butter

Leek and Broccoli Soup:

January 22, 2018

This soup is light and creamy in texture, that too with very little calories. Addition of broccoli neutralises the strong flavour of leek as well as gives creaminess and appealing colour without adding any fat.

This is a lovely option to have when it is cold outside. With a slice of garlic bread or whole wheat bread or with lots of croutons this can be a delicious, nutrient filled meal.

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First, we will see how to prepare this soup:

Ingredients:

Leeks- 2 to 3 (white and green parts are chopped and tops can be used in stock)

Broccoli – 1 medium head.

Toasted Pine nuts- ¼ to ½ cup (you can use any nuts of your choice)

Vegetable stock – 4 cups

Butter – 1 tsp

Turmeric- ½ tsp.

Salt

Pepper

Red chilli flakes

Method:

Clean leek by removing each cover,( Refer note) and chop (keep aside some roundels for garnishing).
Heat butter in a pan ,add reserved roundels and fry till you see the charred look. Keep aside.(this is for garnishing)
In this same tawa ,by using remaining butter ,add chopped leeks, sauté for a while. Then add broccoli florets ,turmeric, garlic salt and sauté for some time.

Ribbet collage

Then add toasted pine nuts.
Now add vegetable stock.
Boil for 10 minutes and remove from the heat.
After it cools down a bit ,blend this carefully.
Bring this puree to boil ,check the seasoning.

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Serve this soup by sprinkling red chilli flakes ,pepper and toasted leek roundels.
If you want you can add bread croutons or have it with garlic bread.

Note:

How to clean leek : Leek has very tightly packed leafy layers. Usually we find a lot of mud in between the layers ,because they usually grow in loose ,sandy soil. To clean this , trim off the roots and top dried part if any. Now halve the leek lengthwise ,separate all the layers ,so that it will be really easy to rinse and clean. Now leek is ready to use.

Energy cake:

December 25, 2017

This energy filled cake has millets, oats, coconut flour. Usually after extracting coconut milk from the fresh coconut, the residue that remains will go into the trash. Coconut residue is very high in fibre. It is much healthier than wheat bran or oats bran. I usually collect this residue, after extracting the milk for any south Indian kheer, and use it in my baking as it is, by storing it under refrigeration for a couple of days.

This energy bar is a little softer than a normal crunchy bar. So, I named it as Energy cake. Shelf life is any where between 2 to 3 days at room temperature, Up to 10 days under refrigeration. If it was under refrigeration, please re-heat to get soft texture.

Ingredients:

Oats – 1 cup

Mix millet flour – 1 cup

Coconut residue – ¾ to 1 cup (You can use coconut flour or desiccated coconut as well)

Brown Sugar – ¾ cup

Butter – 100 grams

Honey – 2 table spoons

Milk – ¼ cup

Cooking soda – ½ tea spoon

Vanilla essence – 1 tea spoon

Choco chip and almond flakes – to garnish

Method:

-Pre-heat oven, line a baking tray.

-In one bowl, combine oats, 2 flours and mix thoroughly.

-Take one sauce pan, heat butter and sugar. When sugar melts, switch off.

-Add in honey, milk,vanilla and cooking soda and mix.

-Pour the frothy wet mixture over oat and flour mixture and fold the batter.

-Batter will be a little thick and heavy. Pour the mixture and spread evenly on a lined baking tray.

-Garnish with Choco chips and almond flakes and press a little.

-Bake this in a pre-heated oven at 180 C for about 25 to 30 minutes or until done.

-Cool, cut into pieces and serve as a snack or a breakfast bar.

Lemon pudding cake with Fresh Strawberry Sauce:

January 24, 2017

Soft, melt in a mouth citrusy warm pudding is paired with fresh strawberry sauce. It is a real treat in winter evenings. The basic recipe is from here and I adapted it according to our taste and availability of the ingredients.

Ingredient:

All-purpose flour or Almond flour – ¼ cup

Salt – one pinch

Lemon zest – from one lemon

Eggs -2 (separated)

Butter- 1 tablespoon

Sugar- 2/3 cup

Buttermilk – 2/3 cup

Lemon juice – 2 tablespoons

For Sauce:

Strawberries- 20

Sugar – 2 tablespoon

Method:

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl. i.e. All-purpose flour, salt, lemon zest and mix this nicely by using a dry wire whisk.
Preheat oven at 160° C . Keep cookie tray inside by putting water. So that the water bath will be ready to bake while preheating.
Take 4 pudding moulds and apply some butter or oil and keep aside.
In another bowl, beat egg yolks, buttermilk, lemon juice, sugar. Beat until well mixed.
Add dry ingredient content to this and keep aside.
In another bowl, beat egg whites until you get stiff peaks. It takes almost 2 to 3 minutes of beating.
Combine this with a pudding mixture by folding gently by using a wooden or plastic spatula.
Divide evenly by filling this into 4 pudding moulds.

Bake these filled cups in a hot water bath for 40 minutes or until the top becomes light brown.
After placing the cups, check for the water level in the cookie tray (water bath). If it is less, please fill it with little hot water and close the oven door.
When it is done, remove from the water bath and cool those cups.

Now you can make strawberry sauce or Compote :
Chop all the strawberries, Mix in sugar and keep aside for 5 minutes. Churn half of the content in a mixer jar and keep another half as it is. So that you will have some chunks in your sauce and it looks good as well OR to make the compote, cook all these until syrup become bubbly and cool before serving it.
For serving, invert the pudding on a serving plate and pour some strawberry sauce and enjoy.

Note: To invert the pudding, you can use a small knife at the edge and it will release itself from the sides.

Sarson Ka Saag/ Mustard greens curry:

January 8, 2017

Come January, my veggie vendor will bring mustard greens and Bathua greens. In Kannada, we call Bathua as chakotha and mustard as sasive soppu .Last week I got a bunch from him and I prepared this curry. I love to include seasonal veggies in my cooking and it is a yearly ritual to make Saag at least once in winter.

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How I make –

Sarson / Mustard greens – 2 bunches

Bathua / chakotha leaves – 2 bunches

Palak/spinach – 2 bunches

Onion – 1

Green chillies – 4

Garlic – 10

Ginger- 1 inch

Maize flour – 1 table spoon

Cumin – ½ teaspoon

Turmeric – ½ teaspoon

Hing- ¼ teaspoon

Butter – 1 table spoon

Salt

Method:

Clean all the greens remove stalks and discard.

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Wash and chop the leaves into fine strips and cook this in a vessel by putting half cup of water, little salt, sugar for 10 to 15 minutes.
Take one mixer jar and put sliced onion, crushed ginger; chopped chillies and garlic, dry grind all this into rough paste.
When greens are cool, grind this as well. Don’t make smooth paste. Whip only once or twice, you will get required consistency.

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I usually use earthen vessel to cook traditional items. If you have one, you can use it otherwise use normal kadai.
Take vessel, put butter, when it is hot add cumin and hing. Then onion and chilli paste. Fry for a while. Add turmeric and salt. Salt will help to ooze out water from the onion and will retain moisture while frying.

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When it is light brown, add maize flour and fry for 2 minutes.
Add one cup of water and mix onion and maize flour mixture. This will look like a paste now.

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Add Ground greens and boil, If you feel water is needed you can add water and cook until you get the right consistency, and when it is done , mixture becomes like a mass and surface becomes little glossy.

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Serve this with Makki Ki Roti or Phulka with little butter.

Choco chip cookie with M&M:

November 28, 2016

Who can resist Choco chips and m&m? My kids just love this combination and it works really well as a birthday party treat too.

If u have leftover m&m’s at home which you totally forgot about? This is a yummy way to use them up! Every crumb tastes so delicious; you wouldn’t want to put it down!

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour -1 cup

All-purpose flour – 1 ½ cup

Baking powder – ¾ tea spoon

Cooking soda – ¾ tsp

Demerara sugar – 1 cup

White sugar – ½ cup

Butter – 200 Grams (I have used 100 gms butter + 100 gms sunflower oil)

Eggs – 2

Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

Choco chip – ¾ cup

m&m chocolates – to decorate.

Method:

– Pre heat oven to 170º C, grease cookie tray and line with butter paper.

-Add all the dry ingredients (flours + baking powder + cooking soda).

-Take a bowl, put butter and beat nicely. Add both the sugars, vanilla essence and once again beat until it becomes soft and airy. Now add eggs and beat. Add all the dry ingredients and mix using a spatula .While mixing add Choco chip. Now using an ice cream scooper, drop the dough into the cookie tray .

-If you have m&m s, you can press it on to the center.

– Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until knife comes out clean.

When it’s done, take it out and cool. After it cools completely store it in an air tight container.