August 2010 ~ Newsletter.

simply.food

Simply.food is excited to write its first newsletter.
August starts with a launch of a new themed event “Flavours of”, a series of events that will be guest hosted by fellow bloggers on behalf of simply.food.
The response for guest hosting has been tremendous and I thank everyone for showing such great support and enthusiasm for it.
The current event running is Favours of Gujarat which is hosted at simply.food.

Don’t forget to get your aprons on and start cooking. Gujarati food is delectable and mouth watering so do check out recipes and have a go at making and sampling this wonderful regional food.

You may send your entries here. There is no limit and archived entries are also acceptable.
For more details visit this post.
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Homeobuzz - simply.food writes regular recipes for Homeobuzz magazine. The recipe that appeared in the august 2010 issue was strawberry ice cream.

 

August has been a hectic month with school holidays, vacation and family visits, updating simply.food posts has been difficult. I am happy to share with you some posts that I managed to post during snatched moments from my chaotic routine.


Egg less double chocolate chip cake- This I baked as indulgent treat to bribe the baccha party that had invaded our household to behave and give me some peace .





Kidney beans with potato curry- This recipe when time was limited and needed a fast and quick meal.

 

Murrbo- Just need some rotis and spread the murrbo and tiffin was ready for the picnics.




Gujarati badam pak- August celebrated raksha bandhan, what better sweet to make than this for your brother.

 

Farari bateta nu shak- August had many religious festive days this dish was perfect for those fasting days.

Mango Ice cream –Cooling and delicious, a good way to use up the abundant mangoes that were in season.

Spinach paratha- Healthy and delicious and were perfect with the rajma.




Guvar Dhokri-A lovely homely gujarati dish a wonderful come home dish after the vacation.

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Awards –Its always wonderful to get appreciation, simply.food is proud to have received awards from fellow bloggers.
Thank you guys for sharing these awards and making simply.food worthy of them.
For those of you friends who missed this post please drop by here and collect the awards that simply.food would like to share with  you.

Finally if you enjoyed reading this news letter please do subscribe to it so that you can get regular updates.You may do this via this newsletter link via google friends connect on side bar on simply.food home page.

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Guvar Dhokri

Guvar Dhokri- a Gujarati dish made with dhokri which is flavoured chapatti pieces that are cooked in the spicy gravy together with Guvar (cluster beans)

Ingredients:

120 grams /4 oz cluster beans top and tailed and cut into 2.5 cm pieces.
1/2 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon chilli powder
½ teaspoon cumin powder
½ teaspoon coriander powder
½ teaspoon garlic paste
¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tomatoes chopped and blended to a puree
3 cups water
Few springs of fresh coriander for garnish

For Dhokri:

1 tablespoons wheat flour
1 tablespoon besan (chick pea flour)
2 tablespoons fresh chopped fenugreek
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon olive oil
Water to make dough

Method:

1. Add wheat flour and besan in a bowl together with the fenugreek, salt, turmeric ad chilli powder.
2. Add the oil and make dough by adding 2-3 tablespoons water as needed to make pliable dough.
3. Cover and keep aside to rest.
4. In a large saucepan add 3 tablespoons of oil when hot add mustard seeds and wait for them to splutter, next add the garlic and sauté.
5. Add the tomatoes, salt, chilli powder, cumin and coriander powders and turmeric
6. Cook till tomatoes and spices infuse. Add the cluster beans and add 3 cups of water and bring to boil.
7. Dive the dhokri dough in to 4 parts, roll out 6 inch chapatti from each ball of dough. Cut the chapatti into 3 cm squares.
8. Lift the chapatti squares and put them in the boiling pan of cluster beans that are cooking. Repeat for rest of dough.
9. Stir the curry intermittently to avoid dhokri from sticking to each other too much. Add more water if required.
10. When all the dough has been used up, turn heat to simmer cover and cook till dhokri’s and cluster beans are well cooked.
11. Transfer the curry to serving dish and garnish with fresh chopped coriander.
Serve with rice.

You may like:
Ondhwo
 
Submitting  to:
Flavours of Gujarat event
 
 

A short break.

simply.food is taking a short break, will be back with new recipes after my vacation.

Please keep visiting and feel free to check out the many archived recipes.

I will catch up with everyones blog posts on my return.

Also dont't forget to keep sending in your entries to:

Flavours of Gujarat event.

Eggless double chocolate chip cake.

Eggless double chocolate chip cake-Melt in the mouth rich and moist texture. Extremely chocolatey enriched with white and dark chocolate chips and topped with a milk chocolate ganache topping and more white chocolate chips. This cake is only for the die hard chocolate lovers.

Ingredients:

225 grams all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

250 grams cocoa

275 grams sugar

175 grams butter (room temperature)

175 grams natural yoghurt

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

3 tablespoons egg replacer (or 3 eggs)

3 tablespoons water

75 grams chocolate chip

50 grams milk chocolate chip

For chocolate ganache:

50 grams butter (room temperature)

50 grams Cocoa

200 grams milk chocolate

3 tablespoons milk

50 grams icing sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees centigrade/325 farenheit

2. Grease and line a 9 inch cake tin.

3. In a bowl add the sugar and butter and beat till it is light and fluffy.

4. Add the yoghurt, vanilla essence, water  and mix throughly.

5. In separate bowl sieve the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cocoa and egg replacer.

6.Gently fold in the dry ingredients into the wet, taking care not to over mix. Fold in half the white chocolate chip and all the milk chocolate chip.

7. Spoon mixture into a prepared cake tin and bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes .Cake is ready when skewer inserted in centre come out clean.

8. Remove cake from oven and leave to cool.

9. In a microwaveable dish, melt the chocolate, once chocolate is melted add the cocoa, butter, milk and icing sugar and beat to make a rich ganache. 

10. Spread the chocolate ganache on top of the cooled cake and sprinkle with remaining white chocolate chip.

You may like:

Chocolate chip  muffins

Submitting to:

Chocolate log blog- we should cocoa event.

Kidney beans (rajma) with potato curry

Kidney beans (Rajma)and potato curry - A quick simple and fast curry that can be rustled up in minutes when you are short of time. Simple and easy ingredients combined in a spicy gravy a no frills but delicious dish to serve with paratha or rice.

Ingredients:

8 oz precooked kidney beans

2 medium potatoes diced

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon chilli powder

1 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 tomato finely chopped

1 teaspoon tomato puree

1 teaspoon fresh coriander for garnish(optional)

Method:

1.Heat the oil in a pan , when hot add the mustard seeds.

2. Add the tomatoes and the tomato puree and all the spices.Fry till tomato breaks down

3. Add the potatoes and add 1/2 cup water.

4. Cook for 5 minutes then add the kidney beans.

5. Cook for a further 5-6 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

6.Transfer to serving dish and garnish with coriander.

Serve with boiled rice or roti.

You may like:
Five mixed bean curry

Sending to:
Briciole MLLA-26- event brainchild of Susan of The well seasoned cook

Announcing an event ~ Flavours of Gujarat

This is simply. food’s first blog event.

Flavours of Gujarat.

From August 5th - September 30th

Gujarati cuisine is very vibrant, tasty and is a very flavoursome. The vast array of dishes are all very distinct and unique and will tickle and tantalise your taste buds taking you on a culinary journey that you will not regret. I am inviting all  blogger friends to participate and support this event and help to make it successful.

Gujarati cuisine refers to the cuisine of the Gujarat; this being predominant in western-India. It is mainly vegetarian. Cuisine can vary widely in flavour and heat, depending on the region of Gujarat they are from. North Gujarat, Kathiawad, Kachchh, and South Gujarat are the four major regions of Gujarat that all bring their own style to Gujarati food. Many Gujarati dishes are distinctively sweet, salty, and spicy at the same time. Some regions in gujarat omit garlic and onions from their cooking too.To get more information on dishes of Gujarat please click here.

Criteria for entry:

1. Any dish from Gujarat. Vegetarian only- eggs allowed.
2. Multiple entries welcome.
3. I would encourage you to try new recipes although archived recipes are welcome but please repost it again with the logo and linking back to this announcement page.
4. Non- bloggers are also welcome for this event. Just mail me your recipe and picture of your dish with your name and email ID

This is mandatory:

• Please link back to this announcement page.
• I would appreciate it if you could promote this event by placing the event logo in your post.

 Please click here to send your entries:

Alternatively you may email the following details to simplysensationalfood@gmail.com.

Your Name:
Blog Name:

Blog Url:
Recipe Name:
Recipe Url:

Image 300 px width – no larger

In subject please write Flavours of Gujarat event.

Looking forward to your entries.

*Exciting news*

This is going to be a series of events, each event will be running for a duration of two months. Any blogger wishing to host one of these events on behalf of simply.food please email me request of event you would like to host with your details.

Forthcoming events will be:

Flavours of Punjab ~1st October 2010 -30th November 2010

Flavours of  Goa ~ 1st  December 2010- 31st January 2011

Flavours of Maharastra ~ 1st February 2011- 31st March 2011

Flavours of Bengal ~1st April - 31st May 2011

Flavours of Rajasthan ~ 1st June -31st July 2011

Flavours of  South India ~ 1st August -30th September

Murrbo (Sweet mango chutney/jam)

Murrbo (Mango chutney)-Sweet and tangy mango chutney (jam) delicately flavoured with cinnamon, cloves and cardamom.

Ingredients:

16 oz raw mangoes
12 oz sugar
6 cloves
4 small cinnamon sticks
6 whole cardamoms slightly crushed to release flavour
1 glass of water
1 tablespoon Lemon juice

Method:

1. Wash, pat ,dry and peel mangoes. Cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2. Boil mango till slightly tender but still retaining its shape, remove from heat and drain water and keep aside mango.
3. In a thick bottomed pan, mix sugar with 1 glass water .
4. Heat it, while mixing at frequent intervals till sugar dissolves completely.
5. Skim off any grey foam, which are impurities from the sugar. Add lemon juice. It will help to avoid crystallization of sugar.
6.To the sugar syrup, add the boiled mangoes, cardamoms, cloves and cinnamon and mix properly.
7. Let it boil for few minutes and then put it on medium heat. Keep stirring at regular intervals till cooked. Approx 7-8 minutes.When the mixture resembles jam like consistency remove from heat.

When cool transfer to sterilised jars. Keep in fridge.
Serve with papodams, tortilla chips or with paratha or puri.

Reposting this post for :

Yasmeens Health nut-tropical temptations challenge.

Submitted to:
Nithu's Kitchen-"Think Beyond the Usual - Fruits" event

Anupama's -Food n more - mango event

Gujarati Badam Pak- Almond fudge

Badam Pak is a gujarati sweet made with ground almonds, milk powder and ghee. A soft creamy mithai (sweet)that is made for festivals , weddings and  offerings to the gods.

Ingredients:

250 grams milk powder
250 grams ground almonds
6 tablespoons ghee
Pinch  saffron
1 teaspoon cardamom  powder
1 tablespoon almond slivers
1 teaspoon poppy seeds (kus kus)

For sugar syrup:

250 grams sugar
3/4 cup water
pinch saffron.

Method:

1. Add sugar and water  to a pan, heat, add pinch saffron and bring to boil.
2. When syrup comes to 1 thread consistency turn off heat and leave to cool.
3. In a heavy bottom pan add the ghee and roast the milk powder on low heat tlll it starts to take on brown colour.(3-4 minutes)
4.Add the ground almonds and continue roasting till a rich aroma fills the room and mixture looks golden brown.(7-8 minutes) Mixture will look fairly dry don't be tempted to add more ghee.
5. Add the cardamom powder and stir.
6. Add the slightly cooled sugar syrup  to the roasted mixture,it will start to thicken.Keep stirring mixture till it starts to leave the sides and come together.
7. Transfer mixture to an oiled tray and press it down and smooth with the back of a spoon.
8. Sprinkle poppy seeds (kus kus) and chopped almonds and few saffron strands,

9. Keep aside to cool.
10. Once cool cut to desired shapes.

You may like
Mohanthal

Sending to:
simply.food-Flavours of Gujarat

Indian khana-festive foods rakhi

Creative sanyukta-colour your palate event

One more award..

This award was gifted to me by Aipi of  US Masala ,Satrupa of Food for thought, Pj of seduce your tastebuds , Deepa of hamari rasoi and Mina of Authentic vegetarian kitchen.

Thankyou ladies for passing this award to me , but as they say nothing comes free and the deal is that I have to reveal 7 things about my self and pass the award to some other unsuspecting blogger friends.

7 things about my self:

1.I never tire of cooking its a passion for me.
2.I enjoy eating but have to burn off the calories by excercising.
3.I love reading  and I have to read at least 2-3 pages before I sleep.
4.Since food blogging I am getting seriously obsessed with crockery and am always scouring shops for new bowls, dishes and  tablecloths to purchase.
5.I love travelling I just returned from a holiday to  Lanzarote-Canary Islands.
6.I write fiction and some poetry when time permits.
7.I hate a messy cooks so sharing my kitchen is very difficuly for me.

Thankyou to Torviewtotonto for sharing this award .

Its difficult to choose 15 blogger friends as all friends who arrive here are special  also many have already received this same award so I pass this award to any blogger visitor that visits here. Please feel free to pick up the award and show it off on your blog.

Farari bateta nu shak- Jeera aloo

Farari bateta nu shak-Jeera aloo -This snack dish is normally prepared in gujarati homes during fasting. It is a very  simple dish made with few ingredients and is often made without salt to eat during navratri and other fasting days Served with plain yoghurt and fried or roasted peanuts its a tasty and simple snack dish.

Ingredients:

3 medium  potatoes peeled and thinly sliced
3 green chillies cut into long slits
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger paste (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh chopped coriander leaves
1 teaspoon whole cumin  (jeera)seeds
1 teaspoon salt (optional) or sindhav salt rock salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder
1/2 teaspoon red chillli powder
1.5 tablespoons sunflower oil

For serving

2 tablespoons natural yoghurt
1 tablespoon roasted or fried peanuts.

Method:

1. In a pan add the oil when hot add the cumin seeds and allow to splutter.
2. Add the chilli slits and fry slightly.
3.Add the potato slices and toss to coat them with the oil.
4. Dry fry the potatoes till they slightly crisp up for about 5 minutes.
5. Add the salt, black pepper powder and chilli powder and toss the potatoes.
6. Cover and cook on low flame till potatoes are tender.
7. Transfer to serving dish and garnish with fresh chopped coriander

Serve with yoghurt and fried/roasted peanuts.

Submitting to:
simply.food ~ flavours of gujarat event.

Mango Icecream

Mango Icecream-Rich creamy mango icecream enriched with a sunkissed tropical taste of rich sweet juicy mangoes.Heaven on a plate to tease your palate.

Ingredients:

1 large or two medium mangoes (for puree)
1 mango for serving
397 grams condensed milk ( 1 full can)
100 grams fresh double cream

Method:

1. Peel the mango, discard the stone and chop into small pieces .
2. In a blender jug add the chopped mango and blend to a fine puree.
3. In a bowl add the condensed milk and the cream and whip till light and fluffy.
4. Fold in the mango puree.
5. Pour the mixture into a tupperware container and place in freezer.
6. After 3 hours take the ice cream out of the freezer and stir with a fork to break any ice crystals.
7. At 3 hours intervals repeat this process twice more (In total 3 times)
8. After the third time take the ice cream out of the freezer and allow to stand for 5-10 minutes.
9. Peel and cut the mango into slices and discard the stone.
10.Using an ice cream scoop, scoop ice cream into serving bowl , garnish with the mango slices.

Serve immediately.
NB- Alternatively you can skip stages 5,6 and 7 if you have an ice cream maker.

You may like:

Strawberry Icecream

Submitting to:
Torview-cold desserts event
Sara's corner- mm party treats event by meeta monthly mingle

Yasmeen Health nut-tropical temptations challenge

Taste of pearl city -iftar moments events

foodelicious-kids delight event

Spinach Paratha

Spinach Paratha-Indian flatbreads with a twist. Wheat flour and pureed spinach made in to a dough, rolled out in unique triangle shapes and cooked on a tava.Flaky and tasty they taste delicious with mango pickle or any curry .These are  simply perfect for that fast tea time/ lunch  snack.

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour
400 grams fresh spinach
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon oil
4 tablespoons oil for cooking paratha in
2 tablespoons plain flour for rolling parathas.

Method:

1.Wash and chop the spinach into ribbons.
2.Place the spinach in a microwaveable bowl cover with 2 tablespoons water  and add the fenugreek seeds and blanch for 3 minutes on high.
3. Remove spinach from microwave and blend to a fine puree.
4. In a bowl add the wheat flour, salt and turmeric.
5. Rub in 1 tablespoon oil and add the spinach puree as needed to make a soft dough.(Depending on the wetness of the puree  and the brand of flour used, you may have a little left over or you may find to bring dough together you may need to add 1-2 tablespoons water.Judge this yourself)
6. Knead the dough, cover and leave aside to 15-30 minutes.
7. Divide the dough in to 10 balls.

8. Take one of the balls dip in dry flour and roll out to a 6 in round paratha.
9.Spread a little oil on the paratha and sprinkle with some plain flour.
10. Fold the paratha in half and spead a little more oil and sprinkle some plain flour  and fold into a quarter.You will have a triangle shape.(Reason for doing this is to make paratha flaky)
11. Dust this triangle in some dry flour and roll out a paratha keeping the triangle shape.
12. Heat a tava and place  the rolled paratha  on it, when bubbles start to form flip the paratha.
13. Spread a little oil on to this side and flip again . Repeat for 2nd side.Paratha is ready when brown spots start to appear on it.
14.Remove from tava and repeat for rest of dough.

Serve with yoghurt and mango pickle.

You may like:
 Aloo paratha.

Sending to:

Sandhyas Kitchen- Global kadai  flatbread event
Sharmis passion-Lets munch tea time snacks