Sundried Tomato Chutney and some pretty flower pics :-)

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It has been a really strange fall season in our region so far. Usually around this time time we see temperatures in the fifties, instead we are seeing temperatures in the seventies and this is already the third month of fall. Fall is one of the seasons that I really look forward to, especially in the middle of summer when we see temperatures unrelentingly stuck in the nineties and hundred's, just the thought of cooler temperatures is so very appealing.

The only thing I really miss about summer when it is gone, is the sight of beautiful flowers blooming all over the place. Knowing I would miss it, I decided to capture a few pics of some of the flowers that were blooming on my plants so that I could at least enjoy the pictures in the fall and winter when there are hardly any blooms around my area. I am sharing a couple of them here for my readers :-)



Here is one of the blooms from my first hibiscus plant that I got this spring........



Real pretty aren't they? I have to admit, every time I see a bloom on one of my plants, I cannot just go past it without stopping and admiring each bloom for a few seconds at least :-)
Moving on to the main reason for this post, sundried tomato chutney. Ever since I tried using sundried tomatoes in this eggless omelet, I have been wanting to try using sundried tomatoes in more fusion recipes and see how it works out. This chutney/dip/ spread was something I came up with, just because I thought it might taste good:-) ........ And it did, I was surprised at how good this chutney tasted and I kept thinking I should have tried this earlier :-)  And the best part, this chutney turned out to be very versatile, I have used it as a chutney, dip and spread and loved it in all its avatars :-)



Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make Sundried Tomato Chutney
Packed 1/4 cup sundried tomatoes (10 halves)
1/2 of a large red onion cut very fine (or a small onion )
1 clove garlic peeled and cut fine
2 tbsp oil
2 whole dry red chilies (or to taste)
salt to taste (I used approx 1/2 tsp )
handful of cilantro cut fine

Soak sundried tomatoes in 1/2 cup hot water for 15 to 20 minutes. Drain and reserve the water to be used later.
Heat oil in a small/ medium heavy bottomed pan. Add onions and saute until it turns transparent. Add garlic and stir a few times.
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Add dry red chilies and stir a couple of times. Add drained sundried tomatoes and stir a few times. Add cilantro and remove from heat.

Cool to room temperature and grind in a blender/ spice grinder/ mixer. This chutney can be ground to a smooth paste, but since I wanted my chutney with a little bite I ground the mixture to a coarse paste.Use the reserved water from earlier as needed to get the blades some movement in your blender and to achieve the correct consistency for the chutney. Add salt to taste and give it a another turn in the blender.

Remove and store in an airtight container.

Serve as a dip with vegetables/pita chips or use as a chutney or use as a spread in a sandwich.

This time, I used this as a spread in a sandwich with this eggless omelet with sundried tomatoes as the stuffing and loved the combination together :-)

My friend Lisa's is hosting  A celebration of Indian food event this month and this sundried chutney is on its way to that event :-)

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Eggless Omelet with Sundried tomatoes (Savory chickpea flour pancakes)

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With the intention of making sundried tomato pesto, I had purchased a pack of sundried tomatoes that was lying in my pantry waiting for the day when I got around to making pesto. Somehow making pesto never figured very high on my list of things to do in the last couple of months and I felt guilty every time I saw the sundried tomato packet languishing in my pantry. 

One day when I was planning to make eggless omelet, it suddenly struck me that sundried tomatoes might be an interesting addition to the omelet. Have you ever tried an eggless omelet? I know it sounds a little strange to even think of an omelet without eggs but I have been making some variation of this omelet for a long time now and enjoy it each and every time. Eggless omelet is essentially a savory pancake made with chick pea flour and a combination of veggies and cilantro for flavor. Just to be clear it does not really taste exactly like an omelet with eggs in it, quite different but it definitely tastes delicious !!  I think I came across this idea a long time ago in some magazine and had noted it down in my book. Every time I make this I have been varying it a bit and the latest change to my version of omelet is the addition of yogurt and baking soda.

The addition of both these ingredients improves the taste and texture of the omelet significantly. The addition of sundried tomatoes added a very intriguing and interesting taste and it was a huge winner with my family:-)
One of the times I made this I used it as a sandwich stuffing and I loved how it tasted, especially since I used some sundried tomato chutney in the sandwich and the combination of flavors worked out really well.

Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make Eggless omelet
1 1/2 cups chick pea flour (besan/kadalai maavu)
2 cups plain yogurt (curd/dahi/thayir) (see notes)
1 green bell pepper (capsicum/ koda molagai) de-seeded and cut very fine
6 halves of sundried tomatoes cut very fine
2 Thai or Indian variety green chilies (or to taste)
1/2 of a large red onion or a small red onion cut very fine
handful cilantro (coriander leaves/dhania/ kothamalli) cut very fine
salt to taste (I used approx 1 1/4 tsp)
1/2 tsp baking soda (optional but recommended) (see notes)
a little extra virgin olive oil to shallow fry the pancakes/ omelet

Mix together chick pea flour and yogurt (or water if making a vegan version, see notes) in a bowl. Using a whisk or hand blender makes this process easier. Mix until little bubbles are seen on the surface and make sure there are no lumps 

Add to it finely cut onions, green bell pepper, green chilies, sundried tomatoes, cilantro, salt to taste and mix well. Add water only if required, this batter needs to be a little thick. When in doubt err on the side of thicker batter, you can always add more water later if required to get the right consistency. I did not add any water to this batter with these proportions.

Heat a flat pan/ tawa/ griddle on medium heat. Just before making the omelet add baking soda and mix well. Pour a small quantity of batter on the pan/ tawa/ griddle in a small circle. Pour a few drops of olive oil around the circumference of the omelet.Cook the omelet on a low to medium low heat, so that it cooks all the way through, otherwise the outside gets brown and the insides are still not done. When the lower side turns golden brown, flip over and cook the other side. When the other side gets light golden brown spots remove from heat.
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Serve hot with a chutney/ dip/ ketchup or use as a stuffing in a sandwich.  Sometimes we have this on its own and sometimes I use it in a sandwich as a sandwich stuffing. This time around, I made sundried tomato chutney ( I plan to post that recipe soon) and used that along with this omelet in a sandwich and we loved the result. In the past I have also tried this sandwich with some cilantro mint chutney/ cilantro peanut chutney and even pesto. It tastes good in all versions :)

Updated : Here is the link for the sundried tomato chutney

The balance of the batter can be stored in the refrigerator and used within a day or so. If you plan to store this any longer, I would suggest storing the veggies and the batter separately and adding the veggies to it just before using the batter, this way veggies like onions do not release water and make the batter thinner. 

Notes:
I have noticed that using 2 cups of yogurt is not absolutely necessary, it could be reduced to 1 1/2 cups too and a little water can be added to get the right consistency. Also a few tablespoons of sour cream can be added in addition to the yogurt to give the omelet a little more richer taste but that is completely optional. If you do add some sour cream make sure to adjust the quantity of water and yogurt to get the right consistency

For a vegan version, this pancake can be made completely omitting the yogurt too. I have made vegan version of this pancake in the past. It tastes a little different but tastes pretty delicious. 

I have also made this with and without the baking soda and find that adding baking soda gives it a little rise and the pancakes/omelets taste way better with the soda than without :-) 

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Vegan Mango Muesli Muffin

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One of the things I love about baking, I mean other than the finished product, is the aroma in my kitchen while baking. The last couple of months I have not baked at all, except for a couple of times when I was experimenting with multi grain bread. So I kind of missed the whole baking experience, the taste of freshly baked breads/ muffins , the aroma....everything. I was looking forward to doing some baking and the first chance I got, I got busy with it :-) 
 
I had this fair amount of unsweetened store bought muesli that has been sitting in my pantry for a while. It was my plan to make either some breakfast bars with it or some muffins. The muffins won out this time only because I wanted to use up some of the sweetened mango pulp sitting in my refrigerator :-) I added some cardamom to give this muffin a more unique and distinctive flavor. The muffins turned out to be both soft and tasty and the entire batch was gone before I could take more pictures :-) Now I am looking forward to making another batch of these so that I can take better pictures next time :-)

Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make Mango Muesli Muffins
Dry Ingredients
1 cup spelt flour (can be substituted with All purpose flour/wheat flour)
3/4 cup no sugar added muesli (see notes)
1/4 cup sugar (see notes)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
5 cardamom seed powder

Wet Ingredients
1 tbsp flax seed meal + 3 tbsp water whisked together until it turns gelatinous
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup sweetened mango pulp

Pre heat oven to 350 deg F.
Line muffin tray with muffin liners and keep aside.
In a large bowl add all the dry ingredients and mix well.
In another bowl, whisk together flax seed meal with water until it turns gelatinous. Let sit for a couple of minutes. Add mango pulp and oil to the flax seed mixture and mix well.
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Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix gently until all the ingredients are mixed well.
Spoon mixture into the pre lined muffin tray until it is 3/4th full. Place tray in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove, cool and enjoy :-) Store in an airtight container and use within a couple of days for freshest taste.

Yielded 6 muffins.

Notes:
I had unsweetened muesli so I added some sugar, in case you have sweetened muesli and sweetened pulp too you can probably skip the sugar entirely.

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Ribbon Bakshanam ~ Ribbon Pakoda ~ Rice and Chick pea flour fritters and fabric art

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This long absence from blogging felt really strange. I cannot remember the last time I have stayed away from this space for a whole two week period. Even when I am very busy, I usually find some time to post at least once a week, but in the last two weeks I couldn't manage even that. Between family visiting, road trips and a lot of socializing this blog had to take a back seat for a while. Anyway I am back now, recharged and full of new ideas, so keep watching this space for more frequent updates and posts soon :-)

Since I had to take a break from blogging, I was not able to respond to all of you for your comments and emails after my last post , but I read each and every one of them. Thanks all of you, I am so glad that so many of you liked the fabric art. For all of you who wanted  the step by step pictorial for fabric art, do check out  this post where I have explained how I did this art :-)

Moving on to the ribbon bakshanam, I am sure this snack needs no introduction for those of you familiar with south Indian cuisine,  for the others the best way I can think to describe this snack is as crunchy rice and chick pea flour sticks which are shaped like ribbons, hence the name :-) Bakshanam as I mentioned in this earlier post is a catchall term for most fried snacks in Tamil (an Indian language) .

All types of ribbon bakshanam that I have seen use a combination of chick pea flour and rice flour as their base ingredients, only the proportion seems to vary from family to family. My mother in law's version usually uses more of chick pea flour and less of rice flour, and I usually make it that way. Only recently I have been playing around with the proportions to see how it works out. And this version that I made a few months back for the first time was quite clearly a success. I have made it quite a few times since the first and everyone that has tasted this in my family loved it. If you like snacks as much as I do, then this might be something that you may find interesting, give it a try and let me know :-)



Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make Ribbon Bakshanam
2 1/2 cups rice flour
1 cup chick pea flour (besan/ kadalai maavu)
1/4 tsp asafoetida (hing/ perungayam)
2 heaped tbsp split black gram lentil flour (udad dhal flour/ ulatham maavu)
salt to taste ( I used approx 2 1/2 tsp )
3/4 tsp red chili powder
1 tbsp melted butter
Oil as required to deep fry the fritters
 A press such as this one with the desired shape disc to shape these spirals.

 In a large bowl, add all the dry ingredients one by one and mix together. Add melted butter and mix it into the flour mixture.

Add water slowly and knead into a soft dough.  If the dough is very stiff then it will take more effort to shape it through the press, if it is too soft, it will consume more oil when deep fried, so add water slowly a little at a time to get the right consistency for the dough.

Place oil in a wide pan/ wok and keep it on a medium heat.

When the oil gets hot, place the desired shape disc in the press. Then pinch out required quantity of dough, roll into an elongated ball, place in press,close and press directly into the hot oil if you are comfortable doing that. Alternatively on a large wide kitchen tissue press out the dough in small circles in as large or small size as you are comfortable.

Gently remove each one from the tissue by placing it on your palm and slide it into the oil. Depending on how much oil you have heated, and the size of the pressed out dough, you may be able to put in more than one into the oil.

After a few minutes flip with a spatula to ensure even cooking. Remember to keep the heat on medium throughout, otherwise the outside will be very dark and the insides not properly cooked. When the fritters/ribbon turns a golden color, remove and place on a kitchen tissue to drain excess oil.
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When cool store in an airtight container, and it stays for a good long while if it lasts that long :-) Enjoy with tea/ coffee or as an anytime snack.

Notes:
I find pressing out the dough on a tissue gives me more control and makes it easier to make even sized circles.It also spares me from standing near the hot oil during the entire time so I prefer to press out the dough on a tissue before transferring it to the oil.

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