Easy Strawberry-Blueberry Tea Cake

Yesterday, I had the 3rd edition of my bread baking workshop - Breaking Bread. We made a rocket-basil-yellow cherry tomato pizza from scratch. Fluffy golden Mumbai pav was served with bhaaji. The cinnamon rolls we made today were turned extra special by adding raisins and orange zest soaked in brandy to the cinnamon-sugar mix. To add to the party we also made a little pull apart loaf using the left over dough spread with chocolate paste- which came out all ooey, gooey and chocolatey and made all the ladies go OOOOH The last one in the bread party was a braided bread dressed with sesame seeds.

Facebook Album: Photos from Breaking Bread -2 

 The best part of the afternoon for me was one of the participants telling me that the pizza was as good as the Toscano pizza and I'm a big fan of Toscano, they serve the best pizza in Whitefield. Photos of Breaking Bread-3 After 4 hours of talking, kneading, baking and walking to and from the oven - I'm invariably wrung-out tired and want to retire into a cave and snooze the whole of Sunday. But rarely does that happen.

Today, I ended up waking earlier than usual. Early coffee, early breakfast, early lunch and suddenly the day loomed in front of me as though telling me 'do something useful now'. After 3 rounds of doing dishes, cleaning up the kitchen, crazy people like me add another chore to the routine like baking, messing up 3 bowls and adding to the washing up. But fact is, baking rarely feels like a chore. Strawberries are in season. And have I told you, I've found the perfect brand of frozen blueberries (see resource section in the end). And since the cake is mostly sweetened using organic powdered jaggery, I don't feel too guilty about my son coming to the kitchen for multiple servings as a Sunday treat.Try this while the strawberries are in season. If you don't find blueberries, use any other mushy fruit like figs, which are also very much in season. It makes the perfect little bite along with tea or coffee. Simple, rustic and  beautiful. 

And hello! December workshops at Saffron Trail Kitchen are going to be dedicated to a round of Xmas goodies, except for a Salad workshop for a bunch of salad-loving girls. Stay updated by following Saffron Trail on Facebook.

Recipe for Strawberry-Blueberry Tea Cake
Makes 8-10 servings


Ingredients
1/2 cup maida
1/2 cup whole wheat flour 
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 egg
2 tbsp yogurt
2 tbsp cooking oil (neutral tasting like sunflower oil)
1/2 cup powdered jaggery
1/4 cup sugar
2 drops orange oil extract or 1 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 tbsp milk
1 cup finely chopped strawberries
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Icing sugar to dust over the top (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven at 180°C. Line a 9X7" baking sheet (to make a sheet cake) or a 6" round tin with baking paper or grease well and keep aside.
Into a large bowl, sieve the dry ingredients. Keep aside.
In another bowl, whisk the egg, yogurt, oil, powdered jaggery and sugar for 3-4 minutes till well combined and frothy.
To this, slowly add the dry ingredients and combine with a whisk or fork. Add 3-4 tbsp of milk as it will be quite thick at this stage and whisk into the batter. Into this mix in gently the chopped strawberries and frozen blueberries.
Scrape out the batter into the lined baking tin. 
Bake for 20 mins in case of 9X7 tin or for 30 mins in case of 6" round tin, in both cases, testing with a skewer if it comes out clean.
Cool for 10 minutes after which you can cut as desired and serve hot with a dusting of icing sugar using a small sieve.
Refrigerate the leftovers - they make excellent reasonably healthy treats for kids' lunchboxes.

Shopping guide:
Organic powdered jaggery: Namdhari's
Frozen blueberries: Delissh brand from Auchan (formerly Spar)

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The secret to a two minute 100% homemade pasta sauce

Are you curious to know this secret? Because I'm sure as hell excited to share it with you. 

This is truly magic and I'm not lying. I've struck gold with this two minute pasta sauce - just two ingredients, loads of flavour, loads of health and vegan to boot- perfect for kid lunchbox, your lunchbox or a quick weeknight dinner. 

And if you've made pasta for dinner, just cook a handful of extra pasta and save it in the fridge. With this sauce, your kiddie lunchbox can come together in less than 5 minutes. It's a promise. I even got myself a quick facial with the bits of leftover secret ingredient.

So, time to reveal the secret ingredient....

*drumrolls*

It's AVOCADO.

How to make two-minute pasta sauce from scratch?

Printable version here

Take your blender (or mixer) out.

Quarter one large ripe tomato. Halve a fully ripe avocado. Scoop out from skin. 

(Don't throw away skin*)

Blend the tomato (skin, seeds and all) and flesh from half avocado to a puree.

Heat 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a pan. Smash and finely mince 1 clove of garlic. 

Add the puree, 1/2 teaspoon salt and warm for one minute. Add salt and 1/2 teaspoon of dried basil, crushed between finger tips (or any other dried herb you fancy).

Coat pasta in this sauce and warm through.

Garnish with fresh basil if you like.

This makes enough sauce for a really saucy pasta for one or lightly coated pasta for two.

You can easily scale up the recipe using 1 large avocado + 4 large tomatoes, 2-3 cloves of garlic and 2 tbsp olive oil for four people. Add chilli flakes to the oil, if it's only for adults or if your kids don't mind the spice.

*Rub your face with the leftover bits of avocado inside and wash after 10 minutes for glowing baby-soft skin.

Avocado gives the sauce a mellow creaminess without adding any cream or dairy to the sauce whatsoever. Avocado is sold as butter-fruit in several parts of India.

You could even prepare this with your kids and teach them to warm the sauce in the microwave and they can toss the pasta in this. The best way to make your kids eat healthy food is to involve them in the cooking process. The next time you do your food shopping, make sure you buy an avocado, just to try this recipe out and you'll know that I'm not joking about this magical pasta sauce.

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The perfect lunchbox and recipe for Spinach Pesarattu

On my Facebook page (Saffrontrail on Facebook) I decided to do a month long series of logging my kid's lunch box and a brief recipe for each of the things. It turned out to be very well received, much more than what I had expected. Taking that cue, I did a column on lunch-boxes for my monthly column in Sunday DNA. Here, I am sharing the same for those who missed it in the papers. I shall be happy to answer your queries in the comment section. 

Whether it is for adults, or kids, the lunchbox presents many dilemmas. What to pack, how much time to spend on preparing it, what will taste good a few hours after packing, what can be made ahead – these are the top questions about packing a proper lunchbox.

A packed lunch should be a portable, less-elaborate version of a lunch you would have at home and by that I mean, well balanced, hygienic and tasty.

Carbohydrates form the base of any meal. One can choose from wholegrain bread, rotis, pita bread, cooked unpolished rice, broken wheat, semolina, pasta, potato etc. Younger kids can do with white sandwich bread as too much fibre can fill them up quickly before they can consume the required calories. Wholegrain sandwiches, stuffed pita bread, fried rice with vegetables or chicken, broken wheat patties, semolina upma, pasta tossed with vegetables or in a salad, boiled potato or potato patties are some of the ways to build the carbohydrate component.

The box needs to have a protein component too. You could choose from chicken, eggs, beans, lentils, cheese, tofu, paneer, yogurt and nuts. Shredded lean chicken can be a part of wraps, sandwiches or pasta. A whole boiled egg, sliced in half and sprinkled with a pinch of salt and pepper makes the perfect addition to a kid’s lunchbox, and the eggs can be boiled the previous night. 

Cooked beans like chickpeas, black-eyed peas, dried peas, rajma can be mashed and added to vegetable patties or made into hummus for sandwiches. Cheese cubes by themselves or in sandwiches are a most popular protein option for kids. Tofu or paneer can be added to dry vegetable curries that can be used to stuff rotis to make a roll. Yogurt can be set in one of the smaller boxes and put in the fridge overnight to be carried in the lunchbox. This makes a good accompaniment to rice and broken wheat based dishes, if the commute is not too long and the workplace / school has a refrigerator. 

Nuts are a great snacking option, rich in a variety of vital nutrients – add this to your kid’s muffins or cookies and to your salad. Taking it in the lunch box is the best way to eat nuts while exercising portion control. Nut butters are good for spreading in sandwiches.

Since both adults and kids need to get five to nine servings of vegetables and fruit, it is important that the lunchbox has a couple of servings from this group. Whatever food is going into the lunchbox, make sure it is fortified with some vegetables (other than potatoes, which are starch component) – for example, green beans and peas in rice, cucumber and carrot sticks with hummus, red bell pepper and zucchini in pasta. Add some pomegranate pearls to raita or curd-rice, grated apples and pears in muffins, sliced banana in peanut butter sandwich.

Once in a while, surprise your kid with a homemade goodie like a cookie or any other treat.

Some sample lunchboxes:

·      Egg Salad Sandwich and watermelon cubes

·      Broken wheat vegetable pulao with plain yogurt or raita

·      Pita bread stuffed with shredded chicken with salad and apple

·      Buttermilk semolina upma with peas and almonds

·      Pasta with spinach and cheese or paneer and orange

·      Vegetable idlis with tomato-onion chutney and a boiled egg

Recipe for Baby Pesarattu with spinach

1. Soak 1 cup of whole green moong overnight. 
2. Drain the soaked moong and grind it with a cup of washed and cleaned raw spinach leaves, a small piece of ginger and ½ tsp of salt. This does not require to be fermented. Pesarattu can be made immediately after the batter is ready.
3. On a lightly greased non-stick tava, spoon out tablespoon full of batter with a little space in between the pesarattu, add a few drops of ghee or oil along the sides and flip when one side is cooked. 
4. You can sprinkle sesame seeds on one side while the other is cooking. 
5. Cook the other side similarly and serve with chutney or ketchup. 
6. If this dish is for adults, you could add a couple of green chillies while grinding the batter.

[originally published in the Sunday DNA - September 23, 2012]

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