 |
| Baked Potato Wedges |
Anything deep-fried seems to me the only kind of snacks that most people love. But to be honest it does take a toil on your waistline. So this year I am exploring on my journey of healthy and guilt free snacking. Its been in my long term list to do potato wedges at home since my husband loves any kind of snack made with potatoes. The other day I made these baked potato wedges and it turned out to be so good that I almost gobbled the whole batch and made another batch for my husband.
Potato wedges are a bigger variation to French fries usually served in diners and in fish & chips. Unpeeled potatoes are cut into wedges and marinated with spices along with oil. Later baked/ fried and served along with ketchup/ any dipping sauce. The outer is usually crisp and inside is soft making it so enjoyable. I have shared a basic Indian spiced version of potato wedges you can almost use any kind of seasoning that you prefer.
Verdict - Totally addictive and make sure you make a huge batch. Also these are way better and lighter to treat yourself compared to the deep fried versions.
Makhana / Phool Makhana / Foxnut / Lotus Seeds are a healthy and popular snack. Only recently I had come to know about their benefits and picked a packed of Makhan seeds which I found in the super store. It is said that the Chinese consume them as a health food as they have many many healthy components like iron, zinc, calcium, protein, magnesium and so on. Lotus seeds has an astringent, it helps relieve diarrhoea and improve appetite. But you have not tried them and wonder how they taste? they are tasteless and without dry roasting them they are like stale popcorn. So make sure you dry roast them before preparing any recipe out of it. They depend on flavours from other ingredients so do them a flavour and season them well ;-). Once they are roasted and season they are like cheese pops with that airy crunchy texture that is soft and light to chew.
Masala Makhana / Roasted Makhana is a great spiced snack to go along with your evening tea, they are considered to be way healthy than popcorn (their counterpart). So grab a packet of these makhana and make this spicy healthy snack for your evening tea. You can do a big batch and store in an air tight container.
I am a huge fan of biscotti, I never leave a Starbucks / Cafe without getting a slice of their Almond Biscotti. I must say that I had tasted biscotti the first time on my trip to US a few years back and I have always wondered how do they make them. I love their cakey taste and biscuit texture. Although almonds bicotti are my absolute favourite I have tasted other version of chocolate, vanilla and so on. I was super excited to try the Vanilla version and topped it with nuts. This recipe below is sure a fool-proof one and you must be the tons of reviews on this recipe, its a great giveaway goodie or Chirstmas goodie for friends and family.
Biscotti are Italian born twice baked cookies. They make an ideal companion to coffee. There are various versions of Biscotti these days ranging from almond, vanilla, chocolate, double chocolate, nuts and even vegan versions. The traditional one being Almond Biscottis as Italy is a place where almonds are easily sourced. A sticky dough is baked and then removed from the oven, cooled for a brief time and again re-baked to remove all the moisture to form a crisp biscuit like texture.
Diamond cuts are my all time favourite, but of late I am starting to love the savory ones. During my last visit to Amma's place she made me masala diamond cuts and boy I was so so excited, the deepfried kind. I still have those clicks sleeping in my draft I've been waiting for Amma to pass me the recipe. So the otherday my hands were itchy to bake, yea yea you read it right :P once you are a baker you seem to think that anything can be baked, I mean you talk and dream about baking. And I for sure am a bit nutty baker, I dream and have sleepless nights about what to bake, how to bake, what combination, which frosting :P sounds funny? well I think its absolutely normal to understand this if you are a baker too. So I thought my not do a baked version of savory diamond cuts and the result was superb. Mind you no maida (APF), no ghee, no butter and I still managed to bake decent looking and great tasting diamond cuts or Nimki or Namkeen or Namak Paare. I spiced the dough up with crushed peppers and it tasted fantastic. So during this festive season so something a little guilt free for the one's who cannot take the deep fried and no sugar goodies.
