Yummy Egg rolls

Going by the book, egg roll is referred to a wrap, which is dipped in egg and then deep fried, a variant of spring roll. But the one I make is typical of Kolkata and originates from there itself. The egg roll in Kolkata is similar to Frankie of Mumbai. A "Mexican egg roll", also referred to as burrito, is an egg roll wrap filled with beans, cheese, and, optionally, meat, as well as various peppers and spices. And so are its versions in other parts of the world.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour(Maida) 1 cup

Eggs 3
Green chili 2 or more chopped
Coriander 1 tbsp chopped

Onion 1 medium, chopped finely
Tomato 1 small finely chopped
Capsicum abt 1/2 chopped
Lettuce or cabbage shredded

Oil for shallow frying
Salt to taste
Tomato sauce and green or red chilli sauce

Method:

Add salt to taste to the flour and knead the flour well with required water.
Take a small ping pong sized ball and roll it as thin as possible to about 6 inch diameter chapati's. It makes about 6-7.
Cook on a hot driddle , lightly from both sides( no need to puff them up over direct the flame). Set aside.

Beat the eggs; add salt to taste, chopped chillies and coriander.
Heat one tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and add about half of 1 beaten egg to it, spread it slightly so as to have almost the same diameter as that of chapati.
Place one thin chapati over the half fried omelet and slightly rotate it,pressing from centre to out, so as both the diameters are same, and egg is evenly spread and sticks over whole chapati.
Allow it to cook for about two more minutes.
Slowly with the help of spatula turn it around and cook the other side for a minute and take it out.

Place the chapati on a flat surface with the egg side up.
Apply sauces as per your taste on the egg side.
Add chopped onions, capsicum, lettuce and tomatoes at the centre of the chapati to make the filling.

Roll the chapati tight and cover it with an aluminum foil or kitchen paper.
Serve piping hot.

Tips & Notes:

I do use a non stick pan, so only the first roll need oil, rest can be cooked oil free.
The filling can be varied , as per availablity, I do add Corn, olives, cucumbers too.
Instead of sauces I do prefer home made green coriander chutney.
To make healthier version, I mixed flour with whole grain wheat aata in 1:1 ratio..

Posted by Neha 5 comments

Labels: appetizers, Egg, healthy

Choco Chip Cookies

After baking the Indian eggless cookies, i.e, Nankhatai's,  here comes my next attempt at baking cookies, and that too on demand by kids, 'Choco Chip Cookies'. The cookies came out perfect, both taste and look wise, though with a bit of hiccups. As I am new at baking and also am using convection microwave oven for baking , the setting and all while baking needed to be varied accordingly.

The recipe makes about 40; 3 inch cookies. I did made half batch only, as this was my first attempt at baking cookies, so made 20 only. Also I did baked it in 3 small batches, out of which one batch got overcooked, and thus got burned at the bottom :(

The recipe is very easy and it takes very little time to bake these cookies. Its one of the easiest, most delicious and a basic choco chip cookie recipe.  It uses a combination of white and brown sugars, producing a rich and chewy cookies with caramalised edges.

Ingredients:

1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter @ room temperature
3/4 cup (160 grams) firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar
2 eggs large
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups (295 grams) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (270 grams) semisweet chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 190 degree C (375 degree F). In a bowl, beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Add both the white and brown sugars and beat. Then beat in eggs, slowly one at a time. Add Vanilla extract and mix. In a separate bowl mix flour, salt and baking soda and then add this to the egg mixture and beat well. You can use a hand mixer or a kitchen aid as the dough tends to be a bit stiff at this stage. Lastly fold in choco chips and make sure they  are evenly dispersed so we have enough chocolate in each cookie. The dough is now ready.

Now before baking the dough needs to be a bit stiff, if you find the dough a bit soft, refrigerate until firm (upto 2 hours) Drop dough on a lined baking sheet by 2 rounded tablespoon about 2 inches apart . The chocolate chip cookies need to be this far apart because the dough spreads during cooking. Bake for about 10-12 minutes or untill golden brown on edges.At this stage the cookie may look a bit uncooked but they will finish cooking through out of the oven.

As for my oven i did baked it in cookie mode for 10 minutes. It has a auto preheat and after preheating cookie balls in a parchement paper along with the tray needs to be placed inside the oven. Finally cool on a wire rack completely before storing as the cookies are very soft when hot.

Tips:

If you are using kitchen aid, better use the butter still in quite firm state, though not cold, and thereby aviding the need to refrigerate it. Just take it out from fridge and microwave it for 10- 15 sec.
You can use a icecream scoop for dropping in the small balls of dough. Its very convinient and mess free.
You can also add about 1 cup (100 grams) walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped after adding chocolate chips.
Also, you can make balls and freeze them for future. Just bake the frozen balls directly, adjusting the time a little more.

Posted by Neha 9 comments

Labels: baking, cookies, Egg

Egg Curry

Basically i am a vegetarian, but as i feel that there lack of protein in vegetarian diet, and that's even more for kids ,that protein is essential, so i'm switching myself and my family to be eggitarian...

So here goes my first boiled egg recipe, (apart from omlette n bhurji's), courtsery my friend Neetu, hope you like it...



Ingredients:

4 Eggs boiled
1 onion chopped finely
1 tomato (pureed)
3-4 flakes of garlic chopped
1-2 green chillies chopped
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
Salt To Taste
1 tsp Red chilli powder
3/4th tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander powder
3/4 tsp garam masala
1 tsp cumin powder
2-3 tbsp vegetable oil / ghee

Method:

Remove the shell of boiled eggs & keep aside.
Heat oil in a kadhi or wok and add onion, garlic ,green chillies and fry till golden brown.
Add all the spices (salt, turmeric, coriander & chili powder) except garam masala and fry for a minute and

add tomato puree. Fry till it starts leaving oil.
Add all the masalas(spices), expcet garam masala, cook for a while.
Now add the boiled eggs.
Add 1 cup of water and bring to boil and reduce the flame.
Simmer for 10 minutes.
Garnish egg curry with garam masala and coriander leaves and serve hot with paratha, roti or rice.

Posted by Neha 0 comments

Labels: Egg, gravy

Egg Bhurji

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp Vegetable oil
2 medium Onions
2 Green chillies
1 inch piece Ginger
½ tsp Turmeric powder
¾ tsp Chilli powder
2 Tomatoes
4 Eggs
110 ml Milk
to taste Salt
½ Bunch coriander leaves

Method:

Beat eggs into a mixing bowl.
Add 1/4 of a cup of milk, and whisk thouraly.
Chop the onions finely.
Next, finely chop 2 green chillies,tomayoes and ginger.
Roughly chop up half a bunch of coriander leaves also.

Heat two tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large non-stick frying pan, over a medium heat.
Add the chopped onion and chilli to the pan, and cook until the onion is translucent.
Then, add the chopped ginger along with 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric and 3/4 teaspoon of chilli powder. Keep frying .
Add the chopped tomatoes. Stir everything together over a medium heat until the tomatoes have turned to pulp, and the mix resembles a sauce. Add a little water along the way, Stir and cover. Leave to simmer for about 10 minutes
Now add the egg and milk mixture . Keep stirring until the egg is cooked. Don't let it burn. The egg will become more solid as it cooks.
Gently stir in the chopped coriander leaves.
Serve
Spoon into a dish. And serve.

Posted by Neha 0 comments

Labels: breakfast n brunch, dry veggie, Egg

Carrot Cake

For some time back, i was trying to make a cake in the microwave, but all resulted in a flop show,(some were dry, others don't puffed up) Finally i found this recipe and it came out very really well. Originally this was also meant to made in the conventional oven,as in my friends recipe(and like my all other recipes, that i used to make long back), but i did microwaved it,and thanx god, finally got good results...


Ingredients:

1 cup (100 grams) pecans or walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
2 1/2 cups finely grated(340 grams) raw carrots
2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar
1 cup (240 ml) sunflower, vegetable or canola oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter or spray two - 9 x 2 inch (23 x 5 cm) cake pans and line the bottoms of the pans with a circle of parchment paper.

Toast the pecans or walnuts for about 8 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant. Let cool and then chop coarsely.

Peel and finely grate the carrots. Set aside.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon. Set aside.

In bowl of electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the eggs until frothy (about 1 minute). Gradually add the sugar and beat until the batter is thick and light colored (about 3 - 4 minutes). Add the oil in a steady stream and then beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. With a large rubber spatula fold in the grated carrots and chopped nuts. Evenly divide the batter between the two prepared pans and bake 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. After about 5 -10 minutes invert the cakes onto the wire rack, remove the pans and parchment paper, and then cool completely.

If using microwave oven, cook the cake for about 7 minutes, in 70% power , and standing time of about 10 minutes.
Also add 1 Tbsp cocco powder, to get the brown effect.
Cake is ready..

This is my entry for MEC :Cakes

Update: I made this cake in microwave , and then tried my hands at icing for the first time. Can check it out here.

Posted by Neha 4 comments

Labels: baking, Cake, Carrot, Egg, sweets