Ragi date syrup tutti fruity cake

I had posted a ragi choclate cake earlier and was really surprised with how well the ragi and chocolate came together in taste and complimented each other.

This time round I was looking for making a quick tutti fruity cake like the one we get from Britainnia which is equally loved by kids and adults. But i ended up adding up ragi to the cake so much so that it became one of the main ingredients. It only improved the texture and color adding up with its rustic taste. So here I am sharing the recipe .

Ingredients:

1/2 cup white flour 

1 cup ragi flour 

1/2 cup canola oil

3/4 cup date syrup 

2 tablespoon tutti fruity 

1/2 tablespoon vanilla essence 

1 egg

1 tablespoon baking powder 

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 180 C. Whisk the egg and oil together in bowl using a blender. Add date syrup and vanilla essence to this and blend again.

Sieve the flours and baking powder in a dry bowl. Add this gradually to wet mixture blending continuously. Finally add the tutti fruity. Grease the loaf pan with oil and dust with flour. Pour in the mix and bake for around 40 minutes.

Let it stand for 5 minutes before removing and cutting into slices. Enjoy warm!

Chilly garlic veggy rice noodles

 

I am a big noodles fan and love having it all the time be it pad thai, schzewan, hakka or any kind. But given all that hoopla around the scary ingredients used in chinese food outside I am a little skeptical of trying it out at at any place other than well known joints. But in any case this is something I crave for most of the times and just can't get enough of them.

I have used a lot of veggies in this recipe and used rice noodles instead of whit flour one as I think they are healthier. You may add or remove any veggy you do not have handy but as I was just done with my grocery shopping for the week I had quite a few choices. 

Ingredients:

200 grams rice noodles

Sauce:

4 tablespoon vinegar 

4 tablespoon soy sauce 

1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds

6-7 cloves of garlic 

Thinly sliced ginger- about 1 tablespoon 

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 tablespoon sesame oil

5 dried red chillies 

1 tablespoon red chilli flakes 

1 carrot cut into julienne strips 

1 small red, yellow pepper cut into julienne 

1/2 cup yellow zucchini cut into julienne 

100 grams button mushrooms thinly sliced

1/2 cup broccli florets

1 cup cabbage shredded 

1 cup sprouted moong-optional 

4 cloves garlic thinly sliced 

1 inch ginger thinly sliced 

1 tablespoon canola oil 

Salt

1 small onion thinly sliced 

Recipe:

Heat 1 tablespoon canola and 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in a wok.

Add thinly sliced ginger, garlic ,chillies. Let garlic turn a little pink. Add all remaining ingredients and stri it together. Switch off the gas.

Heat water in a big vessel and soak noodles or prepare as per instructions.

Drain and keep it aside.

Heat oil in a big wok and add onions. Fry for some time and then add ginger , garlic.

Make sure its on high flame. We dont want veggies to be cooked and become soft but have to keep the crunch so flame should be high and keep an eye by stirring constantly. Add all vegies and let them cook for just 2 minutes. Add noodles and mix everything together. Add sprouts and the sauce with salt as per taste. Cook on high flame for 2 minutes and serve hot.

Roasted tomato garlic macroni

I am a great fan of pastas be it white or red sauce. But when I have less time to wait and craving for pasta kicks in I give way to humble macroni, which cooks quickly and absorbs all flavours really well. And there are times when you are even more lazier but do not want to compromise with taste. At such instance this recipe fits the bill!

You can put together the meal with very less time in kitchen by making oven roasted sauce which requires minimal effort and assures maximum flavor.

Like the traditional pasta/macroni recipes this one isn't loaded and only uses cheese to enhance flavor and look. But add more if you want to suit your pallet. But believe me you won't need any as the smoky flavor of oven roasted garlic and tomato does wonders to the recipe.

So do try.

Ingredients:

2 cups macroni-I used elbow

4 big tomatoes 

10 gloves garlic

Handful of fresh herbs- rosemary and basil - can use dried one too

2 tablespoon olive oil

Finely chopped vegetables- capsicum, carrot and beans - 1cup

2 tablespoon black olives-sliced

Cheese to grate on top

Salt

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 200C . Place tomatoes, herbs, garlic cloves in a baking tray/bowl.

Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil and salt over it. Bake for an hour.

Boil the macroni as per instructions.

After straining macroni run over with cold water and add some oil to avoid them to stick when they turn cold.

After tomato is done in oven, blend into thick consistency. Heat oil in a pan, add chopped veggies and fry but don't cook till they become soft. Keep them crunchy. Add sliced olives, macroni and blended sauce.

Serve hot after grating cheese on top.

I only used fresh herbs from my garden but you may add more as per your taste.

Avacado chocolate flour less cookie

I know you might not believe it at first and might even think if its a mistake - avacado cookies? But I too had same feeling until I tried this recipe and was totally awestruck by how avacado can double up at fat and flour both in a cookie recipe. I have always tried guacamole recipe whenever I get avacadoes but this time I was too bored of having the same old dip and was browsing for if there can be some dessert that can be whipped off using ripe avocado. This recipe makes cookies with gooey texture and not crunchy as their is no flour. But I bet you can not make out avacado as even one of the ingredients forget about it being the main one. 

I am soon going to try other avacado recipes but for now you can try this one.

And ofcourse you must know that avacado os a super food and tops the list of healthy foods. So enjoy guilt free!

Ingredients:

1 ripe avacado(200 gms flesh)

1/2 tablespoon baking powder 

1 egg

2 tablespoon peanut butter 

100 gms sugar

Choclate chips

2 tablespoon cocoa powder 

Recipe:

Whip/blend avacado flesh , egg and add remaining ingredients except cocoa powder.

Add chocolate chips to batter. Batter woul be with consistency of more like cake than cookie as we aren't using any flour. Preheat oven to 180C and pour batter on greased tray . Keep at least 2 inches apart as cookies will expand. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Wholewheat focaccia bread

I always thought making your bread would be very cumbersome and given the fact that we can buy them so easily from any store and at a very less price no body gives it a though that we can actually try baking one at home.

I admit it took a couple of tries to get desired texture and softness but it only gets better with every try and then you can plan it out in a way where you really won't have to put a lot of effort and time in baking one. I am still playing around with ingredients and am amused with end results of each effort!

Believe me it might be a little too overwhelming to start with but once you start baking your own bread you can try a lot of varieties  and will now exactly what is going in your bread.

I do not add any preservatives in bread so it is good for use upto 2 days(if only it lasts that long).
I have shared other bread loaf recipes earlier, but this time I tried focaccia bread as I got hold of some sun dried tomatoes from market and was desperate to try somethings using those!

It came out really good in taste and texture and although I used only whole wheat flour did'nt miss the white flour at all! Being new to using sun dried tomatoes, I ended up burning them a bit but well it tasted awesome anyways.

So here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups whole wheat flour 

1 tablespoon active dry yeast 

1 cup warm water

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

4 tablespoon olive oil

Handful sun dried tomato 

Black olives 

Fresh basil leaves-5 to 6

Recipe:
Heat the water to lukewarm - around 30-40  C. It should not be too hot or it will kill the yeast.
Add sugar and yeast and keep it at a warm place for 5-10 minutes till it become frothy at top.
Meanwhile take the flour, salt and add 1 table spoon of olive oil to it . Mix the yeast mixture gradually using a fork, bringing everything together in a dough. Using hands make the dough, not be too harsh while making the dough and knead it into a smooth texture for around 5 minutes. Grease a bowl with oil and put the dough in it, cover it with oil so that it does get dried up. Cover with a cloth and keep it to rest for an hour at a warm place or until it rises to double the volume .
In the meantime, warm the 2 table spoon olive oil and add the chopped basil ,olives and sun dried tomatoes in it. Let it soak for around 30 minutes or until we prepare for rest of the recipe .
Once dough has risen, punch it back and knead for 5 minutes. Grease a baking tray and roll the dough with 1/2 inch thickness. Spread the tomato-olive-basil on top of it and brush with the remaining oil.
Let it rise for another 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 180C and bake for 25-30 minutes.
Enjoy warm as it is or with any dips.

You can either bake for 20 minutes if you do not want the tomato to brown a lot or add them halfway through baking.
 I had mine with hummus!

Oats coconut cookies eggless

I love coconut so much that when I ordered an entire kg of dessicated coconut I immediately started looking for various recipes with which I could make use of it . These one are extremely simple and very quick to bake. Adding oats and wholewheat flour make them even more appeasing !    

So this one is a must try if you get your hands on dessicated coconut in your kitchen and want to try something without much of an effort.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup oats

1 tablespoon all purpose flour 

4 tablespoons dessicated coconut 

2 tablespoon whole wheat flour

1/3 cup condensed milk

1/3 cup date syrup 

2 tablespoon butter(at room temperature)

1 tablespoon cinnamon powder 

Chocolate chip to garnish

1/2 tablespoon baking powder 

Recipe:

Mix together all wet ingredients- date syrup, condensed milk, butter.

In another bowl mix all dry ingredients except chocolate chips.

Add together both dry and wet ingredients and mix well. Preheat oven to 180 c. Scoop out the cookies on greased baking tray and decorate with chocolate chips on top. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes.