Carrot Halva (Microwave)

Christmas is over :-( . Hope you all had a good time enjoying all the goodness this festival brings, not to mention good food, gifts, parties and so on. I had a good time too and am having a good time now as well, shopping around in the big sale season! I tell you I love shopping and I do not know many people who do not :-)!

The blogosphere is filled with recipes of Christmas goodies and it made things more festive. May be I will share them sometimes later. Today, I am sharing this Halva which is an all time favourite in my household especially during winters. This Carrot Halva is the microwave version. I had posted the conventional one long back. You can check the recipe here.

This is probably going to be my last post this year.. Lets end it with this sweet dish! Wishing you all the very best in the coming year!

Coming back to today's recipe:

Carrot Halva (Microwave):

Ingredients:

2 cups shredded carrots.
1 tbsp ghee
½ cup milk.
¼ cup sugar or less.
A few strands of saffron.
2 cardamom pods crushed.
Almond flakes and chopped pistachios to garnish.



Process:

1. Add the carrots to a safe microwave bowl and add ghee. Give a good stir so that the ghee is nicely coated on the shredded carrots.

2. Add milk, crushed cardamom, saffron and sugar and mix such that all the carrots is covered by it.

3.Microwave on a high for 3-5 minutes and stir and microwave again for 3-5 minutes.

4. Follow this cycle till done. Mine took 20 minutes. If you are making a lesser amount it will be done quicker and also time differs from microwave to microwave. So adjust accordingly.

5. Finally, garnish with almonds and pistachios. Serve warm or cold.

Sending this off to my event - Winter Warmers held here.

Enjoy!

Aaloo Palak

There are certain vegetables, I am not really very fond of but, still they find a regular place in my menu. Thats because they are very essential for a healthy vegetarian diet. One such veggie is 'Spinach'. I feel as if it leaves a bitter after taste in my mouth and this is why I always combine it with one of my favourite things. I also add a little sugar which is obviously optional. It results in things like these. This time I am combining it with potato, which is an all favourite with me and with many people I know. So, this combo works great. Have a look!

Aaloo Palak:

Ingredients:

5-6 baby potatoes, boiled peeled and chopped into chunks.
2 cup baby spinach washed and chopped finely.
1 tbsp oil.
1 tsp cumin seeds.
Few strands on ginger.
1 green chilli, seeded and chopped.
¼ cup chopped onion.
¼ tsp turmeric powder.
½ tsp red chilli powder.
1 heaped tsp coriander powder.
½ tsp garam masala
1 tsp lemon juice.
½ tsp sugar or crushed jaggery(optional).
Chopped coriander leaves to garnish.

Process:

1. Heat a pan and add oil. When heated add the cumin seeds, chili and ginger.

2. After a few seconds add the chopped onions and sauté for a minute till the onions are translucent.

3. Add the chopped potatoes and stir. Add all the spices and salt except garam masala. Cook for 5 minutes.

4. Now add the chopped spinach and give it a good stir. Cover the pan for 3-4 minutes and keep the gas on medium.

5. Now, add garam masala, lemon juice and sugar/jaggery if using. Give it a good stir and cook for a minute. Turn off the gas and cover the pan for 5 minutes.

6. Transfer the subji in a serving bowl, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with roti/ chappati.

Sending this off to Sara's Event Only Green. This event is the brain child of Pari.

Enjoy!

Mango Choco Chip Tea Loaf

I had baked this cake around 3 weeks back. It happened when, I was cleaning and reshuffling my kitchen shelves when I spotted a can of mango slices sitting at one corner. I had bought it long back from Tesco and it was till to be used.

Long back I had bookmarked this recipe from Madhuram's site. She had made it from here. I thought of using my long desolated mango slices can for it. However, I didnot want it to be overly mango-ey. So, I decided to add some chocolate chips to it. The original recipe was vegan but mine is not as the chocolate chips I used are not vegan. Otherwise, it a nearly vegan cake! I drained the syrup form the can and churned the slices into a smooth puree. It measured 1 cup which was half a cup less than stated in the original recipe. I also added half a tsp of baking soda for leavening. I reduced the amount of sugar as the mango puree was already very sweet. I baked it for extra 4-5 minutes to get a nice golden crust. It just looked and smelled awesome when out of oven.

This Tea Loaf makes its way to Champa's Bake-Off, Suma's Blog Anniversary Event-Bakomania and to Sameena's Cookies n Cake for X mas Event.

P.S: Don't forget to check out what Suma's giveaway for the event!

Mango Choco Chip Tea Loaf:

Ingredients:

1½ cup AP Flour.
1½ tsp baking powder.
½ tsp baking soda.
¼ tsp salt.
⅓ cup sunflower oil.
1 cup mango puree.
1 tsp vanilla essence.
¼ cup chocolate chips.
⅔ cup - 2 tbsp sugar.

Process:

1. Grease a 1 lb loaf pan and dust it with flour. Preheat the oven at 180 C for 15 minutes.

2. Sieve flour, baking powder and salt together. Add the sugar and mix thoroughly.

3. Add mango puree, oil, vanilla essence in the dry ingredients mixture and mix gently to get a uniform batter. Add in the chocolate chips and fold it in the batter.

4. Pour the batter into the greased tin and bake for about 35- 40 minutes till done.

5. Cool it on a wire rack for 10 minutes before taking it out of the tin. Cool it completely before slicing.
 Serve cold ot warm with a cup of tea!

Enjoy!

An Event Announcement and C3 Soup

Winter is in full bloom here and with that there are a few dishes that are making way to our table more than at any other time of the year. 'Soups' for examples comes to my mind first. But there are lot many things that we cook mostly in winter that keeps us warm and going. So here I am with my first event here -'Winter Warmers', very apt for the season, I believe. I look forward to your contribution, be it a piping hot soup or a warm salad, a warm halva or a sizzling brownie. It can be even a hot cup of tea or coffee! The options are numerous and varied.. So, friends send in your delicious entries! Here are a few rules of the event, you would like to know:

1. Make something thats keeps you warms and going during cold wintery days.

2. It can be any course of the meal.

3. Recipe has to be strict vegetarian. No eggs allowed!

4. Multiple Entries are welcome. Old entries are allowed with new entries. That means if you are sending two new entries, you can send two of your old entries for the event.

5. Please send in your entries starting today, 15th Dec 2010 till on or before January 30th 2011. Roundup will be there by first week of February.

6. Bloggers can simply send your Name and URL of your recipe at theveggiehut@gmail.com (theveggiehut AT gmail DOT com) with the subject of "Winter Warmers" with the following details-

Name:
Recipe Name and Url:
Picture of the dish reduced to 300px:

Non bloggers can email me your name, recipe and picture at theveggiehut@gmail.com (theveggiehut AT gmail DOT com) with the subject of "Winter Warmers"

7. Link back to this announcement page is mandatory and I would really appreciate if you can include this logo in your posts.

Looking forward to your entries!

My very first entry to my very first event is this soup- C3 Soup. Well it is the actually, Carrot Coconut and Coriander Soup. It looks like a rather long name, so I call it C3 Soup. I had this soup here in a restraunt and needless to say I loved it. I am big on Tomato Soup but this one seemed to give a nice competition to my old all time favourite soup. I googled to find a suitable recipe and landed here. I have made some variation to it and here is my version.

Lets have alook at the ingredients:

4 large carrots.

1/4 cup chopped onions.

1/4 cup chopped coriander.

1/4 cup coconut milk( You may increase or decrease it by 2 tbsp)

2 cloves.

1 bay leaf.

Salt and pepper to taste.

2 tsp Sugar (Optional).

Process:

1. Wash and peel the carrots. Cut them into chunks. In a pressure cooker add the onions. cloves, bay   leaves and chopped carrots.

2. Add a cup of water. Pressure cook it on a medium till two whistles.

3. Let it cool down. Take out the cloves and bay leaf and discard. Churn it in a mixture till smooth and creamy with no lumps.

4. Heat a pan and add the mixture. Bring it to a boil and lower the gas.

5.  Add the chopped coriander leaves and coconut milk. Season with salt, pepper and sugar and stir. Let it simmer for 5 minutes. Serve hot with your choice of bread.

I love this soup a bit sweet but my husband likes othewise so I donot add the sugar in his part. You can make your choice.

Send in your 'Winter Warmer' recipes for my event and enjoy your winter. Cheers!

Spiced Whole Wheat Oats Pancakes

I have tried these pancakes from Tarla Dalal's Book, I mentioned here. I loved them immensely. They can be prepared in no time and are perfect for breakfast. And the icing on th cake is- they are very healthy too!

Spiced Wholemeal and Oats Pancakes:


Makes 8:

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup quick rolled oats.
a good pinch of nutmeg powder.
a good pinch of cardamom powder
¼ tsp cinnamon powder.
2 tbsp powdered sugar.
1 tsp oil.
½ cup low fat milk.
½ tsp Eno’s fruit salt.
a pinch of salt.
3 tbsp oil for cooking.
Honey for serving.
8 orange slices.

Process:

1. Combine all the ingredients except fruit salt in a bowl with enough water to form a smooth batter.
2. Heat  the pan and grease it with a little oil. Add the fruit salt in the batter and whisk it to mix well.
3. Pour spoonful of the batter on the pan to make 3 inch diameter pancake. Cook it till bubbles appears on the surface. Flip it and cook on the other side till light golden.
4. Repeat the process to make total 8 pancakes.
5. Serve hot with honey and orange segments.

Sending this off to Priya's Event- Cooking with whole food-Oats. This event is the brain child of Kiran.

One last peek before you go!

Enjoy! Have a lovely weekend!

Banana & Almond Smoothie

Ever since I have developed an interest for cooking, I always check for recipes in cookbooks, magazines and if I like any of them, I just keep the page or jot the recipe in my dairy. I found this recipe in a Tupperware booklet and liked it. Most of the time, I have one or two very ripe bananas that need to be used immediately. Well, baking a cake out of it is a good option but having a lot of it is surely not good for my waistline! So, I find making a smoothie a safe bet. This smoothie is perfect for breakfast and is very nutritious too. Almonds add a very rich flavour to it!

Ingredients:

250 ml low fat milk

2 tbsp yoghurt.

1 tbsp Almond powder.

1 very ripe banana.

1 tbsp honey.

Makes 1 large glass or 2 small ones.

Process:

Add all the ingredients in a blender and blend it till smooth. Pour into two glass. Decorate with a whole almond. Serve.

Enjoy! Sending it off to Veggie/Fruit a month -Banana guest hosted by US Masala. This event is the brain child of Priya

1st Blog Anniversary with Black Forest Cake!

It is exactly one year today since I started this blog 'The Veggie Hut'. I would like to convey my heartfelt gratitude to all my readers and blogosphere friends for their support and encouragement throughout the year. That is the reason I have reached this milestone today. Thanks a ton friends!

During this journey of a year, I have known so many food enthusiasts from around the globe, have experimented and tried my hands on new recipes, have made some blogosphere buddies and lots more. In a nut shell, it has been a enriching experience and a win-win decision to start this blog!

On this special occassion, I would like to share the recipe of 'Black Forest Cake'. I am sharing it from my drafts as I had saved it for this day :-).

I have refered this recipe from Nita Mehta's Book and I am satisfied with the results. Lets check the recipe now. First we have to prepare a ‘Rich Eggless Chocolate Cake’. We will need:

Ingredients:

½ tin condensed milk.
½ cup milk.
1 cup flour.
¼ cup powdered sugar.
¼ cup cocoa powder.
½ cup oil.
1 tsp baking powder.
½ tsp soda bicarbonate.
1 tsp vanilla essence.

Process:

1. Grease a swiss roll baking tin and dust it nicely with flour. Preheat the oven at 175 C for 10-15 minutes.

2. Sieve flour, cocoa, baking powder and soda bi-carb together. Keep aside.

3. Beat oil, sugar and essence till well mixed. Add condensed milk and milk. Beat well till well incorporated.

4. To this mixture add flour mixture in 2-3 batches, mixing well all the time. Beat well for 4-5 minutes till the mixture is light and fluffy and of a soft dropping consistency. Add a few spoons of milk if needed.

5. Transfer the cake mixture to the prepare tin. Level it.

6. Bake it at 175 C for 15-20 minutes. If the same cake is prepared in a small square or round tin it will take around 35-40 minutes to bake it.

7. Insert a clean knife in the middle of the cake to check if it is done. If it comes out clean, switch off the oven and take the cake out. Remove from tin after 10-15 minutes, by inverting on the wire rack.

I was in a hurry to take it out of the tin. I didnot wait for more than 5 minutes.. Thats evident from the picture!

For the black forest cake we will need.

1 chocolate cake (From above)
150 gm glazed cherries.
1 tbsp rum (Gives the flavour, I encourage to use it or use rum essence).
2-3 tbsp sugar.
¼ cup water.
50 gm dark chocolate flakes.

Cream Icing:

250 gm double cream- chilled.
4 tbsp sugar or to taste.

Process:

1. Cut the sheet of chocolate cake into 2 equal halves. Slice off thin slices from the sides. Place one half upside down on a flat plate.

2. Beat cream with sugar till the cream is thick and stands soft peaks. Keep it in the freeze till needed.

3. Dissolve sugar in water with rum. Thinly slice the cherries keeping aside 5-6 for decoration.

4. When the cake is completely cooled down, brush the sugar and rum syrup generously over the cake. The cake will soak it and will be moist. Spread a layer of cream over it evenly. Now spread a thin layer of sliced cherries.

5. Place the other half of the cake. Brush with syrup generously. Cover the whole of the cake with cream icing evenly.

6. Cover the cake sides with chocolate flakes. Decorate the top with chocolate flakes and cherries as desired.

7. Keep the cake in the freeze and take it out 15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Sending it off to Champa's Bake Off!