Cajun-Basil Eggless Cheese Muffins

A good Savoury Muffin recipe that is vegetarian, easy to make and tasty has been eluding me for long now. One recipe gave me really tasty ones but they got really stuck to the liners :( The second time around, the flavours were mild and they popped out of the muffin pan in a breeze but then the baking soda left a vague bitter aftertaste which was more pronounced as the muffins cooled... Farrukh has a lovely blog on http://www.cubesnjuliennes.com/. I have tried some of her bakes before, not only are they amazing, but you have to see the pictures to believe it. She had published a wonderful recipe of cheesy-chive muffins that were eggless and I wanted to try it out. What I did was I stuck to the basic flour-fat-liquid proportions from her recipe and changed the flavours to the ones I had available in my pantry.

My adapted recipe goes like this... INGREDIENTS:- 110 gms. maida 50 gms. butter, softened ½ cup, curd (I used the set dahi curd) 80 ml. milk ½ tsp. baking soda 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh Basil 1 tbsp chilli Flakes 1/2 tbsp. garlic powder 1/2 of pickled Jalapeno (seeds removed and chopped fine) 1/2 tbsp. sugar 6-8 black olives chopped fine 1/2 tablespoon tomato Ketchup 1 tsp. Cajun seasoning 2 tablespoons cheddar cheese (grated) ½ tsp, salt Cheddar cheese, grated, as required for topping Method: This recipe yields 6 medium muffins... Pre-heat the oven at 170 degrees, grease the muffin pan. In bowl, sift together all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, cajun seasoning, garlic powder and chilli flakes. In another bowl, mix together butter, jalapenos, olives, cheddar cheese, basil, curd, tomato ketchup. Add half of the flour mixture and half of the milk, mix until combined well Add remaining half of the flour mixture and remaining milk, mix until combined well (do not over mix, work with a light hand else you get rubbery muffins) Fill the muffin pan with the batter upto 2/3. Top with some grated cheddar cheese. Note: These muffins do not rise much Bake them in pre-heated oven for 15 minutes. Take out and cool. Serve them warm with more ketchup :) if your palette is anything like my kids' Enjoy....