Stuffed Eggplant Recipe

Well, I wanted to use up the brinjal as well as cabbage lying in the fridge but could not zero in on one recipe that used both. I finally remembered the walnuts that I had and decided to make this recipe. I made cabbage sambar with the cabbage. Though the original recipe calls for the bigger variety, I made it with the small striped brinjals. The dish has a lot of texture to it because of the walnuts and the combination of the walnuts along with the brinjal is superb. I love walnuts and my dad sends me walnuts from his friend's farm in Ooty. Walnuts are supposed to be good for memory they say. Is it because they're similar in shape to the brain? But they are supposed to be loaded with Omega 3 fatty acids.

Ingredients :

1. 6 small striped purple brinjals
2. 1 medium sized onion finely chopped
3. 1 large tomato finely chopped
4. 1/4 cup walnuts chopped coarsely
5. 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
6. 1/4 tsp garam masala powder
7. 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
8. 1 tsp + 1tbsp olive oil
9. Salt to taste
10. Coriander leaves chopped - 1 tbsp
11. 30g cheddar cheese grated
12. Bread crumbs made from one slice of fresh bread - just blitz in the mixie jar.

How I made it :

1. Wash brinjal. Halve them.
2. Remove as much of the core that you can into another bowl. Keep aside to chop finely later.
3. Place the brinjal shells in salted water with the skin side up and boil for 5-6 minutes or until the skill is soft to touch and feels like it will break easily. This is important else you could get chewy shells which would destroy the dish. Drain, pat dry and keep aside.
4. Heat 1 tsp olive oil in a pan.
5. Add the onions. Fry till they turn pink and translucent.
6. Add the chopped brinjal centers.
7. After 2-3 minutes add the tomatoes. Fry till the brinjal is almost cooked. About 6 minutes. 
8. Add the red chilli powder, salt, garam masala and cinnamon powders.
9. Throw in the walnuts and fry till the brinjal is cooked completely.
10. Turn off heat and mix in coriander leaves. 
11. Now dip the eggplant shells in 1tbsp oil and put in oven with skin side down for about 3 minutes. I set the oven to 200 degree C and placed the shells in the topmost rack. 
12. Spoon in the mixture. Sprinkle bread crumbs and grated cheese.
13. Bake in oven for 20 minutes at 150 degree C or until cheese has melted and is brown on top.

Tips :

1. To ensure that you do not get a chewy shell, boil with skin side up. 
2. When pre-cooking in oven, place the shells with skin side down to avoid getting a chewy texture.

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Beetroot cake

I had this one odd beetroot lying around in my vegetable basket and I really did not know how to use it up. I usually make a beetroot paratha which hubby hates - I've not figured that out till date.
I browsed around a bit as I did remember seeing quite a few beetroot cake recipes when I made the eggless beetroot chocolate cake sometime back. Here is Nigel Slater's version of the beetroot cake.
Fortunately, this cake was ready just in time for guests. They loved it.

Ingredients : 

1. 1 cup whole wheat atta + enough for dusting
2. 1 cup brown sugar
3. 180ml oil + 1tsp for preparing the cake tin.
4. 1/3 cup raisins
5. 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
6. 2/3 cup grated raw beetroot
7. 3 eggs separated
8. 1tsp baking powder
9. 1/2 tsp baking soda
10. 1 tsp ground cinnamon powder - I usually grate a stick then and there as needed

Other equipment required :

1. Grater
2. Mixer
3. Hand blender or egg beater
4. OTG or Microwave with Convection option

How I made it :

1. Preheat the oven at 180 degree C.
2. Prepare the cake tin by first rubbing a layer of oil followed by a dusting of flour. I used a square 20 cm tin. The original recipe called for the use of a rectangular loaf tin. However, there as no difference in cooking time.
3. Sift the flour with baking powder and soda. This is to incorporate air into the flour.
4. In a mixie jar, beat the oil and sugar together.
5. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well in between additions.
6. Mix in the beetroot, walnuts and raisins.
7. Fold in the sifted flour mixture along with the cinnamon powder.
8. In a separate bowl, with a hand mixer beat the egg whites till soft peaks form.
9. Gently fold until well combined into the mixture at 7. Please ensure that it is well combined. 
10. Pour into cake tin.
11. Bake at 180 degree C for 55 minutes. Cover with aluminium foil after 30 minutes. 

It was truly delicious - moist and hearty. Healthy too. 

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Poached Pears with Walnut Chocolate Fudge and Creme Anglais

Yes Yes.. this is made multiple times on MasterChef. So basically my inspiration is from there. I did get firm pears while shopping for veggies this morning and after visiting http://thebarefootkitchenwitch.typepad.com/the_barefoot_kitchen_witc/2008/02/valentines-d-12.html and http://www.tarteletteblog.com/2010/10/recipe-gluten-free-spiced-poached-pears.html here's my version of the same.

Ingredients :
For Poached Pears:
4 pears - ensure that they are firm
Leftover kitsch from the canned peaches - you could just use water
Water to cover the pears completely
1 cinnamon bark
4 cloves
1 tbsp lemon juice
A handful of raisins

For chocolate walnut fudge (Adapted by recipe from Nestle Milkmaid):
1/2 tin milkmaid - I made an apple upside down cake with the other half
10g of chocolate - I used a piece of homemade ooty chocolate
1tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp cocoa powder
Chopped walnuts

For Creme Anglais (I look at this as a replacement to custard made from store brought powder):
2 egg yolks
1tbsp sugar
100ml milk
100ml fresh cream
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

How I made it :
Poached Pears 
1. Remove the peel of the pears. Place them in a tall pan. Cover with kitsch and water.
2, Add the cinnamon, cloves and lemon juice.
3. Bring to a boil and let it simmer away for about 30 minutes or so until the pears are cooked through. Poke with a toothpick to test. Always ensure that the pears are immersed in the water. You could keep turning them from time to time to ensure proper cooking on all sides.
4. When done remove the pears, drop in the raisins into the water/kitsch mixture and let the mixture continue to boil and reduce. Don't let it burn away. Do keep an eye on it.

Chocolate Walnut Fudge sauce :
4. Melt the butter and chocolate.
5. Add the cocoa powder. Cook for a minute or so.
6. Add the milkmaid and keep stirring till it thickens.Add the walnuts. Cool.


Creme Anglais :
7. Beat sugar and egg yolks till fluffy.
8. Warm milk and fresh cream along with vanilla essence till it is just up to come to a boil. Take off heat.
9. When the milk cream mixture is lukewarm, add it bit by bit ( mind you bit by bit) to the egg yolk mixture. Mixing continuously to avoid any lumps and curdling of eggs.
10. Put it back on stove on low heat. Continuously stir vigorously. Be very cautious at this step as the mixture could curdle with the cooking of the eggs. The very sign of a curdle, take off heat and place in an ice bowl. Blend it when cool and pass through strainer.It usually takes about 2 minutes or so for this to turn into custard - coats the back of the spoon and does not slide of completely.
Mine did begin to curdle but I had the ice bath ready.

Assembly:
Place the pear in a plate. Drizzle the walnut chocolate fudge sauce. You could thin it out by adding some warm milk. Ladle the creme anglais on the sides of the plate and then spoon some of the raisins along with the syrup too.
This tastes good chilled as well as warm.
We had it when it was warm. We've got more to have them when chilled. What I really liked was that this dessert is very light and not too sweet as with Indian desserts.

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Strawberry Oats Cake

It is strawberry season here and I just dunno why but I picked up a pack of strawberries while we grocery shopping this weekend. When I found a tiny amount of oats remaining in a jar, I knew that I had to make the strawberry oats cake that I had seen on Aparna and Greeshma's blog - here. I was just hoping that I had the right amount of oats. Gingerly I opened up my laptop and found the recipe which is actually from this site. I was happy to see that it required just 1/2 a cup of oats. Since, it is just two of us, I usually make cakes with a cup of flour so I had to just halve the ingredients and 1/4 cup of oats is all that was needed.

As you all do know me by now, I just had to put in a twist or two.

Ingredients:
1. 1 cup of whole wheat flour
2. 1/4 cup of quaker quick coooking oats
3. 1 teaspoon of baking powder
4. 1 whole nestle strawberry yoghurt

5. chopped walnuts
6. A pinch of salt

7. 1 egg ( the original recipe indicates the use of a ripe banana which was, in my case, amidst gastronomical juices today)
8. 1/2 cup of sugar
9. 1/4 cup of honey
10. 1/2 to 3/4 cup of strawberries chopped (The cake was very moist due to the number of strawberries that I had put in. This reflects a modified moderate amount)
11. 1/4 cup oil
12. 2 tbsp of milk - can avoid if the batter is smooth

How I made it :
1. Sieve together the salt, baking powder, atta. Add the oats and walnuts.
2. Beat the egg with sugar, honey, oil.
3. Once the mixture is creamy, add the yoghurt and the dry mixture of step 1. Fold in the ingredients.
4. Add the strawberries. Mix softly. Add the milk if the batter is too thick and lumpy.
5. Bake for 45 minutes in a pre-heated oven for 45 minutes at 180 degree C.

This cake is quite moist and therefore can't be kept for more than a day.

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