British Scones - Valentine's Tea Snack

When we were young, growing up in India and reading all those British novels, Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie or Anne Mather, there was always mention of afternoon tea with scones, and I remember salivating with Fatty, Larry, Pips, Bets and Daisy of the Five Find-Outers when one of their mother's whipped up scones and biscuits for tea. Always wondered about it - Then moving to the US, I encounter biscuits, a tradition of the South which I dislike I was hoping to like scones a  bit more. In 2005 we traveled to New Zealand and we had "scones" Found them too dense and super filling - like dense all purpose flour packed together with butter. One of the best vineyards they said, but still did not cut it for me. Until my friend decided to make these for tea on her birthday. They were full of layers, and truly delicious with the fresh cream and jam she served it with. They were still filling, but wonderfully so.  Which got me thinking…Hmm, I could try to make these. So I scoured the net for an "authentic" scone recipe and found the simplest one I could find and tried it the "propah" British way. This is a recipe I put together after reading through many and it allowed me the option of making them eggless.

What with my heart shaped cookie cutter, it was so appreciated by my girls and family.

What better treat for a great Valentine's Tea?

To make abut 10 Scones

Ingredients
1 cup of self-rising flour +2 tbsp
1/4 cup of cold butter (pinched)
2 Tbsp of castor sugar
A pinch of salt
3/4 cup of milk (divided)

Method
Pre-heat Oven to
Spray cookie sheet and keep ready
Mix flour, salt
(Keep butter refrigerated until ready to use like when making pie crust)
Pinch/cut the butter into the flour and mix just until gravelly like bread crumbs
Add the sugar
Follow up with water - use only enough to make a slightly wet and sticky batter
If you are going to, add your cranberries/blueberries or nuts at this point
Sprinkle the two tbsp of flour, one at a time, and roll the dough gently to get a soft yet non-sticky batter
Pat down with hands or roll lightly with rolling pin to about an 1-1/2 inch thick batter
Cut with cookie cutter and place on cookie sheet
Bake for about 10 minutes
Should be rise but soft and flaky!

Serve warm with butter/whipped cream/Jam and of course a steaming cuppa tea or chai

Enjoy and Happy Valentines Day to all of you. May you be loved always.

Bhel Puri - Simple Indian Snack

Happy New Year to all my blogging mates. I have become a rather whimsical blogger since summer of  13 - but life, as it is won't to do, has been giving me a lot of lateral challenges and has made sure I am busy, one way or another.

A round up of the highlights of 2013 for me
First 5 months - working with my son on college applications, essays - working as in being on his case to complete tasks in a timely manner; blogging, jogging and getting physically fit for

1. wedding in the family and wonderful family reunion
2. graduation of my son and preschooler (lol) 
3.  helping my 11th grader make course selections for school
4. an idyllic summer with the family  
5. my new venture at the local market 
6.  new beginnings - one to college, and one to elementary school
7.  an unforgettable trip to Spain and San Fran
8.  trying to get my children's story critiqued by the powers that b
9.  Such fun cooking classes - my first venture
10.  Cooking, baking and super duper winter holidays that have alas come to an end now

New Year Resolves

To pray and love more, eat less - chocolate at any rate :);
To write more on my blog and other stuff
Be good about my Yoga and exercise, if my achy breaky joints will allow me
Be a better guide and role model to my kids
A more supportive wife for my hubby
Travel to a new part of the world
To be happy with all the blessings I already have been given.

A super response to my Facebook photo of the sumptuous lunch from Sunday has encouraged me to kickstart my blogging for the year with this fun and delicious snack which can become a meal, based on how much one consumes :)

For my Firangi friends, Bhel-Puri is a typical roadside snack in Mumbai and Maharashtra which is of course now as pervasive as french fries and can be had in any part of India.

Priya's Bhelpuri - serving 6

Ingredients

1) 16 cups of puffed rice
(A little dope on this - Puffed rice is available in all indian stores under the name of MURMURA - In tamil, Muru Muru means crunchy - the stuff gotten in these packets are not that and most always tend to have a stale smell to them,  just because it is the nature of the beast -short shelf life. But the best way to crispin and drive out the staleness is to set your oven to 250, spread the rice kernels in a cookie pan patted down in one layer and heated for about 5-7 minutes. This does wonders, believe me!)

2) 1 large purple onion (that would be pink for the not so color savvy) chopped finely

3) juice of 1 large lemon to be mixed into the chopped onions

 4)  FOUR medium sized red potatoes boiled and chopped into cubes and mildly salted

5) 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro

6) Sev -I made mine own so I will give you the recipe here - a tough call if you do not have the press- store bought is okay,  Haldiram's sev is recommended

 7) Peanuts a handful

Scroll down for chutney recipes

keep all ingredients separate in bowls as shown below

For chutney #1

1 tablespoon of tamarind paste
1/4 cup of water
I tsp sugar
a pinch of salt
2 tsp of Sriracha sauce
a pinch of cumin (entirely optional)

Mix in all ingredients together and keep

For chutney #2
1/2 cup of free yogurt
1green chili
1/2 cup of fresh mint leaves
pinch of salt

Blend into smooth paste

Quick Sev

1 cup of besan flour sifted
1/2 cup of rice flour
1-2 tsp of salt (taste to see if you need more)
1/2 tsp of asafetida
3 tbsp melted butter
1 tablespoon thyme seeds 1 tsp of  whole black peppers soaked and ground in 1/2 cup of water
Mix all the dry ingredients so salt is evenly spread into the flour
Add the butter and knead it in
Grind soaked ingredients and strain through fine filter into the flour
The batter should be flow-y not dense, at the same time not watery (yes, this takes finesse and practice)

Fill the press(I usually spray non-stick olive oil into the hole so the batter sees out smoothly)
heat the oil and press away.

NOTE: although it seems highly procedural and a lot of work, it with practice takes probably 1/2 hour - only about as much time as it takes to run to the Indian store to get the sev - so I say why not make mine rather than settle for store bought -

RECOMMENDATION - I would suggest that until you want to take that step into making  your own sev, store bough will do just fine!

My local friends - please don't say I will just come and have it at your home -  I know you are perfectly capable of making this just beautifully, on your own - so please give it a shot :)

Now you have the puffed rice and all the ingredients ready

Take your plate or should I say like a true Maharastrian -tek your plet and add the bhel first, followed by the potatoes, the onions, sauces, sev and cilantro in that order - stir them together and eat :)

Hope you've enjoyed the first recipe of the year - I have a few more aces up my sleeve and I will share them with you soon

Love and peace to all.

Deviled Eggs for Easter

Here we go again - One more Avant Garde recipe for the cookies  and this one is a simple yet delicious picnic, breakfast or anytime snack idea ..... if you like eggs - Deviled eggs are taking boiled eggs to the next level of yum with some Mayonnaise, at the risk of be redundant - egg on egg - iykwim!
Add some pepper to it and voila - a perfect pop-into-your-mouth hors d'oeuvre! The idea presented itself when my little one came back home with some painted boiled eggs she made at school.

Method

1. Boil the eggs hard
2. Cut in two halves
3. smear with Mayo
4. Top with freshly ground pepper 

Eat

Happy Happy Easter to all and safe Spring Break

Will be back with some jams soon

Homemade Nachos

In this weeks post for Avant Garde Cookies,  we are trending Mexican foods and I was running late with my post and decided to keep it simple - I had bought these awesome jalapeño infused tortillas.
I cut them up in triangles and fried them to make some really tasty and delicious tortillas -Now that you know it can be as simple as that, give it a shot the next time you buy soft tortillas. For those who prefer to make their own tortillas from scratch, you can fry them directly - but i think the pre-made ones serve this purpose well - A quick fix dish to serve with you favorite salsa -here is a recipe for a neato salsa or bean dip

Adios Amigos

Cardamom & Pistachio Cookies

These should ideally be called the everything-in-it cookies.

After yet another looooong haitus, here I am back in a holiday mood with a cookie recipe. It was also for a friend’s son whose birthday. If one knows the basic requirements to make a cookie, like flour and baking soda, oil etc, then one can get creative with cookies and make them as healthy or decadent as one wants it. I had experimented with Giada’s pumkin and Raisins oatmeal cookies and they were a hit even with my little lassie, so I ventured on to try a similar cookie with several new and interesting ingredients. My little one offered a cookie to a lady who took her pictures and my son’s senior pics and I just got an email from her with compliments on the cookie and a recipe. So this one’s for you Melody J Most of these ingredients are dispensable or changeable depending upon what’s available in your kitchen and what you like in your cookie. And with those caveats in place, let’s check out the recipe.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Bake time 15-18 minutes

Makes about 25-30 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 tbs coconut powder
• 2/3 cup rolled oats
• 3 tbsp quinoa flakes
• 3/4 cup turbinado raw sugar
• Zest of 1 clementine
• 1 tsp lemon extract
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 cup of chopped dates
• 1/2 cup of raisins
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• 1/2 cup veg oil
• 1/4 cup chopped pistachios
• 3 tbsp milk 

Method

1. Set oven to 350 F
2. Grease couple of cookie pans
3. (parchment paper –optional)
4. Mix all the dry ingredients nicely
5. Throw in the nuts and the dry fruits
6. The proceed to add the oil, milk and maple syrup
7. This should make a thick nice consistency – you may add additional spoons of milk should you find your mixture too thick.
8. Either with your hands or with a tablespoon, drop small amounts on to the prepared cookie sheet an inch apart.
9. Cook for about 5 minutes –
10. Open oven and pull out the cookie sheet
11. With a flat spatula gently press down on the cookies – they will have melted just enough at this point for your to shape them
12. At this point sprinkle some sugar on top of each cookie
13. Put them back in the oven and cook for the rest of the time
14. Each oven varies so please keep a watch on the cookies and if you see their underside getting browned that is a good time to remove them
15. Cool on rack and enjoy with friends and family  These will make great holiday gifts and don’t forget Santa – a personal and delicious one.

Enjoy and I will try to be back more holiday recipes soon.

Nutella Cookies

My first post for Avant Garde Cookies this month was a challenge - to make a dish with 5 ingredients or less - now as an Indian, you will know we use a lot of ingredients to make our food and I was turning a few recipes in my mind, including the raita I posted last ... But as luck would have it, my yoga teacher posted this cookie recipe with 4 ingredients and I was jumping with joy - Yes!!!!!! There is my post for the event :) A recipe from My Tasty Kitchen

Simple and delicious Nutella Cookies -Makes about 22- 8 minutes to prepare and 8 minutes to bake and voila!

Ingredients

• 1 cup nutella
• 1cup all purpose flour
• 1/2cup of sugar
• 1egg

Method

1. Heat oven to 350 F
2. blend all 4 ingredients together 
3. Make 1 inch balls 
4. Flatten with the base of a cup
5. Bake for 8 minutes

Goes to Avant Garde Cookies -Check out the other AGC thoughout this week 
Anusha, Jayanthi, Kavitha, Radhika, Veena, Priya S, Roshni

Lavender Blueberries Muffins

This was a second treat I made in anticipation of my Zumba miss - Another no show,  I guess she had her reasons and her commitment to me did not figure at all in her list of priorities but the disappointment nor the slight irritation at being stood for the 4th time cannot be trivialized. However, my wonderful family was as always quite welcoming of this treat.
But they filled up the room with the most pleasing aromas and I was happy for a chance to use my lavender buds.
 I got the general idea for the recipe from a website called Wiki - I like the fact they'd used small amounts of oil as opposed to butter, because this gave me the option of using olive oil.


Here is the recipe


Ingredients as given in the Wiki but with some key modifications

• ¾ cup Sugar
• 3 cups unbleached Whole wheat flour
• 2 tbsp.baking powder
• ½ tsp.salt
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 ¼ cups milk
• 1 tbsp. Freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tbsp. Finely grated lemon zest
• 2 tsp. dried cooking lavender buds (1 tbsp. Fresh)
• 3 large eggs beaten
• 2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

For Lavender Sugar

1tsp of lavender buds

3 tbsp of sugar

grind in a coffee grinder together and set aside for sprinkling on top of the muffin, if desired.

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 F degrees. Combine first four dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the lemon juice with milk and let stand for 5 mins. Add the rest of the wet ingredients including the lemon zest, lavender and blueberries to the milk and lemon juice mixture. Gradually stir wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until all dry ingredients are moistened. Bake 25–30 minutes. Cool completely before removing from pan.


Serve warn with tea!

Cashew-Pistachio Coated Sweet Potato-Paneer Sandwiches

Ahhhh! I know the name is a mouthful!! sorry about that :(
This recipe came about by sheer chance - We've made a habit now of having steamed sweet potato dinners - they are the best kind of carbs to eat and are touted to be the healthiest veggie. We LOVE it, luckily and I have been trying to get my little one to like it too - but she is too smart for just steamed, so my sweet hubby, who I have mentioned on several occasions is a fabulous cook too. He decided to cut the sweet potatoes into 1/2 inch rounds and roast them with the smallest amount of olive oil - He added a dash of curry powder and some salt and it tasted outtsight - I had made some paneer for her and after she'd eaten most of it, she said enough - I popped the sweet potato and the paneer in my mouth - Oh boy was the combo deadly! I decided I had to make that for the rest of us - and that's exactly what I did - In my zeal, I made more than I should've - so the next day, I improvised some more - added some spinach, lima beans all leftovers from the previous day- added a dash of sambar powder and that made for another excellent self-contained meal - I will blog it next - So please try it and let me know how you like this combo -

Prep time 30 making time 30
This includes steaming the sweet potatoes and coating them in the cashew pistachio,masala.

4-6 steamed sweet potatoes
a fistful of cashews and pistachios
2tbsp curry ma powder
salt and pepper
3 roasted red chilies

Preparation
Grind all these into a coarse-fine powder
Cut the sweet potatoes into 1/2 inch circles
Put them in the powder mic and press and roll the sides and flip over and press down again to fully coat them
In a shallow pan, spray some olive oil spray and roast until both sides are a happy golden crisp - Some of mine got a bit darker, but they were remarkably tasty even so.
In the same pan, roast the paneer - you have cut these into 1/2 inch cubes as well - once they are a nice brown, remove from pan - I added some salt and curry powder -

Serve hot.

Papineberry Juice

This is an adaptation of a recipe that was presented in the Dr. Oz Show last week which gives a great kickstart to the day. It contains all the goodness of papaya, pineapple, blueberries, kiwi, flaxseed meal, a dash of ginger powder and a little sage to make it aromatic, this drink will have you hit the ground running.

Ingredients
1 cup papaya
1 cup pineapple
1/2 cup blueberries
1kiwi
2tbsp flaxseed meal
3leaves of sage
2tsp of ginger powder
1tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup of ice cubes
1cup of water

Grind them into a flowing shake and drink up and let me know what you think :)

Plum Kuchen - Celebrating Friendship

 So... this recipe has been in my files for almost a year - when I first met my beautiful Argentinian friend, Fla, who I do love dearly - She and I work together on other stuff and hit it off from day one - Although we are both a bit feisty- she more than me - something clicks and I've enjoyed having her in my life - She brings with her a familiar warmth and affection - very typical of Indians - where we are not afraid to feel or show that we feel - she shares the same wonderfully close relationship with her family and children that most of us Indians tend to with ours and there was not a moment when we felt any awkwardness in the relationship -
She was supposed to be a guest on my blog and share with me some Italian/ Argentinian recipes - She is of Italian origin. But we've had a deadlock about the interview part - I did what I have done with my other interviewees - sent her questions to answer about herself - She does not type these out and send it to me, instead, in this day and age of technology, wants me to physically take notes and paraphrase for her - Now for people who blog, you know how much work even putting out a recipe with pictures is - I held my ground that her answers would b typed by her and sent to me and I would post verbatim - The deadlock continues, but I gave her the heads up about posting some of the recipes she made for me - The first of the recipes that I absolutely LOVED was this plum cake - for Kuchen is nothing but "cake" in German.
Today was to be a special occasion - You see, I have 3 Anitas in my life who have enriched it a lot - My "french" friend whom I've known for almost 10 years now, who is as I write, hanging in Melbourne (so jealous), - She also introduced me to Fla whose cake I blog today; my fabulous baker friend Anita Gupta who has been a guest on my blog whose website, Maliha Creations is a sight for sore eyes.  And the third Anita, a UVA grad (soon to be) who teaches Zumba at the university - My Tuesday and Thursday nights were my most anticipated because she as my daughter rightly wrote, set the floor on fire and gave us all the most fabulous workouts - She may think I'm way over the top in my adoration of her, but she is truly an inspiration and I do love her a whole lot!
This last one was the one who was to come over today and the cake was made in her honor - But being a busy student trying to wrap up her undergrad program, she had to bail out of coming today - I am saddened by the thought that she will no longer be teaching here :( - c'est la vie - all good things do come to an end, mostly...no? But I must make the cake again for when she comes over -

I also want to celebrate all the beautiful friends I have made since writing this blog - so many great women out there - I celebrate you today as well -

But my thoughts go back to Fla who is away in Arizona, to attend her son's graduation - So I am dedicating her cake to that special event in her life - And a friendly word to her - Get back soon, woman- we have work to do!  As for Zumba Anita, a fresh cake in your honor is being planned :)

Ingredients

½ cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup all purpose flour

1tsp baking powder

1 lb of red plums

Fresh lemon juice to squeeze over the cake before baking

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350

Butter a 9 inch pan (I used pyrex)

Cream butter and sugar

Add eggs 1 at a time

Then the flour with the baking powder

Mix until it s a creamy batter (don’t over mix)

Spread batter into the pan - NOTE - This batter is quite thick and will spread sort of thin in the pan

Cut the plums into halves or quarters depending on the size

Place them over the batter in rows

Sprinkle with 2 tbsp of sugar and add the lemon juice

Bake for 30 minutes on a regular oven not convection

Using pyrex glass can speed up the process

Do the toothpick check 

Enjoy mes amies, until the next post

This is off to BAKE FEST, Event hosted by me, started by Vardhini

Linking this to Divya's Showcase your dessert event