KHANDVI

I love making old classics from scratch, but sometimes they don’t go as planned. I tried my hand at Khandvi a while ago, which is a typical Gujarati rolled snack made with gram flour, yoghurt and green chilli paste. It’s so addictive as the rolls melt in your mouth so beautifully, coating your palate with its unique earthy and fresh flavours. The first time I tried making Khandvi resulted in a structural disaster, which I later found out was because the consistency was too thin while cooking it. It made the batter too loose and sticky, and didn’t dry up enough to form beautiful rolls.

Though I gave up on it then, I was curious to make it again, and boy was it such a success! Not only did the rolls take shape just as expected, the shape also enriched the eating process as it held the freshly grated coconut filling I added in its layers.

The flavour profile of Khandvi is tough to describe if you’re not familiar with Gujarati cuisine, but seriously you should definitely take up the challenge and make it for yourself.

Let me know how it goes - whether you master the shape, the flavour or both - tag me in your pictures!💛

PREP TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

PASSIVE TIME: 15 minutes MAKES: 40-50 rolls

INGREDIENTS

For batter:

• 1 cup besan/gram flour

• 1 cup yogurt, room temperature

• 2 cups water

• 3/4 tsp salt or to taste

• 1 tsp turmeric powder

• 1 tsp green chilli paste

• 1 tsp ginger paste

For garnishing :

• 1 sprig curry leaves

• 1 tbsp oil

• 4-5 green chillies, split in half lengthwise

• 1 tsp mustard seed

• 1 tsp sesame seeds

• Pinch of asafoetida

• 2 tbsp coconut, freshly grated

• 1 tbsp coriander, chopped

METHOD

1. In a small grinder, add ginger and green chillies along with 1 tbsp of water and blend into a paste.

2. In a bowl, sift besan, add yogurt and little water. Mix together with a whisk to make the paste. Now add salt, turmeric, green chilli and ginger paste. Gradually adding water, whisk to make a lump-free smooth batter.

3. Transfer the batter in a non-stick pan, cook on low heat stirring constantly until it is thick enough to a spreading consistency. It should not be too thick or too loose. Check cook's notes.

4. Immediately on clean kitchen bench top, spread the batter very thinly with the offset spatula or knife. Let it cool completely, about 10-15 minutes.

5. Sprinkle, freshly grated coconut and coriander.

6. Remove the uneven edges by running a knife around the cooled spread batter. Cut it into strips about 6 x 3 inch long. Roll up the strips by gently lifting from one end. Repeat with other strips and arrange the khandvi rolls on a platter.

7. Heat oil in pan, add mustard seeds, let them splat. Add curry leaves, asafoetida, green chillis and sesame seeds..toss it for few seconds, pour over the khandvi. Serve with mint and coriander green chutney.

COOK'S NOTES

• Its really important to make the perfect consistency of the batter. It should not be too thick or too loose. To check the right consistency, when you drop the batter with spoon it should drop in gradual intervals. If it drops quickly then your batter is too thin. If it stays on spoon, it is too thick.

• It can be prepared ahead of time and can be served later with fresh garnishing.

#khandvi #glutenfree #snack #gujratifood #indiansnack #indiancuisine #gujraticuisines

VEGAN QUINOA PECAN PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

After many days in the kitchen experimenting to create the perfect atta chocolate chip cookies, the entire family kept munching onto my experiments, which were no doubt delicious and healthier because of the atta, but it certainly wasn’t the healthiest!

So I challenged myself to make cookies that were as delicious as they were healthy: VeganQuinoa Pecan and Peanut Butter Cookies! They were gluten free, were refined sugar free, and had lots of flax seeds and pecan nuts, and honestly they were sooo indulgent and addictive! They were golden and crisp on the outside, and slightly chewy in the inside, so lovely. And within 2 days, they were all gone!

Fall in love with these imperceptibly healthy cookies just as we did. What are you waiting for, just grab the bowl and whip up these super easy and healthy cookies. It's baking time!

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YIELDS: 12-13

PREP TIME: 15 minutes

BAKE TIME: 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup/4oz/115g smooth peanut butter

• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar

• 1/3 cup maple syrup

• 1 cup quinoa flour

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1/4 tsp xanthum gum powder

• 2 tsp vanilla essence

• 1/8 cup flax seeds and a tbsp extra

• 3 tbsp coconut milk

• 3/4 cup pecan nuts, toasted and roughly chopped

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven at 170°C. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a bowl, cream peanut butter, sugar, maple syrup and vanilla with the spatula. Add coconut milk and combine well to make the batter.

3. Add quinoa flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, xanthium gum powder and flax seeds. Mix it well with the spatula until well combined. It will feel bit dry but it’s perfect. Mix 1/2 cup chopped pecan nuts to the cookie dough, leaving the rest to dredge on top.

4. Scoop the cookie dough on to the prepared cookie sheet, placing them 2 inch apart. Press them down slightly with the back of fork, sprinkle few flax seeds and dredge pecan nuts on top. Press it down slightly more with fork keeping 1 cm thickness of the cookies.

5. Bake them in preheated oven for 14-16 minutes until golden brown. Make sure you turn the cookie sheet around after 7-8 minutes during baking.

6. Leave the cookies on the baking tray to cool completely.

7. Store and keep in airtight jar for a week.

COOK'S NOTES:

1. I have used xanthum gum to bake these cookies which helps in stabilzing the cookies and gives them a similar texture as the traditional (gluten-filled ) version. The gum provides the tackiness that gluten lends to doughs and batters and prevent them from crumbling. A small amount is more than enough to bring that elasticity which a gluten provides in traditional gluten filled flours.

2. If you do not have the xanthum gum, a tbsp of soaked chia seeds will also do the trick.

#biscuits #cookies #veganrecipes #snack #teasnacks #bakedrecipes #baking #plantbased #glutenfree #healthyrecipes #quioacookies #quinoa #peanutbutter #flaxseeds #glutenfreerecipes

ALMOND PISTACHIO CRANBERRY ORANGE BISCOTTI

How many times have you tried to make something in the kitchen, but it doesn’t go as expected and you have to trash it? Recently, I was quickly whipping up some Eggs Benedict to go with my homemade sourdough, and the Hollandaise sauce unfortunately split. Instead of tossing out the bad batch, I decided to use the split sauce creatively and recover it!

So here’s what I made... a gorgeous Almond, Orange, Cranberry and Pistachio Biscotti! I totally saved the day and you seriously wouldn’t be able to tell that this was made from a kitchen failure!

I used the split hollandaise and a few ingredients I had at home and it was so easy to make, which went so well with Blackcurrant tea.

How do you salvage your kitchen nightmares?

YIELDS: 28-30

PREP TIME: 15 minutes

BAKE TIME: 50 minutes

PASSIVE TIME: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

For Split hollandaise sauce:

3 egg yolks

1 tsp white vinegar

125g unsalted butter

Other ingredients added for biscotti :

3 egg whites (saved from eggs used for hollandaise sauce)

75g unsalted butter, room temperature

1 orange, zested

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups all purpose flour

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup plus 2 tbsp caster sugar

110g pistachios, unsalted and shelled

120g almonds, unsalted

80g dried cranberries

METHOD

1. Line a large baking tray with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 180°C.

2. Let the split hollandaise sauce cool down to room temperature. Add butter and blend together with hand blender until lightly pale and creamy. Add sugar, orange zest and vanilla, beat until just blended.

3. Add egg whites, blend until well combined and little fluffy.

4. In a separate bowl, sieve flour, salt and baking powder, add it to the butter mixture in three batches, blend on low speed to just combine. Do not over blend. Drop in the pistachios, almonds and cranberries and stir to combine.

5. Divide the biscotti dough in two halves, shape them in two 12” inch long and 3” inch wide logs. Slightly flatten the logs keeping them about 1.25” inch tall. Keep them about 3 inch apart as the logs would expand when they bake.

6. Bake them in preheated oven for about 30-35 minutes. Turn the tray once half way during the baking. Remove from oven, let it cool for 25-30 minutes. Using the sharp sedated knife cut the logs carefully into 3/4 inch thick slices. Arrange the biscotti, keeping cut side down on the baking tray. Bake them again for about 15 minutes until light golden in color, turning the tray once halfway through baking.

7. Remove from the oven and transfer them on a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container for up to a week..

COOK'S NOTES:

1. This recipe is created keeping in mind to utilise your ingredients used in your kitchen failures rather than tossing them in the bin. I made these biscottis using my split hollandaise sauce ingredients while preparing Eggs Benedict.

2. If you are preparing biscotti from scratch, keep all the proportion of ingredients same as is in the recipe above including hollandaise sauce ingredients except vinegar. No need to separate the yolks from the eggs, instead use the whole eggs and add them after beating the butter sugar vanilla and orange zest. The total quantity of butter used will be 200g for the recipe made from scratch. Do not use vinegar for this recipe.

#biscotti #Italianbiscotti #Italian #snack #teasnacks #bakedrecipes #baking #orangepistachiobiscotti #almondbiscotti #almond #pistachios #cranberries