Thursday, December 23, 2010

Oats Pongal

For all those oats fans over there, here’s one more recipe which is equally Indian and eternally delicious….Oats Pongal…and needless to say, it's healthy too...
Ingredients:
Rolled oats – 1 cup
Yellow Mung dal – ½ cup
Ginger – 1 inch finely chopped
Green chilies - 1 finely chopped
Whole Black pepper – 1 Tbsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Ghee / vegetable oil – 2 Tbsp
Salt to taste
Preparation:
Wash and cook the mung dal till done but still intact and  keep aside.
Heat ghee/oil in a  thick bottom vessel, add pepper corns, cumin seeds, green chillies, ginger and fry for a min.
Add about 2 ½ cups of water to the pan and bring it to boil. Add salt to taste and add the oats, stir and cook till done.
Add in the cooked dal and mix well and cook for a minute or two.
Serve hot. 

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Stir-fried Broccoli with Soy Nuggets

Try making this simple meatless recipe of Broccoli with Soy Nuggets. I bet this has a subtle yet addictive sauce which makes you prepare this often. So…Get..Set..Go!!!
Ingredients:
Brown rice – 1 cup
Broccoli – 1 medium
Soy sauce – 2 Tbsp
Sesame oil – 2 Tbsp
Chili sauce – 2 Tbsp
Rice vinegar – 2 Tbsp
Cornstarch – 2 Tbsp
Vegetable oil – 2 Tbsp
Soy Nuggets – 1 cup
Garlic cloves – 3 - 4
Vegetable stock - 1 cup
Preparation
·        Cook the rice according to the package directions.
·        While the rice cooks, combine soy sauce, sesame oil, chili sauce and vinegar in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk and set aside.
·       Wash the soy nuggets and add to a pan of boiling water and cook for about 2 minutes. Drain off the water immediately and squeeze out the excess water from the nuggets. Set aside.
·        Wash and cut the Broccoli into bite size florets.
·       Heat vegetable oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add broccoli and garlic to pan and toss for about a min. Add the vegetable stock to the broccoli, cover and cook  for about 4 minutes or until broccoli is crisp-tender, stirring occasionally.
·        Add soy sauce mixture and the cooked soy nuggets to the pan, mixing gently, and cook for about 2 minutes. Mix in the cornstarch to about ¼ cup of water and add it to the broccoli mixture and cook till the sauce thickens, stirring occasionally. Serve the broccoli mixture over rice.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Aloo Podi Koora (Potato Fry)

Ingredients:
Potatoes - 3 Medium
Onion - 1 Medium
Oil – 2 Tbsp
Urad Dal – 1 Tbsp
Chana Dal – 1 Tbsp
Mustard Seeds – 1Tsp
Jeera - 1 Tsp
Turmeric Powder - ¼ Tsp
Green chillies – 6-8 no.
Curry Leaves – 2 springs
Salt to Taste.
Preparation:
  • Wash, boil, peel and mash the potatoes.
  • Cut the onions into thin slices lengthwise. Also slit the green chillies lengthwise.
  • Heat oil in a frying pan, once hot add mustard, jeera, urad dal, chana dal.
  • Once they start to splutter add curry leaves, onions, green chillies, turmeric and fry till the onions are translucent.
  • Add the mashed potatoes, salt, mix well and fry for about 2min and then remove from heat.
  • Serve hot with rice, poori or Chapathi.
  • This can be also used as filling for many other dishes such as Aloo Bonda, Masala Dosa and Vegetable puffs.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Sinful Dark chocolate Fudge cake

This is my first cake recipe in my blog and I took the privilege to bake my own cake for my Birthday...I know it sounds strange but I didn’t want to miss the chance to bake the first one for the blog. And I feel happy for not missing it as this is such a wonderful, moist and fudgy chocolate cake recipe, which is needs to be shared with you all. click here for the original cake recipe. I just substituted white sugar in the original recipe with brown sugar, just to make it a little healthier.

Ingredients:
For the cake:
All-purpose flour - 1 3/4 cups
Brown sugar - 2 cups
Unsweetened cocoa powder - 3/4 cups
Baking soda - 2 tsp
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Buttermilk - 1 cup
Vegetable oil - 1/2 cup
Eggs - 2 Nos
Vanilla sugar – 1 Tbsp
Coffee – 1 Cup
For the icing:
Fresh heavy cream – 150ml
Eggs – 1
Softened Butter – 100 g
Icing sugar – 1 cup
Vanilla extract – 1 tsp
Unsweetened cocoa powder – ¾ cup
Preparation:
Baking the Cake:
·         Pre-heat the oven at 180°C.
·         Butter the cake pan and dust with flour.
·         Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
·         In a separate bowl, mix together buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract and whisk rigorously till combined
·         Beat the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients until nicely combined and then slowly incorporate the fresh coffee (at room temperature) into batter.
·         Pour batter into the prepared cake pan and bake in for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick / knife inserted comes out clean.
·         Remove the cake from the oven and cool it completely and proceed to the next step of icing. (After cooling the cake to room temperature, I chilled it in the refrigerator for about 2 hours)
Dark Chocolate Icing:
·         Whisk the egg in a sauce pan and cook on the steam over boiling water in another saucepan, whisking continuously and take care that the pan do not touch the surface of boiling water(otherwise you may end up having scrambled eggs), till the egg turns creamy. Remove from heat and cool it by placing the saucepan in a ice bath.
·         In a saucepan, heat the cream until bubbles are formed but not boiling. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature and combine with the egg.
·         In a bowl, bring in the softened butter, icing sugar, cocoa butter and vanilla extract and beat with an electrical beater or hand whisk until nice and fluffy.
·         Now bring in the egg and cream mixture and beat till nice and fluffy.
·         Chill the icing for about an hour in the fridge and then spread it evenly over the cake and decorate it accordingly. You can also put the icing in a piping bag and decorate.