Caramel Pudding/Custard

I have almost given up on baking because I am on a healthy eating mission and desserts are rarely low calorie/healthy. But I have a lot of baking ingredients and so decided to finish them off. Also, baking is very precise... any mistake or change in measurement and the dish goes poohh... It happened last weekend when I tried making coconut mousse. It tasted amazing but did not set. Oh well, I am going to try it again.

I follow the instagram feed of passionforbaking and decided to check out the blog and found a recipe for caramel pudding.

You can check out the recipe and step by step pictures here. The only problem- the blog is in Nowergian language so I had to use google translate it. The good part- newer posts have an English translation.

I have halved the recipe to make a smaller pudding meant for 4 people.

Ingredients:
- 1.5 cups sugar for caramel
- 300 ml milk
- 150 ml cream
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 4 eggs

Preheat oven to 125 degree Celsius

Method:

- Pour 1.5 cups sugar in a saucepan and put it on medium heat. Let it melt and become caramel.

- Pour the caramel in a cake pan (the one in which you want to make your caramel custard). If you want to make smaller cups of the custard, pour the caramel into such pans. Move it around to coat the sides

- In another bowl, beat the eggs with hand. No need to use an electric beater

- In a saucepan, heat milk, 1/2 cup sugar, vanilla essence and cream. Turn off the gas when it comes to a boil

- Once the mixture cools, add the beaten eggs to it

- Pour the mixture on top of the caramel in the cake pan

This is where the recipe gets confusing... when I researched online, Indian recipes suggested cooking in an oven while international recipes recommended cooking in a water bath.

- What I did was... boiled water... poured it into a glass vessel and then placed the cake pan into it

- I placed the glass vessel (with hot water and cake pan) into the preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius and baked for 30 mins

- Its done when the top becomes brownish... you can use a knife to check it

- When it cools, overturn it onto a plate and refrigerate

Yum... love the custard/pudding... tastes so good.

Mushroom Soup

I have been experimenting with soups these days- healthy, nourishing and filling. On some days they are my dinner. I (rather my cook) made the mushroom soup 2 nights back and it tasted so good.

Ingredients:
mushrooms- 1/2 packet for 1 bowl (1 person)
Onion- 1
Salt to taste
Milk - 2 spoons
Pepper to taste

Method:

- Saute onion and then add chopped mushrooms and salt in a cooker.
- Add water and boil. Once the cooker cools down, grind the mixture in a mixie.
- Pour it back in the cooker/pot, add pepper and serve.

Sweet Potato baked fries

Imagine being able to eat fries when you are on a diet. Awesome, isn't it? I have wanted to try baking fries and using sweet potato in some recipe for ages... and combined both. Sweet potato is healthier than a regular potato and these fries are guilt free.

Ingredients:

- 1 sweet potato
- olive oil
- salt/pepper/chat masala etc. You can use anything... paprika, oregano. I used Catch chat masala

Method:

- Preheat a microwave oven in convection mode.

- Slice the sweet potato in the shape of fries. Add some olive oil- just enough to cover the fries but not excessive. Add chaat masala and mix properly

- Place the fries on a baking sheet. Ensure they are not sticking to each other.

- Bake for 10 mins on one side or till they become brown and then flip each fry and bake on the other side.

Yummy fries are ready. Just a note of warning though... these fries taste slightly sweet. If you don't like the taste, just dip in some ketchup and eat.

Mushroom Spinach Frittata

Another recipe I came across while researching on the Dukan Diet. I never liked spinach as a kid and most of my adult life. But recently, I have come across such tasty recipes of spinach. It is a very versatile vegetable.

Ingredients:

- mushrooms - I used 1/2 pack
- 3 eggs... I found them too many. 2 should have been enough
- 1/2 cup chopped spinach. When I make it again, I will use more spinach
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 1 onion- chopped

- 1 tsp olive oil

- 1/2 cup water

Method:

- Heat oil in a shallow frying pan, one which is used to make omelette. Saute onions till soft

- Add the mushrooms and fry. You can add a little water if it gets a little sticky or start burning. Add the spinach leaves and saute till they become soft

- Add salt, pepper and tomato ketchup. Spread out the mixture flat in the pan

- Beat eggs in a bowl, add salt and pepper. Pour the eggs over the pan and cover with a lid

- Switch off the gas once eggs are completely cooked and serve. You do not need to flip over.

You can add more veggies- carrots, capsicum etc and oregano, basil if you want. There are so many options to this Italian omelette.

Cauliflower onion soup

I have started following the Dukan diet with modifications. The Dukan diet recommends eating proteins and vegetables for every meal. I don't plan to follow it to the 'T' because the body does need carbs and fats. The plan is to have protein/veggies as the main meal for lunch and dinner.

I came across the recipe of cauliflower soup online and decided to give it a try. It tastes very, very good... creamy, smooth, slighty sweet.

Ingredients: serves 2

-1/2 cauliflower (small)- chopped

-1 onion- chopped
- salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1.5 cups water
- 1 tsp olive oil

Method:

- Heat the olive oil and saute onions till soft

- Add the cauliflower and fry for 5 mins

- Add milk and water. Cover and let it cook till cauliflower is soft

- Let the mixture cool slightly and then puree in a mixer. I tried using a blender but mixer works better

- Heat the soup on the stove, add salt and black pepper

Yummy and healthy soup is ready.

Healthy burger

We were supposed to have a friend over... and I thought of burgers for dinner. The friend didn't turn up but we had leftover mixed vegetable from lunch... and I decided to make a healthy version of burger.

Ingredients:

- Mixed veggies- carrot, beans, onions, potato, cauliflower, cabbage, corn etc.

- Bread slices: 2

- Bread crumbs: 1 slice. Crush it in a mixer to make crumbs
- Egg: 1
- Mayonnaise: I used Wintergreen's garlic paste instead. For the healthy version, you can make a replacement. Add salt, garlic paste, pepper to hung curd. For hung curd, I generally put regular curd in a filter (the one used for tea) for a few mins.
- Lettuce
- Green chutney. I used Wintergreen's basil pesto paste but the coriander pudina chutney can be used instead
- Ketchup
- Spices- salt, haldi, red chilli powder
- Burger buns

Method:

- To make cutlets... boil all the veggies in a pressure cooker. I used the leftover vegetable instead. Add onions, spices (salt, haldi, red chilli powder), bread slices dipped in water to the veggies and mash everything together. Adjust any seasoning and make cutlets. Beat an egg. Dip each cutlet in the beaten egg. Roll the cutlet in bread crumbs. Heat oil in a non stick tava. Shallow fry the cutlet and place it on a paper napkin. You can also deep fry it but for a healthier version it should be shallow fry.

- Take burger buns, slice them in two and heat on a tawa. Put garlic paste/curd mixture/mayonnaise on one slice and green chutney on the 2nd slice. Place a lettuce on the bottom slice... place the cutlet and put some ketchup on top.

Yummy, healthy version of a burger. Who said healthy food cannot be tasty?

Oats Uttapam

I, rather my cook, made this last week. Very, very healthy and quite tasty. I don't remember the exact measurements of the recipe 'coz that was changed according to preference.

Ingredients:

- 1 cup oats- powdered. Powder Quaker quick cooking oats in a mixer

- 1/2 cup curd
- 1/2 cup water

- 1 green chilly

- salt to taste

-  Finely chopped Veggies- onion, tomato, carrot, cabbage and any other veggies you want to add

Method:

Mix all the above ingredients to make a loose batter like that of dosa or uttapam. Spread some oil on the non stick tawa. Spread the batter on the tawa with a spoon and cook like dosa/uttapam.

Yummy.