Waking up to a morning with someone making you a hearty breakfast and strong coffee/tea!!! That’s bliss! But unfortunately since that’s clearly not happening in any foreseeable future of mine, I do the next best thing! I make it myself – better that than Starbucks mocha whose flavor changes every time I order it – not every time pleasant! But then making a breakfast like this whose aroma fills the house right in the morning is worth getting up to anyways! This recipe of Blueberry pancakes made with cottage cheese is one of the best, I have tasted – EVER!

Mornings are when you gotta eat like a king – lots of protein not necessarily fat but full of flavor (...)
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© DK for Chef In You, 2010. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: baking soda, blueberries, cottage cheese, eggs, lemon, milk, self-rising flour

I do not usually bake as and when desire strikes fancy! Its usually planned out. I have this list of to-do bakes for every month with specific ones planned for each week. I have to do it to accommodate my time and schedule not to mention the availability of ingredients in my pantry! Another thing, I try to generally avoid blogging/blogging based activities like drafting, researching, photos, cooking etc. during weekends. For a good reason of course! The reason – ‘my better half’.

If I don’t like to cook when he is around, he doesn’t like me to do blogging while he is around! Works fantastic . Another thing I don’t do is to take photos at night! I like a healthy dose of light around esp. since I do not own those fancy photography lights/ studio. That so called white light in my kitchen makes all my food look yellow which I hate! With so many “no-no’s”, this chocolate bread is sure a first timer. Yesterday, while I was watering my plants, I heard this sudden wail from the other side of the fence. The kid was crying its heart out and after straining my ears to eavesdrop after few minutes, I heard the mother’s voice shouting at the kid “NO MORE NUTELLA! You finished half the bottle already”! I don’t know why, but after hearing that I had this sudden craving for chocolate and nuts. I do not have nutella at home (OK don’t look shocked! I don’t like chocolate that much remember?)(...)
Read the rest of Chocolate and Hazelnut Bread at Chef In You

© DK for Chef In You, 2010. | Permalink | 20 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: almond extract, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, eggs, hazelnuts, semi sweet chocolate, vanilla extract, yogurt

Adding fruits to breads has been always been a passion for me. I started it as a way to overcome my handicap. I dunno why, but I simply don’t have this habit of consuming fruits on a day to day basis! “What’s so hard about it?” – you might ask. Well nothing so to speak – but I would conveniently forget to eat it! In the place of eating the recommended 2-4 servings every day I was having nothing!! So I started adding fruits to my breads as a way of kick starting eating fruits in some way or the other. Have to accept – now I am much better though I still have a long way to go.

I got these amazing looking Grapefruits recently. (...)
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© DK for Chef In You, 2010. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: baking powder, baking soda, eggs, ginger powder, grapefruit, milk, pecans, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, vegetable oil, wheat flour, yogurt

trrringggggg…triinngggggggggg
“Hello..this is 911..What can I do for you?”
(frantic voice) “911? Oh yes! I really need your help. My situation is the pits…Please save me”
“We would do our best of course. Tell us what your problem is?”
“The lady of the house is choking me. I can hardly breath. I am suffocating to death”
“Tell us the address and our emergency team will arrive shortly”
“Thank you so much.! Too much of stuffing is never good…..”
“Stuffing?…I did not get you…”
“I meant food! The lady stuffs me with Food! I know I am made specifically for that..but this is going too far”
“(confused) Made for that? One sec – before you explain, can I have your name for the records”
“Name? What name? – I don’t have a name”
“(confused all the more) But..but what do ppl call you! Clearly you must have a name!!!!!”
“Dunno about the name, but the lady calls me as “her fridge”"
“…………………………………..”

Aaah well, when the 911 team arrived heeding my fridge’s SOS call…I was left with no choice but to accept and promise them that I wont suffocate my fridge no more! Who would have thought that a fridge could do that to me? But it did and here I am in dire straights. If that was not enough, my better half threatened me with “No more buying or gawking at the aisles (esp. Whole Foods) until things in the kitchen start looking like a famine hit it!” So if you see a pattern in my posts in the coming days, (except for few drafts making their appearance in the middle) don’t blame me – blame my fridge for squealing on me and on my better half for being unsupportive to me in this regard ! He even menaced that he will throw my stuff away from the freezer if I *don’t start using it* ! Not using it? What does he know! Of course I use them – What can I do if my stocking talents are better than my expending? Tell me?..

I usually thrust my fridge with ‘wholegrains’ and ‘wholegrain flours’ hence there’s going to be lots of it in the coming days. Recipes which uses the term wholegrain, legumes, some exotic sauce (which has been a resident in my fridge for a long time) are all going to be featured. So with the above in mind lemme kick start this with my “Five Grain Spelt Bread”. Yup! Healthy – needless to say and immensely nutritious, to say the least. Chef Peter Berley comes to my rescue once again. His 5 grain bread recipe was all that I needed to start depleting my ’savings’! I adapted his recipe slightly to adjust to include ingredients on hand

Well this was one of the toughest assignments I had in a long time. No, not in the way of making it – it was easy, but it was when it came to capturing it. It made a ugly bread. Something which wont scream “Eat Me” from the roof tops. I do not believe in ‘makeups’ for food hence was left in a fix. The problem was this bread looks too healthy and boring when in fact it tastes YUM! Moist on the inside, chewy to nibble with a slight crunch from the crust. And yes – its wholesome and hearty….So my humble request (yes I am doing the PR for the bread) – don’t go by its looks! It has real good stuff in it (pun intended!).

Other Wholegrain Recipes: Sprouted Ragi Dosa, Eggless Triticale and Currant Scones,Wholegrain Pumpkin Pie, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, Orange Whole Wheat Bread, Bulgur Dinner Rolls, Quinoa Dinner Rolls(...)
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Post tags: amaranth, baking powder, baking soda, millet, pastry flour, quinoa, spelt flour, sunflower seeds, teff

Indians living outside India, especially in the U.S will surely agree with me that getting whole grain Ragi (Finger Millet) is a blessing! I have searched in all the stores I could visit for this with disappointing results. Only one store carried Ragi flour and I had to make do with it. But going there was such a hassle since it was very far away from our house. Now where we stay, I don’t get even the flour. I finally gave up! Having said that, imagine my extolment when the wholegrain found me

Our Indian neighbors planned to leave US for good and settle back in India. When we visited on their last few days, she told me that she had just got few wholegrain packets of Ragi and now since anyways she was leaving, she did not have any use for them. She informed me in a light manner, that since I was such a wholegrain freak, I would be able to appreciate Ragi. Was she kidding!!! Of course I would be! My joy knew no bounds and my husband even laughed at the way I was holding the bag – he told me he knew exactly how I would look if I found a Huge diamond somewhere! It was a precious gem indeed!

I have tried so many dishes and experiments with Ragi that its not even funny! Sprouting makes the grain extra nutritious and I wanted to use those sprouts in my dishes. There weren’t many resources in the net which gave me dishes with the sprouts. It was all about grinding it into flour and using it in myriad dishes. It seemed such a waste of this grain to me. I had to rely on experiments. Of course not all were a hi-fi success, but one got to do what one got to do. After repeated requests for ragi recipes in my site (I have about 68 requests till date from the time I posted my How to make Ragi Flour Post), I thought I will post one of our favorites today.

If you like Dosa, then you will surely like this dosa (Indian crepe) too. I just used the regular dosai recipe but enhanced it nutritionally with sprouted Ragi. The taste is very similar to regular dosa though you get the hint of ragi while tasting it. This batter is a boon to have and you can make pretty much anything you make with leftover dosa batter.

Other South Indian Breakfast Recipes: Rava Upma, Holy Basil (Tulsi) Tea, Onion Tomato Uthappam, Idli recipe, Medhu Vadai, Rava Pongal, Ven Pongal, Adai Recipe

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Post tags: black gram, finger millet, par-boiled rice, ragi

Its getting to be too hard getting up early nowadays. (Ignoring the jibe on my side about “When have you ever been able to?” #$#$$). Anything before 8am, seems to look and feel like 4 am to me! Regular readers of this blog would know about my blah blah’s for wholesome breakfast. Sounds great – as long as there is someone else whipping it up that is . But since my mother has ditched me and given me away to a person who thinks just like me in this matter, its not helping.

So what’s one to do? Prepare it before hand obviously. Something that fills you up with wholesome ingredients and gives one the much needed boost in the morning. For me that means something with wholegrains, something with milk and fruits. Pancakes are great – but one needs something different, hence zeroed down to scones. I have been experimenting with triticale for a while now and have come to like few recipes with it.

Among the ones I tried, these triticale and currant scones was one. I have adapted this recipe from Oat scones by Chef and author Peter Berley to use my Triticale flakes and ingredients which I had on hand. No butter , No Sugar and No eggs are the special points. Dried fruits, wheat pastry flour, yogurt , honey and sun flower seeds give these scones the nutrition kick, making it delicious and hearty. I especially loved the addition of sunflower seeds since it gave these goodies some yummy crunch.

These were so hearty that, I did not have room for any toast and just about finished my Ginger Tea along with few slices of apple! It also made sure that I remained full until noon thus avoiding mid morning snack.

Like this? You might also like other breakfast recipes : Wholewheat Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes, Strawberry Pancakes, Buttermilk Pancakes, Blueberry Scones with Sour cream, Wholemeal Banana Walnut muffins, Indian Holy Basil tea(...)
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© DK for Chef In You, 2010. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cinnamon, currants, honey, pastry flour, sunflower seeds, triticale, vegetable oil, yogurt

What Indians refer to as Pav (as in Pav Bhaji) is probably the dinner rolls to the western world! The soft textured buttery rounded bread is a world of its own! There is something to be said about the pillowy texture of these rolls which makes me go totally crazy for them! They are so versatile – use them as starters along with your soups, they make great breakfast bread with some butter and jam or use them as a side for something very spicy eg. Indian Pav Bhaji

Its one of those rare baked goods which finds its way in without me tinkering it to add some wholegrains in it. Of course I have some healthy wholegrain versions too like this Quinoa dinner rolls but these are also most welcomed in my kitchen. I esp. love them with some butter and jam! Bliss!

They are v easy to make and don’t require lengthy or strenuous effort. They also make great presentation at your dinner table while entertaining. After I made them for the first time, I stopped getting the store bought ones. These are as good as any you can find and what more they are home made too! (not to say Fresh!). This is a basic dinner roll recipe.

You might also be interested in: Quinoa Dinner Rolls, Bulgar wheat Dinner Rolls, French Bread, Saffron Basil Breadsticks, Swiss Zopf Bread
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Read the rest of White Dinner Rolls (Indian Pav) at Chef In You

© DK for Chef In You, 2009. | Permalink | 35 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Active yeast, bread flour, milk

Delicious, bright red and fresh cranberries have been checking me out for the past few days (or is it the other way?!). Every where I go, there they are nestled among other fruits, yet standing out with their juicy appearance! I could not resist the temptation any longer (can’t remember what the heck was stopping me in the first place!) and bought some home last week.

Just like I suffer from C.D.U.W.F, I also suffer from C.D.F.M.B – “Compulsive Disorder for Making Breads” with anything and everything! My smarter half accuses me of a misleading tag line in my website. He says I should name it – “Cooking only two things – Wholegrains and Breads”!!! Ah, well – for all that accusation, haven’t come across one Bread or Wholegrain Recipe the past few days now at Chef In You have you??? (cough! Nope – Cornbread and Vegetarian Meatloaf are not counted in breads and if you made a smart quip about Polenta Pizza being wholegrain, ahem – well too much smartness is bad for your health is all I am going to say!)
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Read the rest of Fresh Cranberry & Orange Bread at Chef In You

© DK for Chef In You, 2009. | Permalink | 15 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cranberries, eggs, oranges, pastry flour, walnuts

I thought I made lots of pumpkin puree and was wondering how I was going to finish all of it! I need not have worried. With the last of my puree, I made these utterly delicious spiced Pumpkin cupcakes. These cupcakes have gone places – from David Leite to Smitten kitchen to Honey and Jam. With such a fan following, I knew I had to make it.

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Read the rest of Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes at Chef In You

© DK for Chef In You, 2009. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar, buttermilk, cake flour, cinnamon, cloves, cream cheese, eggs, ginger, ginger powder, lemon, nutmeg, pepper, peppercorns, powdered, powdered sugar, pumpkin, squash, sugar

Its hard not to like Muffins. I especially dig the types which are healthy and low fat yet don’t feel like one. For some reason, low fat baked goods seem to have such a bland and earthy taste sometimes that it completely throws me off! I mean, wanting to make people eat healthy should be encouraged isn’t it? Why make it this way then? A friend of mine recently told me if it was not for “such” health foods how would the ‘market’ make us buy all those ‘diet pills’ and god knows what else! Valid point there With all this technology and the rapid advancement that Man seems to be making, one would assume that we are getting stronger – only that it does not seem to work that way!
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Read the rest of Spiced Pumpkin Bran Muffins at Chef In You

© DK for Chef In You, 2009. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar, buttermilk, cinnamon, eggs, ginger powder, molasses, pumpkin, squash, wheat bran, wheat flour, yogurt