Eggless Chocochip cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 Teaspoon of No Egg - Natural Egg Replacer ( can be purchased by clicking on the link) 
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.

Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

No Bake Oreo Cheesecake

 For the base:
Marie biscuit - 1 packets (24 nos)
Chocolate biscuit - 1 pkt 
Melted butter - 3 tblspn


For the cake:
Oreo Biscuits : 1 Big packet ( broken into chunks) 
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Hung curd - 1 cup
Fresh cream - 1 cup (used Amul cream 200ml)
Agar agar/China grass - 1 pkt (10 gm)
Water - 4 tblspn

1.I used a combination of marie biscuit and chocolate biscuits. You could use marie biscuit alone. Pulse the biscuit coarsely in the mixer along with the melted butter. Or take the biscuits in a zip lock cover and powder it coarsely with the chappathi roller. 


2.Take a round spring tin. Spread the biscuit mix on the base of the tin. The base should be firm. So press it down tight. Freeze the base for half an hour. Meanwhile prepare the cake mix.


3.Mix hung curd and cream in a bowl. To get hung curd, take almost 4 cups of fresh curd and tie it in a muslin cloth and hang it. The whey will be drained and you will be left with creamy curd.


4. Break the Oreo biscuits in big chunks. Mix in the biscuits to the curd+cream mix. Mix well so that its uniformly blended in.


5.The China grass I used were strands. I put them in warm water for 10 minutes. Then put that bowl in a pan of boiling water for the china grass to fully dissolve. Add the liquefied agar agar to the mix. Mix it well with a spatula Leave in the refrigerator for overnight, to set.


6.Once set, Open the spring tin and serve the cheesecake. You could garnish with some Oreo Biscuits, though I served it plain. 

Banana, walnut, cinnamon loaf

Ingredients :

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon pwder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter - softened

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup whole milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 bananas - mashed 

1/2 cup walnuts - chopped

Method :

1.Cream the butter with the sugar till it becomes nice and pale. 

2.Mix flour, salt, baking soda,baking powder and cinnamon pwd in another dry bowl. Add this to the butter mixture,   alternating with a little milk at a time and beat until nicely blended. Add the flour and milk alternately as you   keep whipping the batter so it gets nice and fluffy. 

3.You can even use a food-processor for this. Keep scraping the sides as you blend or beat the mixture. Add a little   more milk(half cup more) if the batter looks too thick.

4.Add the mashed bananas and vanilla essence. Finally add in the chopped walnuts, folding in just to mix it well.

5.Grease a Loaf shape tin, or use muffin molds for individual cakes. I used a Loaf pan. Fill them only 2/3rd full as this needs more room to rise. Even if you use a cake pan, do not fill more than half of it. Sprinkle some chopped walnuts on top as well.

Preheat oven at 175 deg celcius and bake for 20 to 25 minutes (muffin size) or 30 - 40 mins ( loaf tin) until cake springs back when lightly touched near center, and the sides pull away from the pan.

Put a toothpick in the center and if it comes out clean, your cake is ready to come out of the oven. 

 If you are using a cake pan, it may take a little longer, but keep checking if its done after 20 mins. Allow the cake to cool a little on the wire rack,Dust with Icing sugar then serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

 

Hazelnut-Banana Microwave Cake

The softest, yummiest cake ever, and yes, made in a microwave in about 10 minutes baking time! Don't believe it? Try it yourself today! :)

Ingredients:

Hazelnut-chocolate paste : 2 tsp ( You can use Nutella, or any other)

Milk: 1 cup

Eggs: 1

Maida or all purpose flour: 1 and a half cups

Pureed banana: thick puree of 1 banana

Powdered sugar: half a cup

Melted butter : 50 gms

Sift the dry ingredients together and mix. Add the egg and beat the mixture really well. Add the milk, hazelnut paste, banana puree and melted butter. Beat it either by hand or use an electric mixer, until the mixture is really smooth and well combined.

Grease a microwave safe deep dish and pour this mix into that. Invert a saucer upside down on the microwave turn table and place the deep dish over it. Microwave on high for 15 minutes, and keep checking at 5 and 7 minute intervals and do prick a fork into it as an indicator if it has baked well and is done. 

Vada Paav - Mumbai Ishtyle!

Tried my hand at making authentic Vada paav last night for a snack and it turned out awesome! It is such a popular street food in Mumbai that it also has a wiki entry honouring it, read here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vada_pav

The best part about making this lip-smacking snack is how easy the ingredients are to find in your own pantry/fridge and how simple the entire process is. You can take my word for it, as I am a person who hasn't ventured much into the world of fried snacks [i.e pakoras/vadas etc].

Ingredients:
2 whole boiled potatoes - you can pressure cook them in a bit of turmeric and then mash them either by hand or with a masher.
1 tsp mustard seeds [rai]
a few curry leaves and coriander leaves, finely chopped
Asafoetida [Hing] - a pinch
1 or 2 green chillies finely chopped as per your taste.

For the batter:
3/4 cup of gram flour [besan]
1/2 tsp of tamarind paste
1/2 tsp / as per your taste, of red chilli powder
A hint of salt and asafoetida

1. Heat a bit of oil in a kadhai and add mustard seeds in it. When it finishes sputtering, add green chillies, coriander leaves and curry leaves. Mix together and then add the mashed potatoes, and salt as per taste. Mix well and fry for a bit of time. Remove off the flame and allow to cool.

2. In a bowl, add besan, and the other ingredients mentioned for the batter, with as less water as possible, just to make a thick paste. Remember, if the paste is too thin, it will not coat the potato mix.

3. Make medium sized balls of the potato mix, dip in the besan batter and deep fry. Serve hot with Indian paav and you can also make a coriander chutney and garlic chutney to go with it. I made neither as this was just a last minute effort. I did serve it with sliced onion though.

                       

Gobhi ke Parathey

Gobi Ke Parathey !! They were quite yummy, a successful attempt :)

Ingredients :

Whole wheat dough made as you would make usually for parathas. 

For the filling:

1 medium sized Gobhi [cauliflower] - into florets and minced finely

Instead of onions, I used shallots - so, 7-8 shallots, minced finely

Garlic cloves - 2 or 3, as per your preference, finely crushed.

Usual spice mix - dhaniya powder, haldi [turmeric], garam masala [a teaspoon each]

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Make the dough for the parathey and let it stay for about 30 minutes, covered with a moist cloth.

2. Mince the cauliflower and shallots together and saute well with the crushed garlic in a little bit of oil with the spices. It should look like this when it is done. This is your filling. Top with coriander.

3. Stuff and roll out. Fry each paratha lightly, drizzling the pan with a bit of oil when required. 

4. Enjoy the delicious treat - I served it with some black gram curry [kaale channey] and a bit of curd by the side. 

Scrumptious Italian Pasta Salad

Yes I know we've been away from this blog for so long - but not without reason :D Here is a super easy recipe for a yummy dish I assembled up today! :)

Veggies chopped up and waiting

Homemade Italian dressing

Veggies you need:

Capsicum - 1 medium, finely chopped

Red onion - 1 medium, finely chopped

Cherry tomatoes [optional]

Olives 

Garlic [finely chopped or crushed] - 2 cloves

Cucumbers - 2 medium, finely chopped

For the dressing:

1/4th cup olive oil

3 tbsp vinegar

Salt

Mixed dried herbs or Oregano

Method:

Cook the penne pasta until tender and run it under cold water mixing with your fingers to make sure the starch is washed off. If any starch remains, then the pasta is sure to get sticky. 

Combine ingredients for the dressing and set aside. 

Toss the veggies with the pasta and pour dressing over it, coating it fully. Add a dollop of cream cheese or reduced-fat mayonnaise to get a creamy consistency.

The yummiest Pasta Salad ever ! :)