We all love food, don’t we? When I go to the supermarkets I started noticing that we have hundreds of choices when it comes to buying food or ingredients right?  After moving here being a vegetarian I started reading labels which I never did before!  As I wanted to be sure whatever I was buying it.  We also never ever bought ready made food which was not so popular in Indian then.  we use different kinds of oils in India which usually is to that state we come from isn't it interesting?

Kale famed as superfood belongs to the cruciferous family.  This is high in fiber (1 cup has 2.6grms), high in Iron, high in calcium, Fat-free, keeps cholesterol in check and rich in omega 3, Vitamin A, K and C.   Did you know that even though it is good for health? I read somewhere in Google search that it is not good for everybody.  You must also read about how it is best to eat it raw or cooked or steamed!
Let’s make this superfood pesto then…..

Kale and Almond Pesto with Roasted Red Peppers and goodness of Hemp seeds:
Author: Jayasri
Yields:  2 Cups
Prep time: 20 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes
Category: Sauce
Cuisine: Italian

INGREDIENTS:
300 grams  Kale*
50 grams of mixed herbs (Basil, Parsley, Oregano)
¼  cup Hemp seeds
1/3 cup Almonds
1 Large Red Pepper
4 Garlic cloves
10 large olives
½ tbsp chili flakes
1 tsp Himalayan pink salt
¼ to ½  cup Olive oil
¼ cup Parmesan cheese (optional)
METHOD:

1. Take just the leaves of kale, do not use the stem as they will be very chewy, wash well and pat them dry.
2. Take fresh herbs of your choice I have used Basil, Parsley, Oregano. Wash and clean the herbs pat them dry.
3. Use a stove top or a grill and roast red pepper and Garlic, peel the skin off and keep it aside.

4. Toasted and cooled Almonds and Hemp seeds for few minutes this just helps in releasing the oil and enhances the flavour.

5. In a food processor combine Almonds, Hemp seeds, olives, garlic, mixed herbs, chilli flakes, roasted red pepper, salt, Kale start processing the machine. With the machine running slowly drizzle olive oil into the processor until the mixture is well blended but still has some texture pausing to scrape down the side so everything is well combined.

6. You can add parmesan if you like a creamier texture or you can completely omit it. I haven’t added it.   Only thing is you need to find out if the Parmesan is a vegetarian as Parmesan contains rennet.
7.  Taste and check if you need more salt and spice.  As some Kale may have a bitter taste.  Adjust accordingly.

Disclaimer: This Post is in collaboration with Jamie's Italian, I am a big fan of  Jamie Oliver. I have been compensated for a small fee and the opinions are my own.

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Kale and Almond Pesto - Jamie's Italian Olive Oil Buyer's Guide

Kale is categorised as one of the super foods for its high Nutritional value! Make this pesto with Kale for a super delicious creamy and rich in nutrient as an accompaniment

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Ingredients

• 300 grams Kale
• 50 grams Mixed Herbs ( Basil, Parsley, Oregano)
• 1/4 Cup Hemp Seeds
• 1/3 Cup Almonds
• 1 Large Red Pepper
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tbsp chilli flakes
• 1 tsp Himalayan Pink salt ( adjust accordingly )
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese ( optional)

Instructions

• Take just the leaves of kale, do not use the stem as they will be very chewy, wash well and pat them dry
• Take fresh herbs of your choice I have used Basil, Parsley, Oregano. Wash and clean the herbs pat them dry.
• Use a stove top or a grill and roast red pepper and Garlic, peel the skin off and keep it aside.
• Toasted and cooled Almonds and Hemp seeds for few minutes this just helps in releasing the oil and enhances the flavour.
• In a food processor combine Almonds, Hemp seeds, olives, garlic, mixed herbs, chilli flakes, roasted red pepper, salt, Kale start processing the machine. With the machine running slowly drizzle olive oil into the processor until the mixture is well blended but still has some texture pausing to scrape down the side so everything is well combined.
• You can add parmesan if you like a creamier texture or you can completely omit it. I haven’t added it.   Only thing is you need to find out if the Parmesan is a vegetarian as Parmesan contains rennet.
• Taste and check if you need more salt and spice.  As some Kale may have a bitter taste.  Adjust accordingly

Notes

Superfood Kale Pesto - Jamie's Italian Buyer's guide

NOTES:
You can use different nuts such as walnut, cashew (my favourite and creamier!), Pine nuts (my daughter’s favourite), you can use Brazil nuts (buttery) and Macadamia nuts they are creamier too wouldn’t think of Pistachios though ????!
You can add more olive oil to thin it down and also helps in preserving pesto.  If you are using it in pasta you can even thin it down with a dash of cooked pasta water too.   Store it in air tight container in the refrigerator covered for up to a week.  I suppose you can also freeze pesto in Ice cube trays. Once frozen transfer them to freezer bags and use them as needed but don’t forget to thaw it.

FOR VEGAN VERSION: Use Nutritional yeast instead of Parmesan cheese or completely omit it.
FOR NUT FREE VERSION:  You seeds of Sunflower, Linseed, Pumpkin seeds, or any other seeds instead of nuts.  But use it in less quantity otherwise it might dominate the taste of pesto.

The post Kale and Almond Pesto - Jamie's Italian Olive Oil Buyer's Guide appeared first on My Veg Fare.

In India, we love our chutneys and raitas, Pickles, and powders to go with most of our dishes as sides, for our roti’s and rice.  After coming here, I used to use them on bread with loads of variations.  My kids used to enjoy it with fresh veggies to go with them.  I was a happy mum.  Then I started exploring, experimenting, and making different chutneys, pâté, and dips with fresh and new ingredients and full of flavour.

We all live in a very hectic lifestyle. It’s full of work, family, and commitments and sometimes these quick to make pâté, chutneys and dips are very handy.  Early in the morning when you must fix your breakfast as quickly as possible then this pâté is perfect, It goes very well with your bread toast than with just butter or jam.  This is loads of healthy goodness in your bowl don’t you think so.  Spinach is rich in Iron with vitamins and minerals and of course with walnuts and sunflower seeds it’s a healthy treat.

You can also use this as one of your starters if you are having a 3-course meal, healthy and delicious. Send these in children's lunch boxes with veggie crudités and some home baked bread sticks. I had made a whole wheat crusty baguette, this is all you need to enjoy this pâté. Grate some cheese if you love cheese!  or you can also spread thinly on a banh-mi style sandwich.  I had made mushroom and garlic sauteed with some thyme to top it up! You have so many ways to eat it! It's your choice.

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Veggie Spinach walnut spicy pâté

This spinach pâté is rich with all the goodness in a bowl, with a smooth texture and quite flavourful and enjoy this in a variety of ways

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 3 people

Ingredients

• 450 grams Spinach leaves ( I used babay spinach)
• 1/3 cup walnuts
• 2 tbsp sunflower seeds
• 3 garlic pods
• 1/2 cup Chopped coriander leaves (loosely packed)
• 2 tsp chillie flakes
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• salt as required
• 4 scallions

Instructions

• Bring a bowl of water to a boil and blanch spinach leaves 2 minutes. Drain the water from the spinach and allow it to completely drain. Meanwhile, In a skillet take a tbsp of olive oil add chopped garlic, broken pieces of walnuts, sunflower seeds, coriander seeds and chilli flakes.
• Remove it from the skillet and allow it to cool. Switch off the stove in the warmth of the skillet fry chopped scallion, blanched and chopped Spinach with chopped coriander leaves. Leave it in the skillet let it cool down.
  
• In a food processor ( or mixie) grind the cool down sauteed ingredients first to a smooth powder, then to this add spinach, coriander and scallion into it process to a smooth paste with warm water, salt and left over olive oil to a smooth paste.
• Take it in a bowl and sprinkle with some chilli flakes and serve it with crackers, crudites or Bread.

Notes

Taste, check and season it according to your liking and serve.

The post Veggie spicy pâté with Spinach and walnut appeared first on My Veg Fare.

A very Happy New year to all my dear readers.  Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a fabulous start to the New Year.  How many of you have made resolutions? And how many of you are keeping it up!  I haven’t made any resolutions but as always like to make my cooking and eating healthier, I can guarantee you might definitely find something here that is going to inspire you and resonates with your taste buds, the key is finding the one which suits you.  Will try my best to bake with healthy ingredients and as always no processed foods from my kitchen.

Life has been very busy with me, had a really wonderful Christmas time, my sister visited me and my children came back home for holidays.  Time just swept away.., I had no time to notice it even. We had such fun time, we went around places, Showed most of the tourist spots, but couldn’t cover the beautiful country side spots.  She has to visit me again in summer if she wants to see the beauty of UK.  Before my sister arrived I was busy with my college work.   Had long nights past few months, I can call myself that I have become a night owl, so doesn’t see the rising sun anymore!  Had to complete my assignments and submit, got 3 more assignments to finish and I have my PDR and project to complete feels like a long way to tread.  Hope to finish it soon, so I can come back to blogging.

Did I tell something else happened?  Sometimes the beastly weather is a pain, we had some horrible winds during Christmas time.  Met office said the winds were coming at a speed of 80 to 90 miles per hour.  Whatever, it destroyed my garden.  First, it ripped of my fence completely, without the fence I wasn’t comfortable, two days later the same wind blew of my greenhouse can you believe?  Early in the morning around 5 O’clock I had a telephone call from my neighbour, I was dumbstruck to see my next door neighbour who is an old lady holding on to my greenhouse, she was telling me that she didn’t want it to fly and hit somebody’s window or fall somewhere.  I was pondering how this could have happened it was quite a big green house and was housing around 32 medium sized pots and there were around 8 pots in the base to hold it securely.  Anyways we had a busy morning couldn’t see anything around much my son and me we completely dismantled the greenhouse which had partly come off.  Some of my pots broken and I lost some plants because they are now exposed completely to the winter wonderland!  Spent a good money to build back our fence.  I have left my garden as it is waiting for the summer to arrive so I can sort them out.

Coming back to this recipe, during Christmas I made this spiced up cranberry sauce.  When I sat doing my work I keep drinking green tea 2 to 3 times and for a change I used this sauce with my green tea and I liked it.  So thought of sharing it with you all.  I felt it was a good combo with the goodness of green tea and the healthy berries.  What do you think? If you tried this recipe do share it with me.

Ingredients:

1 tsp of green tea leaves
1 Cup of hot water
1 or 2 tsp of Cranberry sauce

To make the Cranberry Sauce:

2 cups of fresh cranberries (around 450g)
2” Cinnamon stick
4 cloves
1 tsp mixed spice
¼ tsp of pepper
1/3 cup Demerara Brown Sugar
¼ cup Orange juice.

Method: In a sauce pan take sugar, Orange juice and cranberries allow it to simmer in a very low flame, cover it with a lid, few minutes later you will see the cranberries would have softened up and becomes soft, you can increase or decrease sugar as you like.  grind all the spices except mixed spice powder.  Now add all the spices to the sauce and allow it to cook for few more minutes, all in all it would take around 15 minutes.  Before pouring it on to the jar I filtred some liquid on to a little jar which I use for my Green tea, as I did not want the pulp in my green tea!

Method:

Take green tea in a glass jar or tea pot or a sauce pan pour the required amount of hot water and leave it for 5 minutes then filter it to the required amount of cranberry sauce.  Adjust to your preference and drink hot on  a cold winter evening.

Have a good weekend, Relax and drink this cup of tea, in the mystical silence savouring every single sip, gazing out of the window or browsing the net in your favourite furniture and enjoy the early morning before the silence is broken with truck loads of work hits you,  when every one is sleeping.  With this mystical green tea you are ready to take on the day.. Have a wonderful day ahead.

The post Cranberry Spiced Green Tea appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Hi everybody, It's been a long time I came here, I would really like to thank all my readers who have been in constant touch with my blog even though I haven't been able to update for such a long time.  To start with,  I was not blogging for a reason,  I am in the process of changing my blog hopefully I will be able to do it by next month.  I would also like to thank few of my blogger friends whom I have been associated with in some events which I love so much,  have patiently been waiting for me to post my recipes.  Once such event is Baking partners by Swathi of Zesty south Indian Kitchen.

Who doesn't like Pizza, I think that's everybody's favourite, especially kids, I don't eat cheese for 40+ reasons, I mean as I am 40+ and... I have reasons!! , but I love cheese in my pizza, I am no way better than a kid when it comes to pizza I just love it with the gooey cheese on it Just love it..., I have tried and still trying  different kind of pizza dough to get the perfection, one more which I have to still try is the OO' grade flour to make pizza and see the difference.
Coming back from my disastrous holiday which was only for 2 weeks which later part of the 2 week  got ended up with one week of food poisoning, ended up with a migraine. That was when I remembered I had to do the Baking Partner Challenge and decided to make the dough and thought will make it the next day when I come back from work, funnily..,  God knows what happened,  even though my mind was ready to accept as always my body wasn't ready to accept that I was Jet lagged and poorly,  coming back from work, cooked something for my kids and hit the bed It's been such a long time and I have never slept like that for almost 7 hrs till 10 O' clock in the night and kids woke me up  and telling me that they were hungry!!, I cooked up something and went back to bed again!!  I had an overdose of sleep I think, through all this I had completely forgotten about my resting dough in the fridge, so decided to make it the next day, without my knowledge I had rested my dough for 72 hours and the result was really amazing, that was an awesome pizza, Three of our friends from our group asked us to bake Pizzas, I chose Pam's recipe which she had adapted from 2 blogs one for Pizza crust and one for Pizza Sauce.

PIZZA TOPPING:
1 Small Green Pepper (Capsicum)
10 Olives
1 Small Yellow Pepper
1 Small Pink Onion
7 to 8 Vine Tomatoes
3 to 4 sprigs of Basil leaves
1 tsp Chilli flakes
1 tsp Italian Herbs
Salt to taste
Grated Mozzarella cheese
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Reading through many blogs and books,  when I first started baking pizza at home I used to bake with plain flour , then I started using Bread flour and mixture of flours for healthy baking, I have yet to use OO' grade flour, will surely do once I get hold on it and want to see the difference.  I have come to know that the Italians use this grade flour to make their pizza's!.
Coming back to this recipe, I too make the same kind of sauce changed it our family taste a bit, I made it a bit spicy so increased the chilli flakes,

NEW YORK STYLE PIZZA SAUCE
Recipe Source: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/10/new-york-style-pizza-sauce.html

INGREDIENTS:
28oz / 3 Cups Peeled Tomatoes
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp Butter
2 Cloves Garlic
1 tsp Dried Oregano
1 tsp Red Pepper flakes
1 tsp Red chili flakes
Salt as required ( If using tinned, there will be salt already so check before you use)
2 sprigs of Basil leaves
1 medium yellow Onion peeled
1 tsp Sugar

METHOD:

In a large bowl of water cook Tomatoes with their skin, after few minutes drain the water and keep aside, peel the skin of the tomatoes, chop and blend them in a food processor in a coarse consistency, It should not be very smooth,

Chop Onion and Garlic blend them to a coarse consistency, heat oil and butter in a deep pan add Red Pepper flakes, chilli flakes and dried oregano to this add coarsely blended Onion and garlic fry for few minutes stirring frequently keep an eye not to brown it but the raw smell disappears then add the coarsely blended Tomatoes stir well, to this blend add chopped Basil leaves and sugar, bring the flame to low and cook until it reduces to half for about an hour, season it with salt.

Once done store it in an airtight container stays well for 2 weeks.

THE BEST NEW YORK STYLE PIZZA
Recipe source: http://feelingfoodish.com/the-best-new-york-style-pizza-dough/

INGREDIENTS:
6 Cups ( 28 oz or 780 grms bread flour) All purpose Flour / Bread flour / OO' Grade Flour
2 and 1/4 cup (17.4 oz) water
1 tsp Instant dry yeast
2.5 tsp salt
3 tsp olive Oil

METHOD:
1.    I used only half of the Ingredients and made half the dough, I halved the recipe on everything even yeast.
I used 390 grms of flour, In a large bowl take yeast add couple of tbsp of warm water to activate it, within a few minutes you can see the bubbles, this is to make sure your yeast is active.
2.    Now to this add all the dry Ingredients mix well, Now add water enough to make it a dough consistency**  (see notes), then add oil and bring it to pliable dough, The dough actually will be a bit on the stickier side,  knead the dough for 4 to 5 minutes hand kneading if the dough is kept for 72 hours But, if you are using it the next day that is for 48 hours knead the dough 8 to 10 minutes.
3.    Add oil at the end and bring the dough together, I halved the dough into two then place it in a large bowl and cover it with cling film and leave it in the refrigerator for 48 hrs or 72 hours, I left mine for 72 hours.
4.    The day you are baking take it out of the fridge and leave it for 1 or 2 hours for it to come back to room temperature.
5.    Meanwhile preheat your oven with your pizza stone for an hour, at the highest temperature, she asks to preheat at 550 degree. I just kept my oven at Gas Mark 4 for almost 1 hour (I was a bit worried about my pizza stone as I did not how good it was).
6.     Once the dough comes to room temperature, take one part of the dough with help of flour flatten it on to a parchment paper by pressing it around flatten it out thinly using more flour.
7.     Take another piece of parchment paper sprinkle semolina*(see notes) on to it, then place the flattened dough on to the surface
8.    Apply pizza sauce on to the surface, get all your chopped veggies top them on the sauce then grate Mozzarella cheese on to it, spread evenly  on the topped vegetables.
9.    Slide prepared pizza spread on to the preheated pizza stone and bake pizza for 6 to 7 minutes, cheese starts melting, just keep an eye that it doesn't get burnt.
10.   what else to say, take it out, slice them out take a bite and Enjoyyyy...., !!!

NOTES:
Important thing always weigh your flour, as each brand is different from each other.
As I said earlier I had halved the recipe the water was a bit extra for my dough so had to discard a bit, but the dough was a bit stickier in consistency.
The author of this recipe says we had to heat the oven to 550 degree but my oven only Gas Mark 9.
I was watching a TV show in which Chef was saying sprinkling semolina on to the surface of the pizza base ensures nice crispy bottom

VERDICT: Pizza was totally awesome, the first one I made was only with Tomato sauce, I mean the pizza sauce with cheese, my kids really relished it, next day I made with veggies topped with cheese, kids were totally bowled out, they loved it very much..,
I have planed to try out the base with OO' grade flour and will update here soon enough.
Thanks to swathi and Pam for this wonderful recipe.

The post Thin Crust Best New York Style Pizza with Veg and Best Pizza Sauce appeared first on My Veg Fare.

PASTA, has become a part of our life these days, I prefer them than the ready made noodles, As I can cook it with loads of Ingredients and lots of vegetables.  You also get whole wheat Pasta which is really good, My kids have started liking them, Pasta is a staple food in Italy, which has become so popular all over the world, kids just love them.  When you are living abroad and if you are a vegetarian eating food in restaurants in limited and we always have pasta in our menu!,  My friends and family living here say that their children eat pasta more in nurseries / child minders, My sister's  daughter loves Indian food , but when you ask her what you want to eat she says can you make pasta ?,  My kids were not born here but they still like pasta, especially  twin daughter, I always have stock of them at home, they are made with whole wheat but you can also get whole meal brown pasta as well, which still is not her cup of tea.., I am still trying on that side... but I have not yet succeeded !!.
Pasta is basically eaten using sauces and pestos, It is so versatile you can change with whatever you prefer to eat.  This is one such pesto which is quite tasty .
I make different kind of pasta sauces and different types of pesto as well , I had to make this pesto again especially for this bread I baked.
Bread was so delicious and kids loved it.

SUN DRIED TOMATO PESTO

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 Cup Sun dried  chopped Tomatoes in oil ( minus the oil )
1/4 cup fresh Basil leaves
1 Fresh Red chilli
3 to 4 cloves of Garlic
7 to 8 Cashew nuts lightly toasted
1 tbsp Parmigiano Reggiano ( optional )*
1/2 tsp Salt
4 tbsp of Olive oil

METHOD:
Take out Sun dried Tomatoes from oil, chop them into pieces for easy grinding and drain them on a paper for few minutes, until the time you get your other ingredients ready.
I have said 1/4 cup that is around 20 to 25 leaves Basil leaves
Remove the skin from the Garlic
Toast cashew lightly on a dry skillet for a few minutes this helps in releasing its oil and also helps for staying longer when stored.
Toast Chopped fresh Red chilli in a tsp of oil for a few seconds, this helps in removing the moisture in it.
Take all the above said Ingredients in a food processor / Mixer and blend them with Olive oil adjust salt and puree them together.
Now our Sun dried Tomato Pesto is ready to rock...

VARIATION:
* I have used just one tbsp of Parmigiano Reggiano as my kids are not very fond of this cheese you can add an other 2 tbsp of this cheese.
You can use Pine nuts which is authentic, Almonds, Brazil nuts, Macadamia nuts too..
You can use Green chilli than the Red chilli
You can omit Fresh chillies and use 1 tsp of Pepper corns.

USES:
You can use it in making pasta, breads, Noodles, Bruschetta, Bread Toast, Frittata, Tarts etc..,

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