Luv u..Brownies!
I bet there might be very few who might not crave for brownies.Me and my choco freak kiddos are all huge fans of the brownie family.This is one recipe that never fails to pop in my kitchen ….at least once in a week.When I’m short of lava cakes ..I make these brownies in my microwave..Spoon it into a bowl with a scoop of vanilla ice cream…yummmmm..Chocolate Bliss!
Now I’m gonna stop droolin..and here’s the recipe
Brownies
1stick of butter(unsalted)
2 squares of unsweetened chocolate
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.Line a square baking pan with aluminium foil(make sure that at least 1 inch of the foil is overhanging the top of the pan.).Double boil chocolate and butter whisking occasionally until both are completely melted.Keep it aside to cool.
Combine all dry ingredients in a small mixing bowl.Whisk together sugar and eggs and mix in the choco butter mix along with the vanilla essence.Mix in the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon.Pour batter into prepared pan and bake them until they are just set in the center.
Bake them for about 30 minutes and cool them on a wire rack.Flip the brownies on to a cutting board and separate the foil.Cut them into square..these can be stored in an airtight container for about 3 days.
The rest is all Chocolatey!:P
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
Khara Biscuits for ICC!
I’m so happy that Srivalli chose Khara biscuits of Iyengar bakery(Karnataka special) as this months ICC.If you are looking for something to munch of with a hot cup of tea when its raining..this biscuit is perfect with the spice of chillies and the aroma of cilantro.The best part is that these cookies can be stored in airtight containers for about 4 days.
My husband was quite addicted to these biscuits..guess its bcz he craves masala biscuits…:)
Here’s the recipe
Iyengar bakery Khara biscuit
2 cups of all purpose flour
1/3 cup softened butter
5-6 green chilies chopped
4 tsp sugar
1tsp salt
coriander leaves/cilantro a few twigs chopped
2-3 tbsp yogurt(i used 4 tbsp yogurt)
Preheat oven to 160 degree
Prepare the baking tray with an aluminium foil sheet smeared by a few drops of vegetable oil/cooking spray.
Whisk the flour and salt together in a bowl.
In an other bowl beat the sugar and butter till creamy.Now add in the yogurt.
Mix in the flour(you will have to use your hands ) and incorporate well to make a dough.
Do not use too much of pressure.
Roll the dough into 1/4 inch thickness and cut out round shapes with a cookie cutter.
Line them in the prepared tray and bake for about 18-20 minutes.
If you want more crispier biscuits you can bake for a few for minutes.
Cool them on a wire rack and transfer into airtight containers.
Happy Munchhing..!
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
Rava-ulli vada and Kadalaparippu chammanthi..with a sip of tea!
Its quite some time since I put up my posts frequently…its been quite a busy week for me with my kids.My younger one has got his attack of flu as it has started raining here.As every kid likes to play in the rain..hes up with his own pranks…:D
The recipe that I’m posting today is Semolina Onion Vada with Bengal gram chutney.I love hot n spicy fried items when its cold and raining with a hot cup of tea!:P
Heres the recipe
Semolina Onion Vada
3 cups of roasted semolina
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup rice flour
5 green chillies chopped
a small piece of ginger chopped
1/2 cup of small onions/shallots chopped
1/2 cup of coriander leaves chopped
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup yogurt
1 cup water
salt to taste
oil for frying
Mix all the ingredients together so that it becomes a sticky dough.Make small balls of the mix ,flatten them to make thin discs with the palm of your hands(make sure to wet ur palms) and fry them out in hot oil till golden brown in colour.
Bengal gram Chutney
1 cup grated coconut
1/2 cup Bengal gram
3-4 dry red chillies
2 small onions
a small ball of tamarind
salt to taste
Grind all the above ingredients in a blender with required amount of water .
For seasoning
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2 dry red chillies (broken)
5-6 curry leaves
2 tsp coconut oil
Heat a oil in a small pan and pop the mustard seeds.Add the dry red chillies and curry leaves to it and pour it over the chutney.
Serve the hot vadas with chutney!
Enjoy ur monsoon!:)
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
Chicken Donuts for snack time!
When the holidays wind up and kiddos are off to school the four ‘O’ clock menu gets up on the hit list.Feeding them with snacks at times really gets on my nerves…with a variety every day…:S
This recipe was one that I had written down sometime back..
Chicken Donuts
1/2 kg chicken minced
5-6 green chillies chopped
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
1 cup of all purpose flour
1tbsp pea flour
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1/4 cup pudhina (mint leaves) chopped
1/8 cup curry leaves chopped
2 tsp white pepper powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 medium sized potatoes mashed
3 eggs(whisked)
salt to taste
Mix all the above ingredients with the minced chicken to make a dough.Flatten the dough on a cutting board with fingers and cut out shapes with a donut cutter.Deep fry these chicken donuts in oil till golden brown.
Serve them hot with tomato ketchup..
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
Suruttai Poli the “sweet rolls ” for ICC!
It was after Srivalli’s post that I was quite poppin out this wonderful snack.Thanks to Nithya for choosing such a wonderful recipe.This simple yet yummy snack has been a big hit with the kiddos..
Heres the recipe for this wonder snack..
SURUTTAI POLI
For the filling:
1 cup Roasted gram
1 cup sugar
20cashew nuts cut into small pieces
1tbsp grated coconut
1tsp cardamom powder
1tsp Ghee
Powder the roasted gram and sugar together either coarsely or to a fine powder.Heat ghee in a pan and roast the cashew nuts till golden in colour and add in the coconut and turn off the heat.Mix it with the powdered gram-sugar mix in a bowl.
For making the poli/Appalam:
1 cup all purpose flour
a pinch of salt
oil for frying
In a bowl combine flour with salt and add in water to make a stiff dough.Let it rest for 30 minutes.Pinch out small balls and roll them out into thin discs.Prick the rolled out discs with a fork so that they dont puff up while frying.Heat oil in a kadai and fry the discs before they turn colour.Be careful not to turn them crispy.On removing the poli from the oil spread the filling on to the poli and roll them tightly.These rolls are soft when they are hot ,but they become crispy when they are allowed to cool.
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
Wheat Almond Cookies for this months Sweet Punch!
This months punch ..Wheat Almond Cookies.. was chosen by Ria from Manjula’s Kitchen .If you are in a mood to bake out cookies super quick and simple this is the best recipe.My modifications to the recipe was that I added almond meal to the dough in lieu to the sliced almonds and topped the cookies with almonds.I did lessen the sugar to about 3 tbsps.
Here’s the recipe for this crunchy delight..
EGGLESS WHEAT ALMOND COOKIES
1 cup Whole wheat flour
1/2 cup castor sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp elaichi coarsely powdered
1/2 cup Butter
2 tbsp milk
- Preheat the oven to 360 degrees farenheit.
- In a bowl mix flour,sugar,salt,sliced almonds and cardamom powder.
- Add soft butter and milk to the mix and knead it into a soft dough.
- Divide the dough into 24 equal parts and roll them into balls.
- Press each ball between palms tp half inch thickness and place them on cookie sheets about an inch apart.
- Bake for 18 mins till light brown.
- Let cookies cool for about 2 to 3 mins before taking them off the cookie sheets
Store the cookies in an airtight container and ..MUNCH on 🙂
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
A creamy and crunchy treat for this months DB!
This months DB was quite a yummy challenge ..thanks to Mallory of Sofa In the Kitchen.The month of Feb has been quite tiring after my sons birthday, they were both infected by chicken pox.So I was lagged up in my posts..
This months challenge was Panna cotta and Florentine cookies.For the Panna cotta my first choice of fruit was strawberries..but when I looked through my window and saw the ripe tree tomatoes in my garden I dropped the strawberry idea .
HONEY PANACOTTA
1 tablespoon unflavored powdered gelatin
3 cups whipping cream
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
pinch of salt
- Pour the milk into a bowl or pot and sprinkle gelatin evenly and thinly over the milk . Let it stand for 5 minutes .
- Pour the milk into the saucepan and place over medium heat on the stove. Heat this mixture until it is hot, but not boiling, about five minutes whisking a few times.
- Next, add the cream, honey, sugar, and pinch of salt. Making sure the mixture doesn’t boil, continue to heat and stir occasionally until the sugar and honey have dissolved 5-7 minutes.
- Remove from heat, allow it to sit for a few minutes to cool slightly. Then pour into the glass or ramekin.
- Refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight.
TREE TOMATO GELEE
- Sprinkle gelatin over water.
- Place fruit and sugar in a small saucepan and simmer until sugar has dissolved. Now mix the gelatin into the tree tomato mixture and stir until gelatin has dissolved.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool
- Now layer it with the panacotta in the glass.After layering with the gelee refrigerate it for 45 minutes.
The Oatmeal Florentine cookies were a mere delight for my kiddos. :)It was super Crunchy!
OATMEAL FLORENTINE COOKIES
2 cups quick oats
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup plain (all purpose) flour
1/4 cup dark corn syrup
1/4 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1½ cups dark or milk chocolate
Preheat oven to moderately hot 190°C. Prepare your baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper.
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
A bite of the Marbled Loaf !
This year I have actually missed my blogging to a great extend.I’m trying to patch up… 🙂
Marble cakes and checkerboard cakes have always been my favs..Heres a recipe from Dorie Greenspan ‘s book..
2 cups and 2 tbsps of all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
12 tbsps of butter at room temperature
4 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
- Preheat oven to 325 degree F and butter and dust a loaf pan with flour.
- Whisk flour,baking powder and salt.
- Beat the butter until smooth.Add sugar and beat for about 2 minutes.
- Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.Beat in the vanilla.Add in the flour mix in three seperate additions along with the milk.Donot overbeat.
- Now divide the batter equally and to one part add Cocoa mix(2tbsp of cocoa powder +1/4 cup of milk)
- Scrape both the batters in a loaf pan.
- I baked the cake for about an hour in my oven.Bake till a skewer inserted comes out clean.
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
A bite into an Apple Crostata for this months DB!
1 and 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
a pinch of salt
1 stick [8 tablespoons ] cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
grated zest of half a lemon
1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten in a small bowl
- Whisk together sugar, flour and salt in a bowl.
- Rub or cut the butter into the flour until the mixture has the consistency of coarse crumbs. You can do this in the bowl or on your work surface, using your fingertips or an implement of choice.
- Make a well in the center of the mounded flour and butter mixture and pour the beaten eggs into it (reserve about a teaspoon of the egg mixture for glazing purposes later on – place in the refrigerator, covered, until ready to use).
- Add the lemon zest to your flour/butter/egg mixture.
- Use a fork to incorporate the liquid into the solid ingredients, and then use your fingertips.
- Knead lightly just until the dough comes together into a ball.
- Shape the dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least two hours. You can refrigerate the dough overnight.
- Heat the oven to 375ºF [190ºC/gas mark 5].
- Take the pasta frolla out of the fridge, unwrap it and cut away ¼ of the dough. Reserve this dough to make the lattice top of the crostata. Refrigerate this dough while you work on the tart base.
- To help roll the crostata dough, keep the dough on top of the plastic wrap that you had it wrapped in. This can help rolling the dough and can also help when transferring the dough to your pan. You can also use parchment paper for this. However, you can also roll the dough directly on a work surface if you prefer.
- Lightly dust the top of the dough and your work surface (if you’re rolling directly on a work surface) with flour. Keep some flour handy to dust the dough as you go along.
- If the dough is very firm, start by pressing the dough with the rolling pin from the middle to each end, moving the rolling pin by a pin’s width each time; turn the dough 180 degrees and repeat; when it softens, start rolling.
- Roll the dough into a circle about 1/8th inch (3 mm) thick.
- If you used the plastic wrap or parchment paper as rolling surface, flip dough over the pan, centering it, and delicately press it all around so the corners are well covered. Peel away the plastic wrap.
- Trim the excess dough hanging over the edges of the pan. Press the remaining dough around the border into the sides of the pan making sure the border is an even thickness all the way around.
- Prick the bottom of the dough in several places with a fork.
- Blind bake the dough in the oven for about 20- 25 minutes.
- Let the pasta frolla to cool completely.
- Spread the pastry creme on top of the dough and the apple toppings on top of it.
- You can use the reserved pasta frolla to decorate with strips or to cut out shapes on it.
- Now place the crostata in the oven and bake for about 25 minutes .
Let it cool before slicing.Serve with whipped cream.Hope u all be looking forth to try this out…:)
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
MANOHARAM -the crispy jaggery balls!
These crispy balls although a bit time consuming are worth trying out because they are sweet ,crispy and worth drooling.This blogpost of mine goes to the ICC.
- Wash and soak rice for 15 minutes.Drain and let the rice dry for 30-40 minutes.Powder the rice finely.
- Slightly heat and powder the moong dal into a fine powder.
- Measure 2 cups of rice flour with 1 cup of moong dal flour and mix in a bowl.Rub in the ghee so that it gets incorporated well.Add water and knead the flours to make a smooth dough.
- Heat oil in a kadai.
- Fill the idiyappam presser or potato ricer to press out the dough into the oil.In the idiyappam presser you can use the disc with 3 holes.
- Fry out the murukku and place them on absorbent tissues to soak out the excess oil.
- When cooled,break the murukkus into tiny bits.
- In a pan pour some water and add the powdered jaggery.Bring it to boil so that the jaggery has been dissolved.Pass the jaggery syrup through a strainer to seperate the scum.
- Bring this syrup again to boil till the syrurp thickens.Drop a few drops of the syrup into a cup of water and if the syrup can be easily rolled in to a ball,the consistency is correct.
- Remove syrup from fire and add the bits of murukku briskly stirring to coat the jaggery evenly on the murukku bits,
- When the heat is manageable grease your palms and roll the mix into small balls.
Manoharam is ready to be served!
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
Hi! I am Nimi Sunilkumar…an award winning cookbook author /culinary demonstrator/freelance writer / food photographer/food blogger …spiced with the flavors of food..
