Puris are flat bread that can be made savoury or spicy and puff up into balls when fried (if cooked and rolled out properly). Puris are considered to be a little treat, something different to the normal rotis. These savoury little balls were a little bit of naughty food, something that was not really healthy because it is fried as opposed to roasted. It used to be eaten mostly on special occasions or just to make a slight difference to the normal meal. Puris are good eaten as a snack or for breakfast / lunch or as a accompaniment to curries, or with sweet foods such as kheer (rice pudding) and shrikhand (made with yoghurt and sugar, saffron & nuts or fruit added to it). They also go well with mango pickle and equally with a nice hot cup of tea.

I remember my mother telling us to learn how to roll out small round shapes and allowing me and my sisters to make a few which used to be such an achievement when we actually came to eating them. Our father would help with the frying and always used to try and assure that each of the puris would become small round balls of yummy food. Last year while visiting my older sister in Hong Kong we made puris together and her younger daughter was helping us make little hearts and flowers shapes. My son enjoyed that, so now when ever I make at them at home he helps and makes little star shapes and ‘puri men’ and of course the cut-out of his hands. It is so much fun and then he says to everyone ‘I made them’

Puri (Fried Indian Flat Bread)

I use yoghurt and ajwain seeds (caraway) as it gives the puri an added flavour and richness. If you do not have the ingredients or do not like the taste of ajwain then you can remove these from the ingredient list. I like puris with some spices so make them as below, however you can also remove the spices and make them with just salt.  Another alternative, while combining the ingredients to make a dough, is to add cooked chopped spinach to make green puri’s, or finely grated beetroot to make red puris.

Ingredients

Preparation time: 10 mins      Cooking time: 30 mins      Makes: 15 to 20 puris

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp chilli & turmeric powder

1/2 tsp ajwain seeds crush slightly

1/4 cup yoghurt

water

sunflower oil for deep frying

1) Make a soft dough by mixing all the ingredients together, use water as required to make a fairly soft dough and let it rest for 10 mins.

2) If you are making traditional small round puris then divide the dough in equal parts and then roll into long  tubes (sausage like shapes), with a sharp knife cut into 2 cm pieces and keep aside. Roll on a flat surface with some oil to help you roll them make them about 4 to 5 cm in diameter. Make a few and keep aside ready to be fried.

3) Heat the oil in a wok and start to fry the puris 2 or 3 at a time, gently slide them into the hot oil away from you and with a skimmer (jaro or slotted spoon) gentle press them into the oil one at a time this will help them to rise. After a minute or so turn them over and cook on the other side until golden brown. Remove with the skimmer and place on kitchen paper to absorb the excess oil. You are ready to serve as you like.

Tofu is fairly recent regular addition to my kitchen /cooking. It is very similar to paneer, which is an Indian cheese that does not have any particular taste and can be used for sweet and savoury recipes. As a result I use tofu more regularly. It absorbs all the flavours and hence makes it very versatile.

A few years ago I bought a basic quick vegetarian recipe book from a supermarket and Scrambled Tofu was one of the recipes in it. It was a simple red capsicum, tofu and chives scramble. I like the idea and added a few other ingredients to give extra taste and flavour to the tofu. This is a good breakfast / brunch recipe, or even to eat as a healthy snack and a good alternative to scrambled eggs.

Scrambled Tofu

Like I improvised with the ingredients, you can use what ever combination of vegetables and herbs and spices that you like. This combination that I have used gives a very Chinese feel that is simple and fresh tasting.

Ingredients

Preparation time: 15 mins          Cooking time: 10 mins          Serves: 2

6 slices of toasted and buttered wholemeal bread

3 to 4 tbsp sunflower oil

200g soft tofu drained and cut into 2 cm cubes

5 to 6 chestnut mushroom cut into 2 cm chunks

1 each red capsicum and red onion chopped into 1 cm cubes

1 clove of garlic grated or minced

1/2 inch piece of ginger grated

2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander with stalks

1/2 tsp soy sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Method

1) Chop all the vegetables and heat (medium heat) a large sauce pan. Add the oil, the tofu and the vegetables, cook while stirring continuously until brown.

2) Add the seasoning and soy sauce and cook for a further few minutes. Switch off the heat and add the chopped coriander, serve on the warm butter toast, enjoy

I made these for breakfast on valentines day, thought it would be a good way to start the day – with a treat

I was planning to make some plain muffins with just blueberries, and some with chocolate. However as I was mixing the batter I saw some passion fruit which needed to be eaten and thought passion! – the correct ingredient to add to the chocolate muffins. I liked the combination from eating them with pancakes as mentioned in a previous recipe. It turned out to be a good experiment. I used some fresh passion fruit and some from the Easiyo squirt packet, which is normally used to flavour yoghurt. The taste of the fruit in the muffins was subtle but there were parts that had a very good tangy and sweet taste, with a little crunch from the seeds. So I guess my little experiment goes to show that you can add any kind of fruit, fresh, dried or jams to your taste, of course you may need to change the amount of sugar accordingly. In the past I’ve added blueberries, blackberries and cherries.

Because there are no eggs in this recipe, they don’t keep as well and have to be eaten within the week – although you may not have many left.  The smell and taste when eaten warm out of the oven is something else

Chocolate Chip Muffins

To make them extra chocolatey I use coco powder as well as chocolate chips, however you can make them with just the chocolate chips if you do not want the intense coco hit. If you are using wholemeal flour then add 1/2 tsp of bicarbonate of soda.

Ingredients

Preparation time: 10 mins        Cooking time: 25 mins        Makes: 24 medium sized

1 3/4  cups self raising flour or wholemeal flour

1/2 cup rolled porridge oats

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp coco powder (I use organic coco powder)

1/2 cup brown sugar (this gives it better moisture so try and use it)

1 ripe banana (2 if small)

1 cup milk

1/3 cup butter or oil

200g plain chocolate chips

Method

1) Pre heat the oven to 200′C.  Apart from the chocolate chips, mix all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

2) Add all the wet ingredients one at a time and mix well. Once mixed add the chocolate chips and mix again.

3) Line muffin moulds with the cases and fill with the mixture, 3/4 of the way up and place in the oven for 25 mins, or until done (may need to check with a toothpick to make sure they are cooked through). Serve warm and enjoy

A good filling healthy snack, that is all what we need sometimes instead of turning to the usual potato crisps or other fast foods. I made this simple recipe for Avocado Toast after a conversation with one of my cousin sisters. She had it whilst on holiday in Australia.

When I was growing up in Malawi we had two avocado trees in our back garden and we used to eat them mashed with sugar and milk as a dessert, it was so wonderful. I also had quite a lot of it after my son was born, it was a very good way to boost the vitamins into the body and have a nutritious snack while lactating. Apart from eating them, we also used to use them for beauty treatments, like applying mashed avocado in our hair to act as an excellent conditioner.  Back then we didn’t realise the benefits of Avocados. Here’s a good article about avocados for keeping your hair healthy.

Avocados may be high in fat, but they have other vitamins which are very good for us. It is said that avocados are good for memory, clarity of thought and also to help protect the brain cells. I felt that it was another wonderful way of eating avocados and I guess it makes a good snack while studying !

Avocado Toast

Ingredients

Preparation time: 5 mins            Cooking time: 5 mins            Serves:1

4 slices of wholemeal bread

1 ripe avocado mashed

1 tsp lemon juice

salt to taste

chilli flakes and ground cumin seeds to sprinkle

Method

1) Toast the bread, while that is cooking peel, stone and mash the avocado in a large bowl.

2) To the mashed avocado add the lemon juice and salt to taste and mix well. Spread the mixture on the toast and then sprinkle the ground cumin and chilli flakes.

You can then either place under the grill for a quick minute or two, or just eat as they are.

When I was growing up in Malawi we used to have cheese and tomato toasted sandwiches with white bread for breakfast on Sunday mornings. We really enjoyed them. I remember my father would cut 2 cm square pieces for us as we didn’t know how to use a fork & knife back then. The flat iron sandwich toaster would flatten the sandwich and crisp the bread (because we used to butter both sides of the bread slightly – not too healthy !) It was a perfect breakfast

Back to real life, after marriage I started eating brown and wholemeal bread and one day my husband told me to make the toasted sandwiches using this recipe combination, so this is my husbands invention. I really liked the mixture of flavours with brown bread and we make this as a light meal or filling brunch / lunch. In the past I have also added vegetarian sausages to the mix, which tastes good also. Now I know this is a simple recipe but I wanted to share my memories and give people ideas of some quick and simple healthy recipes that we may not think of normally. Especially if you are a student away from home and want to try and eat healthy food, or if you are just uninspired, or need a reminder of the simple foods that give us pleasure in our lives.

Cheese, Tomato & Mushroom Toasted Sandwich

I normally use tomato puree as a spread, this gives it a wonderful added flavour, similar to pizzas. However you can use just butter or even oliviada spread.

Ingredients

Preparation Time: 15 mins             Cooking time: 20 mins              Makes: 4 sandwiches or serves 2

8 slices of brown or wholemeal bread

1/2 cup of grated cheese

2 tomatoes chopped into small cubes

3 mushrooms chopped into small cubes

1 onion diced

1tsp each freshly ground black pepper & mixed herbs

Tomato puree to spread

Method

1) Chop the vegetables and mix with the grated cheese, herbs and pepper.

2) Spread the bread slices with tomato puree and place the filling between the slices. Put them into the sandwich toaster, serve warm.

]]> http://radiancerecipes.com/cheese-tomato-mushroom-toasted-sandwich/feed/ 2 http://radiancerecipes.com/pumpkin-candied-ginger-muffins/ http://radiancerecipes.com/pumpkin-candied-ginger-muffins/#comments Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:27:32 +0000 Kiran http://radiancerecipes.com/?p=252

I had seen a recipe for muffins last year on a website, Simply Recipes, then this year I decided on giving them a go. As my sons birthday was in October and he had just started Montessori school, I thought of making something different to give to his classmates for his birthday, so I changed the original recipe.  I added oats, extra candied ginger, spices and milk and removed the eggs and nuts. He helped me make them and everyone at his school enjoyed them a great deal. This means my job is done, giving him homemade food which is good for him and he likes it as a treat.

I usually make muffins with bananas and oats, but after making these I really like them and am glad I tried the recipe (even a year late), it is a good warming muffin. I think you should give them a go, and let me know what you think of them.

Pumpkin & Candied Ginger Muffins

You can reduce the amount of sugar as the pumpkin is naturally sweet and the candied ginger has added sugar. To make a different variation you can add raisins, chopped nuts or chocolate chips.

Ingredients

Preparation time: 45 mins     Cooking time: 20 mins     Makes: 20 muffins approx.

1 1/2 cups self raising flour

1/2 cup oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/3 cup melted butter

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp each of cinnamon & all spice

1/2 cup candied ginger

Method

1) To make the pumpkin puree, peel and chop a small pumpkin. In a heavy bottom pan put the  chopped pumpkin and a little water and 1/4 cup of sugar.  Let this cook on a medium heat, until the pumpkin is cooked and a some of the water has evaporated.  Once done use a blender to puree the mixture and let it cool.

2) Place all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, add the candied ginger and pumpkin puree, start mixing and slowly add the milk. Spoon the mixture into muffin cases.

3) In a pre-heated oven (200′C) place the filled muffin cases and bake for 15 to 20 mins, until golden brown. Best enjoyed when they’re still warm.

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