Sabudana Khichdi for Vrat in microwave

Ingredients 

Sabudana Seeds - 1 cup
Peanuts - 1/2 cup
Potato - 1 large
Oil - 1 Table spoon
Cumin seeds - I tea spoon
Green Chilies - 1
Rock Salt - To taste (if not for fasting you can use normal edible salt)

Coriander - to garnish

Recipe

Preparation :

I had small sabudana (Tapioca seeds) seeds in home, soaking them just for half an hour before cooking is enough. If you have larger seeds you may have to soak them overnight.



After peeling, cut potatoes into small even pieces and keep aside.



Roast peanuts in a pan and grind coarsely in a grinder.




In a microwave safe bowl take a table spoon of oil and keep it in microwave  and turn it on for a minute.

Take out and add cumin seeds and cut green chilies to it.





put it in microwave for 1 minute again and then take it out. Add the freshly cut potatoes and a pinch of salt. Mix well and put it in microwave for 2 minutes.



While the cooking bowl is in microwave  mix soaked sabudana and crushed peanuts well you may add salt at this time according to your taste.



After 2 minutes take the bowl out and add sabudana mixture to this. Mix well.




 you will need to cook it in microwave for about 5-6 minutes again. Take it out in between once after 2 minutes stir it well so that it doesn't gets stuck together and keep it back in microwave for the rest of the time ( about 3 minutes or so).



You will know when its done as it changes colour (becomes a bit transparent and that's the sign that its cooked)



Garnish it with finely cut coriander leaves and serve hot (preferred)

Semolina eggless sponge cake

I have been thinking of posting this recipe for a long time as its one of my favorite and tastes so good. It is a recipe which is sure to be a super-hit with your guests because of one secret ingredients i.e. Semolina. It gives the cake a little different texture than a normal sponge which I am in love with. 

Ingredients

Semolina - 1 cup

Self raising flour - 1/2 cup

yogurt - 1 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Oil - 1/2 cup
Orange juice - 1/2 cup
baking powder - 1 teaspoon
baking soda - 1/2 teaspoon
Lemon essence - a few drops (optional)


Recipe:

In a mixing bowl, take semolina in a bowl and keep aside. 

     

Now take another bowl and mix sugar, oil, orange juice together with an electric whisk for 10 seconds. You may add lemon essence at this point.

      


Sift self raising flour, baking powder and baking soda together.

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees centigrade.

Mix semolina and the  liquid mixture together with an electric whisk for another 10 seconds.



Add the sifted flour together and mix well.

Mixture will be a pouring consistency of something like this.

Prepare the baking tin and line it with butter paper.

Pour in into the baking tin and inside preheated oven for 30 minutes to get done.

     

When its ready it will have a lovely golden brown color at the top, and when you prick it with a knife, it will come very clean and that is the sign that it has been cooked from inside as well.

Put it on a cooling wire rack and then when ready cut it into pieces and serve.

Potato spinach sandwich

This is a very popular form of sandwich in India and is really quick to make. Only variation to original recipe is addition of spinach to it. Normally its made using potatoes as the filling.

Ingredients:

For the filling

Boiled potatoes - 2 (big sized)
Tomato - 1
Spinach - 1 cup (finely chopped)
Oil - 1 teaspoon
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tea spoon
Salt - to taste

For assembling the sandwich

bread slices (wholemeal or plain)
spread / butter

Recipe

Take boiled potatoes in a bowl and mash them. Take tomato and spinach and chop them finely.

 Heat oil in a pan and add some mustard seeds to it, as soon as it starts to crackle.

Add chopped tomatoes to this.  As tomatoes start getting soft add finely chopped spinach to this. Add turmeric and salt to taste at this point. This will help spinach and tomatoes to get well cooked, spinach will start leaving a bit a water just wait till it is getting a bit dryer. (Don't make it too dry, it just doesn't need to be watery)

Add potatoes and mix well. Take it off the flame and keep aside.

Now assembling the sandwich

Put a slice of bread on your work surface spread the filling mixture on the top.

Then add another slice to it. As shown in the above picture.

Spread butter or spread on both the sides and keep it in grill until its done. Else you may be able to do it on a flat pan on the hob as well.

You will enjoy these hot much better, soft inside and crispy outside... and very filling and healthy meal. you may wish to have this with tomato ketchup but they are just as good on their own. Endless variations to this can be made. I will keep adding as and when I will be making them, here.

Serves well for lunchboxes as well.

Looks and tastes heavenly...YUM..YUM...YUMMY

Hope you like these as much as we do !!

Happy cooking :-)

Easy Sphaghetti with tomato sauce

Here, I am back after really long break from my blog with a soooper easy recipe, even if you are running out of time. Its really quick and can be made with a very few ingredients. You may add the vegetables of your choice as well with it.


Ingredients
Sphaghetti - a bunch
Tomatoes - 2 large
Olive oil - 2 tablespoons
Salt - a pinch
Garlic - 2 cloves
Mixed Herbs
Black pepper (freshly ground) - if wanted to taste

Recipe

Take sphaghetti and break and put it in boiling water in a pot. Break into half if you want.

Add 1 tablespoon oilive oil and some salt to the boiling sphaghetti. Let it boil until done and strain.

While the spheghetti getting done prepare the tomato sauce.

Preparing Tomato sauce :

Cut tomatoes into pieces and grind it in a mixer grinder to make a puree.

Heat oil in a pan and add crushed / finely chopped garlic to it.

Add tomato puree and let it boil, add mixed herbs and let it simmer for 2 minutes. This boiling tomato mixture changes color and becomes a bit darker that is a sign that its properly cooked.

Now add the boiled spaghetti to this tomato sauce mixture ans your lunch is ready to be served hot. !!

You might want to keep it in the lunchbox and that is sure to make their day. My kids are a bit fussy when pepper is added to this, apparently that makes their spaghetti a bit spicy for them. Though, if I am having it for a dinner I make sure to add freshly ground pepper to this and  a portion of salad. That makes a perfect dinner to me. 

Hope you all like this !!

Rainbow cupcakes

To make one of these best looking cupcakes you will be adding the food coloring to the cupcake batter. Please follow the recipe of my Soft Eggless cupcakes for the base recipe to be used for these.

For getting the most beautiful cupcakes in addition to the basic batter you would most definitely need :

• Bowls - 3
• Edible food coloring - I have used pink and green for this one
• Cupcake Cases
• Muffin tray

Recipe 

• Divide in batter in three different bowls for different colors.
• Add a few drops of pink to one and green to another one mix properly for having an even color.

• The most vital and time taking part is layering the colors in cases. 
• Put 1/2 spoon mix at a time for one color, then a different color. Keep adding alternate colored batter till the cases are a little less than 3/4th filled.

Now preheat the oven at 150 degrees for about 10 minutes.

• Meanwhile arrange them in your tray and put them inside the in center of oven for baking for 20-25 minutes,

Please keep an eye as times may vary for different types of oven used.

Soft eggless Cupcakes

After going through a lot of different recipes for an eggless cupcake and trying them all, I came across this one and was amazed to see how easy the recipe was and how beautiful was the end result. This recipe is a must try for everyone who is looking for an eggless version of muffins/ cupcakes. 


Ingredients

• Self raising flour - 180 gms
• Sugar - 90 gms
• Baking Powder - 1 tea spoon
• Baking Soda - 1/2 tea spoon
• Vanilla essence - 2 tea spoonfuls
• Salt - 1/2 tea spoon
• Milk - 1/2 cup
• Vinegar - 3 tea spoons
• Oil - 1/4 cup

Recipe

• Add vinegar to the milk mix and keep aside for a while. 
• Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. 
• Add oil to the mix of vinegar and milk and whisk for 15-20 seconds. Add powdered sugar, vanilla essence and whisk for 20 seconds more.
• Now, fold the dry mix to this wet mix together and whisk for a while. Do not over do it.
• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
• Meanwhile, divide this mixture into the cupcake cases/ liners and arrange them in baking tray.
• Keep these cupcake cases in the middle of the preheated oven.
• Bake for 18-20 minutes and they should be ready by then. (Baking time may differ slightly for different makes and different types of oven)

Once done take them out and put them on cooling racks to cool down. Once these are done you may frost them the way you like.

I found that these are very soft and moist cupcakes and the ingredients are readily available in most kitchens.

If you want you may use 1/2 cup yoghurt instead of milk and vinegar.

Red lentils carrot and broccoli soup

Ingredients 

• Carrots - 2
• Broccoli - cut into 1 inch  (4-5 pieces)
• lentils - 1/2 cup 
• Garlic - 1-2 cloves
• milk - 3-4 tablespoons
• Butter - 1 teaspoon
• salt and pepper - to taste
• lemon juice - 1 teaspoon

Recipe 

• Soak this lentil for at least 3 -4 hours before you are planning to cook and it will take a lot lesser time to get done. 
• Boil carrots, broccoli and lentils together till they are soft and done.
• Finely chop garlic cloves.
• Put the pan on medium heat and let the butter melt and get hot. Add finely chopped garlic in it.
• Add the boiled mix of lentils, carrot and broccoli to it. Bring it to boil and then simmer.
• Give it a blend with your stick blender and let the contents  blend well.
• Add milk and let it boil for some more time. 
• Finally add lemon juice to it and salt and pepper to taste

Now you may garnish it with coriander leaves and serve while its hot. You may also take it to work in your lunch box and heat in a microwave.

This is a very healthy, nutritious and fiber rich soup to have. I have used the brown version of lentil to cook this time as has the higher fiber content in it. The same way can be done with the red/ pink version too.

Beanie vegetable Patty

Ingredients

• Boiled potatoes - 2 large sized
• Red kidney beans - 1/2 cup
• Green peas - 1/2 cup
• Corn - 1/2 cup
• Coriander leaves - a few
• Salt to taste
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 tea spoon full
• Corn flour - 2 spoonful
• Bread crumbs - 1 cup
• Oil - 2 spoon full to fry

 

 

Recipe

 

• Take a bowl, peel boiled potatoes and mash them.

• In a chopper add beans, peas, corn and,coriander leaves and turn it on.

• Add this mix to the boiled potatoes. Add salt to taste and 1/2 cup bread crumbs to it and mix well.

• Start giving them shapes into pattys.

•  In a bowl, separately make a diluted mix of corn flour and water.

• Now dip the patties into the corn flour mix and coat them with bread crumbs. 

• Put the pan on medium heat, put 1 spoonful of oil and start shallow frying the patties in it.

• Keep turning their sides to make sure they are evenly done and adjust the flame accordingly.

 

Kids love it so the adults too. Serve them with some ketchup/ chutney and salad.

 

 

Note :  you may add chillies to the recipes if you like them hot. I mostly do not put them keeping kids in mind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jelly with fruit chunks

Ingredients :

• Weikfield jelly powder (I have taken strawberry and pineapple)
• fruits - apple / strawberry (which you have readily available)
• Water

Recipe - Its quite easy, as below.

• Cut the fruits in small chunks and keep aside.
•  Boil approx 500 ml water in a kettle.
• In a bowl empty the whole pack and pour the boiled water over it.
• keep stirring till it gets completely dissolves.
• Divide the fruits into your jelly molds/ small containers.
• Then pour the warm jelly mix over it and put in in the fridge to cool down.

Variation

If you want it to have a it different and colorful  fill it a little more than half with one flavor and when its set fill the rest with another colour/ flavour. Then put it in the fridge for 1 hour more.

                                                                                                In sealed boxes as a part of lunch

Its a yummy, colorful and fruity version of jelly can be given to kids as a treat !!

Aloo tikki/ potato patty

Ingredients for 4 people as snack portion

• potatoes - 4 big sized
• ginger garlic paste - 1 tea spoon
• fresh Coriander leaves
• Salt to taste
• Oil - 2 tablespoons
• Cornflour - 1 spoonful

Recipe 

• Boil and peel potatoes.
• Take a bowl mash the potatoes in it. Add the cornflour and mix.
• Add ginger garlic paste, finely shopped fresh coriander leaves and salt to taste to it.
• Mix well.
• Shape them like small-medium sized patties.
• Now, on medium flame heat a pan. Put one tablespoon of oil and start frying patties. You may would like to adjust the flame and keep turning sides as you wouldn't want them to burn.