* Avocado Sandwitch,,a healthy snack

          I'm still  in  my  nostalgic moments of  a  month  of  pampering at  home. I  admit  I'm  spoiled and  lazy now and  watch out  for  every  possible   chance  to skip  my  favorite time  spent  in my  cozy  kitchen. Today's post  is definitely healthy and  a   quick  snack/brunch/breakfast,,, :),Avocado  sandwich, basically  whenever you  are hungry and want a  quick  healthy fix  you  can  go  for  it. Avocado was  pretty  foreign food for  me  until Martha(my  colleague) introduced me  to avocado  over  our  lunch  table. From then I'm just  hooked to avocados. Now I eat at  least  2  avocados  every week. So I have different ways  to eat  although  I  love  to  eat avocados   with a  dash of  salt  on it. So here  comes the recipe  of the  avocado  sandwich.

Ingredients:
1.Small  avocado -1
2. Chopped tomatoes - 1 tsp
3. Chopped onion - 1  tsp
4. Green chilly - 1 (optional)
5. Coriander leaves/ Cilantro - 1 tsp
6. Salt - a pinch
7. Cumin powder- 1/2  tsp
8. Lemon juice- 1 tsp

Procedure:

1.  Cut the   avocado in halves ,take  out the  pit and  scoop  out the  flesh in a bowl.Take  a  fork and  mash the  avocado(if the avocado  is  perfectly  ripen then it will get  mashed easily).

2. Then  Add the  chopped  onion,tomatoes,green  chillies,cilantro ,salt,lemon juice  and  cumin  powder and mix well. The filling is  ready  now.

3. Now  cut the  crust of the bread  out(I  just  take  them out  for  cosmetic  purpose) and  spread the   avocado  mixture  evenly  in a  generously thick  layer in one  slice  and  top  with the  other  slice.

4. Sandwich is ready at this  point  but if you  want  it as  a  finger food in  party then  cut into smaller  cubes,makes a cute  healthy appetizer.

* Red Bean Flower Buns

                     
            I had these  red bean buns in  one  of the Chinese bakery.Chinese  bakeries always  have  many  variety of  buns,breads,cookies.Buns are  widely  two types steamed and  baked with as many types of fillings you can think of,,,beef pork,chicken,veggies,beans.As  I love baking so  I thought of making the baked variety.it came out  good and is a nice  breakfast,snacks  option if you make it  ahead of time,But nothing can  beat   any fresh baked good for  sure.The filling stays  good in refrigerator  for a long time  so you can  make  ahead  and whenever you have time can  make  different stuffs,,After I made  these  buns I was left with  some red bean paste  and  I had tried  stuffed parathas(Indian  stuffed  flat  bread) and they  also  came out well,,,tasted kind of puran poli.So you have  endless options with the paste.

Here I'll  divide the making process into two parts: 

• Red bean paste making 
• Bun  making

This recipe makes 10 buns.

Red Bean Paste :

Ingredients  for  Red Bean paste:

1. Kidney beans - 1 cup (soaked  overnight)

2. Sugar - As per your taste(I used approx  1/2 cup)

Procedure  for Red Bean  paste:

1. Once the kidney  beans  are  nicely  soaked in water over night you  put in on a  blender  and make a        

    thick  fine  paste as  shown in picture.

2. Heat  a  pan  and  pour the bean paste ,Keep stirring,I used a non-stick pan  so was  easy.Once the  bean

    paste  thickens, add  sugar and  adjust to your taste.You will know Bean paste is ready, when you can 

    draw a line in the  pan.

3. Let the bean  paste  cool down a  little bit until you  can form  balls  from the  paste.Apply some  oil in 

   your  palms and  make small  balls. Keep them aside.

                                You  can put the paste in a  zip lock  and  keep in refrigerator  for  about  1-2  weeks and   can use  in any  other recipes as well.

Bun making :

 The  Bun is  made  from the regular  yeast  dough.

 

Ingredients for  the Bun :

1. All purpose flour : 1  cup

2. Milk Powder      : 1/8 cup (Optional )

3. Yeast                  : 1 tsp

4. warm water         : 1/2 cup (you can substitute milk)

5. Sugar                  : 1/2 tsp  (for  yeast to be active)

6. Salt                     : 1 pinch  (for  yeast to be active)

7. Egg                     : 1 (for  egg wash--Can be replaced  by milk if you want a  complete  vegan  version)

8. Sesame seed     : 1  tb sp(Optional for  decoration)

Procedure for  buns:

The  entire process  takes  around 1hr 30 mins  to 2 hrs.Plan  so as to fit in your  other chores in between so that you don't feel its  a  time consuming stuff.

1. In bowl of warm milk/ water mix in the yeast,sugar and salt and  leave it for  about 10 minutes.You  should  see  frothy stuff,,if  at the end of  10 minutes its  not frothy then its no good.throw it and  start all over  again.The reason  why the yeast wont react is  may  be the  milk is too hot to  kill the  yeast .And sometimes the yeast is very old and not good to use any more then throw that and buy a new packet.

 

2.Make a  dough  using this yeast mixture to the flour.And keep it aside  for  1  hour in a  warm  place.

3. After  1 hour  the  dough  would  have  risen  to double the  original size. Punch the  dough and keep another 10 mins. 

4. Then make  small balls with it and keep it covered  with the  kitchen towel so that they won't dry out.

5. Take a  ball of the dough  and  put the red bean  paste  ball in  it and  wrap  to make  the bun and  keep in the baking sheet  with the seal side down.Repeat  this with all the  balls and let it sit for  10 more minutes.Now switch on your  Oven ,so that it reaches the baking temperature when  you slide in the buns.

6. Now the Flower  part comes.To give the shape of  a flower as the  name says, cut  the  sides  with a pair of   scissors as shown in the picture.

7. Beat the  egg and   brush the bun top with a pastry brush and  sprinkle  some sesame seeds on top.

8. Slide the tray into the preheated oven   and  bake in 350 Degrees for  about 30 minutes.You can see nice golden brown colour on top.

Now these beauties are ready to  munch one.

Thanks for visiting  and  happy cooking.

* Stuffed Mushroom

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                       Stuffed Mushroom is  one great finger food to serve for  any cocktail parties. It is tastes awesome and is good if you  have some vegetarian guests around. One evening I just  mixed all the  ingredients  together which I  love such as bell peppers,celery(because of the  health benefits I love to add this wherever I can specially my husband doesn't eat celery as such  so I try to  disguise it as much as possible and strangely he loves them :) ),Mozzarella cheese,garlic...etc and it came out real good.Got a   great review from my extremely choosy  husband.And we love to eat each mushroom in a  bite so I specially love the smaller ones.

Here goes the recipe:

 For this recipe all the  veggies are  finely chopped, so that  you get each veggie in  each bite which makes it very flavourful.

Ingredients:

1. Button mushrooms - 15 nos

2. Celery                    - 1 tb sp(finely chopped )

3. Garlic                     - 1 tb sp(finely chopped)

4. Green Bell Pepper - 2 tb sp (finely chopped)

5. Orange bell pepper - 2 tb sp (finely chopped)

6. Onion                     -4 tb sp (finely chopped )

7. Mozzarella cheese   - 1/2 cup(Shredded)

8. Parmesan cheese     - few pinches

9. Olive oil                  - 1.5 t sp

10. Dry Oregano          -1/2 tsp(optional)

11. Salt                         - to taste

Procedure :

1. Clean and remove the  stem from the mushrooms.Keep the stem for using them in for  stuffing.

2. Chop the stem  finely and keep  all the finely veggies and  preheat the oven.

3. Now  heat the pan and add 1/ t sp  Olive oil and place the de-stemmed mushrooms on the  hot pan for 3- 

    4  minutes.Take them  out  and keep aside.

4. Add the rest 1 t sp  Olive oil to the pan and throw in the onion,then celery's , when these ingredients

  are little cooked(not browned) add the chopped mushroom stalks.When Mushrooms are cooked for

  about  3 minutes,,add garlic and  finally add the bell peppers at the end so that they remain crunchy.

5. Finally add 2 tb sp grated mozzarella cheese and turn off the heat.Give   it a quick  mix and now the 

    stuffing is ready.

6. Take  the Mushrooms and  fill in the Stuffing.(Here if you divide the  stuffing as per your number of 

     mushrooms it will be  easy )

7. Now  these mushrooms go to the pre heated oven for 10 minutes on 350 degree Celsius.After 10 minutes

    take  them out and sprinkle some mozzarella cheese and  Parmesan cheese  on top of each

    mushroom.And then  goes back to oven for  5 more minutes in broil mode.

8. Now the tasty stuffed mushrooms are ready to serve.

The beauty of this dish is the stuffing options are numerous and just go by your  instinct you will find something very new with  every other option.

Thanks for visiting and I would be  more than happy to  hear from you.

*Kachori(lentil stuffed puff pastries)

Kachori is one snack that goes very well with tea or any time you can munch on them.They are delicious.I started making it going through Internet 2 years back.Now I love Kachoris a lot,,specially with tamarind chutney It tastes awesome.I'm not a very big fan of deep frying,,and that always stays in the last option for me.But only for this savory snack I'm always more than willing to do some frying :).In any potluck if I have to bring the appetizer most of the time I choose to bring kachori.

To Make 10-12 Kachoris.

Ingredients for crust:

1 cup All Purpose flour ( maida)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tbsp oil
1/2 cup tbsp chilled water

Ingredients for filling:

1/4 cup yellow moong dal (Skinned mung beans )
1 teaspoon coarsely ground fennel seeds (saunf)
1 teaspoon coarsely ground coriander seeds (dhania)
1 teaspoon red chilly flakes
2 teaspoon mango powder (amchoor or you can add chat masala)

1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
Pinch of Asafoetida (hing)
1/2 teaspoon salt (as per your taste)
1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoons water
Oil to deep fry

Preparation:

To make crust:

1.Mix the flour, salt and oil very well.
2.Add the chilled water slowly, mixing with your hand as you pour. Make a very soft dough.
3.Cover the dough and let it sit for at least 15-20 minutes.

To make filling:

1.Dry grind the moong dal (Don't make it fine powder)
2.Mix 1 tbsp of oil and moong dal powder in a frying pan and roast on medium heat for about two to three minutes or dal changes color lightly, stirring constantly.
3.Turn off the heat. Add all the spices and mix it well and let the mixture cool off.
4.Add two tablespoons of warm water and mix it well.
5.Let it sit for 10 minutes and keep it covered.


To make the Kachoris:

1. Take the dough and knead it for a few minutes, and make 10-12 balls of equal size.
2. Take one part of the dough and with your fingers flatten the edges and make into 3-inch circle. Leaving center little thicker then edges around.
3. Place 1 teaspoon of filling in the center. Pull the edges of the dough to wrap the dal filling. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
4. Let the filled ball sit for 3 to 4 minutes before rolling. keep them covered the entire time.
5. Set the kachoris on a surface with the seams facing up. Using the base of your palm, slowly flatten them into about 3 inch circle.
6. Heat about 1 1/2 inch of oil in a frying pan on medium heat. To check if oil is ready put a little piece of dough in the oil, it should sizzle and come up slow.
7. Fry them on medium-low heat. After they start to puff, slowly turn them over.
8. Fry until golden-brown on both sides. If the kachoris are fried on high heat, they will be soft and will not be crispy.