Janelle Bohemier's Caesar Salad Dressing

I have been wanting to post this Caesar Salad Dressing recipe since the very first time I tasted it, at Janelle Bohemier's house on Christmas day, 2010!  I may be slow, but I remember what's important! The recipe is simple, delicious, and can be prepared very quickly with a minimum of ingredients.  By the way, there are no anchovies, for those who care about things like that.
Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1 clove garlic - grated or very finely minced
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 heaping tsp of dijon mustard (check the ingredients - no sugar)
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (raw is preferrable - imported Italian is second best)
juice (and I add the zest, too) of 1 lemon
Kosher or sea salt and freshly grated black pepper (optional and to taste)
a few dashes of Worchestershire sauce (also optional - again check for no sugar)


Preparation:
You may blend all ingredients in a high speed blender, as I do.  This results in a dressing that is so creamy, you won't believe there are no eggs or cream in it.
You may also simply shake the ingredients in a jar, as Janelle does.  This is the way I first tasted this dressing, and there is a lot less to clean up.  Equally delicious - you may even prefer it this way.

Last night, I added two tablespoons of organic hemp seeds to this salad, and that was my complete meal.

KEY LIME SQUARES

IT'S A SPRING THING

This recipe could easily fill a small glass pie plate, so it can be presented as Key Lime Pie or as Key Lime Squares.  I made the squares so the portions were a little bigger!

Top with some freshly whipped organic cream.  

Enjoy.

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 1/2 cups almond flour

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

stevia equivalent to 1/2 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Combine all the Crust ingredients and press into an 8" x 8" baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. While the crust is baking, assemble the key lime topping mixture:

Key Lime Topping Mixture:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

stevia equivalent to 1/2 cup sugar

3 large eggs

the zest of a lime

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

Note:  I added two drops of green food coloring, but I would not recommend doing this if you do not have high quality, "no-sugar-or-preservatives-added" food coloring.

Combine all the key lime topping mixture ingredients in a blender.

When crust has baked for 15 minutes, pour the topping mixture over the crust and return the crust and topping mixture to the oven to bake at 350 degrees for another 15 minutes. Remove from the oven.

Let the finished product cool in the baking dish for 30 minutes, and then chill it in the refrigerator until chilled through- about another 30 to 45 minutes. Cut into squares.

Freezer Fudge

OMG! Fudge that tastes like the inside of our Almond Butter Cups. . . .

Enjoy.

Servings: Fills an 8"x8" pan
Preparation Time: 10 minutes + 1 hour chill

• 2 cups raw creamy almond butter (unsalted)
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, softened
•  1/8 teaspoon of Kal Brand or Now Brand stevia concentrated powder - (sweetness To YOUR TASTE!)
• 1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt

Simply mix all the ingredients together in a medium bowl, until smooth and creamy.  I use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.  

(Tip: It helps if all the ingredients are at room temperature, to keep the coconut oil soft.)

Transfer the mixture to a square baking dish, or container, lined with parchment or wax paper, then smooth with a spatula, and freeze until solid (about an hour). Remove the fudge by lifting the paper out of the pan, then cut into squares and serve immediately.

Due to the nature of coconut oil, this fudge will melt if left at room temperature for long. Store in the freezer for best results.

This recipe is adapted from a tropicaltraditions.com recipe.  Enjoy.

MAXIMIZED REFRESHMENT

 

Here is a fabulously fresh, simple, and delicious recipe from our friend, Wendy Hord.  What a terrific drink to enjoy all summer long.  Thank you, Wendy.

BREW a teapot of green tea, using 3 teabags to approx. 6 cups of boiling water, let steep for ½ hr., then pour into a large water pitcher. Fill the pitcher up the rest of the way with cold water (approx. 4 more cups). 

ADD ½ or more mixed frozen berries, I used (strawberry, blackberry, raspberry) blend.  Leave it  to steep overnight in the refrigerator for best infused flavor.

STRAIN out berries, and add stevia to taste, stir.

SERVE on the rocks with lemon or berry garnish

Just as yummy as commercial flavoured iced teas…. without the
sugar or aspartame!!

Enjoy.

Paneer Moong Balls

If there is any leftover food, most of us try to come up with some interesting and innovative dish rt. This is exactly what I did too when there was some leftover cooked whole moong or green gram in my kitchen. So I made some quick snack with the moong by adding some paneer and spices, made into balls and dipped them in wheat-rice flour batter. Finally I used my wonder pan......paniyaram or aebleskiver pan which hates oil :)....what more you need to enjoy a very healthy and protein rich snack !! Kids who don't like green gram will never really know that there are some of it hidden inside the paneer balls. This delicious snack tastes excellent when served hot. Dip these yummy balls in chutney or tomato ketchup...and enjoy with hot coffee or tea !!

Check out other healthy snacks made in paniyaram pan:
Corn Bonda, Paneer Stuffed Paniyaram, Egg Spinach Bonda, Paneer Spinach Bonda, Paniyaram, Oats Savoury Appam

Makes about 21 balls or fritters

You need...

For the batter:

1/2 cup Wheat flour

1/4 cup Rice flour

1/2 tsp Chilli powder

A pinch Asafoetida

1/2 tsp Fennel seeds (optional)

Salt

Water as required

For the filling:

1 1/4 cup grated Paneer

1 cup cooked Whole Moong / Green Gram

1 Onion chopped

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

1" pc Ginger chopped

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

1 tsp Chilli powder

1 tsp Coriander powder

1/2 tsp Garam masala

1/4 tsp Chaat masala (optional)

few Coriander leaves chopped

1 tsp Oil

Salt

To prepare...

Combine all the ingredients under For the batter to form a smooth paste with no lumps and with medium consistency.  The batter should be able to form a coating.

Heat oil in a pan. Splutter cumin seeds. Add ginger and saute for a minute. Now add onions and saute until it turns transparent. Now add turmeric, chilli, coriander powder, garam masala and chaat masala, saute for few seconds without burning the spices. Mash the cooked whole moong slightly and add it. Now finally add the grated paneer and salt, combine everything well. Add the coriander leaves and mix. The filling is now ready. Make equal size small balls out of it and keep aside.

Heat the paniyaram or aebleskiver pan. Put few drops of oil in each hole. Dip each ball in the batter and place in each hole. Cover and cook in medium heat for a couple of minutes. Once browned, slowly turn it over and let the other side get brown too. Remove from pan. Serve hot with any chutney or tomato sauce.

Sending this to the following events:

Healthy Morsels event at Taste of Pearl City

Bon Viviant Moments#2- Savory by Sumee

Snack Recipes at My Culinary Creations
Show Me Your Hits - Fiber Rich Foods by Sangee Vijay 

Love Lock Series - Legumes hosted by Vardhini , an event by Vidhya

Fast Food, not Fat Food event hosted by Uma , an event by Priya

Eggless Choco Coffee Cupcakes

Chocolate and Coffee is a wonderful combo....this is a hit even in many drinks like my Hot Mocha. I wanted to try this combo in a cake from a long time. I am so glad I did and so sad I took so long :). Most of the times (this time as well ), I use wheat flour instead of all purpose flour for baking. I feel that if you are using wheat while baking, texture of the cake or bread slightly changes, but there is no much difference in taste and sure a healthy option rt. If you love chocolate and coffee just like me, you will love these cute cupcakes for sure.  They came out so soft, moist and yummy. I felt that coffee flavour wasn't very dominating and they were more like a chocolate cake. My son just loved them and he was saying " I love these brownie cupcakes" :)

Makes about 9 Cupcakes

You need..

1 cup Wheat flour ( or use All Purpose Flour)

1 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp Baking soda

2 tbsp unsweetened Cocoa powder (I used Hersheys)

1 tbsp Instant Coffee powder  (I used Nescafe)

A pinch Salt 

3/4 cup Sugar 

1/2 cup Milk

1/2 cup Oil

1 tsp Vanilla essence

1.5 tbsp Hot water

2-3 tbsp Chocolate chips

To prepare...

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a muffin pan or use some muffin liners.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, salt and keep aside.

Whisk sugar, milk, oil, vanilla essence until sugar is completely dissolved. 

Dissolve coffee powder in hot water. Add to the wet ingredients and mix well.

Combine both wet and dry ingredients. Do not overmix. Finally add the chocolate chips and give a quick mix.

Pour the cake mix to about 3/4th of each muffin liner. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the centre of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.

Cool for a few minutes. Serve them with or without chocolate sauce topping.

Sending this to the following events:

Show Me Your Hits - Fiber Rich Foods by Sangee Vijay
Bake Fest hosted by Kalyani, an event by Vardhini
I'm the Star by Rasi 

Healthy Morsels event at Taste of Pearl City

Snack Recipes at My Culinary Creations

Fast Food, not Fat Food event hosted by Uma , an event by Priya

Moru Curry / Seasoned Yoghurt Curry

Moru curry needs no introduction to those from Kerala. It is a simple curry prepared very frequently in most of the houses in Kerala. This is such a comfort food and we can enjoy a light lunch when it's served with rice. There are many variations to this curry.....you can add garlic, red chillies, fenugreek, tomatoes......each of which will make the curry more flavourful. My mother used to make this a lot when I was a kid as this curry helps in digestion. The cumin, ginger, turmeric, curry leaves along with yoghurt makes a lovely combo and does the trick. If you do have the buttermilk, you can directly use it to make this curry.  Enjoy this simple and delicious curry !!

Serves 3-4

You need....

1.5 cups Yoghurt

3/4 cup Water (approx)

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

1" pc Ginger finely chopped

2-3 Green chillies chopped

3-4 Small Onions chopped

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

4-5 Curry leaves

1 tsp Coconut Oil 

Salt

To prepare...

Whisk yoghurt and water thoroughly . Add salt to this and mix well. Adjust the consistency of yoghurt by adding more water if you desire.

Heat oil in a pan. Splutter mustard and cumin seeds. Saute small onions, ginger , curry leaves and green chillies until onion changes colour. Reduce the heat to low. Add the turmeric powder and mix. Now add the yoghurt and stir continuously so that it won't curdle. There is no need to boil the curry, just keep it for a couple of minutes and then the curry is ready to be served with rice.

Sending this to Kerala Kitchen, hosted by Prathibha , original event announcement here.
and to Kitchen Chronicles- Summer Splash hosted by Sangee, an event by Kalyani.

Chickpeas Biryani

Hot steaming biryani always tempts me a lot...As I have said before, I am always ready to eat any rice variety. Biryani is one of my favourites....very flavourful, spicy and delicious rice. Served with a simple raita, maybe a pickle and papad...its just heaven for me :) I can finish it off in no time !! Chickpeas biryani is a healthy and delicious one, I would say a complete meal. I make biryani in pressure cooker itself which I find very simple and an easy method. I served it with a simple onion tomato raita. Hope you all will try this out.

Serves 3-4

You need...

1 cup Basmati rice

3/4 cup cooked Chickpeas

1 Onion chopped

2 small Tomatoes chopped

1 tsp Ginger-Garlic paste

1 tbsp broken Cashews

2-3 tsp Biryani masala

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

1 tsp Chilli powder

2-3 Green chillies slit

2-3 tsp Ghee / Oil

some Coriander leaves chopped

1.5 cup Water

Salt

Whole Spices

1" pc Cinnamon

2 Cloves

2 Cardamoms

1 Star Anise

1 Bay leaf

To prepare...

Wash and soak the rice for half an hour. Heat ghee in a pressure cooker. Add all the ingredients listed under Whole Spices. Fry until it leaves aroma. Now add cashews and fry till slight brown.

Add onions and ginger-garlic paste, saute until onions become transparent. Add tomatoes and green chillies, saute until tomatoes turn mushy. Now add turmeric powder, chilli powder and biryani masala. Saute for a minute.

Add the cooked chickpeas, coriander leaves and salt to this, saute for a couple of minutes. Now add the rice and combine everything well. Finally add the water and mix well. Pressure cook for 2 whistles. Serve the hot biryani with a raita, pickle and papad.

Sending this to the following events:

Show Me Your Hits - Fiber Rich Foods by Sangee

Kerala Kitchen, hosted by Prathibha , original event announcement here.

SpotLight: Colourful Holi at Cuisine Delights

Nutella Banana Milkshake

The overripe bananas are always a common scene in my kitchen. This time I felt that a couple of neglected bananas were shouting at me, "don't u ever notice us?"....Yeah, true !! They were so greenish yellow and pretty when I bought them. Now they have got black spots everywhere and felt like they were saying "pick us atleast now" ;). Usually I make Banana Bread or Banana Dates Milkshake when I have such neglected bananas. This time I thought of making something very quick and yummy...so I asked the bananas to hop into my blender with the lovely Nutella and milk to form a yummilicious drink :).  This milkshake can be included in breakfast for kids who hates the regular milk. You should try this out...kids will finish it off in no time for sure !! Since we all love Nutella, we enjoyed this lovely drink.

Serves 2-3

You need....

2 ripe / overripe Bananas

2 tbsp Nutella (increase if you desire)

1.5 cups Milk

Honey / Sugar to taste

To prepare..

Blend the bananas with a little milk into a smooth paste. Add rest of the milk and Nutella to it and blend well. Add honey or sugar as per your taste. Enjoy the yummy drink !!

Notes:
* You can add condensed milk, ice cream , chocolate syrup etc for a rich and better taste.

Sending this to the following events:

Show Me Your Hits - Fiber Rich Foods by Sangee, Kitchen Chronicles- Summer Splash hosted by Sangee, an event by Kalyani , ABC Series: Fruit Fiesta by Ramya, Beat the Heat at My Cook Book, I'm the Star by Rasi and to  my event Just "4" Fun 

The Chef's Favourites Series : Chocolate Mocha Cupcake with Mocha Cream Frosting - A Guest Post by Vineetha

I welcome all of you to The Chef's Favourites guest post for the month of March. This is a monthly guest post series where I invite some of my blogger friends to share with us one of their favourite recipes . They will also answer some simple questions so that we can know more about them :). If you missed the previous guest posts, do check them out here. 

The Chef for this month is Vineetha of Ruchi. Thanks to blogging which has given me a few good friends, maybe they are miles apart, but we share a special friendship which I would cherish all the time. Vineetha is one such blogger friend who has become a very close friend of mine :). Our friendship started when we learnt that we have a friend in common and we quickly became friends. Now we talk regularly about so many things especially about our kids :). She has a wonderful space Ruchi with so many lovely recipes. What I like about her posts are her short scribbles which she writes straight from the heart, simple clicks and explanations. She is a talented cook and I love all her recipes especially the cake recipes. Please do visit her space to check out yummy recipes. Thanks a lot dear for accepting my request to do this guest post :)

Chef Vineetha of Ruchi is sharing with us one of her favourite recipes, Chocolate Mocha Cupcake with Mocha Cream Frosting...sounds yummy rt? :)

Thanks Vineetha for such a lovely guest post :) Please accept the below award as a token of Thanks dear :)

Over to Chef Vineetha now........

Blogging world has gifted me a handful of good friends and Sobha is one among them. Our friendship grew through comment columns in our blogs and later on through Facebook, we talked a lot in Facebook about blogging, cooking etc and of course about our lil ones too...She is a good cook who always comes up with good foods and  she has chosen an apt  name for her blog !! I myself has tried one of her muffin recipe and it was so good, I still like to try out few more recipes from her and  in days/months to come I will be trying her recipes again.

It was on my birthday in February I got this mail from Sobha asking me whether I am intersted in doing a guest post in her space. I didnt even have to think twice before grabbing the wonderful opportunity and I considered her request as a special birthday gift from the blogging world :)

About me...

I am a Mum and a home maker. I believe that  Family and Friends are the most important thing in the world, not even a single day of mine goes without talking to my family or  atleast one of my  friends.

I have got a wonderful cook at my home, its none other than my hubby. I love  to eat what he cooks  ! One more budding cook is growing up in my home, its my 3 1/2 year old son who loves to watch me cook and bake. He has his own pots and pans and whenever I cook he too will be cooking with his pots and pans. Now he wants to help me with cooking too which I find a bit annoying. When I bake he never leaves the kitchen until the cake is out from the oven. Now I involve him in baking too and allow him to put measured ingredients on the mixing bowl, putting sprinkles on icing etc !!

Favourite Recipe here @ Good Food

All her recipes are delicious but since I have tried her Eggless Oats Banana Muffins and loved it I will go for  that one now :)

Favourite Cook Book

I dont really have any fav cook book but I have a recipe book which I  scribble when I see good  recipes in  TV's, cook books, magazines, blogs etc. The book is now almost 6 years old and is  very precious to me.

Favourite Chef

I love vah reh vah chef Sanjay, I have tried so many recipes from him and it never lets me down .

Favourite Spice

Pepper, its a universal spice and goes well with all the cuisines :)

Favourite Restaurant 

My favourite restaurant  is Northern Frontier  in Pune. I used to love eating out there.

Favourite Cuisine

Without doubt its Indian, apart from Indian I love Chinese, Thai, Italian and now Korean too (new found love).

Favourite Food Show

Its Taste of Kerala which comes in Amrita TV and Magic Oven in Kairali TV. Miss watching both the shows here :(

Favourite Recipe

I love cakes and chocolate cakes has been my favourite cake while growing up. I simply loved the idea of coffee in chocolate cake and thats how I tried this.

Here goes the Recipe of Chocolate Mocha cup cake with Mocha cream icing.

Chocolate Mocha Cup Cake with Mocha Cream Frosting 

Ingredients 

Flour - 1 1/4 cup
Cocoa powder - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Eggs - 2
Oil - 3/4 cup
Coffee powder - 1 tbs
Hot water - 3 tbs
Milk - 1/4 cup
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Salt - a pinch

For Frosting
Butter unsalted - 1/2 cup
Icing sugar - 1 cup
Coffee powder - 1/2 tsp
Cocoa powder -1/2 tsp
Warm water - 2 tbs

Preparation 

In a bowl sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt .
Cream egg and sugar.
Add oil and mix well.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture  and fold in until it is incorporated.
Finally add milk and mix well.
Bake it in a preheated oven at 175 degree centrigrade for 25 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

For Frosting
Beat the butter and add sugar little by little until all of the sugar is used up.
Dissolve cocoa powder and coffee powder in warm water and add it to the icing mixture and beat till it is mixed well.
Transfer the icing to a piping bag and decorate the cupcake as u wish :)

My Cooking Tip / Advice / Quote

I dont think I am professional enough to give cooking tips, so I will share a basic tip I know.
If you add a pinch of salt while sauting onions it will speed up the process and you will get your onions sauted quicker :)

Vegetable Pulao

I am a big fan of Rice varieties. I like to have rice in any style...from our traditional pongal to any chinese fried rice. For me rice is always a comfort food. But my hubby isn't very fond of rice dishes, he always prefer indian breads if given an option. He likes less masala rice and so I make this Vegetable Pulao. It is a light flavoured rice and very simple to make. You can see in the clicks that white colour of the rice is retained as I haven't added any spices such as chilli powder, garam masala etc. I have used only whole spices which gives a nice flavour. This is actually a modified version of my mom's pulao as she makes it in a kadai. I always use my favourite assistant, my pressure cooker to make this :)...so isn't that a yummy one pot meal ?

Serves 3-4

You need...

1 cup Basmati rice

3/4 cup mixed chopped Vegetables (carrot, peas etc)

1 medium size Onion chopped

3-4 Green chillies slit

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

1 tsp Ginger - Garlic paste

2 tbsp broken Cashews

1 tbsp Ghee

1.5 cup Water

Salt

Whole Spices

1" stick Cinnamon 

2 Cloves

1 Bay Leaf

2 green Cardamoms

1 star aniseed

To prepare....

Wash the rice and soak in water for about half an hour. Heat ghee in a pressure cooker. Splutter cumin seeds.  Add all the ingredients listed under Whole Spices and saute until nice aroma comes. Add the cashews and fry till slight brown. 

Now add onions, green chillies, ginger-garlic paste and saute until onions turn transparent. Add the vegetables and saute for 2-3 minutes and add salt. Now add the drained rice and saute for a minute. Add water and mix well. Close the cooker and pressure cook for 2 whistles.

Rice is ready...Serve hot with any raita or a sidedish.

Sending this to Show me your HITS by Sangee Vijay of Spicy Treats.

 SpotLight: Colourful Holi at Cuisine Delights

 CC-Dish For Loved Ones by Srav's Culinary Concepts

and to Holi Hai at My Cook Book

Paneer Bhurji

Hope all of you had a great weekend !! Let's welcome this week with an easy and delicious dish..Paneer Bhurji. I like paneer in any forms. As we all know its a great source of protein especially for vegetarians. It's a relief that my son, who was not very fond of paneer earlier, has started eating it recently. So I try to include paneer in our diet frequently. Paneer bhurji is a wonderful dish and can be served with rice or any indian breads. I made this as a side-dish for lunch a couple of days back. There was some leftover which I used to make a filling for sandwich later that day. The sandwiches also came out great. I have added some carrots in this bhurji to make it colourful and healthy.

Serves 3-4

You need...

2 cups crumbled Paneer

3/4 cup grated Carrot

1 Onion small, chopped

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

1" pc Ginger chopped

1 tsp Chilli powder

1 tsp Coriander powder

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

1/2 tsp Garam Masala

a little Kasoori Methi (optional)

a few Coriander leaves chopped

Chaat Masala, Lime (optional)

1 tsp Oil

Salt

To prepare...

Heat oil in a pan. Splutter cumin seeds. Add ginger and saute for few seconds. Now add onion and saute till they turn slight brown. Add the carrots, sprinkle some water, cover and cook until the carrots are cooked. 

Add turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder and salt to it. Mix well and add the paneer. Combine well so that paneer gets coated with the masala. Now add the garam masala and also add kasoori methi by rubbing between hands. Finally add the coriander leaves and give a quick mix. Sprinkle chaat masala or some lime juice if you desire. Serve hot with any indian breads,  rice or also as filling for sandwiches.

Notes:

* You can use other vegetables such as tomato, capsicum, green peas etc.

* You can add some chopped green chillies too.

Sending this to Show me your HITS by Sangee Vijay of Spicy Treats.

 SpotLight: Colourful Holi at Cuisine Delights

and to Holi Hai at My Cook Book

Also, sending my Egg Spinach Bonda, Vegetable Omlette and Steamed Egg Cubes curry to the ABC Series: Egg Recipes event by Ramya

Eggless Avocado Cake

Avocado in a cake....does that sound interesting ? This was the first time I used Avocado in baking. Making this cake was a complete experiment and I kept my fingers crossed ;) . But to my relief, the cake turned out just great and I just loved the green colour. A fresh look...very natural colour....and don't they look yummy ?? I feel so happy that its another eggless bake from my kitchen !! But I couldn't take better clicks of the cake to show you the lovely colour of the cake :(.

One thing I observed is nobody can make out that the cake has avocado in it, not by taste. I couldn't feel any strong flavour of avocado in it. But when I offered it to my hubby, he guessed it right, of course by looking at the colour :). I added some dates too to make it more healthy. Kids who don't like avocado can be given this fruit,  in the form of this yummy cake with such a pretty colour. They will surely love this Green cake !!

You need...

1 1/4 cup All Purpose flour

1 tsp Baking powder

3/4 tsp Baking soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1 small ripe Avocado

3/4 cup Sugar

3/4 cup Milk

1/2 cup Oil

1.5 tsp Vanilla extract

3-4 tbsp chopped Dates

To prepare..

Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Keep aside.

Cut the avocado into half.  Remove the pit and scoop out the flesh. It came about a little more than 1/2 cup for me. Blend avocado, vanilla extract, sugar and milk together. Put this in a bowl. Add oil to this and whisk well.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a cake pan and keep it ready.

Now slowly add the flour mixture a little by little to the wet ingredients and combine it. Finally add the dates and mix slowly. I found the cake mix is thicker and denser than the usual cake mixes. If its too thick, add a few tbsp of milk.

Pour this to the cake pan. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the centre comes out clean. Cool completely and cut into pieces. Enjoy the colourful and delicious cake !!

Sending this to the following events:

Show me your HITS by Sangee Vijay of Spicy Treats,

Valentines Day event at Teenz Yummy Delights, 

Valentines Day at  Anzz Cafe,  

Sweet Luv at Zesty Palette, 

Cakes, Cookies and Desserts by Anjali, 

CC-Dish For Loved Ones by Srav's Culinary Concepts.

Healthy Diet event - Baked Goodies at Vegetarian Tastebuds, an event by Priya
Kids Delight event hosted by Priya, an event by Sreevalli

Tandoori Paneer or Paneer Tikka

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. After the success of Tandoori Soya, my next experiment to try a tandoori style in oven was on Paneer. When I tried this for the first time, I followed the exact recipe as of Tandoori Soya. So I used the regular yoghurt and mixed all the paneer pieces in the marinade. But I felt that unlike soya which absorbed most of the marinade, paneer didn't absorb much of it and the marinade left out water as well. Hence I made the Hung yoghurt this time which can be made so easily at home. Hung yoghurt is very thick and creamy one and best for preparing marination. During my first trial, some of the paneer pieces got stuck to the foil though I had greased well and I am not sure of the reason. So this time I kept the skewers resting on the sides of the tray. 

The final verdict was that Paneer Tikka came out really good. The outside was slight brown n crisp, but inside was very soft. Since paneer is bland, add all the spices according to your preferences. Squeeze some lime juice just before serving, which will make it taste just great !! I made this as an appetizer when few of our friends visited us and served with the lovely Mint chutney.

You need....

2 cups medium size cubed Paneer

1 Onion diced

1 Bell Pepper diced

5 tbsp Yoghurt ( to be made to Hung yoghurt, see below for instructions)

For marination:

1 tsp Chilli powder

1 tsp Coriander powder

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

1/2 tsp Garam masala

1/2 tsp Pepper powder

1 tsp Lime juice

1 tsp Ginger- Garlic paste

a little Kasoori methi ( rub within hands and add )

Salt

To prepare..

To make Hung yoghurt: Put the yoghurt in a thin clean cloth, tie it tight and hang inside the refrigerator for about an hour. Keep a bowl under it so as to collect all the water drained. After this process, you will get very thick creamy hung yoghurt.

Mix all the ingredients under For marination with  the hung yoghurt to form a smooth paste. Coat each paneer piece with this paste on all sides. Place them on a tray or plate and refrigerate it for a minimum of 3-4 hours. You can leave them overnight as well. 

If there is extra paste left, mix the diced onions and bell pepper together with it. Leave it in the refrigerator. This step is optional. You can use onions and bell pepper without marinating also.

Soak the bamboo skewers in water for atleast an hour so as to prevent burning inside oven.

Preheat the oven to 425F. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil and grease it well. Now very carefully slide in paneer, onion and bell pepper alternately on to each skewer. I kept the skewers vertically resting on the sides of the tray so that paneer won't stick much on the tray.

Bake for 10 - 12 minutes. Slowly turn the skewers and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until paneer gets slight brown.

Serve with some Mint chutney. Squeeze some lemon juice or chaat masala if you desire.

Sending this to Show me your HITS by Sangee Vijay of Spicy Treats.

and to SpotLight: Colourful Holi at Cuisine Delights

and to Holi Hai at My Cook Book