Arbi Tandoori#SundayFunday

What is Arbi? Arbi is Taro root / Colocasia plant root. Arbi or Arvi as some call it here has many benefits. It's a fiber-rich food. It's dietary fiber helps to maintain the blood sugar level and potassium in it helps in heart health. Hence it is helpful in diabetes management. Helps to improve digestive health. Arbi, being rich in fiber content makes your stomach feel fuller for longer hours and reduces the number of calories intake throughout the day. 

Since October is National Cookbook Month, we are sharing recipes from cookbook for Sunday Funday today. My recipe is taken from Tandoori Cooking @ Home by Sanjeev Kapoor.

Ingredients 
16 Arbi
Salt To Taste
¼ Teaspoon Turmeric powder
For The Marinade
½ Cup Hung Curd / Thick Greek Yogurt
½ Tablespoon Besan / Chickpea Flour
½ Teaspoon Kasuri Methi - roasted & crushed
1 Teaspoon Ginger paste
1 Teaspoon Garlic paste
½ Teaspoon Red Chilly powder
¾ Tablespoon Tandoori Masala powder
¼ Teaspoon Garam Masala powder
½ Tablespoon Lemon Juice
Salt To Taste

Method 

Wash well and then boil it ins sufficient salted boiling water with turmeric powder till almost done yet firm. Drain, refresh in cold water. Peel and keep aside.

Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade in a large bowl. 

Flatten the boiled arbi lighlty with your hand and add to the marinade. Mix lightly till evenly coated. Set aside to marinade for thirty minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180°C . Thread the arbi one by one on a skewer and brush with some of the remaining marinade. Cook in the preheated oven for tend to fifteen minutes, basting occasionally with melted butter. 

Remove from the skewers and serve hot.  
Labels: Cookbook, Arbi, Colocasia, Root, Taro, Sunday Funday, Baked, Healthy, Vegetarian, Low Carb, Appetizer  

• Arbi Tandoori by Sneha's Recipe
• Eggplant Char Siu-Style and Other Vegetable Revelations from Tenderheart by Culinary Cam
• Laknavi Kofta Curry by Mayuri's Jikoni
• Lavash Pizza with Cauliflower, Fennel, and Mozzarella by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Pesto Potato Salad with Dijon Mustard by Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Weekend Camping Cookbook: Skillet Enchiladas by Our Good Life

Keto Chilled Cucumber & Avocado Soup#SundayFunday

This Keto chilled soup is very refreshing with fresh cucumber and creamy avocados.

Serves 2
Ingredients
1 Cucumber - peeled, seeded and diced
1 Avocado
½ Cup Plain Whole Milk Yogurt - mine is homemade
1 Tablespoon Cup Fresh Parsley / Coriander Leaves
1 Tablespoon Fresh Dill
1 Scallion - green only - chopped
1 Lime - zest and juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Method 

Add the cucumber, avocado, yogurt, parsley, dill, and green onion to the blender. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Blend the mixture until it is smooth.

Serve immediately or chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before serving.
Nutritional Info : Per Serving - Total Carbs - 12
Labels: Keto, Cold Soup, Cucumber, Avocado, Healthy, Vegetarian, Sunday Funday, Yogurt, Gluten free

• Creamy Cucumber Pasta Salad from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Crockpot Mexican Butternut Squash Soup from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Fresh Fig Salad from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Golden Moon Milk from Culinary Cam
• Instant Pot Pumpkin Sambar from Cook with Renu
• Keto Chilled Cucumber & Avocado Soup from Sneha's Recipe
• Smashed Potatoes from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Warm Root Vegetable Salad with Pomegranate Molasses Dressing from Food Lust People Love

Kale Apple & Walnut Salad with Honey Dressing#Foodieextravaganza

This delicious salad is dressed with a tasty sweet honey vinaigrette. Cubes of feta cheese and raisins laced throughout add sweet and tangy flavor. This is a healthy salad low in sodium and gluten-free. This salad with our honey dressing is just perfect for clean eating, it’s very filling, light, healthy, fiber rich and gluten free. That’s the beauty of homemade salad recipes .

Pick up the leaves gently between your thumbs and fingers.
Gently massage the kale between your fingers until you feel the leaf start to soften.
Massage the leaves until you like the softened texture. DON’T over do it. Or your salad will be unpalatable and mushy. 

Ingredients
5 Cups Chopped Kale
2 Cups Chopped Butter Head Lettuce
1 Large Apple - thinly sliced
¼ Cup Raisins
½ Cup Toasted Walnut - roughly chopped
1oo Grams Feta Cheese - diced
For The Dressing
3 Tablespoons Honey
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1½ Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
1/8 Teaspoon Pink Himalayan Salt
1/8 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black pepper 

Method 

Pull the leafy part off the kale ribs. The ribs are tough and very chewy. Rip them off!
Before you begin making your salad, massage the kale with little salt and oil to make them softer.
Place the kale and butter head lettuce leaves in the bottom of a bowl followed by the rest of the ingredients.
Whisk together the dressing ingredients and pour them over the top of the salad. 

Refrigerate before serving. Enjoy! Very tasty salad and so easy to make.

My Notes
If you prefer to have a softer leaf in your salad you may massage the kale. This is done after you remove the leaf off the ribs of the kale. The process takes about 3 minutes.
Put the kale leaf in a bowl with a bit of oil and a pinch of salt.
Now dig in with your hands. Pick up the leaves gently between your thumbs and fingers.
Gently massage the kale between your finger until you feel the leaf start to soften.
Your kale is massaged as much as you want to continue this process. 

Labels: Foodie Extravaganza Party, Kale, Apple,, Honey, Dressing, Salads, Healthy,

• Barley Salad with Apple and Cranberry from Palatable Pastime
• Chatpata Hot Honey from Magical Ingredients
• Honey BBQ Seasoned Deviled Eggs with Bacon from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Honey Glazed Salmon from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Honey Oatmeal Sandwich Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Kale Apple & Walnut Salad with Honey Dressing from Sneha's Recipe 

Keto Mini Blueberry Coconut Flour Pancakes#Foodieextravaganza

These breakfast or dinner style Keto Pancakes aren’t thin and eggy, and neither do they fall apart and taste delicious. I love my pancakes with a drizzle of maple syrup! Have this with my delicious Bullet Coffee and you're full.

I have used ¼ cup almond milk to make the batter. The almond milk used to make batter will vary in the size of eggs, so add milk little at a time to than nice semi thick batter. If your batter is too thin then the cooking time may vary. If you want these more sweet then increase the stevia powder, for me they were just right in sweetness.
The macros for these pancakes are fantastic.

Serving Size: 4 Pancakes - Net Carbs 6Grams
Makes 16 Mini pancakes
Cup Measurement - 250Ml
Ingredients
50 grams Butter - melted
1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract
6 Large Eggs
¼ Cup Almond Milk -coconut, macadamia or any will all work)
½ Cup Coconut Flour
¼ Cup Golden Flaxseed powder
¼ Teaspoon Pink Himalayan Salt
¼ Teaspoon Stevia
1 Teaspoon Baking powder 
½ Cup Fresh Blueberries

Method

Combine the butter, vanilla extract, stevia, eggs and nut milk into a medium bowl and combine using a whisk until the thoroughly mixed.
In a another large bowl combine the coconut flour, flax seed meal, salt and baking powder well.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture and whisk together until you have a uniform batter. Set aside for a couple minutes to allow it to thicken.

Preheat a large skillet to medium low heat and grease using a spray, ghee or coconut oil. I used my mini pancake/uttappam pan. 

If you use a normal skillet they tend to spread. When the skillet is heated, using a ¼ measuring cup add the batter to the skillet. Place 3 -4 blueberries on top. 

Cook on medium low heat on first side for 3-4 minutes and then flip and cook till this is golden for about a minute.

Work in batches until all the batter has been used.

Serve immediately with desired toppings, such as sugar free syrup or pure maple syrup and additional blueberries.
Best stored in a zip top bag or air tight container in the fridge up to 1 week.

Labels: Foodie Extravaganza Party, Keto, Pancakes, Blueberry, Breakfast, Low Carb, International Cuisine, Healthy

• Blueberry Lemon Turnovers from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Fresh Blueberry Syrup from Food Lust People Love
• Grilled Pork Chops with Herbed Blueberry Sauce from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Grilled Peach and Blueberry Salad from Palatable Pastime
• Keto Mini Blueberry Coconut Flour Pancake from Sneha's Recipe
• Oatmeal Spice Cake Mix Cookies with Blueberries from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice

Vegan Italian Pasta Salad With Basil Dressing#SundayFunday

So flavorful pasta salad with fresh herbs, tomatoes, olives, pickled pepperoncini's, red onion and a basil dressing. It’s perfect for potlucks and picnic's. This Vegan Italian Pasta Salad is quick, easy to put together.

For Pasta Salads, cook the pasta a little longer than the directions given since Al denté is ideal for hot pasta dishes, but for pasta salads it should be a little softer/slightly overcooked pasta. Pasta firms up a lot once it’s cold hence a slightly overcooked pasta works best for salads.

Ingredients 
For The Basil Dressing
¼ Cup Olive Oil 
1 Teaspoon White Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Water
½ Teaspoon Sea Salt or to taste
¼ Teaspoon Garlic Powder
¼ Teaspoon Onion Powder
¼ Teaspoon Sugar
12 -15 Fresh Basil or more to your taste
¼ Teaspoon Dried Basil
¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Powder
For The Salad
2 Cups Boiled Pasta
1 Cups Cherry Tomatoes - chopped
2 Tablespoons Fresh Herbs (I use basil, thyme & oregano)
⅓ Cup Green & Black Olives - chopped
1 Small Red Onion - chopped
1 Tablespoon Pickled Pepperoncini's - chopped

Method

Cook pasta according to package instructions, but add an extra minute to the cooking time. The pasta should be just slightly overcooked .
While the pasta is cooking , let's prepare the dressing.

Add all of the dressing ingredients to a blender. Blend on medium-high speed until the dressing is a creamy light green with plenty of fresh basil flecks are seen throughout.

Drain the pasta and transfer it to a large bowl. Immediately toss the hot pasta with ⅔ of the dressing (enough to liberally coat). Chill.
Once the pasta is cold, mix in dressing mixture, tomatoes, olives, chopped herbs, pepperoncini's, and red onion. Chill. 

Taste and adjust seasoning before serving.

Labels: Vegan, Italian, Basil, Dressing, Salad, Side Dish, Pasta, Healthy, Sunday Funday

For Pasta Salad and Noodle Salad Event 

Sneha's Recipe: Vegan Italian Pasta Salad With Basil Dressing 

Amy's Cooking Adventures: Caprese Pasta Salad 

A Day in the Life on the Farm: Couscous Salad 

Palatable Pastime: Pineapple and Butternut Macaroni Salad 

Karen's Kitchen Stories: Chinese Egg Noodle Salad with Pork 

Mayuri's Jikoni: Tropical Pasta Salad 

Cook with Renu: Vegetable Orzo Pasta Salad   

Homemade English Muffins#BreadBakers

I am big fan of English Muffins, can have these for breakfast, lunch and dinner. During my stay in UK, enjoyed these muffins, toasted and buttered, in sandwiches, French toast, eggs benedict, sometimes just slathered with jam, these became my favorite. These were on my to do list for a long time. They turned out so beautiful that my hubby felt that these are bought from the bakery. 

To make these muffins have used sprouted whole wheat flour , bread flour and all purpose flour. You can make these with only all purpose flour or bread flour. It's just that I, like experimenting with different flours, but the result was excellent, these we so..oo.. good, enjoyed making these muffins and eating it too.

Makes 6
Ingredients
100 Grams All Purpose Flour
190 Grams Bread Flour
10 Grams Sprouted Whole Wheat Flour
8 Grams Granulated Sugar
1 Teaspoon Sea Salt
7 Grams Instant Yeast
1 Egg
155 Grams Milk
15 Grams Salted Butter - softened
Cornmeal as required

Method
In bowl sieve all the flours and keep aside.

In a another large bowl, add, the yeast, sugar, butter, salt, milk and egg, mix these well and keep it aside for 5 to 7 minutes till the yeast starts to froth. Tip in the flour and knead to form a soft smooth dough. Take this dough on work surface and knead it for 10 minutes stretching and folding the dough till turns super soft, elastic and passes the window pane test (If you can stretch the dough spread between your fingers and thumbs apart, stretching the dough into a thin translucent membrane (i.e. a windowpane), without it breaking, that means the gluten is well-developed and your dough is ready to rise. From the dough into smooth ball. Grease the bowl with little oil and lightly oil the dough ball. 

Cling wrap the bowl and keep to rise till it doubles in volume.

Once it rises double in volume, deflate the dough, lightly press it into round circle and divide it into 6 equal parts. 

Roll each part into a smooth ball and again cover it with a damp cloth and let it rest for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, dust the work surface with corn meal and take one ball, place it on the cornmeal and lightly flatten it into circle, sprinkle little cornmeal on top by lightly pressing it on to the surface top.

Place these on a tray sprinkled with a little cornmeal. Cover and let it rise for 30 minutes or more the depending on the room temperature, until they puff up or nearly double in size.

Heat a non stick pan on low flame, oil the pan with 2 drops of oil and then wipe it clean with a paper towel. Place one or two muffins on it( depending on the size of the pan) and let it cook on one side for 7 - 8 minutes.

Then flip it with a spatula and let it cook the other side for another 8 minutes or till they are golden brown on both sides.

Remove them on to basket lined with parchment paper and let them cool.

To slice them use a fork, by piercing it all around they get sliced excellently without tearing.

Slathered it with butter and then toasted it on a non stick pan and made sandwiches for us for dinner.

My Notes

You can bake these English Muffins in large quantity since they freeze very well. 

Labels: Bread, Bread Bakers, United Kingdom, Breakfast, Homemade, Healthy

Welcome to Bread Bakers! This month, our theme is BBQ Breads.

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient
#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

And don’t forget to check out all the amazing breads baked by our talented bakers ~  

• Food Lust People Love: Cheesy Skillet Cornbread 
• Passion Kneaded: Hamburger Potato Buns
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Homemade Ciabatta Garlic Bread
• Sneha’s Recipe: Homemade English Muffins
• A Messy Kitchen: Sweet Corn Muffins 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Texas Toast starting with Homemade English Muffin Bread 
• Palatable Pastime: Traeger Bacon Cornbread  

Stuffed Potato Masala Idli With Pumpkin Sambar#SundayFunday

Stuffed Potato Masala Idli is so soft and make a perfect filling brunch. These are filled healthy are more healthier than the normal idlis with delicious pumpkin sambar, and, I am sure all idli fans would love to have this. Check here how to grind idli batter.  

Ingredients
3 Medium Potatoes - boiled, peeled and mashed
1 Tablespoon Oil
1 Teaspoon Mustard seeds
1 Teaspoon Split Urad Dal
1 Medium Onion - finely chopped
1 Medium Tomato - finely chopped
2 Green chillies - finely chopped
⅓ Teaspoon Turmeric powder
2 Tablespoons Coriander leaves - finely chopped
Salt To Taste
Homemade Idli Batter - As needed
For The Pumpkin Sambar
½ Cup Tuvar Dal
2 Cups Water
½ Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
For The Pumpkin Sambar
1 Medium Lauki - can use Red Pumpkin - cut into cubes
1 Onion - sliced
2 Green chillies
2 Teaspoons Homemade Sambhar Powder or to taste
Salt to taste
1 Teaspoon Jaggery
2 Teaspoons Tamarind Paste or to taste
Water as needed
2 Tablespoons Oil
1 Teaspoon Mustard Seeds
¼  Teaspoon Asafoetida
A sprig Curry Leaves - a sprig

2 Dried Red Chillies 

Method

For The Potato Masala

Heat a kadai with oil, add the mustard seeds and spilt urad dal, when the dal changes color. Add in the finely chopped onions, green chillies, fry till onion turns transparent.
Add the tomatoes and potatoes fry for a minute in medium flame. Add turmeric and salt to taste. Cover and cook on low flame for 2 -3 minutes. Sprinkle water if its too dry and mash them lightly so that all the flavors blend well. Add coriander leaves. Switch off the flame and let it cool.

Once cooled make small balls and lightly flatten it to fill in the idli, keep aside.
Let's Make The Pumpkin Sambar

Wash and soak the dal for at least an hour.
Take dal, water and turmeric powder in a pressure cooker. Cover and pressure cook for 3 whistles. Turn off the cooker and let the cooker cool completely. Open and mash the dal well add the pumpkin and take one more whistle on high flame. Let the cooker cool completely. 

Heat oil in a pot/kadai. Add in mustard seeds when they crackle add in curry leaves, dried red chillies and asafoetida. Sauté for a minute. Reserve some for pouring on top. Add in onions, Sauté this for a minute or till translucent. Add in the sambar powder and mix well. Add in cooked dal and pumpkin, tamarind pulp and water to make  the sambar. Mix well. Add in salt to taste and jaggery. Mix well, bring this to boil, let it simmer on low flame for 5 to 8 minutes stirring in between. Switch off the flame. Pumpkin Sambar is ready to serve.

To Make The Stuffed Idli

Grease the idli plate and then pour a half ladle of batter and spread evenly. 

Now place the ball of the potato ball in the center and again pour the idly batter to cover it.
Steam the idli for 12 - 15 minutes. 

Cool and with a knife or spoons remove the idli's from the mold. 

Serve hot with Pumpkin Sambar, Enjoy!! 

Labels: Sambar, Sambar powder, Pumpkin, Idli, Stuffed, Potato, Main course, Brunch, Homemade, Vegan, Gluten free, Healthy, South Indian, Sunday Funday

Sunday FunDay - 23 April 2023 - Spring Brunch   

• Baked Garlic Cheese Grits from Palatable Pastime
• Breakfast Tarts from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Lobster Bruschetta from Food Lust People Love
• Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Stuffed Potato Masala Idli with Pumpkin Sambar from Sneha's Recipe
• Torijas with Honey Orange Syrup from A Day in the Life on the Farm