Cornmeal Waffles

From Cooking Light Here:

These waffles were good and don't have any butter added to the batter. They don't puff up much in the waffle iron - so you I got better results by adding more batter than I would for other waffle recipes.

Cornmeal Waffles

Cornmeal gives waffles a coarser texture than flour. Serve with sliced strawberries and maple syrup for breakfast or brunch.

Ingredients

Cooking spray
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 large egg yolks
2 large egg whites

Preparation

Coat a waffle iron with cooking spray, and preheat.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup, and level with a knife. Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, and make a well in center of mixture. Place buttermilk, maple syrup, oil, and egg yolks in a bowl, and stir well with a whisk. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moist.

Beat egg whites with a mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently fold egg whites into cornmeal mixture.

Spoon about 1/2 cup batter onto hot waffle iron, spreading batter to edges. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until done; repeat procedure with remaining batter.

Chai-brined shrimp and mango skewers

Shrimp and mango skewers from cooking light.

I am not sure the chai brining was worth the effort. it tasted good - but I am not sure I could taste the chai. I didn't have any cardamom - I don't know if that made any difference. But, the grilled mango was excellent - and the shrimp was fine and very quick on the grill. Just for yucks, I wrapped some if the shrimp in basil leaves - this was very good. Next time, I might try grilling shrimp, and wrapping them in basil leaves, running a tooth pick through them and calling them appetizers.

Ingredients

3 cups water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons grated peeled fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon white peppercorns, crushed
8 whole cardamom pods, crushed
6 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick, broken
2 tablespoons black tea leaves (such as Darjeeling)
1 cup ice cubes
32 peeled and deveined large shrimp (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 large peeled ripe mangoes, each cut into 8 (2-inch) pieces
Cooking spray
1/2 cup sliced green onions
8 Indian flatbreads (naan)

Preparation

1. Combine first 9 ingredients in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in tea leaves; simmer 2 minutes. Strain mixture through a sieve into a large bowl; discard solids. Stir in ice; chill.

2. Add shrimp to water mixture; chill 20 minutes.

3. Prepare grill.

4. Remove the shrimp from bowl; discard liquid. Pat the shrimp dry with paper towels. Thread 4 shrimp and 2 mango pieces alternately onto each of 8 (12-inch) skewers.

5. Place the skewers on a grill rack coated with cooking spray. Grill for 2 minutes on each side or until the shrimp are done. Sprinkle with sliced green onions. Serve with flatbread.

Note: As pictured on the cover, you can use smaller skewers. Simply thread two shrimp alternately with two mango chunks, and serve guests two skewers each. You'll need to purchase an extra mango (which minimally increases the calories per serving) if you opt for this presentation.

Yield

8 servings (serving size: 1 skewer and 1 piece flatbread)

Veg. Samosas in phyllo dough

This is from Cooking Light here: Samosa Recipe

These are very tasty. We used less phyllo than the recipe called for - half a sheet instead of a sheet. Also, it was fine to put lots of filling in each and not to cover it all with the first fold - because the other folds will take care of it. I expected them to be good - and they were very good.

Samosas, traditional Indian pastries filled with vegetables, meat, or both, are typically made with homemade dough, then fried. Our samosas remain light and crisp because we enclose the filling in phyllo dough and then bake them. When processing the filling, pulse just until the ingredients are chopped so it retains its texture.

Ingredients

Samosas:
2 1/4 cups chopped peeled baking potato
1 1/2 cups chopped peeled carrot
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups finely chopped onion
2 1/2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 1/4 cups frozen green peas, thawed
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
16 (18 x 14–inch) sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed
Cooking spray

Raita:
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1/3 cup chopped fresh mint

Preparation

1. To prepare samosas, cook potato and carrot in boiling water 8 minutes or until tender; drain.

2. Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Add onion to pan; cook 10 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring frequently. Add ginger, garlic, and red pepper; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in cumin and next 5 ingredients (through turmeric); cook 15 seconds, stirring constantly. Add potato mixture, peas, cilantro, and juice, stirring well to combine; cool slightly. Place half of filling in a food processor; pulse until coarsely chopped. Spoon chopped filling into a bowl. Repeat procedure with remaining filling.

3. Preheat oven to 350°.

4. Place 1 phyllo sheet on a large cutting board or work surface (cover remaining dough to prevent drying); lightly coat with cooking spray. Fold phyllo sheet in half lengthwise to form an 18 x 7–inch rectangle. Spoon about 3 tablespoons filling onto bottom end of rectangle, leaving a 1-inch border. Fold left bottom corner over mixture, forming a triangle; keep folding back and forth into a triangle to end of phyllo strip. Tuck edges under triangle; lightly coat seam with cooking spray. Place triangles, seam side down, 2 inches apart on baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with remaining phyllo, cooking spray, and filling to form 16 samosas.

5. Bake at 350° for 13 minutes with 1 baking sheet on bottom rack and 1 baking sheet on second rack from the top. Rotate baking sheets; bake an additional 12 minutes or until samosas are lightly browned.

6. To prepare raita, combine yogurt and mint. Serve with samosas.

Thai Cous Cous

1.5 T minced fresh lemongrass
1 small shallot minced
.5 tsp (or less) minced chili pepper
1 can coconut milk (1.75 c)
1 T oil
1.5 c cous cous
1 kaffir lime leaf - minced
2 tsp green curry paste

Heat oil in a sauce pan - add lemongrass, shallot, and chilit pepper - and cook over medium high heat for about 5 minutes - if the shallot browns lower heat and add coconut milk

lower heat and add coconut milk and lime leaf and curry paste. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and add cous cous.

Let stand off heat for 5 minutes, fluff with a fork.

This is quick and tasty.