Eggless Ragi Cookies / Eggless Finger Millet Cookies

I love any kind of whole grains. Ragi is not an exceptional. Starting from my childhood to till now, I am using it frequently.

My Mom used to prepare ragi butter milk, athakoozh (I really don't know why the recipe got this name.I'll update the recipe soon), ragi pakoda, ragi dosai, ragi adai and so on...



I thought of using the ragi in western dishes and searched in web as a first step. Got this recipe from Sanjeetha's place and prepared it immediately without altering anything as it was my first try with whole grains in baking. Visit her place if you need more yummy and healthy bites. The ragi cookies were very good on the healthy side.



Basic Information:

Preparation Time: 25 minutes

Cooking Time: 12-15 minutes

Makes: 12 cookies

Ingredients:



Ragi flour/Finger millet flour - 1 cup

Cornflour - 1 tablespoon

All purpose flour - 1 tablespoon

Cocoa powder - 1 tablespoon

Dark brown sugar - 1/2 cup

Butter - 1/2 cup, melted

Plain Yogurt / Curd - 1 teaspoon

Cinnamon powder - 1 teaspoon

Baking Powder - 1 teaspoon

Chocolate chips - to decorate



Method:

1) Dry roast the ragi flour for few minutes till the raw smell disappears. Use wide pan to do this. Try to avoid using chimney for this step.

2) Take a large mixing bowl and mix corn flour, all purpose flour, baking powder and cocoa powder one by one. I have shown all the steps below. This time, I sincerely clicked each step carefully. :-)

 

 

 

 

3) Mix all the ingredients well and keep it aside.

4) Now go ahead and mix the wet ingredients. Use another wide pan to do this.

5) Add melted butter,sugar and then curd to the bowl.

 

6) Mix it well it sugar dissolves. I got something dark as shown in the picture.

7) Now, slowly add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and make a smooth dough.

8) Preheat the oven to 190°C / 375°F  and line the baking tray with baking sheet.

9) Divide the dough into small balls and arrange them in baking sheet. Slightly press the cookies

10) Sprinkle few chocolate chips on top of it.

11) Bake it for 10-15 minutes or till the cookies slightly change in colour. It took 12 minutes for me.

12) Once done, transfer  the cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.

13) Serve with hot tea or coffee.

Note:

1) I added cinnamon powder as my family is great fan of it. If you have not used it much before, give a try starting with low quantity. It might sometimes give strong flavour. Or use cardamom powder as sanjeetha mentioned.

2) Try to use chocolate chips which is only for baking to avoid melting during the baking time.

3) I used Ghee instead of butter as I didn't have butter at my pantry when  I prepared this cookies. It was totally yumm.



Linking this event to the event, Priya's Fast Food is NOT Fat Food event which is going on here.

Chipotle Pepper Brown Rice with Chipotle Salmon and Herbed Potatoes

I made this dinner meal as I was very happy that it was warm outside and no more snow. My mind was so fresh. I bought this brown rice from an Asian store which is a Organic Brown Basmati Rice. I agree that it was bit expensive, but was really impressed to see an organic brown basmati rice. The second thing I wanted to do is I wanted to cut the salmon in heart shaped, but didn't want to break the fish after it's cooked. So I shifted my idea to make the same heart shape with potatoes. The whole meal was so satisfying and so tasty.

Ingredients:
------------
Chipotle Pepper Brown Rice:
------------------------------
1 cup Brown Basmati Rice
2 cups Water
1 clove Garlic Crushed
1 small Onion chopped
1 Orange Bell Pepper chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 tsp Butter
1/4 tsp Olive Oil
1 cube Chipotle Seasoning

Chipotle Salmon:
------------------
1 Steak Salmon
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 cube Chipotle seasoning
1/4 tsp Chili powder
1/4 tsp Brown Sugar
1/4 tsp Garlic powder
1/4 tsp Onion powder
1/2 Juice of Lime
1/2 tsp Olive Oil

Herbed Potatoes:
------------------
1 big Red Poato
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/4 cube Chipotle seasoning
1/2 tsp dried Basil and Thyme
1 tsp Olive Oil

Method:
----------

Chipotle Pepper Brown Rice:
-------------------------------
1. In a heavy bottom sauce pan, add oil and butter, when the butter starts to melt add garlic and onion and saute it until translucent.
2. Now add the orange pepper and saute it for about 2-3 mins.
3. Add the rice, salt, pepper and chipotle seasoning.
4. Saute the rice for about 5 mins on medium flame until little toasted.
5. Now microwave 2 cups of water for about 2 mins and add the hot water into the rice and stir and turn the flame into high.
6. After the rice comes to a boil, simmer it to low, cover and cook it for about 30 mins or until the rice is done.

Chipotle Salmon:
-----------------
1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl except oil, fish and lime juice.
2. Spray oil over the fish on both sides.
3. Sprinkle the mixed spice mix evenly over the fish on both sides.
4. Now heat a non-stick pan, when it's hot add the fish and cook it for about 3-4 mins on each side on medium flame.

Herbed Potatoes:
------------------
1. In a pan add oil, when it's hot enough add the potatoes and stir so that all the oil is coated to the potatoes.
2. Cover and cook it for about 5 mins, stirring it occasionally on medium flame.
3. When the potatoes are 3/4 th cooked add all the seasoning and dried herbs and saute it until it gets crispy on the outside and is cooked well on medium low flame.

Assembling :
-------------
1. You can serve each of these recipes seperately or with a different combo.
2. But I served it with a bed of rice on the bottom, and topped it with salmon and arranged the potatoes on the side. Wow this meal was awesome and something that I really like with the combination and taste.

Apple Spritzer

 

Nothing much to talk today. I am posting a recipe to beat this summer hot. I got to know about this drink during our friends get together. Thanks and hugs to you Sumedha for giving me the wonderful drink recipe.

Basic Information:

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Serves: 2 



Ingredients:

Apple Juice - 2 cups (I used Tropicana Apple Juice)

Soda  - 1 cup

Lemon Juice - 1 tablespoon

Mint leaves - 5 nos

Ice cubes - 4-6 nos

Method:

1) Add mint leaves in a blender/juicer first.

2) Add rest of the ingredients to the blender/juicer.

3) Mix well and pour in glasses.

4) Serve chill.

Note:

1) Addition of lemon and mint are optional.

2) I added mint leaves for good flavor. Increase/decrease the soda as per personal preference.

3) You can also use mint leaves to make mint flavoured ice cubes. For this, place some fresh mint leaves in the ice cube tray with water and keep inside the freezer. Add this mint flavoured ice cubes while serving.



Linking this to Ramya's ABC Series: Fruit Fiesta,  Kalyani's Kitchen Chronicle- Summer Splash which is guest hosted by Sangee.