Date Snack

Make your own Date Laddoos and have them sugar free at home (apart from the sugar from the dates of course)

There is a lot of back end work for this, but it is so satisfying to eat these delicious little parcels of joy. What I use for this are the really good and plump and soft dates. Only with these you will get that great stickiness to bind everything together. I make this really simple but you can put all sorts of things in these rolls like Grated Coconuts, Flax Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Walnuts, Cashew nuts, Apricots etc.. Of course all the things need to be in proportion and you need to use less almonds and pistachios for the same.

What I use to make for a stash of around 4 dozen Balls or Laddoos
Dates: 1 kg Soaked in boiling water for half an hour and kept aside
Almonds: 500gm
Pistachios: 250 gm
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp ghee (Come on, it's one whole kilo of dates!!)

What you need to do for the almonds and pistachios is all the hard work and will take half a day to do

• Take boiling water and put the pistachios in the water. 
• You will immediately see some of the skins coming out and floating on top and you can switch off the gas, remove the water, drain and place on a cloth to dry. 
• Take out the skins and roughly chop the Pistachios
• Same process is to be used for the Almonds
• Chop up the dates in a food chopper or by hand - don't put any additional water in them to do this
• Take a large wok and add the oil and ghee
• Put in the dates and keep making sure you stir with a wooden spoon and pray that you will not have to do arm exercises for a long time because this is strenuous! 
• Take off the gas and add the chopped almonds and pistachios
• Put a dot of oil on your palms and start rolling these into little balls 

Voila, you are ready to have your Date Dessert - much healthier than the rest and a great gifting idea for your friends and family. 

Divine Ginger - Chocolate Dessert

Who said the best things in life have to be complicated?

This uber easy yet classy dessert is just that - simple and delicious. This is a dense, dark, goey kind of dessert with a kick of ginger. It is not a very sweet dessert and just the kind that I like to have.  I had friends over and got rave reviews for this dessert so at least I know that I'm not just going on about this dessert without a solid reason :)I have simplified this version from my Mom's famous Ginger Chocolate pie so that not only can it be made in 4 ingredients only, it is so easy, you'll be laughing all through the process. What's more, you can tell your friends that you slaved for hours for this delectable treat and they would never know your secret!

Ingredients:
2 packets Ginger Biscuits (you will need about 16 - 18
500 gm Chocolate (I use dark chocolate, but it is upto you)
200 gm Cream
3 heaped tablespoons instant coffee powder
2 cups hot water (okay this is the fifth ingredient, but I don't consider it really an ingredient!!)
Optional - garnish with almonds or grated chocolate

Method:

• Chop up the chocolate and put in a microwave safe bowl with the cream
• Heat for 30 seconds, take out and stir carefully
• Repeat this process till you get on thick, goey, shiney, gorgeous chocolate paste with no lumps. It should look like this - 

• Let this cool a bit so that it is at almost room temperature
• Take small bowl, mix the two cups hot water with the coffee powder so that you get a really strong coffee. Feel free to make espressos if you have the machine or opportunity to do so. 2 espressos in 1 1/2 cups hot water
• Dip half the Ginger cookies in the coffee and place at the bottom of a medium sized bowl
• Put half of the dark chocolate over this
• Repeat the process, putting the ginger biscuits dipped in coffee on top of this and topping with the chocolate
• Put in a refrigerator to set for an hour and then you can take it out and leave it as is. 

I would preferably have this on it's own because I love the intensity of the chocolate, however most people prefer to have this with Vanilla Ice Cream

Ladies Night: Fat Free, super low calorie Chutney Sandwich Sandwich

This is really great to eat and quite tasty too. The only thing about this Chutney is that it looks horrible and also it is very watery. So you need to put it really last minute on your whole wheat bread so that you can actually enjoy the chutney. This Open Sandwich is ideal for all those who are on a perpetual diet and want a different snack.

Once again: Please use it at the very last minute so that your bread doesn't go soggy.
Also: it is recommended that you have this sandwich in the mornings for breakfast or then at tea time freshly made, this does not store well

For 2 open sandwiches:

2 slices of bread
4 slices of tomatoes
Small amounts of Cabbage
4 pieces of finely sliced roundels of green capsicum
1/4 tsp lemon juice (optional)
freshly ground pepper

For the chutney:
2 tomatoes
1 bunch coriander leaves
3 - 4 green chillies
Salt (I like to use rock salt or black salt for this)
Juice of half a lemon

Method for the Chutney:
whizz all of the ingredients up together and try not to add water as the tomatoes are already watery

This is not a good looking chutney but it tastes pretty good and it is seriously low calorie

Assembling the Sandwich -

Toast the whole wheat bread
put the chutney on top
top with cabbage and capsicum
season with freshly ground pepper and, if you feel you want to put more zing, squeeze lemon juice on top

Champ

I saw this recipe on : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/9175532/Food-news-Jubilee-tea-and-spicy-ketchup.html

and thought I would quickly share it with you because it looks really easy, delicious and a nice change to  your regular mashed potatoes

Champ

serves 4

Ingredients

6-8 old potatoes, boiled in their jackets

110g scallions or spring onions or 45g chives, finely chopped

350ml milk

55-110g butter

Cover the onions with the milk and bring slowly to the boil. Simmer for three to four minutes, turn off the heat and leave to infuse. Peel and mash the potatoes and while hot mix with the milk and spring onions. Beat in some of the butter. Season and serve with a knob of butter.

you can see it with the picture directly on the website, it's really lovely!

Mini Aubergine Tomato and Mozzarella appetizer

I love this super easy party dish and since it's the season of parties, let's go for it!

What you need is:

6 mini aubergines
1 packet buffalo mozzarella
2 tbsp basil leaves chopped
Some basil leaves for decoration
Parmesan Cheese
Salt, pepper to taste
Tomato Concasse (when i don't feel like making it, i use the ready made pasta Arrabiata sauce that comes in jars

For the tomato Concasse if you want to make it:
Puree of 3 tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic chopped
half an onion chopped (2 tbsp)
2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp (or one nice dollop) tomato ketchup
1 cup old white wine (optional)
Paprica Powder
Salt and black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp mixed Italian herbs

Method for the concasse:
take olive oil and heat in a non stick pan
Put in the chopped onions and saute
Add the Chopped Garlic and Sautee for a bit
Optional step - add the white wine
Add the tomato puree and mix in the tomato ketchup, paprica and a little bit of salt and put on a slow flame
Let this cook slowly till the mixture starts to thicken the flavours will all concentrate once it thickens so watch out how much salt you put in
Stir it occasionaly until it becomes really nice and thick
so you see why I just simply buy the stuff right?

Ok, the aubergines also need to be sliced and salted and put in a collander so that all the excess water drains out of it
Once that's done, take kitchen tissues or towels and just dab the aubergines dry completely

Other stuff you will need: Oven, Oven Proof dish, Vegetable oil for lining the oven dish. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees centigrade

So the assembling:

Take your aubergine and lightly put salt and pepper on it.
on top of that put a small piece of mozzarella on each of the aubergine pieces
Top with a dollop of Tomato Concasse
Sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese (be generous!)
Top with finely chopped basil leaves
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes till the aubergine is cooked through but not soft and mushy and the cheese has all melted
Top with a fresh sprig of Basil and enjoyyy!

This may not be something that can be picked up with a toothpick or something but is great for an appetizer when you want to sit down and eat with a fork.

Sometimes I make a full layered baked dish with this by repeating the layers twice:
Aubergine, Mozzarella, Tomato concasse, Parmesan, Aubergine, Mozzarella, tomato Concasse and Parmesan with Basil on top and bake the whole thing for around 30 minutes in the oven. this can totally be served as one of the main courses in a buffet style party