Creamy Avocado Macaroni with Pineapple compote

We tried this as an alternative of macaroni with white sauce and pineapple. It turned out to be different, delicious, much lighter and healthier than the original dish. However I won’t consider it as a substitute. But if you like sour sweet fresh flavors..this one is for you

Ingredients:

Wholewheat macaroni/elbow pasta

Avocado paste: mashed avocado, lemon, salt, pepper, finely chopped cilantro

White sauce: vegan butter, gluten free flour, almond milk

Pineapple compote: Fresh Pineapple cubes, vegan butter, sugar, ginger
Add everything together to cooked pasta and mix well 🙂

Wholewheat eggless chocolate brownies with jaggery as sweetener

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OMG!. Revisiting the blog after a very long time. And yes I have missed it so much!!. It was not the case that I had stopped cooking. Health issues and time was just not right. Experimenting with food though has continued and I can’t wait to share my experiences with all of you.
This little risk was taken in order to healthify the term “chocolate brownies” as much as possible. This occurred by replacing ingredients with healthy ones. And the result was satisfying. Although I must warn you that taste would be not what we are used to. But I assure you of a perfect texture and a bunch of tasty healthy brownies. Following is the recipe. I would love to get your feedback on this both critical and positive. Thank you for stopping by.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/2 tablespoons of milk powder
4 tablespoons of Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa
Organic jaggery equivalent to sugar (as per your taste – this requires some adjustments)
3 tablespoons of yogurt
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
3 tablespoons of olive oil.
4-5 roughly chopped walnuts
4-5 roughly chopped Dates.
1-2 tablespoons milk

Recipe:

1. In a bowl sift flour, milk powder, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda together so they mix well.
2. In a small pan heat olive oil on a medium flame. Heat roughly chopped jaggery pieces to it. Stir till jaggery melts. The purpose here is just to melt jaggery so that it mixes uniformly in the batter. Please use low to medium flame and avoid any overcooking.
3. Add the jaggery mixture to the flour mix. Add rest of the ingredients and mix well.
4. Adjust consistency with some milk.
5. Transfer the batter into a greased square baking pan. Smoothen the surface with a spatula.
6. Bake at 385 degrees Fahrenheit for 35-40 mins. Check by inserting a knife or toothpick.
7. Let it cool for 8-10 mins outside the oven and then cut into square brownies with a knife.

Masala Onion Paratha (whole wheat flat breads)

Who wouldn’t want to have these lovely delicious parathas with tea in the morning breakfast? I made a small twist this time and first sauteed all the masala with oil and then used this fried masala to make the dough. Good part it since we are adding veggies inside the dough, it creates and soft dough even if we use very less oil in kneading it. These turned out very tasty. The recipe is worth sharing and trying 🙂

Ingredients:
Makes 7-8 Parathas

Chapati flour : 2 cups
Onion : 1-2 large finely chopped
Mexican small green chillis : 6-7 finely chopped (I liked it on a bit higher spicy side)
Garlic : 3 cloves finely chopped
Cilantro : finely chopped 1 cup
Mustard seeds : 1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds : 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida : 1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Oil : 1 tbsp
Oil for frying paratha.

Method:

• Heat oil in a pan
• Add mustard seeds and let them crackle. Add cumin and asafoetida.
• Add onions, chilis, and garlic. Saute it for 30 seconds. Add salt to taste and mix well. Switch off the stove and let the mixture cool.
• Take flour in a large bowl, add any additional salt required other than the one in the onion mixture.
• Add coriander. Knead into a soft dough with your hands.

• Divide the dough into 8 equal portions.

• Roll into thick parathas and fry them by applying little oil on both the sides.
• Serve hot with curd or tea.

Quinoa and Tofu stuffed vegetarian Kathi rolls (whole wheat wraps)

So this is what I did with my quinoa. After cooking quinoa I realized that – 1) they were not sufficient for a meal for two people 2) They were slightly overcooked. I browsed google for some solution but didn’t find anything convincing. All I wanted was to hide quinoa underneath somewhere so that it’s presence can only be identified by taste. Kathi roll was indeed a good solution. They tasted really nice. So here is what I did.

Ingredients:
Tofu – 200 grams diced into small rectangle pieces of about an inch.
Cooked quinoa – 3/4 cup
Zucchini – 1
Mini povirons – 2
Onion – 1 medium
Garlic – 3 cloves finely chopped
Grated fresh Ginger – 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Tomato sauce – 2 tbsps
Chilli powder – 11/2 teaspoon
Pav bhaji masala – 2 teaspoons
Cumin coriander powder – 2 teaspoons
Mustard seeds 1 1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds 1 1 teaspoon
Oil – 1 tbsp
Asafoetida – 1/2 teaspoon

For paratha:
Whole wheat chapati flour – 2 cups
Salt to taste
1 small potato(boiled and mashed)
Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon
Ajwain – 1 teaspoon
Oil – 1 tablespoon + some extra
Water to knead the dough

Method:

1. Take flour in a large bowl. Add salt, mashed potato, cumin seeds, ajwain seeds, and oil to it. Mix well with the help of your hands.
2. Gradually add water with kneading so as to get a soft easy to roll dough. Take some extra oil and knead the dough so as to make it non-sticky . Keep it aside to rest while we work on the stuffing.
3. In a pan, take the diced tofu. With heat on medium-high , toss these with some olive oil till their surface becomes light brown.
4. Transfer the tofu to a separate bowl.
5. Heat oil in the pan, add mustard seeds and let them crackle. Add cumin seeds and asafoetida . Add onion, garlic and ginger. Saute till the onions become translucent.
6. Add tomato sauce and all the spices. Add zucchini and cook for one minute.
7. Add quinoa and tofu and mix well. Switch off the heat. Add the povirons.
8. Make 7-8 large parathas from the dough we had prepared.
9. Divide the stuffing into 8 equal portions. Roll them inside the parathas to make the kathi rolls. Cover each in aluminium foil to maintain the fold. Serve hot.

 

Note: The recipe for the parathas is inspired from Lisa’s Healthy Indian Kitchen Paneer avocado kathi roll.

https://healthyindiankitchen.wordpress.com/2016/08/28/paneer-avocado-kathi-rolls-indian-cottage-cheese-and-avocado-wraps/

Janmashtami breakfast – Fresh fruits, Nutella Yogurt and Hashbrowns

Yesterday was Janmashtami. In India, it’s a big festival. Offices and schools are closed and there is a huge line in lord Krishna’s temple to offer prayer to the eight incarnation of lord Vishnu. I am an athiest so actually don’t feel bad about not being able to offer any prayer. We probably never had that culture in our family. Although I have had chances to celebrate it when with my grand parents. And even thought I am not much in favor of blind prayers and rituals that follow, but I absolutely love the festivity that the occassion brings. The beautifully liten and decorated temples, and especially the thorne of Lord Krishna are mesmerizing. Dahi handi celebration is what makes this festival unique and a very thrilling experience. And this all comes with high carb food that we (atleast in gujarat) eat as a part of our all day fast.(Yeah this is kind of wierd, but trust me all those foods are better indulgences than food eaten on any other routine non fast day). As I said my family was never that religious, but what we actually did celebrate was the fasting food (faraal as is said in gujarati) throughout day. Any person who knows these names will immediately have increased saliva secretion!! – Faradi patties, sabudana khichdi, moraiyo, buff vada, rajagra no sheero, bateta ni kheer, doodh paak, faradi paatra, suki bhaji…..omg…the list is long, but this covers pretty much of it, and writing more names will bring tears to my eyes as they make me terribly miss those days.

              Those days will never be back when me and my sister used to stay all day in proximity of kitchen, while our mother would cook those amazing foods. Dad would come down at the aroma of frying of very first patty to grab it. And by the time of lunch, probably everyone would be atleast half full.

Here I am sitting miles away from all of them just to be able to connect on phone and internet. Even the time zones do not allow us to celebrate the festival at the same time atleast electronically. Anyways I did continue with the tradition of fasting on the day of Janmastami, although the food changed a bit because of the lack of immediate availability of raw material. The morning started with this beautiful platter which included fresh fruits, nutella yogurt(home made) and freshly made hash browns.  That was a pretty fulfilling and delicious breakfast. Probably this can be one more addition to the list of foods served on janmashtami as the food habits of people evolve while still retaining the festivity within them :).

Spinach Corn Sandwich

Pic Courtesy : Jay Mehta

There are few things in this world which I find challenging to eat. Spinach Corn sandwich is one of them. But this one was good. The original recipe is from my sister in law, with few changes of my own.The stuffing went really well with German dark wheat bread. So in case you people are trying to make this, I would suggest you to make it with German dark wheat or Rye bread. Also, instead of using plain white sauce, I added some cream cheese to the base. It did enhance the flavor. Overall this was a good experience and if this is what a spinach corn sandwich tastes like, I am ready to add it to my frequent meal list. This is a good break from any of the routine Indian meals which are full of spices.

Ingredients:
Serves 2

For white sauce
Garlic – 1 clove finely chopped
Onion – 1 small finely chopped
Corn starch – 1 tablespoon
Milk – 1 cup and 1/4 cup extra for mixing corn starch
Salt and Pepper to taste
Cream cheese – 1 tablespoonful
Butter 1 tablespoon (or enough to saute onion and garlic)

Baby spinach leaves – 1 cup
Frozen corn – 1/2 cup(If you are using fresh ones, make sure they are soft enough to bite easily)
Bread slices – 4
Butter spread

Method:

1. In a nonstick pan, heat butter.
2. Add onion and garlic. Saute till onion are tender.
3. Reduce the flame to medium. Add milk. Keep stirring.
4. In some extra cold milk, mix corn starch. Add that mixture to the pan.
5. Keep stirring till it forms into a sauce consistency.
6. Add cream cheese and mix well while hot.
7. Add salt and pepper. Mix well.
8. Let the mixture cool.
9. Once at room temperature, add spinach and corn. Mix well.
10. Toast slices of bread. Apply margarine/butter to the toasts.
11. Divide the stuffing into two equal portions and sandwich it between the toasts.
12. Serve.

Garbanzo Onion Potato stuffed paratha

I always wonder that I have some old association with Garbanzo. It usually comes as a savior and in fact a source of innovation in my cooking. The other day I was left with just two-three baby potatoes. And we all were in a mood of having aloo pyaaz (potato onion) paratha. But then I knew that 3 small baby potatoes would not suffice. I opened up my fridge and saw this can of Garbanzo lying there. And came up with this new concept. I added half a can of mashed garbanzo into my paratha stuffing and here is the result. It of course tasted much different from what our normal aloo pyaaz would have tasted. But it was a good. It came with some additional benefits of substituting potato with garbanzo.

1. Rise in protein content of the dish.
2. Ease of rolling paratha – Garbanzo gives some extra dryness to the stuffing. It made the rolling of paratha easier. In fact I could roll much thinner breads with uniform stuffing across paratha without any central only flour spots.
3. Of course a new thing to try and taste 🙂

I would like to request all of you to try this and give your suggestions as comments.

Pic Courtesy : Jay Mehta

 

Frozen Brownie

We have heard a lot about sizzling brownies. Here is a twist. A year back I tried making frozen brownie. I am rewriting this old post of mine since I am transferring all of my food related posts on my cooktorelish blog.

I was left with some egg-less chocolate brownie the other day…  This needed to be reformed to something interesting as we already had eaten enough of it. This resulted into a small innovation named Frozen Brownie. The small modification of an already yummy dessert is worth a try.

Ingredients

½ cup chocolate brownie (mine had an extra rich flavor of coffee)

½  cup milk

1 tablespoon condensed milk

1 teaspoon Amul Pro (or any chocolate health drink should be fine)

½ teaspoon – shredded dry coconut

½ teaspoon – shredded roasted almonds

½ teaspoon – powdered sugar

Almond and Walnut to garnish.

Method:

1. Cut your brownie roughly to smaller pieces.
2. In a pan, bring milk to boil. Add condensed milk and brownie pieces to it.
3. Stir on medium flame. The mixture will start forming a coarse paste (similar to brownie batter). Ensure all the large pieces of brownie have mixed well. This should take about 2-3 mins maximum. Add some powdered sugar if necessary for desired sweetness and mix well.
4. Allow the mixture to cool a bit. While still warm, fill the mixture into your serving bowl/glass to make an even level. Allow it to come to room temperature.
5. Make a layer of Amul Pro over the brownie paste.
6. Dry mix grated coconut, roasted almonds and caster sugar. (My sister had already kept this ready mix for me to be used in various preparations or for eating as it is).
7. Put the mixture creating one more layer over the Amul Pro layer.
8. Garnish with Roasted almonds and walnut.
9. Deep freeze this for 30-45 mins.
10. Serve cold. So basically we start with the nutty coconuty flavor from coconut, almond, and sugar which migrates to the Amul Pro layer which provides a crunch to the preparation which ultimately transits to a soft heavenly taste of brownie mix as we move down.

Broccoli Basil Pesto Penne Pasta

There are various versions available for this particular combination. I came up with this particular one because of two reasons 1) My husband does not like broccoli much 2) I love broccoli. My husband will usually discourage the presence of broccoli at our home. And if by some means I succeed in getting one, he would procrastinate its use till the time it no longer remains fresh and interesting. Once in a while though I get a chance to use it not as a main ingredient but as one of the ingredients. So this thought of incorporating it into pesto itself. I made a fresh coarse pesto with broccoli, basil, garlic, and roasted peanuts. Again the taste was altered because most of the time a basil pesto will have pine nuts. I was just looking for some tweak in recipe and wanted to utilize available resources at home.
Well well well, this turned out great as complimented by hubby and here I am sharing the super-cool super-simple recipe.

Ingredients:
Serves 2

Penne Pasta – 200 grams
Basil leaves – 12 to 15 large
Roasted peanuts – 6 to 8
Garlic cloves – 2
Olive oil – 1 tablespoon
Broccoli – 6-8 florets
Onion – 1 small finely chopped
Tomato sauce – a tablespoonful
Southwest mustard sauce – 3 to 4 drops
Salt to taste
Ground Black pepper to season
Grated Parmesan cheese.

Method:

1. Start cooking pasta in a large pan of water till al dente.
2. Meanwhile take basil, peanuts and garlic clove in a food processor and grind till it becomes a coarse paste.
3. Remove the paste in a cup. Now add broccoli to the same food processor jar and grind to coarse paste.
4. Heat oil in a pan. Saute the finely chopped onion.
5. Add cooked pasta, basil paste, broccoli, salt to taste and black pepper.
6. Add tomato paste, southwest mustard sauce. Mix well.
7. Add Parmesan cheese and mix well. At the end drizzle a small amount of oil and mix well to give it a shiny look.

Chura Poha (Flattened rice with green peas)

I had heard about this recipe from a friend cum colleague. It’s a regional dish of “Varanasi”, a city in northern part of country, also known as the spiritual capital of India. It’s one of the simplest recipe’s I have known, which is highly elevated in taste. Fun part is everyone has his/her own version of making “Chura Poha”.  I have found diverse recipe’s from different people and online sources . What I have learnt while making this is that the simpler it’s kept, the tastier it is. It tastes best when made with minimal ingredients unlike other Indian dishes which are loaded with n number of ingredients and spices. So here is my version of “Chura Poha”. I welcome all kinds of comments and feedback on this. I also welcome any difference of opinion about my perception of the dish.

Ingredients:
Serves 2

Thick Poha(Flattened rice) : 2 cups
Boiled green peas : 1/2 cup
Roasted peanuts : 8-10
Sweet corn : 1 tablespoonful
Chili Ginger Paste : 2 teaspoonful
Mustard seeds : 1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds : 1 teaspoon
Oil : 3 teaspoon
Ghee : 1-2 teaspoon
Lemon Juice : 2 teaspoon
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Soak poha in a large strainer. Make sure all the poha are wet, and there is no excess water entrapped between them.
2. In a non stick pan, heat oil. Add mustard seeds. Once they sputter, add cumin. Now add Green peas, sweet corn, peanuts and chili garlic paste.
3. Saute for a minute. Now add soaked poha. Add salt. Mix well. Now reduce the heat to medium low.
4. Cover the pan and let the poha cook for 3-4 mins. Keep stirring in between to make sure that poha on bottom do not become excessively dry. Sprinkle some water, if you find the poha getting dry instead of soft.
5. Switch off the gas. Add ghee, lemon juice and sugar and mix well immediately.
6. Add some finely chopped cilantro, mix well and serve hot with tea.