Italian Lunch Menu

After elaborate Indian meals, this time is a quick and easy to make Italian lunch! I know ordering a pizza is much easier but we do need to give some thought to our health and when healthy pizzas can be made easily at home, why to spend so much on unhealthy stuff?? I teamed up the pizza with a soupy pasta and creamy panna cotta! Yumm.. a delightful delicious Italian lunch is ready!

Click on the links below for detailed recipes:

• Corn and fusilli soup
• Veg pizza with homemade wholewheat thin crust
• Almond panna cotta

Almond panna cotta

This is an exotic Italian dessert that I came across in 101 diet recipes book by Nita Mehta. You can wonder how can a dessert be featured in a diet recipe book. Yes thats true because it has only about a Tsp of sugar per serving. You could add more if you wish to. It has a creamy texture as that of an ice-cream but is absolutely a healthier version. It came out so well but by the time I could take a good picture, it started melting. So please forgive me for the bad capture. I shall try updating this post with a better picture when I try panna cotta the next time. 

INGREDIENTS:

• Crumbled paneer - 1/2 cup
• Yogurt - 1 cup
• Gelatine - 2 Tsp (You can use agar agar powder if you do not wish to include gelatine)
• Almonds - 4-5 soaked in warm water, peeled and finely chopped
• Milk - 1/2 cup
• Sugar - 4-5 Tsp
• Almond essence - 1/4 Tsp

METHOD:

1. Hang the curd/yogurt in a muslin cloth for 20-30 minutes
2. Blend together hung curd, milk and paneer into a smooth paste. Keep aside
3. Sprinkle gelatine on 1/4 cup water. Heat it gently. Do not let it to boil. Remove from fire once the gelatine dissolves
4. Add sugar to gelatine and mix well
5. Pour the hot gelatine solution to the yogurt mixture, stirring continuously. Allow it to cool to room temperature
6. Add essence and blanched almonds. Check sweetness and add more sugar if required
7. Rinse small glass bowls with water. Do not wipe. Pour the prepared mixture into each bowl and refrigerate it for 3-4 hours
8. Serve it with the bowls itself or demould them and garnish with toasted almonds and serve :)
9. If you find it difficult to demould them, gently cut through with a knife and demould it

Veg Pizza with homemade wholewheat crust

Bored to cook?? Order a pizza!! This has become a very common thing these days and with the amount of cheese used in readymade pizzas, we really need to think for a while if we are doing anything at all to burn that fat??!! Just imagine if healthy pizzas can be made at home! Yes it is very simple. We do get readymade pizza crust but that again is generally made of refined flour which is not so good for health. I do not think it is easy to find readymade wholewheat thin crust in India. So here is a simple recipe to make wholewheat thin crust at home that I came across in youtube. I tried pizza sauce also at home. As for the toppings, sky is the limit!! I am not a cheese fan, so I made it a cheeseless pizza but you can very well add cheese as per your choice. Mozzarella is always the best option! Let's hop on to the recipe

Whole wheat thin pizza crust:

INGREDIENTS:

• Dry yeast - 3/4 Tsp
• Warm water - 1/2 cup
• Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
• Oat bran - 1/4 cup (Optional and can be substituted with additional whole wheat flour itself)
• Salt - 1/2 Tsp
• Honey - 1/2 Tbsp

METHOD:

1. Add yeast to warm water and stir it gently. Set aside for 10 minutes
2. Combine the flours and salt in a large mixing bowl. Pour in the yeast mixture and honey and knead into a dough. The dough will be sticky. Cover it with a damp cloth and set aside for 10 minutes
3. Knead the dough for a few minutes on a floured surface
4. Roll the dough into a thin circle and place on a pizza pan or parchment paper
5. Poke a few holes with the help of a fork
6. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C for 10 minutes

Pizza sauce

INGREDIENTS:

• Tomatoes - 2 large
• Olive oil - 1/2 Tbsp
• Garlic - 1/2 Tsp finely chopped
• Onions - 1/4 cup finely chopped
• Chilli flakes - 1/2 Tsp (optional)
• Tomato ketchup - 1 Tbsp
• Chilli powder - 1/2 Tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Sugar - 1/4 Tsp

METHOD:

1. Blanch the tomatoes and make them into a puree
2. Heat olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add garlic, saute for a few seconds
3. Add onions and saute for 1-2 minutes
4. Add puree, chilli flakes, ketchup, chilli powder, salt and cook for 4 minutes on a medium flame
5. Add sugar and cook for 1-2 minutes
6. This can be made in a larger quantity and stored in air tight containers

How to proceed further for the pizza

1. Spread the sauce evenly on the baked pizza crust
2. Add cheese and toppings of your choice. I added onions, colored bell peppers(capsicums) and corn as I wanted it to be a simple one. You can add olives, baby corn, lots of cheese etc to make it very special :)
3. Bake it for 5-7 minutes and serve hot!

Corn and Fusilli soup

This soup is a treat for all pasta lovers. At home, none of us like pasta but when I decided to make an italian lunch, how could I go without pasta??!! So I tried this corn and fusilli soup that I came across in Tarla Dalal ji's website and all of us liked it :) So try out this quick and easy soup and enjoy it with your family!

INGREDIENTS: (Serves 4)

• Sweet corn - 1/2 cup boiled
• Fusilli or spiral pasta - 1/2 cup cooked
• Onions - 1/2 cup, finely chopped
• Tomatoes - 1/2 cup, finely chopped
• Tomatoe puree - 1/4 cup
• Garlic - 1 Tsp, finely chopped
• Cornflour - 4 Tsp, dissolved in water
• Olive oil - 1 Tbsp
• Salt - to taste
• Pepper powder - 1 tsp + as needed

METHOD:

1. Heat oil in a pan, add onions and saute on a medium flame till the onions turn translucent
2. Add garlic and give it a quick stir. Add tomatoes, tomato puree, boiled sweet corn and cooked fusilli. Mix well and cook for 5 minutes on a medium flame
3. Add 3 cups of hot water and once it start boiling, reduce the flame and add cornflour mixture, salt, pepper and cook for 2 more minutes
4. Serve hot with additional salt and pepper if required

Palak Paneer (Quick and easy)

Palak paneer would be the most loved green leafy dish! This famous restaurant/dhaba dish can be made very easily at home. I went through a lot of recipes for palak paneer and incorporated the useful tips from various blogs and sites. If these simple tips are followed, then we can make this at home just like how it is served at a restaurant or dhaba! So why wait? let's hop on directly to the recipe

INGREDIENTS: (Serves 2)

• Paneer - 10 cubes
• Spinach/Palak - 1 big bunch
• Green chilli - 3
• Ginger - 1 Tsp, chopped
• Garlic - 2 Tsp, finely chopped
• Onion - 1 medium sized, finely chopped
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 Tsp
• Garam Masala powder - 1/2 Tsp
• Kasoori methi - 1 Tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 Tsp
• Curd - 1/2 cup
• Fresh cream - 3-4 Tbsp (optional)
• Lemon juice - 2 Tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 2 Tbsp

METHOD:

1. Wash and drain spinach thoroughly
2. Add spinach to salted boiling water and cook for 2 minutes *
3. Drain the spinach and immediately refresh it with cold water. Strain the excess water
4. Allow it to cool for a while and then blend it along with green chillis into a smooth paste without adding any water. Keep aside
5. In a pan, heat oil and add cumin seeds. Once the seeds splutter, add chopped ginger and garlic. Saute it for a minute and add the onions. Saute it for 3-4 minutes till the onions become translucent *
6. Add turmeric powder and curds, mix well
7. Once it starts to boil, add the spinach puree and mix well
8. Add salt, garam masala powder and crushed kasoori methi
9. If you wanted a rich texture to the gravy, add fresh cream and give it a mix
10. Now add the paneer cubes and mix very gently so that they do not break
11. Finally add lime juice and mix gently *
12. Serve hot with roti/naan/kulcha/ghee rice/jeera pulao

That's it! A restaurant style gravy is ready at home!!

*NOTES:

* Make sure not to over cook the spinach, it will lose its colour. Also never close and cook spinach. Just cook it for 2 minutes in boiling water. Refreshing it immediately with cold water is also to ensure that the spinach retains its lovely green color

* As we are using lesser oil, in order to cook the onions faster, you can add a pinch of salt or sugar while frying them

* Adding lemon juice at the end, not only enhances the flavor of the dish but also helps in easier digestion of spinach

Eggless Sticky Date Pudding

The moment I saw the recipe of eggless date pudding in Yum's the word, I was tempted to try it immediately. After some recipe hunting, I came up with a healthier version of an Eggless whole wheat date cake with a topping of caramel sauce!! (drool :P) Absolutely yummy! The dates that I used was sweet enough so I reduced the additional sugar in the recipe. The cake tastes yumm as such and with an additional topping of warm caramel sauce........................... do I need to say more??!! Let me jump right away to the recipe :)

INGREDIENTS:

For the cake:

• Dates - 20, de-seeded
• Sugar - 1/3 to 1/2 cup as required and depending on the sweetness of the dates used
• Milk - 3/4 cup
• Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
• Oil - 1/2 cup (I used sunflower oil, any vegetable oil could also be used)
• Baking soda - 1 Tsp

For the caramel sauce:

• Brown sugar - 1/4 cup
• Milk - 1/4 cup
• Low fat cream - 50 ml
• Butter - 2 Tbsp
• Vanilla essence - 1/4 Tsp

METHOD:

For cake:

1. Grease and dust a cake pan. Pre-heat oven to 180C
2. Soak the dates in warm milk for 3 hrs. The dates will swell and become soft 
   
3. Blend the soaked dates along with the milk into a smooth mixture. To this add oil and sugar and blend into a smooth paste in a mixer 
   
4. In a large mixing bowl sieve flour and baking soda together and make a well in between as shown 
   
5. Slowly pour the wet mixture and gently mix it with the flour. Do not over mix. Now pour in the batter into the greased and dusted cake pan 
   
6. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C for 20-30 minutes (Mine was done in 22 minutes)

For caramel sauce:

1. While the cake is baking, start preparing the topping
2. In a heavy bottomed pan, add milk and sugar. Mix well till the sugar dissolves
3. Add cream, butter and vanilla. Cook on a medium flame and keep stirring constantly. Bring it to a boil and once the sauce starts to thicken, remove from flame 
   

For sticky date pudding:

1. While the cake is warm, poke a few holes with the help of a toothpick and pour the warm sauce over it
2. Serve warm or it could also be refrigerated after it is completely cooled down and can be served chilled with extra sauce later!!
3. And this is how it would get over within seconds :P

 

 

Eggless whole wheat and oatmeal quick bread

This is the second time I am attempting a bread at home. My previous honey-oats bread was quite a tedious process with lots of kneading and a long fermentation time but this time I have tried a very easy version (easiest I should say!) of it which does not need any fermentation and absolutely no kneading at all!! and guess what.. the entire process of preparation and baking got over within an hour! When such a healthy bread can be made so easily at home, I would really think twice before buying a loaf in the market the next time :) Enjoy this healthy bread with any spread of your choice or you could even toast it or make a sandwich! 

Recipe source - allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:

• Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
• Rolled oats - 1 cup
• Salt - 1/2 Tsp
• Baking powder - 2 Tsp
• Honey - 1 and 1/2 Tbsp
• Olive oil - 1 Tbsp (you could also use vegetable oil or any flavorless oil)
• Milk - 1 cup

METHOD:

1. Grease and dust a loaf tin
2. Pre-heat the oven to 200C
3. Grind the rolled oats to a fine flour
4. In a large mixing bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients - whole wheat flour, oatmeal flour, salt and baking powder and make a well in the center 
   
5. In another bowl, mix honey and oil together vigorously and then add milk. Mix thoroughly
   
     
6. Pour the milk-honey-oil mixture into the mixing bowl containing the dry ingredients and mix well to form a moist batter as shown 
    
   
7. Pour in the batter into the greased loaf tin and bake in a pre-heated oven for 20 minutes
   
8. Cool the bread on a wire rack 
   
9. Once it is completely cooled, cut it into slices and enjoy it with any spread of your choice!

Crispy fried ice cream

Fried ice cream.. I was surprised when I heard one of my colleague talking about it a few months back. Yes, till then I had never even heard of it. From then, I was longing to taste it and finally, I tasted fried ice cream for the first time at Krishnavilasam restaurant and fell in love with this dessert!! I am not a big fan of ice creams and I don't even have the small cup of ice cream served at weddings but this dessert was unique, as the top crunch was warm and when cut open, there was chill ice cream inside. Then I tasted it for the second time in Momos restaurant when I had gone there for a team lunch. From then I wanted to try it out but didn't take any steps for it, until last week, when my team mates challenged me to do it at home. I liked the challenge and tried it with the home made mango ice cream that I did two days back. It came out so well. The process is simple, just that we need to be cautious, act quick and have lots of patience. I have provided detailed step by step recipe so that it will be easy for all to try it out at home! Most of the recipes that I browsed, used egg yolk to coat the ice cream but I have tried the eggless version which is inspired from a video by ready-steady-eat channel on YouTube.

INGREDIENTS:

• Plain ice cream of any flavor of your choice - 8 scoops (I used mango ice cream)
• Chocolate sponge cake - 2 cups, crushed
• Maida - 1/2 cup
• Water - as required
• Cornflakes - 2 cups, crumbled 
• Oil - for deep frying
• Chocolate sauce or honey - for topping (Optional)

METHOD:

1. Take small scoops of any plain ice cream of your choice and arrange them on a tray. Freeze it for 1 hour till it gets hard 
   
2. Crush the sponge cake with hands so that it resembles bread crumbs. I have used chocolate sponge cake, you could use even plain vanilla sponge cake or any of the ready made plain tea time cakes available in the market 
   
3. Take the freezed ice cream scoops and quickly roll them in the crushed cake mixture such that the entire ice cream is coated with the cake layer as shown and immediately put it back in the freezer for 2 hours 
   
4. In the meanwhile, have the crumbled cornflakes and the maida+water paste ready. For the paste, mix maida with water, so that it forms a batter of thick pouring consistency (similar to bajji batter). It should neither be too thick nor too runny 
   
5. Take the cake coated ice cream scoops and dip them in the maida paste and immediately roll it over the crumbled cornflakes so that the entire ball is coated with cornflakes. Again put it back in the freezer for about 2-4 hours 
   
6. Heat oil in a pan. Drop a piece of cornflakes in the oil to check if it is hot, if bubbles appear, then the oil is hot enough. Now lower the flame and gently drop in the freezed and coated ice cream balls into the oil and fry them for just 15 seconds. Keep moving the ball when frying. If you fry it for too long, then the ice cream will start coming out. So be cautious. Place the fried balls on tissue paper to drain excess oil and serve immediately
7. To add in more richness to the dessert, you can top it up with some chocolate sauce or honey and a few nuts as shown below. Doesn't it look so tempting!! 
   

And this is how it will get over in a jiffy!!!

Notes:

• The sponge cake can also be replaced with any powdered biscuit
• You can do the preparations till step 5 and store it in zip pouches or air tight containers for even 2-3 weeks in the freezer and just before serving, you can fry them and serve immediately! 
• While frying the balls, for first timers like me, it is better to fry them one at a time. If you are very confident with your deep frying skills, then you can fry two at a time and it is better to keep the remaining balls in the freezer and take them out just before frying them. Trying this recipe for the first time, that too in summer, was quite a challenging task for me and the one main lesson that I learnt was not to take out all the balls out together. Work quick and with just two at a time

Restaurant style fine dining experience at home!

My cheerful kitchen has now got 50 posts and 100 likes on FB! and that calls for a celebration. So this weekend I planned for a very special fine dining menu similar to a restaurant! I planned two days in advance for the menu, ingredients and this helped me in a hassle free cooking :) So let's take look at the spread!

Click on each links to know the recipes:

Menu

• Lemon-Mint cooler
• Sprouts Tokri
• Tangy carrot soup
• Plain Kulcha
• Layered Rice with Nawabi curry
• Kadai Gobhi
• Dal Makhani
• Mango Ice cream

Lemon-Mint Cooler

Welcome summer with this fresh lemon mint cooler! 

INGREDIENTS:

• Lemon juice - from 1 lemon
• Mint leaves - 1/4 cup
• Ginger - 1" piece
• Water - 1 and 1/2 cups
• Ice cubes - 2 or 3
• Honey - 2-3 Tbsp

METHOD:

1. Crush mint leaves and ginger together
2. Strain the liquid from the crushed mint leaves and ginger
3. Add to this, lemon juice, honey and water
4. Pour this to the serving glasses, add ice cubes and garnish with mint leaves before serving

Layered Rice with Nawabi curry

The name looks exotic right?! So is the dish but the process of making it is very easy! As the name suggests, the gravy which is used in the layering has a long list of spices in it and is a rich Nawabi curry. This will not require any side dish, you can just serve it with plain curds or a simple raita. For the rice part, I prepared the jeera pulao recipe that I have already posted. You could use even plain rice or a sweet kashmiri pulao, which will go very well with the spicy gravy.

INGREDIENTS:

• Jeera pulao/ Plain rice - 4 cups
• Ghee - 2 Tbsp
• Tomato puree - 1/2 cup
• Fresh cream - 2 Tbsp
• Salt - as needed
• Oil - for greasing

For the Nawabi curry:

• Onions - 3/4 cup, sliced
• Cashewnuts - 1 Tbsp, broken
• Almonds - 1 Tbsp, chopped
• Coriander seeds - 2 Tsp
• Cumin seeds - 2 Tsp
• Poppy seeds (khus-khus) - 1 Tbsp
• Grated coconut - 2 Tsp
• Ginger - 2 Tsp, chopped
• Green chillis - 1 Tsp, chopped
• Dry Kashmiri red chillis - 4, broken into pieces
• Cardamom - 2
• Cloves - 2
• Cinnamon - 1" piece
• Curry leaves - 6-8
• Water - 4 Tbsp
• Salt - as needed

METHOD:

1. Make the rice/jeera pulao and keep aside
2. Combine all the ingredients under "For the Nawabi curry" and blend it into a smooth paste
3. Heat ghee in a kadai and add the ground paste and saute on medium flame for 4-5 minutes
4. Add the tomato puree, 1/4 cup of water, salt and mix well and cook on a medium flame for 5 minutes, stirring once in between
5. Add the cream, mix well and keep aside
6. Grease a square shaped baking glass dish with oil and arrange one portion of the pulao evenly in it
7. Spread the Nawabi curry evenly and top it with the remaining pulao
8. Cover the dish with aluminium foil and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C for 5 minutes
9. Turn upside down on a serving plate and serve immediately

Dal Makhani (without makhan!)

The dal makhani that is served in restaurants has a generous amount of butter(makhan), to completly justify its title! But in "My cheerful kitchen", I am always conscious with regards to the ingredients that I use as I did this gravy as a side dish for kulcha, which had plain flour and oil in it, I decided to go for a low calorie gravy and was absolutely delighted when I came across this recipe in Nita Mehta's diet recipe collections. No one will believe that there is no butter added to this gravy, as the texture and taste came out to be just the same as how we get in restaurants!

INGREDIENTS: (Serves 4)

• Black urad dal - 1/2 cup
• Rajma - 2 Tbsp
• Onion -1 large, ground to a paste
• Garlic flakes - 4, crushed to 1/2 Tsp of paste
• Salt - as needed
• Red chilli powder - 1/4 Tsp
• Tomato puree - 1/4 cup
• Cumin seeds powder - 1/2 Tsp
• Garam masala - 1/4 Tsp
• Kasoori methi - 1/2 Tsp
• Milk - 1/2 cup
• Whipped curd - for garnishing

METHOD:

1. Soak the black urad dal and rajma over night. Drain and wash thoroughly
2. Pressure cppk the soaked dal with the ground onion, crushed garlic, salt, red chilli powder and 2 and 1/2 cups of water. Lower the flame after 1st whistle and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from fire and allow it to cool
3. Add the tomato puree, cumin seeds powder, garam masala and kasoori methi. Boil and cook on low flame for 15 minutes and remove from fire
4. At the time of serving, add milk and cook for 4-5 minutes till the right consistency is achieved. Garnish with coriander and swirl whipped curd using a spoon. Serve hot with any roti or pulao

Kadai Gobhi

This weekend, when I wanted to come up with a restaurant style fine dining platter, I didn't want to use any usual paneer recipes and hence came up with this kadai gobhi recipe. It is also lesser in the calorie count when compared to the paneer version.

INGREDIENTS: (Serves 4)

• Cauliflower - 1 medium sized, cut into big florets
• Red chilli powder - 1/2 - 1 Tsp
• Coriander powder - 1/2 Tsp
• Tomatoes -2 large, cut into big pieces
• Capsicum - 1 large, cut into big pieces
• Onion - 1 large, cut into big pieces
• Green chillis - 2, slit across the length
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 Tsp
• Garam masala powder - 1/4 Tsp
• Ginger-garlic paste - 1/2 Tsp
• Salt - as needed
• Coriander leaves - 1 Tbsp, finely chopped
• Oil - 1 Tbsp

METHOD:

1. Boil the cauliflower florets in salted water for 10 minutes, till they become soft. Refresh them in cold water
2. Heat oil in a pan and add red chilli powder and coriander powder. Stir in low flame for half a minute
3. Add onions, ginger-galic paste and saute for a few minutes till onions change color, then add capsicums, slit green chillis and saute for 5 more minute. Add the tomatoes, turmeric powder, garam masla powder and cook for 10 minutes on low flame so that the tomatoes blend well with the spices
4. Add the boiled cauliflower and 1/4 cup of water. stir for 3-5 minutes till well mixed and serve hot!

Tangy Carrot Soup

This 5 star soup has a distinct flavor to it... orange juice! Serve it hot or cold and enjoy all the praise from your loved ones. I came across this recipe in Nita Mehta's healthy soups collections and included it in the menu when I planned for a fine dining platter!

INGREDIENTS: (Serves 6)

• Carrots - 2 big, chopped
• Onion - 1, chopped
• Potato - 1, peeled and chopped
• Peppercorns - 10
• Ginger - 1" piece
• Water - 4 cups (you can also use vegetable stock)
• Orange juice - from one orange
• Mint leaves - for garnishing
• Salt - as needed
• Pepper - as needed

METHOD:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add onions, peppercorns and ginger. Saute them till the onions become transparent
2. Add carrots and potatoes and stir for 2 minutes on a low flame. Add water and bring it to a boil. Simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes till the vegetables are cooked. Remove from fire and allow them to cool completely
3. Grind the cooled vegetables into a puree and the strain them
4. Add orange juice, salt and pepper. Boil and garnish with mint leaves before serving

Sprouts Tokri

This is a very easy and yummy snack and can be enjoyed without any guilt even by weight watchers or diabetic patients. I have used a simple sprout salad filling for this Tokri, you could just go on and add in anything you wish! This recipe is inspired from Nita Mehta's diet snacks collection. Don't these little tokris look cute and colorful?!!

INGREDIENTS:

• Brown bread - 4 slices
• Olive oil - 1 Tbsp, for spreading

For filling:

• Moong sprouts - 1/4 cup, boiled
• Cucumber - 1/2 of a medium sized cumcumber, finely chopped
• Sweet corn - 2 Tbsp, boiled (diabetic patients can skip this)
• Pomegranate seeds - 2 Tbsp
• Salt - as needed
• Pepper - as needed
• Chat masala - 1/4 Tsp (optional)
• Coriander leaves - finely chopped for garnishing
• Tomato ketchup - 1 Tbsp

METHOD:

1. Roll the breads with the help of a rolling pin, very gently
2. With the help of a 4" diameter round cookie cutter or a round steel lid, cut out a round from the bread
3. Apply very little olive oil on each of the round slices
4. Place these rounds in muffin moulds and grill them for 5-6 minutes or until the edges are evenly browned
5. Mix all ingredients for the filling and put a spoonful of this mixture into each tokri and top it with tomato ketchup
6. You could also use bhel puri or sev puri for the filling :)

Plain Kulcha

When I planned for a fine dining menu, I decided to make kulcha and as the platter had lots of varieties, I didn't go for any stuffed kulcha but opted for a plain one. I served this along with Kadai Gobhi and Dal Makhani and it was yumm!! This recipe is inspired from Rak's kitchen. She had used only plain flour/ maida, which is what is ideally done at restaurants too but I didn't want to use so much of maida and hence replaced half of the maida with whole wheat flour.

INGREDIENTS: (Makes 4 kulchas)

• Maida - 1/2 cup
• Whole wheat flour - 1/2 cup
• Milk - 1/2 cup (a little less or as needed)
• Curd - 1 Tbsp
• Baking powder - 1/2 Tsp
• Baking soda - 1/4 Tsp
• Sugar - 1 Tsp
• Salt - 1/2 Tsp
• Black sesame - as needed
• Coriander leaves - very finely chopped ( about 2 Tsp)
• Oil - as needed (for rolling)
• Butter - for brushing (optional)

METHOD:

1. Sieve together the flours, baking powder and baking soda. Add sugar, salt and curd. Mix well so that the flour crumbles. Now add in the milk little by little and knead the dough for a minute. Cover the dough for an hour and again knead it for a few minutes till the dough becomes soft
2. Divide the dough into equal sized balls. Dust the working table with lots of flour and start rolling the balls. When it is rolled half way through, lift the rolled kulcha and spread some oil on the working table. This will avoid the dough from sticking to the floor
3. Roll the kulchas such that they are thin and even. Lift the rolled kulcha and now spread some black sesame and chopped coriander leaves on the working floor and then place the rolled kulcha over it. Now gently roll, so that they sesame seeds and coriander leaves stick on to the kucha
4. Heat a non-stick tawa. Brush the plain side of the kulcha with very little water and place the kulcha on the hot tawa with the water brushed plain side facing down
5. When bubbles start forming, flip the kulcha over direct flame (with the black sesame + coriander side facing down). Remove from fire when brown spots start to appear
6. Brush with melted butter and serve hot!

Click here to check out different side dish for rotis that I have tried

Mango Icecream

It's summer time and mangoes have arrived in style!! So I have begun summer in a tasty way with fresh home made mango icecream without any preservatives or gelatin. Just blend and freeze, that's it. Surprise your loved ones with this fresh icecream topped with homey or caramel sauce and some nuts! No one will believe it is home-made! Take all the praise but keep the secret with yourself, that it is absolutely easy to prepare :)

This recipe is inspired from Chef Sanjeev Kapoor's collections.

INGREDIENTS:

• Mango puree - 1 cup
• Fresh cream - 1 cup
• Milk powder - 1 cup
• Milk - 1 cup
• Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup + as needed

METHOD:

1. Blend all ingredients together. Taste and check if the sweetness is fine for you. It will depend on how ripe and sweet your mango is. I added about 3/4 cup powdered sugar in total, as my mangoes were not so sweet
2. Store in an air-tight container and freeze it over night
3. That's it!! Lip smacking ice-cream is ready!
4. In case you find some ice crystals over the ice cream after freezing, just blend it gently with a hand mixer and freeze it again
5. While serving, add a spoon of honey and top it with chopped nuts

Eggless Ragi Chocolate Cake

Yes, you read the title right! A cake made with Ragi flour - eggless, butterless, no white sugar, no maida but absolutely delicious!! It is hard to guess that this cake contains ragi (finger millet) and instead of white sugar, I have added jaggery and honey. All goodness packed into one small cake. Yummmm!! It is also one of the easiest cakes that I have baked as it does not have too many ingredients. Just mix and bake like a readymade cake mix and surprise you kith and kin :)

INGREDIENTS:

• Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
• Ragi (finger millet) flour - 1/2 cup, roasted (Roasting the ragi flour improves the texture of the cake)
• Baking soda - 1/4 Tsp
• Unsweetened cocoa powder - 3 Tbsp
• Yogurt - 3/4 cup
• Jaggery - 1/2 cup
• Honey - 1/2 cup
• Oil - 1/2 cup (any flavorless oil - I used sunflower oil)
• Milk - 1/4 cup (or as needed, to make the batter smooth)
• Vanilla extract - 1 Tsp
• Chocolate essence - 1 Tsp (optional)

METHOD:

1. Mix the dry ingredients together - flours, cocoa powder and soda
2. In a separate bowl, mix yogurt and jaggery and stir very well until the jaggery is dissolved in the yogurt
3. Then add in the oil, honey, vanilla extract, chocolate essence(if adding) and mix well
4. Gradually fold in the dry ingredients into the yogurt mixture 
5. Add the required amount of milk (approximately 1/4 cup) so that the batter is smooth
6. Pour the batter into greased and dusted cake pan or muffin moulds lined with paper liners
7. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes (I made a cake only with half the quantity of all the ingredients and it got baked exactly in 20 minutes)
8. Allow the cake to cool completely on a wire rack. The cake tastes yumm as such or you could also top it with some chocolate sauce and edible sprinkles as my cute little cupcake shown below!