Koekje

Here's the first in my series of articles to reduce food waste. There will (hopefully) be more. I had to create a blog post since I could not figure out how to add an attachment to my Facebook post

Please do leave your tips, thought and comments.

Thank you and have a wonderful day!

https://littledropsintheocean.blogspot.com/2022/01/reducing-food-waste-vol-i-avoid-buying.html

littledropsintheocean.b

It's been a while since I posted. I shall intermittently post food photos, but also wanted to start a series on reducing food waste. Maybe this can be the new year resolution for a lot of us.

As per the Food Waste Index Report 2021, a staggering 50 kg of food is thrown away per person per year in Indian homes. This excess food waste usually ends up in landfills, creating potent greenhouse gases which have dire environmental implications. Meanwhile, we continue to be greenwashed into amassing more "organic" and "sustainable" products than we really need

Source : https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/food-waste-index-report-india-coronavirus-hunder-index-7261909/

India has a food wastage problem. Here’s how individuals can make a difference According to the Food Waste Index Report 2021 published by the United Nations Environment Programme, 50 kg of food is thrown away per person every year in Indian homes.

Mocha Brownies topped with Dark Chocolate Ganache and sprinkled with Roasted Hazelnuts.

Made for a get together with friends I was meeting after the longest time, thanks to the pandemic situation.

What happened to the piece on the left top corner? A bird flew in and took it. Um... A cat came in and took a bite. No, uh... Someone left the door open and a RACCOON came and...

Mickey Mouse? Noooo! This is a Lemon Tart made with a nice crispy Pastry base and tangy and sweet Lemon Curd. Decorated with little dollops of whipped Fresh Cream to cut the tartness

A special cake for a special occasion. This was a cake for a 20th Wedding Anniversary celebration.

A Chocolate Cake with dark chocolate Mousse and Caramel filling. Frosted with dark Chocolate Ganache. Decorated with Rice Paper "Kalgi", Edible Fabric "Lehenga" and Edible Lace on the Lehenga

Hot Chocolate Bombs (Video also added)

These are currently trending on social media and I really wanted to try them out. When you have children of the age where they easily get excited by theatrics, there's added motivation :-) I'm not a fan of chocolate drinks, so I didn't taste this, but from the reaction of my own children and customers, they turned out good

Made them in the following flavors :
Regular vanilla
Pumpkin Spice
Hot Chilli
Cookies and Cream (both, in shells of white chocolate and dark chocolate)

Tempered the chocolate, and used homemade Hot Chocolate Mix and homemade Marshmallows

FocacciArt!

Dahi Mirch Achar

This is one of the simple pickles I remember from my childhood. It is something my grandmother used to make and my mother learnt from her. I don't know if it is a traditional Rajasthani recipe, or it's a family recipe

Ingredients
- Fresh Green Chillies (don't bother if some are red like mine)
- Plain Yogurt
- Freshly Coarsely ground Black Mustard Seeds
- Salt to taste

Method
- Cut and clean the Chillies. Cut them into inch long pieces or a size of your choice.
- Boil enough water to blanch the chillies. Once the water is boiing, drop in the chillies and boil for a couple of minutes. This also helps reduce their heat
- Drain and cool.
- Whisk the yogurt and add salt and crushed mustard seeds (Approx. 1 tbsp for 1.5 cups yogurt)
- Refrigerate or leave at room temperature for a day before consuming, to let the pickle sour a little. The mustard helps with that. Keep refrigerated after a day
- Can be eaten over a period of 8-10 days. It gets more sour as it ages and the heat from the chillies gets mellower

NOTES
- Alternatively to boiling, you may mix the mustard and salt with the cleaned and dried chillies and keep in the sun for a day before adding the yogurt.
- Cut chillies to any desired size. You may also deseed them if you don't like too much heat. I deseeded a few
- Use the chilli of choice, again depending on the amount of heat you can handle
- Just add more yogurt if it runs out before chillies are finished

Let me know if you make it! :-)

A little late posting these Halloween Cupcakes, but the season of festivities has started in India, and most days revolve around cooking traditional Indian food and celebrations 😀

These Cupcakes were made for a virtual Halloween Party my daughter hosted. She dressed up as La Calavera Catrina, there were decorations of Bats and Pumpkins and games and competitions. Maybe some day I'll post photos of that too

Coming back to the cupcakes. These were Chocolate Cupcakes decorated with Mummies and Pumpkins and Edible Ghosts. A happy child is a mother's greatest joy...

Egg Free Cookie Pops

I have little (in age, not importance) customers for whom I've been baking for 6-7 years. These cookie pops were made for one such little girl. It's always a pleasure baking for children who look forward to your treats and enjoy them.

These are egg free Vanilla Sugar Cookies iced with egg free Royal Icing

Soft Pretzels. Served with a garlicky cheese dip

Lemon Mojito Cake

This cake became an instant hit after I first made it for a young girl's birthday. And not without reason. It's a moist lime and fresh mint flavored cake, layered with a homemade minty lime curd and frosted with fresh cream. Garnished with fresh mint leaves and slices of lime

Contains no alcohol for obvious reasons. No artificial colors or flavors either, as always

Homemade Granola

Loaded with the goodness of Rolled Oats, Nuts, Berries and Raisins, Candied Fruits, Flax Seeds, Pepitas, Watermelon Seeds and Jaggery. Eat as a cereal, or an any-time guilt-free snack!

Turkish Simit

This is the Turkish version of a Bagel. But unlike a bagel, the simit is not boiled before baking. It is dipped in molasses (or Date Syrup in this case) and rolled in loads of Sesame Seeds. This gives the Simit its beautiful colour and a slightly sweet taste to the crust. It is a breakfast bread, traditionally eaten with Feta, Olives, Tomatoes etc., along with a steaming cup of Tea. Lezzetli!

Peach and Ginger Iced Tea

A wonderful refreshing drink for the summers, in the few months fresh peaches are available in this city

You will need
For the Peach Syrup
4-5 ripe Peaches
1/2 cup sugar
1.5 cup water
1" or larger piece Ginger, crushed
3 tsp Green Tea leaves (Not tea bags)

To Assemble
Ice Cubes
Freshly squeezed Lime juice
Water as needed

Method
Put all ingredients of the syrup, except tea leaves, in a heavy bottom pan. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer covered till peaches are soft and mushy. There should still be some liquid remaining. If you feel too much of it has evaporated, add a little more water and bring to a boil. Switch off the flame and sieve the hot liquid into another container, pressing and squeezing out all the liquid. DO NOT throw away the remaining pulp. Add the tea leaves to an infuser ball or directly to the hot liquid and let it seep till cool. Strain again if you've added the leaves directly to the peach water

Assembly
Place ice cubes in glass of choice. Pour over some of the peach liquid to a glass. Squeeze some lime juice over it. Add water as per taste, mix and adjust sugar if required. Garnish with slices of peach and lime. Enjoy!

Notes :
- I would recommend avoiding tea bags - one because the tea leaves may not be of the best quality, and secondly because the bags may give a not-so-nice flavor to the infusion
- I used the leftover pulp as a spread for bread. Tastes delicious! You may add a little lime juice to this as well

Tricolour Jumbo sized Bread Loaf. No added colours or artificial flavours

Yellow Parts : Turmeric and White Sesame
Pink Parts : Beetroot
Green Parts : Spinach and Garam Masala

My new love. Breads are so enjoyable to do, specially Sourdough Breads. They offer so much versatility to play around with the dough and flavour combinations. Sourdough breads are characterised by a crispy exterior (crust) and a soft and hole-y interior (crumb)

Cheesey Garlic Knots. Soft, Buttery and Cheese filled

Ooey and gooey Choco Lava Cake. Served with Vanilla ice cream, and Raspberry Coulis. A couple of chocolate straws and some crumble add the extra textural elements

Speaking of which, my son and husband, who occasionally watch Masterchef Australia with me, seem to be losing their survival instinct after so many months of lockdown - like wild animals who are born in the zoo. They critique evey meal, telling me about the missing acidity, or texture, or how to balance the flavours better, or how to better my plating etc. Thinking how to get back at them!!

Little Bites of Pita Heaven

These were made for a High Tea challenge in pastry school. They are little bite sized pita breads (like canapes)

Bottom Row : Filled with Roasted Vegetables and topped with a Fresh Salad and
Top Row : Filled with freshly made Middle Eastern Tzatziki and topped with fresh coriander

Pumpkin Bread

Kids don't eat vegetables? Puree and add to breads and they won't even know! Evil? Of course not!

This was a soft and delicious Bread with fresh homemade Pumpkin Puree added to the dough along with Pepitas which provide a nice crunch. 50% Whole Wheat

Egg free Rainbow Unicorn Cake

It is a pleasure baking for this client of mine. She does not haggle over price, gives liberty over flavours and design (though she has her preferences) and always praises the effort put in. This is the 2nd cake I've made for her during quarantine and this was for her daughter's 7th Birthday. The little one wanted a Unicorn cake with rainbow coloured layers inside. Her mother asked me for a 1 kg cake which i thought would be difficult with the 6 layers, frosting and decoration. She graciously agreed to whatever weight Id be able to manage.

A Vanilla cake in 6 colours of the rainbow inside, filled and frosted with rainbow coloured Buttercream. The ears and golden horn are made with fondant. I'm glad to report that the cake was well received :-)

Le Delice Brownies

We ran a competition for our customers to pick a G rated name for these Brownies, originally called Slutty Brownies :-) A little girl came up with the above name and won in a poll to pick the favourite name out of all suggested

These are layer upon layer of decadence. Bottom layer is made of Chocolate Chip Cookie dough, with Oreos over that, followed by a fudgy, sinful Brownie layer and topped with delicious homemade Caramel Sauce after baking. YUMM!

Koekje turns SEVEN today!! Thank you all for your love, support and encouragement over the years ❤️❤️❤️

Sundried Tomato Pesto

Some time earlier I had shared how fond my husband and son are of sundried tomato. Over time I have devleoped and modified my pesto recipe and it is something they love slathering over thick slices of wheat bread or sourdough

Made with Homemade Sundried (OK, oven dried) Tomatoes, Almonds, Parmesan Cheese, Canola Oil along with other ingredients

Fruit Tart

A very sweet new customer asked me to make them a fruit tart with only mangoes and pineapples. The family seems to enjoy desserts and it was heartwarming to see the excitement when she placed the order and followed up :-)

Its a sweet tart shell filled with made-from-scratch Crème Diplomat (Creme Patissiere folded through Whipped Cream) and topped with Fresh Mango and Sweetened Pineapple

Fudgy Egg free Whole Wheat Walnut Brownies

Swedish Buns

Had been wanting to try these out for a long time. Surprisingly, with the quarantine, it's easier to manage time and better plan baking :-)

These buns are mildly sweet, very buttery, flavoured with Cardamom or Cinnamon, and EXTREMELY delicious!

Multiseeded Bread. 66% Whole Wheat

Putting the quarantine period to good use

Thandai is a special drink had specially on the festival of Holi, welcoming the spring. It is loaded with dry fruits, saffron, fennel seeds, black pepper and other cooling ingredients. It is truely a labour of love and I have seen my grandmother and mother laboriously soaking and grinding and straining the ingredients through a muslin cloth

This is a simple Baked Yogurt made with the not-so-simple flavours of Thandai