Guest Hosting - WWC - CousCous / Broken Wheat for Dinner

Wish everyone a Very Happy New Year 2012! I know I'm a bit late. But better late than never. Believe you all celebrated new year in a great way. Starting the new year with a healthy cooking challenge, I am guest hosting Sanjeeta's Wholesome Wholegrain Cooking (WWC) for this month. The chosen grain is Couscous and for regions where couscous is not available you can go for Broken Wheat.

A little information on these grains...
CousCous is the staple food of North Africa which belongs to the pasta family. It is served with meat or vegetable stew. Though traditionally made with millet, the most common available forms is made with wheat. The traditional preparation of couscous is a labour-intensive process. But these days commercially available couscous are pre-steamed and dried and can be prepared in minutes. Couscous is rich in carbohydrates, protein and folate. Though it is not a whole grain per se, Cous cous is among the healthiest grain-based products.
Broken Wheat is made from whole raw wheat kernels which are crushed into smaller pieces. It is a great whole grain since it undergoes little or no processing. Upma, Pilaf, Kheer are the popular Indian preparations of the broken wheat. They can be used in place of rice and is a recommended replacement for diabetic patients. It is rich in fiber and is an excellent source of iron, magnesium and phosphorous. 
And here are the rules for linking...
1. Couscous/Broken Wheat should be the ‘key’ ingredient of the dish the you prepare. It could be any type of dish from sweet to savory.

2. Post your recipe on your blog during the event schedule dates. If you are a non blogger, please send me your entries in an email to krithiskitchen[at]gmail[dot]com.

3. Old entries which are re-posted during the event schedule dates are allowed.

4. Only vegetarian recipes, although eggs are allowed.

5. No deep fried recipes please, since we are focusing on making the WWC more healthy.

6. You must provide a link to this event announcement page and to Sanjeeta’s page here.

7. Use of logo is mandatory.

8. The last day for linking your entries is Jan 31, 2012.

9. Use the linky tool below to link your entries.

Pumpkin Quinoa Dhal Pulao | Indian Quinoa Recipes

As I had mentioned in my Pumpkin cranberry scones recipe, I did make another dish with the leftover pumpkin. It was last Sunday when I made this Pumpkin and quinoa dhal like a pulao. Quinoa is an easy and healthier replacement for rice. Almost all Indian rice dishes can be replaced with quinoa and you wouldn't miss the rice at all. I am trying to use quinoa atleast twice in a week in the form of soups or pulao. This is an easy to make, healthy and filling one pot meal. Just a bowl of this hot pulao with papad made a simple and satisfying lunch.

Ingredients:
Quinoa - 1 cup
Toor dhal - 1/2 cup
Onion - chopped - 2 cups
Tomato - chopped - 2 cups
Pumpkin - cubed - 2 cups
Oil - 2 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Bisi bele bhath masala - 4 tsp (can substitute with sambar powder - but reduce the quantity as it tends to be more spicier)
Salt - to taste

Method:
Wash and soak the toor dhal for 45 mins. Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add the chopped onion and saute until light brown color. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw smell disappears. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until it turns mushy. Add the bisi bele bhath masala powder with salt followed by pumpkin cubes. Add the soaked dhal, quinoa along with 4 1/2 cups of water. Check for seasoning and pressure cook until done. Makes a great one-pot meal when served with just raita and papad.

Sending this to Healing Foods - Vegetarian Thanksgiving event by Siri.

Announcing Serve It Series - Serve It - Baked Sweet

Last month's Serve It - Savory Baked received 58 lovely entries ranging from frittatas to oven baked vadais. As we had promised last month, this month's theme is Serve It - Baked Sweet. December reminds the end of the year when we are all set to celebrate Christmas and welcome a new year. And speaking of Christmas, the first thing comes in mind to a foodie is the Christmas Cake and lots of baked goodies! So preheat your oven and start baking cakes/cupcakes/cookies or anything sweet.

Here are the guidelines for the event:

1. You may send in any entry that is only baked in the conventional oven and is savory. Only sweet entries are allowed like cakes/cookies/madelines/cupcakes to name a few. 
2. Only Vegetarian entries are allowed. Eggs are allowed.
3. Please link back to this announcement page and also to Denny's page.
4. New entries are appreciated, however if you are sending archived entries, please re-post as latest (with a date in December 2011) and update with both the links to the announcement page and logo.
5. Usage of links and logo is mandatory.
6. Last date for submission of your entries is December 31 2011, however you can link until Jan 1st.
7. To send in your entries, just link your entries using the below linky tool. 
8. Non-bloggers also can send their entries with a picture to the below email-id.
9. If you have a problem in linking email us your problem to serveit[dot]series[at]gmail[dot]com. We will try to resolve it. 
Please note that if the entries are inappropriate to the theme we would have to remove the entries from the linky sans notification. If there are other issues like link or logo missing we would definitely notify through email.

Vegetable Puffs & Egg Puffs

To begin with, sorry for the sudden absence from this space. I am so elated by the considerate inquiries from my blog buddies. It was totally an unplanned break but things are fine at my end. Thank you very much everyone for your love!
Do you remember the after-school snacks you had in your childhood. Ah! those are cherished memories aren't they? Well, anything involving food is a cherished memory or most (not all) of the cherished moments can be related with food. Coming home after a tiring day at school, wash up and dig in something to munch on with a glass of milk. Mostly it would be home-made goodies like kozhukattai, sundal, sandwich but occasionally dad would buy hot samosas and puffs from the bakery on his way back from work. I tried to reproduce the bakery flavors with this recipe.

Ingredients:
Puff Pastry Sheet - cut into 3x5" pieces - 5
Onion - 2 cups - thinly sliced
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Dry Mango Powder/Amchur powder - a big pinch
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 tbsp 
Milk - for brushing
For Veg Puffs filling:
Carrots - chopped fine - 2 tbsp
Frozen green peas - 2 tbsp
For Egg Puffs filling:
Egg - 1 - hard boiled - sliced in half
Oil - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch

Method:
Thaw the puff pastry sheet to room temperature for 45 mins and cut into pieces. Preheat the oven to 430F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Add the remaining oil and add the sliced onions and saute until it turns golden brown, about 15 to 20 mins in med-high heat. Add salt, chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder and amchur powder. Saute until the masalas incorporate in the onions. When done remove half of the onion mixture and set aside to cool. 
For Veg Puffs:
In the remaining masala in the pan add the peas and chopped carrots with 1 tbsp of water. Saute for 2 mins until the vegetables get cooked. To assemble in one sheet place about 2 tbsp of mixture and apply water on the edges. And fold over to form a purse. Press the edges tightly so that the filling doesn't ooze out.
For Egg Puffs:
Heat 1/2 tsp of oil in a pan with turmeric powder and roast the halved eggs for about 10 seconds on each side. To assemble, in one sheet place about 1 tbsp of the (reserved) onion masala and place the egg cut side down. Bring together two opposite ends and seal together by applying little water. 
To Bake:
Place the prepared puffs on the baking sheet and brush with milk on the top. Bake for 20 mins. Serve warm with tomato ketchup.
Note: Play around with the spice powders for varied flavours.

Sending this to Serve It - Savory-Baked event by me and Denny, To Vardhini's Bake Fest and also to Srivalli's Snacks Mela.

Guest Hosting - Breakfast Club #17 - The Theme is..

Breakfast Club is a wonderful event started by Helen of Fuss Free Flavours, which I am guest hosting for the second time this year. My theme for last time was "Pancakes" and the event was a great success with 40 beautiful pancake entries. I would like to thank Helen for giving me an opportunity to host this event again.
The theme for this month's event is the most common breakfast of the world - "Bread"

Breakfast Club: Because breakfast should be more interesting

than tea & toast or coffee & cereal.

Bread is the oldest prepared food, the proof dating back to 30,000 years. Every part of the world has its own unique way of preparing bread, leavened or unleavened, baked or fried or steamed. The most common ingredients are flour, oil and water with spices, vegetables, nuts added to give different tastes and textures.
So for the next 45 days breakfast club is open for all your bread creations. Become a bread maker and send me your favorite or signature bread recipes. Do check out the rules list below before you start linking.
Guidelines:
1. Prepare any type of bread or any dish with bread. 
2. Any type of bread from basic white bread to Focaccia, Challah, baguette, Panetone, Brioche, Italian flat bread, Irish Soda bread, Pita, Tortilla, Buns, all varieties of Indian flatbreads i.e. Naan, Chapathi, Roti, Paratha, Parotta, Puri are allowed.
3. Any dishes with bread like Sandwich, Panini, Upma, Pudding are allowed. However a simple toast with jam or muffins, pancakes, cakes, cupcakes, cookies are inappropriate to the theme and would be removed from the linky.
4. Link back to this post and Helen's original event announcement page.
5. Use of logo is mandatory as it helps spread the word
6. Any number of new entries are allowed
7. Archived entries are accepted if re-published as latest with this announcement, Helen's announcement and logo with the current date.
8. The end date is midnight of Dec 31st, 2011.
9. Do link up your entries with the below linky tool. I have added few entries to give an idea.
On a side note, If you are interested in hosting Breakfast Club for the upcoming months, email Helen at helen[at]fussfreeflavours[dot]com. 
To make the events you are hosting to be reachable to a wider audience do drop in a line to The Food Blog Diary and Events and Roundups Page.