Walnuts

Walnuts are extremely nutritious. There are various benefits of walnuts. Not only are they rich in protein but also vitamins B and E. They serve as good snack however, check how much you eat lest you want to put on some extra pounds / kilos. Walnuts if taken in moderate quantities are extremely good for health.

Week of March 15- 19, 2010, I would like to bring to you few walnut recipes. Hope you enjoy cooking, serving & eating them!

Do you have a walnut recipe on you? Send it across with a brief about yourself! Looking forward to your contributions!

Check out…Meals that heal inflammation by Julie Daniluk!

What does Sarah Merson say about benefits of walnut?

Walnuts and walnut oil contain protein, vitamin B6 and E, potassium, magnesium, copper & zinc, all of which help to keep us youthful. Vitamin B6 helps to prevent memory loss and protect the heart, while vitamin E maintains skin and hair. Both potassium and magnesium are good for the heart, and copper helps to prevent varicose veins. Zinc has a miraculous ability to rejuvenate the thymus gland and to boost immunity Walnut is a good source of fatty acids, central to skin and heart health.

Sarah Merson is a freelance writer specializing in alternative health & nutrition. She works for the college of Naturopathic Medicine in the UK and is the author of The Top Traditional Remedies (DBP)

Colorful Holi

Gujiya - Indian Sweet

When you think of gujiya your think of HOLI (the colorful festival of India) or vice versa. I have fond memories helping my mom in the kitchen making gujiya and storing them in huge containers more for our consumption than distribution Ahh…those were the days!

With the festival of holi 2 days away, I requested my mom to share her recipe with me for this blog. Here it is…

For Dough

Ghee (clarified butter) – 2 Tbsp

All purpose flour (maida) – 150 gms

For Stuffing

Fried & Powdered semolins (rawa/suji) – 125 gms

Khoya (Dried thickened milk) – 125 gms (if you get to buy ready made Khoya; in a non stick pan heat 1 litre of milk on slow heat with constant stirring till it gets thickened)

Khus-Khus  (KusKus / Poppy seeds) – 1/2 – 3/4 tsp

Combination of nuts and powdered sugar – 125 gms (nuts: almonds, cashew nuts, raisin, pinch of nutmeg powder, cashew nut powder)

1. Combine maida and ghee and add little cold water and knead. The dough should be a little hard. Cover it with a piece of wet cloth and keep aside for 2-3 hours.
2. Combine all ingredients for stuffing and keep aside.
3. Knead the dough again and make small balls.
4. Roll out small rounds like we do for pooris and place it in the gujiya mould. Fill in the stuffing on one side and close the mould hard. What you will see is a semi circle filled in with filled stuffing and ready for frying.
5. If you do not have a mould. Follow the the process of rolling out a circle, filling the stuffing on one side and covering with the other half. Only in this case with your fingers gently apply mixture of water and maida on the inner side and then press it hard so that it stick together well.
6. Please note that the semi circle should be firm with no gaps else while you fry, it will tend to break open and all your lovely stuffing would be in the oil.
7. Take enough oil for frying and heat on high flame.
8. Immerse the prepared gujiyas into the hot oil and lower the flame immediately. This is to ensure that the cooking happens on both outer and inner sides of the gujiya.
9. When nice and brown take it out and place it on an absorbent paper.
10. Store in airtight containers.

* few people also like a coating of sugar syrup over their gujiya. All you need to do is to dip the fried gujiyas in sugar syrups for few seconds and decorating with silver foil and nuts before storing them. However, I love it just the way it is ..freshly fried and just about warm 

Here’s wishing all my readers a very happy holi!

Meet Jayalakshmi.. an excellent cook and an equally efficient homemaker

Click here for…

***Collection Of More Than 1000 Chosen Indian Recipes***

If you plan to store dough in refrigerator for more than 3 days then coat it with oil and store it in an airtight container to avoid it getting black..

Spanish Tortilla Image: Priya Q

This one I learnt to make while my stay in Barcelona. The Spanish Tortilla or omelette made with potatoes and bell pepper is a typical Spanish breakfast which is wholesome and delectable. Only tricky part is the transferring of the omelette…but what fun without creative cooking..yeh? so let’s get going!

Eggs – 4 nos

Potatoes – 3 big (wash and peeled)

Capsicum – 1 big (sliced)

Onions -2 nos (sliced fine)

Black pepper – 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Herbs (optional and my contribution to the recipe )

1. Beat the eggs with bit of salt and keep aside
2. Finely slice the potatoes and fry them in a pan in olive oil
3. Add onions and fry further
4. Add capsicum and the seasonings
5. The herbs I use is thyme and a pinch or oregano
6. Fry well and transfer the frid contents to the beaten egg. Mix well.
7. In a flat pan add a dash of olive oil and when hot add the egg mixture
8. Cook on slow heat while scraping the sides of the omletter and depositing it to the centre so that we have one thick mass holding together than a thin omlette
9. Place a plate over the pan and quickly up turn the tortilla in order to transfer it on the plate
10. Now you will have the cooked side facing you while the uncooked side will be facing the plate
11. Transfer the tortilla back to the pan to cook the uncooked side
12. This process is supposed to be repeated 4-5 atleast to get the best tortilla! ..Traditionally it was done and is still follwed by the older generation. However, in the fast paced life today people have started make do with 2-3 times!
13. Put a fork or a knife in your tortilla. If its comes out clean your tortilla is ready
14. Slice it in triangles (like you pizza) and serve with toast.
15. The Spanish tradition also calls for rubbing your toast with tomato and garlic which adds to the flavor!

*You can also oven bake your tortilla. Once you mix the vegies and the egg; place in a baking dish and bake for 30-40 minutes at 190 degree C. Cut into triangles. Or if you plan to serve it as snack in the evening cut into cubes, add a dash of tomato sauce, pierce a toothpick  and serve in style !… however, one thing that you need to keep in mind is to leave the egg mixture after adding the vegetables for about 10 minutes before baking it.

So till text time….happy cooking!

Meet Joan and Aitor, two wonderful human beings based out of the beautiful city of Barcelona in Spain who shared this recipe of Spanish Tortilla with me thanks guys!

image: Priya Q

Kiwi White Forest Cake image: Priya Q

Rich whipped cream topping with green kiwis on a super soft spongy cake.  Kiwi White Forest is my favoritest (just coined to emphasize how much I love baking and eating this cake ).

Now before you attempt baking this cake or for that matter any cake, if you donot have a weighing scale / measuring cups /spoons….please do get them first. Trust me it makes a lot of difference and worth your investment.

Getting to the recipe….

For the sponge cake

Eggs – 4 nos

All purpose flour (maida) – 85 gms

Baking powder – 1.5 tsp

Cornflour – 1 tbsp

Sugar powder – 160 gms

Brandy – 1 tbsp

Vanilla Essence – 1.5 tsp

1. Sieve the flour, baking powder and cornflour all together
2. Separate the egss (whites and yolk)
3. To the yolk add sugar powder, brandy and vanilla essence. Beat with an electric beater. Add 1 tsp of water and keep beating till the mixture becomes off white in color
4. With clean blades beat egg whites till stiff and dry. When you tilt the vessel the egg white shouldn’t drop off. Its important to use clean blades to get the desired stiffness. Also ensure the vessel is dry
5. Now add 1 tbsp each of flour mixture and egg white mixture into the yolk mixture and gently fold (do not beat, use hands). Keep repeating till all the mixture is used up and the texture of the final dough is foamy
6. Grease the mould and place baking sheet. Re grease the baking sheet and pour the above prepare dough and spread it evenly
7. Immediately bake it in a preheated oven at 180 degree C for 15 minutes.  I haven’t highlighted the immediately in bold for no reason. To get the perfect sponge cake you need to put the cake in the oven immediately

Rest of the ingredients

Cherry syrup / sugar water – 1/4 cup

Rum – 1 tbsp

Kiwis – 3-4 nos

Rich whip topping – 200 gms

Sugar powder – 2 tbsp

1. Upturn the mould and take out the cake
2. Cut the cake horizontally from the center with a serrated knife
3. Keep the top half of the cake aside
4. Mix the cherry syrup (from the cherry tin) and rum and put it in a sprayer
5. Spray the base of the cake on all sides liberally
6. Peel the kiwis and cut them in slice
7. Beat the rich whip topping stiff (the cream should not move and should form peaks). Add sugar powder and beat again.
8. Spread the cream over the base of the cake and line it with chopped kiwis
9. Spray the 2nd or the top half of the cake with the sugar syrup mixture and place it on top of the base with kiwis
10. Cover the whole cake liberally with the whipped cream on all sides
11. Clean the plate with a tissue paper off any cream
12. With an icing bag decorate your cake to your taste. I used the star nozzle for this cake (as you see in the picture)
13. Decorate with more sliced Kiwis
14. Cool in a refrigerator for atleast 15 minutes before using

Till next time…happy baking!

Now if you already have tried your hand at making dosa (Indian pancakes)…lets move one step ahead and make its with some filling…yeh just like French Galette . You can be creative with your filling cooked spicy mutton / chicken to paneer (cottage cheese) and soya! Use what you like or comes to your mind.

Here, I have used potatoes. The standard Masala Dosa you would get in any South Indian restaurant across India served with chutney and sambar.

And if you have some left over masala (potatoes) you can either have it with hot puffed pooris or just make a plain quick sandwich For the recipe of potatoes and poori…click here

A restaurant in Kochi called Pai Brothers is famous for its 57 varieties of dosas…yes you read that correct 57 different filling for each dosa…so what’s stopping you from getting creative?

Till next time…. happy cooking!

photo credit: norwichnuts

Well, Europeans love their potatoes. Come every meal and they wont mind having it in different styles….hash browns, mashed potatatoes, baked, roasted or with pumpkin sauce . This one is so simple and delicious that you might end up making it quite too often check it out!!

Potato – 5-6 large sized (peeled and diced in big cubes)

Onions – 1 medium

Green Onions – 1-2 (chopped finely including the greens)

Dried or fresh herbs – 4 tsps

White pumpkin – 100 gms (finely chopped)

Garlic – 2-3 flakes

Margarine – 2 tbsps

Milk – 1 cup

Water

Thyme – 1/2 tsp

All purpose flour – 1 tbsp

Black Pepper (optional)

1. Grill potatoes at 230 degree C for about 40 minutes or till soft
2. After 30 minutes add sliced onions and the green onions with some herbs to the baking potatoes
3. Meanwhile in a pan take pumpkins, little water and chopped garlic and cook on low flame. Close lid and let it cook in its own steam.
4. In a separate pan take margarine and add all purpose flour and fry well and then add soft and cooked pumpkin. Cook for a while.
5. Now add milk and keep stirring till the sauce becomes smooth. Add more milk if required.
6. Add thyme and other herbs of your choice and salt.
7. Serve baked potatoes and pour the sauce over it.
8. Sprinkle black pepper powder if required.

Till next time….happy cooking!

Meet Katarina Starc... a student in Koper, Slovenia. An ever smiling and full of life girlie!

Thanks Katarina for sharing the recipe with me!

Try kneading dough for chappatis / rotis using whey*. You will get softer chappatis / rotis.

* Whey is the leftover liquid after you hang curd

Don’t know how to knead dough? Click here!

image : Priya Q

Indians love their halwas, be it be carrot halwa, kesari / suji halwa or aate ka halwa (made from wholewheat flour). This one just melts in your mouth as your devour it. The best one I have ever had is at the Gurudwara (religious place for the Sikhs) where aate ka halwa is distributed to the devotees as khada prasad. No matter how many time I tried, I must admit I never even was close to the one we get at Gurudwaras! But, it is still doable…so do try it out

Whole wheat flour – 1 cup

Sugar – 1.5 to 2 cups (as sweet as you want!..i generally take 1.5 cups)

Water – 2 cups

Clarified butter / ghee – 1 tbsp

1. Heat ghee in a thick bottomed vessel and add the flour
2. Boil water alongwith sugar
3. Fry at low heat till the flour starts turning slight brown and you can smell its aroma
4. Carefully add the boiled water to above and stir. Please be careful of your hand since the flour starts jumping up!
5. Keep stirring till the cooked halwa leaves the sides of the vessel and almost become one mass. Keep adding teaspoons of ghee if required in between the stirring
6. Serve hot!

Till next time….happy cooking!

Nah! all you need to do is add a chunk of potato and see how it takes off the excess salt from you curry

Simple…yeh?

till next time …..have fun cooking!

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