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.

Potato-Spinach-Cottage Cheese Parathas

These parathas are adapted from Saffron Hut. While we all love the stuffed paratha, my daughter is not particularly fond of potato stuffed parathas, or potato anything for that matter, which is totally surprising and beyond me. Anyway, in order to get her to eat these, I adapted the recipe by including the potato in the spinach-cheese dough.

Here's how I make these parathas:

1 cup whole wheat flour (I use Pilsbury brand)

1 cup spinach leaves - roughly chopped

1/2 cup frozen shredded hash browns - thawed for 2 mins in the microwave

1/2 cup cottage cheese

Seasonings to taste - salt, sugar, cumin pwd, coriander pwd, red chilli pwd, chat masala.

Run the spinach leaves and cottage cheese thru a blender for a few minutes to get a smooth paste. Then mix it with all the other ingredients to form a dough. Add a little water only if needed. Let this dough rest for atleast 1/2 hr. Then roll into parathas. Roast on an iron griddle with a few drops of oil, until brown spots develop on both sides.

Serve with yogurt/ketchup/pickles.

These Potato-Spinach-Cottage Cheese Parathas go to the Dish it Out event at Mharo Rajasthan Recipes. This event was started by Vardhini.

Almond Cookies

These delightful cookies are very similar to the Walnut Cookies I posted some time back. I used the same proportions, except I sedd additional 2 tbsp butter and 3 tbsp brown sugar instead of white. The cookie dough was a little dryer/crumblier than before. But I could easily pat it into my baking pan.

The Almond cookies came out wonderfully crisp and delicious....not too sweet, with the dusted sugar adding a touch of extra sweetness.

These Almond Cookies go to the Almond Dessert Event at Anuz Healthy Kitchen. This event was started by Raven.

Avocado Chutney

I have adapted this recipe from Raghavan Iyer's 660 Curries. I loved the fusion of Indian and Mexican flavors in this chutney.

Here's how I make it:

2 avocados - chopped
1/4 red or sweet onion - finely chopped
1 tomato - finely chopped
1 tsp tamarind paste
1 tsp salt
1 green chile - deseeded and deribbed for lesser heat - chopped
1/2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
few curry leaves - finely chopped

Mix the avocados, onions, tomatoes, tamarind and salt in a bowl.

Heat the oil in a small pan, add the mustard seeds. When they stop spluttering, add the chiles and curry leaves. Take off heat and add to the avocado mix.

Mash lightly with a fork.

Serve this Avocado Chutney as part of an Indian meal or as a filling for wraps or alongside veggie quesadillas or any other way you can think of. Today we made a totally fusion meal out of this - I had some leftover rotis and cabbage-peas subji. I made "quesadillas" with these and we had the Avocado Chutney along with them.

This Avocado Chutney goes to Srivalli's Condiment Mela.

This Avocado Chutney also goes to the Life is Green event at Yummilicious Food.

Lasun Tikhat (Dry Garlic Chutney)

Lasun Tikhat is a great accompaniment to the everyday poli-bhaji (roti-subji) or varan-bhaat (dal-rice) as it adds a kick to any ordinary meal. You can also use it innovatively like atop butterred toast, in wraps, in vada-pav etc.This dry garlic chutney can be stored in an airtight container for 2 weeks at room temperature or even longer if you keep it in the fridge.

The dry garlic chutney, also called gun powder, available in stores is too spicy for our taste, this version suits our everyday needs better as it has a good balance of heat, salt and tang and a lot of flavor.

Here's how I make it:

1/2 cup dry shredded coconut
5 big cloves of garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp red chilli pwd
betel-nut size ball of tamarind (seeds and husk removed)

Roast the dry shredded coconut in a pan on medium low heat until lightly browned. Cool completely. Add all the other ingredients and grind in a dry grinder or coffee grinder.

Store in an airtight container.

This will make about 1 cup of Lasun Tikhat.

This Lasun Tikhat goes to Srivalli's Condiment Mela.

Fruit Tart

This is an incredibly easy dessert with a wow factor. I adapted it from Show Me The Curry. Here's how I made it:

1 roll of ready-made frozen pie crust

2 - 3 cups choice of fruits - I have used bananas, mangos and strawberries, all sliced thinly

For the glaze - 2 tbsp orange juice, 2 tbsp water, 1 tsp corn starch, 2 tbsp sugar, pinch of salt, pinch of orange zest

To make the crust - Thaw the pie crust roll per package instructions. Divide into 4 parts. Gently roll each part with palms to form balls. Roll each ball into a circle abt 5 inches in diameter, use some flour to dust while rolling. Bake the circles at 400F for 20 mins turning once in between. Cool before assembly.

To make the glaze - combine all the ingredients in a small pan and heat gently, whisking continuously till it comes to a gentle boil. Take off heat, cool before assembly.

To assemble the Fruit Tart - lay the fruit on the baked crusts, brush with the prepared orange glaze. Chill for 2 hours. Then cut into wedges and serve.

This Fruit tart goes to the Celebrate Sweets event at Raks Kitchen.

This event was started by Nivedita.