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 :)

Beetroot halwa

Beetroot Halwa

Ingredients :

Beetroot - 1 no

Ghee - 2 tbsp

Sugar - 10 tspn

cardomom - 2 nos

cashew & raisin - 3 each

Milk - 1/4 cup

Method :

Grate the beetroot. Heat 1 spn ghee and saute the grated beetroot till raw smell gone. Add the milk and stir till all the milk is absorbed. Add the sugar and mix till disolved. Powder the cardomom and mix well. Fry the raisins and cashew with a spn of ghee and garnish.

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

Peanut / Groundnut chutney

 Peanut Chutney

Ingredients :

Peanuts - 3/4 cup
Grated coconut - 1 cup
Red chillies - 2 nos
Hing - a pinch
Tamarind - a small piece
Salt - to taste

for tempering :

oil - 1/2 spn
mustard - a pinch
Bengal gram & urad dal - 1/2 spn each
curry leaves - few

Method : 

Dry roast the peanuts in a kadai til it turns brown. Make sure not to burn the nuts.
Grind everythin smoothly. Heat oil in a kadai and temper the mustard seeds, urad dal, bengal gram and curry leaves. Mix everything. Goes well with idly and dosa.

Kuzhi paniyaram

This is an easy to make yummy dish. Can be had for breakfast / dinner or as evening snack. Coconut chutney / green chutney / kaara onion chutney / podi any of these makes a good sidedish for this.

Ingredients:

dosa batter - 1/2 litre

onion - 1

green chillies - 3

carrot - 1

coconut pieces - few
ginger - 1/4 inch

coriander and mint leaves - 1 handful(chopped fine)
to saute:

cashew - 5( break into pieces)

pepper - 1/4 spn(smash into large pieces)

cumin - 1/2 spn

urad dal - 1/2 spn

channa dal - 1/2 spn

curry leaves - 10 (chopped fine)
mustard seeds - 1/4 spn
oil- 2 spn



Method :

Pour 1 spn oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds when it is hot. Once it crackles add the urad and channa dal and saute for few mins. Then add the cashew, cumin seeds, pepper and fry till cashews are golden brown. Add the curry leaves and saute til crispy. Fine chop the onion, chillies, carrot, ginger, coconut pieces, coriander and mint leaves and add it all tothe batter alongwith the sauted things and mix well. Heat the non stick paniyara kal and pour the mixed batter in each mould. Add few drops of oil on the side. Turn over the paniyaram to the other side after few mins. Serve hot with chutney once both the sides are red. 

Egg kothu parotta

I have not even heard of this dish before marriage("u've not even heard of cooking then", is HD's comment). But this is one of HD's favourite dish and he doesn't relish the hotel bought ones telling that they are quiet spicy and not like what my MIL makes. So one day when he bought home some parotas i decided to try it out.

                                 

Egg kothu parotta

Ingredients :
parotta - 1 1/2 nos
egg - 2
onion - one(cut lengthwise)
green chillies - 2
tomato - 1
curry leaves - few
urad dal - 1/2 spn
channa dal - 1/2  spn
saunf - 1/4 spn
turmeric powder - 1/4 spn
sambar powder / chilli powder - 1/4 spn
salt - to taste
oil - 1 spn
coriander leaves - to garnish

Method :

Heat oil in a kadai. Add urad and channa dal and fry til golden brown. Add the saunf and oce it crackles add the onion and saute til golden brown. Now add the green chillies and curry leaves n saute for few minutes. Cut the tomato into tiny pieces and saute til it is mashed well. Add the turmeric powder, chilli powder, salt and mix well. Break the eggs and add to this mixture. Keep scrambling till the eggs are done. Cut the parotas into small pieces and add it to the scramble and mix well mashing it all with a sharp spatula.  Garnish with coriander leaves. Jus like mom made was HD's comment.