Baked Potato Wedges

Some days you just need it. Quick carbs that is.

I had seen this interesting recipe by the purple foodie which she had adapted from lottie + doof to get a stronger garlic flavour.

I like love garlic but 8 cloves of them? too much for me! but still I loved the whole idea of baking them and she seemed so elated with the results I just had to try the technique.

It was a smashing success! fantastic fries I absolutely loved them!

However I did change the recipe quite a bit;

• I added a tablespoon of tomato soup powder – gave a great tangy tomato flavour
• reduced the garlic to 3 cloves
• used tapioca instead of cornflour – I prefer tapioca, it binds way better and faster than cornflour
• Increased the quantity of potatoes greatly! used 7 medium sized ones without altering the proportion of any of the ingredients- perfect proportions.

The best part is, I could salvage almost 3 tbs of oil post baking! so not much really went into 7 whole potatoes. This was brilliant.

So thats it! great, great, great stuff! I totally recommend it to everyone who loves fries and has an oven. Seriously.

You can check out  the purple foodie or lottie + doof for the detailed recipe and techinque follow whichever version you prefer.

Honestly, didn’t need the kitchen paper to drain

Stuffed Marrow + Hippo + Yakult

I’ve been trying to go easy on the calories and fat and all that jazz.

So I conjured this dish. Marrow is super low on calories and fat and has a neutral taste so goes pretty well with just about anything.

It was a success. Delicious and filling and more importantly so low in fat, cals and carb. I was wondering where  I could get a calorie calculator like the one you see on allrecipes.com

But for now I can approximate and tell you without a doubt that this one’s low calorie.

What you need:

1 med sized marrow, peeled and cut into three to four pieces

5 button mushrooms, chopped

0.25 cup Crushed tofu

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

0.5 tsp ginger, chopped

1 green chili, finely chopped

1 tomato, finely chopped

2 tsp Jordanian Za’atar

2 tsp Lebanese Za’atar

1 tsp surmac (substitute with lemon juice)

salt as per taste

2 tsp olive oil

What to do:

1. Heat one tsp of oil and fry onions, garlic, chili and ginger and fry for a bit. Add one tsp of each type of Za’atar;  surmac and salt. Roast for a bit.

2. Add the mushrooms, tomato and stir fry for 5 minutes. Keep aside.

3. Heat the remaining oil and add the remaining Za’atar and salt and roast the marrow pieces till coated.

4. Stuff the marrow with the mushroom mix and top with crushed tofu bake at 200 C (400 F) for 30 minutes.

There you go. Yum!  Now bear with me while I experiment with some new photo angles.. cool lighting and all that.. what  do you think?

I’m hooked onto these munchies.. Hippo Munchies.. perfect with the marrow.

And its low fat too.

Heres a peek into my fridge.

I love  this new probiotic drink! It just launched in India and apparently has something like 6.5 billion probiotic bacteria ber bottle.

June Top Tens: Blog Envy + Mushroom and Red Cabbage Momos

1.cafe johnsonia’s Dulche Le Leche http://cafejohnsonia.blogspot.com/2008/03/have-you-tried-dulce-de-leche.html

sweet basils fruit soup http://cafejohnsonia.blogspot.com/2008/03/have-you-tried-dulce-de-leche.html

Health Nut’s Sheermal http://yasmeen-healthnut.blogspot.com/2009/04/slice-of-royal-feast-sheermal-and-badam.html

A Bountiful Kitchen’s Flaky Pineapple pastry http://abountifulkitchen.blogspot.com/search/label/dessert

world foodie Guide Momos

http://www.worldfoodieguide.com/index.php/how-to-make-momos-tibetan-dumplings-2/

eat like a girls Chicken of the woods with walnut mayo http://eatlikeagirl.com/2008/05/28/chicken-of-the-woods-fritters-with-wild-garlic-and-walnut-mayo/

simply recipes bruschetta with tomato and basil http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/bruschetta_with_tomato_and_basil/

culinarty’s sweet/savory pies http://culinarty.sapiensworks.com/articles/fried-pies-sweet-savoury-or-both-the-choice-is-yours/

Passionate about baking’s Chocolate Cherry muffins http://www.passionateaboutbaking.com/2009/06/chocolate-cherry-muffinshealthy-muffins.html

Purple Foodie’s Creamy Oreo Pie http://purplefoodie.com/2008/12/creamy-oreo-pieagain.html

Another fun Top Tens event by Caitlin at Food Nerd. This one’s called ‘Blog Envy’  This month we had to compile a list of the recipes from blogs that we’ve been ‘meaning to make’..So I pulled out my bookmarks folder and sorted to arrive at these top ten recipes… Oh there’s more, we’ve got to make one of the recipes from the list! but before that the list!

1. Bruschetta with tomato and basil from Simply Recipes.

2. Sweet/Savory Pies by Culinarty

3.  Chocolate Cherry muffins from Passionate about baking

4. Creamy Oreo Pie by the Purple Foodie

5.  Dulche Le Leche from Cafe Johnsonia

6. Fruit Soup by Sweet Basil

7. Sheermal by Health Nut

8. Flaky Pineapple pastry by A Bountiful Kitchen

9. Chicken of the Woods with Walnut Mayo by Eat like A Girl

10. Momos by World Foodie Guide

And I made the momos! World Foodie Guide’s blog doesn’t quite have a very detailed description of the recipe so I made my own just getting the general idea from the site.

‘Momos’ are a Tibetan version of the dumpling. It’s basically a wet flour wrapper that’s filled with any stuffing you like, mostly ground meat and spices and the dough is folded over the stuffing and pinched together to form a dumpling. These dumplings are steamed and eaten with a dipping sauce.

I had this beautiful red cabbage in my vegetable draw and I tossed it up with equal portions of mushrooms to make the juiciest momos that I’ve ever tasted.

What you need:

for the momo wrapper

2 cups whole flour (wayyy better results with all purpose.. but you know me

water to knead

oil for greasing

For the filling:

1 cup chopped red cabbage

1 cup chopped mushroom

1 green chili

1/2 tsp ginger-garlic paste

1.5 tsp Chinese five spice powder

1 tsp lemon juice

salt as per taste

What to do:

1. Make the wrapper: knead the flour and water to make a soft, elastic dough. Shape into small balls. Cover and keep aside.

2. Mix all the ingredients for the filling in a large bowl

3. Roll out each ball and spoon a bit of the filing in the centre

4. Pinch the edges together and secure on top. Ensure that there is absolutely no way for the filling to get out of the wrapper

5. Steam in a greased steamer for 20 minutes. That’s it!

I just loved the color till I noticed my stained chopping board…

Oh who cares about the stains? the finished result was soo good!

So you’re wondering  I know she made the momos but what in the world is that white/red thingie?

It’s Hummus with paprika!

Now you’re thinking what kind of person eats a middle-eastern condiment with a Tibetan dumpling?

well I do. Great combination btw!

I’m really enjoying the top tens event! thanks again Caitlin! do hop over to her blog and check out the next top tens!

Organic, vegan, low fat, paper thin PIZZA!

I hope you die hard sloppy-joe lovers don’t hate me for desecrating the full fat, soft, cheesy, deep pan pizza.

All my experiments generally start with a craving and this time it was pizza. I created something that is remotely close to a pizza as we know it but is still technically a pizza.

It was delicious in an organic, vegan, low fat way and it was a fun eat.

What you need: (for two large pizzas)

(For the base)
2 cups wholewheat/ grain flour
5 gm fresh yeast
1 tsp EVOO
salt
water

(For the topping)
1 cup grated firm tofu (buy it or make you own)
¼ cup shredded cabbage
¼ cup sliced mushroom
2 tbs peas
¼ cup chopped bell pepper
1 red onion finely chopped
2 flakes finely garlic chopped
1 green chilli chopped
EVOO to saute
Oregano and salt to taste

(For the sauce)
2 tbs barbeque sauce
¼ cup tomato ketchup
¼ cup tomato puree/paste
fresh basil leaves, torn
2 tbs water

What to do:

(Base)
1. Mix all ingredients for the base and work into smooth dough. Leave to rise in a drought free place.

(Topping)
2. Heat evoo in a wok. Stir fry vegetables starting with garlic, chillies and onions then adding the rest (except for the tofu). Add salt and oregano as per taste. Stir fry for only about a minute.

(Sauce)
3. In the same wok add the ingredients for the sauce and simmer for a minute.

(Assemble)
4. Punch out the risen dough and roll out till paper thin. Top with sauce, then vegetables and sprinkle the grated tofu all over. Bake in a 180°C preheated oven for 20 minutes then reduce heat to 100°C and bake for 20 minutes more till the base is crisp.