Baked multigrain Mathri / cracker recipe

Hello HST readers, many of you may be wondering why there has not been a post here on the blog for some time now, and many know that the original writer of this blog passed away on 10th July 2018. As her daughter I have thought a lot about how to advance this blog and continue her dream on . . .of sharing recipes. 

It was also difficult to come to this space and read her posts and not just be heart broken again. . . the heartbreak I felt when we lost her. Now all I have left is her words, her tips and advises and her recipe diary... which I go back to so many times. And so I must carry her vision forward, and that is what this attempt is.

So I will try to bring here some of her recipes from her diary, some that I learnt from her and some of my own and try to take her dream forward...one recipe at a time... today I want to share her classic mathri, which I have tweaked a little to make it more healthy. 

I have replaced some of the maida (all purpose fluor) with other healthier flour alternatives, used olive oil, and baked it in the oven (instead of frying it)...I call this baked multigrain mathri....my kids love it as an evening snack, and sometimes they have it with a hummus/yogurt dip. 

- these can be enjoyed as a snack on their own!!

- enjoy them like crackers with some hummus, they taste great!!

- use them as papdi in a papdi chaat!!

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

2 cups maida (all purpose flour)

1/4 cup whole wheat lour

1/4 cup corn meal

1/4 cup Bajra (pearl millet)/Ragi (finger millet)

** if you don't have any of the millet flours, just add corn meal (I used pearl millet in this recipe)

2/3 cup olive oil

1.5 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tbsp kasuri methi (used for flavor - can be omitted)

1 to 2 cups water (use as needed - the lesser the water the better)

METHOD

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper)/ If you want these can deep fried, but I baked them and they came out great.

- Add all the flours, salt, pepper, and kasuri methi in a large mixing bowl.

- Add the olive oil and rub it into the flour to resemble breadcrumbs

- slowly add the water to combine into a "tight"/firm dough

- Roll out into a large surface and cut out squares (like I did in the picture (to about 1/4 cm thickness)

OR

- divide into individual size balls and roll them into round shapes if you wish (to about 1/4 cm thickness)

- Bake them in the oven until golden brown.

- Cool and store in an air tight container for a month.

This recipes makes a large batch (and depends on how small the mathris are cut out)

RASPBERRY JAM FILLED BREAKFAST SQUARES

RASPBERRY JAM FILLED BREAKFAST SQUARE

Happy Valentine ’s Day

Suitable for vegans

In 2016, I got a surprise gift of two cookbooks, by my daughter's friend, Mamta, who is a big admirer of my blog and always appreciates and enjoys my cooking. I was overwhelmed that day with those two books, it was not even my birthday, and she was just visiting us. What a kind thought it was of bringing cookery books for me? Isn’t it? After thanking her for such a nice gift and gesture, I told her that I will definitely try some recipes from those books and share them soon on my blog. She herself is a great cook, last time when I visited her, she surprised me with so many nice dishes, which I have to get the recipe for and try soon. Here I want to thank her from the bottom of my heart and wishing her all the best in her life, by selecting a recipe from the book and recreating it.

This is called real love, love does not mean romantic love between a girl and a boy, but showing gratitude, care and affection towards someone is also considered as love. In my opinion, love has many meanings and types, if someone is holding a door for you when you are entering a shop, is also called love for someone. If you choose to be a snow angel for someone and cleaning the yard of an elderly couple, that can also be called love. Love is when you smile at the strangers and get the smile back. A mother's love towards her children can be called as unconditional love because she cares only about the happiness of her children. I have written all this about love because I am posting this recipe on Valentine’s Day in the month of February when people normally say that in this month. love is in the air. If you ask me, love is always there in the air, you just have to notice it, give it and receive it.

The first time I had browsed through the cookbook, that is when I had seen this recipe and decided then and there that that will one of the recipes I will make and post it on Valentine's day. The author used apricot jam but I used raspberry jam. I thought if I use raspberry jam the pink colour of the raspberries will suit the theme of Valentine's Day. So here I am with the recipe, the name of the book is Food made fast-Desserts, and the author is Williams-Sonoma.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 1, 1/2 cups brown bread flour (235 grams)/whole wheat flour
• 1, 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (140 grams)
• 1/4 cup Icing sugar (30 grams)
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar (185 grams) OR coconut sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter (185 grams) OR coconut oil for vegans
• 1 cup Raspberry jam (315 grams)

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 325 degree F (165 degrees C). Grease a square oven tray or parchment paper inside the tray.
• In a food processor, combine the flour, oats, powdered sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture forms fine crumbs.
• Remove 2 cups of the flour mixture and set aside. Transfer the remaining mixture to the prepared pan and press it evenly over the bottom.
• Drop spoonfuls of jam evenly spread the jam up to the edges. Sprinkle the reserved flour mixture evenly over the jam.
• Bake until the top crust and edges are light brown - about 30 minutes. Let cool completely in a pan on a wire rack. Using a sharp knife, cut into squares.

INGREDIENTS FOR JAM

• 200 grams raspberries
• 100 grams sugar

METHOD

• Make a puree in the blender with raspberries with little water.
• Mix raspberry puree and sugar together.
• In a frying pan or heavy bottomed wok cook the puree with sugar on a low flame.
• Keep on stirring; it will take 15-20 minutes to get the consistency of thick jam. Leave it to cool. If you are using a cooking thermometer, check the temperature when it is showing 90 degrees C, it means jam is ready.

I am sharing this recipe as a blog post entry for Meatless Monday, Cook once and eat Twice, Cook blog share, Fiesta Friday, Sweet Inspiration and Hearth and Soul food party. and with Baking Crumbs and whats  for dinner and with Ful plate Thursday

EGG LESS FRUIT CAKE

EGG LESS FRUIT CAKE

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE

EDITED: This recipe was featured on Cook Blogg share link party on 2nd January 2018, check here.

Christmas is a time of joy and fun for everybody, the same is for me and my family. A lot of fun activities take place inside and outside our house during the Christmas season or I should say for the whole month of December.

The first one is the decorating of the Christmas tree, which my grandkids really like and surprisingly, every year they bring in some new ideas for the decoration of the tree. Some of the ornaments are made by them in their schools every year, under the supervision of their teachers and some ornaments we buy from the shops. This year we got a white Christmas tree.

The other fun activity inside the house is the elf on the shelf, every morning the kids are so excited when they look for the elf and really enjoy all the places they find elf sitting. The next activity which they really like is the opening of the gifts on Christmas day, which they get from Santa.

Apart from these indoor activities, we go shopping, which is a lot of fun during this festive season because shops and malls are decorated with Christmas decorations and lighting. Another fun activity which we do as a family is a tour/ride of the neighbourhood area to see the decorations and lights of all the different houses. Some houses look really beautiful with a lot of decorations and colorful lighting. There is so much effort and money that goes into these decorations, it is commendable that people put in so much effort during these dark nights!

The other attraction in our town is the Airdrie festival of lights, which is one of Canada's largest light displays. This festival attracts visitors from the past 21 years and is open to the public from 6-9 pm every day in the month of December. If you are nearby and interested in this event, here is the link.

There is another family-friendly fun activity that takes place in Calgary is the Calgary Zoo lights. These lights are the center of attraction in Calgary, and a highlight during the December holidays for many Calgary families. So these zoo lights are a package of fun and learning activities for the kids. A lot of activities are taking place at the Calgary Zoo, even in the winter months, they are teaching children about the migration, hibernation, conservation and behavior of all types of animal. Here is the link

Coming to the recipe, this Christmas instead of baking any cookies I made this - a dried fruit cake. This is a very simple, tried and tested recipe in which I have used buttermilk. I am very sure; if you try this recipe you will enjoy this cake as I did. To make instant buttermilk, take one cup of milk and add one tbs of lemon juice/vinegar and let it stand for 10 minutes at room temperature and the buttermilk is ready.

Recipe link- Joy of baking.com

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 1 and a half cup (200 grams) all-purpose flour/white bread flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• 3/4 cup sugar (150 grams sugar)
• 2 cups dried fruits (300 grams)
• 1/2 cup melted butter (115 grams)
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 cup buttermilk

METHOD

• Grease a cake pan with some butter and sprinkle flour on top of it.
• Heat the oven to 190 degrees C.
• Sieve the all-purpose flour with baking soda and add sugar and cardamom powder in it, now mix the dried fruits in it.
• Mix all wet ingredients-butter, essence and buttermilk.
• Now mix all the wet and dry ingredients together, mix well and pour the batter into the greased tray and bake for 50 minutes, till the toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool on a cooling rack, slice and serve.

I am sharing this recipe with Cook once and eat Twice and with Full Plate Thursday and with Heart and Soul link party and with Cook blog share and with Sweet Inspiration link party and Fiesta Friday and with meatless Monday.

PIZZA ROLLS

PIZZA ROLLS

Grandchildren are the best gift from God, and I am lucky to have three grandchildren, two are boys and one is a girl. My granddaughter is three years old and she lives in Toronto. My two grandsons are living with me and they both know that I love my blog and enjoy sharing my recipes and they both even know the name of my blog. They both love my cooking and they always appreciate and give the best compliments a grandmother can ever have in the world. All three of my grandchildren are artistically inclined and many a time I have enjoyed and admired their creations.

When I started my blog in 2014, my eldest grandson who was 8 years old at that time, after asking the name of my blog, suggested using spices to write the name of my blog. I really liked the idea and the three of us did a good project of writing the name of the blog with the available spices in my kitchen and they really enjoyed that project. I took the picture of that, which I used as a blog header for many months on my blog.

 

Yesterday, when I was doing some work on my laptop, the younger one who is 7 years old now came to me and told me, “Grandma I am bored, I do not know what to do”, I gave him the idea that he can do some drawing and coloring. After listening to my idea of colouring and drawing, he got some pencils and colours and sat on a chair, near my table and was busy for half an hour and I was busy too with my work.

After half an hour he came to me and showed his drawing, to my big surprise, on that paper I saw the heading was, “Herbs Spices and Tradition”, with a lot of colourful food items that were also drawn on it. I was totally impressed with his drawing, couldn't believe my eyes and gave him a big hug and told him that I will take the picture of it and post it on my blog. Then I suggested to him to write the name of the food items as well so that my readers can also enjoy his drawing and understand what he has drawn, for which I helped in spelling some words as well. Following is the picture.

Both my grandsons love these pizza rolls and they even take them in their lunch boxes to school, so they are made regularly in my kitchen. This recipe is an easy one and I have used brown flour to make it healthy.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups brown bread flour (Whole wheat flour)
• Half packet active dry yeast ( 5grams)
• 1tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbs oil
• more oil for coating

FOR PIZZA FILLING

• One medium finely chopped onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbs butter (preferably at room temperature)
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 2tbs tomato ketchup
• 50 grams grated mozzarella cheese
• 2 green chili optional

METHOD

• In a cup, dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water, add sugar and salt in it. Mix well and leave it for 5 minutes until the colour of the water changes and becomes foamy.
• In a big bowl take flour, add salt, oil and this foamy water of yeast, mix more water and make a soft dough, coat all sides of the dough with oil.
• Cover with plastic wrap to let it rise (until double the original size). Keep it in a warm place for 1-2 hours to rise.
• Finely chop onion, garlic and green chilies and mix into the butter (room temperature) and keep it aside.
• Punch the dough down and divide into two big balls, roll out the ball thin on a flat surface, spread the mixture of onion garlic and butter thinly on top of the dough.
• Now give a thin layer of ketchup and sprinkle the grated cheese evenly on top of the dough.
• Cut thin strips as shown in the picture, and roll all the way up to the end of the strip and keep them on a baking tray, leaving some distance in between the rolls.
• Bake at 350 degrees F/180 degrees C for 15-20 minutes till the cheese is melted.
• These rolls can be served hot or cold.

I am sharing this recipe for the following blog parties Cook once and eat Twice and Meatless Monday
and we are pinnable link party and Hearth and Soul blog party and with Fiesta Friday and Full plate Thursday

CHEESY JALAPENO POPPERS

CHEESY JALAPENO POPPERS

Normally, we bloggers say that blogging is not a joke because it requires a lot of work. Starting from planning, this includes the recipe selection, then making the item with the properly measured ingredients, then taking nice and presentable photographs of the process and the final product. Not only that but the real work starts after that, which is writing a post about it and then about the recipe with the detailed ingredients and list of steps to follow, which should include all the details so that readers can easily understand and reproduce the recipe and so on and so forth.

But, on the other side of the coin, blogging is a lot of fun. I get the feeling of contentment whenever I share my recipes or even when I do something for my blog. There are enormous reasons behind it, first is that cooking is my passion and when there is an intense desire to do something, a person will definitely enjoy it, the same thing is happening with me. The other reason is that blogging has opened many ventures/doors for me to learn not only new recipes but also to try new cuisines and a lot of new things about food and the food industry. The other thing which I like most about blogging is the integration with people, not only with my readers and people who come and comment on my posts but also with other bloggers. In the last three years, I have made many many new blogger friends, who are from different continents, countries, and cultures and we share the same interest in blogging.

Blogging has not only opened doors for me to learn about the culinary art but also has opened doors for me to learn so many other aspects of life and particularly to learn a lot about DIY projects because many of my blogger friends have blogs in which they share their awesome DIY projects. This recipe is my blogger friend Nikki's recipe; surprisingly her blog is not only about food but about lifestyle too, where occasionally she shares some food recipes. This is the link to the recipe.

I met Nikkki Frank-Hamilton, around 3 years ago, soon after I had started my blog. She is a beautiful lady with a beautiful heart, even apart from her busy life; she is always willing to help others. Her blog is View from in here, which is an awesome blog. She is a great writer and a very good friend of mine. Her friendship is a treasure for me which I want to save for the rest of my life. Her posts are so informative, interesting and knowledgeable that anybody would love to read them. Recently she wrote about “Life lessons learning over 50 years”, which is a must-read for everyone turning 50, every single paragraph of this post is awesome and worth reading. Here is the link-

She also has a Facebook Community group of bloggers, Way-Wow community group where we 20 bloggers help and promote each other. If you would like to join this group, please do contact her.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 8 jalapeno chili peppers
• 100 grams grated mozzarella cheese
• 100 grams cream cheese.
• 1-2 tbs of milk if required
• 2 tbs oil for greasing the chilies and the oven tray
• 100 grams chopped cilantro
• salt and black pepper to taste

METHOD

• Wash the chilies thoroughly, slice in the middle and cut them half lengthwise and de-seed them.
• Mix cream cheese and mozzarella cheese together with salt and pepper and cilantro, if the mixture is too dry, add the milk to make it smooth.
• Grease the skin of the chilies and the oven tray with oil, Stuff the mixture into the chilies.
• Heat the oven for 400 degrees F /204 degrees C.
• Place the chilies in the greased tray close together so that they do not fall over.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes, when chilies are brown on the top serve hot as a side dish and enjoy.

I am sharing this post with Sweet Inspiration Link party and Meatless Monday and Fiesta Friday

and Cook once and eat Twice and we are pinnable and Hearth and Soul Link party and with Cook blog share