Walnut brownies

 Hmm... More chocolate coming on your way to dazzle you. Followed by Hazelnut chocolate fudge  here comes walnut brownies.

Nearly, after 9 months I baked this mouth watering walnut brownies. Remember long long ago, I tried a walnut brownie with chocolate fudge recipe and those brownies turned to brownie walnut balls. To read more about that scrumptious walnut brownie balls, click here.

I tried some new ingredients to substitute eggs. Though it is an experimental recipe, the outcome was perfect. The brownies were soft, moist and delicious.

Ingredients : 1 cup -- All purpose flour 1/2 cup -- Cocoa powder 3/4 to 1 cup  -- Granulated sugar** 1/2 tsp -- Baking powder 1/2 tsp -- Baking Soda 1/2 cup -- Walnuts 5 tbsp -- Butter 1/4 cup -- Condensed milk  (optional)** 1/2 cup -- milk 1/4 cup -- Paneer 1/4 cup -- Banana smashed 2 tsp -- Espresso coffee Method : --- Preheat the oven to 350 F --- Grease a 8" square pan and with wax paper. I strongly recommend to use a wax paper, but as I did not have wax paper in stock when I tried this recipe , I ended with brownie walnut ball. --- Grind the paneer cubes to a fine powder. --- Mix the paneer to the sugar, smashed banana, espresso coffee  and milk. If using condensed milk, mix it also with paneer banana mixture. ** I had some left over condensed milk in the refrigerator, so I added the same. ** Brown sugar would have been wonderful, but i had to make do with granulated sugar. If not using condensed milk, adjust the sugar accordingly. --- Melt the butter in a pan and mix the cocoa powder. --- To the cocoa mixture add the banana paneer mixture. --- Shift the all the rest of the dry ingredients. All purpose flour, baking powder and baking soda. --- Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. --- Last but not least, add the walnuts to the batter and mix well. --- Pour the batter on to the pan and bake it to 25 to 30 minutes until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

Enjoy the brownies with whipped cream or serve hot with cool vanilla Ice cream and chocolate fudge topping.

Hazlenut chocolate fudge

Chocolate, hmmm yummy...

I made this yummy chocolate fudge a month ago.  But it me took 4 days to get this into its final shape!

Now comes the behind the screen story of this fudge. At the end of the story I will ask a question, If you find the answer, please mail it to me :)
Last month on 27th we celebrated our Swamiji's 6th Aaradhana. I wanted to take some special quick and easy sweet for Neivedhyam. On the previous night, I decided to make chocolate fudge using microwave oven.

In a microwave-safe pan I added a tin of condensed milk and 1/2 cup of cocoa powder and 3 tbsp of butter. Mixed them thoroughly and cooked in the microwave for 2 minutes. Then took it out stirred them along with a tsp of Vanilla essence. Again cooked in the MW oven for 5 more minutes. Transferred the mixture in to a greased pan and cooled it for 2 to 3 hours in the refrigerator. After 3 hours, I was ready and eager with my knife but alas, the fudge was not

The fudge was not set, so I kept it inside the refrigerator the whole night. Next day morning at 5 O' clock again I tried to cut the fudge it was so gooey. Since wanted to go for the Pooja early in the morning, I dumped the same in the refrigerator and rushed to the Pooja.

Next day, I took the fudge mixture in a non stick pan and added 1/2 cup of sugar and again cooked over the stove for 15 - 20 minutes. The mixture was not sticking on the sides. I transferred the same into a greased pan. Again chilled and the same thing happened. So me and my husband, both started to scoop the mixture and to eat the fudge. I kept a spoon permanently in the pan to ease the process and in two days we managed to complete half of the fudge from the 8" pan.

Still I was not convinced with what I made, on Friday 29th I took the pan and cooked in the MW oven for 5 minutes. Stirred well and added some hazelnut milk chocolate which I had in the pantry for more than a month. Approximately 1 cup of chocolate. Cooked in MW oven for 2 more minutes. Transferred the mixture to the greased pan, chilled it completely. Took my knife and tried to cut, voila it was perfect.

So, it is true. Perseverance does pay off!. Its question time, remember I mentioned in the starting. My question is : What is the final recipe and the cooking method of this yummy chocolate hazelnut fudge.

Cracked wheat vegetable puloa

After tasting some success with Bisibelabath using cracked wheat, I wanted to try few other rice based recipes using cracked wheat . And also wanted to make it simple one pot recipe to minimize the cooking and washing process. One such try is vegetable puloa. It is more like a cracked wheat upma, but the spices make all the difference, also I used a coarser variety of cracked wheat which gives nice texture and nutty taste to the dish.

Cracked wheat vegetable puloa has become our favorite dish nowadays. In last couple of weeks alone I did this spicy vegetable healthy meal more than 4 times. Cracked wheat is healthy and rich in fibre content, helps to maintain healthy digestion and may help lower cholesterol and stabilize blood sugar.

Ingredients : 2 cups -- Cut vegetables 1 no -- Big size onion, diced into small pieces 1 cup -- Cracked wheat 1/2 cup -- Coconut milk 3-4 nos -- Green chillies 2 cloves -- Garlic 5-6 tbsp -- cooking oil Salt to taste Spices : 1 tsp -- Fennel seeds 1 inch -- Cinnamon 2 nos -- Cloves 1 no -- Cardomom 1 tsp -- poppy seeds Method : --- Cut vegetables, I used fresh carrot, beans, green bell peppers, cabbage and peas. I am leaving to your choice, you can use fresh or frozen vegetables. Everything will taste good. --- Heat a pressure pan in medium heat and add oil, once it is hot add all the spices except the poppy seeds. --- Nice aroma will comes after few minutes, now add onions, vegetables and cracked wheat and saute them for few seconds. --- Grind the poppy seeds, garlic and green chillies into a carse paste and add to the cracked wheat vegetable mixture. --- Now add salt,coconut milk and water to cook the mixture --- Pressure cook the mixture for one whistle. --- The last 2 step is little crucial, the amount of water and cooking time depends on how coarse the wheat is. If you add more water or cook for more time the texture of the puloa will change a lot. I added less than 1 and 1/2 cup of water to the cocnut milk and pressure cooked for one whistle.

Vegetable puloa is ready, serve with plain curd and enjoy :)