors, I got the method of making the perfect sprouts. This is a very easy method of preparing sprouts.

Moong Sprouts

 The three containers of sprouter

In the lowest bowl, pour 1/2cup of water 

Fill the second container with soaked grain to half the capacity

Place the third container on top. The red knob should be directly opposite to the red knob of the second container

 

Fill it with soaked grain(Soak the grain over night).

Cover and keep it aside for 24 hours.

The next day the grains would have sprouted 

I sprouted wheat grain and obtained a lovely result

Sprouts Stuffed Braided Bread

I had a cup of cow pea sprouts and I wanted to use it up. When I thought of preparing a braided bread, using sprouts for the filling came to my mind. I just wanted to pair it up with another ingredient and it happened to be frozen green peas. I prepared frozen peas before long and it was sitting in my freezer. So I combined those two ingredients to prepare a delicious and nutritious stuffing for my bread. The bread itself is whole wheat bread and totally a guilt free snack to go with our evening coffee. Today is the fifth day of Blogging Marathon #10 and you can take a look here to see what my fellow bloggers are cooking..

Ingredients:
For The Filling:
Olive Oil-1tsp
Fennel Seeds-1tsp
Cow Pea Sprouts-1cup
Frozen Green Peas-3/4cup
Onion-2
Red Chilly Powder-1/2tsp
Chat Masala Powder-1/2tsp
Salt-to taste
Turmeric Powder-1/4tsp
For The Dough:
Wheat Flour-2cups
Olive Oil-1/6cup
Salt-3/4tsp
Instant Yeast-1/2tsp


Procedure:
1. Mix all the ingredients for the dough. Add water to prepare a soft dough.
2. Knead it for 5 minutes and keep it covered for 3hours.
3. Meanwhile prepare the filling.
4. Heat oil and splutter fennel seeds.
5. Add onions and saute till golden.
6. As I used frozen peas, I immersed it in hot water to thaw it. Then I filtered the water and added it to the onions.
7. Pressure cook the sprouts in a cup of water for 3minutes.
8. Drain water and keep it aside.
9. Add the turmeric, red chilly and chat masala to the green peas and mix well.
10. Add the cooked sprouts to the peas and add salt to taste.
11. Using a masher mash the mixture to get a mushy mixture.
12. When the mixture becomes dry, switch off stove and allow it to cool.
13. Press dough to deflate it. Divide it into two equal parts.
14. Roll out each portion into a 28cm*21cm rectangle. 
15. Divide the filling into two.
16. Place one portion in the centre of one rectangle.
17. Make cuts diagonally on the sides of the filling.
18. Braid as shown in the tutorial and arrange the breads on a greased tray.
19. Cover with a kitchen towel and keep it aside for 30minutes.
20. Brush the top of the bread with milk.
21. Preheat oven to 200C.
22. Bake for 25-30minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
23. Remove from oven, slice it and serve hot with coffee.

Pressure cook the sprouts

Saute onions and green peas

Add the masala powders

Add the cooked sprouts and salt

Mash with a masher and saute till dry

Divide the dough into two portions

Roll it into a rectangle

Keep the filling in the centre and give diagonal cuts at the sides

Remove the top two triangles and fold the middle portion on top of the filling

Alternately bring the side flaps on the filling

Finish all the flaps

Make a rose with the triangles cut from the top

Arrange on a baking tray

Give a milk wash after 30minutes

Bake until golden brown

A closer view of the bread

Slice it up and serve

Sending this to Yeastspotting.