Guilt Free Chocolate Mousse

I had never thought indulging into chocolate would be so healthy ever.

Chocolaticious weekend. If you are still wondering as to how a chocolate dessert can be guilty free.
Go make this right away and dig into spoons of heavenly smooth mousse.

Ingredients:

1. Tofu - 150 grams [ Silken tofu works best for this recipie.]
2. Sugar free - as much to please your sugar buds.
3. Milk - 1/4 cup boiled
4. Dark chocolate - 70 grams[ Make sure you use lesser quantity if you dont like the bitterness]
5. Vanilla Essence - 1/2 tsp
6. Cocoa powder - 2 tsp

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler method until it evenly smoothens out. Add cocoa powder and give a nice stir to avoid any lumps that may form. With not much of hassles proceed to blend the tofu, milk,vanilla essence and sugar free into a fine paste. Now add the melted chocolate  and give a turn till it evens out. The mousse has a wonderful texture and you are now ready to plate it up.

I would recommend you to use shot glasses where in you layer out chocolate mousse at the bottom and then add a layer of crushed biscuit [ I chose an oats one ]. Repeat the layers to give a kick of biscuit and choco delight in every bite.

If you dont mind some extra chocolate on your plate , reserve some melted chocolate for the top layer. You can garnish with some white chocolate shavings to give that extra punch but thats really not a must.

Enjoy your guilty free chocolate mousse!

Masoor-Dal & Rice in a pot.

Of those who are reading this, if you belong to India then it is a quick fix one pot meal for a lazy afternoon. Simple ingredients, not much to work with.

This one pot dal rice combo fall into the list of either Pulav , Bisibele Bath or Kichdi. Whatever you name it I am a go with it.  Here is the list of ingredients I used.

1. 2 tsps of Oil
2. 1 cup of Masoor dal soaked in water for about 2 hours
3. 1.5 cup of Rice (Basmati) soaked in water for about an hour
4. 2 medium sized onions chopped.
5. 2 medium sized tomatoes chopped.
6. Garlic pods - 5 - chopped
7. Ginger - cut into thin strings - about 10 strands
8. Jeera - 1 tsp
9. Chilli powder - 1 tsp
10. Garam Masala - 1 tsp
11. Salt - to taste
12. Elachi - 4
13. Pulav leaf - 1
14. Green Chilli - 1 cut finely

In a pressure pan heat oil and temper it with jeera, elachi, pulav leaf, Add garlic, green chilli and onion and saute till they turn transparent. Add salt and tomato and give the mix a stir. Next goes in chilli powder and garam masala. Toss till the raw smell is out. Its time to drop in the soaked dal and rice. Mix all the ingredients well. Pressure cook for about 4 minutes or turn off the flame after a whistle. Serve  hot with a raita or Kishmish Dal.

Peanut butter cookies

On a saturday afternoon when I lay down watching some cookery show I was inspired to an extent that I made some hot Peanut butter cookies at home. It was a first time and the recepie is fresh in mind as I made this with just the ingredients from my pantry.

2 tablespoons of Peanut butter

1 table spoon - sugar (you can substitute it with honey)

1 cup of wheat flour

1/2 cup of maida(All purpose flour)

1 pinch of salt to taste

25 gm of unsalted Butter

Jam - 1 teaspoon.

1/2 tsp of vanilla essence

1/4 tsp of baking powder

Sieve wheat flour, all purpose flour with baking soda and salt.

Add butter and peanut butter to the flour and mix well.

Add sugar, vanilla essence to bind everything together with a little of water.

Make small balls of the dough. Flatten them and in the center of each cookie make a dent with your finger tip and place some jam in it.

Place the cookies in the tray and cook them in convection mode for 16-18 minutes at 180 degree centegrade.

Place them on wire rack until it cools. The biscuits are wonderful when they are hot or cold. The crispy ones did not last for more than 20 minutes. Need to make another batch next weekend.

Peanut Butter - If you do not have this ready you can substitute it with simple ingredients mix below:
 1. 1 cup of roasted and peeled groundnuts
 2.  40 grams of butter or 1/2 cup olive oil.
 3. 1/2 tsp sugar
 4. A pinch of salt.
 5. a small piece of cinnamon(optional)

Grind these into a fine paste and you have the peanut butter ready to use.

Bangalore Baingan

With the sight of Brinjals I would jump the floor and show all tantrums as a child. I remember those days I used to say a "Noooooo" to this lovely veggie. Later on I got a liking of the purple beauty and especially a lip licky dish like Crisps of brinjal keeps me wanting it again and again.


Ingredients
1. Big Eggplant/Brinjal - 1
2. Curds - half cup
3. Salt - 1 tsp
4. Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp
5. Jeera/Cumin powder - 1.5 tsp
6. Dhaniya powder - 1 tsp
7. Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
8. Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
9. Olive oil - 1 tsp for marination and enough for shallow frying.

Method:

1. Mix ingredients 2 to 9 to form the base for your marination.
2. Cut the brijal into thin slices and then put them into the mixture from step 1
3. Set aside for about an hour.
4. On a pan pour a tbsp of olive oil. 
5. Once it is hot enough, place the brinjal rings on the pan and roast on both sides till they are 
golden and crispy.

This can in itself be a great starter. However recently I tried a variation by adding some cheese on the top of the crisp baigan ring and grilled for about 2 min.Awesome craker with some cheesy yum topping.

Sandwich Idli

Soft rice idlis form a part of the common South Indian breakfast corridor that knocks every kitchen at least once a fortnight. A thought of adding a twist to these regular soft rice idlis turned a reality this Sunday.
It is no new high funda recepie but definitely a keeper as it is so Simple to make and just right for the health geeks.

Soak the below ingredients in the quantities mentioned below for a minimum of 5 hours(overnight preferred).
Rice - 1.5 cups
Urad/Black Gram Dal - 1 cup
Channa Dal - 1.5 cup
Toor Dal - 1 cup
Moong Dal - 0.5 cup
Beaten Rice - 0.5 cup

Grind the soaked ingredients with a spoon of salt and a cup of yogurt. To the paste add half a cup of
idli rava. You can add water to get the idly batter consistency.

Next for the veggie layer take a bowl of finely Chopped onion, tomato, capsicum, carrot and peas.(You can use any other veggies that tickles your taste-bud on a lazy Sunday morning).

In a pan, saute the veggies with a tea-spoonful of olive oil and a pinch of salt. For those who like a bit of spice in life, add a tea spoon of garam masala and red chilli powder each. You can bring in some tanginess with a teaspoon of amchur powder. The masalas are optional, but I love to add them when I make these idlis next time too as it added the required flavor. This veggie mix should be cooked until the raw smell is gone.

The most important step is how you layer the idly. First grease the idli plates so that the batter do not stick to the plates. Add a laddle full of batter and spread the entire plate, next spread the veggie layer. And on the top of this add another layer of batter. Repeat this for all the plates you have before you put into the steamer.

Steam this for about 20 minutes. This takes a few additional minutes  than the normal rice idlis as the dal-mix takes a little longer to cook.

Chilli dal tangy chutney complimented the dal-mix idlis. You can try pairing it up with onion or coconut chutney too.

Apple Dryfruits Kheer!

An apple a day keeps the doctor away! Having grown up with this proverb doing rounds in schools and home, I've got an addiction to apple.

A friend in US enlightened me with the benefits of a variety of fruits, so fruits in general have become an integral part of my diet ever since.

I love crispy crunchy apple slices in my morning corflakes bowl. I kind of like the taste of it with milk and nuts. Wondering how the twist of traditional Kheer dashed with a few pieces of apple taste like? Its heavenly and amazing. I'm glad I took this daring step of making the kheer. 

The recipe is plain and simple. 

Ingredients:
1. Soaked rice - 1 cup [I used cooked rice as I had some leftover in the kitchen] Both work wonders.
2. Milk - 1/4 litre
3. Apple - 1 medium sized chopped [crunchy ones go well]
4. Fresh Cream - 75 ml
5. Kesar/Saffron - a few strands
6. Walnuts - chopped
7. Badam/Almonds  chopped
8. Raisins 
9. Sugar[I used Sugar substitute].
10. A pinch of Salt

Method:
1. Soak the saffron strands in a tblsp of milk.
2. Boil the milk and add the apple pieces.
3. Add the cooked rice.[If you are going with the soaked rice then add to the milk in 
the start of the procedure]. Cook together for about 5 minutes.
4. Add the chopped nuts and raisins and a pinch of salt.
5. Add the saffron and Sugar/Sugarfree as much as your sweetbuds can tolerate. 
6. Add fresh cream and continue cooking for another 10 min until all ingredients come together.
7. Refrigerate or server hot. Either ways it tastes yummy.

Note: If you find that the kheer is thick, add milk to adjust the consistency.

Malai Meetha

Milk and sweets reminds me of Kolkata. My refrigerator is a store of all kinds of cheese, butter and other milk products. So one Saturday I wake up ato notice there lies a packet of store bought plain Khova.
Plans to make something interesting out of it kicked me through and the result is Malai Meetha - refreshing treat for the sweet-toothed ones like me.

Ingredients:

1. Plain khova - 200 gms
2. Sugar - 50 gms [I use sugar free - half tsp]
3. Elachi pods - 2 
4. Chopped Badam
5. Milk - 4 tblsp
6. Cashews for garnishing

Method:

1. Mix the khova , milk and sugar in a thick bottomed pan.
2. Cook for 5 min until the color tends to darken a bit.
3. Crush the elachi pods and add the powder to the mix.
4. Add the nuts and cook for a couple more minutes or until the mix leaves the sides of the pan.
5. Keep the pan down from the flame and shape them as you wish once cooled.
6. Garnish with any nut of your choice. I've used cashews as they were readily available in the pantry.

Raw Jackfruit Raita/Mosarubajji.

Boil the tender raw jackfruit after cutting the outer layer and making small cubes having done with all the mess. I used a small jackfruit that gave me about a cup and half of jackfruit 1" cubes.

fresh coconut - 1/2 cup
green chilli - about 2
mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Asefoetida - a light pinch.


Grind these four ingredients into a paste. Later add the boiled jackfruit pieces and grind again.

Add about 2 cups of thick curds/yogurt to this and a little salt to taste.

There you go yummy raw jackfruit raita/mosarubajji is ready to eat with plain boiled rice or it also compliments your paratha plate.

Its a Light meal category!

Pathrode

Colocasia leaf is the main ingredient for this recepie.

Abundantly grown in our home , this leaf makes it to a wonderful delicious savoury that not only tickles your throat but also your tummy. Its an age old process followed through the generations which goes into the making of Pathrode. There are typically two forms that Pathrode takes - A cluster of leafy mix and other the cut rings shallow fried on a tava/saucepan.

Both the forms have the basic steps to be followed until steaming.

Ingredients for the spread:
1. Soaked Rice - 1/2 cup
2. Grated Coconut - 1 cup
2. Chilli - Red  - 8 to 9
3. Dhania - 2 tsp
4. Tamarind - 1 tsp paste
5. Salt to taste
6. Urad dal - 2 tbsp
7. Toor Dal - 1/2 cup
8. Oil - 2 tbsp
9. Jaggery - 2-3 tbsp
10. Jeera - 1/2 tsp
11 Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
12 Asefoetida - a pinch
13. Channa Dal - 1/2 tsp

Grind all the ingredients mentioned except 8 and 9 for the spread.
Wash the colocasia leaves and place the largest one upside down.
Spread the paste over the leaf in thin layer.
Place the next leaf upside down and repeat the process for about 8 to 10 leaves.
Then make a roll from the stem end towards the end of the leaf. This is the step to be done with care.

Bake this roll in steam as you do with your idlis.
Pierce the roll with a knife and it should come out clean which means the roll is perfectly baked.

Allow it to cool to room temperature.

Now from here on is where you could chose either of the two ways.

To make Simple cluster of pathrode:
Crumble the roll by cutting into small pieces and then add a simple tadka sprinkle with freshly grated coconut and jaggery to give it a slight sweet taste to beat the complete chilliness.

To make Pathrode cutlets:
Slice the roll into small rounds. On both the sides of these rounds smear with rava and place them on hot tawa. you can add a little oil on the sides of the cut rings on the tawa to get the crispiness.

Serve them hot with a cup of evening coffee on a rainy evening. A perfect snack with a lot of nutrition too.

Happy Pathrode making.

Garlic 'n' Mushroom Bread Pattice

A lazy Sunday afternoon it was and I had all the time in the world to delve into baking in the kitchen.
I had kneaded the dough for the bread in the morning and had allowed it to rest. I had been making breads
almost every weekend until I reached the art to perfection.

For the bread dough:

1. 1 cup Maida (All purpose flour)
2. 2 cups of Wheat four
3. 2-3 tablespoons of sugar
4. 1/2 cup of oil/ melted butter
5. 2 tsp of yeast dissolved in warm water
6. 1 tsp of baking powder
7. A pinch of salt

• Dissolve sugar in about 2 - 3 tbsp of water. Sieve the flour, baking powder salt into a bowl.
• Add the sugar, yeast and oil and knead the dough until soft and smooth.
• Allow it to rest for about 2 hours or until the dough raises by double (I had it rest for more than that. Its definitely a plus)

And now for the filling:

1. Chopped 8- 10 button mushrooms
2. 2 onions/Shallots
3. 15 cloves of garlic - minced
4. Salt to taste
5. Pepper - 1 tsp
6. Butter - 1 tsp
7. My special ingredient - Pizza masala flakes.

• Melt butter in a pan and add the chopped onions and garlic and fry them till they turn transparent.
• Add salt, pepper and pizza masala flakes.
• Add the mushroom and saute for another 5 minutes or till it cooks.
• Shape a piece the dough into long oval disc and spread the filling on it. Roll the dough with the filling into a pattice. 
• Place in the oven. Cook at 180 degree Centigrade for about 20-25 minutes.[My batch were there for about 22 min].
• Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Optional: I had a few sesame seeds sprinkled over the dough before sending it into the oven to add flavor and garnishing.

That is how it looked - hot and tasted - yummy!! 

                                                      Garlic n mushroom Bread pattice.