Any One Can Cook: Series 46

Hello Foodies,

Hope you all had a great weekend, I know,  I'm asking this almost in the middle of the weekend.  Anyway, as usual it's going to be a very short announcing about the selected recipes.  I would also like to remind that there are only few more weeks left for voting, so if you haven't entered this event so far, still it's not too late, you can now.  If you are not sure what's going on here or interested to know more about the event click here and here.
Coming to the selected recipes from last week series:

Egg Pancake from Lecker and Yummy Recipes

Mutton Soup from Amina Creations

Naan Chips from Lazzat

Now to the selected recipes of the month:
Mutton Soup from Amina Creations

Bean Sprout salad from Kitchen Boffin

Chocolate Covered Dates from Erivum Puliyum

Thank you everyone for linking your recipes and making this event a successful one, looking forward to more participation in the oncoming weeks.  If you would like to get featured in this event, link your recipes which suits the event in the link given below.  If you find any trouble in linking your recipes, mail me your recipe link to ayeesha.riaz@googlemail.com

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Dulche de leche Cakes

Any one there to raise your hands to say a no to Dulce de leche.  I'm sure if you have taste it before, you wouldn't say no.  Dulce de leche makes wonders with cakes, cookies or desserts.  I wonder why Dulce de leche shouldn't be served as a dessert on it's own straight out of the can.  Whenever I make something out of Dulce de leche, I have to precautionally have an extra can than the recipe suggest, since I finish almost 1/2 of the can when I start preparing :)

This is a very simple cake which I had made so many times before with and without amazing.  Actually it taste amazing without icing.  I have seen this cake in many blogs now, anyway the first time I saw this recipe from Divya's Easy Cooking.  Probably everybody refer her site for this recipe.  Thank you Divya for this yummy yummy recipe.  You'll never worry about your calories when you have this cake.

 In the beginning of last week, I made this cake with lots of icing on top and then Daring Baker's Crunch Bread with the fried patties.  Again I felt like having this cake for the second time in the same week. Second time, to make it less sinful I have cut down two sinners from the recipe, I replaced the plain flour with whole wheat flour and icing sugar with brown sugar.  At last a few sprinkling of walnuts to make justice for the butter which I added.  Below is the image of the wholewheat version, which tasted great too with a mild variation in texture. I better have an eye on my calories after this.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30-40 minutes
Makes 16 squares

Ingredients:
Plain flour- 200 gm
Butter- 200 gm
Eggs- 2
Dulce de leche- 150 g
Icing Sugar- 120 g
Baking powder- 2 tsp
Bicarbonate of soda- 1/4 tsp
Vanilla essence- 1 tsp

For the Icing:
Butter- 100 g
Icing Sugar- 200 g
Dulce de leche- 75 g
Vanilla essence- 1 tsp
Chocolate sprinkles and flaked almonds- to decorate on top ( optional )

Note:
To know how to make dulche de leche please refer here.

Method:
Preheat the oven to 190 degree Celsius. Grease and line a 9 inch square cake tin.  Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in a large bowl.  In separate bowl beat the butter and icing sugar with a electric beater until it looks light and fluffy.  Now add the Dulce de leche to the butter mixture and beat well.  Now add the eggs and essence and beat it again.  Finally add the flour mixture and mix it well.  Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake it in the preheated oven for 30- 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Take it out from the oven.  Leave it to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes, then remove it out from the tin carefully and let it cool down completely.
Once cooled completely, spread the icing on top and sprinkle with chocolate sprinkles and almonds on top.

To make the icing:
The butter should be at room temperature before you start making the icing.  Beat together the butter, icing sugar, Dulce de leche and essence until it looks smooth and creamy.  Spread it on top of the cake.

For the whole wheat option:
Replace whole wheat flour for plain flour and brown sugar for icing and add some extra nuts along with the batter.  Follow the same amount and method as suggested above.

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Dutch Crunch Bread and Bean Sandwich for Daring Baker's Challenge March 2012

This month for Daring Baker's Challenge Sara and Erica from Baking JDs challenged us to make Dutch Crunch Bread.  Dutch crunch bread is not any particular type of bread, it's a topping which can be used for any type of bread. In Dutch it's called 'Tigerbrood' or 'Tiger Bread'  since it gets a tiger like shell on top of the bread after baking.  The end product is a sweet crunchy topping which is ideal for sandwiches.

After so many obstacles I have to bake and post this recipe.  First time, the yeast didn't work well which was my fault and the second time the yeast worked well and everything looked perfect, I happily left the bread in the oven and it didn't cook.  I was looking for a long time and it remained the same, oops! power cut.  At least if the power cut was for our whole area, I would have blamed the country's system easily but it was only in our house. It took me nearly 1 hour to figure out that the power cut was only in my house, then I have to call for an electrician and it took more than 2 hours to get everything right.  My poor bread was waiting silently in my oven in half cooked stage which spoiled the texture and topping a bit, it didn't turn out to my expectation, still it was good.  Also I was not in a mood to try it again immediately, so went ahead in posting the recipe. I used this bread for bean burger or bean sandwich, which is our favourite vegetarian option.  Thank you Sara and Erica for sharing this amazing bread with us, this is definitely a keeper.

Dutch Crunch Bread or Tigerbrood

Preparation Time: 10minutes+ rising time
Cooking Time: 30- 40 minutes
Makes 5 rolls 

Ingredients:
Soft White Rolls:
Plain flour- 500 g
Fast action dried yeast- 3/4 tbsp
Sugar- 3 tsp
Salt- 1 tsp
Oil- 1 tbsp
Warm milk- 240 ml

Dutch Crunch Topping:
Rice flour- 240 g
Yeast- 1 tbsp
Sugar- 1 tbsp
Salt- 1/2 tsp
Oil- 1 tbsp
Warm water- 240 ml

Method:
Prepare the dough:
Mix the flour,sugar, salt and yeast in a large bowl.  Make a well in the center, add the warm milk slowly and beat with a electric mixer fitted with the dough hook.  Once the dough  comes together, stop beating with electric mixer.  Knead the dough for 10minutes using your hand.  Place the dough in a clean and oiled bowl.

  Cover with a cling film and keep it in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.
Once the dough has risen, knock the air back.  Divide the dough into 5 equal rounds and place it in a baking sheet.  Cover it loosely and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200 degree Celsius.  Apply a thick layer of Dutch crunch topping on top of each rolls.  Bake it in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes or it looks lightly brown on top.

To make the Dutch crunch topping:
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and let it rest for about 15 minutes.  Then use it in the recipe as suggested.

Note:
The oven temperature and cooking time might vary according to different oven.




Mixed Bean Sandwich:

Bean Patties:

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Makes 6 to 7 patties


Ingredients:
Mix of kidney beans,black eye beans, broad beans- 100 g
Onion- 1 finely chopped
Capsicum- 1/2 finely chopped
Curry powder- 2 tsp
Chilly powder-1/2 tsp
Flour- 1 tbsp
Bread crumbs-2 tbsp
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil for frying

Method:
Soak the dried beans in water for overnight.  Pressure cook the beans up to 4 to 5 whistles.  Completely mash the beans with a masher, add the chopped onions, capsicum, flour, chilly powder, curry powder, salt and pepper, mix it well.  If the mixture looks too crumbly, sprinkle some water to make it like a dough.  Take small sized balls, roll it and pat it like patties.  Dip the patties in the breadcrumbs completely.
Heat oil in a pan, when the oil is heat enough, drop the patties one by one and fry it till it looks golden brown on both sides.

Bean Sandwich:

Preparation Time:5 minutes
Cooking Time: 3 minutes
Makes 2 sandwich

Ingredients:
Dutch Crunch Bread- 2 rolls
Bean Patties- 2
Tomato- 2 slices
Blanched Spinach- 4 to 5 leaves
Cheese- 2 slices
Mayonnaise- 1 tbsp

Method:
Slice the bread into half.  Apply the mayonnaise at the bottom.  Place 2 to 3 spinach leaves, then a tomato slice, top it with a bean patties and a cheese slice.  Place it under a grill for about a minute until the cheese starts melting. Serve it immediately.


 

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Any One Can Cook: Series 45

Dear Foodies,

Hope you all had a great weekend. Thank you everyone for linking your recipes with Any One Can Cook. Looking forward to same support from you as always.  Let's see the three selected recipes from last week series.
Sugar Coated Green peas by My Kitchen Flavours- Bon Appetit
Asian Inspired Pineapple Cucumber Salad by Easyfoodsmith

Middle Eastern Salad by Rathai's Recipes

 

If you are a new reader to this blog, read more about this event here and here.  As usual link your recipes related to the event in the linky too below.  If you find any trouble in linking your recipes, please email me your recipe link to ayeesha.riaz@googlemail.com

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Spaghetti Salad with Tofu, Chickpeas and Lemony Coriander dressing

The title of the recipe might look quite long but that explains everything there in the recipe.  This is a very simple recipe which can be made under 10 minutes and it's nutritious too.  As we know that tofu and chickpeas are very good source of protein, this is a good alternative for vegetarians.  In a way, it's better than meat.
   Regular intake of tofu lowers your bad cholesterol, it's also rich in calcium, so this would be a better choice for those who suffer from lactose allergy. There are numerous way to use this tofu, in soup,salad, smoothies, cakes, sandwich, gravies etc.... You can search online for tofu recipes and use it the way you desire.

Coming to chickpeas, which is again a rich source of protein, lowers your blood sugar level too.  This is also rich in dietary fibre, which helps to control your weight gain. This is also a good source of folic acid and iron.  If you would like to read more about tofu and chickpeas click here and here.

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

Ingredients:
Spaghetti- 300 g
Tofu- 100 g ( diced into cubes)
Boiled chickpeas- 100 g
Coriander leaves- 6 stalks ( washed and chopped )
Garlic- 3 pods
Lemon- juice of 1 whole lemon
Olive oil- 2 tbsp
Honey- 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:

Cook the spaghetti,rinse it off in cold water and keep it separately.  Grind together coriander leaves,garlic, lemon juice, honey, olive oil and salt.  Mix together the spaghetti, tofu and chickpeas in a large bowl.  Add the sauce and toss it up well until the spaghetti, tofu and chickpeas gets coated in the sauce. At the end if you wish you can add some freshly ground black pepper, I prefer to leave it as it is. This can be served as a meal by itself along with some extra salad if required.  You can pack it for lunch.  The good thing is, it taste good even when it's cold and you can make this well ahead of time and relax yourselves.

Note:
Along with coriander leaves, you can also mint or any other herbs of your choice.  If you are not a big fan of tofu and you don't want to use them as cubes,  crumble the tofu and use it in the recipe which taste even more better.

Linking this recipe with Summer spirit, Love Lock series- Legumes started by Vidhya, Beat the Heat, Say Cheese, Bon Vivant- Savoury, Dish it Out, Cooking Concepts- Vegan Diet, Healthy Morsels- Pregnancy, Summer Splash event started by Kalyani

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Thoughts to munch on - Healthy Morsels

Dear Foodies,

This is a quick and short post to thank you all for the support which you give for our group event Healthy Morsels. We are really happy and excited to see all the entries flowing in this short period, so thank you again.  We would also like to take this opportunity to inform you about our humble group which we have created in Facebook.  Earlier in our announcement post,we have given a small note about our Facebook page, Healthy Morsels- Food Blogger's Event.  This page has now been transformed into a group with the same name as Healthy Morsels- Food Blogger's Event.

 

The core theme of this group is to have many interactive sessions among both bloggers and non bloggers. The discussions would be related to the current theme of the event.  We would like to invite you all to Healthy Morsels group, join in our discussions and share the knowledge with us. Please visit our group by clicking the link here and let's start our healthy interactions from here... Feel free to also invite your elderly family members and friends to our group, so that they can also benefit by participating in the discussions and sharing their thoughts and wisdom.

A kind request: Bloggers please do not post any recipes in the Facebook group. You can continue to link your entries for the event, as always, in the Linky given in our blogs. Non-bloggers are welcome to post their recipes related to the theme in the Facebook group page.

Looking forward to your continued support and encouragement....

Yours,
Healthy Morsels Team

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Karuppu Uzunda Vadai/ Black Urad Dhal fritters

If you are a regular read to my blog, you should have read this post about Uzunda Vadai already in my blog. It's a typical South Indian snack made with urad dhal. This is exact the same version of vadai, made with same lentils.  So, now this is the question,what's the difference between these two vadas?  The only difference is,  in this vadai I have used the lentils along with the husk/ skin.  Black Urad dhal by it self is considered to be healthy,when it's used along with the husk/skin  it's considered to be much more healthier.

I couldn't find any particular source or link to show the health benefit of these pulses but I have heard lots of  benefits through our grandmas and great grandmas . Not just my grandma, from many others too.  So when there is more than one source of information makes the same point,  the information might be right to some extent. Do you agree?

Here are few benefits of these lentils to my knowledge.  Apart from being a great source of energy, these lentils when used along with the husk known to reduce the risk of diabetes. It strengthens the bones, it prevents the thinning of bones due to ageing.  Mostly our grandmas mention that this strengthens the hip part for women,which means it avoids backache in women.  Regular consumption of these lentils strengthens your backbones.  Generally the best way to have these lentils is as a porridge,  but today I have used these for vadai's.  It may not look very appetizing,  but the flavours are right there,of course along with all the goodness.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes+ soaking and grinding time
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Makes about 20 vadai's

Ingredients:
Black urad dhal with skin- 150 gm (soaked in water for minimum of 8 hours or overnight )
Rice- 1 tbsp ( soaked in water for 2 hours )
Ginger- 1/4 inch ( finely chopped )
Black pepper corns- 8 to 10
Small onion- 3 finely chopped
Curry leaves- 5 to 6 leaves roughly chopped
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method:
Grind the soaked lentils and rice in a grinder by adding very little water.  Once it looks like a semi coarse paste, remove it from the grinder.  Add salt and beat well.  The batter should not be too watery or too fine.  It should resemble a thick batter and lightly coarse paste.  After two hours, mix the pepper,onion, ginger and curry leaves to the batter and beat well again.  If you are not using immediately, keep it in the refrigerator and take it out 1/2 an hour before using it.
To make the vadai:
Heat the oil for deep frying in a heavy bottom kadai.  Wet your palms in water,  take a small amount of batter, roll it out like a ball and place it in your palm. Dip your finger in water and make a small hole in the middle.  Gently drop it in the hot oil.  You'll notice oil bubbling around the edges of the vadai. ( Keep the flame in medium to low if the oil is too hot.  If the oil is too hot, it might quickly become brown in the outside and remains uncooked in the inside). After a minute turn the vada to the other side.  Once the bubbling of oil slows down or stop, take it out.  Serve immediately with Coconut chutney.

Note:
Incase if you are having heartburns during pregnancy, avoid this.  Instead you can have it after delivery, since it strenghtens the back bones.

Linking this post with Indian Food Palooza, Only South Indian, Evening Snacks Recipes, Healthy Morsels- Pregnancy, I'm the star, Bon Vivant- Savoury Items, Hot and Spicy Treat- Festive Food,  Comfort Food.

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