BeginnersRecipe – The Secret Ingredient

Baking

Stuffed Mushroom Cheesy Crack Bread | Cheesy Mushroom Pull Apart Bread

By anshu November 6, 2015

I needn’t say more about my obsession with mushrooms and breads. Clearly it is getting out of control. At least twice a week I want something mushroomy something bready in my meals. After doing the Mushroom Spinach Stuffed Braided Bread I bring you this Cheesy Mushroom pull apart bread. This was not planned but on my search I found this recipe which was like Love at First Sight. I happily baked a bread in the evening and stuffed it with Mushrooms and Cheese. Ohh man! It was pure indulgence. I served the bread with my mommy special Tomato Soup. I happily skipped my dinner for the sheer love of this bread.

This is more like a idea than a recipe to make something incredible with bread specially for Super Ball or Cricket Matches or may be catching up a flick late night on recliners with comfy cushions. I am just saying! Or be like me. You don’t need a reason to eat Mushrooms and bread..do you?

Directions:

1. Take a loaf of french bread or any bread other than sandwich loaf. I have used the same recipe as White Sandwich bread for this but simply placed it on a baking tray without using a pan for second proof and baked it. You can also use Sourdough bread for this. Using a bread knife cut the bread lengthwise and widthwise without cutting through all the way. You will notice cavity between the bread pieces. Place it on a Baking sheet lined with Aluminium foil. Set aside. Preheat the oven for 10 minutes on 180 degree Celcius.

This is

2. In a pan melt some butter.

3. Add finely chopped mushrooms and saute them them till they release their water. Let the water evaporate.

4. Add Thyme, I used dried. Add salt and combine. Set aside.

5. Finely chop some onions and add them to a microwavable bowl. Add butter to the onions. Microwave for 2 minutes or until the butter melts. Set aside.

6. Cut strips of cheese. I have used Mozzarella because that is what is easily available here. You can use Provolone if you lay your hands on it. Insert Cheese sticks or strips inside the cuts or cavity both horizontally and vertically.

7. Top up the cheese laden cavity with sauteed mushrooms.

8. Drizzle the bread with the onion butter all over. Sprinkle the top with some poppy seeds and garnish with fresh Coriander leaves.

9. Now cover the bread with the aluminium foil and bake it in the preheated oven on 180 degree Celsius (Learn more about Oven temperatures and Conversions) for 15 minutes and uncovered for another 10 minutes or until you see the cheese melting.

10. Serve hot and relish each bite.

Other recipes with bread you can try are: Cheesy Garlic Bread, Stuffed Mushroom and Spinach Braided Bread.

More Bread recipes you can try on The Secret Ingredient: White Sandwich Bread, Russian Bublici, Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread, Chinese Black Sesame Steamed Buns, Cherry Focaccia Bread with Rosemary and Sea Salt, Rosemary Garlic Focaccia Bread, Cinnamon Raisin Bread, Beetroot Bread with Garlic and Thyme, Honey Oats Bread, Domino’s Garlic Breadsticks, No Knead Light Wheat Bread.

[whohit]MushroomCrackBread[/whohit]

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Apples

Vegan Yellow Zucchini Chocolate Brownies | No Oil No Butter No Added Sugar Chocolate Brownies

By anshu September 11, 2015

Its been a month me and my husband have been clean. No No its not what you are thinking 😉 We are not on DRUGS!!! We are eating healthy and exercising to burn those extra kilos we have gathered as a result of food blogging 😛 We are trying hard to keep our meals simple, clean and avoiding sugar as much as we can. I know its a painstaking task. But you see every Christ has to carry one’s own cross 😉

This gave me an opportunity to look into healthier and nutritious dishes. I recently made Couscous Chickpea Salad, Mexican Black Bean Mango Salad. But nevertheless the craving for sweet things gets in more too often. I tried to indulge in a dessert which is gultfree. I know Dessert and Guiltree are like the North and the South Pole. But trust me these Chocolate brownies are without any eggs, oil or butter and no extra sugar is added to it. Its sweetened with apple sauce, chocolate and maple syrup and above all it has goodness of Yellow Zucchini. Another fabulous idea to hide in Zucchini in your kiddos food without letting them know 😉

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius for ten minutes. Wash, peel and core apple. Cut into small pieces and make a smooth puree in a blender. Set aside.

2. Wash, peel and grate a zucchini. You can use yellow or green. Both will serve the purpose.

3. Place the grated Zucchini in a cheese cloth and squeeze out all the water. Set aside. You can use this water to make roti dough.

4. In a small bowl add Flax Seed meal or Flax seed powder (Learn how to make Flax seed Powder at home) and add some water. Let it rest for ten minutes and become gelatinous.

5. In a mixing bowl add apple sauce and soya milk.*

6. Also add Maple syrup and Vanilla extract.

7. Add the gelatinous flax meal mixture to the bowl and give everything a good stir.

8. In another bowl swift and add cocoa powder and whole wheat flour.

9. Also sift and add in baking powder and combine with the dry ingredients. The purpose of sieving is to eliminate all lumps.

10. Gently fold the wet ingredients in the dry ingredients.

11. Add grated and squeezed zucchini and combine using a spatula.

12. Chop some chocolate and add to the batter. Save a little for the top garnish. You can even use chocolate chips instead.

13. Line a 8×8 baking tray with some parchment paper and grease it with little oil so that nothing sticks. Pour the batter in the greased tray.

14. Top it with reserved chopped chocolate and keep it for baking in a preheated oven for 25 – 30 minutes.

15. Remove it from the oven and let it cool down completely before you cut it into squares. You can store them up in fridge in air tight containers for a few days .

Other desserts you can try here are: Blueberry Jam Bars, Pumpkin Cake Rolls, Mascarpone Cherry Compote Cheesecake Glasses,

[whohit]ZucchiniBrownies[/whohit]

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Baking

Vegan Chocolate Banana Cake | Eggless Chocolate Banana Cake with Flax Seeds

By anshu August 20, 2015

Who doesn’t like chocolate. And when this incredible flavour is infused with banana it becomes a divine combination. It doesn’t just end here..what if this combination is guilt free and vegan? Here’s new newest recipe of Chocolate Banana Cake which is eggless, butterless and also dairy free. I have used Flax seeds to make it rise and become fluffy. I had done another Eggless Whole Wheat Banana Bread with Melon Seeds earlier. But this recipe takes this bread to a new level of craziness.

Vegan Chocolate Banana Cake

The most enticing part of this bread was its texture. It was soft and gooey and almost melted in my mouth in its very first bite. The ripe unforgotten bananas were put to right use. My little one who is a picky eater devoured this greedily and barely allowed me to take photographs 🙂

Directions:

1. Soak Flax seed Powder in water and set aside (Learn here how to make Flax seed powder). The mixture should become like a gel in some time.

2. Grease a baking pan and set aside. I am using a medium size bundt pan for this. Preheat the oven on 180 degree Celcius for 10 minutes.

3. In another bowl sift All Purpose Flour, Baking Powder and Baking Soda. Do you see the lumps in the baking powder? That is why we are sifting everything for a lump free airy flour.

4. This is how it looks after sieving.

5. Also sieve and add cocoa powder to the flour and gently combine. Set aside.

6. Mash overripe bananas with a fork and place in a mixing bowl. Add vegetable oil and combine.

7. Add the flax powder gel to the bananas.

8. Add brown sugar or jaggery powder and vanilla extract. Give everything a good mix.

9. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently mix with the spatula. Do not over mix simple moisten the flour.

10. Pour this in the greased pan and bake on a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes on 180 degree celcius (Learn more about Oven temperatures and Conversions). The test of doneness is that the toothpick inserted will come out clean.

11. Let the cake cool down a little before taking it out of the pan. Invert the pan on a serving plate and gently tap to remove the cake. Slice and serve with your favourite cup of coffee or tea.

Other cake and bread recipes you can try here : Apple Raisin Streusel Bread, Persimmon Rum Cake, Surprise Heart Inside Cake, Pumpkin Cake Rolls, Lemon Cake with Lemon Glaze, Eggless Orange cake with candied Orange Peel Filling, Wacky Vegan Chocolate Cake, Eggless Almond Vanilla Cake, Chocolate Vanilla Marble Cakecak.

Vegan Chocolate Banana Cake

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Dinner

Baingan Ka Bhartha | Smoky Eggplant Dish | Charred Brinjal Dish | Spicy Roasted Aubergine

By anshu May 16, 2015

Eggplant or Brinjal or Aubergine is the most versatile vegetable available all across the globe. It is found in different colours ranging from white to green to purple and the sizes and shape also varies from small. big and long. The big sized eggplant is used for this dish because it has maximum pulp. This is a North Indian version of this dish. The variants are found all over the world, in the form of Baba Ghanoush, Muttabal from Mediterranean Region, Patlıcan salatası from Turkey, Aubergine caviar from Southern France, Salată de vinete from both Romania and Hungary and the list is endless.

In India it is served with Roti or Parantha and a Yogurt dish or raita is often accompanied. My mother makes the best Baingan ka Bharta. Its simple recipe without much effort but many things have to kept into mind to bring out the best of its flavour. Its Spicy and absolutely a comfort food. I am including this recipe specially for those who are new to cooking. I also learnt this from my mother one of the first few dishes 🙂

Directions:
1. Roast the Brinjal and peel its skin off. Learn how to Roast an Eggplant on your stovetop? Make sure the brinjal is properly roasted otherwise it effects the taste and texture of bhartha.

2. Mash it roughly using your knuckles. It will resemble a slimy semi solid paste. Keep aside.

3. Chop Onions, Green Chilies and Ripe Tomatoes*.

4. Add ghee or clarified butter in the wok or pan.

5. Add Onions and green chilies and let them saute till the onions become transparent and soft.

6. Once onions are sauteed add chopped tomatoes.

7. Add salt to the tomatoes so that they cook faster.

8. Cook the tomatoes till they are soft and gooey. This till take good 5-8 minutes.

9. Once tomatoes are in mashable consistency add the roasted brinjal and mix.

10. Add red chili powder and check if more salt is needed. Combine thoroughly until the eggplant has mixed well with onion tomato. Cook for another 5 minutes.

11. Garnish with freshly chopped Coriander Leaves and Garam Masala.

12. Serve hot with Rotis and Raita of your choice.

You can even try simple everyday dishes from Indian platter like Tori Wadi, Curd Rice.
Some of the Raita recipes you can try, Aloo Anaar ka Raita, Bathua Ka Raita , Chukandar ka Raita

Other dishes made with brinjal are Hyderabadi style Baingan Ka Salan. Bharwan Baingan, Baingan ka Raita , Begun Bhaja

[whohit]BainganKaBhartha[/whohit]

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