Insta pot or pressure cooker grape jam

Grape jam is one of the easiest jams that you can whip up in your instant pot or pressure cooker. Guess what you don’t even have to peel the grapes ! Do try out this recipe !

Ingredients

• 2 kg seedless grapes , I used green grapes
• 1 kg sugar
• Juice of 1 lemon

Method

• Put the grapes, sugar and lemon in your instant pot or pressure cooker and set aside for half an hour
• After half an hour, close the instant pot and pressure cook on high for 5 minutes. If using a pressure cooker, pressure cook for 1-2 whistles
• Once the pressure releases, open the lid and use a blender to blend the grapes to a juice like consistency
• Put the grapes back in the instant pot or pressure cooker, and simmer on high till the mixture comes to a boil
• Once the mixture comes to a boil, simmer on low for 15-20 minutes stirring continuously
• Take the pan off the heat and test if the jam is set by placing a few drops on a chilled plate and place it in the fridge for a minute
• Push your finger through the jam and it should form a crinkle, if not simmer it for a few more minutes. If it is still quite liquid and your finger runs right through it, it’s not done yet
• Once the jam is done when it passes the done test , store it in sterilized glass jars
• Once cool, store the jam in the refrigerator

Enjoy the jam with your favorite toast 🍞

Instant pot strawberry jam

Strawberry Jam Anyone 😊

Ingredients

900 g strawberry

1 cup sugar

juice of one lemon

1 small size apple cut into fine pieces ( optional )

1/8 cup water

Method

Notes :

I made this in electric cooker, you can make on stove top or pressure cooker too. If not using apple reduce quantity of water to 2 tbsp

First cut strawberry into halves, then add the sugar and squeeze the lemon, leave aside for 10-15 minutes. This way the sugar will draw the juice from the strawberries.

If doing in an electric cooker or instant pot :

Add the water, mix well and set the electric cooker to pressure cook and pressure cook for 5 minutes

If doing on stove top :

Add the water, mix well and cook on low heat until the sugar completely dissolves.

Once the sugar dissolves, turn up the heat to start bubbling the jam and bring it to boil. The sugar must be completely dissolved before increasing the heat, otherwise it will be difficult for the jam to set. It will take at least 20-30 minutes for the jam to thicken, so keep stirring frequently and mash the mixture with the back of a ladle while stirring.

In the electric pressure cooker, after the pressure releases or after 20-30 minutes l on stove top, you should see that the strawberries have all blended well and the water content has significantly reduced. Simmer for another 10-15 minutes until bubbles completely cover the jam surface. In the instant pot or electric pressure cooker set the cooker to normal Sauté mode and let it simmer. The juice will thicken considerably as you go on simmering. Do remember to stir regularly

It will look translucent and gelatinous and should start leaving the sides of the pan. It could take you about an hour – start to finish – to cook the jam on stove top and 30 minutes in the electric pressure cooker

Now spoon a little jam onto a bowl. Leave for few seconds, then push with your finger. If the jam wrinkles and doesn’t flood to fill the gap, then it is ready. If not, turn back the heat on for a couple more minutes, and repeat the test until it’s ready

Notes:

The timing will vary with the heaviness, volume and size of the pan and the intensity of heat

If your strawberries are very juicy, you can try reducing the amount of water, once you add sugar and lemon to the strawberries check after 15-20 minutes and see how much juice oozes out. If you find the strawberries immersed in juice, just add 1-2 tbsp of water. If you find it’s very dry add upto 1/8 cup of water until the strawberries are a bit immersed. If you use apples as well, add a little more water upto 1/4 cup.

Remember to make the jam in a wide bottomed pan as it keeps the bubbles from flying out of the pan.

Eggless jaggery chocolate cake with jaggery icing

How will a jaggery chocolate cake with jaggery icing taste ? Well, try it to find out the answer for yourself.

Ingredients

Ingredients

• 1 and 1/2 cups maida
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil or olive oil
• 1 and 1/2 cups powdered jaggery
• 1 cup thick yogurt
• 1/4 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup milk mixed with half of freshly squeezed lemon for curdling
• 1 tsp instant coffee powder or espresso powder
• a pinch of salt

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius

2. Sieve the flour with cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt and keep it aside

3. Mix together the wet ingredients – oil, milk and jaggery until it blends well

4. Add in the curd and vanilla essence and mix well

5. Keep adding portions of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and gently mix it using your spatula or stand mixer. Fold in the flour mixture until it is just combined and then stop mixing

6. Pour the batter into a 9 inch cake tin and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean

For the icing

1/2 cup butter

6 tbsp powdered jaggery

1/8 cup cocoa powder

Some milk and water for mixing

Method

1. Beat the butter until it’s smooth and frothy

2. Add half of the jaggery and a little bit of milk or water and mix until it is smooth

3. Mix the rest of the jaggery and milk or water if needed and blend again until smooth

4. Refrigerate the icing until the cake has cooled down

How to ice the cake

Let the cake cool down completely

Spread the icing on the cake using a spatula or using a piping bag to make your own designs

You can garnish the cake with freshly cut fruits or chocolate shavings too !

Sweet Moong dal Paratha

Sweet moong sundal is a delicacy we enjoy for Navaratri each year. My Mom made a sweet paratha using the sweet sundal as the filling and it tasted divine. It’s now one of our favorite sweet delicacy we can indulge in without guilt !

Ingredients

Wheat flour-2 cups
Coconut-1/2 grated
Green gram (roasted- the broken moong dal with skin preferred)-1/2 cup
Crushed Jaggery-not less than 200gm
Cardamom-7 pieces
Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
Ghee-2 tbsp
Til oil (Nallennai)-1/2 cup

Method

For the paratha, the dough has to be prepared before the filling.
For the dough:
Mix turmeric powder and 4 tbsp oil to the flour using a fork until it crumbles. Add water and knead well into a soft dough. Make depressions on top and pour 2 tbsp more oil to prevent it from drying. Close with lid and keep away for half an hour.
For the filling:
Pressure cook the roasted green gram for five whistles or until soft. When cold, grind along with coconut, crushed jaggery and lightly roasted cardamom.
Heat a pan or kadai, add the ghee and the ground mix and stir until it becomes thick enough to make balls.
For the paratha:
Make small balls with the dough. Roll on a leaf, keep the filling and close the edges. Roll again carefully and evenly. When the shallow fry pan is hot, place each on it and remove the leaf. If leaves are not available, you may use plastic cling wrap and remove with hand on to the hot fry pan. No oil or ghee needed for shallow frying these parathas.

Insta Pot Apple Jam

Just 30 minutes to have a delicious apple jam ready right at home ! You will never want to buy store bought apple jam ever again 😊

Ingredients

• Red apples or green apples, medium size – 6
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder ( Optional )

Method

• Chop 6 apples into fine pieces and place it in the insta pot or mealthy. If you don’t have an insta pot or mealthy chop and place the apples in a thick bottomed pressure cooker
• Add one cup sugar to the chopped apples and the squeezed lemon juice
• Stir and let sit for at least 30 minutes to draw out the juices from the apples
• After 30 minutes you can see the apples have releases the juices. At this stage, turn on the insta pot or mealthy and pressure cook for 5 minutes. It using a conventional pressure cooker, pressure cook for 2-3 whistles
• Let it release pressure naturally
• Turn on insta pot or mealthy again and sauté on normal mode for 5-10 minutes. Keep stirring in between and continue the proceeds until the mixture turns thick
• While the jam is cooking, you can use a masher to break down the chunks of apples and make the jam smoother
• Let it cool down sufficiently. This jam will thicken as it cools down
• Your flavorful apple jam is ready, store it in a sterilized clean jar and refrigerate it

Perfect Veggie Burger right from your kitchen

What if I told you, you can easily make a burger from the comfort of your own home? What if I also told you it will taste better that a restaurant burger? Well, no more waiting, let me also tell you that it’s super healthy as we are going to bake the vegetable patty and make a healthy vegan sauce ! The ingredients for the vegetable patty if arranged on a balanced diet plate will have an ingredient for each food group 🙂

I spent quite a lot of time researching for the perfect burger recipe, and finally found the right formula on : https://thecookful.com/veggie-burger-formula-make-perfect-burger/. The sauce is inspired by : https://veeatcookbake.com/vegan-burger-sauce/

Now let’s dig straight in !

Ingredients

For the vegetable patty

• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• A few cloves of garlic, minced
• The Veggie Group – 2 cups of finely chopped veggies ( you can pick any combination – I have tried 1. beetroot, zucchini, corn ; 2. beetroot, sweet potato, carrot ; 3. beetroot, carrot, green bell pepper )
  • CHOOSE ANY 3
    • Sweet potatoes, boiled and chopped
    • Red beetroot, finely shredded
    • Carrots, finely shredded
    • Spinach, finely chopped
    • Corn, remove the kernels
    • Butternut squash or red pumpkin
    • Zucchini
    • Green or red bell peppers
• The Protein Group – 1 1/2 cups of cooked legumes – I have tried a combination of chick peas and black eyed peas; white chick peas and black channa ; chick peas and kidney beans (rajma) – all 3 combos have tasted yummy
  • CHOOSE 1 or 2
    • Chick peas, cooked
    • Kidney beans or rajma, cooked
    • Black eyed beans, cooked
    • Black channa, cooked
    • Sprouted moong or cooked moong

• The Spices Group
  • Red chilly powder – 1/2 tsp
  • Cumin seed powder – 1/2 tsp
  • Coriander powder – 1 tsp
  • Black pepper powder – 1 tsp
• The Herbs Group – I have used a combination of basil, coriander and mint – but you can use any herbs that you have on hand
  • Mint leaves, a few sprigs finely chopped
  • Coriander leaves, a few spring finely chopped
  • Basil leaves, a few, finely chopped
• The Carbs Group
  • Bread crumbs – 1/2 cup
• Oil – 1 tbsp
• Salt, to taste

For the Vegan Sauce

• 1/2 cup cashews
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1.5 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 1 tbsp pickle juice from any pickle jar that you have, you can also add 1 tbsp of juice from a jar of olives, if you don’t have pickle or olives, just squeeze juice from half a lemon
• 1/4 cup white sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Salt, to taste

To Serve

• Burger buns
• Lettuce (Optional)
• Butter to grease the buns (Optional)

METHOD

For the vegetable patty

• When cooking the legumes (chick peas, rajma etc.. ) reserve some of the cooking liquid
• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat
• Add the onion and garlic and saute until the onions are translucent
• If using, bell peppers, add the bell peppers and saute for 2-3 minutes
• Add the vegetables, salt and spices and cover and cook for 5-10 minutes until the vegetables are salt
• Transfer the cooked vegetables to a mixer or food processor when cool
• Add the herbs, the bread crumbs, the legumes (chick peas / rajma etc.. ) and pulse a few times until everything combines and comes together
• To check if the patty is ready, press the mixture between your fingers. If you can form a patty easily without sticking you are ready to go, if it’s very sticky add a little more bread crumbs. If it’s very dry, add some of the liquid reserved while cooking the legumes
• At this stage, taste the mixture to check for the salt and spice
• Shape the mixture into patties and refrigerate for 30 minutes (This is a very important step as it firms up the patties !)
• Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius
• Line a baking tray with parchment paper or grease with oil and place the burger patties
• Brush the burger patties with some oil and bake at 200 degrees Celsius for around 10-15 minutes until the patties are brown on both sides
• Set the patties aside to serve with the burger. If you have made a few extra patties, let it cool completely and then you can refrigerate it or freeze it for later

For the vegan sauce

• Soak the cashews in hot water for about an hour
• Toast the sesame seeds until it’s slightly brown and starts spluttering
• Grind the cashews, ketchup, salt, toasted sesame seeds, olive oil, pepper, ketchup, pickle juice or lemon juice, mustard seeds and garlic to a fine and creamy paste in a mixie
• The final consistency of this sauce will be creamy and smooth without any pieces
• At this stage, check for salt and spice and keep aside. If you plan to use this sauce later, please refrigerate it

Assembling the burger

• Toast the burger buns with some butter
• On the base burger bun, slather the burger sauce
• Top it with the burger patty and place some melted cheese
• Top it with any greens like lettuce or onion / pickle / tomato
• Now just cover it with the top burger bun
• If you are making this for kids, you can place some olive for some cute eyes and make a smiley face using a lettuce leaf !

Just enjoy your burger and keep discovering different combos for the veggie patties !

Whole Wheat Brookies

• 

I was in a hurry to bake chocolate chip cookies for my cousin, and was left over with lot of whey water too. “Can I use this in baking a cookie”, I wondered. Well, the end result of the cookie experiment was a tasty choco chip cookie that tasted like a cookie and a brownie. Let’s get straight to the recipe now 🙂

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/8 tsp Salt
• 3/4 cup whey water 
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 6 tbsp Unsalted Butter
• 75 g chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 50 g dark chocolate melted
• 1/4 cup warm milk
• 1 tsp instant coffee powder

Method

• Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees Fahrenheit and line cookie sheets with parchment paper
• Melt the dark chocolate in a microwave on low power for 1-2 minutes. Pour the warm milk over the melted chocolate and keep this mixture aside
• In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
• Add the whey water, oil, melted chocolate and blend well
• Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, coffee powder, baking powder, and salt
• Mix the flour mixture using a folding in movement, which means just mix in one direction
• Fold in the chocolate chips evenly
• Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes
• Scoop the dough onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Leave enough gap between each cookie to rise
• Bake for 15-20 minutes until the cookies brown well
• Let it cool on a wire rack

Cookie cups filled with dark chocolate ganache

A few days back I came across a recipe for hot chocolate cookie mug on Tasty. As soon my son saw it he said we need to try this out Mom. I love baking cookie, I had never tried baking a cookie cup so thought why not. I followed the recipe from Tasty but made my version eggless and also used whole wheat flour. I try to avoid all purpose flour as much as possible except for cakes.

Now straight to the recipe instead of a mug I just made cookie cups and filled them with hot chocolate ganache. It’s super easy just try it out and you will simply fall in love with this new edible cup cookie.

My recipe is adapted from Tasty’s recipe for hot chocolate mugs : https://tasty.co/recipe/hot-chocolate-cookie-mugs

Ingredients

• ½ cup unsalted butter(115 g), room temperature

• ¾ cup light brown sugar(150 g), packed

• ¼ cup sugar(50 g)

• ¼ cup oil

• 180g dark chocolate melted

• 1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour

• ¼ cup cocoa powder(30 g)

• ½ teaspoon baking powder

• ¼ teaspoon sea salt

For the filling

– 150 g extra dark chocolate

– 1/4 cup full fat milk

Method

• Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).

• In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy

• Add the melted chocolate and oil and blend well

• Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Use a folding in movement at this stage , which means just mix in one direction

• Grease a muffin pan with butter and flour. Scoop out the cookie dough into each cup of the muffin pan

• Use your fingers to spread the dough evenly across the bottoms and the sides of the cups

• Bake for around 10 minutes, until the cookies have slightly puffed up. At this stage, use the back of a steel or wooden ladle to reshape to make a perfect cup. This is very important you need reshape while it is hot.

• For the filling: Melt 150 g of extra dark chocolate. Bring milk to a boil and pour over the warm melted chocolate and let sit for 1 minute, then stir until well combined and smooth

• Once it completely cools, use a knife to gently lift the cookie cups from the muffin tin so one side sticks up.

• Pour the filling into the cooled cookie cups. You can even decorate with nuts. I decorated it with some left over chocolate cookie. Let it set in fridge for a couple of hours

• Hope you enjoy the cookie cup 😊

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Enjoy these delicious and chocolate double chocolate cookies. This recipe is inspired from Tasty’s recipe for Vegan chocolate chip cookies :

https://tasty.co/recipe/vegan-chocolate-chip-cookies

Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups wheat flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
100 g dark chocolate and Belgian chocolate melted ( you can use any chocolate combination )
100 g chocolate chips

Method

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, brown sugar, salt, and oil until combined
2. Add milk and vanilla and blend well until all sugar has dissolved and the batter is smooth
3. Fold in the flour and baking soda with a spatula
4. Fold in the meleted chocolate and chocolate chips evenly
5. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes
6. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C)
7. Scoop the dough onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Leave enough gap between each cookie to rise
8. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the cookies brown well
9. Let it cool on a wire rack

Store in air tight containers and enjoy 😊

Whole wheat ginger cookies

Christmas is soon approaching and it’s that time of the year when I love to enter my kitchen while something is baking with the holiday spice aroma. Ginger cookies are one of my go to cookies with a hot cup of tea. Do give a try and leave your feedback

Ingredients

Wheat flour – 200 g

Powdered sugar – 50 g

Baking powder – 1 tsp

Spice mix ( I used nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves ) – 1/2 tsp

Butter – 100 g

Ground ginger powder – 4 tsp

Caramel syrup – 3 tsp

Method

• Sieve the flour with baking powder, ginger powder and spice mix and keep aside
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes
• Beat the butter and sugar using a stand mixer or hand blender or a spatula until it’s nicely blended
• Add spoonfuls of flour, caramel syrup and mix well to form a dough
• If you find the mixture is too dry, add a little warm milk or water and mix it
• This cookie dough will be slightly dry compared to other cookie doughs like sugar cookies or chocolate chip cookies, if you are able to gather a little dough and make a ball then you have reached the right consistency
• Knead lightly form balls, flatten and place on a greased cookie sheet or a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
• Leave enough gap for the cookies to spread
• Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15-20 minutes until the cookies are golden brown
• Once done cool the cookies on a wire rack

Enjoy these crisp ginger cookies with your Chai 😀