Chocolate Cake

I know it is almost 20 days into 2011 but I had made this chocolate cake for a small get together in my home. I got the original idea from 4th sense cooking and it was huge success. It was the "Perfect" chocolate cake. It was moist inside and it tasted like a small bite of heaven in my mouth. I did not make a single change to the recipe so see no point reposting it. I decorated the top with white chocolate chip and we loved the contrast. Make this and I am sure you will enjoy it.


Sending this to Bookmarked Recipe's hosted by Priya.

Sweet potato buns and Minestrone soup

This months tried and tested event features vegi inspiration. I had a few recipes I had book marked and I decided this was a good time to try these. I picked two of her recipe to make a light dinner. The first one is Sweet potato buns. This was a simple and a healthy bun to prepare. Made very few changs to the original recipe.

Ingredeints:
- 3/4 cup oat flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour ( atta)
- 1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
- 1 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 1 cup mashed cooked, mashed sweet potato
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- red chili flakes to taste
- 2 tbsp oil
- ground cumin and whole pepper, flax seed

Method:
1. Mix the oat and wheat flour with salt.
2. Add the ground cumin, black pepper and flax powder. Mix in your crushed red chili flakes with salt and brown sugar.
3. Now add the salt, and yeast (as I am using bread machine yeast I typically skip the proofing part). Add the sweet potato and now kneed the dough with required water until you get a soft and a pliable dough. I kneeded mine for 10 minutes.
4. Add 11/2 tbsp of olive oil and kneed it more until the dough absorves all the oil. Coat this soft dough with more oil and keep in a clean bowl that is twice the size of the dough.
5. Keep this in a dry place and let it rise for an hour or so. It should double its original size.
6. Now take the dough and seperate them to small balls. The size depends on how big you want your bread to be. Now line these dough balls in a greasd baking sheet. Let it raise for another hour.
7.Meanwhile preheat your oven to a 375 degree. Bake these buns for 20 minutes. Adjust temp to suit your oven.

Serve them hot with a soup which is exactly what I did. I made a minestrone soup to go with these delicious bread which was another recipe from veg inspiration. Here is a link to the original recipe. I had the day to myself and I was planing this soup for dinner. So I used a cast iron pot and simmered it all day. When I served it at night it was very flavorful and the vegi's had become very tender.



Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup white beans (I used lima beans) cooked
- 1 cup dried pasta ( I used shell pasta)
- 1 medium yellow onions
- 2 medium carrots chopped
- 2 stalks of celery chopped
- 3 very large tomatoes
- 1 tsp each of dried basil and oregeno
- 1 tsp red chili flakes
- 1 tsp of black pepper
- 1 tbsp of sun dried tomatoes (I used the one soaked in oil)
- 3 tbsp of tomato paste (I used this because I did not have vegetable stock)
- 1 tbsp oil
- salt to taste

Method:
1. In a large cast iron pot add oil and saute your onions. Once they become translucent add the carrots and celeray.
2. Cook them for a couple of minutes. Now add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and 2 - 3 cups of water, salt and let it simmer. I let this go at a low flame for an hour.
3. Now add your sun dried tomatoes, and all the spices. Add more water if needed. Mix in your boiled beans.
4. If you have time then I suggest you keep the cast iron pot in a low heat and let it cook through out the day. Otherwise try to use a vegetable broth. In spite of not using vegetable stock cooking it in a low flame just made the soup very flavorful.
5. About half an hour befoe serving add the uncooked pasta and cook till the pasta becomes aldente.

Garnish with parsley and serve hot with a som bread or bun. This was a real easy and healthy dinner.

Sending this to Tried and tested hosted by the taste space – steam, bake, boil, shake!

Buttery vegi puffs

I absolutely love these vegetable puffs. I used the puff pastry sheets to makes these and they are real easy to put together. The stuffing is really up to you. I made a mixed vegetable stuffing for this. Here is how I made mine.

Ingredients:
- 1 potato boiled and mashed
- 1 cup mixed vegetables chopped into fine pieces. (carrots, corn, peas, beans etc) cooked till the become soft. I used my microwave oven
- 1 tsp garam masala powder
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp chili powder (adjust to taste)
- 1 small piece ginger grated
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 tsp jeera
- 1 pack puff pastry sheets thawed

Method
1. Pre-heat oven to 420F. Remove your puff pastry sheets from the freezer an hour before you plan to make these and thaw them in your refrigerator. If you forget it then defrost the sheets in your microwave oven.
2. In a pan heat oil and add the jeera and turmeric. Add ginger, onions and sauté till the onions become golden brown. Add your garam masala and chili powder salt and mix it well.
3. Now add the cooked vegetables and mashed potato. Turn down the heat and cook till they all blend together. You want your vegetables to be a little bit mushy. Set it aside and let the vegetables cool down a bit.
4. The puff pastry sheets comes as two sheets. When you open them up you should be able to see three sheets in them. Take two of the sheets. Lay one sheet down. Spoon the vegetable through out the sheet leaving some space in the edges. Now top it with the second sheet and press the sides.
5. Cut them to the size you like and press the other two sides together.
6. Spray some cooking oil in a glass baking dish and lay these puffs in a row. Spray some oil on the top and bake it for 20 minutes or till it becomes golden brown turning them over at around 10 minutes .

Serve them hot with ketchup of pickles. Perfect to have it with a hot cup of tea.

It is important to use a glass dish as the metal dish turns the puff brown. Glass dish spreads the heat evenly so it cooks the puff to a beautiful golden brown.

Carrot Cake

I always try to incorporate some vegetable in the cakes and the muffins I bake. This way when my toddler has the cake I feel happy that he has had some vegetable. I also look for low fat recipes so that I can also have a piece guilt-free. So when I came across this carrot cake recipe at Pavithra's site "Binge on Veg", I was immediately hooked on to it. I tried the cake and it came out so moist and soft. Give it a try and I am sure you will enjoy it. For original recipe click here.

Ingredients

- 1 cup All Purpose Flour
- 3/4 cup Sugar
- 2 nos Egg
- 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil (I used Mazola oil)
- 1/4 tsp Baking soda
- 3/4 tsp Baking soda
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 cup Grated Carrot

Method

1. Sieve the dry ingredients together in a bowl. I was so lazy I just mixed it with a spatula.
2. Blend the eggs in a bowl. Then add the sugar and oil and blend it until it becomes light yellow color
3. Add the dry ingredients slowly to the wet ingredients and mix it together
4. Add the grated carrot to the batter and mix it toger
5. Meanwhile preheat oven to 360 F. Grease a baking dish.
6. Pour the batter in the baking dish and bake it for 25- 30 min.
7. Check if it has baked by inserting a tooth pick in the cake.
8. Let it cool and slice the cake.

The cake is so delicious and very easy to make.

Quinoa Chocolate Zucchini muffins

I wanted to bake something with quinoa. I had some sorry looking zucchini in my fridge and so I decided to try out a vegan version of zucchini bread. I hunted down some zucchini bread recipe's but my only issues with them were that they used too much oil. I try to cook with as little oil as possible so I started to modify the recipe and ended up with a pretty tasty version. Here is the link to my original inspiration. I used apple sauce instead of oil or eggs.



Ingredients :
(Yields 18 muffins if you bake in the standard 12 muffin pan)
- 1 cup qunioa flour
- 1 cup flour (I used 1/2 all purpose and 1/2 whole wheat flour)
- 2 cups apple sauce (As there are no eggs or butter you need quite a bit of apple sauce)
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar (If you don't want your bread too sweet then half cup will do)
- 1/2 cup walnuts (optional - they give a nice crunch to the muffin)
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 2 tbs unsweetened coco powder
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 2 cups shredded zucchini

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350F degree
2. In a bowl mix all the ingredients until they are all incorporated. If you find your zucchini is not moist then add a little bit more apple sauce.
3. Now fill the muffin tin to about 2/3rd and bake them for 20 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean when you insert it in the middle,

Serve them warm with a hot cup of tea.

Note: If you don't have quinoa flour just take the 3/4 th cup whole qunioa and grind it in a mixer till it becomes a smooth powder. If you don't have chocolate chip then increase your coco powder.

This one goes to Whole Grain Baking Event – Quinoa hosted by Maduram's eggless cooking and to Bake-off event at Versatile Kitchen.

Eggless banana muffin

I love baking muffins. My 2 year old son likes muffins and by baking it for him at home I can be sure he eats healthy stuff. We had lot of over ripe banana sitting in the counter. I was debating between banana bread or banana muffin. When I was browsing I saw Saffron hut blog and there was a very easy recipe for a banana muffin. I made some minor changes and tried it out. The muffins are so easy to make and it tastes wonderful. Try it out. Here is the link to the original recipe.

Ingredients

-1 cup all purpose flour
-1/2 cup Whole wheat pastry flour
-4 ripe bananas (blended this nicely)
-3/4 cup sugar
-1/3 cup melted butter (unsalted)
-1 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 tsp Vanilla essence

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375 degree F.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients(flour,baking soda,baking powder,salt) in a bowl.
3. Melt the butter in a microwave. Add sugar,mashed banana,vanilla essence and mix it properly
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix it with a spoon. Don't over mix the muffin batter.
5. Pour the mixture in a muffin pan. This makes 12 muffins.
6. Bake it for 20 min or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

Enjoy yummy muffins for breakfast or as a snack with your tea.

This goes to the Bake-off event at Versatile Kitchen

Corn Muffins with jalapeño and cheddar cheese and Vegetarian Chili

We had a very hearty chili and corn muffin for our lunch. It was easy to put together and it tasted great. Here is the recipe..

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup corn meal
- 1 egg
- 1 cup milk (I used low fat milk)
- 1/8 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 jalapeño pepper finely chopped (adjust to taste)
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/8 cup oil

Method:
1. Mix all the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl beat the egg well with milk and oil.
2. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir till they are all well combined.
3. Finely chop the jalapeño pepper and add it to the corn bread mixture. Stir in the cheddar cheese.
4. Grease your muffin tins. Pour the batter so the tins are half full. Bake in a 400F oven for 20-25 minutes. Ovens vary in heat so check it after 18 minutes.

Serve it hot with chili.

Ingredients for Chili:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 medium onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 3 bell peppers (any color is fine), chopped
- 2 jalapeño peppers, chopped
- 2 tomatoes
- 1/4 cup chili powder
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
- 2 cups pinto beans boiled
- 2 fresh corn boiled and kernels removed

Method:
1. In a croak pot add oil and the onions. Sauté till the onions become transparent.
2. Add the bell pepper, jalapeño and sauté for a few minutes.
3. Now add the tomato and let it boil till they become tender. Add all the spices (cumin powder, chili powder, pepper powder, oregano, salt) and beans. Pour 3 to 4 cups of water and reduce the heat to simmer.
4. After it has cooked for at least 45 minutes add the fresh corn. Now allow it to boil for another 20-30 minutes. The more it simmers the better it tastes. So if you start it in the morning reduce the heat and let it simmer the whole morning.

Serve it with some fresh cheddar cheese and tortilla chips on the side. You can dip the corn muffin and eat the soup with it. It is definitely a satisfying lunch or dinner.

Vegan Banana Muffin

You can put together this muffin in minutes and it tastes really good.



Ingredients:
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 all purpose flour (or) bread flour
- 1/2 tsp each baking powder and baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 4 tbsp apple sauce
- 2 ripe bananas
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- 3/4 cup water

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. Sieve both flour's in a bowl. Add the baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt to the mixture.
3. Mash the ripe banana to a puree. Add it to the flour mixture. Mix in apple sauce and slowly add water and mix it well. Add in the walnuts to this mixture.
4. Spray some oil onto the muffin tin. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake it for about 20 minutes. Every oven is different and so keep an eye on it. If you insert a toothpick and they come out clear then you know it is done.

Enjoy these muffins when they are hot. If you have it the next day heat it in a microwave for a few seconds before you eat it.

Healthy Muffin

I tried this muffin after I saw Madhuram's website.I modified it a little bit as I did not have all the ingredients. The muffin is very tasty and healthy too. Check out the original recipe here.

Dry Ingredients:

-1 cup All Purpose Flour
-1 cupOld fashioned oats (grind it into fine powder)
-2 tsp Baking Soda
-1 and 1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
-1/2 teaspoon Salt
-1 cup Brown Sugar, packed (light brown)
-Carrots, grated 1 medium size
-Apple, grated 2 medium size
-1/2 cup Raisins 1/2 cup
-1 cup Walnuts chopped
-Dried fruits (like apricots etc) handful

Wet Ingredients:

-1/4 cup Vegetable oil 1/4 cup
-1/2 cup Unsweetened Applesauce (1 small tub)
-1/4 cup Water
-1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Method


1. Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Line required muffin tins with paper liners or grease it with a non stick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients and make a well in the center.
3. Similarly combine together the wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Just stir it well with a whisk.
4. Pour the wet mixture of the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Do not over-mix.
5. Spoon the batter into prepared muffin tins.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 18 -20 minutes. Test it with tooth pick and see if it comes out clean. Let the muffins cool in a cooling rack.

Sending this lovely recipe to the Mother Day's event hosted by
Panch Pakwan

Masala Bun

This is a nice spicy bun that is perfect for a rainy day. Inspiration for this bun came from here. Switched the recipe a bit to make it more whole wheat thus making it healthy. This is not your typical melt in your mouth white bun. Because of the wheat flour it definitely has a bit to it but it still tastes really good.



Ingredients for bun:
- 1 cup whole wheat Flour
- 1/2 cup bread flour (All purpose should work too)
- 1/2 tsp oil
- 2 tsp Bread Machine Yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup warm water - Use more if the dough is not sticky
- 1/4 cup warm Milk
- 1 tbsp flax seeds or sunflower seeds

For stuffing:
- 2 cups of mixed vegetables finely chopped. I used carrots, beetroot, cauliflower, peas, beans and onions.
- 1 boiled potato
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp oil

Method for the bun:
1. Mix all the ingredients together to form a sticky dough. I used bread machine yeast so I was able to skip the proofing of the yeast. Once you get the dough dust more flour on a flat surface and start kneading the bread. You will need to do this for at least 8-10 minutes.
2. Now grease a bowl (make sure the bowl is at least double the size of the dough) and place the soft kneaded dough in it and set it to rise. It should double in size.

Method for stuffing:
1. In a pan add oil and onions. Once it is translucent add the remaining vegetables, salt, chili powder and cumin powder.
2. Cook till the vegetables become soft. Do not add too much water as we need a dry stuffing.
3. Mash in the potato. Mix them all together and let it cool. You can add other masala according to your taste.

Putting it together:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degree F. Punch down the dough and make golf size balls. Make small balls of the vegetable mixture too.
2. Now spread the dough and place the vegetable ball in the center. Pinch the ends together and roll them to form a ball with the stuffing inside. Make sure the stuffing does not ooze out.
3. Flatten them slightly and brush it with water. Sprinkle the flax seeds or sunflower seeds.
4. Line them up in a cookie sheet and let it rise for another 30 to 50 minutes. Because of the wheat flour it will not rise too much but it should still become bigger then the original size.
5. Now bake them in the oven for 15 minutes. Keep checking to make sure it is golden brown. Mine is an old oven so it takes a little bit longer.
6. Cool it and serve it hot with ketchup.

It is a nice variation to the normal white bun.

Off this goes to the Bake-off event at Versatile Kitchen

Divine Pav Bun

If you want soft, buttery melt in your mouth buns for your pav baji or vada pav then this is the recipe for you. The original idea came from here. There is a good step by step presentation in her site. I made some changes to the recipe to make it easier for me. Try it and you will not be disappointed.



Buns with Pav Baji


Ingredients:
- 3 cups bread flour plus about 1/4 cup for dusting and kneading
- 2 1/4 tsp active yeast - I used the bread machine yeast. See below for an explanation of the various yeast available in the market.
- 1 1/4 cup lukewarm milk
- 1 tbsp margarine or butter
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp oil

Method:

1. In a bowl add the bread flour, salt, sugar butter and yeast. Now slowly add the milk and start mixing it. The dough should be sticky. If it is not mixed well add up to 1/4 cup lukewarm water to it.
2. Once all the ingredients are mixed well sprinkle some flour and dump the dough and start kneading. You will need to knead it at least for 15 minutes. If the dough gets sticky then keep dusting it with more flour.
3. Now in a bowl (make sure the bowl is at least double the size of the dough) add a teaspoon of oil and rub it so that the bowl is well coated. Now place the dough in the bowl, cover it and place it in a warm place.
4. In about 2 hours your dough should have raised and would be double the size.
5. Now remove the dough and punch it down. Separate the dough into 12 equal size balls. Place it in a cookie sheet leaving about 2 inch space in between each ball.
6. Cover this with a wet paper towel and let it rise again. This should take about 30- 45 minutes. Meanwhile start pre-heating the oven at 350F.
7. Remove the paper towel and place the cookie sheet in the oven and bake it for 25-30 minutes. You will see the top turning a golden brown.
8. Remove from the oven and let it cool for 10-15 minutes. You should be able to remove it from the sheet without it sticking to the bottom.

There you have the softest and melt in your mouth buns.

Notes: A little explanation about various yeast if you are a first time baker can be found here. I have a jar of bread machine yeast with me and when a recipe calls for a packet of active yeast I just use 2 1/4 teaspoon of the bread machine yeast. The only difference is I do not proof the yeast. Typically to proof active dry yeast you sprinkle the yeast in warm water and a pinch of salt. Let it stand for 10-15 minutes. If the liquid becomes bubbly and creamy then you know your yeast is alive else it is best you don't use it.

Kneading bread - This is also an important step in bread making. Here is a nice video that shows how to knead a bread.

This one goes to the Bake-off event at Versatile Kitchen

Eggless BlueBerry muffin

As my toddler loves muffins, I love trying out new recipes. Renu's Eggless Blueberry muffin seemed very easy and it was also eggless. I tried the recipe and it was very tasty.Instead of 2 cups of whole wheat flour I added 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour and 1 cup of all purpose flour. Here is the link to the original recipe.

Ingredients

All Purpose Flour - 1 cup
Whole wheat pastry Flour - 1 Cup
Brown or white sugar - 1 cup
Buttermilk [low fat] - 1 cup
Vegetable oil - 1/2 cup
Baking powder - 1 and 1/4 tsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Walnuts -handful

Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
Salt - pinch
Blueberry (dried blueberries from costco)- 1 cup

Method 
Pre- heat oven at 350 degree Fahrenheit and grease the muffin pan or line with muffin liners and keep it aside
Sieve all dry ingredients (including sugar) at least 2 times and keep it aside (mixing sugar with flour prevents the flour from lumping when combined with wet ingredients)
In a separate bowl blend all the wet ingredients at medium speed
In a separate bowl add walnuts and blueberries and 1 tsp of flour. Mix it so that the blue berries and walnuts are covered with flour. This prevents the blueberries from sinking into the muffin.
Add the wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix gently with a spatula. Do not overmix the batter. Fold in the blueberries and spoon the batter in the muffin tray and bake for 25 minutes or until  inserted toothpick comes out clean

Guilt Free Banana Bread

I wanted to make a whole wheat bread. Had a few over ripe banana's and so I decided to try this. After reading the comments I tweaked the recipe a little. I replaced butter with apple sauce to make it healthy.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 3/4 cup apple sauce
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 4 ripe big bananas mashed
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 3/4 cup walnuts chopped

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree. Grease a loaf pan with butter or cooking spray.
2. In a bowl mix apple sauce, brown sugar, sugar, baking soda, salt and vanilla essence until it becomes smooth.
3. Mix in the banana's and fold it into the batter.
4. Now add the whole wheat flour and stir until smooth.
5. Finally add the walnuts and mix it in. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake it for 50 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 degree, cover the loaf with foil and bake it for another 10 minutes.
6. Remove it from the oven and let it cool for at least 30 minutes before you slice them.

Tastes awesome with hot tea or coffee.

This goes to show me the whole grain hosted by Dil Se