Eggless Dates Pancakes

I like pancakes and I am a great fan of IHOP pancakes. Whenever we go there, our first choice would be the soft and fluffy pancakes. Today I thought of making pancakes for breakfast. But I wanted to make something different. I had a box of dates and thought of making pancakes with them. I am happy that my experiment came out good and we enjoyed the breakfast. Its a simple recipe , I have used wheat flour and its eggless too. Hope you too will enjoy this healthy breakfast.

Eggless Dates Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 cup Wheat Flour

10-12  pitted Dates

1 cup Milk

1 tsp Baking powder

1-2 tbsp Sugar or to taste

1/4 tsp Salt

Oil

Soak the dates in 1/2 cup luke warm milk. (I put the dates in milk and kept for 45 sec in microwave.)This helps to make the dates soft. Keep aside for 10 minutes. Then put in a blender and make a smooth paste.

In a bowl, add the dry ingredients- wheat flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.  Mix well. Now add the dates paste to this and slowly add rest of the milk. Mix well. Since the dates paste will be a little thick, you may have to adjust the consistency by adding extra milk or water (I added about 1/2 cup water) .The batter shouldnt be too thick or too thin. Mix until the batter is smooth without any lumps. 

Heat the pan. Lightly grease with oil or butter. Pour a ladle of batter on the pan. The bubbles will start forming on the top and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Then turn to other side and cook for another minute or so.Both the sides should be brown.

Serve hot. Drizzle some honey on top.

Eggless Dates Pancakes

Notes:

*You can add some chopped dates in the batter.

Sending this to the Breakfast Club-Pancakes event at  Krithis kitchen, an event intiated by Helen.

and also to the Breakfast mela @ Cooking for all seasons , an event by Srivalli.

Sweet and Spicy Wheat Kozhukattai

Kozhukattai is a popular south Indian snack which are usually prepared using rice flour. The best part is that they are steamed and hence a healthy snack not just for kids, but for everyone. Yesterday I tried them with wheat flour.I made both the sweet and spicy ones. There are many versions of kozhukattai. I used some poha as well for the filling which is completely optional.So here goes my recipe...

Sweet and Spicy Wheat Kozhukattai 

Ingredients:

1 cup Wheat flour

1/2 cup Poha ( optional)

1/2 cup grated Coconut

Ghee/Oil

For Sweet Kozhukattai:

1/4 tsp Cardamom powder

1 tbsp Cashews and Raisins

Sugar to taste

For Spicy Kozhukattai:

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

1/2" pc Ginger, finely chopped

3-4 Curry leaves, chopped

2 small Green chillies, chopped

1 tbsp Cashews

1 tsp Oil

Salt

Dry roast the wheat flour for few minutes, maybe about 3-4 minutes. When its cooled, sprinkle some ghee/oil and add salt.Now make a dough using this like how you make for chapathi by adding water.Keep it aside.

Wash the poha, drain and squeeze out the water. Keep the poha aside.

For sweet filling : Mix half the coconut, half the poha, cardamom powder, sugar, cashews and raisins. Mix well and the sweet filling is ready. If you want, you can sprinkle some ghee too.(I omitted that.)

For spicy filling: Heat oil in a pan. Splutter mustard and cumin seeds. Add ginger, green chillies, curry leaves and cashews. Saute for a minute. Now add the rest of the poha and coconut. Add salt and mix thoroughly. Remove from heat and keep it to cool.

Make small balls out of the dough. You can roll them out into small flat discs using rolling pin or using hand. I did this with hand and it will be easy if you apply some oil on both the hands when you do this. Keep the filling inside, fold them and make into any shapes as you like. I made 2 different shapes to distinguish sweet and spicy ones. (The shapes didnt come very good though.. ;-) )

Once they are ready for steaming, put them in a steamer. When the steam starts coming out, reduce the flame to medium. Steam for 5-8 minutes. 

Into the steamer..

Enjoy both the sweet and spicy kozhukattai !!

Notes:

*You can use jaggery instead of sugar for sweet kozhukattai.

*Poha is completely optional. But spicy version might taste good with poha.Also, adjust the coconut accordingly if not using poha.

*Its better to make very thin flat discs from dough.

Sending to the CBB Series#3 - Evening Tiffin event at Tickling Palates

Strawberry Double Delight

Strawberry ice creams and milkshakes are my favorite from childhood. When I was a kid, I was so much fond of them that I didn't bother to have any other flavor for a long time. Yesterday was a Strawberry day :). I made both milkshake and yogurt smoothie.Its perfect for summer days. Its getting very hot in many places and hope you can be refreshed with these....!!

Strawberry Milkshake and Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie

Ingredients:

Below ingredients are for a single serving.

Strawberry Milkshake:

3-4 Strawberry

3/4 cup Milk

1 tbsp Condensed milk(optional)

1-2 tbsp Sugar 

Strawberry Milkshake

Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie:

3-4 Strawberry

1/2 cup Yoghurt

1/2 cup Water/Milk

2-3 tbsp Sugar 

Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie

The method is same for both.

Slice the strawberries into 3-4 pieces. Put them in a blender.

Add 1/4 cup milk (milk or water in case of Smoothie) into the blender and blend until there are no strawberry piece left.It should be a smooth paste.Now put all the remaining ingredients and blend well until smooth.

Serve chilled.

For both, please adjust the sweetness according to your taste.

Notes:

*You can add Vanilla or Strawberry ice cream for Strawberry milkshake.

*You can use Honey instead of Sugar in both.

Sending to the Food Palette Series-Pink event at Torviewtoronto

and to Seasonal Indulgence:series Summer Coolers event at SaffronStreaks



and to Healthy Summer event @ Kurinji Kathambam



and to Fun N Sun event at Tickling palates

Vegetable-Egg Casserole with Soya chunks

I came to know about this great recipe at Show me the curry website. Myself and husband became a great fan of this  dish and we make this often. This is a simple recipe where you have to layer everything in a baking dish and then simply bake it. It's like a one pot meal, but only thing is you have to bake for 45 minutes. So plan a little bit, bake it ahead of your breakfast/dinner time and you can surely enjoy at your meal time. The original recipe can be found here.I always try to do variations from the original recipe.

Yesterday, I tried in a different way again. Actually, this was mine as well as my husband's idea..and a combined effort  in the kitchen from both of us. So half the credit goes to my husband :). We added soya chunks in this and it made the dish more tastier. We just loved it. It came so good that I couldnt wait to share with you all.

Please note: I used a 1.5 qt glass baking dish. This will serve 2-3 people.

Vegetable Egg Casserole

A Slice with a Smile...

Ingredients:

4 slices Bread

3 Eggs

10-12 Soya chunks

1/4 cup Onion, finely chopped
1/2 of a Tomato, finely chopped

1/4 cup Capsicum, finely chopped

3/4 cup Milk

1/2 cup Salsa

1/4 cup Cheese

Salt

Pepper

few strands of Coriander leaves, finely chopped

I used some spaghetti (cooked and strained) as a layer.This is completely optional.

Ingredients

Egg mixture

Boil 1 cup water in a vessel. Add soya chunks and a little salt. Let it boil for 5 minutes.Remove from fire and keep it covered for 10 minutes. Drain the water and allow them to cool. Squeeze out the water from the soya chunks and keep them aside.

In a bowl, add the eggs, milk, salsa, coriander leaves, salt and pepper. Mix it well and the egg mixture is now ready.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Apply oil on all sides of a 1.5 qt baking dish.

Make the bread slices into cubes and place them on the bottom of the baking dish. You will get about 2 layers of bread. Now sprinkle the onions, tomatoes and capsicum on the bread. Slightly mash the soya chunks and put them over the vegetables.Now add the spaghetti as the next layer.

Layering in the baking dish.Just before adding cheese and egg mixture

Sprinkle cheese on top. Pour the egg mixture into the baking dish.Gently press on the top and sides so that the egg mixture passes through all the layers till the bottom. Bake it for 45 minutes.

After adding cheese and egg mixture

Once baked, take it from oven and let it remain so for few minutes. Cut it and serve with salsa. You can have them without any dip also  as its extremely tasty. Enjoy the casserole.

Notes:

*I used store bought Salsa. You can use homemade salsa.

*I didnt add any green chillies as the Salsa was Hot.

*You can replace Soya chunks with meat.

Sending this to the Breakfast mela @ Cooking for all seasons , an event by Srivalli.

Pasta Upma

I wanted to try Pasta upma from a long time, but somehow didn't happen. Today morning I was wondering what to cook for breakfast. There was no rush in the morning as its a weekend, so I could relax. I thought I will try something new and decided to cook this upma. I cooked it  similar to most other upma. It turned out really good.

Pasta Upma

Ingredients:

1.5 cup  Pasta (I used Whole wheat Rotini)

1/2 cup Onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup Vegetables of your choice (I used corn,carrot,beans and peas)

1/2" pc Ginger, finely chopped

2 Green chillies, finely chopped

3-4 Curry Leaves

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds 

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds 

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder  (optional)

1 tbsp chopped Cashews (optional)

Coriander leaves for garnishing

1 tsp Oil 

Lime (optional)

Salt

Ingredients

Cooked Pasta

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain the water and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds followed by cumin seeds.

After they splutter, add curry leaves. Add the cashews and fry until they turn slight brown.

Add green chillies, ginger  and saute for a minute.

Now add the onion, turmeric powder and saute until the onion becomes transparent.

Add the vegetables. If you want, you can add a little water to cook the vegetables.

Cover and cook until the vegetables are cooked well.Add salt.

Finally add the cooked pasta and mix thoroughly so that pasta gets all the flavor.

If you want, you can squeeze half of a lime to the upma.Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serves 2-3


Enjoy the Pasta Upma hot...!!!!

Pasta Upma

Finally, I would like to thank Shobha @ Food Mazaa to share this lovely award !!!!!

Sending this to the Kids Delight event hosted by Mina , an event started by Srivalli.

and also to the Breakfast mela @ Cooking for all seasons , an event by Srivalli.

Bread Laddu

My son gets bored of the evening snacks very soon. So I try to prepare something different and colourful. Like many other kids, its difficult to get "I liked it" signal from him :). So I have to "invent" some quick snacks which I know most of you are also doing.Initially I used to make this laddus with bread, sugar and coconut. I used to make tiny balls so that its easy for him to eat and when my hubby asked me what is the name of the dish, I thought and I named it Bread Laddu :). My kid just loved it. Yesterday I made it by adding grated carrots , dates and  raisins, even my hubby liked it too.This is a quick snack which the kids will surely love. No cooking needed.....mix everything and make laddus in few  minutes.

Bread Laddu

Ingredients:

4 Bread slices

1/2 cup grated Carrots

1/2 cup Coconut

1/4 cup Sugar (Add sugar according to your taste)

2-3 tbsp chopped Dates and Raisins

Honey (optional)

Cut the brown edges of the bread. I used frozen coconut. So I thawed it by keeping in microwave for about 30 seconds. Kids may not like the taste of the raw carrots. So I slightly cooked them in microwave for about 45 seconds to 1 minute.

Take each bread slice and make small pieces by hand. Put them in a bowl. Add the carrots, coconut, sugar, dates and raisins. Mix everything well. The moistness of the coconut and carrots will help to form something like a dough. Now make small balls out of it. Your sweet delicious laddu is ready. Drizzle some honey on top.

Makes about 7-8 medium size laddus

 Notes:
*You can add chopped nuts too.
*You can try making this using jaggery instead of sugar.
*If you use sweet bread, it will be much better.

Sending this to the Kids Delight event hosted by Mina , an event started by Srivalli.

and also to the CBB Series#3 - Evening Tiffin event at Tickling Palates

Cracked Wheat Pongal and Awards !!

I love Pongal because its simple to make, quick and very nutritious too. Whenever I am lazy to cook, I make this dish.I just need to put everything in the pressure cooker and then I can relax for sometime...a healthy dish will be ready in minutes :) . Less work means I am also happy ;-) I add lots of vegetables too which makes the pongal more healthy. I made the Cracked wheat pongal exactly how I prepared Oats Pongal. So the explanation is almost same for both, just made few modifications.. :-D

Cracked Wheat Pongal

Ingredients:

Cracked Wheat- 1/2 cup (I used Bulgur, medium coarse)

Moong dal - 1/2 cup

Vegetables - 1/2 cup of your choice (I used carrots, corn, peas, beans)

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Curry Leaves - 4 to 5

Pepper Powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Asafoetida - a pinch

Oil - 1 tsp

Water - 4 cups

Coriander leaves - few strands chopped

Salt

Cracked Wheat -Bulgur

Wash and drain the moong dal.

Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add the cumin seeds. When they finish popping, add curry leaves.

Add the pepper and saute for a few seconds. Now add the cracked wheat.

Roast the cracked wheat for a few minutes at medium heat, maybe 2-3 mins.

Now add the moong dal and saute for a minute. Add the vegetables and mix well.

Finally add the water, salt , asafoetida, turmeric powder and coriander leaves.Mix well.

Pressure cook for about 2 whistles.

Serves 2-3


Finally I would like to thank Jyothi @ The Weight Watcher to share the awards with me. I am so happy because this is the first time I am getting an award. Thanks for remembering me Jyothi and for passing the awards.

Baked Vegetable patties

I love baking and like to bake whenever deep frying is required in recipes. So we can enjoy the baked version without worries of oil or calories. If you want to try a different sandwich using vegetable patties, try this recipe. The vegetable patties are baked than deep fried. You can either make sandwiches using them or serve them as cutlets also. Adding oats is optional, but I love oats and it makes the patties more healthy.

Sandwiches using baked vegetable patties

Ingredients:

1/2 cup onion chopped

1 cup vegetables of your choice ( I used carrots, peas, corn, beans)

1/4 cup oats ( I used Quaker oats, old fashioned) 

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2" piece ginger chopped

2 green chillies chopped

3 bread slices

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp garam masala

few Coriander leaves chopped

1 tsp oil

Salt

Dry roast the oats in a pan for few minutes. It should be slightly brown and should emit good aroma.Keep aside the roasted oats.

In the same pan, heat the oil. Add the cumin seeds. When they splutter, add the ginger and green chillies. Saute for a minute and then add onions. When they turn slight brown, add the vegetables. Cook covered for a few minutes.When the vegetables are cooked, add the chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala and salt.Finally add chopped coriander leaves. Mix well and transfer to a bowl.Allow it to cool.You can mash the vegetable mixture slightly once cooled.Check for the salt and chilli for the vegetable mixture at this point.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F. Now add the roasted oats also to the bowl.Dip the bread slices in water and squeeze the water out. Add these to vegetables-oats mixture in the bowl. Mix thoroughly. Now make small balls out of it and make the patties in the shapes as you desire.

Line a baking tray with aluminum foil. Apply a little oil on all the sides of the patties. Transfer them to the baking tray. Bake for about 15-20 minutes. Flip to other side in between. They should get brown on both sides.

Make sandwiches with these patties or serve them like cutlets with tomato ketchup or Mint chutney.

Make about 4-5 medium size patties.

Baked Vegetable patties/Cutlets

Sending this to the Kids Delight event hosted by Mina , an event started by Srivalli.

and also to the CBB Series#3 - Evening Tiffin event at Tickling Palates

4 minutes Oats Payasam

I wish all of you a very Happy Vishu. Vishu is celebrated by the Keralites and it is regarded as the Malayalam New year day. Even though we are in US, we celebrate this occasion without fail. I wanted to prepare something special and different today. We frequently eat oatmeal. So I had an idea in my mind and thought of making a quick Oats payasam.It was a trial and it came out perfect.

This payasam is so easy that it takes less than 5 minutes for preparing in the microwave...isnt it super quick? Ofcourse yummy too.I did this similar to how I made Cracked wheat payasam, main difference is I made the oats payasam in microwave. Hope you also enjoy this special payasam. It makes a quick dessert for special occasions.

Oats Payasam

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Oats (I used Quaker oats, old fashioned)

1/2 cup Jaggery powdered

1 cup Water

1/4 cup Coconut milk

1/4 tsp Cardamom powder

1 tbsp chopped Dates

Ghee

Put the oats in a microwave safe bowl. Add a little ghee, less than a tsp to this and mix well.Microwave on High for about 1.5  minutes for slightly roasting the oats.Stir it in between, after 45 seconds or so.You will get a good aroma once done.

Now add water to the oats and again microwave for about 1.5 minutes. The oats will be cooked now.Add jaggery to the hot cooked oats and mix well. The jaggery will slowly melt.Now add the coconut milk. I added a little less than 1/4 th cup and found that the consistency was fine.Put the cardamom powder and mix well. Again microwave for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.For a difference, I garnished with chopped dates.(You can garnish with cashews and raisins.)

Serves 2-3

Vishu kani at our pooja

Vegetable Omlette

Tired of eating the plain omlette?..... Then you should try the Vegetable Omlette. Its so simple and very tasty.Kids will surely love this. So you can make your kids eat eggs along with the vegetables.You can also use it while making sandwiches. So here goes the recipe for the Healthy Omlette...

Vegetable Omlette

Ingredients:

2 Eggs

1/2 cup of Vegetables you like (I used onions, tomato, corn and peas)

2 small  green chillies  finely chopped (optional)

1 tsp Oil

Salt

Pepper

few Coriander leaves chopped

Beat the eggs with a little salt and keep aside.

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the vegetables and green chillies.Saute until the vegetables are cooked.

Add salt and pepper according to your taste. Finally add coriander leaves and mix well.

Now spread the vegetables on the pan. Slowly pour the eggs over this.

Reduce the heat. Cover and cook for few minutes.

When the bottom of the omlette gets brown, slowly turn it to other side.

(It might be a little difficult to flip this unlike the plain omlette. So if you can't do it, just cut into 2 or 4  pieces and then flip each piece)

Cook the other side as well. Serve hot.

Serves 2


Sending  to the ABC Series: Egg Recipes event by Ramya

Baked Vegetable fritters (Pakoras)

Usually the vegetable fritters are made using besan or chickpea flour. I made them using the wheat flour just like how I did for gobis in Gobi manchurian.I baked them rather than deep frying. They turned out good and it makes a good snack which is oil-free. You can use any vegetables you like.I have used potato, brinjal and used the leftover batter by adding chopped onions for making onion fritters.You can use besan instead of wheat if you like. I tried using wheat flour as an experiment.

Baked Vegetable Fritters

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Wheat flour

2 small potatoes

1 large brinjal

1/2 cup onion, chopped 

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp cumin seeds (optional)

1/4 tsp pepper powder

A pinch asafoetida

few coriander leaves chopped (optional)

Salt

Cut the potatoes and brinjal into thin slices.

Preheat the oven to 400F.Line a baking tray with aluminium foil.

Spray some oil using cooking spray or apply with hand.

In a bowl, add wheat flour, chilli powder, cumin seeds, pepper powder, asafoetida and salt.

Make a thick batter by adding a little water at a time.The batter shouldn't be too thick or too watery.Finally add the coriander leaves and mix well.

Now dip the vegetable slices into the batter and arrange as a single layer on the baking tray.I put the chopped onions in the leftover batter. Then mixed it well, took a small amount and placed it on the tray.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until they turn brown. In between, remember to flip them  to other side so that it gets baked evenly.

Serve with tomato ketchup or Mint chutney.

Sending this to the FAST FOOD, NOT FAT FOOD event at Now Serving.