Power ingredients in a parantha

Tags

besan, breads, breakfast, fengureek, Friday Feast, gram flour, indian, methi, palak, ragi, recipe, soya, soya flour, spinach, whole wheat

I absolutely heart one pot or rather one dish meals… yes I love cooking and there are times when I have made a 5-course meal for many people but there are times when I dont want to do anything and make one item which will be a complete balance meal… pulaos, khichdis, pastas are the usual that come to mind when we talk about one dish meal but what about paranthas? There are so many things we can do to a parantha and come up with a yummy and fully balanced meal in itself.

Couple of weeks back in such a frame of mind… I made this…. it tasted absolutely divine and with a bowl of curd and some salad.. a meal in itself couldnt have been healthier

What I used

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup ragi flour
• 1/2 soya flour
• 1/2 gram flour
• 1 bunch methi leaves pureed
• 1 bunch spinach leaves chopped finely
• 1 small onion chopped finely
• 1 tsp oil for kneading
• 1/2 tsp ajwain
• 1/2 cup curd (sigh how i missed it when i typed it first)
• salt and chilli powder (u can also use green chillies, I avoided because of ojas)

How I made

• Mix together all ingredients and knead to make a soft chapati dough
• Take a ball to make paranthas… roll into a chapathi size and then spread oil on top and roll in it a spiral
• Roll again and u will get enough lachas in the parantha 🙂 u can ofcourse make paranthas as u choose 🙂 and enjoy a power packed meal

Wheat and ragi provide the cereals, gram flour and soya the pulses and hence the protien… methi and spinach the veggies and that too green veggies… some curd added to the doufh and then a little curd to eat along for dairy products and its as balanced as it can get.

Ok swaram promise this is the last one and then in the weekend I will be quiet no posts 😉

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Whole Wheat Choco Chip Cookies

Tags

atta, baking, choco chip, chocolate, cookies, Friday Feast, recipe, whole wheat

I love to bake, my son loves to eat baked goodies but still there are times when he has to demand for cookies… 🙂 As these was mainly for him I didnt really want to do anything with maida and then I had this brain wave of making up a recipe myself… I did some browsing and thought some and came up with whole wheat choco chip cookies… and they were yummy…. the thin ones that I made crisp as they should have been and the round thick ones soft and chewy…

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat flour (atta)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 25 ml chilled milk
• 20 – 35 gm choco chips (depending on whether u going to make it round or shape them)

Method

• Mix oil and sugar together till it becomes light and fluffy
• Mix whole wheat flour, cinnamon powder and baking powder together
• Mix the oil-sugar mixture and milk to the flour to knead a soft dough.
• Add the choco chips in it
• Keep aside for 10 minutes
• Shape or roll into rounds as u want
• Bake for about 9-12 at about 160-180 degrees depending upon the thickness of the cookie

As I was making them for Ojas I shaped them into various shapes, animals, ginger bread boy, aeroplane, car…

And there was Ojas itself as a highlight

And the entire batch of about 20 cookies got over in under an hour 🙂

Apple Raisin Cake

Tags

apple, baking, cake, Friday Feast, maida, raisin, recpie, whole wheat

Baking was off from quite sometime in our household because of the neck but now from sometime Ojas wants the baked goodies with a vengeance… as if he wants to make up for the missed time 🙂

I baked honey raisin cake from Tara’s blog in a loaf tin and we had it all for breakfast… ojas with jam, N with honey and me as it is 🙂

And as soon as that got over, he started the story yet again “mumma make cake” sigh… So I made Apple Raisin cake… I love fruit cakes… they are moist, soft and u dont need to put in too much sugar…

All of us really enjoyed this cake (yeah I am so guilty of eating everything under the sun since the workout has stopped due to the neck, gosh… someone please stop me)

Ingredients

• 3 apples
• 1 cup maida
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder

Method

• Cut the apple and grind them to a paste with the peel , add the oil and milk while grinding
• Add sugar to the apple and mix well
• Add the vanilla essence
• Add one egg at a time mixing well
• Mix the flours and baking powder together and sift
• Add half the flour mixture to the apple egg paste and mix, then add the rest of the half and mix well… dont over mix
• Add the raisins, mix gently
• Bake for about 40 mins at 175C or till the cake its done

I was surprised at how the apple peel turned green after baking… does it happen with everyone or did it happen with me only

Recipe Adapted from Aayi’s Recipe. Check the original too, I have replaced the maida with half maida and half atta, reduced the oil and put some milk. Also reduced the amount of sugar which worked very well as my apples were really sweet. Thanks Shilpa for the brilliant recipe

Apricot Orange Cookies

Tags

apricot, baking, cookies, Friday Feast, kids eats, recipe, whole wheat

These days Ojas is in love with anything which is baking… how much ever fussy eater he be if something has come out of the oven he eats it 😀 and hence I am constantly on the look out for healthy baking recipes. After I made the Oat Bran Muffins, I tried Apricot Orange cookies this time

I had seen this recipe in Tarla Dalal’s Growing Kids cook book (which BTW has great recipes) and made some minor changes to the recipe while making it. There were about 20 medium size cookies which came out and were over in a day 🙂

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour (I used atta)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp soda-bi-carb (I skipped this and put more baking powder)
• 2 tbsp dried chopped apricots (the recipe asks for 1.5 tbsp and also used kummani… I used the orange apricots and increased the quantity a little)
• 1 1/2 tbsp chopped nuts (the original recipe asks for only cashwenuts but I used a mix of cashew, walnuts and almonds)
• 2 tbsp orange flavored drink mix (I used Kissan sqaush)
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp butter for greasing

Method

• Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl and whisk to get a soft dough
• Mould into medium sized balls, flatten and make a cross sign on the top with a knifefri
• Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160 C for 20 minutes or till the cookies are golden brown in colour
• Enjoy warm or eat after cooling
• Can be stored for a long time only if they last 😀

I read about Cakes and Cookies Event at HomeCooked’s blog and that inspired me to send this post to the same event… This will be probably one of the first time I am sending a recipe to an event and ofcourse I am nervous 😉

Guilt free baking and eating

Tags

baking, dessert, fiber rich, Friday Feast, muffins, NaBloPoMo, oat bran, recipe, sweet tooth, whole wheat

I have found a new die hard fan of my baking… my dear darling son 🙂 every now and then he comes and tell me mumma please oven make something… and he is happy with whatever I make muffins, cake, cookies… So I have been thinking of baking something which feels healthy too and then while browsing I chanced upon this recipe of  Oat Bran Muffins at joyofbaking (BTW which is a site I adore) and what a delightful recipe it is….Healthy to the core… it has whole wheat, oat bran, for sugar it uses honey and brown sugar instead of the processed white sugar… not too much oil… hell I can eat while dieting also 😀 and it tastes super yummy too

Ingredients

• 1 cup (130 grams) whole wheat flour
• 1 cup (150 grams) oat bran
• 1/3 cup (75 grams) light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest (outer skin of orange)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) honey
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla essence
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 1/4 cup (300 ml) milk
• 1/2 cup (70 grams) raisins

Method

• In a large bowl, stir together the flour, oat bran, sugar, baking powder(the original recipe also asks for baking soda which I skipped, for some reason I have a great dislike for soda) , salt, ground cinnamon, and orange zest.

• In another bowl whisk together the lightly beaten egg, honey, vanilla essence, oil, and milk.

• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir just until moistened. Gently stir in the raisins. (The batter will be quite thin.)

• Pour or ladle the batter to fill the muffin cups, and bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 16 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.

Go enjoy guiltlessly, the muffin has such a nice & different flavor to it… a little nutty I would say with all the fibre of oat bran and whole wheat

A day for Baking

Tags

banana, bread, choclate chip, Friday Feast, muffins, pasta, recipe, vegetables, veggies, whole wheat

Myself, N and Ojas all of us love Pasta, and this is the simplest and frankly the most delicious pasta recpie… Works well with almost all pastas…  I have tried it with Frafalle, Penne, Fussili, Alphabet Pasta, the shells and it tastes well with everythin… ofcourse the colored alphabets are Ojas’s favorite are colored alphabets 😀

Ingredients

• 1 cup pasta (I use whole wheat/semolina)
• 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1 cup chopped and blanched veggies (cabbage, capsicum, carrot, baby corn or whatever u like) also if u like ur veggies crisp skip the blanching I blanch more for Ojas
• 1 onion chopped
• handful of fresh oregano, thyme and basil (incase fresh is not there u can use dried variety)
• Red chilli flakes and salt to taste
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp butter

Method

• Boil pasta as per instructions
• Heat olive oil and butter in a pan
• Add the herbs and onions and fry for 3-4 minute, the onions wont really turn brown because of olive oil and butter
• Add the veggies and stir fry for 3-6 minutes depending on whether u blanched ur veggies or not
• Add salt and red chilli flakes
• Fry for another 2-3 minutes
• Transfer to a baking dish, sprinkle the grated cheese
• Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for about 5 mins till the cheese is nicely melted
• Serve hot

I usually take out my portion, spice it up with more chilli flakes, Tabasco before baking the rest…

I was in a baking mode today and also made yummy Banana muffins courtesy the Baking Buddies, I modified her recipe a little though…. instead of all maida… I made it 3/4 whole wheat flour and 1/4 maida and increased the eggs to 2… the result was healthier and still yummy muffins…

I also experimented with bread the first time in life… again with Mandy’s recipe… but what a disaster it was…Its edible but doesnt have the bread texture at all… My bread is shouting for help Mandy…. feel there was some problem with the way I handled yeast or the yeast I bought because the dough didnt raise at all even after keeping for 4 hours… we have to use dry yeast only na? Mandy, Smitha help please here…