Espresso Brownies

Even for a tea drinker like me, it feels great to start Sunday morning (if waking up at 11:30 counts as morning) with coffee, especially when I've been Malibu-ed out from Saturday night. Yesterday while glugging down my coffee the thought of Espresso Brownies came floating into my head.

It had been such a long time since I made them. And since we've been drinking filter coffee mostly there was this pile of truly delicious super strong 100% (absolutely no chicory) instant coffee powder sitting around barely used. I just had to make some right away!






Espresso Brownies
Adapted from Jannequin Bennet's Very Vegetarian.

1/2 C very hot espresso or strong coffee (I mixed 2 heaping T of instant Nescafe 100% coffee powder in 1/2 C hot water)
1/3 C cocoa (the Cadbury's baking cocoa powder has a bit of something mmmmm to its flavor)
3/4 C sugar (original recipe calls for 1 C but the slight reduction in quantity of sugar brings out the mocha nuances better)
1 t vanilla extract (use pure extract and not essence if possible)
1/3 C coconut oil (it adds a mild, delicious flavor and goes really well with the coffee and cocoa combination).
1 1/4 C All Purpose Flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt

Preheat the oven to 180 C / 350 F
Grease an 8 inch square baking pan

Seive together flour, baking powder and salt.

Put the coffee, cocoa powder and sugar in a blender (with the whisking blade attachment) and blend thoroughly. Add vanilla and coconut oil and blend again. (Everything can be whisked together with a spoon but I use a blender since it adds more air bubbles to the liquid which gives the brownies a better crumb).

Mix together the wet and dry ingredients in a bowl and stir quickly until just blended. Do not stir too much as over mixing will toughen the brownies. The way you mix decides the outcome so this is a very important step!

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 35 minutes. And while it bakes, enjoy licking the remaining batter off the mixing bowl (it tastes a bit like Koffee Bite) :)

Let the brownies cool to room temperature before cutting. The way these smell, you'll want to dig into them right out of the oven but please be patient because cutting into the brownies while they're hot will spoil them.

These are really quick and easy to make and depending on how strong the coffee is they pack a lot of kick.

Stuffed Veggie Buns

Stuffed palya buns are a very common snack in most small bakeries here in Karnataka. A yummy, savory potato mixtures is stuffed into the bun dough before popping them into the oven. Ahh the memories of biting into hot, freshly baked buns and the taste of the potato rolling on to the tongue...

Ever since I've become more confident about baking breads I've started to experiment (as usual) and stuffed buns have a great scope for variations.

Yesterday I decided to stuff the whole wheat buns with a vegetable mixture and they turned out better than I'd expected. And everyone who tasted it (tuition kid, neighbor, hubby...) thought they were delish.

So here's the recipe - and feel free to share here if you come up with your own stuffing variations (vegan only please).



Stuffed Veggie Buns

For the buns:

2 C Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 T Active Dry Yeast
1/4 C Olive Oil
1 1/2 tsp Salt
5 T sugar

Put the wheat flour in a large bowl. Make a hole in the center and put in 1/2 tsp of the sugar and the yeast. Pour 1/2 C lukewarm water over the hole. Let it sit for 10-15 mins till the yeast froths and bubbles. Pour in the rest of the ingredients and mix together into a dough using as much water as required. Knead the dough well till it obtains a soft and elastic texture. Make it into a ball and cover with a clean, wet cloth. Keep it aside for about an hour and let it rise.

Meanwhile....

For the filling:

1/2 C chopped carrots
1/2 C chopped green beans
1 medium capsicum (green bell pepper) chopped
2 Small white onions sliced
1/2 t Mustard Seeds
1/4 t Turmeric powder
1 T any cooking oil
Salt (to taste)

Cook the carrots, beans and capsicum in the microwave for 5-8 minutes.

Heat the oil in a pan. Quickly add the mustard seeds and step away. They will immediately crackle. Add the turmeric powder. Add the onions and stir. Fry them till they are slightly brown. Add the cooked vegetables. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes. Add salt, mix and turn off the flame.

How to proceed:

Once the dough has been sitting for an hour, punch it down and form into a log. Pull off bits and roll them into balls (about 2-3 inch rounds). Cup one of the rounds in one palm and press the top in to make a deep dent and working from the inside-outwards shape the dough into a bowl. Place some veggie mixture in and cover the hole by pulling the dough in from all sides and folding over. Now with the folded side down, shape it into a bun. Do the same with the remaining dough rounds and place them on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

Pre heat the oven to 230C / 450F and bake for 20-30 minutes till the tops have browned well.

Vegan White Chocolate Orange Almond Truffles

So this is where too much Vegan Blog hopping gets me!

Last morning, I came across these super yum looking White Chocolate Walnut Truffles on the VegSpinz blog and I was immediately overcome by the desire to stuff my face with them!

So I decided to create a variation of my own...

White Chocolate Orange Almond Truffles


All ingredients are in approximate values since I just throw stuff in without measuring. Feel free to modify the amounts to your liking.

1 C Vegan White Chocolate Chips
1/2 C Cashews
1/4 C Soymilk (use as required)
1/4 t Orange Essential Oil
1/4 C Almonds
1 C Vegan Dark Chocolate Chips

For the truffle mixture:

-Grind the cashews into a fine powder, add a dash of the soymilk and blend, add a little bit more soymilk if required and process into a very creamy paste.
-Melt the white chocolate chips (in a double boiler or in the microwave).
-Toast the almonds and crush them lightly into tiny pieces. If you have the patience you can chop them :oP
-Mix the cashew cream and orange essential oil with the white chocolate.
-Add in the almonds and mix well.
-Pop in the freezer for around 20 minutes or so, until it has hardened slightly.

How to proceed:

-Melt the dark chocolate chips.
-Make little balls of the truffle mixture and dip them in the melted chocolate.
-Drop them on parchment paper.
-Pop in the freezer to set again.

Note: I have used truffle molds for these. These can be used by coating the walls and bottom of the mold with the melted dark chocolate. Putting a bit of the truffle mixture in and covering the top with a layer of melted dark chocolate.

Enjoy! :)

Herb Chutney Capsicum Rice

Sitting on my derrière twittering and playing scramble on facebook is a sure fire way to ensure that dinner hasn't even begun to be cooked by dinner time. Past 9 pm, husband hasn't been fed and the poor darling hasn't said a peep about it, it's time to dream up a meal which gets cooked up as well as tucked away in a snap.

Lately I've let out the goddess of concocting from within more often than not. And what I've realized is that the most scrumptious meals are the ones prepared in a jiffy huff huff.

I apologize in advance for the less than agreeable photography. But when I'm really hungry, I cannot offer more than a camera phone click and post. It doesn't help that the lighting theme in the house leans towards cozy/romantic rather than "spotlight! watch me while I eat!"

Basically what I'm trying to say is that the rice is not a jarring florescent like that picture portrays it to be. It's actually a rather pleasant shade of green. And the red and yellow bell peppers make the dish quite attractive.



Herb Chutney Capsicum (Bell Pepper) Rice

For the rice:
3/4 C Rice
1/2 Yellow Capsicum sliced into strips
1/2 Red Capsicum sliced into strips
1 Small While Onion cut into rings
3 t Olive Oil

Seasonings (quantity of each according to preference):
Turmeric
Cinnamon
Pepper
Salt

For the chutney:
1/2 C Cilantro
1/4 C Spearmint Leaves
1 Green Chilli
Handful Cashews

Cook the rice in the microwave with 3 cups of water for 20 minutes.

Toss the white onion and the red and yellow capsicums with the olive oil and cook in the microwave (using the grill+micro mode if available) for 3-5 minutes till they are just done.

Mix the rice, veggies and seasoning ingredients together.

Taste. Hmm not bad but something's missing... Chutney!

Grind the cilantro, spearmint, cashew and green cilli into a paste using a wee bit of water.

Pour over rice and mix. Done!

Re-heat in microwave for half a minute and serve hubby. Say "attractive to look at and yummy to eat". He'll nod happily at start chowing down :)

Return to twitter and facebook.

The End.

Got the sniffles? Herbal Tea to the rescue!

Mom has always brought us up on home remedies for most common illnesses like colds, coughs, tummy problems etc... Whenever I feel something coming on I always turn to homemade remedies first. And only if, if, it gets really bad and unmanageable will I resort to pills and doctors. They have always worked beautifully (maybe a tad slowly compared to pills but safely and thoroughly nonetheless) and while people around me pump themselves with system screwing antibiotics, I sip on herbal teas and chew on homemade concoctions.

I had an inkling of a doubt last night before bed when after sitting under the fan for a couple of hours my nose started to feel a wee bit stuffy. But I just brushed the thought aside rationalizing that since I had a cold and fever just last month, I was done with my quota of colds for at least 5-6 more months. Now to make a home remedy work at its optimum, it's best to gulp it down at the very onset of any nasties. This morning, as soon as I woke up, I could feel a cold coming on for sure. Alas had I brewed a nice cup of the herbal spiced tea before bed it wouldn't even have come to this. Well anyways the sooner the tea is put into the system the better so first thing this morning I brewed myself a delicious cup of herbal spice tea and sipped on it while it was piping hot. I still do have my hankey next to me but I'm not using it as much as I would have if I'd further delayed the consumption of the spiced concoction.

So here's the magic recipe. Drink it in the morning on an empty stomach. And at night just before bed. A couple of days of this and the cold is evaporated right out of your system! :)


Herbal Tea - Home Remedy for Colds

1 inch Cinnamon Stick
1/2 inch Dry Ginger
1 Cardamom Pod
2 Cloves
4 Black Pepper Corns
1/2 t Coriander Seeds
1/2 t Fennel Seeds
1/4 t Tea
1/2 t Sugar (preferably rock sugar if you know what that is)
Pinch Sea Salt

Put 1 1/2 C of water for heating. Dump all the above ingredients in whole. Bring to boil. Reduce the heat and simmer on a medium-low flame for 15-20 minutes till the quantity of the water has reduced to about half (3/4 C). Strain. Drink hot!

Notes:
* It is preferable to use whole spices but if you can't find the whole ones you can use the powdered versions.
*All the above items will be easily available at an Indian Store.
*Buy a small pack of each and store them in a cool, dry place (not in cabinets above the stove). You could put them in airtight containers and pop them in the fridge if you like.