Potato Pancakes

These were made with frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, an egg, salt, a little onion powder, and potato flour, pan-fried in olive oil. These are what my grandma would call "cold-potato pancakes" (as raw potatoes are used).

Hamantashen (Cookie-pastries)

#tbt to March: Hamantashen, filled cookie-pastries. (More than a cookie, fancy like a pastry.) Traditional fillings are made with poppy seeds or certain fruit. I'm lazy, and so much effort goes into rolling, cutting, filling, and shaping them, that I just use store-bought jam. I think this time, it was seedless raspberry. This was the first time that several didn't flop open and ooze jam all over the parchment. Usually they look like space aliens from a faraway galaxy that have invaded Earth. I hope this means that I'm improving!

Gajar ki Sabzi 

(Stir-fried Carrots with Mustard Seeds, Cumin, & Lemon)

 

This recipe is from Indian Home Cooking, by Suvir Saran & Stephanie Lyness. I left out the chilies (because I have to) and, instead of grating the carrots, just chopped them as finely as I could. For some reason, I really wanted these carrots, to go with the tofu I oven-baked yesterday with soy sauce, and basmati rice. They didn't disappoint me!

Paniyaram (Idli Batter Dumplings)

These are paniyaram, or pan-fried dumplings made from leftover idli batter. (Idli are steamed dumplings, of ground legumes and rice, or cream of wheat, from South India.) A few days ago, I made some instant idli batter with urad dal flour and cream of rice, and made a large idli in the microwave. Later, I decided to make paniyaram with the rest of the batter. I used my aebelskiver pan, which I only used once before (to make paniyaram for the first time). 

You don't need to use more than a couple drops of oil for each one (unless you want to!). In the research that helped me buy the aebelskiver pan just for this, I learned that: when the paniyaram are ready to turn, they will unstick themselves from the pan, and you can use wooden chopsticks to turn them (so as to not scratch the pan). I covered the pan while cooking. Although I used very little oil, they turned out crispy, especially on the first side.

Here is the recipe I used for the idlis. For idli rawa, I used Cream of Rice. Instead of ENO fruit salt, I used a little baking soda and a few drops of lemon juice. :

Preety's Kitchen Website, Instant Idli Recipe Made with Idli Rawa & Urad Dal Flour 

Or, you could just use the following recipe (though I haven't tried it myself recently), in which fermenting at room temperature for several hours takes the place of ENO fruit salts, and which uses rice flour. :

Veg Recipes of India Website, Easy Dosa Recipe Made with Rice Flour & Urad Flour

Milk Cookies

I guess you could call these Milk Cookies. They are based on the Eggnog Cookies recipe from the Domestic Geek, as part of her Instagram Stories cookies recipes. As I have to be careful what I eat, I often have to modify recipes like this. So, I used homemade sweetened condensed milk (from recipe by Gemma Stafford's Bigger Bolder Baking) instead of eggnog, oil instead of butter (and 1/2 the amount), one whole egg instead of two yolks, and no nutmeg. Fortunately, the cookie was able to accommodate these updates, and turned out soft and melt-in-your-mouth! I used a small cookie-scoop and baked them in two batches for 8-10 minutes each, for about 4 dozen cookies.

Bigger Bolder Baking Website, How to Make Condensed Milk

Bigger Bolder Baking Website, How to Make Dairy-Free Condensed Milk

The Domestic Geek Facebook

The Domestic Geek YouTube

Angelhair Pasta with Zucchini Sambhar Sauce

This is Angelhair Pasta, cooked with leftover Zucchini Sambhar (from the photo of a few days ago). This pasta cooked very quickly, and then I drained most of the water, added in some sambhar, and cooked them together for a few minutes. Very easy. The original zucchini sambhar recipe was from Healthy South Indian Cooking: Expanded Edition by Alamelu Vairavan and Patricia Marquardt

Chocolate Chip Scones

This recipe is from Biscuit Bliss, by James Villas. Used oil instead of butter.

Tomato Rasam

This is a South Indian soup-like dish, with basmati rice. Recipe from Healthy South Indian Cooking: Expanded Edition by Alamelu Vairavan and Patricia Marquardt. The authors say, ". . . Tomato Rasam is thought to be an excellent remedy for colds and sore throats." Perfect for this time of year. It's very easy to make this rasam, especially when you already have leftover canned tomatoes and tomato sauce, from sambhar made a couple of days ago. You can even add a couple of leftover zucchini and moong dal vadas to your bowl of rasam, for protein.

Zucchini & Whole Green Moong Dal Fritters/Vadas

These fritters/vadas were made from leftover batter of Zucchini & Whole Green Moong Dal Cheela/Pesarattu (Indian savory griddlecakes made from soaked & ground legumes). (You can see my photo of cheelas from Dec. 11, if you like.) My friend's mom would deep-fry leftover batter, by spoonfuls, of adai (similar kind of griddlecake). This memory inspired me, although I can't eat deep-fried foods. However, I did my best to make non-deep-fried vadas, and liked the results, with rice.

If you have too many vadas to eat all at once, you can freeze them for later. You could also add them to dishes requiring koftas. Like the cheelas made from this batter, the vadas also taste meat-like. Perhaps they could be useful for people who enjoy meat but who must cut back due to health reasons?

Kanak's Kitchen Website, Lauki & Whole Green Moong Dal Cheela Recipe 

Kanak's Kitchen Facebook

Homemade Eggless Donuts/Doughnuts

These are from a recipe by Kanak's Kitchen on YouTube. As I can't eat deep-fried food, it's been years since I've had a doughnut. However, it's doughnut season now, so I decided that I wanted some. Kanak's recipe includes instructions for baking the doughnuts, so I thought I'd try it. I sprayed some oil on the doughnuts and doughnut-holes before baking. I can't have butter, so I just used a smaller amount of oil in the dough, instead. I left out the milk powder and warm milk completely, as that doesn't work for me when they're added to yeast dough, and just used warm water. (This is why I cook so often! 😄) It took a few minutes longer to bake than the recipe said, but of course, all ovens are different, and it was no trouble. Later in the day, after they'd cooled, I had some of these treats for an evening snack, and really enjoyed my doughnuts. 

Kanak's Kitchen YouTube, Homemade Chocolate Eggless Donuts 

Kanak's Kitchen Facebook

Kanak's Kitchen Website

Zucchini Sambhar

This is a soupy dish with dal (legumes) and a lot of veggies. Recipe from Healthy South Indian Cooking:Expanded Edition by Alamelu Vairavan and Patricia Marquardt. I felt that this was a very warm and comforting dish on a cold, snowy day. The colors were bright and cheerful, too. I used some leftover masoor dal (red lentils) from the other day, instead of the toor dal in the recipe.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

This recipe was originally from a Gold Medal Flour cookbook from 1979. However, it's very close to the Toll House Chocolate Chip Pan Cookie (cookie bars) recipe I found online. I did use oil rather than butter, and about half as much (which I've found you can do, when you use oil instead of butter in baking, in many cases).

Very Best Baking by Nestle Website, Original Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Pan Cookie 

Potato-Zucchini Pancakes

Made from leftover zucchini, shredded for the moong dal cheela aka pesarattu of the other day, and some frozen shredded potatoes. I added an egg, some salt, some rice flour, and a little onion powder. I defrosted the potato in the microwave, and it's possible that after doing that, I didn't really need the egg to bind it. (In case anyone wants to make it for a vegan friend). Fried in a little oil in a nonstick pan. I had it with some organic whole-milk yogurt, which is creamy and can stand in for sour cream.

My grandma used to call something like this, "cold-potato pancakes," as raw potatoes are shredded (she always did it by hand!) and used. These are supposed to be best right after being made. You can also make "warm-potato pancakes," with mashed potatoes mixed with chopped and steamed veggies. Those are supposed to be better as leftovers.

Biscuits with Wild-Blueberry Spread

Now for something a little sweeter! Wild-blueberry spread on biscuits, with organic whole-milk yogurt. The yogurt is fairly creamy, so when I put a little yogurt on the biscuit, it tastes like blueberries and cream. The biscuits are from a recipe in Lauren Chattman's Mom's Big Book of Baking, except that I used oil in place of butter.

Masoor Dal (Red Lentils) 

The recipe is from Julie Sahni, who says, in her Classic Indian Vegetarian & Grain Cooking, that this is a Bihari style of dal (legume dish). It's fairly simple, with seasonings of turmeric, salt, oil, cumin seeds, fresh ginger, lemon juice, and cilantro. I left out the chilies, and also soaked the lentils for an hour or two before cooking, although soaking isn't necessary for these. An immersion blender helped make the dal smooth and creamy.

Basmati Rice with Zucchini

I made this to accompany the moong dal cheela of the previous photo. I heated some olive oil, then lightly fried the grains of basmati rice in the oil, before adding the chopped zucchini, water, and salt. That's all, but I always think it tastes creamy and warm and comforting like that.

Zucchini & Whole Green Moong Dal Cheela 

(Indian savory griddlecakes with whole green moong dal, 

like pesarattu). 

This recipe is from Archana's Kitchen (Instagram, 15 June 2016; website, 31 Jan. 2016) although the original includes lauki, rather than zucchini. I soaked the dal overnight, and left out the chilies.

I found it had a "meaty" taste, which probably is from the heartiness of the dal. If someone has to eat less meat for health reasons but misses it, perhaps this could be a good substitute to eat at breakfast or in a sandwich? If you use a nonstick pan and not too much oil, it should be really healthy. 

Archana's Kitchen Website, Lauki & Whole Green Moong Dal Cheela 

Archana's Kitchen Facebook

Warm Apple Pie Bread 

This recipe is from Spend with Pennies, a different view. This apple pie bread was so amazing. It was just what I hoped apple pie bread would be, from the name. Yum! 

Spend with Pennies Facebook 

Spend with Pennies Website, Warm Apple Pie Bread

Warm Apple Pie Bread

This recipe is from Spend with Pennies. As I can't have butter, I used oil, instead, in the recipe: 1/2-cup of oil, because I also left out the applesauce. I used the extra chopped apples from the previous day's strudel, including their liquid, so I thought the applesauce might make the bread too wet. It smelled so good when I took it out of the oven, and the taste was just what I'd hoped for, from the recipe title. Yum! 

Spend with Pennies Facebook 

Spend with Pennies Website, Warm Apple Pie Bread 

Dal Parathas

These were made according to Chawla's Kitchen method of making the dough for this Indian flat griddlebread. It's a good way to use up leftover dal (legumes), and this contained the last of some lentil soup that I'd gotten at the supermarket deli. I'd never made it before this, but now I know it's always an option! Made with oil, so it's vegan. 

Chawla's Kitchen YouTube, Punjabi Dal Paratha, Dal Wali Roti

Baked Vegetable Handvo 

This is from the recipe of Magic of Indian Rasoi. It uses handvo mix, which is convenient. I used mashed canned baby carrots for the veggies. (I saved the carrot water from the can, and used it in the soup whose photo I posted earlier.) I added all the tempering (mustard seeds briefly fried in oil) to the batter and mixed it in, and used baking soda rather than ENO to lighten it. 

The most difficult part was remembering the night before to mix up the batter base, to ferment for several hours overnight. After that, it was fairly simple. It turned out quite yummy! 

Magic of Indian Rasoi Website, Baked Mix Vegetable Handvo Recipe 

Magic of Indian Rasoi YouTube, Baked Vegetable Handvo Recipe (in Hindi)

Homemade Vegetable Noodle Soup

The noodles are chuka soba, which seem to me like plain ramen without the flavor packet, as they cook in 3 minutes. The vegetables are frozen "spring blend" vegetable mix: zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli. The soup also contains a little olive oil and some seasonings: salt, dried Italian herbs blend, dried basil, and ground versions of cumin, coriander, and ginger. Not too spicy. I also added a couple of teaspoons of ground cashews for protein, which just blend in to the soup.

I have to thoroughly cook all veggies, and I've found that a good way to do that and still make sure the veggies taste good, is to make a soup of them!

Apple Strudel

Apples were mixed with lemon juice, brown & confectioner's sugars, and cinnamon. Pastry was from Moroccan Delight's Magic/Golden Pastry ("best dough ever" ) (May 2015 YT video), which they say can be used in recipes instead of puff pastry. What better way to try it out than with strudel?

I didn't worry this time about making any layers with the dough, just rolled it out, brushed it with some oil, and then rolled the filling, with some breadcrumbs, in it. Brushed the outside with oil, and baked it 30-40 minutes at 375 F until golden brown. I liked it better after a day or so in the fridge. A little confectioner's sugar sprinkled over it added the right amount of sweetness. 

Moroccan Delight Website, The magic/golden pastry the best dough ever

Moroccan Delight YouTube, The magic/golden pastry the best dough ever

Pudlas (Chickpea-Flour Griddlecakes)

The recipe is from Meera Sodha's Made in India, which contains several Gujarati recipes from India's west coast. A little baking powder in the recipe made these lighter. I have heard that pudlas tend to be thicker and more like pancakes, while the similar cheelas are thinner like crepes. 

Some helpful websites (whose recipes I haven't tried yet):

What is pudla & cheela? 

Pudla recipe: Besan chilla with vegetables 

Cheela | Pudla | My Style