arabic desserts: 2010

Almond Biscuits with Chocolate Ganache

This is again one of my favourite combination, which you can find in most of my baked goodies. Almond and orange is simply irresistible to me. You can make different cookie shapes to enjoy your holiday and festive season.

Recipe Source: Cakes and Bakes by BBC Good Food
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 to 25 minutes
Makes 20 biscuits

Ingredients:
Plain flour- 100 g
Butter- 75 g
Ground Almonds- 75 g
Brown Sugar or Caster Sugar- 75 g
Grated Orange rind- 1 tsp
Baking powder- 1/2 tsp
Marzipan- 50 g

Chocolate Ganache:
Dark Chocolate or Plain Chocolate- 50 g
Double cream- 100 ml

Nuts to sprinkle on top

Method:
To make the biscuits:
Sift the flour and almonds in a large bowl, add the butter and work with your hands gently until it resembles bread crumbs like consistency. Add the grated orange rind and mix well. Add the sugar and mix it until it holds together like a dough.
Thinly roll out half of the dough and cut using cookie cutter to make crescent and star shapes. Roll out the marzipan also like a thin sheet. Cut the shapes using a cookie cutter.
Place one shape of the cookie, top it up with a marzipan shape and then top it again with the cookie dough. Seal the edges.
Preheat the oven to 160 degree Celsius. Bake the biscuits for 18 to 20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. To check if the cookies are cooked, when they are in the oven, move slightly with your index finger if it moves freely without sticking to the paper then the cookies are done.

Chocolate Ganache:
To make the ganache, heat the cream and chocolate in a bowl sitting on top of a pan of simmering water. When the chocolate melts completely take it off from heat. Beat it continuously when you are heating.
Dip the biscuits in the ganache and sprinkle with nuts.

Notes:
You can also make this recipe without marzipan filling and chocolate ganache. If you are not using chocolate ganache simply dust it with icing sugar.

This recipe goes to White Christmas Challenge Bake Off, Suma's Baking event and to Love Feast Holiday Cookie Exchange.

Any One Can Cook : Series 9

Thank you everyone for participating in Any One Can Cook and showing your support, you have made it a success. This is the successful ninth series of Any One Can Cook. I hope I get the same enthusiastic participation from everyone just like the previous series. I'll be not blogging for the next few days, so please link your recipes, when I get back will check out all your yummy and easy treats.

To view the event details and previous series click here.

Just remember a few rules before linking your recipe, your recipe should fall under any one of the following categories. When you are linking your recipe here, please give the short form as I have mentioned to make it easy for the readers.

For Beginners- FB

With Less Ingredients- WLI

With Minimum amount of time- WMT

Archived recipes can be sent just by giving a link to the event in your post.

If you find any trouble in linking your recipe please mail me your recipe link ayeesha.riaz@googlemail.com.

Link will be opened from Monday- Friday, European Greenwich Mean Time. Let's get started....

Stollen Wreath- Daring Baker's Challenge for December 2010

This month Daring Baker's Challenge is by Penny of Sweet Sadie's Baking. This challenged us to make this incredible Stollen. Challenges are tough to face it but when it is a sweet challenge like Daring Baker's Challenge, I'm sure everyone will love it, I truly enjoy it a lot every month when I check for a Daring Baker Challenge and more than that when I make it.

Coming to this month challenge, Stollen is a traditional German bread made during Christmas, what an appropriate challenge during this month. Stollen is bread loaded with dry fruits and candied peel, some breads are also filled with marzipan. Just baking a stollen will fill your home with the scent of festive mood, it smells simply great. Thank you Penny for the lovely challenge you have given this month.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes+ rising time
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Serves 8 to 10

Ingredients:
All purpose flour- 375 g
Warm milk- 100 ml
Egg- 1
Active dried yeast- 7 g
Melted Butter- 50 g
Brown sugar- 50 g
Mixed dried fruits( raisins, cranberries, currant etc..)- 75 g soaked in orange juice
Cinnamon powder- 1/2 tsp
Grated orange zest- 1/2 tsp
Grated nutmeg- 1/2 tsp
Salt- 1/2 tsp
Melted butter for brushing on top
Icing sugar for dusting on top

Method:
Sift the flour in a large, add salt, yeast, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar mix it well. Make a well in the center, add the melted butter and warm milk and orange zest. Mix it with a electric mixer and make it into a smooth elastic dough. Now add the soaked dry fruits and fold inside the dough. Place the dough in a clean oiled bowl, cover with a cling film and allow it to rise for 2 hours or until doubled in size. Take the dough, punch the air back. At this stage keep the dough wrapped up in refrigerator for overnight.

Next day take the dough and leave it outside for 2 hours to return to room temperature. Then roll the dough into a rectangle, roll it up like a Swiss roll. Join the two ends together. Using kitchen scissors make cuts along outside of the dough to make it look like wreath. Cover loosely with cling film, leave it in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 190 degree Celsius. Place the wreath in the preheated oven and bake it for 20 minutes, then turn the wreath to 180 degrees and bake it for another 20 minutes.
Take it out from the oven immediately brush with butter and dust it with Icing sugar. I also made few marzipan decoration.
Enjoy making your own wreath and have fun :)

This festive wreath goes to BBD 35, Yeastspotting, Bake- Off and Suma's Baking event.

Squash Muffin

Nearly a week back I saw this recipe in Suhaina's blog, the golden yellow colour and the moist texture of the muffin attracted me so much and I desperately wanted to taste that muffin. Since I couldn't get pumpkins , I used Winter squash and it tasted absolutely amazing. The good thing about this muffin, it remained moist and soft even after three days. Thank you Suhaina for this gorgeous muffin.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 to 30 minutes
Makes 12 muffin

Ingredients:
Wholewheat flour- 1 cup
Rolled oats- 1/2 cup
Pureed squash- 1 cup
Olive oil- 3/4 cup
Brown Sugar- 3/4 cup
Eggs- 2
Orange zest- 1/2 tsp
Grated nutmeg- 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon powder- 1/2 tsp
Orange juice- 1 tbsp
Baking Powder- 1 1/2 tsp
Bicarbonate of soda- 1/2 tsp
Walnuts- 12
Rolles oats- 1 tbsp( to sprinkle on top)

Method:
Puree the squash:
Cook about 1 cup of squash in cooker by adding little water, cook upto 1 whistle. Once cooked, let it cool down and puree it in a blender and use 1 cup of puree for the recipe.

Beat the olive oil and egg, until the sugar dissolves. Beat in the eggs, until it looks light and fluffy. Add the orange juice and all the flavours, mix it well. Then add the puréed squash and mix it well. Now sift the flour, baking powder, bicarb of soda and oats to this mixture and fold it gently.
Preheat the oven to 190 degree Celsius. Line a muffin tray with muffin cases. Spoon the mixture into the cases, top it up with broken walnuts and rolled oats. Bake it in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
You can keep this muffin up to 4 days stored in an air tight container.

This recipe goes to Champa's Bake off, Bookmarked Recipes by Priya and Aipi, Suma's Baking event with a giveaway, CWF- Oats hosted by Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes started by Kiran and to Healing foods- Winter Squash by taste space, originally started by Siri.

Dahi Oats Vadai

I used to prepare dahi vadai generally with urad dhal vadai. Once when I was in my friend's place she made the vadai with moong dhal, which was so soft and yummy. I used the same recipe and added oats to it. This dahi vada is generally served with green chutney and tamarind chutney. Today when I prepared it I didn't have the ingredients for both chutney, so to add a spicy and tangy flavour I used tomato ketchup and chat masala, which tasted good too. Anyway I have included the recipe for chutney, so you can use the chutney recipe or tomato ketchup like me ;-)

Preparation Time: 15 minutes+ soaking time 2 hours
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Makes about 12 mini vadai

Ingredients:
Moong dhal split yellow- 1 cup
Rolled oats- 1 cup
Bicarbonate of soda- 1/4 tsp
Yogurt- 2 cup
Oil for frying
Salt to taste

Green Chutney:
Coriander leaves- 5 stalks
Mint leaves- 1 tbsp
Green chilli- 1
lemon juice- 2 tbsp
Coconut- 1/2 tbsp grated
Salt to taste

Tamarind Chutney:
Tamarind- 1 lime size ball
Dates- 3 seedless
Fenugreek powder- 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder- 1/4 tsp
Jaggery- 1 tsp
Dry ginger- 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:
To make vadai:
Soak the dhal in water for 2 hours. Grind the dhal along with oats by adding little water. Add salt and bicarbonate of soda, mix it well. I used a paniyaram pan to make the vadai, you can also use normal kadai.
Heat the oil in pan , add a drop to check if the oil is heat, when you add a small spoon full of mixture, if it comes up immediately the oil is ready.
Drop a teaspoon full of mixture and fry it for 2 to 3 minutes. This vadai doesn't change colour even after, it remains pale. So once it looks crispier outside you can take it outside.
Drop all the vadai in water for 5 minutes. Take out and squeeze the water. Mix the yogurt with salt and 1/2 cup of water. Drop all the vadai in yogurt and drizzle with chutney and chat masala on top. Finally add some chopped coriander leaves on top.

To make Green Chutney:
Grind together all the green chutney ingredients in a blender.

To make the tamarind chutney:
Extract the tamarind juice from the pulp, mix it with the other ingredients. Heat it on low to medium heat and keep stirring. Once it looks thick and saucy remove it from heat.

This recipe goes to the event CWF- Oats hosted by Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes originally started by Kiran, Dish Name Starts With D by Akila of Learning To Cook and to Food Palette Series White by Torview

Any One Can Cook : Series 8

Thank you everyone for participating in Any One Can Cook and showing your support, you have made it a success. This is the successful eighth series of Any One Can Cook. I hope I get the same enthusiastic participation from everyone just like the previous series.

To view the event details and previous series click here.

Just remember a few rules before linking your recipe, your recipe should fall under any one of the following categories. When you are linking your recipe here, please give the short form as I have mentioned to make it easy for the readers.

For Beginners- FB

With Less Ingredients- WLI

With Minimum amount of time- WMT

Archived recipes can be sent just by giving a link to the event in your post.

If you find any trouble in linking your recipe please mail me your recipe link ayeesha.riaz@googlemail.com.

Link will be opened from Monday- Friday, European Greenwich Mean Time. Let's get started....

Masala Vegetable Pie

I always used to prepare these warm pies very buttery and with meat. Nowadays I try to cut down butter even in baking. So I made these warm pie with the goodness of olive oil and with a fresh selection of veggies. Whatever shape you make these pie, have it while they are still warm, since warm food taste good and makes you feel good.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 35 minutes
Makes 6 mini pies

Ingredients:
For the pastry:
Wholewheat flour-200 g
Olive oil- 50 ml
Egg yolk- 1
Baking Powder- 1/4 tsp
Salt- 1/2 tsp
Ice cold water- 3 to 4 tbsp

For the filling:
Sweet potatoes- 2 medium sized cooked and mashed
Broccoli- 1/2 of 1 whole broccoli( Steamed for 5 minutes)
Carrot- 1 medium sized( Shredded)
Spring onion- 1 chopped
Garlic- 3 cloves ( Grated)
Onion- 1 medium sized chopped finely
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder- 1 tsp
Cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp
Egg- 1 beaten lightly
Cheddar cheese- 3 slices
Parmigiano Reggino cheese- 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method:
For the pastry:
Sift the flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Add the oil and mix it well till it looks like bread crumbs.
Add the egg yolk, and some cold water to bring the dough together. The pastry doesn't require too much kneading like bread. Wrap the dough and set aside. Please don't keep the pastry refrigerator, you can leave it outside and use within 1 hour.
For the filling:
Heat the oil in a pan, add the cumin seeds and garlic. Then add the finely chopped onions and fry well till the it looks transparent in colour. Then add the carrot and saute for 2 minutes. Add all the spice powders and mix well. Finally add the broccoli and mashed potatoes and mix well to coat the spices. Add salt to taste.
Now add 1/2 cup of milk to make the mixture wet. Take it off from heat add the cheese and mix well. Let it cool down for a while then add the egg and mix well.
Make the pie:
Preheat the oven to 190 degree Celsius. Roll out the pastry between two sheets of baking paper or cling film. Cut out circles of 10 cm diameter, depending upon the size of the dish you use.

Grease a muffin tray, place the circle of pastry inside the muffin tray, press it down the edges. Fill with filling and bring the edges together.
Bake it in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes.
Serve warm with salad and ketchup.

This recipe goes to Champa's Bake Off and Suma's Baking event which comes along with a exciting giveaway.

Orange and Almond Sponge With Butterscotch sauce and Pistachio Praline

As I always say warm desserts are comforting for all weather, that too in this climate, when the temperature drops less than -10 degrees, you really look for something hot sizzling and spicy and after that a warm dessert may be. This is a kind of dessert which you can whip up in minutes, then sit back and relax with your family. Try using your creativity to vary this dessert with some fresh fruits or different. Whatever flavour or fruit you use, a steamed sponge is something always special.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 to 25 minutes
Makes 4

Ingredients:
For the sponge:
Plain flour- 60 g / 2 oz
Butter- 50 g / 2 oz
Brown Sugar- 60 g/ 2 oz
Baking Powder- 1/2 tsp
Ground Almonds( without skin)- 40 g/ just less than 2 oz
Grated zest of orange- 1 tsp
Eggs- 2
Freshly squeezed orange juice- 3 tbsp

Butterscotch sauce:
Butter- 1/2 tbsp
Brown sugar- 2 tbsp
Cream- 75 ml
Honey- 1 tbsp
Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

Pistachio Praline:
Pistachio without shell- 1 tbsp
Brown sugar- 2 tbsp
Lemon juice- 1 tsp

Method:
For the Sponge:
Melt the butter and keep it separately. Beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl until it looks fluffy. Add the orange juice and zest, mix well. Sift the flour, baking powder and almonds into the egg mixture. Fold gently without any lumps. Finally fold the butter into the mixture.
Grease 4 ramekins with butter and dust it with flour. Pour the mixture equally into the ramekins. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius. Take a large tray, fill with boiling water and then place the ramekins inside that. Bake it in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Note:
The cooking time might vary according to the size of the dish you are using.

For Butterscotch sauce:
Heat together butter, sugar and honey in a heavy based pan in medium to low heat. Once everything is melted completely, heat it for 2 to 3 minutes stirring continuously. Take it off from heat, add the extract and cream little by little, stirring continuously.

For Pistachio Praline:
Heat the pistachio, sugar and lemon juice in a pan, stirring continuously. When it reaches a consistency of 1 string consistency, take it off from heat and pour it in a baking parchment paper. After it hardens, bash it with a rolling pin to crumble into pieces.
Note:
To check the one string consistency, wet your hands with cold water. Take a small amount of syrup between your two fingers, when you press and release, you should see a small thread between your two fingers.

To Serve:
Place the sponge in individual serving plates, pour the warm sauce on top. Finally top it up with pistachio praline.
To enjoy the real taste of this dessert, serve while they are still warm

Note:
You can replace brown sugar with caster sugar for sponge.
For the butterscotch sauce, you can use caster sugar and brown sugar mixed.
For the praline also you can replace with caster sugar.

This recipe goes to Champa's Bake off and Suma's event which comes along with lovely giveaway.

My Short Panettone

Panettone is a classic which can be found during the festive season. What I admire the most about panettone is it's tall and huge size. Since we don't require a huge bread for our small family, I reduced the measurement and so the size of the bread is also reduced. Although I was bit disappointed with the look of the bread, I was extremely happy with the taste and texture. I have to say it had a much better texture than a cake. After having a one big slice I was tempted to have more. Inspite of making the bread completely with whole wheat and reducing the proportion, to achieve this texture and taste, I consider it as a great success.

Preparation Time: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes+ rising time
Makes about 8 to 10 slices
Recipe adopted from the book The Bread

Ingredients: ( Actual measurement from the book, I used only half)
Whole wheat flour- 400 g( recipe suggested white flour)
Warm milk- 120 ml
Softened butter- 150 g
Brown Sugar- 75 g( recipe suggested caster sugar)
Eggs- 2 whole eggs+ egg yolks
Dried yeast- 7 g
Salt- 1 tsp
Raisins- 75 g
Dried apricots- 40 g
Vanilla extract- 1 tsp
melted butter for brushing

Method:
Sift the flour and salt in a bowl. Add half of the flour mixture, mix it with yeast, milk and two whole eggs to form a thick batter. Sprinkle some flour on top, cover with a cling film and keep it in a warm place for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, add the remaining flour , eggs, extract to make a soft dough. Finally incorporate the butter into the dough and make it nice and smooth. Place the dough in a clean and greased bowl. Cover with a cling film and keep it in a warm place to rise for about 1 to 11/2 hour or until doubled in bulk.

Grease a 15 cm round tin and layer it with double layer of baking parchment paper. Once the dough has risen, knock the air back. Add the dry fruits to the dough and mix well. Place the dough into the tin and loosely cover with a cling film. Again allow it rise for 1 1 /2 hour or until doubled in bulk.
Preheat the oven to 190 degree Celsius. Brush the top of the bread with butter and bake it in the preheated oven for 20 minutes in 190 degree Celsius, then reduce the temperature to 180 degree Celsius and bake it for another 20 minutes or looks golden on top. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes then turn it to a wire rack to cool.

This recipe goes to Bread Baking Day 35, Yeast spotting, Champa's Bake-Off. and to Bookmarked recipes by Priya and Aipi.

It also goes to the event by Cakes and More which comes along with a lovely giveaway offer of the The Cake Bible.

Broccoli Pesto with Pasta

I followed this recipe from Mary's One Perfect Bite. This is one of her unique style of making pesto with the goodness of broccoli and walnuts. I really enjoyed this pesto with broccoli a lot. You can find the Mary's recipe from here.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients:
Broccoli- Half of 1 whole broccoli
Walnuts- 2 tbsp
Olive oil- 2 tbsp
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
Garlic- 3 cloves grated
Parmigiano Reggiano cheese- 1 tbsp
Parsley- 1 tbsp chopped finely
Pasta- 300 g
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:
Steam the broccoli for 10 minutes. Saves 3 to 4 florets to mix with the pasta, add the remaining to a food processor along with the lemon juice, olive oil, walnuts, garlic and parsley. Pulse it and puree it, as the motor running slowly add the parmigiana cheese and puree it.
Cook the pasta in boiling water until it's fully cooked. Drain the water completely, toss it with olive oil, add the pesto, salt and pepper, the remaining broccoli and mix it well.

This recipe goes to Bookmarked Recipes by Priya and Aipi, Only Green event hosted by Sara started by Pari of Foodelicious

.

Ragi Chapathi's with Tofu Broccoli Masala

Ragi Chapathi

Ragi or finger millet is generally made as porridge and given for babies. It's not just good for babies,it's also healthy for adults since it's rich in amino acid methionine. Methionine helps produce a substance called lecithin, which reduces the cholesterol level in the body, protects the liver and kidney. It is also rich in calcium, protein and good amount of iron. Read more about ragi from here.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Makes about 8 to 10 chapthi's

Ingredients:
Whole meal flour- 1 cup
Ragi flour- 3/4 cup
Ajwain seeds- 1 tsp
Kasuri methi( dry) - 2 tsp crushed
Salt- 1 tsp
Honey- 1 tsp
Olive oil- 2 tsp
Water- to knead the dough( about 3/4 cup)

Ingredients:
Mix the flour, seeds, methi and salt together. Make a well in the center add the honey, oil and water to make a smooth dough. Cover the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes. Divide the dough into 8 equal balls. Roll it out into 10 to 12 cm diameter circle.
Heat a non stick pan to high. Cook the chapathi on both sides, until it bubbles and looks lightly brown on top.
You can also apply some oil on top at the end. Serve warm with veg or non veg curries.

Tofu Broccoli Masala

Tofu is nothing but made by coagulating soy milk, something which is very similar to paneer. Since it's made from soy milk, it's rich in calcium but also low in fat. Tofu is good for women who is in menopause since it's rich in calcium, it reduces the bone loss.
  Tofu also reduces the bad cholesterol in the body. There are many different varieties of tofu like silken, firm, dried etc.. Tofu can also be used in ice creams, milkshakes, cakes etc.
For a very simple version, just crumble the tofu and make it like scrambled eggs or egg burji to have a simple and healthy brunch. Read more about tofu from here.
I prepared this just like regular paneer butter masala, so you can also substitute with paneer and make this recipe.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients:
Tofu- 100 g
Broccoli- 200 g( florets separated)
Onion- 1 medium sized
Tomato- 1 medium sized
Ginger garlic paste- 1 tsp
Chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder- 1 tsp
Garam masala- 3/4 tsp
Green chilli- 2
Dried Methi leaves- 1/2 tbsp crushed
Almonds- 5 to 6
Tomato ketchup or Tomato puree- 1/2 tbsp
Milk- 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
Oil- 1/2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method:
Cube the tofu and toast in a pan with little oil on all sides. Keep them separately. Heat oil in a vessel, add the cumin seeds, gingergarlic paste. Then add the chopped onions and fry until they looks transparent. Then add the tomatoes and fry well until they become completely soft. Add the chilli powder, coriander powder and fry well. Then add about 1 cup of water to this mixture, add the almonds, green chilly, methi leaves and salt. Cover the vessel and cook in medium to low heat until the mixture starts boiling. Switch it off from the flame.
  Let the mixture cool down for a while, then blend it in a blender until looks smooth texture.
  Heat oil in the same vessel, add the ground mixture and allow it to boil in medium to low heat. Then add the tomato puree and let it boil for another 5 minutes.
  Meanwhile prepare the broccoli florets, separate it from the stalk and steam it for 5 minutes. Then wash immediately in cold water to stop cooking..
  Pour the milk to the boiling mixture and let it boil for another 2 minutes. Finally add the tofu, broccoli and garam masala. Cover the pan and keep it in low heat for 2 minutes. Switch it off and take it from heat. Check for the salt.
Serve warm with roti's or pulav.

Both chapathi's and Tofu broccoli masala goes to my own event Eat Well Live Well, the Tofu broccoli masala goes to Only Green event hosted by Sara's corner originally started by Pari of Foodelicious.

Ragi Chapathi goes to CWS- Ajwain seeds hosted by Kavitha of seasoned and dressed, a event started by Priya's EasyN Tasty Recipes

Whole grain Dosa and Broccoli Chutney

Whole Grain Dosa

Ingredients:
Brown rice or idli rice- 2 cups( soaked for 3 hours)
Barley- 1/2 cup( soaked for 2 hours)
Quinoa- 1/2 cup( Soaked for 1 hour)
Urad dhal- 1/2 cup(soaked for 2 hours)
Rolled oats- 1/2 cup( soaked for 10 minutes)
Salt to taste

Method:
Grind all the soaked ingredients separately smoothly. Mix everything along with salt and water to make it a smooth batter consistency. Allow it to ferment for 8 to 10 hours.
Heat a non stick dosa pan, grease lightly with oil, pour a laddle full of batter and make the dosa. Cook on both sides. Serve warm with chutney.

Broccoli Chutney

Ingredients:
Broccoli- 3 to 4 florets( washed and steamed for 5 minutes)
Onion- 1 medium sized chopped
Tomato- 1 medium sized chopped
Dried red chilli- 2
Garlic- 3 pods
Curry leaves- 1 spring
Coriander leaves- 2 stalk
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Urad dhal- 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste.
Oil- 2 tsp

Method:
Heat the oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds and urad dhal. When the seeds start spluttering, add the dried chilli and curry leaves. Then add the chopped onions, tomato and coriander leaves. Cook until the all the water evaporates. Finally add the broccoli florets and toss well. Leave it to cool down for a while then blend it in a blender along with salt.

Both dosa and chutney goes to my own event Eat Well Live Well, the Broccoli chutney goes to Only Green event hosted by Sara's corner, originally started by Pari of Foodelicious.

Any One Can Cook : Series 7

Hi Everyone,
Any One Can Cook is back again after a long break. Hope to have your support and delicious recipes as always. To view the details about the event and the previous series click here.
If you experience any problem in linking your recipe, mail me your recipe url at ayeesha.riaz@googlemail.com or leave a comment below this post with your recipe url.

Just remember a few rules before linking your recipe, your recipe should fall under any one of the following categories. When you are linking your recipe here, please give the short form as I have mentioned to make it easy for the readers.

For Beginners- FB

With Less Ingredients- WLI

With Minimum amount of time- WMT

The link will be opened from Monday- Friday, so common let's make cooking easy....

Instant Quinoa Idli

This is a very simple instant idli which can be prepared in minutes. Looking for some wholesome foods, which is easy to prepare is quite not an easy job. That too when we start using a new ingredient and experimenting with new recipes is also a real challenge. But with the help of all innovative bloggers we can definitely get a core idea.
After searching for idli's with quinoa, I found a few recipes which suggested soaking the rice and dhal, then grinding and fermenting. Since the weather is too cold here, I didn't have patience to wait for fermentation, so I just went for this instant method, just like rava idli's which can be made in minutes.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Makes about 20 Idli's

Ingredients:
Quinoa- 1 cup
Rolled oats- 1/2 cup
Ragi flour- 1/2 cup
Semolina- 1/2 cup
Soya yogurt or plain yogurt- 3 3/4 cup
Coriander leaves- 2 tbsp( chopped finely)
Bicarbonate Of Soda- 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Seasoning:
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Urad dhal- 1/2 tsp
Channa dhal- 1/2 tsp
Green chilli- 2 chopped finely
Oil- 2 tsp

Method:
Powder the quinoa and oats separately in a blender. Mix it along with the semolina, ragi flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda. Heat the oil in a pan, add the seasoning ingredients one by one, when the mustard seeds start spluttering, add the seasoning to the quinoa mixture and mix well. Mix 1 1/2 cup of yogurt and mix it well. Add the chopped coriander leaves and mix it well.
Add the remaining yogurt and mix it well. The batter should be similar to a normal idli batter consistency, if not add some more water. Grease the idli moulds, and the pour the batter, steam it in the cooker until the idli's are cooked.
Serve warm with sambar and chutney.

Note:
After adding the seasoning ingredients and mixing, at that stage you can store it in a air tight container for later use.

This recipe goes to Eat Well, Live Well and Any One Can Cook.

Oaty Breakfast: Pidi kozhukatai and Upma

  Never skip your breakfast
   Having a healthy and wholesome breakfast is a best way to start your day. People think that if you skip meals, you lose weight, which is completely wrong. Your body expects refueled several times a day starting from breakfast. When you skip a breakfast, you might feel tired in the mid morning and you might want to grab a sugary cup of tea, cake or chocolates...
   Just having a white bread with jam, sugary cereals or pastries doesn't count as good breakfast. A good breakfast should contain some protein and fibre. You can get protein from low fat milk, lean meat, eggs or diary products and fibres from whole grains or vegetables and fruits. Including whole grain in your diet keeps you filling for a longer times and also gives the essential nutrients for your body.
   Next coming to today's recipe, initially I was making only oats upma, but due to some mild changes this oats kozhukatai also evolved. Have a healthy breakfast and have a nice day.

Oats Pidi Kozhukatai

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Makes about 7 kozhukatai

Ingredients:
Oats- 1 cups
Onion- 1 medium sized finely chopped
Carrot- 1 medium sized finely chopped
Coriander leaves- 1 tbsp finely chopped
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder- 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Seasoning:
Ginger- 1/4 inch finely chopped
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Urad dhal- 1/2 tsp
Dried red chilli- 2
Oil- 2 tsp

Method:
Add water to the oats in a bowl just enough to cover it. Let it soak for 10 minutes. Heat oil in a pan, add the seasoning ingredients, then add the onion and fry well. When the onion becomes transparent, add the carrot and fry for 2 minutes. Add the spice powder and mix well. Finally add the oats and stir well. It well look like quite lumpy, add coriander leaves and switch it off from flame.
Shape into small size balls using your hand and serve with some chutney.

Oats Upma

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients:
Oats- 1 cup
Carrot- 1 medium sized chopped
Onion- 1 medium sized chopped
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves- 1 tbsp chopped finely
Seasoning:
Oil- 3 tsp
Mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp
Urad dhal- 1/4 tsp
Chana dhal- 1/4 tsp
Ginger- 1/4 inch finely chopped
Green chilli- 2 slit lenghtways

Method:
Dry roast the oats in a pan for 1 minute. Sprinkle some water on oats to make it just wet. Heat the oil in a pan, add the seasoning ingredients one by one, when the mustard seeds start spluttering add the onion and fry for 1 minute. Then add the carrots and fry for 2 minutes. Add the turmeric powder and salt and mix well. Finally add the oats and fry well for 1 or 2 minutes until it looks a bit dry. Garnish with the chopped coriander leaves.
Serve warm with chutney or yogurt.

These both recipes goes to my own event Eat Well Live Well and to the CWF- Oats hosted by Priya started by Kiran.

French Baguettes

Baguettes are difficult to reproduce at home as they require a very hot and steaming oven. However by using less yeast and triple fermentation method, you can get more better baguettes than the mass produced one. Traditionally baguettes are made with only white bread flour, since I'm trying to avoid the white flour I used whole wheat and rye. Which tasted still good.
   These baguettes can be used for garlic bread, or with soups. I love these baguettes with fresh salad, chicken and cheese as a sandwich.

Preparation Time: 1 hour+ rising time
Cooking Time: 20 to 25 minutes
Makes about 3 loaves

Ingredients:
Wholewheat flour- 400 g / 16 oz
Rye flour- 200 g / 8 oz
Salt- 1 tsp
Dried yeast- 2 tsp
Warm water- 525 ml

Method:
Sift the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the yeast and warm water mix it well. Gradually add half of the flour mixture to the water to make a batter. Cover with a cling film and leave it in a warm place to rise for about 3 hour or until trebled in size and starting to collapse.
  Then add the remaining flour and beat with your hand to make a smooth dough. Place the dough in a clean oiled bowl and cover with a cling film. Keep it in a warm place and allow it to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
  Divide the dough into 3 equal balls and stretch into a length of 15 cm. Shape each piece into an oblong. Pleat a floured dishtowel on a baking sheet to make 3 moulds to hold the dough. Place the loaves between the pleats to help hold their shape while rising. Cover with a lightly oiled cling film and leave it in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour.

Mean while preheat the oven to 230 degree celsius. Boil water in the kettle and pour it in a ceramic bowl. Place it in the bottom of the oven to generate steam inside the oven. Take the raised dough, roll it gently into a baking tray, slash with a knife diagonally several times. Bake it in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Serve the bread with soup or use it for sandwich.

This recipe goes to Champa's Bake off, yeastspotting and AWED- France hosted by Priya started by DK of Chef In You.
Along with this I'm also sending my mini brioche and mini apple croissant to AWED France

Pear, Chocolate and Almond Crumble : Sweet Punch for December 2010

This month our challenge is to make Pear and Chocolate crumble. A hot bowl of soup and a warm dessert is something perfect to enjoy for this snowy winter. A very simple and easy to make which makes you feel satisfied. I always like to enjoy these warm dessert with some cold ice cream, you can also have with some custard. Thank you Sweet Punch team for this delicious punch.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients:
Pears- 2
Brown sugar- 2 tbsp
Lemon- juice and zest of 1/2 a lemon
Plain flour- 75 g
Blanched and toasted almonds- 1 tbsp
Butter- 30 g
Milk or plain chocolate- 50 g

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degree celsius.
Peel and chop the pears and mix it along with the juice and zest of lemon. Also add the brown sugar and mix well.
Mix the plain flour and butter with your finger tips until it resembles like a bread crumbs, then add the sugar and chopped almonds and mix well.
Take two tea cups, add the pears and 2 to 3 pieces of chocolate in each cup. Top it with the crumble topping and add the another 2 to 3 pieces of chopped chocolate on top of it. Bake it in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes until it looks golden brown on top.
Serve warm with ice cream or custard.

Note:
You can also increase the measurement and use a large size bowl to make the crumble, in that case it might take longer time to cook.

Oats Paniyaram and Oats Murukku : Tried and Tasted from Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes

This time Tried and Tasted is from Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes. Like most of you I too have a long list to try from Priya's recipes. Priya is known for her quick, easy and innovative recipes with all healthy ingredients. Although I have a long list to try from her recipes, this time I'm posting this oats paniyaram and murukku for the event hosted by Seduce your taste buds.
Both tasted absolutely delicious and easy to make too. You can view the original recipes of Priya from here and here.

Oats Paniyaram

Preparation Time: 20 minutes+ Soaking Time
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Makes about 15 paniyaram( might vary according to the pan size)

Ingredients:
Raw rice- 1 cup
Rolled oats- 1 cup
Jaggery- 1/2 cup ( I used black jaggery)
Grated coconut- 1/4 cup
Banana- 1
Cardamom powder- 1/4 tsp
Bicarbonate of soda- 1/4 tsp
Ghee or oil for frying

Method:
Soak the rice in water for 2 hours. Grind it to a smooth paste by adding little water. Soak the oats for 10 minutes. Add it to the the rice mixture and grind well. Finally add the banana, coconut, jaggery and cardamom powder, grind well again.
If the batter is too thick add some water to make a drop consistency. Add the bicarbonate of soda and mix well. Heat a paniyaram pan, add oil or ghee in each round. Drop a spoonful of batter in each round, cook in medium to low heat . After 2 or 3 minutes, turn to the other side. When it's cooked, drain from oil.
Serve warm.

Note :
If you don't have a paniyaram pan, just deep fry it in the normal kadai.

Oats and Coconut Murukku

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Makes about 20 to 25 murukku

Ingredients:
Rice flour- 2 cups
Roasted split gram dhal / Pottukadalai- 1/2 cup
Rolled oats- 1/2 cup
Roasted Urad dhal- 1/4 cup
Butter- 1 tsp
Sesame seeds- 1 tbsp
Nigella seeds- 1/2 tbsp
Coconut milk- 1 cup
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method:
Powder roasted gram dhal, rolled oats and urad dhal separately into a fine fine powder. Sieve the urad dhal powder to make it fine. Heat the coconut milk and butter just under a boiling point. Mix all the powder, rice flour, salt and seeds in a large bowl. Add the heated coconut milk mix together to make a smooth dough.
Put a ball of dough into the murukku press and press as murukkus in a greased plate or aluminium foil. Heat oil in a pan. Put the murukkus one by one at a time in the hot oil. Cook on both sides until the oil stops bubbling. Take it out from the oil. Store the murukkus in a air tight container.

Both paniyaram and murukku goes to Tried and Tasted Recipes hosted by Seduce Your TasteBuds originally started by Zlamuska and now carried on by Lakshmi of Kitchen Chronicles, to Bookmarked Recipes hosted by Priya and Aipi.

Paniyaram goes to Veggie/ Fruit A Month - banana hosted by Aipi started by Priya and Celebrate Sweets- Sugarless sweets hosted by Sara originally started by Nivedita.