Eggless Vanilla Pudding Cookies

Hello everyone. Wish you all a very happy and healthy 2012. We are back in Seattle after a wonderful vaction in Mumbai and Singapore.

We have had snow for the past 6 days and except for a brief respite last Tuesday, have been pretty much home-tied since last Saturday. My daughter has been after me to bake some cookies, so today we made these lovely and easy Eggless Vanilla Pudding Cookies from Madhuram's Eggless Cooking.

Here's how I made these:

6 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
2 tbsp Jello Vanilla flavor instant pudding mix
2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp All Purpose Flour
few drops of vanilla essence
Handful of chopped and toasted walnuts

Cream the butter, pudding mix and sugar together. I used an electric hand blender for this. Add flour in 2 - 3 installments and keeping folding it in gently until well incorporated. Add the vanilla essence and walnuts. Knead gently. The dough will be like chapati/roti dough.

Divide the dough into 12 - 14 portions of abt 1 tbsp each. Roll each gently into a ball and flatten a little. Place on a baking sheet covered with wax paper. Bake these cookies in an oven preheated to 375F, for abt 11 mins. Remove and cool 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

My daughter and her friends loved these and they were gone in no time. My dad also liked them, he said they tasted like the Indian cookie - Nankhatai.

I loved them for the delicious taste and ease of preparation. I will surely make them over & over again.

Squash Curry

This unique and delicious curry is based on a recipe I read in Raghavan Iyer's cook book. My cousin who is an ophthalmic dr always advises us to include orange/red squash/pumpkin (laal bhopla) in our diet as it is very good for the eyes. So I try to make a squash or red bhopla dish once a week. But it is hard to get my daughter to eat subjis containing cubed pieces of this veggie - she picks them out and eats the rest! I do make squash puris (gharges) and a squash sauce for pastas, both of which she loves. So when I came across this recipe, it opened up a new way for me to sneak in this healthy veggie in our diet.

To make the squash curry - if using cubed pieces, boil them with 1/2 cup of water for 15 mins until very soft. If using the frozen cooked squash, you just need to thaw it to room temperature.

To make the masala for the curry - dry roast 2 tbsp coriander seeds, 2 tsp udad dal, 1/4 tsp methi seeds and 1 or 2 dry red chillies per taste. Roast at low heat till aromatic. Take off heat, cool. Grind this along with the cooked or thawed squash.

To proceed - Heat 1 tsp oil and make the tempering by adding mustard seeds. When they stop spluttering add cumin seeds, asafotida, turmeric pwd and curry leaves. Add veggies of choice. I usually use colored bell peppers, onions and potatoes. Saute well for 5 mins. Add the squash curry. Season with salt to taste. Add 1 tsp jaggesry and 1 tsp tamarind paste. Stir in upto 1 cup of water, cover and cook on medium heat till veggies are cooked. Adjust seasonings and water per desired consistency.

Garnish with chopped cilantro. Excellent with rotis. The first time I made this and set it out on the table, my daughter stopped right in her tracks as she was passing by and remarked "This looks very interesting!". And proceeded to lap it up, eating it with twice the rotis she usually has. What more can I ask for!

Okra - Potato Stir Fry

The idea of mixing okra and potato came to me from a Raghavan Iyer cookbook, but I decided to make it dry. This was the first time I made it and the one lesson I learnt is that this subji should be made in great quantities if you want to get any share of it, which says a lot about its taste.

Here's how I made it:

Tender okra - caps cut off and halved lenght-wise
Red potata - cut into fngers
Tempering - oil, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asafotida, chopped curry leaves, turmeric pwd
Other seasonings - salt, cumin pwd, coriander pwd, red chilli pwd, amchoor pwd
some more oil to shallow fry
chopped cilantro for garnish

Take some oil in a wide shallow wok, fry the okra for 15 mins on medium heat, stirring now & then. Drain the okra and fry the potatoes in the same oil. You can add a little more oil if required for frying. Drain the potatoes. At this stage, both the okra and potatoes should be well cooked but firm.

Make the tempering by heating the oil, then adding the mustard seeds. When they stop spluttering, add the other ingredients. Saute few seconds.

Then add the fried okra and potatoes. Add the seasonings to taste. Mix gently and let it heat thru.

Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve.

This Okra-Potato Stir Fry goes well with rotis and rice.

Penne in Ricotta Sauce

I got this recipe while browsing thru a bookstore. I was looking for a way to use up some left over ricotta cheese and this recipe fit the bill perfectly.

Here's how I made it:

1 cup whole wheat penne pasta cooked per package directions & drained (reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking water)

For the sauce - Saute onions and garlic in olive oil until fragrant, abt 5 mins. Add roughly chopped spinach and chopped sun dried tomatoes. Cook till spinach wilts. Take off heat, add the ricotta cheese, salt, pepper, Mrs. Dash seasoning (or any other per choice) and about 1/4 cup of the water in which the pasta was cooked. Stir well to make a sauce like consistency. Adjust seasoning if needed.

Pour the ricotta sauce over the pasta. Serve warm with some garlic bread.

Tofu Omelette

This recipe idea is courtesy of a lovely lady I bumped into the other day at Trader Joes. We just got talking and she gave me some wonderful tofu recipe ideas. I did not waste any time in trying this out.

Here's how I made the tofu omelette:

1/2 block soft tofu
1/2 cup semolina/rawa
Seasoning to taste - salt, red chilli pwd/green chilli paste
Veggies to add - onions, bell peppers, spinach, tomatoes, cilantro - all finely chopped

Mix all the ingredients, add abt 1/2 cup water to make a batter. Pour 1 ladleful on a hot pan and drizzle a few drops of oil. Roast until golden brown, flip and roast similarly on the other side.

Serve with ketchup or chutney.

The batter

Omelette being roasted

Omelette being roasted

Eggless Applesauce Cake

This recipe is adapted from Rachel Ray's Better Food For Kids. I was surprised to find an eggless cake recipe in it and tried it out immediately. My daughter and all her friends love it and ask me to make it again and again. I've made it as a loaf, muffins and a cake and it works well every time.

Here's how I make it:

1 cup flour
1 tsp all spice mix
1 tsp baking pwd
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup brown or white sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter - softened
3/4 cup applesauce
handful of walnuts - chopped

Sift the flour, baking soda, baking pwd and all spice together
Cream the butter and sugar with an electric blender or manually until well combined. Add the apple sauce.
Add the flour mix to the applesauce mix in installments, stirring gently each time until well mixed.
Pour the batter into a greased and floured cake pan or muffin pan or loaf pan.
Bake in a pre-heated 350F oven for about 45 mins or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool to room temperature before removing.

This Eggless Applesauce Cake goes to the Apple event at Ramya's Recipe.

Apple - Cucumber Koshimbir

This is a simple and interesting combination for me. I tasted it at a cousin's place last month where she added yogurt and made it like a raita. I made it in the style of 'khamang kakdi", using a combination of mild cool cucumbers and tart green apples.

Here how I made it -

1 red or green apple - grated
1 cup grated cucumber
handful of crushed peanuts
Tempering - 1 tsp ghee, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, red or green chiles per taste
salt per taste
cilantro to garnish

Make the tempering by heating the ghee and sauteing the cumin seeds and chiles for 1 min. Mix all the other ingredients and pour the tempering over it. Garnish with cilantro.

Enjoy cool Apple-Cucumber koshimbir with rotis and subji.

This Apple - Cucumber Koshimbir goes to the A for Apple event at Ramya's Kitchen.