Fig Rolls (eggless)

Fig rolls

Newton bar need no introduction and it is not a surprise that they appealed to me straight away. The idea of using dried fruit stuffing to lend sweetness to a snack and reducing added sugar is obviously attractive. I wanted to make eggless version and here it is. The use of jam, I think makes the bars soft the next day but you could try baking it longer to make it crisper. I made it with wholewheat four making it even healthier. This made these bars an ideal snack. They were especially handy when I was desperate for food but had to cook and absolutely had to snack on something. This recipe is a keeper because of the rich iron content, wholesome nature, far less added fat and sugar. Here is my version...

¾ cup all purpose flour

¾ cup wholewheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ cup brown sugar

3 tablespoon butter/margarine/oil

2-3 tablespoon milk

For filling:

10 dried figs

3 tablespoon date syrup

3 tablespoon sugar

3 tablespoon apricot jam or any other jam of choice

Few nuts, chopped

Bring together the flours, baking powder, brown sugar, butter and required milk to make a soft dough

For the filling, blend together all ingredients mentioned, except the nuts. Try not to puree it too much, coarsely blended consistency should be fine

Divide the dough into two and roll into a 5mm thick disc and cut into half

Towards one side of the dough place generous portion of filling as shown in the picture. Sprinkle some nuts on top

Fold the dough over to make a log and place on greaseproof baking paper

Bake in a preheated oven at 180degC for 20-25 minutes, until it starts to brown (longer if you like the outer even crisper)

Cool and cut the log into smaller pieces and enjoy the goodies

Bread and Butter Pudding (eggless and wholemeal)

Bread and Butter Pudding (eggless and wholemeal)
If any of you see me at the end of the billing counter while buying groceries, you will think I am crazy because of the amount of fuss I make about packing. I like to keep things to be refrigerated in a separate bag, freezer items separate if possible and food items that can stay on the counter separate; food to go into cupboard in a bag and any cleaning stuff separate. All this fuss makes unpacking at home easy, especially when I am tired because I just stick things in the fridge and freezer and leave the rest for later. However, my husband usually finds all this a bit too much. I try to keep them in such an order on the conveyer belt while billing. What may help is shopping in the same order but I think that could be a bit too obsessive. Anyway, reason I am telling you this is because I had a big pack of bread that had completely lost its shape as it was kept down in the bag with loads of other stuff on top of it. The bread was so shapeless that there were no takers at home. I had to use as much as possible and also had another cupboard item, custard powder, I am trying to use up. I was fancying bread and butter pudding with a crusty top and pudding like consistency inside. Bread and butter pudding is suppose to be a very traditional British pudding but from what I have seen on the tele (food channels), it needs loads of eggs and butter. If you know me or my way of cooking, you guessed it right, I just cannot dump all those eggs and butter in. It had to be eggless and much low in butter but full of flavours. I also had a small tin of evaporated milk to finish off. Evaporated milk, I believe was used in the past as fresh milk was not always available. When diluted with equal amount of water, evaporated milk can be used in place of fresh milk. If you do not have custard powder, use cornflour and add some vanilla essence.If you like chocolate bread pudding, add some coco powder to the milk. This is really easy to make, specially handy for times when you want to focus on main meal. Here is the recipe...

6-7 slices wholemeal bread (white would do as well)
½ cup sugar (just shy of half cup, add more if you have a sweet tooth)
2 tablespoon custard powder
1 ½ cups milk
2 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoon raisin
2 tablespoon chopped nuts

Put torn pieces of bread in an oven proof dish and pour melted butter over it

Dissolve the custard powder in about quarter cup milk and heat the rest of the milk

Add the custard milk mixture to warm milk and heat until the sauce thickens slightly. Add sugar to this and dissolve the same (you can take it off the flame to mix sugar)

Pour the custard over the bread and using a fork gently mix so the custard gets into every nook and corner. Put the raisins and nuts and mix very gently

Bake at 180degC for 30-35 minutes until top is golden brown and custard is set

Cream of Tomato Soup

Cream of Tomato Soup
When I was pregnant with my first kid, my husband bought tinned soup for me to see if I kept atleast that down and boy did I hate it. I couldn’t tell you what in it made me dislike it so much but it was hopeless to say the least. I quite like the soups I used to have in Indian restaurants, especially the tomato soup. I have tried a few times in the past to recreate the taste but surprisingly it was not all those elaborate preparations that scored but this simple recipe that emerged as the winner. Whether or not it tasted like what I was used to, this tasted great and was approved by my mom and my husband and they are a bit fussy about soup. I prefer to use tinned tomatoes for it because for whatever reason, they seem more flavourful and thick. Although I do not normally use tinned products, I carefully pick my tins to ensure there is nothing in them that I do not understand. If you do not have cream, you can use milk instead. You could skip the butter and use little oil as well. I do not normally stock croutons so I made my own using old bread and all in all, the soup was great. Stock cubes have salt in them and some tinned tomatoes also have some salt so be careful when you season. As a starter this recipe will serve 3. Here is the recipe...

1 tin tomato
1 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon butter
3 cloves garlic
Cooking oil
3 tablespoon cream
Croutons to serve
Salt and pepper to taste
1 vegetable stock cube

Heat some butter and oil and sauté the onions and garlic until soft

Add the tomatoes with its juice, some water and the stock cube and boil

Cool and grind to fine puree

Put it back on the stove add couple of spoons of cream and simmer

Serve hot

Note - if the soup become runny, make a paste with cornflour and pour it in, bring to boil and soup will thicken.