MY 200TH POST W/RAISIN AND OAT BREAD & AWARD

It's my 200th post, would like to thank all blogger pals, followers, visitors and silent readers for regular visit and encouraging comments. YOU MAKE THIS  HAPPEN, hope to receive your continued support.

Through this challenging journey, I have found wonderful friends like you and once again thanks to all.

For this special occasion, would like to share this simple and healthy bread.



RAISIN AND OAT BREAD

One of my favorite tea time dessert is quick bread. It is so simple and easy to prepare.

Used earl grey tea but other flavored tea like green tea, oolong tea works fine too. This is very healthy and you need not spend long hours to bake this wonderful bread. Let's see how to prepare them.


INGREDIENTS

1 and 1/2 C all purpose flour
1 C brown sugar
3/4 C raisin
1 C strong tea
1/4 C rolled oat
2 T melted butter
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

METHOD

* Preheat oven @ 175 C. Grease a loaf pan.

* Soak raisin in hot tea for 15 minutes.

* While still warm, add the baking soda butter and sugar, stir well.

* Blend in flour, oat to the raisin mixture, mix until well incorporated.

* Pour into greased loaf pan, bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

* Cool on pan for 10 minutes.

* Transfer into wire rack.

* Slice to serve. Enjoy!


AWARD



What a coincidence! Also received the following award from my blogger friends, thanks for sharing the award with me:

Veena Krishnakumar
Aipi
Fajeeda
Satrupa
Satya
Sreelekha Sumesh

I'm sharing this award with all bloggers, do post it in your blog.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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SAGO PATTIES

Most popular snack ever tried on the net. After seen most of my friends posted this vada on their site so I'm tempted to try.

It is quite simple to prepare, the only time taken is soaking of the sago pearl between 2-5 hours before you can proceed to make this delicious treat. Soaked mine for 5 hours, do adjust the spice level according to your taste.

To have perfect patties, make sure you squeeze out the water if not the dough becomes too soft and very wet. Best eaten hot with your favorite chutney or as it is.


INGREDIENTS

1 and 1/2 c sago pearl
3 medium potato mashed
1 C ground peanut
4 T coriander leaves
2 Big onion chopped
3 green chili chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
1 in ginger chopped
1 tsp cumin seed
vegetable oil for frying

METHOD

* Soak sago for 2 to 5 hours then drain and squeeze out the water.

* In a mixing bowl, combine together all the ingredients.

* Shape into small ball, flatten slightly and shallow fry them.

* Remove and drain on absorbent paper. Serve hot with your favorite sauce.

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COCONUT COOKIES

One of my favorite cookies, what I love most about this recipe is the dough, it has right consistency that makes shaping and cutting them such a easy task.

If you are using freshly grated coconut, dry roast for a few minutes until the moisture evaporates. At the time of baking, the entire kitchen is filled with nice aroma came from the coconut. Really delicious, you can't stop eating them.

Make sure to check them just before 10 minutes since it is easily browned, this recipe yields 20 cookies.

INGREDIENTS

1 C corn flour
1/4 C all purpose flour
3/4 C grated coconut
1/4 C softened butter
5 T fine sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

METHOD

* Preheat oven @ 170 C.

* Beat butter and sugar until well blended.

* Add both flour, coconut and essence to the butter mixture, stir on each addition and forms a pliable dough.

* Roll out the dough, cut using cookies cutter or shape into balls then flatten and place onto baking pan about an inch apart.

* Bake @ 170 C for about 10 minutes or until light brown.

* Cool on pan for 10 minutes then transfer into wire rack.

* Store into an airtight container when completely cool.

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RED BEAN MUFFIN

Wanted to bake muffin, checked my pantry and found a pack of red bean paste. So far never tried baking muffin with red bean.

Without further delay, mix up everything and substituted the milk with grape juice for a change. I'm very happy with this experiment, it turns beautifully and quite tasty too.


INGREDIENTS

2 C all purpose flour
1/2 c sugar
1/2 melted butter
1 cup milk/grape juice
1/2 cup red bean paste
1/2 cup hot water
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla essence

METHOD

* Preheat oven @ 180 C. Sift flour together with baking powder and baking soda.

* In a small bowl, combine red bean paste and hot water, mix well.

* Mix together sugar, butter, milk, essence and red bean paste until well incorporated.

* Gradually add the flour, stir until just combined.

* Pour into muffin pan which is lined with baking cases up to 3/4 full.

* Bake @ 180 C for 20 minutes or until the skewer inserted comes out clean.

* Remove and cool.

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CHOCOLATE FUDGE

Fudge is a sweet confectionary, extremely rich and frequently flavored with cocoa. It is made by mixing sugar, butter and milk, heating it to the soft ball stage at 240 F (116 C) then leave to cool and later is cut into cube to serve.

This recipe is easy to make and delicious. Make this fudge as your ultimate fudge indulgence.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 C butter
1 C sugar
2 C rolled oat
2 T unsweetened cocoa
1/2 C milk
1/2 C chopped nuts

METHOD

* Melt the butter, add sugar, cocoa and milk, stir until thicken about 5 minutes.

* Now add oat and nut, stir well.

* Pour into 8 sq in greased pan and let cool.

* Cut into squares and enjoy!

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SAYUR LODEH (VEGETABLE W/COCONUT MILK)

This gravy is a must to accompany lontong (compressed rice cake), most popular breakfast dish of  Malaysia/Singapore. It is mainly vegetables cooked in coconut milk, other vegetables such as long bean, brinjal and young jackfruit could be added to the gravy.

To serve, put few pieces of lontong together with sambal, serunding (spiced grated coconut) then topped with sayur lodeh. It is easily available on mornings at most hawker centers. You can also take this gravy with hot steaming rice as a side dish.

INGREDIENTS

1 small cabbage
250g yam bean (sengkuang)
1 carrot
3 pieces firm beancurd
3 pieces tempeh (fermented soya bean cake)
2 lemon grass bruised
1 in lengkuas (galangal) sliced
1 piece turmeric leaf
3 cups coconut milk
3 cups water
3 TB cooking oil
salt and sugar to taste

GRIND
10 dry chill (soak to soften)
10 shallots
4 cloves garlic
3 TB dried sliver fish (soak and rinse)
2 ins fresh turmeric root
1 in ginger

METHOD

* Cut each tempeh and tofu into 4, shallow fry until light brown, drain.

* Cut the vegetables, for carrot and yam bean, cut into sticks.

* Heat the oil, fry the blended ingredients until fragrant add the the lemon grass and lengkuas.

* Add the carrot, salt, water and yam bean, bring to boil. When boiling add the tofu, coconut milk, turmeric leaf and tempeh, cook until vegetables turns soft, stirring frequently.

* Now add salt and sugar to taste, ready to serve with lontong (rice cake) or white rice.

ABUK ABUK SAGU

Simple and easy to make kuih of South East Asia. Traditionally it is wrapped with banana leaves and comes in a shape of a cone. Combining pearl sago, coconut (remove the brown skin) and palm sugar in a single recipe.

Anyway I have used muffin pan instead of banana leaves, do use them if available at your place.
For the quantity below you could get 10 pieces, enough for a small family to enjoy this yummy dessert of yesteryear.


INGREDIENTS

1 and 1/2 cups pearl sago
1 and 1/2 cups grated coconut
10 heaped tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

METHOD

* Boil 2 in depth water in a steamer. Grease and heat the muffin pan in the steamer.

* Wash sago with running water then drain.

* Combine together sago, coconut and salt in a mixing bowl, mix well. Sprinkle little water if it is too dry.

* Place 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of sago mixture onto the muffin pan, spread evenly.

* Now pour a heaped tablespoon brown sugar on top of sago mixture.

* Cover the brown sugar with another 1 and 1/2 tablespoon of sago mixture and level top.

* Steam for 15 minutes or until the sago turns translucent with medium heat.

* When completely cool, remove from the muffin pan to serve.

MARBLE CAKE

I intended to bake the marble cake for quite some time but always reluctant to try, simply because it calls for high content of fat, sugar and egg.

Created my own that is not very rich, simple to make and delicious. Replaced milk with water and milk powder since the milk is out of stock. The classic pairing is chocolate and vanilla, but you can  use other combination too, there are so many more possibilities. In case you want to try, here is the recipe:


INGREDIENTS
Yield   :   8 in loaf cake

2 C all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 C butter softened
2 T milk powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 cup plus 2 T water
2 TB unsweetened cocoa powder


METHOD

* Preheat oven @ 350 F/175 C. Combine water and milk powder, stir and keep aside.

* Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda. Grease 8 in cake pan.

* Beat the butter and sugar until well blended, add vanilla essence.

* Mix flour to the butter mixture alternating with milk until well blended.

* Divide batter into 2, one portion add  cocoa powder, another one lave it plain.

* Place one tablespoon plain dough into a greased pan, put on top of this the chocolate portion, repeat with the rest of the dough. Take a skewer and swirl around the mixture 1-2 times to get a marbled effect.

* Bake 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

* Cool on pan 10 minutes, transfer onto wire rack.

* Slice and enjoy!

STIR FRY CABBAGE W/CHANA

This is simple and healthy dish and not spicy at all. It is popular in South Indian meal. I'm not adding coconut but used chana dhal instead.

We should include cabbage in our diet, it contains least fat and calories, good source of fiber, vitamin C, potassium and other nutrients, reduces risk of heart disease and stroke.

INGREDIENTS

1 medium size cabbage sliced
1/2 C chana dal (soaked and boiled)
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1 teaspoon urad dal
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
2 green chilli sliced
2 dry red chili
1 T cooking oil
salt to taste
curry leaves

DIRECTION

* Boil the chana dal until soft but still retain the shape, drain.

* Heat the oil, splutter the mustard seed, add urad dal fry until fragrant.

* Add green chili, dry chili, curry leaves, and ginger , stir for few minutes, add the cabbage, turmeric and salt. Stir and cover the pan for 10 minutes, stir occasionally .

* Once the cabbage is cooked, add chana dal, stir for few minutes, remove from heat.

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CHOCOLATE BISCUIT CAKE

This is a most popular cake ever tried by my fellow bloggers. I came across various methods for preparing this cake.

Due to health reasons, I modified the recipe using slightly less butter and omitted the eggs. It turns out perfect, you can't really tell the difference. Using 5.5 sq inches container but if you are serving a big family do double up the quantity. Besides marie you can use semi sweet biscuit like digestive, morning coffee or nice biscuit for making this delicious treat.


INGREDIENTS

1/2 C sweetened condensed milk
2 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1 T heaped corn starch
1/4 C water
6 T butter
10-12 pieces Marie biscuit

METHOD

* Grease a shallow tray or line with plastic sheet for easy removal.

* Break each biscuit into quarter and set aside.

* In a small bowl, combine together corn starch and water, stir well.

* Using low heat, melt the butter in a saucepan, add the rest of ingredients except the biscuit, stir until thicken.

* Remove from heat, pour in the biscuit pieces, mix until biscuit is fully coated with chocolate.

* Pour onto greased tray and level top. After it comes to room temperature, place in a fridge to set.

* After 2 hours, cut into squares and enjoy your yummy dessert.

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INSTANT PARATHA

If you are hungry and need something quick to eat, I suggest you try this instant paratha. It's so convenient you can serve them anytime of the day.



Just remove few pieces from the freezer, remove the plastic sheet, place it on the pan without oil, this dough has oil, cook one side and flip over, fry until golden brown.



It is now ready to serve. Enjoy with your favorite curry or just spread with condensed milk and roll up, now it becomes instant dessert.

This is better brand I have tried so far, fairly thick and perfect size. They are many ways to enjoy this, will let you know soon.

If you want to try real paratha, do check out this link:
http://treatntrick.blogspot.com/2009/11/homemade-roti-prata.html




Until next post, have a great weekend everyone!

VERMICELLI PAKODA

After having sweet snack most of the time, I decided to prepare this easy and delicious fritter made of vermicelli (semiya) for a change.

Boil the vermicelli for a few minutes until soft then drain. Be careful when adding water, batter should be thick and easily drop off from the spoon when you put them onto hot oil.You can either shallow or deep fry them. Either way it turns out great.


INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup boiled vermicelli
1 big onion chopped
2 green chili chopped
2 teaspoons chopped ginger
2 T chopped coriander leaves
4 T wheat flour
4 T corn flour
2 T rice flour
1 T oil
pinch of cooking soda
salt to taste
oil for frying
water

METHOD

* Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl, gradually add water. Consistency of batter is thick but easily scoop out using spoon.

* Heat the oil, drop a tablespoonful of batter onto hot oil.

* Fry until it turns golden brown. Remove and drain on absorbent paper.

* Enjoy your delicious snack hot.

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BRINJAL CURRY

My sons are not keen to eat any dish containing brinjal so I seldom cook them. Normally will add this when cooking fish curry or sambar, that also I'm the only one to complete this veggie.After much persuasion, they agreed to take a bite.

To my surprise they completed the whole plate, this means they really liked my preparation and wish to share with you how to cook them. Do adjust the red chili used as per your requirement.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb (500g) brinjal cubed
2 T cooking oil
2 tomatoes chopped
2 onions chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
salt to taste
2 cups water
1 T tamarind paste

ROAST WITH OIL AND GRIND

8 dry red chili
1 T gram dal
2 T coriander seed
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
2 T coconut
1/2 teaspoon asafoetida

SEASONING

Curry leaves
1 teaspoon oil
1 teaspoon mustard seed

METHOD

* Heat the oil, fry the onion until light brown, add in garlic and tomato, cook until tomato turns soft. Add brinjal, stir for 5 minutes, pour in ground ingredients, stir well.

* Add 2 cups tamarind juice (add tamarind to the water) and salt, cover pan, cook until soft.

* Heat 1 teaspoon of oil, add the seasoning items and pour this onto cooked brinjal.

* Ready to serve.

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PUMPKIN BREAD

My son is asking to prepare this since I have baked it quite a long time ago. For this recipe you need not use any coloring, the color of the pumpkin is just right, beautiful bright yellow.

Either use canned pumpkin puree or make your own, just steamed mine for a few minutes and mashed. It is difficult to remove the skin, just steam with the skin then scoop out the flesh.

INGREDIENTS

2 C all purpose flour
1 C sugar
1 TB baking powder
1/4 Teaspoon baking soda
1 C pumpkin puree
1 Teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 C butter
3/4 C milk
1/2 C raisin

METHOD

* Cream butter and sugar. Preheat oven @ 170 C.

* Sift flour with baking powder and baking soda.

* Gradually add flour to the butter mixture alternating with milk and pumpkin, combine well.

* Add cinnamon and raisin, stir well. Pour onto greased loaf pan and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted came out clean.

* After 10 minutes, remove from pan and cool completely before slicing.

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BANANA BREAD, EGGLESS

It's a pity to see the ripened banana sitting in my fridge for few days. Upon seeing this, decided to make use all of them using my newly created recipe.

I would say, this is really healthy using just minimum amount of oil combined with chopped nut and banana. It has mild sweet taste and perfect for breakfast or tea time snack. Really amazed to see that without egg, this bread turns out so moist.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all purpose flour
4 medium size banana mashed
1/4 cup chopped nut
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

METHOD

* Preheat oven @ 160 C. Grease the loaf pan.

* Sift flour, salt and baking soda.

* In a separate bowl, combine together banana, nut, oil, sugar and milk until well blended.

* Now add banana mixture to the dry ingredients, mix until just combined, add vanilla essence.

* Pour onto greased loaf pan, bake for 30 minutes @ 160 C then lower to 150 C and bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

* Cool in the pan 10 minutes, transfer onto wire rack.

* When completely cool, slice to serve.

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NAGASARI (STEAMED DESSERT) AND AN AWARD

This is my favorite traditional kuih of South East Asia. Normally it is wrapped in banana leaves but now I am using plastic sheet to cover them.

The mixture of rice flour, corn starch, coconut milk, sugar and salt is pre-cooked until thickened on stove top then complete the process by steaming them. It can also be served cold if you want. The recipe below yields 9 pieces. Let's cook this easy dessert.




INGREDIENTS

1 C rice flour removed 1 tablespoon
2 and 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 T corn starch
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 screw pine leaves (optional)
5 bananas cut into 2 lengthwise
9 pieces plastic sheet/banana leaf cut into 8 sq in

METHOD

* Put 2 inches deep of water in a steamer and bring to boil.

* Combine together rice flour, corn starch, sugar, coconut milk, salt and screw pine leaves in a deep pot, stir until smooth.

* Cook and stir regularly until thicken about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

* Place one tablespoon mixture on the plastic sheet, add the banana and cover with another one tablespoon flour, fold both side neatly and put them into the steamer.

* Complete the rest of the mixture.

* Steam for 30 minutes with medium heat.

* Remove from heat, serve hot or cold.



AWARD

My new blogger pal, Myskitchentherapy has sent the following award. Thanks for your kind thought and wish to share this with all my blogger friends.