Benne Biscuit / Butter Biscuit

Things have been pretty busy at my end. I must apologize to all my friends for not being able to visit your blogs for sometime. I cancelled a weekend plan of mine due to a bad weather and just took sometime off to chill. Decided to get back on my space and post a simple and light recipe.

"Benne" means "Butter" in Kannada. Benne biscuit's are very famous in Iyengar's Bakery in Bangalore. Butter Sponge is a bakery in Bangalore from where I have tasted the best baked goodies ever. The taste still lingers in my mouth. Drooool !!

I have been craving to eat these goodies for sometime. I made these biscuits at home and tried to recreate the same taste. But I was not successful in recreating the same consistency but the taste was delicious!!

Ingredients

All Purpose Flour - 1 Cup
Powdered Sugar - 1 Cup
Cashews - 1/2 Cup
Butter - 1 Stick - 8 Tablespoons
Baking Soda - 1/2 Tsp
Cardamom Powder - 1/2 Tsp

Method

• Sift the all purpose flour, powdered sugar, baking powder and cardamom powder in a bowl and set it aside.

• In a food processor/ blender add the cashews and grind it coarsely. To this add butter and blend the both together. The butter has to be completely at room temperature.

• Slowly add the dry ingredients to the food processor and pulse it till it forms a crumbly mixture.

• Make balls out of the mixture. Be sure to not roll the ball tightly. It has to be loose so that the biscuits fluff up.

• Preheat the oven to 300⁰F. Place the cookies on the cookie tray and bake for 10 minutes.

• Make sure that you don't over bake them. I left them for an extra minute or so to get a beautiful golden color on the cookies. Cool them completely before you can taste them.

• Enjoy the cookies with your evening tea or morning breakfast!

Notes:

• Addition of cashews is optional and you may skip its addition.
• The butter must be very soft and completely at room temperature otherwise the consistency of the dough mixture will not come out as desired.
• As there will be variations on heat in different ovens, make sure to have an eye on the cookies while they are baking.
• Rolling the cookie dough tight will not allow the biscuits to rise and they will not come out soft.
• The cookies have to be white in color and browned slightly at the base. You can make them white by removing them from the oven at the end of 10 minutes and allow them to cool completely.

Its an Award!!

My third award and second one this year..I am so excited..I came home after a very busy and hectic day at school. I just sit to check and drool over some yummy recipes that my fellow bloggers have posted..I am In for a surprise award!! Vidhya from Sugar'N Spice has shared this award with me and 14 other beautiful bloggers..I thank Vidhya so much for honoring me with this award and would love to pass it on to a few other lovely bloggers.

Raji - Raks Kitchen
Preetha Karthik - Preethi Bhojan
Pushpa - Taste as you cook
Chitra Hegde - Chitranna
Divya  Vikram - Dil Se
Savitha Ramesh - Savitha's Kitchen
Rupali - RecipeGrabBag
Priya Mahadevan - Now Serving
Premalatha Aravindan - Prema's Thaligai
Priya - Priya Easy n tasty recipes
Swathi - Zesty South Indian Kitchen
Pia - Cook Healthy
Satya - Super Yummy Recipes
Jeyashri - Jeyashri's Kitchen
Reshmi Mahesh - Easy Cook


I am very happy to share this with you all, please accept this rolling award.

Rules:
1.Accept the award. Post it in your blog with the name of the blogger who has given u this award with a link to his/her blog.
2.Pass it on to 15 other blogger friends.... to keep the ball rolling.
3.Let the nominated blogger know about their award [leave a comment in their most recent post].rs, I am v

Mixed Dal Tadka

I have been so crazy busy from the past few days. All I am thinking and dreaming is about classes and assignments. Spending the entire day at school and getting back home hungry and starving....aaaaahhhhh... I craved for good home food prepared by Mom. But life as a wife in America is all about food cravings and missing dear ones. Left with no choice I had to prepare some yummy but simple food for myself and DH. What better dish could be comforting than making Dal and Rice. I made this yummy dinner for the both of us and trust me..It was so very relaxing!!

Ingredients:

Toor Dal - 1/4 cup
Moong Dal - 1/4 cup
Masoor Dal - 1/4 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/8 tsp
Medium Tomato - 1 - Chopped
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
Red chillies - 3-4
Curry leaves - A few
Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
Asafoetida - A pinch
Cilantro - To garnish
Oil / Ghee - 1 tbsp
Salt - To taste

Method:

• In a vessel combine the three dals and add a pinch of turmeric powder and salt and pressure cook it for 3 whistles.

• In a wok, heat oil/ghee. add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, red chillies and curry leaves.

• Once they crackle and splutter, add the chopped tomato and cook on medium heat until the tomatoes are cooked well.

• Add asafoetida, red chilli powder and turmeric powder to the tomato mixture.

• Mash the cooked dal and add the dal to the tomato mixture. 

• Mix it all well.Garnish it with cilantro.

• Serve hot with Rice and Roti.. Enjoy the simple and comfort food that gets ready in no time.