Hi Everybody, this will be my last post in this blog, A hope, A dream, A new venture, well, I was not going to post a blogpost today, I never keep up any schedules, I just post when I get time, sometimes I try to force myself to organize myself to post at regular intervals by joining some events.

"Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin." - Mother Teresa

I plan but never execute them I cook and bake loads of things and think I will post them during our traditional  festivals and some very important days and events but never do them on time.   Wonder why do I do that ? My mind will be elsewhere and usually would be always something needs more  attention than my blog !!, That's it Priorities and always ends up with my kids, family and friends surrounding me.

"A new year is unfolding – like a blossom with petals curled tightly concealing the beauty within."--Anonymous

Till today I have not written how many posts I have reached, page views, or face book and google+ fans, you must be wondering what a blogger I am, not thanking you all for all these love you bestowed upon me, As one of my dear blogger friend has already written here, I am more like her, not penning down lot of things. 

"Every new day begins with possibilities. It's up to us to fill it with things that move us toward progress and peace."-- Ronald Reagan

Lot of people write about their resolutions for the year ahead, compile their favourite posts or popular posts and lots of other things, I just think  Wow and definitely I have to say kudos to all their creativity and ideas, they are really awesome.  It's not my thing I never go into my back posts about anything.  Well, I have to say this here my new found love is photography so I am going back to my posts to update them with new photos which I am trying to learn.  I should have to say this I really would love to thank some people who write to me about how they tried recipes from my blog,  I am happy if it had worked out for them.

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenly and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

So, what am I going to do this year, a new book opened up today, 365 days ahead with lots of ideas to venture, first thing would be I want to keep myself more fit, probably post something regularly, read more, have a lot of 'ME' time, and by the end of the day when I am off to bed think ah  'A day well spent' and not think I should not have wasted my time this way or I could have done something better.  Hope I will keep up with some thing's which I written here.  I never make new resolutions as I never keep them up, somehow they will all be in my head but will never take a shape and make the daylight.
I would love to pen down these words and take this opportunity to thank all my online friends on FB, Google, Twitter, Pin interest, Instagram etc.., etc.., and to my dear Subscribers I feel so happy when still people come to my space leave comments, write about my posts, e-mail me, and about my photographs which were from my camera but still tell me that they were good, and still encourage me by becoming my Fans.  
Thank you very much to each and everyone of you, I will try my best to give good recipes, good photos (as I have new camera now!), Hope you will not be disappointed.
I will leave you today and meet you all soon enough with a different outlook and a better space for you to go around 

         " WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY AND A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR"

See you soon until then leave you with a Good year ahead to you all.

Love and warm regards

Jayasri Ravi

The post A Post, A Past and A Present New year 2014 appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Hello everybody, Hope you are all doing, well, me ? quite tired, I had friends around weekend so that's it, It was cooking, cleaning and site seeing.  Weather hasn't changed much it's still raining, With wind blowing at 70 - 80 mph, my Tomato Baskets, fell down, got really scared thought all the hanging baskets might fall down and decided it is better to bring them all down until the wind subsides, Wind is gone and sun is gone as well, very depressing, have to wear jackets and shoes again, it's become a bit chilly at this end of the city :(, Weeds have come up again, need to pluck them out ( hate this job ), I had actually planned to sprinkle some Veedol when the weather was dry, after I had completed my gardening, but all my plans took a different turn when the rain started reigning over us and our sunny days have disappeared, All my seeds have become little seedlings which need more of a firm place and more soil to grow well and nice. It's such a pity  they are still in my conservatory !!, scared to put them out because of the torrential rains, which has turned down to drizzling rain now, hopefully it will stop and I can see the sunshine again, which the British people and the dear plants need at this time of the year :).

Coming back to this recipe, it is SRC time again, The Secret Recipe club of Amanda who is founder of this club has transferred her reins to April Tuell who is our new Head now, whom we all welcome with love and affection and would love to tell her its great to be with you, but do miss Amanda., Best of luck to both of them with their new ventures. My host Suzanne had assigned me to this blog Restored of Robin, don't be alarmed by the name, her blog is called Penny Pinching Provisions but she has renamed her blog title to Restored, so why is that ?, As she herself says she decided to Restore her health, simplicity and happiness, She says her blog focuses on good and healthy food, simple living and financially living frugally. So, I don't have to tell you more about it, as now you know what her blog stands for with some amazing recipes I have book marked a few and want to try them out, I tried already two of them and they turned out very well, I chose this for my SRC post as it is her own recipe and she has given a new name to it..!!!

When I was going through the bakes ( as I love baking ), this one caught me, I first thought this must be from some place, funnily it is her own make up recipe and name :)), So, I just decided on this, Bascially these cookies are called Scotchilla because it is made of Butterscotch and Vanilla  chips, as I had the Butterscotch chips and oats the cookie was fine to bake but the only problem was Vanilla chips, which I have never heard off and now I have to hunt down for it, so I had to omit that and made with whatever I had in hand and a little changes, do check out her blog for the Original Recipe clicking on the link below.  If you want to try it out.  Go ahead and enjoy these cookies as my kids did....

SCOTCHILLA COOKIES
Recipe Source: Adapted with minimal Changes from Penny Pinching Provisions
Makes : 50 (of 20 grms each)

INGREDIENTS:
3 Cups ( 385 grms ) Old Fashioned Oats

1 ¼ Cup (185 grms ) Whole meal plain flour

½ Cup (115 grms ) Butter

1 Cup (165 grms) Fairtrade cane Sugar

1/2 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder

½ salt

1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

1 Tbsp Vanilla Sugar

½ tsp Cinnamon powder

2 Tbsp Flax seed

1/4 Cup Milk Powder

1/2 Cup warm Milk

6 Tbsp hot water

¼ Cup ( 57 grms ) Butter Scotch Chips

¼ Cup (57 grms) chopped Dates

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F / Gas Mark 4  / 175  degree Celsius 

Sieve both the flours together then add all the dry Ingredients Baking Soda, Vanilla Sugar and Cinnamon Powder to this flour mixture and combine them well together, 

Soak Flax seed in  Hot water.

In a Large bowl take Melted butter and Brown sugar, cream them well together, to this add Vanilla Extract, Milk Powder dissolved in Hot milk and soaked Flax seed to this and beat them all well together.

To this creamed mixture add the dry Ingredients and gently incorporate the whole flour.

Stir in both the chiips and dates into this cookie batter

Drop these Cookie batter on to the cookie sheets in dollops or make a nice round ball, Press them and bake them for 10 to 12 minutes 

Cool on a wiring rack and Lo! Enjoy these  cookies...

Notes:
Because of the changes I made, I had reduced the quantity of sugar, so they are not too sweet, Perfect for me, as I love oats :),  I made these Eggless, if you want to use Eggs, she uses 1 Egg, she does not use milk powder or milk, I just used all those just thinking of my kids when they are going to indulge in it!, this way they will be consuming some milk too!!, Next time I am planning to reduce the sugar and butter quantitiy.
The cookies were soft but firm, they came out from the Butter paper without any problems they were very enjoyable to bake and eat!! , First time I really sat and ate 3 of them.., I thought they were quite addictive.
Check out all the bloggers who are in club and Enjoy a galore of recipes here....

I would like to send this to Jagruthi's cooking odyssey event Know your Flours - Whole wheat flour

The post Eggless Scotchilla Cookies - Made with Oats. Whole meal flour and Flaxseed appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Hello everybody, Hope you are all doing well, Weather seems to be getting bad here, cold and damp, I was looking forward to a wonderful Summer ahead, all my plans with my gardening seems to be going away just like the weather outside.

Read more:@ joyofbaking

Thanks Gayatri, if you had not told I would never have baked these tarts :)...

The post Whole meal Eggless Butter Tarts appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Hi everybody back again, this will be my second post of the day!, and today is SRC, every month checking out recipes from one of the bloggers and deciding what to do is a big question, feel like trying out everything, and this month I was paired with Wholesome RD :)), isn't it interesting, shall I say very interesting, I love cooking and baking without eggs and with wholesome goodness!, and here is a blog who seems to be having the same notion like me, So, So, I was in such dilemma which to choose, asked my kids and they wanted to try these cookies, as they are the ones who enjoy the most of what I do.., they wanted to try out this Almond Butter Cookie Dough Balls. As Erin Lerner says if you like cookie dough this recipe is for you!, I have 3 cookie dough monsters so here we ended up with this recipe.

Erin Lerner, is a wonderful blogger with healthy recipes, she is awesome with all those activities she participates and working and manages a very healthy life style, by cooking and baking with whole some goodness, she has got some vegan and vegetarian recipes too. I wanted to try her Meyer Lemon and poppy seed cake, I have Book marked it. as my daughter loves anything tangy, I have never used poppy seed in baking so I would love to give this a try. Thank you Erin and suzanne for this lovely blog.

Here is how the recipe goes...

The things I changed in this recipe is I have used whole wheat flour and not whole wheat pastry flour, as I didn't know where I could get it, and used oats instead of All purpose flour and I don't know where I could get almond butter so I have just used  almonds powdered and I haven't found any peanut butter chips so I have used peanut butter. Hope you all like it as did we...

EGGLESS ALMOND BUTTER COOKIES DOUGH 

Recipe adapted with minimal changes from Wholesome RD

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter

3/4 th cup creamy almond butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup ( 150 gms) Whole wheat flour

1/2 cup (50 gms) Oats

1/2 cup peanut butter chips

1/2 cup chocolate chips

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 350 deg/ Gas mark 

Using a mixer beat all the butter, sugar, vanilla extract together until everything is well incorporated.

In an other bowl, combine all your flours, salt, Baking soda and powder.

To this dry Ingredients add the wet ingredients and combine them well together, 

Then add your chips and combine once again , If you find that the dough is not coming together as a ball add a tbsp of water at a time.until they all combine together.

Chill this dough in the fridge for 30 minutes

Make small balls out of it, and place them on a cookie sheet giving space for them to expand then bake them in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes,

Do not over bake them they might look soft but they are going to be fine.

Leave them on the sheet  for few minutes then take it out and leave them on the wire rack.

Enjoy them..

Did I tell you, you need to check her blog for all the nutritional facts on every recipe she makes.

Check out all the other bloggers who joined me in this SRC marathon with me....

The post Whole wheat & Oats Almond butter cookies - Eggless appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Hi everybody, can you believe I just made my assignment just now this month, I wanted to make it today, as today my dear girl turns 18 :), Yup.., My daughter is eighteen and I can't still able to digest this..., My Angel, My little girl is all grown up. I have been is so busy from morning , I still have to cook, I still have  to make her favourite cake, Pulav, Manchurian and her Gulab Jamoons.., so now you know my menu for today.., that is all her wish and doesn't want anything else! , she is not a chocolate person.., but other family members are die hard fans of chocolate, So not to make them feel bad we decided to go for this one.., The only thing she wanted me to do was write her initials on everything i make for her today!, silly girl.., Anyway I have done as you can see.  It was quite in a hurry I made all these, I was so tensed thinking last minute if I don't do this properly Amanda is going to kick me out of the club and a blog will be orphaned!, Oh! my No.., thanks to Heather this quick recipe turned out perfectly..,  (not exactly there were little tiny holes though).

Sorry I need to get back to this posting right ? well, today is SRC .., The Secret Recipe Club of Amanda's has grown up to a very big family and has hostesses to take care of her little club grown to be a big one now.., This month I was assigned to It's Yummy to my tummy of Heather's from my Hostess Suzanne who blogs at Thru the Bugs on my wind shield.

Heather is such a sweet heart having two little kids she finds her way through cooking from lot of sources and a baker just like me.., she loves baking and shares it with her friends.., I wanted to try her pumpkin scones and few others but my daughter wanted me to try this out.  I just couldn't say no to her as it is her day to day.., She has tried and tested lots of recipes.., hop on to her blog and check out some fabulous recipes you may want to try out!
Coming to the recipe.., it was a very easy one, only thing I had to restrain from myself was not trying to lick them of my fingers.., even though I am not a big fan of chocolate, I like dark chocolates the chocolates I have used here are 70% Cocoa Lindt chocolate and Swiss Milk Chocolates.
Here goes the Recipe hope you all enjoy just as we did and enjoy the whole group who have tried out many reicpes you might like to give a peek..., I made a little change or should I say addition to the recipe, just to make it more healthier., even thought it is not completely made of chocolate..

CHOCOLATES AND NUTS SWEET HEARTS

INGREDIENTS:
FOR THE CHOCOLATE COATING:
8 oz Semi Sweet Chocolate ( I used 70% Cocoa Lindt)
8 oz Milk Chocolate ( I used Swiss Chocolate)
1 tbsp Shortening

FOR THE FILLING
1/2 Cup Chunky Peanut butter
2tbsp Unsalted butter
3/4th Cup Nuts ( Pecan, Pistachio and Hazelnuts)
1/8th tsp salt (I just omitted)
3/4th Cuip Powdered Sugar
2 tbsp Honey

METHOD
First of all in a double boiler method or in a microwaveable method ( 20 -30 seconds) melt both the chocolates with the shortening, I used double boiler method as i was multi tasking. Keep a bowl with quarter of water say around 1or 2 cups and allow it boil, meanwhile chop or break into pieces your chocolates into an other bowl with the shortening then keep this bowl on top of the boiling water bowl, before keeping completely reduce the flame, it should be simmering, place the chocolate bowl and start mixing, slowly it would have started dissolving completely.., Meanwhile when this process is going on....
I took the extra nuts I used chopped them up and gave a toss on a tawa (girdle) with 2 tbsp of Honey and lightly roasted them for few minutes and kept them aside.
Meanwhile take an other bowl add peanut butter, butter, chopped and honey roasted Nuts and powdered sugar and mix them well completely well combined, Keep it aside.

Now take whatever desired pan, cup liners of any shapes and sizes you would want to make these and line them with melted chocolate paste.., She says coat them up completely so the peanut butter filling doesn't peep out.., for that she had refrigerated the liners for few minutes so she was sure.., I took her advice because mine was a lot more filling and the Heart shape I used were quite big.

So I coated them and left them in the fridge for few minutes when I took them out they were almost getting to dry, Now I spooned the filling up to the brim, and poured the chocolate over the filling, I still had lot of chocolate left over!, I think my coating of the chocolate was quite thin.., Just now when I was typing I realised, well it has not gone for a waste as I am using it for my daughter's  birthday cake!.

Thank you Heather, Suzanne and Amanda for making this a success... , do you want to join click here

The post Chocolate & Nuts Sweet Hearts appeared first on My Veg Fare.

EGGLESS WHOLE WHEAT TRIPLE CHOCOLATE MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS:
Adapted minimally from Bakeat350
Makes 12 Muffins

1 Cup Whole wheat flour ( Pillsbury Atta)
1/2 Cup Rye flour
1/4 cup Barley flour
2/3 cup Dutch Process Cocoa
1 and 1/4 Cup soft brown sugar
1 tsp Instant Espresso powder
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup Milk Chocolate chips
1/4 cup Fudge (my daughter's addition to this)!!
1/2 cup dark Chocolate pieces (70% cocoa slab)
1 tsp Pure vanilla extract
1 Cup milk
2 tsp white Vinegar (used Rice vinegar)
1/2 Silken Tofu ( substitute for 2 Eggs)
1/4 + 2tbsp of Oil (sunflower oil)

METHOD:
Keep all the ingredients ready
Line Muffin tin with 12 paper cups. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/ 180 degrees just 10 minutes before
Take all the flours with BS, BP, Salt, Cocoa and the coffee powder until well blended ( sieve at least 3 times) and keep aside
In a mixie/ blender take Tofu and milk blend well and keep aside
Take a large bowl with all the dry sieved ingredients said above and make a whole in the centre.
Take a large bowl to this pour oil, sugar, blended Tofu and milk, vanilla extract and vinegar andcombine well to this add the chocolate chips.
Pour this wet ingredients to the dry ingredients in a circular motion, and mixing it up from beneath so all of them is well  incorporated properly do not mix too much.
Pour this batter into the lined muffin tins and bake them for 20 to 25 minutes.
Insert a skewer or tester, if they come out clean that means your muffins are ready to go 🙂

I had some strawberries I dipped them in chocolate dip and presented my muffins..,

MY VERDICT:
The muffins were not too moist as I had reduced the fat content in it, the muffins were quite chocolately, they were not too sweet as I had used golden brown sugar, they were very soft.., If you want it more moist you can use an other extra 1/4 cup oil, Actually I wanted to substitute the Eggs with Apple sauce, as I had run out of it I had to use Tofu try it out with Apple sauce and tell me how it turned out then no need to add vinegar as the sauce has already vinegar in it.

Variations:

If you are a vegan you can substitute with soya milk, carob powder, vegan chocolates and Lo! you have a wonderful Triple chocolate muffin
If you want to make Gluten free, try with half the quantity of this recipe using Rice flour, Chickpea flour, Rye flour,
Few more things you can find out about vegan chocolates for Indian Chocolate Lovers 🙂
check out these websites...
http://vegan-india.blogspot.com/2011/05/namdharis-fresh-vegan-friendly-store.html
http://yellowpages.sulekha.com/bangalore/retail-shopping/department-stores/koramangala/nilgiri-s.htm
http://www.jantareview.com/Bangalore/Frazer-Town/biz_140138/Thoms-Bakery-&-Stores
Check out the first website she will tell you lot more about vegan food store out lets..
Hope you all like these Muffins do try out and tell me....

Muffin Monday is an initiative by  Baker street. Her culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffins every week on a monday!, do drop her a quick line to join her on her journey to beat the glum monday morning blues week after week...

These square bakes go to

Monthly Mingle #2 ''Almond and Ginger '' of  Kalyani's
Valentine fest - ''served with love'' by Kalyani
Healthy eating event - HITS by Sangee
priya's easy n tasty recipes kid's delight
Chocolate Mela by srivalli
Vardhini's sweet luv - anything sweet
Radhika's let's cook # 12 - sweet somethings
Sumee's Bon Vivant moments
Anzz's Valentine's Day special
love lock with sweets by vidya
Pari of Foodelicious - ''Only Oats'' event  

The post Whole wheat Eggless Triple Chocolate Muffins appeared first on My Veg Fare.

EGGLESS BLUE BERRY MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS:
140gms of Plain Flour/APS
140 gms of Fine Corn Meal
1 Apple (weighed 100 gms)
1/4 Cup Oil
1 tbsp Flax seed Powder
1/4 Cup Milk
3/4 th Cup Granulated sugar
1 tsp Vanilla essence
1 and 1/2 tsp of Baking Powder
1/2 tsp of Baking Soda
1 cup (150 gms) fresh Blue Berries
2 tbsp of Warm water (if required)

METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees/350 d F/Gas Mark 4
Spray 12 case Muffin tray with vegetable oil/cooking spray or butter them or line them with Muffin cases
First of all wash and dry the Blue berries and keep them aside,
Mix both the flours and sift together may be two to three times until well combined
In a mixie /Food Processor/hand Grinder or what ever you use to grind!,
Take apples (without the peel), Flaxseed powder and oil, Grind them into a smooth paste
Pour this into a large bowl, then add milk and Sugar give it a nice whisk for just a minute,
Then add Baking powder and Baking Soda, mix well

Then add the fresh Blue berries to the bowl, combine together
Then add the flour in three to four parts, in a nice circular motion, incorporate the flour completely into the bowl, until they are well combined do not mix it too much, be careful so the air pockets created by all the Ingredients should not get destroyed but the flours should also be well combined, do it slowly and steadily
Once everything is incorporated fill the Muffin cases around 2/3rds full with the batter and bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until well risen and golden or a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
I always turn the muffin tray around after 20 minutes for an even bake.
I did not do any frosting as I always make muffins and cakes for my kids to take it to school..
Take an other look at my lovely muffins..

Thanks to my daughter for this click she wanted to show me how soft and nice it was! isn't it beautiful.. Mmm.., they all loved it hope you try it and love it too...

I like to send this to Akila's Dish name starts with E event, and also to Cooking with fruits event by Smitha

The post Eggless Blue Berry Muffins appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Hi friends, After a long time I decided to post something to start with! this is long awaiting post from my blog, I know lot of you would have posted this recipe, I made this on January 11th as it marks the 27th Stanza of Thirupaavai, and is called Kudaarai vellum.

I belong to a community called Iyengars (Vaishnavites), as we all know that we follow calendars according to Lunar or Solar, Tamilians follow the Solar calendar and so they call their month in different names and follow a Tamil Panchangam for auspicious events like Marriages, Upanayanam etc., So accordingly this month is Maargazhi Maasam (December 15th to January 14th), This month is very Important to us as People get up very early in the Morning and Pray to God for Moksha (Salvation).  So, why is this in this month....
It's a little story which I will not be able to write it down here as it will take a lot of space!, Godai or Andal as she is called is one of the 12 Alvars, She Devoted her whole life in trying to reach God! as a small girl and in the end she marries him that's how she at last reaches his abode If you click on to the link on her name you can read the story of her, She Prays to Lord Vishnu in the month of Maargazhi, as it is the coldest month and her penance is nothing concerned to religious rites but she says as the month is so cold getting up so early in the morning and following these simple things in her life she tries to please the Lord It is kind of Tapas (Penance) in her own way and yearns for the everlasting Service to the Lord , she has a written a Poem of 30 Stanzas which is called Thirupaavai, also called Paasurams in Tamil in praise of Lord vishnu and it is a part of the Divya Prabandham, a work of the Alvars.
Each song is sung each day during this month, and unmarried girls try to follow the little things she describes as kind of penance to the Lord to get Good Husbands!!, Vishnavas sing these songs to bring Peace, Prosperity and Divine Grace towards reaching Moksha (Salvation).
In the 27th stanza, she comes out of her Penance and Dresses up nicely and makes this sweet Porridge offering to the Lord, she even describes how this sweet should be...
She says '' Today is the day she will come out of her Vratham and adornes herself with beautiful jewels and clothes and will make Ksheeranam with milk and Jaggery and lots of ghee, wherein the ghee will flow down to her elbow when offering it to the Lord'', So that is how this Shakkarai Pongal should be made with lots of Ghee!!.
Well, as the days went by and People became health consicous, nobody wants to make Pongal that way!, but still we do get Sweet Pongal as Prasadam in temples the way she describes :)).

So here is my version of Sakkarai Pongal....

SAKKARAI PONGAL (SWEET PONGAL) 

INGREDIENTS:
1 to 1 and 1/2 of Jaggery (use Paaku Jaggery / Unde Bella)
1 Cup of Raw Rice
 1/2 Cup of Green Gram /Hesaru Bele / Paitham Paruppu / Moong dal
1 tsp of Cardamom powder
A Pinch of Pacchai Karpooram (Edible Camphor)
1 and 1/2 Cup Milk
1 and 1/2 Cups of Water + 1/4 cup Water
1/4 tsp of  Nutmeg
2 tbsp of Cashewnuts
2 tbsp of Kishmish/Raisins/Dried Grapes
1/2 Cup of Pure Ghee / Clarified Butter (increase it more if you enjoy eating ghee)

METHOD:
First of all in a wok add a tsp of Ghee and fry Green Gram into Golden colour, which gives a nice aroma around the Kitchen.
Then In a thick bottomed vessel take the washed rice and Moong dal with 1 and 1/2 cup of Milk and 1 cup of Water and either cook it directly on the stove if you are using a thick bottomed vessel (Vangala Paanai) or Mud Pot, I made this in a pressure cooker, Cook dal and Rice with milk and water close a lid to the vessel and pressure cook up to 3 whistles, ( If cooking directly I close a lid to the vessel as we know that when milk boils it froths up and spills out so it is better to close it with a lid and put a ladle in it, which helps the liquid not coming out ).
Meanwhile take Jaggery and 1/4 cup of water (use Jaggery according to your tastebuds) and allow it to completely dissolve it in the water, then leave it for 2 minutes allowing the impurities to settle down,  filter the Jaggery as it usually has impurities, take the filtered Jaggery in a vessel and start to boil it, until it reaches a ball consistency you can test this by dropping a tiny bit into a cup of water, where you can see that it doesn't spread out into the water but you can see it well and where you can bring it into a ball (next time I will try to take a photo tutorial of this).
It is important that you do this even after the cooker cools because when it reaches ball consistency it becomes hard and you have a add a little bit of water to keep in this consistency until your cooker cools, It's just the timing no need to panic, Once the whistle is gone, take the cooker out from the stove and keep it on a table top on a stand (as it will be very hot!), otherwise the heat from the stove keeps the cooker still warm for a bit longer.

The post Shakkare Pongal (Sweet Pongal) / Rice Pudding made with Jaggery and Ghee appeared first on My Veg Fare.

COULIBIAC WITH QUINOA, LENTILS AND VEGGIES

FOR THE PASTRY
250 gms All Purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp Sugar
75 gms Cold butter
75 gms Vegetable Margarine
4 to 5 tbsps of Cold water

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING
1/2 Cup Puy Lentils
1/2 Cup Horse Gram/Kollu
1/2 Cup Quinoa
1 Red Pepper
1 Green Pepper
1 Potato
1 Big Onion
2 to 3 Green Chillies
1 tsp Ginger-Garlic Paste
5 sprigs of Coriander leaves
2 tbsp Oil

METHOD:
Making the Pastry:
Sieve the flour with salt and sugar then cut the butter into the flour with a knife, Rub it in quickly like bread crumbs with your fingertips, The secret of light pastry is in keeping your pastry cool, If we use our palms of our hand the butter will oil and make the pastry tough. Use water 1 tbsp at a time, you may need more or less water depending on the weather and the dryness of the flour, Knead it into a soft round ball, cover it in a cling film and keep it in the fridge until you require it.

To make the filling:
Wash and Soak both the lentils before you start making the Pastry, Once done with pastry, put these lentils in one cup of water in a vessel and pressure cook them till soft ( 3 whistles), Drain the water.
Cook Quinoa in 1 and 1/4 cup of water with a tsp of oil in a low flame, stirring now and then they cook very well and fast. careful that you don't burn the bottom. Take it out and spread it out so the grains separate out.
Heat Oil in a wok add Chillies fry and then add Ginger-Garlic paste and then the chopped onion and sauté them till transparent, then add chopped peppers and sauté them till soft then add the cooked lentils, mix well then add Quinoa and chopped Coriander leaves and Salt as required mix well and close the lid, keep it in a low flame for few minutes so the mixture absorbs the salt.
Now the mixture or filling is completely ready, Keep it aside. Give time for it to cool.

To Assemble the Pastry:
Make 4 parts out of it, Keep the other three parts back into the fridge while you work on the first one, Make the dough into a rectangle spoon the mixture in the middle as shown in the figure, then cut diagonal strips in the pastry on each side of the filling to create a plaited effect ( I have not done a very good job as my kids helped me do it, they got bored and messed it up a little bit !!), I did not trim of any extra pastry that is why that odd look at the end, Brush the Pastry with milk and Bake in a Preheated oven 200 degree C (400d F)/ Gas Mark 6. until golden brown in colour.
If you do not want to make the pastry yourself you can use ready made Puff Pastry, which I used once and it was really beautiful to look at than this.

My kids loved it, and everything was gone.., I felt quite happy as I made them eat not too much butter (like used in Puff Pastry), they ate lentils and Quinoa.

I love to send this to Priya's CWF _ Quinoa event started by Kiran  thanks to both you, I enjoyed making and my family enjoyed eating it!!

This I would love to send to Hearth and soul volume #27 and Hope they like it.
I would also like to send this to MLLA #30 of Susan's hosted by Priya of  Mharo Rajasthan's blog

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EGGLESS RED VELVET CUP CAKES

I am sending this of to Tried and tested event of Zlamushka's, being carried on by Lakshmi and this month hosted by valli of cooking4allseasons.
Hope valli will still accept my entries, as I have tried but not able to post them on time...

The post Red Velvet Cup Cakes (? )- or shall I call it Beets cup cakes appeared first on My Veg Fare.