Crustless Spinach Quiche

When you don't have the time to make a pastry crust, try this quick crustless quiche.You won't miss the crust as this is tasty as is. I have Indianised it by adding curry powder to suit our palette,if you are looking for a milder version just leave out the curry powder.
Ingredients:
 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
 1 onion, chopped
 5 cloves of garlic minced
 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
 5 eggs, beaten
 1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
 1/4 teaspoon salt
 2 tsp curry  powder
 8 cherry tomatoes/2 medium tomatoes
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese.
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9 inch pie pan.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and  garlic cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft. Add the curry powder and saute for 10 more seconds.Add tomatoes and spinach continue cooking until excess moisture has evaporated.
In a large bowl, combine eggs,Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Add spinach mixture and stir to blend. Scoop into prepared pie pan.Top it with pepper jack cheese.
Bake in preheated oven until eggs have set, about 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Sending this over to Cooking made Easy  happening at Anjali's space

Dry Fruits Cinnamon Focaccia

I was on a search for a new dish to try out.When I found this recipe for sweet Focaccia I didn't have to think further on what to make. The reasons why I stopped my search there were: 1) It had cinnamon,which I love so very much and 2) it was a sweet dish. As usual I have added a few twists to the recipe to personalize it.The end result was one delicious Focaccia. Thank you Achu for this delectable bread.

Recipe Adapted from Tangy Minds
Ingredients:
1 cup Lukewarm water
1/2 Tbsp Active dry yeast
2 cups All purpose flour
1and1/2 tsp Gluten
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar
1/8 cup Butter, melted
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Sugar
1/4 cup Brown sugar
Raisins and cranberry as required
Method:
In a large mixing bowl mix flour,gluten and salt. Mix yeast  1 tsp sugar  and water. After 5 minutes add this to flour mix and Stir with a spoon until dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and is smooth.
Cover dough and let rise for 1 hour.Pour onto greased cookie sheet.With greased hands, spread dough on the cookie sheet. Using your knuckles spread dough out forming holes in the dough. Brush melted butter onto bread.Sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar and brown sugar,add a raisin or a cranberry into each hole in the dough.Rest this for 15 minutes.Bake in a preheated 350 F degree oven for about 12 minutes or until bread is golden brown.Drizzle with a powdered sugar glaze or spread with cream cheese frosting.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Last week it was surprisingly hot in the Bay Area. Even though this is early fall, temperatures soared to the 100s for a few days, as though we were still in summer. As I didn't want the house to get warm, I was making mostly salads those days. This is one such salad that I experimented with during the week, which turned out to be quite a hit.

Ingredients:
 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
 1/8 cup white sugar
 1/8 to 1/4 cup olive oil
 1/8 cup distilled white vinegar
 1/4 teaspoon paprika (optional)
 1/8 cup Worcestershire sauce
 1 tablespoon minced onion
 10 ounces fresh spinach - rinsed, dried and torn into bite-size pieces
 1 quart strawberries - cleaned, hulled and sliced
 Sliced onion -1
 Cherry tomatoes
Method:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, sugar, olive oil, vinegar, paprika, Worcestershire sauce and onion. Cover, and chill for one hour.
In a large bowl, combine the spinach,onion, strawberries and tomatoes. Pour dressing over salad, and toss. Refrigerate 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

Ariyunda /Rice Ladoo

Ariyunda can be considered one of the traditional desserts of Kerala cuisine. It is something that is easy to make, yet tastes delicious. This would have taken  me about 10-15 minutes to make this batch. In the traditional way of making it, fresh coconut has to be crushed together with jaggery in an ural (a bigger version of a mortar). As I didn't have access to this way of making it, in order to get a similar effect, I have lightly roasted the coconut together with the jaggery so that these blend together well. An added advantage of this method is that as the water content in the coconut is reduced, the sweet can keep fresh longer.
Ingredients:
Flattened matta rice(kerala brown rice)/matta rice - 1 cup
Powdered Jaggery-3/4 cup
Grated Coconut  -3/4cup
Cardamom - 5
Method:
Dry roast the  flattened rice in medium heat till they turn crispy.  Once it cools powder the roasted rice  along with the cardamom to a fine powder and transfer to a bowl.
Lightly roast  coconut along with the powdered jaggery at medium heat . Put the coconut jaggery mix in a grinder and pulse this for a few times. Mix this with the rice powder mix .
Take a handful of the mixture and start shaping to small balls.(In case the mix is dry add a few teaspoons of milk little by little till its right to make the balls)
You can store them in a clean and air tight container to enjoy later.Tastes best the same day.