Mango Ice cream ~ Egg Free ~ No Ice cream maker needed ~ With stepwisepictures

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The weather in our neck of the woods has been quite summer like in the past couple of weeks. With temperatures hovering around the eighties and low nineties, just the idea of having something cold and refreshing is so appealing. And can anything be better than cold, creamy, melt in your mouth, ice cream on a warm day.  That is what I was thinking when I decided to make this treat for R, for the long weekend.

It has been a while since I made any kind of ice cream and since I had sweet juicy mangoes on hand, I decided to make some mango ice cream. This ice cream has just three ingredients and is so easy, it hardly takes a few minutes to make. Just purée, freeze, give it another turn in your blender and allow to set and your done. Easy peazy and deliciously creamy, a perfect treat for any weekend :) 

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Ingredients and Method to make Mango Ice Cream
2 cups mango pieces
1 and 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 and 1/4 cup heavy cream 

Puree the mango pieces and sweetened condensed milk in the blender until smooth.

Add heavy cream and blend again. Pour in a freezable container and place in the freezer.

In about an hour and a half when the edges begin to freeze, take out the mixture and whip it in the blender again until soft. Pour back into container and place in the freezer. Allow to freeze.

Scoop, serve and enjoy :) 

Notes
I have seen some instructions for ice creams to be taken out and whipped 2 to 3 times every 1 1/2 to 2 hours then allowed to freeze, but with these proportions it set beautifully and I did not need to whip it so often. If you like you could do it more times too.

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Quinoa Pulao ~ Cilantro Flavored Quinoa ~ With Stepwise Pictures

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For a while now I have been wanting to try making some kind of pulao with quinoa. Finally a few weeks back,  I decided I had to stop thinking about it and actually make it. At first I was leaning towards making something similar to the traditional pulao or a vegetable pulao with some basic spices. But a quick glance at at my refrigerator showed me that I had a lot of cilantro on hand and the idea of making a masala paste with cilantro was very appealing.

I made this masala similarly to the one I used before in my hara/green masala ka pulao that I used to make with rice. I just varied the ingredients a tad bit to make it work better with quinoa. The result was a flavorlul and satisfying pulao that had us going back for seconds. I have already made this a few more times in the last few weeks and surprisingly I have never felt the need to tweak this recipe even a little, we like the pulao so much just this way :) This is so quick and easy to make too that I find it a great option for weeknight dinners, when I want something quick, nutritious and easy to put together. The fringe benefit is that it packs well in the lunch box too :)

If you are looking for quinoa recipes, check out some of the other quinoa recipes in this space...

Quinoa mung dosa ~ Dhal dosa ~ Savory Indian crepes
Quinoa Khichdi ~ Peanut flavored quinoa
Quinoa oat adai ~ Dhal dosa  

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Ingredients and Method to make cilantro flavored quinoa pulao
1 and 1/2 cups Quinoa
2 cloves (lavang)
1 inch cinnamon stick (dalchini/ pattai)
3 green cardamoms (elaichi/elakkai)
1 onion cut fine (pyaaz/vengayam)
5 to 6 baby carrots or 1 large carrot cut fine (gajar)
1 red bell pepper deseeded and cut into 1/2 inch pieces (capsicum/simla mirch/kodamolagai)
1 green bell pepper deseeded and cut into 1/2 inch pieces (capsicum/ simla mirch/kodamolagai)
(or 3 cups of any vegetables like cauliflower, green peas, capsicum, carrots, beans, etc)
salt to taste
1 Tbsp oil 

Masala paste/ Grind together
1 cup chopped cilantro (coriander leaves/hara dhania/kothamalli)
2 dry red chilies (or to taste) (lal mirch/ molagai vathal)
3 Thai or Indian variety green chilies (or to taste) (hara mirch/ pachai molagai)
2 cloves of garlic (lehsun/ poondu)
1 tsp grated ginger (adrak/inji)

Rinse quinoa thoroughly in cold water. Allow to drain. Place in a heavy bottomed pan with 3 cups of water and cook until soft on medium heat. Keep aside.

Grind the ingredients mentioned under masala paste in a mixer/ blender adding just a tbsp or two as required to make a smooth paste.

Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pan. Add cloves, cardamom and cinnamon to it and stir until the cardamom starts to change color slightly. Add onion and saute until it turns translucent.

Add the vegetables and stir until the vegetables are cooked and tender crisp. Add a few spoons of water if required for the veggies to cook. Add ground paste and stir until it loses its moisture and begins to dry a little.

Add quinoa, salt to taste and mix well.

Remove from heat and serve hot with plain yogurt and pickle, curry of choice or raita/ thayir pachadi

Serves approx 2 to 3.

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Aloo Chana Chaat ~ Indian snack with chickpeas and potatoes.

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As I mentioned in this post, chaat refers to wide variety of snacks made with a variety of ingredients like puffed rice, puris (Indian style tortilla chips), many varieties of beans etc. Most use a combination of sweetish dates chutney and spicy cilantro/ coriander chutney that add delicious layers of flavor to the final dish. Chaat dishes are completely customizable and the final taste can be varied to suit the taste of every member of the family. Like it a bit sweetish, add more sweet chutney, like it more spicy add more cilantro chutney, want to skip raw onions go right ahead.

If I had to choose a favorite kind of chaat I would find it very difficult to do so,I find almost all of them tempting. This aloo chana chaat is one of the things I make from time to time. It is one of the easiest chaats to make. It hardly takes any time to put together once the chutneys are ready. Sometimes I make the chutney a day in advance so that on the day that I am making this chaat, I just have to cook the chickpeas and potatoes and I am set, all I have to do mix everything together and enjoy the chaat :) 

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Ingredients and Method to make Aloo Chana chaat
1 cup cooked chana (chickpeas)
1/2 cup cooked, peeled and diced potatoes (1 medium potato/aloo/urilakizhangu)
2 to 3 Tbsp finely chopped onion (1/4 of a medium onion/ pyaaz/vengayam) (optional, see notes)
2 to 3 Tbsp finely chopped tomato (1/2 of a medium tomato/tamatar/thakkali) (optional, see notes)
1 to 2 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro (coriander leaves/ hara dhania/kothamalli)
This sweet dates/khajur imli chutney as needed
This cilantro (coriander leaves) chutney as needed
salt to taste
chaat masala a pinch (optional, see notes)
nylon sev (fried gram flour thin noodles) as needed  (available in Indian groceries)

Assemble all the ingredients required for the chaat. In a large bowl, add chickpeas, potatoes. Add finely chopped onions, tomatoes, then two chutneys to taste, salt to taste, chaat masala if using, cilantro and gently mix together.

Top with sev and serve immediately.

Serves approx 1. Recipe can be easily doubled or tripled to make more servings.

Notes:
Soak chickpeas overnight and pressure cook until soft for this recipe (about 4 whistles in the pressure cooker, then turn down heat and cook another 3 minutes or so). You can use canned chickpeas too for this recipe, just make sure to rinse thoroughly.

You can cook the potatoes in the pressure cooker too, or in the microwave until it is soft.

The onions and tomatoes are optional, if you do not like the taste or raw onions or tomatoes or do not have one or the other ingredient on hand, you can skip and make the chaat with just chickpeas and potatoes too. 

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Mocha Chocolate chip Wheat Muffins ~ Egg Free ~ With Stepwise pictures

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I think I have mentioned in the past that I am not much of a coffee drinker even though I enjoy an occasional cup, especially when I travel. But the oddest thing is that I really like coffee flavor in my bakes and in other treats like this frozen yogurt. I started playing around with coffee flavor in my bakes last summer, when my in laws were here with us and we were doing a fair bit of traveling. I thought since both of them loved coffee so much, coffee flavored muffins and bakes might be just the thing for them to enjoy on the road :)

I tried a couple of coffee flavored muffins then that never made it into this space, but we all enjoyed them quite a bit and I have been meaning to make something similar again. This version like my earlier versions is egg free and butter free, but this one does have some chocolate chips that definitely makes this muffins much more delicious :) These muffins are great to have at coffee time or tea time, they also work great as a breakfast muffin or for travel. 

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Ingredients and Method to make Mocha chocolate chip muffins (adapted from this recipe)
Dry Ingredients
1 and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (atta/ godumai maavu)
1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour (maida)
1/2 tsp salt
2 and 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Wet Ingredients
1 and 1/4 cup fine sugar
1 cup + 2 Tbsp milk
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup oil 
1 tsp instant coffee (see notes)

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Pre heat oven @ 350 deg F (approx 180 deg C) Line standard size muffin tray with muffin liners

Add all the dry ingredients to a bowl and whisk or sift together. Make a well in the center and keep aside.

In a separate bowl mix together all the wet ingredients. Pour gently to the dry ingredients and mix together.

Finally add chocolate chips and mix gently. Spoon into pre lined muffin cups until 3/4 th full. Place in oven and bake for 22 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven, cool a little, peel liner and enjoy :)

Notes:
The original recipe called for 1 Tbsp of instant coffee, but I was using Nescafe instant coffee that I got from the Indian grocery and it calls for just 1 tsp for 1 cup of coffee. So I used just 1 tsp in this recipe too and it was perfect, the coffee flavor was just right for me. If you are using a different brand of instant coffee do check if the flavor is right while making the batter so you can adjust to taste if needed.

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Potato Masala ~ Potato Gravy Curry ~ Aloo ki subzi ~ With Stepwise pictures

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Every once in a while when I want to make something super quick as a side dish for phulkas, I make this potato masala curry. This curry is one of R's favorites and he likes it so much that if I told him I plan to make it three times this week he would think I just had the best idea ever :) LOL not that I would ever make such an offer :) But I have to admit this curry tastes pretty delicious and I kind of see why R likes it so much :)

Even though this curry is somewhat similar to this other potato masala curry that I had posted earlier, the addition of tomatoes and the different seasonings alters the taste quite a bit. Like the earlier version, this  curry too can be served with puris or with phulkas or with any kind of flat bread or can be served as a side dish for any Indian meal.

If you are looking for curries with potatoes, you can also check out
Aloo palak ~ Baked potatoes in spinach gravy curry
Aloo matar masala ~ Potato and peas curry
Potato Roti ~ Flat bread with potatoes
Urilakizhangu podimas ~ Mashed potato curry
Aloo paratha ~ Flat bread stuffed with spiced potatoes

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Ingredients and Method to make Potato masala
6 medium potatoes (aloo/ batata/ urilakizhangu)
1 medium onion cut fine (pyaaz/vengayam)
2 medium tomatoes cut fine = 1 cup of cut pieces (tamatar/ thakkali)
2 Thai or green chilies slit lengthwise (or to taste) (hara mirch/ pachai molagai)
2 dry red chilies torn into small pieces (or to taste) (lal mirch/molagai vathal)
1/2 tsp grated ginger (adrak/inji)
1 Tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds (sarson/rai/kadagu)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder (haldi/manjal podi)
salt to taste (namak/uppu)
2 to 3 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro for garnish (coriander leaves/ hara dhania/kothamalli)

Pressure cook potatoes until soft, cool and peel. Cut into 3/4 inch to 1 inch pieces and keep aside.

Prep the other vegetables and seasoning.

Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pan. Add mustard seeds to it, when the seeds begin to splutter add green chilies, red chilies, grated ginger and stir a few times. Add onions and stir until onions are translucent.

Add tomatoes and stir until the tomatoes are cooked and soft. Add turmeric powder and stir once or twice.

Add cooked potatoes, salt to taste and water as required to achieve desired consistency and simmer for a few minutes for the flavors to mingle. I used approx 1 cup of water.

Remove from heat, garnish with cilantro and serve hot with phulkas/ rotis/ any kind of flat bread or with puris or as a side dish for any Indian themed meal.

Serves approx 2 to 3

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