Wholewheat Strawberry Pancakes

I have posted a similar recipe of pancakes with a strawberry syrup. That was when my son disliked strawberries and it was just TH who relished the pancakes with the strawberry syrup. This year has brought about a change in the little one's taste buds. He has finally started enjoying strawberries and for his long and lazy Sunday breakfast, I made these strawberry pancakes. I used wheat flour this time and the pancakes tasted just as good.



He was thrilled with these strawberry pancakes and we have something with strawberry almost everyday now. He still hasn't started enjoying the strawberries as is. I don't blame him for that though, the strawberries, as pretty as they look, rarely taste that sweet. Maybe I will make these strawberry muffins again this time and I hope he enjoys it without pulling out the strawberry pieces !

Wholewheat Strawberry Pancakes

What you need -

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 egg
1 cup milk
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup cleaned strawberries
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp melted unsalted butter
butter for greasing
1/2 tsp vanilla extract / essence

What you do with it -

Add the flour along with the salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl
Beat the egg and whisk it with the sugar and milk in another bowl
Add the vanilla essence to the egg and milk mixture
Add the flour to the egg mixture and mix well
Stir in the melted butter and mix again
Heat a non-stick pan and add some butter to grease the pan
Drop in 2 tbsp of batter into the centre of the pan
Keep it on a low-medium flame and add 4-5 pieces of chopped strawberries over the batter
Once you see bubbles on the surface of the batter, flip it around
Allow it to cook on the other side till its golden brown
Serve with honey or any other syrup if you like

Pancakes with strawberries

My son was introduced to pancakes and waffles about a year ago. He has never been fussy about food, but trying something new for the first time always needs a little convincing. That rule somehow doesn't apply when its something sweet, even a hint of sweetness and he doesn't need any other push. After these buttermilk chocolate chip pancakes, he is hooked on and wants either pancakes or waffles for breakfast every Sunday.



We picked up some maple syrup (that I thought was pretty expensive), but I think honey or any other sweetish syrup can be used instead. Top it up with the fruits in season and you're all set.

I had this box of strawberries at home. I am always tempted to pick them up when I see these pretty fruits, but they need to be used soon and then I am at a loss of what to make with them. Last week Ma was here and she said if I wasn't using them soon, I should cook them up a bit with some sugar and then refrigerate it. This was a simple but great idea. I chopped the strawberries in half and then added about 1/4 cup water and 2 tbsp sugar and heated it in a pan till the sugar dissolved and the strawberries were all glazed in the sugar syrup. This took about 10 mins or so. Stored it in a bottle and have used it as a topping on plain vanilla ice-cream and then these pancakes.

TH and my son had this for breakfast. TH had it with the strawberry syrup and the little fellow had it with banana slices and honey. I don't have a sweet tooth and can't eat anything sweet for breakfast, so our Sunday breakfasts are always different.

My parents gifted me a waffle maker sometime last year and I use the same pancake batter to make waffles. The toppings and syrups vary but this is pretty much the standard recipe I use. I find the ones made with buttermilk more fluffy and tasty compared to the ones that use milk, though both work absolutely fine. I use home made buttermilk and it has all the butter-y residue that perhaps makes the pancakes so fluffy.

Basic pancake / waffle recipe

What you need -

1 cup APF / maida (or use 1/2 cup APF and 1/2 cup wheat flour)
1 egg
1 cup milk / buttermilk
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp melted unsalted butter (avoid if you are using buttermilk)
butter for greasing
1/2 tsp vanilla extract / essence
chopped fruits of you choice
maple syrup / honey / golden syrup

What you do with it -

Add the flour(s) along with the salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl
Beat the egg and whisk it with the sugar and milk / buttermilk in another bowl
If using the vanilla essence / extract, add this to the egg and milk mixture
Add the flours to the egg mixture and mix well
Stir in the melted butter and mix again
Heat a non-stick pan and add some butter to grease the pan
Drop in 2 tbsp of batter into the centre of the pan
Keep it on a low-medium flame and once you see bubbles on the surface of the batter, flip it around
Allow it to cook on the other side till its golden brown
Serve with chopped fruits and pour the syrup over it

Strawberry and chocolate chip muffins

My son and his best friend meet up almost every day. They are of the same age, have the same energy levels and love to play together every evening.
She likes to draw and he likes to play something that involves running all over the house. She is very methodical and he strews his room with toys. They have their fights and threaten never to play again, but it lasts for about 5 minutes.
She comes over and we have a little chat, where she reports everything that happened at her school and on some days, if I am baking something, she checks what it is and asks if it will get ready before she leaves.
She loves strawberries, he likes chocolate. Luckily they both like muffins, so I decided to combine both in this muffin, which I made specially for them.



I had picked up this muffin pan about 3 years back. The moulds are deeper and more narrow than the ones in regular muffin pans and I really liked the look of it. I lugged it all the way back only to discover that it didn't fit it into my microwave oven, where I did all my baking. I was very disappointed, but decided that one day when I do buy an OTG, it will be big enough to fit this. I finally did buy my OTG (Morphy Richards, 40l) and this pan fits. I got to use this muffin pan now. Finally.



With beautiful strawberries all over the market, I land up buying them once a week and then spend the next couple of days figuring what I'll make with it. Most times, I land up wasting so many because they just don't last long enough. This time I decided to use them up the day I bought them and made these muffins.



The batter also has strawberry purée, which gives it a nice colour and a lovely taste. Its a nice soft muffin that kids would really enjoy.

Strawberry and chocolate chip muffins

What you need -

10-12 strawberries
1.5 cups maida / flour
1/2 cup butter / oil
1/2 -3/4 cup milk
15-20 chocolate chips
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt

What you do with it -

Purée about 6 strawberries and chop the rest into small pieces
In a large bowl, add the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda
Pre heat the oven to 170 (or 180) and grease the muffin pan or line with muffin holders
Blend the butter with the sugar till it dissolves well
Add this to the strawberry purée along with the oil
Add 1/2 cup milk and then add the flour and mix in together
If it is too dry, add the remaining milk, spoon by spoon till you get the right consistency
Add the strawberry pieces and chocolate chips and stir one more time
Spoon into the muffin pan, till it reaches about 3/4 level
Bake for about 18 - 20 mins
(I use 180 C for pre-heat and baking in the convection mode of my microwave oven. In the OTG, I pre-heat for 10 mins at 170 C and then bake at 170 C for about 12-15 mins)
Once done, allow it to cool slightly and then turn it out of the pan

Eggless Oat Wheat Strawberry Loaf

I love the idea of baking bread at home and have baked a few times, though not as often as I'd like to. My friend would, co-incidentally, always come over the day I had baked bread and she thought I did this on a daily basis !
Ever since she had this multigrain bread at my place, she's been insisting that I show her how to bake bread with yeast, since she was nervous to do it on her own.

Our bread baking plans went kaput a few times and then finally last week, we actually got down to it. While the dough was rising beautifully, we decided not to waste time and baked a strawberry loaf meanwhile !



I checked for a few recipes and then zeroed in on this one from Priya's blog It turned out really soft and had a wonderful flavour of the strawberries

We did bake the bread too, a garlic and herb focaccia, which was really good. We gobbled it down before I could get down to taking any pictures !

I made this strawberry loaf again when a friend from Delhi was visiting, and this time I used oats and wheat flour. It wasn't as soft as the one with APF, but it wasn't dense either. It tasted really nice with the strawberry puree and the little bits of strawberry in the loaf, that burst with flavour...

What you need -

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup oat meal (quick cooking oats powdered in the blender)
(Or use 1.5 cups whole wheat flour and 1.5 cups APF/maida)
1 cup granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup oil (I used safflower)
3 tbsp plain yoghurt
10-12 strawberries
1 ripe banana
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp vinegar


What you do with it -

Remove stalks and wash the strawberries. Cut 4-5 strawberries into small pieces and keep aside
Purée the remaining strawberries with the banana and half cup sugar
In a bowl, add the wheat flour, oatmeal, salt, remaining sugar and baking soda
Preheat the oven to 180 deg C
Grease a loaf pan and line it with a baking sheet. I generally use the baking sheet so that its maintains the shape, comes out easily and lesser cleaning !
Add the oil and yoghurt to the purée. Stir well and then add the vinegar
Add this to the flour in the large bowl and stir gently 4-5 times, till it all comes together
Add the strawberry pieces and stir one more time
Bake for 25-30 mins. Allow to cool slightly before you cut into it
Enjoy it with a cup of tea or coffee

Strawberry Scones and my blog is 3 !

Yes, my blog is 3 !! I can't believe I have been at it for 3 years...I am famous for taking up an interest with great enthusiasm and then one day, sooner than I'd like, its gone, just like that. Finito.

Morning walks, gymming, learning a musical instrument, dance, music, and too many others to remember...They all begin with a great determination and interest and I almost see myself like a pro in whatever I take up, but then the speed at which the interest declines surprises me (I guess those who know me are not so shocked or surprised anymore)

I must really like cooking and blogging (I really do), that's the only reason its seen me this far...3 years may not be such a big deal, but going by my history, its huge !!



I've really enjoyed trying out new recipes from different books, blogs and some cookery shows in these three years. Substituting with what's available locally, slight twists and tweaks to the original recipes to suit my tastes, its been fun all along !

Here is one of those that I perhaps only read about in Enid Blyton books. Most of Blyton's books would have these grandmothers baking cakes, cookies and scones for their tea time, sunlit tables with a dainty tablecloth, vase with flowers - it all sounded just so beautiful...

I had never tasted scones till I tried baking these savoury ones with chives

For my blog's 3rd birthday, I have some seriously healthy strawberry scones for you. I had made some candied orange peels last month and added some of those along with the strawberries. This recipe is adapted from Indira's beautiful blog Mahanandi with a whole lot of changes
The wheat flour made it a bit dense, and more cake like, but the strawberries in between made up for it !

Thank you all for reading my blog...Its what keeps me going...Have a great year ahead !

Strawberry Scones

What you need -

1 cup maida / APF
1 cup whole wheat flour
4 tbsp brown sugar (add 1 tbsp more if you like it sweeter)
a pinch of salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp chilled butter, chopped into pieces
1 cup chopped strawberries
3-4 tbsp candied orange peels, cut into small bits
1/2 to 3/4 cup youghurt

What you do with it -

Sieve the flours, baking powder and baking soda
Add the salt and sugar to it
Add chopped butter. If the temperature is warm, please keep the butter in the fridge till you need it
To this flour mixture, add strawberries and candied orange peels
Add the yogurt gradually and mix to form a tight, sticky dough. Fold in gently and knead for 2 mins
Turn the dough out onto a floured or greased parchment paper covered baking sheet and press it out into a big round till its about 1/2 to 1 inch thick
I used my hand to flatten it out since the dough was too delicate to be rolled out
You could grease a rolling pin and roll out the dough to the required thickness
Preheat the oven to 220 C or 425 F. When the oven is ready, place the baking sheet and bake for 15-20 mins
The crust is crisp and the inside is soft. Slice into triangles and serve hot

Strawberry Banana Bread

Back from a refreshing break in Bombay...Had a great time catching up with my cousins, eating out and shopping !
Miss the school days when we had huge vacation time and went on holidays together and sat up chatting late into the night...Now, a few rushed days to attend a wedding is about all we manage to have time for ! This time, though, was much more relaxed and
I was really happy I got to meet so many of them in the family...

An aunt made this really nice strawberry bread when we were visiting her. I bought a box of strawberries to make this and made it from what I remember her telling me. It turned out nice, so I'm guessing I remembered it right !
The bananas were my addition and I cut down on one egg..



My blog turned 2 on the 1st, so this strawberry bread (made slightly healthy) is for my blog's 'Happy Birthday'. Enjoy it for breakfast or tea.. It isnt too sweet or too heavy and goes great with a cup of hot tea..

What you need -

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 ripe banana
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour / maida
1 cup wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup curd / yoghurt
1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
1 cup chopped strawberries

What you do with it -

Mix the flour, wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a bowl and keep aside
Mash the banana and keep aside
Beat the butter and then add the sugar and beat till it gets fluffy
Add the eggs one at a time and beat well and then add the mashed banana
Add the yoghurt to this and mix once
Pre heat the oven to 180 deg C
Grease a loaf pan and dust with a little flour and keep aside
In a large bowl, add a scoop of the flour and some egg mixture and beat, adding little of each alternately till its combined well
Fold in the strawberries and walnuts
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan
Bake for about 50 mins. Allow to cool and then cut into slices
Enjoy with hot tea

Pink Mania

Recently "pink" has been a lot in the news here -
Firstly, the pink carpet event for the premiere of Pink Panther 2, all the hype the media created earlier when Aishwarya signed up and the flak she got after release about the length and nature of her role
and then the famous 'Pink chaddi campaign' in bangalore after some 'rama sene' people decided to take the moral policing in their own hands and went about hitting and abusing girls who wore 'western' clothes, spoke english and well, were employed, unlike the many 'ram sene' activists !

And on a happier note, there's also the FIC - PINK this month.

Got two entries to send across to FIC - Pink hosted this month by Priya. FIC or Food in colours is the brilliant idea of Harini, more famous as Sunshinemom

A simple and easy Beetroot Raita, which is an add on to a meal during the hot summers. Moms always tell you to eat this so you'll get pink cheeks :) and I do this to my son now, who shows me his cheeks after every bite of the beetroot raita and i have to tell him how pink his cheeks are :)



and

Strawberry flavoured yoghurt - this was the dessert I mentioned in Pasta Salad post




Here are the recipes -

Beetroot Raita

What you need -

2-3 beetroots
2 cups yoghurt / curds
1/2 tsp jeera powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp chopped coriander leaves

What you do with it -

Cook the beetroots
Peel off the skin and chop into small pieces
Whick the yoghurt with jeera powder, sugar and salt
Mix the beetroot pieces into it
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves

Strawberry Yoghurt

What you need -

10-12 strawberries
1 ltr curds (6 cups or so i guess)
3 tsps sugar

What you do with it -

Tie the curds in a muslin cloth and hang the cloth, so that all the water drips away
You will need to keep this for an hour or longer
Meanwhile, wash the strawberries and take off the stems
Keep aside 2-3 to decorate on top
Chop the remaining strawberries into large pieces
Run in a blender with the sugar till its a smooth liquid
Once all the water in the curd has drained out, mix in the curd with the strawberry pulp
Beat to get a smooth consistency
Garnish with cut strawberries
Refrigerate at least for an hour before you serve