Spicy Vegan Chickpea Omelette | Egg-less Omelette Recipe : Gluten free and Vegan Recipe

Why on earth do you need to make and egg-less omelette?  Because.., there are few (rather many!!) of us who do not prefer to eat eggs. This recipe is also for kids/adults who are allergic to eggs and diary. This recipe is a mock omelette recipe (just like mock duck or mock meat!!). We do not understand how risky certain food is for people(especially kids) with allergies.

Can we get started now?

Preparation Time: 5 mins 
Cooking Time: About couple of minutes for each omelette
Serves: Makes about 4 omelettes.

Ingredients:
Chickpea Flour | Besan : 1/2 cup
Salt: As needed
Onion: 1 tbsp, finely chopped
Tomato: 1 tbsp, finely chopped, refer notes
Red bell pepper: 1 tbsp, finely chopped, optional, refer notes
Cilantro | Coriander leaves: 2 tsp, finely chopped
Grated ginger: 1 tsp, optional
Kala Namak : 1/2 tsp, refer notes
Baking soda: 1/8 tsp or a pinch
Salt: As needed
Red chili powder: 1/4 tsp
Water: 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp, adjust accordingly

Other ingredients:
Cooking oil: 1/2 tsp, for each omelette

Method:

Sieve the chickpea flour.

 Add the red chili powder, salt, baking soda, kala namak to the flour and mix.
Add the finely chopped onion, tomato, pepper, cilantro and water to the dry ingredients and whisk well. Make sure there are no lumps.

Chickpea flour easily lumps up. So, whisk well.
Let the batter sit for 10 mins.

Meantime, heat the griddle. When griddle is hot, brush the griddle with oil and pour a ladle full of batter on to the griddle.

Cook until golden brown on both the sides.

Repeat with the remaining batter.
Serve it with a ketchup, green chutney or omelette placed in between bread slices.

Notes:
I de-seed the tomato and chop them fine. Tomato seeds and pulp would ooze out the tomato juice and impart a tomato flavor to the omelette. I do not like that.
Replace red bell pepper to any other pepper of your choice or skip it.
I like the taste of kala namak. You can easily find this salt at the Indian Grocers. Try adding it once. It'll impart a nice flavor.

Owl Cupcakes | Eggless Owl Cupcakes

 Learn how to make eggless owl cupcakes

Though this owl cupcake is easy to make, it is very time consuming. However, these are so cute and the kids will love them for sure. When I carried these for my son’s birthday party at School, the kids starting guessing the ingredients and enjoyed eating them so much. In fact, my son said.., whenever the other kids get cupcakes from stores, they scrape off the frosting and then eat the cup cake. But, in my case, most of the kids came to me and said.., they loved the frosting. They even thanked me for such cute cupcakes. So, all my efforts was well worth it. The icing of the cake was.., my son was so proud of his mom and he thanked me personally too.

Back to the recipe. I am not an expert in making cakes or cupcakes. I have got many requests to show how I made these owl cupcakes for my son’s birthday. You can customize it according to what is available at hand. Do not forget to refer the notes section as I am mentioning the alternatives to most of the items used.

Ingredients:

Chocolate cupcakes: About 2 dozens or as much as you want, refer notes

Chocolate buttercream frosting: 1 lb or 1/2 kg, refer notes

Mini Oreos: 1 pack.

Chocolate chips (mini) : 1 pack  |OR|

M&M Chocolates: 1 pack (chocolate color or dark brown color), refer notes

Colorful Skittles: 1 pack, refer notes

Method:

Open the mini Oreos carefully with the white cream intact.

Using a knife, cut the other Oreo cookie in half, refer to the pics below.

Spread about a tablespoon or more of frosting on each cupcake.

Place 2 Oreo cookies with the cream side facing up (as shown below).

Dab a little frosting on to the mini chocolate chips and place them on top of the Oreo cookie.

Press in the skittle in the center (for the nose)

Use the cut oreo cookies to make ears. So, your owl cupcake is ready. Repeat the same with the other cupcakes. I made about 40 cupcakes.

Notes:

• You could use readymade plain cupcakes or make it using the cake mix. I made the cupcakes from scratch.
• You could use store bought chocolate buttercream frosting and reduce your effort.
• Skittles can be replaced with Gems (easily available in India)
• M&M’s can also be replaced with chocolate colored gems or I am sure you get mini chocolate chips everywhere these days. 

Garlic Pull-Apart Rolls | Eggless garlic roll recipe

I have been making these garlic rolls for more than 3 years now and it is a huge hit at parties and potlucks. I avoid making breads and buns because of the efforts needed to knead the dough. However these are a breeze to make. The garlic pull apart rolls doesn't need kneading. It looks good, tastes good and you get compliments for making these. What else do you need? Hope I inspired you guys to try them at home. If I can, I am sure you all can too.

Preparation Time: 5 mins
Baking Time: 25-30 mins
Makes : 16 rolls
Recipe Source: MySingaporeKitchen

Ingredients:
AP flour | Maida: 3 cups
Active dry yeast: 1 tbsp, refer notes
Warm Water: 1 cup
Salt: 1 tsp
Sugar: 2 tbsp
Olive Oil: 2-3 tbsp

For the garlic spread:
Butter: 1 stick, refer notes
Garlic cloves: 4 large or 1 small lobe
Salt: As needed, refer notes
Coriander leaves: 3-4 tbsp

Other ingredients:
Sesame seeds: 1 tbsp, for garnish

Method:
Bring the butter to room temperature
First important thing is to proof the yeast.  Add salt, and sugar to the warm water and mix.
Sprinkle the yeast on the warm water and gently mix. Keep the yeast mixture aside on a warm place for 5-7 mins (I always keep it in my oven with the oven lights ON). The yeast will froth and become goo-ey.

Meantime, sieve the AP flour.
Add the frothy yeast mixture to the AP flour and mix well. I let my food processor do it for me.
Add a tbsp of olive oil and knead for 2-3 mins (just like you knead the atta to make chapathi).
Coat the oil on the dough and cover it with a damp kitchen towel. Keep the covered dough in a warm place for 1 hour. The dough would have doubled in 60 mins.

During the dough resting time, prepare the garlic spread. Mash the room temperature butter well.
Grate the garlic cloves and add the grated garlic, salt (refer notes), coriander leaves to the mashed butter. Mix in well and let it rest.

After the dough has doubled, remove the damp kitchen towel and punch the dough back. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts.

Take one of the dough balls, dust the kitchen table and start rolling the dough.
Make a slightly rectangular shape (about 6-8 inches long).
Take about 1 tbsp of garlic spread and spread it over the rolled dough. Roll it and cut them into 4 equal sizes.

Place the rolls on a greased baking tray. Keep the rolls 1/2 inch apart from each other. The dough will rise again and will stick to each other.

Repeat the same procedure with the remaining dough balls. You will get 16 rolls. Spread the garlic butter on top of the rolls. Garnish with sesame seeds (optional) and allow the rolls to rise again for 30 mins.
After 20 mins of resting, preheat the oven to 350F or 180C.
Bake the rolls for 25-30 mins. Keep a close watch after 20 mins. The rolls will start turning golden brown..
Allow the rolls to cool for 20-30 mins and dig in!!

Notes:
Yeast plays an important role to make any bread. So, it is very important to proof the yeast first. If the yeast doesn't become frothy, start it all over again or get a new batch of yeast.
I keep my yeast in the freezer for up to couple of years without any issue.
You could use about 2 tsp of yeast and allow it to rise for 1.5 or more hours.
Use about 100 grams  or 1/4 cup of softened butter. If you use salted butter to make the garlic spread, do not use additional salt. I normally use unsalted butter, hence add about 1/2 tsp of salt to make the spread.

Vegan Banana Bread Recipe | Whole wheat Vegan Banana Cake Recipe : Eggless recipes

From the last few weeks, my son wanted me to bake something for him. I kept on postponing because of the move and also because of his health. I saved couple of bananas to make some banana bread. This time, without fail I took the pictures for the post.

It's a vegan (no butter, no milk, no AP flour) banana bread recipe. I have used whole wheat flour (atta) to make this bread healthy. You can treat yourself with this once a while :)

Please excuse the unevenly sliced and crumbly cake. My son was so restless to eat it and I had to.

Preparation Time: 15 mins
Baking Time: 30-45 mins
Baking Temperature: 350F | 180C
Serves: Makes a loaf or an 8 inch round cake
Recipe Source: Adapted from vegrecipesofIndia

Ingredients:
Ripened Bananas: 2 large (or about 1 cup mashed)
Whole wheat flour | atta : 1.5 cups
Sugar: 1/3 cup, refer notes
Oil: 3/4 cup, sunflower or vegetable oil (I have used olive oil too)
Baking soda: 1/2 tsp
Baking powder: 1.5 tsp
Vanilla Extract: 1 tsp
Chopped almonds and cashew nuts: 1/4 cup
Chocolate chips: 1/4 cup

Method:
Sieve the whole wheat flour, baking powder and baking soda. Keep it aside for couple of minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F or 180C.
Meantime, mash the bananas thoroughly. There should not be any lumps. You can even blend it in a food processor or hand mixer.

Add the sugar, oil and vanilla extract to the mashed bananas and mix them well.

Now add in the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
Throw in the nuts and chocolate chips too.

Fold the dry and wet ingredients gently. Do not whisk, gently fold in everything.

The batter will be a little tighter than the normal cake batter. Do not worry. It will be just fine.
Grease the baking pan and scoop the batter onto the pan. Level the batter and gently tap the pan.

Place the baking pan in the oven and bake the cake for about 35-45 mins. To check if the cake is done: A tooth pick inserted in the center of the cake should come out clean.

Notes:
Baking time varies considerably. Please keep an eye on your cake after 25 mins. Mine was a tad bit over baked this time. This was the first cake I baked in my new house and I was over confident about the baking time.
You could use any nuts of your choice.
If the bananas are not over ripe, you might have to increase the sugar to 1/2 cup. Adjust the sugar, according to the sweetness of the banana.
I repeat again, you do not have to whisk the batter vigorously. Just fold in the ingredients.