VEGETABLE MASALA SANDWICH for PPCS (FOOD REMAKE)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

PARTY TIME FOLKS. Copying or imitating is easy and legal :-), I am here with a simplest snack of any time of the day. SANDWICH. I think Sandwich is the only food which has most of the variations of filling. You can fill any thing in between those square slices, have it just like that or toast it, roast it... Tastes awesome.

Today I am here with the healthy sandwich. Its VEGETABLE MASALA SANDWICH   which I have copied from my this month's partner Manjula Kanted of http://www.desifiesta.com/

Though I knew it before but was lazy to try it, Thanks to Manjula and Jagruti for giving me this opportunity to try this yummy sandwich. Its easy for those whose kids don't like vegetables.

The filling is a veg masala which we make for Pav bhaji. Make the bhaji thick and fill it in between white, brown or any bread slices.

We had it toasted in a toaster, my hubby had it plane only with butter,

It was really tasty and filling.

I am a good follower and a real copy cat ;-), followed her recipe exactly to the point. Visit her page for detailed recipe.

Sending to Jagruti's Potluck party 

Keep Smiling,

EGG LESS SUPER MOIST CINNAMON AND COFFEE CAKE(Food Remake)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

bAKE, bAKE, bAKE AND bAKE....

BAKE THE CAKE,

CAKE BAKE

Are you all thinking something is wrong with me!! This is what has happened to me now a days.. Yeh BAKING ka BHOOTH  sar pe chad gaya hai, sarr pe kya pure dimaag me chaagaya hai, its controlling my mind and brain.

I had tried this cake almost a year back and those were my initial days of baking, It was not a flop but not good also. It was not baked properly. And I left the hope of baking it again. But, the other day when I was going through the recipe book, I got this one and this time I was very sure that it will come out good. Yes! and it came out like a ...??? no words.. I never thought I can bake an Egg Less cake with this much soft, moist and perfect. I am sorry, I am going on and on..... 

Coming to the recipe,

I adapted this from Sanchita of http://litebite.in/

Check out her space.. if you are a baking bhooth and eating bhooth She got N numbers of baking recipes. Here is the link for today's recipe Cinnamon Tea Cake

This time, I have substituted few ingredients to suit the taste of my kids. My younger one likes chocolate in everything. So thought of adding some cocoa powder and to make it  healthier for kids, I added some nuts to it.

Coming to the recipe,

I have altered her recipe as per my taste.

Ingredients :

Dry Ingredients:

All Purpose flour - 1/2 cup

Whole wheat flour(I have used Aashirvaad brand) -  3/4 cup

Cocoa powder - 1/4 cup 

Powdered sugar - 1 cup or less

Cinnamon powder - 1 tsp

Instant coffee powder - 1/2 tsp(I have used Nescafe, Rs.2 sachet)

Baking soda - 1 tsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Liquid Ingredients:

Vegetable oil - 6 tbsp

Vinegar - 1 tbsp

Yogurt or curds - 1/2 cup

Strong coffee decoction - 1/2 cup

Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp

Method:

• Preheat the oven at 180°C.
• Spread the aluminium foil in a rectangular tin for baking the cake and keep it aside.
• Take all the dry ingredients and sift at least 3 times in a wide vessel. This is very important step.
• In another vessel take powdered sugar and oil and beat it till it is soft, for about 8 to 10 minutes. I used a normal egg beater. ( not electric one)
• Add the curd, coffee decoction, vinegar and vanilla essence in the sugar and oil mixture and mix thoroughly. 
• Slowly add the liquid mix in the dry mix and beat lightly till it blends well and get the normal cake mix. Don't over do it. 
• Pour this ready mix into baking tin and bake it for 15 min at 180°C and 10 min at 150°C or till done. The power of your oven plays an important role here. My OTG is more powerful. I always bake at lower temperature than given in the recipe. 
• Check with a clean knife or thin rod to check whether its baked properly.
• Take it out from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack. Your Cinnamon and Coffee Cake is ready to serve. 

Sanchita says you can keep it for a week, but mine gets over in a day or two. 

• 
  

CUSTARD POWDER COOKIES (FOOD REMAKE)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

How are you? How is the weather there in your place? Here its very cold. Past 3 days its raining cats and dogs. Rainy season! enjoy the rain. I am enjoying it. Snacks are must in this rainy season to munch any time  with hot cuppa coffee or chai or milk. Some time sweet snacks, sometime savory.

According to me,(and my kids of course) cookies are the best sweet snacks to munch any time.

Today I am here with a different cookies. Different because its having Custard Powder in it. I have used custard powder in baking cakes and breads, but had never used it in cookies.

This time Jagruti's event Potluck party, Cyber style! - Fun and the Challeng... chose Ramya of LemonKurry  as my partner for this month and she has prepared these lovely cookies. The recipe link is HERE .

Hey Ramya, my kids enjoyed these. Thanks dear for sharing this recipe with all of us and bringing it to the party.

I am here with her recipe prepared by me. There was a mistake in something 

I think, because my cookies got skinny. I did not get the fat ones. But taste was good and all got over within half a day. My kids loved it. And I too liked the custard flavor in the mouth.

Ingredients:

All Purpose flour - 3/4 cup +1/8 cup or  200 gm

Custard powder -  3/4 cup or 150 gm

Butter - 3/4 cup or 150 gm

Sugar - 3/4 cup or 150 gm

Baking Sod - 1/2 tbspa

Salt a pinch

Vanilla essence - 3 drops

I added

Cocoa powder - 2 tbsp to half of the dough done

Method :

Take APF, salt and baking soda in a bowl. Sieve it and keep it aside.

Pre heat oven.

Mix the custard powder with APF mix and mix well.

Whisk sugar and butter in a bowl till soft. Add vanilla essence and stir well.

Add the dry flour to this mix to make soft dough. 

Ramya says NOT TO FREEZE THE DOUGH.

Roll the dough in to your desired thickness.  

Cut with a cookie cutter or knife to make shapes.

Arrange these in a baking tray and bake it for 10 minutes or less. Keep an eye to check. Mine got burnt as I kept it for long time because my first batch was very soft.

AND 

I DIVIDED THE DOUGH IN TWO. IN ONE I ADDED 2 TBSP OF COCOA POWDER AS MY YOUNGER ONE WON'T EAT COOKIES IF THERE IS NO CHOCOLATE IN IT.

I got 15 big cookies. 

Sending it to the party.

Potluck party, Cyber style! - Fun and the Challeng...

Keep Smiling,

EGGLESS TUTTI FRUTTI SHORTBREAD(Food Remake)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Its two years now, BAKING has become a passion for me. Before,it was a nightmare for me. My kids loved cakes, pastries, brownies, cookies, all the possible baked sweets! Only and Only because of them I pushed my self to baking. If you remember, my first baking was My first bake - Chocolate Cookies which was a success then I did not turned back from baking. I faced may failures, I have thrown the whole unbaked cake into dustbin, I burnt the cookies, I forgot to add sugar while mixing... I took an oath not to bake again... But my Baking Saga continued. Now every one in my family, my friend circle their kids love my brownies, biscuits and cookies. Every one tells me that I should start a home bakery :-) Thanks every one for supporting me and encouraging me.

There are few things which are MUST in  the kitchen. We women are attached emotionally with our utensils(some times, feel bad to throw the burnt vessel or even a broken glass) and we are more careful with many gadgets like FOOD PROCESSOR, BLENDER, MICROWAVE, MIXER, OTG.. For me I can not stay without FOOD PROCESSOR AND OTG. Those were the years where it was difficult to search for such KITCHEN APPLIANCES in the market. We did not had any option other  than getting the best available (which ever) in the local market.

Now the time is changed. Its an ELECTRONIC ERA, This is an age of ONLINE SHOPPING.  We get many things sitting at home with just few keys pressed on the computer. I have a good experience with ONLINE SHOPPING. I enjoy it as its easy to search, compare and get it. I have ordered books from FLIPKART, I have ordered shoes from JABONG. But I was not knowing about the website CupoNation till few days back.

This website is connected with most of the ONLINE STORES with the DISCOUNT COUPONS on every product. The categories include Fashion, Books,Movies and Music, Electronic Items, Home and Living Appliances, Restaurant coupons, Travel coupons. They are connected with JABONG, FLIPKART, MAKE MY TRIP, SNAP DEAL, MYNTRA AND SO ON.. THE LIST IS ENDLESS. YOU GET THE DISCOUNT COUPONS FOR EVERYTHING.  Isn't it great? Visit them to get the full details and take the maximum advantage. Its really good,Try this link http://www.cuponation.in/homeshop18-coupons and you will get many kitchen appliances with the description, rate and the discount code. I am planning to buy Magik Gola/Slush Maker soon, as my kids love gola :-) "

They are on Face Book also. Follow them to know their regular promotions.

Isn't it a big introduction before my recipe starts? Yes, but without having OTG how can you bake the short breads I sharing with you all? So visit the site or share with others about it to buy all magical things.

Coming to the recipe,

Its not my own recipe, I have followed it from Priya of Enveetu Kitchen and she followed from  Sharmi's Passions, The chain continues like this if someone follows my recipe here. There is little bit change in my method, only because of my carelessness. But the result was good. 
I got around 20 cookies

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 cup

Butter,unsalted - 1/3 cup, at room temperature

Sugar - 1/2 cup 

Milk - 2 tbsp

The easiest baking with tastiest results.

Method : 

In Actual recipe, you need to cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. But because of my carelessness I skipped this step and directly added all the ingredients except milk. Then I realized my mistake but it was late to take the butter and sugar out from the flour. So without any option I mixed everything for more time and added the milk at the end(after 5 minutes) and turned it into soft dough. I divided the dough in to two small balls, rolled it into 1/4" thick circle. Covered it with plastic wrap(I used) or parchment paper).You can roll into log also(Priya has done this) Refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven at 170C.

Grease a Baking tray and line it with parchment or just grease the tray(I did it)

Remove and cut into cookie shape(if you have cookie cutter) or any other shape with a sharp knife.

If you have the dough log, slice them into thick circle.

Transfer these in to tray.

Bake them 10-12 minutes, depending on YOUR OTG or oven capacity. Keep an eye after 8 minutes. 

Once the edges are brown, they are done. They will be soft when hot and turn crispy once cold. 

Allow then to cool :-)

Enjoy these sweet short bread with a hot cup of tea or a glassful of milk or just like that. Perfect for kid's in the evening.

Sending this to  Amrita's 

Event Announcement-Bake Fest# 21 

she is a host of this month's Bake Fest

Keep Smiling, 

ALU BHATHURE (FOOD REMAKE FOR PPCS)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

This is food world, We all girls(??) are working in the kitchen from a very young age. And the blog world is getting bigger everyday with a newbie trying her/his food and posting it in the blog. Here where we cross each other with the same recipe. Though the name is same, preparation is same, sometimes, the ingredients and the method or presentation is different. This is what happened with us, Jagruti and me! She had brought Ajwain Paratha - Flakey Indian Pan Fried Flat Bread with Carom Seeds for the Potluck Party which even I like and make it often. And the recipe is already there in my blog.Ajwain flavored flat bread !!!

I checked with Jagruti to guide me for this, and she suggested me to try some other recipe from her blog. I thought of searching something similar to paratha, so I browsed her space in "Paratha and Roti" label. Ohh! there are so many! and again many of the recipes are in my blog also. I selected two recipes to try. One was "Raw banana and oats paratha" and "Bhathure" But I could make Bhathure as I was not getting time to go and get raw bananas. But it was good that I made her bhathures and they were simply amazing. My family loved it as an evening snack and already there is an order from my elder one to make it often :-)

Its easy to make, I loved the taste of stuffing, though its a normal potato masala, its different. I loved it :-)

Coming to the recipe,

I followed exact recipe from her blog but reduced the quantity to half. I got medium sized 10 Bhathure.

For the cover:

All purpose flour  - 1 cup

Semolina or fine sooji - 1/8 cup

Instant dry yeast - 1/2 tsp

warm milk -1/4 cup

For Potato masala:

Medium Potatoes  - 4 boiled, peeled and mashed 

Oil - 1/2 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Green chilli - 1/2 tsp. paste

Ginger - 1/2 tsp, crushed(I used more)

Haldi - 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Hing - a pinch of

Sugar - 1 tsp

Lime juice - as per taste, I used 1 tsp

I skipped Red chilly powder

Fresh chopped coriander - 2 tbsp

Oil to fry Bhathure - 1 to 1 1/2cup

Method:

Take all the ingredients under "for cover" Mix well to make soft dough. 

Cover it in a muslin cloth(it really helps) and keep it for 3 to 4 hours.

It allows the dough to ferment and you will get soft bhathures. 

Heat oil in a kadai.

Add mustard seeds when they splutter add hing, green chilly and ginger together. Saute for a minute. 

Add haldi and salt. Mix well. 

Add lime juice and sugar, mix well again and add the mashed potatoes. 

Mix well, adjust the seasoning.

Keep it aside to cool.

Divide the dough in to small balls. 

Keep oil in a kadai to heat. 

Divide the stuffing masala also into small balls 

Take one dough ball, roll into small circle. Keep one stuffing ball on it. Cover it with all the sides and close it to make a small ball again.

Slowly roll into small oval shape puri.

Repeat with other dough and the stuffing.

Fry the bhathures one by one in hot oil.

Serve hot with anything, curds, green chutney, sauce or eat it just like that.. :-)

Down is the link from Jagruti's blog:

Aloo Bhathure - Indian deep fried bread stuffed with potatoes

linking it to Potluck party, Cyber style! - Fun and the Challeng... 

What's in your mind for the next Potluck Party girls??? I am waiting :-)

Keep Smiling,

MANGO PAYASAM(Food Remake)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Living in a season where you are  breathing mango, I am here with one more recipe with mango. I brought it from OUR Potluck Party partner ,  Sini of Sini's Menu.....The Kitchenmagic......., MANGO PAYASAM. 

Should I say I am lucky to get this recipe? Yes, because its easy, its quick, its tasty and yummy, its available now and I would not have tried it if I was not in Potluck party.

It has gone into my favorite dessert list to prepare when more guests are in. The best thing is you can use canned mango when its out of season. 

Coming to my recipe,

if you check Sini's blog, her dish looks different, the payasam looks different color, may be because, we both used different variety of mango or may be the jaggery I used is darker and more red in color than her. And her paysam looks thick, again may be because of the thickness of the coconut milk. 

Whatever, my payasam was really very good, tasty and different. My family loved it and again, I got little to taste :-(.

Ingredients:

Mango - 3, ripe, (I used the small ones with fibre, though Sini has told to use without, but I did not had any option)

Jaggery,- I pureed the mango and checked the qty of the puree and took the jaggery 1/2 of it, because the mangoes were very sweet.

Water -little more than the qty of jaggery

Coconut milk - 3/4 cup, thick(see notes)

Coconut milk - 1/2 cup, thin (See notes)

Ghee - 1 tsp+1 tbsp

Salt a pinch

Cashew nuts - 1 tbsp,

Raisins - 1 tbsp

Dry ginger powder - a pinch

Dry coconut pieces - 1 tbsp 

Method:

Wash, peel and puree the mangoes.

check the quantity and take half of  the jaggery.

Melt the jaggery with water and cook till its dissolved . 

Strain it to remove the dirt and keep it aside.

Take a thick bottomed kadai, add mango puree and the jaggery syrup in it .Mix well and boil it for a minute.

Add 1 tsp ghee and keep on cooking on a low flame, stirring continuous.

Cook till thick consistency.

Add ginger powder and mix well. 

Add the thin coconut milk slowly and cook till it turns thick.

Now add the thick coconut milk and cardamom powder. Mix well and DO NOT allow to boil as it curdles the payasam.

Take it from the heat.

Heat 1 tbsp ghee and fry the nuts and coconut pieces separately.

Add these to the payasam.

Allow it to cool,

have it warm or chilled :-)

linking it to Potluck party, Cyber style! - Fun and the Challeng... 

Thanks Jagruti once again.

Keep Smiling, 

HANDVO FOR POTLUCK PARTY(Food Remake)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita                             

Hi All,

Welcome to Potluck party of this month. If you remember, I had taken pickle for the  Potluck party, Cyber style! - Fun and the Challeng... this month. And my friend Arthy brought Handvo. Now its my turn to make her recipe at home and take it to the party.

Gujrathi cuisine is my favourite!!!(which is not mine??), I have tried many recipes. And Thanks to Arthy that she prepared this one and forced me to try. Sometimes though we want to try new recipes many unwanted reasons(lazyness, not getting things ...) stops us from doing it. Actually, now also I do not have OTG  or Convection oven to make as I am in Pune, I still have tried to bake! or steam it in the cooker. Lets see how it comes out. Fingers crossed ladies...

Please visit http://savaadhjevana.blogspot.in/2013/04/handvo.html and meed Arthy Shama with her delicious recipes.

So, here is my version of making Handvo.

 

 

 

I have missed the whole wheat in it as I did not get it and forgot to add the wheat flour to the paste.

AND

I have used half the qty from the quantities given in her blog as I had to steam it and Arthy suggested me to use half.

Take

1/4 cup - Raw rice

1/8 cup - Tvar Dal

1/2 tsp -  Urad Dal

1/2 tsp -  Moong Dal

1/2 tsp -  Chana Dal

1/4 tsp Rock salt

1/4 cup Sour curd

 

soak all the above ingredients except salt and sour curd for 4 to 6 hours.

Grind into coarse paste.

Add the salt and sour curd, mix well and allow it to ferment for antoher 6 hours.



 

Take

1 green chilli finely chopped

1/2 tsp crushed ginger

1/4 cup grated bottlegourd (squeezed to liberate juice)

1/4 tsp haldi or turmeric powder

1/2 tsp chilly powder

1 tsp dhania powder

1/2 tsp Eno

 

Mix well all these ingredients except Eno

when ready to bake or steam,

 

Add the above mix in to fermented paste.

Mix well,

 

Ingredients to temper

2 tsp oil

1/4 tsp - mustard seeds

1/4 tsp - sesame seeds

1/4 tsp jeera

2-3 dry red chillies

few curry leaves

Add the above tempered mix to the ground paste. Mix well.

Keep the cooker with little water on heat.

When the water starts boiling(I have tried to make the same way as we do for Dhokla)

Add eno to your paste. Mix well, transfer it to the container that fits in the cooker.

Keep it inside the cooker.

 



 

 

 

Remove the weight of the cooker, close the lid, steam it for 45 minutes.

Check it and if its cooked remove it or continue steaming for few more minutes.

 

 

  

 I am not sure how the real Handvo tastes as I never got the chance to try it. But I am happy with my result, the handvo came out very good and tasty and of course these are healthy ones. I enjoyed it with my regular dal.

Once again thanking Jagruti for this lovely event, will wait for the next party :-)

Potluck party, Cyber style! - Fun and the Challeng...

I am out of station and scheduled this one on 28th. Hope it gets published and you will enjoy my steamed handvo for the party.

 

Keep Smiling,

PALAK PANEER(Food Remake)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

How are you? I am finding time or making it a point to take out some time for my blogging. Though I tried many new recipes previous months, I was lazy to click the photos. I made a mistake. I know I can again cook and click. But the joy, the happiness what we feel with the first time never comes afterwards.

Coming to today's recipe, Palak Paneer. My all time favorite(!!!!). But never like my version. Made many times my way but did not wanted to share that simple recipe. Then the other day I was searching my friend's blogs and websites for the recipe. There appeared Rak's 

PALAK PANEER | PANEER RECIPES |

 The color of the dish was so tempting and I decided to try it the same time as I knew there is Palak in the fridge. So I went to the MORE supermarket to get the ready Paneer. 

NADINI brand was available. I was not sure about it as I never tasted it before but there was no option for me. I got it. NANDINI paneer is really good. It was soft and fresh. Try it once if you get in nearby stores.

The only thing I changed was I used only one spinach and reduced the masala according to it..

My clicks are not so good, I am not that great photographer and I really do not have patience to arrange the things and click. Sorry girls...

I have tried to write in my words as I have altered it.

Ingredients:

Spinach or Palak - 1 big bunch or 2 small.

Onion - 1 medium

Tomato - 1 medium

Greeen Chillis - 3 to 4 (according to the strongness)

Paneer cubes - 1 cup

Oil - 1tbsp

Butter - 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Dry coriander powder - 1 tsp

Kasoori methi - 1 tsp

Haldi -(is in her post, I avoided as I was scared of loosing that lovely green color)

Milk - 1/4 cup

For dry masala(this has become my favorite now, I have used it in Aloo methi, Dry chicken roast, and even in Pulao)

Cinnamon - 1/2" piece

Cardamom - 1 

Clove -1 

Pepper - 1 tsp

Jeera - 1 tsp

Method:

Clean the stem of palak. Wash and clean it properly. Chop it.

Chop the onion and tomatoes in to small cubes.

Take a pan and add 1/2 tsp of butter. Roast the dry masalas and make into powder. Keep it aside(closed)

In the same pan, fry the palak just to remove the water from it. Keep it aside and allow it to cool.

Add the green chillis and make into fine paste.

Fry or roast the cubes with little butter on a low flame. (She has not done, but I like it roasted)

In a kadai,

heat the oil and 1 tbsp of butter. 

Add the onion and fry till soft and brown. Add the coriander powder and mix well. 

Add tomatoes and salt. Cook till very soft. Add the kasuri methi.

Now add the ground palak paste. Mix well. Cook for few minutes till the oil separates. 

Add the roasted paneer cubes and cook for a minute.

Add the powdered masala and milk. Cook it for few more minutes.

PALAK PANEER is  ready to eat with anything you like. 

I made normal chapatis but I had it like that only :-)

Thanks Rak's for this wonderful recipe.

VISIT HER PLACE FOR MANY MORE LOVELY RECIPES..

Keep Smiling,

 

Nankhatai with Choco Chips(Food Remake)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

My one more try in Baking :-))))

Its just yummy, vanishes as it goes into your mouth.. you crave for some more and you have rights too. The best part is its very easy to make:-)

I am talking about these Nankhatai which I adopted from Simple Indian Food and she took it from  Raaga of The Singing Chef.

Please visit her blog for the recipe. WAIT!!!

I have altered the recipe!!

I added 2 tsp of milk as my dough was very dry and crumbled

AND

I added 1/4 cup of Choco chips as my kids love it..

The result was fantastic.. 

I am going to make these again..

Keep Baking and

Keep Smiling,