Wheat Rosemary Crackers

Crackers! who wouldn't love a snack that is crunchy and flavorful accompanying their coffee? These are small bites ready to eat straight from the oven. The kitchen is filled with the aroma of rosemary that was so tempting, while baking. I found these munchies from Gaythri's Cook Spot, the ingredients made me to bake'em right away. Thanks to her, the crackers are irresistible and just 4 or 5 kept me full. I halved the sesame seeds from the original recipe, the amount of salt was not mentioned in her recipe, so you can increase or decrease to your taste. Other than that, i pretty much followed every line of it. So, have fun baking these li'l bites. And here it goes,

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups Whole Wheat flour

1tsp Instant Active Yeast

2tbsp Olive oil, divided

1/2tsp dried Rosemary or any herb

1tbs White Sesame seeds

2tsp Sugar

1tsp Salt or acc to taste

1 cup Water

How to:

• Mix the dry ingredients together: Flour, yeast, dried rosemary, sesame seeds, sugar and salt.

• Now pour the water and 1tbsp oil to the dry mixture and start kneading.

• Transfer the dough on to a flat surface and knead for 8-10 mins, resulting a soft and non-sticky dough.

• Coat enough oil in a bowl, place the kneaded dough and coat oil all over it. Then wrap'em and let sit in a warm place for 1 1/2 hrs.
• Then dump the risen dough on a flat surface and punch to remove the air and knead for couple of mins.
• Divide the dough into 4 equal portions and start working with one at a time.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Cover a baking sheet with a aluminum foil (for easy cleaning) and keep it aside.
• Roll the dough flat with a rolling pin, fold it into half, then fold one side to the center, followed by the other side overlapping the previous.

• Now roll it flat again and cut into desired shapes using a pizza cutter or knife.

• Place the shapes on the baking sheet and prick'em with a fork to stop forming air pockets while baking.

• Bake for 10 mins, remove the tray, flip the biscuits and bake'em for another 10 mins, until golden brown.
• Cool completely on a wire rack before storing in a container.

• Serve as a snack with coffee or tea.

Awards Display

Thanks to Anu from Bhalo Khabo for sharing these awards with me. She is a wonderful blogger, amazed with her recipes, clean steps and crisp pics.

 

 

 Thanks to Sonu from Palate corner for sharing this award with me. She makes her space approachable for all the cooks with her step by step pics. 

Thanks to Smitha from Smitha's Spicy Flavors for sharing these lovely awards with me. She has an awesome space, love her recipes and neat presentation. Also, i apologize for posting it up late. 

Thanks to Melissa from The Chroniles of a Rookie Mom for tagging me for this 7 facts award.

Thanks again, friends.

Rules to claim and share these awards:

• Thank and Link the blogger who has given you the award.
• Copy and paste the Logo in your blog.
• Share 7 things about yourself.
• Nominate 15 other Great Bloggers
• Comment and let them know of the award.

7 things/facts about me:

1. Relish my dark chocolates.
2. Enjoy traveling, especially road trips :)
3. Like to keep things organized.
4. Aims to be punctual.
5. A great fan of Stewie from Family Guy.
6. Love fine dining.
7. A day dreamer.

And i would like to share these awards to

1. Biny Anoop
2. Divya
3. Shobha
4. Deepa
5. Ramya
6. Malar Gandhi
7. Sanjeeta kk
8. Kairali Sisters
9. Premalatha Aravindhan
10. Priya
11. Priya's Feast
12. Sharmilee
13. Jay
14. Torview Toronto
15. Aipi

Kindly collect these awards from me. Have fun blogging.

Cilantro Pine Pesto (For Spaghetti)

It all started yesterday night, i was too lazy and breaking my head thinking what to make for dinner, finally i picked a few things and ended up making this refreshing pesto, man oh man! it tasted out of the world. I was in such a hurry to take my final plating picture and can't wait to gobble the spaghetti . Pine nuts gave the pesto a fantastic texture and the crushed pepper flakes gives a nice kick. Also i ground the pesto a bit chunky and loved the crunch of pine nuts here and there in my bites. It hardly took 15 mins of my time to make it. When Senthil came home with his eyes and nose sniffing (as usual) the kitchen, the spaghetti didn't look very appetizing. Once he started eating, i heard mmm, mmm, mmm and lots of mmm. It was really funny when he sounded as if he knew everything in it. When i asked him to guess the ingredients, olive oil was the only one he said that was right. He couldn't believe that cilantro was the star, but trust me, if i hadn't prepared it, i wouldn't have believed it either. Forgot to mention this, today morning he came and asked for any left over spaghetti for breakfast. I gave him the bowl,  in a blink of an eye he cleaned the bowl, without any traces of it. So, you gotta try it and  here goes the recipe,

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Cilantro (tightly packed)

1/4 cup roasted Pine nuts or (Macademia nuts or Walnuts or Almonds)

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive oil

1tbsp Lemon juice

1-2 Garlic pod 

1 piece ginger (1")

1/2tsp crushed Red pepper flakes

Salt

1/2lb Whole grain Spaghetti

1tsp Olive oil

Salt

How to:

• Bring water to a rolling boil in a sauce pan along with salt and olive oil, add the spaghetti, cook for 6-7 mins or until al-dente.

• Drain'em in a colander, saving 1/4 cup of pasta water.

• For Pesto, blend together all the 1st set of ingredients and check salt for taste.

• Mix the saved pasta water and the pesto, pour it over the spaghetti and mix well.

•  Serve warm with roasted brussels sprout.

Aloo Methi Curry

Dried fenugreek leaves are not a frequent ingredient used in my kitchen. But every now and then i see many recipes with methi from my blogger friends. This time, with methi in my hand, i searched for a perfect side dish for my rotis and voila! landed here. At first i wasn't sure about the recipe which calls to use a lot of dried leaves(because of the bitterness), but after cooking, it had no bitter taste and thanks to her recipe, we both loved the curry.  I am sure you will love too, check out the recipe,

Ingredients:

4 medium Red Potatoes (boiled and mashed/cubed)

1/2 big Yellow Onion

2 Roma Tomatoes

2 small Green Chilli

1/2 cup dried Kasoori Methi (fenugreek leaves)

1/4tsp Turmeric powder

1tsp Chilli powder

1tbsp Coriander powder

3/4tsp Cumin seeds

1/4tsp minced Ginger (optional)

1tbsp Oil

Salt

How to:

• Soak the dried methi with enough water for 5 mins, drain'em and keep it aside.

• Heat oil in a skillet, add cumin seeds, followed by onions, ginger and green chilli.

• Saute until tender and add the tomatoes, followed by dried methi and saute for 3-4 mins.

• Now add the turmeric powder, chilli powder and coriander powder along with salt, mix well and pour 1/2 cup of water.

• Let cook for a min or two, then add the mashed/cubed potato mix well and continue cooking.

• Then pour 2 cups of water, check salt for taste and cook until right consistency. (The original recipe was done with the last step, but i wanted a gravy like thickness for my rotis.)

• Finally, switch off and sprinkle chopped cilantro.

Serve hot with chapathi or poori.

Eggplant rolls

These rolls will make you drool, if you are a goat cheese lover like me. I first tasted goat cheese on my pizza as a topping, though i found'em mostly on salads (not a big salad fan), the salty bite of it is heavenly. When i found this recipe, goat cheese stuffed eggplant, it sounded so yummy that i can't wait to devour'em. I am telling you, you got to taste this. First couple of bites were clean and slow with a fork and knife, later we started gobbling and licking our fingers with goat cheese all over. Truly no exaggeration. And here goes the recipe,

Ingredients:

1 large Eggplant

4oz Goat Cheese (crumbled)

1tbsp dried Onion flakes/1tsp Onion powder

1/2tsp dried thyme / 1/2tbsp fresh Thyme

1/2tsp dried Oregano / 1/2tbsp fresh Oregano

1tsp minced Garlic

1tsp Lemon juice

1tbsp Olive oil + more for drizzling

Salt

Pepper

Optional:

Tooth picks (to hold the rolls)

Orange Zest (to sprinkle on top)

How to:

• Cut the eggplant lengthwise into 1/4" pieces. Lay it over a rack, sprinkle salt all over the eggplant pieces and let it sit and sweat for 20 mins.

• Meanwhile, prepare the goat cheese mixture.
• In a bowl, add the crumbled goat cheese, dried herbs, onion flakes (you can crush the onion flakes to avoid big pieces in your bite), garlic, lemon juice, 1tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.

• Combine everything well with a fork or back of a spoon. If the mixture is a bit dry, drizzle more olive oil to make it wet and keep it aside.

• Now, use a paper towel to gently blot the liquid on top of the eggplant. (This way of sweating and blotting reduces the bitterness of the eggplant)
• Then sprinkle pepper, drizzle olive oil and grill'em at medium heat for a min on each side or until you get nice grill marks. (If you don't have grill pan, you can broil'em at low until they brown on both sides.)

• Transfer the grilled eggplant to a paper towel.

• Start assembling the rolls by laying a grilled eggplant on a sheet pan or chopping board, place 1tbsp of goat cheese filling and spread it all over, just like you butter a toasted bread.

 

•   Then, gently roll the eggplant tight and secure it with tooth picks.

• Roll up the remaining eggplant in a similar manner and sprinkle the orange zest for a refreshing bite.

Serve it warm as an appetizer.