Healthy Mathri

'Mathri' is a savory snack very popular in India. Kids love them!! Traditionally, it is a snack made out of plain four and oil and is deep fried. So it has a lot of calories!

In my recipe, I tried to bring down the calorie count and fat content in 'Mathri' and baked them instead of frying them, and they turned out good :). I also used whole wheat flour instead of plain flour to add fiber and nutrition to the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup Whole Wheat flour
1/4 cup Oil
1 teaspoon Roasted cumin seeds or roasted cumin seeds powder
1 teaspoon carom seeds (Ajwain)
Salt as per your taste
Warm water as required to knead the flour

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 420 F/200 C
2. Add the cumin, salt and carom seeds to the flour. Add all of the oil and use warm water to knead the flour well. It should not be very soft and easy to roll out. 
3. Use a rolling pin to roll out the flour. You can use cookie cutters to cut the mathri in desired shapes. Use a knife or fork to make small cuts on the mathri so they don't rise while baking. 
4. Line a baking tray with butter paper. Or spray some oil spray or put a few drops of oil and spread on the tray. 
5. Put the mathri on the tray and bake for about 10 minutes or until they are light brown. Check after 5-7 minutes if you have rolled the mathri very thin. 
6. Enjoy with Tea!

Handy Tips!!

1. You can also add Oatmeal, Semolina, Gram Flour etc to the mathri to give it a different taste. Oatmeal ans semolina will make the mathris more crisp
2. Add spices like red chilli powder, black pepper powder, Dry mango powder etc to add more flavor 
3. You can also add kasuri methi (Dried fenugreek leaves), Ginger-garlic paste etc. to the flour to give it a kick! 

Happy baking!

Ghevar

So, this recipe for Ghevar is very close to my heart because it's one of my favorite desserts!

Ghevar is a traditional Indian dessert very popular in the North India during the monsoon season. It seems that It's difficult to make, but it's actually not that hard. Give it a try!

Ingredients:

1 cup (8 oz) Plain Flour/ All Purpose Flour
0.5 cup (4 oz) Ghee
0.5 cup Cold Milk
1 cup Ice Cold water
Ghee or Oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Mix Ghee and Milk with the help of a hand blender on high speed for about 2 minutes. It should look like churned butter
2. Add Flour 1 Tablespoon at a time and mix with the blender after every addition of flour
3. Add Ice cold water in the middle to adjust consistency and to avoid the formation of any lumps
4. Blend for another 2 minutes till the mixture is smooth. 
5. Cover the mixture and refrigerate for about 15-20 minutes
6. Take a small round pan (I used a small pan in which I make tea). The pan should be thick bottomed for best results and should be deep. 
7. Fill the pan with Ghee. The Ghee should fill the pan by a little more than half its width. 
8. Let the Ghee heat well. Put a drop of the batter in the Ghee to test the temperature. It should start bubbling immediately. 
9. Take a small glass or cup and fill it with the ghevar batter
10. Drop the batter into the center of the pan in a thin continuous flow.
11. It will start bubbling immediately and you will see it coming to the edges of the pan. Drop about half the mixture in the cup and stop. 
12. When the bubbles settle, take a fork and move all the pieces to the edges of the pan to form a hollow center
13. Once the bubbles are settled and the oil is back to its hot temperature, drop the remaining mixture in the cup in a similar way. It will bubble immediately and move to the edges of the pan. 
14. Repeat this process till you have used about half of the prepared batter. 
15. After each layer added, insert a fork in the center of the ghevar to retain the hole. 
16. Let it cook for about 3-4 minutes. Once browned lightly, remove from the pan after draining off any excess ghee and set aside on a plate. 
17. This batter will make 2 Ghevars

Make sugar syrup by adding 1 cup of sugar in 0.5 cup of water and bring to a boil. You can add cardamom powder to the syrup is desired. 

Once the Ghevars are done, dip one in the sugar syrup for about 10 seconds and keep on a plate. 

Ghevar can be eaten either plain or you can top them with a rabdi of your choice ;)

Happy Cooking and Be Safe! :)

Coconut and Walnut Cake

Okay so finally I'm a blogger!

My love for cooking has developed over the years and I made my first solo dish when I was about 12 years old.

P.S I have a special love for baking!

Sometimes I feel that I'm in the wrong profession. Actually I was a bit late in realizing that I should have followed my heart instead of my mind. Oh well, I *wish* that I'll get there someday! For now, I'm the Master Chef for my family :)

So, in my blog, I'll post all the recipes that I've tried and tested. Some have photos and some don't. I am a health freak, so I love cutting down the fat and calorie content of the recipes that I come across. Sometimes, fat is yummy (!), so I add extra butter or oil just to get the right taste (:P). I do experiement a lot with ingredients and I confess, sometimes I've created disasters that are far from edible. But hey, everyone makes mistakes, right?

As the title of my post suggests, my first recipe that I'm sharing involves baking!!

Coconut and Walnut Cake

I baked this cake recently to celebrate my sister's birthday, so my first recipe is dedicated to her :)

Ingredients:

1.5 cups All purpose flour/ Whole Wheat flour
0.5 cup Freshly grated coconut
0.5 cup chopped walnuts
1.5 teaspoon Baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
0.5 cup milk
2 Eggs
1 cup sugar (brown or white)
1 cup Oil

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350/180 degrees
2. Grease the baking dish with oil and dust with flour
3. Sieve the flour and baking powder and add salt to it
4. In a separate bowl, lightly beat eggs.
5. Add sugar and oil and beat again. You can just use a fork or a spatula to mix. You don't have to use a hand blender
6. Add the grated coconut and walnuts to this mixture
7. Add the flour mixture slowly (about 2 Tablespoons at a time) to the eggs-oil etc mixture and stir
8. Add milk once you feel that the mixture is becoming thick, 2 Tablespoons at a time. (You might need more than 0.5 cups of milk if you use whole wheat flour).
9. When all the flour has been used, check the consistency. Add more milk if you need.
10. Pour this mixture in the greased baking dish and let it bake for about 30 - 35 minutes.
11. When done, remove cake from the oven and let it stand for 5 minutes
12. Reverse the cake on a plate and let it cool on a wire rack.

Handy tips!!

1. It is always best to use all ingredients at room temperature. If the eggs are in the fridge, bring them down to room temperature by putting them in some warm (not hot) water for 5 minutes.
2. Milk should also be at room temperature
3. Don't open the oven door till the cake has risen completely from the middle.
4. To moisten the cake, when it is ready, make some holes on top of the cake with a fork. Make a syrup of milk and sugar (0.25 cup milk and 1 Tablespoon sugar) or any light fruit juice (like lemon, orange) and pour it with a teaspoon on the cake. The holes on the cake will let the syrup seep into the cake, and the cake will be moist.