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.