Veggie Pasta Bake

This one goes out to my lovely Friend A, who had asked for this recipe ages ago.
We started out as colleagues , I still remember when I first saw her I thought she was newly wed bride, with full Mehendi on both her arms and looking gorgeous as ever.
We bonded instantly and were in the same team for only a year sadly after which we were moved to different projects.
But we still  keep in touch and used to meet up over lunch or Breakfast at office.
Now we are in different locations so kep in touch via the phone or chat.
We met up recently and took the ride on Namma Metro :) ... We need to meet up again, its been a while now.
She is such a warm and loving person and makes friends very easily.

Moreover she is a wonderful cook. (One of these days will be knocking on your door with a pen and book in hand to jot them down)
We guessed that from the samples we had from her lunch box, but got the full blast of it when she invited a bunch of us to her home for an Iftar feast during the holy month of Ramzan.
And OMG what a spread she had for us.
It was difficult to believe that she had prepared all that while observing the fast.
I tasted my first faluda that day ....
Every dish was YUMMM...

So here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked pasta (I used spaghetti, cooked as per pack instructions with a pinch of salt and some pepper. Any pasta can be used)
1 onion - medium size
2 tomatoes
7-8 cloves of garlic
3-4 Green chillies (If you can take the heat, else reduce to 1-2)
1TBSP Butter
Salt to taste
3-4 tsp Oregano + little extra for seasoning while baking
2 tsp Chilli Flakes (Avoid if wary of heat)
4 cubes of Cheddar Cheese (40g) - Grated (I used Amul)

For the White Sauce:
The ratio of Plain Flour/Maida:Butter:Milk is 1:1:10
So if your taking one small measure of Flour take the same measure of butter and 10 times milk(can dilute the milk with water as well, i.e. 5 measure of water and 5 measure of milk).
I played around with the ratio for the right consistency and used
2 TBSP Butter
2 TBSP Flour
1C of Liquid (1/2 C of Milk and 1/2 C of water)


Preparation:

White sauce:
Heat the butter in a pan, once its melted add the Flour in small amounts and stir around till the raw smell goes (do not wait for it to brown).
Now add the milk little by little and keep stirring to avoid lumps.

Mix well on low heat and let it come to boil.
Once its nice and smooth, you can add 2 block of grated cheese (Optional) 
Mix it well turn off the heat and remove from the stove top.

Creating a rough Tomato sauce:

Saute the garlic and onions in 2 TSP of butter till they turn transparent (do not allow it brown)
Now add the chopped tomatoes and mix everything together.
Close the lid and let it simmer for 5-6 minutes till the tomatoes are nice and tender. Keep checking to avoid burning.
Once the tomatoes are done add the chili flakes and oregano. Salt to taste

Grease an oven proof dish (Used borosil) with some butter on all sides and the bottom.
Layer the tomato sauce first.
Place a portion of the cooked pasta.
Top with white sauce.
Repeat this till you've used up all the elements.
The top most layer should be the white sauce, enough to cover the pasta on all the corners.
Sprinkle 2-3 cubes of grated cheddar cheese if you wish

Bake in a pre - heated oven at 180 degrees for 15-20 minutes or till the top turns golden brown.

Veggie Pasta Bake

That's the cheese on the top as I felt lazy to grate it, I just tore it up to small bits and spread over the top.

I came across some Lasagna sheets recently during our monthly grocery shopping, cant wait to try it out .

Microwave Carrot Cake

If I said this was the tastiest carrot cake I've ever had, i wouldn't be wrong (not only because this was my first ;)) , and that too in the microwave in just 12 minutes!!!! Can you beat that!

I tried this out during the winter when lovely fresh carrots were available.

Recipe adapted from Cooks.com

3 eggs  (I used only 2)
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. flour
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves (I did not use this)
2 1/2 c. grated carrots (4-5)
3/4 c. chopped nuts  (I toasted the nuts for about a minute and half ,till they were golder before adding them. Oh BTW i used cashews. Used a mixture of cashews and raisins.)

close up view. you can see the lovely specks of carrot,raisins and nuts

In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla. Blend in flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves. Fold in carrots and nuts. Pour into 12 cup microwave bundt pan. Microwave high (100%) 12 to 14 minutes, rotating 1/4 turn every four minutes. Rest 10 minutes.Loosen sides and center; invert on serving plate.
I server it as it is without any frosting.
If you live in a country with access to cream cheese you can try the frosting given in the site.

MW Carrot Cake

All in all it was a lovely cake and no-one can tell that it was baked in MW. The texture is just right and its carroty and nutty.
We didn't find the offensive eggy smell either , i think the Cinnamon did the trick, if I had added the cloves as well it would have given it a very nice christmassy feel, like the Christmas plum cakes.
This is just PERFECT with a nice hot cup of tea/coffee, curl up on the sofa with a nice book in hand...aaahhh life is good!

Next time will take decent blog worthy pics :).


Notes:
Since Cinnamon is not a commonly used spice in desserts at home so I did not have cinnamon powder handy.
I placed a 1/2" piece cinnamon stick in the blender/mixer jar along with sugar and powdered it.Adjust the cinnamon according to your liking as it has a very strong flavor and can be unpleasant if gone overboard.

Crunchy Peanut Buttons

I just LOVE Ria's blog, Ria's Collection.
She has a great collection of recipes in her blog which i am sure all are familiar with after all she is our Vanitha Pachakarani 2011 :).
I have also tried her Biscuit Pudding and that's a keeper for sure....yummmmm .. do check it out.
Super simple to make and super duper tasty!!!
Also what I really liked was her prompt replies to my queries. When I first tried these out it was not a smooth ride and she really helped me lot!!!!! Thank you so much for that
These are my first ever home baked cookies ,so they very special :)

I followed Ria's recipe with just some minor adjustments for the benefit of baby S.
Also used lesser quantity as me n cookies do not have such a good history :D ... but I guess that's changing now...
Next time planning to follow Ria's measurements and maybe store half the dough in the fridge and use when required? Not sure, will post if I ever try that.

Adapted from Ria's Collection

Ingredients:

Wheat flour-1/2 C

Butter -1/2 C (make sure it's at room temperature) or enough to bind the ingredients together

Powdered sugar- 1/2 C

Peanuts ( without the skin) -1/2C -- i roasted them in M/W for around 3 minutes before using them

please excuse the poor picture quality - taken from my phone :(

• Roughly powder the nuts in a mixie.This makes it crunchier, but as I was making them for the baby i powdered them a little finely.
• Mix all the ingredients together and form 1/2 lime sized balls and flatten lightly with your hands or with a fork.
• Place them on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 180 degrees for 15 mins.(mine took around 20 mins, will depend on the oven temperatures i guess)
• They might be soft, but will harden once cooled.
• Store in airtight tins.

And as she promises these are highly addictive.
Im afraid i will have to bake a fresh batch for my lil one as all the grown up kids(us) are finding it really hard to keep their hands off this :D 
Maybe i will finally find my misplaced camera's connection cable and be able to take decent pictures of them.... Wish me luck.

Baked Bread Pudding

A must try for every dessert lover!!!!!!

Very simple ingredients and an absolute ripper in taste.
My mom had read/seen this recipe somewhere and she passed it on.
Not very accurate instructions were recieved as she did not note it down anywhere (humph), something for which I m always behind her :D , however we did some experiments on our own and everyone @home loved it..including the lil one!!!! yay!!!!!
So here goes:

Ingrediants:

8 Slices of Whole Wheat Bread (again I do not think the original recipe called for whole wheat bread. This is just part of the whole "Healthy" thing going on @home)
1 tin of condensed Milk
1 cup of boiled Milk (can use low fat)
Butter and Sugar : Enough for the 8 slices
1/4 cup of roasted Nuts to garnish (i used cashews)

Method:

Now this part is really what I came up with, we have no idea how it was originally intended.
I buttered the bread lightly (no-one in my family needs any more fat than we already have ;P, but the more butter more the flavour).
Spread some sugar in a plate and place the buttered side of the bread down so that it gets covered with sugar. Repeat for both the sides.
Now heat a non-stick pan and palce the bread pieces on this till the sugar is caramalized to a golden brown. Keep a close watch to avoid burning. Caramalize both the sides.
Repeat for all the eight slices.
Now place these bread pieces in a pudding dish. Mine could hold just 4 slices , so I got 2 layers with the 8 pieces. Better to use similar dishes or if using larger increase the bread pieces.
Pour the boiled milk over the slices.
This will get absorbed by the slices and some get mushy whereas the others still resisit where the caramalisation hit hard :)
Place in a pre-heated oven at 160 for 20-25 mins till the top gets a golden brown.
Garnish with the nuts!!!
Tada!!!! THE most irresistable dessert is born.
You just cannot resist from taking seconds.

Chocolate Chip Cookies for the lil one

My 2 year old is frequently asking for biscuits these days which prompted me to bake some cookies at home for him, to provide a healthier option.
This has oats,whole wheat, apples what more can a mom ask for..........can avoid the choc chips for toddlers though, dont think they need a chocolate addiction this early on (cant see how he wont be a chocoholic seeing his mother ;))

Followed this recipe ,minus the essence, and he loved it!!!
though it did not come out as I expected it to, was expecting a crunchy cookie like the ones we get in the market, but going through various blogs I have come to realise that these are expected to be chewy.
Never the less they were delicious and a keeper for sure :)
Tarla Dala's Recipe
Ingredients
1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
2/3 cup whole wheat flour (gehun ka atta)
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup grated apples
4 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
Method
1. Combine all the ingredients except the chocolate chips in a bowl and knead into a dough.
2. When it is ready, add the chocolate chips and knead the dough lightly again.
3. Refrigerate the dough for 15 to 20 minutes and divide it into 12 equal portions.
4. Roll out each portion into a round and flatten it between your palms to make a circle of approximately 6 mm. (¼") thickness.
5. Place on a baking tray and bake in a pre-heated oven at 160°C (320°F) for 25 to 30 minutes or till the cookies are golden brown.
6. Cool completely and store in an air-tight container.