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.