Cooking with kids: Milk popsicles

Remember "Pepsi Cola"?? If you were a kid in India in the 80s, I'm sure this weird term brought back fond memories. 

Pepsicola - Image source: https://mehtaworld.wordpress.com

For the uninitiated, it was neither Pepsi nor Coca Cola. They were these deliciously icy sticks available in various eye catching colours and myriad flavours, all 100% artificial, I assure you. The ones made with water were 25-50 paise a stick and the one made with milk were 50 paise - 1 Rupee, depending on whether you got a half sized one or a tall one. It was nothing but a slim pencil like plastic casing filled with liquid and kept frozen, so it could be eaten like a portable popsicle without the worry of the melting ice spilling on you. The melted remains inside the plastic case were slurped up in the end. Walking back from the school to the public transport bus stand in the hot afternoon sun, this was something to look forward to. 

It was always had on the sly as my grandpa would never approve me eating foods whose hygiene standards were quite suspect. Also, any cough or cold I'd fall prey to, would be instantly blamed on the cold stuff eaten, so I had to keep my affair with Pepsi cola a secret. What started in high school last well into junior college days. Conveniently, there would always be a mom and pop kinda store selling these cheap treats near every school and college, fully knowing the lure they were presenting to their young target audience. Oh yeah, we did 'graduate' to 2 rupee a piece stick kulfi in the later years, and 'pepsi colas' became a forgotten thing, that had provided some sweet excitement to those hot summer days.

A few days ago when my son said he wants to make popsicle with milk and his regular malt, my childhood love of all things icy came back to me. Freezing anything in childhood, even a cube of ice was something fraught with much fascination and naughtiness. Forbidden fruit and all that. So when he said he wanted to mix LOTS of Bournvita into milk and pour into molds* and make popsicles, I felt like a kid myself. 

The idea is my son's, who will turn 6 shortly. He did confess that the idea was not entirely his own and that he had watched this in an ad on TV. Do we see a pattern here? His instructions to me were - "Take some milk, mix in 4 BIG spoons of Bournvita and pour into popsicle molds. We'll eat it once it is frozen." 

Where to buy Popsicle Molds - These could be available in the Plastic section of your local supermarket, or they are also available on Amazon - regular and Mickey.

If your kid is not a fan of milk, trust me, you will see them slurping these popsicles with no further nudging. 

Recipe for Malted Milk Popsicles
Makes 2 

Ingredients1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp custard powder (vanilla or butterscotch) 
2 tbsp malted beverage of choice
2 tsp sugar

Directions
Whisk the custard powder into cold milk and bring to a simmer with sugar and malted beverage. 
Once it coats the back of a spoon, and a line drawn on the spoon stays intact, bring to cool in a sink or big bowl of water. 
Very lightly oil the insides of the popsicle mould. 
Pour the mixture into 2 moulds, cover with lids and freeze for 6-8 hours. 
Remove when frozen and slurp, one for your kid and one for you :)

Variations
You can also make thick milkshakes using bananas, chikoos, custard apples and fill them in the moulds, with some frozen berries thrown in for colourful healthy frozen treats.

Savoury Carrot & Herb Muffins {eggless}

Hello y'all! Back from a fun fun fun weekend at Pondicherry with the UrbanLadder team, where I was asked to do one of my salad workshops for their offsite, as a small step to making people cook and love healthy food! The 5 teams amazed me with their resourcefulness and creativity. We didn't have any cooking implements which made the participants put on their creative caps. One of the girls actually crushed peanuts using the side of a bowl, and someone foraged some Thai basil growing wild, while the others ran into their rooms and got some fruit from the complimentary fruit bowl to add some punch to their salad. All in all, a wow experience and I enjoyed it a lot. 
So if you are looking for something along these lines for your workplace, then do get in touch with me. Check some of the photos from the trip /workshop on my Facebook Page.

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Our youtube videos are back in full swing and we aim to release 3 new videos a week. Last week it was tips to make a kickass Dosai, its partner in crime-the molaga podi. This week has kicked off with a kiddie lunchbox special - Spinach pesarattu. So make sure you subscribe and stay tuned to get every new video fresh into your mailbox or your youtube feed!

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We all love muffins, but the sugar and butter that goes into most commercial muffins makes it as unhealthy as a decadent cake, all the time pretending that they are a healthier option. Muffins when made at home easily lend themselves to all kinds of healthy modifications, make them sweet or savoury, add fruits or veggies, add bran or millets, it's totally up to you. This recipe I put together this morning for my son's lunchbox and I did sneak in one for my breakfast and boy, they are good!

These savoury muffins combine the goodness of carrots, protein from the paneer and cheese. Using a mix of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour, keeps it soft and springy. You could also try it with other healthy flours like millet or corn meal. 
The grated carrots also keep the muffins moist despite minimal oil in the recipe.
Try it out for a tea party or for your kid's lunchbox. You can also double the recipe, and refrigerate in an airtight box, makes for a super healthy after school snack.

Recipe for Savoury Carrot Herb Muffins (eggless) 
Makes 6 medium sized muffins

Ingredients
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp or a pinch of baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1 medium carrot, coarsely grated
1/2 tsp mixed herbs (I used Keya)
3 tbsp grated paneer
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup whisked yogurt + 1 tsp vinegar
3-4 tbsp water (if required)

To top:
Grated cheese
Few pieces of chopped walnuts

Directions
Preheat the air fryer to 180°C.
Keep 6 silicone cupcake molds ready.
In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients with a whisk. Keep aside.
In another bowl, mix the grated carrot, paneer, herbs, vegetable oil, yogurt - until they are well combined. 
Make a well and add the dry ingredients. Stir gently to mix through. Do not over mix, any small lumps can be left alone.
If you think the mix is too dry, add water 1 tbsp at a time, until it is of the right consistency.
Divide the batter into 6 cupcake molds. Top with a little grated cheese and walnut bits. 
The airfryer will fit in only 4 at a time, so you need to do it in 2 batches. If you are baking in an oven, then by all means, use a 6 cup muffin tin and bake as per instructions.
Place the filled molds in the airfryer basket. Close it in and bake at 180°C for 7 minutes or so.
Remove, allow to cool for 2-3 minutes, unmold and serve warm.

Lunchbox Ideas : Vegetable Peanut Noodles

Lunchbox ideas : Veggie and peanut noodles

"So what's for my lunchbox today?" 
The son comes running upstairs when I am clicking a photo of something (food, of course). 
"Oh, noooooodles! I can't wait for lunch time, mummy."

And just like that this post lands up on the blog, a kid approved lunchbox - noodles tossed in a bunch of colourful vegetables and a special dressing that makes it all juicy and slurpy and literally snowed over by crushed peanuts.

I teach this recipe of an Asian noodle salad in my Zesty Salads workshop, but I must say the inspiration of this is a recipe from Hungry and Excited, Revati's foodblog. The difference being, the vegetables here are sautéed instead of the raw veggies in my salad. Kids find it difficult to digest too much raw food and the sautéed- slightly softened vegetables work best, while also tasting even better, especially when it comes to bell peppers. 

The dressing that I've used here is so versatile, it goes as a topping on noodles, as a salad dressing, as a dipping sauce for Vietnamese rice paper rolls and even for the fried spring rolls. Get the balance of sweet-sour-salty-sweet (and spicy, if you wish) right and you are ready to roll!

Veggie - Peanut noodles

I got a whole bunch of stuff from local Asian stores in the China Town area of Melbourne during my trip in March, and it's time I stopped hoarding them and started using them up, or it will be just another case of expired food going into the land-fills. 

I've used what's called dan-dan noodles for this dish. They are super thin, cook very quickly and very light and delicate. The are called dandan because in earlier times, vendors (in China) would hang them from poles (dan dan) and walk around to sell them. I quite like this little story behind the noodles, reminds me of 'Banana walas' in Matunga who would hang two baskets from a pole, which was supported on their shoulders and they would sell all varieties of bananas, banana flower, stem etc, peddling their wares from building to building.

You can use whatever noodles you have readily available - regular hakka / egg noodles / soba (buckwheat) noodles / rice noodles or even our South Indian instant rice vermicelli (sevai).

Now coming to the best part about this dish. It tastes great cold too, which makes it perfect for lunch boxes, make ahead lunches and even dinner parties. A huge platter of this noodle dish is such an eye pleaser with its rich colours and textures.

For lots more lunchbox ideas, do follow my Facebook Page - Saffron Trail and Instagram (@saffrontrail) - these are updated more regularly on a real time basis :)

Lunchbox, lunch, dinner or snack - a dish for any meal

Recipe for Vegetable and Peanut Noodles / Noodles for lunchbox
Serves 2

Ingredients
200 grams noodles 
1 tbsp peanut oil
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 small red bell pepper
1 small onion
1 small green bell pepper
1 small carrot
1/4 tsp salt

Dressing
2-3 tbsp finely chopped coriander
2 tbsp soy sauce (if light soy, then use 3 tbsp)
3-4 tbsp lemon juice or 2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp chilli flakes 
1 tsp sesame oil (optional)

1/4 cup crushed peanuts (roasted and then coarsely powdered or crushed)

Directions

Finely chop the garlic. Peel, halve and slice the onions. Chop the bell pepper and carrot into sticks.

Place a wok / kadai on the flame with 1 tbsp oil. Once oil is heated through, add garlic, onions, bell peppers and carrots. Add a pinch of salt and allow them to soften a bit, but not fully cooked. They should retain their colour and some of the texture. Remove from flame and keep aside. Transfer the veggies into a large bowl.

Fill a big pot or wok with water. Once it comes to a boil, add 1 tsp salt, the noodles and bring to a boil again. Cook as per instructions on the packet. In this case, after boiling for 2 minutes, drain the noodles and wash under running cold water, so they stop cooking and don't stick to each other. Add this to the veggies in the bowl.

In a small bowl, whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing.

Pour this dressing on top of the noodles and veggies and toss gently using finger tips.
Top with crushed peanuts and toss once more. 

SERVING INSTRUCTIONS
If serving on a platter then reserve some of the peanuts and coriander and add on the top as a garnish. If not serving immediately, keep the noodles and veggies tossed in dressing in an airtight container in the fridge. Toss in peanuts just before serving.

Quick lunchbox recipe: Pita pocket pizza sandwich

Lunchboxes need to be quick, healthy AND tasty, and something that will stay tasty 4 hours after you fill them up. Even though I am an early morning person, a number of chores miraculously line up for my mornings, no matter how well I try to organise them. I am on most days left with no more than 15 minutes allotted to prep-cook and pack the son’s lunch.

While making things from scratch is a done deal for most part, some cheats help in keeping things fun while being easy on parents. These mini pitas I picked up from Foodworld were just that. Cut them through the center and they make a nice pocket to fill up with whatever you fancy. The Splitz tomato paste is another such ingredient that leads to umpteen cheat meals – instant rasam, pasta sauce and in this case, a faux pizza sauce. Keeping a couple of veggies handy, that kids will never say no to, such as red bell pepper is another winner in my book. Also, I find the humble tava such a quick alternative to, preheating the oven, and while they do need a little monitoring on the tava, you can clean up on the side, so it’s not entirely a time killer.

Pita Pocket Pizza Sandwich
Makes 4 pieces
{lunchbox / sandwich recipes}

Ingredients

2 pitas, roughly 3” in diameter

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

5-6 leaves of fresh basil, finely chopped or 2 fat pinches of dried basil, crushed

Ground black pepper

Pinch of salt

3 tbsp of diced red bell pepper or a mix of onion, bell pepper, zucchini

2 tbsp of pizza cheese, cut into strips or grated

1-2 tsp of ghee or butter to cook

Directions

Slice the pitas horizontally through the center to separate into two layers, but not through and through, so that they are still attached at one end.

In a small bowl, with a small spoon, mix the tomato paste, extra virgin olive oil, finely minced fresh basil, black pepper and salt, until well combined.

In a pan, heat a few drops of olive oil and sauté the bell pepper for 1-2 minutes until just a little soft.

Gently spread the prepared tomato sauce inside both the cut open pita breads.

Divide the cheese strips between the two pockets, and divide the sautéed bell pepper on the top of the cheese equally.

Close the pockets by pressing down gently.

Heat a non stick pan or heavy bottomed pan. Spread a thin layer of ghee or butter.

Place the stuffed pitas on the hot pan and on medium heat let it turn golden brown on one side. Flip them around and let the other side turn a nice golden. By this time the cheese melts and holds on to the vegetables.

Slice into two semi-circles each-wrap tightly in cling wrap or foil and pack in a hot casserole lunch box so that the sandwiches are still warm at lunchtime.

You can prepare the same thing for an older kid’s lunchbox or an adult’s lunchbox, by adding more complex veggies like mushrooms, wilted spinach or marinated tofu, and adding some chilli flakes to the faux pizza sauce. A bean salad on the side would make it a heartier lunch. I would not recommend preparing this sauce with tomato puree as you need to cook it for quite some time to make it thicker, and a thinner sauce will make the sandwich soggy, and not suitable for a lunch box.

If you don’t find pita breads easily where you live, you can buy pizza bases, cut them through the center and use them similarly. One medium sized pizza base can be used instead of two pita bread rounds.

Super Healthy Vegan Brownie

2014 has taken off and how! Other than the workshops at Saffron Trail Kitchen, I was called in for some corporate workshops on healthy cooking in Feb, in which I had a lot of fun, interacting with a variety of audiences. 

Pic courtesy: Harsha Priolkar

March started off with me having a stall selling salads and dressings at our local farmers market - The Whitefield Farmers Market. This was last Sunday and it was a novel experience making lists, buying stuff, chopping up mountains of fresh produce, running the blender overtime to mix dressings, runs to the printers, hardware shops and what not! Friends asked me the experience was and my reply to everyone was, 'a great learning'. And that's what venturing into new projects does for you. Makes you do and learn things you would have never done otherwise.

While I've been up to my gills until now, now, I'm making lists for something amazing. I'm off to Melbourne, thanks to the winning the cook off organised by Nature's Basket - it's a 4 day holiday trip for which I leave this week. This planning is pure pleasure :) Especially after being a huge Masterchef Australia fan, this is definitely a dream come true.

You can see the photos from the Whitefield Farmers Market on my Facebook page (do LIKE the page for more such updates). If there's enough demand I may even make a batch of salad dressing each month and sell it online for those in and around Whitefield (Bangalore). To make your own dressings, SUBSCRIBE to my Youtube channel where you'll see lots of new things by end of the month :)

Coming to this recipe, I posted the pic above, a day ago on my Facebook and Twitter and I had people virtually nudging me for the recipe. What better way to break the silence on the blog! It's healthy, it's delicious, it looks beautiful. Some might say, it doesn't have the Brownie texture - well, freezing it might give you the texture, somewhat. Otherwise, just be content to call it a cake :P, it still tastes good!




Sometimes you buy the ingredients for a particular dish. At other times, the ingredients you buy inspire the recipes. A few weeks ago, I was shopping at our local organic store, Nisarga at Lakeview Farms - where I picked up organic raw cane sugar (khandsari), organic foxtail millet flour, organic himalayan rock salt and I have been using the flour to make rotis, and the salt and sugar to flavour the dishes. A couple of days ago, I realised I haven't baked anything for my son in ages and decided to make use of this millet flour in a healthy bake. Also, the mountain of  carrots in the fridge, leftover from the salad stall at the market had to be put to some use. These super healthy brownies are vegan - no eggs, no dairy, no butter. Using mimimal canola oil, grated carrots to keep them moist and the millet flour being gluten free keeps it from becoming dense.

If you haven't tasted millet flour, it has a different kind of taste and texture compared to all purpose flour. You can try and substitute this with Oat flour (oats powdered in the mixer jar till you get flour). By chilling the brownies or freezing them before eating, the pronounced flavour of millets in this can be reduced to quite some extent. You cannot see the slightest speck of orange from the carrots or taste the carrots in the brownie - in case you are worried that your kids will reject this veggie-filled brownie :)

Super healthy vegan brownies with millet flour and carrots
Makes 12 pieces


Ingredients
65 grams foxtail millet flour
60 grams multigrain atta
20 grams cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
150 gram powdered raw cane sugar (khandsari)
65 ml canola oil (4 tbsp+1tsp)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 tsp cider vinegar
1 cup tightly packed finely grated carrots (if you have a coarse grater, put the grated carrot in a mixer, and make it finer using a few pulses)
1/3 cup chocolate chips or walnuts

Directions
Oil / butter and dust cocoa powder in a rectangular 8x5 inch pan or line with baking paper. Keep aside.
Preheat oven to 180°C.
In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients with a whisk (flours, soda, cocoa powder, salt).
In another bowl, mix together sugar and oil, to this whisk in the water, grated carrots. 
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and combine gently. If the batter is too dry, add 2 tbsp of water extra. To this add the vinegar in the final stage, it will bubble, combine well to the rest of the batter.
If adding walnuts or chocolate chips, fold in at this stage.
Scrape the batter into the prepared tray and bake for 25-30 mins until a tester comes out clean.
Wait to cool completely before cutting into pieces.
Cut into 12 pieces. Freeze or refrigerate and serve chilled.

*you can use this website or any such similar site for converting from weight to volume measurements

SHOPPING GUIDE
In Bangalore, Whitefield - all organic flours and sugars are available at Nisarga Shop- Lakeview farm. You can also check organicbounty.com / Dubdengreen Organics at Whitefield and Delhi.
Use any millet flour you find and the least processed sugar you can find, if you cannot get these exact ingredients.
Canola oil is available at Hypercity
Multigrain atta- Pilsbury
Rectangular pan, chocochips from bakersmart.co.in
Cider Vinegar - American Garden brand available at most supermarkets, Waitrose brand in Hypercity

Apple Pie Pancakes: Kid in the kitchen

Bear with me. More kiddie recipes coming your way. It's holiday time and I'm trying to combine my love for cooking, my son's gourmet palate and his endless two week long vacation to do something productive. I keep buying a kilo of apples each time, with intentions of making an apple pie. As the days progress, with my decreasing pie-making resolve, the apples start going into salads, with peanut butter for my snack or just hang around in the fruit basket until they die a slow death. 

Today, son and me, came up with this idea. So what if we don't make pie, we can make pie like pancakes. And that's how this came about. He helped chop the apples, measure out the ingredients and we made these together to the endless patter of "mummy, I will FLIP the pancakes. I love flipping."

It was so delicious and we nearly had a fork fight towards the end for the last bit. This makes a perfect holiday breakfast or an after school snack. Just keep the apples prepped and the batter prepared before they're back from school and two minutes is all it takes. I've made this a tad healthier by replacing part of the refined flour by whole wheat flour. Orange zest is entirely optional, but I believe it adds a lot of flavour to the mix. Use a fine grater to grate the skin of the orange, but not until you reach the white bitter part.

Apple Pie Pancakes
Makes 4 6" pancakes

Ingredients
1/2 cup refined flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 pinch salt
1 cup milk
2 tsp white vinegar
2 large apples
1 tsp butter + some more to cook pancakes
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp orange zest (optional)
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

Directions
In a bowl, mix the flours, baking powder, sugar, salt, cinnamon powder with a whisk. Make a well, add the milk and vinegar. Gently mix together with a fork. Let this batter rest for 10 minutes.
Scrub the apples under running water. Core the apples and dice them into small pieces with skin. Heat 1 tsp butter in non stick pan. Add the diced apples, sugar, cinnamon powder, orange zest and toss them under low flame for 5 minutes or so, until apples are slightly soft and nicely golden.
Wipe the non stick skillet dry and place on medium heat, grease with some butter and pour a ladle full of batter. Don't spread it thin. Dot some butter around the pancake. When you see bubbles around the edges, it is time to flip over. Each side takes around 2 mins to cook and get golden, this depends on the thickness of your pancakes though.
Once done, remove on a plate and top with a layer of prepared apples. Fold over or serve as it is. Best eaten hot.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins - with the kid in the kitchen

Saffron Trail Kitchen Update

The Zesty Salads class of 5th October was much fun (pictures). The registrations for the class of 19th October are closed now. There's a weekday class on 23rd October morning with a few seats open. Please follow the Saffron Trail Facebook page for all updates on upcoming classes and share this with your friends in Whitefield & rest of Bangalore who may be interested.

The two week holidays are back and it's that time of the year when I struggle to find ways to interest my pre-schooler boy outside of the iPad or DVDs. Last afternoon, it was baking time. I pulled out the Muffins Bible from the bookshelf, read out the recipe for Blueberry muffins to the son, made him wear his spiderman apron, spread newspapers on the kitchen table and we were all set to bake together. He promptly recruited my househelp as the sous chef's sous chef, i mean, his sous chef. We measured out the dry ingredients, and the boy threatened to stir it with so much enthusiasm that I thought there would be more flour outside the bowl than inside it. When it was time to crack the eggs, he wanted to do it all by himself, breaking each of them like coconuts on the tines of the fork. My househelp's heart was in her mouth, in the fear that how much clean up we'd have to do if he broke the eggs on the floor. Thankfully, it wasn't that much of a disaster. We managed to fill up the muffin cups and when I turned around to put it in the preheated oven, guess what I see? When my attention had turned elsewhere for a nanosecond, he had cranked up oven temperature to 250C, changed the oven setting to 'grill' - one crazy sous chef indeed. After some rectifications, the muffin tin finally went inside and then he sat almost burning his nose by touching it to the oven glass, to wait for them to be ready.



Finally when it was out, he didn't mind his tongue getting burnt but he had to taste them immediately. This morning, I asked him if he could recall how we made the muffins, this is what he drew. This made me a happy mom :)

Lemon & Blueberry Muffins
Makes 15 medium sized muffins

Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup oil or 1/2 cup oil + 1/4 cup melted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup milk (at room temperature)
Zest of two lemons
Juice of 2 lemons
1 cup blueberries* (frozen or fresh)

Directions
Preheat the oven at 190°C.
In a large bowl, mix the flours, baking soda, baking powder, sugar and mix well with a fork or a whisk.
Whisk the oil / butter, vanilla extract, eggs and milk in another bowl. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice, give it a quick whisk and add this to the big bowl of dry ingredients.
Gently fold in the blueberries.
Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper liners or grease them well with butter.
Divide the batter between the 12 muffin holes. If there's any extra, make in the next batch, or bake a baby cake with left over batter.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until the tops are golden brown.

Shopping Guide
I used frozen blueberries that goes by the brand Delishh, found in the freezer section of Auchan Supermarket (Gopalan Mall), KR Puram. Rs.215 for 200 grams, they were of reasonably good size and freshness. This freeezer section also stocked frozen raspberries and blackberries. 


My Doodle recipe is a part of Easy Doodle Recipe contest at BlogAdda.com in association with TastyKhana.com