Vegetable Puffs

Hello everyone,

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Yeah, we did shopping, cleaning, laundry and lots of cooking.. ;) While shopping as usual I was busy with the grocery and Sree was roaming here and there. And he bumped on puff sheets kept in the freezer section.. Aww!! he almost ran towards me and yelled "My Vegetable Puffs!!!!!!!".. You've promised me a month ago and still haven't prepared.. Oops!! it's true.. I was postponing it for a month.. Sree is crazy about snack items esp. spicy stuffs.. And chicken puffs is his favourite.. But I was least interested in non-veg puffs. So, finally we decided with vegetable puffs.

I was confused with the shape of puffs. Some are rectangular and some are triangular shaped. Then, Sree was explaining the concept.. To differentiate between puffs, vegetable puffs are rectangular, non-veg puffs are triangular and paneer puffs are bit bigger in size.. WOW!! what an explaination but atleast makes sense.. ;)

Finally, on Sunday evening we had vegetable puffs with a cup of  hot tea. Here is the recipe for vegetable puffs.

Ingredients:

Puff Pastry Sheets - 1 packet, thawed
Potatoes - 2, boiled and mashed
Onion - 1, thinly sliced
Green Peas - 1/4 cup, boiled
Carrots - 1/4 cup, chopped and boiled
Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Red Chilli pwd - 1 tsp
Turmeric Pwd - a pinch
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Cumin - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:

In a pan, heat oil and add cumin. When they sizzle, add onion and saute until translucent. Add ginger-garlic paste. Saute for few mins. Add all the masalas and 1 tsp water. Saute the masalas.

Add vegetables (mashed potatoes, boiled green peas and carrot) to the masala. Add salt and mix well.
Remove from heat and let it cool for sometime.

Preheat oven to 400F for 15 mins. Meanwhile, take puff pastry sheets over a lightly floured surface. Roll it out a little using rolling pin and cut into required shape and size. Mine was already cut into rectangular shape. So nothing much to do. :D

Take a spoonful of vegetable mixture and place it on one side. Make sure, you leave little space on sides of the sheet. Close the sheet from the other end. As sheets are bit sticky, so just press and seal the sides.

Bake them for 20-25 mins or until they are golden brown.

Serve hot with ketchup or chutney.

Enjoy!!

Have you enjoyed this recipe or photos? Do follow this blog, share it with your friends and help this blog grow. This will motivate me to carry on with my passion. Hope you've enjoyed your time here and thank you for visiting me!!!

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Barley Flour Cake with Chocolate Frosting - MAITRI friendship chain

Hello everyone,

Till now I had posts that used to speak about "Maitri", the mystery ingredient and passing it to 2 other bloggers.. But here I've something that initiates "Maitri" and declares that this friendship chain is functional from now onwards.. Many bloggers have shown their interest and we've listed them in our records.. I'm happy for this huge participation and looking forward to many more. I believe that most of us are aware of Arusuvai friendship chain and now they are running the second season of this chain.. I hope we will also make Maitri grow tremendously.

I agree the situation in USA is bit different from India. We've certain concerns and limited resources that restrain us from getting involved. When Priya & I discussed about this idea even we were concerned about the similar situations. And finally we decided to make it happen. I would encourage everybody in USA to be part of this chain..

To all those who haven't read about "Maitri" yet, please click here.

So, now with great pleasure let me explain how we initiated Maitri. It begin with Priya & I sending parcel to each other. Last Friday, I received my box of mystery. Well I was excited from the day when I was informed by Priya that she has mailed my package.. Wow!! I used to wonder what would be the mystery ingredient and I donno what is she going to send me.. Out of curiosity, even I did research on her blog and I was pretty sure she would send me something related to rajasthani cuisine.

On Friday, around 2:00 pm, I went out to check my mailbox and there I found this small box by USPS.. I rushed to my apartment and I was so excited that while I was opening box and taking out all the stuffs, I forgot that I'm supposed to take pics of everything sent to me.. Then what?????? I loaded everything back into the box and here are the pics of "Box", "mystery ingredient" and "very cute goodies" sent by Priya Mitharwal...

Box & the mystery ingredient...!!!

Salt - Pepper Shakers & Spoon Rest!!! Love you Priya, they are so cute....

Now coming to my experience with mystery ingredient.. Before this can u guys identify what was sent by Priya..

Well, at very first look I felt it is Whole Wheat and I checked with Priya.. After 2 hrs she replied "No!!" with a big happy smiley.. But now what to do?? I tasted one of the grains and realized that it is not Whole Wheat... It is "Barley"!!!!!!! I was so happy and sure as well that this time I'm not wrong.. Again I emailed Priya and checked with her.. After 2 hrs she replied "u r genius" with a big sad smiley... ;)

I did lots of research to prepare something special and delicious with this ingredient. I bookmarked some breakfast recipes, then went for brownies and finally ended up with Cake.. And here is the picture of "Barley Flour Cake with Chocolate Frosting" and this is dedicated to Maitri and to all of my blogger friends.. Do grab your piece of cake.. :P

I'm not a good baker so my cake is not with perfect finishing but yes it tasted awesome.. Of course, how can something prepared with all those gr8 ingredients can go wrong. The Barley flour gave a different flavor to cake and with thick chocolate frosting and marshmallow fondant red balls, it was simply irresistible.

Also, this cake is special for me because for the first time I've worked with frosting.. And yeah you guys can see the frosting is not applied perfectly.. But I love this look.... ;)

So, guys lets move on to recipe:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups barley flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp baking pwd
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup oil
3 large eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla

for icing

3 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F for about 15 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk the barley flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. In the center of the bowl, make a well and add oil, egg yolks and vanilla. Beat with spoon until smooth.

Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold a fourth of the whites into the batter to lighten it, then fold in the rest.

Generously grease the baking pan. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let cool for 20 minutes in the pan. Run a paring knife around the edges and then invert it onto a cake plate.

Meanwhile, prepare icing for the cake. In a work bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter. Sift the sugar and cocoa powder together and slowly add to the butter, beating well after each addition. Add the milk and vanilla and beat until well blended and fluffy.

Once the cake has cooled down to room temperature, frost it with chocolate frosting.

I had store-bought marshmallow fondant with me. So I added red color to it and kneaded well to get fondant evenly colored. Make tiny balls with fondant and decorate over the cake.

You can decorate your cake in number of ways but this was the least time-taking one.

Those who are interested to be part of Maitri, do leave a comment or email me at reshrite@gmail.com or priya at priya.mitharwal@gmail.com.

Sending this as an entry to Treat to Eyes: Series 2 event hosted by rumana.

Have you enjoyed this recipe or photos? Do follow this blog, share it with your friends and help this blog grow. This will motivate me to carry on with my passion. Hope you've enjoyed your time here and thank you for visiting me!!!

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Choco Cappuccino

Yesterday I bought a set of cute Verdi cappuccino cups and I was so excited to capture pics of them. What could be perfect than hot chocolate cappuccino poured into the cute little cups and topped with vanilla ice cream or whipping cream. I think I did justice to my cappuccino cups..

Believe me guys, I was just staring at them. Sree drank two cups of cappuccino and I was "still staring..!!!"

Now, "Why did I go for choco cappuccino?"
I like the deep flavor that chocolate imparts to coffee. It is like having coffee that has too much of cream and chocolate.. I love this Italian drink and when it is served in my cute cappuccino cups..

Ingredients:

Milk - 1 cup ( 2% milk)
Freshly brewed dark coffee - 1 cup
Chocolate syrup (Hershey's )- 2 tbsp
Vanilla Ice cream or Whipping cream - for topping
Instant coffee powder - for garnish

Method:

Place milk into a sauce pot and bring it to boil. Remove from heat and add chocolate syrup. Whisk until the chocolate is mixed well. Return to low heat and stir until frothy.

Divide the coffee into mugs and ladle the chocolate mixture over. Top it with vanilla ice cream or whipping cream. Sprinkle coffee powder over it.

Enjoy!!

Have you enjoyed this recipe or photos? Do follow this blog, share it with your friends and help this blog grow. This will motivate me to carry on with my passion. Hope you've enjoyed your time here and thank you for visiting me!!!

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Sweets Rolls/ Suruttai Poli

Well this recipe needs no kind of introduction because from past two days this is the most tried one in blogsphere. Yes for ICC (Indian Cooking Challenge). But I'm not preparing it for the challenge and the reason is I've just requested Srivalli to consider me into this challenge. So, as of now I'm not the member of ICC and I cannot post this recipe for the challenge.. :(

Being a curious cat, I was unable to hold myself when I see sweet rolls prepared by many of my blogger friends and they look so pretty.. I love them!! And if you look at Nithya's clicks then... What?? Those clicks are fabulous.. The way she use props to make those simple looking dishes very special, hats off to you Nits!!

So, today I'm posting this recipe as an entry to Bookmarked recipes by Priya & Aipi. And this recipe is bookmarked from Nithya's 4th sense cooking.

Moving on to the recipe...

Ingredients:

For Filling

Roasted gram - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Cashews - handful
Cardamom pwd - 1 tsp
Coconut ( scrapped) - 1 tbsp
Clarified Butter (Ghee) - 1 tsp

For Making Poli

All purpose flour - 1 cup
Salt - a pinch
Oil - for deep frying

Method:

For Filling

Powder the roasted gram and sugar. Pour it to a bowl.

Take a pan and heat ghee in it. Roast cashew for few minutes until cashew turns golden in color. Remove and keep it on a tissue paper. In the same pan, roast coconut for 2 mins.

Powder the roasted cashew and mix it with powdered gram and sugar. Add roasted coconut to it. Mix well and keep it aside.

For Poli

Take all-purpose flour and salt in a bowl. Knead them into a soft dough by adding water to it little-by-little. Keep it aside for half an hour.

Now divide the dough into small parts and roll them into smooth balls. Using rolling pin, roll the balls into very thin circles ( almost semi-transparent) of around 10cm dia.

Heat oil in a deep-frying pan and put the polis into it. Fry them until half done ( about 10 seconds). Remove them from oil onto a plate and spread the filling over it. Roll them tight and keep it aside to let them cool.

Rolls would be soft when made but gradually would become crispy.

Serve and enjoy with a sip of Masala Chai!!!

Note:

1) While deep-frying polis, take care that they should not puff up like pooris. But they can have tiny bubbles here and there. Most of my polis were not perfect. They were in-between pooris and polis. I hope next time I'll get them perfect.

2) You've to work with piping hot polis so take care. Do not hurt yourself.

Did you guys read about "Maitri"? Please do visit here.

Have you enjoyed this recipe or photos? Do follow this blog, share it with your friends and help this blog grow. This will motivate me to carry on with my passion. Hope you've enjoyed your time here and thank you for visiting me!!!

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"MAITRI" - a friendship chain

Hello Friends,

In last few weeks, many of you might have seen posts related to a wonderful friendship chain of food bloggers and non-bloggers alike called "Arusuvai". The moment Priya and I saw it (and I am sure many of you too), we so wanted to participate in it. But, then when we contacted the creators, we got to know that it is only for bloggers from India. Then, we kept thinking what to do to participate it.

And, what could be better than to start something similar over here in USA and Canada area. So, here we are (Priya and I) with this wonderful announcement, which we are sure many of you wanted to be part of and would surely participate (We are counting on that, so don’t let us down… lol).

So here we go with the beautiful banner!!

We are naming our chain as “MAITRI”, which in Hindi/Sanskrit means “Friendship”. This is going to be a chain, where we will have fun with food and make lots of new friendships.

Here is how it will work.

The main concept is that bloggers send “Mystery Ingredient” to each other (through regular mail USPS/UPS/FedEx) and then have fun cooking with it. Every blogger, who is interested in this chain will let us know through commenting to this post. As, we have bloggers interested coming in, we will be matching bloggers. It means that matching blogger “A” with blogger “B” and blogger “C”, and then blogger “A” will be sending “mystery ingredient” to blogger “B” and “C”. And then, blogger “B” and “C” will have fun identifying the mystery ingredient (if it is not already mentioned), cook with it, share the recipe with everyone. Then, each of blogger “B” and “C” will send another mystery ingredient to 2 other bloggers. I hope this explanation makes sense. If you have any questions, feel free to send us email or leave a comment and we will clarify.

Here are some basic rules for this chain:

1. It is open to both Bloggers and Non-Bloggers.

2. This is NOT restricted to Indian origin bloggers and anyone and everyone who owns a food blogger or a food enthusiast (non blogger) is eligible.

3. Bloggers and Non-Bloggers must reside in USA and Canada ONLY.

4. Bloggers and Non-Bloggers will be matched randomly by Reshmi and I and we will notify the respective bloggers and also maintain a page on our blogs which will be updated every few days.

5. Mystery Ingredient HAS TO BE STRICTLY VEGETARIAN (no meat or seafood or related products are allowed. If you have any doubts on whether or not a specific product will be eligible, feel free to let us know.

6. The recipe that you will share with all of us which you will make using the mystery ingredient HAS TO BE VEGETARIAN. No meat or seafood allowed. Eggs are allowed ONLY in baking.

7. The post which you will make for this chain has to have “MAITRI” word in its title and should link to both Reshmi and mine announcement posts.

8. Using the logo is MUST.

9. The Blogger and Non-Blogger need to cook and share recipe within 1 week from the date they receive the ingredient. This is just to ensure the chain keep glowing.

We will continue this chain till all interested Bloggers and Non-Bloggers are exhausted. Once the chain is over, we will start a second chain in appropriate time period.

We are hoping a heavy participation. So, keep your requests flowing and let us begin the chain. To start the chain, Priya and I will be sending each other mystery ingredients and then we will match with 2 bloggers each and proceed with the chain.

In case of any query, contact me at reshrite@gmail.com or priya at priya.mitharwal@gmail.com.
That’s all for now. Take care till next post.

Have you enjoyed this recipe or photos? Do follow this blog, share it with your friends and help this blog grow. This will motivate me to carry on with my passion. Hope you've enjoyed your time here and thank you for visiting me!!!

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Reminder: "Celebrate Sweets - Ice Cream"

Have you participated yet? We have had some excellent entries from both blogger and non-blogger friends. Thank you all so much for your participation. But I'll encourage to participate more and make this event a big success.

This post is just a reminder that this event will end on April 6th, 2011. Also, there is an ongoing $25 CSN giveaway along with this event. So, if you haven't had a chance to link your entries yet, please do participate. For more information, visit "Celebrate Sweets - Ice Cream" event page.

Have you enjoyed this recipe or photos? Do follow this blog, share it with your friends and help this blog grow. This will motivate me to carry on with my passion. Hope you've enjoyed your time here and thank you for visiting me!!!

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Award Time!!

Hello everyone.. It's great to see when your blogger friends share awards with you. You feel motivated and I always love such appreciation.

This time the award is shared by my two beautiful blogger friends Soumya & Hema.

As this award comes with a rule, I've to share with 15 bloggers. So, I would like to share this award with my 15 new blogger friends. They are:

1. Kalpana of Life with Spices
2. Ramya of Hot from my oven
3. Kavitha of Kavis Aromatic World
4. Savitha of Savitha's Kitchen
5. Tahemeem of Not So Gourmet
6. Divya of Divya's Recipes 
7. Rachu of ammaandbaby
8. Shanavi of Kitchen Secrets
9. The Foodie of Vegetarian Tastebuds
10. Prathima of Prats Corner
11. schmetterlingwords
12. Archana of The Mad Scientist's Kitchen
13. Reshmi of Easy Cook
14. Plateful
15. Nancy & Vijay of Kitchen Gypsies

Rules:

1. Accept the Award. Post in your blog with the name of the blogger who has given you this award with the link to his/her blog.

2. Pass it on to 15 other blogger friends, to keep the ball rolling.

3. Let the nominated blogger know about their award (leave a message in their most recent post).

Have you enjoyed this recipe or photos? Do follow this blog, share it with your friends and help this blog grow. This will motivate me to carry on with my passion. Hope you've enjoyed your time here and thank you for visiting me!!!

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