Quick Bread Mix- An anytime snack

Quick Bread Mix

When you are really hungry, your stomach will forget its etiquette and impolitely demand immediate satiety with something substantial, your taste buds will yearn for something tasty, and your body will express its need for a healthy food to make it feel strong again ! Here is a dish that satisfies all these demands well. It is a snack bread mix made of whole wheat bread.This healthy dish can be made within 10 minutes and is quite filling too !

Ingredients

2 cups wholewheat flour bread pieces
1/2 cup mix of chopped tomato, onions, garlic,  ginger, coriander leaves, green chillies
1 tsp. curry leaves
1/2 tsp. coriander powder
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp. healthy oil or low calorie margarine
2 tablespoonfuls tomato sauce
Salt to taste
1/4 cup Bhujia Sev( Indian chickpea flour noodles) ( optional)

Directions

1. Make 1 inch X 1 inch pieces from bread slices by tearing them uniformly and keep them in a bowl.
2. Temper the mustard and cumin seeds in oil.
2.Saute the vegetables in the oil with the tempering.
3. Add the bread pieces.
4. Add the spice powders and turmeric.
5. Add salt.
6.Mix in the tomato sauce.
7. Garnish with bhujia sev.

Serving 
This makes one serving( a plateful of bread mix for a single adult person). Thi is best eaten when freshly made.

Healthy Baked Malai Kofta- Chuck the Unhealthy Deep-fried Version Now !

Malai Kofta, which can be described as soft, melt-in-the mouth cheese ball in rich cream gravy, has ruled the Indian aristocratic taste senses right from the Moghul times, when it was invented. Best relished as a side course with Indian breads like Tandoori Roti or Naan, the Malai Kofta is basically a spicy dish with a hint of sweetness. Dig into the  velvety soft kofta in one go, or slowly nibble into it, one small portion at a time, your utterly delicious journey through the kofta is going to end on a sweet note when your taste buds will discover the soft raisin in the center ! The classic Malai Kofta recipe calls for deep-frying the cheese balls in ghee( Indian clarified butter), or oil. However, being a health and weight-loss freak, I patronize making the dish with less or no fats. Therefore, I wanted to try out baking the Koftas rather than frying them.
Malai Kofta has a number of  yummy variations,and here is the recipe for my dish.

Main Equipment

1. Oven
2. Measuring Cups and Spoons
3. A Container, for mixing the ingredients of the kofta
4. A Wok, for making the Kofta gravy
5. A Baking Tray for baking the Koftas

Ingredients

 For the Malai Kofta: 

1. 1/2 cup homemade cottage cheese(Chenna)/ Paneer( the commercially sold version of Chenna, which is sold in the block form). For making this, you will need 1/2 litre of milk.
2. 1 large-sized boiled  and mashed Potato
3. 1 chopped white onion
4. 5 cloves of chopped garlic

5. Salt to taste
6. 1 tablespoon each of chopped Green chillies and chopped ginger

7. 3 tablespoonfuls of homemade cream( malai- this is the sheet  of cream
that forms on top of boiled milk. To make it, you should allow the boiled milk to cool well and collect it from the surface). 
8. 1 small-sized Lemon 
9. 1/4 cup raisins


You can add more vegetables of choice, if you want. You can also omit potato, in which case you will  need to use cornflour as a binding agent. You just need to use 2 tablespoonfuls of cornflour to bring the vegetables together to form Kofta balls.

 For the Malai Kofta Gravy: 

1. 1 cup of mixed nuts: cashew, almonds, walnuts etc.
2. 2 tablespoonfuls of Garam Masala powder
3. 1 cup milk.
4.1 cup of homemade, low-fat, double-toned milk cream
5. 2 onions, 1 garlic clove, 3 green chillies - paste ( you can change the composition as per your personal taste).
6. 1 teaspoonful sugar
7. 3 tablespoonfuls of  heart-healthy oil.

 Preparation

 Steps to Make Chenna

1. Boil the milk.

2. Cut the lemon horizontally and add the juice of both halves to the boiled milk in order to coagulate it, taking care to see to it that you are not dropping the seeds of the lemon into the milk. Commercial milk-coagulants  are available to make Chenna, but as we do not want to use any artificial and chemicalized products in our preparation, we are not using it here. But, if you are particularly allergic to lemon, you can go for other alternatives. It is also important to note that milk that coagulates naturally, without the usage of any coagulating agent, is not very healthy to consume. You should not use milk that coagulates in this manner.

3. Remove the milk from the remaining liquid with the help of a strainer, and strain it further till a dry mass results. See the picture below:

Chenna

 BTW, Chenna is a very healthy ingredient ! I personally found this recommended for people ailing with jaundice, anemia, and a generally weak constitution. Chenna can also be eaten as it is with a little sugar, salt or any other seasoning of choice. You could also mimic scrambled egg curry with this, by adding spices, vegetables and turmeric to it. A kid in my neighborhood, who topped in academics right from his childhood was religiously given Chenna mixed with almonds, by his mother, everyday, before he left for school !

If you do not want to make Chenna, you can buy blocks of Paneer and mash them.

 Steps to Make the Kofta

1. Mix the chopped onions, mashed potato, cottage cheese, salt, chopped green chillies, chopped ginger and Malai.  Your Malai Kofta paste should be of the consistency shown in the picture below:

Malai Kofta Paste

2. Bring together a small part of the dough, shape it round and put a raisin in it, as shown in the picture below:

Malai Kofta Raisn Filling
 

3. Cover the raisin from the top and make a round ball. This turns out to be a ball with a raisin stuffing

 

Kofta Ball

4. Arrange the balls neatly on the baking tray and bake them. The baked Koftas will look as below:

Baked Malai Kofta

5. Set aside the baked Malai Koftas to cool.

Steps to Make the Malai Kofta Gravy

 1. Make a paste with the nuts by crushing them in a mixer/blender with a small quantity of water
2. Fry the nut paste in 3 tablespoonfuls of oil for about 10 mins
3. Make an onion, green chillies and garlic paste and fry it with the nut paste for 5 minutes
4. Add the salt and sugar
3. Stir in the homemade cream
4. Add the garam masala powder
5. Let the gravy cook for 10 minutes
6.  You can dilute the gravy to desired consistency with milk, if you find it too thick.

Serving

You can choose to soak the koftas in the gravy for a while before serving, or pour the gravy on the Koftas just before eating them.
Malai Koftas can be served with Indian breads, such as Roti, naans etc. You can also try to be innovative by trying them with  Western breads( by western, I mean American and European breads).

Eggless Multi-grain Wholewheat Flour Black Forest Cake

Eggless Multigrain Black Forest Cake

"It is not the standard Black Forest Cake Recipe, but my choice of ingredients that Rules !"

Who does not love the gorgeous Black Forest Cake? Being a vegetarian, I denied my taste buds the pleasure of this very tempting chocolate and cherry-laden German cake, thinking that egg was an essential ingredient to prepare this; but, my joy knew no bounds when I actually created a vegetarian recipe for this and that too with common ingredients available in an Indian household !
For people who want to brush up their knowledge about the Black Forest Cake, it is essentially a chocolate cake with layers of frosting made of whipped cream and maraschino cherries. The distinguishing ingredient of this dish is Kirschwasser( a type of cherry liquor), which you might be familiar with as Kirsch ! Well, I used apple juice in place of Kirsch and there is a  good reasons for this. In our house, we do not drink any kind of hard drinks, and so alcohol( an important constituent of Kirsch) was not in my kitchen inventory. Not all Indians like to consume alcohol, especially when the item in which it is used will be eaten by even children and elderly people. Therefore, apple juice formed the base of my cherry extract. I soaked the cherries in apple juice and filtered that juice the next day and added it to my regular chocolate cake batter. Believe me, the result was just deadly !

" Thinking About the Health Aspect ? This Black Forest Cake Recipe takes care of it well ! "

If you are thinking about the health aspect of this black forest cake, then there cannot be a healthier alternative ! I used heart-healthy vegetable oil in place of butter in the cake, and most importantly used wholewheat flour enriched with soya flour, chickpea flour, oat flour, maize flour and Psyllium husk.  Moreover, you are aware that the world is turning vegetarian these days for health reasons...and this is a totally vegetarian cake !

Everybody Has the Right to Enjoy Good Food, Not Only the Rich !

My eyes used to fill with tears when I would watch kids from average Indian families desperately controlling their temptation while passing by commercial bakeries laden with utterly delicious, but very pricey cakes, of which the Black Forest was definitely one. I wanted to do something about this. I wanted to make the dish with healthy and commonly available ingredients. Items made with healthy, but economical ingredients can be prepared  in any Indian household.My motto is, good dishes should not be items to be relished by only a few; they should be within the reach of the masses too. After all, everybody has the right to enjoy good food.  This recipe is an endeavor on those lines. If you do not have an oven, you can use your pressure cooker to make this. Just do not use water in it and do not put the whistle on top.

So here is the recipe for the same...View the presentation below and give me feedback on the same...

Eggless black forest cake from Leenakomarraju
 

So How did the Black Forest Cake Get its Name and Who Invented It?

Since we love the Black Forest Cake so much, just a small trivia session will not do any harm ! So here are the facts about its origin ...The first time I came to know about this cake, I wondered why it was called the Black Forest Cake. Many of us might think that the chocolate shavings( which resemble the soil of the woods), and the cherries( which resemble the fruit bearing trees), against the white whipped cream backdrop( which resembles the snow), resembles a black forest. But that is not the reason... the cake gets its name from Schwarzwälder Kirsch from Schwarzwald, the German Black Forest.
The Black Forest Cake was not actually a cake, and the person who created it was a German baker named Josef Keller, in his kitchen in Bad Godesberg called Agner.

Are Black Forest Cakes Specifically Made for Any Holidays?

While the Black Forest Cake makes an utterly delicious item for any party, formally, you can see it prepared more on Washington's Birthday, also known as President's Day,  and there is an interesting story attached to this...Six-year-old George Washington cuts down the bark of his father's favorite cherry tree with his hatchet and when his father demands to know about the person who cut off his tree, George gathers courage and tells him the truth. George's father's anger just vanishes, and he praises his son for speaking the truth, saying that the virtue of his son to speak the truth in the face of adversity, was more worthier than a thousand such cherry trees  to him!

Baked Saffron and Dry Fruits Sweet Rice Pudding

Saffron Sweet Rice pudding

Saffron sweet rice pudding is a delightful variation of the conventional Kheer. I recommend this as an offering to Goddess Saraswati for Vansant Panchami and I have good reasons for that. Firstly, Saraswati, the Hindu Goddess of learning, is fond of the colors, yellow and white. This is the reason you will find yellow flowers being offered to her. She is also depicted mostly clad in yellow clothes. In essence yellow is the color of prosperity in India. Taking all this into consideration, I thought of making a yellow dish for her this year and this extremely delicious saffron rice pudding stuck me.

Please follow the recipe presentation below:

Baked saffron rice pudding recipe from Leenakomarraju

 Healthy Variations

It is somewhat rich as it contains condensed milk and dry fruits, but it gives you ample scope to try out your own variations without the above mentioned rich ingredients. Even saffron rice, with honey and no condensed milk and dry fruits would taste as good as the one which has them.

Trivia

Saraswati, is the wife of Brahma, who according to Hindu mythology, is the creator of this world. Saraswati is the Goddess of Knowledge and is prayed by Hindus for intellectual and career oriented prosperity. Bengalis perform Saraswati Puja on Vasant Panchami day. People of other communities, such as the South Indians, worship the Goddess during Dussehra.

No-cook Instant Chocolate With Edible Jewelry for Valentine's Day

No cook instant chocolate with edible candy jewelry for valentine's day from Leenakomarraju
Valentine's Day is round the corner and how about trying out some very easily made quick chocolates for the day ? You could also make some fun, edible wearable jewelry for the occasion. It does not take you even half an hour to get things going as the basic process involved in this is just mixing the ingredients and shaping them. Unlike other chocolate recipes, you don't have to toil with stirring the chocolate and then allowing it to set inside and outside the refrigerator for long hours. Your chocolate is ready within minutes ! If you are a busy person and you want to creatively make something that is delicious and fun to have, you can try this out.
Watch the presentation for the step-by-step recipe of  no-cook instant chocolates for Valentine's Day.

Jiaozi with sweet sour soy sauce for the Chinese New Year

Jiaozi with sweet sour soy sauce from Leenakomarraju

It is time for the Chinese New Year and here is Jiaozi, which tops the list of New Year specials of the Chinese and many of the South East Asians. For those who are not aware, a Jiaozi is basically a dumpling, which is traditionally made with a filling of meat or vegetables and served with soy sauce. 

Classic Chinese cooking involves steaming or boiling the dumplings. Some people prefer the steamed or boiled dumplings to be pan-fried. I would also suggest that you could also try baked jiaozi and see which variety is liked by your family. 

The motto of a good chef should be “make the best use of what you have”. I had second thoughts about making a Chinese dish as I did not have all the ingredients traditionally used in making this dish. But I thought that non-availability of ingredients should not intimidate me and where there is a will there should be a way. So I had made use of ingredients that were commonly available to me at a small Indian town. 

Jiaozi Health Facts

You need all-purpose flour, vegetables or meat, salt, seasonings and water to make this dish.  The method of preparation makes this dish healthy. You steam or boil the dumplings and if it is vegetable filling, you are preparing them in the healthiest way possible as both boiling and steaming have been accepted and recommended as healthy ways of cooking. Traditionally you don’t have to use oil, but I have sauteed the vegetables lightly in some heart-healthy oil to suit our Indian palate better.  I have also tried a baked variation and it turned out to be simply fabulous !

The soy dip accompaniment also comes with the virtues of soy sauce and green chillies. 

Serving

Jiaozi are absolutely filling and traditionally they are served as starters or as an accompaniment dish, but I suggest that you could eat these tasty and nutritious bags  for breakfast too. 

Trivia

Do you know why a jiaozi is sometimes called a potsticker? - It is because it sticks to the bottom of the pan in which it is sauteed.
Jiaozi and wanton are not the same- you know about the former; the latter has a thinner skin, is conventionally rounder than jiaozi and served in a broth.

Healthy Chocolate Multi Grain Chocolate Cookie- for kids who fuss to eat their bread !

Hi,

If you are on the lookout for a light and tasty but nutritious snack, here is the healthy multigrain chocolate cookie for you. It is made of wholewheat flour(enriched with the healthy soy, oat, maize and chickpea flour along with psyllium husk) and heart-healthy margarine which is a good substitute for butter. With chocolate flavoring, there is no compromising on taste. You can safely forget the less healthy all-purpose flour and butter.
Children who do not like bread can be given this and surely they are going to love it !

Watch the self-paced  presentation below  for viewing the recipe.

About the Presentation:
Videos  get stuck while playing and a bit difficult to follow(when you do not have a native accent) and it is boring to go through lines of text recipes which extend the length of your blog. Here is a step-by-step presentation with adequate pictures to make your learning easy and interesting.

Whole Wheat Valentine Cookies

Whole Wheat Valentine Cookies

Valentine’s Day will be here in a few days and I just wanted to start my preparation for the romantic day with some healthy, tasty and easy-to-make valentine cookies.  

The story of Valentine's Day is interesting. If you want to know the story read it in the trivia section below.

Now since you know the story and the significance of the Valentine cookies, would you not want to pay tribute to Saint Valentine by expressing love to your dear one with these scrumptious but light Valentine cookies? I call them light as these taste too good even without all that heavy buttery icing usually found on Valentine cookies. So here we go…

Equipment Required

A Electric Oven

A cookie baking tray( flat tray  Mostly it comes with the oven)

Aluminum foil(  big enough to cover the tray)

A container (for keeping kneaded biscuit dough)

Standard Measuring cups

Standard Measuring spoons

Mixer/Grinder

Sieve

A Newspaper

A Spoon 

Food Items you Need ( Ingredients)

 1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour

½ cup strawberry flavored custard powder

½ cup sugar

½ cup butter

A pinch of baking soda

Method of Cooking

 Baking

Preparation Time

20 mins

Cook Time 

20 mins

How to Make Valentine Cookie ( Directions)

Sieve together all purpose flour, custard powder, and baking soda on a clean newspaper.
Powder the sugar in the mixer.
Melt the butter and pour it into a container. Add sugar and beat till a smooth and homogenous mixture is obtained.
Add the flour mixture and mix it in small portions in the butter-sugar mixture till you obtain a smooth dough. 

whole wheat valentine strawberry cookie dough

Let the dough rest for about 5 hrs.
Flatten the cookie dough with a flatbread flattener

Flattened Whole Wheat Cookie Dough

Shape cookies as hearts( you use cookie cutter ash shown in the picture) and place them on a baking tray lined with heat-proof aluminum foil.

Shaping Cookies With Heart Shaped Cookie Cutter

Chop cherries finely and place them in the center of each cookie.

unbaked cookies with cherries

Place the cookie tray in the oven and set the timer for 22 mins and oven temperature to 170 degrees centigrade. You can also try baking at 190 degrees for 10-12 mins and let me know if you’ve got a soft texture.

unbaked valentine cookies to be baked

The cookies will bake in the time set or wait till they brown along the edges.
Cracks on top of the biscuit will let you know that they have baked well.
Cool the cookies.
Remove the tray from the oven and delicately lift the cooled Valentine cookies one by one.

Baked Valentine Cookies

Serving

Package them in a plastic container and in attractive gift paper and present them to your Valentine.

Some Observations from Experience:

1.       Do not substitute butter with oil or margarine as they will spoil the taste. Butter can be substituted with oil in cakes but not in biscuits.

2.       Many recipes ask you to use ½ tsp soda, but do not do that! That much amount gave a bitter soda taste to my cookies earlier. Just use a pinch of soda. Not more than that.

Health Facts of Valentine Cookie Ingredients

Cornstarch - I used custard powder for coloring the cookies pink. I also thought about using pink food color but custard powder is definitely healthier. Cornstarch does not contain saturated fats and comes with zero fat and cholesterol content. It does not contain sugar and percentage of sodium is pretty low.

Whole Wheat Flour- I used whole wheat flour which has more health benefits than all-purpose flour, in the dish. The percentage of saturated fats, sodium and cholesterol in this flour is very low.  It supplies adequate dietary fiber to the dishes it is used in. It is rich in Selenium and Manganese
Compositionally Light- This is a light biscuit as it does not contain heavy and creamy icing which can add calories.  

Trivia

For those who are not aware of Valentine’s Day and why it is celebrated here is brief introduction to the occasion and why it is celebrated. Valentine’s Day is an occasion of romantic love when couples acknowledge love for each other. Somehow, tragedy and love seem to go hand in hand as seen in some of the greatest love stories of this world and the foundation of this hugely and internationally popular occasion of love is martyrdom for love. Valentine, a Roman physician, was imprisoned and killed for encouraging marriage for soldiers against the desire of the Roman rulers in 270 AD on the 14^th of February. He himself was in love with his jailer’s daughter and before being executed he sent her a love note addressed to her as “to my Valentine”.  The incident did not gain much popularity till the 14^th century when Geoffrey Chaucer, the Father of English Literature popularized it as a celebration of romantic love. Couples expressed their love with romantic cards, romantic gifts and foods out of which the valentine chocolates, cakes and cookies gained tremendous popularity. 

Where to Buy Whole Wheat Valentine Cookies

You may not have the time, equipment or ingredients to make these cookies. Does that mean that you do not have to enjoy these?

Valentine cookies of different varieties and flavors are sold by confectioners all over the world in the months January to February. There is no season for love and therefore some sell them throughout the year. You need to check with your local bakers and order them well in advance so that you are not disappointed in the last moment. You could also do a google search with keywords" buy valentine cookies" and you will get a list of retailers. Make sure that before you buy you will be given the product you want and this is especially true in online shopping. Read retailer reviews for credibility before ordering your lot and make sure that you are delivered the freshest products without damage.

Mocha Cookie- Just try stopping at one !

Mocha Cookie

A Mocha cookie is an irresistibly crisp and crumbly baked food flavored with the compelling combo of chocolate and coffee!  The flavors of coffee and cocoa complement each other perfectly and the cravings of the taste buds for this combo have led to the invention of many foods and drinks with this combo and mind you this has never failed! So here is one more manifestation of the deadly mocha!  So my recipe for the mocha cookie goes this way…

Equipment Required

Electric Oven

A cookie baking tray( flat tray  Mostly it comes with the oven)

Aluminum foil(  enough to cover the tray)

A container (knead biscuit dough)

Standard Measuring cups

Standard Measuring spoons

Mixer/Grinder

Sieve

A Newspaper

A Spoon

Food Items you Need ( Ingredients)

1 cup All purpose flour

4 tbsp drinking chocolate powder

1 tsp Nescafe Instant Coffee powder

¼ cup sugar

½ cup butter

A pinch of baking soda

Method of Cooking

 Baking

Preparation Time

20 mins

Cook Time

22 mins

How to Make Mocha Cookie ( Directions)

1.       Sieve together all purpose flour, drinking chocolate powder, baking soda on a clean newspaper. 

2.       Powder the sugar in the mixer. 

3.       Melt the butter and pour it into a container. Add sugar and beat till a smooth and homogenous mixture is obtained 


 4. Add the flour mixture and mix it in small portions in the butter-sugar mixture till you obtain smooth dough

Mocha Cookie Dough

  


      5. Shape cookies as desired and place them on a baking tray lined with heat-proof aluminum foil

Mocha Cookie before baking

  

            6.  While you shape the cookies, you can preheat the oven at 200 degrees for about 10 mins. 

            7. Place the cookie tray in the oven and set the timer for 22 mins and oven temperature to 170 degrees centigrade

      8. The cookies will bake in the time set  

           9. Cracks on top of the biscuit will let you know that they have baked well.

         10.  Leave the cookies in the hot oven for about 15 mins after switching it off. This will complete the baking in case it takes a bit longer to cook in your oven 

        11.  Cool the cookies 

         12. Remove the tray from the oven and delicately lift the cooled cookies one by one  

        13.  Your mocha cookies are ready to be served

            A well baked mocha cookie should look as below:

Mocha Cookie( left to right cross section, top & bottom)

Serving

Enjoy your mocha cookies anytime, anywhere!

Some Observations from Experience:

1.       Do not substitute butter for oil or margarine as they will spoil the taste. Butter can be substituted with oil in cakes but not in biscuits.

2.       Many recipes ask you to use ½ tsp soda, but do not do that! That much amount gave a bitter soda taste to my cookies earlier. Just use a pinch of soda. Not more than that.

3.       Preheating oven at 200 degrees Centigrade is very important

Tip from Healthy Brain

This mocha cookie is absolutely harmless ! 1-2 cookies a day is not going to make you fat. So go ahead and enjoy your mocha cookie. I know it will be tough for you but just remember to not do any overeating and don’t forget to exercise the next day! :)