Savoury Pancakes- Besan Ke Chile/ Poode –Vegetarian Omelette...

Long time no see? I hope that absence has made the heart fonder, not wander or wonder! No excuses this time, just a constant struggle between the grey cells and the fingers. It’s all there in the brain but the fingers just have been refusing to co operate. They have been mighty busy trying to get sweet child to study. His year end exams generally loom over our heads like Medusa’s DREAD locks.

Once upon a time when sweet child was actually sweet and young and might I add, gullible, totally, it was so easy to drag him to his books and make him study and write and re revise. His perfect scores used to feel like mine. Now, the scene is bleak. I’ve been suffering from a hollering and anger induced hangover type headache (which feels bad-because the alcohol was NOT there!).

Ah, the memories of the days when the teacher handed over his yearend report with a smile and praises for sweet child’s sweetness. This year, we will –thankfully, be on vacation, and I will ask friend Ritu to go and face the wrath.

A word of advice for the young, go and study! If your mum has to face the same situation as me, I’m sure you will too. After all the chickens have come home to roost! Mum!!!

These savoury pancakes that I’m about to blog about are a perfect snack or for that matter meal for those who are hard at cerebral work. Gram flour is HIGH protein, onions and garlic feed the fibre intake and yogurt is in general good!

For the

Savoury Pancakes- Besan Ke Chile/ Poode –Vegetarian Omelette...

You need

1 cup gram flour/Besan

4 tbsp yogurt (the sourer the better)

Vegans can substitute the yogurt with a solution of plain water and lemon juice. 

1 small onion finely diced

2 garlic scapes finely chopped

½ tsp Ajwain/Bishop's weed

Salt, red chilli flakes

½ tsp oregano (optional)

¼ tsp baking powder

2-3 tsp chopped coriander/cilantro

1 tsp Chaat Masala

2 tsp ghee (clarified butter)/olive oil/ vegetable oil to cook

Many names, huh? But then a rose is still a rose, whatever you call it. 

Quick. Hardly any waiting time this needs.Put your non stick griddle/pan onto heat.

Thats all the Gram flour/ besan you need to make 7 or 8 pancakes.

Garlic Scapes fresh from the back yard.These add a whopper of a flavour to anything that you put them in.

In a bowl, place the gram flour,  and the spices. Add the baking powder and mix it all together well.

A little FYI byte...Ajwain or Bishop's weed is really good for your tummy.


The Active principles in ajwain may help increase the digestive function of the intestinal tract by increasing gut juices(gastro intestinal secretions). Thymol, theessential oil obtained from ajwain has anti- bacterial and anaesthetic and anti fungal properties. Like caraway, ajwain seeds are rich in flavor, fiber, minerals, vitamins and anti oxidants!

Sourced from here.

Now go in the the onions and the garlic..

Now the cilantro/ coriander.Blend all this with a whisk, while adding in the yogurt.If you feel that the batter is too thick, add some water or more yogurt.

The batter should be of a pourable consistency. Not too runny, or the pancake /Poode will cook before the onions and generally not taste nice.

By now the pan will be hot enough, add the oil/ghee. Not too much, just one tsp will do for 3 pancakes.

I use the Hawkins Futura Non Stick pan. Any day better than Tefal, for households with a kaamwali Bai,.
Someone who didnt pay for the dishes will not wash them with any amount of love or sensitivity. So this one is more value for money!

Just one ladleful will do. Two or three pancakes on the pan, depending on the size of your pan.

You’ll need to cook them on a low heat. Add a little more oil/ ghee if you feel the pancake is not crisping up.

When done, flip the pancake, and cook the same way. Just press the pancake with your spatula to ensure t is cooked evenly.

Once they are done, sprinkle some chaat Masala over one side. If you don’t have any, dry mango powder/ amchur or even lemon juice will do.

These taste yummy, warm, spicy and tangy.

Pop a couple of slices of bread into your toaster.

And make a sandwich out of them. You can also eat them without the bread; just dip them in green chutney or ketchup.

Dieters and vegans delight. These pancakes rock!

A lot more healthy, exam type snacks, which are low in calories, high in fibre and absolutely yummy coming up. I’m going to sit and let my fingers do all the talking this Saturday night, as our date is only with grade six science!

So what are you baking today???

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Donna Hay Inspired Pizzas With No Tomato Sauce...

Pizza, pizza and more pizza. That's what Sweet child would live on...24x7. Me, I love pizza too, but what with all the cheese and white flour that goes into it-I go into paroxysms of guilt. And then we saw Donna Hay, with her adorable Aussie accent and spectacularly sparkling white kitchen cook up pizzas with puff pastry...I was sorely tempted to let go of my resolve for the time being. I had a small Square...really small.

Yup, I'm showing off the new collection of Lakme Nail Enamels. If you like it , the colour is 256- it has no name...just a lovely purlishious pink.

A word about Donna Hay, love the fact that every thing around her is so white...almost like St Peter at heaven's Pearly gates. The iridescence of the white background just elevates her food to a standard so high, I'm sure not many can keep up with her. I did watch Eric Lanard the fabulous French Pastry Chef, but he is sooooo secretive about the proportions, and the lady doing the voice over just so drowns his cute french accen(t). What a waste!
Last Batch of puff pastry coming up here.
So now I will have a blog post about how to make Puff Pastry the baketitude way.
The only disadvantage- even with the least possible amount of cheese , this is still not low in fat.(sob). All good things are frightfully expensive!
Well, as long as they are GOOD!
So ,OK ,small doses.

All I had was about 250 gms of Puff Pastry, I had to thaw it for about 25 to 30 mins. I also tried to dehydrate some tomato slices in the oven, I did tell you that the tomatoes are from my own back yard and are very juicy. The absolute last thing I wanted was a watery pizza topping, so i sliced them as thin as I could and popped them in the oven with some herbs and olive oil.You do not need to use tomatoes, ant thing will do,I also had some red pepper- ate most of it even before the pizzas were dressed.

Just so that you know,these are not the toppings that Donna Hay used, only the puff pastry base and the shape of the pizza are the same. The rest, its a wild, wild world.

Been long since Maxi Priest sang this...

Used to love his version of a classic...

Lets get down to doing the work.
For these

Donna Hay Inspired Pizzas With No Tomato Sauce...

you need

250 gm-approx half pound puff pastry
100 gms mozzarella-I used 50 gm cottage cheese and 50 gms Amul mozzarella-shredded
Oregano, salt ,red chili flakes to taste
a few sliced olives, Sliced tomatoes, sliced red bell pepper or whatever you wish to top your pizza with.

Preheat your oven to 230C/450F

Shred the cheese- in my case the cheeses. Mozzarella has a higher percentage of fat,cottage cheese is negligible(homemade with skim milk).

Oven Dried the tomatoes. I should have let them sit in a sieve after salting them first- that way the tomatoes would've turned out drier and crisper. They cooked at 150C/300F for almost 30 minutes.

All right, the puff pastry was workable now. Rolled to 1/5 of an inch thin in a rectangular shape.

Fluted pastry cutter, two equalish rectangles....Extras into the bin...basket...and score. That is why I opted for a bin with a flap, just aim and shoot. Only need to pick up stuff when I miss...and until I'm a few shots down myself, I am proud to say I NEVER miss!

Just about a cm from the edges, spread the cheese mix.

Pinch the edges to make a tray shape that will hold the toppings. you may need to wet the edges a bit to ensure they are glued .

The tomatoes, the pimento stuffed olives...

The sliced bell pepper and the seasonings.

The pastry is on the Al foil and baking tray all this while, you don't want the pizza to topple before its cooked,do you?
By now the oven should be HOT!
In for approximately 9 minutes. You could do both together actually, I was directing sweet child to study from across the hall. So my mind was taking only baby steps.

Only thing, this is one pizza that can be cut into small squares and served as an appetizer with drinks or as a simple mid day snack. Yumm...Yummville!

Puff Pastry is so versatile, just like your wardrobe essential white shirt. Serve it with panache or slum with it in bed...whatever, it never ceases to please!

No wonder every one is so in love with it. Really envy those who can just pop over to the market and buy their supply of Puff Pastry. I/m going to have to slum it out and Knead and Roll and Fold and roll and fold....
BTW...good Puff Pastry has 729 layers....because it is 3^6. 

3 multiplied by itself 6 times. 3 times folded , 3 times. Math , you find it every where!
And here it pays back...with fantastic taste.


So what are you baking today!

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Coconut Biryani

An overdose of sugar.

Everything you see is either pink or brown, heart shaped and SWEET!

More than the mush, the sugar is going to my head, heart, and tummy and not to miss the hip line. I thus decided to give the box of chocolates and cake covered with fondant and butter cream a miss! That we do next week after all this brouhaha has died down. It’ll be nice to revive the spirit of St Valentine then...at least you won’t get withdrawal symptoms- from the sugar that is.

Fortunately here in Ranchi, people seem oddly detached from the love bug. You’ll only see skinny tweenagers and teenagers holding hands and posing for pictures in the only place to hang out here. I’ll bet my friend’s skinny behind that those pictures are for face book and not for the affairs of their heart. I’m quite tempted to creep up to them and yell BOO! Just so that I can scare them out of their pseudo crushes. Almost like Aunts Zelda and Helga- whichever one was the mean one...but you never know someone might just turn around and say Auntiji...wassup? Only in Ranchi it’ll sound like “bhatt ij up?”  I know I am being mean but, whatever...

This twang of displeasure has definitely not rubbed off from the politicians. I’ve exchanged valentines too, and received teddy bears with a lot of pleasure. I was given a 4 foot Pink Panther once, though I didn’t quite see the connection of Pink Panther with Loovvee...

Valentines’ day only needs a new direction. Maybe a little savoury.

So let’s make it a Biryani instead. Don’t want to sound too full of myself, but my chicken biryani is famous and someone I know makes the most awesome vegetable biryani. Awesome, because on a Tuesday or a Thursday, you don’t really have too many choices. So between the devil and the deep blue sea, you’ll obviously choose to drown. So we drown this vegetable biryani in coconut milk.

That, and a few more changes I made to that famous vegetable biryani. Plus I was dying to use my new steel with tempered glass lid saucepan.

For the

Coconut Biryani...

You need

1½ cups basmati rice

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 small onion diced
2 tsp finely diced fresh ginger

1 cup shelled peas

1 cup cut French beans

1 cup diced carrots

1 cup cauliflower florets

2 small tomatoes diced

1 stalk lemon grass

150 mils coconut milk

3-4 bay leaves

1 tsp shahi jeera/cumin

 6 Green cardamom, 4 cloves and 1 inch piece cinnamon

Salt, red chili flakes and turmeric to taste

A few drops green food coloring (optional)

1/2 tsp biryani masala (optional)

Just in case you wondered, all the veggies, save the onion ,came from my backyard. Yup, we’ve had loads of peas, I planted nasturtium vines at the border to fool the squirrels, and that worked. The bay leaves are mine too, cinnamon will take a year, but next year I’ll be blogging about that too.

Soak the rice for at least half an hour.

A little oil in a large wok. That’s my seasoned wok for noodles. Every time I cook in it, I use a wee bit less oil, so its tummy and bum friendly now.

The bay leaves and the spices in, along with the onion and the ginger.

Once the onions are translucent, add the tomatoes. When they are done ,add the beans, they take the longest to cook, and we need them al dente, so...

Next in the carrots and a minute later the cauliflower florets.

On the other stove top, now place the pan with the rice, with at least 4 cups of water, add to this a tsp of salt and the stalk of lemon grass. I found the flavor a little mild; I could’ve used two stalks. Just ensure that you pound the stalk…just like the bull dog who always threatens to do so to jerry (remember Tom and Jerry)

The rice has to al dente too. Almost 85 % done.

Back to the veggies, add the peas and season the veggies with the salt and red chili or paprika and the turmeric. Cover and cook on simmer for five minutes or so till the veggies taste nice and still hold their shapes. Mush in a biryani is not good, so don’t overcook them.

The rice would be 85% cooked by now, so drain out all the liquid and open  the lid to stop any further cooking. Handle the rice gently with a fork at this stage.

If your pan or dish is not non stick, you’ll need to grease the bottom and sides so that the rice does not stick. 

Now, one layer of rice, spread carefully, now half the veggies spread on. Next layer of rice and the other half of the cooked veggies. Finally top with the remaining rice.

I stuck the lemon grass somewhere in the middle, for additional flavor.

Now the coconut milk, this is what I used.

The milk delicately spooned over. The coconut milk is high fat, so that removed the need to add the ghee or clarified butter. 

Three places I poured a few drops of green food coloring, after all, what’s food without a little drama? Sprinkle some biryani masala if you want to....

Now the Dum part. On a flat pan or griddle, on low heat, the sauce pan with the layered biryani, cooked for 35 minutes.

In an oven safe dish this biryani would do well in at 160C/320F for the same amount of time. I had to use my new saucepan, and it had a long handle, so I cooked it on Dum.

I was watching through the glass lid, that’s why I bought this pan…

We had this with a raita; the kachumbar salad (mix of diced onions, tomatoes, cucumder and chilies spiked with lemon juice) would have given us a veggie overdose, so we skipped that.

Next time I’ll also toss in a bit of grated fresh coconut, for extra flavor.

Healthy, wholesome and tasty. This covered two meals. Hubby dear is out of town, so we cook only when hungry.

Try this spiked, “hatke” Biryani. Its almost Thai in flavours.

So what are you baking today???


Try a pizza without the tomato sauce..
coming up!
Sauceless Pizzas

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Chocolate Puff Pastry Stars

Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have. I had chocolate! The sun will refuse to shine the day my cupboards are bereft of chocolate! I always have a stash or two hidden in my cupboards. And my new point of focus is PUFF PASTRY! One huge batch I made some time ago and stashed into the freezer (in separate zip pouches mind it!) which is now coming handy.

Handy is as handy does.

Hot puff pastry and melting chocolate ganache (also removed from the freezer…) with a dusting of icing sugar…and with that some hot, hot coffee! Better midnight snacks couldn’t be thought of.

Pressure came from sweet child, who is all set to prepare for his end of term exams…I say set to prepare- I mean set to prepare, the only thing I see lacking at the moment is the dedication to his books. Every time someone even mentions PS2 I see that longing that probably was in Rapunzel’s eyes…

So I decided to be a “sweet “mum for a change and make something chocolate.

Cake and cookies take too long, and puff pastry seemed to be the only alternative…so 30 mins to let one batch of puff pastry thaw and then it was quick.

Puff pastry seems like a blank canvas, whichever way you stroke the brush, it just lights up….and how. Just waking up to this magical pastry, I know I do not have too much time, summer fast approaches- soon puff pastry will be all sludgy and oily in my hands. So I’m going to make hay while the sun shines… use as much puff pastry as I can, till it becomes too hot to handle it.

For the

Chocolate Puff Pastry Stars...

You need

100 Gms puff pastry

50 Gms chocolate

2 tbsp cream (or alternatively-4-5 tbsp chocolate Ganache)

Icing sugar to dust

I made ganache when I made the Eggless tiramisu-piped the Henna Tattoo – the disposable piping bag went straight into the freezer. Find the recipe for the chocolate ganache here. If you've been keeping track....I used loads in the Brandy Drenched Cake.

Yes, my freezer is quite cavernous. At the moment, besides the 3 bags of puff pastry, I also have 2 bags of shelled peas, 3 bags of fried nandru- lotus stem and about half a kg of cashew burfee. I plan to make Danishes with the cashew burfee one of these days…

Alright, Wengers used to be favorite outlet in CP Delhi, but off late, I find most things a wee bit de hydrated, and maybe my palette needs a change. They make these star shaped Danish Pastries that are full of marzipan (which tastes like cashew Burfee…hence the half Kg in, my freezer). The pastries look really pretty, and I attempted a small version of them last night.

Oven on its highest temp-230C/450F and baking tray lined with AL Foil at the ready.

Roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle, about 6 inches by 8 inches .

Now trim off all the excess. You want it to look like a rectangle not an ellipse.

That’s the new fluted pastry cutter, not as fluted as I would have liked, but that’s all that Lifestyle Pacific Mall had to offer-rather that’s all I had time to buy when I was in Delhi visiting Sanskriti.

6 squares now. Well, almost. I made only 6, make not, and eat not!

Now was the tricky part…make 4 cuts diagonally, just don’t go all the way. Leave some space in the centre. 

With one end fold the pastry something like, fold every other corner to the centre, and press to seal. I’ll redo the folding and paste the pics tomorrow.

A bit wash with milk or egg or if you are vegan, a light sugar solution and then into the oven.

In the mean while warm the ganache, you want melted, slurpy, wet and yummy chocolate on the starts-not fat globs of chewy chocolate cream.

In 12-15 minutes, depending on your electricity supply, you’ll have lovely crisp, golden brown stars.

Out on a platter; just make a small indent in the centre. See the Pit in the centre?

Plated, and the ganache poured. The icing sugar dusted on…

The first star…I poured the ganache. Restraint thy name is MUM!

The others…sweet child, just being sweet. That by the way is his Math text; we were revising Ratio and Proportions!

That shooter had milk and Hershey’s Strawberry syrup with topped with the ganache that obviously doesn’t like the cold.

Quick to make and quicker to disappear.

These were the Chocolate Ganache Puff Pastry Stars. Already in heaven.

Unseasonal Rains have ruined our flowers, here in Ranchi. So we simply appreciate the chocolate and puff pastry!And stay HAPPY!

So what are you baking today???

PS hey, tried them again and got the STARS right...

One fold....

The edge in the centre...

And now to get the perfect stars.....
Enjoy!!!

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