Saying Goodbye 2011 with Gingerbread Cookies
‘Stay Tuned’ that’s what I said in my last post- 3 months back! Those of you who ‘stayed tuned’ thanks a lot- I really appreciate your patience, those who didn’t please come back..coz I am back! 
Yes the hectic life is getting the better of me and is keeping me very very busy and still I wanted to drop in here for the last time in 2011 with a simple recipe for Gingerbread cookies.
I am hoping 2012 will be a much better year for me- blogwise; I hope I can be more regular so that I can share my kitchen adventures (there have been many!) with you more often.
The Gingerbread cookies; Almost everyone has a recipe for them. Mine is from a lovely book called ‘Home Baking’. This book (publisher: parragon book) is packed with recipes to suit all tastes and occasions -from pies to tarts to muffins and biscuits, simple cakes to elaborate gateaux. So don’t be surprised if you see some more holiday recipes from the book in the New Year.
With 2 small vacationing kids at home, I ran out of ideas to keep them away from any mischief! The little one is quite a handful and the 6 yr.old gets bored easily without any activities. Gingerbread cookies kept them busy for almost 2 days- 1 day cutting and baking, the next day for decorating. I didn’t have the gingerbread men cookie cutters so our gingerbread cookies are all shapes from Halloween to Christmas
The cookies were absolutely delicious with the warm ginger + spice flavour and were consumed in no time by the 2 little elves in my kitchen.
Here’s the recipe:
Gingerbread cookies from ‘Home Baking book’
Ingredients:
115g butter plus extra for greasing(I used Amul butter)
450 g plain flour(Maida), plus extra for dusting
2 tsp ground ginger (Soonth)
1 tsp mixed spice (I used apple pie spice mix)
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
100 g golden syrup
115 g light muscovado sugar
1 egg beaten
To decorate
85 g icing sugar
3-4 tsp water (or as required to make a thick paste)
Method:
Preheat oven to 160oC
Grease 3 large baking sheets.
Sift the flour, ginger, mixed spice, and soda bi carbonate together into a large bowl.
Place the butter, syrup and sugar in a sauce pan over low heat and stir until melted.
Pour onto the dry ingredients and add the egg.
Take care the butter mixture is not too hot or the egg may scramble.
Mix together to make a dough.
The dough will be sticky to begin with but will become firmer as it cools.
You can store the dough in a plastic wrap upto a week in the refrigerator.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to about 3mm/1/8th inch thick and stamp out different shapes of your choice.
Place on the prepared baking sheets. Re-knead and re-roll the trimmings and cut out more shapes until the dough is used up.
Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until firm and lightly browned.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
To Decorate:
Mix the icing sugar with the water to a thick consistency. Place the icing in a small polythene bag/piping bag and cut a tiny hole in one corner. Pipe the desired design on to the cooled biscuits.
Let the icing dry and if you have any left by then store in an airtight container. I didn’t have any left to store!
I will be hosting a Giveaway in the New Year 2012! So please stay tuned till then
Till then its Goodbye 2011 …
….see you in 2012 : another New year..lots of new dreams,hopes,ideas and recipes!
5 years of Blogging and My Mom’s Puran Poli with Katachi Amti
Puran Poli is a quintessential Maharashtrian delicacy and you may wonder how it has not featured on My foodcourt in the past 5 years. Yes, My Foodcourt turned 5 this August! I have been neck deep in work, kids and the daily grind. August and now September just zoomed past me and I just realized that it’s been fabulous 5 years of blogging; sharing and interacting with my virtual friends! Its late but we are celebrating nevertheless
Many festivals in Maharashtra like Holi, Gudi Padwa, Gauri-Ganapati Puja,Dassera feature the Puran Poli as its star attraction, as far as the festival food is concerned. The skills of a good Marathi cook are gauged by the way he/she can make the Puran Poli. My dad is a very good cook and to explain effectively his cooking skills I just say that he can make good Puran Poli’s and Bhakris! I don’t have to say anything else, it’s understood that he is indeed a very good cook
Regular readers of this blog know that I don’t have a weakness for sweets, in fact far from that and maybe that’s the reason why Puran Poli has not been featured on My Foodcourt. My mom makes one of the best Puran Polis and even I cannot resist eating her Puran Poli. She uses some fresh coconut and Khoya/Khawa/Mawa in addition to the usual Chana dal for the filling to enhance the richness and flavor. The proportion of jaggery and sugar is just apt for my taste buds.
I got a chance to capture the Puran Poli making process this time when I stayed over at my parents place during the Gauri- Ganapati festival. The consistency of the Puran/stuffing, the dough and the skill of rolling them out determine the resultant nature of the Puran Poli. With a little bit of practice you can make decent Puran Polis. The amount of effort put into making Puran Poli is worth every bit.
My Mom made it for many people (~40 Puran Polis) and hence the proportions appear in kg. You can scale it to your requirement. She made the Puran a day in advance, so she didn’t have too much work the next day. Also the left over Puran can be stored in the freezer in a sealed bag/container and used as and when required.
The Puran Poli is usually served with Katachi Amti , made from the leftover stock from cooking the Chana Dal. The stock is spiced up with different masalas to balance the sweetness of the Puran Poli.
Note: This is an indulgent sweet and needs all the oil, ghee, sweetness and richness that is mentioned below. So make this when you are not too conscious of the calories being consumed :)
Here’s celebrating 5 years of My Foodcourt with my Mom’s Puran Poli recipe:
My Mom’s Puran Poli recipe
For the Puran (Stuffing)
1 kg Chana Dal
½ tsp Turmeric
¾ kg Jaggery
3/4th Katori Sugar (my mom uses a katori/Vati to measure for her measurements)
200 gms Khoya/ Khawa/Mawa ( you can use Pedhas)
½ medium sized freshly grated coconut
Nutmeg powder ½ tsp (optional)
For the covering Dough:
½ kg Wheat Flour
1 tbsp All purpose flour
Pinch of salt
Oil as required
Rice Flour for dusting the Puran Poli
Method:
For the Puran (Stuffing)
Cook Chana Dal with twice amount of water, with turmeric in a pressure cooker till very soft but not mashed. (about 2 whistles and ~15 mins on low flame thereafter.)
Meanwhile roast the Khoya in a pan on low heat till slightly pink/very light brown.
Grind the Coconut in the mixer to a fine paste without adding water.
Drain and remove water from the cooked Dal and reserve the water.
Heat a kadhai and add the dal and on a low flame dry out all the moisture from the Dal.
Add the jaggery, sugar, coconut paste, roasted Khoya to the dal.
Cook and stir till the mixture is completely dry. (take care not to burn the mixture)
Add the nutmeg powder mix well.
Remove the mixture from the heat and pass it through a Puran press/ Food Mill.
Keep aside till you are ready with the covering dough. This filling can be made 1-2 days in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
For the Covering Dough:
Sift the wheat flour and the all purpose flour and pinch of salt through a fine mesh sieve.
Add oil (2-3 tbsp) and water and knead into a soft elastic dough. (You may need to add more water/ oil to get very soft dough)
Keep the dough covered for about an hour.
After an hour add about 3/4th Katori oil, salt and little water to make it more soft.
Take a lemon sized ball of the dough. Flatten it using the finger tips with the help of the Rice flour
Take a bigger ball of the Puran/stuffing mixture.
Place it on the flattened dough,seal and cover it with the dough such that the Puran gets stuffed inside the dough.
Roll out the stuffed dough using the Rice flour for dusting into a round chapatti (as thin as possible), taking care that the Puran/stuffing does not come out and the chapatti does not stick to the surface.
Heat a non-stick tava/griddle.
Once rolled out, use the rolling pin to transfer the Puran poli to the tava.
Cook on both sides till golden brown.
Remove from the tava.
Serve hot Puran Poli’s with a generous drizzle of hot melted ghee and Katachi Amti (recipe below).
Katachi Amti Recipe:
Stock/water left over from cooking the Chana dal for Puran (above) add water if required to make it thinner.
3-4 cloves
4-5 Black pepper corns
1-2 tsp Mustard seeds
1-2 tsp cumene seeds
7-8 curry leaves torn into pieces with hand
1 tsp grated jaggery
1 tsp tamarind pulp
1 tsp Maharshtrian Kala Masala or Garam Masala
~4-5 tbsp chopped fresh Coriander leaves
Salt to taste
2 tbsp oil
Method:
Heat the oil in a deep pan.
Add the mustard seeds.
Once they splutter, add the cloves and peppercorns fry 1-2 second and then add the cumene seeds.
Add the curry leaves and the coriander leaves.
Add the Kat/stock .
Add the jaggery, tamarind pulp, Masala and season with salt. (you can adjust the proportion of jaggery and tamarind to your taste.)
Bring it to a boil and serve hot with Puran Poli.
Stay Tuned for a fabulous Giveaway coming soon on MyFoodcourt!
Am Back….with a Peach and Almond Cake
It’s been ages since My Foodcourt saw any activity. Here’s a long post to make up for the absence.
Firstly, Thank you all for your lovely wishes .The little one has settled in perfectly- just like the last piece of our little jig-saw puzzle. It’s a pleasure watching her grow day by day along with her hero- her dada (elder brother).
As you can guess life after the little one has been an exciting roller coaster ride; had not imagined life with 2 very active kids + a full time job would be soooo hectic.
I have been surfing through some of my favourite blogs, have been tweeting sporadically too, but could not find any time to take pictures of the food that I have been dishing out or to blog about it.
From Rainbow cakes for the 6 year old’s birthday to a Peach and Almond cake (recipe follows) for A’s birthday, I have been quite adventurous in the kitchen. But the chaotic schedules did not permit any photography or posts.
2011 also brought a few Foodie adventures for me. In February this year, I visited Sugarland, Houston on a work trip. There I got a chance to meet the Fabulous Indira, of Mahanandi. Indira has been one of my earliest food-blog friends and in ways a trigger for me to start blogging. So it was just like a dream come true for me to meet her and that too my first time meeting any food blogger. We went for a small shopping spree at the Whole foods market in Sugarland, buying foodie things from Macademia nuts to Bamboo steamer to mini ramekins or just chatting over some fabulous Indira- recommended cheese and desserts (tasted the Tres Leches cake for the first time) and coffee.
Another work trip in April took me to Singapore where I met the gorgeous S from Served with love. I had recently discovered her blog. A few tweets and mails to and fro and we met one evening to discover some fabulous foodie things at ‘Cut the Mustard’; the most prized being a lovely bottle of dried Lavender. I also found my way to a tiny little shop (recommended by S) called ‘Bake it yourself’- a paradise for bakers.
Currently I am armed with lots of foodie ingredients and weapons, collected from different continents and hope I find time in my frenzied schedule to blog about recipes using them. July -August bring some blogging inspiration to me (My Foodcourt was started 5 yrs ago in August) and I am hoping they will also bring back my blogging mojo. Fingers crossed.
Here’s a recipe for a simple yet decadent Peach and Almond cake which I made for A’s birthday.
The recipe is from a Book called BAKING-Simple cookery series. I have tweaked the original recipe to accommodate the available ingredients. The original recipe uses Apricots, but I had a can of Peach halves, which was waiting to be used up and so I used peaches instead of Apricots. I also added some in-season fresh cherries to add that extra zing. Also, I used some Tutti- Frutti instead of chopped dried apricot as recommended in the recipe.
Peach and Almond Cake recipe:
Ingredients:
2 tbsp Demerara Sugar
25g flaked almonds
400 g can peach halves drained (original recipe lists apricots)
225 g butter (I used Amul butter)
225 g caster sugar
4 medium eggs
200 g self-raising flours
25 g ground almonds
½ tsp almond essence
50 g Tutti-Frutti (original recipe lists chopped dried apricots)
3 tbsp clear honey
3 tbsp roughly chopped almonds, toasted (I used almond flakes)
~1/2 cup pitted halved cherries (not listed in the original recipe)
Method:
Preheat oven to 180oC.
Line a 8 inch square pan with parchment paper or grease with baking spray (am armed now with both these baking must havesJ).
Sprinkle sugar and flaked almonds uniformly in the pan. Then arrange the peach halves, cut side down.
Arrange the cherries in between the peach halves.
Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl till light and fluffy.
Gradually beat the eggs into the butter mixture, adding a spoonful of flour after each addition of egg.
When all the eggs have been added, stir in the remaining flour and ground almonds and mix properly.
Add the almond essence and Tutti Frutti and stir well.
Spoon the mixture into the pan taking care not to dislodge the peaches.
Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, or until golden and firm to touch (it took about ~ 55 mins for me)
Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly for ~ 15-20 mins.
Turn out carefully, discard the lining paper and transfer to a serving dish.
Pour the honey on top of the cake, sprinkle the toasted almond flakes and serve.
The exciting news that I promised…..
Hello everyone..Apologies for the absence of any activity on My Foodcourt.But my other life has been very hectic and I am ready to share some very exciting news with you as promised in my earlier post..We are parents again and this time to a 1.5 yr old baby girl! Our little angel came home last week and as you can imagine we are busy right now settling down with each other. She completes our family!
Cooking has taken a back seat except kiddie food (with the lad also at home for Diwali break.) Promise to resume posting recipes here as soon as we settle down..Keep checking this space for some quick and easy recipes again!
And the winner is….
I am delighted to announce the winner of the first giveaway hosted at My Foodcourt
….And the lucky winner (chosen by the Random generator) is KARI (Comment no.8)!
Congratulations KARI, you get a one-time-use certificate worth $ 60 at any of the CSN stores, you will receive a mail from me very soon.Thank you for your comment and feedback
Thank you also, to all the readers who participated, I greatly appreciate your feedback and comments.
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Apologies for neglecting My Foodcourt for some time now, but am busy with some interesting things happening in my other life. Promise to be back soon; hopefully with some very exciting news!
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Yotam Ottolenghi’s Caponata recipe and a ‘Festive Giveaway’
The Monsoon is retreating (having a hail storm outside as I type this) but we are moving into another season of festivities. I am excited to host my first giveaway from CSN stores for the festive season.
CSN stores carries everything from Dining tables to cookware to shoes and bags .CSN stores has generously offered one lucky reader of My Foodcourt from USA and Canada a Gift certificate worth $60 to use on any of the CSN stores websites.
I would like all my readers to please leave a comment below this post letting me know what you like about this blog and what would you like to see more often on My Foodcourt. Please leave one comment per person along with your E-mail address. All you silent readers, now’s your chance to share your thoughts with me.:).
The Giveaway is restricted to USA and Canada readers and there may be international shipping charges in the case of Canadian addresses.
One lucky winner will be chosen randomly and the winner will be announced on 17th October 2010.
Here are the Giveaway details:
Gift certificate: A one-time-use certificate worth $ 60 at any of the CSN stores
How to enter: Leave a comment with Email ID below this post letting me know what do you like about this blog and what would you like to see more often on My Foodcourt.
Giveaway closes: 16th October 2010, winner will be chosen on 17th October 2010.
Giveaway Valid for: Readers from USA and Canada (there may be international shipping charges in the case of Canadian addresses.)
A Special Thanks to CSN stores team for generously sponsoring this giveaway
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After the exciting Giveaway now for an exciting Caponata recipe…..
Over the past few years Food blogging has changed my perspective about different cuisines. Chinese is no longer restricted to Hakka noodles and Fried Rice; Mexican is no longer just Tacos and Salsa; Italian is not just pizza and pasta. Surfing the various blogs each day has made me explore many vegetarian recipes beyond these popular dishes of that particular region.
Alessio challenged us to make a Sicilian speciality-Caponata for this month’s Velveteer’s Challenge.
Wikipedia describes Caponata as a Sicilian aubergine dish, a cooked vegetable salad made from chopped fried eggplant and celery seasoned with sweetened vinegar, and capers in a sweet and sour sauce usually served as an Antipasto.
In my quest for a simple Caponata recipe I came across this recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi. I loved the use of Harissa paste- the ‘Ottolenghi treatment’ as the recipe says- in the traditional Caponata recipe. I had some Harissa seasoning which my brother had gifted me some time back. Also the addition of raisins was quite interesting. I did not have capers neither did I have red-wine vinegar. I skipped the capers and substituted the red-wine vinegar with white-wine vinegar. I also substituted the canned tomatoes with fresh blanched tomatoes.
The loved the array of colors that the vegetables brought to the Caponata. I love eggplants in most of its form but here the humble eggplant/ aubergine was transformed into a flavorful salad with just a few ingredients. The fresh celery leant a refreshing flavor to the Caponata and the harissa added the much desired tang. The raisins were a welcome ‘sweet’ addition to the already ‘tart-spicy’ caponata.
I also added some fresh Basil leaves, which for a change are in abundance right now. I served this delicious Caponata on Bite sized- Chilly rusks.
As recommended in the original recipe, it also makes a great sauce for pasta or couscous. It’s also delicious with cheese: try spreading it over rustic bread and topping with mature vegetarian pecorino, much like the English cheese and pickle sandwich.
I could not save the Caponata to be savored the next day but you might want to make an extra batch since it tastes better the next day!
Here’s the recipe:
Adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi ‘s Caponata recipe
Ingredients:
2 slender Eggplants/ Aubergines diced
2-3 tender celery stalks cut on an angle into slices
1 small red pepper diced
1 onion diced
~ 3 small tomatoes blanched, peeled and chopped
Few green olives sliced
3 tbsp chopped parsley
~ 2 tbsp Fresh Basil leaves chopped
2 tbsp Harissa Seasoning
1 ½ tbsp white wine vinegar
Handful of Raisins
½ tsp sugar
1 tsp Lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Red Chili flakes as required (optional)
2 tbsp Olive oil+2 tbsp sunflower oil
Method:
Heat both oils in a heavy-bottom pan or a non stick pan.
Add the diced aubergines and fry for 5-6 minutes till golden brown, stirring occasionally.
Use a slotted spoon to transfer the aubergine to a colander and sprinkle with a bit of salt.
After a few minutes, transfer to soak on a paper towel.
Add the celery to the hot oil, fry for three minutes, add the pepper and cook for two minutes. Transfer to the colander, then to a paper towel.
Sauté the onion and harissa seasoning in the oil (add a little more to the pan, if needed) for seven minutes, until soft and golden.
Drain off any excess oil from the pan, add the tomatoes and vinegar, stir and bring to a simmer. Add the fried vegetables, olives and sugar, and season.
If the mix is too dry, add a few tablespoons of water. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat taste and adjust the seasoning.
Add the raisins.
Leave to come to room temperature, add the lemon juice and parsley,basil leaves and Red chilli flakes(if using)
Serve with sliced baguettesor garlic bread or some spicy rusks as I did.
Thanks Alessio for introducing me to the delicious Sicilian favorite, I am going to try several other versions in several different ways from now on.
Do Check out the various versions of the Caponata on the other Velveteer’s blogs:
Aparna’s Eggplant and Fig Caponata
Asha’s Sicilian Caponata over Zatared lavash
Sarah’s Caponata- A Sicilian Relish
Petite Lemon Meringue Pies
This is a very quick post, but I had to make something for Aparna’s -Bite Sized desserts for Sugar High Friday. Life has been very very hectic here and so I could not manage to send my entry by Friday. Aparna has been very kind and is accepting my late entry too. Thanks Aparna for hosting as well as extending the deadline for me.
Petite Lemon Meringue Pies- I found the name itself quite refreshing when I first saw the recipe in the book Petite Sweets by Beatrice Ojakangas. Incidentally, I won this book (some time back) at a Giveaway hosted by Aparna. I have been meaning to post some of the recipes I have tried from this lovely book but somehow have not been able to do that.
Bite sized desserts for Sugar high Friday was the perfect occasion to make one of the cute looking desserts from this book and to Thank Aparna for introducing me to the cute bite sized dessert wonderland.
I chose the Petite Lemon Meringue Pies since I had a bottle of Lemon curd (from Fabindia) saved for a ‘Special Occasion’. I also had some homemade Mascarpone,I found Lemons (not limes) at the local supermarket and I had some petite glass bakeware. The only apprehension I had was the meringues, since I have never made one and did not know how ‘eggy’ it would taste. My doubts were put to rest the moment I took out the first pie from the oven and my son instantly gave a Thumbs up to the pie.
I made a small batch of 8-9 petite pies (I actually halved the original recipe). I had some problems with the temperature and the meringues were browned more than I would have liked, but the refreshing citrusy flavor of the pies more than made up for that. My photos do not do much justice to the sinful lemony morsels, but they are absolutely delightful, so go on and try the recipe and let me know about it.
Meanwhile I am sending this to my dear Friend Aparna for Bite Sized Desserts.
Here’s the recipe:
As adapted from Petite sweets by Beatrice Ojakangas
(I halved the recipe and got about 8 small Lemon pies)
Ingredients:
For the pastry:
3/4th Cup All purpose flour
2 tbsp butter cut up (I used salted butter)
1 tsp sugar (I used Vanilla sugar)
1 small eggyolk
½ tsp fresh Lemon juice
2 tsp ice water
For the Lemon filling:
½ cup Lemon curd
½ cup Mascarpone at room temperature
For the Meringue:
1 Eggwhite
1 tbsp sugar
Method:
For the Pastry:
Preheat the oven to 200oC or 400oF.
Prepare small muffin pans or like I used petite glass bake ware.
Pulse the flour, butter and sugar in a food processor till it resembles coarse meal.
Turn mixture into a mixing bowl.
In a separate bowl mix together egg yolk,lemon juice and icewater.
Sprinkle the liquid mixture over the dry ingredients and mix till the dough holds together without being sticky or wet.
Knead and shape into a ball.
Flatten into a disk, wrap and chill for 30 mins.
On a floured surface, roll out the dough to about ¼-inch thickness.
With a 3-inch round cookie cutter cut rounds and fit into the muffins/baking moulds.
Pierce bottom with fork and for ~10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
Cool before filling.
For the lemon filling:
Beat the Lemon curd and Mascarpone till smooth.
Spoon about 1 tbsp of the mixture into each of the baked pie shells.
For the Meringue:
Preheat oven to 180oC or 350oF
Meanwhile, beat the egg white until frothy.
Gradually beat in the sugar until the mixture is glossy- meringue like.
Spoon or pipe the meringue onto each pie and bake for ~ 10 minutes (it took~12-13 minutes for me) or just until lightly browned.
Cool and serve.
A Festive Tea party
Last One month we having been celebrating one festival or the other and the festivities still continue with the Ganesh festival. I am not a typical ‘rituals person’ but enjoy the festive food that is prepared during the festivals. We have been indulging in all kinds of traditional feasts and still continuing with it maybe for another month! As my grandmother would say ‘you do not think of the calories during these feasts’. Homemade fresh sweets and savories (majority made with homemade ghee (brown butter) are stored in steel containers luring you with their delectable aromas each time you pass by! I have decided to give up concern for my growing waistline till the festivities last and indulge in the feasts without any guilt!
Last week we celebrated the festive season with some family friends over to our house for high tea. Usually this is referred to here in the local language as Faraal (snacks) instead of tea party. A variety of Indian savories and sweets are served along with tea or coffee. Given our guests’ festive diet restrictions we decided to have dishes without onion and garlic, which was really difficult for an onion-garlic addict like me.
Apart from some fried crispies we had Tamarind Poha and Sweet Corn Appe (recipe below) as the main snacks along with some Mint-lemon Tea for the tea party. I do not have the photos of the actual party since I was very busy making and serving hot Corn Appe , so these are all ‘after’ photos with whatever leftovers I had.
As I mentioned in my earlier post, I had some 2 kgs of corn to be used up, I made a no onion- sweet corn version of Appe. Appe are small round savoury steamed cakes usually made with the Idli batter and spices to enhance the flavor. An Appe mould or tava as it is called (Aebleskiver pan) is a must for making these delightful little balls of goodness.
The Sweet corn added a lovely crunch to the spicy appe and I did not miss the onions at all. Infact, everyone asked me for the recipe. A simple sweet corn twist in the recipe changed the taste of the humble appe!
I served mint-lemon tea along with the snacks. This was a welcome change from the traditional double boiled, tannin loaded dark brown tea that is normally served with Faraal.
My small high tea party is going to be a part of the Big Tea Party at A Mad Tea Party hosted by the wonderful Anita. I love her yearly parties and thanks Anita once again for a lovely theme!
Here’s the recipe for the Sweet Corn Appe:
For about 10 Appe
Ingredients:
1 cup Idli batter (I used readymade)
½ cup Sweet corn kernels
3-4 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves
2-3 tsp green chilli paste (adjust to your taste)
Salt to taste
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp oil for the tadka(tempering)
more Oil for shallow frying the Appe.
Method
Mix together the idli batter, sweetcorn, coriander leaves, chilli paste and salt.
In a small pan heat 2 tsp oil and add the mustard seeds and heat till they crackle.
Add the mustard seeds+oil to the above batter.
Mixwell.
Heat the Appe pan/tava.
Drop spoonfuls of the batter into each round mould in the pan.
Drizzle little oil from the sides of the batter.
Cover and cook for 5-6 minutes on low heat or till the lower part of the Appe turns golden.
Turn each Appe with a wooden skewer (if using non stick pan) and cook on the other side for another 5 minutes.
Insert the skewer and test the Appe for doneness. (The batter should not stick to the skewer).
Serve hot with chutney or sauce.
Note:
I used readymade Idli batter since I had to make ~ 50 Appe’s.
My mom makes a version of Appe with a mixture of daals and rice for the batter. So you can also add a mixture of Daals instead of just Urad daal to the batter.
A Savory Sweet Punch- Golden Onion Corn Quiche
Managed to get this month’s Sweet Punch challenge made just in the nick of time. Having missed the last month’s challenge, I did not want to miss this one, that too, a savory bake. This month Ria challenged us to a Savory Sweet Punch- Golden onion Quiche.
This month’s challenge seemed quite simple and I had all the ingredients. The moment I saw it I had decided to do it right away instead of the usual last minute rush! I made the Quiche –photographed it- wrote a post about it… all in my mind!
Everyday I kept thinking there’s still time for the posting date. Shravan festivities made the Quiche schedule take a back seat until finally yesterday I realized that its already the 6th and I had to bake the Quiche ; procrastination still rules here as far as Food events are concerned. Reminds me of my exam days in the college. Now I have decided to do the next month’s challenge way ahead of the posting date; and the cycle continues….
Ria wanted us to bake a simple Golden Onion Quiche. Her recipe used Chicken along with the caramelized onions; I substituted that with Sweet corn (I had 2 kgs of Sweetcorn given by a friend waiting to be used up!) and spiced it up with sliced green peppers on top.
I also added some Buckwheat flour which Deeba sent to the Quiche pastry shell. I almost halved the recipe for the filling and this gave me four mini Quiches + a small muffin sized Quiche.
I served The Golden Onion Corn Quiche for dinner along with a red bell pepper soup and some Zucchini crispies! My Quiche crust was a little crumbly, maybe due to the addition of the Buckwheat flour. The caramelized onions paired very well with the sweetcorn in the rich cheesy filling. It is a perfect recipe for a simple weeknight dinner.
Thanks Ria for the lovely recipe, I had great fun (though last minute) doing it!
Here’s the recipe:
Golden Onion Corn Quiche
Ingredients:
For the pastry:
150 gms All Purpose flour/Maida
50 gms Buckwheat Flour
100gms Butter (frozen) (I used salted butter and skipped the addition of salt)
1/4 tsp Baking powder
1 egg beaten
For the filling:
3 medium sized onions chopped
½ cup sweet Corn kernels
½ cup milk
½ cup Cheddar Cheese grated
2 eggs beaten
2 tsp oil
Chopped green chillies/peppers for topping (optional)
Salt and black pepper powder as required
Method:
I first made the filling and then the pastry
For the filling:
Heat oil in a pan.
Add the onions fry till they caramelize.
Add the Sweet corn and fry for another 5-6 minutes.
Take off from the flame.
Slightly cool and mix in the remaining ingredients for the filling except the green chillies if using.
Keep aside and make the pastry shell.
For the pastry:
Preheat the oven to 180oC
Sieve Maida and baking powder together.
Add the Buckwheat Flour.
Grate in the butter and mix it with the flour with your fingertips till it resembles coarse sand.
Add in the beaten egg and gather it into a soft dough. (Use a few drops of ice cold water if does not gather together, I did not need the water)
Roll it out on a lightly floured surface and lift it up carefully and line the tin/tins that you will be baking it in. For mini Quiches roll I made 4 balls of the dough and rolled out each ball separately and then lined the tins.
Press the dough evenly to line the tin for the pastry shell and make sure make sure the dough comes a little way up the sides, so that it can hold the filling.
Pour in the filling in all the pastry cases and top with the green chillies.
Bake in the preheated oven till golden brown. (it took about 35 minutes for me)
Cool in the tin completely and then serve it in wedges.
Drop in here to see some more versions of the lovely Golden Onion Quiche.
