CHECKERBOARD MINI ROTI'S

In our household,there's one person who needs to eat more greens.It's me.I have admitted to that fact that earlier in my life. It just doesn't go down well with me. I feel it tastes like Iron. Doesn't it? No? It could be just me then. Now that Ian is growing up to be a jolly good eater, I made sure that I should join the bandwagon,just to make sure his interest in food will stay intact. I started doing it by drinking green smoothies. They are insanely good just because it has a lot of fruits that I love! Pineapple,especially.

Last year,when we went to Jobin's sister's house in Gwalior,her maid made us beautiful spinach roti's for dinner. I can eat roti's for 3 meals a day.And if there's a good non vegetarian curry,be it fish or meat, I can eat it 4 times a day! My love for kneading is also a reason why I like to make them. I love the entire procedure of making roti's. From mixing to kneading and to the final rolling. Some of my friend's say that they hate making them because it never turns out right. I personally feel that the dough should be soft and pliable. Add some more water and knead it well. I don't believe in kneading roti dough for like 10-15 minutes. I just knead it till all comes together. The consistency has to be right,that's the trick.

Our weather has been so good for the last couple of day. It feels like Spring already! I was so excited about it that I wanted to try out something new for dinner. I am a bit weird,so many things have an effect on my cooking :-)
There was a packet of organic baby spinach lying in the fridge and it kept reminding me that I should eat more of it.That's when I thought about the spinach roti's we ate in Gwalior. So,I grabbed hold of the entire packet of spinach,pureeed it with just enough water and kneaded a soft dough for the spinach roti's. I also had some dough for the usual roti's,so Ian had checkerboard roti's for dinner.

CHECKERBOARD MINI ROTI'S


Things you will need:
2 kind of roti dough
   a) Roti dough made with wholewheat flour and water
   b) Roti dough made with wholewheat flour and spinach puree (I just blended some spinach and enough water to make a paste)
Paring knife
Cookie cutter
Rolling pin
Extra  wholewheat flour

Method: Take 2 golf ball sized dough balls from the two different roti dough and roll them out using a rolling pin into a square/circle. Cut out thin strips using a paring knife.
On a lightly floured surface, weave the dough strips and then roll the rolling pin over it so that it flattens the dough and glues it in place. Cut them out into desired shapes, I used a round cookie cutter and cook them as you would with a roti dough.

Guess what? These don't taste like they have spinach in them! It's good news for me atleast. My mind is now working on other kind of dough's which can add more goodness to my diet. I felt so good eating it because I could feel that my meal was wholesome,especially when I pair it with a curry rich in protein.I felt like I was playing with play doh when I made the dough as it was bright green in colour. The colour will fade as it cooks to a dull green but the goodness remains intact!

FROSTED OREO COOKIE CAKE SLICES ...delicious!

Are you all Oreo lovers? I bet many of you just shook your head and said, No! I was one among you all till I tasted the ones we get in US. It is very delicious and just cannot be compared with the ones we get in India. I have no idea how can you make it so tasteless, it really taste like chalk to me, not that I've eaten chalk before, you know,just for you to get an idea! :)

I baked this cake 2 months ago and it was photographed with an intention of making an appearance here which it never did until today. It's a very basic cake recipe where in the cookie crumbs are added. When I took a bite of it, I thought to myself that it would have been 1000 times better if I had made with the REAL Oreos, the ones which tastes like a piece of heaven in your mouth. I love the double stuff! Nevertheless this cake and the yummy icing tasted fabulous!

Look at how grainy the cake is! I absolutely loved the colour the cookies gave to the cake and the icing. I got this recipe from Amma's twin sister Daisy a.k.a Daisy Mummy . She got it from someone whom I've never met so cannot give you the exact source of it. Now you must be wondering why do I go in detail to tell you the source of each recipe. It's just because I've been taught to give credit where and when it's due ;) I always write the name of the person from whom I got a recipe, next to the recipe. It's a habit that I cultivated from a very long time, even before these food blogs came into existence! :)

FROSTED OREO COOKIE CAKE SLICES 
Ingredients:
For the cake:
1/2 c butter
1 c sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp Vanilla
1 1/2 c flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 c milk
7 Oreo's crushed with hands

Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 180C and line a 9x9 inch square tin.

Sift together the flour & baking powder.
In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar till creamy. Add the eggs and Vanilla and beat till fluffy.Add the dry ingredients and milk alternately ,starting and ending with flour. Fold in the crushed cookies.Pour this batter into the prepared tin and bake for 25-30 mins or till done.

For the Oreo butter frosting:
1 c sugar, powdered
1 c butter
4 Oreos, crushed with hands

Method:
In a small bowl, beat together sugar and butter till fluffy and pale. Stir in the cookie crumbs and spread it evenly over the cake. Cover the sides too, if you'd like .

Verdict: A very good cake with an equally good easy icing! Try it, dear Oreo lovers and be Oreo happy!

So as I mentioned in my previous post , there was a Cook-Out with me, planned by the YWCA,Kannur. It was  a fund raising event and I am so happy that I could contribute. There were 51 attendees for my class (my biggest number till date!) and I was very happy to cook for all of them!! :)  This time around, Amma was my assistant! :-D

Menu: Mini Cheese Pasta Rolls ,Easy Rice Roti's,Murgh Methi Malai ,Coffee-Chocolate Triangle Cake  & Vanilla Pannacotta with Pomegranate Sauce .

Tomorrow would be my last session of classes in Kannur and I am ending it on a sweet note with a luscious Cheesecake,layered and filled Shortbreads,some Scones and a creamy Pudding with a fruit sauce! A reader of mine, Maya, will be joining us tomorrow to learn from me :) I sincerely hope she finds what she came looking for :)