Carrot Raisin Oat Bran Muffins (Egg Free and Butter free)

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Carrot cakes are my favorite kind of cake, and for a while now I have been wanting to make a carrot cake. I have some recipes that I have book marked and some ideas I want to try, yet somehow making the carrot cake seems to never quite happen. This week when I decided to make muffins with oat bran,  I decided to add some carrots and raisins to the muffins. I thought since I am not getting the chance and time to make the cake, and I was anyway planning to make some healthy breakfast kind of muffins, I might as well incorporate the flavors of a carrot cake that would at least partially satisfy my carrot cake cravings :)



Now here is the fun thing about these muffins, when you taste them, you would never suspect that these are egg free, butter free and filled with the goodness of whole wheat and oat bran. They taste pretty delicious. These are also great for breakfast or as a snack on the go, they are filled with both nutrition and taste. So give these a try and do let me know what you think of them :)


 

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Ingredients and Method to make Carrot Raisin Muffins

1 cup whole wheat flour (atta)
1 cup oat bran (see notes)
1/4 cup all purpose flour (maida)
1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon (cinnamon powder)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup dark raisins
1 and 1/2 cups grated carrots (I used about 4 medium sized carrots for this)

1/2 cup oil (I used almond oil)
1/2 cup plain yogurt (Curds/ dahi)
2 tbsp flax meal ( powdered flax seeds/ alsi/ ali virai)  + 6 tbsp water 

Pre heat oven to 350 deg F. Line a muffin pan with liners and keep aside.  
In a large bowl, mix together all the flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon and mix well.

Mix flax meal with water and whisk well until it begins to get gelatinous and keep aside.
Add sugar, dark raisins and grated carrots to the flour mix and mix well.

Add flax + water, mix into the flour mix. Add yogurt and mix slowly into the flour mixture. Finally add oil and mix slowly into the flour mixture.
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Spoon the mixture a little at a time into the pre lined muffins cups, until it is about 2/3 cup full. Place in pre heated oven and bake for about 17 to 20 mins or until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven, cool a little and enjoy. Store the balance in an airtight container and enjoy within the next few days.

This quantity yielded me approximately 12 standard size muffins + 12 mini muffins (see notes).

Notes
If you do not have oat bran, you can also substitute it with equal quantity of whole wheat flour.
If you want to bake these as mini muffins, the baking time would be much less. It would take approx between 12 to 15 minutes, so do keep an eye on the muffins and check by inserting a toothpick or cake tester to see if it comes out clean a bit early.

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Instant Buckwheat Dosai ~ Savory Indian crepes ~ Kuttu atta dosa

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Ever since I tried this buckwheat upma ,  I have been devising ways to use buckwheat in traditional cooking in my mind. Buckwheat is so healthy that I have been wanting to include it more often in our diet. To learn more about the health benefits of buckwheat, check out this post. Initially I thought I would try to powder buckwheat and see how it works out in dosais. Conveniently before I made the effort, I came across some buckwheat flour in my local grocery and happily purchased it.

The very next day after I purchased the flour, I tried an instant dosai with it and I have to admit I was blown away at how awesome it turned out. The dosai was crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, just the way I love it :)  It was obviously quick, cannot get quicker than instant in dosais, and between the buckwheat and the flax it packed in a good bit of nutrition too :)  I've made this a few times since the first time I tried it and have enjoyed it every single time. This last time I made it with some of this potato curry (potato masala curry) and loved the combination. So far buckwheat has been a huge winner in our home, cannot wait to try it in some more traditional Indian recipes :)




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Ingredients and Method to make Buckwheat dosai (savory crepes)

1 cup buckwheat flour (kuttu ka atta)
1/2 cup rice flour (chawal ka atta/ arisi maavu)
1/4 cup flax seed meal (optional, see notes) (powdered alsi/ ali virai)
salt to taste

Seasoning
1 to 2 tsp coconut oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 Thai or Indian variety green chili cut fine (or to taste)

a little sesame oil to shallow fry the dosai

In a large bowl mix together buckwheat flour and rice flour well.  Add flax seed meal if using and mix well. Add water a little at a time to make a thick batter of pouring consistency. Buckwheat flour seems to get a slightly gelatinous quality when water is added to it, not too much just a tad bit, but this quality makes it easy when making the dosai / crepe. When in doubt err on the side of a thicker batter, you can always add a little more water later to achieve desired consistency.

Add salt to taste to the batter and mix well. In a small pan, heat oil add cumin seeds, when the seeds sizzle add green chilies. When the green chilies splutter a little pour the entire seasoning on the batter and mix well.

This batter can be used immediately or can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days.
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To make the dosai / crepes
Heat a flat pan/ griddle/ tawa on medium heat. When hot pour a ladle of batter in the center and quickly spread into a circle. Spread very thin for a crispier dosai and a little thicker if you want a soft dosai. Add a few drops of oil around the circumference of the dosai.  When the lower side is golden brown flip over and cook the other side until it has small brown spots.

Remove and serve with chutney of choice or with this potato curry for a little more filling meal or with this spice powder or this sambar or any combination of the above four choices :)

Notes:

The flax seed meal is completely optional, I have made this dosai both with and without the flax seed and it does not impact taste substantially and it is not added for binding in this crepe as well, just for added nutrition. So you can leave it out completely if you wish.  Additionally for this quantity of buckwheat flour you can add anywhere from 2 tbsp to 1/4 cup of flax meal as per choice. 

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Indian Style Cardamom flavored Oat Semolina Banana Bread

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Using up overripe bananas in breads never gets old in our home. It just seems that there are so many interesting variations to try. I have to admit,  sometimes I purposely allow a couple of bananas to go ripe just so that I can use it in my baking :)  This time I used it up in this Indian style banana bread.

Like so many other recipes this one has a story too :) Sometime back my friend Donna shared her Indian style semolina banana cake with me. Unlike traditional cakes, hers did not have copious amounts of butter and sugar or even all purpose flour, so I was intrigued.   It sounded so simple and flavorful that I could not resist trying it.  The first time I made it I pretty much stuck to her recipe and enjoyed the cake immensely.

In my subsequent tries I began to tweak the recipe each time I made it. After going through many variations this version  is now the way I make it most times and one that I like the most. I have added oat flour and flax meal to this version, reduced the sugar some more and it now tastes and feels more like a bread than a cake. Between the cardamom, saffron and the mild taste of banana, this bread has it all in my book. If you have overripe bananas in your fruit basket and plan to bake with it, maybe you could give this one a try. Be sure to tell me if you liked it as much as I did.... :)

 

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Ingredients and Method to make Indian style Oat Banana Bread
Dry Ingredients 
1 cup coarsely powdered oat flour
1/2 cup fine semolina (or semolina flour)  (rawa)

3 tbsp almonds chopped or coarsely powdered
1/2 cup sugar (fine sugar, see notes)
3 tbsp flax seed meal
2 pinches of saffron
6 green cardamoms peeled and powdered

Wet Ingredients
2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup milk
 2 tbsp + 1 tbsp melted clarified butter (ghee/nei) and a little extra to grease the pan 
1 level tsp baking soda

Pre heat oven to 350 deg F. Grease a bread pan/ bundt pan or any baking dish and keep aside. I used a bundt pan to bake this bread.

Heat a pan, add 2 tbsp clarified butter and  roast powdered oat flour and semolina on low to medium low heat until it emits an aroma. Remove from heat and keep aside to cool.

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In a large bowl, add all the dry ingredients including the roasted and cooled oat flour + semolina and mix well.

Puree bananas + milk together in a blender/ mixer and add  to the dry ingredients and mix slowly.Alternatively mash the bananas, add to the flour mix and then add milk and mix slowly.

Add baking soda and balance of the clarified butter and mix well.

Pour the mixture onto the prepared pan and place in oven. Bake for  27-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool, cut and serve :)

Enjoy this bread within a few days for best freshness.

Notes:
You can powder the sugar is you aren't able to get the fine kind of sugar.

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Vegan Chewy Orange Oatmeal Cookies

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Before going on to the post, have you seen this clip?  I just saw this on my local news, this 7 year old boy tosses the pizza dough amazingly well. It was so fascinating to watch how he deftly manages to toss the dough without dropping it even once. It's a real fun watch, so if you have a couple of minutes do hop on over to the clip and take a peek

Moving on, ever since I started to make this ginger orange salad dressing, the pulp I get after straining out the juice is leftover. And since I do not like to throw it away, I  had to think up of ways to use up the leftover pulp. Since we love orange flavored bakes very much, whether it is cookies, oatmeal bars, muffins, breads or cakes, the first thing that came to mind when I was wondering what to do with the leftover pulp was to use them in some kind of bakes. This time I decided to make cookies with it. This is one of the simplest cookies I have made, with a minimum of  ingredients and yet it tasted delicious. So if you like orange flavored bakes too, whip up a batch of these and enjoy them :)


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Ingredients and Method to make Orange Oatmeal Cookies
Dry Ingredients
1 1/2 cup old fashioned oatmeal
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (according to taste)

Wet Ingredients
1/2 cup strained orange pulp (see notes)
1 tsp orange extract
2 tbsp flax seed meal (powdered flax seeds/alsi/ali virai)  + 6 tbsp water
2 tbsp oil

Pre heat oven to 375 deg F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and keep aside

In a large bowl assemble all the dry ingredients and mix well.

Whisk flax seed meal and water together for a few seconds until it turns gelatinous and keep aside.

Add the pulp, flax seed meal +water mixture and oil to the dry ingredients and mix together.
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Finally add orange extract and mix again. Spoon mixture onto the pre lined cookie sheet about  a couple of inches apart and place in oven.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven, cool to room temperature and store in an airtight container. Tastes best within a few days of baking :)

Yielded approximately 18 to 20 medium sized cookie.

Notes:
For the pulp, I pureed 2 cara cara oranges and strained out the juice which I used to make this salad dressing. I got 1/2  a cup of strained orange pulp which I used entirely in these cookies.

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Orange Cranberry Muesli Bar and some more uses for Olive oil:)

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Remember when I mentioned that I had come across a tip about using olive oil to polish stainless steel appliances. I was so surprised and happy to find an item that I use frequently in my kitchen could also substitute for chemical laden polish. I have been using olive oil to polish my kitchen appliances since then and am so happy with the results.

Today I learned that olive oil is even more versatile than I thought, I came across an article that suggested that olive oil can be used for many things including clearing up acne and cleaning greasy hands, who would have thought it?  If you want to read the entire article you can find the link here.  I haven't tried any of these tips, but they seem interesting, especially the one about using olive oil mixed with salt or sugar to clean greasy hands sounded like something I could use quite frequently. If you have used plantain in your cooking you know that handling it leaves a pretty dark stain on your hand (at least it does for me), that has always been one of my biggest issues with plantain:) I literally scrub my hands many times to get the stain out every time I finish using plantain.  Next time, I will definitely try using olive oil to see if it removes the stain faster and more easily:)

Anyway moving on to the muesli bar. As I mentioned in my vegan mango muesli muffin post , I have a fair quantity of unsweetened muesli in my pantry and I have been finding ways to use it up. Usually I end up using it in my baking, sometimes I use it in muffins, but most times I make some kind of bar with it. Since the combination of orange and cranberry is something I love, this time I made the bar with that combination. It turned out really well, it was a little crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside and I loved both the taste and the convenience of having these bars at home :)



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Ingredients and Method to make Muesli Bar
Dry ingredients
1 1/2 cups no sugar added muesli
1/2 cup oat flour (see notes)
1/2 cup sugar (see notes)
1 cup walnuts chopped into small pieces (can be substituted with any other nut or combination of nuts)
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup dried cranberry (or orange flavored dried cranberry)

Wet Ingredients
3 tbsp flax seed meal (powdered flax seeds/ alsi/ ali virai) + 9 tbsp water
4 tbsp butter melted
1 tsp orange extract
6 tbsp milk

Line a large 8"X 12" oven pan with parchment paper and keep aside. Pre heat oven to 350 deg F
Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.

Whisk together flax seed meal and water until gelatinous and keep aside for a few minutes.

Melt butter in the microwave or the stove top, add the melted butter to the dry mixture and mix well. Then add  flax seed meal +water mixture to it and mix well.

Add milk 1 tbsp at a time and mix. Finally add orange extract and mix again.

Spoon mixture on the pre lined oven safe pan, spread evenly and place in the oven. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes or until edges are brownish. Remove, cool and cut into squares or rectangle pieces with a shark knife.

Store in an air tight container and enjoy within a few days for the freshest taste

Notes:
You can use store bought oat flour, or just process 1/2 cup of rolled oats in a blender/grinder until it turns to fine powder. (I powder my own oat flour) 

If your muesli has added sugar, then you might need to adjust added sugar to taste. Since mine have no sugar added, I needed about 1/2 cup for the right sweetness.
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The time required for baking will vary depending on the size of the container, if it is a smaller container and the bar is very thick it might take longer, if it is spread thinner it may take less time.

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Instant Low Fat Oats Paniyaram

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In case you were wondering about my absence from this space, last week I was a little under weather and could not blog. But now I am better and hope to be blogging at my usual pace:)  Moving on to the post, the best way I can think of to describe paniyaram are savory cakes or pops that are shallow fried in the appa kaarai /Aebleskiver pan. To see a picture of my appa kaarai, check out this post . Usually this is made with traditional idli/ dosai batter + some additional seasoning and is served with variety of chutneys.

The first time I tasted paniyaram was surprisingly at a famous banana chip store in Coimbatore when I visited that city more than a year back. Even though dosai and idli would frequently appear on our tables when we were growing up, somehow I do not remember paniyarams ever being made with that batter. Anyway back to the paniyarams that I tasted in Coimbatore, those were served with three kinds of chutneys, one sweetish and two more traditional chutneys and it was just so delicious. After I left the place, I regretted that I hadn't asked the guy making the paniyarams the recipe for his chutneys :) 



I just had it that once, but I was hooked and always thought I would love to make paniyarams when I have some extra batter, but I never got around to making it. Then my friend Manju made some yum paniyarams for me when I visited her home a few months back and I was hooked again. I realized that I really, really love paniyarams and did not want to put off making my own version any more. My version is not made with the traditional batter, instead I used a combination of oat, wheat, flax and rice flour as the base ingredients for the batter. I have made this a few times now,  and everybody who has tasted  it so far have liked it. Whether they are made as a snack to go with tea, or as a  tiffin, or even just a light dinner, these paniyarams are nutritious, satisfying and pretty effortless :)

 

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Ingredients and Method to make Instant Oats Paniyaram
2 cups 1 min oats (quick oats) dry roasted until creamish color
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rice flour
4 heaped tbsp flax seed meal (powdered flax seeds/alsi/ali virai)
salt to taste

4 Thai or Indian green chilies (or to taste)
1 inch piece of ginger
1/2 cup plain yogurt
4 tbsp grated coconut (fresh or frozen, if frozen thaw to room temperature)
water as needed to get the right consistency
1/2 tsp baking soda

Seasoning
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/8 tsp asafoetida (hing/ perungayam) (optional but recommended)
7 to 8 curry leaves broken into small pieces (optional but recommended)

a few drops of oil to apply to the aebleskeever pan (appa kaarai)

Dry roast quick oats on low to medium low heat until oat turns a little creamy reddish color. Remove and cool to room temperature.
In a large bowl mix together roasted oatmeal, whole wheat flour, flax seed meal, rice flour and salt to taste. 
Grind green chilies and ginger with some water until smooth and add to the flour mixture. Add yogurt and mix well.

Finally add water as required to achieve required consistency, the consistency of the batter should be on the thicker side but the batter should be of dropping consistency. If you are familiar with idli batter, this batter has a similar consistency. When in doubt err on the side of thicker batter, you can always add water later to achieve correct consistency.

After adding the water, add grated coconut and mix well. Heat oil in a small pan, add mustard seeds, when the seeds begin to splutter add asafoetida and curry leaves. Caution curry leaves causes the oil to splutter, so keep your face and hands away, preferably keep a lid or splatter screen handy. After the leaves are done spluttering, remove and pour entire seasoning on the batter and mix well.
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Keep the bowl closed and allow the batter to let sit for about 30 mins. Just before making the paniyaram, add some more water if required as the oat absorbs the water and makes it thicker and add the soda and mix well.

Heat ableskeever pan (appa kaarai) on medium or medium low heat, add a drop or two of oil to each mold. Or even more if you are one of the lucky ones not counting calories :). Spoon batter into each mold and cover with a lid and allow to cook until the lower side turns golden brown. Flip over with a spoon and cook the other side until it turns creamy golden. Remove from heat and serve hot with coconut chutney/ avocado coconut chutney.

Proceed with the rest of the batter in the same manner. Refrigerate the balance of the batter and use within a couple of days. If you make the paniyaram ahead of time, warm it in the microwave before serving as this tastes best when hot.

Notes
Make sure to keep the heat at a consistent medium to medium low heat, otherwise the outer part turns dark while the middle is still uncooked.

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Egg free Oatmeal Raisin Cookie and a question :)

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Recently when I was at the grocery store, I noticed rutabagas on sale. Now I have never tried rutabagas at all, but I have to admit that I am curious about this vegetable and how it can be used.  Wiki explains that rutabagas are actually a kind of turnip. In fact rutabagas are also known as Swedish turnips and are said to be rich in fiber, potassium and vitamin C. So here's my question for my readers, have any of you used rutabagas? If yes, I would love to hear how you use this veggie and how much you like it, so do share your experience with this veggie:-)

Moving on, another thing that recently caught my eye was oatmeal raisin cookies in the bakery section of my grocery store. I resisted the temptation to buy it at the time, but I came home and kept thinking about it. Since I haven't baked any cookies in a long time, I gave in and decided to whip up a batch. I referred to this recipe, but I changed things up a bit from the original recipe. I halved the quantity of butter, used flax seed meal as a substitute for eggs, used more raisins and used white sugar instead of brown. The result was a delicious, crisp cookie that was difficult to resist.



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Ingredients and Method to make Egg free Oatmeal Raisin Cookie
1 1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar 
1/4 cup butter
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp flax seed meal (powdered flax seeds/alsi/ali virai)  + 6 tbsp water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup dark raisins

Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Line a cookie sheet/ tray with parchment paper and keep aside
Whisk together flax seed meal and water until it is gelatinous. Keep aside for at least 5 mins.
In a large bowl, add rolled oats, all purpose flour, salt , ground cinnamon, baking soda and mix well. Keep aside.
Cream together butter and sugar, I used an electric hand mixer for this. Add the whisked flax seed meal mixture and mix well.

Add the flour + oatmeal mixture in small quantities and mix well. Add oil and mix well. Finally add the vanilla extract and raisins and mix well.
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Spoon mixture about two inches apart on the lined tray. Place in oven and bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until light creamy golden on top (see notes)

Yielded approximately 20 medium sized cookies.

Notes:
I like my cookies crisp so I had them bake almost 17 minutes to get the right crispness. In case you like a softer and chewier cookie you may want to remove it a little earlier.

This recipe is off to the Kids Delight event hosted by Priya this month and originally started by Srivalli

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Avocado Flax Roti (Indian Flatbread)

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It has been a long while since I posted any kind of roti in this space. In fact I just checked and was surprised to see that the last roti post in this space was in august of last year. Wow, how time flies !! Of course this doesn't mean that I haven't been making rotis for the last six months, only that I haven't been making many new types of rotis, just the ones that have already been posted here :)

 My most favorite way to include avocados in our diet is usually in rotis. I had posted two versions of avocado roti on this site earlier, you can find the posts here and here. This time I combined avocado with methi (dried fenugreek leaves) and also added a good bit of flax seed meal for added nutrition. Loved how this roti turned out, its taste reminded me a little of this methi thepla probably because of the methi and the spices used in this roti. The addition of avocado always makes rotis really soft without any additional fat or oil which is a big plus in my book :) So if you are looking for a way to sneak in some avocados and flax in your diet, this roti may be something you would like, give it a try and let me know what you think :)

 

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Ingredients and Method to make Avocado Flax Roti
2 1/4 cup whole wheat flour (atta/godumai maavu)
1/4 cup flax seed meal (powdered flax seeds/ alsi/ ali virai)
3/4 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chili powder (or to taste) (can be substituted with cayenne powder)
salt to taste
1/2 tsp cumin powder
2 heaped tsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi) (soaked in a few spoons of hot water for 10 to 15 mins)
1 ripe avocado (deseed, remove skin and mash) (yielded approx 3/4 mashed avocado)
a little extra flour for dusting
a few drops of oil or clarified butter(ghee/nei) (optional)

Soak dried fenugreek leaves in hot water for 10 to 15 mins.
In a large bowl assemble all the dry ingredients and mix well. Add the fenugreek leaves along with the water it was soaked in and mix into the flour.

Add mashed avocado and mix into the flour. Add water as required and knead to make a soft and non sticky dough. Keep the dough covered and let sit for at least 30 mins.
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Divide the dough into equal lemon sized balls. Using a little flour for dusting, roll the dough into an even circle of desired thickness.
Place a flat pan/ griddle/ tawa on heat. Place rolled out dough on the flat pan and cook until the lower side gets small brown spots. Flip over and cook the other side until it has small brown spots on it.

If you plan to use oil smear a little oil on the top side of the roti while the lower side cooks and flip over and cook the other side. I did not use any oil at all because the avocado makes the roti pretty soft on its own and I don't feel that it needs any additional oil for softness.
Proceed with the rest of the dough in the same manner. Serve hot with any curry of choice.

Refrigerate the balance of the dough if any and use within a few days for freshest taste.
Yielded approximately 12 to 14 rotis (yield will depend on size and thickness of each roti)

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Instant Oat vermicelli dosai and Instant fabric art :-)

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Sometimes when I am working on my site and am wondering what to write, I end up staring at the walls in my pc room hoping inspiration strikes. Well staring at my bare walls definitely provided inspiration...........but of a completely different kind, I got inspired to do something to dress up my bare walls. A while back, I had come across an idea on television to use fabric to make quick art and ever since I saw it I have been wanting to try it. I ordered some fabric, bought a canvas in the right size and stapled the fabric to the canvas and voila, instant, quick and simple fabric art:-) Now my dressed up wall looks like this........:-)



If any of you are interested in seeing the step by step pics of this art,  let me know and I will update this post or separately post the steps in the future.

Moving on, a couple of months back, I had dosai (Indian savory crepes) planned for dinner, but the only things I could decide on about the dosai was that it would be the instant kind and be something with oats in it. At the last minute I decided to glance through my reader to see if any of my friends had something unique that I could try. I came across this recipe on my friend EC's site that caught my interest and sounded perfect for a light dinner. I tweaked the recipe a little, changed a few ingredients and quantities and added flax for some added nutritional punch. The verdict...... vermicelli added a very unique dimension and some crunch to this dosai, and the dosai was both interesting and delicious. If the idea of giving vermicelli a completely different avatar appeals to you, give this dosai a try :-)



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Ingredients and Method to make oat vermicelli dosai
2 cups one minute oats dry roasted (or quick oats)
1 cup vermicelli (semiya) dry roasted
1/2 cup rice flour
salt to taste ( I used approximately 2 tsp)
1 cup plain yogurt (curds/ dahi/thayir)
1 1/4 cup plain water (or as required)
1 inch ginger
3 thai or Indian variety green chilies (or to taste)
7 -8 Curry leaves cut into small pieces
2 tbsp finely cut cilantro (coriander leaves/ kothamalli)
3 heaped tbsp flax seed meal (powdered flax/ alsi/ ali virai) (optional)
a little sesame oil to shallow fry the dosai

Dry roast oats, cool to room temperature, powder in a spice grinder/blender/mixer until fine and add to a large bowl. Dry roast vermicelli and add to the powdered oats.

Add salt to taste, curry leaves, cilantro and flax seed meal and mix well. Mince together ginger and green chilies and keep aside.

Whisk yogurt until it is smooth and keep aside. Add yogurt to flour mixture slowly making sure it mixes well with the flour mixture.

Then add water to the flour mixture and mix slowly to make a thick-ish batter. Add ginger- chili to it and mix well.

Allow this mixture to sit for a little while. Heat a flat pan/ griddle/ tawa on medium heat.
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Pour a little batter in the center and quickly make a circle as thin as possible. If you find that you are not able to spread easily, pour the batter around the tawa in a wider circle (as you would for rava dosai) and spread to form a thin circle.   Pour a few drops of sesame oil around the circumference of the dosai. Flip over when the lower side cooks to a golden brown and cook the other side. When the other side as light golden brown spots, remove from heat.


Serve hot with chutney of choice/ molaga podi /sambar of choice

Notes:

The thicker the batter, the easier the dosai is to handle while flipping over, it also results in a more crisper dosai. If the batter is slightly more runny the dosai turns out soft but a little more difficult to handle. So do keep that in mind when you are adding water to the batter. When in doubt err on the side of a thicker batter it is much easier to correct than a runny batter.

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Peanut and Flax ladoo

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Ever wished your day had a few more hours in it so that you could get more done each day. I have to admit that thought crosses my mind routinely.  With so many things vying for my time, usually things that have to be done win over things that I want to do, making me yearn for more time each day. Blogging is one of those things that falls in the latter category for me, I want to devote more time to it but I am not able to devote as much time to it as I want...... sigh !!

If you were given a choice of being able to forget about one mundane task or chore each day in favor of doing something you enjoy more, what task would you choose? For me, the choice would easily be either cleaning or doing the dishes :-) Both these tasks seem never ending and sometimes I  wish I could just be done with these tasks so that I can do something more interesting :-( 

Anyway here is something that did not  take too much of my time, it was quick, simple and delicious.One day when I was thinking about flax, I realized that I have never used it in a sweet yet. I immediately decided to try it in one, I added peanuts and almonds along with the flax for additional nutrition and shredded coconut for added flavor.  This really was a very sweet and delicious way to include some flax in our diet and I plan to make this again really soon :-)



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Ingredients and Method to make Peanut and Flax Ladoo
1/2 cup skinless raw peanuts (mungphali/kadalai) dry roasted (see notes)
1/2 cup whole raw almonds (badam) dry roasted
heaped 1/4 cup flax seed meal dry roasted (powdered flax seeds/ alsi/ ali virai)
1 cup shredded coconut (nariyal/thengai) roasted lightly
1 cup sugar (shakkar/sakkarai)
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp cardamom seed powder (elaichi/elakkai)

Dry roast skinless raw peanuts and whole almonds separately, very lightly until it loses its raw taste. Remove from heat and spread on a plate to cool.
Dry roast shredded coconut until it turns a little creamy pinkish kind of color. Remove and keep aside.
Dry roast flax seed meal very very slightly, just for a few seconds until it is a bit warm. Remove and keep aside.

When the roasted nuts have cooled to room temperature, powder in a spice grinder/ blender/mixer using short bursts of power until the nuts become fine powder.

In a large heavy bottomed pan, add sugar and water and place on heat. Allow the mixture to come to a boil, then lower the heat and allow the mixture to simmer for a few minutes. Pour a drop of the syrup on a plate and allow to cool a little. Take the syrup between thumb and first finger and check to see if it forms a very light thread. If a light thread is formed, then add powdered nuts, flax seed meal, shredded coconut and cardamom seed powder and mix well.
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Remove from heat, allow to cool until touchable and make small balls of desired size. When completely cool store in an airtight container. It stays fine for a few days without refrigeration, if you plan to keep this longer do refrigerate it. Enjoy the snack with your tea/ coffee or as an anytime snack.

Notes:
This ladoo has a very soft and fudgy consistency, if you like your ladoo harder then allow the sugar syrup to achieve a stronger one string consistency.

Skinless peanuts can be substituted with peanuts with skin, when ground the difference is not very obvious.

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Instant Oat Flax dosai ~ Oat Alsi Dosa ~ Savory Indian Oat and Flax Crepes

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Every time I read about the health benefits of flax, I feel a little guilty that I do not include as much flax in our diet as I would like to..... don't get me wrong, it's not like I never include flax, I manage to sneak it into our diet as often as a couple of times a week. But since flax is so healthy, I wouldn't mind if I managed to sneak it into our diet everyday :-)

I think my uncle N has the right idea on this, he just eats a couple of spoons of roasted flax each day. Neat ! this way he does not have to worry about sneaking it into the diet every time :-)  Only problem for me, I like my flax disguised in my food and am not quite keen to eat it just by itself. So my solution is to come up with everyday recipes where I can sneak in flax.

In addition to using flax regularly in my bakes and rotis (Indian flatbread), I have also begun to use flax in instant dosais (savory Indian crepes). First I used it in this rava dosai and loved how the flax enhanced the taste and nutrition of it. This time I decided to make a dosai with a combination of flax and oats...... yes I have to admit oats is my other favorite healthy ingredient, so the idea of combining the two was irresistible :-)

I seasoned the dosai with some cumin, mustard, curry leaves and green chilies for some added flavor. The dosai turned out to be very tender and light. Since the rice flour added a touch of crispiness too, I felt this dosai had the perfect balance of softness and crispiness.  I have made this a few times since the first and it makes a perfect breakfast/ or tiffin or even a light dinner.

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Ingredients and Method to make Oat flax dosai
2 cups oat flour ( I powdered rolled oats in my spice grinder to give me oat flour)
3/4 cup rice flour (chawal ka atta/ arisi maavu)
1/4 cup flax seed meal (flax powder/ alsi/ ali virai)
salt to taste
approx 3 1/2 cups water
4 to 5 tbsp grated fresh or frozen coconut (if using frozen, thaw to room temperature)

Seasoning
5 Thai or Indian variety green chilies cut very fine(or to taste)
1 to 2 tbsp coconut oil
3/4 tsp mustard seeds
7 to 8 curry leaves cut fine
1/2 tsp cumin seeds

a little sesame oil to shallow fry the dosai

If you have no ready made oat flour, just powder rolled oats in a blender/ mixer/ spice grinder.

In a large bowl add oat flour, rice flour, flax seed meal and salt to taste and mix well.  Add water slowly a little at a time and mix well to form a not too thick, not too thin batter.

Heat oil in a small pan, add mustard seeds. When the seeds begin to splutter add cumin seeds, when cumin begins to sizzle add green chilies and curry leaves and mix once or twice. Pour entire seasoning on the batter and mix well. Finally add grated coconut directly to the batter and mix again.  Allow this mixture to "sit" for 20 mins to 30 mins.

 

Heat a flat pan/ griddle/ tawa. When hot pour a little batter on the center and quickly make a thin circle. Add a few drops of sesame oil on the circumference of the dosai. When the lower side is cooked to an even golden color, flip over and cook the other side until it gets golden brown spots.

Remove and serve hot with sambar/ chutney of choice/ molaga podi like this one or this one. Proceed with the rest of the batter in the same manner and store unused batter in the refrigerator and use within a few days.
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Notes
If you use the batter a day or two after you first made it, it may thicken a little more, you might need to add a little more water to get the right consistency before using again.

Suggested variation:
Sprinkle a little finely chopped onion pieces on the side facing upwards. Flip over and press down a little and cook until onion begins to get a few brown spots.

Other dosa varieties with oats in this space......


Keerai Oat Dosai ~ Palak oat dosa ~ Savory Indian crepe with spinach and oats


Mixed Vegetable Oat Dosai ~  Savory Indian crepe with vegetables and oats


Instant Ragi Oats Dosai ~ Nachani dosa ~  Savory Finger millet and oats crepe

 
Javarsi Oats Dosai ~ Sabudana oat dosa ~  Savory Oat and sago crepe

 
Keerai Oat Adai ~ Palak dhal dosa ~  Savory Spinach oat barley crepes

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Bajji Dosai (Savory chick pea flour crepe ) and did you know olive oil could be used for this ?

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Phew,  pretty lengthy title huh? There was just no avoiding it with all the things I needed to say in the title:-) Anyway going back to the question in the title, did you know that olive oil can be used to polish stainless steel appliances. Really I am not kidding, I heard this tip for the first time on a show on HGTV.  I  was thrilled to learn this, especially because it would mean a simple and chemical free way to polish appliances and I could not wait to find out if it really worked the way it was described. Sure enough my stainless steel appliance is now gleaming from the olive oil treatment. Who would have thought it :-)

If any of you are interested in trying this tip, here is how it works. Start with a clean appliance. Take a soft piece of cloth and pour just a drop or two of pure olive oil on it. Apply to the appliance in the direction of the grain and buff slightly when done. For this, a little olive oil goes a long way so there is no need to pour a lot on the cloth. Here is a link I found online for this tip if you want to check it out....

Moving on to the bajji dosai, this recipe, which I got from my father who saw it in a Tamil magazine, has been in my recipe book for a long while now. I tried it once when I first got it and liked it a lot, but somehow this one was forgotten and I never made it again...............that is....... until the other day when I was flipping through my book looking for some inspiration and this recipe just jumped out at me. This time when I made it I modified the recipe slightly, added flax for more nutrition and modified the spices a little for additional flavor.

Bajji refers to a deep fried south Indian snack and this bajji dosai probably got its name because the ingredients used in it are also used in making the batter for the bajji, it tastes similar to bajjis too :-) Now, anything that allows me to indulge in the taste of bajjis without the guilt is a winner in my book :-) This dosai also reminded me a little of the eggless omelette I used to make sometime back. This gluten free dosai is great for breakfasts/ tiffins/ snacks or even light dinners and can be made very quickly. So if you are looking for a quick dosai recipe for this weekend, give this one a try and tell me what you think :-)



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Ingredients and Method to make Bajji Dosai
2 cups Chick pea flour (besan/ kadalai maavu)
1/2 cup rice flour
1 small onion peeled and cut very fine
4 Thai or Indian variety green chilies cut very fine (or to taste)
1 tbsp finely grated ginger
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
pinch of asafoetida powder (hing/perungayam) (optional)
3 heaped tbsp of flax seed meal (powdered flax/ alsi) (optional)
handful of cilantro (coriander leaves/dhania/kothamalli) cut very fine
a little sesame oil to shallow fry the dosai

In a large bowl, mix together chick pea flour, rice flour and salt to taste.Add turmeric powder, asafoetida powder, flax seed meal if using and mix well. Add ginger, green chilies, finely cut onion and mix well.

Add water as required, a little at a time to make a batter that is thicker than buttermilk and is not too runny.  When in doubt always err on the side of a thicker batter as water can always be added just before making dosai if required.
Add finely cut cilantro to the batter and mix well.

Heat a tawa/ heavy flat pan/ griddle on medium  heat. When hot, pour a little batter in a wide circle. If you have made rava dosai in the past, this one needs to be poured on the way you do rava dosai. Quickly spread the batter with a light hand to fill in the gaps and spaces. Pour a few drops of oil around the circumference of the dosai. Allow to cook until the lower side is an even golden brown. Flip over and cook the other side until it begins to have light brownish spots.
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Remove and serve hot with chutney of choice/ sambar or some molaga podi or any combination of these items. Or even just enjoy these on their own they are that flavorful:-)

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Whole Wheat Bread Upma with Flax

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Upma is a type of seasoned savory snack/breakfast/tiffin item from south Indian cuisine usually made with semolina and some vegetables. Just like other dishes there are many variations of upma, made with different ingredients. One such variation is bread upma. Bread upma is a great way to use up leftover bread and is one of the simplest and most basic dishes that can be prepared in a jiffy.

There are many variations to bread upma too......... this recipe here, is just my take on this dish. I have been making bread upma in more or less the same manner for quite a while now. The only change is that recently I started adding flax meal to it. I find that flax meal blends surprisingly well in this and is a nice way to sneak in a little extra omega 3 in our diet.......



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Ingredients and Method to make wheat bread upma
Half of a loaf of day old or a little older whole wheat bread broken into small pieces (I used this bread) (see notes)
1 tbsp oil
3/4 tsp mustard seeds
3/4 tsp cumin seeds
3 Thai or Indian variety green chilies cut very fine (or to taste)
1 large onion cut fine
salt to taste (very little, since bread already has some salt in it)
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp flax meal (powdered flax seeds/alsi/ ali virai)
1/4 cup or less water (see below)
1/2 tsp red chili powder or cayenne powder (or to taste) (optional)

Make small pieces of half a loaf of day old or 2 day old bread and keep aside

Heat oil in a heavy pan, add mustard seeds. When the seeds begin to splutter, add cumin seeds. When the cumin seeds begin to sizzle add green chilies and stir a few times. Then add onions and saute until the onions turn tranparent.
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Add turmeric powder and the bread pieces and mix well. Add flax meal, salt to taste, red chili powder if using and mix well again. Add a little water if the bread is too dry. Add just one tablespoon at a time and mix well. The upma should not be very moist and mushy, it needs to be just a little moist but mostly dry.

Serve hot with ketchup/ sauce or chutney. Serves approximately 2 to 3 

Notes
Breads like ciabatta / sourdough/ multi grain work great for this upma. Avoid using breads that are sweetish because it doesn't work well in this savory dish.

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Flax and Peanut Chutney powder

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There is always at least one type of chutney powder/ spice powder in stock in my pantry. When my stock of chutney powder begins to dwindle, I make another batch quickly. I cannot imagine not having some chutney powder at home, not only because these powders are convenient and versatile but also very healthy.

In addition to the traditional use of these powders as instant chutneys, they are also a great way to add spice or flavor to just about anything. When my in laws were visiting we made sabudana khichdi and found that it was not spicy enough, so my mother in law and I decided to add a little of this chutney powder to spice it up  I was a little wary about this fusion of south Indian style chutney with Maharashtrian style khichdi,  but the khichdi ended up tasting awesome. Now I add this powder to my khichdi often:-)

If you too are looking for ways to include the flax in your family's diet than this chutney powder is a great way to do it. As you know flax has immense health benefits, I have already mentioned some when I did my post on another type of flax chutney powder, so I will not get into it again :-) The nutty flavor of flax blends in perfectly with the complementing flavors of peanut, sesame and lentils in this chutney and makes it a fabulously tasty way to incorporate flax in our diet :-)



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Ingredients and Method to make Flax and Peanut Chutney Powder
1/2 cup raw unsalted peanuts (singdana/ kadalai)
1/2 cup brown sesame seeds (til/ ellu)
1/2 cup split yellow chick pea lentil (chana dhal / kadalai parappu)
1/2 cup whole black gram lentil without skin (Whole udad dhal/ muzhu ulandhu) can be substituted with the split variety too
1/2 cup flax seed meal (powdered flax seeds/ alsi/ali virai)
25 dry red chilies (or according to taste) (see notes)
1 inch piece of jaggery (optional)
salt to taste ( I used approximately 1 1/2 tsp salt)

Dry roast each of the above ingredients seperately except salt and jaggery until each of them are reddish brown and aromatic. The red chilies will turn a shade darker and flax seed meal does not change color a lot, but it emits a nutty aroma when done.

Cool all the ingredients to room temperature and powder them in a spice grinder/ blender.Powder the lentils first coarsely, then add sesame, peanut, flax and red chilies and powder in short bursts. Over powdering after the nuts are added may result in clumping. Add jaggery and give another short churn. Finally add salt and mix well.
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Store this powder in an air tight container. This powder can be kept on the shelf for a few weeks, but if you think it may take you months to use it up, it is recommended to store this in the refrigerator as flax can turn rancid quickly.

Serve a small quantity of this powder mixed with a few drops of sesame oil with either dosai/ adai/ idli , or add this chutney powder to spice up your curries. Alternatively it can be mixed with yogurt to make an instant dip.

Notes
Use dry red chilies as per your taste. My current batch of red chilies are not very spicy so even with 25 of them I only got the chutney powder to be mildly spicy. If you have very spicy red chilies you may have to use far less of them, so do use your judgment on the quantity to be used.

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Eggless Blueberry Oatmeal Bar and a prelude to a giveaway.

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I have some exciting news for my readers, recently Jason from CSN stores contacted me with an opportunity to host a giveaway on this site. Needless to say I was thrilled with the chance to do so.First to give you a little introduction to CSN stores,here is a brief description straight from their own site:

CSN Stores LLC is a fast-growing, privately-held company offering customers the best online shopping available for home and office goods. A $200 million company, CSN is made up of more than 200 online niche shops offering a huge selection of products ranging from barstools and bedroom sets to grills, greenhouses and gaming equipment. We have items for budget-minded shoppers, luxury seekers and everyone in between.

They have a fantastic range and collection of products. I cannot even begin to tell you all of the items they offer. Need some appliances for your kitchen, they have it. Need furniture, they have that too. Need lights for your home, they have everything from recessed lighting to lamps.

Anyway back to the giveaway, it will be happening here very soon. So keep watching this space :-)

Moving on, oatmeal bars are one of my favorites snacks to have on hand. In addition to being so handy, they are also a great way to include some super healthy oatmeal in our diet effortlessly. These  cranberry oatmeal bars  are among my favorite snacks and I make them often. But I have been wanting to experiment with different flavors for a while now and decided to give blueberry bars a try this time. These oatmeal bars were delicious, with just the right amount of chewiness on the inside and crispness on the outside. Give this a try, you may never want to go back to the store bought versions again :-)



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Ingredients and Method to make Blueberry Oatmeal Bar
Dry Ingredients
1 cup rolled oat flour (see notes)
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 level tsp baking soda

Wet Ingredients
2 tbsp flax seed meal + 6 tbsp water
1/4 cup oil
3 tbsp almond butter
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
a few drops of oil to grease the baking dish

Pre heat oven to 350 deg F

Grease a baking dish with a few drops of oil and keep aside. ( I used an 8 inch round glass dish)

In a large bowl add all the ingredients mentioned in dry list and mix well.Keep aside

In a small bowl, whisk flax seed meal with water until it turns gelatinous. Add almond butter to this and whisk well until it the almond butter kind of blends with the flax meal with water mixture.

Add this flax seed meal mixture to the dry ingredients. Add oil, vanilla extract and milk to the dry mixture too and mix well until the mixture is well blended. It will be thick and have cookie dough consistency.
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Spoon this mixture on to the pre greased dish and spread it evenly.

Place in the pre heated oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean and the top is golden brown.

Remove from oven, cool thoroughly and cut into bars.

These bars do not require refrigeration and can be kept out for a few days. Tastes best fresh or within a few days of making it.

Notes
Baking times will vary depending on the size of the dish, material of the dish etc, so do keep an eye out to check regularly. I had about 3/4 of an inch in thickness when I spread the mixture, if you have spread it thinner than that, it may be ready in under 25 minutes itself.


I powdered rolled oats in my spice grinder to give me oat flour (you can use store bought oat flour too)

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Quinoa and Flax Uthappam

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A new show on television called Undercover Boss, has caught my interest, at least for now.Have any of you had a chance to see this show yet ?  In this show, CEO's of large companies disguise themselves and go undercover in their own company, posing as new recruits to understand how their companies operate and what they can do to improve the company. It is really cool to watch CEO's getting to know the employees and the real conditions that they are faced with and have to deal with, in the course of their work. 

It kind of reminds me of the Chandamama stories I grew up reading, where kings used to disguise themselves and go around their kingdom to find out how the people of their kingdom were really faring. Come to think of it,  I used to enjoy those stories too :-)

Speaking of disguises, here is a disguise for quinoa that you will find very hard to detect.  Uthappam is traditionally made of ground rice and lentils made into a fermented batter, it looks like somewhat like a large pancake, only a savory version and can be topped with different vegetables.I made this version of uthappam with quinoa, brown rice, flax seeds and cooked brown rice.The final result was an uthappam that was soft and delicious and the quinoa was completely disguised and could not be detected at all.



And here is a dosai made out of the same batter.....

 

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Ingredients and Method to make Quinoa Uthappam
For the batter
1 cup brown basmati rice (or any other brown rice)
1 cup quinoa
1/2 cup whole black gram lentil (udad dhal without the skin)
2 tbsp flax seeds
1 cup cooked brown rice
salt to taste
Few drops of sesame oil to shallow fry the uthappam

For the toppings Use any combination of vegetables,
I used various combination's of the vegetables below
Onions finely chopped
Grated carrots
Fresh or frozen green peas ( I used frozen thawed to room temperature) (see notes if using fresh peas)
Cilantro (coriander leaves) cut very fine
Indian or Thai variety of green chilies cut very fine (optional)

Soak the first four ingredients in sufficient water for 3 hours.

Grind these together with the cooked rice in batches, adding water as required to make a batter of pouring consistency (the batter should not be too runny or watery, yet not too thick, if in doubt err on the side of thicker batter, that can be corrected later on adding water as required, a thinner batter is more difficult to correct )
Add salt to taste (for this quantity I had to use almost 3 tsp of salt) and keep the batter in large container covered for 8 to 10 hours in a warm place to ferment. ( Usually I place my container in my conventional oven and switch on the oven light and leave overnight)

Remove, mix well  and if you plan to use immediately proceed or you can refrigerate the batter for a few days and use as and when required.

When making uthappam,heat a  heavy flat pan/ griddle/ tawa , in case you are using a non stick pan proceed to next step. If you are using a iron tawa, pour a few drops of oil on the tawa and smear it across the tawa either with a paper tissue or half an onion or wooden spatula.

Once the tawa is hot, lower heat and then pour batter in a circle. Quickly add toppings on top of the poured batter and gently press it in with the back of the spatula. Pour a few drops of sesame oil around the uthappam.

Cook on low to medium low heat until the lower side begins to brown and gently flip over and cook the other side. (the reason uthappams have to be cooked on lower heat is because they are thicker than dosai and on high heat, the lower side will brown faster and the batter will not be cooked all the way through )

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Cook the other side until the vegetables begin to get a few brown spots.

Remove and serve hot with chutney of choice/ or sambar of choice.

Refrigerate balance of batter and use within a few days.

Yields approximately 12 to 15 uthappams. Yield will depend on size and thickness of each uthappam.

Notes:
If using fresh green peas, cook it until almost soft separately, make sure there is no excess moisture after it is cooked, then use in this recipe

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Vegan Orange Cranberry Wheat Bread

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For some time now I have been wanting to try different egg substitutes that I haven't used yet, to see what kind of results I get with each of them. Usually my default egg substitute is flax, because it is both healthy and works as a great binding agent in bakes. In the past I have also used corn starch, soy flour, bananas and other fruit purees as egg substitutes successfully.

I came upon a reference to apple cider vinegar as an egg substitute in some book some time back, but I am not able to recall the name of the book and decided to give it a try in this bread. I loved how the vinegar gave the bread a very light and airy texture which was great but just vinegar by itself is not too much of a binding agent and resulted in a more crumbly bread.

So for my second try, I made this bread with both flax and apple cider vinegar and it worked out perfectly. If you liked this Orange flavored oatmeal bar then you will surely like this bread too, so go ahead give this one a try, it is really quite simple to make despite its long list of ingredients that  make it seem quite daunting:-)




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Ingredients and Method to make Orange cranberry wheat bread

Dry Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup whole white wheat flour ( Read more about this flour here)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp powdered dried orange (optional) (see notes)
3/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp orange essence

In place of 1 egg
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar+ 1 tbsp oil + 1 tsp baking powder (whisked together)

In place of the second egg
1 tbsp flax seeds/alsi + 3 tbsp water (flax seeds powdered fine and whisked together with 3 tbsp water)

a few extra drops of oil to grease the loaf pan

Pre heat oven to 350 deg F. Grease a loaf pan and keep aside.

In a large bowl add all the dry ingredients and mix well.

Powder 1 tbsp flax seeds in a spice grinder and whisk it with 3 tbsp water and let this mixture sit for about 5 minutes.

In a large bowl mix together orange juice, orange essence and oil.

Then whisk together apple cider vinegar+ oil + baking powder together and add to this mixture.

Add the flax seeds + water mixture to this and mix well.

Quickly add this entire wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix in gently with a spatula.

The resultant mixture looks lumpy and just enough wet.

Pour this mixture into pre greased loaf pan, place in oven and bake for 35 to 40 mins until toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes clean.

Remove from oven and cool thoroughly before slicing and serving. Use within a couple of days. Refrigerate or freeze the balance of the bread if you will not use it up within a couple of days.

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 Notes

I regularly keep a stock of sliced oranges dried in the oven at 200 deg F for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, read more on how to do this here So for this recipe, I just powdered one such slice and added it to the dry ingredients for a more orangey flavor. The earlier time I made this I tried it with only 1 tsp orange essence for flavor and it worked well too, so the powdered dried orange is entirely optional.

The first time I made this I used just apple cider vinegar, oil and baking powder to replace eggs and found that the resulting bread was quite crumbly so I would suggest using at least one tbsp of flax + water and not replacing both eggs with apple cider vinegar + oil combination.

This bread turned out soft fluffy and just right as far as moisture is concerned for me. If you want to have a more moist bread, replace apple cider vinegar + oil mixture with another tbsp of flax seeds + 3 tbsp of water,to be powdered and whisked with water, as has been described earlier.

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Cereal Muffins

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I often find myself with several packages of cereal in my pantry which are open but not completely used. These are what I call flop ideas, because I would have bought them thinking it would taste good but it would have failed the taste test at home miserably. Lying in my pantry these opened packages manage to simultaneously occupy space in my pantry and make me feel guilty every time I see them for not using it up. And since I hate to waste stuff especially food, throwing away these cereals is not an option for me.

One day when I was getting dinner ready and the tv was as usual turned into a local news channel, a cooking segment came on where the chef prepared raisin bran cereal muffins. When I saw that clip I went "Hey ! I like this idea". So promptly I looked around for cereal muffin recipes and came across this one. I altered the recipe considerably and found these muffins were very good. They were soft and chewy on the first day with a delightful crunch from the cereal, the second day they were a little more chewier and warming them in the microwave helped regain their fresh from the oven taste. This really is a great way to use up any type of cereal and many variations in taste can be made with this basic idea.



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Ingredients and Method to make Cereal Muffins
Dry Ingredients
1/2 cup barley flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour (unbleached, see notes)
1 cup fiber one cereal (or any other cereal of choice)
1 cup Post's Cranberry Almond crunch cereal (or any other cereal of choice)
1/2 cup dried raisins
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder (aluminum free)
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
2 tbsp flax seed meal+ 6 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla essence

Preheat oven to 350 deg F

Line a regular sized muffin tray with paper liner or grease the muffin cups and keep aside.

In a large bowl mix together all the dry ingredients

Whisk together flax seed meal and water until it becomes gelatinous

In a bowl mix together flax seed meal mixture and oil.

Add this mixture to the dry ingredients slowly, mixing it in as you pour.

Add milk and vanilla essence to this mixture and mix well.

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This mixture will be a little thick, spoon this mixture into the paper lined muffin cups upto 2/3rd level.

Place the tray in the oven and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center of muffin comes out clean.

Yielded one dozen regular sized muffins

Tastes best on the day of baking or within a couple of days. If using the day after, warm in the microwave for a few seconds before serving to get a more softer and right out of the oven feel.

Notes

I used flour from white wheat different from wheat flour which is bleached, which is also lighter in texture and feel. You can substitute this with regular whole wheat flour or all purpose flour.

Similarly in case you cannot find barley flour you can substitute it with either all purpose flour or whole wheat flour as per your preference.

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Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Does the thought of home baked chocolate chip cookies send you into extreme longing to taste and keep tasting those cookies ? Do you feel that just the sight of cookies can threaten your resolve to stay on your diet and make you binge on some sweets? If yes, then quickly look away and scroll to the lower part of the page where you feel find many healthy dishes that will not threaten your resolve to stay on your diet. I know how hard it is to stay on a diet so I did not want to provide my readers who are working hard to stay on a diet, reason to stray from that diet :-)

On the other hand if you are looking for a treat as an occasional indulgence than you have come to the right post :-) These chocolate chip cookies were just that for me too, a rare indulgence that I gave into, in lieu of the festival season. Of course knowing I would be sharing these cookies with others provided me with some comfort that we alone would not be indulging in so many cookies.

Surprisingly I found the recipe for this cookie on the back of Nestle's milk chocolate morsel packet that I bought to make these cookies. I never before looked at the back of packets to see if they printed recipes, luckily this time I noticed it and it saved me the time to search for a recipe. I made a few changes to the original recipe. I used flax seed as a substitute for eggs, used regular sugar + molasses in place of the brown sugar required in the original recipe and reduced the quantity of chocolate morsels just a tad bit. The verdict.....these cookies are among the best that I have ever tasted, they were crunchy , delicious and hard to resist. If your sweet tooth has been ignored for a while try these and indulge a little.....


Here is another view of these cookies....


Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour (Maida)
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) (softened to room temperature)
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 tbsp molasses (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

3 tbsp flax seed meal (powdered flax seeds/ alsi) + 6 tbsp water

1 1/4 cup milk chocolate morsels

Preheat oven to 375 deg F

Line a cookie sheet or tray with parchment paper and keep aside

In a bowl mix together all purpose flour, salt, baking soda and keep aside.

In another bowl cream together sugar, molasses (if you are using it) and butter until creamy and airy. ( I used my electric hand mixer for this and it took me just few minutes to get the right texture )

Whisk together water and flax seed meal until it becomes gelatinous. Pour this mixture along with vanilla into the creamed butter and sugar and mix well (or use the electric mixer to mix it in)

Add all purpose flour that has been kept aside to the creamed butter + sugar mixture in small increments and it in before adding some more.

Finally add the chocolate chip morsels and mix it in too.

Using a small tbsp sized round scoop place cookie dough an inch apart on the tray. Place the tray in the oven and bake between 9 to 11 minutes or until the cookies are beginning to brown on the sides and the bottom.

Remove and let cool on the tray for 2 minutes and then place on wire rack to cool completely.

Store in air tight container after thoroughly cool.

Yielded 72 cookies

Notes

The yield and baking times of the cookies will depend on the size of the cookies.

The original recipe called for some white sugar and some dark brown sugar, I replaced the quantity of brown sugar with white sugar and added a little molasses instead for some color and flavor. If you want you can use half white and half brown sugar instead or all white too.

The original recipe called for two eggs which I replaced with the above mentioned flax+water

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Quinoa and Flax Spice Powder (Chutney powder)

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Quinoa with its numerous health benefits is beginning to appear more frequently in my dishes as I learn new ways to sneak this super healthy grain like seed into our diet. After trying potato curry with quinoa and flax I decided I would love to have quinoa in a chutney powder.

Chutney powders like this spice powder(molaga podi) are an essential part of my pantry. A few drops of sesame oil transforms dry chutney powder to a perfect accompaniment for dosas or idlis (crepes and steamed cakes) and this lasts a long time without refrigeration making it perfect for emergency " I don't know what to make to go with this " days :-)

Despite my wariness about the result of this experiment, this quinoa spice powder turned out very well. Its spicy and slightly nutty taste worked very well when I used it in place of the above mentioned Spice powder(molaga podi) . It was also versatile enough that it can be used to spice up curries, to spicing up sandwiches and can even be mixed with plain yogurt to create a quick healthy dip.




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Ingredients and Method to make Quinoa dry spice powder

1/2 cup quinoa
1/4 cup split black gram lentil (udad dhal)
1/4 cup split chick pea (chana dhal)
1/4 cup flax seed meal
approximately 35 dry red chillies or according to taste (see notes)
salt to taste

Dry roast each of the ingredients separately (quinoa, split black gram lentil, split chick pea lentil) until reddish, remove from heat and keep aside seperately.

Dry roast flax seed meal until aroma from it releases and keep aside.

Dry roast dry red chillies until it starts to turn darker and seems crisp, keep aside.

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When all of the above ingredients are cool, powder them in a spice grinder separately at first until it forms a coarse powder.

Then add everything together and grind to a finer powder.

Add salt and give it another turn in the blender/ grinder until it mixes well.

Cool thoroughly and store in an airtight container. This will keep for a few weeks easily without refrigeration, in case you want to store longer keep it in the refrigerator as flax seeds get rancid quickly.

Use this spice powder to spice your curries, or use in place of molaga podi (spice powder ) with a few drops of sesame oil along with dosai/ idli or add it to your soups or sandwiches to spice them up.

Notes
You can skip the flax seed meal and increase the quantity of either of the lentils instead. In case you skip the flax seed meal you can store this without refrigeration.

The red chillies I have right now are not at all very spicy and so I have to use quite a bit of them to get a little spice. Please adjust the quantity of red chillies according to taste and the level of heat you want from this powder.

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