Hot breakfast in 5 minutes - I'm not kidding!

Hot breakfast in 5 minutes, and it's not cereal or toast or a fried egg! Or a smoothie for that matter. It's this amazing thing called 'dhideer sevai' or instant rice noodles which you absolutely must stock in your kitchen. Unlike Maggi or any other 2 minute noodles, you don't have to cook them. Immerse them for 2 minutes in hot water, drain and they are ready. These are the REAL 2 minute noodles. They make for the quickest lunchbox you can rustle up. Make a lemon sevai or mix with any ready pastes like Tomato pickle / thokku to make a tomato sevai. Add a tempering of curry leaves, mustard seeds, red chillies on the top and it's ready.

In my 5 minute recipe, there's no ready pastes involved. I quickly pulsed roasted peanuts, sesame seeds and black pepper in the mixer and that was the flavouring for this dish that went into my kid's lunchbox today.

For sneak peek into my kitchen and to get instant updates on my upcoming workshops - follow me on my Facebook Page

Photos from the Breaking Bread Workshop of 9 Nov in the Saffron Trail kitchen  

Tips

• When you buy peanuts/groundnuts, roast them on the stove top / microwave or oven and keep in airtight jar. You can add them to a variety of dishes like salads, raitas, bhel etc.
• When you buy a coconut, grate / scrape the whole coconut and keep it in a freezer safe box. Whenever you need a small bit of grated coconut, scrape it out using a sharp knife and use as required. 

Sesame-Peanut Instant Sevai (Rice Noodles)
serves 2

Ingredients
100-150 grams instant rice noodles (Dhideer Sevai)*
1 litre recently boiled water
3 tbsp roasted unsalted peanuts
2 tbsp sesame seeds
8 black pepper corns
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp fresh/frozen scraped coconut
2 tsp oil (I use cold pressed coconut oil)
pinch of asafoetida
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 sprig curry leaves 
1 dried red chilli broken into pieces

Directions
Immerse the noodles in the hot water, cover and keep aside for 2-3 minutes. In the meanwhile coarsely powder the roasted peanuts, sesame seeds and black pepper corns in a small jar of the mixer. 
Drain the noodles using a colander, shake off all excess water.
Heat 2 tsp oil in a non-stick kadai / pan. Splutter mustard seeds, add curry leaves, dried red chilli and asafoetida, when the curry leaves crisp up, add the drained noodles, salt and coarse peanut-sesame powder. Toss well but gently until the noodles / sevai is well coated.
Garnish with fresh coconut.

You could use the same recipe for poha (beaten rice).
*I've used Anil brand Rice Sevai, 777 brand and found them to be good.

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Apple Pie Pancakes: Kid in the kitchen

Bear with me. More kiddie recipes coming your way. It's holiday time and I'm trying to combine my love for cooking, my son's gourmet palate and his endless two week long vacation to do something productive. I keep buying a kilo of apples each time, with intentions of making an apple pie. As the days progress, with my decreasing pie-making resolve, the apples start going into salads, with peanut butter for my snack or just hang around in the fruit basket until they die a slow death. 

Today, son and me, came up with this idea. So what if we don't make pie, we can make pie like pancakes. And that's how this came about. He helped chop the apples, measure out the ingredients and we made these together to the endless patter of "mummy, I will FLIP the pancakes. I love flipping."

It was so delicious and we nearly had a fork fight towards the end for the last bit. This makes a perfect holiday breakfast or an after school snack. Just keep the apples prepped and the batter prepared before they're back from school and two minutes is all it takes. I've made this a tad healthier by replacing part of the refined flour by whole wheat flour. Orange zest is entirely optional, but I believe it adds a lot of flavour to the mix. Use a fine grater to grate the skin of the orange, but not until you reach the white bitter part.

Apple Pie Pancakes
Makes 4 6" pancakes

Ingredients
1/2 cup refined flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 pinch salt
1 cup milk
2 tsp white vinegar
2 large apples
1 tsp butter + some more to cook pancakes
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp orange zest (optional)
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

Directions
In a bowl, mix the flours, baking powder, sugar, salt, cinnamon powder with a whisk. Make a well, add the milk and vinegar. Gently mix together with a fork. Let this batter rest for 10 minutes.
Scrub the apples under running water. Core the apples and dice them into small pieces with skin. Heat 1 tsp butter in non stick pan. Add the diced apples, sugar, cinnamon powder, orange zest and toss them under low flame for 5 minutes or so, until apples are slightly soft and nicely golden.
Wipe the non stick skillet dry and place on medium heat, grease with some butter and pour a ladle full of batter. Don't spread it thin. Dot some butter around the pancake. When you see bubbles around the edges, it is time to flip over. Each side takes around 2 mins to cook and get golden, this depends on the thickness of your pancakes though.
Once done, remove on a plate and top with a layer of prepared apples. Fold over or serve as it is. Best eaten hot.

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Quick Bite : Indian Bruschetta

I baked this partly whole wheat bread with flaxseeds this week. The only problem with baking your own bread is you can't stop eating it. The possible upside is that you can slice your bread as thin as you want to :) I can almost see all those of you who bake your own bread nod your heads solemnly. I usually try and avoid starting my day with bread, but when it's homemade, you are looking for every possible excuse. So this is what I had for breakfast today - thinly sliced bread, toasted on a low heat on the tava, rubbed with a clove of garlic and topped with a simple paneer mixture. This breakfast ticks all the boxes - good carbs, protein, veggies, fibre. Yay!

I've announced my first class on Baking Basics for 21st September. Do check the details on my Facebook page and do write in with your suggestions and queries.

Bruschetta - Indian style

Bruschetta - Indian Style
Serves 1
Time taken - 15 minutes

Ingredients
2 slices of wholegrain bread 
1 clove of garlic, peeled
1 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp finely chopped onions
1 small tomato, deseeded and finely chopped
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander
1/4 cup paneer, cut into small cubes
1/4 tsp salt
Pinch of red chilli powder

Directions
On a skillet or in the toaster, toast the bread till golden and crisp.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a small wok and saute the onions till translucent (~2 mins). Add the tomatoes, coriander and saute for another minute. Don't fry the tomatoes to a mush. Add the paneer, salt, red chilli powder and stir gently till seasoned through. Remove from heat and keep aside.
Rub the clove of garlic all over the toasted slices of bread(one side).
Divide the paneer mixture equally between the two (or three, depending on size of bread) slices.
Eat immediately.

This makes for a wholesome breakfast or good for lunch too, when paired with a soup.

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Making a healthier Idli using Foxtail Millet

Idli and dosai are two dishes which can be easily experimented with, with a variety of whole grains. If you are a regular reader of my blog, then you'll know that my whole-grain find of this year is Foxtail Millet- you'll find a couple of recipes featuring them already. It's thanks to our online grocery store that stocks a lot of these ancient grains and greens that you won't find in supermarkets that they end up finding their way in many new dishes I experiment with. While I've been using the millet grain in salads, patties, upma etc, this time I bought the foxtail millet idli rava to try making idlis. It turned out reasonably soft, definitely denser than white rice idlis- but that's the whole grain effect- the end products always turn out denser. The advantage of this being you can't eat as many idlis as you can of the regular ones. Initially you could try substituting 50% of the rice / idli rava with this millet rava and then go to a 100%. 

In India: Tinai, chamai, kavalai, kambankorai are some of the names for millet in Tamil. Nuvanam is millet flour. The gruel made from millet, the staple of Ancient Tamils, is called kali, moddak kali, kuul, and sangati. Korralu (Telugu), Navane (Kannada) [Source: Wikipedia]

An idli is a healthy dish as it is, being a combination of a rice and lentil (udad dal), makes a complete set of amino acids, resulting in a good quality protein. So you can alternate between regular idlis and those made using millets, to get more fiber and a variety of nutrients.

A healthier version of Idli

Foxtail Millet Idli
Makes roughly 32 or more idlis, depending on the size, you could use this batter over 3-4 days for a variety of dishes such as dosai, uthapam, kuzhi paniyaram etc.

1 cup whole or split udad dal (without skin)
1 tsp fenugreek seeds (optional)
2 cups foxtail millet rava (or use 1 cup millet rava and 1 cup rice)
2 tsp salt
Optional
finely chopped veggies to add to idlis
1/2 tsp Grated ginger, mustard seeds, chana dal, red chillies tempered in oil to add to batter before steaming

Soak the udad dal + fenugreek seeds in plenty of water. In another bowl, soak the rava in water that covers it completely.
After 3 hours- drain water from udad dal and grind to a fine paste in the mixer or wet grinder. Remove in a big bowl.
Squeeze all the water from the millet rava and grind this to a fine paste too. Add to the udad dal paste and mix well, adding salt. Add upto 1/2 cup water if batter is very thick. 
Place in a large container with a fitting lid. This will expand to nearly double volume over 8-10 hours, so keep accordingly in a sizable container.
Once fermented, you can either use this immediately to make idlis / dosa or place in refrigerator immediately and use when required (within next 3-4days).

Remove the required quantity of batter 
To make idlis, lightly grease the idli moulds with oil, pour batter into each mould (not more than half capacity), top with any chopped veggies if required, close the pressure cooker lid but remove the weight so that this steams and doesn't pressure cook. If you have a special idli maker, then use that. Keep the flame on high and then reduce to medium once the steam is in full flow. Steam for around 12 minutes on medium flame. Open the cooker after 10 minutes or so, removing the idli stand. Sprinkle some cold water on top of each mould and with a sharp edged steel spatula or a knife, unmould each idli cleanly.

Serve with any chutney or your choice, or molagapodi or ketchup for the kids. 

Other recipes using Foxtail Millet
Salad with nutrition facts included
Millet-Basil Patties

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Crustless Quiche using homegrown Swiss Chard

Crustless Chard Quiche 

There's something wonderful about quiches, they fit perfectly as a meal for any time of the day - be it breakfast, lunch or dinner. The only thing that probably deters people from making this is the mess (well, a little) of making and blind baking the crust and the quantity of butter that goes into it and the thought of burning all that butter off the next day on the treadmill. Well, may be that's just me but yes, if the crust is eliminated, the quiche becomes healthy, quick while still tasting delicious. It's also a great way to use up spinach, mushrooms, corn and bits of any cheese you may have in the refrigerator. 

Freshly plucked swiss chard

I used chard because they were just plucked that evening, all fresh and luscious green, you could by all means use spinach, or a combination of other greens and add any other lightly sautéed vegetables like zucchini or bell peppers to this. A spinach quiche is also the best way to make kids eat their greens up without much fuss.

Recipe for Crustless chard quiche 

Adapted from a recipe on Food.com

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

1 tsp olive oil

3 cups of roughly chopped chard (include tender stalks too) or spinach

1 medium onion, sliced

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

3 medium sized eggs

3/4 cup milk 

1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs

1/2 cup cheese (grated or crumbled, as per the cheese used. I used fresh mozzarella, crumbled)

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp ground pepper

Handful of fresh herbs, finely chopped or 1 tbsp dried herbs (Oregano and thyme)

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 180C. Grease a 6" pie dish or a baking tin.
2. In a pan, heat olive oil. Add the sliced onions and garlic, lightly saute for 3-4 minutes on medium flame, until onions are soft. 
3. Add the chard or spinach and saute for 2-3 minutes until just wilted.
4. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, herbs well and add the crumbled cheese.
5. Transfer the chard mix from the pan into the bowl and mix with a fork.
6. Pour into the greased pie dish. Top with bread crumbs, more freshly ground black pepper and dried herbs and bake for 20-25 minutes until a knife comes out clean.

Serve with a salad for a light lunch. 

Crumbled feta pairs well with spinach and it's a classic combination in Greek cuisine. 

You can easily scale up the recipe and bake in a bigger dish with increased baking times. Leftovers make great breakfast, just microwave for 30 seconds or so before serving.

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Bread baking tales and recipe for cinnamon rolls

The high point of July was this artisan bread-baking workshop most generously organised by Breadworks Boulangerie. We were hand held (literally) through this process of bread kneading, shaping and baking by master artisan baker, Maurice Chaplais from UK. It was so much fun messing around with flour, yeast, butter and other baking enthusiasts to help with the sticky business. We got to take home the gorgeous stuff we baked-challahs, baps, scottish mist and a most decadent chocolate rum tart. It was also the first time I worked with fresh yeast. You may call it a strong smell, but I'll most definitely call it an aroma, which mellows and infuses every corner of your home as you bake with this.  Call it a stupid coincidence, but I came back home from the workshop and my hands were desperate to get kneading some bread and every batch of yeast at home died on me. I had a painful wait as I ordered fresh yeast online, and the very evening it came home, I got started.

Top L-R: Anadama bread, Whole wheat loaf /
 Bottom L-R: White Sandwich loaf, Fig walnut loaf from Masterchef Australia

Now, the recipes we learnt in the workshop asked for accurately weighed ingredients, while my favourite cookbook-How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman has a section on leavened breads with all metric measurements. So I got started with two sandwich loaves, one white and other, part whole wheat. The next was an Anadama bread, which uses part cornmeal, because in my baking spree, the flour in the bin was all scraped out and I need half a cup more and this recipe fit the bill perfectly.

That was three loaves in two days. 

Yesterday presented me with a perfect opportunity to bake something that's been playing on my mind for a while, the cinnamon roll. We had a farewell tea party for a neighbour and bingo, I wanted to bake these. Again, a Mark Bittman recipe with slight modifications, turned out pillowy soft, just the right amount of sweetness and that hit of decadence from the sugary almond glaze. These were my babies, lovingly baked and of course I loved them. But when my friend, Bharath, who never offers praise unless truly deserved raved about them after taking a bite (in stone cold sober state), that these were the BEST rolls he's eaten, I knew these were deserving of good pictures and then a post with a recipe, may be.

So here goes...

Recipe for Cinnamon Rolls with glaze
Makes 15-16 rolls

Ingredients
3.5 cups all purpose flour
4 tsp fresh yeast or 2 tsp instant dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 tbsp butter (soft)
1 cup milk (3% or whole, not skimmed)

For filling
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar
2-3 tbsp butter

For brushing
2 tbsp melted butter

For glaze
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tbsp milk
few drop almond extract or vanilla extract

Rolls before baking, after baking and after glazing (Instagram pics)

Directions
In a large bowl, combine flour, crumbled yeast, sugar, salt, butter with your finger tips until they are like crumbs and well mixed.
Make a well in the center, add the eggs one by one, mixing well with finger tips.
Add the milk to this, combining with wooden spoon or fingertips to get the dough together. Once it forms a ball, transfer to lightly floured counter and knead for 10 minutes with heel of your palm, folding it back and again stretching with heel of palm. In the end, make a smooth ball with floured hands. Place in oiled bowl, covered properly, to rise to at least double the size (1-2 hours) in a warm, draught free place.
Combine the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl and keep aside.
Butter a baking dish 9X13 inches or use two smaller trays and keep aside.
Once dough has risen to double, remove from bowl on lightly floured surface. Punch down and lightly roll out using a rolling pin, roughly 15 inches in length and 9 inches wide.
Cover the entire surface with the cinnamon sugar, lightly pressing down the coating into the dough with finger tips.
Roll along the length into a tight jelly-roll. Cut into 1" slices, placing them cut side up on the greased baking tin. Keep a little space between rolls, to allow for the second rise.
If you baking in a single large baking tray- place them in 3 rows of 5 rolls to make 15 rolls.
Cover and keep aside for 45 minutes. Or you could place the entire tray inside of a big plastic shopping bag, twist the end and tuck it under tray to have a warm, draught free environment.
Preheat oven to 175 C. Once the rolls have doubled / risen, brush with melted butter and place them in a middle rack and bake for 20-25 minutes until tops are golden.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk the powdered sugar, milk and extract until you get a glaze of pouring consistency. While the rolls are hot, using a spoon, drizzle the glaze criss cross all over the rolls.
Eat/serve warm straight from pan.

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Eggless Savoury Muffins with Sun Dried Tomatoes, Cheese and Olives

It's vacation time at the play group, which means the little boy, when not up to any nefarious activities, is hanging around the kitchen, making puppy eyes at me, saying "Mummy, I want something to eat", which is not entirely a bad thing. He likes to eat most (if not all) the stuff I make, showers me with compliments for my cooking skills and helps rearrange the drawer that holds all the ladles and spoons to a fine mess.

I try to keep homemade stuff like muffins, healthy banana-oatmeal based cookies, cheese squares, cubed watermelon and cucumber and some of his favourite things around for the mummy-i- am-hungry times. Before you jump to the conclusion that I only give homemade-healthy stuff to my son, let me confess that I also give him store bought treats like Nilgiri's tiny drop cookies, lemonade, chocolates and chikki. Everything in moderation.

So, dear reader, tell me what you are doing with your kids in the vacation. What treats? What games? What activities? It would be lovely to hear from you.

Coming to these savoury muffins, they are perfect little bites of wholesome goodness. Flaxseed meal, sun dried tomatoes, cheese and black olives make these utterly healthy and full of fibre and protein.


My son has been crazy over olives, ever since he started eating solid foods. I think, that's one of the genetic traits passed on from his dad, who can go through a bottle of olives in a couple of days. With an olive-loving family like this, I looked up a few savoury muffin recipes in the Muffin Bible with olives in them. Adapted a couple of recipes to come up with this healthier option.

If you follow Saffron Trail on Facebook, you might have seen my notes on making sun-dried cherry tomatoes to put the 40 C Bangalore summer to good use. 4 days and you have the most beautiful salty, tangy, sweet, crispy bits of tomatoes that have captured the sun and boosted their flavour ten-fold. I used a handful of these home dried tomatoes here.

Recipe for Savoury muffins with Sun dried tomatoes, cheese and olives
Time taken - under 20 minutes
Makes 12 small muffins or 9 medium sized muffins

Ingredients
1/2 cup all purpose flour (maida)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (atta)
150 grams of cheddar cheese or 3 Amul cheese cubes, grated
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3rd cup of sun dried tomatoes
10 black olives, chopped
10-12 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped (or any other fresh herbs like basil or thyme)

1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano


2 tbsp flaxseed meal
1/4 cup hot water
2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp salted butter + pinch of crushed dried basil

Directions:

Preheat the oven at 200C [Start oven, take temp dial to 200 and time dial to 10 minutes. At the end of 10 minutes, the oven is preheated. You will have to then set the timer as per the baking time, which is around 10 minutes here]

Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners or use individual silicone cupcake moulds, that will fit in a smaller oven.

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl with a fork.

In a measuring jug or another bowl, whisk the flaxseed meal with hot water and olive oil till frothy. Add enough water to this to make a total of one cup (which is why doing this is a measuring jug is easier).
Add this to the dry ingredients and stir gently with a fork to bring ingredients together. Too much beating or vigourous mixing will result in hard muffins.
[You can use egg instead of the above flaxseed-hot water. Beat 1 egg, add oil and add enough water at room temperature to make one cup and proceed with the recipe]

Using a spoon, evenly distribute batter between 9 or 12 muffins cups.
Bake for 10-12 minutes at 200C until a skewer comes out clean.

Melt the butter in a small microwave safe bowl for 20 seconds. Add the basil to it. Brush this on the muffin tops once they are out of the oven. Not only does this add a buttery flavour but also helps them keep moist. This is a neat trick to add that buttery taste without using any butter in the baking.

Notes:
You could even bake these in a mini muffin tray to yield 20-24 bite sized muffins for a tea party.
Feel free to change the favours - use thick pizza sauce, more fresh herbs and mozzarella cheese to make Pizza flavoured muffins. Grated carrot, pepper and cheddar is a lovely combination as well. Meat eaters can add crisped bacon bits to the batter. The options are quite endless.
Not just for kids, these muffins that are ready in a jiffy are the perfect accompaniment to a soup for a light meal, even for adults. You could make them spicier with chopped pickled jalapeños, or chopped greeen chillies and ground black pepper. Make a couple of batches and freeze / refrigerate them for breakfast on the go, for a weekday

Shopping Guide:
Ready ground flaxseed is available in most stores in Bangalore. I buy mine from Nilgiri's or Town Essentials - and refrigerate it as it can go rancid quickly.

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How to make paneer and the easiest dish with paneer : Paneer Bhurji

Paneer Bhurji is one dish that is good to have in your repertoire of easy, quick dishes that can be made in minutes if you stock store bought paneer. Also, a great vegetarian side to serve your guests, if you cook predominantly non-vegetarian dishes and you find it tough to handle vegetables.

Making paneer at home- you need

1 litre regular fat milk (3%)

You could also use a day old milk that you can't use in coffee / tea

2- 3 tbsp of white vinegar

A fine mesh sieve or a muslin cloth

Bring the milk to a boil.
As soon as it boils, lower the heat to minimum.

Add 2 tbsp of vinegar and stir it around. In 2-3 minutes, the milk will separate into solids and liquid (whey)- if the whey is not totally clear- then use the remaining tbsp of vinegar and stir for 2 more minutes.

Carefully hold the vessel with a pair of tongs or a thick tea towel and pour the contents through a sieve-collecting the whey in a large vessel.

Lightly press with the back of a ladle to remove excess whey from the solids.

What remains is the paneer.

For any other dish in which you need cubed paneer, you need to use a muslin cloth / clean cotton tea towel. Place the paneer in the middle, cover it on all sides, using the sides of the cloth as flaps.

Place this on a dish and place a heavy weight like a mortar pestle on top of this to flatten it out.

After 15 minutes, cube it and place it in the whey or warm water until you need to use it.

Paneer bhurji is a scramble made using paneer cheese, midly spiced with green chillies and the added texture of finely chopped onions and bell pepper.

For Paneer Bhurji, you don't need to do any of the earlier processes to get cubes. You don't even have to press out too much of the excess whey. This keeps the bhurji moist.

Recipe for Paneer Bhurji
Time taken: 15 minutes or so
Serves 3 people

Paneer from 1 L of milk 

2 tsp oil

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

Pinch of asafoetida (optional)

2 green chillies, finely sliced (or 1 if you want it mildly spicy)

1 medium onion - finely diced

1 medium green bell pepper- finely diced

Tiny pinch of turmeric powder

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large steel or non stick wok.
2. Add the cumin and mustard seeds. Once they splutter, add the asafoetida, chillies, onion and bell pepper, with a pinch of salt.
3. Saute on medium flame till onions are soft-roughly 7-8 minutes.
4. Add the freshly made paneer. If you are using store bought paneer, crumble 200 grams and use it now.
5. Sprinkle tiny pinch of turmeric powder over this and mix well.
6. Add 1/2 tsp salt and saute well till all spices are mixed.
7. Remove from flame and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
8. Serve with rotis or parathas or with toasted slices of bread.

Notes:

Use a mix of red, yellow and green bell peppers to make this dish super colourful.

You could also use crumbled tofu instead of paneer, although you need to use more chillies to make tofu taste as flavoursome as paneer.

Some people like to add boiled peas to the dish to make it more substantial and colourful.

If you are in Bombay, try the Punjab Dairy paneer or the Darshan dairy paneer. Though it has a whole lot of fat, it is one of the softest paneer I've tasted. In Bangalore, Nandini paneer is decent.

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Homemade granola, at last - with homemade applesauce

 

 

I am not a big fan of store bought cereals. However I do stock whole wheat flakes and unsweetened cornflakes for breakfast in a hurry. Buying boxed cereals with sugar and salt overload are totally avoidable as the first meal of the day. Oats is another regular during breakfast hours. That is one thing the husband has mastered in microwave cooking - Oats, frozen peas, masalas of choice, water and microwave for 4 minutes or so - for a bowl full of fibre, protein and good carbs. I prefer my oats slightly sweetened with jaggery, cooked with milk and cinnamon. When I saw this recipe for granola on Nigella Lawson's show - combining cereals with nuts, seeds, spices - I knew I had to try this. But it turned out to be one of those ideas that keep sitting on the back burner - waiting for the right moment, to be explored. Early this week, sufficiently inspired, I went to the store and bought the necessary ingredients - Oats, cornflakes, apples, sesame seeds for the rest of the stuff I already had at home.

 

Ever since the waxed, coated and 'sitting in cold storage for god knows how long' apples from US and NZ have flooded the markets, I have totally given up apples. I hate the shiny waxy skin, I hate the pasty texture and total lack of taste. But Shimla apples are another breed altogether - they are the perfect combination of juicy, crisp and sweet and I bought 2 kilos. The timing was perfect as I could use a couple of them to make applesauce to hold the garnola together. [Recipe for applesauce at the end of the post]

The resultant breakfast in a bowl is very high in fibre from the whole grains and wheat germ, the sesame seeds are rich in calcium, iron, vitamin B1 and zinc. The taste is absolutely superlative with subtle sweetness from natural sugars in jaggery, honey, apple and the spicy sweetness of cinnamon. Try this once and I guarantee you will never buy the cardboard shards sold in the name of Muesli in supermarkets here.

 

 

Here's my recipe - adapted from Nigella Lawson's - Andy's Fairfield Granola

 

Special equipment
Pressure cooker if making applesauce at home (preferable for quickly stewing apples)
Two large baking trays atleast 9X9

 

Ingredients
500 g Rolled oats ( I used Saffola brand)
2 cups unsweetened corn flakes or wheat flakes
1 cup wheat bran ( I used Baggrey's )
100 g sesame seeds (or roughly 1/3rd cup)-lightly toasted in a wok for 1 minute
1/2 cup - mixture of almonds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, cashews - chopped in bits

 

1/2 cup jaggery dissolved in 1/2 cup water
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp sunflower or any neutral oil
1 cup applesauce or make your own from 2-3 apples (Recipe below)
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp dried ginger powder
1 tsp salt

 

1 cup mix of dried apricot bits / raisins / sultananas or any other dried berries

 

Directions

1. Preheat the oven at 200 C.
2. In the largest bowl you have, mix the oats, wheatflakes, nuts, toasted sesame seeds.
3. In a medium bowl, mix the jaggery water, honey, oil, applesauce, ground ginger and cinnamon and salt.
4. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients in the large bowl and mix with two serving spoons or with your hands, until the spices and liquids have thoroughly coated all of the cereals and nuts.
5. Line the baking trays with aluminium foil.
6. Distribute the granola mix between the two trays, pressing down well.
7. Bake each tray for around 30 minutes at 200 C - keeping a watch that the granola is not burning. If it is browning too fast, turn the tray and reduce the temperature to 175 and bake till quite crisp.
8. Once cool, break into bits or crumble, mix up the dried fruit and store in airtight container.

 

To serve
2 handfuls of granola or 1/2 cup with a cup of milk and some fresh fruit if you like

How to make applesauce

• Wash, peel and core 2-3 good apples.
• Chop into medium pieces and pressure cook with 1/2 cup water, either directly in the cooker or in a bowl for 5-7 minutes. ie. After three whistles, keep on sim for 5-7 minutes.
• After a few minutes, open cooker, remove the stewed apples and mash with a back of a ladle or in food processor.
• This will yield over a cup of applesauce.
• If you dont have a pressure cooker, follow the process in a saucepan with a fitting lid. Simmer for 20-30 minutes till apples are totally soft and then mash.

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Apple Fig and Poppyseed Muffins

Weekend is here. My weekend mornings are no different from weekday mornings. My toddler hasn't yet figured out the weekend business so it's business as usual for us. Last night we forgot to leave the basket out for the milk, so the milkman rang the doorbell at 6 am so that the cats don't get to the milk before me. His intentions were good, but that meant my son woke up with the sound of the bell and dragged me out of bed too. S had left really early for his long run - that left the two of us to fend for each other for the next couple of hours. 

Sometimes, I just throw whatever is on hand when I get a craving to bake something. Sometimes, I prepare the ingredients over a few days and finally get compelled to use them in something. This morning, it was the second situation. I'd finely chopped up some figs a couple of days ago. Yesterday I brewed some strong fruit infusion (Twinings Strawberry and Raspberry), chopped up an apple and soaked the chopped apple and figs overnight in the tea.

This morning, it was time to put them to use. I recently bought this lovely little book called the Muffin Bible. No fancy author here, just a compilation of several very doable recipes. I'd bought to gift Arundati on her birthday. As luck would have it, we could not meet up that day and then when I called her last week, she said she already had that book. Trust a food blogger to have the best and most useful cookbooks on her shelf already! I'd already flipped through the book the very night I'd bought it. Needless to say right? The recipe I've adapted from is the Almond-poppyseed muffins.

Apple, fig and poppyseed muffins

Makes 1 dozen 

Ingredients

8 dried figs, chopped finely

1/2 apple, chopped finely

1 cup strong tea (made from 2 tea bags, fruit infusions or any other)

2 tbsp yogurt or 1 egg

1/2 cup sugar, coarsely ground

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup sunflower oil

1/2 cup milk

2 tbsp poppy seeds (the dark variety)

1 cup Maida (all purpose flour)

3/4 cup Atta (whole wheat flour)

1/4 cup Makkai ka atta (corn meal)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

Preparation

Soak the finely chopped figs and apple in the tea. Cover and keep for a couple of hours or overnight.

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 200 C. Line a 12 muffin pan with paper liners or oil them well.
2. In a large bowl, beat the yogurt (or egg) along with sugar and salt well. 
3. Whisk the oil into this. Add the milk and mix in the poppy seeds.
4. Sieve the flours with the baking powder and soda a couple of times.
5. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just incorporated. Do not over-mix or beat this. 
6. Add the soaked fruits and the half cup of tea that will remain behind.
7. Spoon the batter into the liners until 3/4th filled.
8. Bake at 200 C for 20-25 minutes. Test with a knitting needle / spaghetti if the centers are done. If not bake for 3-4 minutes and check again.
9. Remove the muffins and eat warm.

Notes

• Some ovens can accommodate not more than 9 muffin tin. In that case bake 9 muffins and once done, bake remaining 3 in a second batch or bake a small cake in a small tart tin or so.
• I have soaked the fruit in flavoured tea for added flavour. You may choose to omit the soaking stage, add the chopped fig and apple as it is, but use 1 cup milk instead.
• You can also soak the fruit in 1/4 cup rum + 3/4 cup warm water if you prefer a fruit-cake like taste.

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Arisi Upma - A breakfast in minutes

Steaming hot upma is served

This recipe is another example of how simple traditional Tamil Brahmin cuisine is. No frills, no laundry-list of ingredients and yet divine in taste.

In earlier times, rice rava used to be painstakingly prepared at home by picking, washing and draining the rice. It then used to be left to dry on layers of old muslin cloth in the shade. The rice would then be hand-pounded into a coarse powder. My mother and grandmother still follow the procedure except that in the last step, the food processor has replaced the hand-pounding. Thankfully. 


As much as I love traditions, I am deprived of this virtue called patience. My husband will tell you the same thing. So I pick this packet of readymade Idli Rava from the supermarket and that makes life a lot easier for me.



Idli rava / rice rava (rice that is broken into a coarse rava) is a very useful ingredient to have around the kitchen. It cooks in a jiffy compared to whole rice or regular rava (semolina). You can use this to make delicious Upma Kozhakattai - which is one of the lesser known Tamilian tiffin items that I have never seen in a restaurant menu. This was one of the earliest entries on this blog.

You can also soak this instead of rice to grind idli batter. A simple rice porridge can be prepared in minutes for your toddler at a moment's notice if you have idli rava at home. And of course this breakfast recipe that you can virtually make in the time your family takes to settle on the dining table. 

This makes a quick weekday breakfast. To make it a more sumptuous breakfast, serve it with sambar and a variety of chutneys.

The coconut oil used in this recipe gives a deep aroma to the upma, but it's not a must really. Use any other vegetable oil or ghee instead.

This is way faster than the regular upma because you need not roast the rava nor chop any chillies, ginger, onions etc. and this cooks in almost half the time as regular rava.

So you have no excuses not to try this out. Just make sure you add 'Idli Rava' to your grocery list the next time :)

Arisi Upma - Broken rice upma

Serves 3

Time taken - Under 10 minutes

Ingredients

1-2 tsp edible coconut oil

Small pinch of asafoetida

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1-2 dried red chillies

1 tsp udad dal (ulutham paruppu)

1 sprig curry leaves (optional)

1 cup idli rava

3 cups water

1 tsp salt

1-2 tbsp scraped fresh coconut

1 small piece of jaggery

1/4 cup frozen peas (optional)

Directions

1. In a large non stick kadai, heat the coconut oil.
2. Stir in the asafoetida and splutter the mustard seeds. Add the udad dal and fry till lightly golden. Fry the curry leaves if using for a few seconds and the dried red chillies.
3. Add 3 cups of water, salt, coconut scrapings, frozen green peas (if using) and jaggery. Let this come to a rolling boil.
4. Reduce the flame to sim and add the idli rava while stirring constantly to avoid lumps.
5. Cover with a tight fitting lid and cook until the water evaporates - this takes under 3-4 minutes. Give it a good stir. Check for salt. If you think the upma is too dry and the rice rava needs to be cooked some more, add few more tablespoons of water, cover and cook on low flame for 2-3 minutes more.
6. Once this water is absorbed and the rava is cooked, turn off the flame. Keep covered for 2-3 minutes. This will make the grains absorb the moisture from the steam and fluff up some more.
7. Serve hot garnished with some more fresh coconut if required.

Note:

• The jaggery will not make this taste sweet, but according to my granny rice-rava has a slight bitter tinge about it which this jaggery will neutralize.
• The original arisi upma recipe does not use peas. This is just to make it more filling and add to the protein content.

15 June 2010

Edited to add- Comment from my Dad on email after seeing this post:

Unnudaya uppumavai partha udaneye appdiye sappidanumbola irukku. Moreover, the garnishing is TOP. God bless you. Appa.

This made me so happy this morning :)

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Simplest ever yogurt muffins

Ever since his famous No Knead Bread, I have been in love with Mark Bittman. Needless to say I was so excited when S got me his 'How to cook everything vegetarian' a couple of years ago. That book is an encyclopedia and even for someone who has been cooking vegetarian stuff all these years, I discover new ideas all the time. His muffins chapter has a simple muffins recipe and all the modifications / substitutions you can make to bake your favourites. On a Sunday morning, these seemed like the perfect things to go with a cup of milk as a light breakfast to precede a heavy lunch.

This is my adaptation of his recipe, where I've avoided eggs and used some cornmeal for some a bit of crunchy texture. You can omit the cornmeal and use all AP flour. The recipe can be doubled easily, this quantity was just perfect for our family of three.

The simplest ever yogurt muffins

3/4 cup AP flour

1/4 cup corn meal

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp oil or melted butter

3/4 cup yogurt

2 tbsp - strong fruit infusion / flavoured tea [The original recipe uses one egg, I used this instead]

Handful of raisins or rehydrated dried berries [I used dried blueberries]

• Preheat oven at 400 F or 200 Celsius.
• Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl with a fork.
• In a small bowl, whisk the wet ingredients (oil, yogurt and tea).
• Make a well in the large bowl with the flour and add the wet ingredients, bring them together with a spatula until mixed yet lumpy. Do not try to over mix or beat.
• Line a muffin tray with paper cups or oil the cups.
• Spoon into 6 medium sized muffins and bake for 15 minutes till golden brown.
• Eat warm.

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Wacky Banana Cake

There are some blogs I follow because I know their tried and tested recipes will come to my rescue each time I'm facing a dilemma as to what to cook! Then there are some other blogs which I visit purely for reading pleasure - either because I cannot procure most of the ingredients they use or they write predominantly about meat based recipes. Home Sick Texan is one of them. It gives such a view of Texans whose culture, food and general way of life seems so different from the regular American life. I love to read the stories accompanying each recipe and these are more interesting for me that the recipe itself. But this one time, I found a recipe that made me say ' I must try this RIGHT now'. It was her granny's Wacky Cake recipe. The name itself is so appealing, so cute and so retro, and it is indeed a blast from the past. And what's more - no butter, no eggs, no mixing bowl required. Can baking ever get better than this?

If you ever want to bake with your kids, I can only imagine what a deterrent breaking eggs in front of them is - an invitation to gooey mess and not to mention the fear of salmonella from raw eggs, especially in India where the local panwalla who sells them loose (betel leaf vendor) is the nearest source for eggs in a hurry. This is also the best possible cake to bake in the morning for a breakfast for friends who've stayed over. Waking up to the aromas of fresh home baking will make it an unforgettable morning for them. Also, this is the perfect one if you're calling your girl pals over for tea - considerably low cal, ready in a jiffy and just the perfect sweetness to go with tea / coffee.

I have just wiped my hands off after tasting the first piece and it was soft enough to melt in my mouth (even without butter!!!) and then I had to break my prolonged silence here by posting about it. We're having this for our pre-Diwali breakfast and it makes me very very happy and indebted to Home Sick Texan for sharing this recipe - I finally found a vegan recipe for a lovely cake for DH, who's gotten off eggs for a couple of years now and he strictly abides by his no egg policy even when faced with some delicious desserts in the best of places.

Home Sick Texan's Wacky Cake and Wacky Apple Cake Recipes here
I've used a chopped banana in the apple cake recipe along with a part whole wheat flour replacement, and walnuts instead of pecans. Here's my version.

Wacky Banana Cake
Serves 6 atleast
Time to table - 45 minutes
Adapted from here

Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour (I used Ashirwad Atta)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup of sugar - run for a short while in the mixer
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
5 tablespoons of sunflower or any unflavoured cooking oil
1 cup cold water (not iced)

1 large banana finely diced
1/3rd cup crushed walnuts

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C
2. Combine dry ingredients in flour sifter and sift into an ungreased 8x8 square or a 9-inch round baking pan. You can also use a 9-inch cast-iron skillet.
3. Poke three holes into the flour mixture. In the first hole, pour the vinegar. In the second hole, pour the vanilla. In the third hole, pour the oil.
4. Then pour one cup of water into the pan and mix very well.
5. Stir in the diced banana and nuts - shake pan to level off and sprinkle some powdered cinnamon.
6. Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes or till done.
7. Cut in squares and serve warm.

You'll find all the ingredients for the plain wacky cake in your pantry, so what are you waiting for??

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