Gooseberry Salsa

My favourite fruit of this season! Packed with Vitamin C and plenty of health benefits, this gooseberry is also known as caped gooseberry for the paperish cape it has as a covering.
Eat it raw or use it in salads or try this fresh and refreshing twist to the regular salsa !

Ingredients (makes one medium sized bowl)

10-12 gooseberries
1 large tomato
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green chilli, chopped
Salt
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/4 cup coriander leaves
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 teaspoon red chilli powder

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celcius. Slightly prick the gooseberries and place on a baking tray. Bake till the skin starts turning soft and dark brown ,about ten minutes. Similarly roast the tomato.  Cool and peel off the charred skin. Use a wet hand to wipe away any stubborn bits.
2. Repeat the same step with the tomatoes.
3. Chop the gooseberries roughly and tomatoes into chunks and place in the mixer jar with all other ingredients.
4. Grind till you get a smooth but slightly chunky paste..do not grind into a fine paste. You can grind for 2-3 seconds at a time and check till you get the required consistency.
5. Chill and serve with chips/vegetables ..

Eggless Strawberry Swiss Roll

This brings back so many childhood memories - Monginis Swiss Roll for every class picnic I remember ! I have been meaning to try this for a while , was only hesitant due to the skill level involved. I dint get it as perfect as I would have liked to in terms of the rolling part but the taste definitely made up for it. I used fress strawberry puree and buttercream as a filling, you can use strawberry jam and whipped cream as alternatives.

For the cake (makes two 9 inch rolls)
1 cup sugar, powdered
2 cups maida
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
200 ml milk
50 ml oil
2 1/2 tbspn vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

For the strawberry sauce
10-12 large ripe strawberries,chopped
2 tablespoons sugar

For the buttercream
75 gms butter
2 cups icing sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk
Grated rind of one small lemon

1. Pre heat oven to 180 deg Celcius
2. For the cake, mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
3. Grease a 9" X 13" reactangular tray and line with butter paper
4. Whisk all the dry and wet ingredients together to get a smooth batter
5. Spread the batter over the tray, it will be a thin layer
6. Bake in the middle rack for about 20 minutes or till toothpick comes out clean and golden brown from the top.
7. Meanwhile cook the strawberries and sugar in a pan over a low flame till the mixture looks like a sauce and the pulp softens, about 5-7 minutes
8. For the butter cream whip all the ingredients together for 8-10 minutes till you get the cream of the desired consistency
9. When I took the cake out of the oven, I found the cake too thick to be rolled. So I sliced it into two halves (after the cake had cooled) and ended up making two rolls! Depending on what tray you have used, the cake should be about a cm thick( even less will do) , so slice off the extra bit. If you don't want to make an extra roll you can use the extra cake for a trifle pudding .
10. Place a butter paper sheet on your cooking slab. Place the cake on it, spread the butter cream over the cake (I used my cream for two rolls) . You can use as much cream as you like but the layer should not be too thick.  Then pour the sauce over the cream, make sure you leave gap on all sides (as I have done in the second picture)
11. Now the tricky part! Gently lift the edge of the cake closest to you and quickly roll the cake with the paper still underneath the cake. Without letting go off the cake, quickly wrap the paper all around the roll- all this has to be done really quick! Its just a one shot quick movement of the hands.
12. Place the roll in the fridge for 4-5 hours atleast so that it is set firmly.
13. When you want to serve, remove the roll from the fridge and cut into slices and serve.

Couscous and Pine Nut Salad Flower Pots

I made this recipe for a baby shower and the salad in little ramekin pots made such a beautiful picture. Couscous is such a versatile and healthy grain. I sourced mine from Dubai, but it is easily available in all major super market stores these days. Just follow the measurement on the pack to cook the couscous. As per the packet I had ratio of couscous was 1:1.2 ,so I took 1 cup couscous and added 1.2 cups of hot water. Cover the mixture for 5 minutes with a tight lid and the couscous soaks up all the water in that much time. Remove the lid and separate the grains gently with a fork, you can add a little olive oil at this point. Couscous can be eaten plain as a healthy substitute for rice with curry dishes too!

Ingredients

For the dressing
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup chopped oregano (preferably fresh)
1 teaspoon white pepper powder
1 tablespoon honey


For the salad
Approx 2 cups cooked couscous (from 1 cup of raw couscous)
1/2 cup pine nuts
1 cup steamed corn
1/2 cup chopped cherry tomatoes
Salt to taste


Fresh oregano to garnish


1. Mix all the ingredients of the dressing
2. Toss in all other main salad ingredients
3. Serve in ceramic pots with oregano as dressing (as shown in the pic)