Cauliflower Fusili Puttanesca

I can have pasta for any meal.This simple pasta dish was made by my DH.It was adapted from the recipe featured in Real Simple Magazine.

Ingredients:

Penne pasta - 3/4 pound We used tricolor fusili pasta

Chili flakes - 2tsp

Pepper powder - 2tsp

Garlic - 2tbsp minced

Capers - 2 tbsp

Kalamata olives(pitted) - 1/4 cup

Cauliflower - 1 medium separate into small florets

Tomato - 2 chopped

Parsley - 2 tbsp

Grated Parmesan - for sprinkling on the top(optional)

Kosher salt - as required

olive oil - 5tbsp

Method:

Boil pasta in sufficient amount of water till Al dente.

Heat oil in a pan.When hot,add the garlic and saute for 2 minutes.

Now add the cauliflower florets and saute till it gets cooked but still crunchy.

Then add the olives,capers and tomato and saute till tomato becomes mushy.

Now add the chili flakes,required amount of salt.

Finally add the pasta and cook for about 2 minutes.

Then add the parsley and grated Parmesan on the top.

Serve hot.

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Omapodi

Omapodi is one savory which I don't make often at home because murukku/chakli is our favorite.

It was rainy outside and I so i wanted to make this simple omapodi to be served with coffee.Its so simple to make and it takes less time than any other savory item.

Ingredients:

Besan/Chick pea flour - 2 cups

Rice flour - 1cup

Omam/Ajwain/Carom seeds - 1 Tbsp

Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp

Chili powder - 2 tsp

Salt to taste

Hot oil - 2 tsp

Oil for deep frying

Thenkuzhal press with the disc which has tiny holes.

Method:

Heat oil in a deep pan.

Grind the ajwain seeds with 1/2 cup of water and filter it and reserve the water.

In a bowl mix the besan,rice flour,salt,chili powder,asafoetida,2tsp of hot oil,reserved water.

Add more water to make it into a pliable dough.In the thenkuzhal press add the dough.

When oil is hot,squeeze the handle of the press over the oil in concentric circle about 6 inches in diameter.When slightly cooked turn over to the other side ad let it cook till there is no more hissing sound of oil.

Note:Omapodi cooks fastly than murukku and it can get burnt easily.

Drain on an absorbent paper and store in airtight container.

Serve with hot tea/coffee

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Carrot and Pineapple Loaf

I usually bake  on Friday evenings or Saturday afternoons.Iam really into healthy baking these days.This loaf has no butter and is loaded with healthy carrots,walnuts and the pineapple gives a tropical touch.

Recipe source:Adapted from Blissful Baker ,Sugar Duchess originally from the book"The taste of home baking".I tweaked the recipe to make it even more healthier by substituting a part of all purpose flour with wheat flour.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 3/4 cup

Wheat flour - 3/4 cup

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Salt-1/4 tsp

Sugar-2/3 cup

Freshly ground cinnamon -1/4 tsp(1/2 tsp in the original recipe)

Freshly ground cardamom- 1/2 tsp not in the original recipe

Corn oil or vegetable oil -1/2 cup

Whole Egg - 1

Egg white- 1(i omitted this)

Grated carrot - 2 medium

Crushed pineapple - 3/4 of 8 oz can drained (After tasting a slice I felt that shoud have added the whole can)

Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

toasted and chopped pecans - 1/2 cup(I substituted walnuts)

Method: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line  a 8×4 inch loaf pan with parchment paper,makes life lot more easier.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom and salt.

3. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the egg . Add carrots, oil, pineapple, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly.

4. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until just combined. The batter will be very thick. Fold in walnuts.

5. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan and bake in preheated oven for 50-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean.Mine took almost 1 hour 10 minutes to bake.

Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, then remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.

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Eggless Milkpowder Cake

The weather was cold and drizzly last weekend and it was perfect for baking a cake.But I ran out of eggs and even condensed milk to bake an eggless cake.The only thing I got was a tin of milkpowder which I had bought to make angel burfi.So I googled and found the recipe for eggless milkpowder cake from Divya's blog .She had made a marble cake.But I made it just plain and slightly adapted the recipe.It was moist,fluffy and delicious.

Thanx Divya!!

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cup

Milk powder - 4 TBSP

Baking powder -2 tsp

Baking Soda -1/2 tsp

Melted Butter-1/2 cup

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Milk - 1 cup

VAnilla extract - 1tsp

Method:

Preheat the oven to 330deg F.

Grease a round cake pan and dust with some flour.Sift together flour,baking powder,baking soda,milkpowder.

In a bowl cream the butter and sugar and add the vanilla extract.Add the dry ingredients.Then add milk gradually and mix a little bit.

Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

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Healthier Banana Bread

I had lots of bananas sitting on my counter top.I wanted to bake banana bread,but a healthier and guilt-free version.So when i was searching for a low fat banana bread recipe,I stumbled upon this recipe in about.com.It had no butter,and the amount of sugar used is almost half compared to other recipes and best of all whole wheat flour is substituted for half of all purpose flour.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 cup

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup

Baking soda - 3/4 tsp

Salt-a pinch

brown sugar-1/2 cup packed firmly

Corn/Canola oil - 1/4 cup

Vanilla essence -1 tsp

Buttermilk - 1/2 cup
(I made my own butter milk by mixing 1/2 cup of milk with 1 1/2 TBSP of lemon and allowed it to stand for 5 minutes.Then it can be used in the place of regular butter milk)

Bananas - 2 mashed

Egg - 1 at room temperature

Method: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat an 8 1/2 inch x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Whisk flour, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Stir in brown sugar.

In a medium bowl, combine oil, egg, buttermilk and vanilla extract. Add these ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir in mashed bananas.

Pour batter into the loaf pan and bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick placed in the center comes out clean.

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