Green Tea and Mango muffins!

I tried some green tea in muffins this time and I like the flavor. The muffins got a bit over baked and hence a little tough, but otherwise very tasty! The picture has my hubby trying to grab one during the photography session!

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 green tea bag boiled in 1/3 cup water and then cooled.
• 2-3 tablespoons yogurt
• 1/2 cup mango juice or nectar
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 Tablespoon Ginger grated
• 1 Tablespoon powdered brown sugar

Directions:

1. Sift or mix well all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
2. Add in the rest of the ingredients at room temperature, except ginger and brown sugar and mix until just about incorporated.
3. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture in a greased mini muffin pan.
4. Sprinkle grated ginger and brown sugar on the top
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes.
6. Serve warm!

Orange Cranberry and Cardamom muffins below..

Similar recipe with orange juice, orange zest, canned cranberries and a teaspoon of crushed Cardamom.

Pomegranate and Apple Bread with a touch of Mango!

I had some leftover pomegranate seeds and half a can of mango nectar from the day before. What better way to use it all up than to put them in a bread!

So here is a chunky Pomegranate and Apple bread with an added mango tang!

The chunky apples give a nice sweetness to the bread.. the pomegranate seeds fall out very easily if the slice is too thin.. Next time, I will puree the pomegranate and add to the bread! Also because of chunky fruit in the bread, the shelf life is short. Refrigerate the bread the finish it off within 3 days!

I also spent a good time kneading this one, so the gluten developed quite nicely and i got a really fluffy and soft crumb!

Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups bread flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup pomegranate pulpy seeds(arils)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped apple
• 1/2 cup mango juice or nectar
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons sugar or honey

Directions:

1. Warm 1/2 cup of water to about 110 degrees.
2. Add sugar and yeast to it. Mix well and let stand for 5 minutes or until frothy.
3. Add 1.5 cup bread flour, salt, softened butter and mix well.
4. Add the mango nectar, lemon juice and the rest of the flour in 1/2 cup batches to make a soft dough. Knead for 10 minutes to get a nice stretchy and soft dough.
5. Place dough in a well oiled container, covered, in a warm oven and let rise for an hour.
6. Knead the dough well and pat down into an inch thick rounded rectangle.
7. Sprinkle the pomegranate seeds an chopped apple on the rectangle.
8. Roll up the dough firmly like a jelly roll and shape the roll into a loaf
9. Place the dough in a bread pan.
10. Brush the olive oil on the dough.
11. Let dough rise for another half an hour or until doubled.
12. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 35 minutes or till the top starts to get golden.
13. Remove the bread and cool it on wire rack.
14. Cool for 2-3 hours before slicing. The bread will be moist because of the fresh fruit in it. Make thick slices and enjoy butter or toasted with some Masala Tea!

This one is headed to this week's Yeastspotting!

Pesarattu (Whole Mung Daal dosa/ Mung Bean Crepe)

I got into crazy cooking mode this Saturday, since I had not cooked much during the week except some regular dinner prep. So we made Chilla (Puda/Gram Flour Crepe) for breakfast and then made some Pesarattu (Whole Mung bean crepe) with coconut chutney for lunch!. I ran out of whole green mung bean, so i added some yellow mung bean. Watch the videos for a better step by step process!

Pesarattu: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LeLnymiBVo&feature=related

Coconut chutney: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11_MFw24Lto

(I use less oil and not as much cumin seeds for my coconut chutney)

Puda/Chilla : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLb5QY9Z53s&feature=PlayList&p=B852D22017B1D048&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=21

(We made onion and ginger Puda, and of course forgot to click)

Sorry for the bad pics.. these were consumed in quite a hurry!:D

Written recipes coming up !

Enjoy!!

Carrot, Ginger, Tangerine, Blueberry Mini muffins! A little bit of everything!

This one has a little bit of everything.. Some carrots and ginger for some endurance Some bran,.. some tangerine juice and lemon zest to add that tang! and blueberries for the heart and health! I cant have enough of them blueberries!

Hubby's feedback: This one is a very interesting muffin. Every bite has a different taste !

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 cup wheat bran
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup tangerine or orange juice
• 2-3 tablespoons yogurt
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 1 Tablespoon grated ginger
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

Directions:

1. Sift or mix well all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
2. Add in the rest of the ingredients except blueberries and mix until just about incorporated.
3. Mix the blueberries with a tablespoon of flour.
4. Drop in the blueberries into the batter and fold them in lightly.
5. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture in a greased mini muffin pan.
6. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes.
7. Serve warm!

Roasted Garlic, Spring Onion and Beet Bread!

I am back after a 10 day break, which was not really a planned one. Our neighbor's washing machine water connection leaked 4 weeks back and caused a bit a flooding. It affected our bathroom, walk in closet, and den and soaked the common wall and the padding under the carpet. All the baseboards and carpet padding was removed the next day and air blowers and dehumidifiers worked 24 hours for the next 4 days to dry everything up. We obviously had to move out for those 3-4 days as it got super hot and airy(read hurricane winds) in the house!

Now the repair work is stuck up on a decision by the Home owners assoc about who will pay for the repair, the HOA, the neighbor's insurance or our own insurance. Till that gets decided, we get to live on unpadded carpet and baseboard-less walls. But that did not really stop me from cooking and baking the last few weeks.

This event started a wave of cleanup and reorg in the house which slowly picked up speed last week and took up a lot of the time. The whole last week, I was just cooking regular meals and cleaning, sorting and reorganising parts of the kitchen. The kitchen was not really affected by the flooding, but around the same time we had a flour beetle explosion. Probably because of a flour bag which had some some beetles in it when it came from the market! And these beetles are hard to eliminate! Once the kitchen is done, reorg the closet!

I did not realize that it had been 10 days since I baked anything new or blogged. Cleaning up is not that difficult, it is the reorganization which is painful:) I dont know how all you food bloggers stay motivated to try new things and keep blogging. I am feeling even more lazy after the break to think creatively and blog!

I was planning to bake 2 loaves, Roasted garlic/spring onion and Beet Bread, but ran out of energy by mid afternoon:D. So I just added the beets to the garlic bread!

The beets dont really change the taste much, they just add another color to the bread. It is still a very tasty garlicy and fun bread!

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cup bread flour
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp instant yeast
• 3/4 cup warm water
  
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 3 cloves of garlic roasted and then mashed
• 2 sprigs of spring onions chopped finely
• 1/2 cup beet chopped finely
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions:

1. Warm 1/2 cup of water to about 110 degrees.
2. Add sugar and yeast to it. Mix well and let stand for 5 minutes or until frothy.
3. Add 1.5 cup bread flour, salt, oregano, pepper and slighly beaten egg and mix well.
4. Add in the mashed garlic, beets and spring onions and mix well.
5. Add the rest of the flour in 1/2 cup batches to make a soft dough. Knead for 10 minutes to get a nice stretchy and soft dough
6. Place dough in a well oiled container, covered, in a warm oven and let rise for an hour.
7. Knead the dough well and using boule technique name an oval and fat loaf. (Boule technique: Pull the rounded dough from opposite sides and tuck it under. Keep rotating the dough and Do this on all sides)
8. Place the dough in a bread pan
9. Brush the olive oil on the dough.
10. Let dough rise for another half an hour or until doubled.
11. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes or till the top starts to get golden.
12. Remove the bread and cool it on wire rack.
13. Enjoy with olive oil, cream cheese or use to make panini sandwiches!.
14. To make roasted garlic: Toss peeled garlic cloves in olive oil and Bake the garlic in foil or parchment at 375 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until brown and starts giving the roasted aroma. Remove from oven and let cool before mashing or making paste.