Eggless Blueberry Muffin( 0 cholesterol)

Dedicated to all the muffin lovers out there!Especially my husband Nilesh. Its his favourite!
I have tried this recipe with oatmeal+oatbran+bran+linseed (flax seed) powder. Its easy to replace the 2 cups of white flour with 1 1/2cup oatmeal and 1/3 cup of bran+1/4 cup of flaxseed powder.
Oatbran can be replaced with wheatbran.
No kidding,it always turns out delicious!


Blueberry Muffin (Eggless)
(12 muffins)
A very simple recipe. Healthy too!
Try! even if you have never ever baked in your life!

Ingredients:
All purpose flour(Maida) 2 cups
Baking powder 1 - 1 1/2 tsp
Salt 1/2 tsp.
Sugar 1 cup
Milk 1 cup
Oil (sunflower/corn) 1/3 cup
Vinegar 1 Tbsp.
Fresh Blueberries 1 1/2 cups (washed and drained)

1. Preheat oven to 400 F /200 C
Line a muffin tray with liners or simply grease them.
2. Mix flour,salt,baking powder very well.
3. In another bowl,mix sugar,milk, oil and vinegar very well.(A hand whisk does a great job)
4. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix well.
5. Add blueberries and gently mix them in the batter.
6. Fill muffin pan 3/4 th and bake for 18 to 20 minutes until golden brown.
7. Let sit for 5 minutes before removing from the pan.

Variations:
Instead of 1 cup sugar, you can try sugar+brown sugar + honey

Instead of 2 cups white flour, you can use 1 cup white flour+1 cup whole wheat flour or 1/2 cup whole flour and 1/2 cup oatmeal flour.

You can add some chopped walnuts/pecan nuts/ flax seed / wheat germ/wheat or oat bran too.

Enchiladas-made easy for students with little time to cook!

Enchiladas

( Can be microwaved in a covered dish for a minute on 900W for a super quick meal)

Ingredients:

flour or corn tortillas

2 tbsp veg/olive oil

tomato puree 500-750ml ( depending on how much hot sauce u want to make)
oregano, salt, pillipilli, basil(optional)

corn (can -washed and drained....or frozen)
onion - finely chopped
tomato-finely chopped
green capsicum- chopped small
red capsicum- chopped small
baked beans/kidney beans

grated cheese for topping

Method:
add the oil in a deep pan (on a low heat) sprinkle oregano, pili pili
and basil. stir quickly and add tomato puree. stir and let it come to
a boil and simmer for few minutes. add salt to taste.
leave aside.

in an ovenproof dish, spread a ladle of sauce at the bottom .
hold the tortilla in your palm or put on a plate . stuff with the
chopped onion, tomatoes,capsicum, corn and baked beans. pour a
tablespoon of the sauce over it, roll it up.
similarly ,arrange required number of tortillas in the dish.
liberally pour the sauce over them, sprinkle little bit of cheese and
bake at medium hot oven (180 degrees) for 10-15 minutes ...(keep
an eye on it....the cheese melts beautifully is a good sign that its
heated through!) BUT.BE ULTRA CAREFUL THAT YOU ARE NOT CLOSE TO THE
OVEN WITH YOUR CONTACT LENSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if u dont have all the ingredients, u can make with onion, tomatoes
and baked beans/kidney beans(rajma)too.

believe me, it will be yummy!
tip. if the sauce is sour, add little bit of cream to take the edge off.

Eggless brownie-Vegan

Dare to try!
Turns out excellent and its very easy to make! Its literally minimum effort and maximum result!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 sachets vanilla sugar/ 2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup cold water
1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vinegar

Preheat oven to 180 C
Use small brownie size pan.

METHOD

Mix all dry ingredients right in pan.
Mix all wet ingredients in a separate bowl. EXCEPT VINEGAR
Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until all dry ingredients are mixed.
Add vinegar in and quickly stir in .
IMMEDIATELY put in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes
Cool and serve.

optional: if u add vinegar , u can add some frozen cherries,
raspberries or cranberries on top of the batter or u can mix them in
by hand.


Have fun baking!

Tom Yum soup-simplified

TOM YUM SOUP
a very simple version

serves 2 big bowls

wash and finely chop any of these vegetables:

spring onions
cabbage
celery
french beans
carrots
broccoli
cauliflower
spinach
bean sprouts

some grated ginger ( as desired)

tofu-if u have -cut into small pieces

crush 1/2 or 1 soup cube in warm water with a fork and homogenise

light soya sauce


Method
warm 2 tsp oil in a pan
add all the veggies
stir fry on medium heat for a minute
Add 3-4 mugs of boiling water
add tom yum cube paste
add soya sauce to taste
add ginger

boil for a couple of minutes.

its perfect for winter!

Pizza

PIZZA

A Pizza is so easy to make at home, I can't comprehend why people ever think of ordering home delivery Pizzas!

500 gms all purpose flour
1 sachet (10gms) dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
4 tablespoon olive/vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano (optional)
warm water (from a kettle-not hot)/warm milk-results in lighter dough.
( 1 mug in the microwave-more if needed)

Put the flour in a large bowl.
Make a well in the middle. Add the yeast sugar and some warm water.
Mix a bit. Cover with some flour. Leave for a minute.
Mix . Add the oil and salt,(oregano) ,mix.
Add water/milk little by little and knead simultaneously until you
have a soft dough. Knead for a further couple of minutes. Cover with a
wet cloth and leave to rise for an hour or so.( doesn't matter if u
leave it longer)
Grease (oil) your palm and knead the dough till smooth.
Divide into desired size of portions and roll out with the aid of some
dry flour as thick or as thin you want.
Bake in the oven, 180 C , for a few minutes.
Take out.
Spread sauce (oil+oregano+pili-pili+tomato puree+salt-cook for few
minutes to release flavour. If in a hurry, just mix cold and use) ,
desired toppings, cheese and bake further with top and bottom heat on.
Preferably on a wire so that the bottom gets done too.

You can parbake bases and store in the fridge for 5 days,freezer...longer.

If you want, you can make bread sticks with the same dough. Its fun!

Tomato Soup

Tomato Soup
Serves 2 

1. Ingredients

• 1 small onion -peeled, washed and chopped roughly
• 3 medium tomatoes, washed and chopped roughtly (remove the annoying bit at the stalk!)
• Half a handful (silly measurement!) of celery leaves and/or stalks washed and chopped (Celery can be replaced by chopped fresh coriander)
• A small potato, peeled, washed and thinly sliced

• You can also add extras like:
• 2" carrot, peeled , washed, thinly sliced
• 2" courgette / gourd (doodhi), cut into small pieces
• 2" red pumpkin, cut into small pieces
• 2" white pumpkin, cut into small pieces
• a dash of black pepper
• 1 tbsp olive (or any) oil
  

2. Method

• Keep 1 ltr boiling water ready, in the kettle or in a pan
• In a deep pan, add oil. Add the chopped onions
• On a low heat, fry for few minutes till tender. You may cover it
• Add celery/coriander. Stir well. cook for a minute or two
• Add potatoes, tomatoes(and other veggies). Mix well
• Pour 2 mugs= 500 ml boiling water. Let it all come to a boil
• Lower heat, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes until all veggies are cooked through
• Add salt and pepper to taste
• If you think there is not enough liquid left, add some more boling water
• Blend thoroughly with a hand mixer or in a blender/ liquidiser
• No need to seive!
  

Note:

• In winter, fresh tomatoes are very pale in color. So, u may add few tablespoons of tomato puree.
• In summer, u can get lovely pumpkin. So u may alter this recipe to pumpkin soup by adding more pumpkin and less tomatoes!
• If u have some boiled dal or lentils , u can add it to the soup before blending
• U can add a spoon or two of baked beans too

Easy Rasam

Easy Rasam
(serves 2 portions)
Can be enjoyed as an appetizer/ soup, or with rice

1. Ingredients

• DAL (OPTIONAL) : 2 tablespoon moong dal(yellow dal) - washed and cooked for 20-30 minutes until tender(mushy) 2 tablespoon Tuvar dal - washed and cooked for 40 minutes until tender.

Note: to cook 2 tbsp dal, add 1 mug of water. when it comes to a boil, cover and simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally until done. If the water gets absorbed, add some more water.
You will get the hang of it if u try a couple of times!

• 2 medium tomatoes finely chopped 1/2 can tomatoes- chopped+ juice
  
• 2-3 cloves garlic peeled and grated or pounded ( fresh tastes way better than shop bought puree)
• 1 tbsp oil or ghee
• 1 tsp jeera powder
• 1/4 tsp pepper powder ( more if u like spicy)
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 3-4 washed curry ( limda) leaves , dry or fresh (Opt.)
• fresh or bottled lemon juice (to your taste)
• 1/4 tsp salt (or to your taste)
• a pinch of asafoetida ( opt.)
• fresh coriander- chopped (opt.)
  

2. Method

• Take a deep pan with a lid.
• On a low heat, put oil/ghee in the pan. Add jeera. cover . wait for it to darken in colour.
• add limda, garlic and stir. Cover for few seconds.
• add hing, turmeric and tomatoes. Mix . Cover. Cook for a few minutes until tomatoes soften a bit.
• add jeera powder, pepper powder , salt and mix well.
• If you have cooked dal, add the dal to it . mix well. (or skip this step altogether!)
• Add 1 - 2 cups water(or more) according to the consistency you like.
• Increase the heat and boil for further few minutes.
• Garnish with coriander.
• if u like it a bit more sour, add few drops of lemon juice after serving.

NOTE: Instead of tomatoes, u can even use tomato juice.

Variation : Onion Rasam

• After step 1 , add one medium chopped onion and cook it till transluscent, then continue with step 2.
  

Mixed Vegetables

MIXED VEGETABLE

Serves 2 for sure!

(Using  home made mix veg masala)

1. Ingredients:

• 1 coffee mug (2 tea cups) mixed steamed/boiled/ frozen veg. of your choice ( e.g; beans, peas, carrots, corn/baby corn ,cauliflower,broccoli) Some can be fresh, some frozen or canned..doesn't matter!
• Eventually capsicum chopped in cubes or even paneer/ricotta if u like.
• 2 tbsp. oil
• 1 medium onion-chopped as finely as possible
• 2 medium fresh tomatoes-finely chopped
• 1/2 packet-250 gms tomato puree (if using both, u can decide the proportion)
• 1/2 can (200 ml) coconut milk or 4 tbsp dessicated coconut
• 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/2 " piece of ginger (opt.), peeled
• 1/2 tsp jeera
• 1 to 1 1/2 tsp mix veg masala ( if u run out of it, u can use choley or pav bhaji masala)
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt (to your taste)
• chopped fresh coriander to garnish(opt.)

1. Method:

• Put oil in a pan. Add jeera and cover. When it changes colour, add onion. Mix well. Increase the heat little bit and let it cook till just changes colour....being careful that it doesn't burn! so, stiroccasionally
• While the onion is getting cooked, If u have a small grinder/mixer, blend the dessicated coconut , ginger, garlic. IF u DON'T have a mixer, finely chop or grate the garlic and ginger and instead of dessicated coconut, use canned or tetrapak coconut milk which needs to be shaken well before using. (rest can be frozen or refrigerated for later use)
• When the onion gets slightly coloured, on a LOW HEAT , add the blended coconut + garlic + ginger add the grated onion garlic and stir, cook for a bit. You will smell the aromas of garlic/ginger.
• Add the mix veg masala. Stir. add choley masala and stir.
• IF u r using coconut milk, first add ginger- garlic. stir; add masala. stir;
• Then add the tomatoes , cover and let it cook for a few minutes.
• Add the vegetables, salt to taste, mix well.
• Add coconut milk. Cook covered for further 4-5 minutes.
• Garnish with coriander.

NOTE:

• If you find the curry sour(depending on the flavor of the tomatoes), u can add extra coconut milk or cream.
• If the gravy is too thick, u can add little water.
• For that extra bit of nourishment, alongwith the coconut, you can grind some almonds or cashews too.

BON APPETIT !