Ragi Cake - The guilt free dessert

This one is for all my friends who are health concious but love to have desserts. It's a Ragi flour ( finger millet/bajri) cake. Before we talk about anything else, it's important to know about the benefits of including Ragi flour in diet. It's rich in calcium and fiber content. It is an extremely good food for  weight control. It helps in reducing the cholesterol level of the body.  Like my earlier version of cake this one too does not have any processed sugar. Sweetness is derived from jaggery, raisins, apricots and carrots.  Very little oil has been used in the recipe. There is no egg in it. To increase the health quotient of the cake, I added blanched almonds and walnuts in the cake batter. Honestly, there is nothing in it that brings in guilt. You can happily have it.

Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 and  1/4 cup Ragi (red millet) flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup jaggery grated ( or scrapped)
15-20 small brown raisins
 3-4 dried apricots pieces
 10-12 blanched almonds ( blanched in boiling water for 3-5 minutes, cooled down in ice water and peeled off to remove the skin. )
1 tbsp chopped pecans or walnuts
1 and 1/4 cup milk
2 medium sized carrots grated
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder (optional, I added it because it balances the sweetness of the cake)
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder ( optional, but improves taste)
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
A pinch of ginger powder (optional, but improves taste)
A pinch of salt
I also added few tutti fruity pieces. But that's optional.
1/4 tsp vanilla essence

Procedure:
1) Blanch the raisins and apricots for 10 minutes in boiling water. Switch off the flame let it stay in the hot water for some more time. ( it's completely your choice to add fruits of your choice to add to the sweetness of the cake. I had raisins and apricots handy, so I added these. You can add dates or fresh fruits also.)
Bring milk to boil. Bring te flame to low. Add grated jaggery. Stir well. Once everything is mixed well, switch off the flame. Add blanched raisins and apricots.  Now let it cool off a bit and then blend it in a blender. Blend it well.
2) Now transfer the mixture to a bowl. Add oil and vanilla. essence and mix well.
3) In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, cinnamon powder, cardamom powder, nutmeg and ginger powder. Add some chopped nuts (walnuts) ( can spare few for garnishing on top) in the flour. I added some tutti fruity pieces too. Mix well.
4) Now transfer the dry mixture to the milk container. Mix it well with a whisk or spoon. You can use hand beater to mix all ingredients well. But take care not to over beat the batter. You just need a light mixing to combine all ingredients well. If you feel the batter is too thick, you can add very little water or milk and check again. (Ideally the amount mentioned in ingredients section should be enough.)
5) Line a small 8 inch baking tray with parchment paper. Or grease the tray with little oil or butter.
And transfer the batter to it. Tap the tray a bit so that all the air bubbles get removed. Sprinkle some chopped walnuts and almonds ( or any dry nuts or pumpkin seeds) over the top.
6) Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.
Bake the cake for 40 minutes, or until a skewer or knife inserted in it turns out clean.
So here's your 'full of health' cake.  You will see a brown chocolatey crust. Let it cool down for 10-15 minutes and then serve it.

Ladies, there is nothing better than Ragi, milk, jaggery and dry fruits for us. If we need to care for ourselves, why not in a sweet way?? Have in breakfast, snacks or whenever you like with a cup of coffee or tea...

Enjoy cooking and eating.
Lots of love,
Shweta...

Gobhi Tikka - The delicious starter...

Sometimes you want to make something delicious with the humble vegetables sitting in your refrigerator. This one is born from the same thought. Can I do something fantatsic with the cauliflower, such that the meal gets a 10/10 from the family? Enough of fried cauliflower sabzi or paratha.
So, I planned to make some grilled gobhi tikka as my starter. Believe me my husband loved it and enjoyed it as if he is having a chicken starter.

It's simple yet very tasty.  Here's the procedure to make it.

Procedure
1. Seperate out florets from the whole cauliflower. Let those be of nearly equal sizes. Boil some water in a vessel and add some salt. Add the florets in the boiling water, close the lid and let the florets blanch for  about 5 minutes. Switch off the flame let it cook down a bit for 2-3 minutes. Now strain out the water and let the florets cool down.
2. Meanwhile, let's prepare the marinade. Take about 4 tbsp yogurt in a bowl ( hung curd is better, but normal curd will also do). Add some roasted gram flour( besan) (2 tbsp). Now add some salt, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder, 1/2 tsp dry mango powder, 1 tsp ghee, 1 tbsp oil, 1 tsp mustard oil, 1 tsp red chilli powder,1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves, 1 tsp garam masala powder, 1 tsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp ginger and green chilli paste.  Mix everything well. Marinade is ready. Taste it and add more spices if needed based on your preference.
3. Now add the florets in the marinade. Toss it well with hands such that all the florets are covered well with marinade. Let it rest in refrigerator for about an hour. If you do not have much time to marinade, at least keep it for 15 minutes.
4. If you have a tandoor, you can grill the florets in it. I used my oven in broil mode at 450 degree Fahrenheit and grilled the florets for around 25-30 minutes.   (I kept the veggies in a big tray lined with parchment paper and kept it in middle layer. You can use skewers too.) In between it's important to turn the sides of the florets, so that the florets are cooked on all sides. I love to char the veggies a bit, so kept it for little more in oven. You can reduce the timer based on your preference.

5. When you see the gobhi tikkas grilled perfectly, remove it from oven. Serve it hot with fresh salad and some green chutney.  Alongside prepare a lovely drink for yourself.

Have lots of fun cooking and eating the delicious Gobhi Tikka.
Take care till we meet again.
Cheers,
Shweta  

An eggless wheat cake.. Something sweet..something healthy..

Hello Friends...

Today I made something really delicious and healthy. It's a wheat-based eggless cake. We are not using all purpose flour here, instead we are using whole wheat flour. Moreover it does not have any processed sugar. Sweetness comes from jaggery and dates. We are using milk and dried nuts to add to the nutrient value of the cake. It uses very little vegetable oil. It's as soft and delicious as a normal cake. It's also good for pregnant women.  You got to try it now :-).

Here's the recipe. 

1 cup wheat flour 

1/2 cup vegetable oil  

1 cup jaggery grated ( or scrapped)

7-8 de-seeded fresh dates 

1 cup milk ( you can use 1 and 1/2 cup milk too) 

1/2 cup water ( I used 1 cup milk and 1/2 cup water. You can just use 1 and 1/2 cup milk) 

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cardamom powder

1/4 tsp nutmeg powder ( optional, but improves taste)

1/4 tsp cinnamon powder (optional, but improves taste)

A pinch of ginger powder (optional, but improves taste) 

A pinch of salt 

1/4 cup chopped walnuts ( you can use any nuts, raisins). I also added few tutti fruity Pieces. 

1/4 tsp vanilla essence 

Procedure. 

1) Boil the milk and add dates to it. Let it simmer for 3-5 minutes and then add grated jaggery.once everything is mixed well, switch off the flame. Now let it cool off a bit and then blend it in a blender. 

2) Now transfer the mixture to a bowl. Add oil and vanilla essence and mix well. 

3) In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon powder, cardamom powder, nutmeg and ginger powder. Add some chopped nuts ( can spare few for garnishing on top) in the flour. I added some tutti fruity pieces too. Mix well. 

4) Now transfer the dry mixture to the milk container. Mix it well with a whisk or spoon. You can use hand beater to mix all ingredients well. But take care not to over beat the batter. You just need a light mixing to combine all ingredients well. Add some water now and mix it well. If you feel the batter is too thick, you can add little more water or milk. (Ideally the amount mentioned in ingredients section should be enough.)

5) Line a small 8 inch baking tray with parchment paper. Or grease the tray with little oil or butter.

And transfer the batter to it. Tap the tray a bit so that all the air bubbles get removed. Sprinkle some chopped walnuts ( or any dry nuts or pumpkin seeds) over the top. 

6) Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit. 

Bake the cake for 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer of knife inserted in it turns out clean. 

A beautiful wheat cake is ready.  You will see a golden brown crust. Let it cool down for 10-15 minutes and then serve it. 

I am sure you and your family is going to love it. If you want to eat something sweet yet healthy, it's got to this cake.  

Enjoy baking.. 

Cheers,

Shweta 

Quinoa chickpea salad

Quinoa seeds are highly nutritious and gluten-free. I had heard a lot about it. So this time I bought a packet and was eager to cook it.

I made a chickpea quinoa salad yesterday. It's cooked just like rice white.  It's simple and quick yet delicious. Moreover, once cooked these look like small pearls.. 

Here's the procedure.

1) As a preparation work, boil around 1 cup of chickpeas with salt and turmeric. Keep the cooked chickpeas aside. You can use any cooked beans of your choice. 

2)  Take a cup a quinoa seeds. Wash it well with water. If the packet says you need to soak the seeds, then soak it for the time mentioned, before cooking. 

3) Now in a pan, add a cup of quinoa seeds along with 2 cups of water. Put it on medium high flame. Once the water starts boiling, cover the pan with lid and reduce the flame to low. Let it simmer for 10-15 minutes until the quinoa absorbs all the water. The quinoa seeds will become soft and big once cooked. 

Set it aside in a bowl and let it cool down.

4) While the quinoa gets cooled down, let's prepare the salad dressing. In a bowl, add about 2 tbsp of olive oil, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tsp roasted cumin powder, 1 tsp salt , 1 tsp red cayenne powder ( or red chilli powder or chilli flakes). Pour this dressing over the cooked quinoa. Also add the boiled chickpeas and mix it well with quinoa. 

Add few chopped cherry tomatoes or normal tomatoes, finely chopped onion ( around 1 small onion). Add some salt and pepper as per taste. 

Garnish with chopped coriander.

Enjoy the healthy quinoa pearls and chickpea salad along with main course. You can also have it independently in breakfast or snacks. Eat healthy, stay happy :-) 

Cheers,

Shweta 

Undhiyu - the famous speciality food from Gujarat

Undhiyu

The delicious and famous mixed vegetable dish is strongly associated with Gujarat. The name of the dish comes from the Gujarati word "matlu" meaning earthen pot and "undhu" meaning upside down since it's been traditionally cooked upside down underground in earthen pots fired from above.

The dish comprises of vegetables that are available on the South Gujarat coastline during the winter season:  green beans (surati papadi), raw banana, small eggplants , muthia(fried fritters made with fenugreek and chickpea flour), baby potatoes, purple yam, sweet potato.  All the vegetables are stuffed or wrapped with spiced grated coconut paste and slow cooked in steam.

I tried to emulate the steamed cooking in an earthern pot by sealing the edges and all the openings of a big non stick vessel with a dough. And it really tasted good. A must do dish for the food lovers.

Here's the procedure.

1) Keep all the vegetables ready. Usually these veggies go into undhiyo. Baby potatoes, sweet potato, yam, surati papdi and green brinjals. I took around 5 baby potatoes, 3-4 brinjals, 2 medium sized sweet potatoes, around 2 cups of grean beans and one plaintain raw banana. I avoided yam as I could not manage to find it in grocery stores here.

Peel off potatoes, sweet potatoes and yam. Cut yam and sweet potato into medium-sized pieces. Put cuts in potatoes such that it could be stuffed. Remove stem of brinjals and put similar cuts as in potatoes to help in stuffing.  Cut the tips of beans from both the corners and peel of the middle thread. Split it open. Can seperate out seeds from few beans if you want and layer on the top while cooking. Add little salt, ajwain around 1/2 tsp  and a pinch of soda bi carbonate in the beans and let it stay aside.
Cut off the corners of the banana. Don't peel the skin off. Cut it into medium sized round pieces.

2) Let's prepare the fenugreek fritters i.e. Methi Muthias.
In a container, take around 1 and 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh methi, 1/2 cup chick pea(besan) flour, 2 tbsp wheat flour, 3 tbsp oil, 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder, 1 tsp red chilli powder, salt as per taste, 1 tsp sugar, 1 and 1/2 tsp ginger chilli paste, around 1/2 tsp coriander powder. Mix everything well. Add very little water and mix well such that everything is incorporated well and a dough is formed.

Apply some oil on your palms. Take some dough, roll a bit and form small fritter. Repeat for rest of the dough. Deep fry the fritters in hot oil on medium high flame until these are brown on all the sides. (To avoid using oil, you can even bake these.)

3) Now let's prepare the stuffing of coconut.
In a separate container, take 1 cup of grated fresh coconut. ( if you are using more vegetables you can increase the proportion), 1 cup chopped coriander, 3 tbsp green garlic( if not available use normal garlic), salt to taste, 2 tbsp sugar, 1 and 1/2 tbsp coriander cumin powder, 2 tsp red chilli powder, 2 tsp lemon juice. Mix everything well. Tatste it and add more spices if required.
Keep the stuffing aside.

4) Let's start stuffing the vegetables. Gently stuff the potatoes and brinjals. Mix the rest of vegetables with stuffing. Toss the banana pieces in stuffing too.

5) Now we will be cooking the vegetables. You can pressure cook for 10-15 minutes on low flame( for around 2 whistles). However, I tried to emulate the traditional way of cooking in pot by sealing the edges of a big pan (with a lid) and its opening with dough. Just like we cook dum Biryani.

Heat the pan. Add 2 tbsp oil in a pan. Add 1 tsp ajwain (carom seeds), 1/4 tsp hing (asofoetida). Now transfer all the surti papdis ( beans) and mix it well.  Layer all the other vegetables over it. Spread some bean seeds on the top if you have separated earlier.

Now in a small container, add 3/4 cup water, salt, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 2 tsp coriander cumin powder, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp garam masala powder, 1/2 tsp dry mango powder and little lemon juice. Mix it well. Now pour this liquid over the vegetables.

Place the thick long string of knead dough over the edges of the pan. Place the lid on it. Check that there are no openings. If any, cover it with dough.  This will help the vegetables get cooked in steamed. Let the undhiyu cook on low-medium flame for around 25-30 minutes. You can take the dough out and open the lid. You can check if the vegetables are cooked by inserting a fork or knife.  If not cooked, cover the lid, let it cook for some more time.  Sprinkle some fresh coriander.

Extremely delicious Undhiyu is ready. When serving, plate all the layers of vegetables.

You can serve it with some salad or chutney.

I served it with quinoa salad. The recipe will be shared in different blog post.

Happy cooking friends. Cook it with love because anything cooked turns out delicious.

Cheers,
Shweta

Dabeli - the famous Gujarati street food

Dabeli... That's my favorite Gujarati street food right from childhood. Seeing the high deliciousness quotient of this food, I used to wonder if someone could make this at home? And if yes, then would it be so tasty? .....

Even today in Mumbai whenever I see a dabeli wala, I would for sure stop to have it :-). 

So, I got all the ingredients that I needed for making a dabeli and here I am, ready with the delicious homemade dabelis... And they do taste as wonderful as the ones sold at stalls.

Writing down the recipe.

Ingredients 

1) Dabeli Pav (qty as per need) 

For stuffing : 

1) 3-4 potatoes (boiled and mashed lightly with hands)

2) garlic hot chutney ( I made a quick chutney by blending in few garlic cloves, red chilli powder and salt) 

3) sweet date chutney ( I prepared a quick sweet date-tamarind chutney. Boil together dates and 3-4 pieces of tamarind  for sometime. Add some sugar if needed. Extract the liquid by straining out the pulp..Use the liquid extracted as chutney) 

4) Dabeli masala (as such you can easily get it in grocery stores. But if you don't find it at your end, then you can prepare it at home too. 

 Dry roast all the following spices: 2 tbsp coriander seeds, 1 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp fennel seeds, 1 tsp red chilli powder, 2-3 pepper corns, 1 tsp ginger powder, 1 black cardamom, 1-2 clove, mace and  Ane star (1-2). Now blend it in a blender)

5) ghee/ oil

6) salt and sugar

7) lemon juice (1-2 tsp) 

7)for garnishing the stuffing

-Chopped Coriander

-finely chopped onions (1 in qty)

-grated fresh coconut or dry coconut powder (1/2 cup) 

-Masala peanuts (1 cup) ( if you can't find at grocery stores, prepare it at home.. Dry roast peanuts. Take few in palms and gently rub the palm. Blow off the skin. Repeat for all peanuts. Now transfer all the peanuts in a slightly heated pan. Add about a tbsp of oil, add a tsp of turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt based on your taste. Mix it well. Once it is mixed remove it from pan. Masala peanuts are ready)

-Fresh Pomegranate seeds ( 3/4 cup) 

-Fine sev ( 1/4 cup)

-tutti fruity (1/4 cup) optional 

Procedure:

1) First let's prepare the stuffing.

Heat some oil in a pan. Add the mashed potatoes.

-Add 4 tsp of Dabeli masala. Stir well. Let it heat for 2-3 minutes. 

-Add some salt , 1 tbsp sugar or 1 tbsp sweet chutney and lemon juice. If you prefer sweeter stuffing, add more of sweet chutney/sugar. 

-Mix well and let it heat for 12-15 minutes. You should have a smooth potato stuffing by then. 

- Transfer the stuffing a bowl. Garnish with chopped coriander, grated coconut, pomegranate and keep aside. 

2) Now split the pav from between.. 

-First apply sweet chutney on both sides. 

-Then apply hot garlic chutney on both sides.

-Now place abt 1-2 tbsp of the potato stuffing.

-Top up some onions and peanuts. 

-Add some some sweet and hot chutney over it. -Now again add about 1 tbsp of stuffing. 

-Top up the stuffing with sweet and hot chutney.

-Finally add some pomegranate seeds, and lot of peanuts and onions. 

-Now light roast the Dabeli on a pan with very little ghee or oil. Roast on both the sides. 

-Repeat the same for all the Dabelis. 

3) Once the Dabelis are ready, serve them hot. Top up with pomegranate seeds, tutti fruity, sev and coriander. 

Enjoy the taste of street food at home :-) 

Enjoy cooking!!

Cheers,

Shweta