Baked Mushrooms

Ingredients:

Button Mushrooms: 2 Packs
Onion: 1
Processed Cheese: 1 cup
Mozzarella cheese: 1/2 cup
Mint leaves: handful
Bell pepper finely chopped - 1/4 cup
Lemon: 1
Olive oil: 2 tbsp
Parsley dried: 1 tsp
Black pepper - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Red Chilli Flakes - 1 tsp
Oregano - 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Wash the mushrooms with stem in warm water and remove stems
2. Drain and keep the mushrooms aside and finely chop stems
3. In a pan, add oil, finely chopped onions and saute' for 2 mins
4. Add chopped mushroom stems, mint leaves, bell pepper and saute' for 2 mins
5. Add dried 1/2 tsp parsley, black pepper, salt, oregano and chilli flakes and saute'
6. Now fill the mushrooms with this mixture and top it with cheese
7. Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 mins or until cheese melts and mushrooms gets cooked
8. In a separate bowl, add 1 lemon juice, parsley and olive oil
9. Brush baked mushrooms with the lemon mixture and serve

Notes:

1. Chopped jalapenos can be added in the mixture to make it more tangy 

Eggless Chocolate Chip fudge Brownie

Eggless Chocolate Chip Fudge Brownie

Ingredients

Refined floor - 1 cup

Dulche de leche - 2 Tbsp

Baking Powder - 1 tsp

Dark Chocolate - 50 grm
Cocoa Powder - 1/2 cup

Butter - 1/2 stick - 50 grm

Sugar - 21/2 tbsp

Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Milk - 1 tbsp

Chocolate chips - 1 tbsp

Walnut - 1/2 cup

Method 

1. Preheat oven at 180 deg and line the baking tray with parchment paper.
2. Melt dark chocolate in microwave or by double boiler and add little water to it.
3. Sieve together refined floor,cocoa powder and baking powder
4. In a mixie jar, add melted chocolate, butter, sugar, vanilla extract, dulche de leche (caramel sauce) and blend together.
5. Now pour this into dry floor mixture add fold it by cut and fold method. Do not overmix
6. Add chocolate chips and walnut (finely diced) and fold gently. Sprinkle some walnuts and chocolate chips on top.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 30 - 35 mins. Keep a check after 30 mins. Baking time may vary from oven to oven
8. Transfer it to wire rack and let it cool completely before slicing
9. Serve with vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate sauce 

Notes:

1. Dulche de leche can be replaced by condensed milk. If you are using condensed milk then no milk is required
2. Baking time varies from oven to oven. So keep a check after 30 mins. To check: Toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean
3. Can be made in advance. Just microwave for 15 sec before serving
4. It has a shelf life of 2 days at room temp and 5 days for refrigeration 

Tzatziki Sauce - Greek Sauce

Preparation Time: 15 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

Hung curd - 250 grms
English cucumber - 1/4 th
Garlic - 1-2 cloves
Lemon Juice - 1/2  lemon
Lemon Zest - 1/4 tsp
Olive oil - 1/2 tbsp
Dill leaves - 1/2 tbsp
Freshly groung black pepper - to taste
Salt - to taste

Method:

1. Grate cucumber with peel and squeeze all water from it
2. Grate garlic, ground black pepper and finely chop dill leaves
3. Add all the ingredients in a bowl and mix
4. Pour it into a serving dish and cover with cellophane wrap tightly
5. Refrigerate for at least 8 hrs before serving. It helps all the flavors to blend together nicely

Hummus - Lebanese Cuisine

Ingredients

Boiled Chickpeas - 2 cups
Tahini Sauce - 1/3 cup
Garlic - 4 cloves  big size or 6 small cloves
Olive Oil - 1/3 Cup + 2 tbsp
Lemon Juice - 2 lemons
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Reserved water of chickpeas - 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Put all the ingredients in the blender and blend to coarse paste
2. Before serving, Spoon the hummus into a bowl and sprinkle olive oil over it
3. Season it with red chilli (optional)
4. Serve Chilled or room temperature

Notes:

1. Hummus can be garnished with very finely chopped coriander leaves 
2. Tastes best with fresh pitas and baked pitas chips

Mango custard pudding with Tulsi seeds

Ingredients:

Digestive biscuit – 10-12

Unsalted butter – 2 tsp

Custard powder – 5 tbsp

Milk – ¼ cup   + ½ litre

Mangoes – chopped

Cherries - Handful

Roasted Nuts- Handful

Fruit Jelly – ½ tsp

Tulsi seeds – 1 tsp

Method:

Pre preparations:

1.       Grind biscuits to fine powder and set aside

2.       To make custard, mix custard powder with cold milk and mix well. Put ½ lt milk to boil. Once boiled, add custard milk mixture and stir continuously so that no lumps can form. Add ½ cup sugar and cook on low flame for another 2 mins. Let it cool completely and refrigerate

3.       Peel and chop mangoes

4.       Dip tulsi seeds in water for an hour

Presentation:

1.       Mix 1 tsp butter in 1 tbsp of biscuit powder and set it at the bottom of the glass.

2.       Add chopped mangoes, nuts and cherries

3.       Spoon ½ tsp tulsi seeds over it

4.       Pour a layer of custard over it

5.       Spread biscuit crumbs over custard and repeat the layers

6.       Top it with chopped mangoes, nuts, cherries and jelly

7.       Serve chilled

Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients:

Refined flour - 1 cup
Whole wheat flour - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Cinnamon powder - 1 tsp
Nutmeg powder - 1/2 tsp
Ground ginger powder - 1/4 tsp
Baking soda - 3/4 tsp
Baking powder - 1/8 tsp

Wet Ingredients:

Pumpkin puree - 1 cup
Olive oil - 1/2 cup
Warm water - 1/2 cup
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Apple cider vinegar - 1 tsp

Pumpkin Muffins

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 180deg and line all the muffin moulds with liners
2. Sieve together all the dry ingredients except sugar to mix well
3. In a separate bowl, add pumpkin puree, warm water and sugar. Mix well till sugar dissolves completely.
4. Add all the wet ingredients to pumpkin mixture. Mix well
5. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet mixture
6. Mix and fold the batter slowly to incorporate air in it. 
7. Let the mixture sit for 2 mins
8. Spoon the mixture into moulds till 3/4 th of its capacity
9. Bake in preheated oven for 20 - 25 mins or till toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean
10. Remove from the oven and transfer them to wire rack. Let it cool completely and store in refrigerator
11. Serve warm with tea or coffee

Banoffee Pie

Banoffee Pie

Preparation Time: 1 hr
Assembling time: 20 mins
Serves: 6

Ingredients:

For base:
Melted unsalted butter - 100grm
Digestive biscuit - 250grm

For Caramel - Dulce de Leche preparation
Milkmaid - 1 can

Toppings:
Banana - 4 medium sized
Whipping cream - 300ml
Chocolate shavings  - for garnishing

Method:

To make Dulce de leche

1. Take 1 liter water in a pressure cooker and put one unopened can of milkmaid in it. Do not make any holes in the can. Pressure cook on high. After a whistle, lower the flame and cook on simmer for 45 mins. 
2. Switch off the gas and let it cool down completely
3. Once completely cooled, open the can. 
4. Dulce de leche (caramel) is ready

Banoffee Pie

1. Crush the biscuits to fine powder in processor. Add unsalted melted butter to it and mix well. It should look like wet sand
2. Take a baking dish and pour the mixture into it. Spread and press it with fingers.
3.  Bake in oven at 180deg for 10 mins. You can choose to skip baking and simply freeze it for 30 mins. Baking gives the base a crunchy nice texture
4. Now make a layer of caramel (dulce de leche) over it
5. Chop the bananas and place the slices over the caramel all over
6. Whip the cream to hard peaks and spread it over banana layer
7. Garnish with chocolate shavings
8. Let it set for 2 hrs in refrigerator and serve