Don't wonder why I am posting a cold soup when we still have chilled winter days here, as of my last post when we had that beautiful day the saga continued,  I needed something cold to eat as well, I did quite a lot shoots that week, as I went crazy when I saw the sun!

After long day's work in the garden, I didn't want to spend too much time in the kitchen.  I wanted to fix something quickly.  When I stood in my refrigerator my mind went blank!  kidding! my mind was blank because I hadn't made up my mind about what to cook ?  Let me make a one pot meal with rice dump everything in my cooker and that's it! My daughter came down and said make some soup mom as we have some French Bread.  So, Ok!  I know what to make,  next is which vegetable or any other ingredient? That's when I saw these bunch of Beetroots I had, actually loads of them!  I decided on making a Beetroot soup but didn't want to have it hot so decided on making it cold.  I had been chopping and trimming all my plants, I have a Bay leaf tree and a Kaffir Lime tree you must have noticed it in my last post, I used them to decorate my styling :), I used those fresh cut leaves in my soup.

This soup was so delicious for the weather, it had some sweetness and it is very easy to make.  It might not be everybody's cup of tea if you like beetroot you might like this.  But, it went so very well with my bread I had 2 cups of it, I had some left over which I had it in my fridge next day hubby came home and had it.  He loved it too.

If you try this and like it share it with me, I would love to hear from you...,

Cold Beetroot Soup or Chilled Beetroot Soup

Recipe Author: Jayasri
Recipe Type: Soups
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Serves : 4
Shelf time: 2 days

Ingredients:

3 Medium Sized Beetroots
1'' Ginger
3 Garlic cloves
4 Kaffir Lime Leaves
2 Cups thick Yogurt
2 to 3 tbsp Cre'me Fraiche (optional)
4 to 5 tbsp Chopped Chives/Coriander
1 tbsp Cumin seeds
2 to 3 Bay Leaves
4 Cloves
2 tsp Black pepper

Method:

Wash, Peel and chop Beetroots. Roast Cumin seeds and pepper until the cumins crackle.
In a pressure cooker take chopped Beetroots, peeled Garlic cloves, Kaffir lime leaves, Bay leaves, roasted cumin, roasted Black pepper and cloves.
Steam them all in 1 cup of water for 3 whistles.
Once cool discard  the Bay leaves and Kaffir lime leaves and rest put them in a blender and blend them into a smooth paste.
Add another half cup of water if needed when blending them into a smooth puree, to this add 2 cups of yogurt and salt blend well together.
If you want it thick and creamier add more yogurt or add water  to make it slightly semi liquidy.

Season it with pepper and salt if  you need, serve it with chopped chives or cilantro, I used chives and oven roasted crispy Kale and some croutons and some Cre'me Fraiche before serving.

Notes:

This soup is on a bit sweeter side because of the beetroots, even if you seasoned more with peppercorns it really doesn't help much, I would just say, have it as it is, with a tolerable seasoning and enjoy it as it is.If you don't find Kaffir lime leaves you can substitute with one tbsp of lemon juice or just omit it from the recipe

Print

Cold Beetroot Soup

Beetroot soup served chilled or cold is delicious during summer for a cooling tummy and also yummy to enjoy this one quick to make recipe.

Course Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch box

Cuisine International

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Jayasri

Ingredients

• 3 Medium Sized Beetroots
• 1 '' Ginger
• 3 Garlic cloves
• 4 Kaffir Lime Leaves
• 2 Cups thick Yogurt
• 2 to 3 tbsp Cre'me Fraiche optional
• 4 to 5 tbsp Chopped Chives/Coriander
• 1 tbsp Cumin seeds
• 2 to 3 Bay Leaves
• 4 Cloves
• 2 tsp Black pepper

Instructions

• Wash, Peel and chop Beetroots. Roast Cumin seeds and pepper until the cumins crackle.
• In a pressure cooker take chopped Beetroots, peeled Garlic cloves, Kaffir lime leaves, Bay leaves, roasted cumin, roasted Black pepper and cloves.
• Steam them all in 1 cup of water for 3 whistles.
• Once cool discard the Bay leaves and Kaffir lime leaves and rest put them in a blender and blend them into a smooth paste.
• Add another half cup of water if needed when blending them into a smooth puree, to this add 2 cups of yogurt and salt blend well together.
• If you want it thick and creamier add more yogurt or add water to make it slightly semi liquidy.
• Season it with pepper and salt if you need, serve it with chopped chives or cilantro, I used chives and oven roasted crispy Kale and some croutons and some Cre'me Fraiche before serving.

Notes

This soup is on a bit sweeter side because of the beetroots, even if you seasoned more with peppercorns it really doesn't help much, I would just say, have it as it is, with a tolerable seasoning and enjoy it as it is.
If you don't find Kaffir lime leaves you can substitute with one tbsp of lemon juice or just omit it from the recipe

The post Cold Beetroot Soup appeared first on My Veg Fare.

When I was talking to my mum about this she said, that her mum used to make it with stalks of chillies, In India we have this tradition in our  family if somebody asks for yoghurt at night we put a dried chilli in it and give, I really don't know why next time I should ask my mum again about this and will update here

That was when I decided why not check it out and see what really happens, and Lo! here I have my own culture, I need to thank few of friends who always enquired how I made my own Yoghurt, this post has been a long over due and here you are my good friends enjoy making your own yoghurt without any hi-fi techniques.

 Cultured Yoghurt ready to devour

Add stalks of Red Chillies to Luke warm milk

After few hours you will notice that the milk has become a cultured

Take a table spoon of this and...

Add this to luke warm milk mix well and leave it in a warm place for few depending on the place you live if you live in a warm country 5 to 6 hours would be enough if you live in a cold country leave it overnight in a warm place I just live it in my Microwave

 Your Yoghurt is ready to enjoy, Home made from scratch, Love it then try it and tell me...

I enjoyed with warm Upma and Home made pickle

Print

How to Make your own Culture to make your own Yoghurt

Make your own Yoghurt with your own culture delicious and creamy, with no hi-fi techniques with simple pantry ingredients found in your home, Home made from scratch

Course All time

Cuisine Indian

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 6 hours hours

Total Time 6 hours hours 5 minutes minutes

Author Jayasri

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup warm milk
• 6 to 10 stalks of dried Red chillies or 2 to 3 whole dried red chillies

Instructions

• Milk should be luke warm, take any bowl or cup to this add luke warm milk and stalks of dried chillies or dried whole chillies close the lid and leave it in a warm place for few hours, probably over night if you are in a cold country. may be 5 to 6 hours in a warm country.
• After few hours you can check to see that the milk would have set to become Yoghurt.
• Take luke warm milk, that is how much you have planned to make to that add a tbsp of this culture mix well so it gets dissolved well and again keep it in a warm place to get wonderful thick like Ice cream yoghurt to enjoy

Notes

I usually make from 2 to 3 pints ( say 1 to 2 litres) and use 1 tbsp of the culture to make it.
It is important to have luke warm milk, if it is too warm the end product will curdle which you don't want. Below I have mentioned two ways You can choose either way to make it
When I was in India I used to boil milk and let it cool down to luke warm and then make yoghurt.
I also do the above method or sometimes I just warm one glass of milk to 50 sec in my microwave and mix it with the remaining milk around 1 litre which evens out the temperature to luke warm and then proceed by adding 1 tbsp of the culture.
After coming here I just take a cup

The post How to Make your own Culture to make your own Yoghurt appeared first on My Veg Fare.

This recipe is not something new as I said earlier, A new wine in an old bottle, A slight twist to our authentic Urad Dal vada recipe, A twist which our customers loved, so  has come to e-book, as my judges, critics showed a thumbs up sign, It all started with something I promised my kids I would prepare it when they came back from college, Now, what was it , It is something everybody loves , Gobi Manchurian, my kids love it as everybody who has tasted it do, It is a fusion of Indo-chinese cooking, but,  decided to make something else, ( Just like I twist my reicpes!!).   When Kalyani announced this month's Magic mingle - Urad dal and Lemon, I have been thinking, and I came up with this, I was a bit worried to post, as one of the posts I made with Haldiram's samosa and turned it into a chat, one of the readers thought that it was ridiculous to make chat like that, Personally I feel their is no such specific recipe that you have to make chat only with these, right ?.  In Bangalore we have so many chat center's and you would be surprised to know the different kind of chats people make, eat and enjoy.  Thinking in that line I thought why not when you like Vada, Dahi in your chat why not turn it into a chat., to make slightly healthier I added some more Dals to it, But, it totally your choice to make it the way you want to give it a twist.., I will give you some variations in the end.
Coming to my recipe.. what and how I made it. read through...

URAD DAL VADA CHAT

INGREDIENTS:
FOR THE VADAS
1 Cup Urad Dal
2 tbsp Channa dal
1 tbsp Moong dal
2 tbsp cup Horse Gram / Kollu
1 tbsp Poha / Avalakki /thick flattened Rice flakes
1/4 cup +2 tbsp water
2 tbsp Lemon Juice
1 capsicum / Pepper
3 to 4 Green chillies
1 tsp coarsely crushed Pepper
1'' Fresh Ginger
salt as required ( 1 and 1/2 tsp)
A pinch of Asafoetida
A pinch of Baking soda

FOR THE CHAT
2 Carrots finely grated
2 Onions chopped fine

1 tsp Chilli powder
1 tbsp Lemon juice
2 to 4 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp Chat masala powder

FOR GARNISHING
Fine Sev and spiced Mixture ( I have used murmura mixture) as required
Sweet Chutney
Green Chutney

FOR DAHI MASALA
1 Cup of fresh thick Yogurt / Dahi / soy yogurt
1/w tsp sugar
1/2 tsp Chat masala
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp Chilli powder ( as required)

METHOD:

FOR MAKING VADAS
Soak Urad dal, channa dal, moong dal and Horse gram for 3 hours.  Wash and soak poha saperately.
Chop Capsicum / green pepper, Green chillies, curry leaves and crushed Black Pepper.
Grind all the soaked Ingredients above with ginger and poha in it. use very little water, by sprinkling or tbsp water now and then, and grinding it into a smooth paste,
Important point: Do not add too much water, this will make the batter obsorb more oil and vadas will be very oily and kind of losses its texture, Once it is completely grinded well, you will notice that batter when picked will not stick to your hands, it will fluffy.

Once the batter is ready add all the other Ingredients mix well and fry them in hot oil, make small round balls with a small hole in the middle and fry them. Heat the oil, hold your palm on top of the oil ( not very close ), when you feel the heat that means your oil is hot, keep the flame to medium add a drop of the batter to check if it is hot, within a few seconds if the batter springs on to the top that means your oil is perfect. Now fry the batter as vadas, once they are golden red in colour, take them out of the oil and drain them on a kitchen paper.

METHOD TO MAKE THE CHAT
Grate carrots, chop onion, and all the other Ingredients under chat mix well and keep aside, do not add salt.
Once the vadas are ready add salt and lemon juice to the chat otherwise it will start giving out water, so add it in the end mix well just before serving.

METHOD TO MAKE DAHI MASALA
Take 1 or 2 cups of Plain Yogurt / Dahi in a bowl to this add little salt ( not too much as vada, chat mixture all have salt in it ), then add required quantity to chat masala, chilli powder, sugar accordingly as required to the quantity of Yogurt you are using. Above I have give for the quantity of one cup mix well and use.

ASSEMBLING DAL DAHI VADA CHAT
Cut the vadas horizontally into half, place them on a plate, sprinkle the chat mixture on top of it, then add the sev or some spicy mixture on top of it, add sweet chutney, green chutney as required to the Dal vada, you can enjoy the chat as it is or you can add Dahi Masala to it and enjoy the chat.

We all loved the chat with Dahi / Yogurt Masala, it was very tasty.  So, I decided to call this Dal Dahi Vada Chat.
This was my chat as I just ate one (a little bit one was mine!!) , cut the vadas horizontally into half, sprinkle the chat on top of it as shown in the pictures, then pour Dahi Masala on top of it. Enjoy...

This Chat goes to Magic Mingle of Kalyani's this month she gave us Urad dal and Lemon juice., tune in I have some more recipes on this combo..

VARIATION: You can just make this with only Urad dal,  You can omit capsicum/peppers from this above recipe, Make it VEGAN by not using Yogurt in this recipe or you can use soy yogurt.

The post Dal Dahi Vada Chat appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Hi everybody, Hope you are all doing well, I know I have disappeared from few days, it's a long gap between my posts, well, I have been so busy as Mom is here :))., Oh! I know its so wonderful to be with her here and enjoying her cooking completely. My kids have declared that their Mom is a super cook but their Paati ( Grandmother/Nan) is the world's best cook.  I will have to write about it more in my authentic recipes, which I am planning to post soon enough.  The reason for this little intro for my absence was because I took Mom few places here and still I need to show her some more, fingers crossed hope I will be able to cover as much as possible and I really don't want to miss this opportunity as she won't be coming back here again :(.
Today, I had to come to post this as you all know today is SRC Reveal Day. I thought of writing to my Hostess I might not be able to do it, but I just couldn't do it and really don't want to miss it, for two reasons going through Heather's blog when ever I had time, as her blog was in my phone permanently which I always do when I am assigned a blog!! and  I really wanted to bake and of course team spirit for SRC.
I feel  guilty and I never want to miss out, as this is such a big team and the stress and strain to manage this large group is not a easy joke. Hats of to the SRC team for that and thank them that I always come back to blogging just to post from SRC even sometimes I don't want to!!.

Suzanne my hostess had assigned me Heather's blog. She blogs at Fit Mama Real Food. A wonderful blogger with versatile things she blogs about. I had bookmarked a few like the Moist Banana bread, Zucchini Bread, Energy Balls, Nutella Balls and this Lemon and poppy seed bread. I have been going through her blog quite a few times when ever I got time to browse.  She is a fitness freak!!, Mom to a cutest kid, a good cook and loves to bake and cook good food no processed food and loves to eat what nature provides which turn into meals to please the little crowd!!, DIY and Organizer too.., and of course she is a food blogger, click on to her website you will know what I am talking about, I enjoyed going through her blog and do you want to know why I settled on to this recipe.., Just because of those words she wrote in this post made me feel that is what I always keep thinking when I get free time..
As Heather says:
Baking is total relaxation time for me.  When I need to get my mind off things, I head to the kitchen. When I’m bored I will bake.  If I want to procrastinate, I will bake.
I love to bake particularly Breads.., that's my favourite.
Coming to this recipe I had no poppy seed in hand and just got carried away with the recipe., I loved the texture of her bread as she has used Eggs (2) if you plan to make this Bread check out the original recipe. You will know what I mean. Looks really Gorgeous.  I had some Tutti fruity at home as I had baked a Bread out of it for them to take to school, the Left over filling I used it in this bread.  The bread isn't too sweet, it has the Lemony taste to it.

EGGLESS WHOLE WHEAT AND OAT MEAL LEMON, POPPY SEED, COCONUT AND FRUIT  BREAD
Adapted from Fit Mama Real Food with minimal changes

INGREDIENTS:
1 Cup ( 145 grms) Whole Wheat Flour
1 Cup (95 grms) Oat Meal Flour
100 grms Dried Fruits ( Dessicated sweet Coconut, Mango, Pineapple, Raisins, Cashews, Almonds )
3/4th Cup Natural Cane Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 Cup Butter
1 Cup Yogurt
1 tbsp Vanilla Essence
Zest for 1 Lemon
3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tbsp white Poppy seeds ( Indian variety)

METHOD:
Preheat Oven to Gas Mark 1
In 2 tbsp of hot water soak Poppy seeds until you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Take both the Flours and sieve together and keep aside.
In a Large bowl take the Lemon zest, Yogurt, Lemon Juice and sugar and mix them well together.
Grind poppy seeds with water into a paste ( It won't become too smooth ), add this to the above mixture to this add Baking powder, Baking soda you will start seeing bubbles forming.
Add melted butter to it and mix well.
Add Dried fruits to it.
Add the prepared flour little by little and mix well together don't over mix it.
Pour this on to the prepared Loaf tin and Bake at Gas Mark 3 for about 45 minutes and bake for an other 5 more minutes reducing the temperature to Gas Mark 2.
Totally bake it around 50 minutes I changed temperatures because of my oven.
Insert a toothpick to find out if it comes out clean then it is baked.

Take it out and cool it on a wiring rack leave it for a few minutes then slice it and Enjoy..,

This is perfect Tea Bread can also be enjoyed as a Breakfast bread.

Here are my dear friends who have posted recipes for you to devour and enjoy a visual view of their creations from their kitchen through their Lenses...., take your time and enjoy the recipes... before I sign off I need to do a little thing.., My apologies for posting it a bit late Please do forgive me April, Suzanne and my dear Heather... Hope you like it..
Heather this Bread is so delicious.., I just couldn't resist I usually don't eat too much of what I bake just for tasting & texture to find out how it has turned out, but when I was slicing it Mom & me devoured it. Thank you for this recipe it is a keeper.

I am also sending this Recipe to
Nupur's  ''Cooking with Spice - Poppy Seeds'' started by Anu's ''SYF and HWS - Cook with Spices
Sowmya's ''Taste of Tropics - Coconut'' started by Chef Mireille's event
Srivalli's Celebrating 4 years - Kid's Delight potluck Party
Swathi's Favourite Recipes Event - Breakfast Recipes
Archana's Bake Fest # 11 - started by Vardhini

The post Eggless Whole Wheat and Oats, Lemon, Poppy seed, coconut and Dried fruit Bread appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Queen of Sheba and King Soloman were two characters glued to my mind from my childhood, I always loved reading story books, comics and especially books like Akbar and Birbal, Chanakya, Tenali,  were mesmerizing characters, writing about these books are bringing back lot of childhood memories and loads of books I miss and wouldn't mind reading them all over again.
So, the next question  is ? Queen of sheba and Julia Child, what is the connection between these two. Julia child is an other character I was so loved, when I think back, I never knew who Julia Child was, blogging has brought me to a new world to know about not just recipes but most of the time particularly with International cuisine, why was this recipe named so, what's is the uniqueness of this recipe, who was behind it ?, why did they call it so ?, which place and why has its origin from here etc.., etc.., right ? you too agree with me right ?.

I came to know about why Julia child especially called this cake Rene de saba ( Queen of sheba ), from our beloved Google that when she made this cake she thought this cake is delicious it is fit for a queen and named it after her.
Queen Sheba like King Soloman was famous for her wisdom and also for her beauty and wealth, she is spoken about in Ethiopian history, the Bible and the Qua'ran.
Coming back to this recipe, this recipe is in her book ''Mastering The Art of french cooking'' by Julia Child,  I came to know that this is the last recipe in her book. As I had already made this cake for the Book club by Simran.  I contacted Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen 
who is the brain child for this Baking Partner group and told her about it, and said may be I will try a Eggless version of this cake, and she was delighted and said go ahead and bake it.
I actually should have remembered something before I baked this cake Eggless.  Do you know why ? actually long back I had baked something like this for a brownie. well, was it not a good introduction  that the cake I baked it for the first time was a disaster. The cake was delicious but just collapsed in the middle!! :)), No problem, I had some Ice cream asked my kids to enjoy it, actually they liked it as it tasted like a brownie, anyway that was done and dusted, I went to work, but kept thinking about it, I was really upset that I couldn't achieve it.
Came back home in the night, asked my daughter to measure the ingredients again and set about baking the cake, that was then I was telling her we will reduce the butter content and choco content in it and see what happens, the best thing was she was the one who helped me with the baking ingredients for the first time, just because of  that I think she remembered the measurements and told me mum, I think the butter and chocolate are of almost equal quantities, what do you want me to do ?, I was quite surprised at her memory as she was not too keen on helping me with the cake baking, so we both decided that we will reduce chocolate and butter to the same quantity  and see what happens.
so, this is how I made it...,

EGGLESS RENE DE SABA AVEC GLACAGE AU CHOCOLAT
For an 8'' pan
Baking time: 25 - 30 minutes

Ingredients:
65 grms ( around 2/3 cup) Plain flour*
74 grms ( around 3/4 cup) Ground Almonds
35 gms butter
35 grms Semi sweet chocolate**
2 tbsp of Coffee powder
1/4 cup Granulated sugar
3 tbsp Condensed milk
1/4 cup Yogurt
1 tsp Baking Powder
3/4th tsp Baking Soda
1 tbsp Corn starch
2 tbsp hot water

FOR CHOCOLATE ICING:
56.7 Grams / 2 Ounces semi sweet baking chocolate**
2 tbsp coffee
5 to 6 tbsp unsalted butter

** I have used Dark chocolate
If you like to check out the Original recipe for the cake which swathi gave us do please check out her blog here.
*She uses Cake flour, If substituting for cake flour: Take 1 tbsp of Corn starch in the cup and then fill the rest of the cup with plain flour but I changed it as I have mentioned above.

METHOD:
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 3.
In a double boiler method, In a bowl  boil water and bring it to simmering then place a small sauce pan over the bowl melt chocolate, In 2tbsp hot water dissolve coffee powder and then add it to the melting chocolate.allow it to melt switch off the stove.
Line the cake tin with Baking parchment, Measure Almond meal, All Purpose Flour, Baking powder, Baking soda and corn starch and combine well together, and sieve them well together and keep aside.
In a food processor or an Indian Mixie blend together condensed milk, yogurt, melted chocolate with melted butter to a nice and creamy consistency.
In a large bowl take this creamy blend add sugar mix well then add Baking powder and Baking soda, combine them well together, within a few seconds you will start noticing bubbles forming up.
To this blend immediately fold in the dry ingredients delicately with the help of a rubber spatula, until everything is well incorporated.
Turn the batter into the cake tin and bake it in the middle rack of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven.  Cake starts to puffs up around the circumference,  plunge a tester / skewer into that area of the cake when it comes out clean then you would know it is done.
The center might be a bit shaky if a toothpick inserted comes out a bit oily and comes out with a few moist crumbs.
Take out the cake when it is done, Allow the cake to cool it on a wiring rack, after 5 minutes run the knife through the edge of the pan and turn it on to the cooling rack.
Allow it to cool for at least for at least an hour, if you plan to do Icing, you need to cool it completely.

FOR THE ICING:
Place chocolate and coffee in a small sauce pan, and set it in a larger pan with almost simmering water away from heat allow it to melt with butter beat it together until smooth and shiny.  Immediately spread it over the cake.

I used my pastry brush to make strokes on it and decorated it with flaked almonds in the middle and I had some home grown strawberries which I placed it on top just to make it look nice.  Hope you like it.

If you want to see more beautiful cakes and the challenge done with care, love and especially with perfection here are my friends from Baking partners... check out their blog and enjoy the visual view.

As I had already told you that I had baked this cake long bake for a book club I wanted to show you a click of that as well which I baked using eggs

Here is the link to that post : https://www.myvegfare.com/?p=242 and here is a picture of it.

Seniding this to
cook eat delicious - desserts - Chocolate, started by cook eat delicious hosted by Riddhima of culinary vibes
Sending this to JCO - Super foods - Super Power
Bon Viviant #7, by symee's culinary
Bake Fest by Foodmania, started by Vardhini

The post Eggless Rene de saba avec Glacage au Chocolat appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Britain has lifted its ban on Hose pipe, as the past month it has rained so much that it had a record rainfall last month!!. Continuing my saga on gardening, My bean plants have grown so tall, with all my other herbs and salad leaves etc.., I have to take some serious step about this, so went and bought 3 bags of grow bags, may be tomorrow if this dry weather continues ( Yay!) fingers crossed I will plant them in my grow bags, only varuna deva ( rain God! ) must show some Karuna  ( sympathy ) on my plants and me, for all the hard work I have done to my garden, when they all bloom, I will definitely show some photos of my garden.
Kids are having exams I am unable to use my laptop as they are in need of it more than me, The other laptop ever so suddenly right on time for their exams has decided to get into some problems with the charger, now waiting for new one, they need the computer more than me, so I have decided to post pone my blogging for few days its as simple as they come top in my priority list now, Today they have gone to write exam and I am off work, so took this chance to post this quickly before they come back :).
Coming to this recipe., It's been a long time I made Nan, I usually stick on to Roti or pulka which is quick, simple and healthy recipe.., Nan's are usually made with plain flour in resturants as I don't use plain flour too much It's been a long time I used plain flour in my daily bread these days I always make Nan's, Kulchas etc.., everything with whole wheat flour.
When Kalyani announced this month's Magic Mingle #6 challenge as Coriander and Plain flour,  I decided to pair it with some wheat flour and made these Nan's. Hope she doesn't mind.

CORIANDER NAN 
serves 4 to 5

INGREDIENTS:
250 grms Plain Flour / Maida / All Purpose Flour
250 grms Whole wheat atta flour
1 and 1/4 Cup Water***
1/4 Cup Yogurt
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking powder
1/2 cup chopped Coriander with stalks
2 Garlic cloves
1'' Ginger
2 Green Chillies (optional)

*** Use water according to the flour you are using, it might vary.  After adding yogurt and grinded mixture , add water accordingly to make a soft dough, as the liquid in the yogurt and grinded mixture has water in it and also  flours vary, take this as a guideline.

METHOD:
First of all wash and chop Coriander leaves with stalks, to this add Ginger and Garlic chopped, take all these Ingredients, grinding into a smooth paste, use water if necessary ( I used around 3 tbsp of water ).
In a large bowl, mix all the Ingredients said above with the smooth grinded paste to it, adding water as required to bring it into a dough.
Knead the dough for 10 minutes until smooth, cover it with a cling film and leave it for 1 hour.
Take a lemon sized ball, roll it into a  almost triangle shape or once you roll pull one side like having a tapering end ,  say around 1/4 '' thick or as I did I rolled quite thin , sprinkle some sesame seeds and roll it again so they are well stuck.
Mine puffed up like a pulka on the stove top which you can see in one of my photos!

On the stove top place a tawa / Pan sprinkle some water ** when it hot, turn the rolled out dough over it, cook it by placing a lid over it for just a few minutes, it starts bubbling up remove the lid, flip it on to the other side so it gets cooked well.
The other way you can do is, if your Tawa / Pan is not a non - stick one, ( which I would prefer if I am going to make a Nan on stove top ), The simple trick is if it is a Iron / Almunium one when you sprinkle water on the Tawa and place the rolled out Nan dough on to it, It gets stuck to the pan, once it is cooked underneath mildly because of the heat,  then Nan gets stuck to it.
Remember before it gets well done not too much before it looses its grip, turn it upside down on the stove top so that the top side gets cooked by that time you would have seen that they would have puffed up here and there and when turned upside down and on direct heat when it cooks gives a tandoori cooked Nan effect :)).
To do it oven: Just place these on to a baking sheet and bake for 10  min on Gas Mark 7 / 425 degree F/ 220 degrre Centigrade ( depending upon your Oven Gadget )
If it has a handle Perfect or using tongs or a grip holder turn the Tawa / Pan upside down on to the direct fire, a little above so they don't get burnt.
Then brush the Nan with butter or ghee and serve it hot.

Tip : 

1. I put the Sesame side on to the tawa than the other way round, this way when cooked the sesame seeds fall of the Nan because of the water sprinkled and rolled out into the dough.
2. To make it vegan substitute with soy yogurt and omit butter in this recipe.
3. You can also cook this on a barbecue set and gives a wonderful smoky flavour too.. how you can do this is with a fine meshed splatter which is used as splatter screen when cooking on stove top, can placed on the meshed top of the barbecue stove and put the Nan on the splatter gaurd and cook on both the sides watching it carefully, as you are cooking it directly on the fire.

I served it with Aloo - Capsicum Dry curry I will post the recipe in my next post

I am sending this to Magic Mingle of Kalyani's 
also to Kalyani's Fast food not fat food started by priya's now serving.
PJ of simply foods lets cook for barbecues and picnics
Jagruthi's Cooking odyssey Know your flours - Whole wheat flour

The post Coriander Nan ( Indian flat bread ) appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Smoothies and Juices are such a healthy form of diet in your everyday life, These are such recipes where you can disguise any Ingredients like fruits, vegetables etc.., which are perfect  in  other way when you have teenagers or kids who are picky eaters tend not to eat what you want them to eat, They won't even know what you have added in them right ? I could say this to some adults too.., even if you tell them they are really good for health.

I have 3 kids one 18 and the other two 16 (twins!!), They sometime enjoy eating fruits if you give them peeled, sliced decorated with ice cream or salads in a bowl to where ever they are :), this is asking for too much, yes, otherwise they don't mind not eating it at all. My eldest has made an alarm telling her it's her fruit time, everyday morning and evening, I was quite surprised for a few days she would promptly eat a fruit, that was totally rejoicing day of my life I thought, as took this initiative on her own Yup!.. but, that didn't last still her mobile goes beep., beep., but she always gives me some reason that she forgot to eat.
So, I have come back to my way of giving them fruits, like this making smoothies, Apparently I do have a few smoothies recipes in my draft which I have never been able to post, may be someday I will do.. 🙂
Coming to this post..
As I have been away from blogging for lots of reasons, I had completely forgotten about my joining the Mom's Crazy Cooking Challenge, I suddenly remembered yesterday, that I haven't done anything at all for the challenge, I just decided I will write to Tina and told her my situation and said I might not be able to participate after all, I was a bit upset too.., I told her I might try out something but I might not be able to post it right on time, as I simply cannot do immediately for other things which need me when you come back home from work, like my kids who are hungry ( as always), immediately when they see their mum, because they are staying at home for their study holidays as they have exams whole of two months!!.  So, basically I have no domestic help :), makes me more tired..

As Tina of #CCC had challenged all the participants to make smoothies this month, you will be enjoying to see a whole lot of them here in the linky below, I would like to thank Tina, for encouraging me to take up and whip up something for this challenge, which I immensely from my heart enjoy this with this team of bloggers.., they are mind blowing.., We have to choose a recipe from other blogger to participate in this challenge and here I am with this recipe with a little twist of my own just to make my kids enjoy it more to their needs, I adapted this recipe from Yummy Food of Lubna Karim.
Yummy Food/ Kitchen Flavours of Lubna's needs no introduction for most of the Indian bloggers, she is wonderful blogger with mouth watering recipes and now top of all with her passion for blogging recipes has always been a eye catching photographer, you will just fall in love with all her wonderful photographs and tips if you are interested in food photography, just visit her blog and enjoy everything you set your eyes in her blog.., and as she always says at the end of post serve it with love..., That is her theme she has Served everything with lots and lots of love in her blog for every reader to enjoy..., Thanks Lubna for this wonderful smoothie, hope you like my little twist..

STRAWBERRY AND MELON SMOOTHIE WITH MUSELI
Recipe Source : Yummy Food
Serves 3

INGREDIENTS
1 Cup of chopped Strawberries
1 Cup of Yellow Melon
1/2 Cup Museli
1/4 Cup of Agave Nectar and Sweet Freedom (100% fruit)
1 Cup Milk
1/4 Cup Yogurt (home made)

METHOD:
Take Museli in a bowl add hot milk over it and cover it till needed.
Take chopped Strawberries and melon in a blender and blend it smooth to this add the sweetners and yogurt.
Strain out the milk from the museli and add this to the blender and blend once again, to this add the strained milk and give a whirl again so they all blend together well again.
Pour them into the glasses, top it with Coco pops and serve.
Serve it chilled or immediately.

NOTES:
I soaked Museli before blending as my kids don't like museli this way they didn't know I had museli in it :), If you like museli, you can just skip this step and top the smoothie with museli and serve.
They love Coco pops so I just topped it with them, just to attract them to it.
You can chop any other fruits or nuts to top them up for a full filling smoothie.
Please do not compare my photos with hers as I am just a Mobile photographer :))
Want to look at those lovely Strawberry Smoothie hop on to her blog....

Check out this link below for many more smoothie recipes.....
Fruit Smoothies/Shakes June 2012

The post Strawberry and Melon smoothie with Museli appeared first on My Veg Fare.

These Idlis may not be like the original Idlis still they are tasty with a nice spicy chutney...

MY VERDICT: My kiddo liked ( I can't say loved it as her favourite is the original Idlis !!), she said it was very nice..., and ate it with the sambhar I made just for her.., the other two said it was quite filling and ate with my spicy chutney...., eldest the combo was really good.., Hubby was bit inquisitive ( I have come to know now that if he asks me, what did you do with this recipe means he likes it!).., so I jumped into it and asked how was it.., he said it quite very nice actually and so the family story ends with a sigh that everybody enjoyed a good hearty, healthy breakfast.
Mum is very happy that she found an other recipe which her kids doesn't mind eating... what else do you need ?...

Will wish you all once again tomorrow... c u soon with an other recipe tomorrow....take care...

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#14

The post Oats, Lapsi and sweet corn Idlis appeared first on My Veg Fare.

EGGLESS LEMON AND HONEY POUND MUFFINS

Recipe source: minimally adapted from Taste of Home

Makes 6 Muffins

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup Butter
1/4 cup Golden Brown Soft sugar
1/4 cup Honey
1 tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice* (see notes)
1/4 cup Yogurt/Hung curds
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 cup All purpose flour
1/4 + 2tbsp Ground Oats* (see notes)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
2 to 3 tbsp of Sweetened Coconut

To Glaze*:
1/2 cup Confectioner's sugar
1 and 1/2 tsp of Lemon Juice.

METHOD:
Keep all the ingredients ready and measured.
Line your Muffin tins ( 6 Muffin cases)
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5/190 degree Celsius ( Just 6 to 7 minutes before baking)
Sift all the Dry ingredients together (flours, BP, BS, salt) and keep aside.
In a large bowl take melted butter, sugar and honey, cream them together to this add vanilla extract then Fresh lemon juice and Hung Curds/Yogurt give a swift mix.
Immediately start incorporating the well sieved flour in parts so it is well combined.
Do not Over Mix the batter, as it is Eggless baking mix it swiftly in an even circular and cut motion quickly
Scoop in the batter into the Muffin cases and top them with sweetened coconut, give them a little press and bake them in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean.

FOR GLAZING*: You can glaze the muffins by mixing the ingredients in the glaze until smooth and nice and pipe them over the muffins and serve them ...

MY VERDICT:
* Actually I added 2 tbsp of Lemon Juice thinking that I will more lemony taste in it, was my little mistake I think, the muffins did not rise very well, as I always get my muffins well raised!, that was a bit of disappointment, but still it tasted great with that lemony taste in it, and I felt it was more sweeter..., If you have a sweet tooth you will love this...
*As I am using my new oven (GAS), I am a bit confused about the tempratures, the temperatures indicated in a recipe seems to be too much for my Gas oven, The actual recipe asks for you to bake at Gas Mark 6, I did not bake it at that temperature as all my baked turn golden brown quickly so I have little concern, so please do check your oven temperature while baking....
*The Oats which I have used in this recipe is porridge oats, I just simply Grind them to powder and use it in my baking.
* I did not glaze my muffins, I just skipped it as the Muffin itself was quite lemony, you can use some cream cheese frosting or butter cream or what ever you like to eat it with....
* The cake was delicious, there was this sweetness and tanginess in it, it wasn't too moist, when it was baking my daughter called out to me and said Mum it seems to go like a cookie, it is spreading out than going on top, that was when I thought I have used more Lemon Juice, so next time I will try it with just One tbsp if you try this please write to me and tell me how it turned out.
* As it was not too moist I thought you could increase the fat content a bit more, or I thought next time I will use 1 tbsp of Flax seed powder with 3 tbsp of hot water which will compensate on the fat content for the muffins.

LEMON AND HONEY MUFFINS WITH EGG and HERSHEY'S CHOCOLATE

Wow that looks Gorgeous isn't it ?
Once I made the Eggless once, I had to make these again, As I always cook or bake only in the night and I had only made 6 of them, I had a bit of a situation.., My friend who stayed with me over the weekend, who never likes eating anything sweet at all gave me a big surprise, I just gave a teneey weeney bit of my Eggless muffins to taste, ate the whole muffin instead and a few minutes later asked me If she can have an other one!, I was totally taken aback (she is pregnant, I thought may be that is the reason), as she doesn't like to eat eggs was very happy with my Eggless ones so the four left was eaten by my family. That's it all gone so I decided on baking more muffins this time with Eggs though, so here is my Muffins with Eggs, this time I shared with my neighbours..

Makes 6 Muffins:
INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup Butter
1/4 cup Sugar (soft Golden brown sugar)
1/4 cup Honey
1 tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice
1 Medium Egg
1/4 cup warm Milk
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
3/4th Cup  + 2 tbsp All Purpose Flour/Maida
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
2 to 3 tbsp of Hershey's Chocolate broken into little pieces

METHOD:
Same as above method, Added one Egg with the liquid Ingredients gave a brisk whisk then added the Lemon Juice and Milk. Just added broken bits of Hershey's chocolate pieces and then Incorporated the flour into the wet mixture, poured them into the cups and baked them at the same oven temperature for 15 - 20 minutes or until the tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

The Muffins were soft and delicious.., My kids loved it, waiting for my neighbours verdict will update when received..., till then... take care....

Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.
Check out her blog for Many more variations and mouthwatering Muffins from my fellow blogger friends....

The post Egg and Eggless Lemon and Honey Pound Muffins appeared first on My Veg Fare.

EGGLESS YAZDI CUPCAKES

INGREDIENTS:
1 Cup All Purpose flour/Maida
1/4 Cup Rice Flour
3/4th Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Plain Yogurt
1/4 Cup + 2 tbsp of Unsalted melted butter
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Baking soda
1/4 tsp Cardamom powder
1 tbsp Rosewater
1/4 tsp Vanilla essence
2 tbsp finely chopped Pistachios
2 Eggs (optional - I just omitted)

METHOD:
Preheat heat the oven to 180 degrees/Gas Mark 4/350 d Fahrenheit.
Mix all the dry ingredients together, plain flour, Rice flour, Baking powder, Baking soda, powdered Cardamom and sieve them together at least twice
Then in a large bowl take the wet Ingredients together....
First of all take Sugar and a bit warm melted butter to this add vanilla essence, Rosewater and beat it together the sugar dissolves (do not worry if not completely) for 2 minutes then add the yogurt mix well together with one tbsp of chopped pistachios and immediately add  your sieved dry ingredients to it in batches.
Sometimes the butter might start to harden up maybe because of the cold temperature here, so that's why I said to add yogurt to the end and then the sieved flour immediately in two or three batches as the quantity is very small it won't take too many batches, don't try mix too much, mix in circles and blend it in with no lumps.
Line cupcake trays and cupcake liners and spoon the mixture into them, fill them 3/4th and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or when a toothpick inserted comes out clean
These cupcakes need not be frosted as they are lovely just as they are...

VARIATION:
You can add 2 Eggs with the above-said recipe to make this cupcake with eggs.

The cake turned out perfectly with lots of flavours in it and as you can see it was soft and moist, it would crumble quickly if left for long (maybe 2 days).

I am sending this to
Vardhini's Bake fest #1, Kalyani's 100 day global food festival, Srav's culinary concept - festive food.

The post Yazdi Cup Cakes - Eggless appeared first on My Veg Fare.