Cranberry Orange Chocolate Cheese Cake

 Today being Christmas, I wanted to make something with Cranberries in them. I like those little red jewels, how they make everything look a bit more "Christmasi " 

The original recipe called for white chocolate chips and all I had were Orange coloured whiye chocolate chips. Hence my cheese cake turned out to be orange in color.

But this is one of the best cheese cakes I made yet!!!

Here is original cheese cake recipe

Cranberry Orange Chocolate Cheese Cake

Ingredients for crust:

1. 12 oreo cookies scrapped out of the cream (reserve this) and pound into powder
2. 1/4  cup melted butter

Ingredients for cheese cake:

1. 16 oz 1 pack  or 2 packs of 8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
2. 2 large eggs
3. 1/3-1/2 cup white chocolate chips of your choice of color
4. 1/3-1/2 cups dried cranberries (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the ingredients of the crust and prepare a 9 inch round pan. Add the crust mix and press it onto the bottom and by the sides

For the filling, beat the cream cheese with the melted chocolate chips. If some of them do not melt completely , do not worry...they turn out to be extra fun in the cheese cake . Add the eggs one at a time and  mix again until everything is incorporated. Add cranberries if using. Add the filling to the pie pan and bake for 45-50  minutes. Let it cool and freeze for 1-2 hours before serving. Enjoy

Buffalo chicken rollups from scratch

 These buffalo chicken roll ups are so easy to make and so delicious to make, I think I found my new favorite.

You can use the pillsbury crescent rolls or pizza dough if you do not want to make the dough from scratch . But because I did not want to use the pillsbury crescent rolls and they are a bit sweet for me for this recipe, I made my own dough, which is also super simple to make

Buffalo chicken rollups from scratch

Buffalo Chicken Rollups

Ingredients for Buffalo Chicken Filling

1. 1 12.05oz canned chicken breast drained completely
2. 3-4 tablespoons Frank's hot buffalo sauce
3. 1 tablespoon each of ranch dressing mix, sour cream or mayo
4. 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese

Recipe for the Dough

Mix all the ingredients for the chicken filling .

Divide the dough into 2 equal parts and roll it into 8X6 inches rectangle about 1/3 inch thick. Lay the filling on the sheet about 1 inch away from all side. Roll it jelly roll like.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Cut the log into 1 inch bites and lay them 1 inch apart in a prepared sheet to bake. Bake them 30 minutes .

If you want you can melt 2 tablespoons of butter with a tablespoon of Italian seasoning and a pinch a salt and apply to the sides of the roll ups. Enjoy!!!

Here is another recipe Chicken Stromboli

Rolled Oat Crackers

This is an awesome snack and quite easy to make also. Since the snacks you get from outside last only so long when everyone is staying home all day long and all week long and every month long :(

Rolled Oat Crackers (Savory Baked Crackers with rolled oats )

Crackers with rolled oats

Ingredients

1. 3/4 cup Rolled oats
2. 1 cup all purpose flour + more for kneading
3. 1/8 cup finely chopped onion
4. 1 green chilli finely chopped
5. 1 tablespoon each of finely chopped Coriander leaves , mint leaves
6. Plain yogurt 1/3 cup
7. 2 tbsp Butter softened
8. 1 teaspoon each of Salt, cumin seeds, carom (ajwain) seeds
9. 1 tablespoon Sugar 
10. 1/4 teaspoon Baking soda
11. Water as needed

Mix all the ingredients except water and add water 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together. Knead the dough for 2 minutes. Roll the dough into 1/2 cm thick disk on a floured surface and cut it into 1-1/2 inch squares or the shape of your liking. 

Pre heat oven to 300 degrees F and place the crackers on a prepared sheet.

Spray the top of the crackers with vegetable oil and bake for 30 minutes. Let them cool completely and enjoy

Sesame Celery

Celery sticks are one amazing vegetable. They are salty and delicious with a side of ranch. But this amazing trick makes them super delicious and I served it as a vegetable dish for one of the game days

Sesame Celery

Sesame coated Celery

Ingredients

1. 3 sticks of Celery washed and cut into 6 inch long stick. Cut lengthwise to 2 or 3 sticks each
2. 2 tablespoons soy sauce
3. 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
4. Black pepper Ranch for serving

Put the celery sticks in a bowl and toss with soy sauce Then toss in sesame seeds and toss to coat. Serve with a side of ranch
 

Chicken 65

This Chicken 65 recipe is super simple to make and super delicious and it will fly off the table like a bird with wings

Chicken 65 Dry (Shallow fried chicken)

Chicken 65

Ingredients:

2 boneless skinless chicken breast cut into small cubes

2 tablespoons corn starch

2-3 tablespoons rice flour

2-3 tablespoons oil

1 tablespoon each of vinegar, soya sauce

Handful of curry leaves

2 big or 3 medium garlic pods chopped

2 thai green chillies or serrano peppers chopped

Red onions chopped (optional)

Ingredients for Marinade:

1 heaped teaspoon ginger garlic paste

2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

½ teaspoon each of turmeric, lemon pepper or regular pepper, red chilli powder

¾ teaspoon salt

Marinade the chicken with the ingredients in marinade and set aside for for atleast 45 minutes. Add the rice flour and corn flour and stir to coat well .

In a non stick pan heat the oil and add the chicken in one layer and on medium low flame fry the chicken  for 10 minutes. If using onions add onions around 7-8 minutes. Add the garlic, chillies and curry leaves and stir well and fry for 1 more minute. Add vinegar and soya sauce and  stir well. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy immediately

Khasta Kachori

Long ago when I was a new bride with limited cooking experience, Manjula's Kitchen saved many of my evenings where I was missing the street food from back home. She taught me many recipes and the proper way of making them.

The Kachori I made today, I never thought they will puff up like they did the first time I made them. I was soooo happy. And even yesterday they puffed up so nicely and delicious. My kids liked them too, so....I will be maaing kachoris more often

Khasta Kachori (Deep fried puffs with spicy lentil stuffing)

Khasta Kachori

Kachori with moong filling

Ingredients for dough:

1. 11/2 cup all purpose flour
2. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, carom seeds
3. 2 tablespoons oil
4. chilled water as needed

Ingredients for Filling:

1. 1/2 cup yellow moong dal
2. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, chilli flakes, fennel seeds
3. 1 teaspoon each of grated ginger or ginger powder, coriander seeds
4. 2 teaspoons oil
5. Warm water 2 tablespoons

Mix the all purpose flour with all the ingredients except water. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time and mix till the dough comes together. Cover and set aside for 20 minutes.

Grind the fennel seeds and coriander seeds just a tad, until they break a little. Take them out and set aside. Grind the monng dal to almost powder. Heat oil in a pan and fry the moon dal powder, coriander and fennel seeds and ginger till the dal becomes golden brown and you start getting nice aroma. Mix all the other ingredients and set it aside to cool.

After it cooled, add 2 tablespoons warm water and mix.

Knead the dough for 1 minute and divide it into 12 parts. With your palm and fingers make it into 3 inch disks with the middle being  a little more thicker than the edges. Add a teaspoon of filling and close the edges into a dumpling and set aside for a few minutes.

Heat the oil for deep frying. With you path flatten the filled balls into 3 inch disks again making sure there are no holes. Add a tiny piece of dough and it should come to the surface slowly. Add a few kachoris and fry for 5-6 minutes until they become golden brown. Drain, let cool for a bit and serve as is with sweet yogurt, tamarind and date chutney and mint chutney

Sweet Yougurt toping

Mix about 1/2 cup plain yogurt with 11/2 tablespoons of sugar and beat well. Serve on top of sev puri or Kachori

Southwestern roll

So, this was before Christmas and I went to attend one of neighbor's kids' birthdays and it was a huse family gathering. My neighbor's sis-in-law was there and she made these amazing egg rolls that I devoured. They were just super delicious to pass on.

Ofcourse the recipe is from food networks website and if you have read any of my posts you would know that I never made any recipe exactly. I HAVE TO CHANGE IT

With my Christmas potluck party just days away, I decided that these will be my contribution. And boy oh boy, they flew off the plate like they have wings. You need some effort to make them but the results are a whole lot of compliments

South Western Eggrolls (Eggrolls with black bean filling)

South Western Eggrolls

                                             

Ingredients

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese
• 2 cups frozen corn, thawed
• One 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 of canned chopped spinach, squeezed of all the water
• 2 tablespoons pickled jalapenos
• 4 scallions, chopped
• 1 teaspoon each of ground cumin, coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
•  2 tablespoons plain cream cheese softened
•  2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• One 16-ounce package egg roll wrappers
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• Dipping Sauce:
• 
  1  clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoons pickled jalapenos, 
• 1 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves and stems, finely chopped
•      1 small ripe avocado or 1/2 if big avocado, 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon chopped mint
  
  
  
  
  

  Directions

  For the egg rolls: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Spray a rimmed baking sheet generously with cooking spray.
  In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and Stir together, making sure to break up the clumps of spinach.
  Have a small bowl of water ready for moistening your fingers.
  Lay one egg roll wrapper out on a work surface and moisten the edges with your finger. Scoop 1/4 cup of the filling into the center of the wrapper; mound into a 1-inch wide log arranged diagonally across the wrapper, with about an inch of space to the corners. Fold the corners over the filling, gently pressing down on either side to secure the fold. Then, starting at one of the unfolded corners, gently but firmly roll up the egg roll. Place on the prepared baking sheet and repeat until all of the filling has been used.
  Brush the tops and sides of the egg rolls generously with beaten egg. Bake until golden brown all over, 15 to 20 minutes.
  For the dipping sauce:  In a food processor grind all the ingredients into a smooth paste. The consistency should be thick enough to stick to the back of the spoon. It is a dipping sauce afterall.
  
  

  
  
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Tandoori paneer

Long time ago when we were in India we got a portable tandoor for Rs 2000 which was a big amount at that time. So a person from that company came to my house and showed me how to make some dishes using that tandoor. One of the items he made was tandoori paneer. It was yummy and super spicy

So finally after so many years I got back to that recipe and boy oh boy all the people in my household just devoured it. Since I did not have any red food color I added a little bit more turmeric and turned it really yellow and I served it with pink rice. It was nice to look at the plate too

Tandoori chicken (. Marinated grilled indian cottage cheese)

Tandoori paneer

Ingredients
1. 1 package paneer about 400gms cut into 1 inch cubes
2. 1/2 large yellow or red bell pepper
3. 1/2 cup red onion chopped big
For marinade
1. 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
2. 1 heaped tablespoon plain yogurt
3. 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
4. 3/4 teaspoon each of salt, chilli powder, coriander powder and cumin powder

Mix all the marinade ingredients together and marinade the paneer pieces for 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking dish with Pam and lay the paneer pices in a single layer. Mix the onion and bell pepper in the remaining marinade in the dish and lay them in the baking dish. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Turn the paneer pieces and serve warm with  Pink rice

Here is another version of the Tandoori paneer

Hasselback potato chips

See, the jewelry at the top of the page, I made those but the app was supposed to be 2x2 inches box. And it is occupying a whole lot of page and spoiling the whole purpose of this blog. Google needs to fix it and I am so sorry because those jewelry pieces are soooo in your face :(

Anyway, this hassel back potatoes are so nice to look it but it is quite a bit of work and you have to serve it as immediately as possible after you bake it. Otherwise they become hard

The photo does not do any justice

Hasselback potato chips

Hassel back Potato Chips

Ingredients:

1. 3 or 4 russet potatoes scrubbed well
2. Handful of garlic peeled and sliced length wise into thin slices
3. 1 teaspoon of salt
4. Oil as needed
5. Pepper or any other seasoning you like

Slice the potatoes into 1/8 inch thick slices being careful to leave the bottom intact. Insert a slice of garlic between two slices of the potato. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Drizzle oil and sprinkle with salt pepper and any other spices you like. Bake for 50-70 minutes. Serve immediately with Ketchup or anyother dipping sauce like tzatziki

New year eve appetizers

Such an eventful year and it is at an end. I rise the bubbly to an year where many many things which took years in the making finally happened. Today is a day to celebrate and say good bye to a happy year and pray and hope the coming year would be equally, if not more successful. Happy new year to you

Egg stuffed chicken kabobs

Ingredients

1. 2 lbs ground chicken ( if you can use lamb, it is the best)

2. 8 eggs hard boiled, peeled and cut into quarters length wise

3.  1 teaspoon salt

4. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin powder, coriander powder, chili flakes 

5. 1 teaspoon grated garlic

6. 1/4 cup very finely chopped onions

7. Oil for shallow frying

Mix all the ingredients and set aside until ready to use

Apply oil to both your palms. Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan. Take a small egg sized meat mixture and flatten it. Put an egg quarter on it and roll the meat so that you cannot see any egg. Fry on medium low heat for about 10 minutes. Turn the kabobs every 4-5 minutes until you do not see any raw meat. Serve with tatziki or ketchup