Spicy Spelt Spaghetti with Lime Leaves and Sesame.

This month started on a bad note. After a fearful and emotional 2 weeks, now things are slowly falling back into place.

Today, I am gonna share a simple one pot meal with you. The star ingredient of this recipe are kafir lime leaves. It's the highlight of the recipe - the dominant flavour and strong taste makes this spaghetti extra special. And, yes, sesame seeds enhanced the taste of this dish in their own special way.

All in all, I was very happy with the outcome and hope you like it too!

The ginger-garlic-chilli paste is often a life saver - or at least a great time saver ;-) Its easy to make, and you can keep it refrigerated for up to 6 months - and it adds a dash (or more!) of flavour and zing to any dish in a moment - I use it in Indian curries, pasta, savoury muffins and any other dish which needs to made spicy. If you like it really hot, you can easily increase (approx double) the amount of red chillies you use for the paste. 


Ingredients for the paste


35 grams - dried whole red chillies, soaked in some water for 2-3 hrs and then washed twice
115 grams - ginger, peeled and chopped
115 grams - garlic, peeled and chopped
12- 14 tbsp - sunflower oil
1 1/2 - 2 tbsp - vinegar


Add everything in a mixer and grind into a fine paste. Transfer into a glass jar and refrigerate for up to 6 months

Ingredients


100 gram - spelt spaghetti
3-4 - kafir lime leaves
3/4 tbsp - homemade chilli, garlic and ginger paste (more or less)
1/4 cup - red and yellow peppers, cut into squares
1/4 cup - carrots, cut into medium size pieces
1 - onion, cut into medium size squares
1/4 tsp + 1 tbsp - olive oil
1 tbsp - lemon juice (more or less)
1 tbsp - coriander leaves
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp - sesame seeds to garnish
lemon slice to garnish

Method

1. Add the spaghetti to the boiling water with 2 lime leaves, carrots, 1/4 tsp olive oil and a pinch of salt.
2. Drain the water when the spaghetti is done and discard the lime leaves.
3. In an another non stick pan, add 1 tbsp of olive oil and the homemade chilli-garlic-ginger paste and saute on a medium heat for a couple of minutes. (be careful as it will splutter) 
4. Add the onions, peppers and lime leaves and cook until the onions are soft.
5. Add the spaghetti, salt, pepper powder and coriander leaves and mix well. Remove from the heat.
6. Sprinkle the lemon juice and mix well. 
7. Garnish with a lemon slice and sesame seeds and serve.

Enjoy!

Mini Vanilla Cakes with Chocolate-Mascarpone Cheese

This week was really busy, and on top of that, I hurt my hand and found it a bit difficult to type. My hand is still hurting but I was feeling a little guilty about not posting a recipe for so long.

I made this cake last week and, as usual, we finished it off in no time. They looked cute and the flavours of vanilla and chocolate together were just great. 

Ingredients

3/4 cup - whole wheat flour

2 1/2 tbsp - sunflower oil

1/3 cup - dark muscovado sugar (or any other sugar)

1/4 tsp - bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp - baking powder

3 tbsp - low fat yogurt

1/3 cup - water at room temperature

a pinch of salt

1/2 - vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped 

Icing

dark chocolate (melted and cooled) and mascarpone cheese, mixed vigourously, until smooth and glossy.

Sorry for not providing the exact measurements for the icing. I was so preoccupied that I forgot the amount of chocolate and mascarpone I used in the icing.

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree C and grease 3 ramekins.
2. In a bowl, mix together the sunflower oil, sugar, yogurt,vanilla seeds and water.
3. Mix together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt in an another bowl.
4. Add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture and mix lightly with a spatula. Do not overmix.
5. Spoon the mixture into the greased ramekins, filling three quarters.
6. Place the ramekins in the center of the preheated oven and bake until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. 
7. Transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool completely.
8. Carefully cut the cakes horizontally through the middle and roughly spread the chocolate-mascarpone icing in between and on the top. 
9. Serve immediately. 

Sending this to EFM Cakes and Bake Series of Srishkitchen. 

Enjoy!

Beet-Carrot-Tomato Tikka.

Beet, carrot and tomato juice is an integral part of my lifestyle. I have had this juice by the litre, over years and years because of an iron deficiency, and still do. It is one of the most nutrient-full and healthiest things around - and with a little rock salt and a few drops of lemon juice, tastes pretty well too!

When I read about the beetroot recipe event, I thought, may be I could come up with a different recipe, which would at the same time be healthy, taste and look good, and best of all, use up the leftovers from the juice. The result was this tikka recipe. Its really healthy, easy to make and looks simply stunning.

There are some recipes which make one feel really good and this one, without any doubt, belongs to that category. Make it to believe it :-)

Ingredients for the juice

1 - beet-root, medium size, peeled and chopped

2 - carrots, medium size, peeled and chopped

1 - tomato, chopped

1/4 tsp - rock salt

2 inch - ginger, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup - water, approx

salt to taste

lemon juice to taste

For the tikka

1 pod of garlic, finely chopped

1 1/2 tsp - chaat masala

1/4 tsp - garam masala

handful of mint leaves, finely chopped

1/4 cup - bread crumbs (more or less)

1/4 cup - flattened rice (poha), soaked in a little water for 5 minutes 

1/4 tsp - red chilli flakes (more or less)

salt to taste

1/4 cup - green and yellow pepper, cut into squares

1/4 cup - onions, cut into squares

olive oil to pan fry

rock salt, dried mint leaves and lemon juice to sprinkle on the tikkas

Method

1. Add the beet-root, carrots, tomato, ginger and water in the mixer and blend well. Transfer onto a muslin cloth and squeeze out the juice in a bowl. Add rock salt, salt and lemon juice and serve.
2. Heat a little olive oil in a pan and saute the onions and peppers and keep aside.
3. Squeeze out the excess water from the flattened rice. 
4. Add the juice leftover in a bowl. Add the squeezed flattened rice, bread crumbs, garlic, mint, masala, salt and red chilli flakes and mix well. 
5. Take a little portion of the juice-extract mixture and shape into a small ball. Flatten it gently and pan fry on a medium flame. 
6. Take a skewer and insert a pepper, tikki, onion chunks and then again a pepper and repeat in any order until the skewer is full. 
7. Sprinkle a little rock salt, lemon juice and dried- crushed mint leaves and serve immediately with a dip of your choice. 

I was in complete awe of this beautiful colour and the amazing taste of the tikka. 

Sending this to Healing Foods-Beetroot, hosted by Priya of Mharo Rajasthans recipes and event started by Siri. 

This recipe also becomes a part of "ONLY" Low-Oil/Low-Calorie. Event hosted by Priya of Mharo Rajasthans recipes, and started by Pari of Foodelicious.

Have a lovely weekend.

Enjoy!

Oktoberfest, Obatzda and some photos...

This weekend saw the start of the famous Oktoberfest. It is a 16 day to 18 day festival held each year in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest folk-festival in the world and one of the most popular annual events in Germany, with some six million people attending every year.

Oktoberfest means a lot of beer, people dressed in beautiful traditional bavarian dresses and lots of food and fun. On the Theresienwiese (the fair ground) one can find a lot of rides, for both children and adults, lots of food stalls, and a number of beer tents, built just for the fest. They also serve traditional bavarian delicacies like Hendl (chicken), Würst (sausages), Weisswurst (white sausages), Brezn (pretzels), Reiberdatschi (potato pancakes), Sauerkraut and also Obatzda (a fatty, spiced cheese concoction) and a lot of other traditional hearty fare.

You can read more about the Oktoberfest here.

To go with the fever of Oktoberfest, I decided to make the famous bavarian cheese delicacy Obatzda. There are several ways to make it and this recipe here is my take on it. Obatzda is usually eaten with bread or pretzels and is a classic example of Bavarian biergarten food.

I have tried and made a (comparatively) healthier version. Hope you like it. 

Here are some Oktoberfest photos.

Pepole at the U-Bahn (Tube) Station, trying to get to the Theresienwiese.

The famous statue of Bavaria.

A view from the top- with beer tents, rides, food stalls and thousands of people. 

Obatzda

Ingredients

100 gram - goat camembert, cut into cubes at room temperature

cottage cheese made from 1 1/2 cup of low fat milk, see the recipe here.

2 tbsp - sunflower oil

2 tbsp - low fat yogurt

1/4 tsp - cumin seeds

1/8 tsp - pepper powder (more or less)

1/4 tsp - red chilli powder or paprika powder (more or less)

salt to taste

1/8 cup - onion, finely chopped, to garnish

pretzel to garnish

chives, finely chopped, to garnish

Method

1. Combine camembert, cottage cheese (cooled to room temperature), sunflower oil, yogurt, salt, pepper, red chilli powder and cumin seeds in a bowl of a food processor.
2. Transfer the well blend cheese mixture into a bowl and chill for 2-3 hrs.
3. Garnish the Obatzda with chives, onions and pretzel and serve. 

We had Obatzda with Rye bread, greens and bavarian potato salad. It was a hearty fare indeed :-)

Prost!

Cherry Elderflower Sorbet

Hope you all had a lovely weekend! I had a great one, spending the whole saturday watching movies, chatting and hogging with a very good friend of mine. It was lovely!

Sunday wasn't bad either - the star of this Sunday were these Cherries, well, unfortunately probably the last of this season. After gobbling some, I thought of making this Sorbet. The weather complemented it very well too - it was one of the very few warm and sunny weekends this washed out summer.

The sorbet is easy to make, refreshing and a good blend of sour and sweet. It was just perfect for a lazy sunday!

I mixed a little elderflower syrup into the sorbet which gave an interesting side taste, with an added hint of flowers and sweetness. Hope you like it too.

Ingredients

250 gram - cherries, pitted

3/4 tsp + 1/4 tsp - lemon rind + to garnish

3 tbsp - elderflower syrup

1/3 cup - water

a generous pinch of citric acid

Method

1. Add the cherries, 3/4 tsp lemon rind, elderflower syrup, water and citric acid in a pan and cook until cherries softens. Remove from the heat.
2. Let it chill in the fridge for an hour.
3. Puree the cooked cherries in a mixer.
4. Transfer the pureed cherry mixture in a container, cover and let it freeze in the deep-fridge.
5. Mix the half set cherry sorbet with a fork and freeze again. Repeat this process 2-3 times.
6. Garnish the sorbet with lemon rind and serve immediately.

Serves - 5

Enjoy!