Savoury Whole-Meal Scones with Nando's!!

Clean & Delicious Part 2- I celebrated Valentine's Day with my little family of three, munching on these yummy Whole-Meal Savoury Scones.

The spring garden is one of my most favourite things in the world. The little bees hovering about. The butterflies learning to fly. The leaves beginning to grow back. It's warm, and yet not hot. It is undoubtedly the best time to garden and harvest your fruits of love! And these Wholemeal Scones were conceptualised, sitting right in my terrace, surrounded by my favourite plants.  

Scones are an underrated and hardly ever made variety of flaky morsels of flour, that can be made sweet, savoury; or 'neither-sweet-nor-savoury' kinds. Valentines day being on a busy working day, prompted me to make something easy, yet light and decadent at the same time. My ever busy mister was supposed to return home early today. so i needed to jazz up tuesday tea time to get to a level of Valentine's day worthy. And so upon returning from work, i took a quick stroll in the garden to amass some harvest, and pottered around in the kitchen to make these, timed perfectly so that it bakes just as my boys return home. 

For all of you lovely people tuning in right now, thinking about a special treat for that special someone; make these healthy bites. It's a no egg recipe, perfect for the very commonly practiced meatless Tuesdays of India. It's Easy to put together. Requires just a few ingredients, and they 'should' all be cold. So happy baking !!

Ingredients for 8 Scones:

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda
Salt and pepper to taste

A small handful of leafy vegetables, I plucked baby spinach from my garden. 

1/2 tsp or to-taste mustard powder

1 tsp sweet chilli powder/Cayenne

2 tbsp chopped green leaves of onion and garlic. These green leaves are packed with nutrients and add great flavour too

1 red banana pepper, deseeded and chopped finely.

1/2 cup of cold butter

1/2 cup swiss cheese- gruyere 

1 cup cold buttermilk/Chaas or simply a cup of milk mixed with a tbsp vinegar.

Method

In a mixer grinder/ food processor put in the butter, cheese, leavening powders and flour, and pulse to dispense them throughout the mixture, in even pea like shape. I have noticed that it's easier to start this process when we cut the butter and cheese into cubes.

Now dump the crumbly mix into a flat mixing bowl, and mix in the spices and green veggies with a spoon or fork. 

In goes the cold buttermilk/chaas into the bowl and mixed to form a dough.

Tip it on a floured work surface, and gently gather it to form a rectangle. Fold it in thirds to amass it to form a square. Roll it gently to be evenly thick, about 1/2 an inch. Cut them into your desired shapes and rest it in the fridge for 15 mins to an hour.

Now preheat the oven to 220 degrees, and let it come to the temperature slowly as the dough rests in the refrigerator.

In the same measuring cup where you measured buttermilk, make a glaze with a generous glug of honey, milk and salt; stirred to combine.

Grate some cheese for the top, I used gruyère once again. I salted and Cayenne-ed it for added flavour.

Now take out the chilled dough, brush it with the milk mix and sprinkle on the cheese. Pop it in the oven for 20 minutes, until golden brown and crispy on top and bottom.

Easy crumbly tea time snack, which is healthy and fits our lifestyle perfectly! Cheers!! 

This post was brought out in association with Nando's. If you haven't already, do hop into one of their franchise restaurants in a city near you. they are expanding majorly in India. They are famous for their grilled chickens in a variety of sauces, one of them being this delicious lemony garlicky sauce. It also serves to be the perfect dip for my Whole-Meal Scones.  

Left Over Series Finale!!

Since you guys have loved my leftover series so much, I reckoned a few more tricks and tips is something I owe you lovely people. If you have any more left over cakes, and parfait don’t interest you; then read up to get to know of other wonderful stuff that you can do with it.

Now these tricks and tips I picked up, but didn’t try all of them, as of yet. If you ever try it out, let me know! But I am sure, all of it will work well and would give you guys a very satisfying dessert to enjoy after a hearty meal, or a snack to be had between meals.

First in my list is an Ice Cream Sundae. Now you can get really creative here. And make different flavours with it. The steps are simple, and the best part being all of it has to be done the day before. So it’s the perfect party dessert.

Take a litre of vanilla ice cream and let it melt a bit to the semi solid level.

Now whisk it well, while adding stuff like chocolate chips, almond flakes, raisins, dried cranberries etc.

Take a handful of crumbled cake and incorporate well with a spatula, making certain that the cake don’t powder off in the ice cream. Some gentle firm stokes is all that’s required.

Freeze it overnight and enjoy a perfect frozen dessert. No one can ever tell that it’s a store bought ice cream. And instead the guests would swoon in absolute joy.

The next in line is a Toasted Jam Cake-wich.

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Take 2 thin slices of stale cake loaf, like plum cakes or rum cakes from the festive season.

Toast it lightly in a buttered pan, and generously spread over a tart fruit preserve like diabetic jam or a really good bitter orange marmalade. The sweet bread with not so sweet jam is so enticing and confusing to the palette that it would be one of the greatest hits in a high tea party. Do chop the Cake-wich to smaller pieces so that it’s easy to hold and eat.

And as for the last, yet one of the best things to do with stale cakes; is to make a Bread-no-Cake Pudding with it.

Cut little cubes of the cake and set it aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk 1 egg to half a cup of milk, mix vanilla and a tbsp. of oil to get a sugar free custard made. I soak the cake in the custard for at least an hour or more, and then top it with additional flavours like that of half a tsp of cocoa followed with a handful of chocolate chips. A brief whisk later, I let it all go into a preheated oven to cook off.

Now this is a basic custard recipe that I have given measurements on. Adjust it to suit the amount of cake you intend to bake in the custard. After pouring, the custard should be visible to you, which will be soaked up in the hour you let it soak for. A rum cake might not soak so much, but a simple sponge will soak up all liquid.   

Keep an eye on it while it’s in the oven. If the top is browning too much, cover it with a foil. The test of doneness remains the same as a cake. A toothpick if comes out clean, then the pudding is done.

This dessert is very versatile. You can serve it hot or warm with a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream. And it can also be served cold to enjoy just like so.

Armed with so many left over inspired dishes, I am sure you will never ever have a problem stale cakes again!! Cheers!!