Roasted figs in sauce

Ingredients:

8 Figs
Juice from 1/2 an Orange
3 tbsp of honey
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp of cinnamon

Method:

Put all the ingredients except the figs in a saucepan and bring it to a simmer on a low flame. Slit a cross in the figs going all the way to the bottom. Place them in a baking dish and pour the sauce on the figs
Bake at 375F for 15 mins.

Serve warm.

Whole Grain Banana bread

This wholesome bread makes a good morning breakfast with a glass of milk or as a dessert after a meal. The sweetness to this bread comes mostly from the ripe bananas and the nuttiness from the wheat and millet.


Ingredients:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup millet flour
2 ripe bananas mashed
1/8 cup buttermilk(or thinned yogurt)
1/8 cup sugar
2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp soda powder
1 egg
1/4 cup fruit cake mix (optional)

Method:

1. Beat egg in a bowl, add butter followed by sugar and whisk so that the butter mixes well into the sugar and egg.
2. Add mashed bananas followed by fruit cake mix, buttermilk and again whisk.
3. Next add both the flours little by little and keep whisking.
4. Finally mix in vanilla extract and soda powder
5. Pour this into a greased baking dish and bake at 350F for 30 mins or until a knife pierced through the cake comes out clean.

Yogurt ice pops with berries

Ingredients:

1 cup berries crushed
3/4 cup yogurt
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp honey
zest from 1/2 a lemon

Method:

In a saucepan boil water and sugar, take off heat and add lemon zest. Leave covered until it cools down.
Blend together the above syrup with honey and yogurt. Fill the molds 1/4 way through with the yogurt mixture and let it set in the freezer for 1 hour. Divide the crushed berries amongst each of the molds and top it with the rest of the yogurt mixture. Freeze the molds for another 4-5 hours. Unmold and enjoy!

Strawberry Ice pops

Strawberry Ice pop or Ice candy as we call it back home was my first attempt in the kitchen at these frozen treats. I recently got hold of a book dedicated entirely to ice pops, shaved ice and aguas frescas, its called Paletas by Fany Gerson.
When I first checked out the recipes I couldnt believe my eyes how could I have not known this before! They are totally worth the little if any, effort, needed to have perfect homemade ice pops. Its so much better than store bought once because I can control the sugar, plus I can be sure its 100% fruits and not loaded with artificial flavors and coloring.

Ingredients:
1 cup strawberry hulled
2 tbsp sugar
1/8 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice

Method:

Let the strawberries sit with the sugar for 15 mins, boil them for about 5 mins along with the water. Let it cool and then give it a quick pulse with the lemon juice in the blender(leave some strawberry chunks dont grind it too fine).
Pour it into molds and freeze for about 4-5 hours.

To unmold: I dip the mold in a cup of warm water for about 10 secs. I then pull the ice pop by the stick from the mold, it comes off easily.

Now all you got to do is sit back and enjoy every bit of that strawberry ice pop :)

Instant Rava Idli

Ingredients:
1 cup Bombay Rava or Suji
1/2 cup yogurt
2 dry red chilies
1 sprig curry leaves
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp udad dal
1 tsp chana dal
Salt to tastehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
1 tbsp oil

Method:
In a pan dry roast Rava to make it golden brown,take care not to burn the Rava. Take off the Rava and in the same pan start roasting all the spices. Add oil and once its heated add mustard seeds wait until it pops and then add jeera, udad dal, chana dal, curry leaves and red chilies. Take it off the heat and add it to the rava.
Mix in yogurt and salt to the Rava mixture and stir well. Leave it for about 1/2 an hour. Before you start steaming the idlis check the consistency of the batter it should be like traditional idli batter consistency. If its too dry add some more yogurt.
Steam them in idli molds and serve with any chutney of your choice. I have served it here with Mango chutney.

Raw mango chutney

Ingredients:

2 cups raw mango skin discarded and grated
2 dry red chilies (roasted)
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds (roasted)
2 tbsp sugar
salt for taste

Seasoning:(optional)
1 tsp Mustard seeds
Hing powder

Method:
Grind all the ingredients together except the seasoning. Add a few tbsps of water to grind to a smooth chutney consistency. Do a taste check, if the raw mango is not tart enough for the chutney you could add some tamarind at this point and grind again.
Next comes the seasoning which is optional but it give a good aroma to the chutney. Heat a tsp of oil, add mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds start to splutter turn off the heat and add a dash of hing powder.

Serve chutney with dosas, idlis or as an accompaniment to a rice dish.

Veg Puff pastry

I have previously posted Egg puff recipe. A slight modification to it is its veg counterpart. It involves the same pepperidge farm's puff pastry sheets which need to be thawed for about 40mins at room temperature before using.

Ingredients:
4 Boiled and cubed potatoes
1/2 onion finely chopped
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp coriander powder
1 green chili finely chopped
1 tsp turmeric (optional)
1/2 inch ginger finely chopped

Salt and more chili powder as per taste

Method:
Heat oil in a saucepan and saute the onions, followed by rest of the spices. Add potatoes,salt and stir well. Turn of the heat and let it rest for a bit.

Take the pastry sheets thawed at room temperature for 40 mins, cut 1 sheet into 6 equal squares. Put the potato stuffing in the center of each square and fold them to cover all the stuffing. Bake in oven at 375 for about 40 mins or until they turn golden brown.

You could add more vegetables like mushrooms, beans, peas and corn to the vegetable stuffing. I didn't have anything extra with me so I kept it simple.