Sesame Seed - Peanut Laddu

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From an uninitiated Indian perspective, the word "sweets" stand for all culinary things that are obviously sweet and are from the subcontinent. In a traditional sense, none of the baked goods or the western desserts usually fall under the category and they are never a part of a religious feast. For the second day of BM under the theme of desserts, I preferred to go with an Indian sweet.

Among the myriad varieties of Indian sweets - laddus, kheer / halwa and burfis entice me more and so thought of posting a nutritious and super quick laddu today. Made with healthy ingredients, these provide a quick boost of energy to little ones besides being yummy and easy ones to prepare.

Ingredients: (Make 10 laddus)
1/2 cup roasted, skinned peanuts
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
1/4 cup grated dried coconut /copra
1 cup jaggery powder

Method:
* Grind coarsely all the ingredients together in a food processor or a blender. 
* Collect the mixture in your right hand fist as much as it holds and shape it into a ball. Repeat the step with the remaining mixture.
* Store the laddus in an airtight container. Refrigerate only if needed to store for longer period. Or else leave them on the counter.



Check what other marathoners of BM#23 are cooking, here.

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VeggiePlatter Turns 6

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I guess "double birthday and a triple chocolate cake" would have been an apt title for this post. :)

The idea of a recipe journal took the form of VeggiePlatter, this month six years ago. This online culinary journey of mine has been fun so far, earning friends along the way as an added bonus. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my readers/fellow bloggers who invest their time going through this blog & leave comments and to those strangers who email me appreciating my work. Thank you. :))

And BTW, yours truly, you know who celebrated her birthday yesterday. Hope I turned wiser as well along getting older. :) My daughter who is turning into a chocoholic wanted me to bake a chocolate cake on the occasion. Though I have a chocolate cake recipe, I used the chocolate muffins recipe for the cake as we had really liked it earlier and also I had to get rid of some overripe bananas. I used store bought Pillsbury chocolate fudge frosting and some decors upon my daughter's insistence. My daughter enjoyed it meaning the recipe was a hit. It is a flavorful cake and the texture is somewhere between fluffy and dense.



I just doubled the recipe I used for the muffins but again mentioning the ingredients anyway.
  Ingredients: 1/4 cup milk + 1 tsp apple cider vinegar 1&1/2 cups all purpose flour 1/4 cup cocoa powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate morsels 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 & 1/3 cup mashed bananas 5 Tbsp melted butter / oil 1/2 pound chocolate frosting 1 Tbsp cake sprinkles (optional)     Method: 1. Add vinegar to the milk which is at room temperature. Leave aside for five minutes. 2. Preheat the oven at 350 deg F. Grease a cake pan. 3. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder. 4. Add milk-vinegar mixture, vanilla and butter to a bowl and mix well. Add mashed bananas, sugar and combine well. 5. Now add the sifted dry ingredients from step 2 to the wet ingredients in step 3. Mix well and stir in the chocolate chips. 6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean. 7. Cool the cake and remove from the cake pan. 8. Apply the frosting and decorate if desired.   Check what other marathoners of BM#23 are cooking, here.   Comments

Vietnamese-Style Lettuce Cups

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For our last meal of 2012, I chose these gorgeous Vietnamese-Style Lettuce Cups.  There are football bowl games to be watched, a fire to be snuggled up to, and the sounds of all the neighbor kids popping fireworks to listen to... so something we can sit in front of the television and eat while we cheer on our favorite team seemed to fit the bill.  Not to mention - these are full of veggies and and create a flavor explosion in your palate!My husband's opinion?  "I'm very impressed."  (That's quite an accomplishment, because we all know that this is not the typical football watching fare!) 
Click for Printable RecipeThis would easily serve 4 as an appetizer, but for two adults watching football... the two of us ate all of it!  I found a similar recipe in Redbook Magazine recently, but changed it up in several ways to suit our tastes.

Ingredients:

• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 1/2 Tbsp ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, finely minced
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 large carrot, peeled and grated
• 1 shallot, finely chopped 
• zest of 2 limes 
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 head of Butter or Bibb lettuce leaves
• 2-3 radishes, washed and sliced super thin
• Fresh cilantro
• Fresh lime wedges 

Sauce:

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced 

Method:

• I recommend you have everything prepped and ready, because this dish goes really quickly once you start.  So begin by peeling, chopping, grating, squeezing, etc., as indicated above.
• In a small bowl, combine the garlic, ginger, and jalapeno pepper.
• In a large wok (or large skillet), heat the oil over fairly high heat.  
• Add the garlic mixture and stir-fry about a minute.
• Add the pork, carrots, and shallots; and cook, stirring constantly, about 4 minutes until the pork begins to brown and is no longer pink.
• To the meat mixture, add the lime zest, fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, and sesame oil and cook for another 3 - 4 minutes.
• Remove from heat; taste and adjust the seasonings as necessary.
• Spoon the warm pork mixture into lettuce cups; sprinkle with radishes and cilantro.  Serve with lime wedges and dipping sauce.

Step-by-Step:

1. Prep  -
In a small bowl, combine the garlic, ginger, and jalapeno pepper.

2 cloves of garlic, finely minced

1 1/2 Tbsp ginger, peeled and finely minced

1 jalapeno, minced finely.

Note - I removed the ribs and seeds to lessen the heat.  For a bigger kick, leave them in.

1 large carrot, peeled and grated

2-3 radishes, washed and sliced super thin

You can just about see my fingers through the radishes!  Don't be afraid of the radishes.  Left large, they can be strong, but sliced this thinly, they give you a beautiful color contrast, some crunch, and just a hint of spicy.  They help created the balance of the dish.

1 large shallot, minced fine

1 - 2 green onions, sliced really thin

2. Cook -
In a large wok (or large skillet), heat the oil over fairly high heat. 

1 Tbsp canola oil (you could also use Peanut oil)

Add the garlic mixture and stir-fry about a minute.

2 cloves garlic, 1 jalapeno, 1 1/2 Tbsp ginger

Add the pork, carrots, and shallots; and cook, stirring constantly, about 4 minutes until the pork begins to brown and is no longer pink.

1 lb ground pork

1 large grated carrot

1 large shallot, minced

2 green onions, thinly sliced

To the meat mixture, add the lime zest, fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, and sesame oil and cook for another 3 - 4 minutes.

2-3 tsp lime zest

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice

1/4 cup fish sauce (available at any Asian market)

1 tsp sesame oil

1 - 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar

3. Make the dipping sauce -
Just combine all the dip ingredients.

1/3 cup soy sauce

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1/3 cup rice wine vinegar

1 tsp sesame oil

2 green onions, finely sliced

4. Serve!
Spoon the meat mixture into lettuce cups (this is Butter lettuce). Top with thinly sliced radishes and fresh cilantro.  Serve with lime wedges to squeeze over the top.  Give everyone a little bowl of dipping sauce, or have one communal bowl!

Can't get enough easy Asian-influenced recipes?  Here are some more!

• Crock Pot Beef and Broccoli 
• Sesame Shrimp and Asparagus Stir-Fry 
• Spicy Fried Cauliflower Bites 
• Steamed Asian Dumplings 
• Thai Chicken with Peanut Curry Sauce and Coconut Rice 
• Toasted Sesame and Ginger Chicken Kabobs 

 
 

Grown Up Pizza Wraps

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So over the holiday, I have watched as the kids pulled out Pizza Rolls from the freezer and popped them into the oven for a quick lunch or snack.  Who is with me in thinking that NO grown up should be allowed anywhere near them?!  For one thing, they are fried before they get to you, full of fat, and anything that you need to eat a dozen at a time of to get full should probably be a red flag to leave it alone!
Fast forward to today... an alone day with no kiddos home.  After puttering around the house and going for a nice walk, all of a sudden it was pretty much lunchtime!  It's freezing outside right now, so a cold sandwich just wasn't going to cut it today.
I got the idea of making a grown-up pizza roll out of left over bits of things in the fridge:  left over tortillas, low fat turkey pepperoni, lean ham and turkey from the deli, low fat mozzarella string cheese, tomatoes, some dried basil, and of course pizza sauce that the kids were gracious enough to leave.

Let's just say that it was FABULOUS!!!  A crunchy outer shell (without frying), lots of lean protein in there to keep me full, enough cheese and tomatoes to make me happy, and enough sauce to feel like pizza... all made out of low fat ingredients.  Score!! 
Ingredients:

• flour tortillas (white or wheat)
• pizza sauce
• low fat turkey pepperoni
• lean deli turkey
• lean deli ham
• low fat mozzarella string cheese
• fresh tomato slices
• dried basil

Method:Layer all the ingredients (or choose some of your own) in a flour tortilla:  sauce, cheese, meat, tomato, seasoning.  Roll up.  (You can secure with toothpicks if you'd like.)  Spray with butter flavored cooking spray and grill on all sides in a grill pan or griddle until crispy and brown.  Serve with extra warm pizza sauce for dipping. 
Step-by-Step:To your tortilla, start by adding some pizza sauce, cut up (or shredded) cheese, and the pepperoni.  Don't go all the way to the edges.

Add the sliced tomato and basil.
Then your lean deli meats....
Starting with the sides, then the edge closest to you, roll them up.
Spray lightly with cooking spray (I used a butter flavored one) and put them into a hot grill pan, starting with the seam side down to "seal" them. 
Use something heavy (maybe even another pan) to press them down while cooking.
Turn them over when they are wonderfully brown on the bottom.  Then I held them on the sides for a bit because I think the grill marks are so pretty on them.
The combination of hot grill and the cooking spray make the "shell" of this wrap wonderfully crispy.  The sauce and filling is hot and best of all - the cheese is gooey!  (Oh I DO have a love affair with gooey cheese!  Sure is a good thing I used the low fat kind!)

Serve these with some warm pizza sauce to dip them in if you'd like.  And now you don't have to be so jealous of the kids eating pizza rolls any more.  Trust me... these are BETTER!!!!

Looking for more lunch ideas?

• Cranberry Cherry Chicken Wrap
• Cajun Chicken Salad
• Prosciutto and Spinach Pinwheels (and Pepperoni with Cheese for the kiddos)
• Toasted Chicken Pesto Flatbread Sandwiches
• Vietnamese-Style Lettuce Cups
• Cranberry Pecan Chopped Autumn Salad
• Tarragon Chicken Salad with Cranberries and Pecans
• Creamy Grape Salad
• Homemade Hot Pockets
• Meatball Stuffed Buns