Oats and Wheat Herb Crackers

I prepared this Savory Herb Crackers with low fat, loaded with the goodness of oats flour, Wheat &Herbs. These Baked crackers tastes marvelous and crispy, perfectly seasoned with a unique blend of dried herbs for a new flavor. Each serving of these tasty little Savory Herb Crackers is a good source of fiber and a delicious way to help satisfy your afternoon cravings! We enjoyed these crunchy, savory crackers with Hot, frothy, filter coffee on a rainy day evening!

Ingredients:

Wheat flour-1 and ½ Cups

Quick cooking rolled oats-1cup

Corn flour/ rice flour-1 1/2 tsp

Baking soda-1/2 teaspoon

Salt-3/4 teaspoon

Pepper - ½ tsp

Turmeric (for color)-1/2 tsp

Mixed herbs

Dried thyme-    1/2 teaspoon

Dried oregano-1/2 teaspoon

Dried basil-    1 teaspoon

kasoori methi-1 tbsp

Sesame seeds-1tbsp

Cumin seeds-1tsp

Water as per needed

 

Method:

1. Grind the oats in your blender or food processor. Do not over-process. oats should be coarsely ground.

2.Mix all the ingredients together and add enough water to make a firm dough.

3.Knead the dough gently until smooth.Roll out, using a little whole wheat flour to 2 mm. thickness. Cut them into squares or rectangles using a knife.

4.Transfer the crackers to a foil lined baking sheet

5.Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly golden brown. They will not crisp up in the oven, but once you remove them and allow them to cool on a rack they will be nice and crisp. . Cool and store in an air-tight container

Raw Banana Kootu/Vazhakkai Puli Kootu

This Vazhakkai Kootu is something different from Vazhakkai curry & Podimas. This tangy type of kootu which is made of lentils, plantain and spices. This Raw Banana kootu boil in lentils, tamarind water with jaggerry , sambar powder, add scraped coconut friend in coconut oil . It gives a great taste. You can serve it with Plain rice or accompanied by Mor Kuzhambu /rasam with papad.

Ingredients:

Green plantains, peeled and chopped-2

Tuvar dal cooked and mashed well-1 cup

Tamarind –small gooseberry size dissolved in water

Chana dal (bengal gram)- 3 tbsp

Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp

Sambhar Powder- 1 tsp

Rice flour- 1 tsp

Salt-as per taste

To temper:

 Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp

 Urad dal – 1/2 tsp

 Channa dal – 1/2 tsp

Grated Coconut – 1 tbsp

 Hing – 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves – Few

Coconut oil – 1 tsp 

METHOD:

1.Pressure Cook the dhal and keep it aside.

2.Cut the raw banana into small cubes and allow it to cook with tamarind extract and 3 tbsp of channa dal, sambhar powder, turmeric Powder salt & required water.

3.When the mixture starts to boil add the smashed tuvardhal& small amount of jaggery.

4.Mix the rice flour in little water and add to the kootu to make it a thick consistency and let it boil for sometime

 5.In a separate pan add the oil and Temper the mustard seeds, urad & channa dal , hing and grated coconut. 

6.Roast the coconut well and add all the tempered items to the kootu.

 7.Finally add a tsp of coconut oil for additional flavor. Now the delicious puliita kootu is ready to serve.

  8.Mix with plain rice topped with ghee or serve as an accompaniment.

Broken Wheat Rava/LapsiPuli Pongal

Lapsi which is high in fibre,vitamin and complex carbohydrates and is also a great dish for diabetic people. For a change I tried these Puli pongal in lapsi. The dish is very simple and easy to make and requires ingredients that are easily available within the home only. This tangy version of pongal is prepared either for breakfast, lunch or dinner. . It is bit unusual from the regular pongal. It comes out very well and everyone likes different tangy &spicy taste.

Ingredients

 Broken Wheat Rava/Lapsi-300gms

 Gingelly /Seasameoil    - 3tbs

Tamrind  -lemon sized 

 Redchillies -2  

Peanuts-2tbsp

Turmeric powder- ½ tsp

Salt- as per taste

Seasoning

 Mustard seed- 1 tsp

Urud dal- 1tsp

Channa dal- 1 tsp

Asafetida- ½ tsp

Curry leaves- few

Method:   

1.Soak tamarind in two cups of water and keep aside.

2.In a pressure pan, add gingelly oil when it is hot add mustard seeds when it crackles add urud dal, channa dal,peanuts,curry leaves and asafetida.

3.When the dal and peanuts are brown add the tamarind water and allow it boil adding salt and turmeric powder. (tamarind water should be 3 portions more to the Broken Wheat Rava.)

4. When it is boiling slowly add the Broken Wheat Rava Add salt keep stirring without any lumps. 

5.Cover it and cook for 10 min.Add curry leaves and serve.

Egg less Moccachino cake

A rich, dense & moist Moccachino cake infused with rich espresso coffee flavor, with chocolate icing. I made this cake  as teatime snack for My family friends.

 

Ingredients:

    All Purpose flour - 1 cup

    Baking powder - 1 tsp

    Butter – 75gm

    Vanilla essence - 1tsp

    Condensed milk – 2oo ml

    Milk - 1.5 cups

    Coco powder - 1 tbsp

   Instant espresso powder - 2 tbsp

   Ground cinnamon- 1tsp

Method:

1. Sieve Maida, baking powder, cinnoman cocoa and coffee powder twice for even mixing and keep aside.

2. In a mixing bowl, add milk, vanilla essence, butter, sugar, condensed milk and mix well until sugar completely dissolves. Now add the sieved Maida mixture little by little and mix well until a creamy batter without lumps is formed.

3. Preheat oven at 180 deg C. Grease the baking tin with butter and maida, tap the excess flour, pour the batter in the tin such that the batter is more than 1/2 or close to 3/4th of the tin and bake it for 15 to 20 mins.

4. Insert a fork in the middle of the cake to check if the cake is done. If it comes out clean then your cake is ready.

5. Allow it to cool for 10mins then invert the tin, the cake will demould itself perfectly.

Chocolate Frosting

Cocoa powder - 4 tbsp

Softened butter - 4 tbsp

Coffee - 1 tbsp or instant espresso powder- 1 tbsp

Icing sugar - 1 cup-sifted

Vanilla-1tsp

Milk -1 cup

How to Make Chocolate Frosting

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the sugar, and bring to a boil.

2. Turn the heat to low, add cocoa and continue boiling for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

3. Add milk very slowly, being careful not to splatter. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from burner and cool to lukewarm.

4. Using a stand mixer at medium speed, slowly add confectioners' sugar 1 cup at a time, beating after each addition. Beat until frosting reaches desired spreading and/or piping consistency. Add more milk a little at a time if the frosting is too thick. Add more confectioners' sugar if the frosting is too thin.

Assemble the Cake:

Cut the cake into two and soak with sugar syrup.

Spread a bit of chocolate frosting on a flat, round, decorative serving plate. Place one round cake layer on top of the frosting and press lightly.

Spread a thick coat of frosting over this layer and place the second layer on top, pressing down lightly to seal.

Spoon approximately 1 cup of frosting in a pastry bag fitted with a medium size star tip and set aside.

Frost the sides and top of cake using an off-set spatula, making sure to seal all edges evenly.

Decorate with crushed Walnuts/Cashew/Badam or Pipe rosettes over top of cake. (Or pipe alternating dollops of coffee and plain cream using zip bags. Refrigerate until serving.

Tips:

•Add instant coffee to the frosting, and decorate for an all mocha flavor.

•Omit the coffee and add white and/or dark chocolate chips to the batter.

•The coffee and coco flavor compliments each other so well.

•Try adding a 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon for flavour.

•It is a teatime snack cake so it is mildy sweet. You can increase the sugar  if you want the cake to taste like the regular cakes.

Kosumalli/Kosambari

Kosumalli/Kosambari: Kosumalli or Kosambari is a quick healthy salad that is made with split green gram. It is very easy to make .This salad  with low fat, low cholesterol, high protein and high fiber  packed with all the good nesses of carrot and moong ! Kosumalli is prepared as a spicy salad with moong dal (split green gram) and red chillies and seasoned with mustard seeds and curry leaves. We can even add grated carrots, beetroot , cucumber and cabbage to make it even more healthier!

Ingredients:

Moong Daal-1 cup

Cucumber- 1 grated

Carrot- 1 grated

Raw Mango- ½ cup

Coconut-1 tbsp Grated

Mustard seeds-1 tsp

Green Chillies-2

Lemon-1

Chopped coriander leaves - 1 tbsp

Oil – 1tsp for seasoning

Curry leaves- few

Method:

1. Soak Moong dhal in water for 1 hour. Drain the water and Squeeze out and take in a bowl.

2. Grate cucumber, carrot, mango Mix all with salt, coriander leaves and curry leaves and add to the dal.

3. Fry green chillies in oil along with mustard seeds and mix with salad. Then add lemon juice mix nicely.

4. Before serving add fresh coconut .