Honey Bread

Here's another really easy bread and tastes of sweet honey goodness!


Honey Bread

1/2 cup Butter
1/2 cup Sugar1/2 cup Honey
2 2/3 cup All-Purpose Flour, sifted with 3 tsp Baking Powder
1 Egg
2/3 cup Milk

Preheat oven to 180 deg C.

Cream butter and sugar together. Add honey and cream again.
Add the egg, beat well. Now alternately add the flour and milk, starting and ending with flour. Beat well.

Pour into a buttered loaf pan. Bake for an hour until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the loaf. Enjoy.

"Almost" BBQ Chicken

Okay, a recipe couldn't get any easier. I got this from a weight watcher's recipe a long time ago. Its a really easy recipe, and quite a favorite at home. The sauce tastes like an imitation barbecue sauce and gives it a great flavor.

Diet Coke Chicken

1/2 cup Ketchup

12 oz Diet Cola (one can)

2 Chicken Breast halves, skinless

Brown the chicken with some cooking spray. Mix the cola and ketchup and pour over the chicken.

Cook, covered, on low for about 25-30 minutes. Remove the chicken breast, increase the heat to medium high and cook till sauce thickens.

Serve the chicken with the sauce spooned on top.

Cheese Balls

Hmm. Actually these should be called Potato Balls - they're made from potato and have NO CHEESE. But we've always called them cheese balls. I have no idea why!

They are ridiculously good - and filled with everything scrumptious - ghee, potatoes, salt - and then deep fried. No, they are not healthy, I won't even pretend they are. But when you are having people over for and want to serve something which people will be reaching for the entire time, this is it! Or, hey, if you've been really really good with working out and eating right all week, maybe its just time to have one or two or three...

The oil that I used got too hot, and thats why these are darker than usual, but still taste so good!

Cheese Balls

1/2 cup Ghee (Clarified Butter)
1/2 cup Water
2 tbsp Wheat Flour
4 medium Potatoes, boiled, skinned and mashed very well
Salt, to taste
Oil, for deep frying

Heat the oil on low for deep frying in a shallow, flat-bottomed pan.

In another pan, heat the ghee and water together. When it starts to boil, remove the pan from heat.

Slowly - VERY slowly - add the flour a little bit at a time, whisking furiously the whole time, so lumps don't form. After all the flour has been added, add the mashed potatoes and salt and stir/ mash to combine completely.

Make little marble-sized balls from the potato mixture.

Slowly lower 4-5 balls at a time into the oil and fry until golden brown or darker. Drain on a tissue-lined colander. Serve warm with ketchup or chutney.

So so good!

Rasam Powder

Rasam, a lovely blend of spices, tamarind and lentils is a favorite in southern India. Usually mixed with rice, rasam also makes a great soup. I've posted the recipe for my favorite rasam earlier, and a simple rasam as well. This is the basic spice mix used to make rasam.

Rasam Powder

1 cup Coriander Seeds

1 cup Toor Dal

1/4 cup Black Peppercorn

1/4 cup Cumin Seeds

15-20 Dried Red Chillies

1 cup Curry Leaves

Roast the coriander seeds, toor dal, peppercorn, cumin seeds and red chillies.

Separately roast the curry leaves.

Grind together to reach the consistency of semolina (a coarse grain).

This powder can be stored in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Pongal

Pongal is a popular south Indian breakfast. It consists of lentils and rice cooked together and then seasoned with spices. Its usually eaten with a spicy curry of some sort, but tastes great with a sprinkling of sugar as well.

This is quite a meal on its own, and though its popular for breakfast, we tend to mix up all our foodstuffs here. Just like dosai, or upma, pongal makes for a great lunch or dinner as well.

Pongal

3 cups Rice
1 cup Moong Dal (Split Green Gram)
6 cups Water (or as needed)
1 tsp Black Peppercorns
2 tsp Cumin Seeds

Cook the rice, dal and water together with some salt.

Heat a pan with some oil. Add peppercorn and cumin and let them brown a little. Coarsely crush this into a powder.

Add the crushed spice mixture to the cooked rice and dal and mix well until fully combined.

Vangibath (Rice with Eggplant)

I'm not a huge fan of eggplant, and so have been putting off making this for a long time. I got this recipe from an aunt who swore that it comes out perfect every time. I kept thinking, yeah, but eggplant flavored rice? Hmm, I'll wait!

Well, I happened to get some great eggplant in the market, and so decided to just go ahead and try it. It really is wonderful! Another no-fail recipe!


Vangibath (Rice with Eggplant)

Cook 2 cups of Rice and set aside.

Grind together:
1 tbsp Fresh Cilantro
1 tsp Cumin Powder
1 tsp Ground Coriander
1/2 tsp Cinnamon Powder
1/2 dried Red Chilli
1 clove Garlic, chopped
2-3 Black Peppercorn
2 Cloves, and
1 pinch minced Ginger

Set aside.

Heat 1 1/2 tbsp oil in a saucepan, and add:
a pinch of Asafoetida
1/4 tsp Cumin Seeds
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds, and
1/4 tsp Sesame Seeds

When the mustard seeds pop, add and saute:
1 small Eggplant, unpeeled and diced
1/2 Onion, diced
1/2 Tomato, diced, and
1/4 cup Peas, frozen or fresh

Saute until the onions are transparent. Add the ground ingredients, and:
1 tbsp Cumin Powder
1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Turmeric, and
2 Bay Leaves.

Continue to saute until the eggplant is soft. Separate the grains of cooked rice with a fork, and add to the saute pan. Mix thoroughly and cook 3-5 minutes on low heat. Garnish with coconut and chopped cilantro.

Chilli Cheese Toast

You know that craving you get when you come home from work, and just want to eat something before you start making dinner? This is just a wonderful tea-time snack. Very popular in India, chilli cheese toast has become somewhat of a tradition.


In this picture, I've used brown bread. I made a few with chillies and a few without.

Chilli Cheese Toast

10 slices of Bread (works equally on white bread as it does on baguettes or multigrain, so go with your favorite kind)
150 g Mozzarella Cheese, grated
4-5 Green Chillies, finely chopped
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder OR Crushed Red Pepper
2 pinches Baking Powder

Preheat oven to 375 deg F.

Lightly toast the bread. Make a paste mixture with the rest of the ingredients.

Apply the paste onto each slice of bread. Bake the bread for 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

Serve warm.