Pumpkin Spice Cranberry Scones

The change of environment into vibrant colors and the decline of temperatures with a crisp cold breeze always pairs well with the warmth from your oven and the aroma of spices filling your whole house. Even though summer always seems to leave before you can catch those last bright rays, those which fade into the cold, gray clouds all too soon, autumn also brings with it many wonderful things- enter pumpkins! 

Now don't just let these orange beauties go to waste; bring some in home for these spiced up scones, crispy and flaky with a bite into the sweet glaze, balanced by the tartness of the cranberries. Enjoy your mid mornings with these scones and your favorite tea or coffee.

INGREDIENTS:

Scones:

11/3 Cups Flour

1/4 Cup Cold Butter

1/2 Cup Pumpkin Puree

1/4 Cup Dried Cranberries/Craisins

1 Egg

1 Tblsp Yogurt

1 Tblsp Cold Water

1/3 Cup Sugar

2 Tsp Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

1 Tsp Cinnamon Powder

A Pinch Clove Powder

A Pinch Grated Nutmeg

1/6 Tsp Ginger Powder

1/4 Tsp Salt

1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract (Optional)

Glaze:

1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar

1/4 Tsp Cinnamon Powder

1/2 Tblsp Melted Butter

1 Tblsp Milk

METHOD:

SCONES:

 Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil, then grease it and dust with flour.

 In a medium bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and all the spices. To this add the butter cut into small cubes and mix with a fork or pastry cutter to resemble a coarse meal.

In the other bowl, beat the egg with pumpkin puree, yogurt, cold water, and vanilla essence.

Pour this mix to the dry ingredients and mix untill well incorporated.

Finally add the cranberries and mix well. Do not knead the flour mix. Transfer to a floured surface and spread into a 8" disc.

Place this onto the prepared sheet and cut into 8 or 12 (preferable) wedges and bake for about 14 mins or until the surface turns slight brown.

Cool down for five mins before applying glaze.

GLAZE: Mix together cinnamon and powdered sugar, then add the melted butter and milk to form glaze. 

If you prefer more glaze you can double the quantity. Or serve half the pieces with glaze and leave the rest plain. It tastes equally good.

Soy Manchurian

 To think of vegetarian food without actual vegetables is quite hard. You can make something out of paneer or tofu, but what if someone doesn't like both or you want to give something different?

 Soy is like that good friend who comes in handy and surprises you. I was really really skeptical (seriously) when I thought of trying the manchurian with soy chunks. But I have no words now; I never thought this would turn out so good. Shown below is the dry version of Soy Manchurian. Try this at home and enjoy the amazing results!

INGREDIENTS:

1 Cup Soy Chunks

1 Tblsp Corn Flour

1 Tsp Soy Sauce

11/2 Tsp Ginger Garlic Paste

3 Tblsp Oil

1 Medium Onion 

2 Green Chillies 

4 Spring Onions 

4 Garlic Pods

2" Piece Fresh Ginger 

2 Tsp Green Chilli Sauce

2 Tblsp Tomato Ketchup

2 Tsp Soy Sauce

5 Twigs Coriander Leaves (optional)

Salt 

METHOD:

   In a pan, boil 4 cups water along with the soy chunks for about 5 mins. Drain the water and squeeze out any extra from the soy chunks and chop them into smaller (2") pieces.

To this, add cornflour, ginger garlic paste,1tsp soy sauce, 1tsp green chilli paste, and a bit of salt (if needed), then mix well. 

Heat 2 tblsp oil in a pan and fry the soy chunks until they reach a light golden color, and keep aside. Just shallow frying is fine.

Chop the onion, ginger, garlic, spring 

onion and green chillies into small pieces. 

Heat a pan and add a tablespoon of oil. Keep the flame high and cook the onion for about two minutes until it starts to wilt off. Then add the white part of spring onion, garlic, ginger and green chillies one by one. Now add the soy sauce, then green chilli sauce and tomato ketchup. Check for salt and add if needed. Squeeze any extra oil from the fried soy and add to this. Give it a good stir and let cook through for two to three minutes.

Finally garnish with the green spring onion and remove from heat. Sprinkle chopped coriander on top.

A great starter or a side dish to go with any vegetarian meal.

Gka Prow Gai (Basil Chicken)

 Its end of summer and wanted I to use the last batch of basil leaves from my garden. I was looking for Thai recipes, because they make use of lots of basil in their recipes which are usually very tasty and flavorful.

  I'm really happy that I came across this recipe because it solved the purpose. I actually made it a bit dry but can be made little saucy too. So now give Gka Prow Gai a try!

INGREDIENTS:

1lb Chicken Tiny Pieces/ Mince

6  Pods Garlic Chopped

1 Small Onion Chopped

25 Chopped Basil Leaves

1 Tsp Red or Green Chilly Paste

1 Tblsp Soy Sauce

1 Tsp Brown/Palm Sugar

1 Tblsp Oyester/ Fish Sauce

3 Tblsp Cooking Oil

Salt to taste

METHOD :

 Clean and cut the chicken into very small pieces. You can even mince the chicken for this recipe.

Heat oil in a pan until really hot and fry the chopped garlic followed by onion. Add the palm sugar and chilly paste and fry well. As soon as onion turns transparent add the chicken and cook well. Add about 2 tablespoons of water if necessary.

As the chicken is cooking through, add the soy sauce and fish sauce. Adjust salt, add the basil leaves and stir together  until the dish is almost dry.

You can even switch off stove and take it out while its still saucy.

Goes really well with rice or roti. If you are planning to serve it as a starter, make it out of chicken strips.

Huevos Rancheros

Huevos Rancheros is a mexican breakfast dish served with eggs which translates to "rancher's eggs". Its actually  a mid morning meal in the farms.

You can make and serve them with mexican rice, beans and eggs along with salsa and avocadoes.

  Its really good and filling. It can be had for brunch or occasional dinner too. Hope you guys would enjoy this as much as we did.

INGREDIENTS :

4 Flour Tortillas

4 Eggs

2 Tblsp Chopped Coriander Leaves

1/2 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese 

1 Tsp Hot Sauce

1 Tsp Black Pepper Powder

Salt to taste

For Bean

1 15ounce Can Black Bean or

11/2 Cups Cooked Black Bean

1/4 Cup Chicken Stock or 

1 Chicken Buillion Cube

For Salsa

1 Small Onion 

2  Big Tomatoes

1 Jalapeno Pepper or 2 Green Chillies

2 Tblsp Chopped Coriander Leaves

1 Tblsp Lemon Juice

METHOD:

Prepare Bean:

Heat a cooking pan and add the rinsed and drained black bean with the chicken stock, check for salt and pepper and cook on medium low flame, break the beans a little and cook until the stock is absorbed. If using chicken buillion cube, add 1/4 cup water along with this and cook them.

Prepare Salsa:

Chop onion, tomatoes and jalapeno into small pieces. Add chopped coriander leaves to this. Mix in lemon juice and salt.

Fry Eggs:

  In a pan fry the eggs sunny-side up (bulls-eye) and season with salt and black pepper.

In a pan, heat the tortillas on both sides.

  Now arrange each tortilla on to plates. Divide the black bean equally onto the four tortillas. Spoon on salsa over the bean. Place an egg on top of this, drizzle some hot sauce and cheddar cheese on top and sprinkle chopped coriander. Now  heuvos rancheros is ready to be served.