Steamed spinach besan (chickpea flour) sabji

Hello All,

Welcome to the blog, and apologies for disappearing yet again. I made this sabji long long ago but got around to posting the recipe only today (ah! the perils of entrepreneurship)!

This is a simple and tasty (and elegantly sneaky!) way to get a lot of spinach into anyone who claims they don't like it. Here we go!

Ingredients:

Spinach - 1 bundle
Besan (chickpea flour) ~ 4 tbsp
Onions - 3
Garlic paste (optional) - 1 tbsp
Green chilli - 1
Salt - to taste
Oil - 6 tbsp
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds and asafoetida (for tadka/sauteing)
Groundnuts - optional

Heat about 2 tbsp oil in a shallow vessel (I prefer non-stick cookware)

Chop the chilli coarsely

Once the oil is hot, add cumin seeds and asafoetida

Add garlic paste (or chopped garlic, if you prefer that) and the chilli to the oil. Roast for a short while

Add the spinach, salt and turmeric

Cook until the spinach is soft and dark green in colour

Add it to the mixer and grind it fine

This is how it will look (note: it reduces in size a lot but use a big jar to accommodate the besan you'll be adding later).

Add about 100 g besan, water and grind to a smooth paste (it should be the consistency of molten chocolate, not too runny, not too thick).

Now, chop the onions coarsely and divide roughly into two equal portions

Add oil and once hot, add asafoetida, cumin seeds and onions

While the onions get brown, grease a flat vessel (I prefer the back of my plate as it's convenient later on)

Add the spinach besan paste to the sauteed onions

Stir vigorously and continuously to avoid formation of lumps.

Once it becomes a sticky ball in the centre of the vessel (and that's why, I prefer non-stick cookware), put it on the greased plate and spread out flat. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Once it has cooled down, cut into finger size pieces using a blunt butter knife.

Add some oil to a shallow vessel 

And saute the onions 

Add groundnuts and roast until groundnuts are dark brown

Add the steamed spinach-besan chunks and roast till the edges of the chunks get sligthly brown

YUMMY spinach-besan sabji is ready.

Approximate cooking time 40 mins

Leftover Bread to Good Use - Spicy Bread Pudding

Hello All,

Sometimes, you just don't want to eat that slightly stale bread, right? How about putting them to good use in the form of a spicy pudding, with vegetables and eggs thrown in? Complete nutrition, protein, vitamins, carbohydrates and well...........yummy too! For the non-veggies, boiled chicken pieces can make a great addition too. This recipe is not really my own. It's my take on the one invented by Payal Upreti. :)

So, here is the photo tutorial (I agree, they aren't great pictures but I guess, they will serve the purpose).....

You'll need vegetables of your choice. I always throw in some olives and jalapenos as they are a favourite in the house :) Seen here are coarsely chopped capsicum (half is enough), sweet corn, sliced tomatoes, chopped green chillies and sliced onions

You'll need leftover bread and 6 eggs (this is for 4 servings, so, about an egg and a half per person).

Get everything together. Break eggs in a bowl and add your choice of spices. Mine are salt, Peri-peri and Pizza Seasoning (a universal choice for anything spicy). Cut the bread into smaller pieces to be able to put them in the baking dish better packed. I add aluminium foil to the base so that the pudding can come off clean after baking. It's purely optional. 

Layer the base of the tin with bread pieces

Next come tomatoes (try to keep the juicier slices of tomatoes at the base as juicy slices on top can make the bread soggy before it starts baking, leading to a gooey pudding).

Next some capsicum, onion and sweet corn. Make your own order of layers or just randomly arrange.....

In my pudding, olives and jalapenos always make it to the top! :D But you can try your own combinations....

Now, pour the egg mix from top. Do it slowly as it trickles down into the layers slowly. Pour evenly all over the layers.....

Bake at 170 degrees for about 45 mins or till you start seeing a uniform white all over and the vegetables on top have a nice roasted look.

Serve hot with your choice of sauces. Mine have forever been Habanero (by Tabasco) and Barbecue sauces :)

Happy Cooking :)
Pritesh

Fruit Cake Recipe

Baking temperature: 170 degrees, Total Baking time: 50 minutes

Simple cake sponge using ragi flour

Hello All,

And I am back, with yet another relatively healthy recipe :) As my son is fond of cakes I bake, I try to eliminate as as possible of harmful chemicals and incorporate healthier ingredients. None of my cakes use maida (refined wheat flour) or butter. I have been using multigrain flour for the cakes and trying them with healthier flours was the natural next step......

So, here is my recipe for a healthy ragi flour cake.

Ingredients:

4 medium size eggs
150 gms sugar (I add them using my 75 g measuring spoon), powdered to facilitate easy mixing
75 g multigrain flour
75 g ragi flour (finger millet)
25 ml cooking oil
1 tsp flavour (optional). You can use vanilla/almond/pista, I used butterscotch
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 pinch salt

Preparation

Take the sugar in a mixer jar

Grind the sugar until it reaches a fine powder consistency. Alternatively, you can use powdered sugar or very fine grain castor sugar

Break the eggs in a bowl. The bowl should be about 3 times the volume your cake batter will become, for easy mixing

Whip the eggs with a blender until it looks uniform

Add the powdered sugar in small lots

Mix the sugar in until the mixture begins to become a smooth white paste

On pulling the blender blades out, you'll see such 'threads' forming.

Add the cooking oil to the batter

Add a small pinch of salt

Beat until a smooth batter results

In a vessel, take 75 g multigrain flour

Add 75 g ragi flour to the multigrain flour

1 tbsp of baking powder (I use Weikfield Baking Powder)

And then, a tsp of baking soda

Add the butterscotch essence to the batter

Add the 'flour mix' in small lots to the batter and blend

This is how the batter starts appearing. At this stage, start the over heating. I set mine to 180 degrees celsius

Grease your baking vessel (I am using the silicone mould but you can grease whatever baking vessel you have)

Ad tutti frutti (optional) or chopped cashews or almonds to the batter and fold them in

Pour the batter into the baking vessel and allow to bake until a skewer in the center comes off clean

Your healthy and tasty ragi cake is ready to be dug into :)