Chilli Garlic Crackers

This year's bake-a-thon has not been hectic because I decided to post just 3 times a week. But, it has been hectic in another way and hard for me to manage. Too many people went on vacation at work and I had to share their load of work with others who were working. Along with that, I took few projects at home and got busy with them.  With all these activities, I managed to bake whatever I found easy and didn't put too much creativity into them. Here is one of them where I took time and used the base of a tart dough recipe and converted them into a savory cracker.

One Year Back - No Knead Bread Sticks, Vegan Banana Chocolate Cake (lowfat)
Two Years Back - Rava Laddoo
Three Years Back - Cake Decorating Basics - Part 9
Ingredients: 
All purpose flour - 1 1/4 cups
Sugar - 2 tsp (optional but brings the flavors well)
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp + a generous pinch
Butter - 3 TBSP cold cut into few cubes
Canola or Olive oil - 2 TBSP
Cold Water - 3 TBSP (Start with 2 TBSP and add the final TBSP if necessary)
Green chillies - 4 - 5 (I used 4 and they weren't that spicy for an Indian palate)
Garlic - 2 pods

Method:
Make the dough:
Take flour, salt, green chillies, garlic, baking powder, sugar into the bowl of a food processor fitted with chopping blade. Pulse till garlic and chillies are minced and mixed uniformly. Add butter cubes and oil. Pulse to get butter incorporated. Do not pulse too much and make sure there are tiny flakes of butter left as chunks. Add water and pulse till you get the crumbly dough. If you can make a ball out of it (not a smooth one though), it is done. Take it out and flatten it into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight. I felt the dough was easy to handle when it had chilled overnight in the refrigerator.

To Bake:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Adjust the oven racks into the lower most and middle ones. Take out the dough from the refrigerator and let it sit 5 minutes at room temperature. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough fairly thin. You can dust the top surface with flour if it is sticking to the rolling pin. Roll it thinner than 1/4" almost to 1/8" thickness. Cut with biscuit cutter or any other cookie cutter. You can also just cut them into squares or rectangles if that is easy for you. Dip a fork in flour and pierce it uniformly all over the cut cracker dough. Gently transfer them to the baking sheet and bake for 12 - 15 minutes. You will be baking the crackers at the lower most rack for the first 12 minutes. Then transfer it to the upper rack for the remaining 3 minutes. It all depends on how thin you have rolled the crackers and how big the area of the cracker is. Do a test batch and go from there. Cool on the wire rack and you can either serve them warm or cold. They become flaky and perfect to go with a cup of coffee or tea. Great for cocktail parties or topped with cheese for those cheese lovers out there.

Notes:
You could add your choice of herbs here if you wish but I kept them simple. For cheesy crackers, fold in half a cup of Parmesan cheese while making the dough.

Check out what my friends are baking -  Preethi, Veena, Priya, Srivalli,  Sumana and Jayasri.

Enjoy.

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Creamy Herbed Sandwich Spread

We don't eat a lot of sandwiches, but when we do, I want it to have a nice heat and taste. Herbed butter is a nice option, but I can neither afford nor want to eat so much of butter. So, here is another option that is similar to pesto, but I couldn't really call it pesto or even chutney. These are creamy without the butter and very tasty. You can change the cilantro to basil or parsley and alter the nuts used too. Possibilities are endless.

One year back - Kidney Beans Rice
Two years back - Panettone
Ingredients:
Cilantro - 1 cup chopped and packed (You could use stalk part also)
Garlic - 1 pod
Olive Oil - 1 TBSP
Salt - to taste
Black pepper/green chillies/red pepper flakes/Cayanne - to taste (I used about 4 green chillies)
Lime Juice - 1 TBSP (You could use lemon juice instead)
Cashews - 1/3 cup (raw or toasted. I used raw)
Ricotta cheese - 1/2 cup (part skim or fat free)

Method:
Take all the ingredients in the food processor or blender jar. Run the machine to get a nice spread. You could increase the oil if the motor resists, but I didn't have to. Adjust the seasonings if required.

Toast the bread and use as a spread. This would be great as a base for grilled cheese sandwich too.

Enjoy.

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Savory Tomato Muffin

Are you tired of eating cookies, cakes, sweet pastries this holiday season? Then, you might want to read this.
It is quick, it is not overly fattening and you can have it for a snack or breakfast or as a side for the main meal. It reminds of the pizza taste without the cheese. You could fold in cheese to get it more like a pizza muffin if you want. This can be very easily veganized by using ener-G replacer. I didn't have any on hand.

One year back - Eggless Peanut butter swirled chocolate cake
Two years back - Cake Decorating Basics Part - 3
Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 3/4 cup
Sugar - 2 TBSP (See Notes)
Tomato juice - 1/3 cup (See Notes)
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Dried basil - 1/2 tsp
Dried oregano - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli flakes - heaped 1 tsp (or to taste - optional)
Garlic powder - 1/4 tsp
Olive oil - 3 TBSP
Egg - 1 large

Method:
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Lightly grease 6 muffin cups or use liners. I was baking in mini bundt pans and I could fill only 4 of them. In a bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, chilli flakes if using, herbs, garlic powder. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together tomato juice, egg and oil. Pour the wet over dry ingredients and gently mix until combined. Do not over mix. Pour into the prepared pan and bake. Muffins would be done between 23 and 26 minutes and my mini bundt pans took about
24 minutes.

Notes:
If you are using freshly pressed tomato juice, you will have to adjust the salt. The tomato juice from the bottle/can is thicker than what we can make at home, so I do not know if this recipe will work without tweaking for that. You could fold in about 1/2 cup of grated cheese into the batter. I didn't have any, so did not use it. Since I was experimenting, by mistake I used 1/4 cup of sugar. My intention was to use just 2 TBSP. That made these muffins kind of sweet and savory.

23 days of the Bake-A-Thon are done. 8 more to go.  My fellow bloggers doing this are - Preethi, Veena, Priya. 
Enjoy.

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Spicy Creamcheese Buns

If you have visited 'Iyengar Bakery' in southern Indian states, you know about khara bread. You can read about that here. Imagine yourself wanting to eat them, but have to use up a block of cream cheese somehow. These buns were conceived. I have not used onions like most of the khara breads use since I thought of using the onion powder instead. When I did open the onion powder to add it to the dough, I didn't like the smell of it, so left it out. These are great with a cup of coffee or you can even make a spicy burger with it. Now that I think of it, I would like my sandwich or burger to have some flavor in the bun/bread part too. So, if you are like me, you will love these. They are so flaky and soft that it is hard not to finish the whole batch.

One year back - Vegan Vanilla Cake
Two years back - Vegan Peanut butter Cornmeal Cookies
Adapted from - Cream Cheese Sweet Bread
Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 3 cups
Warm water - 1/2 cup
Cream cheese - 1 block (8 Oz) at room temperature (I used 1/3 fat)
Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1 TBSP
Green chillies - 12 chopped very fine (or per taste. You could use red chilli flakes)
Cilantro - 1/2 cup chopped fine (Or your favorite herb - See Notes)
Instant yeast - 2 tsp (Use 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast instead)

Optional:
Milk to brush the rolls/buns before baking
Butter or oil to brush rolls/buns after baking

Method:
To make the dough by hand: Mix the warm water, sugar, yeast. Let it froth for 5 - 10 minutes. Start mixing the cream cheese, salt and the flour to the yeast mixture and knead it for about 5 - 8 minutes. Knead in the chopped green chillies and cilantro. If needed, adjust the dough by adding a TBSP or more flour. Dough should be silky and not sticky or tacky. Coat with a bit of oil and cover and let rise till double about one hour. When the dough has doubled in volume, punch down and deflate and proceed with shaping the dough and baking as described below.

To make the dough in a bread machine: Place all the ingredients in the bread machine pan in this order. Water, cream cheese, salt, sugar, flour and yeast. Set the machine on dough setting and start. Add the cilantro and chillies after a minute or two of the dough cycle. When the cycle is complete, take the dough out, deflate it and proceed to shaping.

To Shape and Bake:
Lightly spray a large baking sheet with vegetable oil spray. Set aside. Divide the deflated dough into 12 equal parts. Shape the rolls. Place them on the baking sheet leaving enough space between them so that they do not touch each other. Cover with an oiled aluminum foil and let rise till double - about 45 - 60 minutes. When the dough has doubled, preheat the oven to 375 F. Brush the loaf with milk if desired. I didn't do it. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes (mine were done at 25) or until nicely browned. Brush with butter or oil if desired. Remove to the wire rack to cool completely. Serve warm or at room temperature with a cup of coffee.

Today is day 13 of the Bake-A-Thon.  My fellow bloggers doing this are - Preethi, Veena, Priya. Sending these to Susan's 'Yeastspotting'.

Enjoy.

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Cumin, Pepper Crackers/Biscuits

I remember my mother making deep fried crackers with the left over roti or chapathi dough. She would roll it thin and cut into small diamond shapes and deep fry in oil. That mimicked the famous 'Namak para', but was not that rich. Sometimes dough would be made only for this purpose in which case, a little bit red chilli powder or anise or both were added to the dough.

I needed something to go with the soup I made. There wasn't enough time to make bread and that made me think of this alternative and inspiration to make these came from the memory of deep fried crackers that my mother made.

One year back - Craisins and White Chocolate Biscotti
Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 2 cups
Olive oil - 1/3 cup
Water or yogurt - 1/4 cup (I used water)
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/8 tsp
Sugar - 1 TBSP (optional will give a nice taste)
Coarsely crushed black pepper powder - 2 tsp or to taste
Cumin - 1 tsp

Method:
Preheat the oven to 275 F (See Notes). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients except water/yogurt. When the oil is mixed very well, start adding water TBSP by TBSP. Dough will be a bit crumbly. You can add more water/yogurt if you want, but is not needed. Knead it few times to make the dough. It won't be a smooth dough. Divide into half and roll it to 1/4 " thickness. You will have to use a little pressure while rolling to get it nice and even.  If you have made the dough correctly, it should not stick at all. You don't even need to flour the board where you are rolling. Cut with cookie cutters or biscuit cutters or just make squares with a pizza cutter. Prick the dough with fork and place on the baking sheet. Bake for 35 - 40 minutes. This won't brown at all. It might feel a little soft when you get it out of the oven, but will crisp up once cool. I checked at 30, 35 and 40 minutes and they were pale golden on the bottom at 40 minutes. Serve as a snack or with your favorite soup.

Notes:
You could bake this at 300 F or even 325 F for 30 minutes or so. In that case, it will get a little brown. Watch the time if you decide to bake at a higher temperature.

Have a great weekend.

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Savory Shortbread cookies / Iyengar bakery Khara Biscuit

If you have been reading this blog, you know I am from Karnataka, that too from Mysore. In Bangalore and Mysore area, there are probably one bakery for every 10 restaurants or eateries. Number of baked goods that you can get in a nice sized bakery is unbelievable. I think my passion for baking has direct connection to childhood memories of eating from these places. When I moved to U.S where, almost all the baked goods are sweet, I was forced to try my hand at different things that you get in Indian bakeries. Trust me when I say this, I have tried several different methods of making these biscuits. American biscuit way, baking powder biscuit way, pie dough method and what not. This is the best method to make these and I felt these are pretty close to what you get in those bakeries. If you use shortening, you get even more crispier biscuits.

One Year Back -  Eggless Avocado Bread
Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 2 cups (spooned lightly and measured or 250 gms)
Butter - 1/3 cup softened or about 5 TBSP + 1 tsp
Sugar - 4 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Green Chillies - 6 chopped fine or more per taste
Cilantro - chopped 2 - 3 TBSP (See Notes)
Yogurt - 2 - 3 TBSP (start with 2 TBSP)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 325 F (160 C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or with aluminum foil. If you line them with aluminum foil, very lightly grease with vegetable oil spray. Set aside. In a bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar till creamy. Add the 2 TBSP yogurt and continue to beat.  Add the dry ingredients and beat slowly. You cannot incorporate all of the flour by the beater. Use your hands to work the dough but don't use too much of pressure. Add the chopped cilantro and chillies and if necessary, another TBSP of yogurt. Dough will have to be crumbly not wet at all. Roll the dough into 1/4" thickness.

The dough is so stiff I didn't need any flour and it still didn't stick. Cut with your cookie cutters. Place on the prepared baking sheets and bake for 18 - 20 minutes. Do not forget to rotate halfway. Since these do not have lot of sugar or soda, they don't brown on the top much. Bottom will have a golden brown when done. You might feel they are still soft when done, but they will get firm when cool. If you want extra crispy cookies, you can increase the baking time. Cool on the wire rack in the sheet and when cool, transfer to an air tight container. Stays fresh for 4 days if it stays till then. These are very very addictive.

Notes:
You can use mint in the place of cilantro. Go easy on that though. You can add curry leaves. Some seeds could be added too like cumin or sesame (about 1 TBSP for this proportion). Not Indian and don't keep green chillies on hand? No problems. Use about 1 TBSP of cracked pepper and use your favorite herb or leave it out. Choice is yours.

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Sourdough Scallion Pancakes (Vegan)

Don't be confused by the title. This is not the same scallion pancake that is basically dough filled with scallions and rolled and cut and rerolled to get a spiral looking flat bread. This is just a savory pancake. I made it using Sourdough and added scallions and some chillies to make it spicy. You see, we like savory breakfast over sweet any day. These are quick to make and the batter can be refrigerated few hours before you actually make it. You could add other quick cooking veggies like grated carrots or grated beets, zucchini or even grated potatoes. This was inspired by the Savory Wholegrain Pancakes I made a month back.

One Year Back - Whole Wheat cinnamon rolls with apple butter
Ingredients:
Sourdough Starter - 1 cup (100% hydration, not fed)
Whole Wheat Flour - 1 cup
Salt - 1 tsp
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 2 TBSP (I used olive oil)
Green Chillies - 5 chopped fine (Or use cayanne or red pepper flakes)
Scallions - 6 both white and green parts chopped (or you could use Chives)
Cilantro - 2 TBSP chopped or your favorite herb
Water - 1 cup or a bit more to get the correct consistency

Method:
In a bowl, mix whole wheat flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, chopped scallions, herbs and green chillies or pepper flakes. Mix and pour 1 cup of sourdough starter. Add 1 cup of water and stir gently to get the pancake consistency batter. Add more water if needed.

Heat a griddle and when hot, spray vegetable oil spray or use butter to grease the griddle. Pour ladle full of the batter and cook like the regular pancakes. Flip once and cook on the other side. Serve with any favorite sauce, salsa or chutney. You see Apricot chutney in the picture, but this would taste great with marinara sauce or hot and sweet sauce. Even though this is best served warm, you can warm it up and serve if you have any left overs. This batch made 10 pancakes.

This is being sent to Susan's Yeastspotting.

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Whole Wheat Jalapeno Focaccia

There are very few people who are not fond of pizza. I am one of them. I did like it when I used to eat cheese, but not now. But, the kids ask to go to a pizza place almost every week and we do take them to Bertucci's once in a  while. When we go there, we have a standard order. A personal pizza for kids which is just cheese pizza and another personal pizza for myself and my husband which is cheese less pizza with lot of veggies. And first couple of times, I used to ask for Jalapeno peppers as toppings and the waitress would tell me that they don't have it. That is when I realized that Italian restaurants do not have jalapeno as one of the pizza toppings. So, I made my own favorite flat bread. I actually started with the no knead focaccia recipe. But, I decided to use whole wheat flour completely. When I did use gluten and the whole wheat flour, I knew it won't have a nice texture if I don't knead it. So, I kneaded it briefly and went on with the recipe. Result was an amazingly soft and fluffy focaccia that is completely made with whole wheat flour and has no added sugar in it.

One Year Back - Mango Bread,  Bread Machine, Do I need it?
Ingredients:
Whole Wheat Flour - 3 cups
Vital Wheat Gluten - 1/4 cup
Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
Warm Water - 1 1/2 cups
Instant yeast - 1 TBSP
Cilantro - Chopped 1/4 cup
Jalapeno - Drained and chopped 3 TBSP or more as per taste divided use (You could use fresh Jalapeno pepper about 2)
Olive oil - 3 TBSP plus more for the pan and topping
Coarse sea salt - for topping (optional)

Method:
In a bowl, take warm water. Add olive oil, salt, yeast, flour and gluten. Mix it with a wooden spoon. When you can no longer mix with the spoon, use your hands to mix it and start kneading it. This is a bit tacky dough. Don't be tempted to use more flour. It is alright if it is sticking to your fingers. Add half of the jalapeno peppers and the entire chopped cilantro. Knead it for about 5 minutes.
Grease a 13 X 9 pan with little bit of olive oil. Take the kneaded dough and pat it into the pan spreading to cover the complete pan. Oil your hands while doing so. When done, sprinkle the remaining jalapeno pepper pieces and press it to the dough gently. Dimple the dough and top with some olive oil. You can go heavy on olive oil or light. Cover with an oiled aluminum foil and let it rise for 1 hour or till the dough is all bubbly and double in volume. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 375 F. If using, sprinkle the sea salt. Bake for 35 - 40 minutes or until golden on the top. Remove and let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn it on to the wire rack and cool completely before slicing.

This one goes to Yeastspotting.


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Whole Wheat Potato Bread

I have seen potato bread recipe in many of my never ending cook book collection. And I have been waiting to make it for a long time now. All I needed was a push in the form of a request for this recipe from Suma. So, I guess I have to thank her for this. I however made it with whole wheat flour. And, I did not keep it plain and spiced it up with chillies and cilantro. See notes to the many variations that I could think of. This makes a great snack, or breakfast. And is great toasted or plain with some soup as a meal.

One Year Back - Eggless Pumpkin Brioche

Ingredients:

Potatoes - 2 medium or 1 large (enough to get 1 cup of mashed potato)

Whole Wheat flour - 4 cups plus 1/4 cup for kneading (use as needed)

Vital Wheat Gluten - 4 TBSP or 1/4 cup

Salt - 2 tsp

Warm Water - 3/4 cup (You can use the water that you used to cook potatoes)

Sour cream or yogurt - 1/2 cup

Olive Oil - 2 TBSP plus more for the bowl

Sugar - 1 TBSP

Instant yeast - 2 1/4 tsp or 1 packet

Green Chillies - 9 - 10 chopped fine (optional or you could use 1 TBSP of red pepper flakes or to taste)

Cilantro - chopped about 1/2 cup (You could use parsley or basil - See Notes)

Method:

Scrub and wash potato clean. Boil potato in enough water. You can either quarter them or keep whole. Cook till fork tender.  Drain reserving the water and peel the skin off. Mash it with a fork and measure 1 cup of it. I mashed it coarsely so that I could get couple of small pieces of potato here and there. You could make it a complete mush if you like that way. In a bowl, measure 4 cups of whole wheat flour, the vital wheat gluten, salt, sugar. Add yeast and stir. Add this mashed potato. Measure the water and sourcream or yogurt together. Stir it to combine and pour it to the contents of the bowl. With a wooden spoon, start stirring. When it becomes hard to stir, start mixing by hand. It will be a sticky mass. Once all the flour is incorporated, dump it on to the lightly floured surface. Start kneading adding flour if required to get a smooth tacky dough. Tacky dough will stick to your fingers, but will peel off. Work the chopped chillies if using. Finally mix in the cilantro or the choice of herb you are using and give a final knead. Coat the bowl with olive oil and place the dough in there turning once to coat all the sides. Cover and let rise till double or for 1 1/2 hours. It might take longer in cold weather.

When it has doubled, punch down and divide the dough into two parts. You can either shape it as a baguette like I did or make two round loafs or use loaf pans. I shaped them into fat 11" baguettes. Cover and let rise for 45 minutes to an hour. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 400 F. Slash the loaf and place in the oven. Bake for 5 minutes. Turn the temperature down to 350 and bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until golden and internal temperature is 190 - 210 F. Cool on the wire rack. This was great as is and definitely great with a bowl of soup. Since there is potato in this, shelf life of this bread is not long. Use within 2 - 3 days.

Notes:

You could make it a sweeter bread by increasing the sugar and you could also increase the fat content. If you are one of those who are scared of whole wheat flour breads and want to make this with all purpose flour, you will have to increase the flour more or reduce the water to 1/2 cup and use 1/2 cup yogurt or sourcream. Start with 3 cups of flour in the beginning if you reduced the water.

Another variation is to use rosemary. Potatoes and rosemary go very well together. But use only 2 TBSP chopped fresh rosemary. If using parsley, you could use it as generously as I have used cilantro. If making it a sweet bread, use about 4 TBSP of sugar and reduce the salt to 1 1/2 tsp.

These loaves are yeastspotted.

Enjoy.

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Wholegrain Savory Pancakes with Spicy Yogurt Sauce

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But, in today's world, there are lot of people who skip breakfast or drink coffee or tea for breakfast. There is more. There are people who eat such an unhealthy breakfast that I wonder how they can even concentrate on work having eaten such a heavy breafast. I am talking about eating pastries for breakfast which are high in sugar and fat. I was thinking that the traditional Indian breakfast is healthy. But then realized I wasn't really right in assuming so. Idlis, Dosa, Poori, Paratha all of them are pretty high in carbs and if you use ghee or oil generously, high in fat too. If you sit and calculate how much each dish has, you will realize that we are eating way too many calories first thing in the morning. So, are the quick breads, muffins, pancakes and waffles better? I don't think so either unless you eat them sparingly and they are not full of fat and empty carbs. Whatever you eat, you should know how much to eat. That is the key point. If someone sits and eats 6 idlis for breakfast (trust me, I have seen many doing this), it definitely tends to be unhealthy.

I made these pancakes. Idea was to make them as waffles, but realizing that not everyone has a waffle maker, decided to make them into pancakes. I made them savory and spicy and used scallions. This is inspired by the South Indian Uthappam, but is quick and has healthier blend of flours used.

One Year back: Marshmallow Fondant, Cranberry Pull apart buns, Black Eyed beans Kichadi, Savory Onion Tart

Ingredients:
For the pancakes:
Whole Wheat Flour - 1/3 cup
Barley Flour - 1/3 cup
Buckwheat flour - 1/3 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp (You might have to adjust up to 3/4 tsp)
Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder or cayanne powder - 1/4 - 1/2 tsp (Or use paprika or some black pepper powder to taste)
Buttermilk - 1 cup (I used low fat)
Tomato paste - 2 TBSP (From the can - Read notes)
Water - 2 TBSP
Olive Oil - 2 TBSP
Scallion or green onions - 4 chopped reserve 2 TBSP of green part for the yogurt sauce

Cilantro - chopped 4 TBSP

For the Yogurt sauce:
Low fat yogurt - 1 cup
Salt - to taste
Red chilli flakes - to taste
Scallion - green part chopped 2 TBSP from above
Cilantro - 1 TBSP chopped

Method:
In a bowl, whisk together all the flours, salt, red chilli powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, oil, tomato paste and water. Whisk really well. Slowly add the dry ingredients to wet and mix. Do not over mix. Gentle folding is what is needed here. Check the salt and add if needed. Stir in the cilantro and chopped scallion. Heat a griddle and spray with vegetable oil spray. Pour 1/4 cup of batter to make a pancake. The batter is very thick and you could thin it down with couple more TBSPs of water. I cooked them in low heat so that they cook through and are fluffy and fat. This batter doesn't spread much. You will have to flatten it a bit or use more water. I flattened it and made 5" diameter pancakes about 8. Serving size is 2 pancakes. Serve with the yogurt sauce.

To make the yogurt sauce, mix everything mentioned under For the Yogurt sauce above.

Notes:
If you cannot find tomato paste, you can puree one tomato in a blender and measure 1/4 cup of it and use. If using this, omit the water in the recipe.

Check out how many calories are in each serving of these pancakes..

Check out what all these ladies are up to today..

Diabetes Diet/Management: Srivalli, Champa, Harini, PJ
Kid Friendly Recipes: Kalyani, Shylaja, Veena
Seven Days of Soup:Usha, Sowmya
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Suresh 
Seven days of Cakes:  Anusha

Enjoy. 
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Sourdough Biscuits

My Sourdough starter saga continues. I don't want to waste it and we don't eat that much bread at home. So, I had to make something else with it and this time I made something savory instead of plain or sugary one. If you want to make this into a sweeter biscuit, omit the chillies and cilantro. Reduce the salt to 1/2 tsp and add about 3/4 cup of dried fruits or chocolate chips. You could keep it plain and serve with some jam or marmalade.

One Year Back -  Eggless Brioche, Penne with Eggplant, Pancakes with home made syrup.

Ingredients:
Sourdough Starter - 1 cup (Unfed straight from the refrigerator - See Notes)
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Baking Powder - 2 tsp
Salt - 3/4 tsp
Sugar - 2 TBSP (optional, but brings out the flavor well)
Margarine or Butter - 1 stick or 1/2 cup cut into cubes and cold
Chopped cilantro - 3 TBSP or any other fresh herb of your choice
Green Chillies - 9 chopped fine (Omit this if you cannot take heat and replace by 1/2 TBSP of crushed black pepper or to taste)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in the butter or margarine with a pastry blender or two forks until it resembles coarse meal. It is alright to have some chunks in it. Add baking powder, sugar, cilantro, green chillies and stir with a fork. Now, slowly add the cold starter and mix till everything comes together. This is not a biscuit recipe which can be rolled or patted. Use a small cookie scoop and drop the dough on the prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart. About 1 Heaping TBSP or so per biscuit. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes rotating the pan half way (Mine were done at 18 minutes). Bottom will be golden when done, but the top will not be brown and might feel a little soft. Remove from the oven and serve warm. Left overs can be warmed in the oven slightly and served. These tasted best as they are without any butter on them. In fact these are perfect with a cup of tea or coffee and can be addictive. Don't ask me how many I have eaten already. Makes about 20 biscuits.

Notes:
If your starter is at room temperature, measure the starter and keep it in the refrigerator to make it cold.

This is my entry to BBD#37 hosted here and 'Yeastspotting'.

Enjoy. Pin It

Pepper Biscotti (Eggless)

In Karnataka (a southern state in India), Iyengar bakeries who have their own name and importance in supplying baked goods sell a spicy cookie called Khara biscuit. Every time I make it, for some reason or the other I am unable to take pictures and post it. But, that cookie uses quite a bit of butter/fat. I wanted to come up with something that is savory and at the same time low in fat content. Then I thought why not convert a biscotti recipe to make a savory cookie. Here is the result of my experiment.

One Year Back - Sprouted Moong Salad,   Eggless Blueberry Coffee Cake
Ingredients: (This is a very small batch. Can be doubled)
All purpose flour - 3/4 cup
Corn Starch - 2 TBSP
Yogurt - 1/4 cup (measured in wet measuring cup)
Olive oil - 2 TBSP (Can use vegetable or canola oil)
Sugar - 1 TBSP (optional but brings them all together well)
Salt - 1/2 tsp (See Notes)
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Black Pepper - Crushed by mortar and pestle 2 1/2 tsp - 3 tsp (I used 2 1/2 tsp and it was plenty spicy for us)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 300 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. In a bowl take all the dry ingredients. Whisk them to combine. In a measuring cup, measure yogurt. Add oil to it and whisk together. Add the yogurt and oil mixture to dry ingredients and mix. You will have to use your hands to bring the dough together. It will be a bit dry and stiff. Don't worry about it. It will be just fine. Shape into a long. You can make them wider or narrower for bite sized biscotti. Press them so that they are 1/2" thick. You can wet your hands and shake off excess water to do this. Bake for 35 minutes. It will not brown on the top due to lack of sugar. (Sugar caramelizes giving baked goods a rich color)

Let it cool for 10 - 15 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 275 F. When cool enough to slice the log, move it on to the cutting board. Slice them 1/2" - 3/4" thick. You can slice them diagonally to get longer cookies or straight to get smaller ones. Since I was working with a very small batch, I sliced them straight to get more. Keep them on the cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes on each side or until dry. Each oven is different and a lot of these timings depend on how thick you have sliced them, so keep an eye on them. Let them cool on wire rack. Store in an air tight container when completely cool. These stay fresh for a week at room temperature. These freeze well too just like other biscotti.

Notes:
If you make it spicier by adding more pepper, you might have to adjust the salt a bit. For those who don't mind eating eggs, replace yogurt with 1 large egg. This could be spiced up with green chillies too. Variations are as many as your imagination takes. You could use just 2 tsp of pepper and after shaping into log, sprinkle some more on the top. If you are planning to do this, brush the log with some water (don't make it too wet) and then sprinkle the crushed pepper.
I was in a hurry and sliced the log too soon when it was still hot. That is the reason why the biscotti looks a little doughy even though in the second bake it dried up.

Enjoy. Pin It

Kara Sev / Sev another version

When you read this blog, you might wonder why I make all these things at home. I have a reason. No, couple of reasons. One - I am a foodie and I want to keep on making food and that is my escape. Second - I don't like the use of preservatives in processed foods. It can be cake or cookies or deep fried Indian snacks. My question is if a loaf of bread that I bake goes bad in 4 - 5 days, how come the loaf of bread that I buy from the store has an expiration date of more than a week and sometimes couple of weeks? The bread was not even baked that day.

My younger one loves these fried snacks with sambar and rice or rasam and rice. I don't encourage eating this all the time, but when that is one of the ways she eats food without any issues, I cannot say "No" to her for this. When pressed for time, we have bought these snacks from the Indian store and more than couple of times, I have thrown them into trash because of the rancid smell. As long as I am happy making these and my kids get fresh and clean stuff, I shouldn't complain. Right?

This recipe is adapted from a very old book that I have (which is a photocopy and I don't even know the author's name). The recipes in that book are in unknown measurements and I made up my own.

Ingredients: (All measurements in standard measuring cups and spoons)
Chick Pea flour/Besan - 4 1/2 cups
All purpose flour / Maida - 1 cup
Salt - 1 TBSP or to taste
Red Chilli powder - 2 tsp or more per taste
Shortening/Hot Oil/Ghee - 4 TBSP
Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
Hing - a big pinch (optional)

Oil for deep frying

Method:
In a bowl, combine flours, salt, chilli powder, baking soda, hing if using. Add shortening or ghee or hot oil and mix well. Add enough water to make a soft dough. Heat oil in a frying pan. When it is moderately hot (350 F - 375 F), press the dough into hot oil using the multiple perforated disc (Use the medium one, not too small and not too thick). Fry till crisp turning once. Drain on the paper towel. When cool enough to handle, crumble by hands and store in an airtight container when completely cool.

Notes:
You can add some ajwain/carom seeds or omam to this dough to make 'Ompodi/Ompudi'

Enjoy!! Pin It

Nippattu (deep fried cracker)

I don't watch too much TV, but I do watch couple of shows religiously. One of them is 'Chopped' competition on food network. Don't ask me why I watch since there is meat involved in every dish over there. Well, almost.

Ted Allen who hosts that show once said  "If you deep fry your tennis shoes, they'll taste great too". I don't mean to take him literally, but he is right. Deep fried foods taste way better than other foods that were cooked by other method. No wonder none of the chips making companies have gone bankrupt. At least yet or maybe I don't know about them.

What I have today is a common fried snack from the southern part of India. Some people call it Nippattu some Thattai and some thattai murukku. My mother never made these, so this is the first time I made them using some old book's photocopy. I don't even know who the author of that book is. But, that book had all measurements in big measuring vessels that my grandmother used to use. I came up with the proportion and the result was awesome. Don't forget to read the notes at the end of this post.

Ingredients:
Rice flour - 2 cups (Measured in standard measuring cup)
All purpose flour / Maida - 1 cup
Chick pea flour / besan - 1 cup
Salt - to taste
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 2 tsp or more to taste (I made them not at all spicy for kids)
Roasted gram / Hurigadale /dalia - 1/4 cup
Peanuts - skin removed and halved - 1/4 cup (I used already roasted peanuts)
Vegetable Shortening or ghee - 1/4 cup (I used crisco)
Coconut - grated and measured  1 1/2 cup
Oil for deep frying (I used peanut oil)
Water - to make the dough

Method:
In a bowl, take all the flours, salt, chilli powder, baking soda. Add shortening and mix well till it is distributed uniformly. Add the roasted gram and slightly crushed peanuts (See Notes). Add coconut and slowly start adding water to make a smooth dough.
Heat the oil for deep frying in a deep skillet / banale. Take a wax paper and spray with vegetable oil spray. Make small lemon sized balls of the dough and pat into a disc on the wax paper. Oil your hands if they are sticky (they aren't). Make a hole in the center for even cooking. Repeat the same with all the discs. Meanwhile, when the oil is hot (medium hot), slip 6 - 8 discs (depending on how big your skillet is) at a time and deep fry them in medium low heat till they are nice and golden. You will have to flip them couple of times for even cooking. Do not crowd the skillet with too many discs or nippattu. Remove from the oil and drain on paper towel. When completely cool, store in air tight container.

Notes:
I did not crush the peanuts. Big mistake. They separate from the discs while deep frying. So, next time I will crush them so that they stay put. This recipe varies very much just like a sambar recipe or a dal recipe from house to house. Modify as per your taste. Some people put curry leaves in the dough. I didn't since I don't like them popping and splattering oil all over. You could definitely use some hing. I forgot to do so.
You can actually use just 2 TBSP of vegetable shortening. Mine were very nice and flaky and I think it is because of 4 TBSP (1/4 cup) of vegetable shortening. I have eaten these before which are really hard to bite. So, I played safe and added enough shortening. 

Enjoy!! Pin It

Easiest Chakli / Murukku

My mother's murukku recipe is very elaborate with pounding the rice, roasting the urad dal and all those fun things. But, is it worth going through the trouble, Oh Yes. I don't mind making them at all as they are so tasty. But, with all the other things that take priority, I make my mom's murukku/Chakli only couple of times a year. But, my kids do love these snacks and I prefer to make them rather than buy them from the store. Just because, I don't know when they were made that they sell in the store.

I make another kind of murukku which is quite simple. All it takes is rice flour (from the store) and ground up hurigadale or roasted gram/dalia. I set up to make them last night. I measure the rice flour into a bowl, add salt and other spices and then when I opened my hurigadale/dalia box, I realized I had very less of it. Instead of postponing making of chakli to next day, I used besan and went ahead. Surprisingly, they came out very good and I think this will be one of my easy snack options from onwards.

Ingredients:

• Rice flour - 4 cups
• Besan - 1 cup
• Salt - to taste
• Chilli powder - to taste (optional)
• Cumin - 1 tsp
• White sesame seeds - 1 tsp
• Hing - a big pinch
• Hot oil - 3/4 cup (You could use ghee if you prefer the buttery smell. Minimum amount is 3/4 cup but you can use up to 1 cup to get extra smooth murukkus)
• Oil for deep frying

Method:
In a bowl, combine both the flours, salt, chilli powder, cumin, sesame seeds, hing. Mix. Heat oil and pour hot oil into the flour mixture. Stir to combine. Heat oil in a frying pan. When it is heating, mix the flour with enough water to make a smooth dough. Check for the salt and chilli powder and add more if needed. Using a murukku press fitted with single star disk, squeeze murukkus on the wax paper or a plastic paper. When the oil is moderately hot, start frying few at a time. Drain on a paper towel and when cool, store them in an air tight container. I got about 70 murukkus of the size you see in the picture.

Aren't they beauties..

Happy Cooking!! Pin It