Eggless Chocolate Muffins with Butternut Squash

Finally this post has come out of my drafts. I made these muffins last week and totally forgot to post it. These muffins taste very unique with the flavours of butternut squash and chocolate together. This is my first attempt of making muffins without following any recipe and I was very doubtful of the texture of the muffin without using egg or egg substitutes. But after mixing all ingredients, I had a confidence that this would be soft, moist and delicious. The butternut squash pureed with brown sugar itself was so tasty that my daughter started licking from the blender jar :-). Try these muffins for a unique flavour combo.

For those who are not familiar with butternut squash, here is a pic. It tastes similar to pumpkin. You may use pumpkin and follow the same recipe.

 Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1.5 cups
Baking Soda - 1 tsp
Unsweetened Cocoa powder - 3 tbsp
Butternut squash - 1
Dark Brown sugar - 3/4 cup
Oil - 1/2 cup

Preparation:

1. Peel the butternut squash using a peeler, scoop out the seeds inside and cut the flesh to small cubes. The peel is very hard to remove with a knife. Steam these cubes till soft, about 10 mins.
2. Once the cubes cool down a little, keep about 10-12 cubes aside. These are to be used to top the muffins. Puree the rest of the cubes along with brown sugar. Keep aside.
3. Preheat oven to 200C and line the muffin tray with paper muffin cases or grease with a little oil.
4. In a mixing bowl, sift together APF, baking soda and cocoa. Add the puree and the oil and combine with a spatula till all the ingredients are incorporated well. Do not mix too much.
5. Scoop into the muffin tray and top it with a cube of the butternut. Bake for 15-25 mins till they are baked well.  Insert a toothpick or cocktail stick to check.

Linking this recipe with 100 day Global Food Festival

Double Ka Meetha

Another Blog Hop Wednesday is here and this time I have a sweet treat from Vaishali's blog  - Ribbons to Pastas. Apart from recipes, Vaishali's blog has a lot of crafts which shows how creative she is. Vaishali has a unique range of Sindhi recipes in her blog which are very new to me. I wanted to try a traditional dish, but unfortunately I couldn't spend much time in the kitchen. My daughter is down with viral fever for more than a week now and she clings to me all day and night. This leaves me with very little time to cook and do other household chores. Regular visitors of my blog would have noticed my absence for a week. So I looked for an easy recipe in her blog and finalized on Double Ka Meetha, a Nawabi dessert which is similar to a bread pudding. I am so very glad that I tried this, it was a sweet treat to the taste buds. It is a tasty and easy dessert option when you have guests and can be made the previous day and refrigerate if you would like to serve chilled. We had half of it while still warm and I refrigerated the other half portion and relished it the next day. I liked the cold one more :-)

I had to make a few changes to Vaishali's recipe due to the unavailability of ingredients mainly Khoya. I used Nestle Coronation Evaporated Milk instead of boiling and thickening milk, which made it much easier. View the original recipe here.

Ingredients:

Bread Slices - 5
Evaporated Milk - a 400 gm tin
Sugar - 1/4 cup or to taste
Cardamom powdered - a pinch or two
Saffron - a pinch
MTR Badam Feast powder - 2 tbsp (Optional. I just added it for the badam flavour)
Nuts and raisins roasted in ghee - to garnish
Ghee or Oil - to deep fry

Preparation:

1. Cut out the edges of the bread and then cut each slice to four. Deep fry the bread pieces and keep aside.
2. Heat the evaporated milk in a pan or in microwave. Add sugar, cardamom, saffron and the badam feast powder and stir well.
3. Arrange the bread slices in an oven safe dish. I used a glass roasting tray for this. Pour the prepared milk and top it with the nuts and raisins roasted in ghee.
4. In an oven pre-heated at 180 C, bake it for 5-7 mins.

Serve warm or refrigerate and serve chilled.

This pic goes to Black and White Wednesday

Off this goes to Blog Hop Wednesday - Week 5,  Diwali Special - Sweets& Savouries at Tickling Palates and Diwali - Festival of lights at Anu's healthy kitchen

Also goes to Khushi's My Diwali My Way

Spinach/Palak Paratha

Palak Paratha with Boondi raitha and Pickle

Ingredients:


1. Spinach/Palak leaves chopped - 2 cups
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Green chilly paste - 1 tsp
Red chilly powder - 3/4 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt for the dough
Oil - 1 to 2 tsp

2. Atta/Whole Wheat Flour - 2 cups
Water for the dough
Butter/Ghee - as needed

Notes:
1. Another method is to puree/grind the spinach mix after sauteing and then mixing it with the dough.
2. Substitute methi (fenugreek leaves) to make Methi Paratha

Preparation:

1. Heat a pan and add the oil. Add all the ingredients listed as item 1 and combine well and saute for a minute or two till the spinach turns darker and shrinks. Remove from the stove and transfer it to a mixing bowl.
2. Add atta and enough water to the same mixing bowl and knead to make a soft dough like roti/chappathi. Keep aside for 10-15 mins.
3. Make lemon sized balls from the dough and roll it the same way like chappathis.
4. Heat a tawa and cook the paratha and flip till both sides are cooked well. After the last flip, smear some ghee or butter.

Serve hot with raitha and pickle, any chutney or curry you like..

Linking to Anyone can cook:Series 34 and to Life is Green

Veg Noodles and Chilly Chicken

A perfect weekend meal combo for us - Sweetcorn Chicken soup, Veggie Noodles and Chilly Chicken. Can it get any better for someone who loves Indo-Chinese food !

  

Recipe for Veg Noodles

Chinese Noodles - 3 nests

Carrot - 1, peeled and cut to thin strips

Capsicum - 1, cut to thin strips after discarding the seeds

Onion - 1, sliced fine

Minced garlic - 1 tsp

Oil - 1 to 2 tbsp

Chinese 5 spice shake - 1/4 tsp (optional)

Pepper powder - 3/4 tsp or more to suit your taste

Soy sauce - 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

1. Cook the noodles as per the pack instructions and drain to a colander. Keep it under running water for a few seconds and let it cool.

2. Heat oil in a wok or wide pan and add garlic followed by onion, carrots and capsicum. Saute for a couple of minutes, till they are crunchy.Add salt and pepper and mix well. Add soy sauce and spice shake and combine. 

3. Keep the stove on high, add the cooked noodles to the wok and toss well for a few minutes . 

Notes:  Use more veggies like green beans, cabbage and green peas.

Recipe for Chilly Chicken

For marination

Boneless Chicken - 500 gms, cut to strips or bite size pieces

Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp

Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

Corn flour - 2 tbsp

Soy sauce - 1.5 tbsp

Egg white (beaten) - of 1 egg

Chopped ginger and garlic - 1.5 tbsp each

Green chillies - 3 or 4

Salt to taste

For the sauce

Onions - 2, chopped

Green Capsicum - 1, diced

Finely chopped ginger and garlic - 1 tsp each

Kashmiri chilly powder or Paprika - 2 tsp mixed in a cup of water

Soy sauce - 1 tbsp

Tomato ketchup - 1 to 2 tbsp

Salt for the sauce

Oil for deep frying

Spring onions sliced - for garnishing

1. Grind together ginger garlic and green chillies with a little water to a smooth paste. Add all other ingredients for the marination to this paste and keep aside for minimum 1 hour.

2. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying. Fry the chicken pieces till golden brown, do not fry more as chicken gets dry and hard. Drain and keep aside.

3. Take 1 to 2 tbsp of oil used for frying and heat it in another pan. Add onions, capsicum and salt and saute for a couple of minutes. Add ginger and garlic and saute again for 2-3 mins. Pour the chilly powder mixed it water. If you have a little marinade left over, add it too.When it starts boiling add, soy sauce and tomato ketchup. Combine well and add the fried chicken. Simmer for few minutes, till gravy thickens and chicken is coated well with sauce. Garnish with spring onions. Serve hot.

Recipe source: Chilly chicken from Maria's Menu

Sending this to What's For Friday dinner