I hate curled parsley!!!!

What is a person supposed to do with curled parsley? first of all let me tell you I am a coriander person. Coriander is soft, easy to chop and has a milder flavor

But Ugh curled parsley? its so tough it never integrates with anything I make. It always sticks out like a sore stalk or just gets stuck in you teeth. Eventually you simply chew it like a cow or place it in the corner of your plate while no one is watching.

It costs quite a buck when you buy it in those fancy gourmet packs and rots so fast in your refrigerator! why oh why do people use curled parsley?

Organic, vegan, low fat, paper thin PIZZA!

I hope you die hard sloppy-joe lovers don't hate me for desecrating the full fat, soft, cheesy, deep pan pizza.

All my experiments generally start with a craving and this time it was pizza. I created something that is remotely close to a pizza as we know it but is still technically a pizza.

It was delicious in an organic, vegan, low fat way and it was a fun eat.



What you need: (for two large pizzas)

(For the base)
2 cups wholewheat/ grain flour
5 gm fresh yeast
1 tsp EVOO
salt
water

(For the topping)
1 cup grated firm tofu (buy it or make you own)
¼ cup shredded cabbage
¼ cup sliced mushroom
2 tbs peas
¼ cup chopped bell pepper
1 red onion finely chopped
2 flakes finely garlic chopped
1 green chilli chopped
EVOO to saute
Oregano and salt to taste

(For the sauce)
2 tbs barbeque sauce
¼ cup tomato ketchup
¼ cup tomato puree/paste
fresh basil leaves, torn
2 tbs water

What to do:

(Base)
1. Mix all ingredients for the base and work into smooth dough. Leave to rise in a drought free place.

(Topping)
2. Heat evoo in a wok. Stir fry vegetables starting with garlic, chillies and onions then adding the rest (except for the tofu). Add salt and oregano as per taste. Stir fry for only about a minute.

(Sauce)
3. In the same wok add the ingredients for the sauce and simmer for a minute.

(Assemble)
4. Punch out the risen dough and roll out till paper thin. Top with sauce, then vegetables and sprinkle the grated tofu all over. Bake in a 180°C preheated oven for 20 minutes then reduce heat to 100°C and bake for 20 minutes more till the base is crisp.

Homemade Strawberry and Plum Pop-tarts

Shaheen @ The purple foodie made these wonderful strawberry pop-tarts a couple of days back and I just had to make them! Unfortunately for me, I had no strawberry jam, but I did have some plum preserve which  used as a substitute.

It was a real winner!! perfect perfect! the other big change I made was use whole flour instead of plain flour.

mmmmm

I had a bit of an oozing problem though... the filling just kept oozing out.. but thats OK.. just took a while to clean up my baking sheet :P 

I love the Strawberry :D

Thanks for sharing this one Shaheen :)

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.

Frozen Yogurt

I have this archaic ice cream maker that I bought a really long time ago and never really used it. It's quite lousy as I learned soon after I started making my frozen yogurt..Never mind that it never really froze in the machine, my freezer came to the rescue and the result was FAB.

It was really simple and a lot of fun. I would do it again but maybe with a new ice-cream maker.



What you need: (serves: as much as you want)

A really creamy variety of yogurt or yogurt that has been hung in a cheesecloth for 4-6 hours
Vanilla extract/essence
Powdered sugar

What to do:

1. Beat the yogurt with the sugar and vanilla
2. Freeze as per ice cream maker manufacturers instructions.