no bake Archives - Page 3 of 10

Beetroot And Feta Fritters

1|03|2016

Healthy, quick and easy fritters made with roasted beetroot and feta cheese, Perfect for breakfast, lunchbox or a nutritious snack.

This recipe is a regular in our house. The basic fritter gets made, remade, revamped in multiple ways by every single member of the house. In fact last year, the boys (then 5 years old) had to do a little cooking demonstration at school and guess which recipe they chose? It is that easy and versatile. And healthy and quick and portable and really delicious. The only thing it is not? It is not sweet. It is s a savory recipe so I guess it was just awaiting it’s turn quietly behind all those sweet recipes that make it to the blog. The great thing about the recipe is that you can use any vegetable of your choice. I’ve made it with mashed peas, shredded carrots, corn, tomatoes, kale, you name it!

It is no secret that I LOVE beetroot. I like the way it complements the saltiness in feta and it just happens to be an amazing pairing whether it’s in a tart, salad or fritter. And of course, the colour! Naturally vibrant and so pretty. These fritters make a healthy snack and a great lunchbox treat. They also make pretty canapes with a cream cheese topping. Yes, I’ve tried that too for a ladies gathering and they stole the show. At home, I usually serve them with plain greek yogurt and a swirl of basil pesto. Easy and good for little tummies!

I use cooked beetroot for the recipe that is available in all major supermarkets in Australia. The baby beets are preserved in their natural juices so I add that as well to the batter to get that lovely pink colour. You could use canned beetroot as well or just roast the beets at home. If you are not able to do any of the above, just add finely grated beetroot to the batter.

Beetroot and Feta Fritters
Serves 4

2 eggs
1 cup wholemeal, self raising flour
1/2 cup milk
250 g cooked beetroot, pureed in a food processor to a coarse texture (not finely pureed)
100 g feta cheese, crumbled
A few fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped OR 1/4 tsp mixed dried herbs
salt and pepper, for seasoning (be careful about the quantity of salt as feta itself will add a degree of saltiness to the fritters)
olive oil, for shallow frying
Greek yogurt and basil pesto, to serve

Whisk the eggs in a bowl. Add the flour and milk and stir to blend. Add the beetroot,feta cheese and herbs and mix to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
In a frying pan, heat the olive oil. add 2 tablespoons of batter into the pan and fry for 2-3 minutes or until slightly browned. Turn over and cook for another 2 minutes or until cooked through. Repeat with the rest of the batter. Remove from pan and keep warm.
Serve with greek yogurt that has a teaspoon of basil pesto swirled in to it.

Chocolate Cream Tartlets

28|01|2016

I notice a connection between tarts and Australia Day in my house. Whether simple or complicated, I seem to be making a tart/tartlets every year on this holiday. I think its because tarts are a great way of serving and eating summer fruits. Last year I made an Ice Cream Tart with an Anzac crust and was pleased with myself for coming up with a make-ahead dessert that took away a lot of stress from my lunch menu. This year I wasn’t as planned or organised after returning from my holiday so I decided to keep things really simple and make these Chocolate cream tartlets.

Using store bought tart shells, I filled them up with a chocolate whipped cream first thing in the morning. They were in the refrigerator until lunch time and I added cherries and raspberries just before serving along with a sprinkling of finely chopped almonds and pistachios. I was surprised that they went down a treat. To be honest I was feeling guilty and expecting everyone to be disappointed that there wasn’t something more exotic on the table. There were cupcakes too that I’ll post next but then again cupcakes are not considered dessert at my place.
These tartlets are not just simple to put together, but also egg free and no bake.

Well, I love Australia Day for many reasons! This is a country I have been in love with since the day I stepped foot into it. It is also the first holiday of the year and right in the middle of a spectacular Australian Summer. In recent times, this day stands as a reminder that it’s time to get ready for school, holidays are officially over and the little munchkins will be on their way to another New Year filled with exciting adventures. So school reopened today! Yay…I have the house to myself…yet this empty feeling.

Will I ever outgrow this feeling in the years to come…I wonder!

Chocolate Cream Tartlets (chocolate cream adapted from Joy of Baking)
Serves 6

6 small tart shells (store bought)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 – 4 tablespoons castor sugar (or as per taste)
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Dutch processed)
1 cup cold whipping cream
fresh raspberries, cherries, grapes or other fruits
finely sliced pistachios and almonds, to dust

Place your mixing bowl and wire whisk in the freezer for about 15-30 minutes. Place the vanilla extract, 3 tablespoons of sugar, and cocoa powder in the cold bowl. Stir in about 2 tablespoons of the cream to form a thick paste (this will dissolve the cocoa powder).
Then add the rest of the cream and beat just until stiff peaks form. If not using immediately, cover and refrigerate. Makes about 2 cups (480 ml) whipped cream.
Fill up the tart shells by using a spoon or by piping the cream into it. Store in the fridge until ready to serve. Serve with berries, cherries and stone fruits. Sprinkle with nuts.

White Chocolate And Blueberry Rice Pudding

7|02|2015

I was told that rice pudding was the very first food I tasted when I started on solids as a baby. Which is totally acceptable since a) it is sweet and b) it has rice. Both of which I am extremely fond of. Starting with rice pudding is a ritual at home and making it on special occasions and birthdays is a tradition that my mother keeps up even today. Therefore, this pudding spells absolute comfort for me.

There are so many versions of this pudding. The Indian version known as kheer or payesh that I have grown up eating is a simple mixture of whole milk, sugar and rice simmered together along with cardamom pods for flavour. Saffron, almonds or palm sugar is also occasionally added in for variety. I am pretty contented and convinced about the one that my mother makes that I have never attempted to replicate it. Instead I have my own versions of the rice pudding , mainly different flavour combinations that I have experimented with and served to my family. Thankfully both my boys seem to enjoy rice pudding so this is my go-to dessert for a cosy weekend afternoon.

Since this is such a versatile sweet treat, I have never run out of ideas of the flavours that can go alongside the milk-rice base. This time around, I was also keen on giving it some colour. Blueberries and white chocolate complement each other well and purple is among my favorite shades. So this was an easy one. I was really happy with the outcome. Both, the way it tasted and looked. It has the silky, creamy melt-in-your mouth feel with the right amount of sweetness from the white chocolate. It is not overly sweet as the blueberries do a great job of cutting through the sweetness. This is a pudding that is cooked on the stove-top so it will need a little bit of stirring and supervision as we do not want the rice to stick or burn at the bottom of the pan. Also, if you think the milk is drying up too quickly in the mixture, feel free to add more till you get the desired consistency. This is one dessert that is more about the taste, texture and consistency that you are looking for rather than precise measurements.

Do you recollect (or know) what was the very first food you tasted? Is that something you like to eat today as well?

White Chocolate And Blueberry Rice Pudding
Serves 5

2 cups whole milk
1 cup pouring cream
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp castor sugar
2/3 cup medium grain (or long grain) rice
150 g white chocolate, roughly chopped
2 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
extra blueberries, to serve
shaved white chocolate/coconut flakes, to serve

Combine milk, cream, sugar, vanilla and rice in the saucepan. Bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until rice is tender. add the white chocolate and blueberries and simmer for a further 15 minutes or until the blueberries have melted completely and tinted the pudding. Continue to add more milk if the mixture sticks to the bottom or becomes dry.

Divide among serving bowls. Top with fresh blueberries and shaved white chocolate or sweetened coconut flakes.

Aussie Summer Ice Cream Tart For Australia Day

23|01|2015

Super easy ice cream tart with a biscuit base, vanilla ice cream and fresh summer fruits. No baking and totally delicious.

I was not born is Australia. Neither was I raised here. I have not lived as many years in Australia as most of the people I know do but long enough to call it my home. My stay, memorable enough to take up a gigantic amount of hard disc space on my laptop, filling it with precious memories of little boys making sand castles in different beaches and eating apples from adopted trees. My experiences, promising enough to make me dream of a great future here. A place where I can envision my children turning into teenagers and us (my husband and me) retiring into a farm-life sort of scenario, raising chickens in our backyard and planting fields of strawberries and lavender. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

When we first stepped into Sydney, we didn’t know a soul here. With 9 suitcases, some hand baggage and two sleeping toddlers in our arms, we walked out of the airport on a cold winter night. There was anxiety and ache in the heart. Of leaving behind what once meant ‘everything’ to us..moving ahead in the dark. Quite literally. Unsure of what those decisions would be worth. Decades worth of possessions suddenly mere tangibles. Equated only to baggage allowance. Upon weighing, the kids were allowed to take 2 toys each (out of the sea of toys they owned). Only one baking pan and a tray for me. Everything was weighed. Also evaluated for volume. Luggage was packed, repacked, re-organised, lists crossed out and re-written so many times that everything was a jumble in the end.

The friendly taxi driver told us ‘It’s a beautiful city but life is not easy here. Everyone has a story’
We were approaching the Harbour Bridge that stood mighty and tall against a glittering skyline. I looked out of the window at the many pedestrians hurrying past in jumpers thinking about what the taxi driver just said. It was late when we went to bed that night. A bowl of instant noodles was our dinner in the serviced apartment that we had pre-booked from overseas. I lay awake in bed for a long time, clouds of doubt filling up my mind, the reality slowly sinking in that we were in a different country among total strangers. When I opened my eyes in the morning, I was stunned. At a bright, sunny, cheerful Sydney, the one I love and relate to so much today. It is hard not to fall in love with a place so vibrant and so complete in every way. Within days, the doubts vanished. Seasons changed, experiences grew, faces became familiar and I felt belonged. Like we were always meant to be together. Sydney and me. And so like everybody else, I had a story. A good story!

I came up with this ice cream tart recipe for Australia Day as it is summer time here and I could use a lot of the gorgeous summer bounty we are blessed with to top up an otherwise super simple tart. The tart base is made of Anzac cookies (told you it’s very Aussie!) then filled with vanilla ice cream (store brought), drizzled with passion fruit puree and decorated with fruits. You could use any biscuit of your choice..even chocolate cookies. Depending on the season, feel free to use seasonal fruits that available on your side of the world. The ice cream tart as you might have guessed will keep for days in the freezer so it’s a great make-ahead option. Add the fruits just before serving with a dusting of icing sugar. A round tart pan will also work.

Ice Cream Tart With Summer Fruits
Serves 6-8

300 g Anzac Cookies
80 g unsalted butter, melted
1 litre Vanilla Ice Cream (store bought), softened
1/2 cup passion fruit puree (optional) (can substitute with lemon curd)
Seasonal fruits, to decorate
Icing Sugar, to dust

Place the cookies in a food processor. Process until fine crumbs. Add melted butter and mix to combine. Using your fingertips, press biscuit mixture over base and sides of a 14 by 5 inch rectangular pan (with a removable bottom). Freeze for 15 minutes or until firm.

Pour the softened ice cream on to the prepared tart case. Transfer carefully to the freezer. Freeze for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. Remove from freezer 10 minutes before serving.
Drizzle with passion fruit puree or dot with lemon curd. Top with fruits. Dust with icing sugar.