Jackfruit Pancake/ Phanas Poale

Jackfruit or Phanas as we call it, is one of my favorite fruits. We used to get that in abundance in my native place in North Canara. During our summer visits first thing I used to do was to run to the big jackfruit trees in the backyard and count how many we could have before we leave. We would keep a watch on the ripening jackfruit so no monkeys can harm them. Even before they ripe sometimes my granny would take it out to make curries, chips etc. Ripe ones were usually attacked by all the grandkids.. But she would sometime ask us to leave some of it so she can make dosa or idli out of it.

Here I don't have the luxury of getting fresh fruit. But I always stock up on canned ones. My kids love it too. So when I was blog hopping Kaveri, I jumped to this recipe of jackfruit pancakes. Though I have had this many times before, it's never enough for me. :o) Kaveri has lot of Palakkad recipes on her space. These pancakes turned out really good. Jackfruit gives real nice flavor to common dishes. Try it out and let me know.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cooking Time | Pressure cook time + making each pancake

Ingredients:

Jackfruit - 1 Cup (1 can full of jackfruits)

Paraboiled rice/ Long grain rice - 1 1/2 Cup

Jaggery - 1 Cup (Brown Sugar)

Salt - 1/4 tsp.

Oil to grease the pan

Method of Preparation:

~ Wash rice and leave it to soak for 3 to 4 hours.
~ Soak jaggery in little water and let the impurities settle down.
~ Meanwhile if you have fresh jackfruit, remove the shell, pull out each fruits from it. Deseed and wash the fruits. If it's from canned, remove the syrup and rinse with water
~ Roughly chop the fruit and pressure cook for 2 or 3 whistles.
~ Grind the rice adding little water. When the batter is coarse, add cooked jackfruit and jaggery, grind to smooth paste.
~ Heat a thick pan and pour a ladle full of batter onto the pan. Drizzle some oil on and around the pancake/ dosa. Let it cook on that side for a minute.
~ Flip it over gently using a flat spatula and cook the other side.
~ Serve it hot with some butter on top.

Check out my previous blog hop entries…

These are cooked up to go for Radhika of Tickling Palates blog hop event.

Sharing this at May event of Bon Vivant #4 - Fruit Recipes

Also sending this to Radhika's Let's Cook - Fruits,
Srivalli's Kids Delight hosted at UK-Rasoi,
Chandrani's Spotlight - Healthy Breakfast ,
Divya's Let's Party - Breakfast 

Wholegrain Oatmeal Almond Flaxseed Bars

I have been wanting to make my own breakfast bars for some time now. And kept putting it off for one or the other reason. These that I eventually did try are from Nayna’s Simply Sensational Food. She is my partner for the blog hop this month. I have previously blog hopped her and loved this Coconut Pistachio burfi. She has such a variation of recipe collection, that it was hard to decide on just one to try. But eventually I tried the oatmeal bars with variations. It turned out really nice. Kids loved the chocolate goodness on top. Done once and healthy breakfast is at my fingertips every morning.

These oatmeal bars are packed with nutrients. It’s made from whole grain flour, oatmeal, almonds and last not least flaxseed. Kept sugar to minimum by using brown sugar combined with molasses. Do try these and you will be licking your fingers at last crumble.

Prep Time: 5 mins. | Cooking Time: 5 mins. | Baking Time: 45 mins.

Original recipe here.

Ingredients:

Whole grain flour – 1 Cup

Oatmeal – 1 Cup

Almonds powder (any nuts) – ¾ Cup

Milled Flaxseed – ¼ Cup

Desiccated Coconut – ¼ Cup

Baking soda – ½ tsp.

Salt – ¼ tsp.

Unsalted Butter – ½ Cup / 1 butter stick melted

Molasses – ¼ Cup

Honey - 2 tbsp.

Brown sugar – ¾ Cup

Chocolate chips (optional) – ½ Cup

Method of Preparation:

~ Take a wide mixing bowl. Mix all the first 7 dry ingredients together. The flour, oats, almond powder, flaxseed, desiccated coconut, baking soda, and salt.

~ In a pan add the butter, brown sugar, molasses and honey. Heat them till the sugar melts. It should take about 4 to 5 minutes.

~ Grease a 9X13 inch baking dish. Preheat the oven at 325 degree Fahrenheit/ 160 degree Celsius.

~ Pour this syrup into the dry ingredients slowly and mix with a spoon first since it will be hot. Once you are able to handle, mix it all together and pat it tightly into the greased baking tray.

~ Bake for about 40 ~ 45 minutes.

~ Add the chocolates on top. Cut them into bars. And put them back into the switched off oven for another 10 minutes. I only added them to half of the baked portion for kids.

Notes:

- I powdered almonds to hide them from my kids. You can use any size or bits of nuts as you desire.

- If you would like chocolate chips in all of it, just mix it in the dough before you pack it in.

Check out my previous blog hop entries…

These are cooked up to go for Radhika of Tickling Palates blog hop event.


Sending this to Bon Vivant - Breakfast Ideas happening at my place.

And also to,
~ Vardhini's event Bake Fest hosted by me.
~ Radhika's I love Baking event
~ Cusine Delight's Lunchbox Ideas started by Recipe Junction
~ Ayeesha's Healthy Morsels - Pregnancy
~ CWS-Oats event by Priya
~ My Culinary Creations Snacks Recipes
~ Only Snacks event by Pari

Pizza Muffin Bread

Have you heard of pizza muffins. Pizza yes, muffins yes.. but them together? Interesting right? I might have seen something similar savory bread, but hadn't tasted it. So when I saw this on my blog hop partner Rajani's of My Kitchen Trials I wanted to try that. It looked really soft and spongy. Verdict! They came out really nice. House smelled like baking a pizza, it tasted like a pizza only it was shaped like a muffin. They were quite filling and satisfying.

I made quite a few changes, baked it eggless with more veggies and multigrain flour. It was denser than her version of recipe, which was expected coz of the multigrain flour. Also, these can be put in a bread pan and be made into bread loaf. I prepared my usual pizza sauce to go with these. And they matched perfectly!! Here is a rundown on the recipe.

Prep Time: 15 min| Cooking Time: 30 min| Makes: 12 Muffins

Ingredients:

Flour - 2 cups ( I used 1 - multigrain and 1 - AP flour)
Baking Powder - 2 tsp.
Baking Soda – ½  tsp.
Yogurt – ½ cup
Cheese - 1 cup (I used Mozzarella)
Italian seasoning - 1 tsp.
Olive Oil - 2 tbsp.
Onion - 1 medium - Finely chopped
Tomato - 2 small - cubed
Bell Pepper - 1/2 - Cubed
Spinach - 1 cup - Washed & chopped
Salt - 1 tsp.
Water - 1 cup



All veggies ready to be mixed

Pizza dough ready


Method of Preparation:

~ Preheat the oven to 400 deg. Fahrenheit.
~ Spray/ Grease 12 cup muffin tray. I used olive oil spray so that the taste is not altered.
~ Heat a pan and with little or no oil fry onion and capsicum.
~ When they are little soft, switch off the heat. Add spinach, tomatoes, salt and Italian herbs.
~ In a big bowl, sieve flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add cheese, yogurt, olive oil and the vegetable mix.
~ Add water and gently mix everything together.
~ Now using an ice-cream scooper or a big ladle, spoon into prepared muffin tin.
~ Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean.
~ Serve these yummy savory muffins with pizza sauce or ketchup.

Check out my previous blog hop entries…

These are cooked up to go for Radhika of Tickling Palates blog hop event.

I am also delighted to share this to below events,

Bon Vivant #2 - Savory Items going on right now at my space

Radhika's two event's I love Baking and Let's Cook - Greens,

Vardhini's Bake Fest hosted at Sizzling Tastebuds,

Resh's Comfort Food

GirliChef's Bring Your Own Bread event

Chandrani's Lunchbox Ideas for original Spotlight event

tea time @ charu's

Coriander/ Cilantro Chicken

You must be wondering the name says cilantro chicken, but the gravy is red! Well, it the bright color that comes out of tomatoes. Neat isn’t it?  :o)

This post is for monthly blog hopping event and I am paired with Swetha of Our Cherished World for this month. Visit her to find out what she has cooked from my collection. Going through her recipes this coriander prawns recipe caught my attention. I decided to try this with chicken. And boy was I glad to try it. It turned out really nice and tangy with a rich flavor of the curry. It's a must try and will be a sure hit.

Prep Time: 20 mins | Cooking time: 30 to 40 mins | Serves: 6 people

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1 Kg (2.2 lb - Was about 4 cups)

Marinate:

Yogurt – ½ cup

Chili powder - 4 tsp.

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp.

Salt to taste (About 1½  tsp.)

For Curry Paste:

Onion – 1 cup chopped

Tomato – 3 cups chopped

Yogurt – 1 ½ cup

Cashew nuts – 2 tbsp.

Ginger – 1 tbsp. grated

Garlic – About 10 pods

Cinnamon – Small piece

Cloves – 7 to 10

Pepper – 1 tsp.

Fennel seed – 1 tsp.

Cumin/ Jeera seeds – 1tsp.

Green Chilies – 5

Fresh Cilantro/ Coriander leaves – 1 big bunch.

Method of Preparation:

~ Cut and clean chicken. Mix everything under marinate into a paste. Apply to chicken and let it marinate atleast for 2 hours. I marinated overnight.

~ Grind all the ingredients under “For Curry paste”.

~ Heat 1 tbsp. of oil in a pan. Add the masala paste and fry for at-least 15 minutes on medium heat. After raw swell goes and oil starts to separate, simmer on low heat for another 10 minutes.

~ Now add the marinated chicken, increase the heat and mix for about 5 minutes.

~ Cover the pan and continue to cook until chicken is cooked completely. This took about 15 min. Uncover and simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes while stirring.

~ Goes really well with Italian bread, Chapati or rice.

Update: Just thought will add alternative vegetarian option to the list. The gravy itself was so good that it can be used in vegetarian dishes.

~ Potato gravy - Potato is so versatile that it goes well with any gravy that is meant for chicken. My mom would take out the gravy and then add meat in case someone in the house is not going to eat the non-veg dish. She would boil some potatoes and after bringing gravy to good boil, add potatoes and switch off the heat.

~ Bhindi/ Okra - Clean okra, pat dry them. Then fry them in little more oil than usual with little salt. Once half way done add the prepared gravy and bring them to boil.

~ Eggplant/ Bhaingan - Follow instruction as in for Bhindi.

~ Soy Chunks - Wash and soak soy chunks in hot water for 10 mintues. Squeeze out all the water. In a pan fry soy chunks, add gravy and bring them to boil.

Check out my previous blog hop entries…

This is off to Radhika’s blog hop event.

And also to Srav's Dish For Loved Ones

Vegetable Fried Rice

Everyone must be relaxing after the Christmas now. Another three days and a new year begins. Wishing you all a Happy New Year in advance. Now coming to today's post, I had to blog hop to Kavi of Edible Entertainment. She has a cute little space. Mostly step by step pictures which makes the reader easy to remember and follow. I chose this Veg Schezwan Rice. Though I didn't had all the ingredients that she had specified I went ahead. It turned out really good. Thanks Kavi for this wonderful recipe. Below is all the veggies I used, be creative change it up.

Serves: 4 | Prep Time: 15 min | Cooking Time: 10 min.
Ingredients:

• Cold Rice - 2 cups
• Olive Oil - 1 tsp.
• Garlic - 6 pods - sliced lengthwise
• Bell pepper - 1/2 - Seeded & lengthwise
• Carrots - 1 cup - cut in matchstick size
• Cabbage - 1 cup - cut lengthwise
• Peas - 1 cup - Steamed ahead of time
• Baby Spinach - 1 cup
• Chinese Chili Sauce - 1/2 tsp.
• Chinese Garlic Chili Sauce - 1 tsp.
• Worcheire Sauce - 1 tsp.
• Salt to taste

Method of Preparation:

~ Prepare rice ahead of time, best fried rice comes out of the cold rice. I used cold rice from previous day.
~ Heat oil in a wok. Add garlic and saute.
~ Keep the heat on high. Add pepper and carrots and saute for few minutes.
~ Add all the remaining veggies and saute for few more minutes. All the veggies should retain their crunch, so don't overcook.
~ Add all three sauces, very little salt to taste. Mix in with veggies.
~ Reduce the heat and add the cold rice to veggies. Mix well and take it off from heat.

Tip: Add some ketchup for kids to reduce the heat.

Check out my previous blog hop entries…

This is off to Radhika’s blog hop event.

Tuna Kabobs

I am in India! Yes! I am sure my four weeks of vacation will zoom past me before I know it. My blog will be put on a slow gear for some time during this period. But nevertheless I wouldn’t have missed my blog hopping for anything. So I have planned ahead for these and here is my bloghopping for the day from Neha’s From My Heart.

Going through her blog, I thought I would try the baking something. Since I have never given bread a try, I zeroed on her banana bread recipe. But since my DH is a big fan of banana walnut bread, I modified it and fell flat on face. I did try a different banana walnut recipe and will be posting that soon. Coming back to blog hop I later tried her Tuna Kabob.  Oh they were just so good. It was very easy to prepare and we couldn’t stop snacking on it. So had to quickly take picture. I had never tried tuna in a kabob style so it was really refreshing.

I mostly stuck to her recipe making very few changes. Since I had made double the quantity of what is mentioned below, we had some leftovers for dinner. I simply heated them up and rolled it inside chapati and voila, kiddie wraps were ready.

Prep Time: 10 min. Cooking Time: About 7 to 10 min for a panful.

Ingredients:

White Tuna in water (no salt) - 1 Can

Onion – small ( about half a cup finely chopped)

Egg - 1

Potato – 1

Chaat Masala – ½ tsp.

Bread Crumbs – ½ cup

Green Chili – 2 (finely chopped)

Cilantro/ Coriander Leaves – handful.

Ginger – Lime size (grated)

Garlic – 3 pods (grated)

Oil to shallow fry

Salt to taste

Method of preparation:

~ In a microwave safe bowl cook potatoes. Grate and place in a mixing bowl.

~ Discard the water in tuna and add to the potatoes.

~ Add all other ingredients except oil and mix well. I used hands to give it a nice mix.

~ Make small patties out of the mixture and shallow fry on both sides.

~ Serve it hot with some green mint chutney and ketchup.

Note: Keep check on salt since tuna tends to be saltier.

Check out my previous blog hop entries…

This is off to Radhika’s blog hop event.

Avocado & Bell Pepper Muhammara - Syrian Dip

Time sure flies. Whether you like it or not it goes on ticking. I am loving it, coz next weekend I will be visiting India. Yey.!! We had booked our tickets in April and I remember thinking, oh, that's a long way to go. But here I am trying to go through last minute shopping and packing. I might have completely ignored my blog if it wasn't for blog hopping event by Radhika of Tickling Palates.


This week I am paired with Ayeesha's Taste of Pearl City. I have known her since I started blogging. Her "Anyone Can Cook" series are great for beginner cooks who are looking for some easy to do recipes. With so many things going around me, I decided to pick an easy recipe too and I found it in Muhammara. For original recipe and other great recipes visit Ayeesha here.

Muhammara is a syrian dip, which can be used to top warm biscuits (US kinda biscuits), pita bread, pita chips, toast or crackers. I think they are wonderful with Kebabs and Grilled fish or vegetables too. The original spicy muhammara doesn't call for avocado, but since Ayeesha had used it I gave it a try too, actually doubling it.


Avocados are not only rich in fiber, potassium and Vitamin E, it is also contains a good dose of heart-healthy mono and polyunsaturated fats. Looking some more online to give information to my readers I came across this study find on world’s healthiest foods - Recent research has shown that absorption of two key carotenoid antioxidants—lycopene and beta-carotene—increases significantly when fresh avocado is added to diet. What does that mean to us? These carotenoids are fat-soluble and would be provided with the fat they need for absorption from the addition of avocado. So show some love for these beauties.. :o)

I love making Guacamole with it, Muhammara was a good change. Also, since they are so creamier, I didn't have to use olive oil in the recipe. Read on and try this simple recipe and tell me what you would like them on. 

Serves: 6| Prep Time: 5 min. | Cooking Time: 25 min. (for roasting bell peppers)

Ingredients: 

• Red Bell Peppers – 2 [Or 2 Canned roasted Bell peppers. I used one red and other green one from my veggie garden. That's why it's more greener in color than red. ]
• Avocado - 2
• Bread crumbs – ¼ cup
• Walnuts – ¼ cup – Coarsely chopped
• Molasses – 1 tsp. (Original calls for pomegranate molasses. I had cane sugar one, which tasted perfect)
• Red Chili flakes – 1 tsp. (Or Cayenne pepper – ½ tsp.)
• Cumin/ Jeera powder – ½ tsp.
• Lime juice – 1 tbsp.
• Olive oil – 1 tsp. for roasting.
• Salt as needed.

Method of Preparation:

~ Skip this part if using canned roast bell peppers. Preheat the oven to 375 deg. F. In a baking dish, place washed and cut into half bell peppers (cut side down). Apply olive oil on top (you could use olive oil spray). Roast for about 20 minutes. Then turn the broil on and continue to roast for another 5 min.

~ After the bell peppers are cooled down, remove the roasted skin and place it in a blender.

~ Cut the avocado’s lengthwise. Hold both sides and twist in opposite direction, to pull out one without the seed. Now poke a knife in the seed, twist to remove the seed. Spoon out the flesh into blender.

~ Add all other ingredients in and blend until smooth. Yummy dip is ready to be devoured!

Check out my previous blog hop entries…

 

This is off to Radhika’s blog hopping event.

I am also entering this for Ayeesha’s event Eat Well Live well. If I win the giveaway I would love to add this Cuisinart blender to my kitchen

And Kalyani's 100 Days of Global Food Festival event

I wanted to also thank my fellow blogger Christy and Julie for sending these awards my way. :o)