Mocha Cream Gateau

Yes. I'm back. Oh no, not from my vacation. I have over two months left. But I am back on SSTT. Hmmm, I sure missed posting out here and I knew you'd be waiting to read something new, too. So, I did my bit to keep this space alive. I baked a cake the day before I left for my vacation, took pics, mailed them to myself so I could do this post someday at home. Talk about being completely obsessed!! And, you must know by now, that every cake tells a story. This one (thankfully for you!) is short. So, here goes.

My sonny boy and I left to India leaving Daddy dear behind all alone for two whole months. I felt oh-so-sad about having to travel alone. And I simply had to do something to make myself feel good as I packed my bags. At the same time I wanted to make a not so big one. Something that would make for our dessert that night and have enough slices to save for hubby to enjoy after we left. So, I came up with this mocha cream gateau. Sorry about the pathetic decoration. I made this in about three hours flat and did not have the patience to take great pictures. Shot 'em right on my counter top (You can even see my mixing bowl!!) and then we cut it and dove straight in!

With the perfect balance of chocolate and coffee giving you the right ooh's and aah's, this one's a a keeper. Make it once, and you'll agree!

Strawberry Shrikhand

This summer saw a lot of mangoes enter our home. Crate after crate, one after the other! And, there's almost no guessing who downed a major portion of the fruit. I ate mangoes as a part of breakfast, lunch, at snack-time, dinner, dessert, cooked, in-the-raw...and just every time I caught the tantalizing aroma of them ripening on my countertop. So, quite obviously bidding adieu to the king of fruit was'nt an easy task.

The one dish that we prepare at home without amiss every summer is Mango Shrikhand or Aamrakhand. This is a wonderful combination of mango puree and sweetened hung yogurt, blended with aromatic spices, saffron and pistachio. It find's its roots in the Indian state of Maharashtra, where this mouth-watering sweet treat is served mostly with puris (puffed-up, deep fried whole wheat dough circles).

As mangoes seem to be slowly vanishing from market stands, I decided to twist things up a bit and make the same dish using the fruit that was still in season - Strawberries! Of course, I skipped the spices and other additions because the berries and their seeds passed on enough flavouring and texture to the hung yogurt all by themselves. Try it out and you will know what I mean.

Oh and yes, I decided to take this to a whole new level with a simple change in the basic recipe. Read up to know more!

Rotini Garden Vegetable Salad

Summer is well on its way, and with it comes the thoughts of flaunting yourself. Unfortunately, winter comes packed with loads of festivity and good food which makes our minds and tongues happy, but our waist-lines, well...sad! So, before you head all out to show off that new skirt, but end up getting comments on your bulging love-handles, try gorging down salads through Spring to gear yourself up for a sizzling summer.

This fresh salad combines rotini pasta and garden vegetables, leaving you feeling both satisfied and light. And, adding whole grain pasta only goes further to make it completely guilt-free. Stick to your portion size of one cup of prepared salad (along-side garlic bread if you wish...although I can assure this itself is very filling), and you have conquered your 'What-do-I-have-for-lunch' moment! So, I will stop my jabber and share with you, this crisp, refreshing recipe.

 

Ingredients
1/2 Cup Whole Grain Rotini Pasta, Cooked
1/2 Cup Brocolli crowns, steamed (or boiled)
1/2 Cup Carrots, chopped into half inch cubes, steamed (or boiled)
1/4 Cup Red Onions, julienned
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Lemon juice
1/2 tsp Ground pepper
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning (This is optional. You could substitute with Oregano)
And, of course, some salt to taste!

Method
- Combine together pasta and veggies in a large bowl
- In a separate bowl, stir together olive oil, lemon juice, ground pepper, italian seasoning and salt to make the salad dressing
- Pour dressing over pasta and veggies and toss
- Refrigerate for about an hour

SERVES 2

Noteworthy Notes
1. You could add salt when you steam/boil your veggies. Feel free to add more colourful, fresh veggies if you have them on hand
2. You can serve this salad as a hot salad, too. Just skip the refrigeration part.

This salad is off to chill at Madhuri's 'Serve Me Some...Salads' event.

Gurl...what can I say? Devour!

Roasted Oat-Almond Smoothie

Smoothie and Lassi lovers rejoice - for your favourite drink has now scaled new heights.

I happen to love oatmeal. Yogurt finds its way into my daily diet, too. And invariably when we go grocery shopping my eyes do not miss out on the flavoured yogurt and frozen treats section. Key-Lime Pie flavoured yogurt caught my attention at once. It did taste good but had me thinking way beyond just eating flavoured yogurt. So, this luscious drink was born. It is thick and creamy with delicious notes of oats and almonds to make your taste buds dance.

Here's a drink that you can comfortably do a bottom's up without your guilt going up, too!

Ingredients
1/2 Cup Yogurt/Curd (I've used the low-fat variety)
1 tbsp Almonds
2 tbsp Rolled Oats
1 tbsp Sugar (You can opt to use honey or artificial sweetners, too)
2 tbsp Chocolate Syrup (Optional)

Method
- Roast the almonds and oats on a low flame until fragrant
- Blend to a powdery texture
- Whip this roasted oat-almond powder into the yogurt
- Add sugar and whip to a smooth texture
- Pour the chocolate syrup at the base of a glass
- Top with oat-almond smoothie
- Serve chilled

SERVES 1

A healthy drink to start your day if you do not mind skipping the chocolate! And, if you do use chocolate, make sure it is sweet because some syrups can be bitter. Add sugar/honey to sweeten the same to make a perfect snack-time drink or dessert. It is great to serve kids too!



This smoothie is travelling the miles from New Jersey to Namma Bengaluru to participate in Madhuri's Serve me Some...Juices, Shakes, Smoothies event. I hope you like this one, gurl!

Wheat Bread Veggie Pizza

With a toddler running the house...er, I mean, running around the house, fixing quick meals is of prime importance. I have read in umpteen number of places that kids imitate us - even when it comes to eating. And, I have observed that my son does eat better when we eat the same thing together. So, while I am trying to whip up lunch for my bundle of energy, I try to make the same item in two different ways - one high calorie for the brat and one (boo hoo) low calorie for the mom! So, when it comes to bread pizza I had to think twice. Pizza was a yes. Personally, I cannot imagine anyone not liking it! But I did not want to compromise on taste...and hence I did what I had to do. Want to know more? Read up!

Ingredients
4 Slices of bread
2 Cups Choice of veggies - Julienned/Chopped (I have used broccoli, red bell peppers, red onions, tomatoes, green beans and carrots)
1 Cup - Shredded Mozzarella cheese (I have used low fat variety)
4 tbsp Tomato ketchup
1/2 tsp chillie powder (optional)
Oil/Cooking spray
And, of course, some salt to taste!

Method
- Stir fry all the veggies (except tomatoes) to a crisp texture
- Preheat oven to 150F
- Spray/Spread oil on a oven-safe baking tray/dish
- Lay the bread slices over it
- Apply one tbsp. of tomato ketchup on each slice and spread evenly
- Divide the stir fried veggies into four portions and spread over the bread slices
- Sprinkle salt and chillie powder
- Top up with cheese
- Place in oven and bake until cheese melts and bread gets slightly toasty
- Serve hot

SERVES 2

You could add more cheese for the kids, like I have done. The first image is that of the slice that I fed my lil sonny (with more cheese), the second (less cheese) for moi!

One slice of this makes a perfect snack to refuel kids. So, this savoury dish is on its way to the Kid's Delight - Wholesome Snacks event, hosted by Srivalli of Spice your Life.

Sunset Slush

I originally wanted to call this one Strawberry Slush on Orange Rocks. But, by the time I assembled it and took this picture, it all began steadily melting and reminded me of a beautiful sunset lending golden hues to the earth. If you are beginning to think I am outta my mind whipping up slushes when the weather-man is still predicting snow... hang tight! I made this for my friend Madhuri who is hosting the 'Serve Me Some....Juices, Shakes, Smoothies' event on her blog. She happens to be located in Bangalore, my hometown, where people are apparently perspiring buckets already - And, summer has just begun! This one is to cool off all my Bengaluru Jana!

And Madhuri, this one is for you too! It's a edible drink - In the sense that you start off eating the icy strawberry slush and as it melts you begin drinking it. How cool is that? And, its simply perfect to end a long, tiring day. Make sure you have someone do the prep work (It's a breeze, trust me) at home after you head off to work to enjoy your cold treat when you return at dusk. Hmmmm...Another good reason to call it the Sunset Slush. Go on and try it.. for this one is no great 'shakes'!

Ingredients
3/4 Cup Orange Juice (You can opt to make fresh juice using fruit. I used Tropicana)
3-4 Fresh Strawberries
1 tsp Sugar (Optional/Replace with honey, if you want sweetness sans the sugar)

Method
- Pour the Orange Juice in a freezer safe dish and freeze
- Blend the strawberries and sugar/honey, with very little water (just enough to cover it in the blender) to a smooth paste/pulp
- Pour this in another freezer safe dish and freeze too
- Every hour just scrape the contents of the strawberry pulp bowl every one hour to make it 'slushy'
- After about 4 hours you should have a pretty frozen slushy strawberry pulp
- When you are ready to drink (or eat!) your slush, assemble as below:
a) Crush the frozen orange juice and place at the bottom of your glass
b) Add some water to make the strawberry pulp tad bit fluid, but not too much, and pour over the orange 'rocks'
c) Dress it up with funky shaped ice cubes and strawberries and your Sunset Slush is ready!!

The above method is a bit long drawn and is applicable if you DO NOT have the Ice Crush option on your blender/mixer. If you do then you can opt to go on adding ice cubes to the strawberry pulp in the mixer for an instant slush. All you will need to do is freeze the orange juice to make things rock!

SERVES 1 (You can actually split it with a friend, too!)

Roasted Vegetable Pasta enters Jyoti's Pasta Party Event

As I was browsing food blogs, I came across this event which immediately got my attention - Pasta Party! Yumm!



And since I love pasta myself, I thought why not send an entry? I have not posted too many pasta based recipes, but the latest 'Roasted Vegetable Pasta' seemed to fit the bill perfectly. So, Jyoti, this one is for you. I do hope you try it sometime!

Onion Ring Wrap

Our pit-stop after long day trips normally is at a fast food joint. We pick up a bunch of burgers and fries, munch it along the way back home and crash after a day out. I know its not particularly healthy, but it is practical when every bone in your body craves the sack. On one such trip that we made on a national holiday we had packed lunch but did not expect to get delayed and run out of time to make dinner. But, as you might have guessed..that's exactly what happened. Not a single restaurant was open. And as always, it is when you are terribly hungry that you will have just about nothing in your fridge and your pantry ...as dry as the Sahara. I dug deep into the freezer and found a packet of frozen onion rings that had gone unnoticed and untouched because they were not as tasty as the freshly made ones. But, they came as a saviour this time around. Thankfully for us, I had some whole wheat tortillas stashed up in the fridge...just enough to make a quick meal, without much cooking! How cool is that?

Ingredients
2 Whole Wheat Tortillas
6-8 Onion Rings (Fried or oven-roasted)
2 tbsp Mustard Sauce
2 tbsp Low fat Ranch Dressing(You can substitute this with Mayonnaise)
1 tbsp Hot and Sweet Tomato Ketchup
1/2 Cup Iceberg Lettuce, Shredded/randomly chopped
And, of course, some salt to taste!

Method (Nothing gets easier than this, I'm sure!)
- Microwave each tortilla for a couple of seconds (just enough to get them warm)
- Lay each on a plate
- Crush/Break the Onion Rings into halves in a bowl
- Add the remaining ingredients and toss together like you would a salad
- Divide this into two parts, one for each tortilla
- Leave about an inch or two from the bottom part of each tortilla and in the center place the onion ring mixture in a narrow cylindrical form
- Fold the bottom (the part that you left below the mixture) over
- Wrap each tortilla up from either side over the mixture and you are all set to enjoy this crispy meal!

SERVES 2

This one came handy another day when I had left-over Onion Rings from a previous night's party. So, this little one is on its way to Gomathy's event CoL - Leftover Delicacies on her blog, Spicy Lounge.



And, a couple days later I tried the same quick-n-easy wrap with french fries, and boy, was it divine! :P

Savory Hearts & Roses

This Valentine's Day I decided to spice things up. Literally! Not because we do not enjoy sinking our teeth into sweet treats, but we had way too much of sugary goodness over the past couple of months. Starting from Diwali until the latest cookie frenzy that struck me over the last couple of days. So, how would you spice up a lovey dovey treat? This time my question was answered by my little sonny boy! He loves a savory crisp snack which we call Khuskhushi in our household that he's been asking me to make for a long time! (I will post that when I make it next). So, I took that recipe and extended it to something...ummm...hearty! Without wasting much more of your precious time, I'll jump straight to the recipe. Oh and before I forget, the amounts of ingredients used here are just enough to make a handful of savory hearts and roses, so if you want more increase all ingredients proportionally.



Ingredients
1/2 Cup All purpose flour (Maida)
1/2 tsp Chilly powder
Red food colour (I've used red icing colour since I did not have this on hand)
Oil
And, of course, some salt to taste!

Method
- Sift the flour
- Add the salt and chilly powder and mix
- Heat about 1 tbsp of oil to the flour and immediately mix. This aids in making the fried hearts/roses crispy
- Now, knead the flour into a dough using a little water (like you would for rotis/chapathis)
- Add the food colouring and knead further until all of the dough is coloured
- Make balls (about 1 inch each) and roll out on a large surface like chapatis
- Using a knife/pizza cutter cut out hearts
- Make roses using steps in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzp3XfhUpQ4
- Heat oil in a wok/kadai. (DO NOT heat the oil to very high temperatures!)
- On a medium-low flame fry each heart/rose quickly and take out over a paper napkin to drain off excess oil
- Serve these spicy hearts and roses with a cuppa garama garam chai

Makes around 8 hearts and 8 roses of small/medium size... Just right for a light snack!



I finally decided to particiapte in a event hosted by food bloggers. Priya, I stumbled upon your blog as I kept browsing. I saw that you have a The Hearts for St. Valentine's Day event and thought I could send this in as an entry. This is my first entry to events. Thanks for hosthing this one, Priya. I do hope you try it too!

Gone Clubbing

There were those days when we went out sometime in the evening to my Dad's Billiard's Club back in Bangalore. It would be too early for supper and too late for lunch. Yet, we would crave to eat something from the delicious menu the Club Kitchen had to offer. In most cases we would settle in for a ...well you got it, Club sandwich. Hmm, guess that's how it got its name?!? Well, I don't know too much about that, but if there is anything I know, its my version of a healthy toasted club sandwich. I normally have this at lunch time, but you could have it just about anytime you crave a crunchy, filling meal. Trust me, it doesn't get easier than this!

Ingredients

3 slices - White Bread (You can use whole grain to make it healthier, but clubs taste best with white)
3/4 Cup - Iceberg Lettuce, chopped
2 slices - Large Tomatoes
4 slices - Large Red Onions
1 tbsp - Mayonnaise or Salad Dressing (I've used Ranch dressing)
1/2 tsp - Mustard sauce
1/2 tsp - Tomato Ketchup (I've used Maggie Hot n Sweet - Available in Indian stores)
A slice of Cheese (Optional. I've skipped this.)
A pinch of pepper
And, of course, some salt to taste!!

Method
- Toast the bread slices. Skip this step if you like soft sandwiches. I toast them so they wont get soggy
- Mix ketchup and mustard in a bowl. Spread it on one side of a toasted slice
- Assemble veggies on this in the order you like and sprinkle salt and pepper. Leave lettuce some for the next layer
- Stash on another slice of bread. Top with cheese and left over lettuce
- Cover with the last slice and press down to put everything together
- Cut in half, diagonally

Serving Suggestion
You could add a veggie/meat patty to make this a complete meal.

SERVES 2 (as a snack)

This yummy snack is off to Mahima's Cooking Basics Event @ Indian Vegetarian Kitchen.

Tik Tac-O

Talk about using leftover food after you've had guests. It has been, by far, the best way to fix myself a quick meal after a weekend of entertaining. I had a few pieces of paneer tikka left and of course tacos. So, I took it a step further by mixing up cuisines, which I so love to do. I orginally thought I will call this one Tic Tac Toe... but, hmph, where's the creativity?!

Ingredients
6-8 pcs Paneer Tikka
1 Soft Taco
6 Cucumber slices, halved
6 Carrot sticks, julienned
1/3 Cup sour cream
And, of course, some salt to taste!!

Method
- Lay the taco on a plate
- Spread the sour cream on it
- Toss in the paneer tikka cubes, cucumber slices, carrots
- Sprinkle some salt
- Fold over

SERVES 1

This scrummy taco is off to Gomathy's event Leftover Delicacies hosted at Chef of the Lounge @ Spicy Lounge.


I do hope you try this one, Gomathy. Makes for a filling meal!

Pineapple Salad

This one is no big shakes. In fact, all it takes is a stir! And, if you are a health nut, this will not only please your waiste-line but also your taste buds.

Ingredients

8 slices of Pineapple

1/2th Onion - Julienned

1/4th Green Pepper - Julienned

1/4th Iceberg Lettuce - Randomly chopped

8 Cherry Tomatoes - Quartered

1/4th tsp - Lemon Juice

1/4 tsp - Red chillie powder (paprika/cayenne powder)

And, of course, salt to taste!!

Method

- Mix the lemon juice, salt and chillie powder in a large bowl.

- Add the remaining ingredients and stir gently.

- Set aside for about half an hour (You can opt to keep it in the refrigerator if you want to eat it cold)

SERVES 2

This fresh salad is off to Madhuri's 'Serve me Some...Salads' event.

Madhuri, I do hope you like this one!