Mulberries and smoothies

I remember that silly rhyme we would sing as kids, round and round the mulberry tree. The fruit is not silly though.

It resembles a blackberry but has these tentacle like thingies all over (forgive me for not knowing the scientific word, this is a food blog)

I bought some of these but really didn't know what to do with it. I remember Patrick Star (of Spongebob Squarepants) once say: "when in doubt, pinkie out!" (that REALLY did not help)

SO I created a new one "when in doubt, blender out!"

I made a dee-licious smoothie with the mulberries and strangely a larger quantity of other stuff.

What you need:

¼ cup mulberries
½ cup diced papaya
1 cup cold milk
honey to flavor (honey is perfect as a sweetener for this recipe)

What to do:

1.Blend all, preferably with some ice
2.Slowly sip and enjoy the flavor. And keep your pinkie out. Its Friday the 13th!




My beautiful mulberries.




My even more beautiful mulberry smoothie.

Reduced fat apple filled bread

I concocted this one. The thing was that I wanted to make something like an apple pie or a tart but I had just bought some fresh yeast that I didn't want to waste and I also wanted to avoid all the calories that go into a tart!

So I settled for apple filled bread.

What you need:

2 med sized dessert apples
2 cups of wholewheat flour
2 sticks of cinnamon
¾ cup sugar/ sugar substitute as per taste(if using sugar substitute, add 1/4 cup water along with it)
a squeeze of fresh lemon juice
10 gm of fresh yeast
1 tbs butter
1/4 tsp salt
Water for kneading.

What to do:

(For the filling)
1. Peel, core and finely chop the apples. Place on low in a heavy saucepan add 3/4 of the sugar/ substitute, cinnamon and simmer for 15-20 minutes till mixture is thick and sauce like. Add half the butter into the slightly cooled sauce.

(For the bread)
2. Mash the yeast in water and combine it with the flour, salt; remaining sugar and butter. While adding plenty of water, work with dough for 15 minutes till elastic. Keep aside in a drought free place to rise for 40 minutes.

3. After the dough is double its size, punch it and work for another 10 minutes.

4. On a floured surface roll out the dough to a 1/4 inch thickness and cut edges of dough to make a rectangle. Cut smaller rectangles from the same.

5. Preheat the oven to 100C. Place a spoonful of the apple filling at the base of each rectangle. Roll and seal edges. Let it rise for another 15 minutes.

6. Bake for an hour till browned outside and soft inside.

Wholemeal English Muffins

I always look out for something interesting to make for breakfast because there are such limited nutritious breakfast choices. At my place It's generally eggs or cereal and it can really get monotonous for me.

These Wholemeal English Muffins (I pointed out the differences between the British name and the American name in my last post) are just so easy to make and can be eating with anything you want. I made these all the more nutritious by using a blend of soy, oat, barely and whole grain wheat flour another one of my concoctions.

What you need: (Makes 4 small sized muffins)

1 cup of wholegrain flour/ or you can experiment with different flours like I did.
5 gm fast-action dried yeast
A pinch of sugar
Salt to taste
water to bind

What to do:

1. Prepare yeast with warm water and sugar.
2. Mix flour with salt and place in a mixing bowl and make a well in the center. Add the fermented yeast and knead. Add water as per requirement.
3. Keep aside for an hour in a dry place.
4. When doubled in size punch back and form four balls with them and leave aside for another 30
5. A little trick that I use: I microwave the ball shaped dough for 1 minute on 60% power instead of waiting for them to rise again. It's a smart thing to do, it saves you time and you can be certain that you wont have partially uncooked muffins.
6. Heat a griddle with some pan spray or just a hint of olive oil and cook on both sides, covered; for about 7 minutes till well done. Do not let the griddle get too hot or the muffins will burn from the outside while remaining raw from the inside.
7. Cut in the center and serve with anything you like.


So how do you like them?

Sweet: (Nutella filling)


or

Salty: (omelet filling)

Huevos Rancheros

I love Mexican food. The spices, colors and textures are quite similar to Indian food and that's why the ingredients are quite easy to find in my kitchen.

What I love is the liberal use of tomatoes which gives so much body to every dish.

I Made this great Mexican style breakfast dish today with a few modifications.

What you need: (serves 1)

2 med. sized tomatoes; peeled and finely chopped

1/2 an onion, chopped finely

1 green chili; finely chopped

1-2 cloves of garlic; peeled and chopped

1/4 tsp dried basil

1/4 a green bell pepper; finely diced

1/2 tsp of red chili powder

1/8 tsp of cumin seeds

2 tsp of tomato ketchup

1 egg

Salt to taste


What to do:

1.On a med-high flame, Pour a bit of olive oil in a wok and stir fry the onions,green chili, pepper and garlic for a bit put in the cumin seeds. Let it soften.

2. Add the tomatoes, basil, ketchup, red chili powder and salt and let it roast for a bit.

3. Cover and cook on a low flame for 10 min or so till soft and thick.

4. Put the sauce in a plate and top with a fried egg.

So that's all! I had mine with a nice refreshing glass of OJ. what a way to start the day. :)