Category: Any Time Foods

Cocoa Cranberry Pancakes

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Pancakes are excellent treats in the mornings. These are great for lunchbox as well. The flavor can be adjusted to your liking. The book in which I found the recipe gave me many to choose from and my son asked me to make cocoa & cranberry  pancakes from the lot. 

So the recipe below is the base recipe. You can play around and add your own flavors. Thanks to the Cooking from Cookbook event, I am referring a lot more to my cookbooks than the internet. 

Read below for the recipe!
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Recipe source: The Perfect Egg Book

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 cup buttermilk 
  • 2 tablespoons melted butter or oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
  • Melted butter for the pan

For cocoa cranberry pancakes, add 1/3 cup cocoa powder to the dry ingredients. Gently stir in 1 cup dried cranberries into the batter before preparing the pancakes. 

Method:

  1. Whisk the dry ingredients together. 
  2. Stir in the eggs, melted butter, buttermilk, vanilla extract. Mix gently until you don’t see any more dry lumps. Add the cranberries and fold it in. 
  3. Heat melted butter in a skillet and add 1/4 cup of batter to it. Cook the pancakes and flip it over to cook the top side too. Finish off the rest of the batter, adding butter to the pan as needed. Recipe serves two. 

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This goes to Cooking from Cookbook Challenge Group.
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Mango Popsicle

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BM # 77: Week 1, Day 1
Theme : Vegan Sweets
Recipe:  Mango popsicle

My well filled draft folder contains a tons of bakes, but unfortunately not even a single vegan bake that I could use for this week’s Blogging Marathon theme. So, just like last month, I had to do some last minute cooking.

The recipe here actually has no cooking involved, but its an extremely delicious one and satisfies your sweet buds. Mangoes and summer has a beautiful relation, one that my family really enjoys. Unfortunately, except for a few days here and there, the weather here is still on the chilly side. But with the knowledge that good weather is just around the corner definitely makes everything  better.

Along with the mangoes, I used homemade strawberry jam for the popsicle. I do’t know whether that was a good move. The strawberry jam consists only the fruit and sugar, so that’s vegan too. But the jam took a lot more time to freeze than the mangoes and started melting a lot before too. We were able to enjoy the popsicle without a melt down, but the next time I am using jam, I would blend it along with the fruit than use it as a stand alone layer.

So enjoy this wonderful vegan summer treat. Check out the simple, but delicious recipe below.

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Ingredients:

  • 1 big mango
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • strawberry jam, optional
  • water

Method:

  1. Blend mango with sugar to get a smooth puree. Add water if needed to get a smooth consistency.
  2. Fill a use and throw plastic/paper cup or a popsicle mold with the puree, adding strawberry jam in between to provide an additional flavor and color.
  3. Freeze overnight. Done!

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Ragi puffs chivda

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BM # 73: Week 4, Day 1
Theme : Ingredient swap
Recipe: Ragi puffs chivda

When I met Pavani,Usha and Mireille last month, we exchanged the ingredients for this week’s theme. I picked three ingredients but the funny fact was that I couldn’t guess any of it. Things looked familiar, but spotting them right away would have been impossible for me. If not for Mireille and Usha, I would have spent a lot of time sniffing and tasting and googling about those. :D. Anyway, thanks to my smarter friends, I was able to find out what was in each bag. 

Last and final ingredient for the theme is Ragi puffs. If I am guessing right, these are meant to be eaten as such for a crunchy snack, the concept is same as rice puffs or pori/murmura. I used them in a chivda mix along with oats, rice flakes and cereal. The usual elements of chivda like peanuts and roasted gram are there to add to the crunchy taste. 

Read on for the recipe. 

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This post goes to Blogging Marathon#73. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this month. 

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Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup oats
  • 1/3 cup rice flakes/poha
  • 3 tablespoons oil, divided
  • 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
  • a good pinch of asafoetida/hing
  • 1/4 cup peanuts/ broken cashews
  • 2 tablespoon pottu kadalai/roasted chana dal
  • 1 green and red chilli each
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
  • salt as needed
  • 1/2 cup ragi puffs
  • 1/3 cup corn flakes or cereal of your choice – Special K, vanilla almond here

Method:

  1. In a heated pan, dry roast the oats first. Once its toasted, transfer it to a medium to big bowl. We will use the bowl for mixing everything together.
  2. Now, toast the rice puffs or rice flakes in the same pan. Once toasted, add it to the oats mix. Once the rice flakes are done, toast the ragi puffs next and add it to the bowl. Do not toast the cereal. It should be added directly to the chivda.
  3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Tip in the green and red chillies and hing. Follow it up with peanuts and roasted chana. Keep an eye on the nuts and saute with a spoon to prevent it from burning. Add the turmeric powder and chilli powder along with salt as needed.
  4. Now add this mix to the big bowl with oats and poha and ragi puffs. Add the Special K cereal as well. Add two more tablespoons of oil to prevent it from drying out. Mix everything well carefully. Transfer to an airtight container.

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Guacamole

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BM # 72; Week 1, Day 2
Theme : Dips, spreads and chutneys
Recipe : Guacamole

Given the fact that I had waited until the last minute for this week’s blogging and also that the theme was an easy one, I decided to prepare all the three recipes on the same day so that I can get the photo shoot done in a single session. That way I didn’t have to brave the cold outside three times.

The good part about the winter here is that its sunny even when its cold. In UK, the sun is overcast most of the time because of the frequent rains. The winter starts getting really gray and gloomy after sometime. But here its sunny, so its hard to be depressed even if its cold. Some silver lining, right?

Coming to the recipe here, its Guacamole. I love avocado and this is one fine way to enjoy it. The recipe is very simple with a few ingredients. Mash avocados, add a few things and tada…dish (dip) ready! We had it as a part of burrito bowl yesterday.

Read on for the recipe.
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Recipe source: All recipes

Ingredients:

  • 2 avocados
  • juice from 1/2 lemon
  • salt
  • pinch cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 red onion, chopped finely
  • 1 tomato, chopped very finely

Method:

  1. Mash the flesh of the avocados with salt and lemon juice using a fork. Add the cayenne pepper, finely chopped onion and tomatoes. Mix with a spoon. Serve immediately or refrigerate until the time of serving.

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Sriracha fry sauce

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BM # 72
Week 1, Day 1
Theme : Dips, spreads and chutneys

If passion can make people conquer mountains and swim through oceans, I should at least be able to brave the cold weather outside to get some good pictures for this week’s blogging, rt? So that’s what happened today.

To begin with, my house doesn’t receive a good amount of sunlight. And on top of that, I can’t seem to manipulate the little light that I get. With the winter season, clicking pictures is becoming more and more of a difficult task.

So today, I did what I have been doing all this while before winter disrupted it. I stepped into the balcony, set everything up for the photo shoot, clicked pictures and then came back inside. It doesn’t seem like much, but imagine doing that when its -14 Celsius outside. Yes, there is a minus there. My hands and legs were numb within the couple of minutes I was out there.

It snowed two days back, so it was a lot brighter. Snow reflects light and everything is a lot brighter. The pictures would have been a lot better in more capable hands, but right now, I will take what I got. So adventure of the day : 3 posts done, braved the weather to click pictures, edited and finally, posting on time…..Can someone give a medal, please :D?

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Recipe source: Life, a little brighter 

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 3 tablespoon ketchup
  • 1 teaspoon sriracha
  • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  • a pinch of paprika
  • salt, pepper, per taste

Method:

  1. Mix everything together in a bowl using a whisk until everything is well combined. Taste test, adjust seasonings if you need to. Serve with chips or fries.

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Fry sauce is a very simple dip, made with mayonnaise and ketchup. Some people add salt, pepper and vinegar to it. And this version has sriracha as well.It pairs well with French fries, chips and has a tangy, sweet and spicy twist to it.

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Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#72

Chocolate Strawberry Chia Pudding

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BM # 70

Week 2, Day 3

Theme :Fruit based Recipes 

One look at Sapana’s chia pudding recipe yesterday and I knew what I had to make for Day 3. My son is not a fan of chia seeds when added to milkshakes, but I thought its time to assess his reaction to puddings. The kid really enjoyed and finished off two (mini) servings happily. It did help that the flavor was chocolate with a lavish layer of strawberry preserve in between.

Me and my camera are still in the readjusting phase, so hopefully the pictures will start getting better in a few weeks. Until then, this is how its going to be..It could be worse, so I am ok with these for now. Read on for the recipe and my determination to finish off my Costco hot chocolate packets.

This post goes to Blogging Marathon# 70. Check out this page to see posts from other participating bloggers.

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Recipe Inspiration : Sapana’s blog

Makes 4 mini servings

Ingredients:

For chocolate layer 

  • 2 tablespoon chia seeds
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 packet hot chocolate

For strawberry layer

  • 2 tablespoon chia seeds
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 small cup of strawberry yogurt

To assemble

  • chocolate chia pudding
  • 4 teaspoons strawberry preserve
  • strawberry chia pudding
  • a few slices of banana for topping

Method:

  1. Mix everything for the chocolate layer in a bowl with room to expand.
  2. Mix the strawberry layer in a separate pan. Refrigerate both overnight.
  3. The next morning, layer four small glasses with a layer of strawberry preserve in between and serve.

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Tortilla egg wrap

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The best way to start a day is to start it simple. Especially if you are like me and not a morning person at all, you need to keep things at an elementary level till you get out of the zombie mode. So on some weekends, instead of doing something elaborate, I take out the tawa, some eggs, a pack of tortillas or ready-made chapatis and get to work. It sometimes makes its way into my son’s lunch box as well.

The good thing about my family is that they are with me when I keep breakfast minimal. A roll with a dash of sriracha is preferred over an idli-sambar-chutney combo. Since my husband has never read a single post in this place, he cannot contradict me :D.

This recipe is an improvisation of bread omelette. It’s from a friend and made it directly to my cookbook. I call it  my ‘try these recipes to keep your life lazy’ book.

Enjoy the recipe as it goes to the Cooking from Cookbook Challenge. Please check out this page for more details about the event.

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Break an egg and let it cook until set. Season with salt and pepper.

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Add a tortilla on top. I press a little bit so that the egg yolks break. Let it cook for a few moments.

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Flip over and cook the other side of the tortilla as well.

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Add some sriracha sauce or hot sauce of your choice. Fold the sides to the middle. Serve with ketchup.

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Chilli idli

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Leftover idlis are a rarity at my place. How will I have leftovers when I hardly make idlis at home?!! With just three of us at home, making dosa turns out to be an easier choice than hauling out the idli plates and waiting 15 minutes for the process to get over. So without doubt, dosa is a winner at my place.

But when I was in Chennai, idlis were regular. Just to make these chili idlis. People usually make these with leftover idls, but I used to make fresh idlis just so that I can pack for the kid’s lunchbox. These do have a bit of veggies on them, but not enough to be called a wholesome dish.

This was another recipe from my close friend there. I used to prepare this a lot when I moved to US also, more for memories than for the actual food. Like I always say, nostalgia is the best flavor for food. The one featured here is coming out of its drafts after a long time. The pictures take me to another era, one of the best in terms of memories for me.

Enjoy!

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Pictorial:

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Heat oil in a pan and saute one small diced onion.  Once its cooked a bit, add one teaspoon of ginger-garlic paste and cook for a minute or two.

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Dice half of a medium capsicum, add and mix well.

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Add in one small diced tomato and cook for a minute or two.

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Add 1 teaspoon tomato ketch up, 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon chili powder and salt. Mix and cook until tomatoes are mashed a bit.

Whisk 1 teaspoon corn flour to 1/4 cup water until no lumps remain. Add that mix to the onion tomato mix and cook for a further minute or two.  I forgot to take a picture of this step.

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Add 3-4 diced idlis and mix well. You can use podi idli also. Cook until it all comes together and taste test to adjust seasonings. Take off the heat and serve as such or with ketch up on the side.

Serves : 1-2

Ingredients:

  • 4 idlis, diced or podi idlis 
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 small tomato, diced
  • 1/2 of a medium capsicum/bell pepper, diced
  • 1 tablespoon tomato ketch up
  • 1 tablespoon soya sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
  • salt
  • 1 teaspoon corn flour
  • 1/4 cup
  • 1 tablespoon oil

Method:

  1. Heat oil in a pan and saute one small diced onion.  Once its cooked a bit, add one teaspoon of ginger-garlic paste and cook for a minute or two.
  2. Dice half of a medium capsicum, add and mix well.
  3. Add in one small diced tomato and cook for a minute or two.
  4. Add 1 tablespoon tomato ketch up, 1 tablespoon soya sauce, 1/2 teaspoon chili powder and salt. Mix and cook until tomatoes are mashed a bit.
  5. Whisk 1 teaspoon corn flour to 1/4 cup water until no lumps remain. Add that mix to the onion tomato mix and cook for a further minute or two.
  6. Add two diced idlis and mix well. Cook until it all comes together and taste test to adjust seasonings. Take off the heat and serve as such or with ketch up on the side.

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Hara samosa with roti

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“Honey, your breakfast is ready for clicking. Will serve it to you soon.” is a dialogue you will hear only at a food blogger’s place. Mothers usually go,”Please don’t touch the food before washing your hands.” And I go,”Please don’t touch the food before clicking is over.”

Well, the family gets used to these quirks over a period of time. Though I gotta say I dish it out to my man than to my kid. For sometime now, I have been planning so that the photo shoots are done before 3 pm. So for most part, it doesn’t interfere our lives much. But every now and then you will hear the “All it needs is a little camera love” statement.

Like this morning!

Yesterday’s leftover chapatis were given a wonderful makeover with some coriander chutney to spice it up. I made a batch without chilies for my son’s lunch box. Then I added the power packed green chilis and gave another round in the blender for the two of us. The chutney tends to be watery, so a little standing time is good for the water to separate. But I just scooped the chutney from the thicker side and it was fine.

The recipe is from Vaishali’s space. She has stepwise pictures to make this even more simpler than it sounds. This post goes to Blogging Marathon #64 under the theme wheat based recipes.

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Recipe source:  Ribbon’s to Pasta’s

Ingredients:

For grinding

  • 1 bunch coriander leaves, cleaned
  • 1 tomato, diced
  • 1″ piece ginger, peeled and diced
  • 1 clove of garlic, peeled
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2 green chilies or per taste
  • salt

To serve:

  • 4 leftover chapatis/ tortillas
  • ghee/butter/oil for the pan

Method:

Pulse everything from coriander to chilies together without adding any water.

Take a chapati. Apply a thin and even layer of the ground chutney into it. Fold it into half. It will be a semi circle now. Apply some more chutney onto it. Fold again in half to get quarter of a circle shape.

Heat this in a tawa with a little oil or ghee until its golden brown. Flip and cook both sides.

Serve with ketchup or curd. Yum!! Apply chutney just before putting the samosa in the pan as the wet chutney might tear the folds if it sits for a long time.

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Veggie Burgers

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This post is a part of  the mega Blogging Marathon and A-Z challenge. I have chosen ‘popular American dishes’ as my theme.

I can’t believe we are at the last leg of our journey here. My catching up with others journey will happen only next month, but yeah, for most part, we are almost there at the end. Four more posts and its over! The first thing I am going to do is schedule posts for the next three days. At the moment, the plan is to put everything up in the blog and be as prepared as you can be. Be ready! That’s the motto. I can already feel the change!

And you can already guess my intro for tomorrow. Its going to be about the forces in nature that prevented me from being on time. Why I was not able to schedule the posts or even get around editing the pictures or worse…what prevented me from getting the cooking done! Ah well.. I have always been a “last minuter” (I am coining that term if there isn’t one already) and I don’t see things changing anytime soon. It hasn’t changed for almost four decades now and we don’t have to rush and assume its going to change from tomorrow :D.

While I am getting ready with excuses for tomorrow, you can check out a fabulous veggie burger recipe. Nailed that ‘V’, didn’t I? ;-)

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Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a pan.Saute one chopped medium red onion and one chopped red bell pepper. You can add carrots or any other veggies if you prefer. Set aside once its cooked. Mash 1.5 cups cooked black beans(or beans of your choice) with a fork or in a food processor. You want most of it mashed, but not all.

Add the mashed beans to 3/4 cup cooked rice. Now add the cooked bell pepper mix, along with 1 teaspoon chilli powder, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, salt and pepper. Combine everything well with your hands or a wooden spoon. Depending upon the moisture of the bean mix, you can add 1/4- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs.

Add 1/4 cup oats if desired. It adds some texture to the patty. Divide the mixture into 4-­5 equal parts. Shape each one into a nice flat patty. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a pan and cook the patties on medium­-low heat. Cook both sides and drain on a kitchen napkin when done.

Flip over, cook both sides and drain on a kitchen napkin when done. I made more smaller patties compared to 5 bigger patties. For sauce, mix 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise with 1 teaspoon each of ketchup and yellow mustard. At the time of serving, spread the sauce on the burger buns. Layer it with cucumber slices(you can make pickle out of it and use, I didn’t!), the patty, slices of tomatoes and onion and then top with the other half of the bun. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

  • 2-3 tablespoons oil, divided
  • one medium red onion, chopped
  • one medium red bell pepper, chopped
  • one medium carrot, chopped fine
  • 1.5 cups black beans(or beans of your choice), cooked
  • 3/4 cup cooked rice
  • 1/4 cup oats
  • 1/4 -1/2 cup bread crumbs
  • 1 teaspoon chilli powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • salt and pepper

To serve:

  • a sauce made of mayo, ketchup and mustard
  • burger buns
  • sliced cucumber, tomato and onions

Method:

  1. Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a pan.Saute one chopped medium red onion and one chopped red bell pepper. Set aside once its cooked.
  2. Mash 1 cup cooked black beans with a fork or in a food processor. You want most of it mashed, but not all.Add the mashed beans to 3/4 cup cooked rice. Now add the cooked bell pepper mix, along with 1 teaspoon chilli powder, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, salt and pepper.
  3. Combine everything well with your hands or a wooden spoon. Depending upon the moisture of the bean mix, you can add 1/4- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs. Add 1/4 cup oats if desired. It adds some texture to the patty.
  4. Divide the mixture into 4-­5 equal parts. Shape each one into a nice flat patty. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a pan and cook the patties on medium-low heat. Cook both sides and drain on a kitchen napkin when done.
  5. Flip over, cook both sides and drain on a kitchen napkin when done. I made more smaller patties compared to 5 bigger patties.
  6. For sauce, mix 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise with 1 teaspoon each of ketchup and yellow mustard. At the time of serving, spread the sauce on the burger buns. Layer it with cucumber slices(you can make pickle out of it and use, I didn’t!), the patty, slices of tomatoes and onion and then top with the other half of the bun. Enjoy!

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 63

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