Who could resist homemade tortillas and baked tortilla chips???

One thing you could see in my refrigerator is store bought tortillas stacked up. If I have tortillas, I just have to worry about making something to go with it. I always go with store bought ones. One concern I have while buying them is the excessive sodium content, hence I try to get low sodium and low carb ones.

When I looked through the “Things to try in my kitchen”  list, tortilla was on the top. So, last weekend, even before my lazy self woke up to stop me from making this, I kind of took over it and made this in my kitchen. When I was done making this, my lazy self was all awake to taste it.

The verdict:  Tortillas were soft, puffed up and easy to make.

For making tortillas I had to buy Masa Harina. Masa harina is the traditional flour used to make tortillas, tamales, and other Mexican dishes. Literally translated from Spanish, it means “dough flour,” because the flour is made from dried masa, a dough from specially treated corn.

After making the tortillas, I cut them into triangle shapes and baked them after seasoning some of them with paaprika, garlic powder etc. In just 10 minutes, tortillas got a baked tortilla chips makeover.

Homemade Tortilla:

Makes: 9 Tortilla

• Instant corn masa flour or Masa Harina, available in Mexican aisle- 1 cup

• Warm water- 1/2 cup or enough to make a soft dough

Preparation:

• In a large bowl, add the flour and add warm water to it and knead it a soft dough.
• Knead for at least 5 minutes to make it soft.

• Make medium sized balls out of the dough.

• I flattened the dough using a Tortilla press.

• If you have tortilla press: first, cut a plastic freezer bag into two and spread these on both sides of the press.
• This is to avoid sticking the dough on to the press.

• Place one of the dough balls on to the press, close the press and give it a press.

• It will flatten the dough and you’ll get a round shape.

• Peel it from the plastic and transfer it to the hot griddle.
• If you don’t have the tortilla press, you could make this with your hands: Flatten the dough in between the sheets of plastic into a round, as thin as you can make it without tearing.
• Heat a cast iron pan or non-stick pan over medium high heat.
• Place the flattened dough on to the hot pan and let cook for 20 seconds.

• Flip it over and let cook on that side too.
• Gently press the edges and the center of the tortilla using a spatula until it starts to puff up slightly.

• When both the sides get golden brown spots on it, remove from the pan.
• Place them in an air tight container to prevent from drying out.
• Repeat this process until you have made all the tortillas.

Making Baked Tortilla chips:

• Preheat the oven to 400F.
• Stack up as many tortillas as you want on a cutting board.

• Using a sharp knife, gently cut into half and then into quarters, you’ll get triangle shaped tortillas.

• Single out the cut tortillas.

• Grease a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.
• Place the tortilla triangles on the sheet without crowding them.
• Again, spray the top of tortillas with the cooking spray.
• You could also sprinkle little paprika or any other toppings of your choice.

• Bake this for 7-10 minutes or until crispy and golden in color.
• Keep an eye on them to avoid burning the chips.
• After 7-10 minutes, it will turn crispy, take out of the oven and cool them.
• Enjoy this homemade baked tortillas with homemade Salsa.

A healthy yet cheesy zucchini finger- food…

I love to bake anything and everything. While watching the food network or leafing through a food magazine, if I happen to hear or see the word bake, I will halt for sometime and will try to grasp the baking procedure. Baking is my companion on a lazy day, and a healthy way of cooking food. If you are trying to cut down on the oil consumption, stick to baking. Less oil and well-cooked food, that’s what you get to enjoy.

I always add zucchinis to my stir-fry, but never quite thought of baking it. When I found that this can be baked, I gave it a shot with all excitement. Now, the only way I can think of cooking zucchini is by baking. I scooped the flesh from the zucchinis and made a stuffing with the flesh and other veggies. Stuffed the zucchini with the filling and baked it. To enhance the taste of the baked zucchinis, I sprinkled them with some grated Parmesan cheese. What more you need? It’s baked and cheesy.

Baked Cheesy Zucchinis:

Ingredients:

• Zucchini, halved lenghtwisw-4
• Extra-virgin olive oil- 2 tbsp
• Onion, chopped- 1/2
• Cherry tomatoes, chopped- 7 no’s
• Breadcrumbs- 3/4 cup
• Walnuts, coarsely chopped- 1/2 cup
• Dried Oregano- 1/2 tsp
• Ground pepper- 1/2 tsp
• Salt- to taste
• Grated parmesan cheese- 1/2 cup

Preparation:

• Preheat the oven to 375F.
• Using a small spoon, scoop out the zucchini flesh, leaving a 1/4-to 1/2 inch-thick shell.

• Wrap the zucchini flesh in a paper towel and squeeze out any excess water in it.
• Place the zucchini shells cut side down on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over high heat.
• Add the zucchini flesh, onion and cook, until softened, about 5 minutes.
• Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until tender.

• Push the vegetables to the side of the skillet, add the remaining 1 tbsp oil and the breadcrumbs, and roast for 2 minutes.
• Remove from the heat, stir in the nuts and dried oregano.
• Then, combine with the vegetables; season with salt and pepper.
• Flip over the zucchini shells and stuff with this filling.

• Sprinkle the grated parmesan cheese on top

• Bake until the zucchini is tender when pierced with a fork, 20-25 minutes.

Nothing’s more inviting than the aroma of just-baked homemade goodies…

For these holidays, if you are looking for something different to bake other than the usual cookies, then you have landed on the right blog post. I am sure you must have tasted or at least heard of chocolate whoopie pies and pumpkin whoopie pies. Now let’s think totally out of the box and make whoopie pies with a totally different ingredient other than chocolate and pumpkin. How about we make whoopie pies with fresh ripe mangoes, doesn’t this sound interesting? Even I felt quite interesting when this idea struck me after a few days of thinking and searching for creative and different recipes using fresh mangoes.

The National Mango Board is running a contest in Foodie Blogroll and has challenged the foodies to post an original recipe using fresh mangoes. As soon as I saw this contest, I wanted to participate in this contest, as mango is one of my favorite fruits and I grew up eating lots of mangoes. Hence, I challenged myself and thought of the different ways of making some original recipe out of fresh mangoes. Since it’s Christmas season, I wanted to make something sweet and creamy. I suddenly felt whoopie pies would be a good one to have and I added fresh mango pulp while making the batter. I’ve never tried baking whoopie pies at home and so I was really excited to make this for the first time in my kitchen with mangoes. With all confidence I baked the mango cakes and was totally blown away when the mango cakes actually came out pretty good from the oven. Then I made the creamy frosting and generously smeared it between the mango cakes.

The mango cake was really soft and velvety; the rich frosting gave an extra creamy kick to the whoopie pies.

Mango pulp: Blend slices of ripe mango with little water to make thick mango pulp.

Mango Whoopie Pies:

For making Mango mini cakes:

Ingredients:

• Fresh mango pulp or canned Mango Pulp- 1 cup
• Butter, unsalted, melted- 1 stick, 6 ounces
• Light brown sugar-1 cup
• Eggs, large at room temperature, lightly beaten-2
• Ground cinnamon- 1/4 tsp
• Baking powder-1 tsp
• Baking soda-1tsp
• Pure vanilla extract -1 tsp
• Salt- 3/4 tsp
• All purpose flour-1 2/3 cups

Preparation:

• Preheat the oven to 35o F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar.
• Whisk in the eggs, mango pulp, ground cinnamon, vanilla extract, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• Fold in the flour into the above batter.

• Drop 12 moulds of batter, spaced evenly, onto each cookie sheet.

• Bake until sparingly to the touch, about 10 minutes.

• Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

For making Frosting:

• Cream cheese, chilled-4 ounces
• Confectioners’ sugar-1cup
• Butter, softened-1/2 stick
• Vanilla extract-1/2 tsp

Preparation:

• Using an electric mixer, cream the softened butter with the cream cheese.
• Mix in the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla extract on low speed.
• Then beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Making the whoopie pies:

• Spread the flat side of one mango cake with the cream cheese frosting and top with another mango cake. Repeat this with other mango cakes.

Tips:

You could make pumpkin whoopie pies, by substituting pumpkin puree for mango pulp.

It’s munch time..

If there’s anyone who hates to munch, then they should try this crunchy, chewy biscotti filled with almonds, coconut and chocolates. Every bite makes you trip into the the delish world.This was the first time I baked biscotti, as soon as I got the recipe, one glance at the recipe and the ingredients it had, made me wait for not even a single second and there I started baking this. I love almonds and coconut in almost anything, oh yeah not to miss the chocolate goodness. You could make this just for you or if you are having a tea party this would be the perfect biscotti to have with coffee or tea. This will soon become the favorite snack of your family. This recipe is adapted from the magazine”Fine Cooking”.

So let’s trip into the delish world with these biscotti…

Ingredients:

• Unbleached All-purpose flour-2 1/2 cups
• Baking powder-1 1/2 tsp
• Table salt-1/4 tsp
• Unsalted butter, softened-1/2 cup(4 oz)
• Firmly packed light brown sugar-3/4 cup
• Eggs( at room temperature)-2
• Vanilla extract-1 tsp
• Sweetened shredded coconut-1/2 cup
• Chopped toasted almonds-1cup
• Semisweet mini chocolate chips or chocolate bar, cut into small slices-1 cup

Preparation:

• In  a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt.
• Beat the butter and sugar with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3  minutes.
• Add the eggs one at a time, mixing on medium speed after each addition until incorporated.
• Mix in the vanilla and then the coconut until well combined.
• With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture and mix just until combined. The dough will be sticky.
• With the mixer still on low, mix in the almonds and chocolates chips.
• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

• Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350F. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment.
• Divide the dough into equal halves and place on the cookie sheet.
• Working on the sheet, shape each half into a loaf about 10 inches long, 3 inches wide, 3/4inch high.

• Bake until the tops are browned, cracked and crusty and spring back slightly when gently pressed, 30 to 35 minutes.
• Take out of the oven and cool about 30 minutes on the cookie sheet.

• Reduce the oven temperature to 325F.
• Transfer each loaf to a cutting board and with a sharp serrated bread knife, cut 1/2 inch slices crosswise on the diagonal.
• When slicing, hold the sides of the loaf near each cut to keep the slices neat.

• Put the slices cut side down on the cookie sheet and bake again at 325F, until the biscotti are dried and the cut surfaces are lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes.
• Transfer the cookie sheet to a rack and let the biscotti cool completely.

• The biscotti will harden as they cool.

Tips:

This recipe yields about 20 biscotti, store in an air tight container and it will stay longer.

Midnight baked sweet potato fries…

Here is the flashback: Last night I was sleeping to glory cuddled under the blanket, suddenly my hubby (who had slept all evening and was watching TV the entire night) patted me, which partly woke me up and I heard him whisper into my ears that he wanted baked sweet potato fries. For a while, I felt like I am dreaming, if it was a dream I wouldn’t be surprised, as my brain is on food lately. But the reality was it wasn’t a dream, he seriously woke me up and asked for this in the middle of the night. Still drowsy, my reply was: have you gone mad, get back to sleep. I haven’t heard anything funnier than this in the middle of the night. I turned him down and went back to sleep. As I closed my eyes and tried hard to fall back to sleep, all I can think was about baked sweet potato fries. Guess what, my hubby’s wish was granted, I woke up and baked sweet potato fries at 1: 25 am. I had baked this couple of weeks ago and my hubby loved it. Now, I don’t know what made him want to eat this in the middle of the night. Anyway, this was the first time I baked at a totally odd time and I actually had fun doing it.

I always boil sweet potato. So to make a difference I tried to bake it after seasoning it with some spices. It actually came out pretty good, and when it is baked it’s all healthy. This baked sweet potato fries got three flavors in it: sweetness of the potato, the spiciness from the spices, and the caramelized flavor from baking. Your taste buds would definitely go crazy for these flavors, just like my hubby’s.

Ingredients:

• Sweet potato- 2, cut into long thin wedges
• Cumin powder- 1tsp
• Pepper powder-1 tsp
• Paprika-1tsp
• Salt-1/4 tsp
• Olive oil-1-2tbsp

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 400F.
• Peel the skin of the sweet potato using a peeler and cut into thin long wedges.
• In a large bowl toss the sweet potato along with all the spices and oil.
• Arrange potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and place on the middle rack of the oven.
• Bake it for 30-40 minutes until the potatoes are cooked through and the edges turn crispy.
• Serve immediately while it is hot.

I absolutely adore cauliflower. I find this veggie as a pretty bride, dressed up in white gown with a green lace around it, any groom would go crazy for this bridal beauty. I know I am thinking little out of the box here, it’s just a part of my wild thoughts, no offense to any other veggies out there. If I were a veggie groom I would have married this pretty bride without any second thought, lol.

When I go for veggie shopping this bride gets in to my shopping cart pretty easily and then finds a place in my refrigerator and sits elegantly. I put this in most of my veggie dishes like soups, stews and salads, even if the recipe doesn’t call for this. Sometimes I even make fritters out of this. And many times the famous Indo-Chinese dish, Gobi Manchurian. Same thing happened during my last shopping, it did tag along with me and this time it had been flirting with the other veggies in my refrigerator for quite a long time. Somehow I totally forgot about this and it was yesterday that I took it out and gave the pretty bride a royal roast after seasoning it. Nothing fancy about the roasting part, hence, I wanted to give this roasted bride a good presentation, so I made a cone out of the parchment paper and filled it with roasted cauli and placed it on a stand. This way it was easy to munch on while watching a movie or when lazily sitting on the couch.

Ingredients:

Cauliflower, separated to small sized florets( don’t chop it)- 1/2 of the cauli

Seasonings:

• pepper powder-1 tsp
• Paprika-1 tsp
• Thyme- 1 string chopped
• Salt- 1/2 tsp
• Olive oil-1 tbsp

Roasting:

• In a large bowl combine the cauliflower and the seasonings and give it a toss.
• Pre-heat the oven to 400F.
• Spread the seasoned florets on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Roast it uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until it gets caramelized and becomes golden brown.
• Remove from the oven and serve it hot immediately.