Palates & Palettes

corn fritters

2010-09-27T08:17:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

Corn Kernels : 1 cup
Green Chillies : 2
Onions : 1 big sized
Corn Flour : 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil

Method:

Peel and chop the one onion into small pieces and keep aside. Grind the corn kernels along with green chillies a smooth or coarse paste. Add the chopped onions, salt and corn flour to it. Mix well. Heat oil in a pan and spoon the mixture into the oil and deep fry till crisp and golden color. Remove from the oil and set aside.

Pav Bhaji

2010-09-21T07:28:00.000-07:00

Bhaji

Ingredients:

3 cups mixed vegetables (carrot, cauliflower, beans, peas)

3 big potatoes

3 big onions, chopped small

3 medium tomatoes, chopped

1 tsp garlic paste

1 tsp ginger paste

2 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder (adjust to taste)

1 1/2 tsp coriander powder

1 1/2 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp garam masala

salt to taste

2 lemons

3 to 4 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

2 to 3 tbsp salted butter, softened

Method:

Steam cook the mixed vegetables and the potatoes till well done. Mash them very well and keep aside.

In a largish wok, heat the oil. Add the ginger and garlic pastes and sauté taking care to see it doesn’t burn. Add half the onions and sauté again it is soft and translucent. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook them till they’re soft and mushy.
Use your potato masher, or a wooden spoon, to mash the onion-tomato mixture further. Cook until the oil appears on the edge.

Add the turmeric, chilli, coriander, cumin and garam masala powders. Cook over medium heat for a couple of minutes, stirring often, until the raw smell of the spices disappears. Add the mashed vegetables, salt and about half a cup of water. Cook for another 5 to 10 minutes until everything blends into a homogenous thick gravy-like consistency, adding a little more water, if necessary.
Add the chopped coriander and a couple of tbsps of butter, mix and serve hot.

Serve with pav buns.

Potato brinjal stir fry

2010-09-13T17:13:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

brinjal small - 3
potato (boiled)- 2
coriander powder - 2 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
red chilli powder - 1 tsp
mustards seeds
oil
salt

Method:

Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds. Once they have spluttered, add the potato cubes and brinjal slices and all the spices and cook tilll done.

Coca cola cupcake

2010-09-07T09:55:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Part One

• 1 cup coca cola or other cola drink
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup powdered cocoa
• 22 large marshmallows

Part two

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 large eggs, beaten

Method:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. These cupcakes work best with the silver metallic liners.

Part one

In a small saucepan mix cola, butter, vegetable oil and cocoa. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, and add marshmallows. Place lid on saucepan and leave until marshmallows begin to melt. Stir well.

Part two

Mix flour, sugar, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Add buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Mix well.

Combine Part One and Part Two in the mixing bowl. Spoon cupcake batter into cupcake pan liners until they are 1/2 to 2/3 full.

Bake at 325 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Vietnamese steamed fish in ginger and scallion sauce

2010-08-31T07:56:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

1 knob or finger of ginger-julienned
4-5 stalks of scallions
12-14 oz. (340-400g) flat fish filets, such as tilapia, flounder, or sole(I used trout)
finely ground white pepper (do not substitute black pepper)
sea salt
2 tbsp. oil
2 tsp. soy sauce, preferably soy sauce labelled specifically for seafood (Chinese sources)

Method:

Chop the scalllions finely. I used the wok and a steamer to steam the fish. This contraption was put together by me and trust me, it served the purpose.

Steam the fish along with some scallions and some ginger till the fish turns white(opaque). This might take about 7 minutes.

Meanwhile heat a small skillet over medium high heat. Add oil, and heat until just beginning to smoke.

Remove ginger and scallion pieces, and place fish on a serving plate. Sprinkle with finely ground white pepper, and fresh julienned ginger and scallions.

Drizzle soy sauce over fish, then immediately top with sizzling peanut oil.

Shape cakes

2010-08-23T07:42:00.000-07:00

got a new cake pan and wanted to try it out...made these lovely cakes and my son loved it. hope you all had fun too this weekend.

Egg Masala with onions

2010-08-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

Boiled Eggs -2
onions- sliced one large
coriander leaves - a handful
garam masala - pinch
chili powder, turmeric powder - as per taste
salt
oil for tempering
mustard seeds- 1 tsp

Method:

Temper the mustard seeds and add the onions and saute till translucent.
Add the spice powder and cook till the raw smell is gone.
Add the salt as well
Finally add the boiled eggs and let them get browned a little.(For perfectly boiled eggs, visit our post on ways to cook egg)
Garnish with coriander leaves

Bitterguord(pavakkai) Pappu

2010-08-09T09:31:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

Bitter gourd - 1 medium sized
tamarind extract - 3/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt
Toor dal - 3/4 cup
Fresh grated coconut - 3/4 cup
Chana dal - 2 tsp
Red chilli - 2 (modify according to your level of spice tolerance)

For tempering:

Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Split urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - a few sprigs

Method:

Cook toor dal till very soft
Heat a tsp of oil in a pan. Fry chana dal and red chillies in this. Add a pinch of asafoetida and switch off the heat. Once this cools, grind it to a smooth paste along with grated coconut.
add tamarind extract(3/4 tsp)
Slice bitter gourd into thin round slices.
Cook bitter gourd slices in tamarind water to which turmeric powder and salt has been added.
Once it is cooked, add the ground mixture to this. Boil for 4-5 minutes.
Then add the cooked toor dal. Mix well and heat for a minute or two. If you feel the curry is too thick at this stage, add a little bit of water.
Heat a tsp of oil. Season it with mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves. Once the mustard seeds pop, pour this over the curry.

Ellu Podi (Till chutney powder)

2010-07-30T22:10:00.000-07:00

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Ingredients:

1. Sesame Seeds - 8 table spoons
2. Whole urad dhal - 3 Table spoons
3. Salt - to taste
4. Red chillies(dried) - 6-7 Nos
5. Asofetida - 1/4 teaspoon

Method:

1. In a heavy bottomed pan or kadai dry roast all the above ingredients one by one
2. Allow them to cool and grind it to a powder in a dry mixer.
3. Allow the ellu podi to cool and store it in a clean airtight container. It tastes awesome with white rice and melted ghee.

Cheesy fondue for two

2010-07-28T07:40:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

FLorentina cheese - 1 cup
chicken broth - 1 cup(will have salt)
pepper
french baguette bread

Method:

melt the cheese and broth in a sauce pan(heavy bottomed preferably) and add the seasonings. You can even add your favourite herb on hand.Heat the fondue pot in the mean time. Pour the hot fondue in to the pot and use skewers to dip the bread and other stuff in the fondue.

Coffee cake

2010-07-19T15:06:00.000-07:00

This is the recipe for cake that I baked for my hubby's birthday. Continued from previous post. Got this lovely recipe from One Perfect Bite- Mary's blog and it turned out just perfect.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup instant coffee granules
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound (1 cup) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs

Method:

1) Adjust a rack to lower third of oven. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Generously coat a 14 x 4 x 3-inch loaf pan with butter. Dust with flour. A nonstick baking spray may also be used.
2) Combine milk and coffee crystals in a small saucepan. Heat, stirring to dissolve crystals. Set aside to cool.
3) Sift flour with baking powder and salt. Set aside.
4) Cream butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add vanilla and sugar and beat for 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat for 1 to 2 minutes at high speed after adding last egg. Mixture will look curdled. It's not a problem.
5) With mixer on low speed, add flour in three additions and milk mixture in two. Beat only until smooth. Turn into pan. Spread until level, then use a spatula to move batter slightly up the sides of pan, leaving center slightly lower than sides.
6) Bake for 55 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes. Invert on rack and remove pan. Ice cooled cake upside down.

She has wonderful recipe for the icing too. Try that too. Mine had buttercream frosting.

Happy birthday

2010-07-16T07:42:00.000-07:00

I made this cake for my hubby's birthday using fondant. This is our first time with fondant and gumpaste. He loved it. The cake is of coffee flavour. Will post the recipe for the cake in coming article.

Vegetable puff - The Vahchef way

2010-07-11T12:58:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

potato boiled and smashed		, peas, carrot
1 tsp chaat masala
1 bunch coriander chopped
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin pdr
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 small lemon
1 tsp oil
puff pastry sheets
1 tsp red chili pdr
salt
1 tsp turmeric pdr

Method:

Take all type of vegetables cut into small pieces boil till bit and keep it a side. take a Pan add oil to it then add cumin seeds,turmeric,ginger garlic paste,salt,red chillie powder,saute them then add all vegetables,corainder powder,coriander leaves mix them then add chaat masala,lastly add lemon juice mix well once it is done transfer it to a plate let it cool down.Take Puff Sheets make it into different shapes add stuffing into it, add little water to the edges and close the puff keep it in the fridge for 5 min. Pre heat the oven at 450fand keep it for 10 min.

Baigan bharta

2010-07-07T08:15:00.000-07:00

Got this recipe from My Feasts blog. We loved this recipe and will do it more often.

Ingredients:

1 medium eggplant
1/2 tsp ghee
1 tb vegetable oil
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 turmeric powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 medium onion - minced fine
2 cloves garlic - minced fine
1/2 in ginger root - minced fine
1 medium green chilli - chopped fine
1 small ripe tomatoes finely chopped
salt to taste
1 tb chopped cilantro

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Wash eggplant and dry it. Make incision with a sharp knife all over the whole eggplant. Rub some oil over it . Place on a baking sheet and in a preheated oven. Bake for 40 minutes.

Allow the eggplant to cool. Once it has cooled cut it in the middle , scoop out the soft flesh and place it in a bowl. Mash finely with a fork. Discard skin.

Heat oil and ghee over medium heat. Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Once the spices start to pop, add the onion, ginger, garlic and green chili.

Thengai paal rasam/ Coconut milk rasam

2010-06-28T15:45:00.000-07:00

Got this recipe from a fellow blogger. Click here to see her blog. She sashiga and has a tamil blog. we made a few additions to the recipe though/

Ingredients:

Coconut milk - 1/2 cup
tamarind- 1 tsp paste
turmeric powder
ground black pepper
cumin broken with pestle
coriander for garnishing.
salt
oil
for tempering:
mustard seeds
red chillies dried
curry leaves
garlic mashed

Method:

Same as the usual rasam recipe which you can find by clicking here. Add the cocnut milk in the end and turn off the heat.Hot rasam ready.

Braised radishes

2010-06-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

Got this recipe from Know Whey . We enjoyed it . It was unique, buttery and salty. loved it. Hope you all find it that way too.

Ingredients:

Raddishes
chicken stock
butter

Method:

Clean and trim a large bunch of radishes, leaving a short bit of clean, green stem. Trim off taproot.
Place in covered saute pan with 2 cups of chicken stock, 1/4 tsp salt and 3 T. butter
Cover and cook on medium heat until radishes are fork-tender
Uncover the pan and reduce the juices until only a glaze remains.
Serve with a bit of the pan reduction.

Tamarind rice/Puli sadam

2010-06-21T08:49:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

Rice – 500 grams
Pulikaichal (aka puliyodarai mix) – 2 to 4 table spoon
Peanuts - handful
For dry roasting and powdering
- Bengal gram – 1 table spoon
- Coriander seeds – 1 table spoon
- Urad dal – 1 tea spoon
- Red chilli – 4 to 5 no
- Pepper corns – 10 to 15 no

Method:

Cook rice as grains separated
Dry roast and powder coarsely the given ingredients.
Add this powder and 2 to 4 table spoons of pulikaichal with cooked rice and mix well.

The Neelys' are back again---Southern spicy fried chicken

2010-06-15T15:03:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

1 (2 1/2-pounds) fryer chicken, cut into 10 pieces

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 quart buttermilk

2 tablespoons hot sauce

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Peanut oil, for frying

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon cayenne

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 teaspoon paprika

Method:

Season the chicken with salt and pepper and place in a casserole dish. In a nonreactive bowl, mix buttermilk, hot sauce and cayenne. Pour the buttermilk mixture over the chicken, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to marinate for 2 hours.

Preheat a deep-fryer to 350 degrees F.

Into a large paper bag, measure the flour, cayenne, garlic powder, paprika, and salt and pepper. Shake off excess buttermilk mixture and place the chicken, a few pieces at a time, into the bake and shake to dredge.

Place the chicken into the hot oil and fry until golden and crisp, about 8 to 10 minutes for white meat and 13 to 15 for dark meat. Remove from the fryer onto a paper towel lined sheet tray and season with salt and pepper.

Coconut cake from Patrick and Gina Neely's recipe

2010-06-10T10:11:00.000-07:00

We frequently watch food network and other than Paula an Ina garten, the Neelys are on our list. We love to catch Sunny Anderson but seem to miss her show. This is a typical southern style coconut cake, been in the Neely's family for generations now. So we can safely say this is a pretty authentic recipe. We all loved the cake. Try it and see for yourself.

Ingredients:

Nonstick baking spray, for pan
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/2 cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
cream cheese lemon Glaze, recipe follows
1/2 cup flaked coconut

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a Bundt pan with nonstick baking spray and dust with flour.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder.

In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time. Once incorporated, add the extracts. Stir in the coconut milk and beat until combined. Slowly beat in the dry ingredients until the mixture is smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Cool cake 5 minutes before turning it out onto a rack. Let cool completely on the rack.

Once the cake has cooled, ladle the glaze over the cake, and top with flaked coconut. Let glaze set before serving. Transfer the cake to a platter or serving dish and slice.

Cream cheese and lemon glaze:

3 tablespoon Cream Cheese (room temperature)

1 ½ cup powdered sugar

2 teaspoon lemon juice

2tablespoon milk

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Let stand for 20 minutes to thicken.

Stuffed capsicum

2010-06-08T08:44:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

Capsicum - 2

For stuffing:

2 medium potatoes,boiled
1/4 cup fresh/frozen green peas
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 small onion,finely chopped
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp jeera powder
1/2 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp kasuri methi
salt to taste
1 tsp oil

Method:

Peel the skins of boiled(we microwave them) potatoes and grate it or mash it properly.
Heat oil in a pan and crackle jeera, finely chopped onions and fry until light brown in color.
Add mashed potatoes and peas(soak them if they are the dry kind) and fry until the mixture is well mixed.
Add red chilli powder,jeera powder,garam masala,kasuri methi(crush them with hand to bring out the flavour),salt to taste.Fry for a minute and switch off the flame.
Add finely chopped coriander to it and garnish.
Stuff this into the capsicum which is already deseeded and saute in a pan with some oil. You can also broil the stuffed capsicum in the oven. works fine.

M- seal work on pot

2010-06-05T23:02:00.000-07:00

hi,

We have posted a mural work which is done on a pot using M-seal.We got the idea when we were browsing the internet . We used the same procedure that we have explained in our earlier blog posts under M-seal art work. So you can refer back to those posts for reference.

Vegetable Upma and thengai(coconut) chutney

2010-06-02T16:51:00.000-07:00

This easy to make tiffin item is our all time favourite. This indeed goes very well with chai. I know but we like it that way. For the benefit of the readers, we stuck to coconut chutney.

Ingredients:

Rava - 1 cup
water - 2cups
salt
carrot
beans
peas

For tempering:

mustard seeds - 1tsp
urad dal - 1 tsp
curry leaves - handful

Method:

After the tempering of the said ingredients are done, Add the veggies and rava( dry roast rava separately before adding) and water and salt.
Upma is ready within minutes.

Tanjore paintings

2010-06-01T08:13:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

we are posting two more tanjore paintings done by us some time back. Hope you all like it.

Egyptian queen - Neferetiti

Lord balaji

Black eyed peas(aka redneck caviar) and chicken Tacos

2010-05-26T09:11:00.000-07:00

For Taco assembling:

Ingredients:

Tortillas
hot sauce (optional)
black eyed peas salad
chicken
cheese( we omitted this)

Black eyed peas salad/ dip preparation:(adapted from the Neelys' recipes)

Ingredients:

2 – 15 oz. cans of blackeye peas, drained
1/2 cup red onion, diced (about 1/2 of medium onion)
1/2 cup yellow bell pepper, diced (about 1/2 of pepper)
2 tablespoons green onion, chopped (about 3 green onions)
1/3 cup cilantro leaves, rough chopped
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup rice wine or white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Method:

- Begin by draining the peas.

- Dice the purple/red onion, green onion, yellow bell pepper and rough chopping the cilantro.

- Mix together the black-eyed peas, onion, pepper and cilantro in a bowl.

- In a small bowl whisk together the vinegar, oil, brown sugar, salt and pepper, pour over the black-eyed pea/onion/pepper combo, mix well to combine.

Chicken preparation:

Ingredients:

chicken small pieces

salt and pepper

Method:

Heat oil in a pan and stir fry the chicken with salt and pepper. We had some leftover chicken that we made for lunch with indian spices. I just broiled them and used them after shredding them with a fork.

Kothu Parota and Parota

2010-05-18T08:38:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

Parota - 2

egg -1

curry leaves - few

tomato

onion chopped

green chillies

salt

pepper

To make parota:

maida - 1 cup

salt pinch

water

oil

Method:

Make a dough with the all purpose flour or maida. Keep it aside for 2 hours minimum. Then make balls and roll them out.

Fold them like how you do with a saree and then roll them into a ball.

Leave them again for 30 minutes

Then roll them out into parotas and cook on griddle.