Eggless Fudge Brownies with Nuts

I recently joined Gayathri's Baking Eggless group. She gives a dish that has eggs and wants the group to come up with an eggless version of the same. This month, she picked Joy the Baker's Extra Nutty Dark Chocolate Brownies recipe that has 3 eggs and asked us to come up with an eggless version.
Egg replacer powder (I use Bob's Red Mill brand) is my go-to substitute for eggs and I always keep a packet of it in my fridge. But that usually works only for recipes with 2 eggs. Any more eggs, I don't think the vegetarian option gives the desired results in the baked goods. Ground Flax seeds (Flax see meal) can also be substituted instead of the egg replacer powder.

So for this recipe with 3 eggs, I substituted 2 of the eggs with the egg replacer powder and for the last egg, I used 1½tbsp of sour cream. The resulting brownies tasted very close to the real thing, they were fudgey and delicious. I shared few of the brownies with couple of blogger friends and one of them said she couldn't stop eating them because they were so fudgy and yummy :-)
One thing to note about baking brownies in general is that to remove the pan from the oven when the top does not look glossy anymore -- there might be a few wet crumbs sticking to the toothpick, but resist the urge to bake it longer because that might lead to dried out and crumbly brownies.

Recipe adapted from Joy the Baker:

Ingredients:

Unsalted Butter - ½cup (1stick)

Dark Chocolate - 5oz., chopped

Unsweetened chocolate - 2oz., chopped

Unsweetened Cocoa powder - 

All purpose flour - 1cup

Baking Soda - ¼tsp
Coarse Sea Salt - ½tsp
Light Brown Sugar - 1¼cups, packed
Egg replacer - 2tbsp whisked in 6tbsp water
Sour Cream - 1½tbsp
Vanilla extract - 2tsp
Pecans - 3tbsp, halved
Walnuts - 3tbsp, chopped

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 8" square baking pan with cooking spray and line it with parchment paper. Lightly grease the parchment too.
• In a microwave safe bowl, combine butter and the chocolate. Microwave the mixture 30 seconds at a time, stirring until glossy and completely melted. Stir in cocoa powder and mix well to combine.
• Whisk egg replacer mixture, sour cream and brown sugar in a mixing bowl until thoroughly combined. Whisk in vanilla extract.
• Add the chocolate mixture and stir to combine.
• Next add salt, baking soda and flour. Mix well to combine all the ingredients, spoon into the prepared pan. Top with the nuts.
• Bake for 30~35 minutes until the brownies are slightly puffed, the nuts are golden brown and the top is no longer glossy.
• Remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack before slicing.

Purnam Boorelu

I kept away from making traditional Indian dishes for a long time, but recently I've realized that it is important to learn our traditional dishes, not just for me, but more for the kids. I want them to know more about our traditions and our dishes too. So I've started bugging my mom to help me out with the recipes.

I made these purnam boorelu for Ugadi last week. Purnam boorelu are very common during festivals, and weddings. I have always shied away from making these because making the purnam is a little tricky. I made a few years ago and they were a colossal failure because the poornam completely disintegrated when I dipped them into the outer cover batter. My mom makes Poli boorelu that are made in a slightly different way and are more fool-proof.

Banana Avocado Chocolate Pudding using Sunwarrior Protein Powder

I have recently started taking exercising more seriously and started doing P90X exercise routine. My aim is not sculpted abs or major weight loss but to get more flexible and have a toned body. There were some exercises that were very tough in the beginning but have now become little less tough. I still have a long way to go in terms of becoming flexible. But I'm happy that I've started doing some exercise and taking care of myself.
After starting the exercise regime, I have been thinking of adding some more protein in the diet by using protein powder. I was researching on the different protein powders available in the market and lo and behold, Sunwarrior sent me a Starter kit to try.

I was very excited to try the various products in the kit. I made this Avocado, Banana, Chocolate pudding aka ABC pudding using Sunwarrior Vanilla Classic Protein powder. What is nice about this Sunwarrior protein is that it is 100% plant based and provides a complete, balanced array of essential amino-acids. Sunwarrior uses an old-world, low temperature, enzymatic process that includes the whole grain of brown rice, including the germ, endosperm, and bran. This unique process captures a protein that's silky smooth and mixes well and tastes great too.

Sweet Ragi Dosa (Sweet Finger Millet Crepes)

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 4/ Day 2

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes

Dish: Sweet Ragi Dosa from Suganya's recipe here.

For the final day of 'Bookmarked recipes -- Ragi', I made these sweet ragi dosa from Suganya's blog. I made these few years ago and have been wanting to make them again for a while. It took me all this while to make these yummy dosas again.

Ragi flour has a nutty, earthy taste and the combination of ragi and jaggery is a definite hit. These sweet dosas are flavored with a hint of ground cardamom making these taste more like a dessert. They tasted like crepes to me and I almost felt like drizzling chocolate syrup on top, but controlled myself and drizzled some ghee, sprinkled some chopped walnuts on top instead.

Ragi Paniyaram (Ragi Ponganalu)

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 4/ Day 2

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes

Dish: Ragi Paniyaram (Ragi Ponganalu) from Priya's recipe here.

For Day 2 of this week's 'Bookmarked recipes', I found this delicious Ragi Paniyaram recipe on Priya's blog. These paniyaram or ponganalu are made with a combination of ragi flour, leftover idli batter and seasoned with onions, green chilies and cilantro. They taste just like tiny bite size uthappams.
I hardly ever make idlis not because I don't like them, but because making them seems to be such a hassle. I always forget to soak dal and even when I do, the batter refuses to ferment in our very cold, chilly house in winter. No matter what I do (leave the oven door open, keep the batter in a warm oven etc etc), it takes almost forever to ferment. That demotivates me from making idlis.

But the other day, my husband out of nowhere said it's been a while we had idlis. So, I took the leap and made the batter. As expected it took almost 2 days for the batter to ferment and after enjoying the idlis and uthappams, I used the leftover batter to make these ragi paniyarams. Adding ragi flour makes these paniyarams taste earthy and delicious.

Ragi Adai (Finger Millet & Lentil Dosa)

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 4/ Day 1

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes

Dish: Ragi Adai from Valli's recipe here

We are starting the final week of this month's Blogging marathon. Next month is going to be a month long mega marathon with 'Baking' as the theme, so the marathon group is currently busy firing up the ovens and making tons of baked goodies.
My theme for this week is 'Bookmarked Recipes' and I decided to keep it simple this time around. With thousands of bookmarked recipes, it is practically impossible to make just 3, so I picked an ingredient and found 3 recipes from my bookmarks and that made thing simple and less stressful.

Ragi flour is my ingredient and the first dish I made are these Ragi adai from Valli's blog. Adai are almost instant dosas made with a mixture of different lentils. Here ragi flour is used along with lentils and rice.

Tomato Pulihora

Happy Ugadhi/ Gudi Padhwa to all of you who are celebrating the New Year.
Our Ugadhi is today, a day earlier than in India and I was planning for an elaborate festival with my sister's family, but unfortunately it started snowing and the weather dampened all my plans. So it was just our family and I made Ugadhi pachadi, pulihora and godhuma rawa-carrot kesari.
I think South Indians have a knack of making pulihoras or tangy, spicy rice with just about anything. I have tried adding veggies to it like these broccoli, gooseberry, cranberry and gongura. Today's pulihora is on similar lines but with tomato.

My mom gave me the idea for this tomato pulihora after she ate it at one of our relative's house. In this recipe rice is cooked in tomato infused water and then seasoned with the usual pulihora tempering with lots of peanuts, ginger and green chilies.

Pasta with Curried Vegetable Sauce

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 3/ Day 3

Theme: Different Pasta Sauces

Dish: Pasta with Curried Vegetable Sauce

Final day of this week's 'Pasta Sauces'  is an Indian-Italian fusion dish. I was wondering what to make for the 3rd day and then saw this recipe in Tarla Dalal's newsletter in my inbox, so curried vegetable sauce was served for dinner that day.

I think curry powder works well in a lot of dishes, so it's not out of place in this pasta sauce. Also adding lot of veggies makes it colorful and filling too. I used peppers, broccoli and corn along with tomato puree in this dish. A splash of cream or half-n-half is added to make the pasta just a little bit creamy.

Red Pepper & Almonds Pasta Sauce

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 3/ Day 2

Theme: Different Pasta Sauces

Dish: Red Pepper & Almonds Pasta Sauce

I consider myself at least 5 years behind technology especially social media. The only one that I use is Facebook and that is mainly for the blog and sometimes to share pics of the family. I have no clue where to play and how to play on Facebook. So there you have it -- now you know there is no point in sending me that Farmville request because you got it -- I don't know how to play -- Thank you. But if I compare myself with my husband, I am at least 10 years ahead because he has no Facebook account and he thinks I'm snooping around and violating someone's privacy by reading their status update, hehehe :-)
I digress, coming back to the case in point. I recently started using Instagram, even though I've had the account for almost 2~3 years now. What I'm stumped is the hashtags used in Instagram. Most of the time I'm #totallystuck #havenoclue #howtousehashtags. Any tips, tricks and inputs into expanding my #hashtagknowledge would be highly #appreciated :-) Please leave them in the #comments section below. Thank you.

Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower Sauce

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 3/ Day 1

Theme: Different Pasta Sauces

Dish: Roasted Cauliflower Sauce

My theme for this week's Blogging marathon is 'Different Pasta Sauces'. Like most kids, my kids love pasta and I make it at least once a week. I'm always looking for new pasta sauces, so this week I've tried 3 new pasta sauces that I enjoyed quite a bit and have been added to my weekly repetition already.
First up is this creamy and yummy roasted cauliflower pasta. Couple of years ago, cauliflower was the hottest veggie in town (just like kale) and chefs and food bloggers have cooked and posted many many interesting recipes. This roasted cauliflower pasta sauce is inspired from some of those recipes.

Mangalore Banana Buns

For this month's 'Indian Cooking Challenge', we are trying out a sweet & savory banana buns from Mangalore (in Karnataka). But these are not the typical yeast based banana buns or rolls, instead they are deep fried pooris made with a banana base dough.

The dough is quite sticky compared to regular poori dough and then dough is set aside to rest for at least 3~4 hours or even overnight. I was initially skeptical how these pooris would taste with the banana in it. I thought they would have a very sweet banana flavor, but I was wrong. The banana flavor is very mild and with the addition of cumin seeds, they taste more savory than sweet. Banana makes the pooris soft and fluffy.

Oats Rava Laddoo

Traditional Rava laddoo gets a slightly healthy makeover with the addition of ground oats in this recipe. Saw this being made on a Telugu cooking show couple of days ago and then tried it today.
Oats are lightly roasted and ground. They are then added to the regular rava laddoo ingredients -- rava/ semolina, sugar, dry grated coconut and dry fruits. Melted ghee and warm milk act as glue to hold these laddoos together.

These tasted exactly like the regular rava laddoos. My 2 year loved them (she loves anything with nuts & raisins in it), but I was surprised that my super picky son also liked them. They are quick and very easy to make -- takes about 15 minutes to make the entire batch. Also these are goof-proof, especially for people like me who are prone to screw up consistency of sugar syrup, this is the perfect recipe :-)

Menthikura-Pesarapappu Chaaru (Methi-Moongdal Soup)

There's an overdose of Methi recipes on my blog this week. After Methi Matar Masala, Methi Chana Pulao & Methi pulusu/ stew, I have a lentil based methi dish today. Recipe is from a Telugu cooking show.

Methi and moong dal are a good combination to make pappu or dal. But in this recipe, the consistency is more like a soup instead of thick like a dal. Soup is flavored with freshly made spice powder made with coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds and peppercorns. This makes the dish taste very earthy and spicy. Finally adding lemon juice to the rasam/ soup gives it the required tang or zing that makes this dish super delicious.

Menthikura Pulusu Kura

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 2/ Day 3

Theme: Methi Dishes

Dish: Methi Pulusu

For the final day of this week's blogging marathon, I had another recipe in mind. But then I saw this pulusu/ stew being made with methi (menthikura) on a Telugu cooking show and I thought it was an interesting way to cook with methi. So scrapped my previous idea and made this dish instead.

Pulusu or tangy stew is typically made with veggies like pumpkin, okra, bottlegourd, onion etc. I have made pulusu with spinach before and this methi version was equally delicious.

Methi Chana Pulao (Fenugreek leaves and Chickpea Pilaf)

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 2/ Day 2

Theme: Methi Dishes

Dish: Methi Chana Pulao

Apart from curries, lentil dishes and rotis, methi is great to use in rice dishes too. I have made spicy pulao with methi and paneer before, but today's pulao is quite mild with just a few whole spices. This recipe is my adaptation of my cousin's methi pudina rice. She usually serves the rice with a spicy curry, but I added some chickpeas to the rice to make it wholesome.

This is a one-pot dish and can be whipped up in no time (if you have the methi leaves all prepped and ready to go, that is). I usually store my cleaned methi leaves in an airtight container in the fridge once I get back from the store and then use them as needed during the week.

Pizza Muffins

The title of the post itself is very catchy, especially to kids and adults who love pizza. That is what drew me to making these cheesy and delicious pizza muffins for this month's 'Home Baker's Challenge'. I've missed couple of challenges due to many reasons, but when I saw Priya's savory bakes and these pizza muffins, I had to bake them.

Both my kids love pizza, so this was an obvious choice for me. These muffins have all the flavors of a pizza -- basil, cheese and pizza sauce. You can add any vegetable that you like on your pizza to the batter to make the muffins taste just like your favorite pizza. My super picky son likes onions, tomatoes and corn (he recently added spinach to that list), so added some corn to the batter. I think the next time, I'm going to add some caramelized onions to give some more flavor to the muffins.

Vegetarian Lebanese Stew with Peas and Rice (Bazelle with Riz) for #Food of the World

For this month's Food of the World event, we are going to Lebanon. While browsing through the internet for vegetarian Lebanese dishes, I landed on this page with a ton of recipes to choose from. I finally narrowed the whole list down to about 10 dishes, but more than half of them were desserts and I had to resist the temptation of making those rich and creamy desserts. I have them bookmarked and will pace them out and try them in the future.

At the end, I made this vegetarian version of Lebanese Stew with Peas. Traditionally this dish is made with beef or lamb mince. I used soy granules/ TVP instead. The highlight of the dish is the Baharat spice blend that is added to the stew. It is a mix of ground spices and it adds a nice warmth and lot of flavor to the dish.

Methi Matar Masala Curry

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 2/ Day 1

Theme: Methi Dishes

Dish: Methi Matar Masala Curry

We are starting our second week of blogging marathon today and my theme for this week is 'Methi dishes'. I like methi quite a bit -- what I don't like about it is that it takes (almost) forever to take the leaves out, especially the store bought bunches which have tougher stems. I grow my own methi in summer and try to pluck them out when they are still young, so the whole plant can be used in cooking.

Other than that the cleaning part I have no issues with methi, I like it's slightly bitter taste while I know some people who stay away from it because it's bitter. So for the next 3 days, I tried to use methi in 3 interesting dishes that are both easy to make and taste delicious too.

Sorakaya Kobbari Karam kura (Bottle gourd/ Lauki Coconut Curry)

It snowed the whole day today. Winter is going strong and is not tired even a little bit. But all of us have had enough and can't wait for some warm weather. The roads seemed treacherous today with the snow sticking to the ground and turning slushy, luckily we didn't have to go outside because the schools were closed and the husband worked from home.

Also, luckily I had the ingredients for today's curry already in the fridge and that's what we had a cozy lunch today. I watched this recipe on a Telugu cooking show recently and noted it down to try.

Roasted Vegetable Wrap

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 1/ Day 3

Theme: American Sandwiches

Dish: Roasted Vegetable Sandwich Wrap

For the last day of this week's 'American Sandwiches' theme, I have a quick and easy Roasted Veggie Sandwich wrap. Wraps are less messy and very convenient to pack for lunches. Absolutely anything can go into a wrap, like these sandwich wraps I made for a picnic.

Today's wrap has roasted veggies in it with a healthy smear of mashed bean spread. Any vegetable can be roasted and used here. To expedite the roasting part, broiler is used. But if you want to roast them the slow, methodical way, then roast the veggies in a preheated 450°F for 20~30 minutes. Veggies can be grilled on a stove top or outdoor grill. The mashed bean spread can be easily replaced with some homemade or store bought hummus.

Veggie Burger Sandwich (Beans & Veggie Burger)

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 1/ Day 2

Theme: American Sandwiches

Dish: Veggie Burger Sandwich

Homemade Veggie burgers have a bad rap -- they are flavorless and have a very high tendency to fall apart while cooking. There are quite a few good quality frozen veggie burgers but most of them are soy based and have long list of unnecessary ingredients with very complicated spellings. There are a ton of recipes for veggie burger recipes on the Internet and after going through a number of recipes I found this recipe by Guy Fieri on the Food Network site.

This recipe uses 3 different types of beans; white, chickpeas and black beans. I used only 2 types of beans and the burger worked beautifully, it didn't fall apart on me and cooked perfectly in the skillet.

Vegetarian Hoagie Sandwich

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: American Sandwiches

Dish: Hoagie Sandwich

We are starting a brand new edition of blogging marathon today and my theme for this week is 'American Sandwiches'. Didn't realize that there are around 70-80 different types of sandwiches in the US until I saw the list of sandwiches on Wiki that Valli shared with us. More than 90% of these are meat based, so after carefully looking through all my options, I picked 3 sandwiches that were vegetarian and those we knew I would be making again and again. 

For the first day, I made Hoagie sandwich. This is a kind of submarine sandwich and has quite a few different names like a sub, wedge, hoagie, hero, grinder etc. it is interesting to know that there are about 13 different names for this very sandwich in US. A submarine sandwich basically consists of a long roll of Italian or French bread that is split width wise either into two pieces or opened in a "V" on one side, and filled with a variety of meats, cheeses, vegetables, seasonings, and sauces.