Pepper 'n Spice

Mung beans or cherupayar has a high protein content.  Cherupayar (green lentils) - 1 cup, soaked overnight Millet - 1 and 1/2 cup Onion - 2 small, thinly sliced Dates - 6, pitted and chopped Olive oil - 5 tsp Salt Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tsp Lemon - 1/2 Water Clean millet well in a few changes of water. Put millet in a pressure cooker with 2 cups of water, salt, juice of lemon and a drop of oil. Cook until water evaporates. Pressure cook lentils with little water, salt, ginger garlic and turmeric powder. In a saucepan, add oil. Saute onions until soft. Keep aside. In the saucepan, add oil. Add dates. Stir for one to two minutes on slow cook. Add to the onions. In a serving bowl, mix millet, lentils, onion and dates. Recipe courtesy - Ashok uncle

This is a nice spicy chutney with dosa and idli. I also spread it on my sourdough focaccia and crumpets.     Ingredients are : Coriander leaves - a bunch Mint leaves -a bunch Green chili - 1 Ginger - 1/2 inch Salt Lemon - 1/2 Water - a splash The method : Pick and clean the leaves.          Mince chili and ginger. Add salt.            Blend  to a paste. Sprinkle water if too lumpy. Blend again. Stir. Add juice of half a lemon. Stir. Serve alongside rice and relish.       Recipe courtesy - Divya Dvivedi and Mom

Foccacia is an Italian flat bread. At one time, I was baking this almost every day just so that my daughter could try out her focaccia art designs.   Sourdough (ripe) - 170g Water, lukewarm - 170g All-purpose flour - 360g Olive oil - 37g + extra for pan and for top of focaccia Salt - 1/2 Tbsp Dried oregano Dried rosemary Olives Pink rock salt Method : In a large bowl, mix starter and water. Add flour, salt and oil. Mix. Knead by hand for 12 to 15 minutes (by folding it like a letter, then moving it clockwise, folding again), until dough is smooth. Coat the dough with oil. Place in a bowl. Cover with kitchen towel. Let it rise for an hour. Gently fold dough over 4 or 5 times (by folding it like a letter, then moving it clockwise, folding again). Let it rise for 1 hour. In the baking pan, place a baking sheet. Rub oil on it. Place dough in it and turn it over to coat with oil. Gently stretch the edges of the dough so that it reaches the corners. Cover with...

I baked this cake for mom's birthday. Ingredients : Olive oil - 250g Organic jaggery - 250g Sourdough - 207g Organic eggs - 3 Fresh pineapple, crushed - 245g Carrot, grated - 198g Chopped walnuts - 57g Coconut, shredded - 57g Vanilla extract - 2 tsp All-purpose flour - 298g Cinnamon, powdered - 2 tsp Salt - 1/2 tsp Recipe courtesy - KAF ( https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sourdough-carrot-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting-recipe ) with personal changes.

Dark chocolate - 38g Butter - 50g, unsalted Olive oil - 60g Organic eggs - 2 + 1 egg white Salt - 1 and 1/2 tsp Organic jaggery - 198g Vanilla essence - 1 tsp Water - 2 Tbsp Unsweetened cocoa powder - 50g Sourdough - 120g My brownie was done in 20 minutes. I let it cool for 30 minutes, and then it went into the fridge. Quite gooey! Recipe credits -  https://topwithcinnamon.com/sourdough-brownies/  I made some mild changes - replacing all sugars with jaggery and reducing its quantity. And reducing the amount of dark chocolate.

Ingredients : Lukewarm water - 142g Sourdough - 225g All-purpose flour - 269g + additional for dusting Salt - 1 and 1/4 tsp Olive oil Method : In a large bowl, combine starter, 180g flour and water, mixing until uniformly combined. Add salt. Stir. Add the rest 90g of flour. Stir until dough pulls away from the sides. Add just enough additional dough so that you get a sticky and loose dough. Grease a work surface. Knead for 8 mins. Cover dough with oil. Place in a bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel. It will double in 1 and 1/2 hours. Deflate by gently punching it down. Divide into 5 parts with a pizza cutter. Dip your hands in oil and work on the dough as it will be quite sticky. Shape into thin baguettes and place on a baking sheet. Brush an aluminium foil with oil and cover the baguettes with the greased side. Set aside to rise for 2 hours. Preheat oven to 220C. Bake for 25 minutes. Switch off oven. Let it remain inside for 15 minutes. Turn onto rack to cool. Reci...

The cakes were a hit among my hubby's colleagues. As only about 15 to 20 people turn up at his office with the majority working from home during this corona times, I send along some cupcakes. Hope you like them too :-) So you need : Water - 1/2 cup (113g) Chopped and pitted dates - 1 and 1/2 cup (259g) Organic jaggery- 75g Unsalted butter, at room temperature - 57g Vanilla essence - 1 tsp Olive oil - 56g Chopped almonds - 1/2 cup (57g) Salt - 1/2 tsp Organic eggs - 2 Sourdough - 225g All-purpose flour - 1 and 1/4 cup (149g) In a saucepan, combine water, dates, jaggery, butter and vanilla. Cook over medium heat and bring to boil, stirring continuously. Transfer to a glass bowl. Stir in oil, almonds and salt. Add eggs. Mix well. Stir in starter and flour until combined thoroughly. Scoop batter into cupcake moulds upto half-full. Preheat oven to 200C. Mini cupcakes will take about 8 minutes, while the bigger ones will take 15 to 17 minutes to bake. Transfer from ...