Healthy Whole Wheat Choco Orange Muffins To Compliment The Christmas Season

December 15, 2012Comments: 6

Oh finally I could break this silence and come back in this space that is so close to my heart! Its been two long months and trust me, every day I have been grouching myself for not writing anything here. Sometimes it happens, we are not so busy but still are not able to find enough time. It is more of a mental block than anything else and I was so badly stuck because of this. Tried some garlic rolls and brownies but they did not come out so great that they would bring me out of this quite mode.

Finally yesterday I tried these muffins and they are the best from my oven till date! Whole wheat, orange juice, flax seeds, walnuts, raisins, olive oil and milk are some of the healthy ingredients I used for this and I was so happy to see the result that I could not wait to share it with all of you.

Ingredients

(will make 12 muffins)

  • 3/4 cup All Purpose Flour (APF)
  • 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
  • 1/2 cup Cocoa powder
  • 1/4 cup ground Flax Seeds
  • 1 1/2 tea spoon Lemon Zest (approx. use two lemons)
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
  • 3/4 cup regular Sugar (Use palm sugar as a healthier option)
  • 1/2 tea spoon Salt
  • 1 1/4 cup Milk (I used full cream milk)
  • 1/2 Cup Orange Juice
  • 1/2 tea spoon Baking Powder
  • 1 1/2  tea spoon Baking Soda
  • 1 tea spoon Vanilla essence
  • 3/4 tea spoon Cinnamon
  • 8-10 pieces of Walnut (cut into small pieces)
  • 20-25 pieces Raisins

Preparation Steps

  1. Mix together the oil, orange juice, sugar and milk in a bowl.
  2. Mix whole wheat and all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and soda and sieve.
  3. Add salt, cinnamon and lemon zest and ground flax seeds.
  4. Add the milk mixture to these dry ingredients slowly and keep mixing with a spatula to avoid lumps.
  5. One the entire milk mixture is added, mix the batter with a spatula for 2-3 minutes.
  6. Add the dry fruits and fold them in the batter. (You can keep some batter aside if for a couple of muffins without dry fruits if our kids don’t like them.)
  7. Keep the oven pre heated at 180 C.
  8. Grease the muffin tray and add the batter. Each cup should have batter till the top level
  9. Bake in oven at 180 C from 17 to 20 minutes. Insert a tooth pick to check if the muffins have baked. The tooth pick should come out clean.
  10. Once done, let the muffins cool down in tray for 5 minutes. Do not keep the tray under fan. It may make the muffins less spongy.

Relish these with tea or milk if you can wait that long!These are so moist that they will just melt in your mouth!

This one goes to Magic Mingle #12, Bake Fest #14 and Eggless Bakes anTreats.

 

Methi ki Launji (Fenugreek Seeds Pickle)

October 15, 20121 comment

One of the many benefits of inter cast marriage (wink) is very close connection with two different cuisines. As I shared earlier, my hubby is from Rajasthan and I am a Punjabi. After almost 6 years of our marriage,  I can say that I have learnt cooking from my Mom-in-law as much as I have learnt from my Mom. So my cooking is a mix of the best practices of my Mom, Mom-in-law and of course I add my touch to it. In these years, I really have developed a taste for Rajasthani food. Rather I should say that Rajasthani cusine is so delicious that there was no need to develop a taste for it. Once served, one just can not resist it!There are quite many famous Rajasthani delicacies like Gatta and Dal Bati Churma. At the same time  there are others that are less known but are really delicious and different from the usual curries or side dishes that I knew.
The one I am sharing today is an adaptation from my Mom-in-law’s “Methi ki Launji”. Fenugreek seeds are the primary ingredient of this recipe. In addition to the immense health benefits that this seed possess, I really like the spicy, sweet, tangy and slightly bitter taste of this pickle!

Ingredients

(will make 1 small bowl)
  • 2 Table Spoon Fenugreek Seeds (Methi Dana)
  • 1 Table Spoon Rasins
  • 1 Table spoon finely chopped Dry Coconut
  • 2-3 Indian bay leaf (Tej patta)
  • 1 tea spoon Cumin seeds
  • 2 1/2 Table Spoon Jaggery Powder (normal sugar can also be used, just reduce it to 1 1/2 table spoon)
  • 1/2 Table spoon Dry Mango Powder (aamchur)
  • 3 Tea spoon Salt
  • 2 1/2 Tea spoon Red chilli powder
  • 1 Table spoon Coriander powder
  • a pinch Asafoetida (Hing)
  • 1/2 tea spoon Turmeric powder
  • 1 tea spoon Garam Masala
  • 2-3 table spoon Water (for the required consistency)
  • 1 table spoon Vegetable oil

Preparation Steps

  1. Soak Fenugreek seeds overnight in water
  2. Boil the seeds in water for 10 minutes and drain out the extra water
  3. Heat oil in a pan. Once hot, add Cumin seeds,  Indian bay leaf, Asafoetida & Fenugreek seeds.
  4. Add the remaining spices and stir well.
  5. Add water  and let it boil for 2-3 minutes. Add sugar and Garam Masala, Rasins and Coconut. Stir for another 1-2 minutes and take it off the stove.
To add nutrition and taste, use it as a pickle with any meal.  It will taste even better with hot puris or parathas!

Sending this to Magic Mingle # 10 hosted at Vaishali’s Ribbon’s to Pasta’s.

Eggless Chocolate Walnut Cake

October 3, 2012Comments: 4

Before I share this recipe, I have a question for you: Do you love cakes? ah…I heard Yes and can you resist chocolate cakes? I am sure it is a No. Yet you don’t want to compromise with nutrition , is n”t it?  This recipe is just for you if you are a cakoholic and at the same time are also conscious of limiting the unhealthy ingredients in it.

These days, I love to make hand baked cakes, cookies etc for my family members on their birthday. September is a month of birthday’s in my family. The month starts with my brother’s birthday, who was out of country this time, then comes my little one’s birthday for which we went out of station and finally my sister’s (sister-in-law’s) birthday and I knew the best gift I could give her this time was a hand made, home baked cake. Knowing her, I knew that she would love it even more if she gets to know that the ingredients used are healthier than usual. I baked this cake on her birthday but unfortunately electricity went off just 10 minutes after the baking started. Thanks to my mom-in-law’s idea that we finally cooked the cake on stove by giving very slow heat with the help of multiple sieves. Due to uneven heating, the cake got stuck at the bottom of baking tin and I could not take it out. Thankfully, even then the cake turned out scrumptious and was polished off within half an hour of my sister cutting it! My daughter and niece just hogged on it :) . So much so that even the birthday girl could not have it enough to her satisfaction.

 

I baked the cake again last week and the pictures in this post are from that version of cake.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup All purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup Whole wheat flour
  • 3/4 cup powdered Sugar (palm sugar as healthier option)
  • 1/4 cup Drinking Chocolate powder
  • 1/4 cup Cocoa powder
  • 1 tea spoon instant Coffee powder
  • 1 cup thick Curd
  • 1 1/2 tea spoon Baking powder
  • 3/4 tea spoon Baking Soda
  • 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil (I used vegetable oil first time and home made clarified butter the next time. The butter one was heavier but then it is really nutritious for kids)
  • 1 tea spoon Vanilla essense
  • 1/2 cup walnut pieces

 Preparation Steps

(Recipe adapted from Divya’s Easycooking.)

  1. Mix the flour, drinking chocolate powder, cocoa powder and coffee powder and sift 2-3 times.
  2. Mix sugar with curd and beat well. Add baking soda, powder and vanilla essence and beat well.
  3. Add oil , beat well and then add small quantity of sifted flour. Keep adding flour and beating till you get a smooth batter.
  4. Grease 6-8  inch baking tin and add the batter.
  5. Preheat oven at 200 C. Bake at 180 C for 10 minutes.
  6. Take out the tin add walnut pieces by pressing them slightly.(You can also try adding them before starting the baking. I wanted to get the top layer broken texture so added them after initial 10 minutes of baking.)
  7. Bake at 200 C for another 25-30 minutes.
  8. Insert a tooth pick, if the batter doesn’t stick to it then take out the baking tin.
  9. Let the cake cool in tin for 5 – 10 minutes.
  10. Take it out and let it cool completely on the wire rack.

This cake will be really moist even after refrigeration.

We went for a two a two day trip to Bharatpur last weekend (more on it in my next post) and I carried 3/4th of this cake considering it will be more than good enough for the three of us for a 2 day trip. To my surprise, the cake was no where seen by the evening of the first day! I would just say that try it out for yourself to see the wonders of this recipe!

Sweet & Tangy Pumpkin to pump up your mood!

September 15, 2012Comments: 4


I can’t believe its been a month that I posted any recipe here! Somehow could not manage, some things went completely unplanned then a few days of mood swings, a few days of not so good health and then yes the last month was a very special one for me! It was my little one’s second birthday so was busy preparing for that too!

I wanted to bake a cake for her but then we celebrated her birthday out of station and it required me to bake the cake two days before the birthday which was not a great idea so dropped the plan :( .

Nevertheless, Sarah really enjoyed her birthday in a resort in Rajasthan where she could keep running in open space with her cousin Pari and be near her favourite Bua, Fufu, Dadi, Nanu, Nani and ofcourse Papa and Mumma all the time!

Finally I am back in mood to do some cooking! Its weird, when I am not in best of my moods, I feel I can’t cook something interesting but then when I cook, I realize that it automatically boosts my mood! :) So next time on wards, I will not wait for the right mood, I will just cook to get the right mood! This recipe is one of my favourites. A little sweet, a little tangy and of course spicy Pumpkin.

This one goes best with sinful deep fried Poori (fried indian bread).Here we go..

 Ingredients

(will serve 3)

  • 150 gm Pumpkin, 1 inch pieces with peel (pumpkin should be white, yellow will not give the required texture and taste)
  • 1 1/2 table spoon Tamarind paste (modify, if you prefer more tangy)
  • 2 tea spoon sugar (modify, if you prefer more sweet)
  • 3-4 Dry whole Red Chilly
  • 1/2  tea spoon Cumin Seeds(Jeera)
  • 1/2 tea spoon Fennel seeds
  • 1/4 tea spoon Fenugreek seed
  • 1/4 tea spoon Black Cumin seeds
  • a pinch Asafoetida (Hing)
  • 2-3 Indian bay leaf (Tej patta)
  • 2 tea spoon Salt (or as per taste)
  • 1 1/2 tea spoon Red chilly powder
  • 3 tea spoon Coriander powder
  • 1/2 tea spoon turmeric powder
  • 4-5 cloves grated or finely chopped Garlic
  • 1/4 inch grated Ginger
  • 2 table spoon Vegetable oil
  • 1/2 tea spoon Garam masala

Preparation Steps

  1. Heat oil in a pan. Once hot, add cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, ginger garlic, whole red chilly, Indian bay leaf, asafoetida & fennel seeds.
  2. After adding fennel seeds, immediately add pumpkin and black cumin seeds.Keep stirring in between for 4-5 minutes.
  3. Once the pumpkin pieces look a little fried, add salt and turmeric powder. Mix well, cover with a lid for 4-5 minutes. Open the lid and give a stir after 2-3 minutes.
  4. Check with the spatula, if the pumpkin is cooked, remove the lid, add the remaining spices and mix well.
  5. Add tamarind paste and sugar. Mix well.



Serve with hot puris or parathas to get the real taste! Yumm…I just can’t resist this one!

This one goes to Magic Mingle#9

Banana Roti (Flat Bread) with Jaggery and Sesame Seeds – A complete meal in itself

August 15, 2012Comments: 10

Wish you all a very Happy Independence Day! On this day, I hope we all understand the meaning of independence and respect the freedom we have been bestowed with. Other than the freedom of speech and expression, I strongly believe in freedom from orthodox thinking. Creativity has no boundaries, so let us give ourselves the freedom to think out of the box, to think creatively and do wonders in whatever we want to excel in!

One such event that helps me think creatively is Magic Mingle hosted by Kalyani of SizzlingTastebuds. The idea here is to to give wings to our culinary creativity and prepare dishes using two specific ingredients chosen for the month. Now, isn’t that so mind stimulating! The ingredients for this month are Jaggery and Sesame seeds. Looking at the ingredients, the first two things that came to my mind were nutri bars and Till ke laddoo (sesame jaggery balls) but then I wanted to try something different that I have never tried before. I decided to go for the Banana Roti I have had a couple of times at my sister-in-law’s place, but with a slight modification to the traditional recipe! The ingredients that go into the making of this delicacy are so nutritious that it is a must try!

Ingredients

(will make 6-7 Rotis (flat breads))

  • 2 Bananas
  • 100 gm Jaggery
  • 1 Table spoon Sesame Seeds
  • 1 1/4 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
  • 1/4 cup Milk
  • 1 1/2 Tea Spoon Fennel Seeds
  • 1/4 Tea spoon Salt
  • 1 Table Spoon Cream

Preparation Steps

  1. Add jaggery to a pan and let it melt.
  2. Add mashed banana and keep mixing.
  3. Add salt, cream, fennel seeds and 1/4 cup wheat flour. Stir for 2-3 minutes and remove the pan from flame.
  4. Let the jaggery, banana mix cool down. 
  5. Add rest of the flour and knead the dough.
  6. The dough should be softer than the one that we knead for plain whole wheat flat bread (roti). Add milk to get the required softness.
  7. Make six, seven balls from the dough and roll them into small chapattis and cook them the Indian way.
  8. Apply some clarified butter (ghee) to add more flavor!

Have them warm with dip (chutney) of your choice. We prefer this with coconut chutney. Makes a perfect meal for breakfast, lunch or Dinner. Have it when you like it!

This recipe goes to Magic Mingle#8.

 

Sattu (Healthy Gram Flour Dessert prepared on Badi Teej)

August 14, 20121 comment

Kajli Teej is one of the most awaited festivals of Rajasthan. This festival is celebrated primarily by married women by fasting for long and healthy life of their husbands.

I am a Punjabi and my husband belongs to Rajasthan. I don’t fast but we do believe in celebrating the spirit of this festival. This time Badi Teej was on 5th of August. (I know, I am quite late in posting this one :( )

“maaruji abaki teeja ne donu pindo paasyaji mehara raaj”

This line is from a song that is sung during the prayer (pooja) performed on this festival. Translation: Wife sings this song to her husband, “my dear, this time on Teej, we both will have the Pinda together“.

Sattu ka pinda is something that my mom-in-law has been preparing every year for all of us. I have learnt it from her and this time I prepared it on my own with a little guidance from her! (a pat on my back for this one (wink)!)

Sattu is irresistibly delicious! So much so that I can’t stop myself from having it every now and then once it’s prepared!

Traditionally, after fasting for an entire day, in evening, all women dress up in their best attire and jewelry with heena (mehndi) pecked hands and feet. As the sun sets, all women of the family and neighboring houses gather and perform prayer and hear Badi Teej katha, followed by worshiping the moon and having sattu. Sattu Paasana, as it is called in Marwari, means the following - the husband sits next to his wife, takes out the sattu seven times using the silver coin and offers it to his wife.

In my family, we celebrate the festival by wearing festive clothes, spending time together and at night offering sattu to each other and praying for a happy and healthy family!

Ingredients

  • 500 gms Gram Flour (Mota Besan)
  • 300 gms Clarified Butter (Ghee)
  • 1 Cup Sugar
  • 1/2 Cup Almonds
  • A pinch of Saffron (Kesar)
  • 3-4 pieces of Cardomom (choti Elaichi)

Preparation Steps

  1. Heat Butter in a big pan and once the butter melts, add gram flour to it. Keep stirring.This part is a bit time consuming. It takes around half an hour for the flour to get roasted and leave butter.
  2. Remove the pan from stove, once the flour gets roasted, starts leaving butter(after almost half an hour) and starts giving fragrance(it will be easily noticable).
  3. Let the flour cool down. Powder the sugar and mix it properly with roasted flour.
  4. Add powdered cardamom seeds, Saffron and chopped almond. (For this festival we make a peenda by pressing and keeping it in a bowl however it can also be converted to laddoos!)
  5. Garnish with Saffron and Almonds!

 Relish This Dessert That Is Not Only Delicious But So Healthy!

Stuffed Indian Round Gourd (Bharwan Tinda) – Starter or Side Dish – Treat it the way you like it!

August 8, 2012Comments: 7

Sometimes it gets so tough to think of new recipes so that the food we eat and cook doesn’t get boring! Infact, I would say that vegetable shopping is the activity from where the conceptualization of meals for next few day’s begins. I will take an example, the other day I went to get some veggies from a nearby store where the variety of vegetables is very limited. When I entered the place, I just saw some capsicum, carrot, beans and very small size apple gourd (Indian round gourd/ Tinda). Initially I thought of skipping apple gourd because the size was not good enough for the usual apple gourd side dish that I prepare but then immediately my creative bell rang and I could visualize those small balls stuffed with tempting spices! This is the reason I said that vegetable shopping is the first and most crutial part of how the dish would be.

  • The person who goes to buy should be able to select fresh and good quality vegetables. This would automatically enhance the taste of the dish that will be prepared using those fresh veggies!
  • Also, from the selected options, one should be able to think of the different dishes that are possible and then take a call on what to buy.

Bharwan Tinda as we call this dish in India can be prepared with many variations. The one I prepared this time is quite dry by choice as I wanted to try this as a starter also! If you have a taste for it, you can relish this as a starter or snack. I first fried and then steamed this one in a pan. I would definitely try baking and grilling to see the results!

Ingredients

  • 10-12 very small size round gourd(Tinda)
  •  2 table spoon Mustard oil for frying

For filling

  • 2 1/2 tea spoon Salt
  • 5 tea spoon Coriander powder
  • 2 tea Spoon Dry Mango Powder
  • 1/2 tea Spoon Turmeric Powder
  • 1/2 tea spoon Black cumin seeds
  • 1 Tea Spoon Mustard Oil
  • 1 Tea Spoon water
  • a pinch of Asafoetida

Preparation Steps

  1. Peel round gourd and divide each piece into four parts without cutting the base.
  2. Mix the stuffing ingredients and fill them uniformly in all the balls.
  3. Take mustard oil in a pan and heat it. Slowly and gently place all the balls in the pan. Let the round gourds fry for a couple of minutes.
  4. Gently turn the balls  upside down and fry again for a couple of minutes.
  5. Take 3 table spoon water and add it to the pan. Cover the lid and let the gourds cook for 10 minutes. (after 4-5 mins check if some more water is required, the cooking time may very depending on the quality and size of balls)
  6. Once done, try turning the sides and frying the balls for a couple of minutes from all the sides so that the balls get as crispy as possible.
  7. Serve these hot either as a starter or along with chapati!

Don’t forget to tell me how you liked it (smiles)!

Shahi Paneer ! Not so shahi but really delicious

July 31, 2012Comments: 5

Paneer – if you live in Delhi – you just can’t stay away from! In fact, you will also find paneer pieces in maggi and chow mein here (wink)! So how can I stay away from it?! In fact, knowing about its health benefits, I would rather want to include it in my day to day meals. The recipe I am sharing here today is an adapted version from my Mom’s kitchen, not to mention how amazing a cook she is!

You would have come across various versions of Shahi paneer. I tried to make it less heavy on the tummy, so we can have this calcium and protein rich curry more often, rather than it becoming a delicacy that is prepared once in a few months or when there’s a guest visiting.

I used Poppy Seeds (Khus khus) and Cashew nuts to give it the richness it should have. So here we go!

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

  • 1 Table Spoon Poppy Seeds
  • 5-6 Cashew Nuts
  • 2 Medium size Tomatoes
  • 3 Onion
  • 100 gm Paneer (Indian cottage cheese) cut into 1 inch by 1/4 inch pieces
  • 2-3 Garlic Cloves
  • 1/2 inch Ginger piece
  • 1 1/2 Capsicum ( cut into 12 inch pieces)
  • 1 Table Spoon Sweet Corn(Optional)
  • 1 1/2 Tea Spoon Garam Masala
  • 3 Tea Spoon Salt (OR as per taste)
  • 1 Tea Spoon Red Chilly Powder
  • 1/2 tea Spoon Turmeric Powder
  • 4 tea spoon Coriander powder
  • 2 Green Chilly
  • 1 1/2 Vegetable Oil

Preparation Steps

  1. Soak poppy seeds and cashew nuts in water for 2-3 hours.
  2. Grind them together to make a thick paste. Use the water in which poppy seeds and cashew nuts were soaked.
  3. Grind onion, ginger, garlic and green chilly in a grinder.
  4. Puree tomatoes separately.
  5. Take oil in a pan, heat it well. Fry capsicum in the oil and take them off.
  6. Add onion, ginger, garlic, green chilli paste in oil and fry till the paste becomes light brown.
  7. Add tomato puree, again, let the puree dry and the onion, tomato paste starts leaving oil.
  8. Add poppy seeds and cashew nuts paste, stir for 3-4 minutes.
  9. Add spices and stir continuously.
  10. Add sweet corn (optional) and fried capsicum.
  11. Add water and let the gravy boil for 3-4 minutes.
  12. Add paneer pieces, stir for 2 minutes and take off from stove.

(caution:Boiling paneer for long time in the gravy will make it hard.)

If you like the taste of corn, it is an interesting combination to try in this dish. My mom-in-law liked it and hubby did not (smiles).

 You must be having your own recipe of Shahi Paneer. I would really love to know the variations you try!

 

Spinach and Corn Sandwich

July 26, 2012Comments: 5

My weakness – Grilled Sandwiches. Somehow mornings are very busy and I don’t get enough time to experiment with them. This one has been going on in my mind since a long time. Like me, I am sure, all of you have had some variation of this in Cafe Coffee Day, Costa Coffee or some other coffee shop.

This sandwich, of course, is a very healthy one because of the ingredients. What I wanted to modify was the cheese part so used thick curd (yogurt) in place of cheese. It turned out great!

As per WHfoods, Spinach is among the World’s Healthiest vegetables. It comes out at the top of their ranking list for nutrient richness. Rich in vitamins and minerals, it is also concentrated in health-promoting phytonutrients such as carotenoids (beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin) and flavonoids to provide you with powerful antioxidant protection.

Corn features high quality phyto-nutrition profile comprising of dietary fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants in addition to moderate proportions of minerals. Yellow variety corn has significant levels of phenolic flavonoid pigment antioxidants such as ß-carotenes, and lutein, xanthins and cryptoxanthin pigments along with vitamin A. It also contains good levels of some of valuable B-complex group of vitamins (Source : Nutrition-and-you.com   )

Ingredients

(will make 2 sandwiches – 4 slices of bread)

  • 1/2 bowl frozen Sweet Corn
  • 250 gm Spinach
  • 1/2 bowl thick curd(yogurt)
  • Salt (as per taste)
  • Oregano Seasoning  (I  also used Garlic herb seasoning, you can experiment with the seasonings of your choice)
  • 4 slices Brown Bread

Preparation Steps

  1. Wash spinach leaves thoroughly. Blanch them in boiling water for 1 minute. (refer the tip at end of post to know the healthiest way to cook spinach)
  2. Chop Spinach and let it cool.
  3. Add corn, curd, salt and seasoning to spinach.
  4. Mix the ingredients and spread filling on the bread slices. (do not keep the filling for long as the curd and salt may realeasing water and in turn lead to soogy sandwich)
  5. Grill in a sandwich maker and have it hot and cryspy!

Tip : Healthiest way to cook spinach as per WHfoods.com

Spinach is recommend to be boiled to free up acids. Allow them to leach into the boiling water; this brings out a sweeter taste from the spinach. Discard the boiling water after cooking; do not drink it or use it for stock because of its acid content.

Use a large pot with lots of water and bring to a rapid boil. Add spinach to the boiling water and boil for 1 minute. Begin timing as soon as you place the spinach in the pot. Do not cover the pot when cooking spinach. Leaving the pot uncovered helps to release more of the acids with the rising steam. Research has shown that the boiling of spinach in large amounts of water helps decrease the oxalic acid content by as much as 50%

I am on look out for more healthy sandwich recipes, please share your ideas! Do try this one, and tell me if kids liked it. I get so motivated, if I get to know that a recipe worked with kids. Sometimes (infact mostly) it gets so tough to think of creative ideas so that kids eat vegetables and get the required nutrition, isn’t it?!

Moong Dal Appo With Potato & Black Pepper Stuffing

July 16, 2012Comments: 5

I mentioned about Appo in one of my previous posts. It is a 15 minute, almost zero oil, tea time snack. There are so many variations possible in this one dish that we can keep experimenting on and on with different combinations. I got the hint of this recipe from my sister-in-law . I did some modifications and tried this recently. Coincidently the ingredients (Moong Dal and Black Pepper) of Magic Mingle this time were exactly what I planned to use!

You need to have an “Appo Stand” for this. If you stay in south of India then there is no need for me to introduce this to you. If you are in other parts even then it is readily available in most utensils shops these days. Check the end of post to know the appliance details.

Ingredients

For filling

  • 1 medium size Boiled mashed Potato   
  • 7-8 crushed Black Pepper OR 1/4 spoon Black Pepper powder
  • 1 finely chopped small Onion
  • 1/2 spoon Dry Mango powder
  • Salt as per taste

For Batter

  • 1/2 bowl Moong Dal (split green gram)
  • 1/2 bowl water to soak the dal
  • 10-12 crushed coriander seeds
  • a pinch Asafoetida (Hing)

Preparation Steps

Batter

  1. Soak the dal in water for 15 minutes
  2. Grind in a mixer to form a thick paste
  3. Add salt, coriandr seeds and Hing

Appo Filling

Mix all the filling ingredients.

Appo

  1. Grease the stand, heat it on low flame.(I have a non-stick appo maker so there no need for much ghee or oil, I just add 1 drop of ghee in every section for greasing.)
  2. Add batter to all the section and fill them half.
  3. Make small circular balls of the potato filling and add one to each section.
  4. Add some batter again, to cover the filling.
  5. Cover the stand with lid for 3-4 minutes. Use knife to slightly turn the appo to check if they are done. Once they turn golden brown from bottom, turn the appo to the other side.
  6. Again cover the lid for 3-4 minutes.
  7. Once done from both the sides, increase the flame and turn each ball again for a couple of minutes so that they get crispy at high flame.

(the quantities specified in the recipe should be good to prepare 8-10 appo)

 This recipe goes to Magic Mingle #7

 

 

 

 

Appliance Used: Mine is a non stick Elite”appo maker. “This can make 7 Appo in one go. This is a very compact one and is a must have in kitchen.