Egg Salad Sadwich

Egg Salad Sadwich 

Ingredients:

6 eggs
1/3 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
Pinch of pepper
1/4 cup green onion, thinly sliced
1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped
8 large lettuce leaves
8 slices whole-wheat bread

Method:

In a medium pot, place the eggs and fill with water. Bring the water to a boil over high heat.
Continue boiling for 5 minutes.
Turn off the heat and cover, allowing the eggs to rest for 5 minutes.
Pour off the water, and cover the eggs with ice for 5 minutes.
Peel the eggs and place them in a medium bowl.
Smash the eggs with a fork and stir in the yogurt until a chunky paste forms.
Mix in the lemon juice and pepper to taste.
Stir in the onion, celery, and dill until incorporated.
Toast the bread, and serve the egg salad on the 2 slices of bread with 2 leaves of lettuce each.

Chocolate Cake

Simple Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

240 ml cup used
2 ¼ cups sifted cake flour
½ cup cocoa powder
1 ¼ tsps. Baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter or 12 tablespoons (I used 180 grams)
1 ¾ cups sugar
2 eggs (I used 3 small eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla extract (I used scraped vanilla from pod)
1 ¼ cups ice water

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 170 C for at least 15 mins.
Grease and flour the pan with cocoa
Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. set this aside
Cream together butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
Add vanilla and mix in the eggs, one at a time
Add ⅓ flour and ⅓ of ice cold water. Repeat mixing till all the flour and ice water is finished
Transfer the batter to the greased pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Skewer inserted in the center of the pan must come out clean
Let the cake cool completely in the pan. Take care while you invert it else it can break

Raagi Cookies

Raagi Cookies

Ingredients:

¾ cup desiccated coconut / dried coconut
¾ cup ragi flour / finger millet flour (can use even ragi puttu podi for the best crust)
½ cup wheat flour or plain flour/ maida (if possible use unbleached flour)
150 grams unsalted butter
150 grams caster sugar
1 tbsp. Coarse sugar
1 to 2 tsp. Vanilla extract
1 small egg

Instructions:

Beat the butter and sugar till fluffy. Add egg and vanilla. Beat till well incorporated.
Add coconut, ragi flour and plain flour. Mix well. You will end up with a moist dough. Sprinkle the coarse sugar all over evenly and just mix it once.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 180 C for at least 15 mins.
Make balls and flatten them slightly on the baking sheet.
Bake these till done. Takes around 10 mins for me.
You can make ragi cookies in batches till you use up the entire dough.

Fruit Cake (Egg less)

Fruit Cake (Egg Less)

Ingredients:

6 inch or 9 inch pans work
To Simmer
90 grams of raisins
60 grams mixed dried fruits such as apricots, cranberries, prunes, figs including orange zest
200 ml hot water
To add after simmer
¼ tsp. Salt
1¼ tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla extract or essence
150 grams brown sugar
80 ml oil or butter
120 ml orange juice
¾ tsp. cinnamon, clove, ginger and nutmeg powder or 1 tsp. spice mix or extract
To fold gently
100 grams of chopped nuts (cashew nuts, walnuts, blanched almonds)
½ tsp. baking soda
220 grams wheat flour/atta or maida/ all-purpose flour

Method:

Mix flour and baking soda evenly or sieve it.
Chop the mixed dried fruits. Rinse them along with raisins to remove preservatives. Drain them completely to a colander. You can skip this step if you are using dried fruits free from preservatives.
Bring 200 ml water to boil, when the water is hot, add the dried fruits and raisins and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes. Off the stove. Set this aside to cool.
While the boiled mixture is still hot, add brown sugar, salt, lemon juice, vinegar, oil and vanilla extract. Stir well and aside to cool completely.
Preheat the oven to 170 Deg C. Add flour little by little and fold in gently. Add the nuts and fold again. Break lumps if you find any.
Pour this to the greased baking pan, bake for 25 minutes or till the skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Cool the cake for 10 to 15 minutes, invert it gently on a wired rack.
Cool it completely before you cut.

Bread Rolls

Bread Rolls

Ingredients
10 whole wheat bread slices
melted butter for greasing and brushing

For The Stuffing:

2 tsp oil
2 tbsp finely chopped spring onions with the greens
2 tbsp finely chopped capsicum
2 tbsp grated carrot
1/4 cup finely chopped cabbage
1/2 cup boiled whole wheat noodles , roughly chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped paneer (cottage cheese)
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp schezuan sauce
a pinch of sugar
salt and freshly ground black pepper (kalimirch)to taste

Method:

For the stuffing:

Heat the oil in a broad non-stick pan, add the spring onions, capsicum, carrots and cabbage and sauté on a medium flame for 1 to 2 minutes.
Add the noodles, paneer, soya sauce, schezuan sauce, sugar, salt and pepper and mix well. Keep aside.
How to proceed

Remove the crust from the bread slices and roll each using a rolling pin.
Place a rolled bread slice on a clean, dry surface and spread 1 tbsp of the prepared stuffing at one end of the bread slice and roll it up tightly.
Apply some water at the edges and press to seal the stuffing.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 to make 9 more rolls.
Place the rolls on a greased baking tray, brush little butter evenly on top of the bread rolls and bake in a pre-heated oven at 200ºc (400ºf) for 15 minutes.
Turn them over and bake again for 5 more minutes.
Serve immediately.

Black Grape Smoothie

Black Grape Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 cup chilled and chopped black grapes
1 cup chilled fresh curds (dahi)
4 tbsp sugar
8 ice-cubes

Method:

Combine all the ingredients and blend in a juicer till the mixture is smooth and frothy.
Pour equal quantities of the smoothie into 4 individual glasses.
Serve immediately.

Sunnundalu (Laddu)

Sunnundalu (Laddu)

Ingredients:

1 cup urad dal / minapappu
½ to ¾ cup sugar or jaggery
4 to 6 green cardamoms
¼ to ½ cup ghee

Instructions:

Wash urad dal in lot of water twice and drain it off in a colander.
Dry it on a clean cotton cloth. Spread it evenly and dry, pat it with the cloth to remove excess moisture
Immediately add it to a heavy bottom pan and dry roast till you get a nice aroma. Do not over fry or burn.
Cool it completely
Powder sugar and cardamoms to fine powder if using sugar. Transfer to a plate. If using jaggery grate it and set aside
Powder the dal, you can do it slightly coarse or smooth.
Mix the powdered sugar with powdered dal. if using jaggery add grated jaggery to the dal powder and blend well.
Heat ghee and pour little by little to the ground flour and roll them to balls.

Baby Corn Fry

Baby Corn Fry

Ingredients:

oil as needed
½ tsp cumin
1 tsp ginger grated or ginger garlic paste
¾ cup thinly sliced onions
100 grams baby corn or 1 heaped cup
½ cup cubed bell peppers or carrots
Salt as needed
Generous pinch of turmeric
1 sprig curry leaves or coriander leaves or methi or palak chopped finely
½ tsp pepper corn or garam masala powder
¼ tsp saunf / fennel seeds (optional)

Method:

Wash baby corn and trim off the edges. Chop them to desired sizes, thin slices or wedges or diagonally cut chunks will cook faster. For sandwich and kathi roll filling, chop to small bites.
Add oil to a pan and heat it. Add cumin, when they begin to splutter add fresh grated ginger or ginger garlic paste. Fry till the raw smell goes off.
Add onions and fry till transparent.
Add baby corn and capsicum, salt and turmeric. Fry for a minute.
Cover and cook on a low flame till the baby corn are cooked. If needed sprinkle some water, cover and cook.
If using garam masala skip this step. While the baby corn cooks, powder saunf and pepper corn.
When the baby corn is cooked, add curry leaves, ground powder.
Fry for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. When you begin to smell the spices good, switch off the flame.
Serve with rice and tomato rasam or with roti.

Oats Upma

Oats upma

INGREDIENTS:

(measuring cup used, 1 cup = 250 ml)
for roasting oats:
1 cup quick cooking oats, 100 grams
½ tsp oil
other ingredients:
¼ cup tightly packed finely chopped onion
¼ cup finely chopped carrots
¼ cup finely chopped french beans
¼ cup green peas/matar, fresh or frozen
7 to 8 curry leaves/kadi patta
1 tsp mustard seeds/rai
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
1 tsp chana dal/split and husked bengal gram
1 tsp urad dal (optional)
8 to 10 cashews/kaju or peanuts
½ tsp ginger/adrak, finely chopped
1 or 2 green chilies, chopped
1 to 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves/dhania patta
1.25 cups water
1 to 1.5 tbsp ghee or oil
salt as required

INSTRUCTIONS:

roasting oats:
heat ½ tsp oil in a pan. add 1 cup quick cooking oats.
stir and saute on a low flame till the oats become crisp. keep stirring continuously so that the oats do not get browned from the bottom. no need to brown the oats.
remove oats in a plate or tray and keep aside.
tempering and preparing upma:
in the same pan, heat 1 to 1.5 tbsp oil. add 1 tsp mustard seeds. stir and saute till the mustard seeds crackle.
then add 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp chana dal, 1 tsp urad dal (optional) and 8 to 10 cashews.
stir and saute till the chana dal gets browned.
add ¼ cup tightly packed finely chopped onions. stir and saute till the onions turn translucent.
next add ½ tsp ginger, finely chopped, 1 or 2 green chilies, chopped and 7 to 8 curry leaves. stir and saute for half a minute.
then add ¼ cup finely chopped carrots, ¼ cup finely chopped french beans and ¼ cup green peas, fresh or frozen. stir and saute for 2 minutes.
then add 1.25 cups water. cover the pan with its lid.
on a medium flame simmer and cook this mixture till the veggies are almost done. about 8 to 9 minutes.
then add the roasted oats. stir lightly.
add salt as required. stir very well.
then cover the pan again with its lid and on a low flame, steam the oats upma for 7 to 8 minutes.
once done, then add 1 to 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves.
stir and serve oats upma drizzled with some lemon or lime juice.

Carrot and Paneer Toast

Ingredients:

5 toasted brown bread slices
3/4 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup crumbled low-fat paneer
1 tbsp finely chopped tomatoes
1 tsp chopped green chillies
1 tsp chopped coriander (dhania)
1 tsp low-fat butter
salt to taste

Method

Combine the carrot, paneer, tomato, green chillies, coriander, butter and salt in a deep bowl and mix well.
Divide the Mixture into 5 equal portions.
Place one portion of the mixture on each toast and bake in a pre-heated at 150° c (300° f) for 5 minutes.
Serve hot.

Kids will love it and also its Healthy :)