Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Dark chocolate chip cookies

3/4 cups flour - 330 cal
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa - 40 cal
1/2 teaspoon baking soda - 0 cal
1/4 teaspoon salt - 0 cal
1/4 cup butter, slightly softened - 400 cal
3/4 cups sugar - 580 cal
1 egg whites - 47 cal
1 teaspoon vanilla - 0 cal
About 30 dark chocolate chips - 160 cal














Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a small bowl, mix flour, cocoa, soda and salt using a wire whisk and set aside.
In another bowl, cream butter, sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
Add flour mixture to creamed mixture and mix until combined.
Roll cookie dough into 1-1/4 inch balls.
Top with two chocolate chips each
Place on parchment paper covered baking sheet.
Bake 10 minutes.
Place cookies on cookie rack to cool.
Makes about 18 2-inch cookies.

 86.5 calories per cookie

Friday, February 4, 2011

Kidney and Liver Coriander Masala

Ingredients:
1/4 lb goat kidney
1/4 lb goat liver
1/2 cup cilantro (coriander leaves)
4 green chillis (as per spice level)
Few curry leaves
1 tbsp Ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Red chilli powder
1 tbsp Cumin coriander powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 small onion chopped
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds

Preparation:
Grind cilantro, green chillis and curry leaves to a coarse paste
Boil kidney* (pressure cooker - 2 whistles or 15 minutes regular boil)

In a pan, heat oil
Add mustard and cumin seeds and wait till they splutter
Add the cilantro paste and Ginger garlic paste
Cook for 5-7 minutes
Add liver and cook for 5-7 minutes
Drain the kidney and add to the pan
Add chilli powder, cumin powder and garam masala
Cook for 10-15 minutes, until liver is cooked
Add salt and lemon juice and mix well

Serve warm with paratha or roti

* Do not boil liver as it will become rubbery

Churma na laadva - Cracked wheat laddoo

Ingredients:
4 cups fine cracked wheat
1 cup jaggery
1/4 cup nuts - cashew nut, almond
1 cup ghee
3 tbsp oil
Oil for frying

Preparation:
To the cracked wheat, add oil and water, and knead until a hard dough is formed
Make roughly oval balls of the dough
Fry in oil until golden brown
Allow them to cool
Grind in a food processor, along with the chopped nuts until medium fine (not too coarse, not too fine)

In a sauce pan, heat ghee and jaggery
Mixture is done when the jaggery rises on top of the sauce pan - watch closely as this takes only a few minutes post melting point
Add the mixture to the wheat powder

Cool the mixture until easy to handle
Make into round balls
Garnish with a slice of almond

Sindh Pulao

Ingredients:
1 large or 2 small onions
2 tomatoes
1 medium potato
1/2  - 1 lb mutton
2 cups rice
1/2 cup bengal gram dal (channa daal)
1 cup cilantro (coriander)
1/2 cup mint leaves
Few curry leaves
1 tbsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1/2 tsp whole pepper (5-6 pepper corns)
5 green chillis (add more or less based on spice level)
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp oil
Salt to taste

Preparation
Soak channa daal for 30 minutes
Boil mutton with 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste and salt in pressure cooker - 2 whistles
Grind cilantro, mint leaves, curry leaves, cumin seeds, pepper corn, tomoatoes into a coarse paste

In a pot or deep sauce pan, heat oil
Add 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste and chopped onions. Saute till golden brown
Add the ground paste, cook for 5 -7 minutes
Drain the channa daal and add to the pot, cook for 5 minutes
Add potato and cook for 5-8 minutes
Add the boiled mutton, cook for 5 minutes
Add rice, mix well and cook for 10 minutes
Add 6 cups of water and lemon and salt
Let the mixture cook with pot open until most of the water evaporates (almost all)
Cover the pot, reduce the temperature (sim heat) and cook for 15 minutes, or until the rice is cooked.

Serve hot with yogurt raita

Total time - about 1 hour

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Chocolate Shortbread cookies

1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract - optional
1 large egg
1 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
1/3 cup of cocoa powder - unsweetened
1/2 teaspoon baking soda - optional (for fluffy cookies)
A pinch of salt

Mix the butter. egg and vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients and mix into a dough. Roll into a log, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 mins.

Preheat the oven to 350F
Line a baking tray with parchment paper of spray with oil

Remove the log from the fridge and cut into slices (1/4 inch)
Place the cookie slices on the tray with space between them (typically 12 per tray)

Bake for 12-15 minutes.
Note: The cookies must not change color, they will just look matted (not shiny).

Store in an airtight container.


Note: For vanilla cookies, use 1/3 cup sugar and remove the cocoa powder, add 1 tbsp vanilla extract.
Note 2: You can sprinkle colored sugar or confetti on the cookies to make them fancy