Wholewheat Pancakes with caramelized pineapples.

I have made a list of things of all the place I'd like to go...to eat/ restaurants to visit/ cities I would love to visit, like a food tour of sorts. This is  a big list, trust me. The one that takes the first prize is a diner. My love  for diners started when I started watching  Seinfeld when I was little. You know, meeting people for breakfast, being a regular or there is a chance  that I watch way too much TV for my own good. I know this sounds very out there, but it is true. I  love the idea of a diner,   meeting people for breakfast. Two of my favorite things to do, eat and talk to people. Who in their right mind will complain about fresh pancakes drained with  maple syrup, eggs and what not, sounds delish! And, their selection of pies and everything sweet. Yum!

 Few years back, I made pancakes and I admit, it was not that great. I thought it was, but nope tasted like rubber and it was  burnt.  But now, I know where I had gone wrong. Anyway,  my famous food craving hit me out of the blue and let me tell you something about my food cravings: I do not crave for food (generally), but when I do, I go great lengths to eat what I want. I am quite annoying that way.

 So, when I wanted to eat pancakes, I knew I was going to do justice to it this time around  and since I am "eating better" ( my fancy way of saying, I am on a diet. Yes, me, on a diet, I know) I wanted to make it healthy and wholesome  and I just found the right recipe for it. I wanted to make strawberry coulis to go with it, and yet again, this city disappoints me and I could not find it in the stores near my place. But, when I do find them, I am going to share  this amazing  accompaniment to pancakes, cakes, biscuits and ice creams: strawberry sauce/ coulis.

This is my recipe. Enjoy it . May I add, the caramelized pineapples were just....mmmm...out-of-this-freakin'-world.

Pancakes : 

makes 4- medium

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of wholewheat flour*
• 1 cup skimmed milk*
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2-3 tablespoons sugar (Go easy on the sugar, because the caramelized pineapples are quite sweet)
• splash of vanilla
• a pinch of nutmeg ( I think, this is the secret ingredient)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil * 
• 2 tablespoon butter; melted*(for the batter)
• Butter/ vegetable oil/ cooking spray to make the pancakes

Method:

1. It is important to sieve the flour because it removes any lumps or dirt that might be there in the flour. Mix all the dry ingredients together and mix it well.
2. Heat a skillet and the added butter and melt it. Add it to the dry ingredients and add the rest of the ingredients with the dry mixture and mix it well. Batter should be smooth, lumps-free, and it should not be too thick or too loose. 
3. Heat a pan and add oil to it. Ladle 1/4th of the batter, on a medium- high heat. It takes 3-4 minutes for each side to cook( this depends on how heavy/ large the pancakes are). Flip them when bubbles start forming around the pancake . Do not fret if the first one does not turn out properly. 
4. The other side takes 1-2 minutes to cook. They tend to rise a little when they are  cooking, they are not like crepes, they are not as flat as them. 
5. Serve hot with fresh fruits, maple syrup. You can add your own variations to this; add chocolate chips, add berries. Before flipping them, you can add bananas for delicious banana pancakes.  Or you can try caramelized pineapples or bananas to go with them. 

CARAMELIZED PINEAPPLES: 

There is nothing as easy as this. It literally takes minutes to make them. All you need is fresh pineapples, brown sugar. That is all. Heat a skillet, add fresh pineapples, cut, of course. Pineapples give their juices out, generously add brown sugar on top and allow it to cook down, for 8-10 minutes. You know  they are done, when they have shrunk and have turned a nice golden brown. Save the syrup, it makes for a very good sauce and has a beautiful glaze and sweetness which compensates for the less sugar  in the pancakes.

*This recipe is so versatile; you can use all-purpose flour instead of wholewheat flour. You can use 2% milk or full-fat milk for richness. Also, it is important to use, vegetable oil or sunflower oil for the pancake batter because other oils tend to over power the taste, which you would not want in your pancakes. 

Enjoy! 

Chole Masala

Since I always bake and post about it, I thought I would switch things up and cook for a change. I made Dutch apple cake .  I wanted to cook something very Indian. My biggest obstacle still is Sambar and Rasam, which I will face head-on, but not immediately. This time, I decided to head the North Indian way instead.

My mom was a very good cook. To this day, I listen to stories about what a wonderful cook she was and how her chole was to die for; I remember her making us chole and pulav for our birthdays. That the highlight of our birthday (apart from the brilliant birthday parties my sister and me had) my dad could talk about her cooking for hours. I think passion for cooking is inherited. It is a legacy.  My grandmother was such a brilliant cook and I believe my mom inherited that from her. My sister and me, we try.

When I found an old diary of my grandmother’s with her handwritten recipes. I wanted that. I spent a whole day going through recipes, which she had collected over the years from TV shows, magazines, some given to her from family and some her own. I was thrilled! This is exactly what I love about cooking- handing down recipes, sharing and leaving something for the younger generation. Other day, when I was watching Nigella Lawson’s show, she was talking about how close she was to her grandmother and how she cannot wait to be one, I could relate to her. I want to that kind of grandmother.

I saw the recipe for Chole and I had to make it! Here is the recipe, from the recipe book of P.K. LAKSHMI.

CHOLE:



Paati's Recipe



Ingredients:

For masala:

·         2 onions (3, if they are small. Chopped roughly)

·         7 cloves of garlic (you can use 5, if you do not like the taste of garlic so much)

·         1inch piece of ginger

·         Some boiled channa.

For tomato juice:

·         3-4 tomatoes blanched and pureed. It is okay if it is pulpy.

Other ingredients:

·         200 grams channa (soaked overnight, pressure cooked up to 8-10 whistles. Save the water in which the channa is cooked, makes for good stock for the masala. I used red channa, you can use white channa, if you want. )

·         1 cinnamon stick

·         2 cloves

·         1 bay leaf

·         2 cardamom pods

·         1 tsp jeera

·         3 tablespoons oil

·         1 onion chopped, finely

·         2 green chillies, split.

·         Tamarind ( size of lemon or you can use tamarind paste instead- I used about a tablespoon)

·         1 tsp chilli powder

·         A pinch of turmeric

·         1 tsp  coriander powder

·         1 tsp garam masala

·         ½ tsp mango powder

·         A generous bunch of  coriander leaves

·          2 tablespoons butter

·         ½ cup cashew nuts (ground to paste with little water)

Method:

1.      Grind all the ingredients for the masala and keep aside. Do the same for tomato juice.

2.      In a kadai, add the oil, while the oil is heating up, add jeera and allow it splutter. Add cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and bay leaf. Sautee the onions and green chillies till they turn golden brown

3.      At this point, add the masala and cook until the masala is cooked and the raw smell is gone.  To this mixture, add the tomato juice and allow it to boil for couple of minutes.  Mix the tamarind juice to masala.

4.      Start adding all the spices except for garam masala.  Add salt to taste.  

5.      Add the water in which the channa was cooked, at this stage. Turn the heat down and allow it cook for 10 minutes.

6.      Add the garam masala and mix it thoroughly. Chop some pudina and coriander leaves; it adds flavour to the chole.

7.      Before switching off the stove, add the cashew nut and mix thoroughly. Cut pieces of butter, drop it into the sabzee, and allow it to melt on top.

8.      Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with roti or steamed rice.

 Things to remember:

·        Try not to overcook the channa, as it will turn mushy.

·        If you add salt to the channa while pressure cooking it, do not salt the masala too much

·        Cashew nut paste was just to add richness to the dish it is an optional.

·        Take the bay leaf and cinnamon stick before serving

·        Tomato puree need not be pulp-free.

P.S- Sorry, I could not make an entry with step-by- step pictures. One, the kitchen looked too dirty for the world to see it. Two, too  many processes to document. I knew I would be bored by the 5th step.

P.P.S- I am not much of a cook, but I must admit, this tasted phenominal! *patting my back* 

The good, the bad and THE ugly.

When I started blogging, I promised myself- I would write about the good, the bad and the ugly. I have written about the good, the bad and now, it is time for the ugly. The ugly truth about the failed  attempt to make doughnuts, that is. I am just keeping my word and writing about this.

The idea of baking doughnuts thrilled me beyond words, why would I not be thrilled. I was reading  this when I was looking at the recipe for carrot soup. Since, baking with yeast takes a long time because it needs time to rise and all,  I bookmarked it for a rainy day – where I can bake for the family and indulge in a sweet treat myself.  Pakoras and sweet treats with a big mug of chai is quintessential and especially during monsoon.

I admit, things did not go as I planned. Nevertheless, on a rainy day like today, I found a silver lining-I finally figured out how to make good quality dough.  Usually, my dough becomes too sticky or too dry- it never was perfect. Because,  I have made pies and breads, and my dough was never the way I wanted it to be, it always ended up  dry , it formed a dry layer around the dough making it crack.

I never did stop baking because few things went wrong. I remember the times when two or three cakes failed like nobody’s business.  There was once a time when I considered chocolate cake as my nemesis. It always managed to sink in the middle. Anyway, I got the day off and I figured I‘d bake the doughnuts.  The idea of dunking them in melted butter and dusting them with cinnamon sugar was beginning to make my day.  Sigh. The yeast had other plans.

Things started brilliantly, the dough came together, and it cooled off great. However, the damn thing did not rise. I had two options, a. Throw the whole dough into the bin, b. Make them anyway. The idea of throwing perfectly done dough was never an option. I went ahead and made them, anyway.

Confession: It should have been soft and fluffy rather I ended up with flat and crispy piece of pastry.

However, this I can tell you, when dipped in hot melted butter and cinnamon sugar- it tasted delicious. The smell of scented cinnamon with glorious butter can never go wrong. Can it?  

I hope that the next time, I will write about something that went right and (hopefully) I will have a recipe which I will want to share and not a recipe for disaster.