Sugar free date walnut cake

Hi, I'm back after a hiatus. I took quite a long break from blogging and social media. During this time I have cooked a lot new dishes, dug deep into bread making and even managed to raise my first batch of sourdough starter, yet somehow I lacked the energy and enthusiasm to share it on social media. But during this worldwide Covid-scare and lockdown restrictions I felt an urge to connect with others and share my thoughts.

Noodles with shrimps...

I always complain about summer, the heat, the humidity. But there are few things that are undeniably good about summer, the seasonal fruits like mangoes, litchi, black plums. And the best part is the summer break. The school is closed, the kid is at home, alarms are not buzzing at the wee hour of the morning, altogether a relaxed and happy me.

Baby potatoes with coriander pesto...

With the heat index increasing everyday it's exhausting to be in the kitchen for longer duration to prepare elaborate dishes. Simple rice, lentils, thin fish curries are what I'm making mostly these days. Other than lunch and dinner, the lunch boxes for school and office require a good planning. With the kid enrolled in a morning school I hardly have 30-40 mins to prepare for the boxes. So I plan accordingly and make myself ready with half the work done before hand. Today I'm going to share one of such recipes, that I prepare for my kid's lunch box. A very easy and quick recipe, which not only great for lunch boxes but also as a starter for your next party.

How to make a simple vanilla cake...

Today I'm going to share a simple basic recipe for making a vanilla cake. A recipe that can be followed by anyone. For a long time I have been requested to post this but haven't done it till date. Though I bake this cake at least thrice a month as a snack for my kid. It is so easy and simple that my nine year old knows how to do it. 

This is the recipe I have seen my mother and aunts use while baking cakes in winter. It was like a ritual in our house to bake at least one cake during our winter break. I remember it was such a exciting day for us. It was more of an event. We used to announce with pride to our friends "today Ma's going to bake a cake, so we can't join you to play badminton this morning". Badminton, oranges and cake were such integral part of our winter days.

Coming back to the cake, there was an electric oven to bake the cake, a small round shaped aluminium  oven with flat top and bottom with a glass top from where you can see the cake rising. It was my father's duty to take out the oven from its box. Yes, it used to be kept in its original box throughout the year waiting to be used during winter for our family celebration of Christmas and new year.

Chicken pulao...

Last week was a difficult one for me. The minor surgery I had to undergo resulted in restrictions in movement and thus my daily routine. Never mind the associated pain, missing a planned dine out with my friends due to this was more agonizing. But as the saying goes - everything has it's silver lining, I managed to get an uninterrupted break with the support of pain killers and other meds. The man was in charge of the kitchen and other household works. I enjoyed the egg curry for lunch and some not so round paratha for dinner. Yes, being sick now and then is not so bad after all. So this Sunday it was my turn to treat him and of course my little one who relentlessly tried her best to help me and comfort me in her small little ways.

Walnut and choco-chip cupcake

It's almost over. I have only two more weekends left before my little first grader goes back to school. Time flies, otherwise how did these 90 days of summer vacation went by? And surprisingly enough I spent these 90 days quite peacefully. Whatever presupposed anxiety I had, my little one proved them all wrong. We had loads of fun together, learning new things, crafts, baking, movies and loads of reading.

Now it's time check the school supply list, prepare to go back to the regular routine for bedtimes. Yeah, no more relaxed bedtime (I will miss that so much.....lazy me), the alarm will be set again, the kid will be back to school and Mommy dear will be back to routine.

When it involves my kid, the most challenging part I face is food. What to prepare for breakfast, what to pack in the lunchbox, then what to make for after school meal or snack. I know all parents face the same problem, especially if your kid is a picky eater. 

Other than the usual meals, for snacks I prefer to make something that can be packed if needed. Cupcakes are one of those thing that me and my kid both like. They are quick and easy to make, and if you keep the frosting part aside, it can be stored for 4-5 days. Moreover you can have different variations, just add some fruits or nuts or chocolate or keep it plain.

On this back to school note, I made some walnut and chocolate chip cupcakes. I bake the cupcakes, cool them down and store in an air tight container for future consumption. You can add frosting just before serving, some whipped cream or drizzle some chocolate sauce on the cupcakes or add a scoop of ice cream on top, the kid will be delighted. 

Things needed to make Walnut and Choco-chip Cupcake:

• All purpose flour: 1 cup
• Baking powder: 1 tsp
• Salt: 3/4 tsp
• Unsalted butter: 1/2 cup
• Granulated sugar: 3/4 cup
• Eggs: 2
• Vanilla extract: 1 tsp
• Milk: 3 tbsp
• Semi sweet choco chips: 1/2 cup
• Walnut: 1/4 cup

Steps of making Walnut and Choco-chip Cupcake:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 F. Line a muffin tray with cupcake liner, keep aside.

2. Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature. Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl and keep aside. 

3. With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar. I used unsalted butter, you can use salted butter, in that case do not add salt to the flour as mentioned in step 1. As you beat the butter and sugar, scrap the sides with a spatula and mix.

4. Add the eggs and beat well, scraping the sides as needed. Add vanilla extract and mix well.

5. Sieve in the the dry ingredients to the wet mix and gently fold in. Add milk and mix with a spatula. Fold in the chocolate chips and broken walnut pieces.

6. Fill the cupcake liner with the cake batter upto 3/4th. Bake at 375 F for 20 min, or till a tooth pick inserted at center comes out clean. Let the cupcake cool down on a wire rack.

You can do frosting on the cupcake, of your choice. But I usually skip the frosting part. Either I drizzle some chocolate sauce just before serving or top the cupcake with some peanut butter or sometimes as a special reward for the kid I serve the cupcake topped with a scoop of ice cream. This I drizzle chocolate sauce and sprinkle some broken walnuts on the cupcake.

Walnut and Choco-chip Cupcake

(Yield: 6)

Ingredients:

All purpose flour: 1 cup
Baking powder: 1 tsp
Salt: 3/4 tsp
Unsalted butter: 1/2 cup
Granulated sugar: 3/4 cup
Eggs: 2
Vanilla extract: 1 tsp
Milk: 3 tbsp
Semi sweet choco chips: 1/2 cup
Walnut: 1/4 cup

Procedure:

1. Pre-heat oven at 375 F.

2. Cream butter and sugar.

3. Add eggs and vanilla extract, beat well.

4. Sieve in the dry ingredients, add milk, gently fold in with a spatula.

5. Fol in the walnut and choco-chips.

6. Line a muffin tray with cupcake liner, fill in each upto 3/4 th, bake at 375 F for 20 min.

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Blueberry cake...

It's surprising how life changes lane, taking a new turn,  sometimes showing you a different perspective altogether. You do things that you never thought of, you love  things that you  may have hated till now...life changes or we change, I feel we grow as we go on. Like I never knew I would love baking so much. For me baking was just a cake during Christmas. And now it has expanded to various breads, cakes, cupcakes etc. I now love every single step of baking. Measuring, mixing, working to get the perfect texture and so on. Baking is such an addiction.

Usually I bake a simple vanilla cake as a snack for my family. This time the kid bought a box of blueberry. She enjoyed baking last time, and we had  baked a fruit and nut bundt cake together. Yeah summer break!!! fun for the kid, not always same for the parents though. :) So it is the story of a box full of blueberries and a heart shaped cake.

This above picture of blueberries is my entry to "The Color Me Photography Challenge Series". The series is organised and hosted by Priya of The Humpty Dumpty Kitchen. The month of July is for "Colour Me Purple (And Blue and Violet!)". 

Back to the cake. It is a simple vanilla cake, I added the blueberries as the kid wanted it that way. I used the heart shaped pan just for fun.

Things needed to make blueberry cake:

(This will make a 10 inch round cake, or two 6 inch heart shape cake)

• Unsalted butter: 1/2 cup
• Sugar: 1 and 1/4 cup
• Eggs: 4
• Flour: 1 and 1/2 cup
• Salt: 1 tsp
• Baking powder: 1 tsp
• Vanilla extract: 1 tsp
• Milk: 1/4 cup
• Blueberries: 1 cup
• Extra butter to grease
• Extra flour to dust

Steps of making blueberry cake:

1. Bring all the ingredients to room temperature. Pre-heat oven to 375 F. Grease the pan with butter or oil, sprinkle four or you can line the pan with parchment paper.

2. Wash the blueberries well, pat them dry.

3. Cream the unsalted butter and granulated sugar. I used a hand blender for this. Add eggs one by one, mix well after adding each one. Scrape the sides with a spatula as you are mixing. Add vanilla essence, mix well.

4. Sieve flour, salt and baking powder. If you are using salted butter, then don't add salt. Mix one third of the flour mix and gently fold it in. Add half of the milk, mix with spatula. Repeat till all the flour and milk are used.

5. Pour cake batter in the prepared pan. Drop some blueberries.

6. Bake at 375 F for 30 min, on the middle rack. Check with a toothpick or skewer whether the cake is done or not. Remove from oven, cool on a wire rack. You can decorate cake as you like, I sprinkled confectionery sugar on the cake.

And dusting the cake with sugar left such a beautiful design on my table. I couldn't help but take a picture of that.

Pretty, isn't it? I call it a sugar heart. And again this little things that may not be very important to others, but I love them, tiny, insignificant but enough to make me happy.

Print Recipe

Blueberry cake
(for one 10 inch round cake)

Ingredients:
Unsalted butter: 1/2 cup
Sugar: 1 and 1/4 cup
Eggs: 4
Flour: 1 and 1/2 cup
Milk: 1/4 cup
Salt: 1 tsp
Baking powde: 1 tsp
Vanilla extract: 1 tsp
Blueberries: 1 cup
Butter to grease pan
Flour to dust pan

Procedure:
1. Pre-heat oven to 375 F. Grease and dust pan.
2. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one by one, mix well.
3. Add vanilla extract.
4. Sieve flour, salt and baking powder.
5. Add 1/3 of flour mix, fold in with a spatula. Add half of the milk. Repeat till all the flour and milk are used.
6. Pour cake batter on prepared pan, drop few blueberries, bake for 30 min at 375 F.
7. Cool down on a wire rack.

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Fruit n nut bundt cake...

Summer break and kids.....are quite alarming to most of the parents. One can suggest about summer camp, science camp etc, but everything has a price tag attached to it. Moreover I do want my kid to enjoy the fun of the break, than the regular routine life. Just like we used to do as kids. So a long 90 days of break and your active agile kid, not a very easy task. But to be very frank I enjoy it, being with my kid all the time, playing with her, doing some crafts, making some jewelry are like revisiting my own childhood. Yes, I think that's the key to enjoy with your kid, be a kid yourself.

Kids grow up fast, so treasure every single moment you are with him or her. There will be a time soon when they will grow up and will be busy in their own world. All these ever-demanding undivided attention will be gone. That's part of our life, so enjoy this moment, enjoy it now.

So when my daughter wanted to bake a cake I didn't say no. Though I was not very keen switching on the oven in this hot sweltering summer, but again did not want to miss the fun of baking a cake with my kiddo. And I must admit, she was great at folding the cake batter, gentle and with all the care she did it.

It was a simple fruit and nut cake as she wanted it to be. I added chopped dried fruits, cherries and cranberries to the cake batter along with some chopped pistachio, walnuts and almonds.

To bring a different flavor I added rum flavor to it. As I was making it for my kid, I did not use any alcohol, but added imitation rum flavor. You can use either the imitation flavor or 2-3 tbsp dark rum to flavor your cake. I used the bundt cake pan to make the fun ring shape cake, you can use the regular round cake pan as well. A cake is always a great snack, both for the kids and the grown ups, so gear up and bake a cake with your little one and have fun.

Things needed to make the cake:

(this will make a 9n3/4 inch bundt cake)

• Flour: 1 and 3/4 cup
• Eggs: 4
• Sugar: 1 and 1/2 cup
• Unsalted butter: 1 stick
• Milk: 1/4 cup
• Vanilla essence: 1/2 tsp
• Imitation rum flavor: 1 tsp
• Dry fruits and nuts of your choice
• Baking powder: 1 tsp
• Salt: 1 tsp
• Extra butter to grease
• Extra flour to dust

Steps of making the cake:

1. Pre-heat oven at 350 F. Grease the cake pan, dust with flour, keep aside.

2. Cream the butter and sugar with a hand blender. I used unsalted butter. If you are using the salted variety, then do not add extra salt.

3. Add eggs one by one to the creamed butter-sugar mix. After adding each egg, mix with hand blender. Add vanilla essence and imitation rum flavor, mix.

4. Sift flour, salt and baking powder.

5. Add 1/3 of the flour-mix and gently fold in to the batter. Add half of the milk, mix with a spatula. Repeat till you are done with all the flour and milk.

6. Chop the nuts and dry fruits. I added almond, pistachio, walnut, cherry and cranberry. Fold the chopped dry fruits and nuts to the batter.

7. Pour batter into the prepared pan, bake on the middle rack for 35 min. Check with a toothpick, cool down and enjoy with your family and friends.

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Chicken tandoori pizza..

It is easier to pick up the phone and order a pizza from a pizza outlet than making a pizza at home from scratch. We all are used to with pre-packaged, convenience food available in the store. If you think deep and look at the preservative-filled, chemically enhanced, sugar-filled foods, you will understand they do more harm than good. 

Other than the health hazard, store bought foods are much more expensive than homemade one. A homemade pizza crust and sauce can hardly cost you $2. The topping may cost between $5-6, but again if you use all the possible toppings those pizza outlets offer you. 

And I'm sure you have noticed how a delivery pizza leaves a big greasy spot on a paper napkin, where as a homemade one can be made absolutely oil free and you can choose the best quality healthy ingredients for you and your family. Moreover the options for toppings becomes so wide, anything of your choice can be the pizza topping.

It is not that I don't have those store bought food once in a while, but they are not  part of my daily diet. I always enjoy making everyday food at home, from jam to juice, bread to curries as well as special occasion sweets or fancy cake. Today it was a pizza for dinner, topped with my favorite tandoori chicken. I already had a pizza recipe in my blog, but this time the crust I made came out so good I wanted to share it with you all. As a self taught cook, with frequent baking I did learn the finer details.

For the chicken tandoori recipe please go to this link http://www.colorandspices.com/2012/07/tandoori-chicken.html

Things needed to make Pizza Crust:

(This will yield 2 large, 14 inch pizza crusts)

• Bread flour: 3 cups
• Warm water: 1 cup
• Active dry yeast: 2 and 1/4 tsp
• Sugar: 1 tsp
• Salt: 1 tsp
• Olive oil: 1/4 cup (divided)
• Garlic powder: 1 tsp
• Extra flour to dust

Steps of making Pizza Crust:

1. Proof yeast. In a deep bowl add water (just warm to touch), yeast and sugar, mix well. Cover the bowl and wait for 10 min or till the yeast bubbles up.

2. In a deep large container or the bowl of a standing mixer add 2 cups of flour, salt, garlic powder, olive oil and mix well with a spatula for 2-3 min or till well incorporated. Make a well at the center, add the proofed yeast and mix. Gradually add the rest of the flour and keep mixing till all the flour comes together and no longer sticks to the wall of the bowl. You can use a stand mixer, I used a spatula and worked the dough with my hand.

3. Dust the working surface, drop the dough on the floured surface. Knead the dough for 10 min with hand (you can use a standing mixer). Dust the working surface as needed but do not use too much of flour. I generally use 3-4 tablespoons.

4. As the dough becomes pliable, grease a large deep container, put the dough in that container, roll the dough to coat with oil from all sides. Cover the container and keep in a warm corner in the kitchen. The dough will rise to double by 1-2 hrs.

Punch down the dough, divide the dough into two equal halves. Work with one part at a time. You can keep one half wrapped in cling film for future use. Dough can be refrigerated for 2-3 days, take it out from the refrigerator 2 hrs prior cooking.

5. Take a round 14 inch pizza pan or a large baking sheet, dust with flour or corn meal, I used whole wheat flour. Stretch the dough on the pizza pan or on the tray. Use finger tips to stretch it evenly. Brush the dough well with olive oil. Cover with a cling film and let it rise for 30 min at room temperature.

6. As the dough is rising prepare the sauce and toppings and pre-heat oven at 475 F. For the sauce recipe check this link http://www.colorandspices.com/2012/11/pizza.html To compliment the flavors of chicken tandoori, I added honey and freshly chopped coriander leaves to the sauce.

7. After the dough rise for 30 min, spread sauce (of your choice) on the dough. Arrange topping and cheese. I used the tandoori chicken I made specially for this pizza, along with some bell peppers, red onion and few black olives(due to popular demand from the little one at home).

For the topping I pulled small pieces from the tandoori chicken, and added some chopped fresh coriander leaves to the tomato sauce for a different flavor. I used mozzarella cheese, you can always use cheese of your choice.

8. Cook the pizza on the middle rack on the oven, for 12-15 min, or till the cheese melts and turns brown on the side. Take the pizza out from oven, let it rest for 5 min, cut with a pizza cutter and enjoy your pizza.

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Mango fruit leather... 'amsotto'

'Amsotto' is a word very close to every Bengali's heart. It is nothing but sun dried mango pulp mixed with sugar. In some parts of India it is known as 'Aam Papad'. I have seen my mother-in-law make 'amsotto' using fresh home-grown mangoes. The process is very simple. Mango pulp is spread in a thin even layer over a flat plate or tray and then left to dry under hot Summer sun. When the first layer dries, another layer of mango pulp is spread over the previous one. This process is repeated till the desired thickness is achieved. She makes mango pulp from both sweet and sour mangoes, and that brings an unique sweet sour taste to the end product and it is the best 'amsotto' I have ever tasted. But when you stay thousands of miles away from home, these homemade delicacies are mere memories.

Though the mangoes here do not taste or smell anywhere near the mangoes back home, still during Summer mango is a must have fruit for me. Few days back I bought a big box full of mangoes from a local store. We ate few, made salsa and lassi with them, but still two large one were left. So before they turn bad, I tried my hand on making some fruit leather.

Yes, fruit leather, homemade dried fruit rolls, are made from fruit pulp. Exactly the way 'Amsotto' is made. It is called fruit leather because when the fruit pulp is dried, it looks shiny and has a very tough texture like leather. Commercially fruit leathers are made in dehydrator designated for this process. I did it in the oven and am so happy to see the end result.

Things needed to make Mango Fruit Leather/ Amsotto:

• Ripe mango: 2 large (or canned mango pulp)
• Honey: 1/4 cup
• Lime juice: 1 tbsp

• A baking sheet
• Parchment paper

Steps of making Mango Fruit Leather/ Amsotto:

1. You can use either canned mango pulp, or make fresh fruit pulp. If you are making fruit pulp from fresh fruit, use fully ripe mango. After making the pulp using a food processor or blender strain the pulp to remove any fiber. Do not add any water while making the pulp or straining. The mango pulp should be thick but a pouring consistency.

2. Mix honey and lime juice to the mango pulp. If you are using sweetened canned mango pulp then avoid adding honey. I added honey to sweeten the pulp, as the mangoes were not that sweet. Taste and adjust the amount of honey to be added. You can use sugar in place of honey. Mix well.

3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. For the pulp from 2 large mangoes I used a 15inch X 11inch baking sheet. Pour the pulp on the parchment lined baking sheet. Spread the mango pulp with a spatula or back of a knife. Spread it as evenly as possible.

4. Pre-heat oven to WM or 140F or the lowest possible temperature possible in your oven. Use an oven thermometer to check the temperature, it should not exceed 140F. You need to dry the fruit pulp, no cooking is involved here. Keep the baking sheet on the top rack of the oven. If you find (or feel) the temperature is too high then switch off the oven for 30 min, and again switch it on. Let the fruit pulp dry inside the oven for 8-10 hrs.

5. How to know the fruit leather is ready? If you touch a dried fruit leather, you will feel a smooth leather like texture and you can peel it off from the parchment paper easily. If fruit pulp sticks to your finger and you find it difficult to peel off then it needs to dry more. I kept the baking sheet at WM mode in the oven for 8 hrs, I switched off the oven in between to keep the temperature at 140F. It was almost done after 8 hrs. I left it inside the oven(switched off) overnight and next morning it was perfectly done.

6. Peel off the parchment paper, cut the fruit leather into pieces, roll and store in an air tight container. You can wrap the fruit rolls with parchment paper before storing.


This post specially posted to celebrate mango festival  organised by Kolkata Food Bloggers (KFB)

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Homemade burger bun...

Lot of people have asked  me, why do I need to make bread at home when they are readily available in stores. My answer is unless you try your hand at it you will never know. First of all, I love baking, though a late starter, I have fallen for it completely. And it gives me an immense pleasure when all the effort comes together and I end up with a perfect well done bread.

And  the second reason, which I feel far  more important that the first one. Just go through the ingredients list of the bread you have bought. I'm sure you will need to Google for a lot of them, as you probably haven't heard of them before. Unfortunately most of them are preservatives to increase the shelf life of the bread.

Like most of the kids  of her age, my daughter loves burgers. Every-time we pass by a burger joint, she feels hungry, even if it's just after the lunch or dinner. So when on Mother's day my little one surprised me with a beautiful ceramic paper weight shaped like a star fish and  a few pretty  looking cards saying "Mom I love you", I promised her the best burger as her treat.

I followed the braided bread or challah bread recipe to make the dough. This dough, can be used for making several different breads, like burger buns, dinner knots, sweet cinnamon rolls etc. Today it was burger buns time.

Things needed to make Homemade Burger:

For the Burger Bun:

• Bread flour: 4 cups and more to dust
• Dry yeast: 2.5 tsp
• Sugar: 1/2 tsp
• Water (warm): 1 cup
• Salt: 1/2 tbsp
• Honey: 1/4 cup
• Eggs: 2
• Butter or olive oil: 1/3 cup
• Egg wash: 1 egg + 1 tbsp water
• Sesame seeds to sprinkle (optional)

Steps of making the Burger Buns:

1. Proof the yeast: Take the yeast, 1/4 cup warm water, sugar in a deep bowl, mix well. Cover and let the yeast stand at room temperature until foamy (about 10 min). The water should be just warm to touch, not hot.

2. In a large, deep mixing bowl add 1 cup bread flour, eggs, honey, butter (or oil, whichever you are using, I used butter), and rest of the water, mix well with a dough whisk (a ladle also works good) till no lumps.

Add the yeast and mix well. Add the remaining bread flour 1/2 cup at a time, until a soft dough is formed that pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl.  As I do not have a stand mixer, I used my hand to make the dough. You can use a heavy duty stand mixer like Kitchen Aid, in that case use the paddle attachment.

3. Lightly flour the kitchen counter or any work surface ( I used a large wooden chopping board), turn the dough on the floured work surface. Knead the dough, stretch it, fold it, turn it 90 degree and repeat. Knead for 7-8 min by hand. Keep dusting the work surface with flour to prevent the dough from sticking to hand and to the work surface.

4. Grease a large and deep container, place the dough and turn once to grease the top. Cover the container and let the dough rise at room temperature until double is size, about 2 hrs. Punch down the dough and cover the container and let the dough rise again for 1 hr. If you are in hurry you can skip the second rise, but for a better flavor let the dough rise for the second time.

5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Take out the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into two equal halves.

6. Divide each half into 6 equal portions. Make balls from each portions. Roll the dough with cupped hand until smooth and perfectly round. Place the shaped dough on the baking sheet, with smooth side up. Repeat the same for other portions of the dough and place them at least 2 inches apart from each other. Flatten each dough with the palm. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 20-25 min at room temperature. Halfway through the rising press the dough balls very gently to flatten a bit.

7. As the shaped dough are rising, place the oven rack to the center position and preheat oven to 350 F. The oven should be preheated at-least 20 min before baking. Mix the egg and water for egg wash.

8. Brush the rolls with egg wash with a pastry brush and sprinkle sesame seeds. You can skip the sesame seed part.

9. Bake in the preheated oven, in the center rack for 18-20 min or until golden brown in color and firm to touch. Transfer to cooling rack.

I used only half of the dough to make 6 buns. With the rest of the dough I made few dinner knots and mini challahs. The dough recipe is same, but you can make various other breads from this dough.

For the Patty:

• Minced meat of your choice: 1 lb/ 425 gm
• Onion (finely chopped): 2 tbsp
• Garlic powder: 1/4 tsp
• Dried parsley: 1/2 tbsp
• Worcestershire sauce: 1 tbsp
• Smoked Tabasco sauce: 1 tbsp
• Egg: 1
• Bread crumbs: 1-2 tbsp
• Freshly ground black pepper: 1 tsp
• Salt to taste

For making the patty you can use any minced meat of your choice. Even vegetarian options like falafel, or minced soy-granule patty or mixed veggie patty are also good. You can make the burger patty as per your choice. This time I used minced chicken and following is how I did it.

Steps for making the Patty:

1. Mix minced meat, finely chopped onion, garlic powder (or minced garlic), dried parsley, Worcestershire sauce, smoked Tabasco sauce, salt and pepper well. I used smoked Tabasco to bring the smoky flavor as well as increase the spicy level, you can use liquid smoke and chili powder instead. Liquid smoke is readily available in shops like Walmart or Target. For kids, you can avoid chili powder. I added frozen corns and grated carrot to the kid version patty I made for my daughter. An easy way to add some veggies to your kids diet.

2. Now shape the patty into round disks around a diameter of 3 inches or the size to match your burger buns. To shape the meat patty quickly and easily I found out something very simple. We always have different sized lids of jars in our kitchen. Take any lid that matches to the size of burger bun.

3. Line the lid with plastic wrap.

4. Drop the patty mix on the lid.

5. With the help of spoon level the mix and spread it on the lid. Press a little so it takes the shape of the lid.

6. Take a piece of parchment paper, and holding the plastic wrap flip the meat mix to parchment paper, voila you have a perfect round patty ready to cook.

You can grill the patty on an outdoor grill or just shallow fry them on a pan, like I did.

So we are ready with the bun and patty, now the burger needs to be assembled.

To assemble the burger: (these are few suggestions)

• Mayonnaise
• Mustard sauce
• Tomato slices
• Lettuce
• Guacamole
• Onion
• Pickled jalapeno
• Bacon
• Cheese slices
• Grilled mushrooms or bell peppers

 Etc & etc....

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