Butter Biscuit or Maida Biscuit or eggless cookies

If you are from India you will definitely love these biscuits popularly known as butter biscuits, ghee biscuits or nei biscuits available in almost all the bakeries and grocery stores.

These can also be compared to the shortbread cookies available in western countries. To be frank I never knew these can be made at home so easily with the conventional oven and of course without eggs. I searched for the recipes in various blogs and created my own with the ingredients available from my pantry. here it goes,

Ingredients:

standard self raising flour or maida - 1 cup

powdered or castor sugar - 1/2 cup

ghee or butter - as much as u need to knead the dough or approx. 6 table spoons
(I used ghee in room temperature)

baking powder - 1/2 tea spoon

baking soda - 1/2 tea spoon

vanilla essence - 1 tea spoon (variation - 1/2 spoon powdered elaichi)

method:

In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients together and mix well.

now add the ghee or butter lil by lil which is in room temperature and mix well and keep

kneading till you get a firm dough. DO NOT USE WATER OR MILK TO BIND THE DOUGH.

you should only use butter or ghee.

finally add the vanilla essence (not if u r using eleichi) and mix well.

this dough will not be as firm as chapathi or puri dough as u hav'nt added any water.

so do not worry about that. make round balls jus like u make for gulab jamoons and press a little,

(again remember do not press too much) to make a small round shape. These biscuits will

expand in height and width while baking.

line a baking sheet with aluminium foil and grease the foil with butter or ghee.

place the prepared rounds with enough space inbetween on the sheet.

preheat the oven for 10 minutes to 350 degree.

while the oven is set to preaheat keep the tray (with the biscuits) i.e., atleast fro 10 min in the

fridge.

once the oven is preheaed place the tray in the oven, reduce the heat to 100 degree and bake for

12-15 minutes.

the baking time varies from oven to oven so trial and error method always helps.


You can see 2 kinds of biscuits in the foto given. the white biscuits are the prefect ones and the

brown biscuits are the first batch which I made. It was somewhat overcooked (or over-baked)

so I reduced the baking time for the 2nd batch and it was perfect.

I Hope u like these...

Merry Christmas!!

Murukku

Murukku

I tried murukku by myself for the first time.....It turned out good.
here goes the recipe which I learnt from my mom...We used to make murukku at our place for Diwali, Vinayakar Chathurthi, Krishna Jayanthi and even during winter holidays... you can murukkus in various shapes and sizes with the murukku maker now available in India.

Ingredients: (to make 25 - 30 medium sized Murukkus)

Rice flour - 4 cups
urad dhal flour - 1 cup (also known as black gram flour)
salt to taste
asafoetida pdr - 10 pinches
unsalted butter or ghee - 2 tea spoons
jeera - 1 table spoon
Til or sesame seeds (Black or white) - 1 table spoon
red chilly pdr - as per taste (optional)
water in room temp to knead the dough
and
vegetable oil - for deep frying

very important is the murukku maker ;-)

Method

rice flour and urad dhal flour always should be in 4:1 ratio. Mix all the dry ingredients (rice flour, urad flour, salt, chilly powder and asafoetida) in a big bowl, preferably a salad bowl, mix well. Now add the butter which is in room temp and mix well. Its time to add all the other ingredients and water and make it into a tight dough. Stuff required amount of dough into the murukku maker and squeeze into desired shape and size. I used the murukku maker with 1 hole and made it to a perfect round shape. I like it this way as its easy for storage and does help saving space inside the containers.
I also added some pinches of red chilly powder to the dough, however its optional. heat the oil and drop in the murukku one by one and cook in medium flame till light brown.
remove from the pan and drain on a paper towel. do not store in the airtight container immediately. Wait till murukku is in room temperature and also do not make too much dough at once and keep it for a long time. knead the dough fresh as and when needed.

Enjoy !!

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STUFFED CAPSICUM or STUFFED BELL PEPPERS

Ingredients:

Bell peppers [assorted colors] - 5
potatoes - 2
Paneer [cottage cheese] - 6 cubes [optional]
Parsley or cilantro- chopped
Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Jeera [cumin seeds] - 1 tsp
Lemon juice - from half a lemon
Green peas - a handful
Garam masala - 1 tsp
oilve oil

Method:

Cut the peppers into half , deseed and immerse them into boiling water [with salt] for about 2 minutes, [not more than 2 minutes]. Set them aside.

pressure cook the potatoes, peel and mash them. Add crushed paneer, peas, finely chopped cilantro, red chilly powder, jeera, salt, lemon juice, garam masala and a little olive oil and mix well.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees for 15 mts [ depends on the oven].

stuff the bell peppers with the potato mixture and spray olive oil on all sides to cover the peppers.

Line the baking sheet with aluminium foil and place the stuffed peppers with sufficient space in between.

Bake for 20 mts at 200 degrees or till golden brown and until the skin comes off.

Serve with chapatis.

Fried Rice

You will need,

Basmati rice - 2 cups
Capsicum [ red, green or yellow] - 1 julienned
Pink onion - 1 julienned
Green chilly - 1
Spring pnion - finely chopped
Peas - a handful
Carrot [optional] - 1/2
Button mushroom - 5 [cubed]
soy sauce - as needed
pepper powder - as needed
oil - 6 tsp
salt to taste


Method:

Soak the basmati rice for 1/2 hour in cold water. wash well and cook in 2 cups of water with 2 tsp of oil and allow it to cool.

In a large wok, add oil. Once its hot, saute the onion,green chilly, peas, mushrooms, capsicum and carrot. add salt and pepper. saute well and let it cook in the oil alone. do not add water.now add the soy sauce and mix well.

Its time to add the cooked basmati rice. Adjust salt and pepper according to ur taste.
Add the chopped spring onion jus before putting off the heat.
Serve with gobi manchurian or onion raita.

Gobi Manchurian

You will Need,

For the Manchurian,

Cauliflower florets - 25 to 30
vegetable or canola oil - for deep frying
All purpose flour - 4 tsp
Corn flour - 2 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1/4 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Soy sauce - 2 tsp
salt to taste
water as needed

Mix all the ingredients given above except cauliflower and oil, with water and mix well till it comes to a dosa batter consistency and without any lumps. Dip the cauliflower florets in the batter and deep fry in oil and set aside.

For the gravy,

finely chopped onion - 1
finely chopped tomatoes - 2
finely chopped green chilly - 2
Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
soy sauce - 3 tsp or as needed
spring onion - to garnish
1 red capsicum - julienned [sliced to thin strips]
corn flour - 2 tsp
salt to taste
oil - 4 tsp

In a Wok heat oil, saute onion, ginger garlic paste, green chillies and the tomatoes. Add capsicum pieces, red chilly powder, salt and soy sauce and saute well for 7 to 8 minutes. Mix the corn flour with water as a thin batter and pour into the wok now. Note that the flame is too low when u add the cornflour, so that it doesn't form lumps. keep stirring.

garnish with finely chopped spring onion and serve with fried rice.

Tomato Rice

This is a different version of tomato rice. jus give it a try!!

You Will Need,

raw rice - 1.5 cups [serves 2]
tomatoes - 3
onion - 1 [medium size]
green chilly - 1
red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
ginger - 1" paste
garlic paste - 1/4 tsp
curry leaves - 1 sprig
garam masala - 1 tsp
bay leaf - 1
paprika - 1/4 tsp

Method:

Cook the rice with 3 cups of water and 2 tsp of oil. Let it cool.

finely chop the onion and grind half of the onion with the ginger and set aside. heat 4 tsp of oil in a nonstick wok and add the bay leaf, remaining onion,chopped green chilly, curry leaves, garlic paste and saute well. now add the onion-ginger paste, garam masala, salt, paprika, chilly powder and mix well.

Grind the tomatoes into a fine paste and add it to the mixture finally. Add some water and cook for 10 minutes with occasional stirring. take off from the heat and mix with cooked rice 1 hour b4 serving. garnish with finely chopped fresh coriander leaves!

enjoy with carrot raitha and appalam!