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.