9 years and counting!

9 Years! That’s how old My Foodcourt is 🙂

What started as a journal to document heirloom recipes, soon became a passion and now an integral part of my life. Exploring different cuisines,Learning food photography,Cook-alongs,Bake-alongs, food events, Giveaways,some media mentions,blogging Off and On (at my own pace 🙂 ), moving to another space and then moving back – all this happened during these 9 long years.

I have said this before and will say it again- I have been very lucky to meet talented, generous and ever encouraging virtual friends during these years, who now are my friends for life. Some of them I have met in person too. Thank You my food blogger friends as well as readers of My Foodcourt. I am so glad we crossed paths!

Many of my food blogger friends have stopped blogging now. I miss the camaraderie we enjoyed back then, since we were such a close knit group. Not that it doesn’t exist anymore, but the small food blogging group has now become an ocean and it is a pretty difficult to keep up with the happenings.

I also miss posts from my friend Indira of Mahanandi very much. Mahanandi, as I have said earlier was the inspiration to start this blog in the first place. I am so glad that I met Indira few years back when I visited Sugarland. I wish and hope she gets back to blogging soon!

On that Nostalgic note, I would like to share a recipe for a Banana and Date loaf  to celebrate these glorious 9 years of my virtual life .

The original recipe is from  Lisa’s Lemoy Kitchen . I made a few changes to it. I used part whole wheat and part APF/Maida instead of the spelt flour. Also I reduced the sugar to less that half cup, since I thought 1 cup sugar was too sweet. Also I skipped the pecans,since the little Diva in our house does not like nuts 🙂

I baked 6 mini Banana and Date loaves instead of 1 large loaf and they were gone in no time. This is a great way to use up overripe Bananas.

Here’s the recipe for the Banana and Date loaf

Adapted from  Lisa’s Lemoy Kitchen

Makes 6 mini loaves

Ingredients

1 cup All purpose flour(Maida)  + ½ cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon Baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
200g pitted dates (roughly chopped)
½ cup caster sugar or a little less
2 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
3 very large ripe bananas (mashed)
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degC.

Grease and dust the loaf pan or mini pans.

Sift flour and baking soda into a mixing bowl.

Add salt and dates.

Mix to thoroughly coat the nuts and dates.

Use electric mixer, whisk the eggs, sugar and oil until light and creamy.

Add mashed banana and vanilla extract.

Add dry ingredients into the banana batter.

Pour into the loaf/mini pans.

Bake for 50-60 minutes (large pan) or ~15-18 minutes for the mini loaf pans or until skewers comes out clean.

A wholesome weekend Brunch- Veg Fajitas with Guacamole

The lad is a foodie- much to my happiness! He tastes the food and gives an instant ‘thumbs up’ to well made dishes. Some of my trials are met with an honest ‘I didn’t like this much’ feedback along with a suggestion to ‘repair’ the dish. On some Friday nights ‘Would you like to have Pizza for dinner?’ is answered by ‘Do we have fresh Basil and Mozzarella?’ On one occasion when I asked him what he would like to have for dinner (please note: this question gets asked only on weekends) , he picked up one of my cookbooks (the one mentioned below) and wrote down, on a piece of paper -A starter ,soup, a main course and a dessert he wanted me to make for his dinner!

Most of the days it’s a pleasure to feed this child who happily eats his veggies and fruits without any fuss. On the flip side, he needs a lot of variety. He is the ‘forever hungry monster’ specially when I am home. The veggies get grilled, marinated, wrapped, sandwiched or they get topped on whole wheat ‘pizza’ to make them more interesting than the regular Roti-Sabji.

The Veg Fajita (recipe below) is adapted from a book called ‘330 vegetarian recipes for health’. This book which I picked up from the local Crossword store has been one of my ‘super finds’. All the recipes are vegetarian (no-meat, no-fish). The first section in the book includes a whole food guide for fruits and vegetables to grains and from dairy foods to herbs and spices. This vegetarian ‘mini encyclopedia’ includes essential facts about key health benefits as well as information on buying, storing and preparing whole food. The photographs are absolutely drool-worthy. The book showcases hundreds of step by step recipes from around the world. Most of the recipes are not only healthy but are also easy to follow.The book occupies is always kept handy on my book shelf since more than often I find myself referring to it for ideas to keep the foodie lad satiated. The Light meals and side dishes section in the book are our favourites. I would recommend this fascinating book to anyone interested in  finding out more about whole food.

For these colorful  Veg Fajitas, Mushrooms and coloured Peppers (capsicums) are marinated in a little chilli powder/olive oil ,lightly sautéed and wrapped in flour Tortillas. Fresh Mushrooms and coloured capsicums are usually found in our crisper since they are a hit whichever way they get served. I used our regular whole wheat  Rotis (Phulkas) to substitute the Tortillas.

Guacamole is a family favourite. We love Guacamole. Whenever I have access to good quality Avocados, the creamy dip gets slathered on breads or Rotis or is paired up with corn chips, khakras, Tacos anything that can be dipped or wrapped!. One of the very few veggie vendors who stocks ‘exotic’ fruits here in Nashik sometimes sells Avocados. Finding good quality Avocados is a challenge since they travel here all the way from Goa (that’s what the vendor tells me). I was happy to find some lush green Avocados on my trip to Nature’s basket, Bangalore.

A freshly made Guacamole served with the medley of colorful vegetables wrapped in a whole wheat Tortilla made for a wholesome weekend brunch. The foodie lad was ecstatic and lost count of the number of ‘Tortillas’ that vanished into his little tummy 🙂

Here’s the Recipe for the Veg Fajitas

Ingredients:

1 onion sliced

1 Red Pepper

1 Yellow Pepper

1 Green Pepper ( I skipped this )

1 garlic clove crushed

1 packet Button mushrooms (about  15-16 mushrooms)

6 tbsp vegetable oil ( I used the herb infused Olive oil  )

2-3 tsp Red chilli powder (the original recipe asks for 2 tbsp but I reduced the quantity since our Red chilli powder is quite hot, adjut this to taste)

Salt to taste

Freshly ground pepper for garnishing

To serve:

~ 6 small Flour Tortillas/ Rotis warmed.

Sprigs of fresh coriander

Wedges of 1 lime.

Method:

Slice the onion.

Cut the Peppers into strips.

Mix the onion slices and peppers in a bowl.

Add the crushed garlic.

Wash and dry the Mushrooms on a kitchen towel.

Remove the stems from the Mushrooms (Use them to make stock)

Slice the Mushrooms and add to the pepper mixture.

Mix the oil and Red chilli powder in a small cup and mix.

Add this to the veggie mixture and Keep aside for  20 minutes (or  till you  make the Guacamole recipe below)

Heat a pan or wok till hot.

Add the marinated vegetables and stir fry over high heat for 5-6 minutes, till the veggies are just tender.

Season with salt and crushed black pepper.

Spoon the filling on to each Tortilla and roll up.

Garnish with fresh chopped coriander.

Serve with Fresh Guacamole and  lime wedges.

I did not follow the recipe for Guacamole from the book.This is how I make it:

Recipe for Guacamole

Ingredients:

1 Ripe Avocado

1 small Onion finely chopped

1 small Tomato seeds removed and chopped

1 Green chilli chopped

Juice of 1 lime

Crushed black pepper to taste

Fresh coriander leaves chopped

Salt to taste

Method:

Cut the Avocado in half.

Remove the pit, scoop out the pulp from the peel and put in mixing bowl.

Mash the Avocado with a fork. I like to keep a few small pieces.

Add the onion, tomato, green chilli, lime juice, coriander leaves, salt and crushed black pepper.

Mix nicely and serve immediately with corn chips, Tacos, Khakras or Veg Fajitas.

Note: This is not one of the make ahead kind of dip since the Avocado oxidises very fast. If you haveto keep it for some time before serving cover with a plastic wrap and refrigerate.