Baked Masala Vadai

When it comes to Vadai, Masala vadai is my all time favorite. Usually I deep fry them in oil, but my baking addiction these days told me to try a baked version. These days its snowing here and on one such days I was craving for Masala Vadai. Soaked the dal and grinded. Decided to try baked version but was little worried about the texture, so instead of making the full batch took half of the batter and started baking it. Preheated the oven and took baking tray and I realized I was out of parchment paper. I thought is this sign telling me not to bake, but I greased the tray with extra oil (compare to my usual quantity) and baked. Oh man I didn’t believe the taste. My husband didn’t believe that its baked, but after seeing the second batch from the oven he accepted:-)

Its snowing today as well and my mind has started thinking about snacks. I am sure I will end up cooking some snack today but for time being this crispy baked Masala Vadai is for my lovely readers.

Check out my other Indian baked snack

• Baked Bread Tikki
• Gobi 65 Baked
• Baked Rice Cracker
• Baked Healthy Mixture
• Baked Thattai
• Baked Uppu Seedai
• Baked Idli Fry
• Cracked Wheat Savory Cake
• Tofu and Grape Tomato Tikka
• Kaima Idli
• Baked Onion Pakoda
• Baked Besan Bonda
• Baked Plaintain Chips
• Baked Bread Rolls
• Baked Masala Vadai

Ingredients:

Onion –  1, big finely chopped

Coriander Leaves – few, chopped

Curry leaves – few

To grind:

Channa Dal – 1 cup

Rice flour  – 1 tbsp

Fennel Seeds(Sombu) – 1 tsp

Red Chillies – 2

Garlic – 3 pods, peeled and choped

Ginger – 1 tsp, peeled and chopped

Baking soda – a pinch

Sugar – a pinch

Salt – as needed

Pam Spray/ Oil – to grease (I used Oil)

Method:

• Wash and soak channa dal for 2 to 3 hrs. Drain the water completely and keep aside. Grind together with other ingredients listed under “To grind” with 1 – 2 tsp of water into a coarse mixture (less water helps in crispy vadai texture. Avoid using too much water)

• Transfer the mixture to the mixing bowl and add onions, curry leaves, coriander leaves and mix well

•  Preheat the oven to 400 degree Fahrenhait. Take the baking tray and brush the oil
• Take small portions of the mixture, and flatten them using your palm (thinner vadai yields crispy vadai)
• Place them in the greased tray and brush  the top portion of each vadai with little oil to avoid drying out and of course for the crispy finish

• Bake the vadai for 11 – 15 min, till they have browned the underside (adjust time according to your oven) . Carefully flip them and bake again for another 11 – 15 minutes. Remove and serve immediately. Serve with chutney/ ketchup.  I generally love to finish them without any sides

My Notes:

• The key for the perfect baked vadai is batter with less moisture (water) and greasing generously with oil/ spray
• If the vadai is thick outer portion will cook fast and inner will remain uncooked, and baking for more time may lead to to rubbery vadai
• Just like the fried ones – these are best served the minute they are made. If can’t eat the vadai immediately, switch off the oven and keep the vadai tray back in the over till you eat. Make sure you keep the vadai back in oven after 10 minutes as the oven will still be hot. Though the crispness won’t retain for hours together but for 30 – 45 minutes it works perfect.  After that I haven’t tried
• Instead of rice flour rava can also be used

Eggless Custard Powder Cookies (Whole Wheat)

Merry Christmas:-)

As I am on vacation, I could not try out new recipes for holiday specials. Started browsing my drafts and saw a cookie recipe and cake recipe, so decided to post a cookie recipe for Christmas and cake for New year 🙂

Sometime back, I got custard for preparing fruit custard. After preparing fruit custard, I had custard powder left and was thinking what to do with it.  Hubby and kid liked the Walnut Butter Cookies, so thought of preparing some cookies with custard powder.

Preparation time : 10 mins | Baking time: 13 – 17 minutes

Category: Cookies

Ingredients:

Wheat flour – 1  cup

Custard Powder – 1/4 cup (I used vanilla flavor)

Light Brown sugar – 1/3 cup

White sugar – 2 tbsp

Baking Soda  – 1/4 tsp

Baking powder  – 1/2 tsp

Butter – 1/3 cup melted in room temperature

Milk – 2 tbsp

Vanilla essence – 1/4 tsp

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degree F and place the parchement paper/ butter paper/ Aluminium foil on the cookie tray and grease the cooking tray with cooking spray
• Seive the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and transfer them into a bowl. Add brown sugar, white sugar and custard powder and mix well. Add butter to the dry ingredients and make crumble

• Add 2 tbsp of milk and make a soft dough. Make small balls and in a clean surface, press each ball lightly and bake the cookies for about 13 – 17 minutes or until cookies are lightly gold brown. Cool them and enjoy:-)

My Notes:

• Can use cookie cutter for desired shape
• I prefer my cookies on the sweeter side, so adjust sugar according to your taste
• Cookies appear chewy initially but they became crisp after they are cooled completely
• Add extract according to the flavour of custard powder.If you are using butterscotch custard use extracts accordingly
• I used both brown sugar and white sugar, instead white sugar can be fully used
• All purpose flour/maida can be used instead of wheat flour
• Oil can be used instead of butter
• Cocoa powder can be used if you like chocolate flavour

Eggless Walnut Butter Cookies (Whole Wheat)

Whenever I think of Cookies, I always remember the quick 1 minute eggless chocolate chip cookies. I have tried cookies with All purpose flour, but as a healthy change this time, wanted to try with whole wheat flour. When I was seraching for eggless whole wheat cookies recipe online, I came across  whole wheat cookies in jeyashri kitchen. I liked it, so I tried it with slight modifications. Crispy cookies became a great hit in our home, even my LO asks for one more bite:-)

Checkout my other cookie recipes,

• Eggless Custard Powder Cookies
• 1 Minute. Microwave chocolate chip cookies
• Oatmeal banana cookies

 

Walnut Butter Cookies 

Preparation time :  10 minutes | Baking time : 15 minutes

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat flour – 1 cup

Unsalted Butter – 1/2 cup  (melted in room temperature)

Walnuts – 1/4 cup powdered or finely chopped

Brown Sugar – 1/4 cup

White Sugar  – 4 tbsp

Cardamom Powder – 1/4 tsp

Salt – 1/8 tsp

Milk – 2 tbsp

Method:

•  Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit and grease the cooking tray with cooking spray
•  In a bowl, mix the wheat flour, brown sugar, white sugar, salt, powdered walnuts and cardamom powder well with a whisk or ladle
•  Add butter to the dry ingredients and make crumble. Add 2 tbsp of milk and make a soft dough. Make small balls and in a clean surface, press each ball lightly and cut them with a cookie cutter in a desired shape

•  Place them in a cookie tray without touching each other and bake the cookies for about 12 -15 minutes or until cookies are lightly gold brown. Cool them and enjoy:-)

My Notes:

• Instead using cookie cutter can also make round cookies
• Cookies appear chewy initially but they became crisp after they are cooled completely
• Almonds, pistachio, pecan or any nut of your choice can be used
• Almond extract or any other extract can be added to add flavors
• I used half brown sugar and white sugar instead white sugar can be fully used

Eggless Wheat Pancakes

A post after a longggg gap. When I checked the comments and messages, I felt extremely happy to have such sweet people around, who stopped by to ask if everything was ok. Thanku All :-):-)

Couple of months ago, I had posted Eggless Pancake using All purpose flour. As a healthy alternative, I tried with Wheat flour. Had few strawberries in the fridge, so added them, and the fruitj gave nice flavour to the pancakes. We enjoyed these Soft and fluffy Eggless Pancake for breakfast. 

Eggless Whole Wheat Strawberry Pancake:

Preparation Time : 3 mins | Resting Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2

Recipe Category: Breakfast

Ingredients:

Wheat Flour – 1 cup

Strawberry – 1/3 cup ( chopped)

Honey/White Sugar/Brown Sugar – 2 tbsp (Adjust according to your taste, I used brown sugar)

Cinnamon powder – 1/4 tsp

Baking powder – 2 tsp

Milk – 1 cup + 1 tbsp (I used 2% milk)

Water – 3 tbsp

Vanilla extract – 1/4 tsp

Olive oil/butter – 1 tbsp (for the batter)

Butter –  1 tbsp (Unsalted,  Melted at room temperature)

Method:

• Combine the dry ingredients and mix slightly. Add milk, butter and vanilla. Whisk together until combined. Add chopped berries and Set aside to rest for 10 -15 minutes (I kept for 10 minutes)

• Heat an iron skillet or a non stick pan on low to medium heat. Reduce heat to low and pour a ladle full of batter in the center of the pan. Do not spread the batter. Allow it to spread on its own. Add little butter around the edges. Cook the pancake on low medium heat for half a minute or until bubbles appear over the pancake

• When the pancake turns to a nice golden shade, flip it over and cook for half a minute and transfer to the serving plate

• Serve warm, topped with butter/honey/Maple Syrup/Powdered Sugar/Caramel syrup/butterscotch syrup/Fruit syrup

Gobi 65 – Baked

Ever since I had this dish for the first time, I have been having a big question in my mind – why is it named 65?. As I mentioned in Cauliflower Peas Masala, cauliflower is my sister’s favorite veggie, and this is her default order in most restaurants.  First time when I tried baking cauliflower, it was total flopshow. Invited Hubby’s friends for dinner and  thought of baking this. That day I added yellow corn meal. I marinated cauliflower for 2 hours, it was soggy and I didn’t get proper fries, then I did some gimmick and managed. Again I wanted to try this with white corn flour, and reduce my marination time, and finally succeeded!

Gobi 65 – Baked

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Standing time – 15 minutes | Cooking Time : 20 – 25 mins

Recipe Category: Snack

Ingredients:

Cauliflower -1 medium sized flower

Cornflour – 1/4 cup

Rice flour/ All purpose flour – 2 tbsp (I used rice flour)

Ginger Garlic paste – 1/4 tsp

Red chilli powder – 1/2 tsp (Adjust according to your taste)

Garam Masala – 1/8 tsp

Oil – 1 tbsp + 1 tsp

Turmeric powder – a pinch

Salt – to taste

Oil/Cooking spray – to grease (I used Pam olive oil spray)

Method:

• Parboil cauliflower and strain them

• Preheat the oven to 400 degree Fahrenhait and place the baking paper (I used Aluminum foil) on baking tray and grease

• Combine all spice powder and mix well. Add cornflour and rice flour and mix well, and if required sprinkle some water (I used around 1 tsp) and let it marinate for 15 minutes

•  Place the marinated cauliflower and bake them for 10 – 15 minutes and broil for 13 -18 minutes, turning in between

My Notes :

• Broil helps to get the fry texture so don’t skip it. Can broil for some more minutes if you need it crispier
• After turning the oven to broil, keep monitoring frequently to avoid burnt texture
• Avoid overlapping for even cooking
• If there is excess moisture, they turn out to be sticky. So avoid adding much water, also grease the foil throughout to avoid sticking
• Alternatively, you can also deep fry them in oil
• Ajwain can be added while marinating cauliflower
• Chat Masala or any spice powder can be added for taste

Baked Thattai

Thattai is one of my favorite snacks. When my mother in law came to visit us, she used to prepare thattai and put them in big box. We snack them all day. On krishna jayanthi, i wanted to do some thattai. Generally they are deep fried in oil.  After seeing Baked Seedai result, I was confident enough to try my luck with baked healthy thattai. Thattai and seedai are almost similar – for thattai, chilli powder is the additional ingredient. Crispy and yummy thattai without much oil was ready. After Krishna jayanthi, I posted this pic in my FB page. Somehow it took me so such time to draft this post. Thanks to everyone who messaged me in FB for thattai recipe, and sorry for the delay in posting it.

Baked Thattai

Preparation time:  5mins  |  Cooking time: 25 – 30 mins

Recipe Category: Snacks

Ingredients:

Rice Flour- 1 cup

Urad Dal – 2 tbsp

Butter – 3tbsp

Red Chilli powder – 1 tsp heaped (Adjust according to your spice level)

Salt – as needed

Asafoetida – 1/8 tsp

Oil – to grease

Method:

For urad dal Flour:

Take 1/4cup of whole urad Dal and dry roast till they are golden brown. When it comes to room temperature, grind them into fine powder

• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and grease the parchment paper with  oil
• Dry roast the rice flour in low flame for 2/3 minutes. Do not overcook till they change color
• In a wide vessel, add the rice flour and 2 tblsp of urad dal flour and salt. Sieve them for even mixing. Add asofetida and chilli powder to sieved flour and mix well

• Add water slowly and knead them into a pliable dough

• Grease your hands with coconut oil and make small balls (approximately 1 tsp dough). Flatten the balls on greased palm (2-3 inch in diameter) and carefully place on baking tray
• Bake in the preheated oven for 12 – 15 minutes. Then flip over very carefully and bake for another 12-15 minutes

My Notes:

• Cumin seeds, sesame seeds, curry leaves and Chana Dal can be added
• If you are frying, the thatti has to be fried in a medium low flame, as it will help for even cooking. Heat oil in a pan, When the oil becomes hot gently put the thattai to the oil. Cook till the hissing sound of oil subsides.
• I used the store-bought rice flour. Alternatively you can wash and soak the raw rice for 1/2 hours and dry them in a cloth till moisture completely dries, and grind them into fine powder

Baked Nei Appam

It is been a while since I tasted Nei Appam. Recently I saw my friend Priya’s Nei Appam. After seeing that I was so tempted to taste It, but the traditional method of preparation is a bit time consuming for me. Previously I used store-bought rice flour for Kozhukkatai, Seedai and thattai, so I used the same rice flour for an instant version. Instead of using Kuzhi Paniyaram pan (like I did for wheat appam), I baked them this time, as a couple of my friends who do not have kuzhi Paniyaram pan asked for a baked version.

Baked Nei Appam

Preparation time:  5mins  |  Cooking time: 20 mins

Recipe Category: Snacks/Sweet

Ingredients:

Rice Flour – 1 cup

Jaggery, grated – 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp (Adjust according to your sweetness)

Fresh grated coconut – 3 tbsp

Cardamom powder – 1/4 tsp

Water – 2 tbsp

Salt – 1 pinch (optional)

Ghee (clarified butter) – 2 tbsp

Method:

• In a pan, add jaggery and water, and cook till jaggery melts. Add cardamom powder and coconut, and switch off

• Add rice flour and salt to jaggery and mix well without lumps. Let it come to room temperature

• Knead them into a pilable dough

• Grease the parchment paper with ghee and make small balls of batter and place it in the greased tray

• Bake them for 12 – 18 minutes turning sides in between. As they cook they expand and attain the Appam shape. Appam becomes crispy over time so remove from the oven before that stage

My Notes:

• If you are using kuzhi Paniyaram pan. The batter should be thick like idli batter (Dropping consistency).  Heat the kuzhi paniyaram pan (Aebelskiver mould) and when its hot, grease each indent with ghee. Pour batter into the mould till 3/4 full and let it cook for 2-3 mins till it becomes golden brown. Using a skewer or a spoon gently flip them over and let the other side also cook for 1-2 mins
• Banana can be added. Adding banana makes them soft
• If you doubt whether jaggery may have impurities, you can filter  them after melting
• If you want to reduce ghee, add a tsp of ghee in the batter and use oil for greasing
• Instead of baking/ using Paniyaram pan, you can also deep fry them in oil. Just pour a small ladle full of batter into hot oil and cook till golden brown, flip it over and when cooked, drain onto a kitchen paper

Cream Biscuit Microwave Cake

Hurray! its my 100th recipe. I cannot believe I reached this special number so soon. I started this blog when my Little one was 6 months old. One day, hubby suggested I do something interesting, and spend some time away from everyday chores. That’s when a kitchen chef like me turned into a blogger. I thought I will end up posting something once a week, but constant comments and encouragement from Co-Bloggers, friends and family is keeping me motivated.

Biscuit cake – sounds interesting? I saw a recipe for this in a facebook group. The original recipe used Oreo biscuit, and I am not a big fan of chocolate. So didn’t try it for a long time. Recently when we were in the grocery stores, I told hubby about Oreo cake, and he asked why can’t you try with some other cream biscuit. I was like why it didn’t strike me!!! Since we were in the Indian store, I got Britannia cream biscuit and tried this cake after coming home. Believe me, it was super moist and tasty. I wouldn’t say its a no-sugar cake, as biscuits already have sugar 😉 let’s call it a no-extra-sugar cake 🙂

Cream Biscuit Microwave Cake

Preparation Time : 2 mins |  Cooking Time : 5 mins

Recipe Category : Dessert

Ingredients:

Britannia cream Treat Biscuits – 20 (I used Strawberry flavor)

Milk – 1 cup

Baking Powder/ Eno salt – 3/4 tsp (I used Baking powder)

Butter/Oil/Cooking spray – to grease (I used Cooking Spray)

Vanilla extract – 1/8 tsp

Method:

• Grease a microwave safe bowl/cake pan. I used a cake pan made of Silicone
• Put the biscuits into the blender and blend into fine granules

• Add baking powder, vanilla and milk and blend well

• Pour the batter into the bowl and microwave for 5 minutes

• Take it out and wait till it comes to room temperature. Once it is cooled, you can slice and serve.

My Notes:

• Any cream biscuit/cookies can be used
• Since I have used silicone baking tray, I was able to unmould easily. If you are using any other microwave safe bowl grease generously with oil/ butter
• Adding parchment paper/wax/butter papers helps to unmould easily

Baked Onion Pakoda

Two weeks back it was raining, and both hubby and I felt like having some pakoda. But the calorie factor alarmed us. Hubby suggested trying some baked pakoda, like Baked besan Bonda.  As the consistency of batter differs for both, I googled for some tips, and saw Shruti’s baked pakoda recipe. Her pakodas attracted me a lot, and I tried them with few changes

Ingredients

Besan/Chickpea flour/Garbanzo flour/Gram flour – 1/2 cup

Onion – 1 thinly sliced

Semolina/ Rice Flour – 2 tbsp 

Red Chilli Powder – 1/4 tsp

Baking Soda -1/4 tsp heaped

Hing – genorus pinch

Carom Seeds –  1/8 tsp

Oil – 2 tsp (I used olive oil)

Cookong Spray/oil – to grease ( I used Pam Olive Oil spray)

Salt – as needed

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degree Fahrenhait
• In a bowl add all the listed ingredients and mix well. Sprinkle about 1 tbsp of water
• Add aluminum foil to the baking tray and grease with cooking spray
• Take small portion and place it in such a way they don’t overlap

• Bake them for about 20  minutes turning sides in between or until they are crisp and golden brown

My Notes

• Instead of 1/4 tsp of baking soda, 3/4 tsp of baking powder can be used
• I let the onions turn brown, as we like crispy onions. You can take it out a little early as well

Eggless Dry Fruit and Nut Cake

After adding walnuts to Wheat and oats banana bread, hubby and I liked the nutty flavour, so thought of trying  a cake with nuts and dry fruit.  I have read that dry fruit and nut cake tastes great when the ingredients are marinated in Alcohol for a day. I wanted to replace alcohol with a fruit juice, and remembered Eggless Mango cake, in which fruit pulp replaced eggs. This time, tried a cake by marinating the ingredients in orange Juice (that’s what I had in the fridge, so used it). I have to thank my dear friend Lori@ creatingbeautyinthekitchen for inspiring me to try a cake without adding sugar. Have used honey and dates syrup instead of sugar. It came out well, no compromises in the sweetness!

Eggless Dry Fruit and Nut Cake

Preparation Time : 10 min | Marination Time : 10 hours | Cooking Time : 40 min

Recipe Category : Dessert/Baking

Ingredients

Whole wheat flour – 1 cup

Baking Powder – 1/2 tsp

Baking Soda – 1/2 tsp

Salt – 1 pinch

Cinnamon powder – 1/2 tsp

Cardamom Powder – 1/2 tsp

Orange juice – 3/4 cup

Mixed Dry Fruits and Nuts – 3/4 cup (I used chopped almonds, walnuts, cashews, cranberries, raisins and apricots)

Honey – 1/3 cup

Dates – 7

Butter – 1/4 cup

Vanilla extract – 1 tsp

Method

• Soak dry fruits and nuts in 1/4 cup orange juice overnight

• Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit. Line the cake tin with parchment paper and grease with butter/cooking spray
• Soak dates in hot water for 10 minutes
• Blend the dates by adding 2 tbsp of water (adjust if required)
• In a mixing bowl, add dry ingredients and sieve it (To ensure even mixing). Add soaked dry fruits and nuts mix gently
• Add honey, dates puree, butter and vanilla and Mix a gently until combined,Do not over mix

• Pour this batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for about 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean

My notes:

• Dates Syrup can also be used instead of Dates Puree
• Use nuts of your chioce
• Any fruit juice can be used
• Every oven differs keep an eye after 35 minutes
• Sugar can be used instead of honey
• Any fruit juice can be used instead of orange juice
• All purpose flour can also be used instead of wheat flour