Healthy Beetroot Brownies - eggless, butterless, flourless

Just like an advert would say for a matrimonial site....someone (something in this context)...somewhere .... is definitely  made for you. Need to wait though, till the right time for the right things to meet. And thats when, you can finally look back at it, smile and say..." and now! that looks jussst the way i wanted it to be!

Had prepared these bronwies sometime back for my food promotional page on facebook, but was absolutely blank on how to do a proper presentation . All that i could think of was just cutting it into chunks, lay on a paper doily and click.

Months later, while doing our regular household shopping, came across this package of mini wafer cups and straight it came into custody. But again, with no specific intensions at the moment. The next day, had to prepare dinner for a couple of my husbands' friends and for the dessert...well..that thats when things started taking shape.

Brownies and ice-cream ... great combo. And in cute little wafer cups decorated with choco sprinkles and chips!..not to forget that it is not the regular bownies, rather the super - healthy alternative loaded with loads of beetroot .

 Perfect individual sized mini dessert.

Off to the recipe:

You need:

Whole wheat flour - 1 1/2 cups

Cane sugar            - 1 1/2 cup

Beets                    - 3 medium, grated

Cocoa                  - 2 tbsp

Vanilla essence     - 1 tsp

Yogurt                 - 1 cup

Baking powder     - 1 tsp

Baking soda          - 1 tsp

Mixed nute, raisins - 1/4 cup

Oil                        - 1/3 cup

Salt

How to:

Wash, peel and grate fine the beetroots . Keep aside.

Sift the whole wheat. Add salt, cocoa and set aside.



Mix the yogurt with cane sugar, baking soda, baking powder and keep aside to froth.

Slowly add the yogurt mix and blend well. Then add the oil and vanilla essence.

Fold in the grated beets and finally add in the mixed nuts and raisins.

Pre-heat oven to 350 deg F and line a baking pan with parchment paper and grease the sides with oil or butter.

Pour into the greased pan and garnish with the nuts. Bake for 40-45 mins or till the tooth pick comes out clean.

Cool on wire rack and cut into squares. 

Note : The cocoa adds in a great chocolatey flavour to the brownies, absolutely camouflaging the beets.

To serve:
Thaw the ice-cream (any flavour) to a flowing consistency.

Scoop in a spoonfull or two into the wafter cups, insert a brownie square and top again with ice-cream just to fill.

Line the edges with choco sprinkles, and a choco chip in the centre.

 The platter ready to be served to the guests.

....ooh...well....when you say its " tried and tested."...the dessert freak in me gets the very first bite :-).

Recipe adapted from here, with slight alterations.

Weekend "vaayanottam"

Disclaimer – this is definitely not a post that you would expect to see in a cookery blog, but just jotting down some knick knacks of a lazy weekend afternoon timepass.  

Friday afternoon lunch is always “hot” straight from the pan, a once a week luxury for “hubbie-bie” who for the rest of the days take it tiffined off to work.  Fish is an almost staple part of our plate, but most days its grilled, but ..come friday….well….u definitely need a break.

എണ്ണയില്‍ വറുത്ത ചൂടന്‍ മീനിന്ടെ വാലെ കെട്ടാന്‍ കൊള്ളുവോ grill അടിച്ചതിന് ?

That Friday morning was exceptionally relaxed..nothing much to do….(and that’s when you land up doing the most craziest of things. ..very much an occassional “jobless” mom). Kids were just busy as usual with their bikes and cars, dashing through the lobby and the hallway. He had brought in some fresh fish that morning , so its definitely “fry-time”.

With four men at home aged 35 plus (the dad), 7 , 4 and 3minus, the "fish" menu goes like :

*    Spicy, bony ...whatever...as long as it is fresh and sizzling hot (definitely for the father, and mommy too)

*    Spicy, but boneless ...for big B

*    Spiceless, boneless for the younger two.

മീന്‍ വറുകുന്ന മണം അടിച്ചിട്ടാകും ആശാന് ഇരിപ്പ് ഉറകകുനില്ല. ആഴ്ച ഒന്ന് കഴിഞ്ഞു വീട്ടില്‍ മീന്‍ ഇന്ടെ stock തീര്നിട്ട്.  so, ഒരു gap ഇന് ശേഷം കഴികുമ്പോള്‍ എന്തിനും സ്വാദ് കൂടുതല്‍ ആയിരിക്കും .

സമയം ഒരു മണി ആയി. ആശാന്‍  kitchen ഇല്‍ വന്നു seat പിടിച്ചു . 

dH - “നല്ല ചൂട് ചോറും ...... ചൂട് മീന്‍ വറുത്തതും പോരട്ടെ.... പോരട്ടേ....."

ഭാര്യ  - "മീന്‍ വറുത്തു കഴിഞ്ഞു. പക്ഷേ കഴിക്കാന്‍ കുറച്ചു wait ചെയേണ്ടി വരും .

dH – ഹോ...photo session ആയിരിക്കും . പുള്ളി കൊതി അടക്കി തിരിച്ചു പോയി..... back to the living room, browsing the sports and news channels on tv all at once.

He knew exactly what I had in mind. Had made this fish fry some time back, but just left the head on ..and God! It was the most weirdest thing I had ever seen.

  

 By the time its fully fried, its teeths would have all protruded out. Somehow, I couldn’t take some snaps that time, so was definitely waiting for the next time for this same fish to be brought home . And this time, yes….so, definitely was not gonna lose this chance to click before it was all bones.

                                                gheeeeekkksss !!!

കുറച്ച് കഴിഞ്ഞപ്പോള്‍  വീണ്ടും വിളി കേട്ടു ..."അതേ ....മണി ഒന്നര ആയി !"...വിശപിന്ടെ വിളി

 Off goes the plate, straight to the dining table….but with teeth , or no teeth…in minutes..it was in this shape.

It does make me wonder, if ever this fish could think WHILE it was being fried (yeah, that’s what I said before ,  when there isn’t much to do, you start thinking the wildest) what would have been its thoughts ??

Would it have been in the lines  of…

"ഈശ്വരാ ...എണ്ണയില്‍ ഇട്ടപ്പോള്‍ തുടങ്ങിയതാ വായിലോട്ട് നോകിയുള്ള ഈ comment അടി . ഇങ്ങനെ യുണ്ടോ ഒരു "വായനോക്കി " പെണ്ണ് .... 

Yours truly....

Cup cake = "cake in a cup" dessert ; the best leftover remake

Had a half used pack of Jello cook & serve pudding  - butterscotch flavour and some leftover whipped cream and there was not much that you could do with it anyway....and thats when this remake theme was born.  Got some left over cakes as well ?? Perfect! Time for some chaai-cake dessert, or whatever you need to name.

I have here used these small sized arabic tea cups.  

Layer a slice of cake in the cup.

Scoop in some whipped cream.

Top with an other layer of cake

Prepare the pudding mix as per package instructions . The Jello butterscotch flavour is not instant mix, rather its the normal cooking type. It needs to be cooked the same way that you do with the regular custard powder - mixing with milk and cooking over low flame.

The next part is pipping it over the cake in the tea cup.  To get the real "chaai" effect, alternate between  scoops of whipped cream and the pudding mix into the piping tube and pipe swirls over the cake.

The "chaai" cake treat is ready to be devoured.

3 in 1 post : The Red Pulav, done the pressure cooker way with a quick side starter and spicy Pepper Chicken

Am I not really greateful to a dear friend of ours, a great cook by herself, who shared this great tip in making pulav in the pressure cooker. Its really easy, time saving, and the rice...they come out really well. Trust me!

Here, I have got the "beetroot & carrot pulav" which is by itself loaded with all the goodness of the veggies and has a great colour too. So moms, if your kids are not much into eating vegetables, get them this rice meal and sure, they will like it.

A quick starter pick, with baby tomatoes and cucumber..and...hot hot kerala style pepper chicken.

The Red Rice Pulav

You need :

Carrot - 1 big, grated

Beetroot - 1 big, grated

Spices (cloves, cumin, peppercones, bay leaves, cardamom) - few

Onion - 1 medium sized, cut small
Garlic - 3 , sliced small
Basmati rice - 3 cups, soaked in water for atleast an hour.
"BOILED" Water - 1.5 cups for each cup of rice

How to :

Add 2 tbs of olive oil in the pressure cooker and saute the garlic, onions and the spices.
Add the grated beets and carrot and cook till tender.
In the meanwhile, boil the required quanitity of water (here, 3*1.5 cups) and pour the "boiled water" into the pressure cooker once the veggies are done.
Now add in the rice, salt and a spoon of butter/margarine.
Close the pressure cooker and once the steam starts to pass through the nossle in a full straight path, put on the whistle and close the cooker.

Now this is the key - Adding in the rice to hot boiled water ..and....putting down the whistle while steam passes straight up. Let the cooker stay on the stove, (turned off) for about 30 minutes. The pulav will be done by then.

 It has a great colour, is healthy and tastes great too. You can do it with just carrot or beetroot alone. The carrot rice will be more orangish in shade and the one with beetroot alone gives a lovely purple colour. Sure the kids are gonna love it.

 

..and for the sides....there's this very quick tomato n cucumber starter picks and spicy pepper chicken done the kerala style.

Baby Tomato & Cucumber Picks with Chillie-Barbaque sauce dip

You need:
Baby tomatoes - red and yellow coloured ones - 6 each
Small sized cucumber - 2
Tooth picks

For the sauce - you need -
Barbaque sauce - 3 tbsp
Hot and sweet chillie sauce - 2 tbsp
Dried rosemary
Paprika powder - a pinch

Mint leaves - to decorate

How to

Cut the baby tomatoes into half.

Cut the cucumber crosswise about 1 cm thick and insert a slice in between the cut tomato as shown.

Join together using a toothpick.

Decorate with a mint leaf .

For the sauce, just mix all the ingredients together, and serve aside the tomato picks.

A quick starter in just a minute.

want something really hot and spicy ??

The kerala style pepper chicken really makes up for the mild and suttle flavour of the red Rice pulav.

You need:

Chicken, cut to medium size pieces - 2 kg

To marinate
4 to 5 tsp - Pepper chicken masala (available in Indian supermarkets)
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Other ingredients
Onions , chopped - 3 cups
Pepper chicken masala - 3 tbsp
Chille powder, Coriander powder - 2-3 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Black pepper powder - 1-2 tbsp
Green chilies, chopped - 4-5
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Garlic - 6-7 cloves
4 to 5 sprigs - Curry leaves
How to prepare Kerala Pepper chicken

Marinate chicken for 30 mins in a marinade made with mixing the said ingredients with little water ,ensure that chicken pieces get well covered in all sides with the marinade mixture.

How to :

Heat a pan & put marinated chicken into the pan ,no need to add water ,close with a lide & cook ,as chicken will leave water it will get cooked in that water ,cook till chicken turns tender ,drain the water from the cooked chicken & keep aside the chicken pieces .

Take another pan & heat oil.
When the oil is hot add in mustard seeds, ginger, garlic, green chillie, and chopped onions.
Fry till it turn brown, add the masalas and stir on low flame till the raw smells leaves and oil separates.
Now add the cooked chicken pieces , pepper powder and  mix well with the masala . Once the gravy is well blended,
Remove from heat & off the stove .
Garnish this black pepper chicken with coriander leaves.

Enjoy  !!!

Yogonana Snacks

A very easy, healthy and tasty snack for your kids just in a minute. Yo!!! for Yogonana !!!

You need:

Banana - cut in 3/4 inch chunks

Fruit flavoured frozen yogurt

Rice crispies

Small size bamboo skewers

 Well...you just really dont need any strict quantity or procedure to do it. Just insert the skewer into the banana slice, dip in the fruit yogurt, roll over in the crispies. Super easy, is it not ??

There you go...Yogo !!!

Fisn N Chips in tortilla Cones

An elegant sandwich cone of healthy sundired tomato and jalapeno whole wheat tortillas with baked fish fillet fingers and potatoes.

For the cones, cut the tortillas into half if small sized, or into three (at 120 degrees) if large sized ones. Apply a bit of the mayonnaise spread as below, onto one edge and close over to form a cone. Leave it as such for the ends to stick together.

Hot n Sweet Mayonnaise Spread

1/2 cup light Mayonnaise

1/4 cup Hot n Sweet chillie sauce

2 tbsp finely chopped spring onion greens

Pinch of salt

Pinch of fresh black pepper

Mix all the ingredients for the dip and keep aside

 

Flavored Potato Sticks

Store bought frozen potato sticks

1 tsp paprika

½ tsp garlic powder

1 tsp pepper powder

1 tsp mixed herbs

2 tsp olive oil

Salt to taste

Marinate the potato sticks with all the above ingredients . Set aside for 10-15 minutes and bake at preheated oven at 190 deg till crisp.

Fish Fillet Fingers

Cut the thawed fish fillet into strips

Coat them in flour mixed with salt, pepper powder and paprika powder

Dip them in a egg mixture

Roll them in bread crumbs

And finally bake them in a pre-heated oven at 190 deg for about 20 mins or till crisp and done.

To assemble

Apply the mayonnaise spread inside the cone. Take a piece of baked fish finger, few potato sticks wrap it with a fresh lettuce leaf and in it goes into the cone.

Sending them off to the below events : Cuisine Delights , Evening snack Recipes event @ My Culinary Creations , Kids Delight  and Mid week Fiesta @ Food Corner

Onion bajjii & flavoured potato sticks

A lovely snack /appetizer pallette for the guests, the onion bhajji with flavoured and baked  potato sticks. I have used the normal store brought frozen potato sticks here. Served with herbal dip on the side....perfect! Its sure to be liked by kids and adults alike.

Off to the recipe...

For Herbal Mayo dip/spread (mint-coriander chutney mixed with light mayonnaise) Makes a lovely dip and a spead for sandwiches as well. You need to take...

½ cup coriander leaves
¼ cup mint leaves
1 cloves of garlic
3 tbsp coconut
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 green chillie
Salt to taste
Light mayonnaise

Blend all the ingredients adding little water to a smooth consistency.Mix with mayonnaise.
For onion Bhajji
2 onions sliced
4-5 curry leaves finely chopped
2 tbsp coriander leaves (chopped)
Salt to taste
4 tbsp Gram Flour
2 green chilly finely chopped
Little water to bind them

Mix all listed ingredient s and add little water to make it crisp and take one spoon of the batter, deep fry in oil in small batches. Drain and keep aside.

  

Flavored Potato Sticks

Store bought frozen potato sticks
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp pepper powder
1 tsp mixed herbs
2 tsp olive oil
Salt to taste

Marinate the potato sticks with all the above ingredients
Set aside for 15 mins and then bake in pre-heated oven at 180 deg C till crisp. That it. Serve hot.

Got any leftovers? You can very well make the dip as a spead, the bhajji and the potatoes as the filling and wrap it round with a tortilla or chapathi to make a healthy sandwich.

Procedure
Heat the tortilla on a tawa for 1-2 mins on either side. I have here used the "cilantro flavored low fat healthy" variety of  tortillas.
Take it on a plate and spread the herbal mayo evenly.
Then place the fried onion bhajjis and a layer of baked potato sticks in the centre.
A lovely wrap is ready !

 Recipe adapted from http://authenticfooddelights.blogspot.com/ by Sushma Mallya. She has some beautifulll wraps and snacks out there.