Chickpea Dal with Spinach

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Chickpea Dal with Spinach

by Nayna Kanabar March-8-2016

A delicious protein packed dal, spiced with ginger and garlic and aromatic spices.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Chickpea Dal (Split chickpeas)
• 200g Baby Spinach finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon Garlic paste
• 1/2 teaspoon Ginger paste
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Chilli Powder
• 2 Green chillies
• 5 Curry Leaves
• 1 Dried red chilli
• 1/2 teaspoon Mustard seeds
• 1/2 tablespoon Olive oil
• 1/4 cup Passata( sieved tomatoes)

Instructions

1. Wash the dal in few changes of water and then soak it over night.2. In the morning change the water and add dal to a large pan with 1 litre water and bring to boil, reduce the heat and simmer the dal for 30 minutes until its cooked but still holding shape. Intermittently while dal is simmering remove the white frothy scum that collects and discard it.Once dal is cooked turn off heat and leave it aside.2.Add the oil in a sauce pan and wait for it to heat up. Add the mustard seeds and red dried chilli and wait for them to splutter.3. Add the ginger and garlic and sauté for a few seconds then add the passata, followed by the salt, chilli powder, turmeric powder and cook the mixture for a minute until all the spices are blended into the tomatoes.3.Add the chopped spinach and sauté until its cooked for about 2-3 minutes.4. Add the cooked dal and add a little extra water if needed to get the required consistency.I prefer my dal thick so I add less water.5. Simmer the dal for 5 minutes with the spinach mixture to allow all the spices to blend in.6. Turn off heat and transfer dal to serving bowl. Serve with steamed rice or chappati.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins(plus overnight soaking) Cook time: 1 hour Total time: 1 hour 10 mins Yield: Serves 2

NB- Chickpea dal is basically black chickpeas that have had the outer coating removed and then split. It is readily available in the Asian section of most supermarkets, health food stores and Indian grocery shops. The packet will have on it chana dal.

Mother's Day, How was your day?

This year mother’s day was a rather subdued and quiet affair for me. Neither of my girls were around to pamper me and I also had to go to work. My sunday morning started with a hot cup of masala tea with my daughter followed by breakfast.

I didn't have time for a large cooked breakfast but I really enjoyed my porridge with bananas and a helping of delicious Rachel's Banana and Dulce de Leche yoghurt.

There was still time left to enjoy another cup of masala tea and round of hot buttery toast before venturing out to work on a cold and icy day.

Most of my followers know that I love kitchenware and cookware so I was really pleased to find that my girls had bought me three very cute little ceramic bowls in different pattern in blue, some delicious shortbread cookies and some flowers. The best bit was the lovely homemade Mother's Day card that the girls made.

We had no plans for eating out but when I returned home from work, there was a delicious aroma that had filled the kitchen. Hubby was preparing a lovely mother's day dinner so I was banished from the kitchen while my daughter and him added the finishing touches on the meal. I really enjoyed my day despite the fact that I did not get to spend the whole day with the family, but I guess quality time is more important than quantity.

My surprises were not over, I was also presented with a lovely homemade chocolate cake served with creamy rich and decadent  scoops of my favorite Haagen Dazs Cookies and Cream and Pralines and Cream ice cream. 

Obviously after such an indulgent dessert we had to eat something healthy while we all enjoyed a family movie nite. The bowl of sweet juicy strawberries were simply delicious to munch on despite being out of season.

I always believe that the act of caring is what makes a day special not expensive presents or elaborate outings. My day was perfect and the added bonus was I didn't even have to do the washing up!!!!!

How was your Mother's Day???

Disclaimer: I was sent vouchers to purchase the Haagen Daz ice cream and Rachel's Yoghurts. 

Jaffa Cake Pops Bouquet for Mother' s Day

Mother’s Day is coming up and these little beauties I made with my 5 year old niece little M for her to give to her mum for mother’s day.This is a simple idea for children to make for Mother’s Day, there is no cooking involved and the results are really pretty.

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Jaffa Cake Flower Bouquet for Mother's Day

by Nayna Kanabar March-3-2016

A beautiful edible flower bouquet for Mother's day.

Ingredients:

• 12 Jaffa cakes
• 40 g each colour Fondant ready to roll icing in pink, yellow and green
• 2 tablespoons Apricot Jam (warmed)
• You will also need 12 wooden coffee stirrers, round cookie cutter and shaped fondant cutters

Method:

1.Using the point of a knife, poke a hole in the bottom of the Jaffa cake and push into the hole the wooden coffee stirrer to make Jaffa cake lolly. Do this for all 12 Jaffa cakes.2 Roll out the green fondant and cut out 12 circles of green fondant using the round cookie cutter. The cutter should be same size as Jaffa cake.3.Brush the non-chocolate side of Jaffa cake with warmed apricot jam and stick the green fondant circle over it.4. Roll out the pink and yellow fondant icing and cut out cupcake shapes and flowers, stick them to the green fondant covered side using a little water. Repeat for all the 12 Jaffa cake pops.5.Arrange the Jaffa cake pops in a pretty vase and they are ready for gifting.

Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time:None Total time: 20 mins Yield: 12

Also A big thankyou to the kind young man in Costa coffee that gave us the stirrers for the pops.

Tidbits in my Pantry

This month I have had a fair amount of snacks that have arrived at the simplyfood kitchens. I love my snacks but I do try to make sure they are healthy too. The selection of snacks I have received this month have all been delicious and healthy so we have been able to munch through them guilt free.

Emily Fruit Crisps are low in fat, gluten free, vegan, no added sugar.Three delicious flavours;banana, pineapple and apple and they are also launching a new vegetable crisp soon too.

Fit Fit Fruit snacks  are discs of compressed dried fruits for perfect snacking. 

They come in 5 delicious flavours ; 

Apricot, Apricot and Almond, Fig and Walnut, Fig, Date and Coco. 

These little snacks are free from colouring, GMO free, have no added sugar and are gluten free too.

Ten acre snacks make a wonderful range of hand cooked crisps and delicious and unusual flavours of popcorn. 

These snacks are gluten free, dairy free and have no MSG.They are suitable for vegetarians.

Soffles Pitta Chips, oven roasted with fresh ingredients these pitta chips are so moreish that you won't want to stop with one bag. 

The pitta chips come in delicious flavours such as spring onion and Italian Cheese, Rosemary and Thyme, Wild Chilli and Garlic.

Metcalfe's skinny popcorn is so delicious and perfect for snacking. They come in a variety of delicious flavours so something for everyone.

I received these samples to try by the various companies when I visited the Hotelympia.

Eggless Raspberry and Blueberry Muffins for Comic Relief

I have been watching the Great British Comic relief bake off and am totally in admiration with the celebrities that participate in the show for charity, especially those that are really out of their comfort zone in the baking world. I feel that if everyone did something, however small, to help raise money for people who are less fortunate than us at least we could make a combined effort to ease their hardship. As they say every drop of water in the bucket is as precious as the next to reach the fill line.

I baked these muffins for a charity sale to raise some money for comic relief. The sale did not raise thousands of pounds but I feel every little effort helps. I sincerely hope that some of my readers will take inspiration from this post and start baking for comic relief to raise funds. Do share your stories in the comments section of anything you have baked.

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Eggless Raspberry and Blueberry Breakfast Muffins

by Nayna Kanabar February-20-2016

Fruity and delicious eggless muffins perfect for breakfast or snacks.

Ingredients:

• 1.25 cups Plain Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/2 cup Butter (room temperature)
• 395 g (1 can) Condensed Milk
• 2 tablespoons Milk (warm)
• 1 cup Raspberries and Blueberries
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C 2. In a mixing bowl sieve together the flour and the bicarbonate of soda and baking powder and keep aside.2.In another bowl whisk together the condensed milk, softened butter, milk and vanilla essence until light and fluffy.3. Fold the flour into the butter mixture lightly until all the flour is incorporated.4. Fold in the berries gently.5. Spray the pan with a little sunflower oil and spoon the mixture into the pan to fill about two thirds full. Smooth the top of the batter with a spoon.6. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C/ 350 degrees F for 25 minutes or until muffins are golden brown and skewer inserted in centre of muffins comes out clean.7. Remove muffins from oven and transfer them to wire rack for cooling. Once cooled drizzle with a flurry of icing sugar before serving.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 25 mins Total time: 25 mins Yield: 16 muffins

I baked my muffins in the Sweetheart Rose Baking Pan made by Nordic bakeware which was gifted to me by House of Fraser. The pan is robustly made from heavy cast aluminum. It has a special reflective exterior and a premium non stick coating. This pan would make the perfect Mother's Day present also for any mum, you can purchase it from House of Fraser online where together with this pan there is a vast selection of beautiful bakeware.