INSTANT CASHEW COCONUT DOSA

I still don’t know to make the regular Dosa, the one that needs to be soaked, ground and fermented overnight. So, I am constantly on the lookout for instant Dosa recipes and S has an abundant collection of these.

When S sent me the Cashew Coconut Dosa recipe, I knew I’d be making this one for sure. I’d never had Dosa that had coconut in its batter and most definitely not cashews. I have never been more excited about eating any other Dosa.

All recipes that go up on my blog are made by me. I didn’t have time to prepare the batter for this one as I have a tight schedule in the mornings on weekdays. Radha had prepared the batter and as I entered the kitchen and turned on the flame to heat the pan, I couldn’t wait to taste this one. If I were a puppy, I’d have wagged my tail off in excitement.

Speaking of puppies, ain’t they cutest!

Look how crispy these are!

These are crispy Dosas that melt in your mouth. It has a wonderfully, mild coconut flavour, I probably didn’t add enough cashews to taste their rich creaminess. I had the Dosas with chutney and honey. The ones with honey tasted like crunchy, coconut crepes. 

These Dosas are instant, perfect for those days when you run out of breakfast ideas.

I also have the recipe for Instant Watermelon Dosa on my blog. Go check that out.

 

INSTANT CASHEW COCONUT DOSA

Ingredients:

Upma rawa (semolina) (roasted) – 1 cup

Rice flour (roasted) – 1 cup

Freshly grated coconut – ¾ cup

Cashew nuts – ¼ cup

Salt – to taste

For the seasoning:

Oil – 8 tbsp

Green chilli (finely chopped) – 2

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Jeera (cumin) – 1 tsp

Curry leaves (finely chopped)- A sprig ( or two)

 

Method:

 

1.     Blend the coconut and cashew into a fine paste.

2.     Add this paste to the  rawa and rice flour.

3.     Sauté the seasoning ingredients in oil and add to the above mixture.

4.     Add enough water to soak the above mixture and set aside for an hour.

5.   When you pour the dosas, add more water ( batter should be of neer dosa/rawa dosa consistency).

6.     Cook on both sides.

7.     Done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NO-YEAST PIZZA BASE

Who doesn't love a pizza? All you need is a base, the pizza sauce and some cheese. You can add whatever your heart desires as topping, pineapple too.(yes I love pineapple on my pizza).

The pizza is beautiful in any shape or size. It can be a perfect round, an unshapely oval or a haphazard rectangle. It could be thin or deep dish or thin in the middle and thick around the edges. You don't judge a pizza for its shape! Top it with calorie inducing bucket loads of gooey, stretchy cheese or a handful of rocket leaves. Crusty, cheesy , saucy , bland or fiery, we all love Pizza! 

I love Pizza so much that some of my friends call me Pijja.  I like my pizza best with a thin crust, lots of cheese and an overload of toppings. (Ohhhh, Pepperoni, I miss you so much).

We were all craving for a pizza so I got busy searching for a recipe that didn't require yeast. I have to be honest, I haven't even made an attempt to look for yeast. I hear it's been flying off the shelves but I have an aversion to yeast ever since I failed at making pretty looking buns with it years ago. (keep an eye out on our blog, we'll be posting the recipe of a no-yeast bread soon) 

 

I knead when I want! 

I haven't kneaded dough since ages and found the whole process quite therapeutic. Skip too had fun punching, pounding and stretching the dough. I wasn't sure how large the base would be and that explains the extra toppings on the base. 

I had just enough pizza sauce for this pizza. The next time I bake pizza , I will make the sauce at home and post the recipe. 

As I took the baked Pizza out of the oven , I looked at it fondly. It smelled gorgeous. For the first time in my life, I didn't have the heart to slice and gobble up that pizza. I walked around the house carrying the tray lovingly in my arms, admiring what I had created. Skip tagged along with a big smile on his face. The pictures do no justice to what the pizza really looked like. 

More importantly, it tasted lovely. Do bookmark this recipe. It's a fool proof recipe that requires no yeast which means no proofing, no waiting patiently for the dough to rise. 

NO-YEAST PIZZA BASE (makes a 14*10 inch pizza) -serves 3

Ingredients: 

All-purpose flour (maida) - 2 cups 

Curd - ½ cup 

Baking powder - 1tsp

Baking soda - 1 tsp

Sugar - 1tsp

Salt - 1 tsp 

Oil - 1 tbsp 

Water - enough to make a dough 

Method 

1.Preheat oven at 200 degree Celsius.

2.Mix all ingredients other than water and oil. 

3. Add water, a few tablespoons at a time and knead into a dough.

4.Add oil and knead the dough( for about 10 mins) until it's firm and smooth. 

5. Set aside, covered in a moist cloth. 

6.Prepare the toppings. I have used paneer sauteed in a curd sauce, sauteed mushrooms, raw onion, capsicum and fenugreek and mustard leaves. 

7.After letting the dough rest for a while, knead it again for 5 mins. 

8.Roll the dough flat and transfer to the baking tray.  Poke holes with a fork. Spread the pizza sauce. Sprinkle the cheese. Add the toppings. 

9.Bake for 10-15 mins till the base browns. 

10.Done

Recipe notes: 

• Most recipes on the net used only baking powder and not soda. You can do the same, just proportionately increase the quantity of the baking powder. 

• I sprinkled semolina (rawa) on the baking dish and then rolled out the dough on it. It makes the base crunchy. 

• I rolled the dough directly on the baking dish. It was easier to flatten it with my hands than with the rolling pin. I also added a little oil on the tray as the dough was sticking to it when I was flattening it.  

• I would recommend a thin base. A thick base may taste chewy. 

• Goes without saying that Mozarella and Cheddar work best with pizzas. I didn't have either. I grated two cubes of Amul Cheese and shredded a Nandini cheese slice.

Have you all been craving for some dish that you currently don't have access to? Drop a comment and we will collectively drool and if we happen to have the ingredients for that dish, we will share the recipe with you. 

Skip currently enjoys watching Amul advertisements on TV and can often be heard singing "Anjali Banjali delicious Amul".

Banana walnut cake

The banana bread seems to be trending online and we didn't want to be left behind. 

I've been on the lookout for the perfect banana cake recipe and after years of looking, finally found the one that gives you a moist, flavourful 'bananany' cake. 

I baked the cake for my father in law's birthday as I had all the ingredients at home. Since it was a birthday cake, I had to make it look pretty so I sprinkled powdered sugar on it. I usually bake birthday cakes a day in advance. I had some batter remaining, so that went into muffin moulds. As the heavenly aroma of banana bread wafted from the kitchen, Skip who had earlier insisted that I use the muffins on the birthday cake, wondered out aloud if we could eat just one muffin as it smelled so good and it was important to check if the taste matched the aroma. Needless to say, the muffins didn't make it to the birthday party. 

If you need to bake a banana bread, this is THE recipe. I've seen similar variations of these on the net which may work as well. The key ingredient, the banana, needs to be very ripe, not just the kind where the peel is speckled with black spots but where the peel has turned entirely black. 

This recipe is from 'baked by an introvert'. 

At the end of the post, check out some other birthday cakes that I had baked prior to the lockdown. 

BANANA WALNUT CAKE 

Ingredients: 

Bananas - 4 large (ripe)

Unsalted butter - ½ cup

Light brown sugar - ¾ cup (packed)

Eggs - 2 

Vanilla extract - 2 tsp

Buttermilk - ¼ cup 

All-purpose flour (maida) - 2 cups 

Baking soda - ¾ tsp

Salt - a pinch 

Chopped walnuts - ½ cup (optional)

Method: 

1. Preheat oven to 200 degree Celsius.
2. To prepare buttermilk - Add 1 tbsp lemon juice/vinegar to ¼ cup milk, stir and set aside. 
3. To ripen the bananas: bake the bananas in their peel at 180 degree Celsius for 15 min (or until the peels darken). Set aside to cool. Once it cools down, puree the bananas (without the peel ofcourse). 
4. Heat butter on low heat in a pan while constantly stirring it. Once it begins to brown (might take about 2-3 minutes ), remove from flame and let it cool. 
5. Sieve the flour, baking soda and salt. 
6. In a separate bowl, combine the melted butter and sugar and mix it well. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla extract. 
7. Add the banana puree to the above mixture. Mix well. Add the buttermilk and mix well. 
8. Add the flour mixture and walnuts to the wet ingredients and mix until combined. 
9. Pour batter into a greased tin and bake at 180 degree Celsius for 50- 60 mins. 
10. Done. 

Recipe notes : 

• Roasting the bananas enhances the sweetness and the flavour of the banana. 
• Walnuts are optional but I would recommend you use them.
• Mix only until the dry ingredients is well incorporated into the wet, do not overmix the batter at this stage. 
• I had only half a cup of brown sugar, so I mixed regular white with it. 

As Skip bit into his first slice of banana bread, he said "bye bye chocolate cake". 

Here's a Chocolate Cake  I baked for my grandmother' birthday. 

The Swedish Almond Cake was for my father's. 

If you have no bread, eat cake! For inspiration click 👉 Cakes and Bakes.

MUSHROOM PEPPER FRY

By now, you will know that Mushroom and Paneer are a staple at our house.

When we go to restaurants, I see so many dishes with mushroom in them, yet at home I’m always confused as to what to cook with the box of mushrooms and even then each week I find myself buying mushrooms again.

This time, I decided to make a batter fried dish with the mushrooms and though I had decided to pair  it with instant noodles, I made a desi style Mushroom Pepper Fry.

 I have tried to make batter coated mushrooms earlier and they’ve always ended up with the batter forming a gloopy, chunky mess and sliding off the mushroom and after a little research on the internet I realised where I was going wrong.

a.      You need to deep fry the batter coated mushrooms and not shallow fry.

b.   You need to drop the mushroom one at a time into the hot oil and not just dump everything in one shot.

c.      The batter shouldn’t be too thick.

Once the mushrooms are deep fried, you can either follow the recipe for ChillyPaneer and make Chilly Mushroom or make this simpler one instead.

The mushrooms are crunchy and peppery. The curry leaves add a great flavour to this dish. We enjoyed it with our noodles. This would be an ideal dish to serve as an appetiser.

This is my own recipe and I’ve added quantities of ingredients to suit our taste. Feel free to alter the quantities.

MUSHROOM PEPPER FRY

Ingredients:

For the marinade:

Button Mushroom  – 250 gms

Flour (Maida)- 1 heaped tbsp

Cornflour – 3 tbsps

Ginger – garlic paste – ½ tsp

Soya sauce – 1 tsp (optional)

Salt – 1 tsp

Pepper- 1 tsp

Water – enough to make a paste

For the dish

Onion (finely chopped) – 1 medium sized

Ginger-garlic paste- 1 ½ tbsps

Curry leaves – 8- 10

Pepper – about 2 tbsps

Salt – to taste

Method:

1.      Make a thin paste of the ‘marinade’ ingredients.

2.      Chop the button mushrooms and coat them in the ‘marinade’ ingredients.

3.      Deep fry the coated mushrooms and set aside.

4.      In a pan, add a little oil and fry the curry leaves for less than 30 seconds.

5.      Remove the leaves and set aside.

6.      Add onions to the pan and fry till then turn crunchy.

7.      Add the ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell is gone.

8.      Add the mushrooms.

9.      Add pepper and give the mushrooms a good mix.

10. Add salt to taste and curry leaves.

11. Done.

Recipe notes

·        The curry leaves will turn crisp once you take them out. Don’t wait for them to turn crisp while frying.

PASTA IN ARRABIATA SAUCE

SP was my neighbour at Mysore and also my very good friend.  We’d plonk ourselves at each others’ house, talking for hours together. Food would be one of the prominent topics but never cooking. We entered the kitchen only in search of food back then. What a pity! Now that we are in two different cities, we send each other pictures and recipes of food we’ve cooked; admiring and drooling and whining at the same time. We are always hungry and the pictures are always sent when we are the hungriest!

SP had sent me the recipe for Pasta Cooked in Arrabiata Sauce last year and she claimed it was “super yummy”. I had saved the recipe in some random folder knowing I’d never cook this as none of us at home likes red sauce.

Skip loves Pasta so Mamma has given me two packets of uncooked Pasta with strict instructions to cook it for her “little Prince”. *eye-roll*

Last Friday, I got back home a bit early, in a mood to get a Chop Chop Chow dish ready. Skip was at home, so I decided to cook Pasta. I remembered SP’s recipe and for a change decided to make a red sauce. I went through the ingredients; the list looked so simple, I wondered if the sauce would end up tasting like tomato puree.

I’ve made minor changes to the original recipe and even after I was done, was sceptical of the dish. So I added grated cheese on it (one can’t go wrong with cheese) and we all sat to eat.

SP, you were right! The dish is “SUPER YUMMY”. And this is coming from people who dislike red sauce. The dish was light (unlike the one cooked in white sauce), the sauce tastes fresh and bursting with flavours of oregano, tangy and sweet tomatoes, cheese and garlic. The dish is healthier as compared to the white sauce that has generous portions of butter, flour, cream and cheese.

Sky insists that I henceforth cook pasta with red sauce. I have added red bell pepper and mushroom to the pasta. Feel free to add olives, baby corn, zucchini, broccoli or other crunchy vegetables to it.

PASTA IN ARRABIATA SAUCE (Serves 2)

Ingredients:

Pasta – 200 gms (I used Rotini)

Water - 2 cups

Pinch of salt, dash of oil

For the Arrabiata Sauce:

Tomatoes (small-medium sized) – 6

Olive oil- 1 ½ tbsp

Chilli Flakes – 1 tbsp

Chopped garlic – 8-9 cloves

Mixed herbs (oregano) – 1 tsp

Basil Powder/ Fresh Basil – 1 tsp

Sugar – 2 tsps (or as per taste)

Salt – as per taste

Pepper – ¼ tsp

Cornflour – 1 tsp

Cream – 2 tsp (optional)

Other Ingredients

Olive oil- 2 tbsp

Chilli Flakes – 1/2 tbsp

Mixed herbs (oregano) – 1 tsp

Basil Powder/ Fresh Basil – 1 tsp

Mixed vegetables- 1 cup (I used mushrooms and red bell pepper)

Cheese (grated) – ½ cup

Salt – as per taste

Method:

1.      Heat 2 cups water and once it begins to boil, add the pasta to it along with a tsp of salt and few drops of oil. Once the pasta is cooked (under 10 minutes), drain the water and keep aside.

2.      For the Arrabiata sauce: Boil the tomatoes in water. When they are cooked, the skin begins to crack open.  Remove tomatoes off the heat. Cool them and peel. Put the tomatoes in the blender. Add 1 tsp each of salt and sugar and blend it.

3.      Heat olive oil in a pan. Add the herbs, basil, chilli flakes and pepper. Sauté for half a minute. Pour the tomato puree into the pan and cook for about 5 minutes.

4.      Dilute 1 tsp cornflour in 3 tbsp water and pour it to the above puree.

5.      Add the chopped garlic and cook for a few more minutes until the sauce thickens.

6.      Add the cream and swirl the sauce slightly. (Taste the sauce at this point and add more salt and sugar if required)

7.      Turn off flame and keep aside.

8.      In another pan, heat olive oil. Add the herbs, basil, chilli flakes and pepper. Sauté for half a minute.

9.      Add the mushrooms and cook on high flame until the water is evaporated.

10. Add the bell pepper and sauté for a minute or two.

11. Pour the red sauce to the above pan with veggies and give it a good mix.

12. Add the cooked pasta and give it a good mix.

13.  Remove from pan and pour the pasta into the serving dish.

14. Sprinkle the grated cheese on the pasta.

15. Done.

Recipe notes:

·        The quantity of sugar and salt would vary depending on taste of the tomato sauce. Sugar is added to balance the acidity of the tomatoes. Use red, ripe tomatoes and not greenish, sour ones.

·        Quantity of the olive oil may be further reduced.

·        Instead of dried chilli flakes, you may also whole red chillies. Boil it along with the tomatoes and grind in blender.

·        Quantity of spices can be altered as per taste.

·        I haven’t added onions to the sauce. Bob adds finely chopped onions to it.