Chocolate pancakes with hot fig sauce

Some days just call for decadence.

I felt heady and I gave in.. somewhat.

What you need:

(for the pancakes)
¾ cup of plain/ whole flour
2 tbs coco powder
1 egg
½ cup milk
¼ cup water
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
3 tsp sugar/ substitute/ honey
a pinch of salt

(for the sauce)
6 fresh figs, finely chopped
2 tbs honey
1 tsp butter
1 stick of cinnamon
¼ cup water

(for decadence)
1 tbs nutella (optional: only for the ultimate hedonist)

What to do:

(Pancakes)
1. Mix all the ingredients to form a smooth batter. Add more milk if using whole wheat flour. Basically just make a smooth not too runny batter. Stir vigorously to prevent forming lumps.

2. Spread on a nonstick pan and cook on a low heat and cover while cooking. Cook on both sides till brown(er) and well done.

(Sauce)
3. In a saucepan, on a low heat, put all the ingredients for the sauce and simmer for 10 minutes till sauce is thick.

(Assemble)
4. You can either fill the sauce into the pancake and roll it up or sandwich the sauce between layers of pancakes, like I did. Top with nutella, if you want more.

GUEST BLOGGER

My sister is always surprising me with her wonderful desserts, actually, I get a preview when tantalizing smells emanate from the kitchen (also because of the sounds of the rebuke she gets from mommy for disrupting her kitchen!) so its not really a surprise, but I always anticipate the finished product. This little item which she conjured (and i say conjured because she made it in 20 minutes with scraps for ingredients!) was quick to make and QUICKER to finish. the biscuit base had some oats, walnut powder, butter and some other items (I only recall the crunching sounds which were made by this crisp, light (?) and taste bud pleasuring base)...oh ya! it had everything but biscuits!!
but what really got me going was the gooey from the inside and crisp from the outside filling which was made from butter, chocolate (er....this chocolate was the remnants of a big slab...it actually had some of my teeth imprints on it), coco powder to intensify the flavour (laa dee dah!), and an egg, yolk first followed by the white (i dont get why they are separated to eventually meet!) anyway, all this was put into the oven and baked for sometime (which felt like eternity people!) and, excuse the cliche, VOILA..... sintitilating chocolate tarty-thingie (hey i just do the eating!)
wanna know more about this sweet tooth's narcotic? ask the chef....I'm just a junkie.

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.

Homemade Pasta

I love pasta.

First of all carbs, cheese and meat make me a very happy person :)

Second of all I lurve Italian food. For some reason it really goes well with my palette.

If that wasn't enough if it is... ahem made fresh and with wholewheat flour?? what more do I want in life? :D

I made this from scratch, by hand, without any machine or anything.

What you need:

3 cups of wholewheat flour
2 tbs EVOO (for those who don't know/love Rachel Ray, evoo stands for extra virgin olive oil)
2 eggs
Salt as per taste
just a drop of water for kneading (only if needed)
lots of water for cooking


What to do:

1. Mix all the ingredients except for the water and knead for a good 15 minutes to form a reasonably firm dough. If the dough is too firm add a little water (do not over do it)

2. Roll out thinly. Cut into any shape you want.

3. Spread out the pasta onto trays and leave to dry for 2 hours.

3. In a large saucepan heat a lot of water till boiling add salt if wanted. Drop the pasta into the bubbling water and cook for no more than 3-5 minutes. Overcooking will ruin the pasta.

4. Drain pasta and use as desired.

Be sure to consume the pasta within two days. Since it's fresh and preservative free, it doesn't keep well for long.




my pasta, drying




The cooked, drained pasta; still steamy.




What I did with my pasta :)

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 :)