Tofu,Veggie & Cheese Topped Bell Peppers

When it's the season for good vegetables and fruits, it makes me feel out of the world. I get many more different fruits and veggies for experiments in my Kitchen. I, even my family loves eating our veggies. I often make stuffed veggies and bake them.

My kids are also good with the veggies, it's just I need to make the veggies a bit attractive for them to enjoy. I enjoy feeding my kids home-made dishes, just to ease my heart and mind. Well, well, well, Who doesn't. Lets come to the Dish we are going to see in today's post.

Sometimes, in the season I buy Bells peppers in plenty, wash, deseed and cut them to freeze for making my job easy in the Kitchen. This time me and hubby both bought big packs of bell peppers and even after doing my regular freezing, there was a lot of them left.

If you guys remember, I made some tofu stuffed Buns few days back. I was left with half pack tofu in the fridge, which I needed to finish ASAP. So thats the oppertunity for me. I made "Tofu,Veggie & Cheese Topped Bell Peppers". My kids are a BIG BIG fan of dairy products and still don't know much difference between Indian Cottage Cheese (Paneer) and Tofu. They love eating both in same manner, they simply love both of these dairy products.

Very easy to assemble and healthy because of less oil and light cheese. Goodness of Tofu and Veggies, let your mind to peace as well. Try the recipe in your Kitchen, I'm sure your family will love them just as mine did.....................Until Next Time, happy cooking friends, Saumya

Ingredients:

Mix Bell Peppers         - 4 Wash, de-seeded and cut into half
Tofu                             - 1/2 cup crumbled
Mix Veggies                - 1/2 cup (par-boiled)
Grated Cheese             - 4 tblspaoon
Coriander                    - 2 tblspoon freshly chopped
Lemon Juice               - 1/2 tspoon
Red Chilli Powder      - 1/2 tspoon
Garlic Powder            - 1/4 tspoon
Salt                             - to taste
Oil/Butter                   - 1 tblspoon


Method:

Preheat the oven to 200c. Grease a roasting tray with cooking spray.
Wash, de-seed the bell peppers and Cut into half. I used 3 green peppers and 1 red pepper.
In a bowl, mix crumbled tofu, veggies, 2 tblspoon cheese, red chilli powder, garlic powder, salt, freshly chopped coriander and lemon juice. Mix well and keep aside.
Run a little butter in and out on each half of the peppers.
Spoon the filling into each greased bell peppers. I used 2 tblspoon of filling, because the bell peppers I used was relatively small in size.
Press the filling firmly into the bell peppers to avoid spilling it everywhere.
Place them all on the roasting tray.
Sprinkle rest of 3 tblspoon of grated cheese generously on each bell pepper.
Spray some cooking oil on to them. This step is totally optional.
Bake the peppers in preheated oven at 200c for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese on top starts to turn golden.

Once baked, Serve the bell peppers hot with Soup, Salad and Toasted bread.
My family loves to eat them this way, how does yours?????

Mango, Pineapple and Cranberry Muffins

I prefer making muffins and cupcakes, over loaf and big round cakes.  I've noticed that eggless cakes/muffins taste better if consumed atleast 10 hours later. Not sure about the reason but it's my personal observation. I normally bake the cakes /muffins/loafs/cupcakes in the morning and they taste amazing by evening. The texture changes and sweetness enhances.

I often wondered about the difference in Cupcakes and Muffins. If you are a foodie, you might know that English Muffins and American Muffins are different. In America Muffins are made just like cupcakes. In UK, there is a flat bread type, made on griddle, is called Muffin. American Muffins are good in a way everyone gets their own individual size of cake. Muffins can be made sweet or savory. We usually make savory muffins for breakfast.

As it is a season of exotic fruits, I thought to make muffins with those exotic fruits. I found 2 packs of Mango and Pineapple bites, leftover in Kids Snack Pantry, Some dried cranberries left from cereal drawer. You all must be knowing by now that I'm a big fan of baking with whole-wheat flour.

So assembling all the ingredients and heating the oven helped me make these deliciously sounding Muffins. We were planning a short getaway from home, so made few more for holiday. Easy peasy recipe as always, try them and you will pat yourself on the back for good job. Drop your feedback in the comments below.............Until next time, Happy Cooking Friends, Saumya

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Flour                 - 1 cup
Corn Flour                               - 1 tblspoon
Baking Powder                        - 1 tspoon
Baking Soda                            - 1/2 tspoon
Muscovado Sugar                    - 1/4 cup
Oil                                            - 1/4 cup
Yogurt                                      - 2/4 cup
Lemon Juice                             - 1 tspoon
Orange Extract                         - 1 tspoon
Dried Mango bites                   - 2 tblspoon
Dried Pineapple cubes             - 2 tblspoon
Dried Cranberries                    - 4 tblspoon
Water                                       - 2-4 tblspoon (depending on flour/thickness of batter)


Method:

Preheat the oven to 180c and line the tray with 10 muffin liners.
In a deep mixing bowl, Mix Sugar, Yogurt, Oil and Orange extract, until the sugar is totally dissolve.

Sift Flour, Baking Soda and Baking powder into yogurt & sugar mixture.

Add in the cornflour, mix dry and wet ingredients well to avoid any lumps.

Now add int the dried fruits, if you find them very big in size, chop them before adding in.

At this time I added 2 tblspoon of water and 1 tspoon of lemon juice into the batter.
Adding water loosened the batter a bit and lemon juice made air bubbles into it.
Do not keep the batter for later baking.
Pour in the batter into muffin liners and bake them for about 15 minutes or until they are golden on top and skewer comes out clean.
Leave them to cool for 5 minutes in the tray and then take them out on cooling rack to cool completely.

Muffins are ready to be served with choice of drinks. These are excellent treats for kids as their after school snack.

Baked Moong Daal Kachori / Baked Mung lentil Stuffed Bread

Kachoris are all time favourite item in my house. We can eat them in ay meal time, be it breakfast, lunch, brunch, teatime or dinner. We eat them with tea, shakes, make like chaat or as and how we want to eat them. At the same time I need to keep an eye on everyone's oil intake and health. Afterall healthy family is a happy family.

This time when everyone demanded for Kachori I baked them. To my surprise family loved them and ate them until only 2 left for me. I'm ok with that, just because they enjoyed it. How satisfy you feel, when you see your family smiling while eating.

I also made one batch to take them with us on our Caravan Holiday. Very handy snack, when you do not have extended kitchen gadgets just like your own kitchen. Made some muffins and cookies as well for that holiday. Will post the muffin recipe soon.

The recipe is also not very complicated, I would not say very easy but still easy to make. Baking will also reduce the work of frying and less heating of you kitchen in these hot summer days. So try this recipe and this time bake the Kachoris instead of frying. I'm sure you will love them. Let me know your feedback on these baked kachoris by commenting below........Until Next Time, Happy Cooking Friends, Saumya

This recipe will also represent the blog at this Month's Monthly Masala Party at WhitBit's Indian Kitchen. Visit the link and see more Indian recipes and spread the love.

Ingredients:

For the Dough:
Whole Wheat Flour                     - 1 cup
Plain Flour                                   - 1/2 cup
Semolina                                      - 1/2 cup
Cornflour                                     - 1 tblspoon
Amchoor                                     - 1/2 tspoon
Red Chili Powder                       - 1/2 tspoon
Salt                                             - to taste - 1 tspoon
Butter/Oil                                   - 2 tblspoon
Yogurt                                        - 1 tblspoon
Water                                         - as required

For The Stuffing:
Moon Daal/Mung Lentil          - 1 cup washed and soaked overnight
Carom Seeds/Ajwain               - 1 tspoon
Turmeric                                  - 1/4 tspoon
Coriander Powder                    - 2 tspoon
Amchoor                                  - 1/2 tspoon
Red Chilli Powder                   - 1/2 tspoon
Garam Masala                         - 1/2 tspoon
Salt                                          - to taste
Oil                                           - 2 tblspoon


Method:

Wash and soak the Moong Dal overnight.
Pressure cook the daal with just 1/2 cup of water for 2 whistles, just to soften it.
Take it out from the pressure cooker and keep aside.
Meanwhile lets prepare the dough for the Kachori.
Mix all the dry ingredients listed under "For the Dough" except water, in a deep mixing bowl/stand mixer.

Add Butter and Yogurt and Knead it to a stiff dough with the help of water.

Keep the dough aside, covered with a damp cloth.

Now in a pan/karahi, heat 1 tblspoon of oil, when warm ass carom seeds into it.
When seeds start to crackle, add the Cooked daal and all the dry spices, Turmeric, Coriander powder, Amchoor, Garam Masala, Red Chili powder and salt.

Start mixing the daal in the pan with spices and oil.

Keep mixing and pressing the Daal to make it in to the mushy texture. Keep mixing and roasting until it becomes dry and starts to leave the pan from all sides.

You can roast the Daal as much as you like to make it crispy or keep it soft.
Once roasted and mixed, take the daal out on a plate and let it cool down.
Pre heat the oven to 200c. Prepare a baking tray with nonstick paper/mat.
Divide the Dough into equal portion of 18-20 balls, and shape them into balls, depending on the size you like.
I made 18 dough balls out of this quantity.
Spread balls into round discs, place a portion of cooked daal mixture, pinch the edges together and seal into a round.
Brush the kachoris with oil and place them on the lined baking tray.
Put tray in the preheated oven and bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.
Do not over cook the Kachoris if the don't look very dark brown, as they will keep cooking with the heat inside them, just like other baking items.
Take the Kachoris out from oven once golden and keep them on cooling rack to let them cool a bit.
Serve the Kachoris with choice of Chutneys and Dips.

This recipe will also represent the blog at this Month's Monthly Masala Party at WhitBit's Indian Kitchen. Visit the link and see more Indian recipes and spread the love.

Nutella Leaf Cookies

Hurry!!!! This is the 200th post of my blog and I'm so excited to share this with you all. You are all who made it possible, encouraging me to cook and post more recipes. I want to thank you all for all the love and encouragement, you have shown for my blog.

Lets celebrate with something simple but everyone's favourite. COOKIES!!!!! Yes, Cookies and that too made with NUTELLA!!!! Ha ha ha , I know I get all excited talking about nutella. This is something I can eat all day long, but at the same time I'm very health conscious. So little bit at a time, that's what made me think of something I can eat within the limit but has pure taste of nutella.

Idea is to make Nutella cookies without so many stuff going in there. No oil, no sugar  and no butter. Crispy and crunchy cookies. So just with 4 ingredients, I made these yumtastic cookies for evening tea. I'm now waiting for my darling daughter to come back from school and we can share our evening tea with these Nutella Leaf cookies.

Does the name sounds good. I love it, but you can shape them as you want and name them accordingly. Easiest recipe and yummiest cookies, is the theme of 200th post, so Thanks once again for all the love and encouragement. Presenting "Nutella Leaf Cookies". Try your hands on them and drop a comment with your feedback........Until Next Time, Happy Cooking Friends, Saumya

Ingredients:

Self Raising Flour                 - 1 cup
Nutella                                   - 1/3 cup
Milk                                       - 1 tblspoon
Nuts                                       - 1 tblspoon (Mixed / Hazelnut) Ground



Method:

Line a baking sheet with baking mat/parchment.
In a stand mixer/Bowl, combine the Nutella & flour until it's like crumbs.
With the mixer running, add the milk and nuts.
Take it out from mixer, and combine it to form dough.
This dough will give you 30 cookies.
I made 16 cookies and freeze rest of the dough.
Divide the dough into equal parts depending on the size.
The simple way to make cookies is to roll it out on a board and cut out the desired shapes from cookie cutter.
I wanted a bit of adventure so I made 16 equal portions of dough.
Shaped and Carved them like leaves.
Place all the cut/shaped cookies on the lined baking tray.

Preheat the oven to 180c. While oven is heating keep the cookie tray in the fridge.
Bake these Nutella cuties in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, until crisp and just beginning to colour. Remove from the oven and transfer to wire racks to cool. Sorry about the lighting on the picture. It's a dull day.

Cookies are ready to serve with evening tea or as a snack for kids.
You can also sandwich them with Chocolate sauce, Nutella or Vanilla Buttercream.

Amritsari Kulcha / Stuffed Flat Bread

Kulche & Chole is a very popular breakfast, brunch or street food in the North of India. Be it Delhi, Punjab or now even UP, whole of north India loves this one plate food. I have never been to Punjab, but I'm always fascinated to go there and visit famous cities and their monuments, specially Golden temple. Punjabi food, as we all know is THE most delicious food in the world, spicy, tangy, full of ghee!! Yummy!!!!  This is a very famous street food around North India.

Amritsari Kulcha is the stuffed variety of regular Kulchas. Authentically these kulchas are rolled and stretched between your palms and fingers not with rolling pins. These are cooked in Clay ovens not in electronic ovens or griddles. They are accompanied by Spicy thick Chole, Yogurt Dip, runny onion chutney, Salad and Pickle.

I've had Chole Kulche, so so so many times in my life. I've tried them in many places, in my native, It's surrounding cities, Delhi, UK and so on....But everywhere the taste is different. But I love this combo a lot. I often make this combo and we go for seaside picnic. Warm sunny day, cold breeze from sea, lots of seaside water play and when you are hungry, you eat Chole Kulche. Thats is called day well spend. My hubby is also a big big fan of Punjabi food, He is a foodie basically, he loves tasty food, be it North Indian, South Indian or from anywhere else. The food should be awesomely tasty.

As it is Father's Day today, I thought to treat my hubby, who is an AMAZING father, with Chole Kulche in breakfast. He just loved when me and kids present this combo on breakfast. We all enjoyed the Kulchas together and now we are off to have some outside fun.........You also try making this combo and I'm sure everyone in your family will love it. Let me know your feedback on this recipe by dropping a comment............. Until next time, Happy Cooking Friends, Saumya

Ingredients:

For Kulcha:
Whole Wheat Flour               - 1 cup
Plain Flour                             - 2 cups
Sugar                                      - 1/2 tblspoon
Baking Soda                           - 1/4 tspoon
Oil                                           - 2 tspoon
Yogurt/Curd                            - 3/4 cup
Salt                                          - 1 tspoon / to taste
Water                                       - 1/4 to 1/3 cup for kneading of the dough

For Stuffing:
Potatoes                            - 4 medium size boiled and Mashed
Onion                                - 1 medium chopped finely (will give you around 4 tblspoon )
Paneer                               - 1/2 cup crumbled
Grated Cheese                  - 1/2 cup grated Mozzarella
Green Chillies                  - 3 finely chopped (gives you 1 full tspoon)
Red Chili Powder             - 1/4 tspoon + 1/4 tspoon
Amchoor                           - 1/4 tspoon + 1/4 tspoon
Coriander Powder             - 1/4 tspoon + 1/4 tspoon + 1/4 tspoon
Garam Masala                   - 1/4 tspoon + 1/4 tspoon + 1/4 tspoon
Salt                                    - to taste for all 3 stuffings
Coriander                          - 3 tblspoon freshly chopped ( 1 for each stuffing)


Method:

Making Kulcha Dough:
Take a deep mixing bowl, add whole wheat flour, plain flour, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Whisk well.

Now add yogurt and oil into it.
Start mixing your hands lightly.
With the help of little water at a time start to knead the dough. Adding water depends on the quality of flour as well, so add little at a time.

Take it out on lightly floured surface and knead with hands for few minutes.

Knead it to a smooth soft dough. cover the dough and keep aside for atleast 2 hours.

I used my stand mixer so threw everything together and mixed for 2 minute in low and 5 minutes in high speed with the dough hook on.

Making the Stuffing:
While the dough is resting we will make the stuffings. I made 3 types of stuffing for everyone's taste.

Potato Stuffing:
Mix Mashed Potato, 3/4 tspoon chopped green chillies, 2 tblspoon chopped onion, 1/4 tspoon Red chili powder, 1/4 Amchoor, 1/4 Coriander powder, 1/4 Garam masala, Salt and 1 tblspoon chopped coriander.
Mix everything well to make stuffing like a dough.

Paneer Stuffing:
Mix Crumbled Paneer, 1/4 tspoon chopped green chillies, 2 tblspoon chopped onion, 1/4 tspoon Red chili powder, 1/4 Amchoor, 1/4 Coriander powder, 1/4 Garam masala, Salt and 1 tblspoon chopped coriander.
Mix well with hands to incorporate everything together.

Cheese stuffing:
Mix Grated Cheese,  2 tblspoon chopped onion, 1/4 Amchoor, 1/4 Coriander powder, 1/4 Garam masala, Salt and 1 tblspoon chopped coriander.
Mix very well to combine everything.

Preparing Kulchas:
After 2 hours, or when you are ready to make, knead the dough again to smooth it out.
Make medium size balls out of it, like a cricket ball. I made 11 kulchas out of this quantity.
Lightly flour the work surface/rolling board.
Place the dough ball of it and roll a 4 inch circle.

Place 2 tblspoon of stuffing on it.

Pinch the end edges together to make it a ball again.

Roll it gently between your palms.

Sprinkle some more flour on work surface/rolling board.
Now roll the stuffed ball, slowly / gently with a rolling pin, into a 7-8 inch circle / or your choice of size.

Heat a heavy bottomed Tawa/Griddle.
Place the rolled Kulcha on the tawa. Sprinkle few drops of water on it.

Cover it and let it cook for 1 minute.

It will start to form some puffs on the Kulcha.

Now flip it over and cover again for it to puff fully.

Once cook from both side, which is turned golden brown evenly from both side, take it out of the griddle and put it on cooling rack.
Spread generous amount of ghee/butter/clarified butter on it.
After cooking each Kulcha, wipe clean the Tawa/Griddle.
Use the same process with Paneer and Cheese stuffing as well.

For Cheese and Paneer Kulchas, I made them by baking in the oven. Preheated the oven on max temperature. Place the rolled Cheese and Paneer kulcha on non-stick baking mat/greased baking tray.

Bake until both sides are golden brown.

Once baked take them out on a cooling rack and Spread generous amount of ghee/butter/clarified butter on them.
Serve the Kulchas with Chole, Raita, Salad and Chutney.