Showing posts with label Baked. Show all posts

Stuffed Potato Skins

Crispy potato, crunchy green Capsicum, punchy tomato sauce and oozy mozzarella cheese. That’s what this whole blog post it about.

I’ve never baked a potato. Or rather, until last week, I had never baked a potato. And now that I have, I feel I’ve opened a door with many many possibilities.

This recipe is a result of entering a competition that asked contestants to cook with 5 ingredients – Potato, Tomato, Capsicum, Cheese and Olive Oil. You couldn’t leave out an ingredient.

I thought of a few options but decided I really wanted to stuff something. Stuffed capsicum or stuffed tomato may be? But when I mentioned stuffed potato skins, I saw Raj’s eye light up. It’s no secret he loves Potato. That was it then – Baked Potato Skins.

Now there is a lot you can do with these Potato Skins, I myself had a dozen ideas, but then I was restricted by the competition rules. Not that I regret that, they were AWESOME just like that.

These little boats to taste-bud-heaven have some lightly stir fried capsicum and an easy-to-make awesome INSTANT super punchy tomato sauce. Apart from the 5 ingredients mentioned above, all you need is oregano or any pizza seasoning, garlic, salt and loads of pepper. This sauce goes amazingly well with pasta and pizza. So increase the quantity and freeze it for rainy days if you wish.

Step one: Crisping up the potato skins. You want them crisppyyyy:

Wash and scrub those potatoes clean. This is how you build muscles working at home. Exercise for today – DONE. Dry them and rub olive oil all over them. Watch out for those slippery ones that go bouncing all over your counter. Use a fork and prick them all over.

Bake them for 1 hour at 200 C of 400 F. In the meanwhile, move on to steps 2 & 3 and come back to one later.

Step two: Making the AWESOME Tomato sauce.

Chop those tomatoes roughly and fry along with some garlic in a pan with some olive oil. Once the tomatoes are soft, add in the oregano, salt and pepper. If you are like me, pepper == lots and lots of pepper.

Blend it into a coarse sauce. This is a thick sauce. If you plan on using it for pasta, you may want to thin it a little.

Step three: Crunchy crunchy Capsicum.

Chop the capsicum into small pieces. Stir fry in some olive oil until it is slightly cooked. Don’t let it mush up. Sprinkle some salt and keep aside.

Step one again: Crispy skin dreams come true here.

Once the potatoes have cooled enough to handle, slice them lengthwise into half. Using a sharp edged spoon, scoop out the potato gently. Leave around ¼ inch or 0.5 cm of potato still in the skin so it holds it’s shape. Brush generously with olive oil on the inside and outside. Rub some salt.

Now bake it skin side down for 5 mins @ 220 degree C and then flip them over and bake again for 5 mins until the skins are crispy.

Step four: Let’s get the cheese BUBBLING

Assembly is all that it left before oozy cheese. Spoon in the capsicum and the sauce. Then grate over some mozzarella or any stringy melty cheese. This is what my food dreams are made of! Back into the oven for 4-5 mins until the cheese melts and it all bubbly.

Step five: Finish them off immediately!!!

Let’s face it, step five isn’t really a cooking step, but it is the most important step in the process.

I did not use the scooped out potato in this recipe. You can stuff it back in. I used it up to make some buttery Aloo Paratha.

Stuffed Potato Skins

Baked potato skins stuffed with an instant tomato sauce, fried green Capsicum and Mozzarella cheese.

Recipe Type: Appetizers / Snacks
Cuisine: International
Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Yield: 6 skins

Ingredients:

3 large Potatoes
2 Tomatoes
1 Capsicum
2-3 Tbsp Olive Oil
5-6 Tbsp Mozzarella Cheese
2 Garlic Cloves
1 tsp Oregano
1-2 tsp Pepper
Salt to taste

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 degree C.
Wash, scrub and dry the potatoes.
Rub with olive oil and Ppick them with a fork all over.
Bake in the oven for 1 hour.
Heat 1/2 Tbsp of Olive oil and add crushed garlic and chopped tomato to it. Cook until the tomatoes have become soft and mushy
Add salt, pepper and oregano. Mix well.
Allow it to cool and then grind to a coarse sauce.
Heat 1/2 Tbsp of Olive oil and fry chopped capsicum in it.
Slice the potatoes lengthwise and with a spoon gently scoop out the potato. Leave at least 1/4 inch of potato with the skin.
Rub olive oil and salt on the inside of the potato and outside.
Increase the temperature of the oven to 220 degree C.
Bake the potato skins in oven for 10 minutes, turning the potatoes after 5 minutes.
Remove the potatoes from the oven and when they are cool enough to handle, stuff them with capsicum, tomato sauce and top with cheese.
Bake for 4-5 minutes until the cheese has melted.

Roasted Chickpeas with Spices

I miss last week. It was a short week with a long weekend and I was on vacation. Being back at work is soooo boring. I’ve barely had the time to cook anything this week. It’s been work all the way. But I did make this crunchy yummy spicy roasted Chickpeas. Who knew they were so easy to make at home, and here we were spending money to buy the packaged version at super markets. Not gonna happen anymore, na ah.

I started off with dried chickpeas, you can use canned if you are short of time. Dried just results in more prep time but the cooking time is hardly different. It only involves soaking the chickpeas overnight and then pressure cooking them for like 10 mins max. I cooked them until they were just about done, just one whistle in the pressure cooker. Mushy ones will not work well, but hey, mushy chickpeas make good Hummus. So waste nothing my friend.

I always soak a little more than required, as leftover chickpeas can always be used to make this amazing flavor packed salad. Recipe found here - it is perfect for an evening snack.

The best part about this recipe is you can customize it to suit your taste. I added cumin or jeera powder and garam masala. You can add all sorts of things like chaat masala or curry powder. It’s all up to you, after all, YOU are the chef.

Roasted Chickpeas with Spices

Chickpeas marinated in spices and baked in the oven

Recipe Type: Snacks
Cuisine: International
Prep Time: 8 hours (Including soaking chickpeas)
Cook time: 90 minutes (Including boiling chickpeas)
Yield: 2 cups / 1 tin

Ingredients:

1 cup dried or 1 tin Chickpeas
1 Tbsp Olive oil
1 tsp Cumin/Jeera powder
A pinch Garam Masala
1 tsp Red Chilli powder
½ tsp Turmeric powder/ Haldi
Salt to taste

Method::

If using dried chickpeas, soak them for 8-10 hours in water.
Drain out the water.
Take enough water to cover the chickpeas in a cooker, add 1 tsp of salt in it and pressure cook it until they are just done. I cooked them in a pressure cooker for 1 whistle. This may change depending on your cooker and the amount of water. You can cook it in a sauce pan as well, but it may take longer.
Once they are done, drain out all the water and place them on a kitchen towel and pat them dry.
If you are using tinned chickpeas, here is where your work begins. Drain and wash the chickpeas and dry them on a kitchen towel.
Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celsius.
Mix the dry chickpeas with the oil and the spices.
Place them on a baking sheet in one layer and bake for 45-60 mins until they are nice and crunchy. I baked for almost 60 mins, but I started checking on them after 45 mins, you don’t want to burn them.

Eggplant Pizza

Yessss..... you heard it right.. rather you read it right - Eggplant Pizza. An awesome combination of grilled eggplants with a hearty tomato sauce and loads of cheese.

And guess where am I blogging from? Ooty - the queen of hills. We've been holidaying here over the long labor day weekend. After the heat and thunderstorms of Bangalore, we needed a good weather break. And Ooty lived up to its promise, ah! what weather. Mild sunlight with a slightly chilly air. Perfect!!! This is how summers should be.

Ooty from Doddabetta

We started early on 1st and reached here after a 7 hour long fueled by some healthy Med Veg sandwiches and packets of processed junk food. What fun is a road trip without loads of food, right?

We are staying at the Willow Hill on Havelock road - the hotel is high up on the hill and offers some beautiful views.

On friday evening, as we went to the market to stock up on some homemade Ooty chocolate - dark with nuts, rum & raisins, fruit and nuts etc etc, we also made it a point to eat at the Sidewalk Cafe (it featured on Highway On My Plate - I absolutely love the show). We had french fries and a Chettinad pizza. The place did not live up to its expectations :( I was not so fond of their food.

On the way from Doddabetta

Saturday was total touristy day. We went pedal boating at the lake full Maine Pyar Kiya style singing Dil Deewana... Only the yellow shirt and saree were missing. We almost trekked up to Doddabetta after deciding to park the car pretty low. The hour long traffic jam on our way back was a blessing in disguise, it gave me plenty of time to stock up on fresh vegetables that was being sold on the street side. Expect a yummy salad recipe soon :)

Fresh vegetables on the roadside

Next stop was Botanical gardens - it looked like a fair was going on, I think there were at least 200+ ppl in there. Rain interrupted our sight seeing and sent every one running for covers.

But before that, we managed to get a few clicks...

India Map at Botanical Garden

Beautiful flowers at Botanical Garden

Let's get back to the blog post - Eggplant Pizza.

It did not really start off as it ended up eventually… Sis has been after me to make Eggplant Parmigiana for her after she read the recipe somewhere…

Grill the Eggplant Slices

On the day she enjoyed her pot luck, I thought I would make it and use hubby dearest as the guinea pig. But I don’t know if the lords of food listened or turned a blind ear to me, I could not find fresh basil or parmesan anywhere nearby. So I decided to go with dry basil and use the processed cheese I had at home. Instead of making the layered parmigiana, I settled for individual starter sized pizzas.

Spread the sauce

They are so easy to make. They cut out the calories of the carb filled bread and add freshness to the food - plus they take so little time to make with so few ingredients. And if you skip the semolina, it is gluten free too.

Oooo... cheesy

Eggplant Pizza

Pizza made with Eggplant as the base and topped with homemade tomato basil sauce and cheese.

Recipe Type: Snacks
Cuisine: Italian
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Yield: 7-8 Pizzas

Ingredients:

1 large Eggplant /Bharta baingan
2-3 Tomato
1 Onion
2 cloves Garlic
1 tsp dry Oregano
1 tsp dry Basil
1 tsp Pepper powder
2-3 Tbsp Olive oil
½ cup Cheese(grated)
2-3 Tbsp Semolina / Bread crumbs (Optional)
Salt

Method:

Slice the eggplant into 1cm thick slices and grill on a hot tava/griddle with litte oil until they are soft and done.
Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a kadhai and add chopped onion, garlic and oregano. Fry until the onions are translucent.
Remove the seeds of the tomato and chop the tomatoes. Add this to the kadhai and cover and cook on low flame for 12-15 mins.
Add salt, pepper and basil and fry for another 2-3 mins.
Allow it to cool and then blend into a fine sauce.
Preheat the over to 180 degrees Celsius.
Place the eggplants on a baking sheet, spread the sauce on them.
Add the grated cheese.
Mix 1/2 tsp of oil with the semolina and sprinkle on top of the eggplant. This step can be skipped.
Bake until the cheese melts or for 10-12 mins.

Baked Bread Rolls

I am blank! Just like a paper.

There are times when you want to write but you don’t know what to write. It is called a writer’s block. Most of the times I am blank, but not about writing, but about cooking. What is that called? Cooking block? Chef’s block? Cooking lunch and dinner is pretty easy for me.

I am a chapatti/roti lover so most days it is chapatti with some vegetables that are there at home. But I hate thinking about what to make for breakfast. And then start the calls. I call up my mom and my sister and ask the same question “What should I make for Breakfast?” and I get the same answer “Please don’t ask me, I’m confused too” :(

May be the women in office face the same issue everyday too. The women’s association in office started an online competition for quick and healthy breakfast recipes. I was extremely excited, I thought with at least the 200+ women in office, I’ll get many recipes. I, myself, submitted the recipe for my oats idlis. I must say though, that competition did not do much more than flooding my inbox with emails. I barely got any new recipes. Some were not healthy, some were not quick, some I would not even call breakfast. I did win the third prize though :).

I got the idea for this breakfast recipe when on a hungry weekday evening we went to a tiny shop to eat Vada Pao and Break pakoda and my sister remarked that she prefers break roll. The idea stayed in my head and from that seed grew a tree, that tempted me to make bread rolls. As I have mentioned before, I try to avoid deep frying, so I baked it. I stuffed with a combination of potato, carrot, cauliflower, spices and cheese. Stuff it with anything that takes your fancy, the bread is your stage… :) You can have it as a snack with nice hot cup of tea on a rainy evening….*slurp* or as a breakfast.

Definitely, a kid friendly recipe. I can vouch for that. What’s not to like? Bread, potatoes and cheese :) The only suggestion I have is: have it hot, it loses its crispness once it is cold. Dunk it in some cool mint chutney or some tangy ketchup. Or like us, just have it on its own. But have it, for sure :)

Baked Bread Rolls

Bread stuffed with a vegetable mixture, rolled and baked to make a roll.

Recipe Type: Snacks/ Appetizer
Cuisine: International
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 60 minutes
Yield: 12 rolls

Ingredients:

12 Bread slices
2 small or 1 large Potatoes
1 Carrot
1/4 – 1/2 cup chopped Cauliflower
1 small Onion
1 Green chilli
1-2 cloves of Garlic
1 Tbsp Coriander leaves (chopped)
2 cubes or 3-4 Tbsp Cheese (Grated)
2 Tbsp Butter
½ tsp Cumin seeds
3 tsp Oil
½ tsp Turmeric powder / Haldi
A pinch of Garam Masala
A pinch of Dry Mango Powder / Amchur
Salt
Water

Method:

1. Boil and peel the potatoes. Mash them roughly.
2. Finely chop the onion, garlic, carrot, green chilli and the cauliflower.
3. Heat oil in a pan, add the cumin seeds.
4. Once the seeds brown, add the onion, chilli and the garlic.
5. Once the onion is slightly browned, add the carrot and cauliflower.
6. Cover and cook until the vegetables are done. They should still have a bite in them, don’t overcook them.
7. Add the spices and the mashed potatoes and mix well.
8. Add the coriander leaves.
9. Remove from heat and keep aside.
10. Cut the edges of the bread slices.
11. Using a rolling pin flatten out the bread.
12. In the center of the flattened bread, add a spoonful of the mixture and the cheese.
13. Wet the sides of the bread and join them.
14. Apply butter on the roll from outside
15. Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celsius.
16. Place the rolls on a cookie sheet in one layer and cook for 10 mins.
17. After 5 mins, flip the rolls.
18. Depending on the power of your oven you may need to keep it in for more or less time.
19. It should be crisp and golden brown.

P.S: Don't throw out the edges. You can use it to thicken gravies and soup. You can also use it as a binding agent in tikkis and patties. For a soup which uses bread edges, watch out for my next post :)

Baked chapati chip | Baked wholewheat nachos

Chips are irresistible, and of those, I love Nachos. Loaded with beans and cheese or with simple guacamole, they are simply my favorite kind of chips. I made these cause I really wanted to eat nachos. I searched far and wide for masa harina, the flour from which tortillas are made in Mexico. But nobody carries it here. In fact, I cannot even find makki ka atta in Bangalore to make makki roti :( So I stuck to what I had. I always have chapatti atta at home. Chapati is essentially Indian flatbread that resemble tortillas. You can deep fry the chips or bake them. I baked them and they turned out crisp and equally tasty. And incidentally I had a nice ripe butterfruit / avocado in the fridge to make some yummy guacamole. 1 chapati makes around 25-30 chips.

Baked chapati chip | Baked wholewheat nachos

Baked whole wheat chips/nachos

Recipe Type: Snacks
Cuisine: Mexican
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Yield: 75-100

Ingredients:

1 cup Whole wheat flour/ atta (This may make 3-4 chapatis)
Whole wheat flour for dusting
1 tsp Olive oil per chapati
A pinch Salt
Water

Method:

Take the whole wheat flour in a large bowl. Add water by the tbsp. and start kneading. Knead until you get a soft smooth dough. The dough should not be shaggy and stick to your hands.

Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.

Take a small lemon sized dough ball.

Dust the counter surface with whole wheat flour and roll out the chapati as thin as you can. I suggest making a fresh chapati instead of using a leftover one. You can use leftover dough though.

Heat a tava/griddle on the gas stove, reduce the flame once the tava is hot. Put the chapati on the tava and cook until small bubbles appear on one side.

Flip the chapati and cook on the other side.

Remove from heat. Allow it to cool for 5 mins.

Cut into triangles.

Place on a baking sheet. Do not let them overlap each other. Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle the salt.

Bake for 6-8 mins until browned and crisp.

Enjoy with guacamole or salsa.

Eggless Butter Cookies

“Sometimes me thinks, what is a friend?

And then me say.

Friend is someone to share last cookie with.”

~Cookie monster

How true is the wisdom of the little Muppet called Cookie monster. We should share our cookies with our friends, but when cookies are as tasty as these butter cookies, sharing becomes really really difficult. I am an absolute cookie/biscuit lover. Ah! The pleasure of dunking a biscuit into tea or milk. As kids, we could eat up entire packets of biscuits in a single go. My sister recently remembered that there was a time when she was given tea but there were no biscuits and she was confused on as how to have tea without any biscuits to accompany it. This was apparently the reason why my mom ended up restricting out biscuit consumption to 4 a day. My love story with cookies has come a long way now, instead of just eating them, I’ve moved on to baking them.

I saw some awesome cookie recipes recently and really wanted to try them out. But they all contained eggs, and as I am an eggless baker I had to improvise. I did take the basic recipe and modify it a little to come up with what’s below. Previously, when I made cookies, I added some leavening agents to it. The difference here is, there is no leavening agent whatsoever. This makes the cookies crisp and they don’t end up being cakey. The only advice I have is do not skimp on the butter. The butter is essential to give the cookies their correct texture.

Eggless Butter Cookies

"Light and crunchy Butter Cookies made without using Eggs"

Recipe Type: Dessert
Cuisine: International
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 2 Hours (Considering 6 batches)
Yield: 40-50

Ingredients:

120 gms unsalted Butter
80 gms Sugar (powdered or icing)
30 gms Corn flour
120 gms Flour / Maida
½ tsp Vanilla essence
½ tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Milk

Method:

The butter needs to be very soft. I left it out on the counter overnight.

Preheat the oven to 170 degree Celsius.

Add the sugar and salt to the butter. Start with around 60 gms and then add more depending on the sweetness of the sugar and your taste. I like my cookies sweet and the sugar I had was very mild, so I used up all the sugar.

Beat/ whisk it until it is almost 4-5 times the volume. This will take around 10 mins with a hand mixer.

Sift the corn flour and the flour together.

Add the flour in 3 additions to the butter mix along with the vanilla essence and milk, and beat until just mixed. Do not over-mix this.

Line a cookie sheet with butter paper.

Fill the cookie dough in a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe out swirls.

Space them at least 1-1.5 cm apart as they will flatten and spread out while baking.

Bake for around 13-15 mins until the sides of the cookies are slightly brown. Mine took 14 mins. Wait for around 5 mins and then move them to a wire rack as they are very fragile when you remove them from the oven.

The recipe made many many cookies :) Somewhere around 50 (I really did not count) but I have a tiny oven and I had to pipe out 6 batches. Don’t be overwhelmed by the number and decide to cut down the recipe to make less, cause they are sooo delicate and melt-in-your-mouth cookies that you won’t even realize where the 50 or so just disappeared :)

Notes:

I made 4 batches of regular butter cookies. To the remaining dough I added 2.5 tbsp of dried desiccated coconut. If you plan to do so, add a little more milk, else the dough becomes very hard and difficult to pipe. You can top it with dry fruits like raisins or almonds.

Spicy Cauliflower with Tzatziki (Yogurt Sauce)

We Indians love our gobi / cauliflower, especially in North India. But our Gobi Manchurian is a favorite all across the country. While cauliflower tastes great when deep fried, it actually tastes equally awesome when baked. I’d never eaten baked cauliflower, but this recipe called out to me. So easy to make and also, so quickly it disappears.

The original recipe I looked up is from here.

I modified it with the spices I had available. The fragrant Indian spices go very well with the versatile cauliflower.

Tzatziki is a Greek yogurt dipping sauce. The coolness of the sauce complements the spiciness of the cauliflower.

Spicy Cauliflower with Tzatziki (Yogurt Sauce)

Cauliflower marinated with spices and roasted in the oven. Served with a cucumber and yogurt sauce.

Recipe Type: Snacks
Cuisine: Indian / Greek
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes
Yield: 4-5 Servings

Ingredients:

Spicy Cauliflower:

1/2 head Cauliflower
1 tsp Garam Masala
1/2 tsp Red chilli powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Cumin powder
1/2 tsp Coriander powder
1 Tbsp Kasuri Methi
6-8 Curry leaves
3 Tbsp Olive oil
3-4 cloves Garlic
Salt to taste

Tzatziki:

2 Tbsp Yogurt / Thick curd
1/2 Cucumber
3-4 cloves Garlic
1 tsp Olive oil
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
Salt to taste

Method:

Spicy Cauliflower:

Wash and dry the cauliflower head and cut it into bite sized pieces

Mix all the spices, crushed garlic, salt and olive oil in a large bowl

Add the cauliflower and mix well, let the spice mixture coat the cauliflower

Preheat the oven to 220 degree celsius

Bake for around 20-25 mins until the cauliflower is crispy

Serve hot with tzatziki

Tzatziki

Peel and chop the cucumber into rough pieces
Blend all the ingredients until it is fine
Serve this dip with the cauliflower or bread or chips

40 minute Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes

It was Saturday morning and hubby dearest and my sister’s birthday. Both are currently turned off by big creamy cakes L. So I had all savoury items planned, but fate intervened and we had to change all our plans L . We could all just meet up for breakfast. No cake, no elaborate lunch menu… was enough to get me all upset (They were somehow fine L). But I’m no quitter, so I decided whether they like it or not, I will go ahead and bake cake for them, only I baked tiny little cupcakes so it wasn’t too much cake but still there was something special. Luckily, both seemed to like it. I usually bake cakes for evenings or nights, when I have all the time in the world to take things slowly. My first time baking for breakfast, and I had to be quick. So I made these simple 40 minute chocolate cupcakes with things easily available at hand. I hope you enjoy making these when you are starved for time.

40 minute Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes

Eggless chocolate cupcakes with choco chips baked in 40 minutes

Recipe Type: Dessert
Cuisine: International
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Yield: 8

Ingredients:

3/4 cup Whole wheat flour (atta) / Plain flour (maida)
1/4 cup Cocoa powder
¾ tsp Baking powder
A pinch Baking soda
1/2 cup + 3 tsp of Sugar
1/2 cup Milk
1 Tbsp Vinegar
½ tsp Chocolate / Vanilla essence
1/4 cups Vegetable Oil
1 Tbsp Water
2 Tbsp Choco chips

Method:

Sift the dry ingredients together i.e. the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda at least twice. I used whole wheat flour. This can be made with plain flour too.

Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius

Add the vinegar to the milk and set aside for 5 mins

Add the oil and 0.5 cup sugar to the milk and whisk until the sugar has dissolved

Add the chocolate / vanilla essence

Add the dry ingredients and the water and whisk for 3-4 mins. Add more sugar if needed. I felt the 0.5 cups was not sufficient so I added the remaining 3 tsp. If you add sugar now, whisk for about 3-4 mins.

Add the Choco chips and mix

Line the cupcake tray with liners and spoon the mix into them.

Bake for 20-22 mins until done. Mine took 22 mins.

Almond Chocolate Brownie (Eggless)

I absolutely LOVE, LOVE and more LOVE these Eggless Almond Chocolate Brownies. They are chocolate-y (Oh ya!) to the core and they have crunchy Almonds, what's not to love?

How to make eggless almond chocolate brownie recipe at www.oneteaspoonoflife.com

I'm definitely a chocoholic at heart, soul, fingers and toes. I've never been able to resist a good piece of chocolate. Dark, Milk, White, I'm game for any type of chocolate. All that talk of chocolate is enough to make me wanna crave one this instant. I wonder how people save their chocolate for later. As for me, if I know there is a chocolate around the house, I can think of at least 10 reasons why it should be in my mouth and not on the shelf.

I'm also totally NUTS about nuts. I'm always stocked with Almonds, Cashew nuts, Pistachios, and sometimes Walnuts. They are the best in-between-meals snacks I can think of. I carry a handful in my bag all the time to munch on in the bus.

They say chocolate is good for you, they say nuts are good for you, I say these Almond Chocolate Brownies are really good for you. May not be calorie wise but spirit wise, big Thumbs up!! Nothing like an awesome brownie to raise your spirits and make you feel like you are flying high up in the sky.

Everyone has their favorite brownie recipe. This recipe is mine. These Eggless Almond Chocolate Brownies have become a birthday regular for me. I've made it twice in a row now and I'm still amazed how something so easy to make can be so wonderful in taste.

One would think Brownies are for kids, but I feel the older I get, the more I want them.

This recipe makes cakey brownies that are not sickly sweet. The semi sweet dark chocolate (my favorite kind of chocolate) gives this Brownie that slight bitter darkness and not making it sickly sweet. I'm not really a fudgy sweet brownie kinda girl.

This recipe is eggless aka vegetarian, however, it is not vegan. The condensed milk replaces the eggs as the wet ingredient. If you can find vegan sweetened condensed milk, then you can make these brownies vegan. To make these brownies, I recommend buying good quality cooking chocolate. If you cannot find it, you can use any dark chocolate bar that has more than 50% chocolate (70% is better).

I've used wholewheat flour in the brownie, you may replace it with all purpose flour or maida.

Remember not to aerate the batter too much, else, you will end up with a chocolate cake and not a brownie. Also, do not over mix the batter, you will get a tough brownie.

If you liked this, you may also like:

40 minute Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes - Super quick eggless cupcakes.
Almond Cookies - Almond cookies made with 75% wholewheat flour.

Almond Chocolate Brownie (Eggless)

Eggless chocolate and almond brownies

Recipe Type: Dessert
Cuisine: International
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 60 minutes
Yield: 9

Ingredients:

1.25 cups Whole Wheat Flour(appx. 160gms)
2 Tbsp Corn Flour
1.5 tsp Baking Powder
0.5 tsp Baking Soda
150 gms semi sweet Dark Chocolate
2 Tbsp Powdered Sugar / Icing Sugar
0.5 tin Milk Maid
50gms Unsalted Butter
0.5 cup Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
10-12 Almonds

Method:

Sift together the whole wheat flour, corn flour, baking powder and baking soda at least twice
In a pan, put in the dark chocolate, broken into pieces and until the chocolate melts.
Add 0.25 cups of milk to improve the consistency. Stir well to get a smooth sauce and keep aside to cool.
Cream together the butter and the sugar in a bowl. Whisk it for around 3-4 mins.
Add the milkmaid, vanilla essence and the dark chocolate and mix well until combined.
Add the flour in parts and mix well.
Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.
Grease a shallow square pan and dust it with flour.
Pour the batter into the pan and sprinkle chopped almonds over it.
Bake for 45-50 mins.
Serve with chocolate sauce, ice cream or with Love.

Wholewheat Tomato & Basil bread

I often miss having the Mediterranean veggie sandwich at Panera bread for lunch. Since we don't have any Panera Bread's out here, I cannot enjoy their tomato and basil bread. Which is what set me on a path to create my own. I found several recipes on the net, but I modified them to suit me. I am not so keen on cooking with maida(flour) so I use atta (whole wheat flour) more often. I also had no parmesan cheese as the recipes asked for. Also, I added the oats and the fennel just as an experiment which worked successfully. This was a yummy breakfast today morning with oodles of butter....

Tomato & Basil bread

Before first rise

After first rise

After baking

Crust & crumb

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour / Atta – 1.5 cups

Oats – ½ cup

Tomato – 1

Basil leaves – 10-12

Fennel seeds / Saunf – 1 tbsp

Olive oil – 1 tsp

Active dry yeast – 1 tsp

Red chilli flakes – 1 tbsp

Tomato ketchup – 1-2 tbsp

Water – ¼ cup

Salt – ½ tsp

Method:

Puree the tomato and mince the basil

Warm the water and dissolve the yeast in it

Add the tomato puree, basil, crushed fennel seeds, red chilli flakes, tomato ketchup, oats and salt and mix well

Add the flour and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. I kneaded for around 15 mins.

Grease a vessel with olive oil and place the dough in it. Turn the dough so that it is covered in oil. Cover the vessel and allow it to proof for 2 hours or until doubled in size.

Knead again for 1 min and place in the loaf tin or the baking sheet and allow it to rise for another 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 240 degree Celsius.

Bake for around 20-25 mins.