Eggless Chocochip cookies

A cookie is a baked or cooked food that is small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar and some type of oil or fat. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, nuts, etc. Cookies or biscuits may be mass-produced in factories, made in small bakeries or homemade. Biscuit or cookie variants include sandwich biscuits, such as custard creams, Jammie Dodgers, Bourbons and Oreos, with marshmallow or jam filling and sometimes dipped in chocolate or another sweet coating. Cookies are often served with beverages such as milk, coffee or tea. Factory-made cookies are sold in grocery stores, convenience stores and vending machines. Fresh-baked cookies are sold at bakeriesand coffeehouses, with the latter ranging from small business-sized establishments to multinational corporations such as Starbucks. Nowadays cookies are of great demand in my home. So often i make cookies with various options and changes. Today is the recipe which just melts in mouth butter cookies.

  Ingredients:

• Self raising flour - 120gms
• Butter - 120 gms
• Sugar powdered - 60-75 gms
• Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
• Chocochips - desired

Method:

• In a bowl, add the butter and sugar beat using a hand mixer until it becomes fluffy and the colour changes to white.
• Add vanilla essence and give a nice stir.
• Add the flour little by little and mix the cookie dough. 
• Finally add the choco chips and mix well.

• Take the dough and wrap it in a baking paper and regrigerate for 15 mins or until it becomes firm.
• Remove from fridge and cut the cookie roundels using a knife.
• Preheat oven at 170 degrees celsius for 5 min.
• Place the cookies on the baking tray and bake for 10-12 mins. While removing the cookies will be soft.

• Remove from the tray and allow it to cool. When cooling the cookies will become firm.

  Enjoy with evening tea and school snacks for kids.

Sooji dhokla

Dhokla is a vegetarian food item that originates from the Indian state of Gujarat. It is made with a fermented batterderived from rice and split chickpeas.^[1] Dhokla can be eaten for breakfast, as a main course, as a side dish, or as a snack. Dhokla is very similar to Khaman, and the terms are frequently used interchangeably. Khaman is a similar gram flour-based food. Whereas dhokla is made with rice and chickpeas, khaman is made from chickpeas only. It is generally lighter in color and softer than dhokla, to make dhokla small proportion of baking soda is added while in khaman more baking soda is added to make it more fluffy spongy and porous.
  We love dhokla, we have this when we got to pune. I have tried this kaman dhokla for quite a fe times, it was a big failure. One of my friends here in singapore who is from Mumbai, treated me with dhokla in her house. But this dhokla was made in sooji. It was so soft and yummy. I couldnt resist myself in trying my hubby and some of my relatives. She told me the recipe and the nuances. thanks my dear friend Sweta.
 Here is the recipe for Sooji Dhokla :

Ingredients :

• sooji - 1 1/2 cups
• Sour curd - 1 cup
• Lemon juice -1

• Salt
• Water
• Eno fruit salt - 11/2 tsp
• Oil
• Mustard seeds -1tsp
• Green chilly -2
• Coriander leaves
• Hing

k

Method :

• In a bowl, mix sooji, sour curd, salt and lemon juice.
• Mix the batter well. Add water to alter the consistency.
• The batter must be thick and not very runny.
• Finally add fruit salt, and give it a nice stir. The batter becomes frothy and fluffy.
• Grease the vessel in which you are steaming.
• Add the batter and steam it like idly for 7-10 mins.
• Remove from steam and add the tempering.
• Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, green chillies and hing.
• Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.

Tasty soft dhoklas served with mint chutney.

Thengaipaal sadham / Coconut milk rice

Happy mothers day to all my friends/ readers. Hope you all had a fantastic weekend. I had a good weekend. I made this coconut milk rice and mutton ribs curry was an ultimate combination. My husband loves this mutton green curry, so it was a surprise for him. He thouroughly enjoyed. I wanted to make some different rice for the gravy, so thought of trying this thengaipaal sadham. OMG , how flavorful it was. I usually make saffron rice for kurmas. The added flavor of coconut milk, ghee and saffron made it so rich and aromatic. For vegetarians,the combo that suits well is paneer butter masala or mixed vegetables or kadai paneer. Try this mouthwatering recipe and give your feedback.  

Ingredients :  

• Basmathi rice - 2 cups
• Coconut milk - 3 cups 
• Water - 1 cup
• Ghee - 2 tsp
• Cloves -2
• Cardamom pods - 4
• Bay leaf - 2

• Cinnamon stick - 2”
• Coriander leaves - little
• Mint leaves - little
• Salt
• Saffron 1 pinch
• Warm milk - 2 tsp
• Cashews - few

  Method :  

• Soak saffron in milk and keep aside.
• In a pan, add 2 tsps of ghee, add the bay leaf, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves. Saute it.
• Add the cashews and fry them. Add little mint leaves and coriander leaves and saute for a minute.
• Add the washed basmathi rice and fry for a min.
• Add the coconut milk and water. Stir well
• Add salt and mix.
• Cover the pan with lid and cook until the rice is done.
• Open the lid, add chopped mint leaves, coriander leaves and the saffron milk.
• Close the lid for 5 mins on stay on dhum.
• Open the lid and give it a good stir.

  Yummy coconut milk rice is ready to serve with mutton ribs curry.      

Paneer pizza / Veggie pizza

Hi all, good morning. Today i am super excited to share the recipe of paneer pizza. I am a terrific cheese lover. My daughter loves it as well. Whenever she asks for pizza, i always wanted to give it healthy. At home when we make we do have the options of indianising the recipe, even though its an italian cuisine. The crust can be made thinner according to our preference. We can choose the flour as well as per our wish, can be made in multigrain, plain wheat flour, all purpose flour, self raising flour, etc. Since i made it for the first time, i made it using all purpose flour, although i prefer multigrain wheat flour. Pizza sauce is also made at home, i will update the sauce recipe a little later. When it comes to toppings, its again our choice. Today I am sharing a pure veggie version.  

Ingredients:
For the dough:

• All purpose flour - 2-3 cups
• Instant yeast - 7 gms or 2 tsp
• Salt
• Sugar - a pinch
• Warm water - 1/2 cup
• Mixed herbs - individuals choice
• Olive oil

  For toppings:

• Onion - diced
• Capsicum - diced
• Paneer - cubes
• Mushrooms - diced
• Olives and Jalapenos - little
• Paprika - 1/2 tsp
• Mixed herbs - 1 tsp
• Pizza or pasta sauce for the base ( will update the recipe soon) - store bought half cup
• Mozarella cheese - 400 gms

  Method :

• In a small bowl, add the yeast , sugar and warm water. Let it activate.leave it for 10-15 mins.
• Add the flour, herbs , salt and mix the dough well, until it forms a nice sticky dough.
• Add 2-3 tsp of olive oil and coat it well around the dough so that its not dried up.
• Let it rest to raise say for one hour, until it doubles its quantity.
• Chop all the veggies needed. You can saute the veggies with olive oil . Grate the cheese for topping.
• After an hour, take dough and punch it, the air bubbles will be visible making the base to be softer.
• Gently pat the dough , give it a few punches.
• On the baking tray, take the dough and spread across, flatten it.
• Apply the pizza sauce on top of it. Add a small layer of cheese And finally add the toppings lavishly.
• Sprinkle paprika, mixed herbs and salt.
• Add the remaining cheese to cover the pizza.

• Preheat the oven  at 180degrees celsius for 5 mins.
• Place the baking tray inide the oven and on baking mode, bake for 20 mins at 180 degrees.
• The base and toppings will be nicely baked and cooked. The cheese will melt on top.

  Wonderful healthy pizza , ready for the kids.  
I served it with garlic bread and juice

Chocochip cookies

Good morning all. Yet another day with baked goodies. Nowadays i have started to explore a little in baking. I thought we rely too much on branded biscuits and cookies for our kids snack box. Since i have been exploring for a while. Then struck me why shouldnt i bake healthy cookies for my kid at home. One thing is satisfaction of a mom to make , and the other is guilt free that it is healthy. I have made quite a few batches that my kid and hubby loved. So here is a super crunchy chocochip cookie using egg. I have alo made eggless which i will update tomorrow.  

Here it goes:  

 Ingredients:

• Unsalted Butter - 100 gms
• Icing sugar - 1/2 cup
• Self raising flour - 1 cup
• Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
• Chocochips- according to your preference
• Egg -1

  Method :

• In a bowl, mix butter and icing sugar and beat with the mixer until nice creamy texture.
• Add egg and vannilla essence and mix well.
• Now add the flour and mix into a nice smooth dough.
• Add the chocochips to the cookie dough and mix well so that its scattered everywhere.

• Make equal size balls and place on the baking sheet.

• Preheat the oven at 180 degrees celcius for 5 mins.
• Place the baking tray inside and on baking mode, bake for 12 mins at 180 degrees.

  Super crispy and crunchy chocochip cookies ready for the snack box.

Hot chocolate cupcake

Happy may day. Labourers or workers get break from work on may day, but we women have work 24/7. We dont have holiday as such. Yesterday my husband gave me a break from cooking. Thanks to him. We ordered food from outside and had our lunch and dinner. Today my recipe is hot chocolate cupcake. It is little different from other recipes, but similar to the other cupcakes. Its taste is also different from the normal chocolate cupcake as we do not add cocoa powder in this.try this spongy hot chocolate cupcakes and write to me.

 Ingredients:

• Self raising flour - 200 gms
• Butter - 120 gms
• Sugar - 120 gms
• Cadburys Hot chocolate mix- 45 gms
• Egg - 3

    Method :

• In a bowl, add butter and sugar and beat until it becomes frothy and smooth.
• Add the eggs to it. Combine and beat well.
• Add the hot chocolate mix and the self raising flour and beat until its combined well and smooth.
• Keep beating until the batter comes to a think consistency.

• Take the cupcake moulds, i use silicon cupcake moulds.

• Preheat the oven for 5 mins at 180degrees celsius.

• Pour the batter into the moulds and place it in the oven , in baking mode for 12-15 mins.
• Check with skewer if its done.

  Yummilicious hot chocolate cupcakes ready for the party.

Egg capsicum roast

Wishing all my friends a very happy tamil new year.. i have been little busy and lazy in blogging. I must make sure that i regularly post dishes here. I have been exploring baking cakes and cookies as well. Recently have tried few new dishes. There were failures too. But rectifiable. Today’s dish is with egg. Suddenle tried this simple dish and it was an instant hit. Basic masala , most of you might have tried. But i gave it a try and my family, guests who came home and my dad loved it when i made for them. Try and leave your feedback.  

 Ingredients:

• Egg- 4
• Onion - 1 large
• Tomato - 1 small
• Capsicum- half
• Sambar powder - 1 tsp
• Salt
• Curry leaves
• Mustard seeds - for tempering
• Oil

  Method:  

• Wash and boil the egg. Cut into halves or quarters however you prefer.
• In a pan, add oil. Temper mustard seeds, curry leaves.
• Add the finely chopped onions, roast them until dark brown. Fry well which will enhance the taste of this dish.
• Add the chopped tomato, saute well.
• Add the finely chopped capsicum, fry them along with onion and tomato.
• Add salt ,turmeric powder and sambar powder. Stir well.
• Close and cook until it becomes mushy.
• Add the sliced eggsand mix well allng with the masala.let it roast nicely.
• Add chopped coriander leaves and garnish.

  Goes well with sambar rice, rasam rice and even curd rice.

Country chicken 65/ naatukozhi 65

Hi all.. i know its been a long time since i posted a non veg recipe. Today is a wonderful chicken recipe. Its everybody's favorite chicken 65. This is a healthier version by making it in country chicken or kampong chicken( called in singapore). I didnt know it was country chicken, until i ate it. This recipe is a slight twist from the usual 65 recipe. I am sure kids will love it. Its aa great alternative for KFC chicken. Whenever kids demand kfc fried chicken, u can make this for them. The pieces were so succelent and juicy. This dish can be made for starter as well as eat along with biryani or even rasam rice.

  Ingredients: Chicken -1 kg

• All purpose flour - 2 tbsp
• Rice flour - 2 tbsp
• Corn flour - 1 tbsp
• Chilly powder - 1 tsp
• Salt
• Ginger garlic paste -2 tsp
• Egg -2
• Lemon juice -1 lemonp

  Method :  

• In a large vessel, add all the ingredients except chicken and mix it into a smooth paste.
• Add the drained and washed chicken pieces. Mine is with the bone.

• Mix nicely , marinate the pieces well and put in the fridge for an hour. It can also be kept for 24 hours.
• Heat oil in a pan, drop the pieces one by one and fry them until golden brown.
• Strain the oil and place the chicken 65 in the kitchen towel.

  Finger licking 65 garnished with onion and lemon.

Mac in bechamel sauce / Pasta in white sauce

Pasta is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine, Also commonly used to refer to the variety of pasta dishes, pasta is typically a noodlemade from an unleavened dough of a durum wheat flour mixed with water or eggs and formed into sheets or various shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. As an alternative for those wanting a different taste, or who need to avoid products containing gluten, some pastas can be made using rice flour in place of wheat. Pastas may be divided into two broad categories, dried (pasta secca) and fresh (pasta fresca).

 

Most dried pasta is commercially produced via an extrusion process although it can be produced in most homes. Fresh pasta was traditionally produced by hand, sometimes with the aid of simple machines,but today many varieties of fresh pasta are also commercially produced by large-scale machines, and the products are widely available in supermarkets.Common forms of pasta include long shapes, short shapes, tubes, flat shapes and sheets, miniature soup shapes, filled or stuffed and specialty or decorative shapes. As a category in Italian cuisine, both fresh and dried pastas are classically used in one of three kinds of prepared dishes. 

This is my first attempt in making pasta along with the white sauce. I have been doing pasta only with the store bought sauces. I have been longing to try out these pastas. I loved it.

Ingredients:

• Butter -2 tbsp
• Maida - 1 1/2 tsp
• Milk - 2 cups
• Salt
• Pepper powder -1/2 tsp
• Chilli flakes - 1 tsp
• Mixed herbs - 2 tsp
• Elbow pasta - one cup
• Capsicum - half finely chopped
• Mushroom - 4 chopped
• Carrot - half finely chopped
• Garlic cloves - 4-5 finely chopped
• Olive oil - 2 tbsp
• Water
• Cheese slices -3

Method:

• In a vessel, heat water to boil pasta. Add the mac pasta, salt and few drops of oil.
• Allow it to boil for 7 mins. Once the pasta is boiled, strain it and run  through the cold water.
• In a pan, add olive oil, fry the chopped garlic. Add the carrot, capsicum and mushroom and saute for a while. 
• Add salt, chilli flakes , herbs and pepper powder . Fry them until the veggies are cooked but still little crunchy.
• Take the veggies and keep it seperately.
• In the same pan, add the butter, once it is melted, add the maida flour.
• Roast it nicely in the butter without turning into brown.
• Now add half of milk and stur continuously so that lumps is not formed.
• When it starts to thicken, add some more milk , cheese and stir completely until the cheese is fully melted. Add little herbs and chilli flakes to this.
• Add salt only for the sauce. Now add the fried veggies and give it a mix.
• Finally add the boiled pasta and stir it in sauce. This white sauce is called bechamel sauce.

Serve it hot , if u want u can garnish some grated cheddar cheese or herbs.

Maddur vada

Maddur vade (Kannada: ಮದ್ದೂರು ವಡೆ) (pronounced "ma-ddur vah-daa", "ma-ddur vah-dey"), is a savoury fritter-type snack from South India. Also known as Maddur vada, this snack derives its name from the town of Maddur which is in the Mandya district of Karnataka. Maddur lies between the cities of Bangalore and Mysore and Maddur Vada is frequently sold on trains that traverse these two cities. It is made of rice flour, semolina and maida flour which are mixed with sliced onion, curry leaves, grated coconut and asafoetida. The onion and curry leaves are fried in a little amount of oil and then mixed with water to make a soft dough. A small amount of dough is taken and made into a patty and then deep fried in oil until it turns golden-brown to make Maddur vade, according to wiki. I have eaten this vada in quite a few places. I loved this vada. Its a very easy snack to make and very delicious too. My hubby belongs to bangalore and he loved it too. Try this finger licking vada served with green chutney and let me know your feedbacks.

  Ingredients:

• Rice flour -1 cup
• Rava or sooji - 1 cup
• Maida - 1 cup
• Chilly powder -1 tsp
• Salt
• Curry leaves - finely chopped
• Onions -2 finely chopped
• Asafoedita
• Oil
• Water
• Green chilly -2 finely chopped

Method:

• In a wide bowl, add all the dry ingredients mentioned above.

• Heat oil in a pan, pour one tbsp oil in the batter mixture and start kneading the8 dough.
• Make the dough into soft dough by adding water little by little.
• Once the oil is heated, take small balls from the dough and press it into roundels into vada shape by flattening it gently.

• Dip it into the oil and fry on both the sides by gently flipping over.
• Take it out from oil once its turned into golden brown.

Serve with green chutney. Crispy and crunchy maddur vada.