Cottage, Cheddar Cheese and Cilantro filled Flower breads

Cottage, Cheddar Cheese and Cilantro filled Flower breads

Few days back as pert of my Valentines surprise spread for hubby, tried these beautiful looking flower shape breads .. And he was in complete aww and surprise too see how beautiful food could be...:) 

While I was finalising my menu for the Valentines surprise spread, I was searching on Internet various options, which makes food looks gorgeous. Apart from cottage cheese fritters I made, Pinterest helped me this amazing idea of flower shaped breads. 

http://pinterest.com/pin/A-HvVAAQQLUEj-AqyGIAAAA/

I was trying this kinda on artisan bread and that so with stuffing for the first time. And, will you believe that so without practise?? :D 

But, everything went well and I was able to surprise my Valentine with these gorgeous bread flowerets..  

I did not follow any particular recipe, but my past experience with bread baking held me confident enough to make a dough that will go perfect for this. So sharing with you what I followed. Also, the idea courtesy is Pinterest, I am sharing the link which will help you to shape the bread perfectly... 

Ingredients

- 1.5 cups plain flour/Maida

- 1 tsp sugar

- 1 tsp. active yeast

- salt to taste

- 1/2 tsp garlic powder

- 3/4 in total, equal proportion of milk and water

- 3 tbsp of butter 

- 2 tbsp of milk and 1 tbsp of butter for brushing 

- some extra flour for rolling and dusting

For Filling

- 1/4 cup grated cottage cheese

- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese or any cheese of your choice

- salt to taste

- chopped Cilantro 

- 1/2 tsp. garlic paste

Process for making filling

1. Take a bowl and mix cottage cheese and cheddar together.

2. Add salty with garlic paste and chopped cilantro too.

3. Mix everything well in keep this in refrigerator while we work with our dough. 

Process

1. In a small bowl add 1/4th of the milk and water mix which is warmed to just lukewarm.

2. Add sugar and yeast and Sprinkle some flour. Stir it and leave for around 10 mints.

3. In a separate big bowl take flour, add salt and garlic powder and mix well.

4. Once yeast if proved, add the yeast mix to the flour. And add rest of the milk and water mix to the flour to knead a dough which will be soft and sticky

5. Now add the melted butter, and knead the dough for at least 10 minutes.

6. Once the dough is kneaded well, grease the dough and a bowl in which we need to keep the dough and let it rest for first proofing. 

7. Cover the dough with a cloth, and let the dough rest in a warm spot for approx. 45 mints. Or till the dough doubles.

8. Now, dust the dough and your hands a little, punch the dough and deflate all the air. Knead the dough for another minute or so.

9. On your work surface sprinkle some dry flour. And divide the dough in small equal portion ( 6-7) . And, roll each small ball in small died of approx. 3 inches of diameter. 

10. On the rolled dough spread the cheese filling nicely. And, seal the edges just like you do for any stuffed parantha. And with help of your palm,spread the disc evenly so that filling is evenly spread across.. 

11. Now with the help of a sharp knife, starting from top make an out going cut leaving 1/2 inch from the centre. Once done make same cut exactly opposite side

12. Similarly, make cuts in side and then in between of already made cuts. ( please check link above for better understanding) 

13. Once done, with your finger adjust each petal/cut a little to form a flower shape. Repeat to shape all the dough balls. And place them in nicely greased baking tray. 

14. Let them rest for 5-7 minutes covered with a cloth. 

15. Once done, brush lightly with butter milk mix. 

16. Make the breads in ore heated oven at 180 degrees C for approx. 20 minutes or till you see a nice golden crust on the bread.

17. While the loaf is baking, brush the loaf with milk and butter mix. In the beginning Nd towards the end.

Your beautiful looking flower breads are ready, serve them appetisers with some yogurt dip, as main course with some yummy soup or just like a regular snack in your party/get together... Everyone will go gaga over them...:) 

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Eggless Whole Wheat Coconut Cookies with just 5 ingredients

Eggless Whole Wheat Coconut cookies

I believe that 101 is an auspicious number.. :) so to celebrate by 101th post on blog thought of doing something sweet. I wanted to keep it as simple as possible, yet appealing and something that could reach everyone's heart... I started my journey of blogging with my first post being of whole wheat cookies. I also wanted to make this moment of celebrating 1st from 101th post nostalgic...:)

In Bangalore we get awesome dedicates coconut powder. And I found some lying in my pantry from very long. And my family love cookies. So, Voila... I knew what I wanted to whip something quick...:D

I have a habit of collecting the cream that we get after boiling milk on top. I store it in freezer and then when its collected enough, churn it to get some home made butter. I have tried baking cakes with this butter, and the results are super awesome. I also make ghee/ clarified butter from this white butter. So I had collected almost 1.5 kgs. Of this pure no adulterated clarified butter with me..

I though of trying cookies with this home made ghee this time.. And trust me, I got the flakiest, melt in mouth and the most amazing cookies I have made till date...:)

With any further delay I am sharing this super easy recipe with only 5 basic ingredients

Ingredients

- 3/4 cup ghee ( clarified butter)  

- 3/4 cup powdered sugar ( you can add/ reduce sugar as per your taste)

- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour ( I have used my regular Ashirwad multigrain atta)

- 1/2 cup dedicated coconut powder

- 1/4 tsp. baking powder

Process

1. Pre heat the oven at 180 degrees C 

2. Take a big bowl and add ghee and powdered sugar to it 

3. With a big spoon or a hand whisk, combine everything together. And whip them together till a nice ,pale yellow and fluffy mixture is obtained

4. Add flour and baking powder to the sugar mix and mix gently with tips of your fingers.

5. Finally add dedicates coconut powder and mix everything together. Make sure not to knead the dough like you do for chapati dough.

6. Once the dough is ready take small portions of it, and roll it in small balls and place them on baking tray. 

7. Press them. A little with tip of your thumb. And bake I. Pre heated oven for 20 + minutes or till your see a nice golden brown colour on the crust.

Your amazingly delicious coconut cookies are ready. Beware you might want to make them in big batch, as they are not only addictive for you, but I can assure you, your kids will love them too...:) 

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Resturant style Mixed Veg. handi/ Mixed vegetable in rich Creamy Sauce

Resturant style Mixed Veg. handi/ Mixed vegetable in rich Creamy Sauce

Do you love the creamy, spicy mixed vegetable served on the platter in various restaurants ?? How if you can do almost similar preparation at home?? Interested?? Okay so we'll start...:)

This curry is not for all those calorie conscious meal days. The sauce/ gravy in which it is prepared is creamy and contains cashews too. Also, we are going the shallow/ pan fry the veggies too. So, this can be served on special occasions or to your guest as special meal..:)

The gravy I am goi g to use here is similar that I have done earlier in my Paneer Makhni post. But, since it's a mixed vegetable post, we are going to add more veggies this time.

So without any further delay we'll begin with the ingredients list and then the proces

Ingredients

- 1 medium sized roughly chopped onions

- 2 medium sized roughly chopped tomatoes

- 3 tbsp roughly chopped cashews

- 1 medium sized potatoes cubed

- 1 carrot medium sized cubed

- 1/4 cup chopped french beans

- 1/4 cup green peas

- 1/4 cauliflower florets 

1/4 cup,chopped capsicum

- 1/4 cup paneer cubed

- salt to taste

- 1 tbsp Kashmiri red chilli powder

- 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste

- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds

- 1 +1 tbsp of butter

- 1/4 cup or as required for shallow frying the vegetables 

- 1 tbsp. coriander powder

- 1 tsp. Garam masala

- 2-3 tbsp. fresh cream 

Process

1. In a pan take 1 tbsp of butter add cumin seeds and let it splutter.

2. Add ginger garlic paste and sauté for 30 seconds or so. Once done add roughly chopped onion tomatoes and cashews.

3. Cook till the tomatoes becomes little mushy.

4. Now let this mixture cool a little. In the meanwhile we will shallow fry the veggies.

5. Take a pan, add the oil and heat it on medium flame.

6. Starting with potatoes, carrot and cauliflower; add them to the hot oil and shallow fry till very lightly golden brown.

7. Once done, in same pan and oil fry french means and capsicum.

8. Once done, finally add the panner and Frey till light golden brown.

9. By now the tomato and onion paste should have been cooled. Using approx. 1/2 cup of water grind it into a smooth paste.

10. In a pan, add remaining 1 tsp of butter and let it heat. Once dorm, add the onion tomato purée . Add salt, Kashmiri chilli powder and cook till you see fat/ butter on the edges of the pan.

10. Once done, add all the shallow fried veggies along with green peas and add 1/4 cup of water. 

11. Also, add the coriander powder, Garam masala and cook till the water is evaporated.

12. Finally add cream and mix well. Turn of the flame and garnish with freshly chopped coriander.

Serve with hot chapati/ naan. I am sure you will love it..:) 

10 Mints. Khatti Meethi Paneer Sabzi/10 Mints. Sweet and sour cottage Cheese curry

10 Mints. Khatti Meethi Paneer Sabzi/10 Mints. Sweet and sour cottage Cheese curry

Do you at time look for a quick fix whether it's your kids tiffin box or hubby's lunch dabba?? Well, I am sure we all,look forward to all those quick fix recipes that are saviours when we run out of time to prepare something detailed. Especially when it comes to kids, we can not even compromise on taste and health factor too. 

One fine day when I opened my fridge in the afternoon to decide what shall I prepare for the lunch, I found that I rarely had any veggies to make anything. My vegetable basket had some tomatoes and the storage tray in fridge had a pack of cottage cheese. Apparently my little champ is not doing well these days, all thanks to the weather. Almost every kids I see around these days is down with cold,and cough..:( 

So, in a situation where my son is not well, he becomes even more crankier and worse eater. So,I had to make something that was easy, quick, yummy, healthy and prepared with what ingredients I had in hand.

So, considering the time constraint ,ingredients shortage and still desiring for an super appetising curry; here I bring you an awesome quick 10 mints sweet and sour panner sabzi.

Let's get started with ingredients and then the process..

Ingredients

- 1 medium sized onion

- 2 medium sized tomatoes

- 200 grams paneer/cottage cheese roughly chopped in cubes

- salt to taste

- 1/4 tsp. Ginger garlic paste

- 1/4 cup milk ( at room temp)

- 1/4 tsp. turmeric powder

- 1 tsp. coriander powder

- 1/2 tsp. Garam masala

- 1 tbsp. sugar

- 1 tbsp. of oil

- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds

Process

1. Add roughly chopped onion and tomatoes I. A mixer/blender jar and make a coarse paste.

2. In a pan, heat oil. Once done add cumin seeds and let it splutter.

3. Now, add ginger garlic paste and sauté for 30 seconds or so. And then add onion tomato purée and cook till tomatoes are cooked nicely.

4. Add, salt, turmeric powder, coriander powder and Garam masala. And cook till the mixture leaves fat in the edges of the pan.

5. Once done, add paneer/ cottage cheese cubes along with milk and stir with gentle hands.

6. One it comes to a boil add sugar. Now, cook this till the gravy thickens a little. 

And that's it, your really mildly flavoured yet an awesome paneer Sabzi is ready in no time..:)

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Eggless Chocolate Cake Loaded with Nuts

Eggless Chocolate Cake loaded with nuts

With Valentines day around, various baking plans in mind are popping up. With winter evenings and morning I wanted to start my baking with healthy, yummy and very rustic. I have done many chocolate cakes in the past, but this time when I thought of doing a chocolate cake, I wanted do something very rich and classic. 

And , as I mentioned above with winter still knocking our doors, I planned to do something with lots of nuts. I checked my pantry and fortunately had walnuts, cashews, almonds, pecans and Hazelnuts to use. I knew what I was up to...:) :)

I coarsely chopped all the nuts. And, started preparing my cake. To my surprise the cake, came absolutely as I wanted it to be..:)

Any special day or not, this cake is perfect to please your loved ones...:) 

Let's run through the ingredients and process..

Ingredients

- 1 cup plain flour/maida

- 3 tbsp cornflour

- 1 cup roughly chopped mixed nuts ( I have used walnuts, pecans, cashews, almonds and hazelnuts)

- 1/4 cup coco powder

- 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

- 1/4 cup icing sugar

- 1/4 cup oil ( I used sunflower oil)

- 1 tsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp baking soda

- 1/2 cup milk

- 1 tsp Vanilla essence

- 1/2 tsp instant coffee powder

Process

1. Take a bowl add oil and icing sugar and mix them really well to form a smooth mixture.

2. To this add condensed milk and mix well wit the help of a whisk.

3. In a separate bowl take a colander and sieve together flour, corn flour, coco,baking powder, baking soda and coffee.

4. Sieve this flour mix at least twice ( as this is an eggless preparation, this will aerate the flour and help rise the cake for perfect texture)

5. Add half of the milk and half of the flour mix to oil mix and beat well. Also add, 3/4 cup of chopped nuts, as we'll keep rest to garnish on top.

6. Add rest of the milk and flour mix and mix well. At this point do not over beat the mixture, just mix all the ingredients well. And, sprinkle remaining nuts on top.

7. Take an 8 inch baking pan, grease from all the sides and sprinkle some flour all over.

8. Pour the cake batter in greased pan and give it nice tap.

9. Bake the cake in a ore heated oven at 180 degrees for 35 minutes or till a tooth pick comes clean.

10. Once done, let the cake cool before you slice..

 Your chocolate nutty  cake is ready...:)

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