Zucchini, Potato and Tomato Tian

What do you do when you have a mix of all these farmers market vegetables. You obviously make a Tian. It was a spontaneous thing, I thought about adding potatoes and tomatoes to it just to give a nice bright color. It is simple yet elegant! Don't think that it is too much work to arrange those veggies in layers, it is fun and it took me 8-10 minutes and I was done. Of course my kids helped me.

Serves:  Approximately 4-6

Ingredients

1 medium zucchini

1 medium yellow squash

1 medium potato

1 medium tomato

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium yellow onion

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp dried thyme

 salt & pepper as per your taste

 1 cup shredded Italian cheese 

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Finely dice the onion and mince the garlic. Saute both in a skillet with olive oil until softened (about five minutes).
2. While the onion and garlic are sauteing, thinly slice the rest of the vegetables.
3. Spray the inside of an 8×8 square or round baking dish with non-stick spray. Spread the softened onion and garlic in the bottom of the dish. Place the thinly sliced vegetables in the baking dish vertically, in an alternating pattern. Sprinkle generously with salt, pepper, and thyme.
4. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, top with cheese and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown.

Enjoy!

Carrot Oatmeal Cookies (Vegan)

Sometimes the craving to eat something sweet is so bad that you start looking for the recipes on the web. But my thing is that even though I give in to my sweet cravings,  I try to look for healthy recipes. So this is the cookie recipe that I came across on this blog while endlessly searching for vegan cookie recipes. I tried to stick to the original recipe, except the walnuts. I added hazelnuts just to see how they taste. Enjoy!

Recipe:
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup real maple syrup, room temperature
1/2 cup unrefined (fragrant) coconut oil, warmed until just melted
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

Preheat oven to 375F degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and oats. Add the nuts and carrots. In a separate smaller bowl use a whisk to combine the maple syrup, coconut oil, and ginger. Add this to the flour mixture and stir until just combined.
Drop onto prepared baking sheets, one level tablespoonful at a time, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Bake in the top 1/3 of the oven for 10 - 12 minutes or until the cookies are golden on top and bottom.
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

Grape Tomato and Black Olive salad

The sweet and juicy Grape or Cherry tomatoes are perfect for making salad. The feeling of chewing a firm and juicy tomato in your mouth and blending with the dressing is great.This is a very refreshing salad. And also a perfect way to use fresh basil right out of my garden.
The recipe will serve approximately 4 people.

Recipe

Ingredients

    1 pint Grape or Cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
    2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
    1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
    1 clove garlic crushed or grated
    1 (15-ounce) can pitted black olives, sliced or halved
    4 large fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
     Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a medium bowl whisk together olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper.
Add cherry tomatoes, olives, and chopped basil into the dressing.
Toss well and refrigerate for 15/20 minutes to incorporate the flavor.

Note: You can add fresh mozzarella (bocconcini) to the salad if you like cheese in your salad.

Homemade Paav

I have been searching  for good Paav (dinner roll/bun) recipe for quite some time now. The one that I came up with is my version of making Paav after several trials.The problem with store bought dinner rolls and buns is that they have too many calories and stuff that you don't want in your tummy. And the whole wheat version not only costs more, also has more calories. I am not talking about the light whole wheat  variety.
So I decided to bake my own dinner rolls. Below is my version of the recipe. You can substitute the whole wheat with just plain AP flour if you want all white buns.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 tsp sugar

2 tbsp vital wheat gluten (optional)

1 1/2 cups warm water

4 tbsp vegetable oil (you can use butter if you want to)

Mix the sugar, 1/2 cup warm water and the yeast in a mixing bowl and set aside for about 10 minutes until the mixture starts to froth.
Sift both the whole wheat and white flour and baking soda into the bowl. Add oil, knead in a stand mixer or by hand for about 3 minutes,using about 1 cup of water until you have a dough that's smooth but slightly sticky. You can use more water if you think your dough is too tight.

Now place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a kitchen towel, and set aside for 2 hours until the dough has doubled its size.

Punch down the dough and divide into 12 balls.

Roll each piece out in your palm to form a rounded shape (or rolls). Place them side by side on an oiled baking sheet taking care to leave about 1-1/2 to 2 inch space in the middle. Place them aside once again to double. Its fine if they don't look perfectly round.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the pav in the oven and bake 20-30 minutes. until golden brown.

Brush the tops with a little ghee or butter,  for that glossy look.

Beet Greens Muthia with Buckwheat flour (veggie sausage/patty)

I have chosen today the beet greens and buckwheat flour for there nutritional properties.
Beet Greens are very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. They're also a good source of Protein, Folate, Pantothenic Acid, Phosphorus and Zinc, and a great source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin K, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium, Copper and Manganese.
Buckwheat has a variety of healthful properties. It’s an excellent plant source of easily digestive protein and contains all eight essential amino acids, so it’s close to being a "complete" protein. Buckwheat is also high in fiber (a big bonus for celiacs), B vitamins and, according to a USDA study, keeps glucose levels in check better than other carbohydrates -- which is good news for celiacs who also have diabetes. It’s also said to lower blood pressure and reduce cholesterol.

For the muthias:
2 cup chopped beet greens
1-1/2 cup Buckwheat flour (also known as Kasha, in India it is called Kutti no daro in Gujarati and Kuttu in most other Indian language
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
5 tbsp low fat curds
1 tbsp chopped coriander
juice of ½ lemon
1 tsp ginger-green chilli paste
2 large cloves garlic, grated (optional)
½ tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
a pinch of baking soda
sugar to taste (optional)
salt to taste

For the tempering:

1 tsp mustard seeds
1tsp sesame seeds
¼ tsp asafoetida (hing)
1 tsp oil
2 tbsp chopped coriander For the garnish
oil for greasing

Combine all the ingredients for muthias in a bowl and knead to make a soft dough using very little water as needed. (Don't let the dough rest as it will get all watery and gooey because of the greens, they contain lot of moisture)
Divide the dough into a 3 equal parts and shape each portion into a cylindrical roll. Place the rolls on a greased steamer and steam for 10 to 12 minutes till firm. Remove, cool and cut into thick slices.

Heat the oil in a non-stick pan and add the mustard seeds. When they crackle, add the sesame seeds and asafoetida . Add the sliced muthias and sauté over a low flame till they are lightly browned. Serve hot, garnished with the coriander.

P.S. Before you make the dough for muthias have all the ingredients ready and set water to boil in a big pot in which you will steam the muthias and grease the steamer so when your dough is ready you can steam the muthias.

Kiwi Margarita

This was pretty much an extempore thing. I had about 2 pounds of kiwis and was thinking about making something from it but due to the tartness involved with kiwis, nothing came up to my mind, when it striked me to make margaritas ! with a zippy kick-in-the pants, a great new way to enjoy an old favorite!!

I do not strictly follow the recipe or ingredients, I pretty much made with what I had.

1 jigger (1 1/2 ounces) tequila (Gold, Corzo- 100% agave blanco any)
1 jigger (1 1/2 ounces) fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon superfine granulated sugar , I used the agave nectar, better than sugar
1 pony (1-ounce) Triple Sec or Cointreau , I did not use triple sec or Cointreau as I find my drinks too sweet with their addition.
2 kiwis peeled and cubed.

Combine the sugar, tequila, triple sec, kiwis, and lime juice in a blender; fill with ice cubes; blend until smooth.

Enjoy!!

Nariyal Poori (coconut stuffed pooris)

I made this few days back but was too tied up to post it. True late afternoon snack to munch on and a totally different taste.I like the idea of stuffing the puri with this and frying it.And the idea of using semolina (sooji, rawa, cream of wheat) is nice instead of the plain flour, and it gives a nice crunch to poori.See for yourself , whether you like it or not!

Ingredients:

2 cups Fine semolina ( rava/suji)

2 tbsps Oil

Salt to taste

1 cup Coconut (scraped)

3-4 Green chillies (finely chopped)

4 tbsps Fresh coriander leaves (chopped)

1/2 cup Gram flour (besan)

Whole wheat flour (atta)for dusting

Oil for frying

Method:

Take semolina in a bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of oil, salt and enough water and knead into a dough. Cover with a damp cloth and rest for two hours.Take coconut in a bowl. Add green chillies, coriander leaves, gram flour and salt and mix well.Make small puris of the dough. Place a portion of coconut stuffing in the centre and close the edges and shape into a ball. Roll in atta and roll out into puris.Heat sufficient oil in a kadai and deep fry till light golden and crisp.Drain and place on an absorbent paper and serve hot.

I had some extra dough left so I made the plain crisy pooris (small ones) for my son.
I love the plain crunchy pooris with achar, mmmmmmmmm my favorite afternoon snack.