Strawberry Orange Pineapple Smoothie

This week we went to Wal-Mart for our regular grocery shopping, and I found strawberries were on sale around 1.70 dollars for a box. I love strawberries, and have a weakness to them, so I bought it. My hubby mentioned that they may ready to spoil, that’s why these are on sale, and you have to use it immediately otherwise it is waste of money. I promised him I will use it immediately. When I came home and open the box no wonder some are spoiled so in order to save the rest of them I use some of them in the salad. I also had some oranges and a pineapple sitting on the kitchen table. I made carrot pineapple cake and still had some pineapple leftover. I asked dear hubby can I use them in a curry and his response was a strong no, do something else with them.

I decided to make a smoothie combining strawberry, orange and pineapple. While searching on my Google friend I found that Strawberries are the most favorite candidate of smoothies because of their tasty flavor and ability to mix with other fruits. Adding additional ingredients will not ruin the taste of strawberries smoothies. Incorporating orange in the smoothies will enhance flavor. Also they are rich in vitamin C. Then comes my dear pineapple they offer unique sweet and tangy taste. Usually adding pineapples brings out other flavors rather than taking over. Further Pineapples are rich in Vitamin C, omega-3 fatty acids, beta carotene and other nutrients as well. Pineapples also contain brome lain which has is anti-inflammatory and may decrease blood clotting as well.

Satisfied with finding many good things about strawberry, orange and pineapple I decide to use them in my healthy smoothie with total confidence. I used 1 % milk to reduce the fat content. Really tasty, creamy, even my little one enjoyed having her first taste of pineapple, orange and strawberry combo.

What you need
Chopped pineapple: 1 cup
Strawberry: 7 no
Orange juice: Juice of two orange (½ cup)
Milk: ¼ cup (I used 1%)
Sugar: 3 teaspoon

How I made

Combine orange juice, pineapple and strawberries, milk and sugar in a blender; cover and blend until creamy. Serve immediately. Enjoy.

Preparation time:10 minutes
Yield: 2
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Yes I will

I am sending my smoothie to Serve me some... juices ,shakes, smoothies event hosted by  Madhuri.


Swathi

Vegetarian Moussaka: Classic Greek Casserole

Moussaka is a classic Greek dish layered with eggplant, meat, cheese and béchamel sauce. It's a layered dish, something like a mix between shepherd's pie and lasagna if you want read about moussaka you can read from here and here.

I always found Greek culture is closely related to Indian culture, as they have numerous gods, we too have. Similar in the Greek mythology, there are Gods whose characterization is similar to Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu. Furthermore I like crystal clear waters of Mediterranean, even though I have only seen them in movies, and photos. I would like to visit some day. I had a Greek roommate when I lived in Stockholm, Sweden her name is Lukia. It was our routine that each other will make grand meal on weekend, so the other can enjoy and get to know the food. She cooked stuffed peppers, baked pasta, etc. I used to make rice, and curries every other weekend, she likes our movies, may be because of no choice, as I will wanted to watch Indian movies. She started enjoying them too. I have lost contact with her, but I still remember our stay as room-mates fondly. 

We both (my husband and I) are curious and love to enjoy new food from all countries, going out is not possible with a 10 month old who cries if somebody touches her. So most of the time, I will experiment in my kitchen. As usual (as with other dishes in the past), I tried to recreate the classic Greek moussaka, with minor changes suitable to our taste. Moussaka is three layer dish, with bottom layer of egg plant-cheese, middle layer of beef and tomato and top layer of béchamel. Due to health consciousness, I skipped the middle cheese layer and made two layers of egg plant, zucchini, potato and mushroom topped with tomato sauce and a top layer of béchamel sauce with cheese and bread crumbs. The dish tasted great, and we loved it, and I am going make them more often. Making this requires some preparation, but the end result is worth all your efforts.

What you need

Eggplant: 1no
Zuchini: 1no
Potato: 1 no
Button Mushrooms: 4
Olive oil: 1/3 cup
Salt : 1 teaspoon
Panko Bread crumbs: ¼ cup
Grated Parmesan cheese: ¼ cup



For tomato sauce

Onion: 1no
Tomato: 3no
Garlic: 2 no
Ground cloves: ¼ teaspoon
Ground cinnamon: 1/4 teaspoon
Marjoram: ¼ teaspoon
Ground black pepper: 1/2 teaspoon
Chopped Parsley: 2 tablespoon
Salt: ½ teaspoon or to taste

For Béchamel sauce

Milk: 11/2 cup
All purpose flour: 21/2 tablespoon
Butter: 2 tablespoon
Grated nutmeg: ¼ teaspoon
Salt: ¼ teaspoon
Black pepper: ¼ teaspoon

How I made

Wash and peel the skin of egg plant and cut into two and again cut into 1/8 inch thick pieces. Keep aside in colander with ½ teaspoon salt for 30 minutes, this will reduce the bitterness of egg plant and remove some juices.

Peel skin of potato and cut into 1/8 inch thick pieces. Wash and cut zucchini into 1/8 inch thick pieces. Wipe the mushrooms with damp cloth and cut into pieces.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat adds 2 tablespoon oil at a time. Add potato, eggplant, zucchini and mushrooms one by one and sprinkle salt in between and lightly brown potato, eggplant zucchini slices on both sides; drain excess oil using a kitchen towel. Fry the mushrooms on both sides. 

If you are using oven preheat oven to 450 degree Fahrenheit and roast the vegetables drizzle with the olive oil and salt for about 20 minutes or until they are slightly brown in color. Flip them in between around 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 degree Fahrenheit.

For tomato sauce

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in medium sauce pan and add chopped onion and fry them for about 6 minutes or until they become translucent, add chopped garlic and fry for another 2 minutes. Then add chopped tomato and cook until tomato becomes mushy and soft, switch of flame. Once it get cooled for about 20 minutes grind everything in a blender or food processor into a fine paste. Heat the sauce pan with 1 tablespoon oil and add ground tomato-onion mixture along with salt and ground cloves, cinnamon and marjoram. Cook for 3 minutes and finely add chopped parsley. Switch off the flame and keep aside. 

In the mean time make béchamel sauce. Heat milk in a small sauce pot until it starts bubbling not boiling. Switch off the flame and keep aside. Melt butter in a medium sauce pot and add all-purpose flour stirring constantly using a wooden spoon or whisk until everything combined. Slowly add two tablespoons of milk at a time to flour butter mixture and whisk until the milk get combined gradually increase the quantity of milk until you finish the entire milk. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg and stir the sauce until it become thick.

Assembley of Moussaka

Lightly brush the baking dish with oil and sprinkle some bread crumbs. Arrange a layer of eggplant, zucchini ,potato,mushroom and add an even layer of tomato sauce.

Then arrange second layer of eggplant, zucchini,potato and mushroom and add layer of tomato sauce.

Finally add layer of béchamel sauce and sprinkle bread crumbs and parmesan cheese.

Bake it on 350degree Fahrenheit for 40 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly and crust is browned.

( Instead of two layer of tomato sauce you can use one layer of tomato sauce and other layer with only just béchamel sauce, or even you can add more cheese layer in between, I need tomato sauce in all my vegetables that why I spread tomato sauce in every layer of vegetables). Cool for 20 minutes and serve warm.

I served with dark rye bread on side.

Kalí óreksi! Bon Appetit, Enjoy

Preparation time: 1 hour

Baking time: 40 minutes

Ready by: 1 hour 40 minutes

Yield: 4

Will you make it again: I will?

Orange tian: Daring Baker's Challenge March 2010

The Daring Baker Challenge this month is to make tian, which is a dessert. Tian is a layered dish usually made with simple ingredients. Tian includes base, fudge, whipped cream and toppings, you can read more from here. Jenifer from chocolateshavings is hosting this month challenge. Mandatory steps in the challenge include, a Pate sable, homemade marmalade and stabilized whipped cream. I like orange so I tried with orange and the recipe by Jenifer is with orange too. 

My initial attempt was to make orange marmalade. After reading a lot of recipes I started making it; however I was so careful with my steps, that marmalade became hard. This was quite disappointing as I had spent a lot of time and efforts to make this. My hubby’s advice was to throw away the whole dish and to start afresh after reanalyzing every step. I realized that I could two things differently; the first was to reduce the amount of water that was used. The second was to cook for a lesser time on a lower heat. The next day I tried again, with my changes and my marmalade came out really good, pretty and tasty. 

The Pâte Sablée is rich and crumbly French fruit tart pastry, (Sablé is the French word for sandy), and you can read more at this site. For my pate sablee I added some ground almond and reduced the amount of sugar to make it slightly healthier. They taste great; even we had some left over pate sable for our tea.I followed the recipe to make stabilized whipped cream.

The next task for me was to make the orange segments; I hadn’t done any segments of orange until this month and most of the time I ended up cutting into the orange along with peel. Finally after watching you tube video’s I have somehow managed to make my orange segments. You can see the result. 

I made only two serving of orange tian. I used ramekin for my tian as I don’t have a large size cookie cutter. I enjoyed making orange tian, and sure I am going make again. 

What you need

For the Pate Sablee:

All purpose flour: ¾ cup

Powdered sugar: ¼ cup

Egg: 1

Cold Unsalted Butter:1/4 cup

Vanilla extract: ¼ teaspoon

Ground Almond: ¼ cup

Baking powder: ¼ teaspoon

Salt : 1/8 teaspoon

How I made

Pate Sablee

Blanched almond in hot water for 5 minutes and removed the skin and dried using a paper towel. Toast the almond for another 5 minutes in medium flame. Once they are cooled ground into powder.

Put the flour, almond powder, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.

In a separate bowl beat egg with powder sugar and add vanilla extract to this mixture and combine everything. Add this mixture to dry ingredients and combine until they form dough. Knead again to form uniform dough. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogenous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the refrigerator. I kept my dough for about 3 hours, however 30 minute is enough.

Preheat your oven to 350 degree Celsius. 

Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle. Using a cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.

For the Marmalade:

Freshly pressed orange juice: ½ cup( 2 oranges)

Orange peel : ¼ cup( 2 oranges)

Orange segments: 2 orange to make segments

Sugar: ½ cup

Pectin: 1 tablespoon

Cold water to cook orange

Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes. 

Blanch the orange slices 3 times. I added orange peel during the second blanch and did a blanch for third time. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.

Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool. 

Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them using a knife or a food processor. 

Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar. If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measurer and use the same amount of sugar. 

In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency took about 15 minutes.

Transfer to a clean bottle  and put in the refrigerator.

For the Orange Segments:

Orange: 2 no

Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.

For the Caramel:

Granulated sugar 1/5 cup

Orange juice 1/3 cups

Water: 1 tablespoon

Heat the sugar and 1 tablespoon of water in a sauce pot on medium heat. 

Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments. 

Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tian.

[Tip: Be very careful when making the caramel — if you have never made caramel before, I would suggest making this step while you don’t have to worry about anything else. Bubbling sugar is extremely, extremely hot, so make sure you have a bowl of ice cold water in the kitchen in case anyone gets burnt!]

For the stabilized whipped cream

Heavy cream: 1/2 cup

Orange marmalade: 1 tablespoon

Gelatin: ½ tablespoon

Hot water: ¼ cup

In a small bowl, add the gelatin and hot water, stirring well until the gelatin dissolves. Let the gelatin cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream. Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatin slowly (discarding the water) and beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.

[Tip: Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.]

Assembling the Dessert:

Butter and line two ramekins with parchment paper.

Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel. Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each ramekin. The segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. It should be arrange as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.

Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each ramekin, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills an even layer. Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for pate sablee. 

Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each pate sablee.

Carefully place a pate sablee over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.

Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes. 

Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately. 

Preparation time:

- Pate Sablee: 20 minutes to make, 3 hours to set. 15 minutes to roll out, 20 minutes to bake

- Marmalade: 20 minutes to make, 30 minutes to blanch

- Orange segments: 20 minutes, overnight to sit

- Caramel: 15 minutes, overnight to sit

- Whipped Cream: 15 minutes

- Assembling: 20 minutes

- Freezer to Set: 10 minutes

Yield: 2 serving

Verdict: Yummy

Will you make it again: Yes I will.

Swathi

Mambazha Pulissery/ Ripe Mango in Yogurt Gravy

It is one of signature dishes of Kerala where every mom has its own version of it. We can make pulissery with cucumber, raw mango, papaya, taro root etc. In my home, amma used to make pulissery with ripe mango, plantain and pineapple. If you give me a choice of vegetable or fruit pulissery I will select fruit pulissery, because it has sweetness of fruit, tanginess of yogurt and spiciness from the chilies used. March, April month is the mango and jackfruit season in Kerala. Most of the home with backyards in Kerala has at least one mango and jackfruit tree. At Appa’s home there were two Jackfruit and mango trees (mangoes from one of those tree was used to make pickle), other to eat ripe. After school, the main sports event for the neighborhood kids was to throw stones at these mangoes on the trees to make them fall to the ground. At times some of the stones would miss the mangoes and instead hit the roof causing damage. On most days my grandma will stand and guard near the mango trees after school time was over. Some time crow’s also make mess with ripe mangoes. Usually during these month, every dish my grandma make’s will contain either mango or jack fruit. She is one the best cooks that I have seen.

Last week when I went to Wal-Mart, mangoes were on sale at two for a dollar. Nowadays vegetables price have sky rocketed, onion’s without which I can’t even cook of thinking was 99 cents per pound, and green bell pepper 89 cents each. I had never ever seen prices this high for onions or bell pepper. Finally I got the two mangoes and after coming home, decided to make my mango pulissery. Grandma and amma makes this dish with 4-5 mangoes, however, here I used only one to make a small quantity. Here comes my amma and grandma’s recipe. 

What you need
Mango: 1no
Chili powder: ¼ teaspoon
Turmeric powder: ¼ teaspoon
Yogurt: ½ cup
Salt: ½ teaspoon.
For grinding
Coconut grated: ½ cup
Serrano pepper: 1
Cumin seeds: ½ teaspoon
For seasoning
Fenugreek seeds: 1/8 teaspoon
Red chili pepper: 2 no
Coconut oil: 1 tablespoon (or use any other oil, coconut oil for authentic taste)
Mustard seeds: 1 teaspoon
Water: 3/4 cup for cooking and ¼ cup for grinding

How I made

Peel mango and remove the skin using a vegetable peeler or sharp knife. Chop mango into bite size pieces. I like to keep some flesh with mango seed and I will use that also. (I love to eat them in the curry, my hubby hates them).

Boil ¾ cup water in sauce pot and add chopped mango pieces and seed( If using), turmeric powder , Chili powder and salt and cook them until they become soft not mushy,( it takes about 10 minutes ).

Mean time grind grated coconut with Green chili and cumin seeds and water to form a fine paste.

Add the ground paste into cooked mango pieces and boil for another 3 minutes or you see small bubbles coming in the top.

Lower the flame and beaten yougrut and let simmer for another 2 minutes without letting them boil. Check salt and spices and switch off the flame.

In a small pan heat coconut oil and add mustard seeds, red chili halves and fenugreek seeds, once mustard seed starts spluttering remove from the fire and add to cooked mango pulissery.

Enjoy with rice and any side dish.

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Serving: 4 serving
Verdict: Delicious
Will you make it again: Depending on availability I will make them



Swathi

Sardinian Flat Bread Carta da musica /Music Paper Bread

Yesterday I saw an article Olive oil Matzo in New York Times by The Minimalist Mark Bittman which was inspired from the famous Sardinian flat bread Carta da musica or Music paper bread. What I liked was the simplicity and ease with which the bread could be made. Hence I wanted to try it immediately. In classic Sardinian bread yeast, Semolina flour, and all purpose flour are used. The history of this bread is also interesting. The shepherds from Sardinia, of southern Italy used to take thin flat bread while going to work in the pastures, as this bread can be kept for a long time without spoiling in the room temperature. They used to have it with cheese and some tomato sauce and sausage. This bread is baked in a brick oven as 14-15 inch rounds, once they come out oven immediately bread is cut along the rim into two thin pieces.  This bread is supposed to stay without spoiling for more than a year. 

I wanted to make Sardinian bread without yeast. I found two recipes here and here making bread without using yeast. I asked my hubby shall we can try this. Yes you can he said and let us have it for dinner. Then I realized that I had no semolina flour on hand. I ground semolina and made homemade semolina flour. Finally by around 6 P.M, I started making the dough. Kept for another 15 minutes outside and within 30 minutes my bread was ready. Modified the recipes and made like this. I didn’t cut my bread along the rim, as they are not that flexible because of any yeast. 

If you ask me how it tastes like, from my Indian view point I will say, taste like baked bhature, or like cracker, rather than a bread. Try it to make sure by yourself.

What you need

All purpose flour: 2 cup

Semolina flour: 1/2 cup

Salt: 1/2 +1/8 teaspoon

Olive oil: 1/3 cup+ 2 tablespoon oil

Water: ¾ cup

How I made

Preheat oven to 450 degree Fahrenheit.

Mix all purpose flour, semolina flour, salt in a bowl of standing mixer or food processor. Whisk together water and olive oil and add to the flours until everything combined to form dough. Knead once again to from smooth dough. Let it rest for 15 minutes. Cover the dough with damp cloth so that it won’t dry.

Make 15 equal size balls from the dough. Roll out on a lightly floured surface until paper thin rounds, I was indenting to make thin rounds or 5-6 inches, however most of them are not come out rounds. Make sure spread the bread thin as possible.

Bake it in lightly oiled baking sheets for 4 minutes on one side as it starts bubbles form on that side and flip and bake another 2 minutes. Until you see brown spots on both sides. I was able to make use of my two oven racks. Keep a watch on them, as they tend to brown quickly. Remove from the baking sheet and let it cool completely.

Repeat the process until you finish all the dough.

Serve warm. 

I served with channa curry.

Buon appetito! Enjoy!

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Yield: 15

Verdict: Crispy, tasty

Will you make it again : Yes I will

Coconut Banana Walnut Bread

Banana bread was the first dish I baked. My hubby loves Banana bread, especially one of his friend’s recipes. He always would tell me to learn how to make banana bread from Damika, she makes wonderful bread. Yes it is wonderful tasty bread, I too agree with his verdict. She was so nice to show me how bake from the scratch, and second time I made under her supervision. I love that bread. I have constant problem in my house, nobody likes to eat the bananas when they are on the riper side (yellow with lots of spots), but these are perfect to be used to make either pancakes or banana bread. 

I also have an inborn weakness to coconut; I love them in any form solid, liquid, cooked, uncooked, shredded, cubed etc. So I am happy to add them to most of my dishes. 

So this time while saving banana, I decided to make banana bread and to spice up I added shredded coconut and coconut chips. They are absolute moist and tasty with mild sweetness. If you are lover of coconut and banana you need to try this recipe at least once. Here is the recipe.

What you need

All purpose flour: 1 ½ cup

Sugar: ½ + 1/5 cup

Banana: 2 medium

Large Egg: 1no

Canola oil: ¼ cup

Milk: 1/5 cup (I used 1% milk)

Salt: ¼ teaspoon

Vanilla extract: ½ teaspoon

Baking soda: ½ teaspoon

Baking powder: ¼ teaspoon

Desiccated coconut: ¼ cup

Walnut: 1/3 cup (Toasted lightly and crushed)

Coconut chips: 1/3 cup

How I made

Preheat oven 350 degree Fahrenheit. Butter the bottom of an 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pan. 

In a large bowl sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. And add desiccated coconut and mix until everything and keep aside.

Mash two bananas with a fork and keep aside.

In a medium bowl beat egg with sugar and milk and add oil and vanilla extract and mix everything incorporated well.

Gradually add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix everything well.

Finally fold in mashed gently and add toasted and crushed walnut and fold once again gently.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smoothen the tops with a spatula. Garnish with coconut chips.
Bake for 45 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

Cool the bread in the pan for 5 minutes and remove it and cool in the wire rack for another 1 hour.

Cut into slices and enjoy.

Preparation time: 50 minutes

Serving: 4 serving

Verdict: Yummy. Keeper recipe

Will you make it again: I will

Swathi

Ethapazham Puzhungiyathu /Boiled Plantains

This is a snack you can have anytime be it breakfast, tea time or you feel like eating something. We love it; even my little one likes to have it. I make it very often. It is easy to make without any special skill.

Out of curiosity I goggled and find out that plantain eating habit is not only common in India it also more common in other parts of world too, especially in Africa, Latin America, Caribbean, and Philippines. Plantains are used in green and ripe form as well as fried, boiled and cooked. I found other interesting facts about eating plantains such as it helps with digestion, and prevents constipation. They are rich in calcium, phosphorus, iron and fiber, with no cholesterol. Plantains are even considered to have mood enhancers and also thought to help to retain the everlasting youth (I have a doubt about that one, because my granddad and grandma used to eat plantain and they became very old though!). If you want to read more about health benefits of eating plantain read from here and here. 

Plantains (and bananas) are prepackaged fruit by nature you can open and eat it, without thinking of microbes and dust.Here come Ethapazham puzhungiyathu /Boiled plantains recipe.

What you need

Ripe Plantain: 2 no (ripe enough to be eaten without any cooking.)

Water: 4 cups

How I Made

Wash and cut head and tail end of plantains using a knife and cut into 4 chunks of 3 inches.

In medium sauce pot heat water along with plantain chunks for about  15 minutes or until you see bright yellow spot in center.

Remove from the boiling water, peel the skin, and eat with or without sugar. 

Enjoy

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Yield: 2 Serving

Verdict: Yummy

Will you make it again: Making it very often.

Swathi

Baked Spicy Soybeans: Perfect Munchies

If you want to munch on something healthy while watching edge of the seat thriller or action movies, or even a sobbing family soap, I have a solution for you. Try this baked spicy soy beans; they are the perfect candidate fulfill your requirements, satisfaction guaranteed. My hubby likes to munch on something while thinking seriously about his scientific experiments in office. It has been a long time I prepared anything with soybeans. When I went to take something from my pantry a few days ago, soybeans were looking at me and sadly asking when are you, going to use us. I promised them I will use them soon. Yesterday I soaked them in water and baked it today. They are very tasty, if you like fried moong dal; it tastes somewhat similar to it. It is easy to make and recipe goes like this.

What you need
Dried soybeans: 2 cup
Salt: 1 tablespoon
Red chili powder: 1 tablespoon (Adjust the heat depending upon your taste)
Garlic Powder: ½ tablespoon

How I made

Soak the dried soy beans in water for 8 hours.Drain and dry them using a paper towel. 

Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit. 

Roast them for about 30 minutes, Shake the pan every 15 minutes, so that all the beans get roast uniformly.

Once they become crispy and browned remove from the oven and cool it in rack and add olive oil, salt, garlic powder and chili powder mix until everything incorporated well.

Next day if you want more crispiness roast them once again at 200 degree Fahrenheit for 10 minutes.

Enjoy any time as you wish!

Preparation time: Soaking time: 8 hours, roasting time 30 minutes + 10 minutes
Yield: Depending upon your munching capacity; 4 serving
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Making more often



Swathi

Athirasam/ Ariselu / Aathirasallu For ICC

Athirasam/ Ariselu / Aathirasallu is one of the age old sweets you can find during Deepavali, it is also a must as during Iyer marriages. I ate them a lot during my childhood days, attending marriages especially of uncles and aunts. There are lots of sweets and savory that are made as a part of ‘Seeru” (bride will take along with her while going to husband home for first time). I loved to eat a lot of sweets at that time. My grandma used to make really good adhirasam. However, amma did not like to experiment on anything; she would say that these are usually made by experts, so she won’t venture into it.

Srivalli announced this month’s Indian cooking challenge will be making Athirasm/Ariselu, I was happy to give it a try and skeptical as usual as I don’t know if this age old sweet is going to make me crazy (as I could not get it right) or happy. However the athirasam that I made turned out to be really yummy and tasty. I followed the second recipe, as Srivalli suggested and those came as crisp. Next time I will try the other version, to make soft original athirasam. We enjoyed eating them.

what you need:

Rice Flour – 1cup and 2 tablespoon
Jaggary - 1/2 cup
Coconut grated – 1Tablespoon
Cardamom powder – Grounded 2 cardmom
Water - 1/2 cup
Sesame seeds - 1 Tablespoon
Canola Oil: 3 cup

How I made:

Soak rice for 6 hrs and then shade dry it.
Meaning it should not become dry but should still have some wetness in the rice. Grind this to fine powder using blender.
The rice flour should have that texture of soft and wet feeling when you take a handful and also it should kind of retain your fist shape. This is very important because if the flour is very dry it wouldn't turn out well.

In a thick bottomed pan add powdered jaggery and water just enough to cover them. Once water starts boiling remove it from the fire and strain using a mesh strainer to remove impurities in the jaggery. Then bring to boil again and add the cardamom powder and the grated coconut. You will see lot of bubbles coming out.

At this stage, add the Rice flour slowly and stir it together well. Mix everything until you won’t see any white flour and it becomes smooth dough.

Keep the dough outside for one day. Next day, if the dough becomes too hard, just add about 2 tsp of water along with 2 tsp of sugar. Get it to boil, while keep stirring it. The mix should become soft again. When you handle it, it should come together as soft dough. Divide it to equal balls.

Heat a kadai with oil to deep fry these. In a greased plastic sheet, pat them down to 5 inch circular discs.
Press down the sesame seeds over the top.
Once the oil is hot, gently drop these into them.
Fry on both sides. Since the sesame seeds are just pressed over the top, they will get into the oil. If you want to avoid this, try adding to the dough.

Once they are golden brown, remove and drain the excess oil by squeezing them using a two slotted spoon and leave it on a kitchen towel. They will be soft when you remove them, will become crunchy once they are cooled.

The regular ones are normally soft and oily, but these were crunchy and no oil at all!

Preparation time: Soaking of rice: 6 hours

Preparation of dough: 30 minutes

Frying time: 11 minutes

Yield: 11

Verdict: Yummy, Crispy

Will you make it again: I will

Swathi