How to make Sous Vide Strawberry Cheesecake Jars | Easy Cheesecake Pots Recipe

For long, I have stayed away from baking desserts or breads that require me to take that additional step of caution, such as wrapping cake tins with foil, or placing ramekins in a water bath or creating steam to bake crisp crusted breads. For this reason, I haven't made cheesecakes in a while. I love them and seeing the small bites of the silky sweet cheesy treats, especially during the Christmas Eve holiday parties always brings joy and smile to my face.

Making cheesecakes at home aren't tricky anymore, especially after discovering a new alternative to cook them to perfection. Making these Strawberry Cheesecake Pots in my new KitchenBoss Sous Vide Cooker to celebrate the daughter's birthday earlier this week on Monday was such an absolute delight! The cheesecake was cooked to perfection and most of the job was done unattended. I love desserts in jars, and making sous vide way has got to be my new favorite. It cooks unattended, there's no overcooking, results are perfect because the temperature is regulated, I love serving individual portions and the longer life because of the sealed mason containers - these are good enough reasons for me to love sous vide. I've been experimenting with quite a few recipes the sous vide way and I've been able to ferment a big jar of yogurt and dosa batter successfully! Loving the ease of using my new KitchenBoss Sous Vide Cooker, hence will be using it more often.

For the uninitiated, Sous vide means “under vacuum” in French. This technique has been long used by restaurant chefs to slow cook the food in a water bath for longer time at a precisely regulated temperature, which makes food more succulent and retains the flavors. And now KitchenBoss has made access to this gadget so much easier by bringing this to our homes.

I have a giveaway going on my Instagram handle so I can introduce to the world of Sous Vide cooking too! Yes, it's a KitchenBoss Sous Vide Cooker Newest Model (G320) Giveaway!

KitchenBoss has generously agreed to select one of you to receive their newest Sous Vide Cooker (G320) for free and learn about their feedback! If you’re interested, you could participate now by following these steps:

1. Like the post and leave a comment.
2. Follow @kitchenboss_official and @vegbowl on IG On March 26, 5:00 pm (PST)

KitchenBoss will randomly select and tag the lucky audience in a comment underneath this post and he/she is going to receive a direct message from @Kitchenboss_official on IG on how to proceed. This giveaway is open to USA only. But if you know of your relatives and friends who reside in the US or have a US shipping address, you are free to participate too.

Sous Vide Strawberry Cheesecake Pots

INGREDIENTS

For the base
8 Lotus cookies
1 ½ tbsp melted butter

For the filling

226 gm cream cheese (I used 1 pack of Philadelphia Cream Cheese)
1/3 cup condensed Milk (I used Nestle Milkmaid)
1/4 cup thick Greek yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

For the cookie base, pulse the Lotus cookies and butter in a food processor until it forms a coarse mixture. Take 2 tbsp of this mixture and press them to the bottom of 4 mini mason jars. Keep the jars in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Meanwhile proceed to make the cheesecake filling.

In a bowl whisk the cream cheese until smooth. Next add condensed milk, yogurt and vanilla extract. Whisk till well blended. Divide the prepared cheese batter into the 4 mason jars that was layered with biscuit butter. Leave about 1 1/2 inches of room at the top of each jar for the cheesecake to expand slightly during the cooking process. Tap the jar against the counter top gently to remove any air bubbles and smooth out the top with a spatula. Cover the jars with lids and seal it just enough to close, but do not tighten them.

Cook the cheesecakes:

Place the sous vide cooker in a pot of water and set it to temperature of 194 deg F at 1 hour. Once the water has come to the set temperature, place the jars in the water and cook for an hour. Once coked, remove the jars carefully and allow them to cool. For the best tasting cheesecake, refrigerate the jars for atleast 4 hours or overnight to allow them to set well before serving.

Make the strawberry topping: Finely blend 6 strawberries with 1 cup water and 1/2 tsp agar agar powder. Pour it into a pan and cook on medium heat till it comes to a rolling boil stirring well continuously. Turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly. Pour over the prepared cheesecakes till it fill up to 1/2 inch in height. Place the pots in the refrigerator for the topping to set well.

Recipe Notes

Use only thick Greek style yogurt or hung yogurt for this recipe. Homemade yogurt will have to be strained through cheesecloth overnight till it's water is drained out and it's thick for use.
You can top the Cheesecake with any fruit compote of your choice. It goes well with fresh fruits, berries and a dollop of whipped cream too.
You can also make these cheesecake pots the traditional way in a preheated oven, placing the mason jars / ramekins in a water bath and baking them for an hour. The lack of eggs here really helps and is not missed, yet the cheesecake is moist and decadent.

Vegan Crepe Recipe with Strawberry Coconut Cream.

Vegan Crepes 👆🏼 for your Valentine's Day. Are you looking out for an inspiration to make your Valentine's Day morning better? Or may be a dessert if you don't wish to bake? I have just the right recipe for you. A quick and easy Breakfast Crepe that's eggless and vegan and you can make and serve them under few minutes to please your Valentine 🥰. Crepes are versatile. They can be served as breakfast, main course or even desserts! This recipe I have for you is very adaptable to a savory version and you can serve it with any accompaniment of your choice. Stir fried mushrooms with spinach is my favorite! Think of it as an instant dosa. Slather some Mango Jam or stuff it with Indian styled Stir-Fried Potatoes.

Vegan Crepes

INGREDIENTS

1 cup all-purpose flour (can be replaced with whole wheat flour for healthier version, but the taste will differ)
1 1/2 cups unsweetened milk of your choice
2 tbsp neutral flavored oil
1/4 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS

Blend all the ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth. Allow it to rest for 20 mins. Heat a griddle pan and drop a small laddle of batter on it. Swirl it gently from the center to the edges to form thin crepes (similar to dosa). Cook for a minute on medium low heat. The sides will lift off easily when cooked. Carefully remove and serve it on a plate. Top with Strawberry Coconut Cream (recipe below), sliced strawberries, bananas and drizzle of maple syrup.

Strawberry Coconut Cream

INGREDIENTS

1/2 can full-fat coconut milk, refrigerated for 24 hours
2 tbsp. strawberry jam (homemade or store-bought)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Beat the cold coconut cream on medium speed for 4-5 minutes. The cream should become light and fluffy. Add in the strawberry jam and vanilla extract, and beat until incorporated. Adjust the jam to your taste and sweetness. Serve immediately along with the crepes.

How to make Cinnamon Rolls with Cooked Frosting | Easy Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

With Christmas around the corner and less than 4 days to go before you can sing Hallelujah, the Lord has come, I thought I'll peep in to help you with a lovely classic breakfast for your family to wake up to this Christmas morning. Its typically Western, hearty and sweet to call your morning off to a good start, supple enough that you may want to lay your head on it and snooze again, gives you the comfort of your bestie's company, and is the festive sorts that you can set up on table for your guests to dessert on.

For the longest time, I've had aversion to cinnamon in all things sweet. Let me not even get to the whys of it, for all I know, cinnamon in my arena existed best in the legion of savories, given the exception for a good Christmas fruit cake where it favorably unites with clove, cardamom and other spices, veiled in a way that it does not hit your senses directly and ruin the flavor. But, here it comes finally, the world coveted Cinnamon rolls looming right out of my kitchen to yours. I’m close to being a convert, convincingly not a cinnamon-dessert-hater anymore. These don’t look a lot like the traditional rolls. I mean they are not enormous in size to consume your palm, certainly not the perfect looking rolls that stand flawlessly edged shoulder to shoulder giving them a clean rip, nor do they bask in the sugary coated frosting that sinks into every groove merrily.

I would probably rechristen these as cinnamon pull apart rolls; owing to the pans I had and the amount of dough I made, they ended up this way. But they are cinnamon rolls essentially, so let's stick to that. They don’t snatch away the authenticity from the traditional ones. They smell great in and out of the oven, are near identical in their recipe, forgiving the eggs in the dough. They sat squishing in an eight inch round baking pan, my ideal dish to bake a nice chocolate cake in, but this time around they doubled up as my bread pan too, saving me gracefully from sunken cockeyed bread had I baked them in my ten inch dish instead. They nudged for space as they puffed up on their second sitting, and, by the time they were out they looked glorious in their golden crevices and sugar burnt hunches, flattering into characteristic pull apart rolls that need to be forked by the thumb and forefinger to tear them apart from their siblings. There’s a fun thing to it, to tear it apart in submission in an imperfect way and dunk it in milk over giggles and laughters with our little girl while tapping our feet to the melodies of Christmas jingles. That’s when you know you are up for a good start to a holiday season.

The frosting is purely optional. As for a daily bread, I would stay away from frosting these. They are sweet on their own and make a wonderfully perfect Sunday breakfast with a slather of some salted butter, or cream cheese and coffee by the side. But we are in a holiday season, and that calls for some adornment on the table to give it a festive ring. I have a clean, less sweeter old fashioned cooked vanilla frosting recipe that works really well for me. Since the bread is sweet by nature, a lighter frosting like this one is pleasing to our tastes. Unlike the traditional frosting where you mix milk to confectioners’ sugar till you get a desired consistency, this one is far better version that gives me a similar thick pour-able consistency, albeit far less sweeter than the original version. Give it a try, may be you'll fall for these too.

Cinnamon Rolls with Cooked Vanilla Frosting

INGREDIENTS

For Cinnamon Rolls:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup milk (I used full fat milk)
1/4 cup butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1 tsp. active dry yeast (or rapid rise)

For the Cinnamon Sugar Filling:

1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tbsp. cinnamon powder
2 tbsp. melted butter

For the Cooked Vanilla Frosting:

1 cup full fat milk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/3 cup coconut sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS

Heat the milk and butter in a large sauce pan till the butter has melted into the milk. Remove from heat and add in the sugar. Stir well and allow it cool down to lukewarm. The milk should be tepid enough to activate the yeast, but not too hot, else will kill the yeast.

Transfer the warm milk to a large mixing bowl and sprinkle yeast into it. Let it sit for 10 minutes, so that the yeast can feed on the sugar and froth.

Next, add flour starting with 1/2 cup at a time and stirring well as you go. Once it forms a loose batter, add the next half cup of flour and stir well. This will help activate the gluten in the dough and yield soft supple dough, resulting in a good, fluffy bread. Continue using all of the flour and stir well with each addition till it comes together to form a sticky dough. Knead it for a minute or two till its soft and supple.

Place the dough in an oiled deep dish and cover it with a dish cloth. Let it rise in a warm place for about 2 hours. By this time the dough should double in size.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. I use the clean kitchen counter top that provides me ample space to work my dough on. Using a flour dusted rolling pin, roll the dough into a thin long rectangle. Brush it generously with melted butter. Prepare a mix of sugar and cinnamon powder and sprinkle it generously all over the dough.

Starting at the longer edge side, roll up the dough as tight as you can till forms a long log. To avoid opening up, place the seam side down. Using a cleaned knife dipped in flour, cut the log into slices of 1.5 inch each. Butter a 8x8-inch round baking tin. Place the rolls into the buttered tin, next to each other. Brush the rolls with some melted butter. Set aside to rise again for 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the rolls for 25-30 minutes or until the bread is golden brown in color. If the top of the bread seems to change color sooner, while the underside still seems uncooked, cover the top with an aluminium foil and continue to bake till done.

Remove from oven and allow it to cool completely. Frost as desired.

For the frosting, combine milk and flour in a saucepan. Cook over medium low heat, stirring constantly, for about 3-5 minutes. The mixture should thicken and come to a boil. Add in sugar and stir well. Boil till the mixture coats the back of a wooden spatula, i.e. of custard consistency. Turn off the heat. Stir in vanilla essence. Cool completely. Before serving, whisk the frosting really well and swirl using a spoon on the cinnamon rolls.

How to make Healthy Raw Brownies | Easy Raw Brownie Recipe

Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough. - Oprah Winfrey

Its Thanksgiving tomorrow and under five weeks, we'll be well into Christmas, my favorite time of the year when all else goes still and only food and festivities shall prevail. I am excited and am so looking forward to it. As for now, there isn't a grand event of celebration lined up for tomorrow, but, we'll take joy in the holiday to follow, time for togetherness and bonding over relaxed morning, lazying noon and a slow evening. Hurray to no work, no deadlines, no meetings for a day. We'll wake up late in the bed, follow a laid back routine and lavish a little on a good homemade breakfast. The day calls for my time in kitchen, where get to I play with pots and pans, may be tossing up some flour, butter and sugary goodness into a ton of fruits to come up with something worthy for Christmas. A cake is in store, a Christmas fruit cake that I can hopefully talk about in posts to come. We'll have our family at the table, the three of us, savoring lunch in an austere way, which in itself is a small celebration to do on a weekday - bringing in tit-bits of our weekend-ness, in a little modish way.

Meanwhile, I have these super healthy brownie treats for you to feature on your Thanksgiving table. I made them this summer, though they don't pertain to any seasons. They are treats you can make year round. No seasons attached. You can make them for your Thanksgiving dessert menu or keep them handy to treat your guests over a cup of coffee or just carry them on your hiking trip to give you adrenaline boost. There's no sugar in them, no butter whatsoever, no flour, no guilt too. And no no! I am not on diet if you ask so. But I thought I should be a little considerate and save you from splurging way too much before the year end celebrations kick in. There's a lot awaiting there, Christmas on its way, New Year dinner to follow, so you may want to treat yourself slowly and sanely before getting there. These little treats don't steal away the joy of splurging, mind you. They are delicious as is in small bites or you can make them in a wonderful no-bake pie base with fancy toppings. Hope these make your Thanksgiving table a little more glamorous.

Raw Brownies

Prep Time: 5 mins | Pulse Time: 10 mins + 2 hrs refrigeration | Yield: 12 pieces

INGREDIENTS

2 cups of medjool dates
1/2 cup of roasted almonds
1/2 cup of raw walnuts
3 tablespoons of raw cacao powder
2 tablespoons of maple syrup

DIRECTIONS

Blend the almonds and walnuts in a food processor until they form a crumbly mixture. Then add the dates and blend again till dates are pureed. Next add the cacao and maple syrup and blend again. The mixture will come together in form of a dough. If its wet to handle, add in some walnuts and pulse again.

Place the mixture into a baking tray. Refrigerate for two hours or freeze for one hour so that it sets well. Cut into slices and serve. Store in an air tight container and keep them refridgerated for freshness.

How to make Peach Puff Pastry Tart | Easy Peach Puff Pastry Tart Recipe

July has been a wonderful month bringing bounty produce and tons of inspiration to my kitchen. Its a month when all things living bud and bloom to glory. Foliage brim to lush greenness, healthy and flourishing. Weeds crawl themselves on to every inch of wilderness. Flowers burst into frenetic bloom. Markets bustle with vegetable produce in vividness and abundance. Fruits and berries make their way into our lives beyond what we could ask for. There's burst of color and splash of summer everywhere. July pampers you. It makes you feel luxuriant.

Summers here have been all high and at times 94 deg F (34 deg C) feels like 105 F (40 deg C). Yet, I am so much a tropical girl that I make best friends with summer and its givings. There is no moment left to slip away in rambling about heat. Instead we go farm-foraging for fruits with bags and baskets. At nearly the end of berry season, peaches and melons are here to replace them on stands.

In less than a week, the daughter and I are heading back home, to India. Over two weeks ago, our little girl stopped her school here to resume the one she goes back home. She gets a small break before she gets back to track on another routine in India. As we've just begun bag packing, I shudder to think how quickly these three months have flown by, insanely quick, like a flash of lightening. While I'm thankfully lucky to be on a break from work and make a trip here the second time, it feels so unreal that its time to leave D's nest and fly back to another nest far away in another continent. Again, we leave in hopes and prayers for sooner family union.

These three months of vacation time have been wonderful. We witnessed the onset of spring and the way they silently slipped into summers, bringing with them the best of everything we love - the sunshine, the beaches, the road trips, the camping, the late evening partying, the farm foraging, berry picking, the evening walks at parks, the book hunting at the library, the lazying by the porch, the summer cooking, and lots more we did together. Instead of rumbling how much we will miss D and the moments we spent here with him, I leave you with this simple peach puff pastry tart that speaks bounty of summer - golden summery ochre with velvety skin and a delicate sweet aroma. Its so easy that you would be ashamed as put them together and shove them to the oven. Ofcourse that doesn't account for making puff pasty at home. But if you have them handy, you get away with assembling this in under 10 mins and another 20 min to bake, which is the oven's job!

Simple Peach Puff Pastry Tart

INGREDIENTS

1 sheet homemade / frozen puff pastry
2 medium peaches
1 tbsp. of brown sugar (adjust according to the sweetness of your peaches)
2-3 tbsp. milk, to brush
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Few pecans and mini chocolate chips to scatter

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 420 degrees F. Carefully roll / cut the puff pastry into strip of 4" x 8" inch. Cut the peaches in half and remove the pit. Slice peaches carefully into 1/4 inch. Arrange the peaches on the puff pastry overlapping each other. Sprinkle the peaches with brown sugar, pecans and mini chocolate chips. Brush the edges of the puff pastry with milk (alternative to egg) and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the edges are a deep golden brown. Serve warm, preferably with a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream.

I was ruminating over a conversation with an old associate I have known for over three years now and the fact he knew I blogged. That happened a few months ago. It was one of those familiar moments I have encountered when someone says, 'Aah, so you blog and you make food look good? Okay. Let's see, cook us something and let us say'. I get awfully nervous to a point of quivering knees and nervous breakdown. Neither it puts me into shoes of comfort, nor do I blush. I hate being judged. Its the kind of casual statement made to assume that you are a professional at the best. All bars are raised and expectations set too high. It's hard to satisfy such tastes, where preconceived bias swamps the confidence in me. It could turn anyone into cold feet. It's like a stab on your back testing your skills to restraint the blow, bridling any creativity you want to execute. Not really. I have bad days in my kitchen and I am no perfect for sure.

But little moments of joy come from those folks, unknowing to my penchant for cooking or being irrespective of the fact I blog or not, appreciate my food. For someone who does not know I blog, I post recipes, and yet appreciates that I have cooked good food, that's when you'll see me smile ear to ear. That moment of truth is really a winning moment for me. Honestly, I wish to create memories of food that can be remembered and revived by virtue.

You'll see this often that I don't spill out the fact to many that I blog. A lot of my close friends don't know I have a space out here. And with the ones who happen to know I do, more accidentally or through word of mouth and query about my passion in cooking or blogging in amusement, I wish to bury my face down in my hands and run away miles in embarrassment. Its such a strange awkwardness and I wonder if this has happened to any of you. Most readers whom I know are the ones whom I have never met personally, whom I have never known and strangely I feel the most comfortable posting here for them. Be it musings, my photographs or recipes, there is no prejudice what so ever. That for me is the most comforting factor. I wonder if I would ever be able to write and share so much here if my own folks were so regular at reading my blog. Thankfully I know they are not. That, for me is a consolation in many ways.

That brings me to this Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies here. A recipe that's strangely simple and unprejudiced. You throw in the said measures of all goodness and you have chocolate-y orange aromas wafting within minutes, it's zest leaving you in an all high. So true to the fact, the matrimony of orange and chocolate cannot go wrong. Sometimes you get the most out of the unexpected and that's what these Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies promise to do. Not just you, to your biased friends too!

Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup non-dairy margarine (can be replaced with vegetable oil)
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/8 cup orange juice
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (dairy-free for vegan)
Zest from 2 oranges

DIRECTIONS

Beat the margarine along with both the sugars (brown and white) till it's light and fluffy. Next, add in the vanilla extract. Add the flour and salt, mix well. Dissolve baking soda in orange juice and add to mixture immediately. Stir with a wooden spoon and bring the entire mixture to form a lightly wet dough. Next add in the chocolate chips and stir them in. Drop by tablespoonful on to an un-greased cookie tray. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10 minutes. Don't over bake!

As a home baker, I tend to have many reservations that I am not so proud of. I have a hard hand at icing cakes or making layered gateaux that look fancy and presentable. I would love to make some, but then, that's a kind of patience I applaud. I have never dared to whip egg whites till date, so I am not close there yet! And oh my cookies, I bake them not so often as I should do!

I have a major problem when I am baking cookies. The one that threats me never to bake them again. Atleast for a long time till I crave some. Sometimes I wonder if I have a sort of leniency towards over-baking. But unlike cakes, where a nice crust is admirable, you cannot mess around with the baking time when it comes to cookies. It has to be perfect, where every hot blow of air from oven matters, every minute counts, probably seconds too. This I learnt the hard way over few failed, overbaked cookies.

Overbaked cookies taste terrible. They can taste like cardboard, tough and crisp to an extent of being inedible. Moreover it's a shame to offer them. They don't make themselves good for tart crusts sadly. The only thing you can probably do is to brittle and mask them with good dose of roasted nuts to embellish ice creams. For some of those failed attempts that I stay put, here are a batch of some super delicious batch of cookies I baked last week. What matters most is a good cookie recipe, which I assume may not be too hard to find one, along with the perfect baking time and the right temperature, which I assume undoubtedly gets me testing.

Here's a recipe I have tried and tested multiple times. So you can be rest assured these won't fail. They were perfectly baked with a golden bottom, or just baked as I call. Any further may have ruined them. You can bring variations to this recipe. Add in coffee and make them Coffee Chocolate Chip cookies. Or add in some orange extract along with fresh striped orange zests that beautifully pairs with bites of dark chocolate, you'll have some sinful Orange Chocolate Chip cookies. They are addictive, I caution you.

Chocolate Chip Cookies - Eggless and Vegan

INGREDIENTS

1 cup non-dairy margarine (can be replaced with vegetable oil)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (dairy-free for vegan)

DIRECTIONS

Beat the margarine along with both the sugars (brown and white) till it's light and fluffy. Next, add in the vanilla extract. Add the flour and salt, mix well. Dissolve baking soda in warm water and add to mixture immediately. Stir with a wooden spoon and bring the entire mixture to form a lightly wet dough. Next add in the chocolate chips and stir them in. Drop by tablespoonful on to an un-greased cookie tray. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10 minutes. Don't over bake!

Notes:

* The baking time for these cookies depends on the size and temperature of your oven. Hence test batch the cookies, if possible for the exact time. Large number of cookies of bigger sizes may take a minute longer. For this recipe, I used a tablespoonful of measure per cookie.

* I have replaced the quarter cup of warm water with orange juice and it works absolutely fine with the same results. You'll get similar results by replacing with any vegan milk or buttermilk too.

* 1 1/2 cups of sugar (3/4th cup of each sugar) is on the lower side and just about right for this recipe. The rest of the sugar is rendered by semisweet chocolate chips. However if you like your cookies sweeter, you may have to increase the amount of sugar by 1/4 cup.

* This yields a large batch of cookies, approximately 3 dozens. So reduce appropriately.

Today, Veg Bowl completes 5 years of blogging, crossing yet another milestone that I am immensely proud of. Ever since its commencement since March 15th 2009, the journey till here has been fabulous and entirely satisfying. Like in any relationship, in this journey too there were highs and lows, ups and downs that made it difficult to tread the path - yet the love, the faith and the passion endured and so it succeeded. It’s hard to believe that Veg Bowl is 5 years now with 250 posts.

When I sat down to put together this post I had a hard time to begin this post with. Words did not flow so easily. I was stirred emotionally. You see, over the several posts in the past, I have never thought over so much as much as I did for this one. Nor had I spent so much time reading through my previous blog posts. Nostalgic as I may say, each post reminded me of the time and effort I had spent over each dish, each post; some to create, many to photograph and others to draw a story for the board. Each has its own story to weave. Over these years I spent in blogging, I have learnt a lot and matured in the process. It bettered me as a cook, as a photographer, and as a story teller.

There were many moments when I assumed I would no longer be able to pursue blogging because I was so pressed on time, work pressures and personal demands of life that it felt almost impossible to chase this passion. These were times when I was pregnant and I hated food or its sight, when I became a mother and nurturing my baby was the most important, when I switched jobs and I was busy unlearning and re-learning at work, when I brought back tons of workload home and that kept me occupied for weeks and weekends, when I had to baby sit the toddler all by myself and manage home unaided, when my husband was out of town for weeks and our life demanded more attention to other important matters than just hobbies - these were times I put aside blogging for those whiles. But there was sincere love and an enduring faith that helped me succumb to this appetite of blogging as and when time permitted me. I pursued it not under pressures of being active as a blogger, but as a medium to catalyze my culinary creativity that would help me unleash the diurnal pressures of life. Even during these moments I cooked a lot, but I probably did not make time to photograph or post them. Yet with all these failing reasons, I am here because I just love being here and doing what I love the most. Cook. Click. Share.

Over these years, I have received incredible support from many. A special mention to my husband for all his patience and care shown towards me during the time I am shooting, processing or blogging. Its his constant support and motivation that has inspired me to come this far. My parents, family, friends and many near dear pals have always extended their relentless motivation, many being positively critical about my work. I geared a lot of love and respect from many known and unknowns. The mails, the requests, the thank you notes from you readers have always made me feel special. Your comments aspire me to do better. Keep them coming so that I can keep myself going. Thank you all once again for all your love and Happy Birthday to Veg Bowl.

For this special day, I have some warm and delicious Breakfast Knots for you all. These are buttery and delicious and one of the best breads I have baked recently. Bake them in your kitchen and share them with a dollop of butter or jam with your family over cups of steaming hot tea or coffee. I am sure it will bring in more love and warmth that will help your day going.

Breakfast Knots

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup warm milk
1/4 cup warm water
1 1/4 tsp. instant or active dry yeast
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
2 cups + 2 tbsp. all purpose flour; more as needed
1 tsp. salt

DIRECTIONS

In a small bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water and then add yeast. Let this stand for at least 10 min till the yeast is frothy. After 10 mins, the yeast should have frothed and bubbled up. Now add melted butter, salt and warm milk to this frothed yeast and stir well. Introduce the flour into this mixture and stir using fork till a coarse ball of dough forms. Alternatively you may use a stand mixer with dough blades attached for this purpose. When the dough comes together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. If the dough is too sticky, add a tbsp. flour at a time and knead it gently. If it’s too stiff to handle, add a tbsp. of milk at a time and knead well. Place in a oil greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size. This takes about 2 hours. Once risen and doubled, punch it down. With little or no extra flour divide the dough to 6-8 equal pieces.

On a clean work surface, grease your hands with vegetable oil or butter. Next roll one piece into a 10-inch-long rope. Tie the dough into a loose knot with about 2 inches of dough free at each end. One free end of the dough will go over the knot and get tucked into the center, while the other free end will be tucked under the knot. Ensure they are securely fasted between the knots so that they don't open up while baking. Place them on the baking tray and allow to rise and double for another 1-1/2 hours. Brush milk over these bread knots and bake in a pre-heated oven of 180 deg C for about 15 minutes. Remove after 15 min and brush more milk on top of these knots and bake further for another 5 minutes. The knots will be baked to golden brown hues. Remove from oven and brush some warm melted butter. This helps in keeping the bread soft with a lovely soft, supple crust. Serve warm with butter and jam for your breakfast or with soups for your dinner.

Also, Happy Birthday to our dear little princess daughter who turns 3 today. You make our life so special and worthy! Wish you loads of love, luck and happiness!

February is here, much sooner than I had expected. The past month has gone by so fast like a blink of an eye, leaving me wonder what’s making life so recklessly fast paced and ridden. The weeks in January just galloped away, much before I realized that we had stepped into February and are soon half way through into it. Do you sense the same notion that I do? Really, I have no clue why.

I have been feeling too restless lately, my mind too busy, my emotions disparate and my body physically dissolute. Hanging between the pendulums of taking some important decisions, I am primed with making those choices that will bring about big change in our lives. Of taking a stance whether I should or should not. There are many at this moment, some long standing ones that need to be pushed off, some small yet important that cannot be ignored and some as big that they cannot be disregarded. The pressures to be decisive will increase as time clocks away and things will get clearer as I tick off each of these from my bucket-list. Time is a good healer and things will settle down soon. Soon I will come to a consensus to believe that - what happens shall be for our good.

While all of these have kept my mind busy lately, somewhere in the corner of my mind nests my dire desire to stay composed and stress free; of looking out means to get away from these chaos of life. On one such weekend, this Coffee and Walnut Strudel Tea Cake was made.

Coffee and Walnut has always been a winning combination for me, that being one of my favourite choices of cake whenever I order out. The Strudel with Oat topping gives this tea cake a lovely rugged, tough look, without ignoring the beautiful crunch in each bite. Hope you enjoy this cake as much as I did.

Coffee and Walnut Struesel Tea Cake

INGREDIENTS

For the cake loaf:

175 gm. plain flour
175 gm. salted butter
175 gm. brown sugar
1 tbsp. ground flax seed in 3 tbsp. water *
2 tbsp. yogurt *
1 tbsp. strong black coffee
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
60 gm walnut pieces

For Struesel Topping:

20 gm. broken walnuts
20 gm. regular oats
40 gm. plain flour
25 gm. granulated sugar *
25 gm. cold salted butter

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 190º and grease a loaf tin with butter. In a large mixing bowl, sift all the dry ingredients and mix well. Add the walnuts and stir well. In another bowl, pour all the wet ingredients and mix well. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix well till just combined. Pour batter into the loaf tin.

To make the Sruesel topping, take the walnuts, oats, plain flour and sugar in a mixing bowl. Gently rub in cold butter into this mixture till its crumbly. Top this crumbled mixture on the cake batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes till a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool on a rack and slice to serve.

* I strongly dislike the flavor of flax in my bakes. However I do realize that flax is one of the easiest and best replacement for eggs. Similarly I always had winning results with yogurt as replacement, hence I combined both of these to get the perfectly textured cake.
* I used granulated sugar for the struesel topping because I ran out of sufficient brown sugar. You may use brown sugar instead.

Last month, my husband moved to the United States on a long term assignment, where he is expected to be stationed for atleast a year. With heavy hearts, we bid him a bye till we meet again next year. It wasn’t an easy decision for us to make collectively, to move or not to move with him. But we made a conscious decision and chose not to, at least till he settles himself to the new place and the biting chill weather. We will join him later, may be for a short term of a month or two, but that will have to wait. All through the last year, he had been frequently traveling to the States for work related, while our little girl and I made pace with the fact that daddy dear would be out of country, but be back soon with us for a good time.

This year will be a challenging one for me, to manage work and home single handedly. In his absence, I wish not to be torn between several things of our mundane lives, the intensity of which I did feel over the past one month since he left. I felt the forces that pushed me out of the comfort of living life of interdependence earlier to being an overly independent woman now. As a working mother, handling things singlehandedly doesn’t get easy – managing home, paying off bills, buying groceries, dropping off my toddler or taking her out for a walk, singing her lullabies, or greeting guests, waking up late nights to neaten my home (as that’s the only free time I get for myself), or taking official calls late evening after work. It’s not any easy, but life has to go on. At this moment, my life is mix of chaos and fatigue.

I never thought I would visit a dentist with a toddler in hand. But I did. She pulled out a few cables here and there while the doctor got busy drilling my tooth. I was prepared to face the doctor getting frantic pacifying my naughty girl while at work on me, but she amazed me by being a decent kid, except for pulling out the few cables of course!

In essence, I have learnt to stride with the new changes in our life. In this whirlwind of changes, I am learning to prioritize my time and being efficient, and yet be able to strike a balance. There are no long drives or movies we can go now. These days our weekends and holidays are dedicated to pillow fights and teddy plays. The only movies I watch are in the noon on the television when my toddler is off to sleep for an hour or two. On a positive side, since I am home now on most weekends I get to bake.

I baked some rolls for breakfast recently. I probably realized that since my last post on Cinnamon Pretzels, I have never baked anything with cinnamon solely. Cinnamon rolls topped my to-do list of recipes for long. I kept pushing them for a while since I had no fondness towards anything pronouncedly cinnamon-y in my bakes. My husband often reminded me how much people in the West, particularly in the US consider cinnamon a staple and how popular cinnamon rolls are. I honestly thought these rolls would change my perception towards cinnamon, but oh boy, I was so wrong. I hated them and I still do.

These probably may not be my favorites for my aversion toward this spice in particular when used solely and paired with anything sweet, but that does not necessarily mean you will not love them. I think I was too desirous to add a whole lot of cinnamon to these. Probably I would have loved them milder. But then these are nothing less than delicious. The little one relished them in numbers. I camouflaged the cinnamon-y flavor with a vanilla custard. They taste delicious and can be great for a gathering.

Cinnamon Bread Rolls

INGREDIENTS

For the dough:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup warm milk (maybe a little more or less)
2 tsp. active dry yeast (I used Baker’s here)
1/4th cup melted salted butter
1/4th cup powdered sugar

For the filling:

2 tsp. cinnamon powder
2 tbsp. brown sugar
Butter for brushing the dough
Couple of walnuts

Homemade custard or melted chocolate to drizzle (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Dissolve 2 tsp. of active dry yeast in half a cup of warm water and a teaspoon of sugar. Sugar aids in providing food to the yeast and the warmth helps it breed. Keep it aside for 10 minutes till it turns active and frothy.

After 15 minutes, in a separate glass bowl, combine all the ingredients for the dough; the frothy yeast, sugar, butter and flour, pouring just as much milk in small additions so as to form a sticky soft dough. I use a fork to mix the ingredients. As you beat the ingredients, the dough will initially tend to be sticky, but later will begin to leave itself from the sides of the bowl. Knead into a smooth elastic dough with as little flour as possible. Stickier the dough, lighter will be the bread. Knead the dough for atleast 5-7 minutes so as to release its gluten which helps in a nice, light bread. Place the dough in a bowl, cover it and allow the dough rise until it has doubled in size (should take about 90 minutes in warm condition). Once risen, punch the dough down. Knead it further for 5 more minutes. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to form a rough rectangular shape with uniform thickness.

In a small bowl mix equal amount of cinnamon powder with brown sugar. Slather some melted butter on the rolled dough and spread this cinnamon sugar all over the dough. Beginning with the long edge closest to you, roll the dough into a tight roll. Slice the roll into 9 even pieces. Gently poke some walnuts into the rolls. Place them on the baking tray and keep them in a warm place for at least 1 hour, until they've roughly doubled in size. Bake them at 180 deg C for 30 to 35 minutes.

I have a recipe featuring nuts back to back and my apologies if they are not your take. It simply shows how much I have been nuts about nuts these days! Seriously, the fact is that despite my profound love for them, thanks to this appreciation towards dry fruits and nuts I have inherited from my dear dad, they've always remained in the hind of this blog. For no particular reason, I have been on nut binge off late, indulging in them more than warranted, though I have rarely felt guilty about them. To an extent, the other day, I added roasted walnuts in a typical south Indian styled beans stir fry and felt mighty good devouring them. These Honey Loops & Nuts Chikki made up our sweet treats during mid-day breaks and post meal snack the last week through. Yet, I say, it doesn't justify my love for these roasted treats, almonds and cashews in particular.

Indeed, I have my freezer loaded with them in kilos that should last me a year. Dates, raisins, figs, almonds, cashews, walnuts and handful of apricots. Handful, because dried apricots are tough and not really my favourites. But among the rest it's hard for me to make a choice.

We are just back from a short vacation in Goa. A vacation to commemorate our wedding anniversary and his birthday. We basked in the serene beauty of Goa’s pristine beaches, green foliage and golden sand. Out there we soaked up the sun, got a massage in the spa and relaxed all day long. We discovered moments of togetherness with the sand castles we built together for our daughter as the frothy waves swept them gently, watched the sun go down the other side of the coast and took long strolls on the private beach. We revived our energies as we went swimming, biking and street hoping (Goan streets and markets never fail to amaze me). No vacation is worth the vacation without good food, so we certainly made our's worth as we binged on loads of delicious good food.

The trip though short (2 nights and 3 days) was packed with energy, fun and enthusiasm. Goa carries an ethereal realm of Portuguese culture that none other city in India has seen and it leaves me amazed each time. We are back home fresh and rejuvenated after this therapeutic vacation, much to an extent that we are craving for another trip soon. :)

Perfecting the holiday mood we were in, I decided not to bake or spend too much effort in the kitchen. Instead I made and carried these Dry Fruit Rolls for our trip. These rolls are not just healthy, but sugar free. They are well suited for toddlers and diabetics. Naturally sweetened with dates and figs, these have my coveted roasted nuts that make this a decadent anytime treat. Hope you'll enjoy them as much we did.

Dry Fruit Rolls

INGREDIENTS

2 cups pitted and chopped dates
1/2 cup dry figs
3/4 cup roasted cashew nuts
3/4 cup roasted almonds
1/2 cup roasted walnuts
1 tsp. orange peel
2 tbsps. orange juice

DIRECTIONS

Chop dates and figs as finely as possible. This will help in easier blending of ingredients. Combine the chopped dates and figs along with orange juice in a pan and bring it to a boil for about 5 minutes on medium low flame. Using the back of a flat wooden spoon, mash them as much possible. Switch off the flame and allow it to cool. Medjool dates can be best used here. If not, use any moist date you have at hand. I used Lion seedless dates, which were moist enough for this recipe. Remember dried ones are tough and will not help here.

Pulse the dates-fig mixture along with chopped orange peels in a food process as much as possible with no additional liquid or orange juice. It should have a moist and sticky dough like consistency. Roughly chop the roasted cashews, almonds & walnuts and add it to the prepared date-fig dough. Scrape the entire mixture into a plastic food wrap (a butter greased aluminium foil will do alternatively). Roll the wrap over to encase into a roll. Chill for about an hour. Remove from refrigerator and using a serrated knife cut them into rolls of desired sizes.

How to make Velvet Beet Cake| Easy Velvet Beet Cakei

I have attempted to bake a Red Velvet cake on several occasions in the past. There’s a strong temptation to get the perfectly red one with beets and no fake colouring. Alas, I failed. So, I call this one a Velvet Beet cake and not a Red Velvet cake that I would have loved to call otherwise. It’s funny because, each time I got perfectly baked cake with pleasing results and good texture, it was sans that deep red colour that would qualify it to be called as a Red Velvet cake. It always ended up brown and chocolatey, often good to be christened as a nice Chocolate cake. Even the best of the beet cake recipes have not helped me.

So it stays to be a Beet cake, till I achieve the perfect palette of colours in them and share them with you here. :)

None can ever figure out that beets are sneaked in there. Not even the husband who saw me busy puree them late night and putting them together! He says he can’t imagine a cake out of beets. But why not, when we have cakes made from carrots? And you are sure to get a thumbs up. Don’t let the folks know there’s a vegetable in there. It makes them biased. Instead, let them enjoy, allow them to take second and third helpings and let the cat out of bag later. I bet you’ll get gawked looks like I did! It’s amusing.

I say this one is extremely healthy. Because I use olive oil instead of butter, beet puree makes up for the eggs, organic vanilla powder and brown organic sugar add depth of flavors instead of the refined one. So it’s eggless, butterless and certainly healthy with vegetable sneaked it. I feel no guilt when I feed my daughter the slices of this cake as she despises beets in their true form. This way though I sneak them into her and I am a happy mother to a cheerful toddler.

Velvet Beet Cake

Recipe minimally adapted from here

INGREDIENTS

1 medium sized, beetroot (boiled until tender, then puréed)
1/3 cup oil (I used Olive-Pomace oil)
1 1/4 cup organic brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. organic vanilla powder
1 1/3 cup plain flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup milk (use any vegan milk of your choice, like soy or cashew milk for vegan option)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Grease the bundt pan with oil and dust with plain flour.

Wash thoroughly and boil the beet until its soft and tender. Using a blender/mixer, purée it to a fine paste along with milk and brown sugar. Opt for regular sugar if you don't have brown sugar. Next add in oil and vanilla powder/ extract and blend further until incorporated. Set aside. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder. Add the flour mixture to the beet milk mixture and stir gently until all is well incorporated into the batter. Bake for 40 minutes or till done. Insert a toothpick in the center of the cake and test for done. Remove and allow the cake to cool on a cooling rack. Serve as is or with dollops of cream or ice cream.