Oats Cranberry cookies

The goodness of oats and cranberry are the highlights of this cookies and can be enjoyed both as snack as well as breakfast. I used 'Oceanspray' brand dried cranberries and old fashion oats. I formulated this recipe and hope you all love it !

 I made these cute treat bags using ziplock covers and crochet yarn.

cool them completely.

space between cookies is important, as the oats cookies doubles in size.

Ingredients:
Old fashioned oats - 3 cups
whole wheat flour - 1 1/2 cup
cranberry (dry , sliced) - 1 cup
Butter - 6 tbsp
sour cream - 1/2 cup
(butter sourcream ration can be substituted with butter 1 cup)
white sugar - 3/4 cup
brown sugar - 3/4 cup
egg - 2
vanilla extract - 1 tsp
salt - 1/2 tsp
baking soda - 1 tsp
cinnamon - 1 tsp
nutmeg powder - 1/4 tsp
cardamom - 1 tsp

Method:
Mix and cream the butter, sour cream and sugar. Add egg, vanilla and mix well.
I do this process in mixie.
In a large mixing bowl , add all the dry ingredients, cranberry and spices. Pour the wet ingredients and mix well. Using hands will make this stage easy:)
The oats cookie dough is ready.
Fold the dough using cling wrap (or keep in  air tight container) and keep refrigerated for nearly 1 hour or till we need to make cookies. Refrigeration makes the handling easy
Preheat the oven to 350 deg F.
Line the cookie baking sheets with aluminum foil or use simply.
Spray / coat with butter or oil.
Divide the dough into 4 equal size balls. Make long cylindrical shapes and cut them into12 equal size portions. Make balls and slightly  flatten them while placing on cookie sheets.
Thicker cookies tastes very good.
Bake for 8 - 12 minutes, depending upon the oven.
Take out, let them cool completely and store in airtight containers.
Oats cranberry cookie is ready!
 
Serving suggestion:
Serve as snack or breakfast.
We can refrigerate / freeze the dough and use to make fresh cookies too.
Makes 48 cookies.

Ragi Cookies

As Christmas is fast approaching, I thought it would be more appropriate if I could release all my baked goodies from my draft page:) I make cookies whenever hubby has more project hours, so that I can spend some more time with him, while he is working. Also the next day he will take a box of cookies to his friends too.  Isn't this a cute excuse to bake something yummy :)
Here is one delicious native cookies from Indian cuisine, the Ragi biscuits or ragi cookies. I made these biscuits just like  butter biscuit and it came out very well. To reduce the butter content I use yogurt or sour cream in all my cookies. Here goes the recipe.

Super soft ragi cookies. Enjoy this with a cup of milk for breakfast.

Ragi cookies for hubby's friends.

Ragi cookies.

Ragi cookies are cooling down .

Cookies before baking. Leave enough space, as they will double in size.

Dry roasted ragi is mixed with all other ingredients.

Ingredients:
Ragi - 2 cup
self rising flour - 1/2 cup
butter - 1/2 cup ( 8 tbsp)
Indian  plain yogurt - 1/2 cup (or lesser)
brown sugar - 1 cup
baking powder - 1 tsp
salt - little
cardamom - 1 tsp
Almond - 1/2 for 1 cookie

Method:
Dry roast ragi till it smells good (low heat for 8-10 minutes).
Melt butter and add it to ragi.
Add self rising flour, yogurt (little by little), brown sugar, baking powderm salt, cardamom.
Mix well.   Add enough yogurt , so that it can made into small balls.
Line the baking sheets with aluminum foil and coat with oil.
By applying some ghee / oil in our palms , make equal size 30 balls.
Place the balls on the sheet and slightly flatten them. Place 1/2 almond on each cookie.
Bake at 325 deg F for 10 - 14 minutes. (the bottom should be mild brown).
Check often after 8 minutes, as the baking time may vary in different ovens.
Take out and let it remain for 1 minute to let it harden more. Cool in cooling racks.
Store in air tight container.

Serving suggestion:
Serve as snack or dessert. Makes a easy breakfast too.
Makes 30 cookies.

Note:
*Brown sugar can be substituted with white powdered sugar for more flavor and taste.
* always roast the ragi before making cookies.
*I have used self rising flour in these cookies to make them puff up and it made them super soft and delicious. Here is the basic version to make homemade self rising flour. I make this flour in large quantities and use it in making biscuits, cookies and pastries. 
Homemade self rising flour :
1 cup Self rising flour = 1 cup All purpose flour + 1/4 tsp salt +  1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Brinjal theeyal

Kathirikkai theeyal is a flavorful dish from Kerala.  It is prepared with browned coconut. One evening I grilled eggplants for making baingan, but changed my mind and made this theeyal using that. But traditional Kerala theeyal won't need grilling. I made it as a thick curry along with chapathi and curd rice. we can make a thinner version also.

Roasted coconut with red chillies.

Grilled eggplant

Ingredients:
Eggplants - 2
onion - 1
tomato - 1
tamarind - lime size
curry leaves - few
salt - to taste
mustard seed - 1 tsp
coconut oil - 1 tbsp

For making theeyal powder:
shredded coconut - 1 cup
dry red chilly - 6
coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
black pepper - 1 tsp
curry leaves - few
turmeric - small piece

Optional : Apply a little oil over the eggplant and roast them in gas stove or oven. Peel off the skin and chop it gently.
(Traditionally the eggplants are used without grilling).

Method:
Slice the onion, tomato, brinjal separately and keep aside.
Extract juice from tamarind.
Dry roast the coconut till it turns brownish red and smells great. Do this in medium to low heat.
Take it out and dry roast all the other items given for theeyal podi.
Let them cool and powder together.
Heat oil in a deep pan, add mustard and let it splutter.
Then add chopped onion, curry leaves and let it get golden brown. Add chopped tomato and cook well. Add the roasted mashed eggplant or sliced eggplant. Saute and cook covered. Add tamarind extract and bring to a boil. Put the prepared masala powder and cook covered for few minutes.
Theeyal is ready.

Serving suggestion:
Serve as side dish with idly, dosa, hot rice, chapathi, curd rice etc.

Thanksgiving wishes and prayers

Wishing all my readers, friends and family a blessed , prosperous and happy Thanks giving!

Thanksgiving Pictures Comments - Photobucket

Thanksgiving Pictures Comments - Photobucket

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for having created us and given us to each other in the human family. Thank you for being with us in all our walks of life, for your comfort, your companionship, your guidance, your love, and your presence. Thank you for safeguarding us and protecting us. Thank you for yesterday, today, tomorrow and for the whole of our lives. Thank you for friends, family,  health and your grace. May we live this and every day thankful for all that has been given to us.
Amen.
(Prayer inspired by American Catholic website).

Happy Thanks giving and thank you all!

Thanksgiving treats !

Thanksgiving is an 'all American' festival, just like Diwali or Pongal of India. Thanksgiving day is a day of abundance and conveying thanks to God, family and friends. Here we symbolize the day with whole baked turkey, pumpkins, cranberry, pomegranate, sweet potato, breads, abundant fruits, pies, cakes , pretty tables, family gatherings, hosting dinners etc. I fuse Indian and American views to celebrate thanksgiving every year. Instead of the enormous turkey (more than enough for us) I make a turkey briyani or whole roasted chicken. Also some desserts based on carrot, pumpkins will be in my menu. I strongly encourage anyone from any country to celebrate this beautiful festival with the best dishes from their country. True thanksgiving day lies on the way we thank God and everything else is a gift from God!
If you are looking for some interesting recipes to celebrate Thanksgiving with an Indian touch, here are some ideas to try.
Happy Thanksgiving !
Pumpkin pancake

Thanksgiving breakfast...pumpkin pumpkin everywhere !

Whole chicken fry

Fried chicken a best alternative for baked turkey.

 Baked chicken

Whole fried fish

Garlic bread

Sweet potato fries

Turkey biriyani
 
Turkey curry

Pomegranate pilaf

 

Carrot halwa

Carrot cake

Cranberry pickle

Pumpkin pancake

Here is  a pancake we recently tried and enjoyed very much. I got the recipe and hints from this website and thanks to the author, I could make a flavorful pancake for our weekend.Try this and fall in love with this Thanksgiving recipe forever:)

Pumpkin pancakes with maple syrup.

Electric griddle ....my favorite, which I got from last year's Thanksgiving sale:)

Ingredients:
AP flour - 1 cup
Milk - 3/4 cup
Egg -1
Pumpkin puree - 1/2 cup
vinegar / yogurt - 1 tbsp
brown sugar - 2 tbsp
butter (soften) - 1 tbsp
baking powder - 1 tsp
baking soda - 1/2 tsp
All spice powder - 1/2 tsp
cinnamon - 1/2 tsp
ginger powder - 1/2 tsp
salt - 1/4 tsp
Also we may need:
Approx 1 tbsp butter - for making all the pancakes
maple syrup - as per need

Method:
Sift the All purpose flour (maida), salt, baking soda, baking powder together twice. This makes the pancakes very spongy and airy. Add all the other items in a mixie or blender and mix well.
Then add the sifted flour and blend again , till its a very smooth batter. Let it sit for 10 minutes.
Heat a frying pan or electric griddle (to 350 deg F). Smear some butter on the pan.
Pour 1/4 cup of batter and let it spread itself. Flip and cook both sides till golden brown.

Serving suggestions:
Serve warm with maple syrup or honey topped with fresh fruits.

Note:
The recipe may give about 9 pancakes (made with 1/4 cup batter).
We can refrigerate , freeze , reheat and use the leftover pancakes.
I save some pumpkin pieces while making curry. Then cook them in little water, puree and freeze it. I measure and label them before freezing (1 cup, 2 cup ). This homemade pumpkin puree is very handy just like a can of store bought one.

Baked ribbon pakoda

Some months back I wanted to make some 'spicy snacks sans oil'.  It would be very hard to make one spicy crunchy snack without deep frying. So I baked my ribbon pakoda (look for my original ribbon pakoda recipe, for the variation in ingredients) and got a satisfactory snack. Hope you all like it too.

Ingredients:
besan flour - 2 cups
rice flour - 1 cup
red chilly powder - 3 tsp
hing - 1/4 tsp
salt - 2 tsp
butter - 2 tbsp
Ajwain (omam) - 1 tbsp (crushed)
sesame seeds - 2 tbsp
cumin - 1 tsp

Method:
Mix salt with one cup water.
In a mixing bowl put chilli powder, asafoetida (hing), ajwain , sesame, cumin , rice flour and besan flour thoroughly.
Then add salt water little by little  and make a dough like chapathi dough. Also add molten butter while making the dough.

Preheat the oven to 350 deg C.
Line an aluminum foil over the baking sheet (cookie sheet).
Slightly brush some oil , so that it comes off easily after baking.

Fit the ribbon pakoda maker in the "Murukku maker" and squeeze long strands of dough.
Bake for 10 - 12 minutes. Take the cookie sheets out, turn the pakodas and bake again for 7 - 10 minutes (depending upon the oven). The pakora should not get red or mild red. They should stay yellow, but crispy. So check it often.
Let them cool and store in airtight containers.

Serving suggestions:
Serve hot as evening snack along with tea / coffee.

Mixed veggie chicken soup

As the weather gets chiller and chiller my craving for hot soups will soar incredibly. Even though I like to make fresh soups,  I keep in hand some cans of soup as backup also. On the other day I had a couple of cream style corn soup cans and knorr chicken cubes.  I wanted to infuse them in my regular soup and here is a comforting soup for you all from my kitchen!

Vegetable soup with corn, chicken and rice.

Ingredients:
cream style sweet corn soup - 1 can
chicken soup cubes -1
chicken thigh with bone - 1 (optional)
frozen peas - 1/2 cup
carrot - 1
green beans - 10
basmati rice - 2 tbsp
barley - 1 tbsp
Bring to boil 2 cups of water. Rinse rice , barley and add to the boiling water. If using fresh chicken piece, then chop it into small pieces and add now.  Let it be cooking in stove-top. In the meantime chop the carrot,  beans and add to the rice, barley. Also add the frozen peas and cook them all till tender. It will take nearly 30 minutes to cook.  We can pressure cook too...but I do in stovetop.  In the same time prepare the below in a separate vessel.

For tempering:
Shallot - 3
garlic - 4 cloves
cinnamon - 1 tiny bit
bay leaf - 1
tomato - 2
Jalapeno - 1
butter - 2 tbsp

While the above soup is getting cooked, in a separate vessel melt 2 tbsp butter. Add shallot, cinnamon, bay leaves and saute till onion gets soft. Then add the crushed garlic and saute for few seconds. Then add finely chopped tomato, jalapeno and cook till tomato gets mushy. Now add this to the cooked vegetables soup, can of sweet corn soup, chicken stock cube, salt. Sim and cook till everything gets very soft.

Flavoring:
Ginger - 2 inch
cilantro - few leaves
Grind the ginger and extract juice. Add this to the soup and bring to a boil. Garnish with freshly chopped cilantro.Switch off.
Mixed vegetable chicken soup is ready !

Serving suggestion:
Serve with warm bread.
If needed add black pepper powder while serving.

Coconut onion chutney

'Shallot should be included in our daily menu in some form or other'... this is one of the basis of Tamilnadu cuisine. Here goes a chutney with raw shallot and I am sure every Indian food lover will like this.

Vengaya thengaai chutney with idli....the perfect pair always

To grind:
Fresh grated coconut - 1/2 cup
shallot - 3 or 4
Puffed channa dhal (pori kadalai / pottu kadalai)- 1/4 cup
dry red chillies - 4.
tamarind - 2 inch bit.
salt- 1/2 tsp.

To garnish:
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp,
Urid dhal - 1 tsp.
curry leaves - 1 sprig.
dry red chilli -1 or 2
shallot onion (small onion)- 1 .(chopped)
oil- 1 tbsp.

Method:
Put all the items given 'for grind' in a small jar of the mixer.Close the lid. First run the mixer without adding water. Then after a second add 1/2 cup water and grind the chutney in to a fine thick paste. Add some more water (1/2 cup).
Heat a frying pan. Add urid dhal and mustard seeds. wait to hear the cracking sound of mustard. Add chopped onions , red chilli and curry leaves. Put off the flame. Then add the chutney (while pan is hot, but switched OFF). Mix well.
Then transfer it to the serving bowl.

Serving suggestions:
Serve as side dish for Dosa, Idly, Vada, Pongal etc.

Note:
Instead of pori kadalai, we can use roasted groundnut too.

Bottlegourd spinach dal

Bottlegourd - lauki / surakkai / sorakkai (Tamil) , spinach - pasali keerai , dal - a curry or koottu made of lentils.

Lauki dal with spinach.

This is the spinach I grew this year. Most common variety in USA.

Spinach.

Ingredients:
Toor dal (lentil) - 1/2 cup
bottle gourd - 1 (very small)
spinach -  20 leaves
curry leaf - 1 sprig
mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
urad dal - 1 tsp
coconut oil - 1 tbsp
tomato - 1 (optional)
salt - to taste

To grind:
shallot - 3
coconut - 2 tbsp
dry red chilly - 3
garlic - 3
cumin - 1 tsp

Method:
Rinse the dal (lentils) . Pressure cook the  dal with 1 1/2 cup water, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1/8 tsp of asafoetida (hing), garlic - 5 cloves. Bring to one whistle, reduce heat and let it get cooked in medium heat for 10 minutes, then switch off. After the pressure is released , mash the dal and keep aside. (This is how I cook the dal always, but we can do it in stove-top too).

Grind the items mentioned to a fine paste and keep aside.

Chop the bottle-gourd to small cubes. Also rinse and chop the spinach.
Heat  oil in a vessel, add mustard , urad dal and let the mustard crackle. Then add the curry leaves, finely chopped tomato and cook till tomato gets mushy. Now add the bottlegourd and cook covered with a handful of water. After it is almost done, add the spinach, salt and saute. Then add the cooked dal, prepared masala. Keep in rolling boil for 1 minute. Switch off.

Lauki spinach dal is ready !

Serving suggestions:
Serve as side dish with chapati.
Sometimes I mix this curry with rice for lunch pack.
Serve as curry over rice along with appalam (pappad) and malli thogayal (cilantro chutney)

Capsicum rice

This is a South Indian version of capsicum rice. Capsicum rice is like a pulav in North Indian cooking. Also some people would make a different spice powder solely for capsicum rice. But I always make a very easy version of capsicum rice with sambar powder and curry masala powder. Hope you all like it!

Capsicum rice with chicken kebab slices

Bell pepper rice / Capsicum rice

Ingredients:
Red and green Capsicum - 1/2 cup each
mustard seed - 1tsp
cumin - 1/2 tsp
urad dal - 1 tsp
oil - 1 tsp
ghee - 1tsp
onion - 1
ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
tomato - 1
lemon - 1/2
curry masala powder - 1tsp
sambar powder - 1tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

cooked rice - 2 cups
salt - to taste

Method:
Heat oil in a wok, let the mustard splutter. Then add urad dal, cumin and saute for few seconds. Then add finely chopped onion and let it get golden color. Then add ginger garlic paste and saute till raw smell goes. Add finely chopped tomato and cook till it gets mushy. Now put the curry / garam masala powder, turmeric powder, sambar powder, salt and cook till raw smell goes.
Now add capsicum slices, 2 tbsp water and cook covered for 5 minutes.
After switching off, add the ghee and mix well.
Now mix this capsicum masala with the cooked rice. If needed add  a few tsp of lemon juice and mix.
Capsicum rice is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve as main course for lunch or dinner or lunchbox food.
The best side dish could be any raita, omelet.

Happy Deepavali

Wishing all my readers, friends and family a very happy and prosperous Deepavali,
May the festival of light brings joy and peace to all of us,
Happy Deepavali,
Love,
Viki Xavier

Happy Deepavali

Jangiri for hubby's office Diwali party and my homemade diya lamps

A small rangoli made along with our neighbor aunty

                                                   

                                      HAPPY DEEPAVALI