Choco Banana Lolly

                    

                                                           

Doesn't that look like a treat your toddler will enjoy? 
Fruits in their original form are very rarely relished by kids. Disguising a fruit as a lolly is a brilliant idea! I came across this recipe in a local magazine and I just had to try it out!!!

 It was easy, no cook, and ready in no time. Its healthy and they get their portion of fruits for the day, along with chocolate.

 I knew Zia would enjoy her banana disguised as a lolly, coated with chocolate and a generous helping of sprinkles. Try it. I'm sure your kids will enjoy this healthy treat.

To make these lollies you will need

Preparation time 8-10 minutes
Makes 2 choco banana lollies
Ingredients
1 banana
30g cooking chocolate(milk or dark. which ever your kid prefers)
2 lolly sticks
sprinkles
Method

• Place the cooking chocolate in a heatproof bowl and double boil it over a pan of hot water to melt it.
• While the chocolate is melting, cut the banana into two and insert a lolly stick in each half.

• Stir the chocolate until its smooth. Let it remain over the pan of hot water so the chocolate stays melted.
• Spoon the chocolate over each half of the banana.

• Sprinkle the lovely coloured sprinkles on the chocolate covered banana lolly and set aside for 5 minutes before your toddler can enjoy this yummy treat.

Notes

1. The original recipe used dessicated coconut instead of sprinkles. I used sprinkles because Zia would prefer them over the dessicated coconut. 
2. If you like you can serve the lolly immediately after coating it with chocolate and sprinkles. It takes 5 minutes for the chocolate to set. Serving it immediately will let your toddler enjoy the chocolate when its soft and a bit gooey. This can be a little more messy but they do enjoy this more.
3. This healthy snack can be enjoyed by grown ups too ;)
4. Its a good, easy way to finish up bananas and its enjoyed by all

Shabnam

Update

• You can spoon some lightly melted nutella on the banana instead of cooking chocolate and make it nutellicious!!! :)

Potato Wedges (oven baked)

These lightly flavoured potato wedges take no effort to make, are BAKED and go perfectly with a sandwich, which makes a great meal when I want a day off from cooking. 

They also make a lovely evening snack with tea or coffee when you are catching up with a friend :) 

Before I got this lovely recipe, I always had a packet of frozen wedges stocked in the freezer. Home made wedges are definitely more healthy cos they are made fresh, have no hydrogenated vegetable fat, can be made to suit your taste and are easy to make.

I got this lovely recipe from Ruchika who is an excellent cook and makes some yummy treats, just like these wedges.

I have used Rooster potatoes here as they are perfect for baking. If they are locally available to you, they are a good choice for baked wedges.

Here's what you will need to make potato wedges

Preparation time - 10 minutes

Cooking times 50 minutes to an hour

Serves 2 people

Ingredients

4 medium sized potatoes

2 tbsps olive oil

1 tsp chilli flakes        

1 tsp oregano

2 cloves of garlic - crushed

salt to taste

Method

• Pre heat oven to 200 degrees C.
• Wash and thickly slice the potatoes. Transfer them to a mixing bowl.

• Add the olive oil, chilli flakes, oregano, crushed garlic and salt to this. Mix well so all the slices are coated with the spices.

• Transfer to a baking tray and pop it into the pre heated oven.

• Let them bake for 50 minutes or until a lovely golden brown. 

Enjoy hot with ketchup or mayo

Notes

1. You can add coarsely ground black pepper instead of chilli flakes depending on your taste.
2. Check on the wedges after half an hour and turn over a few if need be.

Shabnam

Lamb Stew

Stew, Ishtu....whatever you want to call it.....tastes amazing with dosas and aapams and so reminds me of home
Stew is usually a mixture of solid foods cooked in liquid and this mixture is then served as the gravy. The solid foods usually include vegetables like carrots, beans, peas, potatoes and any meat of your choice. Plain veg stew is great too.
The liquid I used to cook the stew in is stock(of lamb) but a lot of people use wine, beer, and the likes...

Stew is usually cooked on low flame in the liquid ingredient which enables the flavour to mingle with all the vegetables.
Most stews are thin, they are thickened using either corn starch, arrow root etc,....
The thickening agent I have used here is coconut milk which adds a lovely rich flavour to the stew.

This is a dish I've learned from my mum. Every time I make it, I get nostalgic and think about my days back home, when I was in school/college and this stew was a treat for me. Now of course, I have to make it myself but its still a treat for me ;) and my family.
Like most of my dishes, this one is also very easy to prepare but it does take a while to cook since it is prepared on low flame.
To make stew you will need

Pineapple Mousse Cake

I wanted to make something different and light for my husband's b'day this year and after much thought I decided on pineapple mousse cake.

This cake is made with low fat frozen yogurt(natural flavour) so it's not as heavy as it looks.

Over 2 years ago, Fathima had given me a lovely recipe she had found in a local magazine for strawberry mousse cake. I never tried it but hoped to some day. 

I finally decided to try it for my husband's b'day but I dint have the main ingredients at home so I altered the ingredients with what I had at home and made this lovely Pineapple Mousse cake instead.

There is very little preparation time and cooking time that goes into making the cake. However, you will have to refrigerate it for a minimum of 4 hours so it sets well.

Chicken and Cheese Balls

Today's post is something I had made in Ramadan to open our fast with. It's heavy and different from the normal kebabs/cutlets I make. My sister in-law, Lubna had made them back home and they went down very well with everyone, from kids to adults in the house. 
Knowing how much I love to try new recipes, my mom told me about them and Lubna forwarded me the recipe.

These chicken and cheese balls have a surprise ingredient that adds a differently nice flavour to them. As all surprise ingredients, this one is also not detectable unless pointed out.

Spicy Chicken Wings

This is the first time I have made spicy chicken wings myself. I never much cared for them until I had the very best chicken wings at Fathima's place when she had us over for dinner once. They were so good that they were all gone within minutes.

I got to catch a glimpse of how she made them and so I tried my hand at them. Believe me, you will want to make them over and over again once you have them.
I don't like eating chicken with skin on it and so I got the chicken wings de-skinned. Chicken wings are usually made with the skin on, so if your okay with eating the skin, you don't need to get them de-skinned.
A bit of pre planning is required for this dish as you will need to marinate the chicken wings over night or for atleast 4 hours before making them.
Here's what you will need to make these yummy bites
Preparation time - 15 minutes
Cooking time - 30 minutes
Serves - 6 people
Ingredients
For marinade
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp pepper powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
salt to taste
For chicken wings
1 kg chicken wings (de-skinned)
cornflour(enough to pat and coat the chicken wings in)
1 tbsp soya sauce
2 tbsps tomato ketchup
2 tbsps Tabasco sauce 
2 tbsps chilli sauce
1 tbsp sweet and sour tomato sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
oil to fry the chicken
Method

• Mix the chicken wings with all the marinade ingredients and keep aside either over night or for 4 hours atleast.
• Take cornflour in a rounded plate and pat each wing in cornflour until coated well.

Heat the oil while you are coating all the chicken wings so its  hot enough to fry the chicken.

• Fry the cornflour coated chicken wings in hot oil on medium flame to ensure they are cooked well. Fry until a lovely golden brown

• In a non stick wok/pan add all the sauces with 2-3 drops of oil and mix well. Place on flame and let it heat a little. Then add sugar and mix. Finally, add all the fried chicken to this and toss until the wings are well coated with the sauce.

Serve hot. Enjoy!

Notes

1. I have used red chilli sauce here but the green chilli sauce would work great as well. If you want it very spicy then leave out the sweet and sour sauce and add an extra tbsp of chilli sauce instead.

Shabnam

Mushroom Pakodas

Mushroom what?!!! is the reaction I get when I tell someone about this dish 
Mushrooms in any form is welcome for me. As Soup, as a topping on my pizza, in my rice....
I remember when shakeys was 'the hangout place' in Chennai, my friend Anu and me would find ourselves comfortably perched there, eating their lovely breaded mushroom starters. That was the start of my love story with mushrooms :) 

Ever since, I've tried various dishes with mushrooms and loved them all, cos of course they had mushrooms in them. I've tried mushroom pakodas just twice and they turned out great.
This post is for Anu, who, when I started the blog very sweetly asked me to put up the recipe to the shakey's mushrooms, if I knew it. I don't know how to make those but here's an Indian version of the mushroom starters we loved.
To make these you will need
Preparation time - 10 minutes
Cooking time - 15 minutes
Serves 6 people
Ingredients
9 tbsps gram flour (besan ka aata)
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
1 handful coriander leaves - chopped
2-3 green chillies chopped
1 packet mushrooms - cleaned and chopped
chat masala to sprinkle on top (optional)
Method

• Add half a cup water to the gram flour, red chilli powder, salt and turmeric powder and make it a smooth paste.This is your standard pakoda batter made. This batter can be used to make any pakoda of your choice(onion, potato, bread).  Mix well so there are no lumps in the batter. You can add more water if you feel the batter is too thick. The batter has to be of running consistency. 

• Add chopped coriander and green chillies to this batter. I have done this to give the batter some extra flavour. Mix well.

• Add the chopped mushrooms to this and mix so that they are coated with the batter.

• Heat oil in a pan and slowly drop the batter coated mushrooms in the hot oil and fry on medium flame until golden brown. Remove and sprinkle with chat masala. Serve hot with any sauce/chutney of your choice.

Enjoy with a cup of hot tea :) tastes even better on a rainy day ;)

Notes

1.  You can use anything you like instead of mushrooms to make this dish, spinach leaves, onions, potatoes, peppers. Be creative.

Shabnam

Fruit Dessert

Dessert.... the best part of any meal! I'm sure we all agree to that :) Now, when we say dessert, we usually think of something RICH and wholesome and yumm yumm!!
 If someone placed a bowl of fruit salad in front of me as dessert, I'd be a wee bit disappointed. That's what happened to me when this dessert was placed in front of me for the first time at my friend's place.  
Of course that was until I took a bite of it and realized it wasn't fruit salad. It was FRUIT DESSERT, a dessert in its true sense. RICH, WHOLESOME and YUMM YUMM!

My friend, who is from Sudan told me its a very common dessert in most Arab homes.
The best part....its made with fruits only!!! No extra nothings added to it. A dessert this healthy and this easy to make was very new to me. I really wanted a second helping but I politely asked her how she made it instead. A no cook, no bake dessert. This I had to try.
Here's what you need to make it
Preparation time - 15 minutes
Serves - 8-9 people
Best served chilled
Ingredients
4 cups of chopped fruits of your choice
(I used kiwis, apples, frozen raspberries and grapes)
1 big tin mango pulp (sweetened)
Method

• Throw in all the chopped fruits into a mixing bowl and add the mango pulp to it. Stir gently.

• Cling wrap and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or for 1 hour in the freezer.

• Remove and stir. Serve in small dessert bowls.

Enjoy!

 Notes

1. Instead of using mango pulp, they use mango juice sometimes(the tetra pack ones. Mazaa should work fine). This is not as rich as when made with the pulp. If you want a light flavoured fruit salad for yourself, you can try it with mango juice.
2. All fruits go great with this. Papayas, melons, bananas,apples....You will have your kids eating the fruits they wouldn't eat normally without them knowing it. Try it ;)

Shabnam

       

Pav Bhaji

Pav Bhaji....the yummiest way to eat your veggies!!! :) This is traditionally a Maharashtrian fast food that literally means bread(pav) and vegetable curry(bhaji). The curry is a thick potato based gravy garnished with lots of onion, coriander and lime and served with a traditional soft bun. I am using normal bread here because I needed to finish it up. 
Pav bhaji is very famous in Mumbai, where you get different types like Mushroom pav bhaji, Cheese pav bhaji, Paneer pav bhaji.....
I have just made the regular pav bhaji with an addition of spinach since it was lying in my fridge. Trying to make it a little more healthy than it already is ;) 
Most people I know use the readymade pav bhaji masala to prepare this dish. I have however, used a my own mix of spices to make it.
Here's what you need to make this yummy dish 
Preparation time - 15 minutes
Cooking time - 20 minutes
Serves - 4 people
Ingredients

2 tbsps oil
2 potatoes-peeled and chopped
2 carrots-peeled and chopped
4 florets cauliflower
1/2 cup peas
1 handful spinach leaves - chopped
1 onion-chopped
2 tomatoes-peeled and chopped
2 green chillies-chopped
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp pepper powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
a pinch turmeric
garam masala a pinch
1 tbsp lime
salt to taste
8-12 slices of bread
butter/olive oil to apply on bread slices
Method

• Add all the chopped vegetables(potatoes, carrots, cauliflower and spinach) in a pressure cooker with 1 1/2-2 cups of water and salt to taste and pressure cook it until done. Around 5 whistles (10 minutes)
• While the vegetables are cooking, heat oil in a pan and add onions, garlic paste, green chillies and salt and sauté until the onions are a nice light brown. Add the peas to this and continue to sauté. Then add tomatoes and mix well and let it cook for 5 minutes. 

• The vegetables should be done by this time. Open the pressure cooker and drain off any excess water into a bowl. Do not throw this water as you can use it to cook the gravy.
• Now add all the vegetables to the sauted onion, tomatoes and peas in the pan. Using a vegetable masher, mash all the vegetables and mix well.

• Add all the spices and lime juice to this along with the water drained from the cooker, simmer and let it cook for 5 minutes. Your gravy is ready now.

• Apply butter/olive oil on the bread slices and heat them on a flat pan. 

Serve hot with the gravy garnished well with onions and coriander and a wedge of lemon.

Notes

1. If you dont like your pav bhaji spicy then reduce the red chilli powder and pepper powder to 1/2 tsp.
2. If you would like mushroom/paneer pav bhaji then saute them along with the onions and peas before adding the boiled vegetables.
3. For cheese pav bhaji, garnish with lots of grated cheese instead of onions.

Shabnam