How To Make Mayonnaise At Home?

The Truth About Superfoods

One of the trendiest terms in the global food market and perhaps soon to reach the Indian market is #superfoods

First thing we all should know about #superfoods is that it is a marketing term not a scientific term. #foodmantra

Foods, high in nutrient value, vitamins n minerals such as brocolli, blueberry and oily fish like tuna n salmon are #superfoods#foodmantra

These foods are called #superfoods due to a high nutrient value, however,it has more to do with marketing than science #foodmantra

The term #superfoods was first used in the 1990s,spinach has gained a reputation as superfood being rich in vitamins n minerals#foodmantra

Also associated with easy absorption n high nutritive value. Carrot, olive oil, tea, watercress are often termed as #superfoods#foodmantra

The question, Is tea making you younger? #superfoods #foodmantra

The answer, Yes and No, as reported by the Independent UK, tea is loaded with anti-oxidants. #superfoods #foodmantra

Tea research also proves that tea reduces risk of cancer n heart disease but not with milk and especially not sugar #superfoods#foodmantra

Tea quenches thirst, is loaded with anti-oxidants & is delicious.Antioxidants are great for skin n cleanse the body#foodmantra #superfoods

Instead getting swayed by marketing terms like #superfoods simply use the 5 a day logic for fruits n vegetables for well being#foodmantra

Top 10 #superfoods include Apples, Salmon, Tea, Yogurt, WholegrainSeededBread, OliveOil, BakedBeans, Bananas, BrazilNuts, Broccoli #foodmantra

My reference articles: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/the-big-question-what-are-superfoods-and-are-they-really-so-good-for-our-health-436529.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-369042/The-10-super-foods.html

How To Make Eggless (Besan) Mayonnaise At Home From Scratch

This mayonnaise is made with cooked gram flour or besan in place of egg. This is a great recipe substitute for regular mayonnaise, for all those people who don’t eat egg.

To make Besan Mayo, You will need:

Oil (vegetable, olive or even cooked mustard oil) ¼ cup

Salt to taste

White Pepper powder to taste

Lemon Juice of 1 lemon

Mustard Sauce 1 teaspoon

Gram Flour or besan 1 tablespoon

Water 2 tablespoons

To Make Mayonnaise:

In a small pan, take 1 tablespoon besan, and add in 2 tablespoons of water and mix well.

Cook this mixture over medium heat, and mix thoroughly until the besan is fully cooked. Turn of the heat and mix again.

Once the mixture has thickened, pop it into a bowl.

Now add in, salt, white pepper, juice of 1 lemon, 1 teaspoon mustard sauce and whisk the mixture vigorously. Continue mixing for a few minutes to make it lump free. (You can also use an electric beater)

To make the mixture smooth, you can also pass it through a sieve.

Pop this smooth, lump free mixture back into a bowl. Now, start adding in 1 tablespoon of oil at time and continue mixing vigorously. Don’t add excess oil to the mixture, if you feel that the oil is not getting absorbed, you can stop adding in any more oil. The mixing should be vigorous so that the besan and oil mix together properly.

1 tablespoon of besan mixture will easily incorporate about ¼ cup of oil.

You can store this fresh eggless mayonnaise in the refrigerator for a week upto 10 days.

Find Video Below on Recipe for Besan (Eggless) Mayonnaise made at Home from scratch.

4 Steps to Making Tiramisu with Homemade Cheese!

This is my version of the classic Italian dessert, made with ingredients that are easily available in the Indian supermarket.

Don’t you feel disappointed when the Chef on TV shows us how to make those amazing desserts, cause you can’t actually make them? Take Tiramisu for example, in India, mascarpone cheese or Lady fingers (Savioardini Biscuits) are not easily available. Even if you do manage to find mascarpone cheese in one corner of the city, it is expensive. This is simple version of Tiramisu made with homemade cheese and other readily available ingredients.

Ingredients

Serves 6

Amul Cream 300 ml (approximately 1 ½ Amul Cream 200ml Tetrapack)

Eggs 3, separated

Sugar 1 ½ + ½ tablespoon

Cheese Spread 2 tablespoons

Whipping Cream ¾ cup (Use heavy cream with a tablespoon of powdered sugar and vanilla essence, if whipping cream in unavailable)

Chocolate Muffins 6nos. (Use 200g chocolate slices)

Coffee 1 ½ tablespoons

Brandy 2 tablespoons (Optional)

Cocoa powder 1 tablespoon

Method:

Step 1

Making the Cheese

You need:

Amul Cream 300ml

Lemon Juice 1 tablespoon

Muslin Cloth (MalMal)

Heat 300ml Amul cream in a pan and add one tablespoon lemon juice to it. Stir, cook the cream for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and put the cream onto a muslin cloth. Hang the curdled cream in the muslin cloth and let it stand for 30 minutes. This cheese will be used to make the Tiramisu.

Step 2

Making the Sabayon

You Need:

Egg yolks 3

Sugar 1 ½ tablespoons

Wide Bowl full of warm water

In an empty steel bowl add in the egg yolks and the sugar. Keep the steel bowl over the bowl full of warm water and whisk the mixture till is thick, dropping consistency. The mixture should coat a wooden spoon.

Step 3

Incorporating, cheese, Egg whites and Cream

You need:

Homemade Cheese

Cheese Spread 2 tablespoons

Egg White 3

Whipping Cream ¾ cup

Add in the homemade cheese and the cheese spread into the sabayon (egg mixture) and whisk for 2 minutes. Once the mixture is smooth, shiny and lump free, keep it aside.

Note: Cheese spread helps you get that smooth, shiny texture and the right consistency for tiramisu. In small quantities, it does not disturb the taste of the dessert.

Add in the egg whites into an empty steel bowl and whisk while holding over warm water until it starts forming soft peaks.

Fold the eggs gently into the cheese mixture, mixing by ling the sides and folding in, so that you don’t lose the volume.

Whip up the cream to medium peak and fold it into the mixture. Mix by ling the spatula along the sides and then folding it in.

Note: Whipping cream (non dairy) available in supermarkets has a long shelf life. You can use a small account and freeze it for several months upto 1 year.

Step 4

Assembling the Tiramisu

You Need:

Chocolate Cake cut into Thick slices (to present in glasses) or fingers (to present in a bowl)

Coffee mixed with ½ tablespoon sugar and brandy (or few drops of water)

Tiramisu Mixture

Cocoa Powder with a pinch of coffee

Line the glass with a thick slice of chocolate cake.

Sprinkle ½ teaspoon of the coffee mixture on it. Add in one big round spoonful of tiramisu mixture.

Make 3 layers like that. The top layer should be a spoonful of tiramisu mixture. Even it on top with wet fingers.

Put some cocoa powder with a pinch of coffee in a sieve, sprinkle lightly on the top layer.

Serve Cold.

Cheating Eating; 6 Ways to Cheating Your Tongue Into Delicious, Lean Food

Can’t stop eating and always craving for something yummy? Then you and me are just the same. I came up with ‘Trick’ Eating, so I can have something yummy without having to land a double chin soon. Ad commercials, newspapers and food posters on my way to work, make me really hungry. Loud growling stomach, embarrassing me in front of other shoppers at the supermarket! ‘Look at your own chubby face, Lady!’ Isn’t it always the story, hungry at the supermarket, when work gets boring or on Sunday seated in front of the television? I realised that it is the great flavours that I crave. I came up with a few tricks of my own to conquer my craving.

1. Soup Dinner. Liquid food, can be full of flavour and without having to compromise on meal portions or starving yourself, you can have some great meals, with minimum carbohydrates in the evening. (We all know that evening carbs are not good for us!) You can try out my Tom Yam Kai recipe. It is the flavour or ginger, lemongrass, chilli in a flavourful stock with mushrooms and chicken or tofu if you are vegetarian. It is just like drinking water, yet so flavourful, lean with pieces of chicken and veggies for the nutrition bit. You can also have dal or vegetable curry as soup without the rice or roti in the evening. http://foodietryingstein.blogspot.in/2012/06/cheating-eating-1-soup-dinnerslean-and.html
2. Cheat Creamy Textures. You and I are both big fans of mayonnaise and sour cream. Dips or sandwich spread or for a salad dressing, you can’t do without that creaminess. Whip up some fresh hung curd, but drink the whey don’t throw it away! Use this thick, creamy yogurt by flavouring it with herbs and spices. It can be used as spreads, dips and salad dressing.
3. Curry Wise. Indian food uses a whole lot of fried onion and cashew paste and other rich ingredients for curries. Use minimum oil and cook the meats or vegetables on low heat so that they cook in their own juices. High heat dries the meats or vegetables to which you end up adding more oil. Go for thin flavoured curries, with spices without using fried onion or cashew to thicken. You can try out my Gawti Chicken recipe, which is a flavourful curry without fried onion or cashew paste.http://foodietryingstein.blogspot.in/2012/05/no-blender-gauti-chicken-curry.html
4. Red Instead of White. When eating pasta or other European dishes, go for the options with tomato sauce over white sauce. Tomato sauce flavoured with fresh basil, is a winner. Most lean sauces are beautifully flavoured with herbs and leave out the excess cream and flour involved in making white sauce based pastas. Spaghetti in tomato sauce is my favourite. Here is the recipe, try it out!http://foodietryingstein.blogspot.in/2011/06/i-am-so-hungry-since-i-saw-it-on-tv-and.html
5. Grill, Bake and Roast. Don’t Fry. Vegetables or meat, while cooking, use the least oily option. Chicken skin can be made crispy in its own skin if you pop it in the oven instead of frying. Marinated pieces of chicken can be roasted or grilled instead of frying before you add it into the curry. In Ayurvedic cooking I learnt, oil enhances the flavour of the spices but heat is the medium in which actually cooks it. Did you know, you could add in rai and curry patta to sambhar without adding oil too? A teaspoon of oil is enough for flavour, on low heat the veggies won’t burn or you can steam veggies before adding the tadka, so they are already cooked without the oil.
6. Choose your bread wisely. Opt for Phulkas and chapattis over parathas and puris. I am a big fan of tandoori rotis and kulchas too, they are delicious with minimum oil or butter! Also, go for gobi, palak stuffing in breads over potato and paneer.

Selective eating, doesn’t sound so hard, does it? I’ve always been told that early, low carb dinners are good. I am working on it. As long as the food fills me up, I good with a beautifully flavoured grilled chicken with a side of vegetables with a just a spoonful of great sauce!

Cheating Eating #1 Soup Dinners;Lean and Clear Chicken Soup (Tom Yam Chicken)

Can’t stop eating and always craving for something yummy? Then you and me are just the same. I came up with ‘Trick’ Eating, so I can have something yummy without having to land a double chin soon. Soup Dinners or Liquid food, can be full of flavour and without having to compromise on meal portions or starving yourself, you can have some great meals, with minimum carbohydrates in the evening. (We all know that evening carbs are not good for us!) You can try out my Tom Yam Kai recipe. It has the flavour of ginger, lemongrass, chilli in a flavourful stock with mushrooms and chicken or tofu if you are vegetarian. It is just like drinking water, yet so flavourful, lean with pieces of chicken and veggies for the nutrition bit. You can also have dal or vegetable curry as soup without the rice or roti in the evening.

Lean and Clear Chicken Soup (My Version of Tom Yam Kai)

A lean and clear soup made of chicken and mushrooms, flavored with ginger and lemongrass.

Serves 2

Ingredients

Chicken Wings 2 pieces

Chicken bones 4-5 pieces (leftover carcass or neck pieces)

Ginger1 ½ inch piece, peeled and finely chopped

Lemongrass, stalks only 4-5, chopped

Mushrooms, button 8-9, halved

Dried Red Chili 2-3, chopped

Soya Sauce 2 tablespoons

Salt to taste

Blackpepper, crushed a pinch

Method:

Clean and wash the chicken wings and bones under cold running water.

In a heavy bottom saucepan, add in the bones and fill the pan with cold water, an inch above the chicken pieces. Cook on high heat and bring the water to a boil and then strain out the impurities on top of the cooking liquid through a muslin cloth.

Add in the chicken pieces back into the strained stock in a saucepan. Return the saucepan to low heat.

Add in mushrooms, ginger, lemon grass and salt. Allow the soup cooking liquid to simmer for 30 minutes.

Add red chili, soya sauce and black pepper to the soup. Check for seasoning and simmer for 10 more minutes.

Remove the chicken pieces. De-skin the wings and shred the chicken to be used as garnish.

Serve Hot and Garnish with shredded chicken.