Baked sweet potato cakes

 Ti's the season for all things sweet potato. But for me...I don't need any season/reason to eat sweet potatoes. They are one of my favorite spuds/studs .

My local super market had a whole lot of yams right in front of the door and I picked up some and walked to where I know my favorite spuds are usually available. And there I see the sweet potatoes. So I put down the yams and get some sweet potatoes. I thought they were pretty much the same. Turns out I was very very wrong. They both are very different

Anyway, I made these baked sweet potato cakes and they flew off the counter super fast.

Baked sweet potato cakes 

Baked Sweet Potato cakes

Ingredients:

1. 2 medium sweet potatoes peeled and cut into 1 cm round (or any way which is easy for you to cut into pieces)
2. 1 egg
3. 1/4 cup sugar
4. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, cinnamon, nut meg, baking powder
5. 2/3 cup all purpose flour
6. 1 tablespoon butter

Boil the sweet potato pieces until fork tender. Drain and mash them. Mix all the ingredients into a smooth past.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Lay parchment paper on a baking dish. 

Make patties out of the dough about 2-2.5 inches diameter and 1/2 inch thick.

My sweet potato mix was a bit on the running side where I couldn't really made a patty. So I put a dollop of the mix on the parchment and spread it into a circle as much as possible.

Bake for 23-25 minutes. Cool 5 minutes before eating as is, or for more yumminess...top it with whipped cream and enjoy!

Chicken Samosa

 Chicken Samosa (Meat Empanada)

Chicken samosa

Ingredients:

1. 1 lb ground chicken or meat
2. 1/2 tablespoon oil
3. 1/2 teaspoon each of mustard seeds, cumin, turmeric 
4. 1 teaspoon salt, chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder
5. 1 heaped teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
6. 1 big or 2 medium peeled and grated

For dough

1. 2 3/4 cup wheat flour
2. 3/4 cup sooji (Semolina)
3. 2 tablespoons oil or melted butter
4. 1 teaspoon each sesame seeds, Ajwain

Mix all the ingredients except the potatoes.

In a pan heat the oil and add the mustard seeds and cover and cook until they splatter. Add cumin and fry for 30 seconds. Add the spice mixed meat and potatoes and cover and cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

Mix all the ingredients for the dough without any water and mix well so that oil/ghee gets incorporated well. Add water little by and make dough. Knead well for 2-3 minutes. Leave it covered to rest for 15-20 minutes.

Divide the dough into 16 parts. Divide the meat into 16 parts. Add some flour and roll one part of dough into a thin round 3-4 inches circle. Add the meat and close it into a half circle.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake for 15 minutes. Flip them and bake for 15 minutes. Enjoy with ketchup.

Rajgiri Dosa

 Amaranth known as Thotakura in Telugu. I got this Amaranth flour and I haven't made anything with it recently, but two days ago I found a recipe I wanted to try.

I was super delicious and my family loved it. So today it was for dinner. Here is the recipe

Rajgiri Dosa (Amaranth crepes with vegetables)

Rajgiri Dosa with vegetables

Ingredients:

1. 1/4 cup finely shredded cabbage
2. 2 tablespoons finely chopped onions
3. 1 small potato grated fine (optional) 
4. 2 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
5. 1 teaspoon finely chopped green chillies (use it if you can handle spicy food)
6. oil for frying
7. 1.5 cups Rajgiri (Amarnath flour) flour
8. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and black pepper, chat masala
9. Water for fixing

Mix all the ingredients together with little water at a time. Make it into a a little thin batter. The batter will not be very think because we have vegetables in there.

Heat a griddle add a teaspoon of oil in a circle and add a laddle of batter into a circle 5 inches wide and spread it into the middle. Add one more teaspoon oil at the dosa and cover and cook on middle low heat for 2 minutes. Flip the dosa and add some oil around the dosa and fry for 2 minutes. Let cook for 2 minutes before serving.

Serve it with your favorite chutney or Maggi ketchup us great

Chana Phool Makhana

 I can't believe its been 6 months that I posted something here. Its been some year so far. Full of ups and downs. I never thought I would say this but I am tired of riding the roller coaster of life.

Anyway...back to business...err dinner. So....finally I got the courage to buy the "phool makhana" or the lotus seeds when I went to the Indian stores this time. And let me tell you...I found my new fav :)

They have a bit of a chewy texture and if you put them in the curry and don't serve immediately they become small. Not sure how they soak up all the liquid a=yet become small. But they are delicious.

Chana Phool Makhana (Lotus seedas with chickpeas in a tomato based gravy)

Lotus seeds and chickpeas (Chana phool makhana)

Lotus seeds and Paneer (Chana paneer)

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cups phool makhana (available in Indian stores by the rice packs usually, close to puffed rice)
2. 1 can chick peas drained
3. 2 large or 3 tomatoes
4. 2 inches of ginger about 1 inch in diameter (adjust size accordingly)
5. 1 tablespoon cashew soaked in 2 tablespoons water for 10 minutes
6. 1 tablespoon oil
7. 1 bay leaf
8. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin
9. 1 teaspoon each of red chilli powder, coriander powder
10. 1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leave
11. 2-3 tablespoons cream

Grind the tomatoes along with hinger

Heat a non stick pan on medium heat and toast the lotus seeds for 7-8 minutes. Put it in a plate until ready to use.

In a pan heat the oil and add the cumin and bay leaf. Add the ground tomato paste and 1 cups water and all the powders and the fenugreek seeds and stir and cook on medium heat for 10-12 minutes until oil starts leaving the sides. Add the cream and cook for 5 more minutes. Add the chickpeas and lotus seeds and stir and cook for 5 more minutes. Enjoy!

Note : Paneer phool makhana : Instead of garbanzo beans add paneer and you get Paneer Lotus seeds 

Canned biscuit pretzel bites

 It was the Super Bowl Sunday.  There are those who love this day for the game, those are those who love it for the commercials and there are those who love it because of the yummy spread of finger food. This was one of the easiest and delicious finger foods.

Canned biscuit pretzel bites

Canned Biscuit pretzel bytes

Ingredients:

1. 1 tube of biscuits
2. 1 teaspoon baking soda
3. 1 egg beaten
4.  Everything bagel seasoning (optioal)

Separate the biscuits and roll them into a 4 inch roll. Cut it into 4 pieces and roll it into small balls if desired or leave it as is.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Boil water in a deep dish and add the baking soda.

Add the pretzel bites and boil for 30 seconds or until they float to the top.

Put the bits on a prepared baking sheet and brush with the egg wash. Add the bagel seasoning if using.

Bake 12-15 minutes until they turn golden brown.

Enjoy with your favorite mustard sauce or cheese sauce

Masala Oats Dosa

 Growing up my favorite breakfast was Idli. But as I grew up I realized the amount of planning it takes to get Idli on your plate.

But as I grew up a bit more, I found the convenience of the ready made "mix" for idlis. Then I discovered Oats idlis, rava idlis and then the bst of both worlds Rava Oats idli.

And then I finally wanted to make Dosa/Cheela with the batter of Rava Oats idli and they were super delicious. I know my mom would have been proud of me :)

Masala Oats Dosa (Crepes made with oats and samolina with Indian flavors)

Masala Oats Dosa

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup quick cooking oats (pulse once or twice to make the oats a bit small)
2. 1/2 cup sooji/samolina
3. 1 masala packet from the masala oats (or 1 tablespoon chat masala)
4. 1 tablespoon oil + oil for frying the dosa
5. 1 tablespoon chana dal
6. 1/2 teaspoon each of mustard, cumin, urad dal
7. 1/2 cup yogurt
8. Salt if needed
9. handful of finely chopped cilantro
10. 1/4 cup finely grated carrots , cabbage
11. 1 teaspoon baking soda
12. 1 tablespoon lemon juice

In a pan heat one tablespoon oil add the mustard seeds. Cover and cook until they start splattering. Add chana dal and fry for 30 minutes. Add cumin and urad dal. Add the Sooji and fry for a couple of minutes.

In a dish beat the yogurt and add all the ingredients (except baking soda) to it and 1 to 11/2 cup hot water and stir well. Set it aside for 10 minutes.

Add baking soda and stir lightly and set aside for 5 minutes.

Heat a griddle and take a ladle of the batter and add to the center of the griddle. With a light hand spread it into a circle with a light hand. Add some oil to the edges of the dosa and let cook for 2 minutes. Flip and add some oil and cook for 2 more minutes. Enjoy with coconut or peanut chutney

Hot cocoa mix brownies

 This is the time of the year when you want brownies...let me correct myself any time of the year when you want brownies and you are out of the brownie box mix or cocoa powder and you have the hot cocoa mix packets on hand...you have pretty much all the ingredients you need to make brownies. And they were super delicious.

Hot cocoa mix brownies (Brownies made with Hot Cocoa Mix packets)

Hot Cocoa mix brownie

Ingredients:

1. 5 packets hot cocoa mix (either plain or with mini marshmallows)
2. 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
3. 1 teaspoon baking powder
4. 3/4 cup melted butter
5. 1 cup granulated sugar
6. 2 eggs
7. 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees

Melt butter and add the sugar and mix until the sugar dissolves. Add the eggs and vanilla essence and mix well. Shift the flour with the baking powder and add to the butter and egg mixture . Add the cocoa mix and stir to combine.

Prepare a 8x8 baking dish and add the batter to the pan and bake for 35-37 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Let stand atleast 5 minutes before cutting it and enjoying the delicious chocolaty brownies