Mango Mania…… Mango oats breakfast bars

The weather was awful today, I cannot stop complaining, I woke up to see grey clouds and Rohan’s reluctance to have healthy breakfast. I know that it is really tiring at times to convince the little ones of the importance of having a decent and nutritious breakfast. I have started concocting tales to convince him, by telling that if he wants to aspire to be an astronaut he should eat the brainy nuts ! Walnuts. Or if he wants to be as strong as his favorite hero Spiderman then nothing beats green vegetables.

So this is how I started my day today as most of my days. The stories do work their magic but at the end drills my brain into a sorry state. Soon the midday was getting more and more disastrous and as it rained cats and dogs. I called my hubby to see if lunch sounded like a good idea, but the creepy standard voice mail added fuel to my misery.

Staying in an Asian country, one of the best things I enjoy is pampering myself at a good spa and treating myself with manicure and pedicure, an indulgence with out fear. A great way to escape the blues of the daily grind at nothing costing the wallet.

I grabbed my ipod and a trashy tabloid and rushed to have a relaxing pedicure. Since it was summer, I badly needed a shinny coat and it was so great I wish I stayed there more for than couple of hours. I glanced at my watch it was time to pick my little darling. A great idea flashed into my thoughts on my way back why not bake some bars, My hungry prince will grab anything served after school. I looked at my bookmarked recipes, Mango bar sounded different and also would serve my contribution to WBB , event started by the lovely doctor at Saffron trail, stops by at Escapades this month.

Cool, ovens preheated, trays greased all set, and lucky I had some mangoes in the fruit tray!

Ready set go ……





All you need is 2to 3 ripe mangoes pureed

And some dry ingredients to make the bars

3 tbslp of Butter( original recipe had 6 tbslp)
½ cup brown sugar
1egg
¾ rolled oats
¼ oat meal ( original recipe had called for oat bran)
3/4tsp baking powder
3/4tspcinnamon
¼ tsp salt
2/3 cup walnuts chopped
2/3 cup plain flour

Cook the puree on low fire in a sauce pan for 25 mins. keep stirring it frequently and till the mixture is thickened and moist.

Whisk butter and sugar , add eggs and vanilla.

Shift flours , oats, oat meal, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add the flour mix to egg batter and mix it till smooth.








Grease a pan and spread the batter and gently spread the prepared mango mixture over it.. Top it generously with chopped walnuts and bake for 30 mins at 175’c .







Remove and when cool, cut into bars and store them in an airtight containers.

It was great snack for me too and ideal for Rohan’s snack box.

Posting this recipe to Ruth @ Ruth's Kitchen Experiments for her Bookmarked event.

Hearty chicken loaf and weekend shopping spree

I remember clearly when my hubby had announced our new posting to Beijing two and half years ago, I could only think of shopping and nothing else cropped up my mind. I had heard from my friends that it is a shopper paradise and for a person like me who goes crazy to see the Knick knacks would just love the varieties of porcelain potteries, paintings.

Name anything you would desire under the sky, this is the right place and that too all of it bargain able. Since it is now time to bid adieu to Beijing after such a long sojourn my friends suggested visiting this flea market which is a house for all the antiques and great paintings at throw away prices.

It is truly the equivalent of the Mecca, for all Chinese arts and crafts. Bargaining is the biggest mantra & way to go in Beijing, It is skill which u need to excel at and this knack of yours will help u succeed in getting the price in your own favor.

Last weakened we visited a great place called Panjayuan flea market, this was truly remarkable with almost 3000 shops spread over 48500 square meters under one roof selling all that stuff u love to collect, a must see in Beijing



Hilary Clinton also could not escape paying a visit to this flea market.



We wanted to get some paintings so this was the right place to visit.



We had this quick loaf for brunch and were all set for the weekend shopping spree.

Ingredients

2 chicken breast minced
1 hard boiled egg
3 tablespoon coriander chopped
1 tablespoon mint chopped
1/3 cup bread crumbs
fresh chilies diced
3 tablespoon onion minced
1 tablespoongarlic mince
1 tablespoonb ginger mince
2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 egg beaten
Handful of nuts ( pistachios and blanched almonds )

Method

Mix all the ingredients except the boiled egg and marinate for at least an hour. Grease a loaf pan and fill the mix placing the boiled egg in the middle. Bake at 180’C for one hour in a preheated oven.

Check with skewer test and serve it with salad and spicy coriander chutney.




Coriander chutney

1 bunch coriander leaves chopped
2 fresh green chillies
½ tomato chopped
salt and lemon juice to taste
2 cloves garlic
Blend all the ingredients and thick chutney is ready to go.

This is my contribution to the event hosted Shriya of
spictyandtasty

Hugs and Chocolate kisses for my little prince

It was Rohan’s morning session at school and the date and time had been completely wiped out of my memory. So waiting at the bus stop I was planning to schedule my time when my little monster is away at school. It is freedom for 4 hours & all to myself .Well I do need an occasional break from constantly chattering and concocting tales and answering to his endless barrage of questions.

When the waiting time for the bus got extended and I glanced at my watch, loudly exclaiming “oh it is late”, I gave a call to the bus monitor to find out what was up. Stuck up in the Beijing traffic I reckoned. Oh no!!! I missed my freedom today & my complete plan crumbled like a pack of cards. No more uninterrupted long showers, no going to gym, oh boy!! Now the biggest challenge was to keep him occupied. I hate the idea of him sitting in front of the idiot box with nothing penetrating his mind and just dumb characters dancing their merry tunes.

He was bored & so was I .And I just hinted him why not bake some chocolate kiss. I had bookmarked this recipe. But I made some variation by altering the flour required. Instead I supplemented it with some almond meal as any concerned mom would do for her kids to get more and more nutritious diet.

I have now consciously put my foot down to reduce the amount of butter in the cake and cookies , even if we do sacrifice a bit of the moist and crunchiness’ I have started with a simple measure of reducing the number of tablespoons to just 2 tbslp , If the recipe calls for 5 tslp I reduce it to 3 tbslp. So this how we ended up making our peanut butter cookies.

The whole process was therapeutic and the apple of my eye enjoyed the baking .Later I forced him to take nap, ha ha ha. So we both got what we wanted in the end.

Ingredients

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tbslp butter

1 egg

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon soda

1 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup almond meal

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 pkt Chocolate kisses

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sift flour, and soda. Beat butter until soft.Add the sugar gradually and blend until creamy. Beat in eggs.peanut butter, salt and vanilla . Add the flours to thebatter and mix well.

Make small ball and place them on a greased cookie sheet. Bake them for 8 to 10 min. remove soon and while still hot place the chocolate kisses and press them slightly.
When cool it will automatically settle down.

OR you can Roll the dough into small balls Place them on a greased cookiesheet. Press them flat with a fork (to make the traditional markon the top of the cookie. Bake for about 8 to 10 mins.

Oh some don’t have kisses. But I enjoyed with a cup of Chinese tea while he was taking a siesta.


This kisses are my entry to monthlymingle hosted by Mansi of Funnfood , even started by Meeta of whatsforlunchhoney.

Minty Raspberry Sorbet

Weekends are quite relaxing for me except for taking Rohan for his extra curricular activities. My little prince straight away heads to a Baskin Robbins outlet after he is done with his kick boxing sessions The outlet is just a stones throw distance from his class.

This is in fact one of the precondition that if he does well he gets a treat but this has somehow turned into a routine irrespective of performance he urges me to have a treat.

Well he deserves it, at just 4 year old and the youngest among the team, he is good at kicks and punches.But I have been noticing him that he prefers to have sorbet instead of the creamy ones. This baffled and intrigued me if it was the color or the taste that is drawing his attention.

So I decided to roll up my sleeves to set myself the target to create a fruity sorbet. I had of couple of frozen Raspberry boxes and it worked well for this recipe. The only thing that I skipped is sieving the seeds May be I was too lazy to bother.

It was perfect with a blend of mint and a sprig of mint leaf for the connoisseurs touch. We all loved it and relished it after a lazy weekend lunch.

Ingredients

250 gm Raspberry frozen or fresh

1 /2 cup sugar

1-cup water

¼ chopped mint leaves

2tsp lemon juice

1tsp lemon rind

Puree the Raspberry and blend the lemon juice and rind. Using a strainer sieve the puree and remove the seeds. Add ½ cup f water.

Boil water, sugar and mint to boil and simmer till the sugar is dissolved for 2 mins.

Cool it for 15 to 20 minutes and discard the leaves.

Mix together the puree and the sugar syrup and freeze it for one hour. Remove the mixture and blend it and then freeze it again for couple of more hours before serving it.

Remove and just thaw for 10 mins and it becomes easy scoop.

Scoop and garnish it with mint leaves and relish it!

This is second contribution to Dee of Ammaluskitchen hosting AFAM Rashberry.
Check out other recipe at the round up using this divine fruit.

Avo’s + char grilled veggies+ homemade bread = delectable sandwich

Let me tell you how my taste buds got hooked to this avocado sandwich and mesmerized me.
Few years back I had a golden opportunity to see one more continent in the southern hemisphere, yes South Africa, I was accompanying my husband on business trip for three weeks, It was a perfect holiday, smashing adventure and ample of time to relax.
No cooking and no baking.

Although we were provided with a fantastic serviced apartment still I didn’t bother to carry my lentils and masala box. But believe me we were not starving, On the contrary It was one of our best culinary journeys that we experienced.

With such an astronomical array of worldly cuisine at our fingertips, one finds every excuse to escape the heat of the kitchen in Randburg close to Jo burg.

Breakfast and dinner was always a lavish affair as my hubby wouldn’t dare to compromise his food for work, we both damned care about the calories, but my inner core of the heart would not dare me to gorge on heavy lunches. I was trying to rely more on natural food and more of fruits.

So one day casually strolling I bumped into a delicatessen serving freshly baked bread with a variety of sandwich filling, I came across this wonderful grilled sandwich generously topped with avocado and grilled veggies of ones choice, it was so delicious that I got hooked and I ate it every alternative day for three weeks. I guess u will also love it if u are die hard fan of avocados like me





So lets not waste time dwelling on my past memories. Roll up your sleeves and fire up your oven and have your grill pan ready.





Ingredients

Bread.
1 ½ cup plain flour
1tsp- instant dry yeast
1tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
1 cup warm milk /water.

Filling
1 avocado
Bell peppers- Green, red and yellow
Button mushrooms
Eggplant ( optional)
Tomatoes
Cheese slices
Lemon juice
Salt and pepper for seasoning

Method.

Bread- Mix together flour ,yeast, salt, sugar and gently knead to a soft dough adding warm water. keep kneading for at least 5 mins, more the better.

Keep the dough cover in warm place for 1 ½ hours.After the dough has risen double the size.Punch the excess air and shape the dough in to a desired shape and brush the top of the loaf with milk and sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds (optional) .

Preheat the oven to 180 c and bake for 30 mins. To check if the bread is baked , tap the bottom of the loaf and if u hear a hollow sound that means your bread is done.

Avocado dip or guacamole.
Half the avocado and mash it with fork , Add lemon juice . Season it with salt and pepper.


Grill the veggies in grill pan and season them with salt and pepper.

Slice the bread , toast it and generously top the bread with guacamole, layer the grilled veggies, and cheeseeeeee !!!!!!

Enjoy and savor it.

This is my contribution to the sandwich festival hosted by

Anupama of http://food-n-more.blogspot.com/

WALNUT PIE …….it’s WICKED !!!!!!!!!!

Pie’s and tarts are some of the desserts that I die for, but I need to share these desserts after I bake it, eating the whole pie would make me repent my whole life.I do try to cut down sugar-laden desserts but sometime the taste buds do not agree to compromise so these dessert pops out of my stored database and shake me up!!!!!!!!!

Just sorting my recipe data base, a delicious pie tingle my taste buds, I love pecan pie and I used to feast on pecan pies when we were staying in Sydney where pecan was not a scare nut, unlike here in Beijing where the prices reach the sky! But still that too posed no major hindrance to my determination of making this dessert, I substituted pecans for walnuts and they tasted equally divine.

Well I should have given it a pass but the taste lingered on my mouth and the recipe kept on buzzing in my head for me to try them again! My savior angel kept saying NO!!! NO!!!

I need to come out of this paradox, so finally checked my pantry, WOW! I had a good stock of walnuts. That solved the mystery. And the muscle of my sweet tooth overpowered me and my decision was made on whether I should go for it or not.

Here is the list of ingredients

For the pie crust all you need is

2 cups plain flour
100 gms butter
1tsp salt
2 tbslp sugar.
Chilled water to knead.

And for the filling

2 eggs
1 cup light syrup
70gm Sugar
2tbslp-flour
¼ salt
1tblsp Vanila extract
1 ¼ Chopped walnuts



Step 1- Mix the plain flour , salt, sugar and butter.Rub it till the mixture resembles like bread crumb. Gently add water and knead to a soft dough. Wrap it with a cling wrap and pop it into the refrigerator for at least 15 mins.

Step 2. Beat eggs in a bowl,, add vanilla extract , plain flour, light syrup and salt.

Step 3- Roll the dough into a flat circle enough to fit the pie dish of 21 cm. Grease the bottom of the pie dish and line in with a parchment paper.

Step -4 Gently spread the rolled pastry sheet and tuck it to the edges and remove the excess .

Step-5 Spread the walnuts evenly and pour the blended mix over it.

Step-6 Preheat the oven and bake it for 40 to 45 min at 190’c.



Step -7 Remove and serve cool with a dollop of ice cream or cream

Asparagus stalks blended into a creamy soup

I called my friend to check up on how was her day, She was in a hurry & I wondered what was up !!!!!!

She hung up on me and telling me to give her buzz after 15 minutes,

I waited for the clock to complete exactly 15 mins and buzzed her to find what ‘s keeping her so busy.

She paused and said she was in hurry and so she had to finish cooking dinner. So my next obvious question was what was she cooking for dinner, any clues for me to ignite my creative cooking cells

Asparagus soup!

Wow! Sound’s really delicious

My brain latched on to the signal and a hypothetical strong kick goaded my thinking process, let me also try this out with my variation. I got her recipe and googled to find some variation. Soon I was flooded with so many ideas and varieties of blending these divine stalks into a delicious creamy soup.

Kitchen junkies like me who have tapped into the cooking passion can hardly wait to try new dishes. What better way to beat the blues than with the soup of a few green spears and some toasted bread and a slice of cheddar cheese to accompany it? A glass of red would be overdoing it.

So here goes the asparagus soup!

1 bunch of Asparagus spears
1 medium boiled potato
3 cloves of Garlic minced
½ cup milk
1 tbslp of cream
Dried herbs to garnish
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ tsp ground nutmeg (optional)


Method
1- Trim the woody edges of the asparus.
2- Chop the tip and retain the middle portion
3- Chop the middle stalk into small pieces.
4- Boil the woody edges in 2 cup approx water for 10 mins
5- Drain and retain the stock.
6- Heat oil in a pan and sauté Garlic
7- Add the chopped middle portion.
8- Cover and cook till they are tender
9- When done blend them very well together with boiled potato and adding the stock.
10- Transfer them to a saucepan and add milk.
11- Keep stirring and don’t let it boil
12- Season it with salt, pepper and nutmeg
13- Garnish it with cream and dried herbs
14- Serve hot with bread.
.
PS- Sauté the tips in oil and add them to the soup, they taste excellent!!!!!!!!

This is my contribution to fresh produce of the month hosted by Marta of

http://italianintheus.blogspot.com/

Paneer or protein the Hariyali way !!!!!!!!!

Paneer is packed with protein is a very well known fact!!! Vegetarians in India heavily rely on this curdled milk (Cottage cheese) for their source of protein apart from the varieties of lentils.


Although paneer doesn’t list in my top ten sought after food cravings, but I still sometimes do yearn for this fresh cheese cubes. So I prepare my own from scratch. I love the process of curdling milk and draining the whey, tying up in muslin cloth and the loading it with a heavy object and then to slice it to get the perfect cubes.

These white cubes are a shinning star to many recipes; they add light and sound to salads, mix veggies, or pizzas.

They look perfect and serve as an excellent combination with spinach and green peas. But I prefer them marinated and grilled to perfection the tandoori way.

This recipe is adapted from my Chicken haryali tikka, I have tried this wonderful marination with prawns, mushrooms, paneer and tofu. And they all turn out to be divine. I blend / envelope them with coriander and mint with yogurt and spices rendering it an amazing aroma and a tangy taste.

With fried foods being given a public whipping each day, grilling is the new mantra of the millennium. So here goes the paneer dressed up in the green concoction

Method

Ingredients for mariantion

1 cup coriander
½ cup mint
¼ thick or hung yogurt
2 tbslp Garam masala
2 Green chilies or more
1 tblsp Ginger paste
1 tblsp Garlic paste
lemon juice to taste
Chat masala
Salt to taste

1 red pepper chopped
1 green pepper chopped
1 spanish onion chopped

Paneer cubes 2 cups


Blend the coriander, mint and chilies to a paste . Add yogurt , garam masala, and ginger and garlic paste . Add salt and lemon juice to taste..

Chop the veggies into large square in shape. Marinate paneer and veggies overnight or a minimum of 1 hour.

Heat the grill pan, spray the oil and grill them till done, alternatively grill then in an oven for 10 mins at 230 ‘c.

Sprinkle chat masala and serve them hot with lemon wedges..

KING OF SNACKS-SAMOSA step by step

The ubiquitous Indian Samosa needs no introduction. Do I really need to introduce it to my fellow bloggers !!!!!!!!

It is the king of the snacks in India, people not only from India admire this versatile snack but is also loved and enjoys world wide popularity.

Honestly I started to admire this pyramid shape savory snack when I moved out from India, Perhaps due to the fact that I miss seeing it very often.

It is also a popular snack in Orissa and is widely known as Singhara.Go to any sweet vendor shop around 4 pm, you will see huge pan of oil gearing to deep fry samosas, Lover’s of this snack queuing up to indulge and enjoy this piping hot savory snack dipped with chutney and sauce and drown it with a generous serving of masala tea.

My journey (love affair) with samosa started off in a very interesting and adventurous way. We once had a dinner party at our place in Sydney and each one of my friends decided to prepare a dish of their choice and bring it over.

I volunteered to prepare this tedious snack for 30 adults, Wow!!! I still cannot believe my guts.
I was hell bent to take up the challenge and finally managed to prepare approx 60 Jumbo pieces. ha ha ha ha !!!!!

Thus started my journey and it is now seven years since & I still prepare this delicious snack very often. On some special occasions or when hosting a party , samosa always tops the list and this is very popular amongst my friends.

Method

For the crust

3 cups- Plain flour
1/3 cup – oil
1tsp- salt
cold water to kneed.
Sieve the flour. Add oil and salt rub it with fingers so that it resembles a crumb mixture. Gradually add water to knead into soft dough. Cover and keep aside.

Potato filling

1kg potato (boiled and roughly chopped)
1cup peas fresh or frozen.
1 onion chopped
1tblsp garlic minced
1 tblsp ginger minced

Dry masalas

1tbslp- cumin seeds
1tbslp-Cumin powder
1tbslp-coriander powder
1 tbslp- Turmeric powder
1tbslp- amchoor powder
1 tbslp- Garam masala
1tblsp chilli powder
Salt to taste
¼ cup chopped coriander.
Raisins and cashew nut (optional)

Oil for deep frying

Heat 3 tbslp of oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds . When the seeds start to splutter, add chopped onions. Fry the onions till they are reddish brown. Add garlic and ginger mince.Add the frozen peas and sauté for couple of mins. Cover and cook the peas.Add all the dry masala.Then add the chopped boiled potatoes. Cook the mixture for 5 mins .Add salt to taste and garnish it coriander and nuts.The potato filling is ready.

Assembling
Divide the dough into medium ball depending on the size of the samosa u need.
Roll the ball into a flat circle using a rolling pin.

Cut into half

Fold the dough as shown in the picture

Apply water on the edges and shape them into cones.


Fill the cones with potatoes

Seal them applying water on the edges

Prepare them and arrange them in a plate

Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan. Simmer the fire and deep fry them.

Serve hot with sauce or green chutney as u like.

PS- The rolled chapatti should not be thin otherwise it will have bubbles after deep fry.Make them in advance and store them in the freezer. Deep fry them straight away without thawing.

Here is something special to share!!!!!

I start my day with a cuppa and browsing blogs .Today was a great start and I felt my heart pounding when I checked Sagari’s comment , u have a surprise!!!!!!!! I thank Sagari for honouring me and considering my blog as yummy blog

I feel very elated and I would like to thank my viewers for their precious comments.

Now I have to list my favorite desserts.

Chenna poda
Cheesecake
Warm Orange cake
Carrot cake
Lemon pie

That’s very easy to list down your favorite dessert , but the toughest part is to pass this award only to four bloggers I feel are Yummy It is bit of a challenge because I enjoy each and every blog and their wonderful recipes.

But as per rules I pass this award to

Saswati

Deborah

Kevin

Vaishali