Healthy chocolate hazelnut cupcakes

Nigel is a big fan of nutella. So what would be a better birthday cake for him then a chocolate hazelnut cake. I dint have a lot of time so I made cupcakes since they bake a bit quicker. While we did have some people over, I knew that we would be eating a lot of the cupcakes and I wanted to try and make them a bit healthier so I used wholewheat flour, honey and ricebran oil instead of refined flour, white sugar and butter. They turned out pretty good:-)

However it was a birthday cake and what kind of birthday would it be if there wasn't a bit of indulgence? So I did soak the cupcakes in rum and frost them with nutella(which was brilliant, if I do say so myself :-). Quick and delicious!)

So here is the recipe I used for the cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 eggs
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup rice bran oil
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips or grated chocolate (you can use milk chocolate if you prefer)
1 cup wholemeal self-raising flour

Fosting: Nutella spread
Rum for soaking the cupcakes(you can leave this out if you want)
Hazelnuts for decoration

Method:
Whisk eggs,oil and honey.  Mix in orange juice.  Fold in sieved flour and cocoa. Gently fold in the chocolate. Pour mixture into cupcake tray and bake in a preheated oven for about 20 minutes. Each oven is different so make sure you watch the cupcake to ensure the are not overcooked.

Once cooled, drizzle with rum, top with nutella and garnish with hazelnuts

Prawn wraps or fajitas

This is a dinner recipe for those days when you don't have the energy or the patience to spend more time then you absolutely have to in the kitchen. Dinner can be ready in 20 minutes flat.

Ingredients:-
Prawns 400 gms (Fried after seasoning with salt, pepper, turmeric and chilli (optional))
Shredded lettuce
chopped tomato
chopped avocado
yogurt or curd
lemon juice
cheese slices(optional)
wraps(I got corn wraps from the grocery store. But this would work perfectly fine with rotis or chapattis)

Step 1 : Get all the ingredients ready to assemble the wrap

Step 2 : Layer the wrap with lettuce, tomato, avocado and prawn. Top with yogurt on top and lemon juice

Step 3: Roll and enjoy for a quick, tasty and healthy meal!

Oven fried zucchini fritters

While rummaging through my refrigerator I found some zucchini that I had forgotten about. I had to cook it or it would go bad. I had already cooked goan prawn curry for dinner and didn't really feel like cooking something that would take too long. Inspired by a recipe I saw on the internet a while ago, I decided to try to make zucchini fritters. 

Ingredients:

zucchini- cut into strips

Wheat flour (I used whole wheat)

Egg - beaten

Breadcrumbs

Olive oil 

To Season:  salt,  pepper, paprika, grated Parmesan cheese, dried oregano

Season flour and breadcrumbs with  salt,  pepper, paprika, grated Parmesan cheese, dried oregano

Cover a baking tray with baking paper and lightly grease with olive oil

Coat the zucchini strips with seasoned flour, egg and seasoned breadcrumbs  in turn.

Bake for 20 minutes (turning them over halfway through)

Enjoy crispy, healthy zucchini fries!

Goan prawn coconut curry

This dish is a staple food in almost all Goan homes. Every family will make this dish with a slight variation in the spices used. The main ingredients are ground coconut or coconut milk, tamarind and chilli. Everything else can be modified to suit your taste. Below is the recipe for prawn curry that I learnt from my mum who learnt it from her mum who probably learnt it from her mum. The combination of the heat from the chilli, sweet and sourness of the tamarind and the smoothness of the coconut milk and of course the fresh prawns, brings on a wave of nostalgia every time I make this dish!. Nothing reminds me of home and growing up in Goa more!

Ingredients
300ml coconut milk
2 tspns dried red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powdera
1 medium sized chopped onion
2 cloves of chopped garlic
1 tspn tamarind concentrate or lemon sized ball of tamarind(tip: soak the tamarind ball in a cup of warm water and use the strained tamarind water.)
300-400 gms of shelled and deveined prawns(you can replace the prawns with fish or diced chicken if you prefer, but prawns are really the way to go :-))
1 whole green chilli (optional)
Salt to taste

Method:-
Saute onions and garlic until soft. Add the red chilli powder, turmeric. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until the prawns are cooked through. I put in the whole green chilli without slitting it so that it does not get too hot but still has the flavour of the green chilli.

The curry goes really well with freshly steamed rice, and a side of vegetables or fried fish or both!

The leftover curry can be made into another delicious meal the following day by stirring through some chopped coriander, cracking in a couple of eggs, and cooking on a low flame until the eggs are firm and cooked.

Coriander and Lemon Roast Chicken

This roast chicken was a bit of an experiment that turned out quite well. I generally use the marinade with cut chicken and cook with sauteed onions. I did not feel like standing over the stove and cooking dinner so I tried adding it to a whole chicken and cooking it in the oven. It turned out great!

For the Marinade blend all the ingredients below

2 cups fresh coriander

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 green chilli

2 cloves garlic

2 spoons lemon juice

salt 

To prep the chicken, spread some of the marinade under the chicken skin an pour the rest on the chicken. Prick a whole lemon with a fork and put in the chicken cavity. This infuses the whole chicken with that lovely lemon flavour. 

Place the chicken breast side up in the oven and bake till done. A rough estimate  of cooking time is, 20-25 min for every 500gms of chicken. For example, if your raw chicken weighs 1 kg, it will take approximately 50 minutes to cook. 

I add some vegetables halfway through the cooking process since they cook much quicker. In the picture I have used  cubed, sweet potato, onion, zuchini, carrot and mushroom.

Tip: If you feel that the top of the chicken is burning, cut up a piece of aluminum foil and place over the chicken breast.

4 ingredients, finger-lickin pork ribs

This is an awesome dish that can be a starter, an extra side dish or  a main with a side of potato and salad. And the best bit, its a breeze to put together.

All you need to do is marinade the ribs with ginger-garlic paste, white wine and salt. Pan fry or barbecue the ribs for a delicious meal. The trick is to marinade the ribs overnight or for at least 2 hours. 

Surprise pasta

I call this dish "surprise" pasta because what it tastes like is always a surprise. Its usually made when we are running low on groceries and need to restock. I raid the pantry and fridge and throw together whatever ingredients I can find. So here is what went into this week's surprise pasta

2 skinless chicken breasts(cut into strips

2 rasher of bacon(diced)

1/2 a diced onion

2 cloves sliced garlic

1 cup peas

1 cup baby spinach

1 chopped tomato

capers and parsley to garnish 

cooked shell pasta

Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil . Add, bacon and chicken and saute till cooked. Add the remaining ingredients (except pasta). Cook until chicken is done and season with salt and peper. Mix in the cooked pasta, Stir in the capers and chopped parsley and extra olive oil if needed. Remember to add the tomato right at the end so that it does not get overcooked.

I find that if you have onions, garlic and chicken you can get a pretty decent dish. All the other ingredients can be substituted or augmented depending on what you have in the pantry. I have tried adding mushrooms, brocolli and sundried tomatoes instead of some of the other ingredients. If you dont have capers, olives make a pretty good substitute too. I like squeezing a little lemon juice on the pasta just before serving as well. 

Weekday prawn stir fry dinner

This is a dish I cook when I am tired or dont have too much time to cook. If your prawns are cleaned, you can have it ready in under 30 minutes. After a long day at work, the last thing I want to do is spend ages getting dinner ready. This dish is so easy and fast  to make and prawns are one of my favourite foods!. And the best part,  you can make extra and take leftovers for lunch!

Ingredients

400 gm shelled and deveined prawns

1 sliced zuchinni

1 small sliced tomato

1 small sliced onion

1 clove sliced garlic

1 spoon Worcestershire sauce

1 slit green chilli (optional)

1 tsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp fish sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Chopped coriander to garnish

Heat oil in a large fry pan or wok. Fry the onions until soft. Add the zucchini, garlic, chilli, prawns, tomato and sauces  and cook until the prawns turn pink and are cooked through. Adjust the seasoning for the perfect dinner

Yummy snacks from different pastries

Mushroom and spinach quiche Lyell and me made last weekend

Anyone who has visited, lived or grown up in Goa has has the famous beef pattice. It is delicious mince and puff pastry goodness, baked to perfection. Its available in almost every corner tea shop or bakery in Goa, and there are a lot of them in Goa.

The true test of a good pattice is in the the puffed pastry. The downside of living so far away from Goa is that if I want to eat one, I have to make it myself.

Good thing for me, I learnt how to make them from my mum while I was still in Goa. My mum regularly conducts cooking and baking classes where she can teach you to make perfect melt-in-your-mouth pastries. She demonstrates how to make all kinds of pastry right from puffed pastry for pattice to choux pastry for eclairs(profiteroles as they are called in Australia) to shortcrust pastry for your quiches and tarts!

Contact Fatima Moniz on fatima@moniz.in , +91 9370275702 or 0832 2776035 to find out when her next baking class is.

QuickTip: Sautéing Onions

Photo Alexandre Dulaunoy

A very useful cooking tip.

Excessive stirring when sautéing onions, draws out moisture and browning takes a lot longer.

What to do with left over cooked fish??

I have always struggled with quantities when cooking, especially if I have friends or family over. You want to cook enough so everyone can easily enjoy seconds if they want to. However, cook too much and you end up having to go through the same leftovers for days on end. And as all the seafood lovers will testify, while fish can be one of the best foods to eat freshly cooked, its one of the worst to eat re heated.

Well here is a way for you to convert leftover fish into a whole new dish!

Step 1: Flake and debone the fish. It doesn't matter what fish or how it was cooked.

Step 2: Boil and mash some potato or sweet potato. The quantity should be 1/3- 1/4 the quantity of fish. I use sweet potato since it has a lower GI and is a fantastic replacement for regular potato if you  are diabetic or just avoiding potato. I find that sweet potato goes especially well  with "oily" types of fish like mackerel, tuna or salmon.

Step 3 : Chop some red onion, red capsicum, garlic and coriander. You will need to judge quantities depending on how much fish you have.

Step 4: Mix together fish, potato, chopped vegetables, salt, pepper and coriander(you can use any other herbs depending on if you prefer them or happen to have them around)

Step 5 : Taste the mixture to ensure that you have the right amount of seasoning, shape the mixture into patties, coat with egg and breadcrumbs and pan fry

Voila!.. a whole new dish! This is such a versatile dish because you can add anything you like or have around. Right from some extra chilli to lemon to grated carrot. Just remember to ensure that the mixture is dry, if not, the patties will not hold together. If you find that the mixture is too soft, add a little more mashed potato.

Hint: this is a really quick dinner to make if you use a tin of tuna or salmon from the supermarket instead of leftover fish. Just as yummy!

My version of tandoori prawns

Ok I know this cant really be called "tandoori" since they are not cooked in a tandoor which is a traditional indian clay oven or red as I did not want to use food colouring. That being said, most of the spices and flavours are the same. I assure you, this dish is so addictive its unbelievable!.

So here goes..

Marinate the prawns in yogurt, lemon juice, ginger-garlic paste, chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala (quantities below).  put the prawns on a skewer and grill.. easy peasy!

Served with a side of yogurt raita and lemon wedge, unbelievably good!

You can grill the prawns on their own if you do not have skewers and the recipe works just as well with fish or chicken.

Ingredients
2 spoons yogurt
1 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala.
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
2 tsp  lemon juice
salt to taste

A sunday afternoon with blueberry muffins

What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon then sitting on the couch with a book, a hot cup of tea and freshly baked blueberry muffins!

As mentioned in a previous post, I have been experimenting with trying to make all time favourites like muffins healthier. Everybody loves cakes, and whats better than finding a way to be able to eat them more often!

Inspired by a a recipe  from a cookbook I recently found called "Have Your Cake" by the Australian author Emily Rose, I have tried making muffins by replacing butter, sugar and white flour with oil, honey and wholewheat flour. I did not have orange juice so I added a little apple cider vinegar for the acidity...And the result:- An addictive morning or afternoon snack!

Stuffed mushrooms and Meatloaf

Meatloaf is an easy meal to make since you just mix all the ingredients, put in the oven and do your other chores while it gets done.

 A recipe that my mum used and we ate a lot growing up was mixing raw mince, chopped onions, chopped garlic, salt, pepper, 1 egg and breadcrumbs, pack it into a baking mould and bake for 45 minutes.

What I do is add any vegetables I have in the house as well to make the meal more wholesome. For instance, the meatloaf in the picture has grated carrot, red capsicum and thyme as well. 

For the stuffed mushrooms, saute the chopped mushroom stems, onion, capsicum. Mix the sauteed mixture with grated cheese and season with salt and pepper. Stuff the mushroom cups, sprinkle with some cheese and bake for 10 minutes. Quick and easy!

For quick reference and quantities , here are the ingredients:-

Meatloaf

500gm beef mince

1 small chopped onion

1 clove garlic

1 egg

breadcrumbs from 2 slices of whole wheat bread

salt and pepper to taste

Herbs, carrot capsicum (optional)

Stuffed mushrooms

 Mushrooms of your choice (I used cup mushrooms)

1/2 a small onion

 Capsicum

Salt and pepper to taste

Grated cheese(I use a mix of cheddar and parmesan)

Easy Weekday Dinner

Ever had that feeling where you come home from work and dont know what to make for dinner? What I find easy to do,  is to marinade the meat or fish on the day you do the groceries for the week(Sunday for me ) and freeze it. That way if I take if out of the freezer  on my way to work, I have marinated meat or fish ready for cooking when I get home in the evening! Dinner can be ready in 20 minutes!.The picture is of delicious crumb fried fish marinated in ginger-garlic paste, fresh red chilli, salt and turmeric. Quick and easy!

A handy tip I find is, if pan frying something marinated in lemon, first coat it in breadcrumbs or semolina.  The lemon tends to spit quite badly when it comes in contact with the oil.

Decadent Sanrival

I found this picture on my phone from last Christmas. Its my mum's famous Sanrival which is an indulgent cashew-nut meringue butter cream dessert cake. One bite and you know there is no going back! :-)

To learn how to make it, contact Fatima Moniz on +91 9370275702 or 0832 2776035 to find out when the next Sanrival making class is.

Healthy savoury muffins.

I'm such a lazy morning person. I generally dont have the time or inclination so make breakfast before work. Lets face it, cereal is boring food. Time to  experiment with healthy breakfast muffins. Here is a recipe that is healthy, and not a typical morning cereal sludge! For the real time kicker, I make a batch on sunday. Next up, eat one each morning on the dash to work, or with a hot drink and newspaper.

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tspn mixed italian herbs (optional or just use the particular herbs you like)

1/2 tspn salt

1 1/2 cup whole wheat self raising flour

1/2 cup rice bran oil(You should be able to use different oils like sunflower oil if you dont have the rice bran oil

1/2 cup grated cheese 1/3 cup chopped sun dried tomato

(you can add,substitute, increase or decrease  these ingredients depending on your tastes and availability. Alternatives could be  grated zucchini/carrot, ham, bacon, mushrooms or whatever else you like!)

Method:

Beat eggs and oil together. Mix in the cheese, sundried tomato, herbs and salt. Fold in the flour and milk. Spoon into muffin moulds and bake in a pre heated oven for about 15 minutes or till cooked through.

PS: if you are not too fussed about it being healthy, you can use white flour instead of whole wheat and butter instead of the oil.

Vanilla Butter Cake which Chocolate Ganache and Strawberry Topping

Here is one of my mum's recipes I used, to make a birthday cake for my cousin Lyell.
It was deliciously sinful!

Ingredients

Flour: 300 gms
Butter: 200 gms
Curds: 100 gms
Eggs: 6
Vanilla:1/2 tsp
Baking soda: ½ tsp
Hot water:2 tbs
Sugar:300 gms
Chopped dark chocolate: 250gms
Full cream: 1/3rd Cup

Cake

Beat the sugar and butter. Add the eggs and beat until fluffy .Add curds and beat. Add the

sieved flour with b. soda, then the hot water and fold. Bake in a greased and floured mould until cake leaves the side of the tin and skewer pierced into the cake come out clean.

Topping

Mix the chopped dark chocolate and the full cream in a bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir mixture until smooth and shiny. Set aside and allow to cool a little. Inhale the aroma for that nice fuzzy feeling. Spread around cake and decorate with sliced strawberries.