Whole wheat Dates Muffins

               It’s been a long time I baked something. When I was a student, I used to bake cakes in the cooker as I didn’t have an oven then. I would mostly start the process late in the evening and it would take eons to bake a cake in the cooker. So, normally it will be done by midnight. By the time I wake up in the morning dreaming about patterns to cut the cake, half of it would have vanished.  Now with a five month old to manage, I don’t even find time to cook daily essentials, forget about baking. But yesterday the baking bug caught me strong and I wanted to bake something quick & easy before it bites me. So I made these healthy muffins adapted from here. I halved the original recipe & got ten muffins. By the time I finished my work & settled down for a quick click to upload I realized that there was not a single one left. So I made it again today with some changes to the original recipe making it much healthier this time.

 

 

Ingredients :

 

10-15 dates - seedless
1 cup milk

5 Tablespoon jaggery
1 cup wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda

5 tablespoon oil
1 Tbsp Pistachios (chopped)
1 Tbsp melon seeds

 

Method :

 

Chop the dates and soak in hot milk.

Preheat the oven at 220°C.
Once the milk cools down, blend the soaked dates, milk and the jaggery and bring it to a smooth paste.
Shift it to a bowl and add oil to it. Now add the flour gradually and mix it.
Add the chopped pistachios & melonseeds while saving a little for later on.
Arrange the muffin mould, Pour the batter to 2/3^rd of each mould and sprinkle the saved nuts on the top. Bake at 180°C for 30 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean.

 

Linking this recipe to Shruti’s ‘Sweet Celebration’ Event :)

Muttai udaitha kuzhambu / Egg drop Gravy

This recipe is lying in my draft for the past 5 months. Too busy I would say or too lazy my mom would say :(.  We were shifting house & was not able to cook anything that sunday. It was 3.00 pm & we decided to have a quick bite in the nearby aapakadai. A famous chef's village food fest was going on there at that time & the menucard was filled with cute food names. When VJ ordered for biryani he was told that it is not a village food & hence not served that day. Then we ordered for aapam & muttai udaitha kuzhambu. After that VJ noticed the server carrying a plate of his fav biryani. When enquired he was answered that the dish name was kari soru (LOL, so much so for the village food fest).

But the muttai udaitha kuzhambu turned out to be too good. The next weekend i searched all my cookbooks & finally settled on this recipe. VJ was so happy he said that mine tasted better than that of the chef :).

Muttai udaitha kuzhambu

Ingredients:

Mustard seeds - 1 tspn
Urad dhal - 1/2 tbsp

channa dal - 1/2 tbsp
Onion chopped thin -1
Green chilli - 2
Curry leaves - few
Oil - 1 tspn

Egg - 4

salt - to taste

Coriander leaves – for garnishing

To  grind :

Grated coconut - 1/4 cup

Tomato - 2
Pepper - 1/2 tbsp
Coriander seeds- 1 tbsp
Saunf – 1 tbsp

Cloves - 2

Cinnamon - 1/2 inch

Ginger - 1/2 inch
Garlic - 2
Chilli powder - 1 tbsp

Curry leaves - a few
Turmeric powder - a pinch

Method :

                  Heat oil in a wide kadai and add mustard seeds. Once it splutters add the urad & channa dal & fry till golden brown. Now add the onions & fry till transparent. Just make a slit in the chillies and add them along with the curry leaves.

                Meanwhile grind all the ingredients given under “to grind” into a fine paste. Add the ground masala and salt to the kadai & sauté for 2-3 mins. Add 2 cups of water, cover & cook in medium flame for 5 mins.

               Now open the lid & break the eggs one by one into the gravy (Keep the flame low & pour the eggs slowly). Care should be taken that the eggs don’t mingle with each other. Again close the lid & cook for 5 mins in low flame. Now slowly turn the eggs without breaking & cook for another 5 mins with the lid closed.

Switch off, transfer to a serving bowl, garnish with coriander leaves & serve hot.

Mixed Nuts Chikki

While cleaning the pantry last week  i came across this mixed nuts box and planned to make something sweet. Found this perfect recipe which would satisfy my sweet tooth and also the dieter in me as only nuts and jaggery are used. I  made some small changes to the original recipe from priyaeasyandtastyrecipes and made these yummy chikkis.

Ingredients :

1/2cup Raw peanuts
1/4cup Almonds
1/4cup Cashews
1/4cup Pistachios
1/3cup Sesame seeds
4tbsp melon seeds
1+1/2cups Jaggery
Pinch Salt
1tsp Cardamom powder

Method :Roast the peanuts in a pan and remove the skins and keep aside.In the same pan, dry roast the almonds,cashews,pistachios one by one until you get a nice aroma.

Heat 1/4cup of water in a heavy bottomed vessel, add the jaggery and heat in a medium flame until the jaggery is completely dissolved.Strain the jaggery water with a strainer. This helps to get rid of the mud and other impurities presents in the jaggery.

Now heat the jaggery water in high flame, they will start bubbling vigorously.Keep stirring to avoid burning. Once thick, just put a drop of the jaggery in cold water. If the jaggery can be rolled into a ball then add the nuts, seeds, cardamom powder and salt to the jaggery syrup.Stir well until combined.

Grease a plate,pour this mixture and let it cool completely. Cut into desired shape and store in an airtight container.

Linking this recipe to Shruti’s ‘Sweet Celebration’ Event :)