Baked French Fries - Baked Pommes

I grew up in the heart of Chennai,where every corner had a crowded place where the vendors sold their hot samosas,different type of vadas and bhajjis in their push carts.The smell of those hot samosas were as much as a part of my childhood ,as the salty smell of Marina's sea Breeze .In my later years in Bangalore ,my favourite street food was almost always boiled or grilled corn on the cob.
Here in Germany,street food or fast food(Imbiss) is mostly Pommes Frites(French Fries) and various types of Wurst(Sausage) dishes.There are quite a few Turkish Döner & Pizza Shops and Chinese places,but typical German food can be found only during Carnivals,Markets and fests,when the streets are lined with Stalls offering other dishes like Reibekuchen(potato pancakes),Fish shops,Schnitzels,Grilled stuff and other local specialities. Bakeries however are quite popular and found at every corner.They are mostly crowded and offer a wide range of stuff from their Brötchens & Breads to cakes & cookies.But if you find a long queue at some place you can be pretty sure that it's for Pommes. It sure makes a pretty fuss free and filling snack or meal.My kids love it with Ketchup and can have it every day without ever getting bored.I make this baked version of Pommes as it's definitely a lot healthier and tastes as yum as the fried ones.I pretty much bake everything,we very rarely fry things.I'll have to blame my Dad for that,though we were surrounded by street food vendors,he hardly let us eat any of those fried goods.And on those rare occasions when he did get us anything from the vendors,he would never let us eat them before he had pressed them between paper towels to get the extra oil out of them :)So if you are not a big fan of fried stuff,this is a real yummy snack.You just need to find potatoes big enough to cut them into thin fingers and then chop them neatly like Chefs in cook shows.Though the only thing I successfully cut when I try to quickly chop like the Chefs are my poor fingers :)
You can add any flavouring of your choice to spice up the dish.So here's another quickie !

You'll Need:

Potatoes - 2 Bit ones(Washed & Peeled)

Olive oil - 1 tbsp

Salt ,Pepper and spices as needed.

Method:

-Chop the potatoes into Thin fingers.

-Boil a large vessel with water,add salt and a few drops of oil to the boiling water.

-Add the chopped Potatoes to the water and let it cook for 2 mins ,remove them immediately and drain the water.

-Add salt,olive oil and pepper to the potatoes and mix well.

-Heat the oven to 220° C/ and line a baking tray with  a baking paper.Spread the potatoes on them,make sure that they are spread evenly and don't lie on top of each other.

-Bake for 20 - 30 mins,until they are crisp.

-Serve with Ketchup or Mayonnaise.

-You can add different spices like, Chilli powder,Garlic,Curry masala powder to the potatoes before  or after baking them for a more flavourful dish!

Thanks a lot for Stopping by ! Have a nice day !

Tricolour Ice pops

Right from the day I spotted a multi colour Ice pop in the shops,I wanted to try out something similar at home.So one day when I made a Galia Melon-Strawberry-Orange smoothie,I made these pops too.I still don't understand why kids get all excited about a colourful Ice pop,but shun the smoothies made with the same ingredients :)This is such a simple dish that I was sceptical about posting it.I wasn't sure if it qualified for a blog post,but the picture looked so colourful and cute that I decided to go ahead and post it.So the next time you decide to make a colourful smoothie,make sure to save some for these pops:)

Makes 4 Ice pops

You'll Need:

Galia Melon - 1/2 cup (Pureed)

Strawberry Puree - 1/2 cup

Orange Juice- Squeezed from 1 orange

Sugar as needed

Method:

-Add sugar to each of the fruit purees/juices as per taste and mix well.

-Fill each of the mould with the Galia melon puree until they fill 1/3rd of the mould.Let if freeze for 40 minutes,take it out and insert the ice cream stick or wooden skewer in each of the mould.Let if further freeze for an hour.

-Take it out and fill each mould with the strawberry puree so that it fills 2/3rd of each mould.Return to the freezer and let it freeze for an hour or two.

-Take it out again and fill the remaining 1/3rd of all the moulds with the orange juice .Return to the freezer and freeze for 2 to 3 hours.

-To serve run or place the mould in hot water and loosen the sides with a sharp knife and remove it from the mould.

Thanks for Stopping by !Have a wonderful day !

Honey Melon Popsicle(Quickie)

We had one week of heat wave here with the temperatures soaring to almost 38°C,one of the hottest summers I have endured here .The schools even decided to let the children go early, and as always ,Ironically, it started raining and the weather became cool.I still remember how we would wait for the schools to decide to declare a holiday on rainy days.We would paddle in our rubber shoes in the rain water ,with our polished white school shoes safely wrapped in our back pack on all the rainy days.And exactly on the day when the weather forecast people would predict bad rains and the schools decide to declare a holiday ,would the sun shine brightly.It's kind of like nature laughing at our Weather Prediction skills :)

I find the summer here hotter than in Chennai,where the sea breeze makes it a little pleasant.
Well we decided to cool off with these Pops.They make great smoothies actually,I love to drink them while my little ones love the pops.

You'll Need:

Honey Dew Melon -  1/2 a big one

Orange Juice or Lemon Juice - 50 - 75 ml

Quark/Greek Yogurt/Full Fat Yogurt - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 1 tbsp or more (if needed)

Method:

-Add all the ingredients to a Blender and pulse for a few seconds.Add sugar and blend again if needed.

-Pour in the Popsicle mould and freeze for at least 4 hours.After the first one hour of freezing,stick the ice-cream stick in the middle of each mould.

Thanks for stopping by ! Have a cool day !

Mango Condensed Milk Ice pops - Quickie

This is yet another simple and super yummy Ice Pops,it tastes very similar to mango Kulfi.

Condensed milk is really a wonderful ingredient,you have it at hand and you can make so many delicious desserts in no time.I love this recipe mainly because it doesn't turn very hard like the other Pops and melts in your mouth in no time.I couldn't get a proper click, with one kid trying to eat it before I could click and the scorching heat melting it.My kids somehow believe that anything I click is more delicious than the similar thing that they hold in their hands.Taking a picture when they are around is like participating in Takeshi's castle(Hindi dubbed version),where I have to  simultaneously make sure that one of my kids doesn't run away with the food and the next one doesn't knock everything down in her attempt to make it look better or wanting to pose ,the camera refusing to respond to different modes and the sun(you too Brutus!) hiding behind the clouds :)So off to the pops which calls for very few ingredients and can be whipped up quickly !

Makes about 8 - 10

You'll Need:

Mango pulp - 200 g (from 2 mangoes)

Condensed milk (Sweetened) - 1/2 a tin - 200 g

Heavy cream - 200 ml - about 3/4th a cup

Sugar - if needed

Method:

-Add all the ingredients to a Blender and pulse for a few seconds.Add sugar and blend again if needed.

-Pour in the Popsicle mould and freeze for at least 4 hours.After the first one hour of freezing,stick the ice-cream stick in the middle of each mould.

-If you want to make an ice-cream out of the mixture.Pour it into a large bowl and let it freeze.Take it out after one hour of freezing and beat it well with a fork to break the ice crystals,and return to the freeze.Do this repeatedly 3 -4 times in intervals of 1 hour.

Thanks for Stopping by ! Have fun !