Aam Panna (Raw Mango Drink)

When summers are around, body tends to dehydrate easily and now a days with so much warm climate and long sun light exposure might take you to a heat stroke. With so hot and warm climate fluids levels in the body needs to be balance so as to protect it from heat strokes. And raw mangoes are the best source of it, keeps your body cool. Remembering  my childhood, how my mum use to make this healthy and refreshing drink for us and it was compulsory everyday drink during summers. 

Aam Panna is the best way to keep your body hydrate and balncing fluid levels. It is a perfect thirst quencher which acts as an shield against heat. It detoxifies your body from within. Do try this drink and am sure you are gonna love this.

You can make a bottle full of it as I did and store it into a refrigerator for upto a week.

Ingredients:-

700 gms Raw Mango

2 tsp Black Salt

1/2 cup Fresh Mint Leaves

2 tsp Roasted Cumin Seeds

2 tsp Lemon juice

200 gms sugar

Salt to taste

Water to boil

Chaat masala to sprinkle 

Method:-

Pressure cook Raw mangoes in water.

Once pressure cooked mango is slightly cool, peel its outer skin or it can be easily removed by hands too (It will become soft and pulpy).

Do not throw the water in which mangoes were boiled. (I used the same while blending)

Take out the mango pulp and straightway throw it into a blender jar along with all the ingredients listed above and the water in which mangoes were boiled.

Blend until smoothie like texture add more water if necessary..

Serve it with the cubes of ice and a sprinkle of chaat masala.

Garnish with mint leaves and your perfect summer drink is ready to sip...ahhhaa so refreshing !!!😋😋

Drink atleast one glass of this refreshing drink a day. It's so delicious when chilled. ❤️❤️

Homemade Easy Digestive Biscuits/ Crackers

Early Morning tea is an therapy to me. It rejuvenates and prepares me to start my day, so early morning bed tea is important and a must sip to me. And how I wont make that first sip even more special by adding that personal touch. 

Usually me and my husband prefer having rusk with our first tea, dip dip and in to the mouth with hot cuppa. Aaahhh this awakens us.!!

So to be even more awakened with our sip, I thought to try something on my own and this is what came to my mind, whole wheat and oats digestive biscuits.., healthy start, Isn't it!!

Perfect crunch and crisp, and on top it's a home made, awakens us freshly and happily...!!

Mine got little dark after 10 minutes of baking, I didn't keep a check. May be next time I shall cover it with a foil as soon before it starts darkening. But it doesn't taste burnt at all. Infact the texture, crumb and crispness seems perfect to me...only the darkening is to be taken care next time.!! So let's start.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup Five grain cereal rolled oats coarse grinded or oats flour (you can use instant oats or any rolled oats, mine is mix of five grains oats made with flax seeds)

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup light and soft brown sugar

3 tbsp white caster sugar 

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

65 grams or half stick of butter 

3 tbsp of milk to form a biscuit dough

Method:

In a large bowl, mix whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, coarse grinded oats, salt, light soft brown sugar, caster sugar and baking soda. Mix all well.

Now add butter (doesn't matter if it is cold than)

Mix butter well with your both hand by rubbing the flour between your palms. At the end when butter is mixed in, it should give you a bread crumb like sight.

Now add milk, bring all the ingredients together to form a dough. Dough will be soft due to butter but will not be sticky at all. 

Transfer the dough in to plastic cling film, wrap it tightly by spreading a little with your fingers and put it in to the refrigerator for minimum 1 hr. (This will help to roll the dough perfectly, else it will stick )

After 1 hrs, bring it out. 

Open the cling wrap, and let the dough on the film.

To roll it easily, cover the top with another cling film. This will be easy to roll without dusting flour on surface..

Meanwhile preheat your oven at 180 degree Celsius.

Sides will crack, but not a problem, keep going by pinching the crack a little.

Roll it in to a large square with rolling pin, it should not be thin, but atleast minimum of 1/8-1 inch thickness..

Cut it with a round cookie cutter or any shape of your choice.

Place all the cut cookies on a baking tray lined with a parchment paper.

Again, Gather the sides of the dough, re roll it and cut.

Bake the biscuits at 180 degree Celsius in preheated oven for 18 minutes. (Mine got lil dark after ten minutes of baking so I covered the top with a foil and baked further. I insist you to keep a check)

After baking, bring it out of the oven, let the biscuits be in tray for 2-3minutes. 

Later transfer it on a wire rack and allow it to cool completely and store in an air tight container.

Whole wheat Honey & Oats Bread

Few time back I came across honey and oats bread, I was amazed to see the result when i read the recipe, the bread I saw was so nicely baked with so beautiful crust, and texture. The only mistake I did, I forgot to bookmark the link where I read that..phew!!

After shifting here in Hong Kong, I rarely buy breads from outside, mostly I bake whole wheat sandwich bread once or sometimes twice a week..I'll soon post the recipe for the same. But for now let me come back to my honey and oats bread. Well after not marking the link, I was looking for similar recipe.  And after lots of reads I came up with my own healthier version by using equal qty of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour. I have kept 50:50 ratio of each. May be next time I'll change a bit of this ratio, 60:40. 

Aaahhhh the aroma in my kitchen, it will surely lift up the bakers mood. So aromatic, am happie happy..!!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup of all purpose flour

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup rolled 5 grain cereal oats (semi grinded) (you can use instant oats too) 

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup Honey

1/2 cup warm milk

3/4 cup warm water

2 1/2 tsp instant dry yeast

4 tbsp melted butter or margarine 

Light olive oil for greasing the kneaded dough

For brushing bread top : 2 tbsp of melted warm honey ( not boiling hot)

And about 2 tbsp of oats to sprinkle on top

Method

In a large bowl, mix all purpose flour with whole wheat flour, semi grind oats and salt. Mix the mixture well.

In a small measuring container or cup, stir warm milk, warm water, melted butter or margarine, honey and yeast together, until yeast dissolves. Keep it aside for 2-3 minutes, until mixture turns frothy. (By mistake I added butter to the flour)

Mix the liquid yeast mixture in the flour mixture bowl.

Bring all the ingredients together to form a sticky dough.

Sprinkle some flour on your work surface.

Bring the sticky dough on to that surface, knead it for 10-15 minutes. 

After 15 minutes of kneading it should be soft smooth and non sticky.

Pop the dough into the oil greased bowl, cover it with tea towel or plastic cling film.

Allow it to rest in warm and dark place for 1 to 2 hrs, until it doubles in volume.

Once it has doubled up, bring the dough to the work surface and punch it down to release the gas inside.

Shape the dough in to a loaf and pop it inside your loaf tin lined with parchment paper.

Again cover it with a tea towel and allow it to rise second time for 35-40 minutes, or until it has risen well an doubled in volume. 

When the dough is nearly doubled, preheat oven at 180 degree Celsius with 2-3 cup of water in a bowl placed in lower rack of the oven for good steam inside.

While the oven is preheating, warm the honey a little. 

Brush the warm honey on to the risen loaf and sprinkle the oats on it.

Once the preheating is done, bake the loaf at 180 degree Celsius for 40-50 minutes in preheated oven, until it gets deep golden brown crust on top. Sit back and enjoy the aroma of the bread in your house. 

Once done, bring it out carefully and allow it to cool on wire rack.

And the star is here...beautifulllllll 

Baked Moong Dal Masala Poori

Hey all, sorry for not posting much since few months, a news to share with all my dear readers, we have shifted here to Hong Kong🎊🎉 , a beautiful city known for its beautiful skyline with all tall corporate buildings, high end fashion brands to typical Chinese brands, variety of cuisines, a foodies hub😍 all in all a lovely place with beautiful people. Loving it..:)

With such beautiful place to stay in, I was thrilled to bake something (my first love) and nonetheless I planned to bake an Indian snack, moong dal masala poori. In India this pooris are deep fried with proper crisp texture, mostly we pair it with our masala tea for evening snack. But as I said earlier,  I was thrilled to bake and this is what the best opportunity was. So here is my healthy and baked version of crispy moong dal masala pooris...:)

Ingredients:

1 cup yellow moong dal flour (you can also soak yellow moong dal in water for 2-3 hours and later with a little water, grind it in to a fine paste like texture) 

1 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour

1/4 cup of chickpea flour (besan)

2 tbsp of olive oil or sunflower oil

2 tsp white sesame seeds

1 1/2 tsp red chilly powder 

1 /2 tsp turmeric powder

1/4 tsp dry mango powder (aamchur powder)

1 tsp roasted cumin powder

1 tsp chaat masala powder (optional)

2 tsp of hand crushed kasuri methi ( dry fenugreek leaves)

Salt to taste and 

Water at room temperature to knead into a stiff dough..!!

Method:

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients well. Add water, make sure to add little at time, we need stiff and firm dough and not soft at all ( it should be rolled without dusting flour).  

Note: If you are using soaked moong dal, make sure, water is already added while pulsing it, so be careful with water when kneading the poori dough.

Once the dough is kneaded, divide it into 5-6 equal portions.

Roll each portion in to round semi thin rotis.

Use cookie cutter for equal size and shape of pooris. Place the cut pooris in to slightly greased baking tray.

Preheat oven at 180degree Celsius for 20 minutes.

Once preheating is done, bake the pooris at 180 degree Celsius for 10-12 minutes until crisp and slight golden brown on outside.

Note: keep a close check after 9 minutes of baking. You don't want to burn them.

Once done allow it to cool on wire rack and store it in air tight container.

Yayyy, it's ready to munch...

Classic Sourdough Starter Bread

And here is a "Classic Sourdough Bread" with Homemade Sourdough starter. It tastes amazing and even far far better than the bread made from commercial yeast. It stays good for a week and you ll simply gonna enjoy it with soups or can make Bruschetta, buttered toast with marmalade, with peanut butter or anything of your choice.

Ingredients:

2 cup Maida or APF (All purpose flour)

1/2 cup fed sourdough starter

About 3/4 cup of luke warm water

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tbsp Olive oil and some extra for kneading and greasing

Method: 

• In large bowl, Mix Maida or APF flour with salt and oil.
• Mix in fed sourdough starter and add luke warm water slowly gradually.
• Gather all the mixture and form a sticky dough. 
• Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes, until it becomes soft, smooth and elastic (If require use a very little of  extra flour while kneading, doesn't matter if its still little sticky but should be smooth).
• Cover the dough with a tea towel or a plastic cling film and keep it at the warm place to rise for about 2 hours or upto 8 hours. (If you place the dough at warm place it will rise quickly and will double in volume within 2-3 hours, but if you want your bread to be little more of sour flavor, can choose some low temperature area and allow the dough to rise up to 8 hours slowly, or until it doubles)
• Once the dough doubles, shape in to classic loaf shape and place the loaf in a loaf pan. 
• Cover the loaf pan with a plastic cling film loosely and allow it to rise for about 4-5 hours or until it rises and doubles up in volume.

• Preheat oven at 180 degree Celsius.
• Bake the rised loaf at 180 degree Celsius for 20-25 minutes or until golden on top and sounds hollow when tapped. 
• Once done, allow it to cool on wire rack and slice it once it cools down completely.

Veg Mexican Burrito Bowl

Mexican Burritos bowls are mainly made with rice, beans, two to three types of sauces, sour cream and lettuce. We Visited a restaurant few months back, there we ordered burritos and my husband liked it much. The burrito that we had in restaurant, was a bang in mouth, as soon as you spoon in, you will have several taste of explosions in mouth. A tangy, little sour, spicy, juicy and super tasty burritos.
Well after tasting that, i was looking for the similar recipe or little close to its taste. Than i recalled, my cousin sister, who made this few months back at home, had whats app'ed me those images and i quickly called her up for her recipe, though she skipped guacamole and instead she used Green Coriander chutney but as i was having avocados readily available, I made Guacamole Spread..
So here the recipe goes...

Ingredients:

1)  For Minty Lemony Rice

1 1/2 cup Rice washed and boiled

1/4 cup small chopped Mint leaves

2 tsp lemon juice

Salt to taste

2)  For Guacamole
2 riped avocados mashed
1 small onion finely paste
3 green chilly finely paste
1 1/2 tsp ginger paste
2  pods of garlic finely paste
1/4 cup Fresh Green Coriander leaves, finely blended in to paste with a tbsp of olive oil
1 lemon's juice
Black pepper to taste
Salt to taste
Yields: 1 full cup of Guacamole

3)  For Tomato Salsa Sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup small chopped Italian Basil leaves
3 large Tomatoes Puree and 2 tbsp extra small chopped tomatoes
1 medium onion small chopped
1/4 cup of small chopped red bell pepper (Note: If you do not have Red bell peppers, you can skip and can use green bell pepper)
2 large pods of garlic finely paste
1 tsp ginger paste
3 Small green chillies finely paste
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp of store bought schezwan Chutney or Tomato paste (I have used schezwan chutney as Tomato paste wasn't handy, can use either or)
1 1/2 tsp Kashmiri red chilly powder
Salt to taste
Yields: 1 1/2 cup  Sauce

4)  For Burrito bowl:
Above Boiled Minty Lemony Rice
Above Guacamole dip
Above Tomato Salsa Sauce
1/2 cup corn kernels boiled
1/2 cup small chopped onions
1/3 cup of red bell pepper
1/4 cup yellow bell pepper
Black pepper to taste
Salt to taste
1 cup of creamy beaten curd or yogurt (Traditionally it uses, sour cream, but it wasn't enough in qty so have used sour beaten creamy yogurt)
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup of boiled red kidney beans (Wash & Soak red beans overnight. Pressure cook it in with tsp of slat for 4-5 whistle and keep it ready)
1/2 cup small chopped Romanian Lettuce or shredded green cabbage


Recipe:

For Minty Lemony Rice:
Wash and boil the rice with mint leaves and lemon juice in it.
Meanwhile Prepare tomato salsa sauce and Guacamole

For Guacamole:

Peel the Avocados's outer skin and mash it with back of spoon or fork. Once Mashed, add onion paste, ginger -garlic-green chilly paste, fresh Green Coriander leaves finely blended in to paste with a tbsp of olive oil, lemon juice, pepper and salt to taste. Mix all well and here your dip or spread is ready.

For Tomato Salsa:

In a pan, heat oil and add small chopped onion, small chopped red bell pepper and saute for a while. Now add, tomato puree, small chopped tomatoes, Schezwan chutney or Tomato paste, ginger-garlic-green chilly paste, lemon juice, kashmiri red chilly powder and small chopped Italian basil. Mix all and cook for 2-3 minutes and turn the flame off..and here you are ready with your tomato salsa sauce.

For Burrito Bowl

Before readying the burrito bowl, firstly heat oil in a pan and saute small chopped onions, red & yellow bell pepper until soft. Add black pepper and salt to taste in it and turn the flame off. So here you have your fried Onion and pepper Mixture ready.

Now lets prepare the bowl with all the ready ingredients below..:

In a medium serving bowl, add 1/2 cup of rice and spread a little in a bowl, top it with boiled and salted red kidney beans, boiled corn kernels, fried onion and pepper mixture, Shredded cheddar cheese, 3 tbsp tomato salsa sauce, 3 tbsp guacamole, 3-4 tbsp of beaten creamy curd or yogurt, and garnish this layer with some more shredded cheese and lettuce or cabbage.
And here you are ready to serve your Burrito bowl