Naankhatai

Naankhatai is to India as Shortbread is to Scotland,  Naankhatai is an Indian shortbread (originally brought by the Iranians to India) quite similar to a Scottish shortbread but only more soft, more crumbly and more delicious. I like to call them the "Indian white Bakery biscuits" because I have always seen them stored in those big cookie jars in front of the bakery till counters. For me, these white dome shaped cookies always stood out from the other cookies. 


This 3 ingredients cookie is super easy to bake plus there are no eggs involved so Hello Vegetarians!!

One can always experiment with a combination of flours (gram flour, corn flour, semolina, etc) but being me I went for the most tastiest and a slightly unhealthy version of using only refined flour. Do try any version you like but do not forget to dunk these melt in the mouth cookies in your masala chai and go mmmmm....:) Happy Baking!!


 Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup castor sugar (powdered)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 2-3 cardamoms (peeled and crushed)
• a pinch of ground nutmeg
• Almonds or Pistachios for decoration

Method:

(i)   In a large mixing bowl, slowly cream the softened butter with a wooden spoon. After the butter            has been creamed, add the powdered sugar, cardamom powder, nutmeg powder to the butter and        blend well.

(ii)   In a separate bowl, sift the all purpose flour, baking powder and salt together. Now slowly add             the flour to the butter mixture and combine well with a wooden spoon. 

(iii)  Use your hands and make a smooth round dough out of it. Cover the dough with a tea towel and         let the dough rest for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius.

(iv)  Make lime sized round balls of the dough with your hand and place them on a greased baking             tray giving space between them to rise. (Please make sure there are no cracks in the balls)

(v)   Place an almond or three pistachios on top of each ball and slightly press them so that the nuts             stick to these balls. (Do not press too much as we want these cookies to form a dome)

(vi)  Bake these balls of dough for 25-30 minutes or until they are firm to touch. We don't want them           to go brown.

Summer Couscous Salad

Sun is out, and the Summer is finally here to stay (I suppose). So I thought why not make a lovely healthy, fresh veggie and Couscous salad which can easily pass of as a main dish for vegetarians. And for us carnivores, this yummy Couscous salad is a great accompaniment with our Lamb Tagine or grilled fish.

Ingredients:

1 cup  couscous

1 onion

1 cucumber

1 bell pepper / capsicum

1 tbsp thick tomato puree

1 tsp smoked paprika

2 tsp cumin

1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves

1/2 cup chopped mint leaves

2-3 green or red fresh chillies (finely chopped)

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 juice of lemon and its zest

salt and pepper to season

Method:

1) Toast the cumin in a small fry pan and grind to a nice powder (prefer to use a pestle and mortar instead of a grinder).

2) Place the couscous in a big bowl and mix the ground cumin powder, smoked paprika, salt and pepper to it.  Mix well. Then pour some hot water over the couscous until it is fully immersed. Cover and let it soak all the water for 10 minutes.

3) Meanwhile, finely chop the onion, bell pepper and cucumber. I normally put all these in a food processor and give it a whizz. The vegetables are chopped very fine and will look like a salsa.

4) Add the chopped herbs (coriander and mint) to these chopped veggies and mix well. Add the chillies too.

5) After 10 minutes, with a help of a fork, gently puff up the risen and cooked couscous and add the tomato puree to it. Mix gently using the fork. A spoon may mash the couscous and make the dish soggy.

6) Now add the chopped vegetable mix, lemon juice, olive oil and the lemon zest to the couscous and mix carefully.

7) Serve the healthy Summer Couscous with any of your favourite fish or lamb dishes or vegetarians can relish on its own. :)

Clementine Cake

I was never a fan of oranges until I recently visited Seville. One of the specialties in Seville are their Oranges. You love it or hate it, but you just can't ignore those orange trees in Seville. I was completely enthralled when I saw hundreds of oranges hanging from trees, many sploshed on roads and nobody even cared or dared to pluck / pick them. Later on, I came to know that the Seville oranges have a bitter taste to them and having very few seeds, these oranges make the perfect base for marmalade. Their aroma is similar to that of other oranges, but they have a more potent “orange” flavor. There are thousands of orange trees lined the streets of Seville and when these trees are flowering, the tree lets out a citrusy fresh aroma and the fragrance linger for a long time throughout the city. This orange-y punch made me drink freshly squeezed orange juice three times a day during my 2 weeks stay in Spain. :) 

My love for oranges still continues and I recently got an opportunity to bake a birthday cake for my lovely colleague and friend Pramila. I chose to bake a Clementine cake, Clementine being one of the sweetest variety of oranges and also I wanted to have that orange-y touch to my baking. An easy peasy cake which when baked will leave your home smelling with oranges and give you that Sevillian feel. Trust me!!

Ingredients

• 175 g / 6oz butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
• 2 clementines (or any variety of orange)
• 175 g / 6 oz caster sugar
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 175 g / 6oz self-raising flour
• 3 tbsp ground almonds
• 3 tbsp single cream

Glaze and Topping

• 6 tbsp clementine juice (freshly squeezed orange juice)
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• Icing sugar to sprinkle on top

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius. Grease an 18 cm / 7 inch round cake tin and base line with non-stick baking paper.
2. Grate the zest from two clementines. 
3. Cream the butter, sugar and clementine zest together in a bowl until pale and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs little at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Gently fold in the flour, ground almonds and cream. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin. 
6. Bake in the pre heated oven for 55-60 minutes or until a skewer when inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool. 

Glaze

1. Meanwhile to make the glaze, put the clementine juice in a small saucepan with the caster sugar over a medium-low heat. Bring it to boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. 
2. Turn out the cake onto a wire rack. Poke the cake with the skewers on several places and drizzle the glaze over the cake until it has absorbed completely. 
3. Sprinkle the icing sugar over the cake.

Asian style Salmon with Wasabi Mash

Sometimes you don't have to  cook really fancy. You just have to meddle with few fresh ingredients and boom...you get a masterpiece. This is one such dish which I make for my mid week supper and it takes no more than 30 minutes to prepare. Salmon is something that I stock up in my fridge all the time and the fish being so versatile, I  often try different marinade to get a different dish each time.

Today I am sharing  an Asian inspired dressing for your lovely pink salmon and to go as accompaniment, what better than mashed spuds. Wasabi lovers out there...add a teeny weeny amount to your mashed potatoes and see that instant kick that you will get. ;) 

Asian style Salmon

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless salmon fillet
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1/2 inch ginger (grated)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic (grated)
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• pepper to season

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celsius.
2. For the marinade, Combine the soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, grated ginger and garlic and pepper together in a bowl.
3. Marinate the two fillets with the mixture and keep it for a minimum of 5 minutes.
4. Place the two fillets (skin side down if it has a skin on) on a non stick baking tray and bake for about 8-10 minutes.
5. Take out the tray from the oven and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top of the two fillets and place it back to the oven for a further 2 minutes.
6. Serve hot with mash and greens.

Wasabi Mash 

Ingredients:

• 2 large floury potatoes
• 1/4 cup milk
• 25 gm butter
• 1/2 tsp wasabi paste
• salt and pepper to season

Method:

1. Peel & cut large potatoes into even chunks & put them in a pan with plenty of salted water. 
2. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat & simmer until tender for about 10 minutes. Drain well. 
3. Pour milk in a saucepan & bring to the boil. Pour onto the potatoes with the butter, wasabi paste & season with salt & pepper. 
4. Mash the potatoes until smooth.

Breaking the fast Muffins

Happy New year everyone!!Yes I am alive. Fat and fine as usual and am extremely ashamed of not posting a single recipe in 2014 and I blame it solely on me. Sloth is one deadly sin and I confess that I was fully drowned in one. However I have buried my lazy past in the past and here I am starting my 2015 with a bang. I have dusted the cobwebs from my blog and it’s now up and running. The love and calories is here with double the love and may be fewer calories.

My first post of this year is “breaking the fast Muffins”. Since it’s got some dried fruits, seeds and carrots in it, you can very well call it a “Healthy” muffin. I had these lovelies last weekend for my breakfast accompanied by some freshly squeezed orange juice prepared by hubby dear. It was indeed a good start of the day. :P

Ingredients:


· 300g of plain flour
· 50g of oats
· 50g of caster sugar
· 3 tsp of baking powder
· Handful of sunflower and pumpkin seeds
· Two handfuls of any chopped dried fruits
· One orange, zested and juiced
· One carrot, finely grated
· Two eggs, separated
· 150ml of yoghurt
· 100ml of sunflower oil
· A pinch of cinnamon or mixed spice
· A little vanilla extract.
· Muffin case
· Muffin tray

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Mix the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, seeds, fruit and spices together in a large bowl. Then add the oil, yoghurt, orange zest and juice, grated carrot and egg yolks and prepare a thick batter.

In another mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until they have formed white peaks. Gradually add the whisked whites to the batter and mix gently.


Put each muffin case in every tray hole and spoon enough mixture into the muffin cases so that they are almost full. Sprinkle some sugar on top if desired.



Bake them for twenty minutes or until they are cooked all the way through and a gentle brown colour on the top.

PS: If you want to make your muffins more healthy, combine some wholemeal flour with plain flour (1:1 ratio) but let me warn you, the muffin will be very tight unlike your normal lighter muffins.

 

Homemade Granola

When I go for my weekly shopping at the Tescos or Waitrose, I spend atleast 4-5 minutes in the Cereal aisle. I love to see and read those different varieties and colourful packages of corn flakes, bran flakes, weetabix, cheerios, different flavoured oats, muesli etc. Out of these, Granola always stood out. This luxury cereal always grabbed my attention. By the look of those golden honey roasted oats, mixed with nuts and berries of different combination, my mind imagines a bowl, spoon and a dollop of greek yoghurt and me having Granola in some island in Greece. (the luxury advertisements influence my thoughts)!! :P

So the love for granola made me look for a homemade version of it and 'BBC food' helped me come out with this one. The entire process of mixing the rolled oats in maple syrup and honey and later roasting it with the mixed nuts and berries was indeed therapeutic. I have made a tin full of granola and safely stored in an air-tight container. It should suffice for at least 2 weeks. 

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 8 tbsp maple syrup 
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 300g rolled oats
• 50g sunflower seeds
• 4 tbsp sesame seeds
• 50g pumpkin seeds
• 100g flaked almonds
• 100g dried berries (I added blueberries, raisins and cranberries)
• 50g coconuts flakes or desiccated coconut (optional)

Method:

1. Heat oven to 150C. Mix the oil, maple syrup, honey and vanilla in a large bowl. Tip in all the remaining ingredients, except the dried fruit and coconut, and mix well.

2. Tip the granola onto two baking sheets and spread evenly. Bake for 15 mins, then mix in the coconut and dried fruit, and bake for 10-15 mins more. Remove and scrape onto a flat tray to cool. Serve with cold milk or yogurt. The granola can be stored in an airtight container for up to a month.

Punjabi Samosa

So winter is finally here and you got to do something to beat the hell out of it....And let me tell you how I do it... Simple! I cook up some hot fried Desi (Indian) appetizers to warm myself. So, it was the turn of making some Punjabi Samosas this weekend and I made the "world famous"(Yeah..That's how we Indians boast which is praise-worthy)Punjabi Samosa!! These delicious stuffed triangles are the true identity of any Indian. Your celebrations are incomplete if you don't include samosas in your menu. C'mon! Tuhanno Samosa ni pasand? ;). This is the perfect dish which can be served full of love stuffed into those pastries and a bit of calories too. I know many of you are really health conscious but I would suggest making these once in a while, to satisfy your guilty pleasures!! Ting!!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of plain flour (maida)
• 1 tsp ajwain (carom seeds)
• 1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
• 4-5  big potatoes
• 1 cup of boiled peas
• 2 inch ginger (finely chopped)
• 2 green chillies (finely chopped)
• 1 tbsp whole coriander seeds
• 2 tsp amchur (dry mango powder)
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 and 1/2 half tsp garam masala 
• oil for deep frying
• salt to taste

Method:

1. Boil the potatoes, peel  the skin and mash them with your hands. You need not mash it like how you make it for mashed potatoes. We need some lumps there.
2. In a bowl, put the flour, required amount of salt, ajwain, ghee and mix it with your hand. With the help of little water, make a dough out of it. Cover the dough and keep aside.
3. Heat a wok and toast the coriander seeds for 2-3 minutes or until they release an aroma. Take it off the heat and pound it coarsely with a pestle and mortar.
4. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a wok or kadai. Put the mashed potatoes, chopped ginger and chillies,amchur, red chilli powder, garam masala, boiled peas, coarsely crushed toasted coriander seeds and salt to taste to the wok and saute them for 5 minutes until everything is well combined. Switch off the heat.
5. Take the dough and divide them into big lime size balls. Take a ball of dough and roll it into a 5 inch round, with the help of a rolling pin.
6. Cut the round from the centre with the help of a knife. You will get two d shaped dough.
7. Just wet the sides of one d-shaped dough with water to make it moist. Just bring the two ends of the semi-circle with both hands and fold it into a cone shape. Pinch the side of this cone so that it is completely sealed. 
8. Fill the cone with sufficient potato mixture filling. Press this filling down with your fingers. Now close the top of this cone into a triangle shape, pinching the top edge so that it is completely sealed. Repeat the procedure with the remaining dough.
9. Heat oil in a kadai for deep frying. Drop these samosas slowly one at a time and fry till golden brown on both sides.
10. Drain it on a paper towel and serve it hot with chilli chutney or sauce. :)