Whole wheat pancakes with Strawberries and Whipped Cream

A classic breakfast. Thanks to the hubby for taking this scrumptuous picture.

Ingredients (Makes 4 pancakes) :

1. 1 cup whole wheat flour
2. 1 egg
3. 1 tsp baking powder
4. 1.5 tbsp sugar for the pancakes
5. 1/8 tsp salt
6. 1/2 cup milk
7. 1/2 tsp vanilla powder/essence
8. 1.5 tbsp melted butter

    For topping

1. 1 cup of strawberries, pitted and sliced
2. 200ml fresh cream
3. 3 tbsp sugar for whipped cream

How I made it :

1. In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, vanilla powder and salt.
2. Beat the egg and add to this mix.
3. Add milk, melted butter and mix well. DO NOT add the baking powder until you have the toppings ready and the tawa/griddle hot.
4. Make the whipped cream as described below.
5. Now, heat your tawa.
6. Add the baking powder to the batter and mix well.
7. Pour a ladel of batter onto the hot tawa. Keep heat on low. Cover the pancake.
8. After a minute or so take off cover and flip the pancake. 
9. Cook on low for another minute.
10. Serve hot with whipped cream and strawberries. 

Alternate serving suggestion - maple syrup, honey, milkmaid

To make the whipped cream topping :

1. Take two similar sized bowls.
2. Put ice cubes into one.
3. Place the other bowl on the top.
4. Pour in the fresh cream.
5. Beat with hand mixer/blender on high until soft peaks are formed.
6. Add sugar while continuing to beat.
7. Turn off once sugar is well incorporated
8. Do not over beat the cream, it will turn to butter.

Tips :

1. Add the baking powder only and only when your tawa/griddle is hot and the toppings are ready as well.
2. Do not over beat the cream. It will turn to butter.

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Eggless Moist Chocolate Cupcakes

I've been itching to bake since I've been back from my US trip as I did not get to do much there with the absence of an oven. Last week I made strawberry shortcakes which were absolutely yum and this week since I am going to meet my Guddu darling, I made eggless chocolate cupcakes. I hope he likes them. I adapted the recipe from here.

Ingredients (For 6 cupcakes):

1. 1/4 cup maida
2. 1/4 cup wheat flour
3. 1/4 cup ragi - I used sprouted ragi flour from Manna
4. 1/2 cup brown sugar or 1/3 cup white sugar
5. 1 tsp vanilla powder
6. 2.5 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder - I use the one from cadbury. The weikfield cocoa powder does not satisfy the chocolate urges that I get.
7. 1/4 tsp salt
8. 1/2 tsp baking powder
9. 1/2 cup water
10. 4 tbsp neutral oil
11. 1/4 tsp instant coffee powder
12. 1 tsp vinegar

How I made them :

I made them in 2 batches as I have only one 6 cupcake tray.

1. Sift the maida, ragi, whole wheat flour, vanilla, baking powder, cocoa powder.
2. Add the salt and brown sugar. Keep aside.
3. In another bowl mix in the water, oil, coffee powder and vinegar.
4. Heat the oven to 180 degree C.
5. Prepare your cup cake moulds and place liners if required. I have a non-stick tray and hence don't always need the liners.
6. Mix the dry with wet ingredients as your oven is almost heated up. Don't fold or mix too much. Just enough to have a well mixed dough.
7. Pour spoonfuls into the moulds until 2/3rd full.
8. Bake for 17 minutes in middle tray. If you do not have a rack try placing the cup cake tray over any other inverted cake moulds/cooker vessel that you may have.

Cool on a wire rack and serve.

Tips :

1. Use only cadbury cocoa. If not, you will get the same taste that you get when you eat the Chocolate cakes at cafe coffee day which I don't like.
2. Mix the wet and dry ingredients just as the oven is almost at 180 degree C as the trick is to get the mixture into the oven as soon as possible. The baking powder starts to work as soon as it meets the wet ingredients. The longer you take to put it into the oven, the lower the cake will rise.

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Sindhi Breakfast - Koki - my favorite

Koki is a kind of mixed paratha. Onions, green chillies, chopped coriander, red chilli powder and salt are a must add to the flour while making the dough. Optionally, jeera/cumin or saunf could be added.

I love koki and think that it is a quickie breakfast. Kokis go well with tea, unsalted butter and sugar, pickle, curd and papad. My mom and aunt's kokis are famous amongst my friends and they, mostly men, have taken to cooking kokis when away from home. There must be something about them right?

Ingredients (makes 2 kokis):

1. 1 cup whole wheat flour
2. 1 medium sized onion chopped finely
3. 3 tablespoons oil + extra for cooking
4. 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
5. 1 finely sliced green chilly
6. finely chopped coriander
7. salt to taste
8. Water - enough to make the dough. I used the whey which is left after making homemade panneer this time

How I made it :

1.   In a wide bowl, mix in all ingredients from 1 to 7. 
2. Slowly add water to make a dough. 
3. Roll out into 1/2 cm thick parathas. 
4. Use a knife to draw a criss cross on one side - this helps it cook more evenly and also makes it look more interesting.
5. On a hot tawa/flat pan, on high heat, place the paratha with the criss cross side on top.
6. After 30 seconds, pour some oil on top and flip it. Reduce heat to low.
7. Cook for about 2 minutes and flip it again making the heat high. Add more oil as desired. 
8. When dark brown spots appear, it is done. Serve hot or cold. These stay for about 24 hours in an airtight container and are perfect for travelling. Have it with a hot cup of chai.

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Eggless Whole Wheat Banana Almond Pancakes

Since we have plans to travel this weekend and I was unwell last weekend, I have not stocked up my fridge and pantry. A few days back Pras and I had a fight over breakfast, I just did not have anything on hand to make a substantial meal. It is so true "A hungry man is an angry man". To avoid a repeat of the same, I quickly thought of making pancakes without eggs as I did not have any. I did have a couple of ripe bananas. So I decided to make Banana Pancakes.

Last Monday I had tried to make a Chocolate Almond Cake by Julia Child but it was a disaster. I guess I should've baked it longer. Anyways, I had the almonds that I had toasted for the decoration. I chopped them into slivers to sprinkle atop the pancakes.

Ingredients (makes 4 pancakes):

1. 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2. A pinch of salt
3. 1/2 tsp baking powder
4. 3/4 cup milk
5. 1 tbsp sugar
6. 2 medium ripe bananas - sliced into rounds
7. 8 toasted almonds chopped into slivers
8. 2 tsp Butter

How I made it:

1. Mix the whole wheat flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. 
2. Add in the milk and mix into a smooth batter - with no lumps.
3. Heat a skillet.
4. Add 1/2 tsp butter. Pour a ladleful of batter.
5. Sprinkle some chopped bananas and almond slivers.
6. Cover and cook for 45 seconds.
7. Flip over and cook for another 30 seconds.

These tasted delicious especially cause of the sweetness of the bananas. They did not require any honey on them as they were sweet by themselves. I'd reckon that they tasted like banana muffins without the wait :)

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Circular Whole Wheat Pop Tarts - II

My family back in Ooty views my blog and photos and they go crazy as they are no longer able to sample the stuff that I make. When I asked my brother what he wanted when I visited and he went, "You make something and bring it over". I thought of the whole wheat pop tarts as I had bought this really nice Strawberry Mint Preserve from Kitchens of India. It has no preservative and the natural taste of the fruit comes through. Also, it is not overly sweet unlike other jams.

I made these circular in shape - smaller than the last batch so that the quantity would be substantial. I spent most of Independence day making them but loved popping them into my mouth. They just melt in the mouth. I made thrice the quantity mentioned in the recipe. Tip : You won't need as much iced water when you double/triple the quantity.

The recipe is here.

Here is a pic of the tarts just out of the oven.

Peek-a-boo from their lovely jar.

All set....

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Whole wheat pop tarts

Off late I've been quite active on the food blogging world and I don't exactly remember how but I came across this blog. I loved most of the recipes posted there but this one stuck on. Today I got down to making these.

Just for the reader's convenience, here goes a list of ingredients and method.
Ingredients for 4 pop tarts:
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter - chilled
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup iced water
Jam as per sweetness desired
1 egg for egg wash

How I made it :
1. Mix the flour and salt in food processor.
2. Turn on food processor. Add the chilled butter cut into small cubes.
3. When you see crumbs, pour in the iced water until most of the dough collects together.
4. Take this out onto a floured surface.
5. Roll out. Cut into shape of choice.
6. Ensure that the shapes are not more than 1/4 inch thick.
7. Place some jam in the middle of one shape. Place another similar shaped and sized shape on top.
8. Seal the edges with a fork.
9. Apply egg wash.
10. Put in pre-heated oven at 190 degree C and bake for 20 minutes.

It was truly delicious. Do try it. Your kids will definitely love it. I am gonna make this time and again for sure.

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Whole wheat thin crust pizza with mushroom and coloured bell pepper toppings

This weekend I have been baking away like crazy. I baked a peach upside down cake, karela crisps and PIZZAAAAA. The cake turned out a bit too sweet. Lesson learnt - go with your gut and do not blindly follow a recipe. The peaches were poached in sugar syrup and I felt it would be better to reduce the quantity of sugar in the cake but since the cake had fresh ginger too, I thought that it required the sweetness.  Anyways, will master that the next time. Here's how I made the pizza....

Ingredients For 4 Medium Sized Thin Crust Pizzas:
For Pizza Base : 
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup maida/all purpose flour
1.5 tsp yeast
A pinch of sugar
1tsp salt
1 cup lukewarm water
1tbsp+1 tbsp oil

For toppings :
12 mushrooms - sliced
Coloured bell pepper - Sliced into rounds
Cheese - ideally mozzarella but I used cheddar as I had that at hand

For tomato sauce :
3 medium tomatoes
1 small onion
5 cloves of garlic
4 red chillies
1tsp pepper
1tbsp oil
Tomato ketchup - optional
salt to taste

How I made it :
Pizza Base :
1. Dissolve sugar in 1 cup warm water and add the yeast. Leave aside for 10 minutes.
2. Mix together salt, wheat flour, maida and 1 tbsp oil.
3. Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the yeast water.
4. Flour your kitchen top, roll out the flour and make a smooth dough.
5. Place this back in the bowl and cover with cling wrap and leave it in a warm place for 1 hour or until it rises. Since I made this in the evening, I left mine inside the car which was parked in the sun.

Tomato Sauce :
1. Heat oil in the pan.
2. Add the crushed garlic, red chillies, pepper and sliced onions.
3. Once the onions get translucent, add the tomatoes chopped.
4. Cover and cook till tomatoes dissolve when mixed. Turn off heat and rest. I had added some tomato ketchup mixed with a little water to help the tomatoes cook well.

Assembling the pizza :
1. Preheat oven to 200 degree C.
2. Cut the pizza dough into 4 balls.
3. Take one ball, flour the kitchen top and roll out the ball into any shape of your choice.
4. Spread the tomato sauce on the rolled out dough.
5. Sprinkle toppings of your choice and broken pieces of cheese.
6. Bake in oven for 25 minutes.

My pizzas got a nice crust on the corners and were soft towards the centre. The next time I may try baking the base separately before spreading on the tomato sauce to try to achieve a crusty pizza.

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