Gayathri's Kitchen Basics

Fresh Apricot

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Sat, 05 Apr 2014 01:03:00 +0000

Have you tasted fresh Apricots? I haven't even seen them until few months back, when brother bought me a batch from his trip to Kulu Manali. I love the tangy taste the dried apricots give to bakes. And I always have a jar full of dry apricots in my fridge. When I saw the fresh ones I was so excited. They are so cute, Right?

I thought they would be tangy but they were very sweet and so delicious. I felt like I was eating plums only the colour was different. At first I thought of making some dish with it but whenever I went into the kitchen I couldn't stop eating an apricot. So it was over by the time I was searching for the recipe.

So here is a picture for those who haven't seen fresh apricot.

Home Made Mascarpone Cheese

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 04:00:00 +0000

Mascarpone cheese is hard to get in Indian stores and even if you get the cost is sky high. When I prepared Italian dessert Tiramisu for one of the challenges, I made the cheese at home after seeing an online post at baking Obsession. Mascarpone cheese is made by curdling fresh cream/ heavy cream. Lemon juice is used for curdling. The cream doesn't curdle like milk. As I was not aware of this I was so confused when I heated the cream. But once I drained it in fridge, it thickened up so nice and the cheese was so creamy. As I was not so sure of the result, I didn't take any step wise photos and now I regret for that. Next time when I prepare this cheese, I will surely update the post with the snaps

Recipe Source: Baking Obsession

Ingredients:

Fresh Cream/ Heavy cream- 500 gm

Lemon -1

Procedure:

1. Heat cream in a heavy bottomed pan.

2. When it starts bubbling, add juice of 1 lemon and stir it until the cream becomes a little thick. This is the actual curdling.

3. Remove from flame.

4. Line a metal sieve with a cotton cloth.

5. Pour the cream into it and cover it with a plate.

6. Place it on a bowl and keep the whole setting in fridge overnight.

7. The next day when you take the sieve out of fridge, you will be amazed by the creamy cheese in the cloth.

8. Transfer to a box .

9. You can store it for maximum 3 days in fridge.

So Creamy!!!

Click on image for Eggless Tiramisu Recipe

How to use a Vanilla Bean

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 12:33:00 +0000

Whenever I see someone using a vanilla bean, I imagine myself doing so but it just remained in my imagination until I saw a pack of vanilla beans at Nilgiris in Coimbatore. I had only three and was priced at 135 INR. It was so costly but I bought it just to know how flavourful it is. Yesterday I used it in a sauce and my house was filled with the wonderful aroma of vanilla. I just loved it. And here is a small post on how to use infuse it in sauce or any bakes.

It looks like a dry twig but do not hesitate. It contains a flavourful paste in it. I have scraped out the paste and discarded the bean, but you can also add it in the milk, let it boil and then discard it once done.

Soak the vanilla bean in milk for 30 minutes.

Hold one end and cut the bean into half. I couldn't take a snap of cutting as my both hands were busy.

With the knife flatten the cut bean. You can see the dark vanilla paste inside.

Scrape it with the tip of the knife.

Collect the paste.

Add it to the milk. Now you can add this milk in your sauce or any other bake..

Homemade Eggless Almond Paste

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 08:59:00 +0000

Amond paste is an important ingredient in many pastries. This can be used to make cakes, cookies, and used as fillings in tarts, pies and many pastries. It can be readily available in markets but in Madurai, we don't get it. I needed almond paste to make the German Tree Cake. When I serached the web for recipes, I found egg based recipes a lot. After so much of searching I found a recipe at yummly. It was a great recipe and the almond paste tasted absolutely delicious. With 1 1/2 cups of blanched almonds, I made 500 gm of almond paste.

First soak the almonds in water, bring it to boil and remove from flame. After 30 minutes, remove the skin from the almonds. It is quite easy after the soaking time.

Measure 1 1/2 cups of almonds into a food processor fitted with a steel blade.

Run the processor for 25 seconds and you will end up with finely chopped almonds.

Add 1 1/2 cups of icing sugar and 5 tbs of liquid glucose.

Run the processor for 60 seconds.

Transfer the paste to a box and refrigerate until use.

Home Made Ricotta Cheese

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 10:36:00 +0000

Ricotta is an Italian cheese used in a lot of Italian pastries and desserts. Recently I made a Italian Pastry - Sfogliatelle Ricci and Sfogliatelle Frolle for which I needed ricotta for filling. To make ricotta at home you need milk and curd. IT is a very simple process, and the cheese resembles crumbled paneer a lot. But it is softer than the crumbled paneer and so you can also use it for home made cream cheese preparation.

Boil 2 litres of milk.

Add 1 cup of curd to the boiling milk and switch off the stove. After some time, the milk will curdle. Wait until the whey is clear.

Line a strainer and pour the curdled milk in it. Cover and set aside for 1 hour.

After an hour, the whey will be drained and the ricotta is ready to be used in your pastries and desserts.

Store remaining cheese in an airtight jar and refrigerate.

Home Made Bihari Sattu Flour

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 10:31:00 +0000

Sattu flour is an important ingredient in Bihari cuisine. There are so many dishes which use sattu and it is made out of sand roasted channa dhal. Sattu paratha, litti, sattu kachori, are some of the dishes made using sattu. I made it at home according to Nupur's directions and it came out great. It was very flavourful and the litti I made was so delicious. Make this at home and enjoy the Bihar special dishes with the authentic taste.

I loved the colour of sattu flour. And it slightly resembled roasted gram. But there was some difference in taste and texture.

Take two cups of channa dhal and wash it thoroughly. Drain water and set aside.

Boil 3 cups of water and add the channa dhal.

Cook on medium flame until done. it may take 7-8 minutes. It should not turn mushy. If you crush a dhal, it should soft

Pour into a colander and drain water.

Transfer to a bowl, cover with cling wrap and set it on counter for 3-4 hours.

On a large cotton cloth spread the dhal like this and allow it to dry in shade for 3-4 hours.

When you bite, it must be soft and not completely dry.

Take the dhal to a heavy bottomed pan and roast it on low flame. Keep on stirring every 5 minutes.

Roast it for 45 minutes. The dhal should not change into brown. It should resemble roasted gram and soft and chewy to bite. Allow it to cool.

Grind it to a fine powder in a mixer. Store in a jar.

Oven Roasted Cashewnuts

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 04:15:00 +0000

My daughter loves roasted cashews. But what we get at bakeries is full of chilly powder and it is very hot. So to make a plain salted version of those roasted cashewnuts, I tried this at home. Instead of deep frying the nuts, I opted for a more healthier method - I baked them in oven. It took just a tsp of oil to get these crispy crunchy cashew nuts and Sruti liked it so much.

It is quite easy to prepare this treat for kids. Buy the whole cashew nuts. You can also try it with the halved nuts. In a large plate, take the cashew nuts. Add a tsp of oil and salt and mix well. Preheat oven to 200C. Spread the cashew on a baking tray and bake it in oven. Keep on stirring the nuts for even roasting. When they are golden, remove from oven and allow it to cool. They may be softer to bite when hot but once cool, they will become crispy. Store in air tight jar and give your kid a delicious treat once in a while.

To make a spicier version, add a tsp of red chilly powder and a pinch of chaat masala along with salt and mix. Bake as mentioned above. Even you can have a guilt free treat with these spicy cashew nuts..

Puttarisi Puttu Maavu/ Flour

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Sat, 05 Oct 2013 23:36:00 +0000

Puttarisi is a brown rice used for making puttu which is nutritious than the usual white rice. Here is a post on preparing the puttu flour at home. You can make this ahead and store it in air tight jar for future use. Make sure that the flour doesn't have even a small drop of water else it will go bad. Puttu is a snack we enjoy in Tamil Nadu. It is in the form of urundai/ balls here. You can also make crumbly puttu and enjoy it in a bowl with a spoon. We prefer it like this in our home. I made this as an offering for Navrathri.

Puttu Urundai Recipe

Addition of coconut gives a nice flavour to the puttu. Some steam cook the puttu flour along with coconut and sugar but I feel that it tutns puttu soggy. So I first steam cook the flour and then finally add the sugar and coconut which keep the puttu soft and crumbly. And also cooked coconut is full of calories whereas fresh coconut is relatively nutritious.

This is the puttarisi. It is not the brown rice we use for preparing rice. That is different. This is called as sivappu puttarisi mainly used in preparation of puttu. I even prepare kozhukattai with this flour. This is very nutritious while compared to the white puttu.

Wash and soak the rice for 4-5 hours. Drain water and spread it on a white cloth and allow it to dry inside the house for 1 hour. The rice must be wet to touch but there should not be any extra droplets of water in it.

Grind it in a mixer jar and pass ity through a sieve. Grind the coarser rice in the sieve again and pass it through the sieve again.

Dry roast this flour in a pan until totally dry. If you touch the flour it must be like sand. There will be lumps formed but when you break a lump, it should not be soft but must be crisp and it should break.

Grind the roasted flour in a mixer jar and voila! your puttu flour is ready. Store in an air tight jar and use while making puttu.

Fresh Figs

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Sat, 21 Sep 2013 00:58:00 +0000

I saw fresh figs two years back. OK don't laugh at me. We don't get fresh figs here at Madurai. So if you are like me, then this is the post for you. Just know how fresh figs look like. When on a road trip to Shirdi, we went to a small town Adoni in Andhra Pradesh. After visiting a temple, while we were walking back to the hotel, I saw these fresh figs in a fruit stall. I asked about the rate and it was so cheap. I immediately bought a kilogram of these cute looking fruit. Hubby and Sruti didn't understand why I was so excited about this fruit. After returning back to the hotel, I washed and wiped a fruit and took a bite. It was so good and I loved it.

The next day I skipped my breakfast and had this fruit, remember I bought a kg of figs. Hubby and Sruti were not so interested. I had it for my self. And when it was over, I had to wait another whole year to get it. Can you understand. I have seen so many desserts using fresh figs but I couldn't try them as I will be returning home only a week later and they will surely spoil.

The fruits are greenish in colour and when cut open the colour of the fruit is an awesome peach. It is very sweet and tasty and can be used in lots of bakes and desserts. We get dry figs and I use them in my bakes but compared to the fresh fruits they are not that good.

I took this snap when on road trip this year. Even this year I bought a kilo of this fruit and skipped my breakfast the next morning. Is this called as obsession?? Didn't even have a knife so had to just split it open. It looks good, Right???

Herbed Bread Crumbs

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 10:44:00 +0000

We use bread crumbs for all types of cutlets and tikkis. It add a nice crispy crust to the cutlets. Though bread crumbs are available at stores it is very easy to make them at home. Here I have prepared spicy bread crumbs with herbs and garlic powder. I made onion rings with this bread crumbs and they turned out so nice. I used a store bought loaf of bread along with a small loaf of Anadama bread which I had at home to make these tasty bread crumbs.

If you want plain bread crumbs just omit all the spices and herbs and prepare as mentioned. Tear the bread slices and fill them in a food processor.

Grind them to get fine crumbs. Now add a teaspoon of garlic powder, a teaspoon of oregano and 2 teaspoons of onion flakes along with a pinch of black pepper powder.

Grind it again to distribute evenly. Now spread it on a baking tray.

Bake this in a preheated oven of 150C. It may take 30-45 minutes to prepare the crumbs in oven. Keep on stirring the crumbs until they turn crispy, without any trace of moisture.

Allow it to cool. Now transfer it again to the food processor and process until fine.

Store in airtight jar and use when needed.

Roasted Lotus Seeds

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 11:13:00 +0000

Have you ever tried using lotus seeds in cooking. I have seen some subzi recipes around the blog world but never tried it myself. Once I saw a pack of these seeds in Nilgiris and I bought them home with out any idea of what to do. Then when blog hopping, I cam across a recipe in which the seeds are sauteed with oil and spices to get a dish which resembles pop corn. I tried it. But I felt that it was too oily even though I liked the taste. So the next time, I got these seeds from Nilgiris, I tried this oven roasted method and it turned out awesome. It has very little oil and it is also fuss free to make. And the result was crispy crunchy guilt free snack. Now I make this often. Do try it and I am sure you will love it...

For those who doesn't know about lotus seeds, here is a picture. Hope this helps. It also has medicinal properties and is extensively used in Chinese medicines. This is usually available in North India, but now with Nilgiris nearby my house I can buy it in Madurai too.

There is no particular recipe for this. Mix the lotus seeds with a tbs of oil, salt and red chilly powder and roast it in a 200C preheated oven until the seeds turn golden. Remove from oven and allow it to cool. though they seem to be soft when hot, they will become crunchy when cool. This is perfect to have while watching movies or TV. Enjoy...

Home Made Papdi

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 03:43:00 +0000

Papdi is a base for many chaat items and is easily available in the market. But it is also very easy to make it at home and it tastes better than the store bought ones. Here is a simple recipe for home made papdis. I will be posting some interesting chaats in my other blog.

Ingredients:

All Puirpose Flour/ Maida-2 cups

Oil-1 tsp

Salt-to taste

Nigella Seeds-1 tsp

Oil-To Deep Fry

Procedure:

1. Mix together flour, salt, nigella seeds and oil in a bowl.

2. Add water to make a stiff dough.

3. Cover and set it aside for 30 minutes.

4. Knead the dough to make it soft and smooth.

5. Divide it into small balls.

6. Roll each ball into a thin disc.

7. Cut out small circles using a cookie cutter or bottle cap.

8. Prick all over the circles with a fork so that the papdis does not puff up.

9. Heat oil in a pan.

10. Deep fry the circles in small batches until golden.

11. Cool and store in air tight jar for further use.

Mix the ingredients.

Mix water to make a stiff dough.

Roll each portion of the dough into a thin circle.

Cut into circles.

Prick with a fork.

Deep fry in oil.

When golden remove from oil.

Use it for chaats...

Hyderabadi Biryani Masala Powder

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 11:07:00 +0000

Hyderabadi Biryani is a delicious layered biryani with lots of nuts and raisins as garnish. The actual taste of biryani is got with the spice powder we add in the vegetables. The preparation of this powder is quite easy and it is very very flavourful. I saw the recipe at Swasthi's blog and made it at home. We all enjoyed it very much. Here is the recipe for the spice powder and I have also given the link fo the step wise preparation of Biryani.

Recipe Source: Swasthi

Ingredients:

Bay Leaf-1

Star Anise-2

Green Cardamom-6

Black Cardamom-2

Black Pepper-1 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon-5 2" sticks

Clove-1 tbs

Coriander Seeds-4 tbs

Shahi Jeera-2 tbs

Mace -1

Grated Nutmeg-1/2 tsp

Procedure:

1. In a pan dry roast all the ingredients until aromatic.

2. Grind it to a fine powder.

3. Cool and transfer to an air tight jar. Use it while making biryani.

For making the perfect Hyderabadi Vegetable Dum Biryani click on the link.

New York Pizza Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 00:58:00 +0000

Last month I made New York style pizza and for that I made this sauce. The New York Style pizza sauce is slightly different from the pizza sauce I usually make. And it is very easy to make. It is thicker and has onions in it. Though this tastes good, I prefer the sauce I make to this one. Select tomatoes which are less sour as it tends to make the sauce sour.

Recipe Source: Serious Eats

Ingredients:

Tomato-5-6

Onion-1

Extra Virgin Olive Oil-1/2 tbs

Butter-1/2 tbs

Garlic-2 cloves (grated)

Dried Oregano-1 tsp (crushed)

Red Chilly Powder-a pinch

Salt-to taste

Sugar-1/2 tsp

Procedure:

1. Slit the skin of tomatoes with a knife. This will make it easier to peel.

2. Heat water in a bowl. Add the tomatoes and let it boil for 5 minutes.

3. Remove from flame and let it stand for 10 more minutes.

4. Remove the tomatoes from water and allow them to cool.

5. Peel the skin from the tomatoes.

6. Either use a mixer to grind the tomatoes or use a hand mixer to crush them to coarse puree.

7. Heat oil and butter in a pan.

8. Add the onion and garlic and saute for a minute.

9. Add the tomato paste and oregano, salt, red chilly powder and sugar.

10. Let the sauce thicken.

11. Remove from flame and let it cool.

12. Use it on the pizza.

Boil tomatoes.

Peel skin.

Homemade Mangodi

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 10:15:00 +0000

Mangodis are small nuggets made out of moong dhal. This is usually available at stores but making mangodis at home is also easy. As in Tamil Nadu we don't get mangodis, I opted to try it at home. It is very easy to make mangodis at home. You need to sun dry the nuggets as we do for vadagams. But when I prepared it was rainy season and so I dried the mangodis in my oven. The oven is set to its minimum temperature. The tray is placed in the oven and the oven door is left slightly open. This set up is left overnight and the next morning the mangodis will be ready. But the oven dried mangodis became little reddish.

You can store it in air tight jar and use it in curries and gravies.

Wash and soak a cup of moong dhal for 3 hours.

Grind to a fine paste with out adding water.

Add salt and hing and whisk until the batter is fluffy.

Pinch small portion and place on a greased tray. Sun dry or oven dry and use it in curries and gravies.

Kodikkai Pazham

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 01:15:00 +0000

How many of you have come across this fruit. It is called as kodikkai / kodikka pazham and is usually available during summer. We get it in my home town Then and at Madurai. I think it is famous in South Tamil Nadu. Apart from these areas it is hard to get it elsewhere. My mom who stays in Coimbatore buys this whenever she visits Madurai and takes back to Coimbatore. I have seen a tree of kodikkai in my uncle's house long back. It was so tasty and he used to get it for us during the season. Now whenever I go to Theni, we stop at a place where we can get delicious kodikkai. It is a road side vendor and they have the fresh kodikkai pazham. I searched a lot for the English name of this but couldn't find it. If anyone knows about it please share with me in the comment and I will update the post.

This resembles a curved string and each string has 5-12 tiny fruits in them. The white flesh is edible and there is a small black seed inside. The flesh is either sweet or astringent ( thuvappu). When we were kids, we used to collect all these seeds and used it for playing odd or even. The player keeps some seeds inside the palm and asks the other players whether the number is odd or even. If any player guesses correctly, they take all the seeds. We go on accumulating the seeds until any one has the maximum number and is announced as the winner. This kodikkai surely brings back lots of childhood memories. We also used to play another game with the seeds. One who peels the seed's black skin with out damaging the next slightly greenish skin will get guests at home. As it will be the time of summer vacations, we would go on peeling the seeds ( which is very tough) to get many guest at home. So if you ever see this in your local store try it out. Do not miss it...

Vanilla Buttercream

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 06:15:00 +0000

I love buttercream and those who have tasted the cake I have made usually say that the buttercream I have made is tastier than the ones they have tasted from a bakery. In bakery they use shortening instead of butter in making buttercream, so the taste differs a lot. I have seen recipes using both butter and shortening/ vanaspathi. But I never add shortening in the buttercream. Do you remember the rose cake I made recently? I decorated it with vanilla buttercream. When I finished working with the buttercream, my daughter finishes what is left in the bowl just like that. She is so so fond of that. The texture of the buttercream depends on how much you beat the butter sugar mixture. The more you beat, the softer and fluffier the buttercream. Use a hand mixer or a stand mixer instead of a wooden spatula for beating. This makes the work easier.

There are three consistencies used in cake decoration. Thinner butter cream is used for crumb coating and piping out letters. Medium consistency is used for piping out roses and flowers. Thicker butter cream is used for frosting the cake. To make different consistencies in butter cream adjust the amount of milk added. For 1 cup of butter you will need 4 cups of icing sugar. Do not use sugar powdered in your mixer grinder because it will be coarser and the butter cream will not be smooth. So use either icing sugar or powdered sugar available in Nilgiris. Both works fine.

Beat butter until soft and fluffy. The colour of butter will become paler with beating.

Add a cup of icing sugar and beat until fully incorporated.

Keep on adding all the sugar and beat until fully incorporated. The cream will be very thick now.

Add 2 tbs of milk and a teaspoon of vanilla essenceand beat for a minute. Beat continuosly after adding milk. This is the stage at which you decide the consistency of your buttercream.

Keep on beating until peaks form. I just love the look of the buttercream at this stage.

Next add the colour you have chosen. Add the colour in drops. Always you can add more but will neer be able to reverse it. So be careful while adding colours. Liquid colours or gel colours are best suited for colouring. If you are using powdered colour, then add a little warm water to the powder. Make sure it is completely dissolved. Then add the required colour to the cream. If you add powder directly to the cream, you will end up with irregular shades and dots in the final cream. I learned it the hard way. So do not make that mistake. Your butter cream is ready for frosting.

Strawberry Milk Shake

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 11:13:00 +0000

Preparing a milk shake is the easiest way to serve any unexpected guests. The fruits which have lots of flesh are all perfect for milk shakes. You can use banana, apple, mango, strawberry, jack fruit and so on. When I visited the super market I saw a box of cute looking strawberries. My daughter loves them so I bought the box. It is very costly here in Madurai. But when we tasted one after coming home, it was very sour. I really felt very bad. SO instead of eating it as it is, I made this milk shake and it was very nice. The basic method of making milk shakes using fresh fruits remains the same. Add chilled milk along with the fruits and sugar according to taste. Pulse the mixer for 2 minutes and you are ready with a cool, frothy milk shake.

Ingredients:

Strawberry-7-8

Cold Milk-2 cups

Sugar-according to your taste ( if the fruit is sweet, you may not need sugar)

Procedure:

1. Remove the leaves of strawberries and wash them.

2. Slice them into two and put it into a mixer juicer jar.

3. Pulse the mixer for 2 minutes.

4. Pour into serving glass and serve immediately.

So cute but very sour!!!

Homemade Dried Mint/ Pudina

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 09:12:00 +0000

Pudina/ Mint leaves if refrigerated will turn dark and cannot be kept fresh. So it is better to store it in dried form so that it retains its colour and flavour. We get a lot of dried herbs in the market. You can dry any herb you want and store it for future use. When stored in an air tight jar, you can retain the flavour for a long time.

I bought 250 grams of fresh pudina leaves. And when I made the dried mint I got 35 grams which filled the spice bottle I had. A teaspoon of this powder will be sufficient for a strong flavour of pudina.

Buy fresh mint leaves.

Remove the individual leaves and discard stalk.

Wash it at least thrice to get rid of mud. During a wash, remove the leaves from the water and transfer them to another bowl. Now you will be left with the mud which is settled at the bottom.

After washing it three times, transfer the leaves to a strainer and let it be for 1 hour.

Spread the leaves on a tray or a large plate. You can either dry it in sun or in shade.

If drying in shade it will take 3-4 days. If drying in sun, then you will be finished within 2 days. The leaves must be completely dry and when crushed you need to hear the crackle.

Now grind it in a mixer or food processor.

Fill it in a spice bottle or air tight jar. I have also labelled the bottle. You can sprinkle this on rotis, naan or breads. You can also use it in soups for a nice flavour.

How To Line A Pie Dish

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 00:27:00 +0000

Lining a pie dish is a bit tough for beginners but with practice you can easily do it. By getting the dough to correct consistency lining the dish will be easier. Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes. When removing from fridge, if the dough is very hard, then keep it on counter for 5 minutes. The dough must be firm but slightly pliable so that you can roll it. If it is too hard, then it will break.

This is the pie dish. It has two parts, one is the outer ring and the other the base plate.

Place the plate inside the ring and grease the dish with butter.

Place the dough between two sheets of cling wrap or plastic sheets.

Roll it into a disc bigger than the base of the pie dish by at least 3 inches ( this varies depending upon the depth of the dish. More the depth larger the circle.)

Remove the top sheet/ wrap.

Invert the disc carefully over the pie dish along with plastic wrap. Press the dough into the dish so that it lines all the corners of the dish.

Remove the wrap and cut the excess dough with a knife.

You can also trim it by pressing the sides into the dish. The excess dough will fall off leaving a neat edge.

At this stage you can blind bake the crust.

Or fill it with the filling and bake.

Peeling and coring An Apple

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 10:48:00 +0000

Many recipes ask for peeling and coring apples. I thought why not blog about it as this blog is for beginners. When I first started following recipes, and when the recipe suggested peeling and coring apples, I used to peel the apples with a knife. By this way I usually lose a lot of flesh along with the skin removed. Now I used a peeler ( OK, I was dumb) and for slicing it into equal parts I use a slicer. It makes life easier. I am not talking about one apple. If you have 2-3 kilograms of apple to peel and core I suggest you use a peeler and a slicer. It is better for your hands.

While using a peeler, make sure that it is very sharp. Shar peelers peel only the skin but if it is blunt, you are going to loose some flesh along with the skin.

Wash the apples and wipe them dry with a towel. Using a peeler peel the skin leaving the top and bottom stalk part.

Place a slicer on top of the apple and press hard. When the slicer reaches the bottom of the apple you will end with 8 equal pieces of sliced apple.

Remove the slices from the slicer.

Peel and slice all the apples according to the recipe. Apples blacken very fast. So as soon as you cut the apple, add2 tsp of lime juice or white vinegar and mix so that the slices are coated with the juice. This will ensure that the apples don't lose colour. You can also transfer the pieces to a zip lock bag and refrigerate.

Homemade Cardamom Powder

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 11:30:00 +0000

Cardamom powder is added to mostly all the Indian traditional sweets. They impart a lovely flavour to the sweet. Instead of adding a whole cardamom or searching for a heavy object to crush cardamom at the time of cooking, you can prepare the cardamom powder and store it in airtight jar and use it when needed. It makes life easy. I always have a jar of powder in my pantry ready for any sweet I prepare.

The skin of the cardamom seeds will be discarded when they are used fully in cooking. And when you crush the seeds at the time of cooking, the skin becomes a waste. But when you make the powder the skin is also used along with the seeds. Therefore there is no wastage. The skin takes long to grind. So it is better to add a spoon of sugar along with it to speed up the grinding.

Buy the green cardamom. Use at least a cup of whole cardamoms for powdering.

Roast the cardamoms until slightly puffy.

Add 2 teaspoons of sugar along with the roasted cardamoms.

Grind it while still warm. Run the mixer for 2-3 minutes until they become a smooth powder.

Spread the powder on a plate to cool. After cooling store in airtight jar and use when needed.

Apple Puree

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 00:44:00 +0000

Apple puree can be used as an egg substitute in cakes. I made a plum cake yesterday using this puree and got very nice result. I made puree with 2 apples and got 1 1/2 cups of the puree. The process is simple and can be done in less than 30 minutes. This puree can also be used in preparing apple halwa.

After making the puree, store it in an air tight jar in fridge for up to a week.

Peel, slice and remove seeds from apple. Add 1/4 cup of water and bring it to boil. When the water starts boiling, reduce flame and cover the vessel. Cook until the apples are soft.

Mash the cooked apples with the back of a spoon until mushy. Allow this mixture to cool.

Pour the mashed mixture into a metal sieve and use a spoon to force it through the sieve. The puree will be collected in the bowl below. Store it in an air tight jar and refrigerate.

Homemade Coconut Flakes

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 10:06:00 +0000

As we don't get coconut flakes in Madurai, I had to make it at home for the Lemon bread I made earlier. For this kopra can be used. But as I don't get it either, I made kopra at home and then flaked it. To make kopra at home you need to break open a coconut and place the two pieces in the fridge. Forget about it for a month. The coconut will dry out and leave the shell. You can use a knife to remove the dried coconut from the shell. This is home made kopra. I used this kopra to make flakes.

The flaked coconut can be stored in a ziplock bag and used when needed. You can also prepare a sugar syrup and boil the flakes in syrup. When dried you get sweetened coconut flakes. I will do a separate post for that.

Hold the knife as shown. Slice thin pieces from the coconut.

These are the flakes. Keep on flaking till you finish the whole kopra. Use as required.

Adhalaikkai Vadhakkal / Stir Fry

noreply@blogger.com (Gayathri Kumar) — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 23:37:00 +0000

Last time when I posted about adhalaikkai, I promised to give a recipe for preparation. This is same as the bitter gourd stir fry. The recipe is very simple and mom used to prepare this on Kaarthigai. The crunch from the seeds gives it a nice taste. Prepare it the day you buy it or refrigerate and use it up with in three days. If not it will ripen and the adhalaikkai would break and turn yellow. The taste and the crunchiness will be gone.

Ingredients:
Adhalaikkai-1 cup
Onion-1
Sambar Powder-1/2 tsp
Turmeric Powder-1/4 tsp
Salt- to taste
Mustard Urad Dhal-1 tsp
Oil-1tbs

Procedure:
1. Prepare adhalaikkai by removing both sides (click on link for a step wise photos of preparing adhalaikkai)
2. Heat oil and add mustard and urad dhal.
3. When they splutter, add onion and saute until golden.
4. Add the prepared adhalaikkai and saute for a minute.
5. Add sambar powder, turmeric powder and salt.
6. Add little water.
7. When it starts boiling, switch flame to low and cover the pan.
8. Cook until oil starts leaving.
9. Remove from flame and transfer to a serving bowl.
10. Serve it along with hot steamed rice and rasam.