Spinach Cheddar Muffins - Home Baker's Challenge # 5

This month's challenge for Home Bakers Challenge was announced by Shama Of Easy 2 Cook Recipes. She gave us six choices - vegetable muffins, banana coconut crumps, banana nut muffins, honey drizzled semolina cake, pumpkin coffee cake and spinach cheddar muffins.

I always wanted to bake a savory muffin. But somehow kept delaying it. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to do so. And I was really excited to try the spinach cheddar muffins.

I love the taste of spinach, color, flavor and nutritional value. These are very simple to bake muffins which are quite tasty and healthy too. I made slight changes to the original recipe as it was very mild and also because I used fresh spinach instead of frozen. I made these muffins on a Sunday morning for breakfast and immediately fell in love with these delicious muffins. My hubby declared that I should these muffins at least once a month. 

Ingredients:-

• 2 eggs
• 1 onion (finely chopped) 
• 1¼ cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup spinach (finely chopped) 
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup cheddar cheese (shredded)
• 3 tbsp butter
• 2 tsp baking pdr
• 1 tsp red chilli pdr  
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt

Method:-

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease the muffin cups.
• Heat butter in a wok and add onion. Saute for a minute. Add spinach and cook till water evaporates. Keep aside to cool.
• Sieve altogether flour, red chilli pdr, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Keep aside.
• In a mixing bowl, beat eggs. Add milk and flour alternately and keep on beating.
• Add cheddar cheese and spinach and beat until evenly blended.  
• Spoon about 2 tablespoons into each muffin cup. 
• Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 25 - 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

 Notes:-

• You may use ½ cup frozen spinach (thawed, drained and squeezed dry) 
• You may also use cottage cheese instead of cheddar cheese or half cottage and half cheddar cheese as you like.

Happy Baking!!! 

Cheesy Chicken Kebabs

I always make these kebabs and freeze them in an airtight box once or sometimes twice a month. Whenever I'm usually busy or tied up with some work, these kebabs come as a huge life-saver, just like instant food can be. These can also come handy when you have unexpected or unannounced guests at home. If you have them ready in the freezer, just fry them and they are ready to be served. These kebabs are delicious and my all-time favorite too.

Ingredients:-

• ½ kg boneless chicken 
• 200 gms cheese (shredded)
• ½ cup all purpose flour / maida
• 3 tbsp coriander leaves (chopped)
• 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• 1 tsp dry red chillies (crushed)
• 1 tsp black pepper powder
• 7-8 green chillies (ground)
• 4-5 slices bread (soaked in water & squeezed the extra water)
• 2 onion (ground)
• salt to taste
• eggs (whisked)
• breadcrumbs
• oil for frying

Method:-

• Mix chicken, cheese, coriander leaves, dry red chillies, ginger-garlic paste, black pepper powder, green chillies, onion and salt and grind till well blended.
• Add maida and soaked bread and mix well.
• Grease your hands lightly with oil.
• Take small balls and shape them in kebabs.
• Heat oil in a pan. 
• Dip in whisked eggs.
• Roll the kebabs in breadcrumbs.
• Deep fry till golden brown.
• Serve as a starter or snack with tomato sauce.

Notes:-

• You may freeze the cutlets in an airtight box after rolling them in bread crumbs and fry them later when needed.
• If the mixture is pasty and unable to form shape, add little maida to it to get proper consistency.

Happy Cooking!!

Sending this entry to:- Flavors of Cuisines - Middle Eastern

Vermicelli With Poached Eggs

Seviyan as we call this at home is quite repeatedly used for breakfast at my home. I learnt this recipe from my Mother-in-law after marriage and since then it has become one of my favourite dishes. Sometimes I prepare this as a brunch on lazy Sunday mornings. It is simple, easy to prepare yet filling.

Ingredients :-

• 200 gms vermicelli
• 2 onions (finely chopped)
• 3 tomatoes (finely chopped)
• 2 green chillies (finely chopped)
• Few coriander leaves (finely chopped)
• 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste 
• ¼ tsp turmeric pdr
• 4 eggs
• salt to taste

Method :- 

•  Heat the oil in a wok.
• Add onions  and green chillies. Fry till transparent. 
• Add the garlic-ginger paste, salt, turmeric pdr and tomatoes.
• Add 2 glass of water and let it boil.
• Add in vermicelli and mix well.
• When water is about to dry, break in each eggs seperately and cover with cooked vermicelli.
• Cover on slow flame till well cooked and eggs are done.
• Garnish with coriander leaves.

Notes :-

• For vegetarians, you may omit eggs and add in chopped vegetables after the tomatoes are cooked
• You may also add in kheema / boiled chicken after the tomatoes are cooked.
•  Remove the eggs carefully so that they do not mix with the seviyan.

Happy Cooking!! 

Besan Ki Roti

Besan ki roti, also known as Missi roti is  a popular dish of Rajasthan. It's been a long time since I made besan ki roti and was really craving to have some. So, I decided to make it for breakfast today. It is quite healthy and tastes great. It can be made for kids lunchbox too.

Ingredients :- 

• 2 cups gram flour / besan
• 1 cup wheat flour
• 1 spring onion (finely chopped)
• 2 green chillies (finely chopped) - optional
• 2-3 tbsp olive oil
• ½ tsp crushed red chillies
• ½ tsp crushed coriander seeds
• ½ tsp cumin seeds
• salt to taste
• water (to knead dough)
• butter / ghee (to smear on cooked paratha)

Method:-

• Add the gram flour, wheat flour, crushed red chillies, crushed coriander seeds, cumin seeds, green chillies, spring onion and salt in a bowl. Mix well.
• Add olive oil and mix again. 
• Now, add water to make a stiff dough. (Be careful to add little water at a time and not use too much water otherwise the dough will become too sticky as gram flour absorbs water faster than wheat flour.)
• Make small balls of the dough and roll them into rotis sprinkling some flour in between if the roti sticks too much while rolling.
• Heat a tawa and fry the paratha's flipping on both sides till cooked.
• Smear with ghee / butter. 
• Serve hot with pickle or  chutney of your choice.

Notes:-

•  You may use a handful of finely chopped fenugreek leaves or onion instead of spring onions.
• If the dough gets too sticky. Mix a little wheat flour to make it smoot
• Always keep lefty-over besan rotis wrapped up in cling wrap as they become dry soon.  

Happy Cooking!!