Bitter gourd with Eggs

Does Bitter gourd turn you away? If yes , read the below facts and be enlightened about the goodness of this bitter veggie.

If not, jump straight to the recipeJ

This vegetable is an excellent source of health benefiting phyto-nutrient, folates, flavonoids such as b-carotene, a- carotene, lutein, zeaxanthins. It also contains good amount of vitamin A. These compounds help act as protective scavengers against oxygen-derived free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) that play a role in aging, cancers and various disease processes. [Info courtesy: Nutrition and You]

And most importantly this veggie is in fact very cooling for your body , a perfect item to include in tropical diet

This dish is very common in hawker centers/food courts in Singapore. I usually pick the version with Bitter gourd and fermented black beans.

I have no clue where to find fermented black beans so I am stickling to the second version with eggs.

The recipe was passed down to me by one of my dear friend.

Bitter gourd with Eggs

Ingredients

1/2  Bitter gourd

1 egg

1 tspn Soy sauce

1 garlic chopped

1 Green Chili

Directions

Slice the half bitter gourd, length wise and scoop out the seeds. Slice the bitter gourd thinly.

If you want to reduce the bitterness , you can spread the sliced bitter gourds in a kitchen towel and this will take away some bitter juices.

Heat oil in pan and stir fry garlic and chilies for few seconds.

Add the sliced bitter gourd and stir fry for 3-4 minutes until it turn slightly translucent 

Drizzle the soy sauce over the bitter gourds and stir well.

Now you can beat the egg and pour the egg over the bitter gourds. Stir fry until egg is cooked.

Muesli Pancakes with creamy Peanut butter sauce

Pancakes are a wonderful breakfast dish, they are quick, easy and very versatile..

You can pick anything from your pantry and come up with a pancake recipe..like this one!

This one has the wholesome goodness of Muesli, dried fruits and goes soo well with the creamy peanut butter sauce!

Muesli Pancakes with creamy Peanut butter sauce

Ingredients

½ Cup + 2 tbspn Muesli

½ Cup Whole wheat pastry flour

½ tspn Baking powder

½ tspn Cinnamon powder

2 tspn Oil

1 tbspn Agave Nectar or sweetener of your choice

¾ -1 Cup Low fat Milk

1 egg white- beaten until soft peak is formed.

Directions

Pulse the Muesli in a blender for few seconds until coarsely ground

Mix together the powdered Muesli, flour, baking powder and cinnamon powder.

Make a well in the center and add the wet ingredients: Oil, sweetner,3/4 Cup milk.

Mix well, if the consistency is too thick add little more milk and make the batter consistency to that of a cake batter

Now slowly add the egg whites and fold in.

Heat the pan ,once the pan is hot enough pour a scoop of batter and spread it lightly.

Cook until bubbles are formed around the pancakes, flip and cook other side.

Peanut butter sauce

3 tbspn peanut butter

3 tbspn milk

1 tbspn maple syrup

Pulse all ingredients together in a blender until it becomes smooth and creamy.

And off this goes to Helen's Breakfast Club

Egg-less Custard Powder Cookies

Have you ever picked ingredients from grocery shop planning to try some very special thingy,

And after a while you stare at the pack and wonder what was I planning to make with this!!!hmmmm…

And that my dear friends always happen with me. I have a long list of ”Why  am I  here list “  items in my pantry/refrigerator

I still have no clue why I have a pack of Polenta, quinoa flakes etc etc in my pantryL

The Indian Flavored Custard powder was among the “Why I am here list” as well!

I guess I got it to try an eggless Cream Brule or custard cake or sum thing of that kind!!

Anyways yesterday I managed to take off the Custard powder from the list and made this Yummy CookiesJ

Egg-less Custard Powder Cookies

Ingredients

125 gms butter or Margarine

100gms icing sugar

2 tbspn Soy milk or regular milk

100 gms Custard powder- I used Saffron and Cardamom Custard powder.

200 gms self raising flour

Directions

Preheat the oven to 170 Degree

Cream together butter, icing sugar and Milk until light and fluffy

Add the custard powder and flour and mix well, until it comes together ..

Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Shape 1 tsp batter into a ball, flatten it and press gently using a fork.

Bake for 15-18 minutes until it start to brown lightly.

You can switch on the fan in last 1-2 minute to get a crunchier cookie.

Saffron Peda and Besan Laddu : Two easy Diwali sweets

Wishing all my dear friends a very happy and prosperous Diwali

May this diwali fulfill all your dreamsJ

As today is an off day, I started my day with the usual blog hopping and came across the Kesar Peda recipe at Sharmis passion.

I have to admit that I was head over heels over the sweet, cute little pedas .

She have put it soo beautifully that you feel like making it right awayJ And I did it!

Do hop on to her lovely space here to see the detailed pictorial!

  

The second sweet I made was Besan laddu, I simple followed the steps from the video here

Lime Cake with Butterscotch Frosting

Ayyoo..I again made a disappearance from blogosphere for 2 weeks:-(

Let me put the blame on the work which squeezed out most of my weekday time and tiredness aka laziness which took away the weekend time !

Anyways as the first step to get out of the sluggishness, I am clearing out my drafts folder and here is one tangy cake I made weeks back

This recipe is from my beloved recipe book…Cakes from Pageone

Lime Cake with Butterscotch Frosting

Ingredients

2 ½ Cup Flour

¾ Cup Desiccated Coconut

¼ Cup Almond Meal

2 tspn Baking powder

Pinch of salt

1 Cup butter

1 Cup Sugar

1tbspn Lime zest grated

3 large eggs

¾ Cup Yogurt

2 tbspn Freshly squeezed Lime Juice

Directions 

Pre heat the oven to 350 Degrees

Stir in the Dry ingredients: Flour, Desiccated Coconut, Almond meal, baking powder and salt in a large bowl

Beat the butter , sugar and lime zest until light and creamy.

Add the eggs and continue to beat until just blended

Add the dry ingredients to the mix, alternating with yogurt and lime juice

Pour the batter into pan and bake for 45-55 minutes

For the frosting: Melt some butterscotch chips in a microwave with a tablespoon of cream

Mix well and spread on the cooled cake.

Choco Banana Brownies

I love brownies ...And I love bananas..Combine them both, you get this amazing choco banana brownies

I made it last week for a BBQ party at office.

As lighting the BBQ took quite a bit of time everyone had my brownies and cheese cake from my friend as appetizersJ

Brownies and Cheese cake as starters..How awesome can a party get!!

Choco Banana Brownies

Adapted from Bars and Squares by Jill Snider

Ingredients

1 Cup Sugar

1/3 Cup Light Olive Oil

2 eggs

2 Bananas mashed

3/4 Cup Cocoa powder

1 Cup Flour

1 tspn Baking powder

½ tspn Baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 Cup Semi sweet chocolate chips..

1 Cup Chopped walnuts

Directions 

Preheat the oven to 180 Degree

In a large bowl, mix the oil, sugar and egg and using an electric mixer, mix well for 2 minutes

Add the banana and sifted cocoa powder and beat on low speed.

Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda, salt. Add to the Cocoa mixture and beat on low speed.

Add in the chocolate chips and chopped walnuts.

Bake oven for 25-30 minutes 

Whole-wheat Peanut butter Pancakes

These are the perfect yummy nutty pancakes for your lazy Sundays.

And what make this even better? It hardly takes 15 minute to put it all together and make 6 pancakes.

Yes, just 15 minutes and you can go back to that comfy couch and enjoy your healthy breakfast with the “Desperate Housewives” [thatz how I did it todayJ]

Whole-wheat Peanut butter Pancakes

Makes 6 Pancakes

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Whole wheat pastry flour

¼ tspn Baking powder

1-2 tspn Sugar

Pinch of Baking Soda

Pinch of Salt

3 tablespoon Peanut butter

1/2 Cup + 2 tablespoon Low Fat Milk

1 egg white

2tspn Oil

Directions

Mix together the dry ingredients ,stir well and set aside

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks are formed

Add Oil to the peanut butter and stir well until no lumps.

Now add in the milk to the peanut butter mix and continue to beat until blended well

Add the wet ingredients to the dry mix and stir just to bring everything together.

Gently fold in the egg whites

Heat the griddle and spoon the batter and spread it lightly.

Cook until bubbles are formed around the pancakes, flip and cook other side.

Baked Yogurt with Pistachios n Cardamom

Happy Vijayadashmi wishes to one and all..

Hope you all had a wonderful time with lot of festive foods.

For me, I went off for a short 4 day vacation to Langkawi and took my first DiveJ

And we absolutely loved it!!

Diving was an amazing experience…loved the underwater world, so colorful and stunning.

Rest of the 3 days we just lazed around the small island, driving around and eating lot of local delights especially Roti Canai

We loved diving soo much that we are already planning for our next diving getaway.

Do let me know if you know any good diving spots in and around SE Asia

Coming to the recipe of the day, it’s a baked Yogurt which is an absolutely fool proof recipe..

Baked Yogurt with Pistachios n Cardamom

Recipe Adapted from : Atul Kochhar’s Indian Essence.

Ingredients

1/4 Cup Greek yogurt

1/4 Cup Condensed Milk

1/4 tspn cardamom powder

2 tbspn chopped Pistachios.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 150 Degree

Line 3 ramekins with muffin cups

Mix all ingredients together and pour the mixture to ramekins.

Place them in a tray and fill the tray with water halfway up the ramekins

Bake in oven for 35-45 minutes until set.

Let them cool and chill it in refrigerator until serving time.

Unmold the Baked yogurt from the muffin cups and serve chilled