But today we’re here to talk not about the chips, but this really yummy salsa dip. A while ago, I’d picked up a jar from the local supermarket, that claimed to be ‘Hot’. I love spicy stuff, so I thought this would really hit the spot. What I love about Mexican food is the spice from the chillies and peppers and the tang from the lemon and tomatoes. Much to my disappointment, this store bought salsa was neither ‘Hot’ nor tangy. I knew I had to figure out a way to get my hands on something better. This homemade salsa was fresh, packed full of flavor and you can easily adjust the spice levels to your liking. It was everything a good salsa should be. I sure hope you try it out.
The picture doesn’t do it much justice. It was fairly late in the evening when it was taken. I hope to get a better picture up sometime soon.
Super Fast Salsa
1 clove of garlic
1/4 onion, roughly chopped
2 -3 tomatoes, roughly chopped
Fresh coriander leaves with stalks
Lime juice, to taste
Salt, to taste
Place all the ingredients in the food processor.
Pulse till it reaches the consistency you like and is combined.
Adjust the salt and lime if needed.
Enjoy!
Bombay Street Food Special #10 – Dahi wada
Bombay Street Food Special #9 – Deep-fried Lentil Fritters
Come back tomorrow and I’ll show you how to use these fritters to make another yummy snack.
SRC: Strawberry Oat Smoothie
Usually my husband is the one who whips up the smoothies in our house. I have also consciously started taking some juice or a homemade smoothie to work over the last couple of weeks. Its been a nice change and has helped me lay off the coffee and give me a burst of energy that I need. I just made a couple of changes to the recipe for this smoothie like leaving out the cinnamon and I also cut down the honey to half. You could adjust the sweetness to your liking. I would like to try it soon with the cinnamon and see how that turns out. Let me tell you a little about this smoothie. Even though it didnt have any cream, yogurt, ice cream or avocado, it turned out nice and creamy and that was a pleasant surprise. I reckon I have the oats to thank for that. They also give the smoothie good substance and a glass of this great stuff will keep you going for a while. I have a punnet of blueberries that I will use to make another batch of these smoothies. Thanks Leslie for introducing me to a great new twist on the smoothie. 🙂
Strawberry Oat Smoothie
(Makes 2)
1 1/2 cup cold milk
12-15 strawberries
4 tbsp. dry oats
2 tbsp. honey
Place all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and puree till smooth.
Pour out into a glass and enjoy!!!
SRC: Blueberry Muffins
Mind you, with a blog like Love and Flour, LeAndra has a ton of recipes that will take you by the hand, lead you to the kitchen and urge you to make them. Before I decided on these muffins, I was considering the Banana Rum Cake, Marbled Chocolate & Vanilla Quick Bread, Tiramisu Bread Pudding (I still intend making this soon), or on the savory side this Corn Pudding and these Crab Cakes. I was torn between these choices so I was really glad when the Blueberry Muffins spoke up 🙂
The muffins were easy to make. The batter came together really quick and then all it took was 20 minutes in the oven. I pretty much stuck to the recipe except for the cinnamon powder. I used it but just reduced the amount compared to what the original recipe called for. I couldn’t seem to figure where it went, so I just added it to the sugary topping mix. Another thing I noticed was that the ingredient list had white sugar mentioned twice, I considered that a typo. Also, something I was really excited about was, for a change, I managed to get the actual yield that the recipe suggested. Happy days!!!
On another note, check out these cupcake liners I picked up at the supermarket a couple of days ago. They look like so much fun. I baked the muffins in these liners and I think it would be a fantastic way to add muffins to a kids birthday party dessert spread.
Back to the muffins. These blueberry muffins were amazing. They weren’t too sweet, just the way I like it. I loved the flavor that the cinnamon added. And those bursts of delicious berries with the light crunch of the sugary topping were something else altogether. In all, I’d consider this the perfect muffin. Its everything I look for in a muffin and so much more. Do yourself a favor and make them soon.
And don’t forget to hop on over to LeAndra’s blog and say Hi.
Blueberry Muffins
Makes 12
1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar, divided in half
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Zest of 1 lemon, divided in half
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup milk
1 egg
1 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
In a small bowl, mix the topping ingredients – 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the cinnamon powder and half the lemon zest.
In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients – the flour, brown sugar, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, baking powder, salt and 1/2 the zest.
In a large bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients – the milk, oil and egg.
Stir in the dry ingredients till combined.
Fold in the blueberries.
Spoon the batter into the lined muffin tin, filling almost to the top.
Sprinkle with the topping mix.
Bake at 200°C for 20 minutes or till a toothpick pierced through the middle comes out clean.
Enjoy!!!
Crusty Italian Bread
On to my experience baking bread from scratch. In the past, using yeast overwhelmed me. I tried my hand at bread a few times a couple of years ago and each time ended up with blobs of unrisen dough resulting in brick hard bread, no, you could definitely not call that bread. Later on I learned that I wasn’t doing anything wrong. Infact, I was using a brand of yeast that was known to fail; only I didn’t know that. So if any of you reading this are based in India and have tried baking bread using Bluebird yeast, without much success, you know why. Please change your brand of yeast.
This Crusty Italian Bread is something I am so proud of. Once you get the hang of making bread, its actually a lot of fun and very satisfying to see a beautiful loaf emerge from the oven. The flavor and texture was fantastic. My husband isn’t overly fond of bread, but he went back for seconds. He liked this bread so much that he had a slice after dinner with some butter. I was elated. I knew that I had done something right. I can’t wait to make this again.
Crusty Italian Bread
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tbsp light brown sugar
1 heaped tsp instant dry yeast
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup lukewarm water
1 tsp salt
Place the flour in a large mixing bowl.
Mix in the yeast, salt and sugar.
Add the oil and the water and mix it well till the dough comes together.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead the dough well. Add more flour gradually if the dough is too sticky. Knead the dough for about 7 minutes. The dough should be well knead, soft and not tacky or sticky.
Smooth it out into a ball and place in an oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Keep the bowl in a warm place for about 60 minutes or until double in size.
Remove the cling film and punch the dough back to knock out the air.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and flatten the dough with your hands. Roll it to form an oval shape. It should be rolled tightly and press the seam well. Repeat the process again. You should end up with an oval loaf with slightly tapered ends. Place it onto a lightly floured board and cover loosely with a clean tea towel and leave to rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven and your baking tray to 220°C.
When the dough is ready to be baked, remove the tray from the oven, sprinkle some semolina and place the loaf of bread over it, to add some crunch to the base.
Using a sharp knife, make a couple of slits on the top of the loaf about 1-2cm deep.
Spray the loaf with water and place it in the oven for 3 minutes. Repeat this step 2 more times, leaving the dough to bake for about 40 minutes after the last spray.
If you think the bread is browning a little to much or too quickly, place some aluminium foil loosely on top.
When the bread is done, take it out of the oven, turn over and tap the base of the loaf. If it sounds hollow, the bread is done.
Leave the bread on a cooling rack. Once it has cooled, slice and enjoy!!!
Cajun Chicken Wrap
Chunky Guacamole
Breakfast Quesadillas
Breakfast Quesadilla
1 flour tortilla
Crunchy peanut butter
1 banana, sliced
Dark chocolate chips
A knob of butter
Spread some peanut butter on the tortilla.
On one half of the tortilla arrange the banana slices and sprinkle the dark chocolate chips over.
Fold the empty half over and press down lightly to make sure the peanut butter can do its thing and get everything together.
Add a knob of butter in a pan and over a low-medium flame toast the quesadilla till it gets nice and crunchy.
Then add another knob of butter to the pan and carefully turn the tortilla over to the other side and let it crisp up nicely.
I cut it into three wedges just to make it easier to handle.
Serve up…. and oh, please proceed carefully, the melted filling is hotter than you think it would be.