Oatmeal Bars -September Secret Club challenge

This is my 2nd assignment with the Secret Recipe Club.The aim of the club is that you are allocated a blog from which you have to select  a recipe and try  it and blog about it.

My assigned blog was Julies Eats and Treats. When I opened Julies blog page , I particularly like the colourful  and fun blog page and immediately I was confident that in this blog I would surely find  a fun recipe to make. I was not wrong and as I stumbled across the Caramel Oatmeal Bars recipe.The recipe was simple to follow but as I did not have any caramels ,I adapted the recipe slightly  to include ingredients in my store cupboard.The Original recipe can be found here

Ingredients: 1 cup plain  flour 1 cup oatmeal 1/2 cup butter, melted 1/4 cup golden syrup 3/4 cups brown sugar 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1 cup mixed chopped nuts (walnuts/almonds/cashew) 1/2 cup deciccated coconut 1/3 cup milk 1/2 cup chocolate chips Method: 1. Mix together the flour, oats, baking powder, salt, nuts and decicated coconut . 2. In a pan add the butter, sugar, golden syrup and milk and heat  together till sugar melts. 3.Pour this mixture into the dry ingredints in the bowl and mix well. 4.Stir in the chocolate chip and pat into a well greased 9x13 inch baking tray. 5. Bake in a pre heated oven  at 160 degrees centigrade 325 degrees Farenheit for 45 minutes

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Mushroom and Tomato Bake

Perfect dish for brunch, Succulent mushrooms, tangy and juicy tomatoes topped with a aromatic herb and breadcrumb crusty topping.

Ingredients:

4oz button mushrooms
2 large beef tomatoes
4 oz bread crumbs
2 oz grated cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper powder
1 teaspoon Italian mixed herbs
1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small red onion

Method:

1. Thinly slice the button mushrooms.
2. Finely chop the red onion.
3. Slice the tomatoes.
4. In a bowl all the bread crumbs, herbs, chilli flakes  and pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well.
5. In a pan add the oil and saute the onions until translucent. Add the mushrooms and cook till mushrooms soften. Season with salt and pepper.
6.In an oven proof dish, make a layer of tomatoes, and top it with the mushroom mixture, Add a layer of cheese. Repeat with a second layer of tomatoes, followed by the mushroom mixture and than the remaining cheese.
7. For the top  final layer , add the bread crumbs mixture.
8. Preheat an oven to 180 degrees centigrade / 350 degrees Farenheit and bake the tomato and mushroom bake for 25 minutes or untill there is nice golden crust on the top.
Remove from oven and serve with fresh crusty bread .

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Iced Orange and Apple Tea

Refreshing summer drink that is delicious and cooling.

Ingredients:

2 teabags

1 tablespoon sugar

300 ml boiling water

150 ml apple juice

150ml orange juice

1 cinnamon stick

Method:

1. Place tea bags in a pot and add boiling water. Add the cinnamon stick.

2. Allow the tea to steep for 2-3 minutes and remove teabags and cinnamon stick.

3. Stir in the sugar and allow the tea to cool.

4. Stir in the apple and orange juice and mix well.

5. Chill for 2 hours.

6. Pour into tall glasses; add ice cubes and orange slices.

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Jalebi ~ ICC August 2011

Crispy crunchy swirls of batter deep fried and  dipped is aromatic saffron and cardamom infused syrup makes these awesome jalebis simply mouthwatering  and delectable.

 

Ingredients:

Sunflower oil for frying
Few almonds and pistachio nuts for garnish.(optional)

Batter
100 grams plain flour
30 grams corn flour
2-3 drops yellow food colouring
Few strands saffron
1 cup natural yoghurt
1 tablespoon sunflower hot oil

Sugar syrup
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
Few strands of saffron
1 teaspoon cardamom powder
1 teaspoon lemon juice.

Method:

1.Mix together the plain flour, corn flour, yoghurt, saffron, food colour and hot oil and make a smooth lump free batter
2. Cover  batter and leave overnight to ferment.
3. Heat the sugar and water and lemon juice to form a sweet syrup just a little less than 1 thread in consistency.(Thread Stage 215° F–235° F/108° C–118° C on sugar thermometer) (Lemon juice prevents sugar syrup from crystallising)
4. Heat oil in a pan and while its heating fill up a plastic ketchup/mustard bottle with the batter mixture.(Alternatively use a zip lock bag with a tiny hole cut in the bottom of it.)
5. When oil is medium hot, squeeze batter  to form mini  swirls into the hot oil and fry jalebis  until golden brown on both sides.
6.Immediately remove jalebis from hot oil and shake off access oil and dip them in  warm sugar syrup to coat both sides.
7. Remove jalebis from syrup as soon as you have dipped them to retain crunch  and place them on serving dish .Repeat procedure for remaining batter.
8. Garnish with almond and pistachio slivers if desired.
Serve hot.

Notes-
Jalebi batter turned out a little too thin  and made it difficult to form uniform swirls.I had to add another tablespoon of corn flour to thicken the batter. I think batter was thin because my yoghurt was low fat and very runny.

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Carrot and Tomato Soup ~ Blog Hop Wednesday 14th Sept 2011

This is my 2 nd entry for Blog Hop Wednesday started by Radhika of Tickling Palates. Its a beautiful concept where not only do you get to make new  blogger friends, cook from their blogs but in return they visit your blog and try out your recipes too.

My allocated blog for this assignment was  Rinku's Kitchen Treats,  Browsing through the various post , there were many mouth watering dishes some vegetarian and some non veg . Being a vegetarian I was looking for a simple low fat recipe and I came across her section on low cal recipes. I instantly wanted to try the carrot and tomato soup.You can find the original recipe here.
Verdict:
The soup turned out tasty and simply delicious and one I will make again and again.
The only changes I made were that I left out the onion and garlic and did not puree the soup instead, I left it chunky.

Ingredients:

2 medium carrots diced         
8 tomatoes diced
1 potato diced
2 cups water  
1 bay Leaf                        
1/2 teaspoon black pepper.      
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar.

Method:

1.Blend the tomatoes in a blender jug and puree them. Stain to remove skin and seeds and pour into a saucepan and simmer on medium heat.
2.Add the bay leaf  to the potato and carrots and pressure cup them with  in 1 cup water,
3.Once vegetables are cooked remove the bay leaf  and add them to the simmering tomato puree.
4.Add more water to get desired consistency.Add the pepper and sugar .Taste and adjust seasoning as required.Simmer for 5  more minutes.
5. You can either puree the soup in a blender jug to make it smooth  or leave it chunky which is what I did.

To Serve:
Garnish with a drizzle of fresh cream and serve hot with fresh bread.