Apple Pie (with egg)

Pastry Base:-

250 gms of Flour (Maida); 125 gms Nutralite (you can use butter if you prefer.. but nutralite works well too) - cut into tiny cubes & chilled; 1 & 1/2 tbsp Powdered Sugar; A small pinch of baking powder; 1 Egg; 1 Tbsp Milk

Apple Filling:-

8 Apples - peeled & thinly sliced; 1 tsp lime juice; 1 tsp powdered cinnamon; 1/3 cup sugar

Egg Mix:-

1 Egg yolk 1 Tbsp Milk

Beat together to make the egg mix.

Process:-

1. For the apple filling, mix apples, cinnamon powder, sugar & lime juice & cook on medium flame. Cook till the mixture becomes pulpy & dry.

2. For base & top of pastry - Sift powdered sugar, baking powder & flour. Mix the cold cubes of nutralite & mix together till crumbly.

3. Break the egg in the mix. Bring it together with little milk to form dough. Do not knead much.

4. Wrap in a damp cloth & put in fridge for 15 mins.

5. Divide the dough into 2 parts. Keep one half back in fridge. Roll out the second half, into a 10-11 inch diameter round shape - the base of the pie needs to be bigger than the pie-dish size, so as to cover the sides of the dish.

6. Grease the pie dish with oil & little flour.. and roll over the pie base on to it. cover all the sides, & remove the extra dough falling out of the dish. Poke the pie base with a fork.

7. Bake the base of pie in a pre-heated oven at 180C for 17-18 mins till lightly golden.

8. Once done, remove the base & fill-in the apple mixture.

9. Roll-out the remaining dough to a 10 inch diameter round shape. Cover the pie, by rolling it gently, using the belan as support. Once covered, tug in at sides, & remove the excess dough falling out of the dish.

10. Brush the pie lightly with the egg mix well.

11. Make an X at center of the pie cover using a knife. Poke rest of the cover using a fork spoon.

12. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 30 mins at 200C. You can bake for 5 mins more, to get the right browned/goldish look on the pie cover.

13. Serve warm with vanilla ice-cream. Enjoy :-)

Home-made Apple Pie (Egg-less)

Thanks to a dear friend's encouragement, finally managed Apple Pie. This is an egg-less recipe. Here's what you need:-

Pastry Base & Cover

2 Cups of Flour (Maida); 100 gms Nutralite (you can use butter if you prefer.. but nutralite works well too) - cut into tiny cubes & chilled; 1 & 1/2 tbsp Powdered Sugar; A small pinch of baking powder; Little cold water to bind

Apple Filling

5-6 Large Apples - peeled & thinly sliced; 1 tsp lime juice; 1/2 tsp powdered cinnamon; 1/3 cup sugar

Process:-

1. For the apple filling, mix apples, cinnamon powder, sugar & lime juice & cook on medium flame. Cook till the mixture becomes pulpy & dry.

2. For base & top of pastry - Sift powdered sugar, baking powder & flour. Mix the cold cubes of nutralite & mix together till crumbly.

3. Gather lightly with ice cold water to form dough. Do not knead much.

4. Wrap in a damp cloth & put in fridge for 15 mins.

5. Divide the dough into 2 parts. Roll out the base into a 10-11 inch diameter round shape - the base of the pie needs to be bigger than the pie-dish size, so as to cover the sides of the dish.

6. Grease the pie dish with oil & little flour.. and roll over the pie base on to it. cover all the sides, & remove the extra dough falling out of the dish. Poke the pie base with a fork.

7. Bake the base of pie in a pre-heated oven at 180C for 17-18 mins till lightly golden.

8. Once done, remove the base & fill-in the apple mixture.

9. Roll-out the remaining dough to a 10 inch diameter round shape. Cover the pie, by rolling it gently, using the belan as support. Once covered, tug in at sides, & remove the excess dough falling out of the dish.

10. Make an X at center of the pie cover using a knife. Poke rest of the cover using a fork spoon.

11. Brush lightly with little nurtralite (optional)

12. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 30 mins at 200C. You can bake for 5-10 mins more, to get the right browned/goldish look on the pie cover.

13. Serve warm with vanilla ice-cream. Enjoy :-)

NOTE: Use the low rack in your convection oven while baking, in both the stages.

Baked Mackerel. a healthy alternative (no oil used )

You need:-

3 Medium Mackerel - cleaned, kept whole; Salt & pepper for seasoning; 2 Lime - Sliced thin; Rosemary - 2 Tbsp; Garlic, cleaned - 1 Bulb; Apple Cider Vinegar - 3 Tbsp; Baking Paper - enough to wrap each fish separately; Seasoning - Light Soy Sauce

Process:-

1. Pre-heat the oven (I use convection oven) at 200C for 10 mins

2. Clean the fish & make a diagonal cut. Also, give 3 small cuts on each side of the fish

3. Place each fish on separate Baking paper

4. Season well with salt & pepper

5. Stuff the fish with lime wedges & slightly crushed, whole garlics

6. Sprinkle Rosemary - 1 tbsp each on each fish

7. Pour Apple Cider Vinegar - 1 Tbsp on each fish

8. Wrap the baking paper loosely to make a closed pouch for the fish

9. Place in Baking dish, & bake for 40 mins at 220C.

10. Sreve hot by sprinkling slightly with light soy sauce..

Enjoy :-)

Poached Eggs for Breakfast

Hi... poaching eggs seemed like the most challenging things to me for very long. Turns out it is really easy & one of the most healthy ways of cooking the egg. Poached eggs, with bread & crispy potato & tomato make a fab breakfast

In fact poaching in whole is the best way to cook fish, poultry to get well flavored & low cal dishes.

I follwed the method for poaching eggs given by Zac in "Cooking for Students" on Youtube, & it was really simple - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIvpbSEboYI

This guy is really good & recipe's put by him are fantastic.. so do check it out :-) You can easily find him on Facebook or Youtube by searching for "Cooking for Students"

Enjoy !!

Banana Walnut Cake - Healthy recipe

A healthy recipe for Banana & Walnut cake.. you can eat it in the morning with breakfast, or with tea... just awesome combination.

What you need:-

3/4 Wheat Flour (atta)

3/4 Plain Flour

2 Tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp soda-bi-card (mitha soda)

3 Ripe Bananas, peeled

1/2 cup Oil

1 Cup Powdered Sugar

3 Large Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla Essence

1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

1/4 tsp nutmeg powder

3 tbsp chopped walnut (you can substitute it with peccan nuts)

METHOD:

1. Sieve together wheat & plain flour, baking powder, soda, cinnamon & nutmeg powder. Keep aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, mash the banana with back of a fork.

3. Add Oil, Sugar & mix.

4. Add eggs, one at a time & mix well. Beat well with fork spoon itself.

5. Mix the vanilla essence & beat the mixture well.

6. Fold in the shifted flour.

7. Roast the walnuts/ peccan on a pan till slightly brown. Mix in the flour mixture.

8. Pour the mixture into a greased 9"X9" baking pan & bake in preheated convection oven for 40 mins at 180C.

9. Allow the cake to cool for 10 mins, before removing from pan.

Enjoy :-)

Carrot Cake

This recipe is from Nita Mehta's Cake & Cookies recipe book. Honestly, her recipes are simply awesome & I vouch for them with full heart.

So here it is.. you need:-

1 1/2 cup grated carrots

2 eggs

85 gms flour

1 tsp baking powder

A pinch of soda-bi-carb (mitha soda)

100 gms (3/4 cup) powdered sugar

1/2 cup Oil

1/2 tsp powdered cinnamon

1. Sieve flour, baking powder, cinnamon powder & soda. keep aside.

2. In a medium pan, beat egges & powdered sugar till frothy (double the original volume)

3. Add Oil & beat again.

4. Add grated carrots to the flour. Mix lightly, coating the carrots well.

5. Add carrot mixture to the egg mixture & mix gently or beat at low if using electric egg beater.

6. Pour in a greased pan of 7"X4" OR 6" bake dish & bake in preheated oven at 150C for 1 hour or till cake is done. (if using convection oven, bake at 160C for 1 hour 5 mins)

7. Let the cake cool for 10 mins before removing from the dish.

Easy Lemongrass Chicken - Ga Xao Sa Ot (recipe courtesy GoodFood India Sept issue)

A very easy recipe which I found in this month's India issue of GoodFood.

You need:-

Chicken Breast Piece - 5 to 6 (I use 2 small packs of Zorabian)

Fish Sauce - 2 1/2 Tbsp

Black Pepper - 1 Tsp

Caster Sugar - 1 Tsp ( I use regular if I am out of caster sugar)

Lemongrass - 2 Stems, white part only, finely chopped OR 7-8 dried sticks of Lemongrass

Red Chilli flakes - 1 Tbsp OR Fresh Red Chilli - 1 finely chopped

Garlic Cloves - 2, roughly chopped

Water - 90 ml

Spring Onions - 10, sliced

Coriander leaves - handful, chopped

LIME, CHILLI & SALT MIX

Sea Salt - 1 tsp (You can substitute it with rock salt)

Black Pepper Powder - 2 tsp

Lime Wedges - 2

1. To make the mix, place salt & pepper in a small dish. Add lime juice & stir well together. Keep aside.

2. Cut chicken fillet into small pieces (6 for each breast piece) and marinate in fish sauce, caster sugar & pepper for 30 mins.

3. Heat oil in a wok OR Kadhai over medium heat & add lemongrass, chilli & garlic. Stir for 1-2 minutes till fragrant. Now add the chicken & toss well. Cook by tossing till chicken is lightly browned.

4. Add water & turn the heat up. Cook till chicken is done. Add spring onions & coriander leaves.

5. Pour the mix before serving with steamed rice.

Chicken Kathi Roll made at home :-)

Hello... today I wanted to share a quick recipe of Chicken Kathi Roll to be made at home.

Below recipe is for making 4 chicken kathi rolls -

For the Chicken Filling -

2 pieces chicken breast, cut in small cubes

1 Tablespoon Oil

1 Tea-spoon Jeera

1 Cup Sliced Onions

1 Table-spoon Ginger-garlic paste

1 Cup chopped tomatoes

1 tea-spoon turmeric powder

1 tea-spoon garam-masala powder

1 tea-spoon coriander powder

1 tea-spoon jeera powder

Salt for taste

1/2-1 cup water

1. Heat Oil in a deep pan. Once hot, add jeera.

2. Add sliced onions as jeera starts spluttering. Fry till translucent.

3. Add ginger garlic paste and fry till oil separates from mixture.

4. Add tomatoes and all the spices, salt and fry till masala is cooked, and oil starts separating from the mixture.

5. Add chicken and cook covered on medium flame.

6. If mixture sticks to bottom of pan, add 1/2 cup water and cook till chicken is done.

7. Ensure the chicken mixture is not runny.. but dryish..

To Make the Square Paratha -

Use the same wheat flour (atta) dough, leveraged for making roti's.

Make 4 round-balls of the dough with approx, 4-5 cms diameter

Roll out the dough, as you would for roti. To make square paratha's follow the below steps -

1. Once you have made a round roti.. add little oil from one corner of roti to another, running from center

2. Fold opposite sides of the roti towards the center

3. Apply little oil on the folded section, and fold the other two sides of the roti towards the center.

4. Dab the square with loose atta, and roll it out into a larger square.

5. Ensure, the dough is not rolled out too thin..keep it a little thick.

Now, on a hot tawa, put the rolled out square dough. Once, you see small bubbles popping out, flip the paratha. Flip after 3-4 minutes.. you will see the surface has brown small dots. Apply a little oil on this side, and spread all over. Flip the side, and apply a oil on the other side as well. Fry till both sides are dark brownish..

Keep aside on Kitchen tissue to soak out excess Oil.

To make the Egg Paratha -

1. Beat 3 eggs in a bowl with little salt.

2. Heat pan and sprinkle little Oil.

3. Pour in little mixture of egg, and on the wet surface itself, put the paratha prepared above.

4. Let it cook for a while..till the mixture is soaked and cooked and remove the paratha from the pan.

5. Repeat the process for the other 3 parthas.

To Assemble the Chicken Kathi Roll -

Apart from the egg paratha, chicken pripared above, you'll need -

Non-stick Baking Paper

1 cup sliced Onion

Green Chutney/ Tomato Sauce

Lime juice

1/2 cup sliced green capsicum

1. Lay out a square inch of baking paper.

2. Put the Paratha on top.

3.Spread Green-chutney/ tomato sauce

4. Put chicken in center of the paratha

5. top it with onion, capsicum and little lime juice

6. Roll the paratha and wrap ti in the baking paper..

Enjoy with chutney.. :-)

Weekend Breakfast Idea....

Don't you just love weekend... I bet it would be practically impossible to find someone who doesn't enjoys waking up to a lazy weekend..full of one golden promise..a relaxing no pressure day. In making the morning of such a lovely day more treasured, a wonderful lay of breakfast plays a critical role.

I am sharing here one of the weekend breakfast ideas, which I love to dabble with..it isn't that difficult..so you sure will enjoy it...

Pancakes...with Spanish Omelette and bread with Rasberry Jam...

For the Pancake -

I use Betty Crocker mix...easily available in all super markets.

100 gms of pancake mix

150 ml of milk

45 ml of water

1 egg

Oil to fry

1. Mix all the ingredients into a smooth batter

2. Heat oil in a small non-stick pan

3. add 1-2 serving spoon amount of batter and let it cook on medium/ low flame.

4. Once the top is not runny any more, flip the pancake and cook the other side.

5. Cook each side till they have a brownish/ dark-brownish tinge as on cover of Betty crocker pancake mix.

Above measurements - make 8 pancakes...half it if you'r cooking for just two..

For the Spanish Omelette -

Okay..now here, what you put into your omelette is totally your call.. I mean, from Mushrooms, to colorful capsicum, onion, boiled potato, chicken salami, tomato, cheese.. you can choose your filling and go with it.

In recipe below, I will be using filling of colored capsicum (coz I so love them), mushrooms, chicken salami and cheese..

3 Eggs

1/2 cup finely chopped yellow & red capsicum

4-5 small mushrooms chopped finely

3-4 chicken salami ( I use Zorabian brand)

1 small cube of cheese (go by your desire for cheese)

Salt

Pepper

1. Mix all the above ingredients with the eggs.

2. heat Oil in a small span and pour in the mixture.

3. Let the mixture cook for 4-5 minutes in low to medium flame.

4. Use a flat spoon to release the omelette sticking to the pan.

5. Once yo see the base of the omelette is firm.. use a plate to cover the pan.

6. Keeping the plate firmly on top of the pan.. flip the pan on the plate.

7. Slide the omelette back to the pan..with the gooey side now down and firm side up.

8. Cook for 5-10 minutes more..or till down.

Remove from pan..

You can check this flipping the omelette trick on the web.. it's really helpful..search for how to make perfect spanish omelette and you'll get many links..

Toast the bread and serve with your favorite jam.. enjoy :-)